Althouse: The Trump press conference. I watched it.

July 27, 2016

The Trump press conference. I watched it.

Anything to blow a gasket about? Any bait to take?

178 comments:

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: I actually thought it rather "presidential" for this stage of a campaign, and the man is quite solid speaking "off the cuff", with an appropriate amount of barbs for one in a race to become President.

He was not my guy in the primaries, but I watched the entire Doral presser and he was very good. And that's without comparing him to his opponent.; 7/27/16, 6:48 PM
Fabi said...: He's pre-empting their convention. I thinks the Democrats are likely re-writing their speeches at the last minute to respond to his message. He owns them -- it's a first for the Stupid Party.; 7/27/16, 6:48 PM
Gahrie said...: It has been about 235 days since Hillary had a press conference.

What is she afraid of?; 7/27/16, 6:48 PM
gspencer said...: He's so refreshing to hear him call out these lefties.

It's simply unimaginable that Mittens would ever do as DJT does. Explaining why DJT will win; and Mittens and Dole and McCain will always be losers.; 7/27/16, 6:49 PM
pm317 said...: Sorry, Althouse. This is not about Trump Derangement Syndrome. He may spin it as a joke but it is not. He is asking a foreign government to carry out an illegal activity against his rival for the Presidency. It is irresponsible. Time to take what he says seriously.; 7/27/16, 6:50 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Used to be it was the conservatives who didn't understand the concept of humor. How horribly uncool liberals have become over the years!; 7/27/16, 6:52 PM
pm317 said...: From Politico article:
Leon Panetta, a former CIA director, said Trump’s comments were “beyond the pale” because he was “in fact asking the Russians to engage in American politics.” An aide to House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has endorsed Trump, added, meanwhile, that “Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug” and that it should stay out of the U.S. election.
Philip Reiner, a former National Security Council official in the Obama administration, called Trump a “scumbag animal.”

“Hacking email is a criminal activity. And he’s asked a foreign government — a murderous, repressive regime — to attack not just one of our citizens but the Democratic presidential candidate? Of course it’s a national security threat,” he added.

And William Inboden, who served on the NSC during the George W. Bush administration, said Trump’s comments were “tantamount to treason.”

“Trump’s appeal for a foreign government hostile to the United States to manipulate our electoral process is not an assault on Hillary Clinton, it is an assault on the Constitution,” said Inboden, who now teaches at the University of Texas at Austin.; 7/27/16, 6:52 PM
pm317 said...: This is not about humor.; 7/27/16, 6:53 PM
pm317 said...: This is about how irresponsible the candidate is.; 7/27/16, 6:53 PM
Scott Gustafson said...: No he is not asking a foreign government to carry out an illegal activity. He is merely asking a foreign government (or perhaps anyone else) to tell us what they already know. Note that the server is gone, but her hacked emails probably aren't. It is just a matter of asking those who have them to let us all see what they say.; 7/27/16, 6:53 PM
D. said...: >He is asking a foreign government to carry out an illegal activity against his rival for the Presidency<

when you have to explain the joke....; 7/27/16, 6:54 PM
pm317 said...: I am just shaking my head at all the excuses. I am not even an anti-Trump person.; 7/27/16, 6:55 PM
D. said...: >This is not about humor.<

true it is about your total ignorance of the events in this affair; 7/27/16, 6:56 PM
mesquito said...: Mrs Clinton assured use there was no sensitive information in those emails. So what's the problem?; 7/27/16, 6:56 PM
walter said...: Yoga Pix! you can't unsee them..; 7/27/16, 6:58 PM
pm317 said...: So what's the problem?

So you want Russians to follow through Trump's 'joke' and produce her emails meddling in this country's politics and presidential election? You guys have lost your mind.; 7/27/16, 6:59 PM
Original Mike said...: Hey pm317 - What's the security risk of Clinton's yoga lessons and wedding pics?; 7/27/16, 7:00 PM
walter said...: Of course, it would be better if they have them to release them as opposed to threatening to release them.; 7/27/16, 7:00 PM
khesanh0802 said...: @PM317 I bet none of the people you quote had looked at the video before they got on their high horses. What he essentially said was "let the Russians try to find those 30,000 e- mails no one else has been able to, but maybe they'll do better!. It was actually pretty funny for an off-the-cuff remark. If the MSM actually plays it viewers will see that it was a wry comment. I can see why the Clinton campaign is trying to throw up a smokescreen. They are going to be busy obfuscating from now 'til election day.; 7/27/16, 7:00 PM
Hagar said...: pm317,
On the previous thread thre is a connection to an article that points out just in how many ways the democrats have taken trump's bait on this - bait, hook, sinker, and line.

But primarily, the Russians either have her e-mails or they don't. All Trump could possibly do is ask them to publish them so that we can read them too.

And if the Russians won't, surely someone else will.; 7/27/16, 7:01 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: The other day I told a coworker that if we want to know what was on Hillary's server. We should ask the Russians.
Zingo! I'm a traitor.
And my coworker added that we might get a better response from the Chinese.
Zingo! He is a traitor, too!; 7/27/16, 7:01 PM
PB said...: The most qualified person ever to run for President can't handle unscripted interviews or press conferences. I think she'll push back really hard to avoid the presidential debates.; 7/27/16, 7:04 PM
n.n said...: Liberals can see Russia from Clinton's server stall.

In the spirit of our reset cold war, we call upon the Russians, or Chinese, or Islamic State, but not The Washington Post, to release Clinton's emails.

Did Obama/Clinton ever pardon the American they used as a coverup for their Libya/Benghazi quagmire?; 7/27/16, 7:05 PM
pm317 said...: @Hagar, I don't care who has her emails and who will release it or whatever they want to do (let them do it; bring it on; let the chips fall where they may). But to have a presidential candidate of the opposition party call for that to happen with the help of a foreign government is plain nuts. Go ahead, spin it as joke. Because, that is better than to think he really meant it and if he meant it, he is insane and to think it is no big deal, is even more crazy.; 7/27/16, 7:06 PM
khesanh0802 said...: All the huffing and puffing is a perfect example why all of these people in both parties should be evicted. Here's what Trump actually said "I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” He did not exhort anyone to hack anybody. More than likely they will be found on a table in Clinton's headquarters like the Rose Law Firm notes.; 7/27/16, 7:07 PM
Tommy Duncan said...: pms317 said: This is not about humor.

For the humor impaired nothing is about humor. The rest of us are enjoying the twists and turns of the election.; 7/27/16, 7:07 PM
Original Mike said...: pm317 - Clinton only deleted her personal emails. Right?; 7/27/16, 7:07 PM
madAsHell said...: This is about how irresponsible the candidate is.

The hacking is already done. He's suggesting that some foreign entity step forward, and provide the missing email. The irresponsible one was Hillary. She allowed herself to be compromised.; 7/27/16, 7:10 PM
n.n said...: Let's see. What other conspiracies can we uncover.

The refugee crises, and, in fact, social "justice"-inspired global humanitarian disaster, was created and progressed at Trump's pleasure.

Catastrophic Anthropogenic Government Whoring (CAGW). Also, Catastrophic Anthropogenic Corruption Coverup (CAGCC). I thought that the Democrats and JournoLists were more competent. The People, and [unplanned] Posterity, deserve better.; 7/27/16, 7:10 PM
Charlie Currie said...: >So you want Russians to follow through Trump's 'joke' and produce her emails meddling in this country's politics and presidential election? You guys have lost your mind.<

Well, if she had produced them, like she was required to by law, we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we?

Had she used the DOS email system, like she was supposed to, we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we?

If she had not been so "seriously irresponsible" in the handling of her emails, we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we?

Either her deleted emails were about yoga classes and wedding dresses,

Or, they contained national security secrets,

Pick one...; 7/27/16, 7:10 PM
Balfegor said...: Re: Khesan0802:

What he essentially said was "let the Russians try to find those 30,000 e- mails no one else has been able to, but maybe they'll do better!. It was actually pretty funny for an off-the-cuff remark.

Well, the emails in question were deleted right? And rendered uncoverable by the FBI. So there's nothing to hack, nowhere to look. The whole premise of Trump's joke is that the Russians already have the emails because Clinton stored them on an unsecured private server they hacked years ago. Clinton II had the copies on her private server deleted and destroyed, as one does, but she couldn't delete their copies, which one presumes they are sitting on so they can blackmail her after she becomes President of the United States.

Panetta et al. are respectable people gallantly playing dumb to support their preferred candidate. Guaranteed they know the line they're pushing is nonsense on stilts.

That said, while any fool can tell he's not inviting the Russians to hack Clinton's deactivated server to recover emails America's best forensic specialists could not recover, he is making a somewhat unseemly overture to them. Nothing remotely comparable to Kennedy's treasonous outreach in the 80's, to be sure, but just because Kennedy was a treacherous weasel doesn't mean it's okay for Trump to be dropping lines like this in public.

Even if it's great for getting the media to unwittingly advance his insinuation that the emails Clinton claims were innocuous personal emails were actually highly confidential and embarrassing, and that she and her coterie have simply been lying about their contents from the start.; 7/27/16, 7:11 PM
Anonymous said...: How "uncool"? Humor? Really? Coming from a law professor. Unbelievable. Now I've heard it all.; 7/27/16, 7:16 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Here is the NY Times headline:
Donald Trump Calls on Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails

Here is what Trump actually said: "Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."

The liberals are being played by their preferred media outlet. Again.; 7/27/16, 7:16 PM
Rocketeer said...: So you want Russians to follow through Trump's 'joke' and produce her emails meddling in this country's politics and presidential election?

What's the big deal? I mean, there was nothing sensitive in those hacked emails, right, pm317?

Right?

And if they ARE sensitive, I have to wonder at your absolute comfort with the "free" press and DOJ/FBI meddling in this country's politics and presidential election" by covering the story up and failing to indict.; 7/27/16, 7:16 PM
rhhardin said...: It's not illegal for Russia to hack a US computer. They're in Russia.

If a US computer is hacked, it's because the software is faulty, by the way.; 7/27/16, 7:17 PM
Clayton Hennesey said...: This is chess mastery revealing just how much of an act "Trump the buffoon" is. Rural people will routinely gull urbanites into believing they're country bumpkins in order to lure them off balance. No doubt something similar has been part of Trump's bag of tricks for years: bluster on public channel A, cool assessment on private channel B.

Net result: the Clintonites themselves declared Hillary's emails to be matters of national security.; 7/27/16, 7:17 PM
harrogate said...: At this point we're better off ignoring him than anything else. We know what he is. Those who will vote for him are already in his corner anyway.; 7/27/16, 7:17 PM
Original Mike said...: Yeah, pm137 - Clinton's claim that they were all personal was a lie, wasn't it?; 7/27/16, 7:18 PM
MayBee said...: Yeah, you guys covered it. The hacking, if it happened, is already done. And it is Hillary Clinton's fault, because she chose to use her own, not secure server.

But....come on. We got caught tapping Angela Merkel's private phone. What kind of high horse do Obama and Clinton think they have?

(does Merkel even talk to Obama anymore?); 7/27/16, 7:18 PM
pm317 said...: @madAsHell No, there is no information that Hillary's servers were hacked.; 7/27/16, 7:19 PM
Anonymous said...: For someone who saw the letters "NIG" on a pair of pajamas and ran with it, this Trump comment is a joke to her. Unbelievable.; 7/27/16, 7:21 PM
D. said...: >And if they ARE sensitive, I have to wonder at your absolute comfort with the "free" press and DOJ/FBI meddling in this country's politics and presidential election" by covering the story up and failing to indict.<

exactly right; 7/27/16, 7:22 PM
Rocketeer said...: We know what he is.

What he is, is in your head.

What he is, is leading Hillary 47 - 40 right now.

What he is, is co-opting the DNC coverage.

What he is - much to you and your political compatriots enraged, embarrassed realization, and to my belated, astonished and begrudging admission at long last - is much, much smarter than the political elite in this country and their preferred candidate.; 7/27/16, 7:23 PM
AlbertAnonymous said...: Two recent episodes of lib freak out - all out spin including the news media friends:

1. DNC emails hacked. "OMG the Russsians did it to favor Trump...look over there... Ask about that... Blame them... Just whatever you do, do NOT read them or ask what's in them or hold any of it against the Dems"

2. Trump says Russia (or whoever) should make the hacked Hillary emails public. "OMG how irresponsible and unpresdential and treasonous and contrary to National Security... Look over there... Ask about that... Blame them... Just whatever you do, do NOT ask questions about Hillary's complete irresponsible, unpresidential, treasonous (illegal) and contrary to National Security email server BS scheme, or hold any of it against Hillary or the Dems".

What's worse? That the Dema might be that stupid, or that they think the voters might be that stupid, or that the voters actually are that stupid?

I would happily let Hillary keep all her "ill-gotten gains" if she would just STFU and go away (and take all her family with her).; 7/27/16, 7:23 PM
J. Farmer said...: I read WaPo's "annotated" coverage. Wow. Jeff Bezos must hate Trump with a white hot passion.; 7/27/16, 7:23 PM
D. said...: >@madAsHell No, there is no information that Hillary's servers were hacked. <

we'll see hilbot; 7/27/16, 7:23 PM
Steve said...: The reactions reveal a lot about the press. Though they deny the risk that foreign powers hacked Hilary's private server and minimize the damage she did, they reveal the likelihood it happened in being shocked at Trump. If they believed the Russians and others did not hack the server they'd be laughing at Trump and calling him ignorant.

Also, it all hits too close to home. They fear their own emails to the Hilary camp may reveal they've been doing the same thing as Politico did, in letting their favorite politicians have a hand in shaping their stories. So they fear anyone calling that the emails be revealed.; 7/27/16, 7:24 PM
shiloh said...: Althouse, Bush41 ~ Bush43 ~ Jeb Bush ~ Kasich ~ Paul Ryan ~ Lindsey Graham ~ Mitt Romney ~ Ben Sasse ~ Christine Todd Whitman ~ Bill Kristol ~ Tom Ridge ~ J.C. Watts ~ Mel Martinez ~ Marco Rubio ~ Mike Lee ~ Nikki Haley ~ Kelly Ayotte ~ Mark Kirk ~ Richard Armitage ~ along with many other Rep politicians and Rep/conservative columnists, talk show hosts etc. either have not endorsed Trump or do not support him.

Do all these Rep/conservative leaders/pundits have Trump derangement syndrome? Rhetorical.

I yield back the balance of my time.; 7/27/16, 7:26 PM
buwaya said...: "Panetta et al. are respectable people"

Balfegor, they try to present themselves as respectable, but no they aren't.
Part of the joke is about just how corrupt and ludicrous the lot of them are.; 7/27/16, 7:26 PM
pm317 said...: It is not what is in the emails. Bring it on. Leak it, publish it and let her run for the hills. It is about a presidential candidate inviting a foreign power to meddle in domestic presidential politics. Let him retract it and say clearly that he meant it as a joke and even chide us for not having a sense of humor (like Althouse is doing). Then we will all guffaw and marvel at Trump's brilliant joke. Lot of chess mastery was attributed Obama's brilliance. Maybe this is Trump showing us who he really is.; 7/27/16, 7:26 PM
Balfegor said...: Also, as far as foreigners meddling in US elections, let's leave aside the media for the moment -- it's a bit rich for the Democrats to be making the argument that foreign interference in US elections is inappropriate, given that a bunch of their speakers kicking off their convention were foreigners. Who are, to add insult to injury, in the US illegally.

And lastly, as far as foreign powers, didn't Obama try to bait the president of Mexico into speaking out against Trump in a recent press conference? I forget . . .; 7/27/16, 7:27 PM
buwaya said...: Trumps job, among others, is to knock them all off their high horses.

We really are all in the mud here together, no high and mightiness is tolerated.

Notice it was not just a dig at the government, it was a dig at the press - that they would greatly appreciate it if the Russians found the emails. Right.; 7/27/16, 7:31 PM
Sebastian said...: "Used to be it was the conservatives who didn't understand the concept of humor. How horribly uncool liberals have become over the years!" Huh? All humor is conservative, as some conservatives like to say.

"No he is not asking a foreign government to carry out an illegal activity. He is merely asking a foreign government (or perhaps anyone else) to tell us what they already know." Of course. But the MSM lying is so obvious now, it gets embarrassing.

Look, the faithful here know that Trump was not my first choice. But by God, it is refreshing to see him stand up and take the fight to the enemy for real.; 7/27/16, 7:32 PM
Fabi said...: How do you hack something that's unplugged and in the custody of the FBI?; 7/27/16, 7:32 PM
tola'at sfarim said...: I seem to remember obama joking abt auditing people back in 09. And then his opponents had some trouble with the irs....; 7/27/16, 7:32 PM
buwaya said...: I am a foreigner meddling in US elections!
You have at least one of those nasty fellows right here.; 7/27/16, 7:33 PM
D. said...: > It is about a presidential candidate inviting a foreign power to meddle in domestic presidential politics.<

"tell vlad i can deal after the election" baracky 2012; 7/27/16, 7:33 PM
Michael The Magnificent said...: @madAsHell No, there is no information that Hillary's servers were hacked.

Hacker ‘Guccifer’ pleads guilty
The Romanian hacker who claimed to have broken into Hillary Clinton’s personal email server on Wednesday pleaded guilty to charges of hacking and aggravated identity theft involving dozens of Americans' email and social media accounts.
...
This month, Lazar claimed to have also broken into Clinton's “completely unsecured” server, which he compared to “an open orchid on the internet.”; 7/27/16, 7:33 PM
DanTheMan said...: PM quoted 4 paragraphs of lefty reaction to what Trump said.
He did not post what Trump actually said.

We can't have people reading it and deciding for themselves, now can we? They might draw the wrong conclusion.; 7/27/16, 7:33 PM
walter said...: That's right, pm. Obama should be teh one to ask for the release of all the emails. Then we can be more reassured that the Russians won't meddle.
But that this is getting any traction is in part because of her vulnerability on this. What exactly do hackers have on her? Even if unclassified? That was a good part of the risk with Bill's wandering wang.; 7/27/16, 7:37 PM
buwaya said...: OK, Wikileaks seems to have just dumped DNC voicemails.
No details yet.
TBD; 7/27/16, 7:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Ret. Admiral John Hutson, "Trump is not fit to shine McCain's boots".; 7/27/16, 7:41 PM
Mutaman said...: Ann Althouse said...

"Used to be it was the conservatives who didn't understand the concept of humor. How horribly uncool liberals have become over the years!"

You call yourself a law professor? Isn't hacking someone else emails a crime? Isn't encouraging someone else to do it likewise? How humorous.; 7/27/16, 7:43 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Gabby Giffords limited speech was very effective. Literally took a bullet for the team.; 7/27/16, 7:44 PM
hombre said...: Trump delivers one of the classic dumps of the campaign to the effect that maybe the Russians can find Hillary's 30,000 emails. The media pretends to take it seriously.

According to Fox Radio News, when asked, Pence says the voters won't like a foreign power meddling in the election, proving conclusively that he is both a nimrod and a pussy cowed by the press.; 7/27/16, 7:44 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Th LA Times just released a likely voter poll that has Trump ahead.

What we are seeing now is the chattering classes starting to understand to their great horror that there's now probably a better than 50% chance that we'll be seeing a President Trump in January.

He owes them nothing. He is known to be vindictive, & will have the power of the government at his disposal (oh, don't worry --- nothing fascist -- nothing worse than what the Obama DoJ & IRS did). They have no hold over him, but he has a whole administration of jobs to be filled, & that patronage as it filters down is a powerful source of influence & featherbedding for the ruling classes.

And they may just lose it to some clown who's never been in government a day in his life. Oh, the mortification!; 7/27/16, 7:44 PM
mccullough said...: The thing that makes Trump humorous is you can't tell if he's joking or not.; 7/27/16, 7:45 PM
walter said...: But when Ann gets to tonight's Dem show, I hope she's compelled to parse "Gun violence".
It's like all that "sword violence" those ISIS/ISIL/DAESCH victims got.; 7/27/16, 7:46 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: buwaya said...
OK, Wikileaks seems to have just dumped DNC voicemails.

We will soon end up like the Russians, where all important correspondence is now conducted using typewriters.; 7/27/16, 7:46 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @buwaya,

OK, Wikileaks seems to have just dumped DNC voicemails.

Voicemails? Wow! For voicemails to get leaked, this is looking more & more like than an inside job.

Pissed off BernieBros in the DNC, dude!; 7/27/16, 7:47 PM
Paco Wové said...: pm317: I am addressing you in a respectful manner, I hope. That is because you are a commenter who generally writes interesting, thoughtful comments. As such, I am asking you, again, why are you so in the tank for Hillary?

You seem to have a serious crush on the Clintons, man and wife. Speaking as someone who voted for Bill Clinton, twice, and would possibly have voted for Hillary! in 2008, but who has since been utterly disgusted by her conduct and utterances, I ask you, what do you see there?; 7/27/16, 7:48 PM
D. said...: >Literally took a bullet for the team.<

a team of well protected gun grabbers; 7/27/16, 7:54 PM
buwaya said...: Speculation -
On several sites re inside job, and as it happens a DNC staffer was murdered in Washington July 10.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Man-Shot-Killed-in-Northwest-DC-386316391.html

Off the wall conspiracy says, well, what you would expect.
Is such silliness worth a murder? Maybe.
There really are many billions if not trillions at stake.; 7/27/16, 7:54 PM
Anonymous said...: We'll see what kind of "bounce" Trump gets from his Russian connection. These latest polls do not reflect any of that. Wait for it.; 7/27/16, 7:55 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: The Dems are going all in on national defense. Last time they did this, with John Kerry, things went badly.; 7/27/16, 7:55 PM
D. said...: > Isn't hacking someone else emails a crime?<

were you this concerned about sarah palin's emails being hacked?; 7/27/16, 7:56 PM
Rocketeer said...: it's a bit rich for the Democrats to be making the argument that foreign interference in US elections is inappropriate,

US State Department meddling in the last Israeli election couldn't derail Bibi Netanyahu, but he just might die of laughter when he learns about how concerned Democrats are about "foreign powers meddling in national elections."; 7/27/16, 7:56 PM
Unknown said...: Balfegor said...
....it's a bit rich for the Democrats to be making the argument that foreign interference in US elections is inappropriate, given that a bunch of their speakers kicking off their convention were foreigners. Who are, to add insult to injury, in the US illegally.
7/27/16, 7:27 PM

which speakers were the country illegally?; 7/27/16, 7:57 PM
hombre said...: Pm317 (7:26): "It is not what is in the emails. Bring it on. Leak it, publish it and let her run for the hills. It is about a presidential candidate inviting a foreign power to meddle in domestic presidential politics."

Lunacy and stupidity are becoming the norm. If Hillary is elected they will be mandatory.

Or maybe pm317 should "retract it and say clearly" that he was just being a disingenuous Democrat. We won't "guffaw and marvel" but we will understand why he appeared loony and or stupid.; 7/27/16, 7:58 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @unknown,

We'll see what kind of "bounce" Trump gets from his Russian connection. These latest polls do not reflect any of that.

And what's the story from all this, Unknown? That Trump & Putin are BFFs?

How about this story: it just seems to be an ongoing bad habit for Hillary & the Dems that they can't keep our secrets secure from our enemies abroad.

Every time ya look, it just seems like emails & voice mails are showing in places they ought not be.

You like that story line, because it's the one Trump will be pushing?; 7/27/16, 7:59 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Rocketeer said...
US State Department meddling in the last Israeli election couldn't derail Bibi Netanyahu

That was just a professional courtesy, after he interfered in our election.; 7/27/16, 8:00 PM
Gahrie said...: . But to have a presidential candidate of the opposition party call for that to happen with the help of a foreign government is plain nuts.

So what would you call a sitting Senator, running for president, asking the Soviet Union for help against the sitting president in an election?; 7/27/16, 8:00 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Noah Rothman @NoahCRothman

"A hall full of Democrats just booed down the group chanting "No more war."
I don't know what country I live in any more."; 7/27/16, 8:02 PM
Sebastian said...: Watched most of the presser. Unbelievably refreshing. I say as a #NeverNeverTrumper who disagrees within on a bunch of issues.; 7/27/16, 8:02 PM
buwaya said...: " the last Israeli election couldn't derail Bibi Netanyahu'

The fever swamps, who have gotten a lot right lately, are speculating that this DNC bit is Mossad.; 7/27/16, 8:04 PM
buwaya said...: Fasten your seatbelts.
Its going to be a bumpy night.; 7/27/16, 8:05 PM
pm317 said...: @Paco Wové,

I will give you a serious answer and hope you take it as seriously. I am not in the tank for Hillary. I was in 2008 -- she was strong, she had good and responsible policy positions and good ideas about governing. She kicked that other neophyte's butt in every debate. She was meant to be but the rigged system stole the opportunity away from her. Now after 8 years, everything is muddled and I am as disillusioned as can be and not going to put my heart and soul into any candidate. But it is difficult to not form an opinion about what is going on.

That said, I don't buy the caricature that the media has made of her. She is vastly misunderstood and maligned. I have heard enough from people who know her personally that I am willing to discount what I hear from the media and other political opponents. I am not going to fault either one of them for being ambitious which is what drives them and makes them tenacious. We need that because these jobs are not for the faint of heart. I like it even more in her because she is a woman and she has gone on without flinching. They both understand that they need power to effect change and go after it. You may not like their policies nor their politics but I do. I am also willing to give Trump like dark horse a chance but he is losing me.; 7/27/16, 8:05 PM
Gahrie said...: Do all these Rep/conservative leaders/pundits have Trump derangement syndrome? Rhetorical.

No..they are the GOP Establishment, and their behavior is precisely the reason that Trump exists.; 7/27/16, 8:06 PM
Hagar said...: pm317,
You are beginning to sound like Chuck.
Step outside and take a couple of depp breaths.; 7/27/16, 8:07 PM
traditionalguy said...: Does The Clinton Mafia really think Americans are so stupid to believe Trump has suggested that the Russians should hack the Clinton server.

That would be the same server that Hillery carefully Wiped clean before the FBI took away and with its hard drive in their possession could not get these emails out.

All Trump could have said is why not share what the Russians must already have had for years.; 7/27/16, 8:07 PM
n.n said...: DNC staffer was murdered in Washington July 10.
...
There really are many billions if not trillions at stake.

Trillions from the Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming prophecy alone. Then there is Obamacare, welfare industry, abortion industry, [class] diversity schemes, progressive wars, redistributive change, and so on and so forth. The liberal orthodoxy and Democrat financial interests stand to lose huge.; 7/27/16, 8:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Brilliant things Trump said today at his press conference.

1. To Russian hackers: “It would be interesting to see, I will tell you this, Russia, if you're listening I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

2. On Vladimir Putin: “I don’t know who Putin is. He said one nice thing about me. … I never met Putin.”

3. On Hillary Clinton receiving classified briefings and Anthony Weiner: “Her No. 1 person, Huma Abedin, is married to Anthony Weiner, who’s a sleazeball and pervert. I'm not saying that, that's recorded history. I don't like Huma going home at night and telling Anthony Weiner all of these secrets."

4. On Tim Kaine: “Her running mate Tim Kaine, who by the way did a terrible job in New Jersey — first act he did in New Jersey was ask for a $4 billion tax increase and he was not very popular in New Jersey and he still isn't. ... What? I mean Virginia.”

5. On President Barack Obama: "I think President Obama has been the most ignorant president in our history. His views of the world, as he says, ‘don't jive’ and the world is a mess.”

6. On Hillary Clinton’s lack of news conferences: “The reason is because there is no way she can answer questions because the job she has done is so bad."

7. To NBC News correspondent Katy Tur: “Be quiet, I know you want to, you know, save her.”

8. On Bill Clinton’s speech: “The story told by her husband last night, he left out the most interesting chapter, I won't get into that. The chapter that I really waited for because it was pretty boring, the chapter that I waited for, I never heard and he left it out.”

9. On Putin and the N-word: “Putin has said things over the last year that are really bad things, OK? He mentioned the N-word one time, I was shocked to hear him mention the N-word. You know what the N-word is, right? He mentioned it, I was shocked.”; 7/27/16, 8:08 PM
hombre said...: Let's see, Hillary will stifle energy production that competes with Russia, continue the weak foreign policy that makes Putin look heroic, she signed of on the Russian uranium deal and is in the bag for Russian contributors to the Clinton Foundation.

It's easy to see why Russians want her to lose - NOT!

The reliance by the media and the Democrats on the ignorance of American voters is reaching proportions that are both epic and immoral.; 7/27/16, 8:09 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Joe Biden is one of the few people who's hair can challenge Trump's as a feat of engineering.; 7/27/16, 8:10 PM
Hagar said...: This is rich.
On Watters' World tonight Watters found a guy who did not want to state his position on fighting ISIS until he hears their position n global warming.

And in the hall, Leon Panetta was shouted down by choruses of "No More Wars!" when he brought up the priest that was murdered in France and the need for fighting ISIS more decisively.; 7/27/16, 8:11 PM
pm317 said...: @Hagar, I gave you too much credit. No more.; 7/27/16, 8:14 PM
Rocketeer said...: buwaya, if the Russians hacked these emails, I fail to see why they wouldn't scrub the Russian metadata from the trail. Unit 8200 frankly makes much more sense.; 7/27/16, 8:14 PM
traditionalguy said...: Kaine will be out soon. He makes it a challenge to stay awake. But he will fit in well with the Incense Clouds of Estrogen rising from the old Boomer Ladies. He makes you miss Crazy Bernie who at least had something to say.; 7/27/16, 8:15 PM
mockturtle said...: Used to be it was the conservatives who didn't understand the concept of humor. How horribly uncool liberals have become over the years!

It's all because of two phenomena [which are related]:
1. Feminism
2. Political correctness; 7/27/16, 8:16 PM
Paco Wové said...: pm317: thank you for your response. We will just have to disagree on many points with regards to H. Clinton's positions and ideas – as I said, 8 years ago I was willing to consider her versus the rest of the field. For me, at that time, she fell into the "she's an asshole, but she's our asshole" category, assuming that "us" meant the United States, and "them" meant the rest of the world. After the past eight years, however, I've come to the sad conclusion that "us" means "an oligarchical subset of the Democratic Party" and "them" means, among other people, me. Clinton, and the rest of the Democratic Party, have gone out of their way over the past four years to stick their collective fingers in my eye, and fuck all if I will ever vote for them again.; 7/27/16, 8:17 PM
Temujin said...: Funny. Weeks ago I remarked to my wife that if they really need to find the 30,000 emails Hillary and her staff destroyed (after being subpoenaed for them), they should simply ask the Russians or Chinese. Surely they all have copies by now. Trump said the same thing. But the PRESS was out looking for blood today. Mark my word- they'll step in this one up to their eyes.

All of you upset about what Trump said seem to have very selective sensitivities. Not worried much about Hillary's actions AS Secy of State- not as a candidate, but while serving. She knowingly broke the law, reduced national security to her own rules, exposing classified materials and names of people. Then proceeded to lie and lie and lie about it to the entire nation that she now asks to lead. She's a disgrace. Have you ever asked yourself: why would someone in her position put a server in her own bathroom anyway? To what purpose? Why would one do that?

Won't even go through the litany of crooked dealings between she and her husband that go decades back (anyone in this crowd know who Johnny Chung or Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie were)? And you're suddenly offended by what Trump said? What Trump said was correct, funny, and finger in the eye to every JournOlist in this country. The time is coming for an end to this BS.; 7/27/16, 8:17 PM
Jon Ericson said...: Wit on display.; 7/27/16, 8:19 PM
mockturtle said...: Estrogen rising from the old Boomer Ladies.

Estrogen? Are they still taking that crap? Even though it has been proven to be dangerous? I'm a Boomer and post-menopausal. Thankfully.; 7/27/16, 8:19 PM
buwaya said...: "Huma Abedin, is married to Anthony Weiner, who’s a sleazeball and pervert. I'm not saying that, that's recorded history. I don't like Huma going home at night and telling Anthony Weiner all of these secrets."

This is true. I wonder whether Huma Abedin should be getting a top security clearance for this reason alone. Leaving aside the well known (and acknowledged) negligence with secret documents in her previous employment!

The eligibility guidelines for security clearances include -

- Association with persons involved in criminal activity.; 7/27/16, 8:19 PM
mockturtle said...: I wonder whether Huma Abedin should be getting a top security clearance for this reason alone.

Well, hell! Hillary shouldn't be getting security clearance!; 7/27/16, 8:21 PM
Paco Wové said...: Echoing what Temujin said: Apparently the big crime today for all Right Thinking People is exposing how horrible the security was for Clinton's ill-considered, incompetent venture into e-mail server administration.

In the Democrat version of The Emperor's New Clothes, the little boy in the crowd is hustled off by the King's secret police for treason.; 7/27/16, 8:22 PM
shiloh said...: "Last time they did this, with John Kerry, things went badly."

Kerry was a train wreck w/no discernible response team running against a war-time incumbent and a war-time incumbent has never lost.

And after (8) years of Cheney/Bush ineptitude/incompetence ie Iraq War fiasco/economic collapse, Republicans have lost the national defense fear factor issue.

The debates will be quite embarrassing for Trump re: foreign affairs and national security.

>

As Biden just mentions national security.; 7/27/16, 8:23 PM
Paddy O said...: "We will soon end up like the Russians, where all important correspondence is now conducted using typewriters."

Not a bad idea considering the very shoddy quality of government hard drives these days. They keep crashing just when a court demands to see their contents.; 7/27/16, 8:24 PM
buwaya said...: "Not a bad idea considering the very shoddy quality of government hard drives these days. They keep crashing just when a court demands to see their contents."

Very true. There is a great deal of stuff that really shouldn't be electronic. To a degree its make-work for IT and security consultants.; 7/27/16, 8:25 PM
Lyle Smith said...: Greatest press conference eveeeer!; 7/27/16, 8:26 PM
mockturtle said...: I watched the press conference on Fox News this morning. I wasn't able to hear even one question so had to infer them from the answers. Was it better covered elsewhere?; 7/27/16, 8:26 PM
Anonymous said...: "After the past eight years, however, I've come to the sad conclusion that "us" means "an oligarchical subset of the Democratic Party" and "them" means, among other people, me."

And they ignore the real oligarch, Donald Trump.; 7/27/16, 8:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Now that we're all agreed that foreign influence in US elections is Bad, will Hillary be giving the Saudis back their money?; 7/27/16, 8:32 PM
walter said...: "it is high time America had a woman leader and we have a woman in her who wants it and we need it. You won't hear me say, 'not that woman,' because I think she has earned the right to it even amidst all the cacophony."

Wow.."high time". Didn't realize there was a clock on that issue. Just..wow.
VAGINA!; 7/27/16, 8:33 PM
buwaya said...: " It has definitely changed the Dem party and how irreversible is it, does anyone know?"

Terminal, long since. Look at California. Here it is simply a criminal conspiracy. California is the future. Fear it.; 7/27/16, 8:33 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Oligarchs rule, Unknown#1. Trump has never held elective office. He has no influence with the ruling class. You have to redefine the word 'oligarch' to put Trump in that box.; 7/27/16, 8:35 PM
mockturtle said...: California is the future. Fear it.

Scariest thing I've heard in years. Hope you are wrong!; 7/27/16, 8:36 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Terry said...
He has no influence with the ruling class.

Actually, he claimed the exact opposite, that was part of his initial pitch.; 7/27/16, 8:36 PM
Paco Wové said...: "They"? Cool! I am multitudes!

Trump strikes me as loudmouthed, clownish, a buffoon – but, as Balfegor pointed out yesterday, H. Clinton is the just the suppurating pustule, the symptom of a much greater and deeper infection of the political system of the United States.

Trump won't fix that problem, but at least he (probably) won't make it worse. In fact, I count on his flailing around fruitlessly for four years as the least damage that any candidate could do.; 7/27/16, 8:38 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: I'm of the belief that each minute we talk about Hillary's email is a win for Trump. Besides that, isn't it better to have the Russians release the emails now than blackmail her with them later. If they don't, China, PRK or someone else will.; 7/27/16, 8:40 PM
HT said...: George Wallace lost his first gubernatorial election. Paraphrased, he said, never again (we all know what he really said). Trump was previously sidelined by David Duke. Trump said never again. Here we are.; 7/27/16, 8:41 PM
chuck said...: Ah, I've missed Margaret Dumont all these years. Glad to see Democrats bringing her back.; 7/27/16, 8:41 PM
Gk1 said...: Funny how this was left out of the 60 minutes interview broadcast sunday. Now it surfaces. And you can tell shes lying!

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/did-the-dnc-undermine-bernie-sanders-candidacy; 7/27/16, 8:41 PM
Anonymous said...: He wants desperately to become a member of the oligarchy. Why do you think he hired Manafort? Manafort is the guy who was hired by billionaires to make them despots.

Paul Manafort made a career out of stealthily reinventing the world’s nastiest tyrants as noble defenders of freedom. Getting Donald Trump elected will be a cinch.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/04/paul_manafort_isn_t_a_gop_retread_he_s_made_a_career_of_reinventing_tyrants.html; 7/27/16, 8:42 PM
Paco Wové said...: V.V. asks, I answer: Out of the Shadows: Illegal Immigrant Addresses Democratic National Convention During Primetime; 7/27/16, 8:47 PM
Paco Wové said...: Unknown#55655 (a.k.a. "Unknown#1"): telling us how awful Trump is doesn't make Hillary look any better. (Hint: we think you're lying, anyway.); 7/27/16, 8:49 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: All of you upset about what Trump said seem to have very selective sensitivities.

Like being outraged that the DNC was hacked but having no comment on the collusion between Hillary's campaign and the DNC to put the fix in. What did Hillary know about this? Inquiring minds want to know.; 7/27/16, 8:49 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Unknown1,

And the last time you saw an article in Slate that had kind words for Republicans was when, exactly?

Askin' for a friend, you understand.; 7/27/16, 8:50 PM
James said...: @pm317
Trump's entire comment was "“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”"

It was obviously a joke and not an invitation to hack; he was tweaking the press about their lack of curiosity over the contents of the missing e-mails.

In any event didn't Hillary turn over the server to the FBI? How exactly does Russia hack a server that is in the custody of the FBI and that is no longer online?; 7/27/16, 8:57 PM
Paco Wové said...: Hillary Clinton went out of her way to allow her private mail to be stolen by foreign governments. As far as I am concerned, this should disqualify her from any government office, at the very least.; 7/27/16, 9:01 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Terry said...
He has no influence with the ruling class.

Actually, he claimed the exact opposite, that was part of his initial pitch.

7/27/16, 8:36 PM

No quote, no link, simply an assertion. Go ARM, Go!
I mean it. Go.; 7/27/16, 9:02 PM
eric said...: Oh, they took the bait alright. Hook, line and sinker.; 7/27/16, 9:08 PM
HT said...: Vote for the 'crook.'
It's important.; 7/27/16, 9:12 PM
madAsHell said...: @madAsHell No, there is no information that Hillary's servers were hacked.

Are you kidding? Who is Guccifer?

I should show you my system logs. Hacking is always happening.

Even after the news broke, her email server was still available for two days. The splash screen indicated that the software hadn't been updated since 2010. Why are updates important?; 7/27/16, 9:13 PM
pm317 said...: Guccifer never hacked Clinton email server, FBI director says Read...; 7/27/16, 9:20 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: James said...
@pm317
Trump's entire comment was "“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”"

It was obviously a joke and not an invitation to hack; he was tweaking the press about their lack of curiosity over the contents of the missing e-mails.

Althouse has thoughtfully provided a link to Trump actually speaking words. The context of the remark about the emails and Russia was Hillary's failure to held a press conference in what? Seven months? How do you run for president in 2016 without holding an occasional press conference?; 7/27/16, 9:22 PM
pm317 said...: Given the OPM breach there is a higher probability that a server at State gets hacked more easily than a private server whose existence is not widely known.; 7/27/16, 9:22 PM
HT said...: Don't be Midwestern dumbasses.

We got that.; 7/27/16, 9:23 PM
khesanh0802 said...: @Balfegor 7:11 pm. You are right. I was a little unclear. I was aware that the servers are disconnected I guess I should have made clearer that I assumed the Russkis already had them and Trump would appreciate their release.; 7/27/16, 9:24 PM
readering said...: Unusual to do a big press conference in the middle of the other party's convention. What's the point other than the megalomania that says you can cover any topic without study. He didn't even read up on the nominee for vp enough to know it wasn't the ex-governor of New Jersey. And his bromance with Putin is just crazy.; 7/27/16, 9:26 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: SoS is one of the highest priority targets in the world and our enemies are using some the most sophisticated technology available. From what was reported, they had disabled the server security features. I would peg it at close to a 100% probability that Hillary's illegal server was hacked.; 7/27/16, 9:28 PM
James said...: Since we're now playing "Quote Comey"...

Statement by FBI Director James B. Comey on the Investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s Use of a Personal E-Mail System

"With respect to potential computer intrusion by hostile actors, we did not find direct evidence that Secretary Clinton’s personal e-mail domain, in its various configurations since 2009, was successfully hacked. But, given the nature of the system and of the actors potentially involved, we assess that we would be unlikely to see such direct evidence. We do assess that hostile actors gained access to the private commercial e-mail accounts of people with whom Secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account. We also assess that Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail domain was both known by a large number of people and readily apparent. She also used her personal e-mail extensively while outside the United States, including sending and receiving work-related e-mails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries. Given that combination of factors, we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal e-mail account."; 7/27/16, 9:29 PM
Drago said...: Shiloh: "The debates will be quite embarrassing for Trump re: foreign affairs and national security."

LOL; 7/27/16, 9:29 PM
Drago said...: HT: "Don't be Midwestern dumbasses."

That's no way to talk about Detroit or Ferguson, MO.; 7/27/16, 9:31 PM
MikeD said...: pm317 said "Given the OPM breach there is a higher probability that a server at State gets hacked more easily than a private server whose existence is not widely known."
The minute your priestess fired up her unsecure Blackberry in most anywhere in the world, bad actors knew all about the "secret service with guns protected" bathroom server!; 7/27/16, 9:32 PM
mockturtle said...: How do you run for president in 2016 without holding an occasional press conference?

Hillary and her minions are betting that her chances are best when she is neither seen nor heard. And they are right.; 7/27/16, 9:35 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: When my great-aunt as a girl emigrated here from Russia, the girls in her new school asked her, Is there a moon in Russia?

At a similar level of stupidity is the interpretation which is attempting to be applied by the Democratic machine. They might as well accuse Trump of assault for wishing that the moon fall on her. There is no conceivable legitimate cause for complaint here, and even an inconceivable cause could not possibly be litigated before the election; I doubt even an indictment could be prepared.

What I suppose could happen is that Obama might decide to withhold classified briefings from Trump using these baseless grounds; then Trump or his people would have to take action about that, if possible, and then time would be against Trump. It wouldn't be lethal, but it would be harmful, and spiteful, which puts it right in Barack Hussein Obama's wheelhouse.

Quick, unknowns, run back to base and tell your masters about this great idea you thought up all by yourselves. More Soylent Green for you! Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm.; 7/27/16, 9:37 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Blogger readering said...
Unusual to do a big press conference in the middle of the other party's convention. What's the point other than dominating the conversation, hammering his points home, sucking the air out of the DNC, twisting the lapdog media till they can't see straight and watching them fall for it?

I dunno! Was that rhetorical?

(FIFY); 7/27/16, 9:41 PM
D. said...: >Unusual to do a big press conference in the middle of the other party's convention. <

eff you and your rules; 7/27/16, 9:44 PM
pm317 said...: @MikeD, I don't think you have information about how she accessed her server and how the server itself was operated (maybe they dunked it in the bathtub to get rid of the viruses). Neither do I. So let us leave it at not enough information.; 7/27/16, 9:45 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: The NY Times in 2012, when it ran interference for Obama's clumsy attempt to use a foreign power to influence the US presidential election:

wo decades after the end of the cold war, Mitt Romney still considers Russia to be America’s “No. 1 geopolitical foe.” His comments display either a shocking lack of knowledge about international affairs or just craven politics. Either way, they are reckless and unworthy of a major presidential contender.

Mr. Romney couldn’t wait to pounce when President Obama told President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia — in a conversation at a nuclear arms summit meeting picked up by a microphone — that he would have more flexibility on missile defense and other arms issues after the election.

First, this is an honest statement of fact, as Mr. Romney’s reaction clearly demonstrated. The political atmosphere in Washington is so poisonous that cooperation on any issue right now is near impossible. Mr. Romney accused Mr. Obama of signaling that, postelection, he would “cave” on missile defense. In Foreign Policy Magazine on Tuesday, Mr. Romney accused him of bowing to Russia on nuclear arms cuts and Iran. That is not true.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/opinion/the-never-ending-cold-war.html; 7/27/16, 9:46 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: pm, with respect, what is your IT background, to refute the information being provided you? This is what is commonly referred to as denial.; 7/27/16, 9:48 PM
D. said...: >Unusual to do a big press conference in the middle of the other party's convention. <

unusual to use the irs to attack your political enemies no?; 7/27/16, 9:48 PM
James said...: pm317 is just pretending to be dumb. If I recall correctly she's an Indian immigrant and very savvy about technology. She was a YUUUGE Hillary fan back in 2008; she was one of the few people on this blog pushing that whole PUMA thing.; 7/27/16, 9:52 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: I assume that the Russians had a team assigned to monitor Hillary's communications. Real professionals, with access to all the tools available to a modern nation state.
Karen Dawisha, the author of Putin's Kleptocracy, says that Putin became wealthy and powerful by hijacking Communist Party funds invested abroad when the Soviet Union collapsed. When he needed to launder money looted from the CP bank accounts, he turned to the experts in the Russian mafia, learned their methods, then had them killed or imprisoned. He took over their business.
Exactly what Putin did in the KGB is not clear, but he probably was assigned to a group that monitored the Stasi in E. Germany.
Putin should not be underestimated. He is tough, ruthless, and he has gotten where he is by turning knowledge into power.; 7/27/16, 10:00 PM
Mary Beth said...: People are upset because they're afraid foreign governments will do what Trump asks them to?; 7/27/16, 10:53 PM
pm317 said...: Hmmm,, what is my IT background,,,I could teach you a thing or two.; 7/27/16, 11:09 PM
furious_a said...: What did you think of Hillary's presser?; 7/27/16, 11:16 PM
furious_a said...: Hillary's server (one of them, at least) was hosted in the bathroom closet of an IT shop in Denver known,as Platte Rivet Networks. No Secret Service, protection, just employees told to keep a secret.; 7/27/16, 11:25 PM
OldManRick said...: Has anybody done the math on these emails? 30,000 emails over 4 years is 7,500 emails a year. Assuming 5 days a week for 50 weeks (or 250 days) that's 30 emails a day.

Does anyone believe she sent 30 emails a day on yoga and Chelsea's wedding?

If you do believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I'd like you to invest in.; 7/27/16, 11:35 PM
Gospace said...: Gahrie said...
. But to have a presidential candidate of the opposition party call for that to happen with the help of a foreign government is plain nuts.

So what would you call a sitting Senator, running for president, asking the Soviet Union for help against the sitting president in an election?

Note that that particular precedent has NOT been mentioned in any MSM article, not will it ever be. Has been brought up on a few conservative sites. Now, the bonus question: Who was the senator?

And something I had never even considered. Hacked voicemail. If the hackers have snippets of it- they have all of it. And I didn't think this election season would be fun.; 7/28/16, 12:09 AM
Rocketeer said...: Hmmm,, what is my IT background,,,I could teach you a thing or two.

No doubt. You've already taught me that they don't have ellipses training in IT.; 7/28/16, 12:16 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: "The Dems are going all in on national defense. Last time they did this, with John Kerry, things went badly."

They've made it very clear since the mid-70's that they couldn't be trusted to defend a hot dog stand. It's odd that they even try to stake out some credibility on the issue. They should stick to race-baiting and Free Stuff. That's where their electoral edge lies.; 7/28/16, 12:23 AM
Achilles said...: pm317 said...
"Given the OPM breach there is a higher probability that a server at State gets hacked more easily than a private server whose existence is not widely known."

Brutally ignorant. This is so stupid I suspect malign intent.

There is a completely separate network called SIPRNet for this information. These communications should have stayed there. But it is somewhat inconvenient to use. Hillary took information that should have been on that network and widely distributed it to her staff who didn't have clearances.

SIPR isn't hacked often and it is compartmentalized so you can't get much when you do. If you plug a thumb drive into a SIPR computer alarms go off in the "IT Department" and people physically come to your computer usually before it auto opens.

How Hillary thought what she did was acceptable is utterly incomprehensible to anyone in the intel community. Idiots like you who pretend they know what happened are just as ridiculous.; 7/28/16, 12:35 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: pm317 said...
Hmmm,, what is my IT background,,,I could teach you a thing or two.

7/27/16, 11:09 PM

Of course you can; as Joe Biden would say, you're from India. <--humor :-)

So please, teach me how the elements of information security were assured for Sec. Clinton's electronic communications. E.g.:

Integrity
Non-repudiation
Authenticity
Confidentiality
Privacy
Availability
Accountability
Reliability
...; 7/28/16, 12:45 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: I'll wait while you Google it. You'll find a bunch of long PDFs, mostly at .gov addresses.

I'll tell you the one bit of infosec they do know: NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 1

(or they could be such losers they're stuck on DoD 5220.22-M)

Teach me, teacher.; 7/28/16, 12:56 AM
james conrad said...: I Watched It

Yeah, so did i. He was tough, smart, articulate and funny. Brilliant piece of political theatre, i notice this morning on "real clear politics" video section, Trump dominated the news cycle. He is stomping all over the dem convention message and the dems/media have no idea how to go at this guy, Trump is playing them for the chumps they are.; 7/28/16, 2:35 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: The next four or so months are going to be interesting. For much of the country, who knew about Crooked Hillary's illegal private server, Trump was hilarious. But there are some on the left, like pm317, who were clueless, and for them, clueless after hours of explanation. The left is more humor impaired, whether they be socialists, communists, fascists, or whatever. How many times have we been lectured over the years by a humorless leftist that something we thought was funny was not, but was, instead, rather tasteless? Well, this election has a candidate who is going to tell a lot of jokes that the left is not going to like, and some, like this, they will find quite offensive. And the more they get upset, like PM317 did tonight, the more he will do it.

The danger to the Dems here in general, and Crooked Hillary in particular, is that a lot of these jokes of Trump are based on somewhat inside knowledge that over the decades many of us have learned about her and her people. Essentially, political junkies on the right. It is out there, and much of it has been for years. She is massively corrupt, and has been for decades. One of the most flawed candidates they could have picked. As far as I can tell, the only apparently redeeming characteristic she appears to have is a vagina. And I expect it isn't in very good shape at her age. So, Trump tells this joke, and a number of us think it is funny at the time, but find it even funnier as time goes on, and a bunch of humor impaired leftists get all upset about it, having been drinking the Koolaid for so long. They actually believe her. I don't even think that Bill believes his wife here. She tells them that the sky is pink, and Trump laughs at her for that with a blue sky joke, and her supporters get upset because that is tasteless. But the empress has no clothes, and when the joke is explained to them, not only find it funny, but now have one more reason to believe that she is venal and corrupt, and unfit for the Presidency.

I think that PM317 here is a perfect illustration of this. They probably have heard all the specifics about Crooked Hillary's email travails, but don't get their ramifications. And this from someone who apparently knows a lot about IT. And nothing we say here is going to change their mind. They were told by their betters that nothing happened, and, thus, nothing happened. Which is why Crooked Hillary has been able to go through life grafting, and they are now very wealthy, because the left are so good at doing what they are told. But most of the country is not so willfully blind, and when they figure out the joke, are going to think it funny, and will have more data to support the belief that she is too corrupt to be trusted. And, yes, the PM317s are going to be given marching orders to get all upset about jokes like this, if they don't get upset on their own, but the more the people realize that Trump is laughing at them, as well has Clinton, the more they will join in.; 7/28/16, 3:32 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: To understand the joke, you need a bit of background (skip this, if you know it already). On 9/11/12, two months before Obama's reelection, our consulate in Benghazi Lybia was attacked by terrorists. Our embassador was my murdered, and three other Americans died, two of them fighting all night, waiting for relief that never arrived, which was unprecedented. The attack was an obvious military operation, which most everyone knew from the first couple of minutes. Crew served weapons were deployed, including the mortars that eventually killed the two security consultants who had rushed to the action. But not long after the attack, the Administration started spinning the story like crazy. UN Ambassador Rice went on all the Sun shows to tell us about how it was supposedly a spontaneous demonstration triggered by a video that dissed the Prophet. Except that the attack in Benghazi was planned with military precision, etc. the poor filmmaker was even like caked up, and Sec of State Clinton lied to the parents of the four Americans killed that night about why their sons died. And, debate moderator Candy Crowley may have thrown the election to Obama by lying about it.

Knowing that the Administration had lied through their teeth about Benghazi, to get Obama reelected, the Republican House started investigating where the lies started, and who was involved. The Administration, to no one's surprise, stonewalled like crazy. But ultimately, some emails and memos started to be produced. No one expected to get much out of the White House, because of their liberal invocation of Executive Privilege. But the State Department was a different story. These were State Dept employees who died, and the Sec of State should have been up to her eyeballs in the action and the coverup. Yet, there was a deafening silence about the Secretary of State, and her involvement. Nothing. No emails. Nothing. And, ditto for Judicial Watch which tried through FOIA. As incredible as it seemed, the govt was able to produce no relevant emails to or from the Sec of State. None. Justice at toys swore on stacks of Bibles in open court that there were no relevant documents.

Then, a hacker released emails hacked from Sydney Blumenthal (long time Clinton family crony) that included email about Lybia from and to Crooked Hillary, then the Sec of State. And, later and behold, the mystery started to unravel about why there were no relevant emails of hers on the State Dept servers, and that was because she had never used a .gov email account to conduct her official business, as she was legally required to do. Never. Instead, she had exclusively used an account on a private email server owned apparently by the family foundation, and physically protected by the Secret Service at her NY residence (and ultimately moved to that bathroom in CO). But not protected electronically very well, and clearly not nearly to the level of the a State Dept.; 7/28/16, 4:13 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Continuing the saga, the federal judge in the FOIA case was not amused to discover that the reason that the govt had not been able to produce Crooked Hillary's emails under court order was that she had essentially violated the federal record retention act in setting up and using her private email server to conduct official business. And, making things worse, much of that official business included classified material, or at least material that would ultimately be classified. All, of course, illegal. So, her emails were ordered produced by the court. But, the State Dept agreed to let her and her attorneys decide what was work related, and thus to be produced, and what wasn't. This was apparently done using search terms, and if the email didn't contain terms included in those search terms, they were considered private. Obviously, grossly under-inclusive. Out of some 60,000 emails on the server in her account, roughly half, some maybe 33,000 or so were classified by her attorneys as private. These are the emails that Trump was talking about. Later, when the judge had been convinced that this might be a bit fishy, and asked for the rest of them, they were told that the server had been wiped, after the 30,000 work related emails had been produced. As Crooked Hillary would ask, when asked about this, playing dumb, "with a cloth?" Supposedly putting thos 30k emails beyond the reach of Congress, FOIA, and the federal courts. Were they all about yoga lessons and her daughter's wedding. I would think unlikely.

Except that we know that Sydney Blumenthal's email was hacked, and the hackers had the same information that proved so interesting to the court and Congressional investigators, that Crooked Hillary was using a private server to conduct government business as Secretary of State. Could her server be hacked too? Almost assuredly. They got behind on security updates, and even if it had been up to date, it had nowhere near the security of the State Dept systems had. Was her server hacked? Probably. Guiciffer claims to have done so. There was email produced that indicated that her acct had been maybe hacked. But the FBI says maybe not (but would probably had to recommend her prosecution if they had found it hacked). And it probably would have been high up in importance in getting hacked by nation states around the world. Her office was at the center of our foreign relations around the world, and a lot of people would give a lot of money to find out our inside thinking in that area. This is like when the Soviets built antennas into the foundation of our new embassy in Moscow, so they could track the communications in the building, only at an international level. And, the countries most likely to have the ability to have hacked her private email account were Russia, China, Iran, maybe NORK, etc.

So, that is the underpinning of the joke. Crooked Hillary's attorneys deleted the 30k or so emails that they claim were not work related, and then wiped the system. Unless the FBI can forensically recover them from the wiped hard drive (which they are unlikely to try very hard to do, because it would probably mean recommending her prosecution), the only way to find out what was in those 30,000 deleted emails is if one of the parties who hacked her server releases them, if it was indeed hacked. And, topping that list is Russia, with both the motive and ability to have done so.; 7/28/16, 5:01 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Probably shouldn't go on, but will. Part of why the joke is so funny to a lot of us is what it says about Crooked Hillary's personality and qualifications for the Presidency. The more you dig into it, the worse she looks. So, Trump mentions the top layer, pulling together a couple of things, and you need to unravel the scandal to understand the joke. Those, like PM317, ordered not to do so, are going to continue to not understand why it is funny.

Another part of this scandal that isn't directly relevant to the joke, but is to her qualifications for the Presidency. And that goes to motive. She claimed convenience. And, yes, security is often inconvenient, and esp at the levels of national security that she dealt at (and would deal as President). So, we have emails detailing her minions to remove security markings to get classified material to her on her insecure private server. Some of it may have been convenience - her time was too valuable to waste on normal day to day security that is the bane of existence for those who routinely deal with highly classified information. It is fine for the peons, but not for her, who had access to all of the classified information in her department. Indeed, while Sec of State, she was one of 5 or 6 original classifiers in the federal govt. Anything classified, or potentially classified, involving foreign relations for the United States was her responsibility (like the Sec of Defense has that responsibility for the military). Yet using two PDAs or the department email systems was too inconvenient for her. Even if her refusal to do so allowed the Russians, Chinese, or even Guciffer, to hack her email.

But there is more. Crooked Hillary is famously paranoid. Anyone who is old enough probably rembers her repeated claims that the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy is out to get the Clintons. The VRC was apparently behind all of Bill Clinton's problems with women, ranging from his string of girlfriends through sexual harassment of subordinates and even probably rape. In any case, I think many of us realized from the first with her email server, that the biggest reason for using a private server was to thwart the VRC second guessing her (and discovering her family's cash for official favors business plan) through Congressional oversight and FOIA. That this was a major concern was recently corroborated through email from, I believe, her close aide Huma. And that is part that is so bad - that she would risk our national secrets just to prevent Congress and the citizens of this country looking over her shoulder. They talk so much about temperament - how does this show the temperament (or character) needed to lead this country?; 7/28/16, 5:46 AM
Jaq said...: "Given the OPM breach there is a higher probability that a server at State gets hacked more easily than a private server whose existence is not widely known."

So nobody knew about HRC's emails? LO FUCKING L! That is some world class stretching of reality you are doing there!; 7/28/16, 6:31 AM
Humperdink said...: The saying goes: "Liberals view conservatives as evil, conservatives view libs as stupid".

Not quite sure about the first part, but the second part reared it's ugly head yesterday. To wit: the libs think the Russkies need prompting to spy on Hillary. How juvenile.; 7/28/16, 6:35 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: The Yahoo 'Paranoids' security Tiger team repeatedly notified a DNC staffer that they suspected that National Technical Means were being used to attack her email security on a DAILY basis. Some nameless woman, there are thousands of people like her, and if she was being hacked, all I'd them were being hacked. And if they could identify her, you think they couldn't identify HRC's emails?

Let me ask a question, has anyone suggested that she was using encryption? You can get free PGP software and comm pretty securely with everyone else who has peer certificates. Maybe not with her yogi, but did she use encryption with Savage Sid, for instance?

This election which equates to interviewing for the job of running the world. Her resume has some boxes checked, but her portfolio looks like a spider on LSD drew it. In crayon.

Who would hire her to run a lemonade stand?; 7/28/16, 7:36 AM
dreams said...: "This is about how irresponsible the candidate is."

It was criminal, crooked Hillary was so negligent with our security and she should have been indicted. We can't trust her and the other crooked Dems with our national security. After eight years, these incompetent and crooked people have left us with a very dangerous world. I think Trump will win and I'm hoping he will be as successful as my hero Ronald Reagan. Its looks like 1980 to me.; 7/28/16, 8:01 AM
grackle said...: For those readers who would like to read about how Chappaquiddick Ted asked the Russians to interfere in an American election:

http://tinyurl.com/mqpnzp

And after (8) years of Cheney/Bush ineptitude/incompetence ie Iraq War fiasco/economic collapse, Republicans have lost the national defense fear factor issue.

Readers, will they EVER stop running against the evil Bushitler? Talk about living in the past …; 7/28/16, 9:48 AM
grackle said...: Krauthammer on fallout from DNC document dump and Trump’s trap. The fun begins at about 3:10 on the video:

http://tinyurl.com/hdwe9ty; 7/28/16, 10:01 AM
Ken B said...: pm317:
"This is not about humor."

Oh pm317, I read your comment above and it's all about laughing.; 7/28/16, 11:11 AM