Boot:
The White House is the one that’s doing the stonewalling. As I write today, Trump is imitating a tried and true authoritarian tactic—investigate the investigators—to escape accountability: https://wapo.st/2IUWtlbAdams:
What was the alternative?Boot:
The alternative is pretty simple: don’t obstruct justice. Let the lawful investigation proceed unimpeded. Uphold the oath of office. Defend the Constituon [sic].Adams:
Obstructing justice would be bad. Obstructing INJUSTICE is why voters hired him. It's his job to know the difference, and he's showing his work. I appreciate his transparency on this. Presidents have freedom of speech too.Ah! Now, I'm seeing that Adams is in the middle of a live Periscope. I'll just put this post up and watch this later when I can start at the beginning. I like this term "obstructing injustice," so let's see where Adams goes with it:
Scott Adams teaches you how “obstructing justice” is thinking past the sale. Plus Iran, NOrth Korea, and coffee. https://t.co/MUrxxwlfvP— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) May 22, 2018
ADDED: I'm going to read Boot's WaPo column, linked in the first tweet, because I really don't understand that investigating the investigators is "a tried and true authoritarian tactic." It seems to me that in an authoritarian governmental system, the leader controls the investigators, so how can they be investigated by any governmental authority that is in a position to impose consequences? You've only got private citizens — notably, journalists — trying to do investigations. The ability to investigate the investigators seems to me to be an attribute of a free and open society.
So, Boot's column begins:
Remember that old adage that a frog will jump out of a boiling pot but won’t notice if the temperature is slowly raised until it’s boiled alive?Well, that's not an "adage," but I know the analogy you're talking about. Thanks for letting me know up front that attention to accurate language isn't important to you. It would make more sense to call it a "fable," which is the term used at the Wikipedia article, "Boiling frog." I love Wikipedia. I'm abandoning the project of reading Boot's blather so I can dive into a delightful hot bath of Wikipedia:
The boiling frog is a fable describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of threats that arise gradually.
While some 19th-century experiments suggested that the underlying premise is true if the heating is sufficiently gradual, according to contemporary biologists the premise is false: a frog that is gradually heated will jump out. Indeed, thermoregulation by changing location is a fundamentally necessary survival strategy for frogs and other ectotherms.
As part of advancing science, several experiments observing the reaction of frogs to slowly heated water took place in the 19th century. In 1869, while doing experiments searching for the location of the soul, German physiologist Friedrich Goltz demonstrated that a frog that has had its brain removed will remain in slowly heated water, but an intact frog attempted to escape the water when it reached 25 °C.I see good potential for metaphor, because it is kind of like America has had its brain removed. When did that happen? Pop culture, fake news, too much fixation on screens, drugs — sorry, I can't pursue that brain(ha ha)storm right now. But you see the idea. If we're the frog that doesn't jump out of the boiling water that means we've had our brain removed — the soul-search Friedrich Goltz ghoulishly figured that out for us. What would we do without German physiologists?
Anyway, there's more science detail at that Wikipedia article, and when I get back to Boot, I see he knows his "adage" about frogs is wrong:
It turns out that it just isn’t true. In fact, frogs will hop out when the temperature turns uncomfortable.Then why start a column with that bullshit?
Which suggests that we may not be as smart as slimy green amphibians.Only if we don't jump out of slowly heating water.
President Trump is throwing one democratic norm after another into a big pot and rapidly raising the heat, and we’re too busy watching the royal wedding to notice.This metaphor is annoying me. Are the "democratic norms" supposed to be the frogs that won't jump out? They sound like ingredients being added to a soup, but what's bad about soup? Something that could be killed and that has the power to save itself needs to be in the pot. Are we in the pot, and are democratic norms being put in there with us? I think a metaphor should be abandoned if you can't get the moving parts right!
Boot proceeds to enumerate Trump's transgressions on "significant norms." The headings are: "Revealing intelligence sources," "Politically motivated prosecutions," "Mixing private and government business," "Foreign interference in U.S. elections," "Undermining the First Amendment."
Boot's point is that we're not getting upset enough. We should be jumping at these early transgressions, like the nonexistent frog.
Republicans approve of, or pretend not to notice, his flagrant misconduct, while Democrats are inured to it. The sheer number of outrages makes it hard to give each one the attention it deserves. But we must never – ever! – accept the unacceptable. Otherwise our democracy will be boiled alive.But in real life, the frog does jump out when it gets too hot. The slow heating does not interfere with that capacity. Using the real-life analogy, we're not getting terribly upset yet because we don't think it's too hot yet, and we will be able to jump when we decide that it is. That last sentence forgets the science and screams at us to jump now because otherwise we'll be boiled alive. But that's alarmism. Frogs don't live like that, so why should we?
Boot wrote "we may not be as smart as slimy green amphibians," but maybe we are, and we don't fritter away our life's energy by abandoning one acceptably warm pool on the theory if it turns out to be a fatal boiling pot we will die.
By the way, here's another Wikipedia article about a reaction-to-heat metaphor, "Out of the frying pan into the fire."
पोस्ट्स
४२६ टिप्पण्या:
426 पैकी 1 – 200 नवीन› नवीनतम»We need some civil service reforms again.
First of all, make it illegal for government employees to be a member of a union.
Among the "Never-Trump" righties, poor Max Boot has perhaps tripped the light fantastic the hardest.
Seriously, he's just wiggy now on the subject of Trump.
It's also amazing to see how people who you always assumed knew the workings of the Federal Government are now revealing that they don't know who controls the Executive Branch. Strange how the question never arose under the Obama admin.
Trump is imitating a tried and true authoritarian tactic—investigate the investigators—to escape accountability
So is investigating investigators only ever an authoritarian tactic? If so, the various Internal Affairs departments that investigate alleged police misconduct are indicators of an authoritarian state. So is any kind of oversight of any kind of investigation.
"Max Boot" sounds like National Lampoon and The Onion squared.
First of all, we need some evidence of injustice. All we have seen so far is the Republicans in the FBI drag out the email investigation so that it would have maximal effect on the election. NTTIAWWT.
All we have seen so far is the Republicans in the FBI drag out the email investigation so that it would have maximal effect on the election.
I certainly hope so. The Republicans took a generation to recover from Isolationism.
The Democrats are starting to worry about the election. Not you, of course. But Mark Penn seems to.
Max Boot is really off the charts on NeverTrumpism but his book on Edward Lansdale is excellent.
ARM is still flogging his fantasy that the 2018 FBI is Republican.
Among the "Never-Trump" righties, poor Max Boot has perhaps tripped the light fantastic the hardest.
Seriously, he's just wiggy now on the subject of Trump.
“If you’re going to shoot him, you have to shoot to kill,” Tribe said. “And that requires an overwhelming majority of a bipartisan kind. Otherwise you’re just going to nick the guy, and make him feel empowered and vindicated.”
Laurence Tribe
The stage was set with the IRS denying enemy groups their tax status.
That colors every executive action against the right, as perceived by the right.
They have the advantage of probability on their side.
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
"First of all, we need some evidence of injustice."
A stopped clock is right twice a day. Before a Special Prosecutor was appointed, there should have been evidence that a crime had been committed. There was not. Or, if there were, thus far no one has said what that crime was.
It is interesting that both sides opining on the Trump-Mueller fiasco rely on supposition to make their cases.
We need more transparency in this entire process. That the Left has fought transparency is a "tell" that suggests the facts, when they come out, will not be in their favor. That is my primary supposition.
The process reminds me of how Bill Clinton was very effective in "telling the truth slowly" so that people became tired of the controversy before his deception was uncovered. The MSM is highly complicit in this process. It continues to amaze me that some people do not grasp that the MSM has been the propaganda arm of the DNC for quite some time.
In any case, we need more sunlight, so that we can see through the smokescreens thrown up by the MSM and probably both sides of the Trump-Mueller fiasco.
ARM is still flogging his fantasy that the 2018 FBI is Republican.
ARM is still flogging his bold-faced lie that the 2018 FBI is Republican.
You decide.
> Max Boot is really off the charts on NeverTrumpism
His whole argument in the twitter thread is just vapor. He hasn't the slightest interest in knowing what happened, he just wants Trump undone by means fair or foul.
The FBI lost it when it went diversity. Once some lies must be accepted, all lies are accepted. It's just a question of punishment for disbelievers.
Jupiter said...
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
"First of all, we need some evidence of injustice."
A stopped clock is right twice a day. Before a Special Prosecutor was appointed, there should have been evidence that a crime had been committed. There was not. Or, if there were, thus far no one has said what that crime was.
That's not how special prosecutors function, especially when investigating a Republican. In a normal case, it's a matter of "a crime was committed. Let's investigate to determine who did it." With special prosecutors, it's Lavrenti Beria's "Show me the man and I'll show you the crime" all over again.
I'm reading Conrad Black's biography of Trump. The first chapter is hilarious, recounting all his adventures in real estate in New York and Atlantic City by a writer who knows finance and big time business.
I recommend it. Not a hagiography, like Obama bios, but just hilarious.
I can see why a lot of NewYorkers hate him.
Max Boot is just showing everyone who really pays his bills.
His job is to lie to republican voters.
His cover is that he is a republican.
But he is a globalist shill and they pay him to put out the official "good conservative" line. Good conservatives like Max Boot hate Trump of course.
Trump and republican voters are deplorable bad. His job is to define the mainstream without over half the country in it.
That is all.
Shorter leftwing collective: Let the corrupt liar hacks do their job!
All we get from the Left are sound bites and legal conclusions. They can't begin to spell out in any detail exactly how the President is obstructing justice. Just their conclusions.
The real laugher is they claim firing Comey was obstruction of justice. That clown should have been fired on day one.
If you want to see the ravings of loons, watch Joe and Mika on Morning Joe. Completely unhinged with TDS.
And John Meacham has just lost all credibility. He's sure Trump gets impeached. Bet?
An argument between political frames of reference, assuming both are sincere. That is, between one who sees his loyalty as belonging to the political system, and one who recognizes a nation as an entity separate from its structures of governance.
In the end Boot is the more limited man with a narrower perspective.
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
First of all, we need some evidence of injustice.
If there weren't double standards leftists would have no standards at all.
All we have seen so far is the Republicans in the FBI drag out the email investigation so that it would have maximal effect on the election. NTTIAWWT.
With his stupidity on full display ARM highlights what this is really about. DC republicans are really just democrats whose jobs are to lie to republican voters and provide cover for stalinism. Hillary got 93% of the vote in DC.
DC republicans are just cover for the globalists that own DC.
The only thing republican voters hate more than democrats in DC are republicans in DC.
Still waiting for justice in the Hillary Clinton private server while head of the State Dept case.
She was never indicted or prosecuted because some words were changed around.
The TDS is strong in this one.
Or, if there were, thus far no one has said what that crime was.
I believe the crime was Democrats losing the election.
Adams 1, Boot 0
In order to fully grasp this issue above a mere superficial understanding one needs to read and digest:
1. Andrew McCarthy (Federal Prosecutor - right of center)
2. Allen Dershowitz (Defense attorney/Professor - left of center)
3. Joe DiGenova (Federal Prosecutor - right of center)
4. Jonathan Turley (Professor - left of center).
One must also read the blog, The Conservative Treehouse. (hat tip to Dr. K)
If you don't read, wrestle with and understand what these folks are saying, then you will remain ignorant on this complex issue.
The working hypothesis is this:
1. Obama's DOJ and FBI whitewashed the Hillary investigation of her private server and deleted emails. The motive was obviously to avoid indicting her before the election, which would have crippled her candidacy. (Despite this, Crazy Comey accidentally nailed Hillary by exonerating her legally, but trashing her politically during his famous press conference.)
2. Obama's DOJ and FBI, as an "insurance policy", conjured up a counter-intelligence investigation to spy on the Trump campaign, and leak the product to the NYTimes and WaPost. (Despite this, Clinton misread the political tea leaves in Wis, Penn and Mich, and lost anyway.)
3. Obama's DOJ and FBI then sought to bird-dog Trump with leaks and a bogus Special Counsel
investigation to impeach him, which continues today. Mueller has indicted 13 Russian Trolls who live in Russia, and won't be extradicted, so there won't be any trial. This is the only indictment relating to the the "Russian-collusion" hoax.
4. The above was orchestrated by DCI John Brennan. Comey played the role of enabler to McCabe and Strzok.
To date, Sally Yates of the DOJ, Comey and McCabe have all been fired. Lovebird Lisa Page has quit. Several other weasels (Rybicki, Baker) have quit. The weasels that haven't quit or been fired (Strzok & Ohr) are cooperating with the Inspector General Horowitz.
They can't begin to spell out in any detail exactly how the President is obstructing justice. Just their conclusions.
Yes.
The leftwing collective have concluded that firing Comey, the double speak clown leaker, was an act of "obstruction."
Please, explain how. *crickets*
buwaya said...
In the end Boot is the more limited man with a narrower perspective.
Max Boot has just as much perspective. He just knows who is paying his bills and he does what a good tool does.
He pushes the agenda of his globalist masters.
His job is to define "good conservatives" and provide cover and legitimacy for the globalists that infest our institutions.
Just like ARM pretends Mueller and Comey are republicans and that provides legitimacy for a bureaucratic coup.
good grief, boot is on the mirakuru (green arrow) or ras al alghul fear toxin (batman begins)
,
Judging by his squealing we're about to see if Brennan is as smart as a frog. I'm inclined to doubt it.
frum removes all doubt, almost as systematically,
Well, I did say I was assuming, for the sake of argument, that both are sincere.
It does not require one to believe that they are.
Posted in another thread:
Bryan Dean Wright is a former CIA ops man turned columnist who describes himself as "left-center." Here is what he tweeted out about Brennan:
Bryan Dean Wright
✔
@BryanDeanWright
Yes, I worked w/ @JohnBrennan. We viewed him as a political hack w/ the operational mind of an earthworm. (He once said the CIA “doesn’t steal secrets.” Sums up his intellect nicely)
His day of judgment is coming. And he knows it. His high-road tweets are an act. Justice awaits. https://twitter.com/missourisenior/status/998321442755313664 …
10:11 PM - May 20, 2018
Tony Shaffer
✔
@T_S_P_O_O_K_Y
Everyone I know who worked w/ @JohnBrennan has the same view - a political hack who had his personal ambition as his only core value - he kept CIA from doing it's job to spy on foreign threats & used @CIA as part of the @BarackObama WH effort to target domestic political enemies https://twitter.com/BryanDeanWright/status/998400770553757697 …
8:54 AM - May 21, 2018
Trump is imitating a tried and true authoritarian tactic—investigate the investigators—to escape accountability
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
ARM: "First of all, we need some evidence of injustice."
Special Counsels, by statute, are only to be appointed to investigate specific criminal acts based on probable cause.
In this case, no specific crime was noted, nor probable cause identified and no judicial review.
Further, the "investigation" was begun, improperly, as a counter-intelligence investigation, not a criminal investigation.
Further further, the individual appointing the special counsel is himself a witness and possible co-conspirator. Further, the individual appointing the special counsel appointed the special counsel to investigate matters related to the very appointers actions!!!
Further further further, the special counsel and members of his team are personally involved in actions that could come under review.
Other than that, its just another sunny day at the DOJ....
LOL
Drago said...
Further, it the "investigation" was begun, improperly, as a counter-intelligence investigation, not a criminal action.
It was perfectly proper to start a counter-intelligence investigation. No one is seriously arguing, now, that the Russians didn't attempt to interfere with the election. It was important to understand the extent of that interference. It still is.
Where was Boot when Obama and the Democrats were using the government to harass and punish their opponents?
BAG, the other fact that can be seen in some CTH posts is that the NSA surveillance began with the Iran deal. Opponents were surveilled and enough dirt was accumulated to mute their opposition.
Not enough to get the thing as a treaty approved but enough that Corker and and some others shut down opposition.
I also wonder if the famous Roberts "tax" decision on Obamacare was another sign of the Deep State influence.
Maybe they learned something about his adopted kids.
We are living in Oz and Trump pulled back the curtain just a little.
It was important to understand the extent of that interference. It still is.
Why?
The U.S. interferes in foreign elections all of the time, and the Federal government interfered in the last election to help Hillary and hurt Trump.
buwaya said...
Well, I did say I was assuming, for the sake of argument, that both are sincere.
It does not require one to believe that they are.
Max Boot might be truly stupid like the little people who are buying the "Russian collusion" story and think Trump should be impeached.
Just seems unlikely in the extreme.
At this point you have to be acting in bad faith to not see the truth.
Getting back to that poor frog, I imagine that any cold-blooded animal dropped into boiling water would die so fast that it couldn’t possibly escape. Scalding being a crappy way to die, I cannot bring myself to go catch a frog in the nearby marsh and actually try the experiment.
ARM: "It was perfectly proper to start a counter-intelligence investigation."
Not with a special counsel.
What you just wrote is a transparent lie.
So, congrats. You are the Adam Schiff-ty of the Althouseblog.
Unexpectedly.
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
It was perfectly proper to start a counter-intelligence investigation. No one is seriously arguing, now, that the Russians didn't attempt to interfere with the election. It was important to understand the extent of that interference. It still is.
The 4th amendment is just so many words to the left.
BCARM,
"No one is seriously arguing, now, that the Russians didn't attempt to interfere with the election."
Do you believe the Russians preferred Trump and intervened to make his election more likely? Or do you believe they knew, as we all did, that Hillary would be elected, and "interfered" to sow discord and mistrust?
I assure you that some people would seriously argue against the former position.
Drago said...
Further, it the "investigation" was begun, improperly, as a counter-intelligence investigation, not a criminal action.
It was perfectly proper to start a counter-intelligence investigation. No one is seriously arguing, now, that the Russians didn't attempt to interfere with the election.
ARM ignores the fact that counter-intell is supposed to be secret and is not intended to prosecute anyone.
You know, like those indictments of Flynn and others ?
@Michael K,
I also wonder if the famous Roberts "tax" decision on Obamacare was another sign of the Deep State influence.
I, too, have wandered over into that tin-foil hat territory.
The other "what goods did they have on him?" behavior was John Koskinen, who was a "straight-shooter" brought in to clean up the IRS after Lois Lerner. Koskinen, instead of continuing to shoot straight, immediately became a useless & obstructive asshole. I have wondered what happened to him.
"No one is seriously arguing, now, that the Russians didn't attempt to interfere with the election. It was important to understand the extent of that interference. "
History for ARM started since Trump was elected.
The Russians and many others have tried to interfere in our elections for almost 100 years. We have interfered in other countries elections for probably the same amount of time. It was more blatant when Clinton send Carville and others to defeat Bibi Netanyahu.
It is incredible to think that foreign interference only became an issues when Trump ran.
It is also incredible to think that we did not have well established, legal mechanisms to determine the extent of other countries interference in our elections.
Russian interference is a smoke screen that only Never Trumpers and ignorant Leftists fail for because they want to believe that is why the Deep State was justified in going after Trump.
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
It was important to understand the extent of that interference. It still is.
Hillary took 145$ million dollars from Russians and sold them 20% of North American Uranium.
Obama had more flexibility after the election.
Lets make a deal!
Oh I forgot. ARM wants to investigate made up crimes in order to carry off a coup.
Lavrentiy Beria couldn't do it any better.
A sinkhole has opened on the White House lawn.
Almost certainly a hellmouth. It has begun.
James Fallows, The Atlantic, went on a campaign against the metaphor in 2006 starting with "The boiled-frog myth: stop the lying now!"
The democrats went full East German over the last 5 years all the way back to spying on congress, and then lying about it under oath and then later "apologizing" when they were caught. (Brennan)
The democrats went full East German over the last 5 years all the way back to spying on the American people, and then lying about it under oath and then later "apologizing" when they were caught. (Clapper)
The democrats went full East German over the last 5 years all the way back to spying on journalists, and then lying about it.
And the democrats went full East German over the last 3 years in spying on, running oppo research ops against republicans/trump/and probably some dems. (ALL OF THEM)
It's all coming out now.
All that's left is for the left to say things which are well represented in ARM's comments which boil down to 2 tracks:
Sure, sure we actually did all those things that we earlier said we never did and for which we called our accusers insane, but it was for everyone's benefit!
Hey, there are some anti-Trump types who are on our team so its really bipartisan!
LOL
The public is already turning against both those lines of attack rather rapidly.
The question becomes what will the dems/LLR's flex to once that reality really hits home?
Should be fun to watch.
ARM: "Almost certainly a hellmouth. It has begun."
Like all sinkholes, there was years of shifting action underground before the sinkhole appeared.
As with the deep state, Trump is exposing how the left has completely undermined the White House lawn...and our republic.
Sadly, Timothy Snyder, who wrote "Bloodlands" has followed Boot into the dark forest of TDS.
I'm sadder about the loss of Snyder than Boot.
An interesting question being asked: Just where is the Mueller indictment for those who supposedly hacked the DNC server?
In fact, what, in terms of the DNC, has even been "investigated" by the Mueller team?
LOL
Trick question: Mueller isn't investigating it, at all, not even a little, because...........shut up H8ters!
yes, that was disappointing, like William vollman, whose fictional companion to bloodlands, hotel Europa, has been followed with a full dedication to sky dragons, (carbon ideologies)
If you define Justice as Trump resigns or is impeached, then anything he and his administration do to prevent that is, by that definition, obstruction of justice. I prefer Scott's take that it is obstruction of injustice. I don't think the true believers in this definition of justice understand the civil war (perhaps not even figurative) that would result from their success.
ARM sez: "It was perfectly proper to start a counter-intelligence investigation."
Pre-election, President Obama said on 10.16.16: "There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America’s elections, in part because they’re so decentralized and the numbers of votes involved,”
Firing Comey wasn't an act of obstruction of justice. He was fired because he obstructed justice.
GRW3: "If you define Justice as Trump resigns or is impeached, then anything he and his administration do to prevent that is, by that definition, obstruction of justice"
That was EXACTLY the thought expressed by lefty TTR some weeks back when he wrote that one of the things Trump was doing that was wrong was fighting back against democrat efforts to remove him from office.
Literally.
Expanded quote from President Obama on 10.16.16, on election interference:
“There’s no evidence that that has happened in the past or that there are instances in which that will happen this time,” he continued. “And so, I ‘d advise Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes.”
“One of the great things about America’s democracy,” Obama said, is that the U.S. holds “a vigorous, sometimes bitter, political contest” in which the loser congratulates the winner.
“That’s how democracy survives. Because we recognize that there’s something more important than any individual campaign, and that is making sure that the integrity and trust in our institutions sustains itself because democracy, by definition, works by consent, not by force,” he said. “I have never seen in my lifetime or in modern political history any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process before votes have even taken place.”
cubanbob: "Firing Comey wasn't an act of obstruction of justice. He was fired because he obstructed justice."
Obstructing democrats in their quest to implement injustice is "obstruction of justice" to the left.
Hilarious latest fake democrat election themes:
"Drain the Swamp"
"A Better Deal"
LOL
Too funny.
Shorter Boot:
"Trump should lay back and enjoy it."
“A sinkhole has opened on the White House lawn.
Almost certainly a hellmouth. It has begun.”
Not surprising...considering. I imagine all manner of demonic creatures to be flying out of that hole as we speak.
President Trump is throwing one democratic norm after another into a big pot and rapidly raising the heat, and we’re too busy watching the royal wedding to notice.
He fogot to capitalize “Democratic.” We all know what some of these Democratic norms are — all Republican presidents are the second coming of Adolph Hitler; everything they do is wrong, especially if it works out because they did it for the wrong reason; and they’re all stupid, especially when they outsmart Democrats.
Inga: "I imagine all manner of demonic creatures to be flying out of that hole as we speak"
The most believable thing you've written in years.
“President Trump is throwing one democratic norm after another into a big pot and rapidly raising the heat, and we’re too busy watching the royal wedding to notice.”
Some are watching American Idol.
There is a Canadian troll over at Chicagoboyz who sounds just like ARM except his comments, negative as they are, have a lot more substance to them.
They both hate America anyway.
"Flood is coming" "Sensitive Matters Team"
Halper "dispatched to Trump campaign" BEFORE investigation formally begun...
The lefty post-hoc justification timeline requires more updating....STAT!
Since the Russians are so advanced in election interference as to have gotten Trump elected, why are we assuming this only occurred in 2016? What about the 2008 and 2012 elections? I think it's valid to assume the Russians would have preferred a weak leader like Obama. How big of a role did the Russians play in electing Obama (and his extra flexibility)? Perhaps we need a special prosecutor to find out.
Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
"She was never indicted or prosecuted because some words were changed around."
Of course, since she was never tried, she was never exonerated. She could still be indicted. So could Mills and Abedin.
This is sort of magical.
I mention the term "ignorant Leftist" and Inga shows up all of a sudden.
@ Michael K.:
I am pretty sure that ARM is incapable of complex reasoning. He hides it better than his accomplice Inga. His half thoughts are an old salesman's trick.
Bushman: "I think it's valid to assume the Russians would have preferred a weak leader like Obama."
The Russian investment in the lefty causes paid off big time for Vlad and his pals. They got 20% or our Uranium, annexation of Crimea, control of the remaining half of Ukraine, got obama to abandon missile defense for Poland, an engraved invitation by obambi to come into Syria and set up shop, etc.
No wonder obambi touched Medvedev's leg and lovingly, and I mean tenderly, promised increased flexibility for Russia and Vlad to Vlad's little henchman....and he did it on camera!! Can you imagine what obambi promised off camera?
I mean, the Russians gave Hillary $145M! I personally think obambi delivered much more in terms of improved Russian geo-political positioning so, what should obambi get from his Russian pals?
Max Boot is anti-Trump. As near as I can tell he always has been so inclined. He purports to analyze President Trump, as a person and in his official actions and communications. The result of Boot's efforts is obviously biased, lacks insight and nuance, and is therefore so rightfully ignored.
On the issue of threats to our system of government, authoritarian tactics, and attempts to point out the illegitimate nature of the Mueller investigation, Boot would do himself a favor by assessing Trump's words and actions as if Boot supported the person. This would help him see through his bias to the essence of the situation, and what, if anything, is threatened.
Dershowitz does this quite ably.
-sw
"Revealing intelligence sources," "Politically motivated prosecutions," "Mixing private and government business," "Foreign interference in U.S. elections," "Undermining the First Amendment."
This is aimed against Trump?
Deep-staters have "revealed intelligence sources" by leaking.
Mueller is heading a "politically motivated prosecution"?
Hill and Bill "mixed private and government business."
"Foreign interference in U.S. elections" under Obama is Trump's fault?
"Undermining the First Amendment": huh? Trump exercises his freedom of speech by calling BS on the MSM.
Think about how much the anti-fracking effort paid off for Vlad under obambi/hillary/Kerry!
Unfortunately for the Russians and their US based lefty schmuck useful-idiots, Trump opened the floodgates for increased production which was crushing the russians (who depend almost exclusively on oil and gas to fund their operations).
Of course, who could have predicted that the murderous and moronic standard issue lefties in Venezuela could take a nation that is floating on an ocean of oil and turn it into an energy desert? Ans: Ev-er-y-bo-dy
LOL
To further ... dissect ... the frog analogy, Since all of Boot's claimed transgressions seem (to me) to have been grown gradually over multiple administrations (slowly raising the temperature), perhaps the way the American people (less certain coastal areas) 'jumped out of the water' was by electing Trump.
If Hillary had won,
1. Comey and McCabe would be 1 & 2 at the FBI. Comey might have been thrown under the bus for his press conference, giving McCabe No. 1
2. Lynch would be the AG, or Supreme Court Justice.
3. All of these nefarious "Russian-collusion" charges would have been buried.
4. Manafort may have been indicted, but probably not. Flynn and Pappadopoulos would not have been indicted.
If you're a leftwing, Never-Trumper, well, I feel your pain. It's no fun to lose. I've lost many.
If you're a conservative, Never-Trumper, boy, are you lost.
Boot is just upset because Trump beat the war monger.
Imagine the fix we would be in if Hillary had killed the pipelines and made fracking, as she promised, all but impossible in the US and then Venezuela production collapse happened? Well the likes of Max Boot, who never saw a war for oil he didn’t like would be calling for action!
The alternative is pretty simple: don’t obstruct justice.
It's interesting to note obstructing justice is simply assumed, not proven. He claims the administration is stonewalling but offers no support. Everything he asserted starts with his assuming the conclusion, that some undefined action on Trump's part qualifies as obstruction. When he moves on to the single addressed fact of investigating the investigators he ties it to authoritarianism, not stonewalling or obstruction.
I'm left wondering if Boot and others believe anything Trump does which doesn't result in a guilty finding is "obstructing justice".
She wanted to make fracking “legal, safe, and rare” but this time she meant it!
”Some are watching American Idol.”
Careful. I don’t think you want Althouse fully engaged on this issue.
”Revealing intelligence sources," "Politically motivated prosecutions," "Mixing private and government business," "Foreign interference in U.S. elections," "Undermining the First Amendment."
LOL! That’s right up there with Hillary’s statement in New Zealand that she “has an affection for evidence!” An extremely jealous affection, maybe!
Remember, the lefty "rocket scientists" told us for 30 years that we cannot drill our way to energy independence.
Naturally, we did, despite the left establishing significant hurdles (all of which helped Putin) which we have since overcome. Easily. Once the lefties were moved aside...
I'm trying to decide if the boiling frog article justifies the entire existence of Wikipedia.
"Indeed, thermoregulation by changing location is a fundamentally necessary survival strategy for frogs and other ectotherms."
I've decided that the answer is "yes".
Chuck is a big Boot fan. He must be in TDS rehab.
I'll bet energy independence becomes an impeachable offense in the very near future.
And 2 scoops of ice cream. I mean, that's massive corruption right there.
And how do we know for sure that the scoop used for making Trump's ice cream scoops is the same size as the scoop used for other peoples ice cream?
I'm sure LLR Chuck's beloved CNN "journalists" will continue to be all over that story.
No one is seriously arguing, now, that the Russians didn't attempt to interfere with the election.
Only people with brains three times denser than lead would argue that the Russians did interfere in the 2016 elections on behalf of Donald Trump. I really cannot get over the arrogance of people who try to argue with a straight face that Vlad Putin is so stupid that he would try to sabotage the election of Hillary Clinton -- who would support a status quo that was beneficial to the Russian oil industry and to Putin himself -- and push for the election of Donald Trump, whose support for fracking and the various pipeline projects deliberately stalled by Obama and the Democrats would -- is!!! -- taking billions out of the Russian economy and personally hitting Vlad good and hard in the wallet.
And that's before one considers the certainty that Russians -- and the Chinese, North Koreans, Israelis, Brits, French, Indians, and who knows else -- hacked Hillary poorly secured Email server with potential material for blackmail.
No, folks. Vlad Putin is not a stupid man. I don't like the man, but I respect him. Let me know when you're sufficiently up to the mental task of distinguishing between affection and respect.
“President Trump is throwing one democratic norm after another into a big pot and rapidly raising the heat, and we’re too busy watching the royal wedding to notice.”
Well if “democratic norm” means widespread corruption and selling out your nation to a foreign power, from the Chinese scandal in 1996, where a trillion dollars worth of coal was removed from the market to Uranium One, where the power to remove the uranium from the market was handed over to Putin, a trick that Bill learned from his mentor, William Fullbright, who declared a source of diamonds in Arkansas a national park at the behest of de Beers, well then, you are right!
“Some are watching American Idol.”
“Careful. I don’t think you want Althouse fully engaged on this issue.”
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being fully engaged in American Idol. I’m guilty of watching the royal wedding and being charmed by it.
"All we have seen so far is the Republicans in the FBI drag out the email investigation so that it would have maximal effect on the election."
How dare those Republicans not let a crisis go to waste!
How Trump must feel about his decision to fire Comey.
In retrospect, lighting the match was my big mistake.
Max Boot, Bill Kristol, Bret Stephens -and others -can not stand that they are no longer looked upon as the "Gods of Conservative Advice". Boot did some good work in his small wars book, but since then he has clearly been captured by the DC crowd. They are all wrong and they hate it!
Darrell to Michael K:
"ARM is still flogging his fantasy that the 2018 FBI is Republican."
ARM is still flogging his bold-faced lie that the 2018 FBI is Republican.
You decide.
It's neither a fantasy nor a lie. ARM's continued banging on about "Republicans" is either the desperate fifth-rate trolling of a broken man, or the sincere non-trolling of someone whose understanding of American politics reached its high-water mark with "Schoolhouse Rock".
You decide.
Maybe the sinkhole in the White House lawn was caused by moles.......
Is it just me that remembers the history of just a few weeks ago when certain Lefties here were proclaiming that Trump was acting guilty because he hadn't ordered the DoJ to comply with the Congressional subpoenas? And when it was countered by pointing out that Trump would be accused of obstructing justice if he mandated such transparency, it was laughed off by those same Lefties.
The dam is breaking- you are going to learn that the entire investigation was started on fabricated evidence. Stefan Halper is going to be subpoenaed, and he is going to refuse to return to the US, or will take the 5th when questioned- my money is on him never returning to the US.
I think the thing that most of the R TDSers have trouble with is that Trump plays hard ball. They are a bunch of pussies - look what they do for a living and where they do it.
So is investigating investigators only ever an authoritarian tactic? If so, the various Internal Affairs departments that investigate alleged police misconduct are indicators of an authoritarian state.
Given how our police state works, this isn't a persuasive argument against investigating the investigators being a sign of authoritarianism.
Also, I think investigate the investigators really refers to investigate the opposition / dissidents. To you, know, publicly shame them, ruin their careers, businesses, marriages. Calls for them to be put in jail, or a mental facility, deported or even assassination. To make them unpeople.
Not that that happens anywhere in the US (government, Hollywood, media, colleges not withstanding).
Reading while giving the benefit of doubt - people do indeed pursue their personal interests and one has to assume that Boot is doing so. He does after all have a bit of an institutional following in the "swamp".
Boot is indeed assuming the conclusions. This is a polemic, not an analysis.
Reading the piece, it is not exactly a historians application of perspective. He is capable of that, having written "Savage Wars of Peace", which is a useful book on America's imperial wars.
One gets the impression though that the man is seriously out of touch, blinkered, deliberately so or not. Every argument he makes, as noted above, is much more easily made against the American establishment of the last thirty to forty years, and he does not even try to touch the idea that the establishment he defends has faults.
The larger argument comes down to, indeed, whether the American establishment is deeply flawed or not, or sufficiently flawed as to require major reform or even destruction. A "political norm" is not necessarily a good thing, if it has mutated into something pernicious, or surrounding circumstances have made it so.
An argument between Boot and Codevilla could be interesting, though Boot at least would have to promise to be sincere.
Robert Mueller made a big mistake, if he were really an honest broker, when he refused to stock his operation with an ideologically balanced team of investigators. By basically making his team entirely of Clinton supporters, he left himself exactly where he has ended up- rapidly discrediting himself. Of course, as Sundance at CT has explained, and I now see is the truth- Mueller wasn't the person selecting his staff- the staff selected him.
Ann, this blog post was so good that it actually convinced me not only to read the Washington Post but a Max Boot column to boot. You're good! The column... not so much. Where to begin?
Revealing intelligence sources: First, Valerie Palme was not a big deal because it was revealing an intelligence source. It was a big deal because the Democrats were trying to use her as a political wedge. Her status in the CIA was an open secret in Washington to the point that any intelligence service of any quality knew who she was already. Second, I think it is quite reasonable for a person to demand who the spy was in his political campaign, regardless if it is the elected President or some third party nobody.
It is also somewhat difficult to argue that the FBI and CIA sources are sacrosanct when both organizations appear to have been leaking like crazy. Trump is not leading any change in norms here.
Politically motivated prosecutions: Good grief, man! Did you sleep through the Obama administration?!?!? That's a norm that I would very much like to return to as soon as possible, but the problem did not come from Trump. For that matter, it is not coming from Trump now. Again, anyone has the right to demand an investigation of violation of rights. A political campaign being spied upon is a HUGE deal.
Then we have this howler: "There is zero evidence of any political surveillance." Max apparently has no idea what the word "evidence" means. What we know right now is there was someone placed in the Trump campaign to gather intelligence. Trump's campaign is a political beast. Gathering intelligence is surveillance. It is quite possible that this was not politically motivated, but warrants have been granted for less.
This becomes hilarious when Max claims in the next paragraph that Trump violated the Emoluments Clause with a lot thinner evidence. (For that matter, it is not even clear if a President can violate the Enoluments Clause.)
Foreign interference in U.S. elections: Max says there is all sorts of evidence of this with Trump. Every specific I have read so far has been fairly ordinary stuff of oppo research or contacting governments after the election. I suppose if Max had something really juicy he would give specifics, but he does not, which is awfully suspicious. We do have evidence that Russia was meddling, but more as an agent of chaos than anything.
Max might also want to lookup how the Obama campaign handled political contributions, which was designed specifically to take foreign contributions with plausible deniability, or the Clinton campaign who setup a phony charity that foreign countries submitted large sums of money. He keeps seeing norms that have been beaten to death and left in a shallow grave by the side of the road.
Undermining the First Amendment: I thought the Amazon thing was dumb, so I can agree with him on that. This gets followed by comparing Trump to other political leaders, except he never actually links them other than putting them in the same sentence, which he follows up with a rumor. Yeah, he does understand what "evidence" means. He just redefines it according to whatever his need is at the time.
I would also like to point Mr. Boot to a certain campaign during the Obama administration to force nuns to buy birth control. The First Amendment is more than just speech.
CONCLUSION: Max Boot is a hack.
ARM: "How Trump must feel about his decision to fire Comey."
There is probably not a moment that goes by where Trump doesnt wish he would have fired Comey SOONER!
I appreciate ARM's diligence in maintaining his 100% Wrong "Latest Hot Take" rate.
Its not easy to do that. Laws of probability woyld seem to dictate that he should be (inadvertantly) correct once in awhile....but nope.
Im half expecting ARM to regale us with stories of the Great Venezuela Economic Miracle again. (the lefties were big on that just a few years ago. For some reason though that stopped.....)
On day 1 of his administration, Trump should have fired every single Obama-appointed person who had not already resigned. That was Trump's biggest mistake.
It's too bad about Max Boot. I have been listening to his biography of Lansdale and he refers to Mark Moyers' book, which I have also read, "Triumph Forsaken, " in which Moyers makes a good case that Vietnam was lost by Kennedy overthrowing Diem.
In fact, Boot's Lansdale bio says that the overthrow was planned by underlings at State and Defense on a holiday weekend when Kennedy was at Hyannisport. When he came back from the trip and learned a cable had been sent to Lodge, who was the new ambassador in Vietnam. he was not pleased but declined to reverse the decision.
Lansdale was excluded from Vietnam after 1962 by State and Defense. He did not get along with McNamara, a point in his favor and another black mark on McNamara's record. Lansdale was too interested in "The Human Factor" for Mac who lived by numbers.
Boot seems to be quite rational in his judgment here (Especially as he agrees with me) and it is disappointing to see him go off the deep end on Trump.
We are still in the" Flight 9" stage of this situation. The left and the Deep State are trying very hard to reverse the election.
I assume there are still bodies buried that will keep the pressure on to get rid of Trump by any means necessary, including assassination if it comes to that.
Has anyone ever seen Max Boot and ARM in the same room together?
yes it's a very god work, oddly boot doesn't cite moyar, even ken burns cited both triumph and birds of prey, about the phoenix program, in order to dismiss it,
"That was Trump's biggest mistake."
This is the same thing Bush faced in 2001. The bureaucracy is left and has been for decades, at least since Johnson.
The Democrats treated Bush much like they have treated Trump but Bush left all those Clinton moles in place.
9/11 was largely Clinton's fault and that is why the TV miniseries "The Path to 9/11" was hidden by Disney for so many years.
Young Hegelian: Among the "Never-Trump" righties, poor Max Boot has perhaps tripped the light fantastic the hardest.
Seriously, he's just wiggy now on the subject of Trump.
Khesanh 0802: Boot did some good work in his small wars book, but since then he has clearly been captured by the DC crowd. They are all wrong and they hate it!
Trump didn't change Boot. These guys are what they've always been.
It's not news that you can be disastrously wrong about absolutely fucking everything, with a nutcase level animus against your own countrymen, and survive and thrive in DC. It just takes unusual times, and unusual people (like Trump) to make them make it obvious to the people who are reasonably attentive to, but not obsessive about, politics.
How many lies were thrown in from that first day, how long did it take the cabinet to be initially confirmed, having to hold sessions for last,
@Michael K,
You know who was one of Landsdale's protege's in Vietnam?
The sainted, Daniel Ellsberg.
Strange bedfellows.
”Robert Mueller made a big mistake, if he were really an honest broker, ...”
If Robert Mueller were an honest broker, he would be investigating the investigators. It certainly is within his purview.
Trump is the frog.
yes and l fletcher prouty, mr x of the jfk film, who Sutherland libeled Lansdale subsequenly
First of all, we need some evidence of injustice.
Some evidence of a crime should also be a necessity
I keep hearing that I should be upset that Trump and his supporters in Congress are outing intelligence sources and national security secrets. Really? So far, as far as we can tell, it was the 'intelligence community' that leaked that Trump was under investigation for collusion with the Russians. It was the IC that leaked that Flynn had lied to the VP about his conversations with the Russian ambassador. It was the IC that leaked that there were transcripts of Flynn's calls with the ambassador. It wasn't Trump and Republicans that leaked the existence or the content of the Steele dossier.
Nor did Trump and the Republicans force the IC and Democrats to lie about the consequences of revealing who was behind the Steele dossier or the (lack of) basis for the FISA warrant on Carter Page. Nor was it Trump and Republicans who were behind the recent spate of leaks that resulted in the the NYT's and WP reports on the FBI's spying the Trump's campaign. So, how, again, is this supposed to be Trump's fault?
Now, removing the benefit of the doubt -
Why is Max Boot doing this?
To a large degree this is part of an ideological flip on his part.
He began as a conservative neocon with ties to the military.
His audience drifted away though, and the business of pushing that line of argument became unremunerative.
So he has had to reinvent himself, across a very broad range of positions in fact.
The piper has to change his tune, to suit his new clients.
"oddly boot doesn't cite moyar,"
He does mention him in the section leading to the Diem overthrow. He is discussing the "Strategic Hamlet" program which was successful and which was done by Diem before the US got heavily involved. This was a Lansdale issue and he even did a Saturday Evening Post article, at the suggestion of Kennedy, on a Father Hoa and his village, a model for Strategic Hamlets.
In January 1961, Edward Lansdale visited Father Hoa and Binh Hung. Back in Washington, he was surprised to find that President John F. Kennedy had taken a personal interest in his report on Hoa, and wanted it published in the Saturday Evening Post.[1] It was attributed to "an American officer.
BAG, Oh, I know Ellsberg was a Lansdale guy.
I've not read that much about Ellsberg to know why he got disenchanted. Maybe he saw that Johnson and Mac ignored Lansdale and even ridiculed him after Kennedy (Bobby) demanded that he do something about Castro, an area he knew nothing about.
I could imagine a Lansdale protege being angry that his mentor was treated as badly as Lansdale was by Mac and Johnson.
"Why is Max Boot doing this? "
Some of these people , like Kristol and NR, may be following donor sentiment.
I don't know about Boot. Does he have a foundation ?
He is now Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Hmmm.
In an opinion piece for Foreign Policy in September 2017, Max Boot outlines his views thusly: "I am socially liberal: I am pro-LGBTQ rights, pro-abortion rights, pro-immigration.
FP is very hard left. I subscribed to FA for years. It has drifted left since it did a cover story on "Foreign Policy as Social Work" under Clinton.
The alternative is pretty simple: don’t obstruct justice. Let the lawful investigation proceed unimpeded. Uphold the oath of office. Defend the Constitution
What if one or more of these are in conflict?
(I could also stipulate that justice might need air quotes around it)
Drago: I appreciate ARM's diligence in maintaining his 100% Wrong "Latest Hot Take" rate.
I never see MSM news except for the brief bits I'm forcibly exposed to in airports. I was in O'Hare this weekend, and, as always, was impressed that CNN had managed to become even crazier and stupider than it was the last time I was waiting to board a plane. (I assume the same holds for Fox and MSNBC and all the rest, it's just that CNN seems to have the airport Orwell's Telescreen concession. Highlight: glancing up and seeing "Impeach or Not Impeach" on the muted screen, and the label "Laurence Tribe" under the guy yacking. Burst out laughing.)
So I found myself yet again asking: "Who watches this shit; who take this shit seriously?". Well, I hang out at Althouse and various other venues, don't I? So, yeah, I know the answer, rhetorical question. (Soap Opera Women aren't all female.)
(Eaglebeak)
1. White House lawn sinkhole: It's been raining in DC for a week. DC is built on a real, honest-to-God swamp. The city looks like a jungle right now.
2. If you want to see how mulishly the "Resistance" clings to its Russian fantasies, check out this Swalwell person (a California Dem, I need hardly say). He was on Tucker Carlson last night--Tucker didn't do a very good job going after him, but the guy blew himself up with hurricane-force stupidity about Trump, Russians, Trump Tower meeting, DNC server. etc.
3. On the server: Remember, no one in the Fed Govt (apparently) has ever seen that server, so we have zero evidence that it was the Russians that hacked it. Another Debbie Wasserman Schultz IT marvel, perhaps....
To our left-wing friends in the commentariat:
Glen Greenwald is a gay, left-of-center journalist. Not a Trump bone in his body, a big Bernie Sanders supporter.
Here's his short take on how the intelligence agencies lie and convince the NY Times to lie.
Anyone who is just noticing that "significant norms" have been violated has already been boiled.
Boiled Boot.
As a matter of fact, we frogs are jumping out of the pot right now. The pot that is heated up by the conspiratorial, unaccountable "Intelligence" Community, the pot that is fueled by the FBI and the DOJ's illegal investigation of a presidential candidate using an opposition research smear with no verified facts.
Boot is an arrogant frog who tried to hold off normal frogs from jumping.
Remember, the lefty "rocket scientists" told us for 30 years that we cannot drill our way to energy independence.
I remember Obama constantly saying we can't drill our way out of $4 / gallon gas. Not only did we but we invented a new drilling method to do so since Obama and his allies were blocking traditional drilling opportunities.
It's amazing what left wingers come to believe simply by repeating their fantasies in the echo chamber.
Someone above had already noted it, but Sundance at CT has an article up on a letter Ron Johnson sent to the DoJ requesting information about the period surrounding the first publication of the Steele Dossier. Reading the e-mails that Johnson refers to makes it near impossible to not understand that the Obama DoJ was orchestrating the publication and that the Comey briefing was instigated just so CNN would be able add that detail to the story.
I think the key take away, though, is this- these e-mails were not acquired through Rosenstein, but instead are directly from the IG. It is likely that it is already known who in the "sensitive matters team" was leaking the information to CNN. That is almost certainly James Clapper, in my opinion.
The alternative is to have the investigators be immune from investigation. Nothing authoritarian about that!
“Drill baby Drill” vs “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” Which one of those has worked out better for rank and file Democrats in their everyday life?
Max Boot is more like “Bomb baby bomb!” but instead of “We came! We saw! He Died (chortle, guffaw) HRC, we got “Jaw jaw jaw is better than war war war” Trump. Boot is inconsolable.
Seriously, what govt policy has helped working Americans more in the past couple decades than “Drill baby drill!”
Bay Area Guy said...
Glen Greenwald is a gay
Probably familiar with all the potential outcomes related to lighting matches.
Generally No problem if President wants DOJ to investigate prosecutorial misconduct regarding investigations into persons other than himself. Trump should recuse himself and not take actions as president that may impact an investigation into himself. This seems pretty obvious. Okay for hm to interfere with investigation of friend or family member? Of couse not. So why is there a difference if the subject/target is himself?
Boot is stubborn. He took a stand and he's not budging.
Speaking of which, Drudge says:
$5 GALLON GAS NYC
SET TO GO EVEN HIGHER!
Max Boot is a drooling NeverTrumper.
Pay him no mind.
Angle-Dyne, Angelic Buzzard: "I never see MSM news except for the brief bits I'm forcibly exposed to in airports. I was in O'Hare this weekend, and, as always, was impressed that CNN had managed to become even crazier and stupider than it was the last time I was waiting to board a plane. (I assume the same holds for Fox and MSNBC and all the rest, it's just that CNN seems to have the airport Orwell's Telescreen concession."
CNN literally pays for airports to carry their signals (CNN Airport) by paying a concession fee AND providing the equipment (TV's, cabling, installation, etc.)
I've booted Boot from my reading list.
So why is there a difference if the subject/target is himself?
Why do you assume that?
Trump is imitating a tried and true authoritarian tactic—investigate the investigators—to escape accountability
The word authoritarian is a weak accusation.
If Boot wants attention, then he should call Trump fascist or racist.
Another good independent journalist is Sharyl Atkisson.
Here she connects the dots on the "Flood is Coming" e-mail exchange by the Weasel Brigade, post-election, to try and smear the President-elect.
It is $2.59/gal here in Oak Ridge, TN. Can't believe how those fucking Republican Trumpers in NY city and state drive gas above $5/gal. Criminal!
@ARM, you do understand that the root cause of high gas prices in New York and California are due to their resistance to pipeline construction?
Which is why we have the Electoral College -- sensible people do not wish to live in a country whose policies are dictated by New York City and California.
ARM: "Speaking of which, Drudge says:
$5 GALLON GAS NYC
SET TO GO EVEN HIGHER!"
Yep.
1) Collapse of Leftist Peoples Paradise Venezuela production
2) Concern that lefty beloved Iranian Mullahs might cut production (but they won't, they still need the cash to fund lefty supported Hamas terrorist activities"
3) Awaiting incremental ramp up of Arab state production
4) Hilariously massive lefty state taxes on gas (which ARM should be happy happy happy to pay! Pay your fair share ARM!)
Meanwhile, in Trumpland America we have record production and increasing exports!!
Thanks Trump!
$5 dollar gas in NYC?!
Holy Smokes! Youse might wanna take the subway or sumptin'
My thought is that we are finding out why the Bush Iraq policy failed. It was run by blithering idiots.
How can you teach a nation to be democratic when you don't understand the basics of how your own works?
Spengler recently wrote of the “odious” Wm Kristol: “His hatred for Donald Trump has unhinged him. Decent people should cross the street to avoid walking too close to him.”
This is hard stuff for the brilliant Spengler (Goldman), but completely justified by anti-Trump Republicans, particular those who are ‘apologist[s] for anti-Constitutional, illegal manipulation by America's self-designated "deep state."’
Francisco D:
The Russians and many others have tried to interfere in our elections for almost 100 years. We have interfered in other countries elections for probably the same amount of time.[...]
Russian interference is a smoke screen that only Never Trumpers and ignorant Leftists fail for because they want to believe that is why the Deep State was justified in going after Trump.
Entertaining watching the "virgin in a whorehouse" act from the usual suspects, ain't it?
Nothing shocking about the dishonesty from those quarters. The sheer ham-handedness of the act is pretty disturbing, though. No finesse, no subtlety, just farce all the way through. "Sure, this stuff wouldn't fool a brain-damaged rhesus monkey, but we're still going to get away with, and enjoy every minute of rubbing your faces in it. Because we can. And all the while screaming about the other guys' 'authoritarianism'. Ha ha ha, fuck you, 'citizen'."
The "ignorant leftists" make me sad, though.
Oil jumps back above $80 a barrel
Molly said...
(Eaglebeak)
3. On the server: Remember, no one in the Fed Govt (apparently) has ever seen that server, so we have zero evidence that it was the Russians that hacked it.
There was a report a while back that a European country's ( Danish maybe? ) intelligence service had a source inside the hacker's organization at the time the hack was being done. I don't know if this is true, but if so, it is entirely possible to know the source of the hack for certain without ever looking at the DNC's server.
( Even if true, the FBI still should have demanded access to the server, if for no other reason than to disguise the source of their information )
""No one is seriously arguing, now, that the Russians didn't attempt to interfere with the election. It was important to understand the extent of that interference. " (Francisco D citing ARM)
"It is incredible to think that foreign interference only became an issues when Trump ran."
(Francisco D)
In addition to that, it is even more incredible to think that foreign interference would only use Trump's campaign yet that's what Mueller's 'investigation' is based on. If what ARM pretends to believe now was true then the fact that Mueller only 'investigates' Trump's campaign shows what a hit-job it is.
The ARM's, where history starts again every day and old lies about it are (to be) forgotten and new ones produced (as suited).
Good thing the US produces so much oil these days.
@ARM
That's good news for North Dakota, Alberta, and the Permian basin.
Give it a little time, the price will come down when previously marginal fracking wells come online.
If there were any Russian interference, they got what they wanted.
From the Democrats.
Lansdale also hired l fletcher prouty, the colonel x from jfk, who would end up with the liberty lobby, whose head would sue howard hunt in 1980, for involvement in the assasination, the golden boys threw hunt to the wolves, and he returned the favor in the ghosted memoir he had his son author,
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan at 11:14 AM
No one is seriously arguing, now, that the Russians didn't attempt to interfere with the election.
I have not seen any compelling evidence that the Russians attempted to interfere with the election.
I have seen only assertions.
The supposed evidence is redacted in the published reports.
I like this term "obstructing injustice," so let's see where Adams goes with it:
I liked the way this post started, but then it started boiling frogs, and went right off the rails!!
The difference is now that when the price of oil goes up, the money doesn’t flow to overseas despots, it stays here in Amurica!
When the DOW hits 25,000 like it has today and yesterday, and economic activity is going full bore, we used more oil and, I know that this is an “unsophisticated understanding of the law of supply and demand” but that puts upward pressure on the price of oil! You know what would bring it down? A recession!
But it’s almost as if ARM only is interested in bad news for America while Trump is POTUS.
It was important to understand the extent of that interference.
Israel
Mexico
The United Kingdom
Saudi Arabia
China
I just started to make a list of countries that "interfere" in our elections. However, I should have tried to make a list of countries that do NOT.
Boot is the most neo of neocons and hates Trump. Only Jennifer Rubin is comparable on the Right. Althouse's takedown here is rather elegant, showing how muddled and jumbled his claims are, right off the bat.
Stephen hunter in the third bullet, suggested a scenario similar to hunt's a cell of veteran operatives, in the plans division, who feared that jfk would strand them in Vietnam,
Think how many of the millenials have graduated into a hot job market have no idea of what their slightly older siblings graduated into when “you can’t drill your way to energy independence!” Obama was in charge, and getting that important first job was significantly more difficult, think how many of them hate Trump oblivious to their good fortune.
ARM thinks that energy policy has nothing to do with economic growth, BTW. you see the economy will grow just as fast starved for oil and facing high oil prices as it will when oil is plentiful and cheap!
one of the details, covered up with a pillow,
http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/22/rico-lawsuit-fusion-gps/
Buzzfeed tried to verify using a subsidiary of this same firm, snorfle,
Great comments. Leaders at CIA and FBI had problems with Hillary and her team getting off scott-free, more or less publicly, for violating security. There was a lot of obstruction of justice. They wanted to blame the Russians for the DNC "hack," while refusing to investigate whether there was a hack (other than by a Bernie Sanders supporter), much less whether the Russians did it. The more it became clear Trump would win the Republican nomination, the more they saw a way to turn the negatives into positives--point everything at Trump. With absolutely no evidence against Trump, they triggered the events that led to the Mueller appointment (he obviously should have recused himself), and an investigation that has no other purpose than to make Trump look as bad as possible, so Hillary looks less bad by comparison. Of course "Russia" meddles in U.S. elections, the U.S. economy, whatever they can--just as many countries do to many countries. There is an Israeli spy in a U.S. prison--and the U.S. and Israel are about as close as two allies can be. There was no need for "Bob" to be appointed to "do something" about Russian interference--it is part of ongoing work for many federal agencies to deal with such issues, and the whole point was to hurt Trump, and then undermine his presidency. One of Boot's idiotic remarks is that if the anti-Trump operation was intended to help Democrats, it would have been publicized before the election. Intelligence agencies put out a statement in September, and Hillary mentioned it in a presidential debate on Oct. 9. The whole sequence of rumours, where there's smoke there must be fire, was probably started by Brennan of the CIA.
You guys know ARM’s just a troll, right?
More terrible news for ARM and Inga:
"The average American is more optimistic about their ability to find a job under the Trump administration than at any point previously recorded, according to a new poll.
Data released by Gallup on Monday showed 67 percent of Americans believe now is a "good time" to find a quality job. The results were buoyed across gender lines, with 71 percent of males and 59 percent of females decidedly optimistic about the job market.
The data stretched across all age, income, and education groups. Americans between the ages of 30 and 49 years old were unmistakably more confident about their job prospects this spring compared to in the months leading up to the 2016 election. The survey found that between August-October of 2016 (47 percent) and March-April 2018 (66 percent), job market optimism grew by 19 percent amongst that age group.
The data is at the highest point ever recorded, since Gallup began asking respondents about job market optimism in August 2001."
Blogger Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
Oil jumps back above $80 a barrel
From article is due limited exports to prevent money flowing to authoritarian autocratic tyrannical Venezuela and Iran. Gives plausible deniability to quid pro quo for Saudi threats to Qatar to buy Jared Kushner's balloon at 666 5th Ave
Revealing intelligence sources
Revealing Stefan Halper?
What's wrong with that?
He's an academic who makes big money for writing essays and interviewing people in London and Washington DC.
Congress should subpoena Halper to testify in a televised hearing.
Eric Metaxis on Trump.
The author described the Trump presidency as "bizarre times" because "you actually have to be an informed citizen to appreciate whatever good this president has been able to accomplish. And if you aren't an informed citizen, you would think that he's Hitler 2.0."
Inga, is that you ?
It was perfectly proper to start a counter-intelligence investigation. No one is seriously arguing, now, that the Russians didn't attempt to interfere with the election. It was important to understand the extent of that interference. It still is.
So sick of this crap. If the swamp wanted to investigate the Russians, they would have asked the Trump campaign to help them do do. The swamp could have asked BOTH campaigns to help them.
What better FBI mole than Don, Jr.?
It is their decision to investigate the President elect RATHER THAN the Russians that makes it treasonous.
Also, if they are investigating the Russians, the first thing you do is subpoena the DNC server, right?
Some of us have worked a lifetime in the “oll bidnis” and some have not. Those who have not do not understand why the price of WTI goes up and down. But they’re willing to blame whoever they think is responsible. Or absolve anyone that they think is being jobbed by the oil companies. Typical.
Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
“They can't begin to spell out in any detail exactly how the President is obstructing justice. Just their conclusions.
Yes.
The leftwing collective have concluded that firing Comey, the double speak clown leaker, was an act of "obstruction."
Please, explain how. *crickets*”
Anyone who has read Catch 22 would understand.
Howard: "Gives plausible deniability to quid pro quo for Saudi threats to Qatar to buy Jared Kushner's balloon at 666 5th Ave"
LOL
Because the global oil market is primarily concerned with impacts to potential condominium construction.
Come on man.
You guys know ARM’s just a troll, right?
Yeah, but like that used up old trollop at the mining camp, he’s all we’ve got.
I couldn’t tell if Howard was being serious or not. They are beyond parody.
If you watch reporters talking about "democratic norms," revelations of secret sources endangering national security, etc, on PBS Newshour, Washington Week, MTP, etc., does anyone else think "Hey, I read the name of the source already, and you are pretending that you don't know it and that I don't"? Or "Hey, I know that Peter Strzok leaked stories to you, but you are pretending that his messages aren't freely available and I should listen to you because you work for WaPo"?
In this context, people like Boot talking as if substantial numbers of his readers will not notice that his arguments deliberately ignore readily available evidence is itself a violation of presumed norms of honesty and straight dealing.
silly rabbit, George I mean howard,
http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/21/michael-caputo-trump-informant-the-ingraham-angle/
btw guess which lawfirm has represented Qatari interest in the past, re investments in Barclay bros?
4) Hilariously massive lefty state taxes on gas (which ARM should be happy happy happy to pay! Pay your fair share ARM!)
Meanwhile, in Trumpland America we have record production and increasing exports!!
I paid $2.41 yesterday in Tucson. In a month we will go over to CA and pay $5.00. For a couple of days. I have found I can get to the AZ line from OC on one tank of gas. Yippee!
I am so old I can remember when Bush holding hands with the Saudis was a bad thing.
ARM: "I am so old I can remember when Bush holding hands with the Saudis was a bad thing"
If Bush holding hands with a Saudi was a bad thing then obambi placing his hand on the inner thigh of the Russian President on camera is....what...a proposal of marriage?
NTTATWWT
Also, if they are investigating the Russians, the first thing you do is subpoena the DNC server, right?
Bingo !
The trouble was that Crowdstrike was already being used by the DNC and the Obama DoJ to run NSA intercept unmasking.
They were part of the crime, not the "investigators" brought in to figure out what happened. They are what happened.
They were the "contractor" shut off by Admiral Rogers.
the answer is wilmer pickering, Mueller's firm at least six of his hounds, ahem prosecutors,
ARM, I am so old that I can recall when Alger Hiss was a Democrat.
How about you ?
So, since Bush held hands with a Saudi leader but Trump didn't, is that "obstructing foreign relations" and an impeachable offense?
If I were Trump, I would be very careful how many Diet Cokes I consumed as it appears the dems will be looking into violations of the Carbonation Clause of the Constitution.
Michael K: "ARM, I am so old that I can recall when Alger Hiss was a Democrat."
He always was a democrat.
And a communist.
The Venn diagram looks like 1 circle with a thicker than average border.
Drago does a good job of helping confirm Kushner's plausible deniability after getting baksheesh for his criminal family enterprise facilitated by Mo bin Sal using military and economic blockade threats against Qatar.
The Deep State doesn't need to work in the shadows when folks like Drago make their excuses.
Michael K said...
ARM, I am so old that I can recall ...
I thought you were going to bring up Moses and the tablets.
the interesting was chambers told Adolph berle, about hiss and his part in the ware spy ring,
yet it went nowhere,
buwaya puti said...
Now, removing the benefit of the doubt -
Why is Max Boot doing this?
To a large degree this is part of an ideological flip on his part.
He began as a conservative neocon with ties to the military.
His audience drifted away though, and the business of pushing that line of argument became unremunerative.
So he has had to reinvent himself, across a very broad range of positions in fact.
The piper has to change his tune, to suit his new clients.
The point of the DC republican party is to define the choices Americans have.
For decades we have had choices between Bushes and Clintons. Obamas and Romneys. Essentially no choice. Open borders "Free" trade endless wars.
Max Boot is a "good republican." He supports open borders free trade endless wars.
Trump just flushed their whole canard down a toilet.
Nothing is more useless than a Max Boot republican at this point. That is why they hate Trump so much.
Apparently, it constitutes a "Democratic norm" for a sitting president to use the national intelligence and law enforcement apparatus to spy on the nominee of the other party based on fraudulent evidence manufactured by the candidate of his own party.
Good to know. Hopefully, Trump will remember this "norm" in 2024.
Nothing is more useless than a Max Boot republican at this point. That is why they hate Trump so much.
I agree but his Lansdale book is still excellent.
New York drives the price of gas in New York over 5$ a gallon.
ARM thinks it is Trump's fault.
Just really really stupid.
Real American said...
Apparently, it constitutes a "Democratic norm" for a sitting president to use the national intelligence and law enforcement apparatus to spy on the nominee of the other party based on fraudulent evidence manufactured by the candidate of his own party.
Good to know. Hopefully, Trump will remember this "norm" in 2024.
We need to skip the part where we act like the Stalinists in DC and prosecute the people who broke the law in accordance with the law.
The trials would have to be moved out of DC.
Howard: "Drago does a good job of helping confirm Kushner's plausible deniability after getting baksheesh for his criminal family enterprise facilitated by Mo bin Sal using military and economic blockade threats against Qatar."
There are some who argue it is good policy to ramp up total pressure on Iran across the board to decrease the Iranian influence and troublemaking capabilities especially regarding terrorism.
That pressure includes squeezing states that have been a little too helpful to Iran, like Qatar and that we should utilize all regional allies against those proxy states.
There are others, like Howard, who believe that it all really just a function of how many square feet and how many bathrooms some condominium's might have in addition to occupancy rates.
I will leave it to history to determine which is a more useful framework for geo-political analysis.
Seems like New York State has one of the highest gasoline taxes at 43.88 cents per gallon, and that's not even counting an "additional state sales tax of 4% (capped at $2.00/gal) and local sales tax (not capped)". I don't know for sure, but I imagine that NYC most likely has some fairly absurd "local sales taxes".
Meanwhile, I can personally atest that gas is still around a mere $3 a gallon upstate.
At any rate, I'm a little less concerned about soaring gas prices since it just benefits domestic frackers.
Drago in grease denial. Goes for Big Picture obfuscation
Howard: "Drago in grease denial."
I am not in grease denial.
Olivia Newton-John was awesome.
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