The media’s mania over Trump’s Helsinki performance and the so-called Russia-gate scandal reached new depths on Monday, says Joe Lauria
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
The reaction of the U.S. establishment media and several political leaders to President Donald Trump’s press conference after his summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday has been stunning.
Writing in The Atlantic, James Fallows said:
“There are exactly two possible explanations for the shameful performance the world witnessed on Monday, from a serving American president.
Either Donald Trump is flat-out an agent of Russian interests—maybe witting, maybe unwitting, from fear of blackmail, in hope of future deals, out of manly respect for Vladimir Putin, out of gratitude for Russia’s help during the election, out of pathetic inability to see beyond his 306 electoral votes. Whatever the exact mixture of motives might be, it doesn’t really matter.
Or he is so profoundly ignorant, insecure, and narcissistic that he did not realize that, at every step, he was advancing the line that Putin hoped he would advance, and the line that the American intelligence, defense, and law-enforcement agencies most dreaded.
Conscious tool. Useful idiot. Those are the choices, though both are possibly true, so that the main question is the proportions … never before have I seen an American president consistently, repeatedly, publicly, and shockingly advance the interests of another country over those of his own government and people.”
As soon as the press conference ended CNN cut to its panel with these words from TV personality Anderson Cooper: “You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader, surely, that I’ve ever seen.”
David Gergen, who for years has gotten away with portraying himself on TV as an impartial political sage, then told CNN viewers:
“I’ve never heard an American President talk that way but I think it is especially true that when he’s with someone like Putin, who is a thug, a world-class thug, that he sides with him again and again against his own country’s interests of his own institutions that he runs, that he’s in charge of the federal government, he’s in charge of these intelligence agencies, and he basically dismisses them and retreats into this, we’ve heard it before, but on the international stage to talk about Hillary Clinton’s computer server …”
“It’s embarrassing,” interjected Cooper.
“It’s embarrassing,” agreed Gergen.
Cooper: “Most disgraceful performance by a US president.”
White House correspondent Jim Acosta, ostensibly an objective reporter, then gave his opinion: “I think that sums it up nicely. This is the president of the United States essentially taking the word of the Russian president…over his own intelligence community. It was astonishing, just astonishing to be in the room with the U.S. president and the Russian president on this critical question of election interference, and to retreat back to these talking points about DNC servers and Hillary Clinton’s emails when he had a chance right there in front of the world to tell Vladimir Putin to stay the HELL out of American democracy, and he didn’t do it.”
In other words Trump should just shut up and not question a questionable indictment, which Acosta, like nearly all the media, treat as a conviction.
The Media’s Handlers
The media’s handlers were even worse than their assets. Former CIA director John Brennan tweeted: “Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors,.’ It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???”
Here’s where the Republican Patriots are, Brennan: “That’s how a press conference sounds when an Asset stands next to his Handler,” former RNC Chairman Michael Steele tweeted.
Representative Liz Cheney, the daughter of the former vice president, said on Twitter: “As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I am deeply troubled by President Trump’s defense of Putin against the intelligence agencies of the U.S. & his suggestion of moral equivalence between the U.S. and Russia. Russia poses a grave threat to our national security.”
All these were reactions to Trump expressing skepticism about the U.S. indictment on Friday of 12 Russian intelligence agents for allegedly interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election while he was standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the press conference following their summit meeting in Helsinki.
“I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia, Trump said. “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
The indictments, which are only unproven accusations, formally accused 12 members of the GRU, Russian military intelligence, of stealing Democratic Party emails in a hacking operation and giving the materials to WikiLeaks to publish in order to damage the candidacy of Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton. The indictments were announced on Friday, three days before the summit, with the clear intention of getting Trump to cancel it. He ignored cries from the media and Congress to do so.
Over the weekend Michael Smerconish on CNN actually said the indictments proved that Russia had committed a “terrorist attack” against the United States. This is in line with many pundits who are comparing this indictment, that will most likely never produce any evidence, to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. The danger inherent in that thinking is clear.
Putin said the allegations are “utter nonsense, just like [Trump] recently mentioned.” He added: “The final conclusion in this kind of dispute can only be delivered by a trial, by the court. Not by the executive, by the law enforcement.” He could have added not by the media.
Trump reasonably questioned why the FBI never examined the computer servers of the Democratic National Committee to see whether there was a hack and who may have done it. Instead a private company, CrowdStrike, hired by the Democratic Party studied the server and within a day blamed Russia on very dubious grounds.
“Why haven’t they taken the server?” Trump asked. “Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee? I’ve been wondering that. I’ve been asking that for months and months and I’ve been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. Where is the server? I want to know, where is the server and what is the server saying?”
But being a poor communicator, Trump then mentioned Clinton’s missing emails, allowing the media to conflate the two different servers, and be easily dismissed as Gergen did.
At the press conference, Putin offered to allow American investigators from the team of special counsel Robert Mueller, who put the indictment together, to travel to Russia and take part in interviews with the 12 accused Russian agents. He also offered to set up a joint cyber-security group to examine the evidence and asked that in return Russia be allowed to question persons of interest to Moscow in the United States.
“Let’s discuss the specific issues and not use the Russia and U.S. relationship as a loose change for this internal political struggle,” Putin said.
On CNN, Christiane Amanpour called Putin’s clear offer “obfuscation.”
Even if Trump agreed to this reasonable proposal it seems highly unlikely that his Justice Department will go along with it. Examination of whatever evidence they have to back up the indictment is not what the DOJ is after. As I wrote about the indictments in detail on Friday:
“The extremely remote possibility of convictions were not what Mueller was apparently after, but rather the public perception of Russia’s guilt resulting from fevered media coverage of what are after all only accusations, presented as though it is established fact. Once that impression is settled into the public consciousness, Mueller’s mission would appear to be accomplished.”
Still No ‘Collusion’
The summit begins. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
The indictments did not include any members of Trump’s campaign team for “colluding” with the alleged Russian hacking effort, which has been a core allegation throughout the two years of the so-called Russia-gate scandal. Those allegations are routinely reported in U.S. media as established fact, though there is still no evidence of collusion.
Trump emphasised that point in the press conference. “There was no collusion at all,” he said forcefully. “Everybody knows it.”
On this point corporate media has been more deluded than normal as they clutch for straws to prove the collusion theory. As one example of many across the media with the same theme, a New York Times story on Friday, headlined, “Trump Invited the Russians to Hack Clinton. Were They Listening?,” said Russia may have absurdly responded to Trump’s call at 10:30 a.m. on July 27, 2016 to hack Clinton’s private email server because it was “on or about” that day that Russia allegedly first made an attempt to hack Clinton’s personal emails, according to the indictment, which makes no connection between the two events.
If Russia is indeed guilty of remotely hacking the emails it would have had no evident need of assistance from anyone on the Trump team, let alone a public call from Trump on national TV to commence the operation.
More importantly, as Twitter handle “Representative Press” pointed out: “Trump’s July 27, 2016 call to find the missing 30,000 emails could not be a ‘call to hack Clinton’s server’ because at that point it was no longer online. Long before Trump’s statement, Clinton had already turned over her email server to the U.S. Department of Justice.” Either the indictment was talking about different servers or it is being intentionally misleading when it says “on or about July 27, 2016, the Conspirators attempted after hours to spearphish for the first time email accounts at a domain hosted by a third party provider and used by Clinton’s personal office.”
This crucial fact alone, that Clinton had turned over the server in 2015 so that no hack was possible, makes it impossible that Trump’s TV call could be seen as collusion. Only a desperate person would see it otherwise.
But there is a simple explanation why establishment journalists are in unison in their dominant Russian narrative: it is career suicide to question it.
As Samuel Johnson said as far back as 1745: “The greatest part of mankind have no other reason for their opinions than that they are in fashion …since vanity and credulity cooperate in its favour.”
Importance of US-Russia Relations
Trump said the unproven allegation of collusion “has had a negative impact upon the relationship of the two largest nuclear powers in the world. We have 90 percent of nuclear power between the two countries. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous what’s going on with the probe.”
The American president said the U.S. has been “foolish” not to attempt dialogue with Russia before, to cooperate on a range of issues.
“As president, I cannot make decisions on foreign policy in a futile effort to appease partisan critics or the media or Democrats who want to do nothing but resist and obstruct,” Trump said. “Constructive dialogue between the United States and Russia forwards the opportunity to open new pathways toward peace and stability in our world. I would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace than to risk peace in pursuit of politics.”
This main reason for summits between Russian and American leaders was also ignored: to use diplomacy to reduce dangerous tensions. “I really think the world wants to see us get along,” Trump said. “We are the two great nuclear powers. We have 90 percent of the nuclear. And that’s not a good thing, it’s a bad thing.”
Preventing good relations between the two countries appears to be the heart of the matter for U.S. intelligence and their media assets. So Trump was vilified for even trying.
Ignoring the Rest of the Story
Obsessed as they are with the “interference” story, the media virtually ignored the other crucial issues that came up at the summit, such as the Middle East.
Trump sort of thanked Russia for its efforts to defeat ISIS. “When you look at all of the progress that’s been made in certain sections with the eradication of ISIS, about 98 percent, 99 percent there, and other things that have taken place that we have done and that, frankly, Russia has helped us with in certain respects,” he said.
Trump here is falsely taking credit, as he has before, for defeating ISIS with only some “help” from Russia. In Iraq the U.S. led the way against ISIS coordinating the Iraqi and Kurdish security forces. But in the separate war against ISIS in Syria, Russia, the Syrian Arab Army, Kurdish forces, Iranian troops and Hizbullah militias were almost entirely responsible for ISIS’ defeat.
A grand deal? (Photo: Sputnik)
Also on Syria, Trump appeared to endorse what is being reported as a deal between Russia and Israel in which Israel would accept Bashar al-Assad remaining as Syrian president, while Russia would work on Iran to get it to remove its forces away from the northern Golan Heights, which Israel illegally considers its border with Syria.
After a meeting in Moscow last week with Putin, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he accepted Assad remaining in power.
“President Putin also is helping Israel,” Trump said at the press conference. “We both spoke with Bibi Netanyahu. They would like to do certain things with respect to Syria, having to do with the safety of Israel. In that respect, we absolutely would like to work in order to help Israel. Israel will be working with us. So both countries would work jointly.”
Trump also said that the U.S. and Russian militaries were coordinating in Syria, but he did not go as far as saying that they had agreed to fight together there, which has been a longstanding proposal of Putin’s dating back to September 2015, just before Moscow intervened militarily in the country.
“Our militaries have gotten along probably better than our political leaders for years,” Trump said. “Our militaries do get along very well. They do coordinate in Syria and other places.”
Trump said Russia and the U.S. should cooperate in humanitarian assistance in Syria.
“If we can do something to help the people of Syria get back into some form of shelter and on a humanitarian basis…that’s what the word was, a humanitarian basis,” he said. “I think both of us would be very interested in doing that.”
Putin said he had agreed on Sunday with French President Emmanuel Macron on a joint effort with Europe to deliver humanitarian aid. “On our behalf, we will provide military cargo aircraft to deliver humanitarian cargo. Today, I brought up this issue with President Trump. I think there’s plenty of things to look into,” Putin said.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Sunday Times of London and numerous other newspapers. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @unjoe .
If you enjoyed this original article please consider making a donation to Consortium News so we can bring you more stories like this one.
Trump will be working dilligentally to apease non supporters and bring swift justice to those who innacurately and maliciousy attack him. Putins cars will be put for auction. Putins girlfriend will find money, i mean love elsewhere. Trump will undoubtedly find a unique way to resolve this and make America great again. With an abundance of cotton shirts and sweaters from a local Georgia clothing company taken over by the federal government, he vowes to give these clothes to those in need in his home state of Georgia.
This is fucking hilarious. Trump doesn’t trust his own “intelligence community?” Would that be the one that screamed to every corner of the planet, 15 years ago, that Saddam Hussein had WMD, before the US went in, kicked Iraq to pieces, and turned it into a death zone, while “liberating” tens of thousands of Iraqis from their existence? And then turned around and said, “Well, umm, ‘ya know, it looks like he really didn’t have them after all. Our bad. Bummer.”
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? The people in charge of the FBI and CIA, considering their crimes against humanity, should be tortured, on public/global TV, every single day of the year!! And I’ll pay a bit extra to include their Communist whores in the “mainstream” media!!!
Just two thoughts.
1. The Military Industrial Complex needs Russia to constantly be THE BIGGEST THREAT to justify the annual expenditure of 700 billion dollars for the Defense Budget. See Eisenhower’s Farewell Address. There can never be a friendship between Russia and the USA when so much money is flowing like a river of Gold into the pockets of defense contractors every day that the Russian Threat is there. We have been stuck in this time warp since the 1950’s.
2. The media and the politicians are all getting their share too by hiding the real reasons the election was “hacked” because of gerrymandering, dark money, lobbyists, media corporations propping up their golden calf Donald Trump and extorting all the dark money Interests with their straw candidate who only spent 66 million of his own money to win the presidency. How does that happen? Anyone care to guess?
We are in the Twilight Zone because of a totally screwed up Supreme Court (which will get only worse) which has wiped out every law designed to prevent plutocrats from running the country combined with a new gilded age which has seen the wealth disparity grow by exponents in just a few short years. Rest assured that the fracas over the Supreme Court nominee is most certainly not about abortion any more than the election is about Russians.
Think about it. Do you really think that the oligarchical power in the nation will come clean and publish the truth about how they have stolen our democracy and delivered unto themselves 1.5 trillion dollar tax breaks?
Nah, just blame some foreign scapegoat and rest assured that the mighty media megaphone that brought us the Iraq War will double down on the Russian Hacking blah blah to cover up all the real reasons for election fraud with endless 24/7 coverage which in 1 1/2 years has unearthed about 10 or 12 Russians and a Russian company that spent $150,000 on ads on Facebook that allegedly stole the election. This compared to the hundreds of millions spent on the election by billionaires and the approximately two billion in free advertising the media spent on Trump
How does anyone believe this propaganda? Go ask your friends. Ask them if they have heard about the Supreme Courts rulings handing over our democracy to the ultra rich. Ask them if they understand that super wealthy conservative interests have used the United States government as their personal piggy bank, insurance agency and get out of jail free card for the last three decades.
From Wikipedia about the 2008 bailout of the too big to fail banks: Median household wealth fell 35% in the US, from $106,591 to $68,839 between 2005 and 2011. Meanwhile the wealthiest persons had 95% of economic gains go to the top 1% net worth since 2009 and today eight rich people, six of them Americans, own as much combined wealth as half the human race.
So go ahead and feel sorry for these folks.
Listen to their propaganda
Vote for their politicians who will grant them even more money.
Listen to their woes over abortion as they suck you into a con job about morality and religiosity as they clean up.
Watch the information wasteland confusing the heck out of you believing that Trump is the Second Coming and Jesus wants you to vote for Republicans.
Watch as health care, Social Security, wages, and finally democracy itself comes under attack and is defeated by the folks who have more than enough money not to care about anyone other than their own bloated with cash selves.
In the end they really do not give a damn about anything other than themselves and their money.
Class article! Blinding quote from Samuel Johnson!
Let me get this straight. The media’s reaction, NOT Trump’s capitulation to Putin, was “stunning”.
Why is CN doing its best to attack the Mueller investigation? Are they Putin’s puppets too, now?
Russians were at the GOP convention and the party modified their stance towards Russia. Russian agents met in Trump tower to the glee of Don Jr.
Trump deflects from all criticism of Russia and especially Putin. Trump invited ONLY Russians into the Oval Office, without American press, They he spills top secret info to them.
“But Hillary’s EMAILS!” WTF? Did she spill highest level secrets to Russians? Anyone? Anyone at all?
Who gives a shit who hacked the DNC? So what if Hillary is a dishonest corporatist? Big Surprise. Trump is too, except HE lies more than any politician in American history.
Trump invited Russia to hack his AMERICAN political opponent. THAT is collusion. I know, I know, collusion is not a crime.
Conspiracy is. The Trump tower meeting was a conspiracy between Russian agents and Trump’s family and campaign.
I suppose all of this is now “fake news” here at the Kremlin West.
I see Trumpist appeasing whining about an evil “deep state”. I see fodder for Trump’s fascistic smearing of our press as the “enemy of the people”.
Not a peep of condemnation. You want transparency? Then demand to see Trump’s tax returns.
Now Trump gets support for kissing Putin’s ass. The media reacts negatively. “Oh! The outrage!” the pearl clutchers whine here. Now CN and the Trump Cult rage that those who call out this capitulation “want war with Russia”.
Never mind the rise in hate crimes and open bigotry in Trumpistan. “Liberals want war!”
I never knew this place was so full of bullshit.
Orwell saw it all unfolding:
“The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history.
War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.
In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
THANK YOU! After hearing the author of this piece on KPFA, of all places, i had to check this out. What an odd odd place. Great points all.
If you think Dave D. made good points, you illustrate the problem.
“The US Democratic Party is determined to take the world to thermo-nuclear war rather than to admit that Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election fair and square.”
Paul Craig Roberts
http://www.unz.com/proberts/is-president-trump-a-traitor-because-he-wants-peace-with-russia/
On MSNBC after the summit, I heard it described as “worse than 9/11”.
Would you rather have had 3,000 dead people and a molten crater in a U.S. city than had Trump meet Putin?
If not, then maybe take another look with an open mind at the dismay here over the media’s reactions.
D.Dubya, TIME FOR A RED PILL !!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NsRSiXUV9Q&feature=youtu.be
THIS is the Man Putin Said Gave Hillary Money
Dave – we know that the Russian agents meeting with Don Jr. in the Trump Tower were only seeking a “redress of grievances” over the unfairly-punishing Magnitsky Act, and a restoration of adoptions to the U.S. See Skip Scott’s informationclearinghouse story on the Magnitsky subject below. It’s crucial because it gives cover for starting the Cold War again.
I believe Don Jr. wasn’t so gleeful once he found out what the meeting was really about. Have you already convicted Trump for conspiracy/collusion over this matter?
I for one “give a shit” about who hacked the DNC, because nobody has proven it was the Russian GRU or Putin. Allegations are not proof. It could just as easily have been an internal leak, or maybe the Guccifer 2.0 online-persona was a homegrown, secret operator (and troublemaker). That’s all.
Dave Dubya – Full blown fact-free Russiagate-crazy post and you end it misquoting Orwell – “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act?” Wow! I’m just guessing, but I think showing such bizarre disrespect for Mr. Orwell just might be considered a crime against humanity! In any case I can assure you that somewhere in the great beyond George is cringing and asking himself how on earth those currently vociferously defending “Big Brother” are now using Orwell’s very own words – (only in the most bizarre “Orwellian” sense no less) – to do so? Using Orwell to defend the integrity of two world class criminal organizations in the CIA & FBI? In homage to Orwell I have a question for you Dave – “how many fingers I’m holding up?”
Great reply Gary!!
What capitulation? Trying to get along with a nation with the most nukes in the world? You’re crazy for beating a jingoism laced ear drum for something not remotely proven. There is NO EVIDENCE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN FOR RUSSIAN HACKING. NONE.
All you have is taking US Intelligence word for it. That’s it. Sorry but in my lifetime they have a abysmal track record with murderously sinister consequences.
What God forsaken reason could you honestly have for poking a nuclear hornets nest?
Amazing how people are taken in by the creature masquerading as president here, He’s a reality-TV talk show host whose businesses have been powered by Russian money for a couple of decades now, and the payoff for Russia is right around the corner. We have a complete moron “negotiating” w/a clever and ruthless leader of a foreign power. Some of you might want to read up on Mr. Putin’s record of murdering journalists and other opponents in his country. This is not some beneficent dictator and we have no one in the chair on our side.
THANK YOU!!!
Lee Stranahan, on Helsinki, BILL BROWDER, stolen Russian money….$400,000. US
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NsRSiXUV9Q&feature=youtu.be
THIS is the Man Putin Said Gave Hillary Money —
Fact: Bill Browder repudiated his American citizenship and became a British subject merely for the tax breaks. Yet this traitor insists on interfering in American politics, elections and lawmaking. That is the depraved moral quality of the man.
Most people don’t take the media seriously they make lots of money sowing discourse. Most main news media are promoting dis function and confusion otherwise they would’t Survive or make money
Speaking only for myself, I am very glad that President Trump is trying to improve relations between the USA and Russia. I do not
believe ANY of the anti-Russian B.S. in the mainstream media. I firmly believe that Mr. Putin is trying his best to make things better for the average Russian.
My hobby is ham radio (my government issued call sign is “N9EN”) and since first becoming a ham radio operator in 1981, I have
had the privilege of talking with hundreds of Russian ham radio operators. I have found out, through my hobby, that Russians are every bit as friendly and peace-loving as are American citizens. In my hobby, I try my best to act as a “goodwill ambassador” for the American people. Thank you.
Awesome. Thank you for sharing! I actually did not know what ham operators do or why.
Sounds like you are a great ambassador for US. Hurray!!!
LOL. Acting as “goodwill ambassador” is how Miss Butyna wound up in US jail.
I think everyone should read: “Putin Says He Misspoke Too, Withdrawing Claim Clinton Got Millions Stolen From Russia” – by Robert Mackey – July 18 2018
https://theintercept.com/2018/07/18/putin-says-misspoke-withdrawing-claim-clinton-got-millions-stolen-russia/
The day before the Helsinki meeting he talked about $400 million to Clinton. After Helsinki he recanted and said $400,000. According to the above article the camapign financing records show:
Businesses associated with Browder gave Clinton only $17,700. They gave the DNC $296,966 and the Republican political actions committee $200,000.
Quote: “Putin’s conspiracy theory, quickly accepted as fact by Trump supporters, was just the latest phase of a long campaign by his governmant to tarnish Browder’s image. That campaign commenced after Browder’s tax lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, died in custody after accusing Russian of corruption.”
“At the meeting {June 2016 – Trump Tower Naralia Veselnitskaya (Russian lawyer with ties), Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort} Veselnitskaya pushed the Trump campaign team to repeal the Magnitsky Act and she shared a memo portraying political donations from the principals of one firm that invested with Browder, Ziff Brothers Investments, as evidence of corruption.”
The documents show otherwise.
Magnitsky, another Russian most likely killed for mouthing off.
I’ll keep repeating, Trump ain’t going to help you. Get on the streets and get rid of money influences starting with PACs and SuperPacs or else your voice will never be heard. Help the new young political people who are waring against neo-liberalism and big money big business, the military industrial complex. That’s where the fight should be. It should be a right for all to have adequate medical coverage for that’s life’s basics.
John P,
It’s interesting that (unless mistaken) neither Bill Browder or Hillary Clinton have directly addressed Vladimir Putin’s allegation, western corporate media hasn’t touched the topic, and (especially interesting) since (possibly) billions of people heard Mr. Putin’s assertion. People with only a moderate level of awareness on the Bill Browder-Magnitsky Act controversy wish to see the truth nailed down once and for all.
U.S. politicians and corporate media seem unable or otherwise unwilling to engage in an examination of the Browder-Magnitsky issue where all concerned parties can participate. Director Andrei Nekrasov’s documentary critical of Browder – “Magnitsky Act: Behind the Scenes” – has effectively been suppressed or censored, to the point where the American people find it nearly impossible to view the film. Author Alex Krainer’s book highly critical of Browder was taken down and made unavailable for sale after Browder’s legal representatives raised “concerns”. Krainer’s book disappeared from Amazon due to actions by its book division Createspace – in another example of Browder-related suppression.
Either Bill Browder is telling the truth or Bill Browder is lying. Given the huge consequences for U.S.-Russia relations in particular and international relations in general of the Magnitsky Act, now is the best time for solving the matter – once and for all.
It’s unclear to me how the dealings of one businessman, whether corrupt or not (and I have no idea so I;m not weighing in on that) – concern you as a matter of geopolitics? Magnitsky’s death ignited a fuse that led to financial sanctions against kleptocrats. Seems on balance a good thing.
Read this article and you’ll see why it is a matter of geopolitics:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49886.htm
Thanks Skip for your reference to the story about Browder’s pulling off a grand deception – the bought-off passage of the Magnitsky Act by the U.S. Congress. I had to refresh my memory on that one. That Act might be termed “The Help a Kleptocrat by Imposing Asset-Seizure Hazards on Anyone Trying to Seize the Kleptocrat’s Lost Assets Act”. “Anyone” could include the government or president of Russia. Congressmen took Browder – as the victim of ruthless Putin – at his word alone.
Yet Magnitsky was not who Browder claimed he was (his “lawyer”). He was rather his accountant skilled at setting up false front companies inside Russia, so that Browder could pretend his businesses were tax-exempt. Browder was trying to acquire a monopoly on Russian oil and gas, bought for pennies on the dollar. Thus you have the kleptocrat-fighting Putin administration discovering his fraud and seizing his ill-gotten tax-free gains. Browder’s attitude: yeah I did it, it’s not criminal to try to avoid paying taxes.
This was the first salvo in the re-start of the Cold War – a lucrative proposition for some. It first set up the idea of a treacherous, villainous Putin, which still holds today with many people, especially in the U.S.
This was well before the Crimean re-patriotization to Russia, and the associated free-agent support for Russians in the Donbass region of Ukraine.
I think now the false narrative of persistent Russian treachery has matured to the point that none of the legion invested in this narrative ‘can afford’ to tell their stories straight, so we march on toward war, tragically.
I use the term “kleptocrat” improperly – I was referring to Browder, who was not technically a government official enriching himself off of the citizens. The correct term for him is “businessman”. The Act accuses a number of Russian government officials of being kleptocrats, by ripping off Browder.
I have Krainer’s book and I find it convincing.
It is very detailed.
It also goes into the shenanigans surrounding the rape of the Russian economy under Yeltsin—just how those deals went down, adn who profited, and how—including the malfeasance and thievery emanating from Harvard U. In detail.
He also describes Browder’s deals and legal doings in detail.
Perhaps Krainer’s book is one that Ron Unz should make available at his Unz Review website.
CIA $BILLIONS spent by the US on intelligence yet “they” couldn’t prevent 9/11 but they of course did know Iraq had WMD’s ?????????
Trump may have every right to have NO CONFIDENCE ………..perhaps “US Intelligence” is an oxymoron anyway ?
Damn right it is
The establishment media are a shameful bunch.
I don’t think the media is losing its mind. I think it is a well-thought out plan. The “insurance policy”, which Strzok says is the Russian collusion investigation, is a stroke of genius. And the way they got Jeff Sessions out of the way with those bogus charges of lying and conflict, only to leave it to someone else with even more conflicts, to do the job, is sheer genius.If the neo-con/Dems statements are true that the people involved in this investigation cannot disclose anything to anyone, even congress, during the pendency of an investigation, doesn’t that mean that they only have to keep the investigation going until a Democrat gets in to escape producing evidence, or any accountability toany branch of government about Russian “interference” or “collusion.” Once Dems get in, it will all go down the memory hole. Another strange thing I noticed is the media’s actions during the primaries. The media hated Trump from the beginning so why didn’t they just ignore him into public oblivion during the primary – Ron Paul him into oblivion. It works! . Instead, they put him front and center, and gave him all this media coverage. He was the star at all the debates. Ignoring him could have been done easily enough. It was also strange that Hillary truly did not campaign during her campaign. Was that deliberate? She missed more campaign stops than those she attended. And now that he is in office, they are demonizing him. To a thinking person, it appears to be insanity, but it is a well known effective tool of bringing on one of those “color revolutions.” If you watch the Ukrainian revolution from beginning to end, they here in the US seem to be following the same script. Losing its Mind? Doesn’t look that way to me.
QUOTE: Another strange thing I noticed is the media’s actions during the primaries. The media hated Trump from the beginning so why didn’t they just ignore him into public oblivion during the primary – Ron Paul him into oblivion. It works! . Instead, they put him front and center, and gave him all this media coverage. He was the star at all the debates. Ignoring him could have been done easily enough. It was also strange that Hillary truly did not campaign during her campaign. Was that deliberate? She missed more campaign stops than those she attended. And now that he is in office, they are demonizing him. To a thinking person, it appears to be insanity, but it is a well known effective tool of bringing on one of those “color revolutions.” If you watch the Ukrainian revolution from beginning to end, they here in the US seem to be following the same script. Losing its Mind? Doesn’t look that way to me. END QUOTE
I think you are correct.
Hard to know, Fletcher Prodi seem to have a very high opinion of well I guess special ops I suppose you’d say so he never you really used that term but I kind of like Quigley’s interpretation that these guys that did these things, Dulles and on, we’re mostly a bunch of clowns. Of course we had better and worse intelligence expertise but this is reached a new level of sloppy and potentially game ending carelessness, not that there will ever be any kind of reckoning but just the next situation, these people are just greedy and stupid.
I agree that Hillary’s speeches were a joke. she offered nothing.
That said, the reaction when she lost seems to hvae been genuine shock and nervous collapse . . .
prior to the November 2016 election democrats were floating the Putin’s-in-cahoots-with-Trump balloon, to either dissuade potential Trump voters or as a weapon to be used should Hillary lose. Who would have thought, though, that rather than her taking responsibility for her loss, she, the democratic party and mainstream media, by way of their nonstop incitement of hatred towards Putin/Russia, would be willing to risk a nuclear war between Russia & the USA. Perhaps she’s among the few elites who’ve been told that, when it’s “BOMBS AWAY” time, for safe keeping they’ll be whisked away to that radio-resistant fortress somewhere under the Rockies. Meanwhile, of course, the rest rest of us living beings will be fried and/or vaporized.
This CIA gave us the chaos of Iraq and its aftermath by giving us false reports of Iraqi WMD and Nigerian uranium. “Slam dunk” said CIA director Tenet. Clapper’s team is the same bunch of guys that drove the Iraq war bus, which created the follow-on regional catastrophe. The CIA prepared these fake reports to sell all this needless war to the public.
And there are other major reports from the “intelligence community” which the public seriously distrusts, notably those on the JFK assassination and the 9/11 attack. And distrusts with good evidence.
So the idea of a small cabal inside America’s intelligence community, a few hand-picked people, acting in some private interest, is not entirely farfetched. JFK foresaw the possibility of his being assassinated. That means he knew, at least approximately, who would order it and why. Churchill spoke of a “high cabal”, above his pay grade.
One of the most counter-intuitive, really absurd sights in the current act is Democrats and the press frothing at the mouth over peace with Russia. That’s raw oligarchy power. Oligarchy servants are always willing to look ridiculous for their share of the loot.
CN founder Robert Parry pointed out why the Neo-cons, Israel’s American agents, want the U.S. in conflict with Russia. “What Neocons Want from Ukraine Crisis”
https://consortiumnews.com/2014/03/02/what-neocons-want-from-ukraine-crisis/
Basically, Israel is a center for war profits. Trump and Putin are resisting more war. Israel is also in serious danger of being found out by the American public. So America’s Israeli-controlled media and politicians are firing full blast. Trump is dodging and weaving. For new CN readers, a useful overview of the backstory that spawned this push for a conflict with Russia is at “War Profiteer Story”.
http://warprofiteerstory.blogspot.com
What is going reminds me of the the Galileo affair… When the Inquisition found Galileo “vehemently suspect of heresy” because of his stance that the Earth was moving and was not the center of the Universe…
Apparently you relish living in a country where absolutely no evidence is required to back up the most extreme accusations. All you need is an active imagination to get your enemies. Enjoy the experience when they come for you, playing by YOUR rules. You are REALLY unhinged. It’s amazing the bullshit you maniacs believe just because you are told it by some “authorities.”
Dude there’s a GARGANTUAN investigation that’s underway. The way those things work is that they don’t generally telegraph what’s coming. You have utterly no basis in reality to say there’s no evidence. It’s lunacy to say that before the end of the investigation. Your apparent oppositional-defiant disorder is squarely your own business but yes I am someone who still has faith in institutions, and feels that they have quite a bit of authority.
Superb response. Bravo.
As we know from THE DEVIL’S CHESSBOARD and THE SECRET TEAM, the CIA controls MSM to a significant degree. The Deep State provides the Government with “its Reality” via CIA, NSA and various other agencies. The masses are busy with day to day living and mostly accept what is presented on TV. Thus we see how events can be manipulated.
Let’s not forget “Operation Mockingbird.” The banksters essentially control the CIA, look at Sullivan and Cromwell and Alan Dulles.
I agree Lee! Dulleses set us on the wrong, wrong path and we have not been able to get off………
Hysteria is not a rational response, as all the criticisms seem to be. Interestingly, not one of our liberal experts, journalists, politicians, etc., could find anything positive in the meeting of the two nuclear powers who have been pushed to the brink of WWIII. I’m afraid that the multitude of hysterics may find themselves eating their own hats if something positive comes out of this. Trump understands that the elephant does not pay attention to a barking dog. Until then they should spend some time contemplating their own failures and lack of ideas, leaders, important issues.
How soon these buffoon’s forget the treason committed by their great “dear leader” from the past, one Franklin Delano Roosevelt who gave away the farm to his BFF “Uncle Joe” Stalin during and at the close of the war in Europe(WWII). None of this would even be happening if: 1)Roosevelt had not done all in his power to drag America into the war in Europe simply because he needed a massive new spending program as his “New Deal” policies had failed miserably, many even declared unconstitutional by the SCOTUS. 2)Roosevelt had demanded that all lands occupied by the Allied Armies be returned to their countries of origin after the fighting had ceased and peace agreement’s had been signed.
I can say it no better than John T. Flynn in his 1948 book The Roosevelt Myth: ” He(Roosevelt)made agreements with Stalin
hostile to the objectives of Churchill and kept secret from Churchill.He made secret agreements with Chiang Kai-shek, secret from both Churchill and Stalin, and secret agreements in derogation of Kai-shek’s interests without his knowledge. And he made many secret agreements which no one in our State Department knew about until his death and then learned about them the hard way, by having them flung in their faces at embarrassing moments by Molotov.”
“The net result of all these various conferences and agreements was that our government put into Stalin’s hands the means of seizing a great slab of the continent of Europe, then stood aside while he took it and finally acquiesced in his conquests. We gave him the planes, tanks, motor transport, guns, oil and other supplies to the extent of over 11 billion dollars without which he would have been helpless. We withheld our attack on Fortress Europe against the
advice of all our military leaders until the prize was almost in Stalin’s grasp. Then in a series of conferences with him we yielded it all in return for his promise to come into the United Nations on terms which enabled him to wreck that as an instrument of settling any serious international dispute.”
Thanks for the history lesson, but sod all to do with the subject at hand.
It’s totally relevant to the subject at hand. It’s about putting things into perspective.
The big corporate media talking heads and their revolving-door “experts” on retainer (like Brennan, Clapper, etc.) representing the interests of the unaccountable, heavily politicized “intelligence” bureaucracy are pretending like Trump has done something unprecedently horrible against the interests of the people of the United States and the world, when in fact no reasonable person with any understanding of history could ever say that with a straight face.
Unkaglen has just pointed out one (of many) examples where past presidents have in reality serviced the interests of foreign totalitarian dictatorships (Stalin being unquestionably a mass murderer on a scale that makes Hitler look like an amateur.) The Clintons facilitated wholesale transfers of America’s most valuable military technology to China (research Loral, Hughes and Clinton).
What did Trump do? He shook hands with Putin, said it would be nice to have a good relationship with Russia and publicly announced that he (Trump) also believes that the “Russian Collusion” investigation that has been managed by Obama’s and the Clintons’ politicized hacks in the American bureaucracy has very little to do with real national security concerns and everything to do with the political agenda of the people who lost the 2016 election. That’s not treason. That’s simply the reasonable conclusion that any objective person with a functioning brain reached long ago.
Yes, notice they can care less about the very real damage current domestic policies of this as well as the last several administrations are/will be doing to the country. The hypocrisy is so thick in the air you can cut it with a knife. Both parties are virtually privatized, for-profit actors, pretending at “public service.” Why pretend there is even a remote chance at solving any real problems, foreign or domestic, through “official” channels, when they are designed to prevent just that? It is way-past time for a newer, structural-politics where people aren’t afraid to look at the inherent root-causes of systemic-deficiencies and discuss them without losing their cool. Is this even possible in the climate of partisan drivel? It better be.
With all due respect, what lead you to the assumption that any of those territories were ours to give or concede? Crazy connected oligarchs like Roosevelt we’re just one of the many criminals of the 20th Century, splitting up the spoils according to their own strengths, the American people are just pawns like everyone else.
With all due respect, “With all due respect, what LED you . . . ”
“Led” is the past tense of the verb “to lead”:
lead, led, (has) led
“Lead” is a metal.
I see this error all the time.
I’m really hard pressed to come up with anything to be optimistic about given the dire nature of our current global and national predicaments combined with the bat-sheet crazy nature of our current version of the mass psyche. About the only bright spot I can find is that it is really encouraging to read the overall high quality of the comments here at CN, which suggest that I can look forward to taking part in some wonderful future conversations in “the camps.”
Two comments:
1. Why does a journalist as good as Joe Laura, when speaking of the “hacking” of the infamous Clinton/Podesta emails, fail to mention that the emails were not hacked but rather leaked from someone in the DNC. Julian Assange said so many times and because he disproves the Russia hacking lie, he’s locked away from any communication with the outside world. Joe, you are not the only good reporter to leave this out. Why did you?
2. Here’s a great article the CN folks with appreciate:
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/433498-helsinki-trump-treason-summit/
“Denial & guilt: US liberals collectively lose their minds over #Treason summit” by George Galloway
(sorry..I really do know how to spell your name)
new Reuters poll: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-voters/majority-of-americans-think-trump-mishandling-russia-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKBN1K72T1?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter
What an unbelievably slanted poll.
“The Reuters/Ipsos poll gathered responses from 1,011 registered voters throughout the United States, including 453 Republicans and 399 Democrats. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of 4 percentage points.”
Independents/anaffiliated make up more than 42% of the registered voters currently in the USA.
“medium = Social / source = Twitter”
No, the poll was registered voters who agreed to be polled …
The nuggets of this post-Helsinki poll are not to be found in the aggregate but in evidence that the partisan chasm remain despite the last weekend’s hysteria beginning with the Russian agent indictment and ending with the press conference … The continued rather surprisingly high republican voter support will give little impetus for republicans to “reconsider” (not that they have ever considered) actions… such as those leading to impeachment hearings … Trump is a loathsome idiot, likely worthy of impeachment on the basis of financial crimes and emolument violations … Russia still aint the issue.
My suspicion is that “hysteria” is mounting as some conclusion of the Mueller investigation seems unlikely to give the Democrats an overwhelming edge in November (that blue wave stuff)…other issues may give Democrats an advantage … it will not be Russia-gate or Putin/Trump Helsinki press conference … that’s all.
excerpts
“”” The poll found that 55 percent of registered voters disapproved while 37 percent approved of his handling of relations with Russia.
Among Republicans, 71 percent approved of his handling of Russia compared to 14 percent of Democrats.
A majority of registered voters, 59 percent, agree with the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia attempted to influence the U.S. election, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found. But only 32 percent of Republicans think that is true compared to 84 percent of Democrats.
Overall, 38 percent of registered voters agreed that Russia is an enemy of the United States. About the same percent considered Russia “a competitor” while 8 percent said it was “a friend.”
However, half the Democrats said it was an enemy while only about one in three Republicans considered it so.
Forty percent of Democrats described Russia as an imminent threat while only 14 percent of Republicans agreed.
Overall, 27 percent of registered voters considered Russia an imminent threat. Only North Korea got a higher response on that question, 31 percent.
The poll also asked Americans whether they think authorities will find evidence of an illegal relationship between the Trump administration and Russia. A slim majority, 51 percent, said it was likely, while 77 percent of Democrats and 19 percent of Republicans did.”””
Any sampling is unlikely to reproduce national demographics particularly with polls where allowing yourself to be polled is voluntary. These numbers might suggest Republicans “wanted to be heard”
Identification as an “independent” is different than being registered as an independent (and in many places being ineligibie to vole in primaries) — ymmv.
Susan,
It seems to me that these polls are like stuffing a person with all the fatty cuisine all the time and then measure his or her Cholesterol level. You know what the result is going to be. In the West, they have been feeding the public this Garbage about Russia for a very very long time now, and stuffing them nonstop with this Russia Gate hysteria for almost two years, and then they take the polls.
Forget about Russian History, I don’t think my wife can tell where Crimea is, even now. And she was in peace Corps in SE Asia too for two years during the 60’s teaching English. We have been married a very long time now more than forty five years, and our house has been full of books and has two big size world maps on the walls. Like most of the Americans, she gets all her information from TV; CNN, MSNBC . . . She believes in what they tell her on the tube. The same is true of all our liberal social friends, most of them Democrats. And same is true of all the relatives I inherited in the Great Lake States, They watch the FOX News, and they voted for Trump. FOX News is owned by the same forces, and they confuse them with all this contradictory information during this Trump presidency now.
It is not only U.S., much of the Media in the World has been taken over by Neoliberal Oligarchs, including India which used to have a very vibrant diverse Media when I grew up. And the populations are being dumbed-down, and made into ideal consumers.
You can poll the public in U.S. about local and domestic issues on which some of them take some interest. That may give some good results with margin of error.
The MSM press has been suggesting this is a sea-change moment … not evident in the polls … and imho, the polls suggest that this is likely considered more “fake news” by Trump supporters and further eroding trust, but more importantly interest in current affairs. Some of the coverage I have seen suggests “doubters” are traitors or stupid … again repeating almost unaltered Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” meme …
The Blue koolaid is strong and the blinders almost obscure the path … The MSM is busily mapping out the road to their own destruction and possibly “the fifth estate” if you believe in such things …. all tabloid and foolish alarums all the time.
What of Syria and Yemen? How and why do the crimes (to be proven) of Manifort or even Cohen “matter”? It is a sickness, like late Rome or Marie Antoinette, total disregard for average people’s concerns.
Sorry, I disagree.
for a poll of 1100 people to represent registered voters at least 500 of those polled would have to be independents/unaffiliated. Then split the remaining 600 to about 350 Republican 250 Democrat.
A whole lot of people Dem exited after the 2016 farce election. Including myself. And I was a straight D ticket voter.
No More! Once someone rips me off (gave lots of $$$ and my vote to Bernie) I never do business with you again.
And, there are many like me.
Further more the tantrums the D party is currently throwing. And, the saber rattling they are doing against Russia confirms to me that they are a danger to mankind. Which makes me tempted to even vote Republican this fall rather than the always 3rd party all the time stance I now take.
Yes. I do understand. There is a minority like the one here who read CN and such other sites, progressive or conservative sites, who do understand the international issues. In fact I am always being amazed at the depth and quality of comments on this CN site. But it is a small minority. An average person has no time or out of sheer intellectual laziness or lack of aptitude to read anything gets all his or her information from TV or Radio.
Myself, a straight D voter finally quit voting for Democrats in 2010 after the destruction of Libya and start of arming the Jihadists in Syria by OBAMA and HILLARY. And in the last two elections, I have voted for Republican Dana Rohrabacher, who is from our Town here. He is one of the few Left in the Congress who is sane, though I do not agree with his position on some of the domestic issues. But I think the foreign policy issues take precedence over the domestic issues. The War mongering Corporate Democrats are no better either on bread and butter issues any more for a long time now. They are just good at fooling the population than their opposition.
The Hollywood Money with Rob Reiner and his Elk, and other forces allied with War mongering Corporate Democratic Party are trying to defeat Rohrabacher in the coming election.
maybe someday you’ll read-up on polls and their limitations … this poll has not claim on universality … the parameters of the participants (a good-ish number) was that they be (or claim to be) registered voters and agreed to be polled.
That’s it!! The results are accurate for the 1000+ folks polled. They do not claim to be all-seeing or all-knowing. Even more important, the results are of limited shelf-life and may !!!CHANGE!!!! in time.
It was the first post-Helsinki poll I found. It confirmed (so far at least) my suspicion that there was no Earthquake going on …. except in the deluded hysteria of the media and their acolytes. As I said, the disconnect/cognitive dissonance between their hysteria and most-folks “meanwhile, back here on the farm” is overwhelming … it was a press conference after an agenda-less meeting of Trump and Putin in which the previous hysterically feared possible outcomes DIDN’T HAPPEN.
I was always a fan of George Booth’s cartoons in the New Yorker …
I am pretty much in the same boat.
Lifelong Dem Party member, more or less straight down the ticket except maylbe in some local elections, depending on the person.
I quit the Dem party after the 2016 election. I could see and smell the hysteria and the rot even before the election. Since I live in a hard-blue state, I decided to vote for Trump just to reduce any mandate that Hillary would achieve. Imagine my surprise!!!! But my vote didn’t matter.
Still, I can no longer stomach the Dems.
They are in a mental danger zone. Including the very smart ones. I am baffled, but I think much of the problem is that they cannot handle the cognitive dissonance. and so they are doubling down on the Russia Gate story.
I registered as “unaffiliated” because in my state if one registers “Independent” there actually is a party by that name. As “unaffiliated” one can choose which primary to vote in! Cool!
I think we should take heart that they are such a small group – loud yes, they have the corporate press, but it is not a big group and they have already lost the narrative. This has to be the end for them, they have no political support for impeachment after all this screeching articles can’t even get introduced mostly the “resistance” isn’t even trying – they know they don’t have evidence.
The scream these words TREASON and COLLUSION but they are powerless politically to do anything. So a “treasonous” president goes on. Clearly they are at their wits end their heads have actually exploded. The powerful “liberal” cabal which has run Washington for decades is disintegrating before there very eyes. Clinton is the witch – Trump is the water.
Thanks, Drew and Realist, i just read Finian Cunningham’s essay at Information Clearing House. Yes, this is indeed scary. It does appear a coup is being planned. All the more reason for us to speak up. The thought of Mike Pence is scarier than Trump.
I was a Sanders supporter and donor who voted for Trump because he promised diplomacy, whereas Hillary wanted a no-fly zone in Syria, and her proven track record of supporting illegal regime change in Iraq, Honduras, Libya, Ukraine and Syria. She was a faux progressive and ultimate racist in that she has the blood of countless brown people (mostly women and children) on her hands. What is really scary and disheartening is that the pro-WW3 propaganda seems to be working if the reader comments from the NYT and WaPo are accurate gauges of public perception. The verdict of commenters in corporate media websites is unanimous: Trump is a traitor for committing the crime of détente. Consortium news readers are informed because we search truth in alternative media. I hope it’s not naïve to believe we are the silent majority and most Americans still possess the common sense and critical thinking skills necessary to see through the hysteria even if they don’t venture to sites like Consortium news.
Don’t worry yourself too much. The highest rated MSM news shows only garner about 1.2 million viewers. That’s far less than 1% of the American population.
The MSM fancy themselves what they have not been in decades; Relevant.
Not an accurate gauge when most replies are bot farms bought and paid for by the establishment
– Tom
@willow…
“I hope it’s not naïve to believe we are the silent majority and most Americans still possess the common sense and critical thinking skills necessary to see through the hysteria even if they don’t venture to sites like Consortium news.”
Unfortunately, it is naive to believe…
It’s really not the fault of the people, rather, it’s the fault of the US education system that does not teach critical thinking. As such, the masses have their opinion shaped my MSM from various sources. Most of the people in the US only have time for reading headlines that notoriously misleading, but that does not stop most people believing that the headline is true. Even if the article in itself contradicts the headline. Then, there are the news channels with their talk shows that shape the opinion of the masses, even if the talk show host in question has been caught lying a number of times. In my view, all of the times, but that’s besides the point…
Are there exceptions from this? Of course there are; unfortunately this small minority cannot compete against the MSM and the masses to turn the tide. As such, any of the solution to resolve this will be either long term, or painful in the short term. There’s no chance chance for having the oligarch give up their power on a short notice…
I see the Trump phenomenon as a rise of the working class -in 2016 America, as a slave revolt. HRC was betrayed by her own hubris in calling such a large number of good Americans derogatory names. That, a video that some unsung hero shot of her head bobbling and her being propped up by her goon squad. It had nothing to do with Russian Facebook ads, which Trump’s opposition is using as their only ” evidence.”
This is why it’s important for us CN readers to enter the forums on the mainstream news sites and inform people, including links to relevant articles at CN. If enough regular news consumers wake up, it can snowball over lunch.
JWalters, I agree and that is what I’m doing. I do it because others before me did it and helped me get into reality.
That was good, mrbt…(not enough vowels for me). Yes, we are in a jalopy headed for a cliff. Instead we get a cliffhanger with this Mueller intel fiasco. I misspoke with the bank bailout, of course, it was 2009 just after Obama got into office; he told those banksters, “I’m the only one between you and the pitchforks”. Now it seems like we’re on a roller coaster ready to jump the track!
This disgraceful and obscene display of pants-wetting by the MSM over the Trump-Putin meeting and press conference was pre-planned and essentially pre-scripted to advance the deep state regime change op against Trump (and ultimately Putin). I was trying to imagine these journalistic malpracticers prepped to embarrass and humiliate Obama in a similar setting by asking questions like: “Mr Obama, which do you prefer, watermelon or chicken bones?”
It is clear beyond doubt that we are helpless passengers in the back seat of the out of control jalopy that is America, barreling helter skelter down the highway bound to hell and total collapse. The Dementedcrats need to get off the crack pipe and the unconscionable CIA thug John Brennan might benefit from a frontal lobotomy to get him to chill out.
the best description i’ve read of this insanity is :
‘the MSM is (p-faced) drunk on its own p . . . ”
with appreciation to the commentor who wrote that !
It sounds like Lisa Page is, unlike Strzok (remember him,
from late last week ?) cooperatively providing information
which might implicate China as the ‘party which got the
30,000 emails’. Perhaps this is what Trump & Putin talked
about ? In which case, The Donald’s walking back his
press conference comments may be only a temporary
feint. If true, Lisa will need excellent protection and a new
name !
Link to above :
https://truepundit.com/fbi-lisa-page-dimes-out-top-fbi-officials-during-classified-house-testimony-bureau-bosses-covered-up-evidence-china-hacked-hillarys-top-secret-emails/
If true, that would make a nice hangover for the MSM !
Ray McGovern and Bill Binney have pointed out that Trump does not seem to know that NSA has all of Hillary’s “lost” emails since NSA collects everything.
Something big may be in the works, as Stephen says. Now Veterans Today says that a move on Iran by the US was discussed at Helsinki, and they think that Putin would capitulate in some sort of trade-off — what, to get off their backs? Putin is much smarter than that. Zero Hedge just reports that Russia has dumped all their US Treasury bonds, further stating that Russia’s close ties to China indicate a trial run on the market preparatory to China dumping their pile, too. What many feel the big event is really another economic meltdown, as nothing was done in the 2008 Obama crisis except bail out the banks, which went right back to their chicanery. The western Deep State always sets up for war to divert attention from internal crisis.
I get far more concerned when the press, intelligence agencies and various other DC gangsters lavish praise on Trump. Judging by their reactions, it seems likely that Trump must have actually brought us closer to peace.
Stephen J, excellent verse as usual, “Blame It On Putin”. It was reported that “the lights went out” in the White House when Trump did his U-turn on Russian election meddling. Was that supposed to be symbolic of something?
Thanks Jessika. I believe something big is in the works. The powers that be have had things their own way for so long. The corporate media monopoly are their mouthpieces and are barking like dogs in a frenzy in case they lose their bones. The bones being the millions dead from planned wars and blood soaked profits that attained to the corporate cannibals. Enemies are needed to continue the corrupt system. The War Criminals are getting desperate, the gangsters war is just starting. Unfortunately we are all Prisoners of “Democracy”
https://graysinfo.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-prisoners-of-democracy.html
David Gergen says Trump acts “against his [Trump’s] own country’s interests of his own institutions…[including] these intelligence agencies.”
There’s the rub, isn’t it? The interests of our country and of those institutions: are they the same?
Also worth, sorry for broken record but, using Trump’s unique “awfulness” as justification for vigilante-style “trial in the press” or manipulated/propagandized “public opinion” … there’s a deep deep antidemocratic anti-due process or rule-of-law desperation here …which has had “liberal” (or “illiberal”) precedent we’ve already seen in “political correctness” and #metoo (emanating from the “progressive camp” often justified by the awfulness / despicable-ness of those they despise.
This is a very very sad devolution (or arguably the unmasking) of the Democratic Party (I vote the latter).
Antiwar 7, I agree with you. My eyes and mind began to open the day I asked myself what does “our national interests” mean. I learned I was not in that club except for paying their bills. The book “On Tyranny” by Stephen someone advised we support our institutions lest we move toward totalitarianism. My take was that I think a number of our institutions should be elimintaed becasue they were created by psychopaths and for psychopaths not the masses of us.
Trump mumbled some sort of half maybe apology about questioning Russian meddling. But he will contradict that apology just as quickly. They are really having trouble pinning this guy down on anything. His enemies want to nail him, but he just keeps moving. For a fat guy, he is pretty nimble.
Now, Trump says he misspoke and “accepts US intel on Russian election meddling”! I guess he got anothet ‘trip to the woodshed’, as Skip Scott has often said. James Howard Kunstler is right, it’s a “Clusterfuck Nation”. Well, the Russians are smart enough never to trust the US.
He got the truth out first and for that I have to give him kudos.
He probably knew backtracking and its attendant issues was
Inevitable. Very nice that power went out while he said he misspoke.
as WaPo itself says, “Truth Dies in Darkness”.
Look, this is getting frightening.
Never in my lifetime have I witnessed a group think/mob mentality like what’s occurring over Russiagate and the overriding Russophobia fueling it all. This is washing over virtually all planks of the political spectrum. We just had a damaged and awful president try to do one of the very few things he actually gets right: make rapprochement with Moscow; he was subsequently browbeaten, smeared and viciously attacked by every single mainstream Western media outlet on the planet. Not just news media, but also the entertainment media are completely on board — Kimmel, Fallon, Colbert, Maddow, etc.
To say one kind word about Putin or the modicum of detente that Trump just unsuccessfully tried to pull off is to be mocked, ridiculed, scoffed at and laughed at by liberal leaning friends, colleagues and acquaintances.
The militarist-corporate propaganda during the run-up to the 2003 Iraq War pales in comparison to this new and scary McCarthyism that has permeated everything.
I’m 47 y.o. and never experienced anything like this.
The liberal intelligentsia who are falling for this and propagating this have some of the hottest places in heII waiting for them.
If you think the overwhelming majority of the US cares about what the press and politicians think, then I would suggest you spend less time with Democrats. I dont agree with many Republican platforms, but on the reliability of media, they are far more prescient than the Democrats. I wonder if it is because they have more first-hand knowledge than the Democrats because they tend to send their kids to the meat grinder oil, wars more frequently than Democrats.
The best thing we have going right now Deniz is the cynical and skeptical attitude of much the hardworking American population.
The Russians certainly aren’t the ones who foisted this unconscionable inequality on the U.S. population, nor was it the Russians who caused the American heartland to deteriorate into a wasteland of service sector employment and Oxy dependence. It wasn’t Putin who mired recent American college grads in deplorable debt in the range of $30,000 to $400,000, nor was it Putin who demanded that millions of Americans go without adequate healthcare coverage.
It’s economic inequality and it’s political enablers who are stalking the towns and cities of America, not the Russian military.
That is the real problem, so why arn’t kids, their parents and the poor out on the streets like those of my generation during the Vietnam war stiring things up. Is it social media which kills the urge to go out and protest and make yourself heard? Get the money and business influence out of modern day politics, Raise hell !
There was a DRAFT during the Vietnam war. That made a huge difference.
And, I think we were actually better informed than today’s young people.
Bringing the war live into people’s living rooms was New Thing back then,
and we paid attention. Now, we are habituated and just tune out bad news,
unless it happens to be a domestic shooting spree or other home turf stuff.
Irina below is right. The draft was the difference. People would wake up and engage if we had the draft. We have an economic draft today. It’s the only option for poor and lower class kids who will never afford college. It’s unfortunate that identity politics doesn’t include the socioeconomic bias of targeting of poor kids being used as cannon fodder
And moreover, the draft was based on a birthdate lottery.
All in the luck of the draw. (And of course, economic standing
since there were college deferments, etc. etc.)
John P,
It’s what you mention, but it’s also the dead ends, misdirections, distractions and divisiveness caused by the liberal/left’s capture by Identitarian politics. Young people are so caught up in policing their and everyone else’s language, actively looking for opportunities to shame and assert moral superiority (which is often rightfully perceived by others as unmindful class superiority) over others. I have also personally witnessed and experienced it being cynically used and manipulated in Left organizations – a “Social Justice” opposition caucus in NYC’s teachers union, in this case – to limit debate and discussion by hyper-sectarian factions within the group. It’s political poison.
When unions and working people were thrown under the bus for good under Clinton, a political void was created that Trump (and his certain-to-be-worse successors) eventually filled. Unless/Until the US Left can re-constitute itself as the voice of the many (which is to say, working people), and then drag liberals along with it, it’s Give Up All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.”
I’m 71, Drew, and can tell you that the darkest days of the Vietnam War were not as scary. Our power structure has taken McCarthyism as practiced during the Korean Conflict and doubled down on it, directing its kinetics at the office of the presidency. This is as close to a civil war or an actual coup d’etat that I have ever seen, much more divisive and explosive than Nixon and Watergate. Someone claiming authority they do not have may soon make a move against Trump. They’ve stirred up enough hate by the mob to mask their motives.
Thanks for kicking some historical info to this Gen Xer. You make some very interesting (and quite scary) points.
Over at ‘Information Clearing House’ the always excellent Finian Cunningham has just penned a dynamite and trenchant essay on a possible pending coup against Trump.
Thanks. I always read your spot-on posts at the ICH website, Drew.
Thanks Realist.
In solidarity,
Drew Hunkins
Madison, WI
Yes. This excellent article by Finian Cunningham really nails it.
Did anyone else catch John Kelly saying on camera during one of the minor legal tangles a few months ago, something to the effect that “This lawyer works for me.” He, almost in his next breath, changed it to “I mean he works for the President.” Very telling Freudian slip. An Alexander Haig moment.
Trump derangement syndrome is so powerful, it turns liberals into neocons.
Drew your absolutely correct, this is a unprecedented groupthink & dangerous propaganda on a scale that’s never existed before! It’s mass hysteria on steroids! And all because of the simple fact that Trump, a man who was never supposed to win the Election over the anointed candidate, crooked Hillary Clinton occurred! Trump must be removed by a slow motion coup by any means possible? Whether it’s by undermining his authority or belittering his character. If that doesn’t work they will take the JFK removal method? As Stalin stated, death is the solution to all problems, no man, no problem? It’s frightening where all this fake Russiagate nonsense is going to lead us, it’s almost as if they want to start the next great extinction event by starting WW3 & a Nuclear War with Russia? The arrogance of America & its Deepstate, Propagandist MSM & political system is going to be the death of us all!
The draft made an important difference between then and now, but the environment then and the environment now are themselves very different. In the sixties and seventies, dissonant voices were heard more on MSM; the ‘protest movement’ was also based on human and social values whose influence has but disappeared: important amongst these were warnings of the dangers of the military industrial complex and the effects of consumerism as a drowning and leveling of true individuality, creativity and critical thought. The sameness of all things that is its result comes with a loss of awareness that feeds the manipulation of public opinion.
Another factor is the fall of the Soviet Union, interpreted in the US as ‘carte blanche’ for world domination, both political and economic. It is no longer a fight against ‘communism’, but against all voices outside of neoliberalism. Military power rules, along with a polarized view of the world, including the unquestioned superiority of American ‘goodness’, fear and patriotism, and all at the vertiginous speed of social media. It is like being on a high speed train and trying to point to, or even see, the world outside the window. Coordinated discussion becomes difficult, and therefore resistance as well. Nevertheless the signs of where we are going are in our face.
Drew, I’m 70. Yes, it is scary but I cannot recall a time in my life that was not frightening because fear is how our government controls us. They always create an enemy that just might be lurking under our beds. What did Goering say, something like the best way to control people is to make them think they are under attack. Goebbels said to keep repeating big lies and the masses will believe them.
MSM and politicians are using both of these mind control techniques. It will be easy for our “saviors” to save us from the bad bad Russians given there is no threat coming from Russia.
I guess Trump is now caving into the Deep State and the media.
Maybe he’s afraid if he doesn’t he’ll die of a ‘heart attack’- no way they’d do it with a bullet from a patsy- they don’t want him to be a martyr.
https://www.facebook.com/CBSNews/videos/10155975560905950/?t=20
I was thinking the same thing, Miranda. It seems the MSM is preparing us for some kind of end game. After JFK, RFK, and MLK, the “lone nut with a gun” scenario is passe. And Trump supporters would “smell a rat” and are heavily armed. A convenient heart attack or stroke would be the way to go.
Making way for Pence and the Christian Fascists, who are waiting in the wings to fullfil their fantasies of the Revelation, whatever the hell that is.
After 9-11, one must admit that nothing is beyond the rabid insurrectionists, whose ranks seem bolstered by the top dogs in the intelligence agencies. Insiders could sabotage Airforce One and blame it on Putin. Presto, we’ve got regime change in Washington and the coveted war with Russia.
Does warmonger media remember the general shock when ABC aired “The Day After” (1983), about US–Russia nuclear war? Maybe they should watch it again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyy9n8r16hs
I don’t know that to say. Whatever was left of the republic is either gone or doomed. If we have a mainstream media that is so nakedly attempting a coup d’état or calling for one with such universal fury based on little evidence and just embroidering one myth over another then I will have to just focus my energy elsewhere. My comrades on most of the left have, despite decades of proof that the media is deeply dishonest and constantly howling for one war after another the only hope is to batten down the hatches and just survive the next decade through local efforts. The sad part is I oppose many of Trump’s policies but this isn’t about policies–this is about re-invigorating American militarism and imperialism.
I’ve been around a lot of crises but nothing like this madness.
As usual the “media impostors” and propaganda pushers blame Putin.
———————————————————————-
January 10, 2017
“Blame It” On Putin
There is endless wars and devastation around the world
Western war criminals have their war banners unfurled
Millions dead and many millions uprooted
And the financial system is corrupted and looted
“Blame it” on Putin
The war criminals are free and spreading bloody terror
And their dirty propaganda says Putin is an “aggressor”
These evil plotters of death and destruction
Should be in jail for their abominable actions
But, “Blame it” on Putin.
The American election is won by Donald Trump
Hillary Clinton loses and gets politically dumped
The media is frenzied and foaming at their mouths
They are crying and lying, these corporate louts
They “Blame it” on Putin
Hollywood, too, is getting in on the act
The B.S. merchants are able to twist facts
In their fantasy world of channel changers
They do not approve of a political stranger
They “Blame it” on Putin
The spymasters and their grovelling politicians
All agree that “their democracy” is “lost in transmission”
Their comfortable and controlled system is now in danger
And these powerful parasites are filled with anger
They “Blame it” on Putin
One loose canon talks and babbles of “an act of war”
Could nuclear hell be started by a warmongering whore?
If the madmen of the establishment get their way
Could we all be liquidated in the nuclear fray?
“Blame it” on Putin
There is no doubt that the ruling class
Are all worried about saving their ass
Could there be huge changes and still more coming?
Is the sick and depraved society finally crumbling?
Hey, “Blame it” on Putin…
[more info at link below]
http://graysinfo.blogspot.com/2017/01/blame-it-on-putin.html
This just in: (NYT headline / top of page)
Trump Backtracks on Russian Meddling
Under Fire, He Says He Accepts U.S. Intelligence Reports
and then
Guardian:
Trump flips – then flips again – a day after downplaying Russian interference
President says he supports US intelligence consensus on 2016 election – but then says ‘it could be other people also’
(oh, nevermind)
I heard him say that. He meant that Russia did it and others could also have been involved.
Perhaps New York magazine has it right? “The president isn’t a traitor: He’s just constitutionally incapable of processing simple information, or prioritizing the national interest above his own egoistic desires.” or…more maybe New York’s earlier article from last week suggesting Trumpkin has been a Russian intelligence asset since 1987 is true.
One thing’s for sure: Trumpkin borrowed 100’s of millions from shady Russian bankers and other oligarchs, some of whom seem to have laundered a bunch of money through Trump’s real estate holdings by buying condos for dollars on the penny. If you foliks don’t see that as being at least somewhat on the same level as Dick Cheney holding those un-exercised Halliburton stock options at the time Haliburton was servicing the Iraq invasion…
Or Hillary exchanging access to the State department for donations…
“Cheney has pursued a political and corporate career to make himself very rich and powerful. He is the personification of a war profiteer who slid through the revolving door connecting the public and private sectors of the defense establishment on two occasions in a career that has served his relentless quest for power and profits.”
https://www.commondreams.org/views05/1117-22.htm
Profiting from the death and destruction of a heinous war of aggression that Cheney himself played a key role in instigating can in no way be compared with shady business dealings. I harbour disdain for shady businessmen who cheat property owners, honest contractors or workers. But that type of wrongdoing pales in comparison to the wicked malfeasance of Cheney (or the Bush family for that matter).
Before you “process” any more simple “information” from New York magazine Will, I suggest you take note of the GIGO truism and check yourself for leakage.
Trump is hopeless compromised by his business dealings with Russian criminals and banksters. Trump’s détente simply m means selling us out for his personal profit, and likely to avoid certain facts from becoming public. amazing that people here are comfortable with this fascist ckskr’s plans or policy or those plans and polices supported by Steve Bannon, Stephan Miller, Sheldon Addleson, BiBi, or the Koch brothers. y’all might turn around as far as possibl;e and check to see what’s leaking out of your own vents…or maybe just look at the more intelligent analysis of this Russian/NRA/American fascist/John Bircher nexus…it’s notable that no one here ever talks about anything but t hacked emails…when there is ever so much more going on that ya’ll serve with what appears to be tactical ignorance. intelligent people are very afraid right now and with very good reason.
Intelligence is a relative trait that takes many forms and is not a fixed quality or quantity. “Intelligent” people can be “right” or “wrong” about any number of things as is the case with what you might consider “lesser lights”. The problem I have with your source (New York magazine) is this all too common shoot from the hip profiling of Trump as being woefully stupid and motivated by sheer ego and nothing else. This type of subjective reaction to the man accomplishes nothing and is tiresome in my view. And the speculation put forth by your source about Trump being a Russian intelligence asset since 1987 is ludicrous.
The allegations you make about Trump and Russian oligarchs “seem” sketchy and lacking corroboration–but at any rate have nothing to do with the Russian government. I have already addressed your comparison of alleged business fraudulence with warmongering profiteers.
How detente with Russia “sells us out” is beyond me.
Insofar as fascism is a merging of state and corporate interests–that boat left the dock a long time ago and has not been turned the slightest by recent Administrations. In fact, I suggest that Obama made efforts to accelerate the process. Insofar as fascism is marked by a jingoistic militarism, political and social controls through mechanisms such as surveillance, militarised police, and the chilling of whistleblowing and dissent–that boat was accelerated by Obama as well. So the groundwork for fascism in America began well before Trump. If our country takes a more decidedly fascistic turn, it won’t be because Trump arrived on the horizon and made it happen. He’s not that powerful.
Will– if you stand for social safety nets, public investment (including public banks, education, and health care), environmental protections, fair worker compensation, fair immigration policy, and the like–I’m with you. And I don’t think I’m out-of-bounds in suggesting that the people who followed Robert Parry’s career are by-and-large traditional “liberals” who in no way agree with Trump’s affiliation with what has normally been considered a Republican domestic agenda. I’ll leave this at that.
You should know better than to mischaracterise the range of discussion here. And if Trump scares you, wait until Russia gets its back pushed all the way up against a wall and see what happens.
It seems President Lenin Moreno of Ecuador might have the perfect solution for his “problem” in London.
Free Julian Assange, Allow him to walk out of the Ecuadorian Embassy with all the proper rights available for any innocent man or woman on Earth.
Immediately upon Mr. Assange’s exit, allow William (Bill) Browder to enter and occupy the same room at the Ecuadorian Embassy – whereupon Mr. Browder will reside at that address until July 2024, punished under the identical treatment and conditions as Julian Assange.
“Problem solved” – President Moreno!
Not much to say but the USA has gone bat-shit cray-cray.
I’m going to be delighted to be excised from many so-called “friends” – friends of mob mentality.
The US media and Intel complex have induced a national psychosis and a likely Constitutional crisis.
Keep yer powder dry.
I’d guess half the country considers this — in the end — just more partisan theatrics … sad to suspect that they actually are the “sane ones” … It’s ennui versus cynicism as to which is more deadly ….
The scary thing is, Americans second amendment right to bear arms against enemies both domestic & foreign! There’s a Edward Abbey saying that a days “a Patriot must always be ready to defend his Country against his Govt”! How long will it be before American citizens reach a tipping point where they recognise that it’s enemies are its own domestic leaders & institutions such as the false corporate propagandist MSM & corrupt Politicians in both Republican & Democratic Parties who are undermining & sabotaging their human rights as free people! How long will it be before they say enough’s enough we can’t stomach this anymore?
In the Odyssey a witch-goddess named Circe turned Odysseus’ men into pigs. I think Trump is a modern day sorcerer. In the GOP primaries he turned his more intelligent and more experienced competitors into incoherent cartoon characters. He has done the same to the entire Democratic establishment, and he has done it to the entire mainstream press. There is no effective opposition because politicians and the media have become stark-raving mad – wild swine, just as dangerous as the monster they oppose. We are in America’s darkest hour and only half the blame goes to the vulgarian in the White House.
The Ministry of Truth has declared that seeking détente with Russia is an act of treason. And peace is war. Long live Oceania!
I love it.
The POTUS stood on foreign soil and announced to the world that the leader of one of our historical adversaries was more credible than the US intelligence services.
If it walks like a traitorous duck, and quacks like a traitorous duck, …..
Then it is a traitorous troll.
That’s rich! Do please grace us with an explanation as to why “credible” is an adjective aptly applied to either the FBI or the CIA.
“The POTUS stood on foreign soil and announced to the world that the leader of one of our historical adversaries was more credible than the US intelligence services.”
Told the truth for a change, did he? How shocking!
Excellent piece. Fortunately, there is still someone here retaining sanity.
The only thing I have to add is that, most regrettably, it is not only the media and opportunistic politicians that have lost their minds on this matter.
Large segments of the public appear to have too.
Just take a look at the readers’ comments on the very same type of press coverage that is indicted by Mr. Lauria.
They overwhelmingly level the same one sided, unbalanced, shallow, wrong-headed and hysterical attacks on Trump as the press articles they comment – and for the same completely questionable reasons.
Accusations of Trump “surrendering to Putin”, being a “traitor” for siding with Russia instead of the US intelligence community (on a totally unproven matter, by the way; and since when the US intelligence community is necessarily more reliable than foreign leaders on these matters?) are the norm in the readers’ comment (as well as in the mostly recommended ones).
Incredibly, the same public that lambasted at the intelligence community for its appalling record on Iraq, now does not even want to consider that same community’s obvious self interest in Russia-bashing.
In the USA, who stands the most to loose from a possible pacification of foreign relations with the biggest military counterpart, i.e., well, Russia?
This question just rings as troubling now as it did at the onset of the cold war.
Yet, nobody seems to wonder it.
It’s just over for those of us on the old left. The Orwellian nature of the media has taken hold and we are powerless against it. We have a population utterly uncurious of facts or history, logic or science, rationality or erudition. It’s over. People want to belong, want to share their anger at whatever enemy there is no matter how ludicrous is that threat from the enemy. This is how the oligarch has decided to use Trump’s election–first to divide us on tribal grounds and second to invent some enemy that uses all the mythology of Hollywood villains with Russian accents. It’s working and it means the oligarchs are unassailable and now are able to control public opinion with a bunch of gestures on the screen and the population will bark on command. Goebbels is, somewhere, cackling with delight.
We will be lucky if we avoid war, fortunately the professional military understands the situation much better than the civilian leaders and have put brakes on our drift into permanent major war everywhere.
You seem pretty rational. I’m new here and sure as hell won’t be staying long, but it’s like a fresh car wreck and I can’t help but gawk. But I’m somewhat aghast at the warm feelings toward Vlad Putin that I find here. The US has been a force behind extremely awful, indefensible things in the world especially after WW2. But what sor of over-reaction is this, to go on and on, as I see here, about how we should be seeking coopoeration with a guy who, by every analysis, rules his country essentially byhimseld with a coterie of mega-bilionaire associates, hates gays, kills jounalists and other who dare to defy him. It’s lunacy. And this idea that somehow American has been whipped up into an anti-Russian frenzy? It doesn’t seem to be based in fact – most of Trump’s people are uitterly ignorant (of many things and of Putin’s wrongdoing) and among the people I assocuate with who want to see trump go more than anything else, we seem to have generally warm feelings for the people of Russia while reviling Putin. It seems a lot of people here moved into bunkers in Berkeley (where I actually live) in 1972 and have been fashioning tin-foil hats ever since. Seems a little sad, no?
Mark L-
You have been sheep-dipped in anti-Putin propaganda. I suggest you read the man’s speeches and interviews available on the internet. Watch Oliver Stone’s four part interview with Putin. If you understand that during the Yeltsin years Russia was being looted by the west, led by Bill Browder and his ilk, and the result was a 10 year drop in life expectancy inside Russia, and a drastic reduction in standard of living as well, and that Putin reversed all that, maybe you can begin to see why he is reviled by the MSM. Putin’s so-called “wrong-doings” are lies, just like “weapons of mass destruction”.
You can find out a lot of truth here, and on other sites like Information Clearing House, or you can light up another doobie and kick back and watch Rachel. Take your pick.
Hey thanks for the tip on ICH! I realized I’d had enough after encountering a) a re-post of Tucker Carlson interview with Trump – wow! b) a piece claiming that ther’s going to be a coup because Trump is taking apart military industrial complex – to which I say, awesome! But the pesky fact that his FY ’18 budget handed the Pentagon $603 billion, a nearly 10% increase over the the previous year and c) an article abour Browder with the subtitle, “The Browder affair is a heady upper-class Jewish cocktail of money, spies, politicians and international crime” Wow, that’s some powerful stuff.
I was so sad to see the blaring solicitation for funds on ICH’s home page, with a note that only 168 people contributed last month. I guess my theory that ICH truly is a comrade to CN – tiny groups of invisibles, spitting into the wind.
The US media tries to browbeat Trump into saying that he stole the 2016 election with the help of Putin, and when he refuses to do that, they call him a traitor.
We live in an insane asylum.
No, trump is clearly a traitor.
To who? The military industrial complex? Bill Browder who renounced his citizenship to avoid Taxes? Certainly not average US people for whom Russia poses no credible threat.
And just as a historical footnote and irony, Browder’s grandfather was Earl Browder, leader of the CPUSA during the Popular Front and WW II, the era of its greatest influence.
Dude, Trump increased the military budget more than ano president in history last year, in real dollars. He’s a traitor to the MIC???
Trump’s FY 2018 budget handed $609 billion to the Pentagon, a nearly 10% increase over last year. How secret IS this dismantling? Quite secret, apparently.
Gee, if this is all made up, explain this: (And keep in mind, to get an indictment, you MUST have proof.)
The full list of known indictments and plea deals in Mueller’s probe:
Total of indictments (so far) – 35.
1) George Papadopoulos, former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, pleaded guilty in October to making false statements to the FBI.
2) Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, pleaded guilty in December to making false statements to the FBI.
3) Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chair, was indicted in October in Washington, DC on charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and false statements — all related to his work for Ukrainian politicians before he joined the Trump campaign. He’s pleaded not guilty on all counts. Then, in February, Mueller filed a new case against him in Virginia, with tax, financial, and bank fraud charges.
4) Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign aide and Manafort’s longtime junior business partner, was indicted on similar charges to Manafort. But in February he agreed to a plea deal with Mueller’s team, pleading guilty to just one false statements charge and one conspiracy charge.
5-20) 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies were indicted on conspiracy charges, with some also being accused of identity theft. The charges related to a Russian propaganda effort designed to interfere with the 2016 campaign. The companies involved are the Internet Research Agency, often described as a “Russian troll farm,” and two other companies that helped finance it. The Russian nationals indicted include 12 of the agency’s employees and its alleged financier, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
21) Richard Pinedo: This California man pleaded guilty to an identity theft charge in connection with the Russian indictments, and has agreed to cooperate with Mueller.
22) Alex van der Zwaan: This London lawyer pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Rick Gates and another unnamed person based in Ukraine.
23) Konstantin Kilimnik: This longtime business associate of Manafort and Gates, who’s currently based in Russia, was charged alongside Manafort with attempting to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses in Manafort’s pending case this year.
24-35) 12 Russian GRU officers: These officers of Russia’s military intelligence service were charged with crimes related to the hacking and leaking of leading Democrats’ emails in 2016.
Two ex-Trump advisers lied to the FBI about their contacts with Russians:
Michael Flynn Mario Tama/Getty
No, Trump didn’t ‘steal’ the election. The presidency was handed to him – by Putin.
To get a CONVICTION you must have enough evidence to convince a jury. To get an INDICTMENT you need nothing but a request from a prosecutor to a grand jury–NO PROOF, NO EVIDENCE whatsoever required. The prosecutor need not even take the case to trial with an indictment. As the saying in legal circles goes, a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. Indeed, Mueller has provided absolutely zero evidence on these indictments which everyone knows he has no intention of prosecuting, because if he did, he would open up the case to discovery by the defense. In fact, at least one of the private Russian citizens in his first set of indictments is challenging the case in court, which already has Mueller scrambling to evade giving due process which will get the case thrown out by a judge. Don’t take my word as a biochemist, read what a number of lawyers have posted on the subject, including on this site in response to this post. Or would that just complicate one of your favorite biases?
Your overarching contention that Putin stole the election for Trump has not been established even with weak evidence and certainly not by the incidental and irrelevant indictments that Mueller has brought for purely dramatic and political purposes–basically handwaving to misdirect the public and to mobilize the treasonous mass media and political opposition behind the coup d’etat he is fomenting. As a liberal Democrat, I want my party back from the warmongering neocons who have hijacked it to further Hillary Clinton’s grandiose ambitions for which she, through her own actions, proved herself thoroughly unfit.
Manafort, Flynn and the other peripheral characters and hangers on are fools for pleading guilty to charges totally extraneous to Mueller’s assigned mission: ascertaining whether or not Russia “stole” the election for Mr. Trump (a thoroughly unlikely proposition on a multitude of grounds). Manafort was consorting with Ukrainian mafioso long before he met Trump (absolutely irrelevant to the case), and Flynn was doing his job under the constitution by introducing himself to the Russian diplomats with whom he would later do business for the new administration.
Why was Hillary Clinton and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz not indicted for demonstrably interfering with the Bernie Sanders campaign? They’ve actually got the evidence for that in the recorded DNC emails. There is most probably also evidence that the vote counts in several primaries were changed to the advantage of Clinton, if the ballots or data sets have not yet been destroyed. And why has the DNC been allowed to withhold evidence, in the form of its servers, from the FBI for a full objective forensic analysis of the alleged “hacks,” which were more likely direct downloads to a flash drive by Seth Rich? And why is his murder on the streets of DC not being investigated as part of this constellation of related events? Why has Julian Assange, source of the DNC and Podesta files to Wikileaks, not been deposed? Why has British Ambassador Craig Murray, who passed on the flash drive with the leaked DNC files to Wikileaks and claims to know their source been deposed? Why has Donna Brazile, who wrote a book on the shenanigans of the DNC, not been deposed? Why has Wasserman-Schultz’s IT impressario Imran Awan not been deposed? Why has Huma Abadin or Anthony Weiner, who somehow had a boatload of Hillary emails on their personal laptop been deposed? So many obvious questions are being blatantly evaded by Mueller. Why? Basically, because Herr Mueller simply cannot handle the truth. The truth doesn’t fit the narrative that the deep state wants to use to frame Trump and Putin and seize control of the government. Really, fairness would demand that it’s high time to do a real objective investigation that goes beyond the one-sided kangaroo court being run by Mueller. An even better idea would be for Hillary Clinton and the Democrats to come to terms with reality (you blew it, nothing was stolen from you) and apply themselves to the process of governing this country and preserving peace in the world.
Seems like you have a lot more to explain, Robin, than do the seekers after truth and justice here.
Realist – very well done! If biochemistry hadn’t worked out for you, you could have gone into law. If your interest was the pursuit of truth, though, you probably chose correctly. Good questions.
Realist-
Great rebuttal!
A good rebuttal, but let’s not forget that Flynn’s meeting with the Russian ambassador after the election was in fact at the behest of a foreign power: Israel, which prevailed upon Trump/Flynn to convince the Russia to vote against a UN vote condemning Israeli settlements in Palestine.
Russia, ever-solicitous of Trump (as he is of Putin/sarc.) refused.
Wow, you use a LOT of words to say nothing in particular. Mueller’s mandate was not, in any sense, “ascertaining whether or not Russia “stole” the election for Mr. Trump”. The actual appointment letter states “to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the Russian govemment’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election” and subsequently mentions investigation of coordination with Trump. Consider adjusting your meds.
Marc L – full text:
“By virtue of the authority vested in me as Acting Attorney General, including 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, and 515, in order to discharge my responsibility to provide supervision and management of the Department of Justice, and to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, I hereby order as follows:
(a) Robert S. Mueller III is appointed to serve as Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice.
(b) The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confirmed by then-FBI Director James B. Comey in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including:
(i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and
(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and
(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a).
(c) If the Special Counsel believes it is necessary and appropriate, the Special Counsel is authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters.
(d) Sections 600.4 through 600.l0 of Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations are applicable to the Special Counsel.”
Such a broad and expansive investigation, isn’t it? Allowed Mueller to net lots of peripheral actors on whatever he could dig up, which wasn’t much. Millions of dollars wasted for nothing.
But I can hardly wait until the second special counsel is appointed to broadly and fully investigate Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, Uranium One, James Comey, Rod Rosenstein, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and the rest of the bad apples who attempted to overthrow a sitting President. That’s going to be one full net!
If my many pertinent questions are just words having no substance, try answering them, wise guy. But you can’t, so you reflexively cling to the false narrative provided to you by those you have put in charge of your mind, people acting out of THEIR self-interests, not yours or the American people’s.
Whether you realise it or not (obviously not), your statement of Mueller’s mandate presupposes what he has been fruitlessly trying to prove for a year and a half. There has been NO EVIDENCE ever provided substantiating “the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.”
I think that YOU need more than meds to correct your malady, more like brain surgery to clean out the demons and silence the voices.
THANK YOU. This is my first and last time visiting this strange site, but it’s good to see some actual rationalist thought and not fevered conspiracy talk.
Ha! You would side with the most delusional post in this thread based on NO facts whatsoever, just unsubstantiated allegations. You know nothing, you merely believe what you are told by liars who lost political power through their arrogance and now want to steal it back by feeding you tall tales. Go on, get your intellectually lazy self back to the embrace of Rachel Maddow and the rest of her unhinged ilk.
I thought you promised to STFU and never come back. Liar!
Marc – stimbled? What’a kind of word is “stimbled”? Were you trying to say “stumbled”, you know, a word that rhymes with bumbled, crumbled, fumbled?
If you happen to stimble back our way again and actually take some time to read the comments, you might be surprised at the edumacation you’d get. You would notice that we often disagree with each other, but when it comes to the lies and omissions of the MSM, we are usually in agreement.
This is grand! One attack for participating, one terribly clever denunciation of – typos? I seem to have hit a nerve.
(Also wanted to note that I had to change the email I listed because whenever I use the one I originally commented under the comment is rejected and not posted. I guess I hit a nerve with an admin as well. Way to go, free exchange of ideas!)
Marc– you aren’t here exchanging ideas, you’re here spouting blather and insult. This website is read and appreciated by more than you suggest. But you either know that, and are being paid to sow disruption and weak-minded propaganda…or are just one twisted twerp on a bad trip.
Marc – Words such as “Wow, you use a LOT of words to say nothing in particular” and “Consider adjusting your meds” don’t go down well around these here parts, especially against someone who is always fair and reasoned in his responses. Join in, add your own thoughts, refute what we have to say, but please be respectful.
You insult and call us “mutually masturbatory paranoids”, and yet when your post doesn’t go through you conclude, “I guess I hit a nerve with an admin as well. Way to go, free exchange of ideas!” Who is the paranoid now? You’re here for half an hour, your post doesn’t go through, and all of a sudden, because you’re so full of your own importance, it must be censorship? This has happened to all of us on occasion and, yes, it can be frustrating. Get over it and try again.
“I seem to have hit a nerve.” Yes, you have – my funny bone!
The US media lost its mind long ago.
What has happened on this trip of President Trump is simple. The axis Washington-EU/NATO has been thrown under the bus., It has been replaced by the axis Washington-Moscow. Whether that is a cause to rejoice remains to be seen. Rejoicing now is wildly premature. Axes can break.
There will be expectations of better lives by the Russian people. What if that does not happen? There have been far more uprisings and revolutions in Russian history than in ours.
To respond to one commenter’s suggestion that the US get rid of the electoral college; if one looked at the map of the US on post-election morning, one saw that practically the entire country was coloured red – only the coasts were blue. If we went the “popular vote” route, every president would be elected by the coastal states because that is where most of the people live. The coastal population does not represent the country. In my opinion, since we want to have a representative government we need the electoral college so that each state gets to vote. The people in each state can direct the vote of their state.
Sorry Lizzie. The population of all states represent our nation. That is why the vote count, while it does not elect the President and Vice President, is not wholly without meaning. Governing totally against the views of the majority of voters implies that they are wrong and stupid. That is my view. It is also arrogant.
Thanks you! The MAJORITY should ALWAYS rule. There should be no acceptions especially for President of the United States. Too few people speak this TRUTH! In this day an age there is no reason to have any system or institutions in place that does not speak for the MAJORITY! Electoral College down!
Never heard of the “tyranny of the majority”, eh? It’s a genuine problem with democracy … it’s quite possible that many issues would never have reached majority status — slavery would never have been abolished (so much fuss about a regional “peculiar institutution”),
“”The notion of the tyranny of the majority was popularised by the 19th century political thinkers Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in America) and John Stuart Mill (On Liberty). It refers to a situation in which the majority enforces its will on a disadvantaged minority through the democratic process.””
The vote of far too many would be rendered irrelevant if there were no proportional representation mechanism in place … too much of those disenfranchised by the elimination of the electoral college are already amongst the have-nots of our country, at the further hungry end of income inequality (some do better than other by providing “services” — vacation homes/destinations and cheap labor — to the oligarchs. — those coasts are where the money and jobs are … wealth …
handy maps …. Trump won 85% of the land mass ….
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/16/us/politics/the-two-americas-of-2016.html
The electoral college DOES NOT prevent the “tyranny of the majority” because you do not have equal voting. If every state cast the same number of votes then you have equal voting. Because each state has different number of electoral votes based on their populations, candidates can spend their time in a few states while ignoring others.
A national popular vote restores equality
A national popular vote means 3rd party candidates can win because there is no more electoral strategy or asinine argument of red state / blue state.
I agree with your logic, except I mostly think of it as «the tyranny of a tiny powerful minority». Meaning that it’s not «a majority» that rules, but rather an undemocratic, non elected elite that forces their agenda, gives us their camdidates to chose from, and their policies are pushed thru regardless of what any «majority» of whatever minority of the people who actually bother to vote actually thinks about the issue. In other words, would you like to choke to death, or slowly starve to death? It’s your great democratic right to vote your opinion within that framework, but try to go outside it, and you are immediately villified.
Limert – “I mostly think of it as «the tyranny of a tiny powerful minority». Meaning that it’s not «a majority» that rules, but rather an undemocratic, non-elected elite that forces their agenda, gives us their candidates to chose from, and their policies are pushed thru regardless…”
Excellent points. It is a “tiny minority” who rule. The majority are merely allowed to “think” they have a say. Trump, who many see as an idiot, may turn out to be anything but, for he is exposing this tiny minority for all to see. He is forcing them to show their faces, and people are beginning to take note.
Trump throws stuff out there, in his inept way, the tiny minority go ballistic on him, he slightly recants, but meanwhile the lies get exposed one by one.
We’ve never had such a system, wise guy. The Senate is inherently undemocratic, based on states’ rights, not one man one vote. Moreover, judges are not elected but appointed by the executive and confirmed by the legislature. Having the president chosen by the Congress, as is done in all parliamentary systems, would be “tidier” (“fairer?”) than the present system, but we’ve lived with this mess since 1789 and several times have been governed by a “minority president” without the world coming to an end. The rules were no excuse for a coup d’etat then, nor are they now.
The Constitution allows Amendments to change with changing times. The vote has been given to free men without property, freed slaves and women. More than 10% of Presidents did not win the plurality of votes. If people truly want their votes to count more, they can work to amend the Constitution, or vote with their feet and move to states where their votes count more.
A much bigger issue is the lack of proportional voting practiced by most real Democracies around the world. Gerrymandering districts can result in the party getting the least votes (of the two) in a state still winning the most representatives. Proportional voting would eliminate this problem, but was outlawed by LBJ in favor of first-past-the-post, winner takes all Districts.
There you go. Potential remedies exist if we must have them.
Just think of the cheating that would go on if the national popular vote were the deciding factor–the double voting, the ID challenges, the voter suppression laws, etc. Imagine the hullabaloo if a single vote in Wyoming or Rhode Island determined the election.
Can we even eliminate the inherent error in the counting process to validate such a criterion? Even machine-read data may come out slightly different from run to run, which is why half the counties in Florida refused to re-run their data sets in the 2000 election even though doing so was mandated by state law under the circumstances.
Sorry, Didi, but our federal constitutional republican form of government is neither stupid nor arrogant.
It is a well designed construct that binds together the entire nation, not only the people but the states, into an organic being. The electoral college consciously factors in the fact that we are a union of states, not only a union of “demos” (people). That is why the “New Jersey plan” at the Federal Convention was a high point in your high school civics class. The states are intended to mean something in our federal republican form of government.
Indeed, for those who view the massive growth of our federal government into an imperial hegemon over the past century or so, it is no small coincidence that the balance constructed by the founders was tipped in favor of Washington, and BIG MONEY, by the passage of the 17th Amendment in 1912. That amemdment (for the popular election of Senators instead of their being appointed by state legislatures as written in the constitution) inexorably led to the growth of our imperial state; immediately thereafter came the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, enactment of a the personal income tax to replace import tariff’s to fund the federal government, our engagement in WW 1, and increasing alliance with the British Empire that lasts today in our “special relationship”, the NATO alliance, and the Anglo American hegemon.
It is also no coincidence that the root source of “Russia-gate” and “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is a sustained effort by British Intelligence, in cahoots with US deep state intelligence that works not for the people of the US but for the Anglo-American empire of western capital centered on Wall Street and the medieval City of London. That is why the “golden shower dossier” was written by a British intelligence officer (Steele), that the basis for the deep state rat Strzok to spy on Trump was an Australian “diplomat” (read spy) Downer, friend of the globalist Clintons, and US deep state intelligence operatives attempted entrapment of Trump campaign supporters (such as by Stefan Halper, an Mi-6 and CIA asset).
The entire attack to undermine the results of the Electoral College triumph of Donald Trump is directed by Anglo-American deep intelligence assets, working for the globalist western capitalist cabal, that cannot permit a mere president to alter their globalist plans; ergo, deep state rats Brennan and 10 hand picked analysts come up with “Russian collusion”, unleasigh Mueller (protector of the Whitey Bulger Winter Hill Gang), Strzok, Rosenstein, etc. to to find a basis to neuter, if not impeach, the constitutionally elected President.
Indeed, Pres. Washington foresaw such an eventuality of foreign influence tainting our Republic; see his Farewell Address at Paragraphs 32-39. Indeed, his prescience amazing; read these warnings:
“So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite
nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing
into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without
adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which
is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained,
and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it
gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or
sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of
a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or
foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.
As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened
and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of
seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils. Such an attachment of a small or weak towards
a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.
Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people
ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of
republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence
to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another
cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on
the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its
tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.”
Indeed, if any nation can be found to be interfering in our domestic politics and seeking to influence the actions of the President, or more precisely to have him removed from power, it’s not Russia, its the United Kingdom.
Interesting, thank you. I will read up on the 17th. I’ve blamed the “federalization” of politics for a lot of the apparent decline in citizen interest in Democracy as state and local influence “on people’s lives” seemed to have been ceded over to the fed … not entirely a bad thing (when it comes to civil rights, equal opportunity and federal funding for stuff states could never afford) … still, I think something encouraged a complacent electorate even if the educational values of unions (voting for your interests rather than against) signifies.
Jim in NH – brilliant post! Thank you. Everybody should read it.
I agree. Electoral system is not the problem. It is good enough. It is the population which has been brainwashed and dumbed-down by the Media, and Entertainment industry, and their operatives and politicians who have been bought out. The way the things are, the parliamentary system is not going to be much better than the current one.
The events of the last two years should leave no doubt about the forces who actually rule this country, it is certainly not the duly elected President. The way Rod Rosenstein behaves, and that FBI man Peter Strzok acted in front of the Congressional committee; so brazenly defiant, it is hard to believe. The events of these last two days should scare every right thinking citizen of the country. The country should be applauding Trump for the summit, and lessening the tensions between the nuclear powers. Instead all the knives are out to go at him.
With all these forces arrayed against him, I am amazed that Trump is still standing. He is intelligent and very shrewd. His problem is that he has very poor communication skills. Only thing saving Trump is his base. He knows it.
Dave P. – hi, Dave. Yes, I agree that Peter Strzok and Rosenstein were pompous and cocky, both with a “how dare you question me” attitude. They’re only acting this way because they currently CAN (they feel they are protected), but things can change quickly.
Yes, it IS amazing that Trump is still standing, and I agree with you that his base is very loyal. If anything untoward were to happen to Trump, they will take the roof off the country. You know, I think his poor communication skills and his off-the-cuff manner might actually help him sometimes. He gets away with things others would not. When he says something, everybody just goes, “Well, that’s just Trump! He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
And his tweeting, even though it’s certainly not presidential, is probably a good thing. He gets to spill the beans and go directly to the American people. The Deep State must be pulling their hair out because they can’t control him.
He is revealing the Deep State every single day or, as they fight back against him, he’s making them reveal themselves. People are noticing more and more that these guys are not at all interested in bringing jobs back, they don’t care about securing the borders, and they don’t want to stop the endless wars. Trump is making them reveal themselves for everybody to see. If he is a master at anything, it is that – the reveal.
Nice to talk to you again, Dave.
I agree with you, Dave, about Trump’s communication skills. What he needs is a highly competent spokesman. Much as I dislike him for numerous reasons, Alan Dershowitz has recently quite effectively defended Trump’s positions. What other keen legal minds are interested in protecting our elected leadership from a coup? Jonathan Turley? Erwin Chemerinsky? Bob Barr?
Realist – it would be nice if “someone” came forward to help Trump out. Dershowitz is a man of principle and although he’s lost friends over his stance, he continues to speak out. Trey Gowdy, who is not running for Congress again, has a brilliant mind and would be a tremendous asset. In fact, Trump should replace Jeff Sessions for Trey Gowdy as Attorney-General.
Tucker Carlson has Jonathan Turley on his show from time to time. Very knowledgeable, but he seems to buy into the “Russia meddled in our election” bull a little too much for my liking. Maybe he’s just tight-lipped on the show, but he doesn’t strike me as someone who could see a coup coming.
That’s the problem, isn’t it, and it’s like Paul Craig Roberts said: you don’t know who to trust.
How can someone who can write so well and follow an idea become so utterly waylaid by clinical paranoia. I suggest you listen to Terry Gross from today interviewing the unbelievably competent and thorough reporter for the GUardian whose been chasing down Brexit monies and connections between Brexiteers, Russia and Trump. It’s stuff that’s impossible to dismiss. You seem like a copetent person but you must feel entirely without an intellectual home – you’re appear to support Trump for the single reason that he’s a disruptor, but you’re also against global capitalism of which he’s entirely a creature, to the extent that his intellectual abilitie tether him tom any philosophy but that of ‘himself”
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/19/630443485/reporter-shows-the-links-between-the-men-behind-brexit-and-the-trump-campaign
I see what your major malfunction is: simple projection. Some mental health professional must have diagnosed you as “whacko” and now you see everyone else as defective.
You promised to leave several times and yet you hang around, hoping for the slightest bit approval I presume.
I also detect a case of paranoia on your part, or why would you have started posting from multiple IP addresses? Dropping the “L” from your name also fools no one.
Seek the help you so badly need and stop bothering the good folks here.
Nope, that’s not it, sorry buddy. I think I’ll stick around for a while, thanks for the encouragement. And I didn’t change my IP I’d have no idea how to do that, but I did have to change the email listed as every time I tried – after my first few comments, which I guess someone didn’t like? – when I posted using that initial address, my comments were not posted. When I switched, they were. Seems like you prefer mysteries that allow room for a lot more conspiratorial bullshit, but there”s your actual answer.
If three million more voted for Hillary than Trump, then majority of voters are wrong and stupid. Good thing the Electoral College saved us from ourselves.
A very good observation indeed.
“…one saw that practically the entire country was coloured red – only the coasts were blue.”
Right, “only the coasts”. The ones where nearly 50% of the US population live.
And that 50% mostly live in big cities which would not survive long
without the rural areas which provide the resources to support them.
They actually think food comes from the supermarket Irina.
And you buy it with EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards.
The coasts were not blue. Clinton got the west coast. Trump won most of the east: FL, GA, SC, NC and they split Maine. Trump won 30 out of 50 states. There were also less people who voted in 2016 than did in 2012 and in 2008.
So it does not follow Clinton would win if there was a National Popular vote.
It’s actually worse than it appears on a state-by-state map … Clinton won densely populated areas of California, but on a precinct by precinct map https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/04/is-this-the-ultimate-2016-presidential-election-map/521622/ (note says map was an “amateur effort” but there may be others) ..
Our electoral system(s) have very serious problems … voter access (and apathy) and gerrymandering probably top the list, but that “neoliberal income inequality” appears to color/overlay everything …
interesting that this discussion ignores the massive voter suppression that helped trumpkin to his “victory”
Great article and commentary CN, many thanks. There is an excellent comment by Craig Murray at his site and one should not miss the commentary there either…
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/07/detente-bad-cold-war-good/#tc-comment-title
Bob Van Noy – thanks for the Craig Murray link. Good article.
Thanks for the link Bob. Craig Murray is always spot-on.
Liberals should be ashamed of themselves. They voted a Russian bribery hag Hillary and now go far-right John Birch in drumming up war with Russia — just because Trump hurt their feelings by beating Hillary. Sad!
which liberals? is “Liberal” a policy, a belief system or a group to be exterminated? Anyway, whatever policy Clinton may have pursued towards Russia, I’m pretty sure she really didn’t want open warfare with a nuclear armed nation…yet all the Jill stein cadets sure think so: have proxie war somewhere else? Sure. which brings me to an observation about Trumpkin vs. Hillary: what’s the difference between attacking Yemen or unlimited drone warfare, or having troops all over Africa as Trump has vs attacking Russia? Ok, I’ll tell ya: it’s much safer to attack Yemen or those other places and hardly anyone is paying attention. while were at it…Want to talk about the recent news that Trumpkin wishs to invade venezuala?
Yemen started under Obomber. Neither party can corral the war machine.
couple of polls ….
from the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/poll-prri-republican-democratic-voter/565328/
appears to be at 68% for democrats, / 22% for Republicans
from Gallop (H/T Dave Sirota Twitter): https://news.gallup.com/poll/1675/most-important-problem.aspx (bit unsure of unsure of date, looks like May 2018) (doesn’t reach full integer)
I was impressed on the eve of 2016 election how ineffective Clinton’s constant beating on Obama’s drum wrt to Russia-Russia-Russia had been … I don’t remember the polls but the numbers for “major concern” iirc were low, around maybe 12% (after months and months)
I think the media is drunk on their own piss…. I remember feeling frustrated when Gore (who had a better case for “stolen electoin” imho) walked away … my suspicion is that on completion of the Mueller inquiry this is going backfire badly …. even if Manafort gets decades in prison for money laundering
Debate: Is Trump-Putin Summit a “Danger to America” or Crucial Diplomacy Between Nuclear Powers?
Glenn Greenwald and another thoughtful dude, Joe Cirincione. All substance and strong disagreements without shouting or personal attacks.
Greenwald:
…I also think that that last point that Joe made is actually an important one, and it does put people like me into a difficult position, which is, you know, on the one hand, of course I don’t think that Donald Trump is well intentioned and is going to have the diplomatic skill to negotiate complicated new agreements of trade and of arms control with very sophisticated regimes like the one in North Korea, or at least complicated regimes in North Korea, or in Russia. On the other hand, as we’ve been discussing, unfortunately, he’s the only game in town. There is nobody else who’s saying that we ought to question NATO. Democrats, when you say we ought to question NATO, act like you’ve committed blasphemy. There is nobody else talking about tariffs and the unfairness of free trade agreements, except for a couple of fringe people within the Democratic Party. Just like this week, when he said that the European Union was a foe, what he said was something that for a long time on the left was really kind of just uncontroversial orthodoxy, which is that of course the European Union is an economic competitor of the U.S., and a lot of what their trade practices are do harm the American worker. We put up barriers against Chinese products entering the U.S., and yet the EU buys them and then sells them into the U.S., indirectly helping China circumvent those barriers in a way that directly harms U.S. workers. This is something that people like Robert Reich and Sherrod Brown and Bernie Sanders have been talking about for a long time. So it does make it very difficult when the only person who’s raising these kinds of issues and talking about these things-we need to get along better with Russia and China, we need to reform these old, archaic, destructive institutions-is a megalomaniac, somebody who’s completely devoid of any positive human virtue, which is Donald Trump. So it puts you in the position of kind of trying to agree with him, while knowing that he’s really not going to be able to do anything about those in a positive way.
On the other hand, I don’t feel comfortable being aligned with people like Bill Kristol and David Frum and all of those Bush-era hawks who are now the best friends of MSNBC and the Democratic Party, either, because they’re not well intentioned, either. And so, what I try and do is use Donald Trump and the kind of shifting alliances, that we started off by talking about, to open up a lot of the debates, that will remain closed if you only look at U.S. politics through the prism of the 2016 election and Republicans versus Democrats. And I think the most important point is the one that, as I said, Joe made just this week, which is that until the Democratic Party figures out-and this is true not just of Democrats but of center-left parties all throughout Europe and here in Brazil-until they figure out how again to reconnect, not with the highly educated class and the rich and the metropolitan enclaves, but with the working class of these countries, that feel trampled on and ignored, and for that reason are turning to demagogues, we’re going to have more Donald Trumps and worse Donald Trumps, not just in the United States, but throughout the world. And that is, for me, the greatest problem that we face politically…
Democracy Now
Part One – There’s an intro of about 2 min before debate starts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK_D4yaTae4
Part Two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1iq_c3AyGs
This is the best article I’ve read on the topic, hands down.
No question about that, TIEDE, but considering the pitifully low standards applied to what emanates from the wreckage of the American mass media, Mr. Lauria really didn’t have much competition to beat. Of course, no matter how deserved, he will not be winning any Pulitzers, since mediocre groupthink, especially of the warmongering variety, is the new standard of excellence in American letters.
As others have noted, it “treason” isn’t impeachable, what is? If not now, when?
Should we go off and invade Somalia in retaliation? The anti-Trump/Democrats are undermining their own credibility — not to mention the press, whose credibility might reach nosedive if they still had much of an audience ….
More ridiculous than GWB after 09/11 …. which reminds me that Trump keeps reminding me of want-to-share-a-beer-with GWB but stupider and with less “fund of knowledge”
And how are these “others” defining “treason?” Whatever they say it is, and without any evidence that it genuinely occurred? This is not a case of treason, it is a case of attempted mob rule, like the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. The vile media acts as the bull horn of the seditionists, they show some insurrectionists making a hullabaloo on your television screen, and the coup plotters point and say, “see, it’s treason, off with his head!” Meanwhile, your government has been stolen yet again because some insiders didn’t like the results.
To have treason you must have a declared war and a declared enemy. If you look at the list of people convicted of treason in the US, there are what, a dozen?
The President has broad powers of foreign policy (and immigration) which may be a bad thing, but I applaud Trump’s peace overtures to North Korea and Russia as well as Obama’s (reviled by many of the same warmongers) deal with Iran. Unfortunately all these deals are President-specific and undercut by un-elected Intelligence agencies with agendas of their own, and politicians taking money from the MIC and foreign lobbyists with war profiteering agendas. No one can believe a President no matter how well meaning and sincere. Clinton abrogated Reagan’s deal with Gorbachev, almost destroying Russia, as did Obama reneging on the deal with Gaddafi, destroying Libya. Clearly the best option is to build up a cache of nuclear arms and to use them if necessary to protect sovereignty.
At least Cooper used a small window – there haven’t been many U.S. Russia summits – but Fallows? Uh, 9/11 and the Saudis anyone? More evidence there than Russian collusion and three Presidents – including Trump – have given that a pass.
Treason-schmeason, Dave! You don’t seem to know much about the real history of the US government, only the manufactured one of the powers in charge. Pick up a copy of Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick’s book “The Untold History of the United States”.
As for the vaunted democracy these talking bobbleheads and puppet politicians go on about, we don’t hear them speaking about lobbying, do we, or Citizens United or McCutcheon vs Buckley decisions of the Supreme Court? It’s not even the Electoral College that skews the vote and takes democracy out of the citizens’ decisions — it’s lobbying, which is legalized fraud and bribery. No, they go on and on about Russia, Russia, Russia, all to make sure folks look somewhere else while they continue the hijacking.
What is amazing is how you and so many GOP are actually defending Russia! This was treason!
What is amazing is the extent that the Democrats are lied to, and the extent that they believe those lies. I am awestruck by the complete and utter brainwashing of a democratic, educated country by the CIA. Getting Republicans, who are inclined to think negatively of foreigners is one thing, but Liberal Democrats, who profess to believe in education and equality becoming the brown shirts, it never occurred to me that was possible.
By the way, i am speaking as a former Democrat, Obama voter.
Yes, it is quite frightening. I think Trump is dangerously inept but reading the intelligence report on Russia released Jan., 2017 was the most frightened I have ever been as an American. It provided no evidence (apparently keeping things top secret is more important than alleged election tampering which should give cause to thought right there) and instead laid out a game plan for attacking dissenters of U.S. foreign policy.
Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, because I am one too, but it seems the country must be full of former Democrats (and thoroughly disillusioned Obama voters), or at least we should be if we want to survive over the long term. Hillary was just another pack of lies (and threatened violence) too far, which is why she lost. Had NOTHING to do with Russians hacking elections, influencing the vote or stealing our democracy. That is simply the revisionist bullshit in the aftermath of her self-inflicted debacle, as she persists in dragging down the party, the country and maybe the world out of self-centered petulance.
I think it’s crystal clear that trump is compromised by the fact and it is a fact, that he owes the Russians 100’s of millions of dollars. That means trumpkin will (as he has in ever case in his miserable life) act with regard to his bottom line before any other consideration. Putin has control of the remaining Oligarchs including Trumpkin’s creditors. That alone makes him likely to commit treason. Kind of like when Cheney and bush of the oil biz started a war from which they and their’s profited directly (Carlyle group, Halliburton ect ect.)…
I doubt that it has been publicly established how much money Mr. Trump may owe to whom. There is the braggadocio about his finances that he shares generously with the public and the actual facts which he carefully keeps a lid on.
It is an article of faith on your part that he is any more likely to be blackmailed by Vladimir Putin than Mrs Clinton might be for her role in selling American Uranium stockpiles to Russia, or for the promises she made behind closed doors to Wall Street moguls in return for exorbitant speaking “stipends.” The contents of these speeches exist and are known to every major world political figure for however they might wish to use them. And, before you say it would be unethical to use such info for political purposes, let me hear you condemn the Dems for leaking Mitt Romney’s infamous “47%” speech before a group of select fat cat donors back in 2012.
(I have supported Democratic candidates and causes all my life, but the facts are simply not on their side these days.)
Unless you are trying to be sarcastic, Dave, you added an extraneous letter to the word you should really want. What Mr. Lauria has written here is pure “reason,” not “treason.” Go back and consider all the relevant issues again, this time accurately.
I guess Dave forgot that our intelligence agencies have lied us into war in the past.
And YOU are prosecuting Russia on what EVIDENCE? None! That is madness and the ticket to war. You are just the sort of pawn to make Goebbels tremble with delight, Dave.
I am not American but like so many out there, am concerned by what is going on in your once beautiful country. It amazes to realize that people have chosen to bury truth and reason for hatred’s sake. How can one hope to build a secure, prosperous democracy based on a fraudulent lie? If one can pick a leaf from the Iraqi war it is that one should never believe unquestioningly everything that comes from the intelligence community. That deception resulted in perhaps millions dead. This time round it might result in billions dead including Americans. Is that what people like Dave want? Could this be a secret conspiracy to bring destruction to the entire universe? To what ends?
Trump’s actual treason:
— turning environmental policy over to the biggest polluters
— turning financial regulation over to parasitic elites
— turning education policy over to anti-public, pro-charter grifters
— turning the FCC over to the big telecoms
— turning the Iran-nuke deal over to Netanyahu
What gets Trump called a traitor by the Beltway blob:
— wanting to talk with Russia, and holding a Soviet/Russia summit just like every president since FDR
Wotta country!
Exactly!
Don’t relish the me too, or “same here” moniker, but: Exactly!
The enemies of Peace, having failed to prevent the Putin/Trump summit, are now busy saying that it was a disaster, and that it was meaningless – two seemingly discordant observations. The real religion of America is WAR. Anything that smacks of peace is Heresy!
“The stories of how North Korea is now violating an imaginary pledge by Kim to Trump in Singapore are even more outrageous, because big media had previously peddled the opposite line: that Kim at the Singapore Summit made no firm commitment to give up his nuclear weapons and that the ‘agreement’ in Singapore was the weakest of any thus far.”
— Gareth Porter
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/07/13/the-medias-brazen-dishonesty-about-north-korean-nuclear-violations/
Yeah. The lunatics would have the world believe that Trump was a cowardly traitor because he didn’t i) berate President Putin to his face for rigging the election in his favor (as did the impertinent network goon Chris Wallace whom Putin totally pwned, though absolutely unbeknownst to the American jingoist corp) and ii) summarily declare war on the Russian Federation to cap everyone’s day of fun and games. Insults and war seem to be what the imbeciles so passionately want. I wish I could give them their suicidal war that didn’t involve me, my relatives, friends and other innocent bystanders, but that’s not how it works and they will eagerly take us all down if given the chance. We are seeing war fever sweep across a crazed nation led astray by the worst demagogues to come down the pike since the “Greatest Generation” got an invite from Uncle Sam to Hitler’s big dance. Everybody is a flag waving blood-lusting maniac, from the corporate boardrooms, to the residue of what is left skulking around the fake newsrooms, to the cocky stand-up comedians now inhabiting every late night channel spewing trash and attitude without having the first clue. Must be as invigorating as sucking in the cordite-perfumed air of Berlin circa 1939. The pity is that this time the glorious experience will be so short once the rockets are launched. Almost seems a waste to squander the experience on a bunch of lame brains who probably assume they can get their ticket price back if they don’t fully enjoy the show.
Realist, As always, your comments are stunningly accurate, and have literary flavor as well. It is really getting there as you have described.
As Gore Vidal wrote long ago, this brainwashing started long time ago during the nineteenth century when they started inoculating the innocent American population against socialism and all that, the ideas which were sweeping across Europe in that century. Here we are now, it is almost a crazed Nation. My wife reads L.A. Times religiously and being a Hillary fan has been watching CNN, MSNBC, Judy Woodruff and other channels like these.
It is not going to end up pretty, the atmosphere is frightening.
Oh, he’s a coward and a traitor all right.
Any public figure who chooses to tangle openly with the American intelligence cabal, with their ability to harm him, his family and his businesses “six ways to Sunday” as Senator Schumer warned, should not be dismissed as a “coward,” whether you love or hate his policies.
I consider my politics as beyond progressive, and I am definitely not a Trump cheerleader, but I must say that this article by Consortium News is by far the most balanced and fair article I have read on the Trump/Putin press conference. Did the Russians hack Clinton’s emails? Most likely. Were the hacks responsible for Clinton’s defeat — not on your life. Hillary offered nothing other than the same old tired rhetoric and hostilities toward Russia. She basically defeated herself.
The fact that Clinton won the popular vote by three million should dispel any notion that the Russian hacks were effective. What this does say is that we should get rid of the antiquated and unfair Electoral College. The press conference was not the venue to grill or attempt to embarrass Putin, besides, Putin could hurl those same accusations at the US for not only interfering in the Ukraine election, but also contributing millions of dollars to it. Putin, if he wanted, could point to NATO creeping up to Russian borders when NATO had promised years ago not to go beyond unified Germany. The Russians have a multitude of complaints, but are more diplomatic than the provocative Americans and would rather not solve these problems in the press.
Is Trump a bumbler — no doubt. The conference was not the place to air America’s dirty laundry or bring up his usual complaints. All of this hoopla is a dog and pony show, a theatrical media event to distract the American people from their real problems like a collapsing economy made worse by Trump’s tariffs, like the bloated military budget, the horrific income inequality, the rise of poverty, and an endless stream of worsening problems of which neither party has a solution. It is the old sleight of the hand trick — watch the hand I wave in front of you face, but pay no attention to the hand that is stealing you blind.
I am at least happy to see a media outlet that has broken from the pack of running lemmings that are not heading for a cliff, but are running in a small circle.
Where is the evidence that Russia, rather than an insider like Seth Rich, released the emails?
Assange has all but verbally confirmed it was Seth Rich, not Russia.
Begs the question; Why doesn’t the NSA either confirm or deny the download?
Why doesn’t Mueller offer Assange immunity to testify? Sounds like Mueller may offer the Podestas (Manafort’s partners in crime in the Ukraine) immunity to testify against Manafort.
You’d be forgiven if you thought Brennan’s rant was an episode from ‘Who is America’!!
Brennan & co. behaving absolutely like unaccountable gangsters. Very dangerous gangsters. Nuclear armed gangsters.
“The indictments, which are only unproven accusations, formally accused 12 members of the GRU, Russian military intelligence, of stealing Democratic Party emails in a hacking operation and giving the materials to WikiLeaks to publish in order to damage the candidacy of Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton. The indictments were announced on Friday, three days before the summit, with the clear intention of getting Trump to cancel it. He ignored cries from the media and Congress to do so.”
The most blatant and desperate effort to date to sabotage détente, any effort to cooperate on crucial issues. The media and its sources are hysterical but scary as hell. Using words like treason without a peep from the media or anyone in Washington is also scary as hell.
Didn’t watch much of the news but curious about CNN, turned it on to watch Blitzer and Rand Paul exchange. Last question do you trust our security folks or Putin. The patriots versus the devil. Rand Paul ignored it and earlier pointed to our less than Simon pure history of trying to meddle in elections. Hell we ran the campaign of the greatest thief in Russian history, Yeltsin.
Bottom line, folks will do anything to stop the President’s efforts to improve relations with Russia. It began before the inauguration and has not let up since.
There is reason to use the word treason but it is not Trump’s.
It’s a bizarre world when Donald Trump is actually the voice of reason in the USA. The corporate media (including our “public” networks) are running around with their hair on fire at the thought of the two nuclear nations having a rational relationship. Why can’t the public see the insanity of what’s going on?
Sedition is the more accurate word for those in the Intelligence agencies seeking a soft coup.
The US Media lost its mind about two years ago. After all this time they are still trying to change the 2016 election. It was plain then – a dirt-bag vs. a fool. The US Media had a dog in that fight – the dirt-bag. What is driving them insane is that the “fool” has survived their best efforts to destroy him – should have been easy, but it is not. So the insane manipulators are going for the throat now – TREASON. It is all ridiculous – America has deep economic problems that need to be addressed, namely the terminal income inequality that exists. Killing the fool and re-elevating the dirt-bag will accomplish nothing but give the U S Media and the elites they represent another fifteen minute stroll on the decks of the Titanic
The corporate press has been shocked that President Trump would not believe the findings of his own intelligence. Never once has anyone in the Corporate press ever noted that out intelligence sources, the CIA in particular lied when they said Iraq had WMDS. It was a terrible lie. And even if you prefer to believe that the intelligence community had merely made a mistake, our invasion cost us over 3trillion dollars, cost thousands of American soldiers their lives, and ended up causing the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, and has ignited the middle east, resulting in the rise of ISIS. But no one in the corporate press sees fit to even mention the fact that the CIA claimed were a “slam dunk.” Nor has anyone in the corporate press mentioned the fact that James Come, when he was in the FBI, who headed up the Anthrax investigation fingered the wrong man, though he had said when questioned if he had the right man, said he was absolutely certain that Hatfiield was the man who spread the Anthrax. The government settled the false charges against Hatfiled for 5.82 million, as it turned out a fellow named ivans. P.S. Robert Mueller was the head of the FBI during most of the investigation. And let me make this clear, I also think Trump is a scoundrel, but the members of our corporate press are scoundrels too.
That the parroted information that got us into Iraq was a lie was widely reported and the intelligence debunked in independent media at the time. There was no mistake. The information was out there but went ignored by the mainstream media. But it goes back further. Yugoslavia, the first Gulf War…erroneous reporting on such issues has been consistent at CNN.
You could not be more wrong about the Anthrax.
Comey and co. ignored a material witness in that case (me) that caught Hatfill snooping around my house in November of 2001. Approx. a month and a half after I received an anthrax letter. Mr Comey’s Anthrax investigation was no such thing. It was just like Hillary’s email investigation. It was a “matter” not an investigation.
An investigation would have included having agents pay a visit to the man (me) that gave them Hatfill’s last name 7 months before his name became public. I was able to do that b/c I when I caught him snooping around my house he was arrogant enough to wear his army jacket. Guess what is on your army jacket? Your last name.
MR. Comey’s Anthrax matter also ignored when I informed the FBI that Ottillie Lundgren and Cathy Nugyen had posted on the same internet message board at the same time and to the same article that I did.
Mr. Comey and Mr. Mueller lied then and are lying now.
For kicks and giggles you can hear Hatfill admit that he was in North Carolina at the time I caught him snooping around my house in NC here .
https://youtu.be/fSfcIh1WCdg?t=1640
“The queen of diamonds…the queen of diamonds”
You ain’t seen nothing yet, wait till your allies come tot their senses!
Who is Bill Browder and what was his role in the election and the new cold war? A very incomplete answer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgPQZCkkMZo (38:00-48:00)
Well now I feel silly. I just saw the ZeroHedge piece and understand that Robert Parry wrote often about Browder, so presumably most visitors of this site are familiar with the name. I’ll have to look for those articles. Is Browder in the same league as Soros?
Webb: “Trump and Putin are closing in on this Brennan/Browder gang; that’s why you had that incredible reaction from Brennan…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjvVeS_vPQw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRFy-hoFsck
Stephen Cohen: Relations between US and Russia more dangerous than ever before, including during Cuba Crisis. (!!)
(starting ca. 5:00) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0UiEYK7Es4
“The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution fired off a letter Wednesday to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller accusing the agency of providing “incomplete and misleading” information on the 2001 anthrax attacks to the committee.
“Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) {yeah, same guy who stood up for Strzok} letter focuses on the amount of “silicon” that was contained in the deadly anthrax letters. He asks that the FBI forward any information that could shed light on the subject.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Edwards_Ivins {fn 13}
Ditto what (almost) everyone else says.
Putin tried to make the point that private citizens are not the state in a country. A private citizen doesn’t speak official government words.
Russian billionaires perhaps poured money into election campaigns. If so, the head of state is not to blame, nor is the crime done by authority of the government.
Putin said Browder evaded Russian taxes and laundered $1.2 bn into USA, and moved one-third = $400 mn to Clinton’s campaign.
Netted him $800 mn. With one-eighth of that Browder bribed Congress to enact Magnitsky (sp) proclamation to spur sanctions.
Russia filed criminal warrants with US under the 1999 treaty (Putin cited) to question Browder and bring charges; unlawfully ignoring them, US violated treaty.
Browder money ‘meddling’ in 2016 campaigns is NOT ‘Putin dunnit’ and NOT ‘Kremlin dunnit’ and NOT ‘Russia dunnit.’ Only truthfully, ‘Russian Browder dunnit.’
In reflection, is Warren Buffett the US Gov’t or are his actions the USG acting? Whatabout Bezos, is he USG Authority?; he owns the WashPost. Sulzberger, Mercers, Kochs, Murdoch(!), frickin Bill Kristol, Rash Lamebrain, Bloomberg, Bill Gates fer gawdsakes — are they ‘America’ or ‘the President/Administration?’
Is what’s good for Mary Barra’s security good for our National Security? No, no, and see this:
http://www.businessinsider.com/sun-valley-conference-2018-attendees-photos-2018-7#youtube-ceo-susan-wojcicki-is-already-decked-out-in-a-sun-valley-2018-hat-2
Trump’s right for peace, but deplorable (almost) every other way.
If he did ‘collude and conspire’ that seems the least of his crimes. Impeach him for being morally unfit. Cripes, he was named in Florida court indictments as co-defendant against charges of rape and abuse of 13- and 14-yo girls; his partner Jeffrey Epstein was convicted and did time. Forget Russia, Trump’s is a sex pervert, racist, and fascist — unfit for office.
https://www.justice-integrity.org/1445-welcome-to-waterbury-the-city-that-holds-secrets-that-could-bring-down-trump
No link but find July 10 item at ClubOrlov.com titled, Taking Refuge in Insanity. It may be solace for Joe, in a way, and moreover a general understanding of media cohort insanity.
If understanding is possible.
And MOST I stopped to say Thank You, thank you Joe Lauria. Your work brought me deep relief and it’s refreshing.
_____
PS, I predict the 12 indicted Russians do get their day in US courtroom to defend themselves with lawyers rightfully allowed to question (Mueller’s) prosecution witnesses and testimony, and to present defense …, and (Mueller’s) prosecution loses there.
PPS, any rich moneybags domestic or foreign who aimed to spend in 2016 to hurt Hillary or help Donald be elected,
put all the money into Bernie’s campaign: split the left vote and the rightist candidate skulks into office. Vice versa, Dems in 2020 may prop up a Republican candidate on the left of Trump; split the R’s vote between soft and hard rightwingers.
Who are the traitors? Those who seek war with a nuclear power or those who wish to solve the problems. What about Browder’s $400,000,000 to the Clinton campaign. Putin wouldn’t make such a statement if there were nothing to back it up, though Mueller is willing to lay unsubstantiated charges which go against proven evidence that the DNC leak was from a thumb drive, not internet transmission. In any event, why is it so bad that the crimes of the DNC were revealed? I guess the truth is dangerous to the yankee form of “managed democracy.”
I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I once read that Nicholas II actually ordered the de-mobilization of the Russian army on the eve of WWI, but that his order was ignored by his subordinates who were eager for war. Trump in his interview with Hannity implies at one point that he doesn’t have full control over the military — that the belligerent rhetoric has been having practical and dangerous consequences. Frightening. Starting at ca. min. 5. https://youtu.be/dRMW4knpiUo
Just for sh*ts & giggles, try listening to prophecy preachers like Bro. Stair at http://www.overcomerministry.org (Do NOT belive them!) Such folks have radically different assumptions. Listening will clear your intellectual pallette, so to say.
Others may not feel the connection strongly, but watching today’s (yesterday’s now) media meltdown flashed me back to the day of Colin Powell’s Iraqi WMD presentation to the U.N.
I watched that live, and even at the time – before the specific fabrications were exposed – it was such a self-evidently lame effort that I was genuinely surprised and confused when all the media people instantly hailed the its supposedly irresistible power in making the case for the coming war. And it’s not like I went into the day with such a high opinion of the corporate media.
As with Trump in Helsinki, it was clear the media was activating a pre-arranged narrative (approval then, opprobrium now) rather than genuinely reacting to what they had seen and heard.
That is an excellent assesment.
That is the dumbfound aspect the blatantly preconceived and coordinated attack on the public dialog.
I feel certain the media is being required to sacrifice its reputation for the purpose of distracting the public from some issue. I dont thing the anderson coopers realise that this is the purpose they belive they are simply acting as political assasins of the enemy.
Maybe is niave of me but is it possible this is simply to defray discussion of dnc communications and dnc conspiring by which they pretty much destroyed the democratic brand? Of course there are also the globalists concern with nationalism and populism and mic with concern fear of outbreak of peace.
The average journalist, mostly print but even regional TV, statistically makes less money than school teachers. It’s quite different at the national TV level. They are paid ridiculously well and maybe coincidentally (maybe not) removed from the ground work among the masses. The system has rewarded them so there is natural bias toward the status quo (something that exists to a degree in objective journalism to begin with). They likely aren’t aware but they are hired and keep their jobs based on questions they are not likely to ask. It’s corporate America. Just as in low level administrative job hiring at large companies, blandness and safe get the jobs.
“Constructive dialogue between the United States and Russia forwards the opportunity to open new pathways toward peace and stability in our world. I would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace than to risk peace in pursuit of politics.”
A page taken out of JFK’s playbook.
No wonder the democrats/MSM/Deep State are so disturbed and ready to shoot the messenger. He’s encroaching on their sanctified turf!
Actually they now work for those who killed JFK
The ironies never end
The full Trump quote, as it appears above:
“As president, I cannot make decisions on foreign policy in a futile effort to appease partisan critics or the media or Democrats who want to do nothing but resist and obstruct … Constructive dialogue between the United States and Russia forwards the opportunity to open new pathways toward peace and stability in our world. I would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace than to risk peace in pursuit of politics.”
Question for those who have seen the video: were these prepared remarks, or were they spontaneous?
I appreciate them either way, but if Trump crafted those lines on the fly I really might have to give the cheeto-faced, ferret-wearing shitgibbon (thank you, Scotland!) a fresh look.
I was thinking the exact same thing when reading that quote. That doesn’t seem like his rhetoric at all. The “good thing bad thing” is where you have his level of “eloquence” again. Regardless, even if he had to memorize the statement beforehand, he still scored in my book.
“cheeto-faced, ferret-wearing, shitgibbon” as a Scotsman I can only apologise for my compatriots sickeningly sycophantic language. We are normally less diplomatic in our appraisals. In Scotland, if you hear the word “f**k”, it’s just to let you know a noun is coming.
It’s hard to believe that statement came out of Trumps mouth. But I believe it to be spot on.
To Chumpsky : A very courageous statement of Trump! He is no fool . You can’t tell a bonk from its cover,
Lauria: “The media’s handlers were even worse than their assets.”
Zing! Props to you, Joe.
I haven’t read the article or the comments yet, but I want to chime in now:
I’ve been watching MSNBC on and off all day, and the summit has clearly caused their brains (already in parlous condition) to completely liquefy.
“Treason! Worse than Watergate *and* 9/11!!”
Demented.
+1
Once again, the hypocrisy of the media is on full display. Every president including this one pays total fealty to the criminal state of Israel which we know has interfered in the US political process, not to mention sinking a US naval vessel. But heaven forbid there be diplomatic talks with Putin who has bent over backwards to accommodate the US when he can. So far all he’s gotten is sand kicked in his face.
The behavior of the media and its fellow juvenile delinquents in Washington are an embarrassment. They are without realizing it, making Trump look presidential. You can’t make this sh*t up.
The Evil Monsters destroying our world with their greed and violence are being flushed into the open. But will the brainwashed masses be able to see this? That is the crucial test that humanity faces at this time. The Rulers will go all out to spin this in their favor, and if that fails, they will probably try to assassinate this dangerous man, President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, while everyone is focused on Trump and Putin’s summit, the real power of collusion is hard at work.
https://ahtribune.com/us/israelgate/2369-useful-idiot-trump.html
I’m posting this, because while it’s appropriate we talk at length about the disgraceful reception Trump got for his trying to wage peace, we should not lose sight to what country is using the U.S, as it’s useful idiot.
Besides that, an article such as what Phil Giradi wrote should not go unnoticed…thank you once again MSM for being the jerks you are. Did the MSM ever hear of the word ‘reporting’? Thank you Joe Lauria & the Parry family for being here when we need you the most. I don’t know what I’d do without the Consortium. Hey kudos to you too Robert Parry, your still number one with me.
Moonofalabama has the strategy right.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/07/helsinki-talks-how-trump-tries-to-rebalance-the-global-triangle.html#more
Surprisingly Professor Coke, says this…
https://www.juancole.com/2018/07/shocked-bromance-netanyahu.html
Thank you Joe,
For trying to restore a note of sanity and balance in the crucible of journalistic/political dialogue between Russia and the US centers of power, where we sense the truth will be lost in white hot bombast, and the accepted narrative of reality will be decided by the heads pushing the correct emotional buttons to fit their nationalistic needs, and their needs for continued employment. Who can forget the last time all 17 intelligence services were of one mind on weapons of mass destruction – that turned out to be nonexistent! Let’s hope we can catch our breath before we trip into a patriotic war that destroys civilization.
Excuse me, but the intelligence service was turned upside down by Bush and his team inserting their own officials to sensor what was released. The Agencies were very upset that the truth wasn’t coming out, and you had the Valerie Plame incident also.
From Slate: “Trump and Putin Met in Helsinki’s Hall of Mirrors. Here Are the Highlights.” ends with the following:
———————————————–
On a related note, Rob Goldstone, the British publicist who set up that Trump Tower meeting by promising Trump’s son that it was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” just tweeted that Putin had lied earlier in the day when he said he did not know that Trump would be in Moscow for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant.
Rob Goldstone @GoldstoneRob
President Putin just stated that he had no idea Donald Trump was in Moscow in 2013. I know for sure that he did and tell the full story in my soon to be released book… “Pop Stars, Pageants & Presidents: How an Email Trumped My Life”
1:16 PM – Jul 16, 2018
———————————————-
There may not have been collusion but I think we can say there probably was interference, voting machines and misinformation spread by agents throughout the social communications media of today. And Putin did admit late, that he was for Trump not Hillary.
If there was funding from Russia to the Democrats as some say, and Putin is truthful that he preferred Trump then why did they give money to the Democrats? Was it to designed to undermine Hillary through its exposure.
Others complain about the timing of the 12 Russian agents, but that was no different from the timing of the Hillary email story release shortly before the election.
“Putin Stole the Election” is fantasy fiction, just like “Obama is a Kenyan” was.
So you’re OK with Hillary using an illegal, off-the-books email server to do pay-to-play arms deals with shitty countries like Saudi Arabia–that gave millions of $$ to Clinton Foundation in return?
If lawfully using a govt server, Hillary”s emails would be subject to FOIA petitions. By USA citizen taxpayers and reporters. Her emails as Sec of State are the property of the American people, who paid her salary. That’s what people still don’t get.
She used a private server to keep secret the illegal, pay-to-play arms deals–in return for payola bucks to Clinton Foundation.
And Obama turned a blind eye for 4 years. His specialty: Suck-up talking while turning a blind eye.
To Hillary”s incompetence and murderous corruption, to his weekly drone-murders, and to accelerated deportation of innocent immigrants–and ICE separating parents from kids.
While starting 5 new wars on top of Iraq and Afghanistan–including ongoing genocide of Yemen.
Obama was a good boy for the deep state / war profiteers. And he collected his $60M “book contract.” Bribe.
“So you’re OK with Hillary using an illegal, off-the-books email server to do pay-to-play arms deals with shitty countries like Saudi Arabia–that gave millions of $$ to Clinton Foundation in return?”
How is that different from Trumpkin or Bush doing much the same thing?
Maybe it doesn’t make sense because Russia never really worked for either side.
Tracing who, exactly, did the hacking is always difficult because the evidence left behind is usually impossible to trace. In the case of the hacking or attempted hacking of certain states’ data, the only evidence that it was the Russians came from Russian language characters in the code. Slam dunk, right? Well…no, since our CIA/NSA admitted to using exactly such techniques to misdirect researchers away from their own hacking.
If you read deeper into the story of how the Russians funded Clinton, you’ll find that it was not the Russian government. Putin pointed out that the money was made ‘illegally’ in Russia and sent out of the country ‘illegally’, ending up in Clinton’s campaign.
There are a number of differences between the indictments of the Russians and the release of information in the Hillary e-mail investigation. First, there is no chance the Russians will ever end up in a U.S. court so it is an indictment with no future. Second, Comey, a supporter of Hillary, made the announcement and subsequently cleared her, probably to save his own career because the field office that was doing the investigating was about to go public with his dereliction of duty in the Clinton investigation. Subsequent investigations have revealed how the highly politicized FBI and DOJ went out of their way to protect Clinton. Mueller’s indictments, on the other hand, are just pure political malfeasance.
Ron, read this article:
“Putin Says He Misspoke Too, Withdrawing Claim Clinton Got Millions Stolen From Russia”
by Robert Mackey – July 18 2018
https://theintercept.com/2018/07/18/putin-says-misspoke-withdrawing-claim-clinton-got-millions-stolen-russia/
It wasn’t $400 million given to Clinton through the Browder, Ziff Brothers Investments, but $296,000 and the Republicans were given $200,000 by the same firm. In Putin’s correction he stated $400,000 which was still over what the records show.
“Putin’s initial claim that $400 million had been laundered through the Clinton’s campaign earned an approving nod from the listeniung Trump, and electrified the Clinton’s sworn enemies, who continued ro share the incorrect figure online even tafter the Russian president had attempted to correct the record.”
Read the article and then make up your mind.
Americans need to hit the streets and get rid of big money influence in their elections and PACs and SuperPACs are a start. Trump ain’t going to help the young. His tax alterations will only temporarily help most American and then in a short time only the rich will benefit. Trickle down again, which has been proven even by those who introduced in in the Reagan years, doesn’t work.
I should modify the finance figures above, the campaign records show:
Clinton received $17,700 from the Ziff Brothers and employees.
The investment (Browder, Ziff Investments) firm gave $296,966 to the DNC and $200,000 to the Republican action comittee.
A “The Intercept” quote, “Putin’s conspiracy theory, quickly accepted as fact by trumjp supporters, was just the latest phase of a long campaign by his government to tarnish Browder’s image. That campaign commenced after Bowder’s tax lawyer, Sergai Magnitsky, died in custody after accusing Russian officials of corruption.”
John P-
Magnitsky was not Browder’s lawyer, he was Browder’s accountant, and he was in jail for tax fraud. I’ve seen the forbidden film “The Magnitsky Act, Behind the Scenes”. Browder is a complete scumbag and his cover story for Magnitsky is a lie.
Here’s a youtube of him running away from a subpoena in NY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE0AwlwQhMs
Zhu Ba Jie, I never said that Russia influnced the results of the election. It probably didn’t. But what I do think is that the Russians are probably laughing at how didvided America has become. Neoliberalism which caters to busines rather than liberalism which caters to the people and the country as a whole is destroying society. People need to get on the streets and voice their concerns, Get together and form rallies like those who spoke out against the Vietnam War.
Is it social media that makes people babble and rave rather than be active out there getting the much needed attention?
Gather fo support a greener world, a fairer more benevolent world. To get local economies going putting money in needy people’s pockets is far better than trickle down or financing and support for big business. The poor will spend it locally and that’s good.
Get out there and make a stir. Trump ain’t going to help you. Get rid of PACs, superPACs and other big donor money pots for a start start. Bernie Sanders and now some new young people are seeing the light. Get in there and help them along. Get out on the streets and shout for change!
Throw away the smart phone and get marching!
Also, Ron Johnson , I’m not American, I didn’t know the full story of the mob money and Hillary. My choice was Bernie Sanders never Hillary or Trump. My fear is, the way things are going, it’s like the period between the great wars and the effects of poverty and big business. Support for the needy and the busting up of big business were two steps which helped the world climb out of the mire. Perhaps we need to add robotics to the list. People need work and a purpose.
The intelligence services have been utterly corrupt since the days of Allen Dulles and J.Edgar Hoover. And the MSM has been corrupt since the days of Operation Mockingbird, and its now even worse since the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine and the NDAA of 2012. And you seem to buy their BS.
Donald Trump is a vile human being, and I disagree with 98% of what he says and does, but today he was right and everyone else was wrong. I’ve been on a trip in my car most of the day, listening to public radio. It was an endless orgy of misinformation and deep-state propaganda. PRI was as insane and dangerous as Fox News on a really bad day. I’m starting to think that nuclear war is a more immanent danger than global warming. It isn’t just Rachel Maddow who has gone off the deep end. It is the entire national media. What kind of country have we become? Pray for peace.
Larry – Don’t buy the Trump CoolAid… He is completely wrecking are world order. Last month was Kim, this month was Putin and now this! Look:
White House Orders Direct Taliban Talks to Jump-Start Afghan Negotiations
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-direct-negotiations.html
He is meeting with all the dictators of the world now! Guaranteed he will have Assad at the White House before we can get him impeached. This is 100% out of Putin’s play book. He is a trader to American Values. Never have we sunk so low, dissing are true allies and honoring thugs, killers and despots! 110% vile!
Do you mean like Pinochet, Somoza, Galtieri, Rios Montt, Suharto, Mobuto, shall I go on?
And it is about time there are direct talks with the Taliban. The U.S. has lost in Afghanistan. It has to try to get something out of it.
We are in Afghanistan for woman’s rights! “Hillary: justified by the desire to emancipate Afghan women.” And we have all seen the concern that Trump has for woman (Billy Bush – Babies at the Border, shall I go on?) 120% vile!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/20/hillary-clinton-afghan-women-taliban
You are totally deluded, Mr. Man Without Vowels in His Name, if you think we are in Afghanistan to promote women’s rights. I’m sure you still faithfully watch the Jay Leno Show to stay apprised of Mrs. Leno’s featured assessment of that crusade. Ranking light years ahead of your purported reason for the last 17 years of war in the Hindu Kush are i) the planned oil and gas pipelines*, ii) the proven deposits of rare earth elements essential to modern electronic devices, and iii) the immediate proximity to Iran, Russia, China and Pakistan giving Washington the ability to raise hell from its many military bases in Afghanistan on a moment’s notice (all part of Obama’s infamous “Pivot to Asia,” which implied far more than a new cadre of Peace Corp workers–more like, we can buy any locals we need with the pallets of Franklins we now air drop on a routine schedule).
* Read “Forbidden Truth: U.S.-Taliban Secret Oil Diplomacy and the Failed Hunt for Bin Laden” by Brisard and Dasquie, it’s still relevant 17 years later, while Hillary’s “feminist” credentials remain completely irrelevant.
An analysis of this contributor’s writing style reports a 98.3% likelihood that he/she is Donald Trump.
The United States has been “honoring thugs, killers, and despots” at least since Allen Dulles became the director of the CIA in the 1940s. America is an expansive empire, controlled by our corporate oligarchy. It’s all about their money and power. They talk about human rights, but that is just a cover for their greed. Much of Trump’s foreign policy is bad, but it is simply a logical continuation of the foreign policies of Obama, Bush, and Clinton. Negotiations with Putin is a step in the right direction and the Orange Beast deserves credit for it. It looks to me like it is you, not me that has swallowed the Kool-Aid.
The Taliban, in the last week – 10 days, has said they will not negotiate as long as the USA occupies Afghanistan … This was abbreviated in most headlines to say that the Taliban refuse to negotiate.
The Americans have launched the “time to negotiate with the Taliban” trial balloon before — “tragically” coming to nothing.
We (USA) interfere when the Baghdad government attempts their own negotiations. (or simply do things that encourage retaliatory attacks) …. Now ISIS in the mix.
We’ve become a theater state. A powerful performance is what matters.
Indeed. The histrionics of the last 48 hours have been beyond belief and credulity. The hardcore news-as-scandal-addicted will stay tuned, but I lost respect for some “stars” of the news in ways that won’t be forgotten … I keep expecting Maddow to either use hand puppets or present “crime reenactment” videos, along with her other show-and-tell visual aids.
BBC is just as bad in terms of prejudice but at least present a professional facade ….DW and France 24 are alternatives as is the (much too short, almost every hour on the hour) RT headline news. RT’s interview and talk shows are excellent and quite sober. It’s not that they aren’t slanted, they’re just not insulting to the audience.
Maybe now you will think about the things these very same people said about him. Maybe they arent true either.
Hint: The vast majority arent.
They are losing their minds over Putins announcement of the $400 milion that was transferred Clinton through Browder.
Seems Hillary learned a lot from Chinagate (where the Clintons paid the illegal donations from a foreign nation back AFTER winning the Election). And China only received military technology, offshored jobs and permanent favored nation trading status in return. Win-win.
You can be sure Hillary will claim that $400 million, if ever traced to her despite bleach bitting all her records, was for the Clinton Foundation Campaign and it was just an inadvertent mixup.
Thank you for this reasoned piece amidst a plethora of madness. Most of my friends and colleagues who identify as Democrats, liberals, progressives, haters of Trump, etc, people I have the most in common with, politically speaking, have completely lost their freaking minds over this stuff. Critical thinking? Who needs it! Mueller and the intelligence community have surely seen the light since the “Iraq has WMDs” days.
Exactly when did the intelligence community, the sellers of lies and perpetrators of regime change world-wide, become a friend to the American people?
“He had a chance right there in front of the world to tell Vladimir Putin to stay the HELL out of American democracy,..”
What democracy? 99% of the candidates’ campaigns have been almost completely funded by Wall Street, the blood thirsty giant defense contractors, or paranoid and hegemonic Zionist sociopaths.
It’s been proven in a recent academic study by Princeton political scientists (and long lamented before these guys got on the case by such luminaries as Michael Parents, S. Wollin, James Petras, N. Chomsky, Vidal, Hedges) that the American citizenry has absolutely no influence whatsoever regarding poltico-economic decisions that emanate from Washington, they’re drowned out by big business and the imperialist ruling elites.
So I ask this warmongering Russophobic talking head once again: what democracy? What democracy do you speak of? The same democracy that mires millions of newly college grads with $30,000 to $500,000 in student loan debt, or the same democracy that’s witnessing close to 50% of the entire population living close to the poverty level, or that has tens of millions of its denizens without adequate healthcare coverage…
typo: …such luminaries as Michael Parenti, S. Wollin, James Petras…
The editor regrets the error.
Trump ain’t going to help you on that one. You need to get together with others work to get rid of PACs and Super PACs. In most western countries they wouldn’t be allowed.
The political parties are also corrupt, taking donations fed back directly or indirectly from government funding of contractors. These are extensive rackets supported by half the population, who have never worked for anything but a political gang operation, and really believe in gangs.
Why are you bringing up “ponies” that we will never have, when Hillary’s private club (or so the judge ruled when Bernie’s supporters tried to fight their fraud, saying private clubs can do what they please, particularly picking potential presidents) was hacked into by those supercompetent Russians? Much akin to the Nigerian guy who’s been trying to help me collect money from some dead rich relative I didn’t know I had. Still waiting, but I’m sure if this was a fraud Mueller and our Intelligence agencies would be all over it, just like Hillary’s Private Club, the DNC. The Russians didn’t steal any money from Hillary, as far as I know, or there would have been War!
These media “pundits” are truly an embarrassment. They become apoplectic about “possible” Russian hacking in our elections, but one can search in vain for their comments about our own interference in Ukrainian politics, and many other countries around the globe. (eg, Victoria Nuland, Hillary’s pit bull, gloating about the US spending $5 billion in “support” of Ukrainian democracy). Its as if real concerns, such as nuclear annihilation, or catastrophic climate change, were afterthoughts. We are certainly living in mystifying times.
I think the same thing. The whole “election meddling” hoopla, even if it was true, pales to insignificance in light of what we are actually doing.
We have a base – a military base – in Syria. We weren’t invited. We didn’t get permission to set up a base. But we set up a military base in another country while announcing that that country’s leader “must go.” And now – with a total absence of evidence – we have the gall to condemn Russia for “meddling in our democracy.”
What is wrong with these people? Can’t they see the utter hypocrisy in it all?
I tell people all the time, if Russia did put their thumb on the scale, then hey – I guess “What Goes Around, Comes Around” huh? If you CAN’T take it, DON’T dish it out. Quite simple, really…
The US media’s hysterical (in the unfunny sense) response to “Russian meddling”
is very like the husband who catches his wife cheating on him and goes totally postal,
although he himself has been cheating on her ever since their courting days . . .
No they don’t see the hypocrisy. A large percentage of the population suffers from a severe Irony Deficiency and that can’t be cured.
I beat my head against the wall with the very same question! Thanks for sharing..
Thank you for doing the real journalism needed for readers to gain perspective and understanding. It is important to call out propaganda in the face of facts. One thing that stands out significantly is the statement by Trump, “I would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace than to risk peace in pursuit of politics.” Even if only partially pursued, the goal of peace is indeed a very worthy endeavor. In fact, this is one of the first times in recent memory that a US president has used the word “Peace”.
I don’t like the majority of what the Trump administration is doing, it is important to stick to the facts and support efforts that could lead to a reduction of the tensions and hostility which dominate current US / Russia relations.
“A productive dialogue is not only good for the United States and good for Russia, but it is good for the world.”
I could hear in the inflection of that sentence the profoundly courageous and confidently certain voice of John F. Kennedy. Gergen, Amanpour, Cooper, Cheney, Brennan, Clapper and the rest of them be damned. The usual suspects, the bought and paid-for mouthpieces of the “deep state” raised their reptilian ire in the expected reprehensible fashion. War is what keeps them on the “payroll”, and they’ll tell any lie it takes to keep those checks rolling in. Despicable. It seems likely that their vitriol may stem as much from fear of exposure as anything else.
I think President Trump gave a laudable and compelling performance. It’s a tragedy that this article will probably not get the circulation it deserves. Thanks to Joe Lauria for having the guts to write it.
Amen.
Cheers. I noticed the same JFK echo in that sentence.
Brennan and the whole lot of those pundits sound exactly like the paleolithic right from the 50s and 60s, the ones who insisted MLK was a communist and were so effectively personified by Sterling Hayden in the Dr Strangelove film.
Here ya go F.G. … your on par with Paul Craig Roberts.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/07/16/is-president-trump-a-traitor-because-he-wants-peace-with-russia/
Enjoy my man. Joe
Yes. I agree completely.
I recall about 16 years ago when the U.S. media almost unanimously reported, with absolute certainty, that Saddam Hussein was harboring numerous weapons of mass destruction. I also recall their fervent calls for regime change because Hussein was a threat to our national security. There were a few voices who spoke against it, but they were drowned out by MSM. It would appear that U.S. media is adamantly against anyone who is opposed to war. Is it because war is so profitable for the media, or is it because war is so profitable for their masters?
Hey, Johnmichael, you must know that the US is headed by an oligarchy, UK too, France, etc. What runs the world is banks and multinational corporations. The US could actually be called a corporatocracy, because the people have very little say in their government. Yes, media bashers do bash media when they lie because they are supposed to ferret out facts but they don’t, they serve their money masters. They all use “Goebbels style” messaging, Putin the least, i notice. It’s a western script.
Everything the Main Stream media says about Trump applies ten times over to themselves, the presstitutes that they are useful Idiots of the Corrupt New World Order.
A look at Mueller’s career will go far in explaining why Mueller is handling this and what he won’t see while investigating:
https://caucus99percent.com/content/what-mueller-wont-find
If you haven’t read this, please do.
I did Bob, and I’m encouraging more to read it. Joe
Bob – Yes, I have read the article about Mueller’s career.
Bob in Portland – excellent read! Thank you. Mueller is like a fixer, a sweeper, someone who cleans up and, as you said, moves investigations away from the CIA.
“He knew where to look and where not to look.”
No doubt he’s a valuable asset to the Deep State. Not a nice man.
Great work!
Yes, Mueller’s a master of misdirection. Was it Parry who noted (likely others as well) that reporting is now less about lying than deliberate omission. Hard to fact-check what ain’t there (vs. a lie which lays out data which can be tested) Knowledge IS power: we are not to have knowledge.
Thanks to all in this thread. I filed this statement recently here, and it was edited out. I’ll try again because it’s appropriate.
A relatively vibrant Press was modified violently in the days and weeks following November 22, 1963. Some careers were enhanced, some lives were lost. If some contemporary student of History or Journalism wanted to study the decline of American Democracy they might begin by reading all of the linked article below about a Journalist named Penn Jones…
http://spartacus-educational.com/JFKjonesP.htm
As much as I loathe Trump, I have to admit this is one time I agree with him. No matter how much Trump screws up, the simple fact is that no one is 100% wrong, and it’s important to recognize when they are not wrong.
I don’t agree that the Russians are our enemy. I don’t believe they are our friends, but there’s a large gap between an enemy and a friend and I place the Russians somewhere in that gap. I don’t deny that they hacked into the DNC database, but that doesn’t rise above my threshold of significance and certainly doesn’t hold a candle to all the U.S. interference in the politics of most of the world’s nations (which includes deposing democratically elected presidents). And finally, I don’t believe in gunboat diplomacy and I agree that it’s better to talk with the Russians than it is to beat the war drums and seek more confrontation.
Having said that, I deplore Trump’s behavior toward our European, Canadian and Mexican friends, and his domestic policies are the worst of any in the last 100 years. But as much as I deplore this buffoon, I believe that he is right in attempting to normalize relations with Russia.
“I don’t deny that they hacked into the DNC database,”
Well, you should, because there is zero evidence of a Russian hack.
On what basis in the world do you so confidently assert that you “do not deny” something that is untrue?
The evidence is of an inside leak.
Please, learn the difference between the two, a hack and a leak.
Another indication of the insidious power of the media over common sense.
Of course it is entirely within the interests of America to have free and friendly relations with Russia. Why? Not only because peace beats the hell out of war, especially the nuclear variety, but because we, along with the rest of the world, need Russia’s vast resources in a planet rapidly being depleted of everything essential to modern technology. If they don’t sell their products to the West on the open market because Washington thinks it can steal them after some kind of “regime change,” all those essential goodies will go to China, India and the other peoples of the East whom we look down upon, and are also fixing to mess with.
From all I have gleaned, Russia has always aspired to be a part of the West, ever since Peter the Great opened Russia to Europe, but Washington thinks that being a member of team West means being a totally subservient vassal to it and only it. Look at how shamelessly Washington has abused the interests of the EU in its efforts to subjugate Russia. There is mostly one party that threatens the future of Western prosperity and moral values: the United States, or rather its government. Its motives are uncontested power and greed to benefit its small clique of decadent aristocrats.
Why would anyone believe the Liars’ Club (the CIA) about anything? Their successes are more shameful than their failures.
Ah, but successes and failures are not ours to judge, no, it is for the ruling elite to judge, and given that their power and wealth has but steadily increased it is safe to say, under their measuring, that the CIA has been quite successful.
Putin brilliantly heads an Oligarchy. Trump obsequiously admires Putin because he too, by all of his actions to date, aspires to the same power. To all of you media bashers, who are on a very strange campaign of denial, don’t forget that Trump and his Goebbels style messaging received prime time from the electronic media throughout the campaign and was probably key to the win.
The real Deep State is the multinational world order of capitalism, which doesn’t care what type of government it owns. Yet CN seems totally oblivious to their existence. If the media is to blame for anything, it is that their coverage tends to be controlled by ratings; in other words, by money, and the Deep State controls the money.
The US has oligarchic since 1789.
Goebbels was far smarter and articulate than Trump.
the free $2B from the same media now screeching for his head? (Fox excepted) the 35-40 minutes dedicated to his empty podium while Sanders talked? I have some REALLY bad news for you ’bout who was behind that
http://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentionally-created-donald-trump-with-its-pied-piper-strategy/
I highly recommend reading James Howard Kunstler’s piece on Russia Insider, “Idiotic Russia Meddling Hoax Kept Alive by Trump-Putin Summit”. On his blog ‘Clusterfuck Nation’ he titles it “12 Ham Sandwiches with Russian Dressing”. Kunstler is a great cynicist humorist called a dystopian by the NYT. This piece he just published is one of the best and will undoubtedly be picked up by others. Has a funny cartoon on Russia Insider for a musical based on the Mueller never-ending saga. At least it’s a few cynical laughs for this sorry affair.
https://russia-insider.com/sites/insider/files/styles/1200xauto/public/russia_follies_mueller_trump_hillary-1024x751_0.jpg?itok=mrheD4D_
Mass hysteria is a frightening spectacle to behold. The power with which it grips the minds of virtually everyone is beyond belief. As I watched the media coverage of Helsinki unfold, it seemed the media minions were perceptibly working themselves into a collective frenzy, a totally berserk, bonkers group who were bidding the price of tulips up to a million each. The ironic aspect of all this to me is that even if the commie bastards did what we say they did would it have made any difference? And if indeed it was they who hacked HC’s “personal” email files and made them available to Wikileaks, I’m glad as Hell they did.
It would not make any difference. We Americans are to blame for our own follies and mistakes.
It’s Washington & the MSM’s mass hysteria, not the common folk who couldn’t give a rats ass about this lunacy? Ask the ordinary citizen in the US or Worldwide what they care about? It’s not the never ending Russiagate BS spewed out by the MSM or corrupt DEMS! It’s about, how will my Family be housed, Fed, & cared for! How will I support myself & my Family’s needs & wants! THATS WHAT WE CARE ABOUT, WE DON’T CARE ABOUT THE FAKE RUSSIAGATE NONSENSE & it’s BS! But what do these MSM idiots know, they think their smarter than those who voted for change & are getting that with Mr Trump!
Right on, Lester D.
I’m starting to get hopeful about Trump after a lot of doubts.
Whatever his limitations, he at least has some common sense. This is something we would never have seen happen with Crooked Hillary Clinton, ever. Somebody had to listen to Putin, who actually has quite a lot of sensible things to say about this, and is a very intelligent and articulate politician.
Given enough time, Trump might actually figure things out in Washington before he leaves office and sees all the treasonous forces in the permanent security state. I didn’t vote for either Clinton or Trump in ’16 but if he listens to Putin and gives peace a chance, this will mend all cracks with me.
Maybe they should put up a fence around CNN headquarters and call in a battalion of psychs to provide mental health treatments to the war profiteers and talking heads.
I voted for peace. I want to see peace. Kudos to Trump and Putin for bringing an oasis of sanity to the world. Nuclear war is bad for our kids. I am very relieved to see this happening. Even General Eisenhower could not buck the Military Industrial Complex in 1959 when he tried to reach detente with Khrushchev. Trump will go down in history as a great president if he can pull this off.
The incredible ugliness of the media, spy agencies, military figures, and politicians is unfortunately only the tip of a huge iceberg. Underneath all that is the deep state oligarchs, who are willing to sacrifice billions of lives and the very continuation of life on our precious planet – just to fulfill their insatiable greed for wealth and power. These evil monsters are the real enemies of Humanity.
Not only the U.S. Media, but also the Canadian, French, British etc… that is, the agitprop tools for NATOland/Soros, ready for selective and well rehearsed indignation, on cue.
Yes, Australian media and politicians too.
Tonight CBC The National managed to invite a “balanced” panel to discuss the Trump-Putin press conference: a researcher from Stratfor and a journalist from the Washington Post!!!! LOL
And when CBC’s narrative and their fake-debate in the National is challenged in the comment section the CBC sycophants know only one action:
“Your account has been banned until 10/15/2018. Reason: We have banned this account for 90 days because we believe it is in violation of our Terms of Use, specifically repeated off-topic comments, uncivil comments, and personal attacks. For more information, please visit: http://www.cbc.ca/aboutcbc/discover/submissions.html.”
All of this to mask political censorship
In my last posts, I quoted Joe Lauria and they did not like it one bit:
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”
Good Bye ICIJ
And add NZ’s Media to that shameful list of Propagandists telling lies & expecting us to belithis tripe!
> Yes, Australian media and politicians too.
“Too”??
I quite understand that you would like the Australian origin of the Murdoch Gang to be forgotten, but …
The calls of President Trump being a traitor mimic those of the calls that President Eisenhower was a traitor back in the 1950s.
But what can you expect from the cult followers of the former Goldwater girl who have done their best to turn the Party of Gene McCarthy into the Party of Joe McCarthy?
Dems have GOP lite for a long time, at least since Reagan.
Americans need to turn off their damn television sets.
I canceled my cable subscription three months ago and haven’t missed it one bit.
One needs to keep apprised of the lies that the enemies of humanity so effectively spread through their propaganda in order to counter them.
Besides, if you ever need a good emetic, there is always the opportunity to tune in Rachel Maddow until your stomach upchucks its contents.
Ha ha! The Rachel Maddow weight loss program!
Good idea. I quit watching regularly in the ’70s. But does make one somewhat alienated from everyone else.
Actually I have Direct TV and for a change I can tune in to channel 321 RT America and listen to some real news instead of the 24-hr fake news on the rest of the channels.
Last night I blocked CNN on the TV where I am currently forced to reside. I am the only one with the p/w to unblock it. Take that CNN!!!
Well said, as always, Realist, but the scary part is to read the vitriolic anti-Trump responses indicating the ‘liberals’ would actually rather risk war! I just read a few of them and honestly wonder if there’s any hope for this country, maybe we will have to take some harsh lessons that will be meted out. They do not realize that they are assisting in bringing down every one of us with their hate. The controllers who play them love it.
The danger is that they will bring their war hysteria into the next election and get someone elected that is even worse than Hillary would have been.
I’m not convinced that anyone is control. “Time and chance come to them all.”
My, how we have come full circle, Jessika. So, now it’s the “liberals” who would rather be “dead” than “red?” That used to be the far right John Birchers back in my youth. (Not that anyone anywhere on the planet is a genuine “communist” any longer, not even in Cuba or North Korea.) I just wish there was some mechanism to allow them to self-immolate without killing or harming the rest of us nearly 8 billion human beings. They have some potent demons colonizing what passes for their minds. Perhaps they could use a convincing exorcist to drive the Hillary entity out of their system.
All comes in cycles. Dixiecrats, anyone?
EXACTLY. Actually, FDR was the “Bernie Sanders” of his day, and completely turned the Party upside down with his “New Deal for the forgotten man” (Labor and farmers). The traditional D-Party was the party of southern plantation aristocracy and their money handlers on Wall Street, and the original R-Party contained the fire-breathing radicals within its ranks.
It is my understanding that Russia and US are holding approximately 90% of nuclear weapons worldwide. In a sane world, The US media should be commending Trump for trying to reach an agreement regarding denuclearization with Putin. Nonetheless, Trump is being grilled for doing what almost the entire planet is seeking: a world free of nuclear weapons. Indubitably, US national media are very busy undermining Trump’s efforts to reduce the scorch of nuclear war. Do the US media think that in a nuclear exchange humans will survive? We will all lose.
No, the elites on both sides of the political spectrum are living in a mythical Hollywood rich man’s fantasy world believing that the worst that can happen to them is they will retreat to their luxury underground cities and live out the nuclear war, communicating with their nuclear subs, while the rest of us paeons fry. They don’t care about us, at all. They are congenital psychopaths.
It sounds crazy because it is, and it is hard for the rest of us to believe they could be so foolish. They are fatally misguided in their beliefs that this would ever work and be good for them.
I think your right. Joe
Good comment Jose. In answer to your observations, I’d pose a question: what was Obusha thinking when he proposed a 3TRILLION dollar upgrade of America’s nukes? Who exactly was it that he was placating and that T-rump isn’t.
> Do the US media think that in a nuclear exchange humans will survive?
Well, quite a number of their *owners* have bought or are buying estates in Patagonia and New Zealand (besides luxury bomb-shelter housing closer at hand), so I guess they are counting on surviving themselves — and tough titty for the rest of us!
When the talking heads said that Trump trusted Putin more than his own Intelligence Agencies, I screamed at the TV, “ME TOO!”. I can think of no clearer sign that the CIA is still embedded with the MSM. Discussion of the history of our Intelligence Community in both the near and distant past, and it’s utter lack of trustworthiness, is a forbidden topic. My only hope is that enough people actually listened to what Putin said, instead of the talking heads’ rantings, and saw for themselves that Putin is a rational and fair-minded leader. The near hysteria of Anderson Cooper and his ilk is a sure sign that their grip on the narrative is slipping.
I concur with your post. Personally, I rather listen to Putin than the US national media. You are correct to assert that “Putin is a rational and fair-minded leader” You would have to be mentally retarded to pay any heed to US national media that have proven to be a tool of those controlling the livers of power. Well done, Skip.
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”
Anderson Cooper, the grandson of Gloria Vanderbilt, and great-grandson of robber baron railroad mogul Cornelius Vanderbilt is CIA trained in Operation Mockingbird.
https://youtu.be/w8NTLVOjas8
I said that once, and got booed out of the room. Joe
Skip I hear ya, but allow me to tell you what I saw, and heard today. So after Trump made his remarks about trusting, or not trusting, certain intelligence data, I while driving in my car heard callers calling in to the local talk show. The callers who expressed themselves the way we do on this comment board were berated by the callers who thought this kind of talk (like we here on CN talk) was treasonous by all known treasonous standards. The callers who sounded like we do here were labeled as their being crazed Trump supporters, and yet all of them said of how they don’t even necessarily like Trump, but right is right and left is now warmongering. None of the other opposing callers bought this denial of Trump, as they just fluffed it off, as Trump supporters hiding behind whatever it was their suppose to be hiding behind. Facts are painfully ignored, especially when it comes to analyzing Trump.
I see the MSM pundits and the strongly patriotic lying legislators taking Trump’s remarks while calling him a trader, as the launching of a great American vs American social confrontation. This new confrontation will pit brother against brother, child against parent, and wife against husband …. just ask my wife. The discontent is about where we were back during the Vietnam years, as the only thing missing are the peace marchs. This time our civil war will be fought strictly on a social level, aided by an instigating MSM, as division messes up any real citizen advocacy as the citizen may require to straighten out any of this disconnection of their society… or that’s at least the way I see it.
We citizens are officially at war with each other. We will all look back upon this period of our evolvement, and laugh over the Facebook censorship, and dream of a time when it was merely just about politics, and taxes. We are moving in a direction where the National Security Deep State is beating up an outsider maverick, and this maverick is now in the Deep States crosshairs. It’s darn strange, and I swear if something awful were to happen to President Trump that the MSM would encourage us Americans to make Trump’s ugly fate a new national holiday…. I think there are many among this Deep State cabal who still celebrate with joy the sad happenings of November 22nd, 1963.
The empire is finally going down, and we are all witnessing it first hand. Joe
“I see the MSM pundits and the strongly patriotic lying legislators taking Trump’s remarks while calling him a trader, as the launching of a great American vs American social confrontation. This new confrontation will pit brother against brother, child against parent, and wife against husband …. just ask my wife. . . .”
Good observation Joe. It already started happening some time back in our home. A truce was reached with a compromise that my wife would not watch CNN, MSNBC . . . when I am around the house and I will not read CN and make comments, at least when she is around. This morning my wife went to our retired neighbor’s house to watch these channels with her. Both of them have been feeling today as if some tragedy has happened.
That is what this two years of Russia Gate hysteria fueled by the Media and Politicians has done to the people. Today was probably the worst day; they are really messing up the population. It is even worse than those cold war days of 1950’s which I have read about. And there is no end in sight.
Dave I swear we live in the same house. Joe
Aye aye! Well put, I concur.
Killary had a crap platform. That is why she lost. If the platform was something progressives could support, then people would come out and vote for her. Her record of dependability is crap; just a double talking republican liar. No good. That’s why she lost. I didn’t vote for her and won’t vote for her if she is forced on us again. Lyle Courtsal http://www.3mpub.com
You are correct Lyle about Hillary’s lost. I would like to add the following:Vladimir Putin has not meddled in the US election, Hillary Clinton has. Leaked emails reveal that the popular socialist Bernie Sanders had his chance of becoming president stolen from him by Hillary Clinton and her associates at the Democratic National Committee. If defrauding democracy is worth going to war over, certainly it is worth going to jail over. Millions of Americans had their votes stolen.
Yes, I listened to some of her campaign speeches, and they were embarrassingly awful, and empty of ideas except inciting horror of “Le Trump”! She was truly pathetic in her confidence that she was in the in-group, addressing others in the “in-group,” thus not needing to actually campaign.
Recently Hillary was awarded the Radcliffe medal, and she spoke at Radcliffe Day. I was horrified that she was given this honor. I heard that she read from a Teleprompter. That indicates to me that she was and is indeed not physically up to the challenges of the office, quite apart from her many other deficits.
I wouldn’t vote for a mass murderer. If you cannot fundamentally be for peace then all else, no matter how wonderful it sounds (it could be) has nowhere to anchor.
Great column.
There is no doubt that the Summit moved us away from confrontation with Russia which holds the grave danger of going nuclear.
Bravo for Trump and the brave words he spoke.
Now it is up to us.
If we wish the process to continue which these meetings with Putin initiated, let us raise our voices in support.
If we wish to let the neocons, “Deep State,” Dem and GOP elites to stop the process, let us stay silent.
I read the New York times and the comments to the editorial. This is my comment.
The comments here sound like a lynch mob working themselves into a frenzy to hang someone. Proof? Who needs any dang proof. Clapper the guy who admitted lying to Congress under oath said Trump was guilty and thats good enough for the people who commented here. The Intelligence Agencies that lied to get the USA to invade Iraq with their WMD claims say he is guilty, well that must be proof then.
This goes to show that Barnum was right, there is a sucker born every minute. But a whole nation suckered into believing this nonsence about Russia having Trump elected with not one shred of evidence presented? Even Barnum would have been shocked and surprised at that one.
Sorry the reply was to a story on the front page.
Good comment, Dan Kuhn.
Well, I guess that influential people on the inside figure that the “reign of terror” worked out so well in effecting regime change during the French Revolution that they’d give it another go approximately two centuries later… approximately a hundred years after the Bolshevik Revolution, so maybe this is a natural phenomenon with a periodicity of about 100 years. Perhaps Hillary thinks she’s gonna pick up the pieces as the next Napoleon after the revolution burns itself out. More like her fate will be as the next Robespierre, hoisted on her own guillotine.
Yes, the cycle is tied to the controlling currency, the USD in current day form. That control is rapidly slipping away. The crooks are pulling the fire alarms in the bank and running out the back door and the public is looking for safety from the crooks’ army (MSM, “authority figures” etc.).
There is nothing left to say.
The summit only leaves one to speculate.
It would seem that there is not a single independent, unbought, honest, objective journalist left working for the corporate mass media in America. They are all mere puppets delivering the propaganda and fake analysis demanded of them by the oligarchy that owns them. It’s absolutely stunning how lock-step they all are in maintaining the false narrative cooked up by the careless and arrogant tyrants who threw away a sure thing (Hillary’s coronation) by pressing too hard to give her what they thought was the biggest patsy (Trump) in the clown show called the presidential election. They were so confident they actually allowed the ballots to be counted and have been scrambling to undo the results using every possible mechanism and pretext ever since. If there is one thing the American people can count on in the future, it is that no election will ever again be semi-free, fair and not rock-solid rigged with the contrived results agreed upon months before the charade of elections ever goes on.
A rational mind might say, well, give us more reasonable candidates, those in tune with the problems of the voters (mostly caused by government), and give us more of them, more parties, more platforms, more options. That is exactly what they intend to avoid. They tried to force feed us Hillary as the only acceptable figure running for the position, but enough people saw through that and chose the fellow they wanted us to abhor after they deliberately built him up to help the despised Hillary. Now absolutely every loyal apparatchik in the elite establishment, and most especially the media–the essential propagandists, are working 24/7 for regime change in Washington, what they perceive as the necessary first step towards regime change in Moscow and later Beijing. Only then will the NWO–in which they give all the orders and control everything and everybody–be complete.
I tell you, the reach of their tentacles and the uniformity of response amongst their minions is impressive in a most foreboding way. They will brook NO peaceful co-existence with any geopolitical “partners” or competitors and will not give even the slightest iota of respect to our own elected leader, not even to his office out of formal courtesy. Rather than “going high” when he “goes low,” they choose to up the ante in ad hominem insults and political thuggery. The power structure in this country has become irretrievably warmongering neo-con and ruthlessly imperialistic. The most catastrophic consequence will be to see the dissolution of civilisation itself as the myriad of environmental, population and resource crises hit the planet full on as the century unfolds, for thuggery, tyranny and simplistic political slogans are not the solutions for escaping the impending bottleneck with an actual future still remaining for humanity.
Hey Realist you brought back memories of the 2016 presidential election to when Trump was given 4.9 billion dollars worth of free air time (JP Sottile quoted the 4.9). As it has been written about of how early on the Clinton campaign thought Trump was the best to run up against, because who in their right mind would take the Trumpster serious, was the go to mindset among the DNCer’s. So the MSM turned on the cameras at Trump rallies believing that given enough rope that Trump would hang himself. The backlash that came from this, was mind boggling on many levels. One no one likes Hillary, number two no one likes the MSM. So with that the MSM, and Hillary’s bend strategy was what loss the election for the Democrats, and oh yeah then there’s Bernie.
I don’t think in total we Americans are all living on the same planet. Joe
I am absolutely appalled by the behavior of the American media. They are acting like Trump is a disgrace to the country but the MSM is a disgrace to journalism.
I don’t even like Trump but – to me – he is coming out better in this exchange.
Excellent statement.
Indeed the US mass media are no more than propagandists for the arrogant tyrants of its government. But despite US bluster and economic arm-twisting, educated people know that BRICS cannot be dominated so imperialism is theater not policy. Over 20-40 years, the US can only choose cooperation or self-embargo. Few educated people believe the recycled hysteria of invisible threats.
The enmity of the PTB toward Russia and Korea always starts with and returns to the Mideast and centers upon Israel, which controls the US mass media and both political parties, and thereby appoints the politicians who control the military budget and agenda. Indeed “no election will ever again be semi-free.” The MIC is large and will attack small countries anywhere, but it is the servant of Israel.
People who complain aboutIsrael somehow never mention Dispensationalism, Christian Zionism, etc.
Thank you for mentioning those; I did not have room in that comment.
Israel also substantially controls the Christian z leaders.
Wow! Great comments Realist.
I thought Mueller was playing politics to announce the indictments of 12 Russians mere hours before Trump met Putin … more and more I’m losing faith in Mueller and the Democrats who have damn near destroyed their party themselves …
If the fact that the Dems managed to undermine the people’s choice for president (Sanders) isn’t enough to convince you that the Dems are destroyed then I don’t know what to tell you.
I’m almost certain that the CIA had a hand in that: consider their infiltration into the MSM (ensuring that Sanders was not talked about). Not only was the CIA involved in trying to derail Trump, but it was active in preempting Sanders. For sure, having meddling in BOTH parties would likely bring out real pitch forks: when it’s just one party it’s easy to use the other party to offset the anger. Joe, if you’re reading these comments (still), I’d love to get your take on this “theory.”
I never imagined I would cheer on Trump…..but that took guts….
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1018955906690584576
Thanks for this report, Mr. Lauria; you’re certainly of stronger mettle than me. I would not have withstood the noxious exhalations of the US newsmedia (which itself now openly includes newly “retired” intelligence agents as commentators) you’ve described in this article; the anecdotes alone almost had me hurling my phone across the room.
Thank you for performing a valuable public service with this report. Peace.
Welcome to what passes for “reality” in 2018 America. If the stakes for humanity were not so frightfully high these bizarre, slapstick, nonsense comments from the MSM talking heads would be knee-slapping hilarious in their total off the charts lunacy and patent absurdity. What can one say? Wow – off the freaking charts! You simply can’t make this stuff up! Words are inadequate in an age of mass delusion posing as sanity!
I think your words “total off the charts lunacy and patent absurdity” are as adequate as they come in this situation.
Not only absurd, though, but also deeply isulting, treasonous, really horrendous that our national-level journalists arrogate to themselves the right to diss, insult, accuse, charge, condemn, vilify, etc. the president of the United States. I don’t like trump either, I hate waht he is doing in Israel, supporting the rabid Zionists there and here. BUT, standing up to the media and intelligence onslaught took guts, and he came out of the meeting looking pretty good, I think. The meeting also gave Putin an opportunity to score a few points for reason, thus an international platform he might otherwise not have had.
I LOVE the Putin points re Browder $$$ (rather, rubles) to Hillary. I do so hope that this topic is taken up and richly sucked and considered and tasted and finally chewed and swallowed and digested and the real . . . finally is delivered to the AMerican people regarding Hill’s $$$ shenanigans. If that happens it could point once again to an investigation of her emails and those of her assistant Huma Abedin. Remember her? When do we get the full investigation of this very compromised woman?
Well said.
What, did Trump say that, Gregory? I am impressed, if he did!
By the CNN video of the entire press conference, Trump says this at the 13:54 mark.
And for a complete transcript of the presser:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/transcript-trump-putin-press-conference-in-helsinki/
Yes, it is critical to support Trump’s talks with Putin and not let these Deep State agents control.
These people have no shame, as they take their massive paychecks for lying to keep the fools in line. Well, thanks to websites like this one and others, there aren’t so many fools anymore. They are pathetic, and days of Cronkite, Murrow et al who reported news objectively are dead and buried.
Probably they believe their own nonsense, at least when they say. Much as crooked preachers do.
Cronkite wasn’t so objective, Jessika. He was pretty bought into the glory of our Viet nam adventuring until the war protesters (whom he did not represent objectively either) opened Amerika’s eyes.
FOR ONCE, I AM PROUD TO STAND WITH OUR PRESIDENT.
Roger That.
Ditto
Me, too. An act of extraordinary political courage.
That took guts, Mr. Trump. I didn’t know you had it in you. Congratulations for standing up to your (deadly) opponents. They are now showing themselves to be the evil scum they really are.
There is one small problem with this article. While I trust Consortium News far more than the New York Times, there are those who trust the latter. And the article is far too long for those who already believe that Trump is guilty of collusion with Russia. A shorter article by Consortium News with a one two punch is what is needed.
Oh, go pound sand, would you?
People don’t change their minds because of rational arguments. Russiagate will go on, in spite of logic and evidence, much as Birther nonsense does.
I just listened to NBC nightly news, and CNN. They are screaming treason! And the end of America! They are absolutely aghast that Trump is making peace moves with Putin. Doesn’t he know that America is a Warfare State?? To talk peace is against everything we hold sacred. Beware Mr. Trump, the CIA hit squads will be champing at the bit to field one of their “lone assassins on you”. Pray for the Donald not being gunned down for doing the right thing (for once).
I still fear someone will do the president harm as a result of this. Trump is taking chances with the mafia that runs this shadow permanent government, given this level of hysteria. They just have too much at stake. They are used to getting their way. I hope I’m wrong. The last time a president took on the entire establishment to this extent was JFK. I wish I could be more optimistic.
“They are screaming treason! ”
How dare they???
they are the treasonous ones.
These crazed zombies are terrifying.
“I would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace, than risk peace in pursuit of politics.”
Bravo Mr. President.
Great quote Gregory. Joe
A JFK-worthy quote, that.
And, to quote its deliverer, “Who would think..?”
That one statement will go down in history, mark my words.
This quote is every bit as memorable as John Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what you can do for your country.”
“never before have I seen an American president consistently, repeatedly, publicly, and shockingly advance the interests of another country over those of his own government and people.”
Really? You obviously haven’t been paying attention to the US’s obeisance to Israel. I can think of no other country that puts another country’s wishes ahead of their own the way the US does with Israel.
“he had a chance right there in front of the world to tell Vladimir Putin to stay the HELL out of American democracy, and he didn’t do it.”
And he was wise not to do so. The United States has far more blatantly interfered with Russian elections than what the idiots in our alphabet soup of intelligence agencies are accusing Russia of now. The reason you call Putin a thug is not because he is one but because he won’t let you get away with that kind of crap. Putin has made it clear that American regime change is off the table and he intends to see to it that it stays off the table.
““never before have I seen an American president consistently, repeatedly, publicly, and shockingly advance the interests of another country over those of his own government and people.””
Is that why he wants NATO to beef up? Is that why he complained about Germany’s energy dependence on Russia?
He is not putting Putin above the American people. He is just not accepting the lies told by the FBI which is really pretty much still controlled by Obama.
Bravo, Jeff!
If the allegations are true – of GRU officers successfully phishing for HRC campaign dirt from Chairman Podesta’s emails – then the officers are guilty as charged. As I understand it, this was the avenue through which Wikileaks obtained the content of Hillary Clinton’s speeches to Goldman Sachs. That confirmation of what most already suspected to be true – that Hillary had been pledging fealty to Wall Street bankers at the expense of the people – probably contributed to Hillary’s defeat at the polls. So, I say “more power to ’em”. Those officers show common cause with the common man and woman in America. Hillary was never going to release those transcripts on her own!
And that same phishing – if true – was certainly no “terrorist attack” or “act of war’ or other hyperbolic nonsense like “the undermining of democracy in America”. We have no democracy – only an oligarchy – much like the Russians under Boris Yeltsin. Maybe the phishing undermined oligarchy here, which would be a good thing. Oligarchy is at the heart of the cruel neo-liberal order which tyrannizes the people.
Julian Assange has consistently said he did not get the files from Russia. Assange has yet to be caught in a lie. The US is a serial liar and doesn’t even look embarrassed when caught in a lie.
Thanks Jeff, maybe I don’t understand the transfers to Wikileaks very well. I wonder if the FBI/Justice Department really knows, like they say they do.
Well, if DNC’s servers and Hillarious’ stealth servers and Podesta’s email were hacked, the NSA has Hooverd up all the evidence (if it exists). The Dumpster should demand this material be revealed and also demand disclosure of proof that RussiaGate is more than Deep State designs.
Something must be done to release Assange! Trump: do something.
Frederike – I think Trump will release Assange. Patience.
911 ushered in the post-truth era.
Maybe they got the information because Hillary took home classified documents and recklessly-knowingly exposed them to hackers in her private basement server?
“If the allegations are true”. Well we probably will never find out will we. Putin was shrewd to offer to have Mueller and his investigators come to Russia to investigate the indited GRU officers and offering full cooperation with Russian Law enforcement. Putin and Trump both know that Mueller will make every excuse in the book of why that can’t happen. Mueller must be craping his pants wondering if he will somehow be forced to take his investigation to Russia and have it publically exposed for the fraud that it is.
Freedom lover – yes, what a great move by Putin! “Come on, let’s work together to get to the bottom of this.” Mueller must just be dying! Unfortunately, Trump is really in danger now.
Why no mention of the most explosive claim at the press conference? https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/07/putin-blows-apart-russia-collusion-probe-says-russian-group-gave-400000000-to-hillary-clinton-video/
“I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.” Translation: He has little confidence in Obama and Bush intelligence people. Good for him.
Wow, that was explosive! Just imagine how bad things would be right now if someone other than Putin were in charge of Russia. We should count ourselves as lucky.
I think everyone should read: “Putin Says He Misspoke Too, Withdrawing Claim Clinton Got Millions Stolen From Russia” – by Robert Mackey – July 18 2018
https://theintercept.com/2018/07/18/putin-says-misspoke-withdrawing-claim-clinton-got-millions-stolen-russia/
Learn about Browder, Putin, how much money, where it went and see what happened to a whistle blower Magnitsky
Interesting, no comments !
Read this to get the real scoop on Browder:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49886.htm