DNC Hack As Inside Job?

The Nation, hardly a bastion of right-wing conspiracists, picks up the story that the alleged Russian hack of the DNC was in fact an inside job. This notion has percolated on the right for a while but now the Democracy Dies In Darkness crowd will need a bigger pillow. Between this and the Awan-Wasserman non-story they have a lot to not cover.

Let's have some previous coverage of the DNC leak theory:

Talking Points Memo poo-poohs a Jan 17 2017 report from retired intelligence officials which called for more evidence and disclosure. 

Last December "an ally" of Julian Assange claimed it was an inside job.

More recently the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity prepared a report that is a basis for The Nation's story. If the VIPS ring a bell (or try the VIPers) it may be because they emerged during the Bush years in opposition to the Iraq war. They may have been kooks but they were hardly right-wing kooks.

UPDATE: From the Ace of Spades:

This seems to be the most easily provable or disprovable -- and most dispositive on the subject -- claim being made:

There was no hack of the Democratic National Committee’s system on July 5 last year—not by the Russians, not by anyone else. Hard science now demonstrates it was a leak—a download executed locally with a memory key or a similarly portable data-storage device. In short, it was an inside job by someone with access to the DNC’s system. This casts serious doubt on the initial “hack,” as alleged, that led to the very consequential publication of a large store of documents on WikiLeaks last summer.

The VIPS group also made this claim on July 24th -- that the speed of the download was not possible over the internet, but could only be accomplished through the computer downloading to a physically-attached external storage device. 

...

I don't know if that's true -- but it seems easily checkable, and we deserve answers about that.

Given The Nation's long, long history of flacking on behalf of Mother Russia, I am suspicious of their interest in disproving a Russia Hack narrative.

...

I'd like this either rebutted or admitted by the "intelligence" community.

If all this speculation holds up it is easy to guess why Loretta Lynch's FBI never examined the DNC server. But what explains Sessions? Is everyone recused?

MORE: Leonid Bershidsky at Bloomberg assess the current state of play:

Having been burned so badly on the Iraq intelligence claims in 2003, you would think major U.S. media would apply more journalistic skepticism and rigor here, even if, to the broader public, Russia is a faraway power to which it's easy to ascribe pretty much any nefarious activity. Instead, these outlets seem more intent on noting Putin's bare-chested physique and accusing him of further meddling on social networks.

I would think the US media is too busy Resisting and Persisting.

Comments

[Sue]

Tom,

Be careful with this story. VIPS, of Ray McGovern fame, (Plame), is involved in the sourcing.

[Threadkiller]

Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he would welcome a presidential pardon for his criminal contempt conviction, although he concedes he's not aware of whether his political ally has been briefed on his legal woes.

"Whatever the president wants me to do, I would support him," Arpaio told The Arizona Republic by phone Wednesday. "If he needs help with anything, of course I’m going to help him."But Arpaio said he wouldn’t be the one to make the call.

“I’m not going to ask him,” Arpaio said. “I think, I believe he may not even know about this, which will become a different story in a couple days, with a bigger, much bigger picture than just me.”

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/08/09/joe-arpaio-guilty-criminal-contempt-donald-trump-pardon/553049001/

Sounds universe shattering.

[Appalled]

Most popular, at the Nation:

1. A NEW REPORT RAISES BIG QUESTIONS ABOUT LAST YEAR’S DNC HACK
2.TRUMP IS NOT THE PROBLEM
3. VENEZUELA MAY BE ON THE BRINK OF CIVIL WAR
4. HAVE NEOCONS HIJACKED TRUMP’S FOREIGN POLICY?
5. DO YOU TRUST DONALD TRUMP’S FINGER ON THE NUCLEAR BUTTON?

So when did Infowars buy out the Nation?

[Threadkiller]

Right after Media Matters bought McConnell.

[pagar, a bacon, ham and sausage supporter]

"DO YOU TRUST DONALD TRUMP’S FINGER ON THE NUCLEAR BUTTON?"

YES! There is no one I would trust more.

[Dave (in MA)]

Click on the image to see the whole thing if Typepad doesn't show it all.

[lurkersusie]

So the federal judge with oversight of Mueller's grand jury is a Dem who is connected to his lawyers https://t.co/xIvj6puimJ?amp=1

“Even though she worked for Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, she’s been very straight-arrow as a judge and she wouldn’t be impaneling a jury for the heck of it, or anything less than there being ample justification for it,” said a former federal lobbyist, referring to Howell’s previous work for Sen. Patrick Leahy. “She’s like Mueller: He wouldn’t ask for it unless he had more than enough evidence to justify it, and she wouldn’t have granted it unless he did.”

[Captain Hate]

The hack story was obviously a huge pile of shit from day one. The donks flipped out from day 1 that it might be an inside job because they'd done such a great job of manipulating opinions on Zippy by keeping unsavory aspects of him obscure that it seemed like there was no chance of anybody breaking ranks. The trouble was that Zippy is a natural con whose rise to the top made Curb Dive's trajectory seem like tectonic plates moving. Plus Rodham is as charismatic as a drunk scullery maid screaming at everyone to go fuck themselves. Hence the Berniebots. There were surely some disenchanted insiders ready to drop a dime on the unlikeable old gash; maybe Seth Rich or someone else. But nobody with any sense should be surprised that it was an inside job AND that it petrified DWS and the rest of the apparatchiks.

[DC]

I'm not sure what Tom's closing point is here -- the 2002 WMD story (which was full of shit) nevertheless convinced HRC and maybe Obama that it wasn't full of shit, so today when the Intelligence Community says it was a hack to the DNC but the same guys (VIPS) who argued correctly that the 2002 WMD story was full of shit, now in 2017 are saying that the "hack" story is also full of shit, we should believe...whom?

[cboldt]

-- she’s been very straight-arrow as a judge and she wouldn’t be impaneling a jury for the heck of it --

Right up there with "I am not a crook" and other peremptory claims of impeccable honesty. Often a sign that what follows is false.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

DC,

I don't believe anyone but Trump, Pence and the cabinet.

I have officially moved into X-files territory.

[James D.]

So the federal judge with oversight of Mueller's grand jury is a Dem who is connected to his lawyers

Oh, look. More conflicts of interest. More connected swamp dwellers in the baseless witch hunt against the President and his closest supporters.

[Old Lurker]

"Media Matters bought McConnell."

Hope they got their change from their $20.

[James D.]

MM, I am right there with you.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Appalled will be upset, but Honey Badger don't give a sh*t:

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 17m17 minutes ago

Mitch, get back to work and put Repeal & Replace, Tax Reform & Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing. You can do it!

6,011 replies 3,894 retweets 13,665 likes

[Porchlight]

Of course it was an inside job. Totally obvious from the beginning; then Assange confirmed it. Don't need VIPs or the Nation to tell us what's already plain as day.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

I have hit conspiracy overload.

I am going to go put my feet up and watch a mystery and maybe take a nap.

I will entertain myself with the vision of McConnell getting another 50 phone calls from aides due to that tweet from the President.

[Sue]

Funny how the media is already blaming Trump's words for actions NK may take.

[Rocco]

I believe that the VIPS forged the phony Niger documents hoping Bush would run with them. In October of 2003, Sy Hersh wrote,

Who produced the fake Niger papers? There is nothing approaching a consensus on this question within the intelligence community. There has been published speculation about the intelligence services of several different countries. One theory, favored by some journalists in Rome, is that sismi produced the false documents and passed them to Panorama for publication.

Another explanation was provided by a former senior C.I.A. officer. He had begun talking to me about the Niger papers in March, when I first wrote about the forgery, and said, “Somebody deliberately let something false get in there.” He became more forthcoming in subsequent months, eventually saying that a small group of disgruntled retired C.I.A. clandestine operators had banded together in the late summer of last year and drafted the fraudulent documents themselves.

“The agency guys were so pissed at Cheney,” the former officer said. “They said, ‘O.K, we’re going to put the bite on these guys.’ ” My source said that he was first told of the fabrication late last year, at one of the many holiday gatherings in the Washington area of past and present C.I.A. officials. “Everyone was bragging about it—‘Here’s what we did. It was cool, cool, cool.’ ” These retirees, he said, had superb contacts among current officers in the agency and were informed in detail of the sismi intelligence.

“They thought that, with this crowd, it was the only way to go—to nail these guys who were not practicing good trade craft and vetting intelligence,” my source said. “They thought it’d be bought at lower levels—a big bluff.” The thinking, he said, was that the documents would be endorsed by Iraq hawks at the top of the Bush Administration, who would be unable to resist flaunting them at a press conference or an inter agency government meeting. They would then look foolish when intelligence officials pointed out that they were obvious fakes. But the tactic backfired, he said, when the papers won widespread acceptance within the Administration. “It got out of control.”

Like all large institutions, C.I.A. headquarters, in Langley, Virginia, is full of water-cooler gossip, and a retired clandestine officer told me this summer that the story about a former operations officer faking the documents is making the rounds. “What’s telling,” he added, “is that the story, whether it’s true or not, is believed”—an extraordinary commentary on the level of mistrust, bitterness, and demoralization within the C.I.A. under the Bush Administration. (William Harlow, the C.I.A. spokesman, said that the agency had no more evidence that former members of the C.I.A. had forged the documents “than we have that they were forged by Mr. Hersh.”)

So the article states that a group of disgruntled CIA banded together "late last summer", that would be 2002. Wiki tells us VIPS was formed in January 2003...close enough for me because we know they were actively writing op-eds before that even if they weren't officially "formed".

I'm with Sue....VIPS are the enemy!

[bunky]

Fire Molar!!!!!!!!

[Jack is Back!(On his iPhone)]

Dave,

Why I use Duck Duck Go😎

[sbw]

Funny, I use Duck Duck Go, too.

[Frau Argwohn]

Hi, Rocco!

Yes, it's our old friend Ray McGovern. We can pick him out of the line-up with our eyes closed. The material, however, coming from the VIPS and printed in The Nation, points out the role of the media in pushing "the Ruskies stole the election" story. Will the rest of the left buy the leak interprestation?

In dealing only with the DNC, they leave the Podesta aspect untouched.

[Old Lurker]

Any reason I should not switch to duckduckgo?

[DrJ]

Any reason I should not switch to duckduckgo?

The quality of their search results is not very good for the kind of searches I do. But go for it, if it works better for you.

[henry]

It's all google under the covers. (the search engine part anyway. I think it might be open source these days)

[Jane (Stand against the Coup)]

So if Russia didn't hack the DNC, does it follow that they didn't hack the election? And if they didn't hack the election, why would Trump "collude" with them. Is that a stretch too far for shutting down the investigation?

[Threadkiller]

Ray McGovern was a Jill Stein supporter, FWIW.

[henry]

Jane, popular delusions per our Chitown Lurker:

Jane forgets that DJT's Russian Collusion can be found with the release of his tax filings, of course. His loans will be listed there, per the left Twitterspheria.

[Threadkiller]

Not much coverage of the 1st female SEAL candidate bombing out.

Maybe Google is blocking anti-diversity stories.

[narciso.]

So why has fusion not been raided

http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/09/trump-dossier-firm-turns-over-documents-to-senate-panel-but-theres-just-one-problem/?utm_source=site-share

[Ralph L]

it's all google under the covers.
It's down all the way down.

[pagar, a bacon, ham and sausage supporter]

Do not accept second best:

https://www.weaselzippers.us/352614-maxine-waters-we-should-respond-to-north-korea-by-giving-them-things-theyre-asking-for/

[Tom Maguire]

I'm not sure what Tom's closing point is here -- the 2002 WMD story (which was full of shit) nevertheless convinced HRC and maybe Obama that it wasn't full of shit, ...

Good point. I was thinking The Nation's Lawrence ought to be talking up the 2003 WMD debate as a win for his side, and eventually he did, so I deleted that section. Also, just to show that not every baffling and off-topic aside that enters my head makes it through to the page.

[Frau Argwohn]

Jane - I do not think Mueller will let go of the chase. I no longer trust those with unimpeachable records. Comey cured me of that with his *actions* which revealed the real man.
Pfui!

Kenneth Star is now called weak in comparison to Mueller's might. No one will dare go all Alinsky on Mr. Mueller.

[narciso.]

I think he used to work for salon, but has been known to find a nut even in that peanuts gallery.

[Ralph L]

Cheesy Beefcake

[Frau Schuldig]

pagar @ 1:59 - It worked for Maxine with her message to her constituents.

I denounce myself.
Again.

[narciso.]

It reminds me of that line innthe departed about Colin Sullivan and his boss having an immaculate record, ironic since the first was like FBI agent connelly on costellis payroll.

[Old Lurker]

Frau, the older I get the more I am certain those who (are said to) have unimpeachable records are exactly the ones you should distrust.

[cboldt]

-- No one will dare go all Alinsky on Mr. Mueller. --

I wouldn't bet money on that. Whether or not that happens depends on the need for it, but it's not off the table.

[cboldt]

Watching old teevee as an adult throws some surprises. Susan Oliver on Star Trek, followed by Susan Oliver on Bonanza. Make sense I guess, even Lorne Greene went from teevee old west to teevee space; as did McCoy and Spock.

[narciso.]

Yes there was a continuum

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2017/08/09/deranged-matthew-dowd-compares-trump-kim-jong-un-speculates-europe

Its like when Leonard nimoy was on in search of9, after trek even in an old mission impossible

[exdemocrat]

more MSM exposure for the leaked not hacked issue:

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-08-10/why-some-u-s-ex-spies-don-t-buy-the-russia-story

[Extraneus]

Trump lawyer slams special counsel for 'gross abuse' in Manafort raid, challenges warrant

“These failures by Special Counsel to exhaust less intrusive methods is a fatal flaw in the warrant process and would call for a Motion to Suppress the fruits of the search,” Dowd wrote, arguing the required “necessity” of the warrant was “misrepresented to the Court which raises a host of issues involving the accuracy of the warrant application and the supporting FBI affidavit.”

Dowd also said agents seized “privileged and confidential materials prepared for Mr. Manafort by his counsel to aid him in his cooperation with the Congressional committees,” adding:

“Thus, it appears the Search Warrant here was obtained by a gross abuse of the judicial process by the Special Counsel's office. In addition, given the obvious unlawful deficiencies, this extraordinary invasive tool was employed for its shock value to try to intimidate Mr. Manafort and bring him to his needs [knees?]. These methods are normally found and employed in Russia [and Wisconsin] not America.”

[Clarice Feldman]

cboldt--it seems clear to me that Sekulow and his staff are loaded and will fire if necessary on both Comey and Mueller.

[sbw]

When justice becomes injustice it needs to be exposed. The tactics of the Obama’s Dept. of Justice appear to have tainted the underlying agencies.

[Clarice Feldman]

VDH nails it on Bush lied true believer:http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/10470-2/

[cboldt]

That "pro-Russian" Bloomberg article is easy for the anti-Trump forces to dismiss, coming from "pro-Russian" Leonid Bershidsky.

[cboldt]

Clarice - look just above your post, to Extraneous' cite and blockquote. Dowd is unhappy, and using some precision to express why.

[Clarice Feldman]

http://hotair.com/archives/2017/08/10/real-story-lynch-clinton-tarmac-meeting-gets-even-stranger/

[Old Lurker]

Ext, I remember the good old days when some young associate would be fired for the typo at the end of that statement.

[Marlene]

Today in bizarre Maine news...the 44 acre saltwater farm in North Brooklin,Maine once owned by E.B. White is being sold by the current owners. E.B. White wrote "Charlotte's Web" featuring Wilbur the pig at the farm. PETA wants the property as a free donation so they can convert it into an empathy museum for pigs. The museum's vegan cafe would offer vegan sausage,vegan BLTs and other vegan piggy food. PETA says White's portrayal of Wilbur taught us to think of pigs as something other than a food source. I'm not making this story up,I read it in the Bangor paper!

[Clarice Feldman]

Seems to me dowd just established a bais for making those records inadmissible and the people who obtained them liable for violating Manafort's civil liberties,cboldt.

[Old Lurker]

Works for me, Clarice.

[Tom R]

Writers from The Nation are original members of the leftwing Journolist propaganda sharing ring so the fact they printed this DNC leak article that destroys a leftwing narrative is pretty significant.

[Threadkiller]

VDH arm waiving now equals "nailing it."

He should have titled it "My Epic Response." /sarc

[narciso.]

Today was USA today's hit take, attack the Guam Catholic church.

[Clarice Feldman]

No wonder members of Mueller's team took out private liability insurance.

One other thing about the DNC leak story, Don Surber reminds us that right afterward a number of DNC staffers were fired.

[narciso.]

This is not fusion and orbis first rodeo since 2010

[Threadkiller]

It is probably as simple as Trump hired a Russian spy to infiltrate the DNC. The spy leaked info and tried to pin it on poor Bernie Sanders.

[cboldt]

It's public pushback, for sure. Watching to see what sort of impact it will have on the narrative, which has run approximately unopposed for months. The arguments don't have to be made now to be useful to defend a criminal charge, so making them now has another purpose.

Picture a 1983 action against Mueller.

[narciso.]

re to the party, Mr dowdy have a beer, if the raid happened on the 26th, why was this their chisholmian interlude?

[Appalled]

Miss M:

Appalled will be upset,

Actually, you misjudge. I don't want 3.5 more years of this nonsense, and the best way we don't is for Trump to keep doubling down on foolishness. so that his numbers keep tanking, so that the GOP decides it can impeach him without unleashing the furies upon them. (I assume every Dem, if asked, will vote to impeach)

The risk is, of course, that Trump's followers are so devoted that they will primary the current GOP out of existence. That's the current calculation of the establishment, at the moment.

[cboldt]

Narcisco - the point of public response NOW is a reaction to public disclosure YESTERDAY. The legal argument in public is for public consumption. If the case ever makes it to court, the same argument might be presented for legal effect.

If the raid had never made it to the press, Dowd would never have remarked. It's also possible Dowd learned of the raid when we did, from the press. He's not Manafort's lawyer.

[narciso.]

You have a bizarre sense of proportion, appalled, your hero Obama covered up the miniaturized warheads for four years, fired the person who was in charge of the agency, btw was harsher on James risen who who tracked like Dr. Richard kimball.

[Rocco]

Wilson himself told the SSCI that he was told by a former Prime Minister that an Iraqi delegation approached him in 1999 seeking to buy yellowcake. It's on PDF page 43 in the link right above cboldt's in the sidebar if anyone should care to look. So the infamous 16 words that "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," was never a lie.

Hi Frau!

[Threadkiller]

Crap throwaway lines: this nonsense and doubling down on foolishness. But I will play along.

People are also tired of Congressional nonsense and their doubling down on foolishness. Are their followers more devoted than Trump's.

[sbw]

Trump's followers

That is a silly media representation. People follow Trump more because what he says coincides with how they believe the country should be run.

Courage comes from understanding what matters and why. The elites of both parties either forgot that or never learned it.

[Clarice Feldman]

Here's Manafort's lawyer:http://www.americanlawyer.com/id=1202782024647/Manafort-Willing-to-Talk-Hires-Top-Wilmer-Partner

[cboldt]

Congress has an advantage. The general rule is that only globalists are allowed to advance to the finals, so it doesn't matter who wins.

[Rocco]

That's PDF page 53...fat fingers

[Appalled]

TK:

If all the various things around Trump actually end up amounting to something, he is going to need Ryan and McConnell to have his back. Or he will be fired, because there are enough Republicans that will give him the thumbs down. That's what makes this attack from the golf course "foolishness".

YMMV. You have wanted an indiscriminate pit bull in this role for years.

[Threadkiller]

..attack from the golf course..

You are going mad, Appalled.

[Clarice Feldman]

Here's cboldt's reference:
42 U.S. Code § 1983 - Civil action for deprivation of rights

Current through Pub. L. 114-38. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)
US Code
Notes
prev | next
Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.
(R.S. § 1979; Pub. L. 96–170, § 1, Dec. 29, 1979, 93 Stat. 1284; Pub. L. 104–317, title III, § 309(c), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3853.)

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

SO, from what I am reading, Appalled is all for Trump being impeached.

Good to know.

[cboldt]

For a ROTFL ala Appalled's POV, see Jennifer Rubin at her most genius, "Trump couldn’t have picked a dumber fight."

Mitch could assemble a couple of Select (special deluxe) Senate Witch Hunt Committees, and Trump would be toast. Burnt toast.

[sbw]

Appalled is all for Trump being impeached

. . . and for all that would follow.

[Jane (Stand against the Coup)]

If the DNC knew the info was leaked (firing staffers) they should be forced to pay back every penny on the Russia investigation.

[cboldt]

There is no remedy for lying to the public, so the DNC and Congress are totally off the hook for taking the country on a baseless hysterical jaunt. If history is any guide, there is no moral or electoral fallout for this sort of misadventure either.

[Appalled]

Miss Marple:

Yes. Impeachment is a political process, when it comes down to it, and I would want it fought on those grounds, not some bogus Russia thing. I rarely get what i want in politics though.

sbw:

It will follow in 2021, only worse. Pence would at least have a chance of setting a less, um, dramatic, course.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Going around on Twitter et al, I think there is an alternate theory which is also enraging me, but I am not posting it here.

It's very interesting that Appalled showed up the last couple of days.

[lyle]

they will primary the current GOP out of existence

If only.

[Frau Schuldig]

"Sekulow and his staff"

Clarice, I hope they have been to the firing range regularly and their aim is perfect.

Appalled - what's in the water cooler over at Patterico's? I'm surprised and puzzled at your incessant impeachment talk. Next you'll ask us to raise our hand if we want to vote the elected president off the island.

Lost an election? Suck it up.

[Clarice Feldman]

Bivens case:An action for damages may be brought against federal agents acting under the color of their authority but acting unconstitutionally. The judgment is reversed. “The Fourth Amendment [of the United States Constitution] provides that: ‘[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated . . . ."” Therefore, those who have their rights violated under the Fourth Amendment by a federal agent require protection under the Constitution. The Court has consistently ruled that “where federally protected rights have been invaded, it has been the rule from the beginning that courts will be alert to adjust their remedies so as to grant the necessary relief.” The Fourth Amendment, however, does not provide any monetary damages for injuries suffered as a result of a federal agent acting unconstitutionally. However, when there is a general right to sue under a federal statut
e, a court “may use any available remedy to make good the wrong done.” Petitioner is entitled to a cause of action and to recover monetary damages. The court of appeals is reversed and remanded.

[Threadkiller]

setting a less, um, dramatic, course.

Yes. We want to see a world where you, Patterico, Kristol, and Goldberg aren't pissing themselves over Fake Drama.

[Threadkiller]

...yourselves...

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/08/10/u-s-producer-prices-dropped-unexpectedly-in-july/#more-136991

Interesting discussion on the lack of inflation.

I am still steamed from discovering several years ago that food and fuel were not included in the consumer price index. I recognized that was a big scam, but I just thought it was for good publicity.

Sundance has a more complete explanation, along with a chart.

[Captain Hate]

I must intercede on behalf of my friend, Appalled; he once irritated me so much I strenuously urged him to kill himself, but being compared to Jennifer Rubin is a step too far.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Well, let's hear the dems talk about our friends on the southern border again:

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/08/10/blackmail-mexican-econ-minister-threatens-to-flood-u-s-with-illegals-if-we-dont-give-them-a-good-nafta-deal/

[Jim Eagle]

Me?

Mueller comes up with a nothingburger but still finds a way to claim a Trump family scalp I am prepared to strap him and his Hillary donor crowd to either a "Shrew's Fiddle" or a "Spanish Donkey". You can google them if you prefer but riding that Donkey is no pleasure.

[Appalled]

Having just looked at that Rubin piece, Captain, I appreciate the support. *Yikes*

[Threadkiller]

The entirety of the Rubin column looks like Appalled's sort of baseless, emotional tripe.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Apparently President Trump just had an impromptu press conference at Bedminister and will answer some more questions after the second part of his national security meeting.

When I find video I will post it.

[Jim Eagle]

Appalled and Kristol as well as McMuffin have shattered sensibilities by Trump's behavior but have no problem cashing in their capital gains under him. Just exactly what has Trump and his administration done so far you don't agree with, Appalled?

Feeling that your "Gentleman's Guide to Polite Discourse" has been violated, doesn't count.

[Threadkiller]

Documents provided to WBTV by the York County Sheriff’s Office in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show investigators discovered that one female deputy had sex with five different male deputies at various times while on duty.

http://www.wistv.com/story/36100159/six-york-county-sheriffs-deputies-disciplined-for-having-sex-on-duty

#Diversity

[joan]

Our daughter is a manager at a large university in Tulsa and the director (for emergency operations) sent out an advisory for heavy rain, thundershowers, and flooding the next few days, and I was pleased to see the quote with his signature:

Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid
-Ronald Reagan

[cboldt]

Hahahah ... the sex scandal reporter opens with "facing stiff discipline." Probably a spanking or two, too; in a tu-tu.

[Frau Schuldig]

In 1932, it took MacArthur, Eisenhower and Patton with troops to clear the camping 10,000 to 20,000 protesters from DC.

Who would lead any active military today in removing citizens?

[Frau Steingehirn]

TK - any redacted talking points?