Can't Fight The Establishment

The final Senate report on Russian Collusion does not help Trump. With time I'd try to figure whether this is mostly serious or mostly a lifeline by Mitch to endangered swing-state Republicans.

Senate Intelligence Committee Releases Final Report From Russia Investigation

Committee made DOJ referrals about some witnesses it says may have misled Congress; Manafort was ‘grave counterintelligence threat’

By: Dustin Volz and Warren P. Strobel

WASHINGTON—Members of the 2016 Trump campaign represented a major counterintelligence risk to the U.S. due to their frequent contacts with individuals with close ties to the Russian government, a bipartisan Senate investigation has concluded, though it found no evidence of direct collusion between the campaign and Moscow.

The Senate Intelligence Committee released the fifth and final volume of its Russia investigation Tuesday. The report is nearly 1,000 pages and largely supports some of the key findings made by former special counsel Robert Mueller.

Among other findings, the committee wrote that Russia took advantage of the inexperience in government of members of President Trump’s transition team and its opposition to Obama administration policies, as well as Mr. Trump’s desire to strengthen ties with Russia, “to pursue unofficial channels through which Russia could conduct diplomacy.”

“The lack of vetting of foreign interactions by Transition officials left the Transition open to influence and manipulation by foreign intelligence services, government leaders, and co-opted business executives,” the report said.

A substantial portion of the report focuses on the connections of one-time Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort with Konstantin Kilimnik, whom the report describes as a Russian intelligence officer, and Russia-aligned oligarchs in Ukraine. Mr. Manafort’s high-level campaign access and willingness to share information with Mr. Kilimnik and others “represented a grave counterintelligence threat,” the report concluded.

Mr. Manafort was sentenced to more than seven years in prison due to tax and bank fraud as part of a prosecution that spun off from the Mueller probe. He was released from a federal prison due to coronavirus concerns. Mr. Manafort couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The report’s bipartisan conclusions don’t cleanly bolster President Trump’s argument that Russian interference in the election was an exaggeration or hoax, nor the belief among some Democrats that it was an orchestrated conspiracy between Mr. Trump and Russia.

Well, Manafort was fired pretty quickly.

I should find a bootleg link eventually.

Comments

[Narciso]

Did they not get the memo

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/opinion/white-house/447394-key-figure-that-mueller-report-linked-to-russia-was-a-state-department%3famp

[danoso]

Funny I didn't see the name Carter Page there, maybe it's behind the paywall. And Manafort was pretty late in the game, well after Obama starting spying on Trump. But whatever ...

[henry]

Deep State, lying to the end. (Our end if Biden wins, their end if Trump wins).

[Narciso]

Warren strobel is one of the reasons i stopped reading mcclatchy james marsden played him in that terrible rob reiner bomb.

[Narciso]

Are we back to this again

https://mobile.twitter.com/Hmmm57474203/status/1295719390864977924

[henry]

Oracle bids for TikTok. I guess Larry needs Chinese revenue, so he’s fronting for CCP.

https://twitter.com/cnbc/status/1295747445650071552?s=21

[Narciso]

So they dont have the info worked for a whole christmas tree of intelligence agencies

[Narciso]

Mifsud worked for, that crowdstrike was hot garbage,

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

My response to TM:

If you think a Biden win wouldn't embolden the progressives like AOC, you haven't been paying attention to the congressional races where the AOC backed candidates are cleaning up. They will move further left - fast.

[Dave (in MA)]

A "report" from an "investigation" about the "key findings" of a "probe" in which the titular person doesn't even recognize the name of the organization behind the hoax.

[Extraneus]

Are there any centrist Dems?

Apparently TM, for one.

[Old Lurker]

Steph, this was my willowed response:

TM "Biden surely remembers Gingrich '94 and Boehner '10."

Is TM sure Biden remembers what he had for dinner last night?

Or is he banking on the notion that when the short term memory goes bye-bye, for a short time some patients retain some long term memory for awhile longer?

Otherwise, the fantasy that there even exist "Centrist Dems" is an equally sick joke. There are more Unicorns.

BLM will have occupied all the houses in Darien before any of that happens.

I think the NYT must be printed with LSD laced ink.

[peter]

Dave in Ma, the guy singing along with dinosaur Stephen Stills was Billy Porter, an actor with intersectional qualities IYKWIM

[Neo]

Volume 5:
(U) While this Volume did not find evidence of collusion between President Trump and the Russians, it does detail a stunning accounting of the FBl's sloppy work and poor judgment. In 2016, the Democratic Party, using a series of arm's length transactions, hired a foreign citizen to seek out dirt on a political opponent, provided by foreign sources. This Volume confirms that Christopher Steele used information gained from sources in Russia-some with direct ties to the Russian Government. That unverified, uncorroborated, foreign information was then actively circulated with the press to disparage a U.S. political candidate.
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/publications/report-select-committee-intelligence-united-states-senate-russian-active-measures

[rich]

i am bewildered by this logic. they are not only beating a dead horse, they are beating a pallet of glue bottles.

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
46m
People forget how divided our Country was under ObamaBiden. The anger and hatred were unbelievable. They shouldn’t be lecturing to us. I’m here, as your President, because of them!

[Narciso]

Oleander which apparently was the hallucinogen behind the delphic oracle.

[Narciso]

Not on crazy pills

https://mobile.twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1295746031691403264

[rich]

and one of those sources was a brookings scribbler, in fairfax va, with a drinking problem. pretty sure he had "close contacts" with moscow and putin's inner circle.

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
13h
A proposal by Pentagon officials to slash Military Healthcare by $2.2 billion dollars has been firmly and totally rejected by me. We will do nothing to hurt our great Military professionals & heroes as long as I am your President. Thank you!

[Porchlight]

From the last thread, GUS:

I kind of guessed it had to be an old irrelevant drug abusing post modern HIPPY. He sucks.

Well he wrote the song they were playing, so there is some relevance I guess.

I think it was supposed to be some kind of bridge between the Biden generation and the current BLM peeps. Instead it turned out to be the greatest comedy act of the year.

[Extraneus]

The only centrists who can survive in the current Democratic party are former Republicans, aka Never Trumpers.

[Narciso]

His former employer cenk (but of course) sidar disowned him, our man in havana ran two hundred pages and was more entertaining,

[MissMarple2]

The tweet I posted at 12:17 was apparently originally posted yesterday, and he just retweeted it. I missed it yesterday.

[Porchlight]

Oleander which apparently was the hallucinogen behind the delphic oracle.

"Soon they're gonna be in bloom up in Annandale..."

Three leaves of oleander can kill a full-grown cow. That's a dangerous hallucinogen.

[Porchlight]

The only centrists who can survive in the current Democratic party are former Republicans, aka Never Trumpers.

But they're not really centrists. Functionally, they are enablers of the Left. Even cheerleaders, at times.

[Jack Lillywhite]

Getting a Wal gully-washer, and the flag is still. No wind.

So it will stay a while.

I wonder if Big Mike is still ‘proud’ of America?

[JimNorCal]

OLs willowed post, now at 12:07

Yes, it is puzzling to us but there is a cohort of centrists who
1) don't give the Obama spying on Trump any importance
2) don't accept that the entire MSM has placed an embargo over any potential good news for Trump and traditional Americans
3) have stopped searching for other sources of info that might discredit the conventional wisdom
4) believe that 4 years of unremitting lies will do the job and that Prog-Dems, other-Dems, low info voters and the centrist cohort will take the Senate and hold the House at a minimum. And likely will take down Trump as well.

If any of this comes true, by the time that the centrist cohort realizes things are not going well, it will be too late. The Trump coalition will no longer be available to help them recover their freedom. They will live in chains.

[Porchlight]

This is Billy Porter, the black "guy" from the video:

https://twitter.com/KairoCast1/status/1295564896000774151

LOL

I wish I knew how to capture and post the gif directly.

[Porchlight]

Thanks JimSunnyvale.

Those people are really dumb IMO. Fortunately, there is nowhere near the enthusiasm for Biden the fake centrist than there was for Obama the fake centrist. Not even sure there's as much as for Hillary the fake centrist.

[Old Lurker]

JimSV "by the time that the centrist cohort realizes things are not going well, it will be too late."

Precisely the point of my Darien quip.

[Melinda]

I know mine is going to held up forever. Right in the box the stationery comes in:

Grabien
@GrabienMedia
VIDEO - Joy Reid Says People Are Not Getting Her Thank-You Notes on the Launch of Her Show Because Trump’s Slowing the Mail @JoyAnnReid grabien.com/story.php?id=3…

https://twitter.com/GrabienMedia/status/1295760760275075080

[JimNorCal]

Styxenhammer opines that the Susan B Anthony pardon makes sense, is significant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HripAyIpgxs

[Extraneus]

Functionally, they are enablers of the Left. Even cheerleaders, at times.

Yes. Tokens. Not one has any power in their new chosen party, nor would they ever be allowed to. Someone called them Vichy Republicans, which sounds about right to me.

Could Jeff Flake run a successful campaign as a Democrat? Justin Amash? Kasich? Nope. But some of them get the high honor to speak at the DNC clown show. Their Moms must be so proud.

[Dave (in MA)]

Dave in Ma, the guy singing along with dinosaur Stephen Stills was Billy Porter, an actor with intersectional qualities IYKWIM

Well, between that, and TM's Twitter feed, now I'm convinced that Biden's the man for me.

[Narciso]

Heck the wiccan lesbian is doing a better job than flake, once upon a time mccloskey and panetta were welcomed now.

[Extraneus]

Here, Porch.

(Click to open.)

[Extraneus]

(Click to open.)

[Extraneus]

(Click to open.)

[Narciso]

Catch the twist at the end:

https://mobile.twitter.com/GrahamNeary/status/1294645097020231682

[lyle]

Stop it.

[Extraneus]

Just one more lyle, from the 2019 Oscars.

(Click to open.)

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Gack. I miss when the freak show at the county fair was INSIDE A TENT and not on the Midway for all to see.

Hell, even the ping pong ball stripper had the modesty to do her thing inside the tent and not in a bathtub before interviewing a presidential candidate for the world to see.

Although, it would have been funny as hell to see the PP ball stripper accidentally shoot out a ball with Trump on it instead of Biden.

[lyle]

Well, alright then. This seems topical:

http://americanthinker.com/articles/2020/08/obama_i_make_love_to_men_daily.html

Obama: 'I Make Love to Men Daily' 😉

[JimNorCal]

Steven Stills when he was on the side of Duh People against The Elites, whereas now he is the opposite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5JCrSXkJY

[GUS]

Porch. The song has been irrelevant since 1966.

[MissMarple2]

Scavino strikes again! Video at the link.

pic.twitter.com/94N5QUgyEy

— Dan Scavino (@DanScavino) August 18, 2020

[Comanche Voter]

The fact that the poobahs who ran the Democrat KlanKlave in Milwaukee last night chose to sign off with Steven Stills 1966 "For What It's Worth" signals just one thing. The Democrats are fully on board with the rioting, looting and destruction in our cities.

Stills wrote that song as an anthem to the 1966 counterculture protests on Sunset Strip. Are these clowns aware of that? They might as well have signed off with the Internationale.

[rse]

May dad passed away peacefully about 3 this morning with mom and my siblings both there. I stayed away in part to make a stretch of rules more possible as I did not need the visual to come to terms with what was happening.

Just got the obit done and it should be in tomorrow's Marietta paper and then ATL on Thursday. I went a route to capture who he was.

Mom could not be talked out of having funeral at her church so I told her hubby would just meet us a cemetery since he is in high-risk group. Already heard something similar from a number of cousins.

Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts. Mom still has not gone to bed which I am worried about.

[henry]

Comanche, they have three more nights to buildup to the Internationale.

[henry]

Condolences, rse

[GUS]

RSE. God bless your Father and God Bless you. You are quite strong, and I hope you have support at this hour.
Again, God Bless you and your Father.

[Momto2]

rse - I'm so sorry for your loss! I understand that mixture of sadness and relief so well. Please post a link to your dad's obit if you can. I'm sure you did an excellent job. {{{{{hugs}}}}}}

[peter]

Porchlight's been en fuego, now Stephanie.

I liked the Muppets' version of "For What It's Worth."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Oq0aB0LQw

[MissMarple2]

My sympathies for you and your entire family, rse. You have been a rock for them.

Maybe you can get your mother to just lie down to rest. If she gets even half-way comfortable, maybe she will doze off for a few hours.

[GUS]

Comanche. This has been called THE NEW SUMMER of LOVE!!!
Stephen Stills is worth $30,000,000.00. He's down with the SSSSSHHHCTRUGGLE. h/t Big Mike.

LEGS UP!!!!!!

[peter]

rse, your family is again in my prayers.

[James D.]

I'm so sorry, rse. My prayers to you and your family.

[Another Bob]

"Susan B Anthony pardon makes sense, is significant"

Complete nonsense.

[James D.]

The fact that the poobahs who ran the Democrat KlanKlave in Milwaukee last night chose to sign off with Steven Stills 1966 "For What It's Worth" signals just one thing. The Democrats are fully on board with the rioting, looting and destruction in our cities.

This is why I am so frustrated with the nevertrumpers. Because they are allowing their dislike of Trump's style and "ickyness" to lead them to support people who will cheer when the mob burns their houses down, and drags them or their kids out of their cars and beats the crap out of them.

I will never understand it. I mean, how willfully blind can a person be?

[peter]

Buffalo Springfield, the band that aged well.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

A Biden conservative is like a woman who is a little bit pregnant.

And how or more importantly why would anyone wish to build a bridge to people who say they want to abolish the police, endorse openly Marxist movements and violence, believe in the most bizarre fables and lies about the past and describe us as hateful, irredeemable bigots?
Building a bridge to those kind of people is like letting down the drawbridge when the barbarian hordes come knocking.

There is something here that isn't discussed much. In my experiences with someone like my brother there is a psychological component to the nevertrumpers at work. Most fancy themselves eminently reasonable and flexible; nuanced, supple thinkers. But what that often means is they're people pleasers and 'soy boys' to use the current lingo.
The disordered [ideologues] have powerful ways of manipulating such people. Create a bogeyman [Trump] and declare not only him but anyone who supports him outside the club, the group or the in crowd. When the disordered hold the institutions and the culture in their grip, the club is 'decent' society. And so the people pleaser always seeks to placate and align himself with the squeakiest wheel because calm and reasonableness and lack of conflict and disapproval is what they value above all. That's a relatively harmless proclivity in relatively harmless groups and relatively reasonable times.
It is the height of folly, disastrous, irrational and close to insane in times like these of crisis and the open push for raw, undemocratic power.
People pleasers like Bret Stephens are a tolerable luxury in a land of milk and honey and times of tranquility. They are dangerous dupes when societal pressure demands that a man keep his head when all around him are losing theirs.
It is an intellectual conceit and probably a lack of self awareness that prompts him to present his position as the principled political stance of a reasonable man. In fact it has almost nothing to do with principles or politics and is instead a subconscious psychological reaction to being manipulated into supporting people and ideas he would not normally support because it's safer and easier than sticking up for what he claims to believe in. And so they advance nonsensical, oxymoronic ideas like "Biden conservative" and believe they sound rational and even sage in the approval and social safety they seek.
Safety is the mother of sophistry.

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

So sorry to hear RSE. Let me know if I can do anything.

[jimmyk]

Condolences, rse. Good at least that it was peaceful.

[jimmyk]

Has TM looked at Biden's actual policy positions? This is centrist? Only in warp space nine.

[Dave (in MA)]

💐❤︎ rse

[jimmyk]

Meanwhile, Cuomo continues to have his knee on the neck of NY commerce:

https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-two-additional-states-added-travel-advisory

That's 33 states plus two territories. So there goes tourism, which means the hotels and restaurants. (Most other tourist attractions are shut down anyway, so he's killing the industry on both ends.)

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

You know what I find interesting about the TM tweets this morning? He has a ready audience on JOM to engage and debate, yet chooses to throw in with the twat sphere.

We take note and go over there to engage, and yet...

What's wrong Tom, not sure how your arguments will stand up against your own commenters on your own blog?

[lyle]

Condolences, rse.

[rich]

my deepest condolences to you and your family rse.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Sorry for the loss of your father, RSE, but thankful he is free.
Prayers for your mother.

[Threadkiller]

My condolences as well, rse.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

CAISO President: California Power Grid teetering close to the edge of collapse

[Jim Eagle]

Prayers for rse's family!

How much are we getting in our gully-washer? All 3 of the dog's bowl's are on the upper terrace and are now full of rainwater. That's 31/2 inches so far. Coming off the sea with lots of thunder and lightning.

[clarice]

Condolences to you and your family, rse.

I place the notion of Biden as a centrist--a man who doesn't even know where he is--with the notion that the Duke Lacrosse boys were evil rapists of the loony black stripper.Must be something in the air in Ct.

[MissMarple2]

We have clearing skies now, but had rain all night and into this morning. Judging from my birdbath, we got about an inch and a half/

[Extraneus]

Condolences, Robin.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Early spread of COVID-19 appears far greater than initially reported

[Art in Newport]

Best wishes and regards, rse.

[MissMarple2]

LIVE: President @realDonaldTrump participates in Iowa disaster recovery briefing https://t.co/503L3jzlLX

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 18, 2020

Video at link.

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
24m
The Democrats have to start enforcing Law and Order in their cities and states. New York City, Chicago and Portland are a total DISASTER!

[MissMarple2]

pic.twitter.com/p8ym8S2d5o

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2020

Video at link. Short comment on mailing votes in.

[MissMarple2]

Retweeted by the President, along with the video I posted at 2:02. Kim Reynolds is the Governor of Iowa.

Kim Reynolds
@KimReynoldsIA
·
18m
Thank you for being here President @realDonaldTrump! Appreciate the strong partnership from you and the entire team. #Derecho2020

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

From the more things change department;
HL Mencken;

" The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can’t get and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods."

[Jane]

I VOTED!

And shopped! Got a new tire, a dishwasher and 2 pairs of shoes.

What a day!

[Threadkiller]

Ig, you previously posted a quote that was possible from Mencken that hammered a government that tried to do too much good or something like that. I have drawn a complete blank on any portion of it. Any ideas?

[clarice]

Iggy, Lauren Ancel is a buddy who as a student spent a couple summers as a house guest while interning at NSA and NIH. She's a bright mathematician.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

A few more useful Mencken quotes; the lastbeing particularly cogent for thwe present era;

” Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”

” Sometimes the idiots outvote the sensible people.”

” People do not expect to find chastity in a whorehouse. Why, then, do they expect to find honesty and humanity in government, a congeries of institutions whose modus operandi consists of lying, cheating, stealing, and if need be, murdering those who resist?”

” The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

[clarice]

Good work,Jane. A little retail therapy never hurts.

[Narciso]

Condolescences rse.

[JimNorCal]

Seen at another blog:

"Look who else is speaking at the GOP convention:"
https://www.wlwt.com/article/nick-sandmann-to-speak-at-republican-national-convention/33632975

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Sounds familiar TK but I'm having a hard time remembering well enough to find it via google.

[JimNorCal]

rse: " dad passed away peacefully about 3 this morning with mom and my siblings both there"

As happy an ending as we get on God's Earth.
Very proud of how you've handled things, take time to cry later when the time is right.

[Jane]

"Three leaves of oleander can kill a full-grown cow."

The things I learn!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I've been using Micromush's Edge out of necessity since Firefox remains useless.
Seems as good or better as Firefox. Certainly faster and less prone to jamming up on me. That might only be because it's less encumbered with extensions, etc. IDK, but Firefox after being open too long or having too many open tabs would become unusable until I rebooted.

[Jane]

So sorry RSE. Sounds like he was a champ til the end. Hang tough!

[DrJ]

rse,

Condolences for your loss. You have done a great job bringing him to a peaceful end.

[DrJ]

Iggy,

Firefox after being open too long or having too many open tabs would become unusable until I rebooted.

I saw that in the old days, but have not for quite some time. Is your FF version current? How much memory does your computer have?

[henry]

Just in case you thought last night didn’t suck enough:

DNC organizers tease Tuesday's historic virtual roll-call vote

https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/dnc-organizers-tease-tuesdays-historic-virtual-roll-call-vote

[DrJ]

rse,

Sorry, my wording was awkward. I hope you took it with the intended spirit.