mila kunis posted:

these people are so close to reaching sentience

quote:

Maddow isn't really doing any harm. But she's not really doing any good either. That puts her in the top percentile of cable news personalities. 

Condiv posted:

when they say "nothing matters posters" they mean "nothing (we care about) matters posters"

quote:

I apologize - when I say "nothing matters" in this context I mean "nothing (about the report) matters" and/or "nothing (the report mentions will) matter (because of the administration)", I should've made that more clear.

R. Guyovich posted:

i had to stifle a cackle at work when i read this one

https://twitter.com/NYYankeesGirl22/status/1109921855970910208

BexGu posted:

So now that Mueller the false prophet has been cast down what is the new savior figure going to be? Still keep pushing the mysticism of the Mueller report? Grasp at even increasing breadcrumbs or various one sentence passages in the full report? Worship the "what if" in the classified marked out sections?

Or really just all of the above as people start hitting pizzagate levels of crazy.

Lord of Pie posted:

are the krassenbros on suicide watch or what

Percelus posted:

in that she is to blame for all the deaths in libya post us intervention on some level, sure

Dumb Lowtax posted:

You all have never been more wrong. I present footage right here showing that our MUELLER has already arrested TONALD PLUMP (DUMP)

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

Dumb Lowtax posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7Uy0Uznw4E

is pepsi ok posted:

The #resistance has found a new hero.

https://twitter.com/Cottonmouth_Ali/status/1111314718277296128

https://twitter.com/baldhead007/status/1111281312176824322

I wonder how quickly I could throw a children's book together

Slutitution posted:

Thanks Lightning Knight for being fascism’s bitch once again. I’ll try to avoid receiving week probations for posting common sense conclusions in relation to this obvious fraud of a story since day one, or for mocking loving idiots like BrandorKP and Volkerball. Clearly that is the bigger problem here.

Anyway, FBI Mueller’s Conclusion that he found nothing further illustrates RussiaGate was always an intelligence operation (terrorist attack) designed by the CIA (which is a right-wing fascist terrorist organization for the politically illiterate ITT) to intimidate/blackmail the establishment into pulling Trump to the right by either avoiding discussion of or benefiting:

-It got Trump to get more aggressive than the Obama admin on Syria/Ukraine largely ignored

-It created the fear that Russia was a unique, existential threat to the U.S., which justified new dramatically increased bipartisan (and) defense spending under Trump.

-Trump has completely escalated all of the Bush/Obama wars in the middle east largely ignored

-It allowed the neoliberal Democrat Party (the future investment of the CIA) and billionaire class to avoid owning up to why they lost to an openly racist and misogynist game show host

-It dramatically increased xenophobia in this country in an era of already thriving racist and anti-immigrant sentiment, which again, fuels right-wing fascist policies

-Trump has allowed big oil to drill here a lot more largely ignored
-Strongly dividing the American “left” on yet another issue.

-Turned a sizable portion of the “left” against Wkileaks, which is literally the last media organization with a check on state and monopoly power. (What is happening to Chelsea Manning and Assange is sending a message to whistleblowers. And yes, the CIA openly doesn’t give a gently caress about destroying someone who was pardoned by a President).

-It resulted in bipartisan support for censorship laws, especially on the internet.

-It legitimized the nationalist, bureaucratic fascism of the CIA over the more strongman, isolationist, and overt white nationalist variety embodied by Donald Trump solely because the latter makes America a harder sell on the global capitalist market.


This was a flawless execution (and ongoing*) designed to benefit literally every aspect of the establishment meaning the primacy of capital and you still have supposedly left-wing people on this forum who are still doubling down on believing a deliberate conspiracy theory. And to the shocking abundance of my friends here on this forum, voters, celebrities, and politicians, Congratulations, because you just solidified the “legitimacy” of right-wing fascist attacks on the media forever. The Overton Window doesn’t even apply anymore. It’s open fascism.

*This was also to serve as a reminder/message to neoliberal (again, there are differences, but neoliberalism is non nationalist fascism at its core for the politically illiterate here) silicon valley tech oligarchs, primarily Jeff Bezos that listen, we control the narrative here, and you never will, even as we make you develop our ubiquitous, state-of-the-art surveillance and military technology. Are you honest to god telling me the world’s richest man and CEO of a loving tech monopoly is dumb enough to send nude pics through goddamn iMessage? The fact they made him blame a loving bogus rag connected to Trump (who they also despise) kind of spells it out. And don't worry RussiaGate truthers, the CIA will continue to weaponize your bloodthirsty ignorance as illustrated by Adam Schiff doubling down. Trump now directly going after this CIA mascot puppet here is definitely going to make things more interesting and worse for literally everything about this country.

Just a reminder kids, Fascism is the conclusion of late capitalism where the state is completely subservient to nothing but the the interests of capital. The CIA is right-wing Fascist because they are also nationalist. Neoliberalism will always get crushed by right-wing fascism in a fight because the fundamental core of neoliberalism is the state protecting capital, which is also a fundamental core of fascism, except fascism always deceitfully uses left-wing language (anti-individualism, the nation/country above all else, one people, etc) to promote itself. This is why a starving population will choose fascism over the hedonistic nihilism and rugged individualism of neoliberalism every single time.

Fascist states and ideologies also feed off each other. It’s why the Trump Administration is moving America away from neoliberal states like the EU and closer to other Fascist states like Saudi Arabia and North Korea while pretending to hate them because fascism thrives on conflict like nothing else. Trump’s newfound connections and friendship with MbS of Saudi Arabia alone all but ensures he will never go down for any crimes.

Anyone with an undergrad reading level of Chomsky understands all of this. Anyone who knows anything about the established historical fact of CIA disinformation campaigns/regime change since the 40s, or fascism’s historical fetishization of technology, especially media technology (i.e. TV, radio, and more recently, the internet and digitized surveillance) understands this. Anyone who understands power dynamics in relation to capital understands this.



My personal speculation is that neoliberal and right-wing fascist forces have both realized an alarmingly disturbing resurgence of their mutual mortal enemy, the populist liberal-left, rapidly gaining massive popularity within the Democrat Party’s base with AOC (why do you think ghoulish foot-soldiers of fascism like Ben Shapiro are so erratically obsessed with her?) and Bernie Sanders, and they’re preparing to come together under Trump (yes that’s right) if Bernie somehow gets overwhelmingly popular support enough to deserve the nomination undeniably. It makes sense to have a bipartisan insurance policy here against the one ideology (the populist liberal left) that can still annihilate both of them starting right before campaign season. This whole thing also proved to the CIA how easily liberals and even a lot of leftists can be conned into becoming bloodthirsty neocons overnight by doing exactly what they’re falsely blaming Russia of doing. RussiaGate’s entire premise had the same purpose and function that the Reichstag Fire did, which of course was orchestrated by the Nazis and then falsely blamed on the Left/Communists. It's served the same function the Iraqi WMD lie served, too

The CIA/MIC will forever hate Trump because they were loving humiliated by Trump’s victory on the world-stage. Imagine enjoying worldwide political hegemony for the last 70 years uncontested until it was interrupted by a narcissistic game show host who ultimately proved to be more effective and predatory than they were for a brief period of time at propaganda. It's almost as humiliating as it is ideologically unacceptable.

Oh I’m sorry, did you say your vote mattered? Vote for Bernie anyway you idiots

quote:

Like collusion, “coordination” does not have a settled definition in federal criminal law. We understood coordination to require an agreement—tacit or express—between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference. That requires more than the two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other’s actions or interests.

quote:

The Office investigated several other events that have been publicly reported to involve potential Russia-related contacts. For example, the investigation established that interactions between Russian Ambassador Kislyak and Trump Campaign officials both at the candidate’s April 2016 foreign policy speech in Washington, D.C., and during the week of the Republican National Convention were brief, public, and non-substantive. And the investigation did not establish that one Campaign official’s efforts to dilute a portion of the Republican Party platform on providing assistance to Ukraine were undertaken at the behest of candidate Trump or Russia.

quote:

While the investigation identified numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign, the evidence was not sufficient to support criminal charges. Among other things, the evidence was not sufficient to charge any Campaign official as an unregistered agent of the Russian government or other Russian principal. And our evidence about the June 9, 2016 meeting and WikiLeak’s release of hacked materials was not sufficient to charge a criminal campaign-finance violation.

quote:

Papadopoulos suggested to a representative of a foreign government that the Trump Campaign had received indications from the Russian government that it could assist the Trump campaign through the anonymous release of information that would be damaging to Hillary Clinton.

quote:

Comey’s briefing included the Steele reporting’s unverified allegation that the Russians had compromising tapes of the President involving conduct when he was a private citizen during a 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe Pageant. During the 2016 presidential campaign, a similar claim may have reached candidate Trump. On October 30, 2016, Michael Cohen received a text from Russian businessman Giorgi Rtskhiladze that said, “Stopped flow of tapes from Russia but not sure if there’s anything else. Just so you know ....” 10/30/16 Text Message, Rtskhiladze to Cohen. Rtskhiladze said “tapes” referred to compromising tapes of Trump rumored to be held by persons associated with the Russian real estate conglomerate Crocus Group, which had helped host the 2013 Miss Universe contest in Russia... Rtskhiladze said he was told the tapes were fake, but he did not communicate that to Cohen.

quote:

Vol. II, Page 182: If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.

Dumb Lowtax posted:

A Republican Cop posted:

Vol. I, Page 9: While the investigation identified numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign, the evidence was not sufficient to support criminal charges. Among other things, the evidence was not sufficient to charge any Campaign official as an unregistered agent of the Russian government or other Russian principal. And our evidence about the June 9, 2016 meeting and WikiLeak’s release of hacked materials was not sufficient to charge a criminal campaign-finance violation.

comedyblissoption posted:

a 451 tweet meltdown on the mueller report
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1119099907585892352

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

media is pretending the report vindicates them to erase the stain of their embarrassment for pumping up a conspiracy theory for two years, and they moved the goal posts so much the libs are eating it up lol

Gazpacho posted:

Who’s gonna be the scapegoat, there is always a scapegoat

quote:

WASHINGTON — The Outrage, a clothing storein the capital that has branded itself a hub of the resistance to President Trump, is a place where people have often gathered to shed tears over the latest news cycle, or to buy $32 T-shirts emblazoned with expletive-laced messages calling for the president’s impeachment.

But on Thursday, moments after the release of the special counsel’s full — if not plentifully redacted — report detailing Russian interferencein the 2016 election, the outrage seemed to have momentarily left the building.

“No tears today,” Rebecca Lee Funk, the store’s founder, said of the 100 or so people who had passed through to peruse the merchandise, including $26 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg-themed water bottles and activism-oriented children’s books, early Thursday afternoon. “A lot of people came to terms a month ago that this was not the report that’s going to end this administration.”
...
“I’m just, like, so overwhelmed with this never-ending party that we have going on,” Ms. Adamiak said. “I’m starting to shut it out because it makes me angrier and angrier the more that I read.”

A similar mood was felt at Eaton, which is known around town as the anti-Trump hotel for drawing progressive visitors to a place with an in-house podcast recording studio and gender-neutral group bathrooms.

“I was expecting our president to be walked away in handcuffs,” Scott Wright, 46, of Atlanta, said as he was waiting for his Uber after checking out.

Percelus posted:

do you think any dem hopeful will accuse bernie of being a useful idiot to russia on the debate stage because that would loving own

quote:

"The American people now realize more fully the crimes that were committed against our constitution," Pelosi said about Mueller's testimony on her way into the press conference. Speaking at the conference, she reiterated: "It is a crossing of a threshold in terms of the public awareness of what happened."
...
"My position has always been, whatever decision we made in that regard would have to be with our strongest possible hand, and we still have some matters outstanding in the courts," Pelosi said, arguing that Democrats needed more information before considering impeachment. "Watergate was when the got the information in the tapes that broke the case."

"If we go down that path, we go in the strongest possible way," Pelosi said. 

quote:

So Mueller Time has arrived, and here are the big five takeaways that I saw:

1. No, real life isn’t the movies, and there was no staggeringly emotional moment that will transfix the country and create an immediate groundswell for impeachment. And Robert Mueller was—well, see point 2. But even so, plenty was put on the record, on video, from the man (a Republican) who led the investigation:

•Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

•It clearly did so to help Donald Trump.

•The Trump campaign welcomed that help.

•Some of its officials lied about welcoming that help.

•The president obstructed the investigation.

•If he weren’t the president, he’d probably have been indicted.

quote:

2. All that said, Mueller was for the most part extremely frustrating. We all understand about ongoing investigations, but honestly. This is by far the most important question before this nation. This is the public’s one shot to learn these things. And all day it was: Won’t speak to that. Can’t say that. Wouldn’t accept that description. Outside my purview. Can’t get into our deliberations. I can’t answer that question. And I refer you to the report, I refer you to the report, I refer you to the report.

Come on, man. No, it’s not his job to say Donald Trump belongs in jail. But the American people, aside from having paid for this investigation, are entitled to certain information that can allow them to make reasonable, democratic judgments about this situation. There are things about his charging decisions and certain aspects of how he conducted the investigation that the people have a clear right to know. I noted exactly one time that he didn’t hide behind “read the report,” about Trump egging on Wikileaks. And that was it. I know, war hero, great public servant. He’s a more honorable man than I’ll ever be. Still, there were long stretches where Mueller’s posture was basically “republic collapsing? Hey, not my problem!”

quote:

3. The Republicans got plenty of their own fodder out of this to feed the right-wing alternate facts narrative. If you can bear it, watch the first 15 minutes of Sean Hannity tonight. He’ll pick up the stray pieces and try to form them into a story. 

I thought some of the Republicans during the morning session especially were, though in a different galaxy, effective at advancing their conspiracy. Ranking member Doug Collins did seem to clearly catch Mueller contradicting himself on whether collusion and conspiracy were the same thing. John Ratcliffe’s riff about “exoneration” not being a real thing actually seemed like it might well be true. Jim Jordan asking him why he didn’t indict George Papadopoulos probably looked effective to a blank-slate observer.

quote:

5. Our system of government as it now exists is just not equipped to handle someone who lies with blasé alacrity. The media are too interested in gotcha moments, and several of the representatives were likewise mostly trying to get that viral-video moment. 

But more than that, this is not anybody’s idea of how justice ought to be pursued. Under the Constitution, the branches of government are supposed to take their duties seriously. Members of Congress—of whatever party—are supposed to defend their branch, and our system, against executive abuse. This actually happened in 1974. But now, one of our two parties has no interest in that.

gradenko_2000 posted:

I mean, we were already accusing Soviets of brainwashing and "remote viewing", so unless you're saying that even the Red Terror-era accusations of Russian superpowers was also derived from anti-semitism I think we're just picking up from where we left off with Red Alert 2.

gradenko_2000 posted:

https://twitter.com/page88/status/1156768976669761536

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

Condiv posted:

uglycat is asking if there's a connection between veterans for peace and gru...

is this guy actually an anarchist?

Dumb Lowtax posted:

glowing-fish is still being glowing-fish



Russiagate preys upon the mentally ill

comedyblissoption posted:

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1157031929478373381

quote:

A significant portion of the original conspiracy theory vanished via a series of under-circulated news reports just in the months since the end of the Mueller probe. Remember the Southern District of New York campaign finance probe that arose in connection with Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, the one described as a “major danger” to Trump? Remember all that talk about how “Trump can’t run the Mueller playbook on the New York feds?” Experts told us that the Cohen probe posed a “significant threat” of new indictments for Trump and his family.

When that investigation closed with no new charges the same week Mueller testified, the commentariat barely noticed. Same with the Democrats v. Earth lawsuit/publicity stunt, in which the Democratic National Committee sued Trump, the Russian government, and Wikileaks under a RICO claim.

Vomik posted:

I knocked wolf blitzer over on an Amtrak once. my greatest moment