Octopus Overlords

It's hard to exaggerate what a self-own the "secret society" conspiracy alarm turned out to be. Even Senator Johnson, who brought it to prominence, has admitted that it was probably nothing.

Yesterday Fox News (along with every other right-wing outlet) pushed it as hard as they could. I saw mention that Fox & Friends (which is basically Trump's opinion provider) used the phrase *20* times in its morning broadcast.

Today? Nothing. No mention of it. No correction. No attempt to set the record straight.

HOO BOY.

Trump tried to fire Mueller!

Tried and failed. The arguments the story says he tried to use to justify it are...well...they sound about like what he'd say:

First, he claimed that a dispute years ago over fees at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., had prompted Mr. Mueller, the F.B.I. director at the time, to resign his membership. The president also said Mr. Mueller could not be impartial because he had most recently worked for the law firm that previously represented the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Finally, the president said, Mr. Mueller had been interviewed to return as the F.B.I. director the day before he was appointed special counsel in May.

Is there a name for obstructing the investigation into your obstruction?

pr0ner wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 9:31 pm HOO BOY.

Trump tried to fire Mueller!

Ho. Lee. Shit.

Holman wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 10:13 pm Is there a name for obstructing the investigation into your obstruction?

Trumping.

Nothingburger. Witch hunt. Secret society.

Honestly, this makes sense.

It just seemed really out of character for the Drumpf we know to not have already tried to fire Mueller, and to learn it happened within a month of Mueller being appointed squares with Drumpf's character and ignorance.

And think about how many times he's baldly lied about this since then! I'm sure there's a dozen clips of him saying he's never even considered firing Mueller.

Edit: By the way, here's a quote from April Ryan from June 12th, 2017 that might just be of renewed interest now:
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/mass-h ... er-firing/

Donald Trump’s longtime confidant Chris Ruddy—who heads the conservative website Newsmax—told PBS “News Hour” that the president is “weighing perhaps terminating the special counsel” following former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony last week before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“Is there any way he’d actually do it, April?” CNN host Erin Burnett asked Ryan.

Ryan told Burnett she did not know, but offered “insight from within the West Wing right now.”

“One of my sources reached out to me right before went on air and they said there’s mass hysteria in the West Wing about this,” Ryan explained “We don’t know if it’s going to happen or if it won’t happen, but what we do know: if indeed the president does fire Mueller, it shows that he’s impeding the process again.”

Sepiche wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:13 pm Honestly, this makes sense.

It just seemed really out of character for the Drumpf we know to not have already tried to fire Mueller, and to learn it happened within a month of Mueller being appointed squares with Drumpf's character and ignorance.

And think about how many times he's baldly lied about this since then! I'm sure there's a dozen clips of him saying he's never even considered firing Mueller.

link

This is hilarious, watch the video.

https://twitter.com/MEPFuller/status/956729170700259329

Life comes at you fast.

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:45 pm This is hilarious, watch the video.

"Sure the president may have tried to fire Mueller, but -- OH LOOK A CAR CRASH!"

If only there was a train wreck to cut to... that would have hit a poetic level of irony.

Sepiche wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:53 pm

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:45 pm This is hilarious, watch the video.

"Sure the president may have tried to fire Mueller, but -- OH LOOK A CAR CRASH!"

+1 I would have loved to see them show a video of the largest dumpster fire in history, raging out of control, immediately after his comments. Or "In other news, a man in India has reportedly eaten a live crow...and we have the footage."

And as expected, Trump denies he ever tried to fire Mueller and blames "fake news."

Seriously Trump supporters - you can't honestly deep down believe/trust/support this guy. Just come clean.

YellowKing wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:08 am And as expected, Trump denies he ever tried to fire Mueller and blames "fake news."

Seriously Trump supporters - you can't honestly deep down believe/trust/support this guy. Just come clean.

You forget their true motivation.

YellowKing wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:08 am And as expected, Trump denies he ever tried to fire Mueller and blames "fake news."

Seriously Trump supporters - you can't honestly deep down believe/trust/support this guy. Just come clean.

I started using the Trump Twitter Archive to just quote Trump back at Trump supporters and they reply and these are quotes

"I like my links better than the ones Trump uses to troll people."
"I know my pieces are longer than 128 characters but try reading them."

And these aren't Russian Trolls doing this. These are real people, generally with higher educations, trying to tell me there are five lights because they believe there are five lights.

I don't know how we, as a nation, will ever come to the table again. What the our president does is gospel and he tells it like its but what he says is irrelevant and what he doesn't matter. "OH LOOK A CAR CRASH!" I remember growing up a teacher quoting something at me "For the last forty years, I've been told the nation is going to the dogs. It seems to me the hounds must be very hungry." Well, we're here. The only thing that calms the storm for me is hiding my head in the sand.

I repeat...

Holman wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 10:13 pm Is there a name for obstructing the investigation into your obstruction?

Double secret obstruction.

El Guapo wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:35 am

Holman wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 10:13 pm Is there a name for obstructing the investigation into your obstruction?

Double secret obstruction.

LordMortis wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:38 am

El Guapo wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:35 am

Holman wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 10:13 pm Is there a name for obstructing the investigation into your obstruction?

Double secret obstruction.

WHITE HOUSE!!!

In other news, apparently the investigation into Russian meddling in the election was started because Dutch intelligence had infiltrated the building where the Russian hackers were operating from, and had it under constant surveillance.
https://www.volkskrant.nl/tech/dutch-ag ... ~a4561913/

It's the summer of 2014. A hacker from the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD has penetrated the computer network of a university building next to the Red Square in Moscow, oblivious to the implications. One year later, from the AIVD headquarters in Zoetermeer, he and his colleagues witness Russian hackers launching an attack on the Democratic Party in the United States. The AIVD hackers had not infiltrated just any building; they were in the computer network of the infamous Russian hacker group Cozy Bear. And unbeknownst to the Russians, they could see everything.

Sepiche wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2018 11:23 am In other news, apparently the investigation into Russian meddling in the election was started because Dutch intelligence had infiltrated the building where the Russian hackers were operating from, and had it under constant surveillance.
https://www.volkskrant.nl/tech/dutch-ag ... ~a4561913/

It's the summer of 2014. A hacker from the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD has penetrated the computer network of a university building next to the Red Square in Moscow, oblivious to the implications. One year later, from the AIVD headquarters in Zoetermeer, he and his colleagues witness Russian hackers launching an attack on the Democratic Party in the United States. The AIVD hackers had not infiltrated just any building; they were in the computer network of the infamous Russian hacker group Cozy Bear. And unbeknownst to the Russians, they could see everything.

Good and interesting read, but not all that surprising for the most part. Except, the part I did find surprising was how surprised we were that Putin and his cronies would try to hack our systems:

The Americans were taken completely by surprise by the Russian aggression, says Chris Painter in Washington. For years, Painter was responsible for America's cyber policy. He resigned last August. 'We'd never expected that the Russians would do this, attacking our vital infrastructure and undermining our democracy.'

The American intelligence services were unprepared for that, he says.

Really?

Are any of that team code named Agent Orange?

Every time I hear about Nunes' memo that supposedly contains bombshells, I think of this story from Rob Schneider about Steven Seagal...with Nunes as Seagal.

link

“President Donald Trump pressed senior aides last June to devise and carry out a campaign to discredit senior FBI officials after learning that those specific officials were likely to be witnesses against him...”

No authoritarianism to see here, nope.

So now that Trump has said the attempt to fire Mueller is FAKE NEWS, and Fox News confirmed the story...

You think his supporters have a problem with cognitive dissonance?

Isgrimnur wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:18 pm You think his supporters have a problem with cognitive dissonance?

No problem - they call it winning.

YellowKing wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:08 pm So now that Trump has said the attempt to fire Mueller is FAKE NEWS, and Fox News confirmed the story...

This is a week old, but I don't know if I heard about any of it here.

Is it at all important that a week ago Trump met with the dictator of Kazakhstan, whose son-in-law runs a bank that may have evidence that ties to Trump affiliations with money laundering?

I don't know. Even if it's innocent, the problem with electing a President with sketchy dealings, who refuses to divest himself or publish his full income details, is that we all get to constantly assume ulterior motives.

Adam Schiff told reporters today that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have opened an investigation into the FBI and the DOJ.

I wonder if they'll let Trump preside at the show trials.

The Republicans just voted to #ReleaseTheMemo. What a farce.

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status ... 1317645313

Good grief.

There is talk this may burn allies' intelligence service assets as well as our own. This is possibly an amazing alliance shifting breach of confidence to protect Trump. We are way into serious danger here. There is almost no good reason for this activity.

This has been a hell of a day - the Trump administration also said they are simply not going to implement the Russian sanctions. And two major Dutch banks were attacked over the weekend. I'm sure that is just a coincidence.

malchior wrote: Mon Jan 29, 2018 8:09 pm There is talk this may burn allies' intelligence service assets as well as our own. This is possibly an amazing alliance shifting breach of confidence to protect Trump. We are way into serious danger here. There is almost no good reason for this activity.

This has been a hell of a day - the Trump administration also said they are simply not going to implement the Russian sanctions. And two major Dutch banks were attacked over the weekend. I'm sure that is just a coincidence.

What's the alleged link? The banks weren't part of the dutch intelligence, AFAIK, and weren't part of the money laundering AFAIK either, so what's the connection?

The link is that attacking a nation's major banking institutions is a shot across their bow. I'm seeing private CTI that the botnet involved was from Russia. Attribution is difficult still but there are some indicators here. First, we hear that the Dutch watched and helped identify the Cozy Bear intrusion into the DNC. That they had watched it for years and it was the basis of the FBI investigation. Suddenly within a span of a day or two, several major Dutch banks and their tax service are attacked by a Russian botnet. This isn't much of a stretch.

link

Here's the Trump administration's excuse for refusing to implement specific sanctions aimed at businesses involved in Russian defense and intelligence (including cyberwar) sectors as well as specific oligarchs: they have already been sufficiently "deterred."

This, while Russian hacking is ongoing against us and our allies.

Is there any basis in the sanctions bill passed for not implementing the sanctions if the administration deems Russia "deterred"? Or are they just making that up?