Octopus Overlords

PLW wrote:My understanding is that these are not actual diplomats. They are mostly locals (Russians) who work for our embassy/consulates.

NYT
The vast majority of those who will lose their jobs are Russian nationals, not American diplomats, who will be brought home. Assuming the current force is about the same, Mr. Putin’s order will require a nearly 60 percent reduction.

Mr. Putin said he was reducing the American government’s overall presence to the equivalent of the Russian presence in the United States. But the total staff includes more than just State Department diplomats; other American government agencies have employees stationed in Russia, including the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce, NASA and the Library of Congress.

American officials said the reduction ordered by Mr. Putin will have a significant effect on services, resulting, for example, in much slower processing of visas for Russian travelers to the United States. Another major function of any embassy is to collect local information and intelligence to inform policy makers back home, which will likely be hindered as a result.


McFaul, who was ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama. “That our president does not appreciate this obvious fact suggests he doesn’t understand what embassies do in the pursuit of American national interests.”

LawBeefaroni wrote: Trump is daft. a goon

“I don’t think it’s inappropriate,” Trump told Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro, responding to a report by the New York Times that he asked former FBI Director James Comey in January to pledge loyalty to him.

YellowKing wrote:I don't like to buy into left-wing fringe conspiracy theories, but Trump certainly *acts* like Putin has evidence against him re: sex trafficking/underage models/pee-pee tapes.

El Guapo wrote:Putin could probably punch Trump directly in the face and Trump would say that he wanted him to do that.

YellowKing wrote:I don't like to buy into left-wing fringe conspiracy theories, but Trump certainly *acts* like Putin has evidence against him re: sex trafficking/underage models/pee-pee tapes.

"I’m very disappointed in Mitch," the president told reporters at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he is on a working vacation. "Repeal and replace of Obamacare should’ve taken place. And it should’ve been on my desk virtually the first week I was here."

Trump is being attacked, the memo says, because he represents “an existential threat to cultural Marxist memes that dominate the prevailing cultural narrative.” Those threatened by Trump include “‘deep state’ actors, globalists, bankers, Islamists, and establishment Republicans people who don't want to go to total war for stupid shit, see humanity end in a world of pollution, and would generally like a better life for next generation not just the next generation of plutocrats.”

Holman wrote:If you haven't read the NSC memo that led McMaster to fire the Flynn-holdover staffer who wrote it, here you go. Holy Crap, it is nuts.

Basically it's a Stalinist argument for treating criticism of Trump as sedition and political opponents as enemies of the state. Foes include the Deep State, globalists, bankers, Islamists, establishment Republicans, and "cultural Marxists" traitors, Jews, Muslims, and communists.

El Guapo wrote:

Holman wrote:
Basically it's a Stalinist argument for treating criticism of Trump as sedition and political opponents as enemies of the state. Foes include the Deep State, globalists, bankers, Islamists, establishment Republicans, and "cultural Marxists" traitors, Jews, Muslims, and communists.

Mortoned.

President Trump told Fox News he is “seriously considering” a pardon for Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa Country, Ariz.

Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt last month after he was ordered to stop racially profiling Latinos in his Maricopa County office.

“I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio,” Trump told Fox News at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club, where he had been staying during a vacation.

“He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. He’s a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him.”

Smoove_B wrote:So what else is going on today? Oh nothing - just news about a potential pardon:

President Trump told Fox News he is “seriously considering” a pardon for Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa Country, Ariz.

Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt last month after he was ordered to stop racially profiling Latinos in his Maricopa County office.

“I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio,” Trump told Fox News at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club, where he had been staying during a vacation.

“He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. He’s a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him.”

I'm surprised this didn't get interjected into his weak condemnation of racists at today's press conference.

malchior wrote:Apparently the lesson from today is that the titan's of industry are scared of getting tweeted at by Trump. The cowardice in leadership across the Corporate world is just as deep as in the political world. The market is probably not going to save us either.

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank said Monday evening he is leaving President Donald Trump's manufacturing council.

According to Plank, the sportswear company "engages in innovation and sports, not politics." The American Manufacturing Council has been the focus of politic attentions since Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier resigned earlier Monday, citing his "responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism."

Plank, for his part, only hinted at the recent white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Frazier departed following Trump's apparent unwillingness over the weekend to single out white supremacists.

Web hosting provider DreamHost announced Monday that is is engaged in an ongoing legal battle with the United States Justice Department over its demand to see records of visitors to an anti-Trump website.

At the center of the conflict is disruptj20.org, a website run by a group of activists who were attempting to build “the framework needed for mass protests to shut down the inauguration of Donald Trump and planning widespread direct actions to make that happen.”

The U.S. Justice Department, currently headed by Attorney General Sessions, has demanded DreamHost—the company currently hosting disruptj20.org—to provide all information available about the website, it’s owner and its visitors.

On July 12, a search warrant was issued by the Superior Court of the District of Columbia that required DreamHost disclose a significant amount of information that would be stored on the company’s servers. The warrant included a request for all files associated with the site, email accounts the contents of those accounts associated with the site and contact and billing information of the person who registered the site.

The warrant also demanded DreamHost disclose any information it had about people who simply visited the website. The Justice Department asked for the IP addresses of visitors, which would generally provides information about a visitor’s location and other potentially identifiable information, as well as contact information of people who used the site.

DreamHost was required to comply with the search warrant within 10 days of it being issued but has been fighting the broad demands the Justice Department has made. The company filed an opposition motion in response to the warrant, objecting to its requests.

“In essence, the Search Warrant not only aims to identify the political dissidents of the current administration, but attempts to identify and understand what content each of these dissidents viewed on the website,” the company said in a legal filing.

DreamHost said it challenged the warrant and attempted to quell the requests through “reason, logic and legal process.” In response to that effort, the Justice Department filed a motion on July 28 asking the court to compel DreamHost to produce the requested records, prompting the hosting company to respond with its filing opposing the motion.

since last night the president has RT'd - a conspiracy theorist - trump train hitting CNN (deleted) - critic calling him a fascist (unRT'd)

pr0ner wrote:It may be.

Of course, because there is a Trump tweet for every occasion:

Skinypupy wrote:

pr0ner wrote:It may be.

Of course, because there is a Trump tweet for every occasion:

What's the over/under on how many times the "young intern" gets blamed for social media gaffes over the coming months?

I'm actually rather surprised it took them this long to pull out that excuse.

ImLawBoy wrote:He knows it's an old tweet. He's playing the "there's an old Trump tweet for everything" game.

Max Peck wrote:

ImLawBoy wrote:He knows it's an old tweet. He's playing the "there's an old Trump tweet for everything" game.

Yes, pr0ner obviously does. But Skinypupy? I'm not so sure...

pr0ner wrote:The Trump train hitting CNN is really classy after Charlottesville this weekend.

DreamHost claimed that the complying with the request from the Justice Department would amount to handing over roughly 1.3 million visitor IP addresses to the government, in addition to contact information, email content and photos of thousands of visitors to the website, which was involved in organizing protests against Trump on Inauguration Day.

“That information could be used to identify any individuals who used this site to exercise and express political speech protected under the Constitution’s First Amendment,” DreamHost wrote in the blog post on Monday. “That should be enough to set alarm bells off in anyone’s mind.”

The warrant, dated July 12, says that authorities will seize any information constituting violations of D.C. code governing riots that involve individuals connected to the protests on Inauguration Day.

More than 200 people were indicted on felony rioting charges in connection with the protests in Washington on Jan. 20.