I broke "even" in my bid at being a gambling man. By "even," of course, I mean that I didn't annihilate my kids' inheritance or hit my credit card limits. I found this crazy Chinese electronic game called either "Magic Crystals" or "Dragon's Eggs," or something akin to those tags. It has immense blinking and rotating lights, very loud music and special effects, a flying dragon, gold coins flashing and raining down, reels spinning, and an angry Chinese man who yells at you "Look up! Time for Orb selection!" It is an epileptic's nightmare, but I walked away with a couple hundred bucks to off-set my poker and blackjack losses. So, yes, "even," that's my story . . .
Got a chance to read some more about the latest media outburst on Russia! Bombshell! Smoking! Gun! Red! Handed!
It's! All! Nonsense!
You can go read Donald Trump, Jr.'s email chain on this episode and reach your own conclusions. I, however, started writing a piece while still in the hotel expressing some serious doubts about this latest story. I had gotten pretty far along, when I read a terrific American Spectator article (h/t to the great Instapundit) which eviscerates the whole story with a thoroughness and erudition that I cannot match.
I, therefore, deleted most of what I had written, and now refer my six readers to the "American Spectator" take-down of this latest story about "collusion." The AS article lends a lot of credence to the theory that Trump's campaign got set up by an elaborate Democratic Party/Obama administration dirty trick, e.g., the Obama DOJ let the attorney into the US with a waiver on her visa expressly to attend the meeting with Don, Jr.
Donald Trump, Jr., a political novice, got taken advantage of. I go back to what I stated before that the story is a,
convoluted, poorly sourced account of a mysterious meeting between Donald Trump, Jr., and a Russian attorney. The whole story makes no sense and upon reading it in the NYT, I kept asking, "And? What is the crime?"It seems nothing transpired either way: Trump campaign got nothing, and Russia got nothing. There was no crime.
If, in fact, the Trump campaign had been colluding with the Russians would they have needed an email from British media hack Rob Goldstone alerting them to the Russian attorney's request for a meeting? (Yes, the same Goldstone apparently involved in the production of the lurid and fake "Trump Dossier.") Wouldn't there be other, more subtle channels to pass along information? Would the Russians have been so naive to have told Goldstone, as he claims in his emails, that they wanted Trump to win and were working to that end? Please . . .
It was a set-up.
The swamp is fighting back ... and things are going to get a whole lot messier. We're talking big, big money and big, big power here which puts us beyond niceties and fairness. Trump will keep getting blindsided by the alligators for months, maybe years more. Can Mueller be impartial? When was the last time an alligator became a swan?
ReplyDeleteAmerica has tuned out the Russia nonsense. We had 8 years where nothing mattered so we can have 4 more of the same. These 4 years should be used to undo the prior 8 where possible. Undoing Obamacare is probably politically impossible. Dems had 6 years to wrap its cancerous tentacles around every aspect of healthcare on the way to single payer...which it would not surprise me to see the "Republican" Party deliver it for them.
ReplyDeleteAs for Vegas, I liked the 1960s-1970s low brow seedy feel as opposed to today's glitz and glamour.
Remember The Sands?
DeleteOh yes! I'm a low brow kind of man...or at least I used to be before I got all civilized and such.
DeleteYup, Vegas was better when the mob ran it.
DeleteEverything, imho, keeps coming back to one theme: The GOP. How much collusion in anything Trump-Russia did the GOP or any of its members have, and why has the GOP not shut this whole thing down and turned to the real questions: Clinton and uranium, Clinton and Ukraine, Podesta and Russia, Obama Admin. and its loyalties (Russia? Iran? Muslim Brotherhood?) and its spying on/impeding Trump campaign? I know who/what Dems are. I no longer have any clue who/what Republicans are. (Except rotten to the core. But on whose behalf?)
ReplyDeleteMcCabe on his face was always dirty - disqualified by MacAuliffe conflict of interest, now we find out also Flynn conflict of interest. Exactly 1 Republican (Grassley) has raised this. Comey was always dirty by virtue of putting disqualified-McCabe in charge and because his brother works for accounting firm that did Clinton Foundation internal audit and does its tax returns. Brother works on Foundation matters. Any investigation of Foundation would necessarily extend to brother. So Comey has always been disqualified by conflict of interest and therefore per se dirty by staying in charge. No one raises that.
New FBI director nominee seems to me like a Comey groupie and could be seen at hearing sneering when any defense of Trump mentioned or any criticism of Comey made. Seems immense narcissist, mostly concerned with his own wavy head of hair. Is he really a good choice?
But mostly: this isn't really about the Dems. This is in every way equally a GOP take down of Trump (with, imho, Trump and family continuing to add helpful ammunition). What I don't know is 1) whether Pence is a black hat or white hat, and 2) does the electorate understand that the GOP is, at very least, cheering on this take down, and at worst, active participants since the beginning?
Re your last paragraph, if the GOP is deeply cheering or helping, then it will be time to unleash Hell on the GOP. Once and for good. A wide and deep populist revolt will be necessary as there is no such thing as a Republican revolt, or even a conservative revolt. After all, the GOP never counted on a Trump win and they look like it.
DeleteWhat would that revolt look like?
DeleteSupposedly, electing House and Senate majorities plus W.H. WAS that revolt. Turns out: not so much. Right now we should be bombarding Congress with shows of support for Trump, protests against those who don't support Trump. Every GOP member of House should be being threatened with massive donations to their primary challenger, also 8 GOP Senators who up for re-election in 2018 (includes Corker, Cruz and Flake). No such bombardment is happening; no effort of any kind on right, except NeverTrumpers, is being mobilized. (There needs to be something like what NRA does. NRA only effective mobilization effort on the right But that is limited to 2nd amendment issues. Aside from that, zilch, nothing, nada.)
So, again, what would this "revolt" be?
What indeed! A conservative/populist base voted for Trump while the sitting Repub majority in the House and those who helped win back the Senate, never dreamed Trump would win. Thus our anger is lost in congressional mush. What does the Left do when angry? We may need to imitate them by storming the offices of Rs, taking over the yards and sidewalks of Rs homes etc. Unfortunately the Right is rarely organized for action...we are not made that way. We believe in order, not chaos. It may take tough primary opponents for many Rs and make the subjects very populist in nature: illegal immigration, corruption and treachery in the media, one sided anti Americanism that now dominates academia, all out assaults against the very institutions of government including the Pentagon, CIA and FBI etc. Media, academia and institutions...the Cartel.
DeleteOr. Completely withhold our consent at the ballot box. A pol wants to be re elected more than anything else. If he no longer takes proper principled positions but his seat is pretty safe, then voters stay home and he loses. Yes I know. But to place the right people in office, and there are no term limits, let him lose and then groom the right person to defeat his replacement. It is a long game to defeat and remove "mush".
Or. There is all out open civil war in the party. The real thing.
Excuse me, no offense meant to you, but that's mostly just talk, and doesn't work, to the extent it isn't. You're suggesting not voting, which just puts in the worst guys. It would make much more sense to be organized SOON to field pro-Trump candidates and then work to get them elected. (If the GOP plans to let Trump hang on through the elections.) Then you are suggesting...I think, storming the homes of Republican sell outs? And do what? I'm sorry. I don't understand your plan.
DeleteWell yes it is "talk". "The plan" and how to accomplish what we want can fly straight in the face of the reason we are a representative republic. Not enough pro Trump pro populist voters in enough R districts. The same reason we can't elect a solid pro conservative House or Senate. We can elect a majority Republican House or Senate, but not a Conservative House and Senate. Big difference!
DeleteMy example of "storming houses and offices" is what the Left can do with some success. But that is not us.
Even issues that inflame the populist tendency that elected Trump will not scare enough Congressmen straight. We don't seem to be a conservative country anymore and certainly not a populist one. That's frustrating!
I agree. It's time to seriously discuss and plan the popular response to Congressional treachery. One question is who will fund it. Another is who to target and finding good candidates to primary them. The first place to start is with vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2018, of whom there are several. Next is Senate RINOs.
ReplyDeleteFirst step is creating a tool for organizing and mobilizing actions. Without an effective means to mobilize and organize nothing can happen.
DeletePart One
I have an outline of a website that could be used for exactly that. Someone with resources, access and ability to create name recognition would run it. It could be as broad - all possible actions to support righist causes and oppose left - to narrow - just support Trump or Trump-supporting candidates - as organizer is willing to do. My vision: Home site with proposed actions that should be taken by every one in country, with specific intructions. E.g., Right now bombardment of Congress by fax phone, email. There could also be boycotts of products, companies, mail campaigns, etc. Then page for each state with actions that could be taken specific to that state. Website initiates and suggests actions, gives instructions as to how to participate and specific data as to dates, times and places. Home page has everything "national," meaning all Americans can do. Then there is page for events/efforts particular to a specific state. Mobilizing for specific candidates ( volunteers and donations) can be sought, with links back to candidate's own site. For ease of use, each state should have its own page. Home page has: 1) Actions/instructions for actions everyone in the country can take, 2) bulletin board for discussions, questions suggestions of other national-in-scope activities, and 3) dropdown menu where you can choose your state. Each state's page will have everything specific to that state and links to websites of candidates in that state. And bulletin boards for people to inform each other of or organize efforts in their own states. (Right now, there's no effective way of Trump supporters or conservatives finding each other and organizing anything or finding out about what has been organized.) One central place, constantly updated, where everyone on the right could check and see what they could do - and even organize some efforts themselves. Huge range of possibilities, pick what appeals to you. Organized to be easy to find things geographically applicable to you. Not in competition with any other site or group, but giving more exposure to other groups, candidates and sites already in action. Their sites or actions would be listed on this central site and hence have more exposure.
Part two
DeleteA private citizen or group would form appropriate entity with appropriate tax status and get the website up. Some expense in incorporating, getting domain name, tax status, and trademark, bigger expense in creating the site: web design and programming and firewalls and security, and personnel to get data about existing efforts and groups and events to be attended and getting that data programmed on site. All known existing legitimate non-violent, non-racist Trump, Trump agenda supporter, and conservative groups and Trmp-supporting candidates should be contacted to get themselves included in centralized site. (This should be a good thing for them. Not new competition, but more exposure for them.) Personnel would be needed to continue updating. And "compliance" or “moderator” personnel need to be always monitoring everything on the site, keeping everything legal and kosher, keeping away imposters, fakes, trolls. Once site up, Administration could make it known to all supporters of Trump or specific Trump agenda items by simply giving the site a few well publicized shout outs for, say, publicizing particular, universally acceptable events. Organization/website would also advertise itself on all pro-Trump websites and talk radio. Certainly people like Hannity and outlets like Breitbart should be willing to tout it. Cost of setting up and then maintaining from low to high hundreds of thousands, depending on scope.
I owned an internet company dependent on a high-functioning user-friendly website. I know how easy this would be to do by someone with resources and access. I have been sending outline to contacts of contacts in Trumpworld. (I don't know anyone directly.) There seems to be no interest by anyone to do anything like this - as screamingly easy, obvious and necessary as it is.
@Misher regarding Part One and Part Two: A site I read... interesting article with same concept. https://ricochet.com/442973/its-time-to-fight-back/
DeleteEven the best of patriots seem to turn into alligators after too long in the swamp. Term limits are not the solution. How about reducing pension benefits fthe longer Congress members stay in office ... the opposite of the norm? Only true patriots would stay around.
ReplyDeleteMad,
ReplyDeleteI think you're right on the set up deal. What gets me is how the Democrats have gotten so sloppy. I can only ascribe it to them having their way in/with the Media for so long that they've have started to believe their own BS and become lazy.
Every time you refer to your "six readers" I feel unappreciated. I need a safe space now.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree.
DeleteIt's all part of the Dip's micro aggressions...
Yes, this is off-topic again (sorry), but I want to call attention (as if I needed to) to the cluelessness of the Australian government.
ReplyDeleteI always love the Anarchist line on cypto: "Oh.. you can't do that... no... there's no way for the government to be able to securely snoop encrypted sessions... it's demonstrably impossible."
DeleteUtter bull crap... crypto is a broad discipline where *many* things are possible, and "very smart people" choose what they want to disclose as 'possible' (among the worst of these being 'Bruce Schneier').
Just because what you want to see in politics doesn't line up with the technical details of your industry, does not excuse one for lying and deceiving others. What these Anarchists are saying, is that they personally don't trust the government to have even a highly-distribute many-part key to decipher strongly encrypted messages, as they view the US government as a corrupt and monolithic entity (I personally consider it a corrupt but not monolithic entity). Because of their fears, they lie to people and tell them not that it's a bad idea, but that it's 'technically impossible'..... which is always followed by a "trust me, I'm an expert", which is right out of the global warming alarmist cookbook.
- reader #1482
All of us in the West have the same challenge...we don't trust our own governments. With good reason.
DeleteShould have added a few comments to my link. Will keep these brief, since they are also off-topic.
Delete1. The remark about cluelessness simply reveals governments trying to operate above their IQ range. They said they don't want a backdoor, but there is no way of accessing encrypted messages without a backdoor.
2. If there is a backdoor:
a. It lowers encryption security (there will specific attacks targeting the backdoor).
b. The backdoor becomes EXTREMELY valuable, and thus, even harder to secure.
c. People will shift to options without a backdoor when they can (in particular, open-source software, much of which, at least in the encryption realm, has been audited by people looking for backdoors).
3. "Evil deeds" just don't exist in a purely digital form. There is almost always some physical manifestation (ie. a bomb or weapons in a terrorist plot).
4. While I have a visceral dislike of the large tech companies, they are going to operating in an ever more conflicted environment (country A "to operate here, you must not transfer data from here to anywhere else in the world" and country B "to operate here, you must transfer data here from any other country in the world upon request"). See the recent Canadian censorship case for a real world example.
5. This is sort of after the fact, but hey (thank you whitewall for mentioning it), we don't trust the government (except for Indians, who somehow have kept up the faith after the recent demontization, which removed almost ninety percent of the currency in circulation - and actually caused the death of quite a few people).
Old News actually:
Deletehttps://www.wired.com/2008/03/whistleblower-f/
JK
I really keep wondering: Am I the only one getting tired of the media sending out fluff and calling it scandal?
ReplyDeleteIt's like they think that if they repeat "Trump" and "Scandal" enough, that he'll just quit the presidency...?
This Trump guy has stepped on some serious toes.... it's pretty amazing to watch...
Next up: "Trump's cousin's gardener visited russia in 1995!"
- reader #1482
That's part of the plan...but the main target is wobbly Republicans who might desert Trump and join Dems out of self preservation. Republicans by nature are a no muss no fuss bunch of people. They like the easy path, working with Dems and being praised by the DC media.
DeleteReader #1482
ReplyDeleteTrump is trying to hide something again. It's much more sinister. It's Trump's gardener's cousin who visited Russia, not Trump's cousin's gardener!
touché!
DeleteUse the Left's eternal weakness against it: the demand for "ideological purity". As part of any plan for victory, be sure to exploit the enemies vulnerability. http://www.catalystwedco.com/blog/2017/7/10/kin-aesthetics-excommunicate-me-from-the-church-of-social-justice
ReplyDeleteMedia's reporting McCain's in for some sort of "medical/surgical procedure."
ReplyDeletePersonally I'm hoping its a brain transplant. The donor brain hopefully something along a monkey of some sort - the best I could hope for would probably be along the lines of a lemur - anything bigger the doctors would likely have to clean out a whole lot of spiderwebs which would risk a nasty infection.
So lets hope McCain gets a lemur brain. That'd effectively triple (perhaps quadruple) the old fart's IQ and maybe get him to thinking about something besides being a RINO.
And if it works for McCain I'd suggest we all lobby to get Lindsey Graham into Bethesda asap for the same treatment.
JK
wonder if Mr. Dip wrote this while traveling at 100mph+ back from vegas :)
ReplyDeleteNever! That's way too slow . . .
DeleteAnon, July 15th 6:37 as an Aussie, you may recognize: Tim Blair:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Blair%27s%20Law
Hadn't heard of that before (quite true, though). Thanks.
DeleteI am actually not an Aussie. I live in a (relatively) nearby place that likes to make fun of Aussies (and they like to make fun of us, too). :)
Anon...sorry, my fault. I assumed from your post. Now WHO would make fun of Aussies...;))
DeleteTrump Jr fell victim to the political equivalent of three card monte. A cynical New Yorker might consider such lack of awareness a blunder but not a crime.
ReplyDeleteI'm still wondering when Trump and Sessions will go on the offensive by appointing Special Prosecutors of their own. You can avoid the Obstruction claim by limiting their mandates to not include the DNC hacks and the supposed 'collusion'. That leaves wide open the following:
ReplyDelete1. Hilary e-mail server and Lynch Obstruction of Justice in same
2. Fast and Furious
3. IRS targeting
Also, setup an independent IG reporting directly to sessions, and bypassing FBI, to investigate for potential crimes in preparation for turning over to a special prosecutor later:
-Unblinding of intelligence data related to US Citizens (ie Trump and campaign staff)
-Any laws broken regarding Bengazi
-Uranium One & Clinton Foundation in Hati
I'm not holding my breath. The GOP just tanked with the single, largest issue they had 8 years to prepare for--and apparently did nothing. Sessions is busy focusing on trivia instead of making people like Susan Rice testify (she just cancelled her appearance). So what is up with that? The GOP seem content to let the crazies call the tune right now and they don't seem to have an A team on deck.
ReplyDeleteWhy is Trump continuing with the Iran-deal charade?
ReplyDeleteObama gave away everything to Iran and our erstwhile 'allies', and Trump keeps giving.
- reader #1482
Would it be OK if I cross-posted this article to WriterBeat.com? There is no fee; I’m simply trying to add more content diversity for our community and I enjoyed reading your work. I’ll be sure to give gyou complete credit as the author. If “OK” please let me know via email.
ReplyDeleteAutumn
AutumnCote@WriterBeat.com
Absolutely.
Delete