The Trump Administration: A Clusterfuck in the Making

[octopus]

@asahi

Oh like you cared in 2001/2 when they signed the USA Patriot Act and created DHS. Bruh, you didn’t care, did you? Didn’t think so.

Silence.

I wasn’t a fan of that. I’m suspicious of concentrated power since in world history the state has been responsible for all the large murder tolls.

[running_coach]

@octopus

I wasn’t a fan of that. I’m suspicious of concentrated power since in world history the state has been responsible for all the large murder tolls.

You seem a fan of it now.

[asahi]

@octopus

I wasn’t a fan of that. I’m suspicious of concentrated power since in world history the state has been responsible for all the large murder tolls.

No offense, I respect you man, but did you really oppose the invasion of Iraq? Did you really oppose the expansion of federal powers in response to 9/11? Srsly?

[asahi]

I’ve identified the problem with our culture: ego.

People post and ridicule others, and then when the truth reveals that they are the scam artists, they can’t take it. They can’t accept being wrong, so they just “take a break” from the site. LOL.

Speaking of “cowards” JohnT

[asahi]

You know what, you morons can have your little playground to yourselves again. I don’t want to break fragile egos. I know that some of you really want to believe that you all are intellectually superior to others, and I, like, don’t want to disabuse you of that, ahem, notion.

[Little_Nemo]

@asahi

I’ve identified the problem with our culture: ego.

People post and ridicule others, and then when the truth reveals that they are the scam artists, they can’t take it. They can’t accept being wrong, so they just “take a break” from the site. LOL.

You’re leaving?

[El_Kabong]

@asahi

Fuck you.

Don’t give a shit if you like me, assume that you don’t. Fuck off, cvnt

Jesus H Christ, would you kindly stop shitting up these threads with your egomaniacal nonsense. You repeatedly state the blinding obvious, in as vague a manner as you think you can get away with, and think you’re fucking Nostradamus. I’m more than happy to join the growing chorus with another hearty “fuck off”.

[asahi]

@Little_Nemo

You’re leaving?

Might come back for the laughs, who knows…

[asahi]

@El_Kabong

Jesus H Christ, would you kindly stop shitting up these threads with your egomaniacal nonsense. You repeatedly state the blinding obvious, in as vague a manner as you think you can get away with, and think you’re fucking Nostradamus. I’m more than happy to join the growing chorus with another hearty “fuck off”.

Back at you, fucking pig

[El_Kabong]

@asahi

Back at you, fucking pig

Ow, that stung. I’ll surely be weeping into my pillow tonight.

Dude, when complete strangers with no particular ax to grind think you’re kind of an asshole, that really should give you pause.

[Sherrerd]

@Rick_Kitchen

Individual 1 retweeted a faked video of Nancy Pelosi allegedly stammering through a press conference. Mindy Fisher posted it on Facebook as an example of how horrible Individual 1 is, and Facebook took it down. But it’s still there on Individual 1’s Twitter page.

@asahi

It would be pretty easy to do the same in return. Not worried.

Jimmy Kimmel has been doing it for a couple of years:

https://abc.go.com/shows/jimmy-kimmel-live/video/drunk-donald-trump

@Great_Antibob

It’s totally undemocratic, but I’m praying the powers that be in the military will choose to mishear or creatively ‘interpret’ any orders to launch nukes.

I’m with you 100%.

[octopus]

@asahi

No offense, I respect you man, but did you really oppose the invasion of Iraq? Did you really oppose the expansion of federal powers in response to 9/11? Srsly?

No. I didn’t oppose the invasion of Iraq because I thought the aftermath would be handled with competence. It wasn’t. Unless the unspoken goal was long term chaos.

But concerning the expansion of surveillance and the seemingly lack of oversight? I wasn’t a fan of that at all. I get the fear of a so-called rogue actor smuggling in a nuclear or smallpox filled warhead but there needs to be care taken with respect to constitutional rights.

What bothers me with politics now is the fact that the judiciary is the prize. It wasn’t suppose to evolve in that direction but it did. In part, rightly or wrongly, to override popular reluctance to adopt certain progressive positions. Is Trump dangerous? Trump is a red herring. The reaction to globalization and automation is what’s predictable and dangerous. Trump and the resurgence of nationalism, worldwide, is a symptom.

[Czarcasm]

@Sherrerd

Jimmy Kimmel has been doing it for a couple of years:

https://abc.go.com/shows/jimmy-kimmel-live/video/drunk-donald-trump

When has Kimmel ever shown a doctored video and claimed it was not doctored?

[Fear_Itself]

@Railer13

Whew. Hadn’t heard from ol’ Rudy for a while. Was wondering if something was wrong with him.

He’s busy complaining about Yelp restaurant reviews:

2/ This is the @Yelp review of @MamaLisaItalian that got Rudy so excited

“…Rudy Giuliani was in the restaurant as well! I was about to send him a drink, but it looked like he had gotten plenty already” –Ken F

https://twitter.com/BadFoxGraphics/status/1132205224557514754/photo/1

[The_Stainless_Steel_Rat]

@octopus

<snip>
What bothers me with politics now is the fact that the judiciary is the prize. It wasn’t suppose to evolve in that direction but it did. In part, rightly or wrongly, to override popular reluctance to adopt certain progressive positions. Is Trump dangerous? Trump is a red herring. The reaction to globalization and automation is what’s predictable and dangerous. Trump and the resurgence of nationalism, worldwide, is a symptom.

Most level-headed thing written in the last 24 hours, and it’s octopus that writes it.

Must be a sign of the Apolcalypse…
Press on.

[dasmoocher]

@asahi

Let’s get this out on the fucking table. We have an attorney general who has basically gone on record to defend the president in whatever the hell he does, and he is being warned by the chief intel guy that he is threatening to blow up our entire intel gathering apparatus. Understand this: people can, and probably will, get MURDERED because of this fat fucking cocksucker’s desire to protect a corrupt president.

There’s some truth to this:

Trump’s Public Enemies List Is an Impeachable Offense

Long before becoming president, Donald Trump called for the jailing of his adversaries. Aided by Attorney General William Barr, he may now actually be training the full force of federal law enforcement against his enemies, real or perceived. Unlike Richard Nixon, who acted in secret, Trump is corrupting the justice system openly and publicly.

…

Trump’s desire to investigate the investigators who uncovered the Russian plot to elect him president has taken on a special urgency since the release of the Mueller Report, with Trump repeatedly accusing government officials of “treason,” and the White House declaring: “This whole thing was a TAKEDOWN ATTEMPT at the President of the United States.”

On Thursday night, after Trump had spent days excoriating the purportedly “treasonous” investigators by name, he announced he had granted Barr the “full and complete authority” to declassify documents relating to the Russia probe. The White House also stated that Trump had directed intelligence agencies to “quickly and fully” cooperate with the investigation into the investigation.

…

In November 2017, the New York Times’s called 10 former attorneys general, but only one responded to its question whether Sessions should accede to Trump’s loud demands: It was Barr, who said he saw no problem with the president training the sights of the Department of Justice on a political enemy, as long as it was “warrant[ed].” Barr even opined that the evidence against Clinton was stronger than any potential evidence of wrongdoing by the president, this despite the fact that the primary “evidence” for the Uranium One allegations came from a book sponsored by Steve Bannon.

…

Barr suggested to the Times that there is just no problem with a president personally selecting who should or should not become the subjects of criminal investigations, as long as the facts “warrant” inquiries. But that entirely misses the point.

As the nation recognized during the Watergate era, if the president employs the apparatus of the federal government to single out and punish political or personal enemies by making them the focus of law enforcement investigations, the perception (and the reality) of fairness on which our justice system depends will be gravely endangered.

[Little_Nemo]

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

Most level-headed thing written in the last 24 hours, and it’s octopus that writes it.

Must be a sign of the Apolcalypse…

No, it’s the usual sign of upcoming Democratic election wins. Republicans always talk about bipartisanship and moderation when they’re out of power.

[asahi]

@dasmoocher

There’s some truth to this:

Trump’s Public Enemies List Is an Impeachable Offense

I’m talking about intel assets being exposed. It’s a dangerous job, which carry real risks that apparently the AG and president don’t seem to care about. Whoever was involved in any attempt to spy on Russia over the last few years is probably shitting in their pants.

[JohnT]

@El_Kabong

Ow, that stung. I’ll surely be weeping into my pillow tonight.

Dude, when complete strangers with no particular ax to grind think you’re kind of an asshole, that really should give you pause.

I do not think he’s an asshole.

He’s a coward.

It’s evident in the impotent rage, the complete lack of action he takes and/or exhorts others to take, the inability to comprehend that saving this country isn’t Nancy Pelosi’s job… it’s his, it’s ours, and that whining on message boards, while fun, is not doing the job he expects others to do for him.

A coward. A moral coward, a coward towards taking action, just… cowardice. It drips from every single one of his posts. The concept of leadership… moral and otherwise… is completely and utterly foreign to him.

Seriously, Asahi - link to a post, anytime 2016-onward, in which you claim to have actually done something besides the bare minimum of voting. Made phone calls. Knocked on doors. Engaged with people directly. Anything.

[dasmoocher]

@asahi

I’m talking about intel assets being exposed. It’s a dangerous job, which carry real risks that apparently the AG and president don’t seem to care about. Whoever was involved in any attempt to spy on Russia over the last few years is probably shitting in their pants.

It also has the effect of hampering the US’s ability to recruit new assets, because why would they trust us, and giving pause to our allies with regards to sharing their intelligence with us.

The day after Trump fired Comey, he was giving away intell to the Russian ambassador and foreign minister in the Oval Office (with none of our personnel present, mind you). Trump has a pathological need to brag, even to our adversaries:

"I get the best intell, tremendous intell, everyone says so. Just look at this! Can you believe we can do that?

Of course, to Trump, the Russians aren’t the adversaries, the Democrats and the “Deep State” are–look at his “Enemies list”. (I mentioned Trump having a Nixonian enemies list back in the dawn of this thread and Trump supporters were like “Come on, that’s farfetched”.)

Some of the initial Russian interference notifications came from some of our Five Eyes allies and I think I saw a clip of Trump saying he wants that looked into.

Trump gives Barr authority to declassify anything in campaign “spying” probe

The blanket order to allow declassification of data may quickly create rifts with US allies as well. Reports indicate that much of the information used as evidence in the Mueller investigation came from data sharing by other members of the Five Eyes—the intelligence alliance that ties together the agencies of the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Much of it, according to a report in The Independent in 2017, came from the UK’s GCHQ.

Trump already has reportedly created tension with allied intelligence agencies, starting very early in his term when he shared information with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov during an Oval Office visit. The information had come from Israeli intelligence sources.