Trump’s critics can do him no bigger favor than using dubious, discredited tactics to attack him.
In January 1961, Dwight Eisenhower delivered his farewell address after serving two terms as U.S. president; the five-star general chose to warn Americans of this specific threat to democracy: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” That warning was issued prior to the decadelong escalation of the Vietnam War, three more decades of Cold War mania, and the post-9/11 era, all of which radically expanded that unelected faction’s power even further.
This is the faction that is now engaged in open warfare against the duly elected and already widely disliked president-elect, Donald Trump. They are using classic Cold War dirty tactics and the defining ingredients of what has until recently been denounced as “Fake News.”
Their most valuable instrument is the U.S. media, much of which reflexively reveres, serves, believes, and sides with hidden intelligence officials. And Democrats, still reeling from their unexpected and traumatic election loss, as well as a systemic collapse of their party, seemingly divorced further and further from reason with each passing day, are willing — eager — to embrace any claim, cheer any tactic, align with any villain, regardless of how unsupported, tawdry, and damaging those behaviors might be.
The serious dangers posed by a Trump presidency are numerous and manifest. There is a wide array of legitimate and effective tactics for combating those threats: from bipartisan congressional coalitions and constitutional legal challenges to citizen uprisings and sustained and aggressive civil disobedience. All of those strategies have periodically proven themselves effective in times of political crisis or authoritarian overreach.
But cheering for the CIA and its shadowy allies to unilaterally subvert the U.S. election and impose its own policy dictates on the elected president is both warped and self-destructive. Empowering the very entities that have produced the most shameful atrocities and systemic deceit over the last six decades is desperation of the worst kind. Demanding that evidence-free, anonymous assertions be instantly venerated as Truth — despite emanating from the very precincts designed to propagandize and lie — is an assault on journalism, democracy, and basic human rationality. And casually branding domestic adversaries who refuse to go along as traitors and disloyal foreign operatives is morally bankrupt and certain to backfire on those doing it.
Beyond all that, there is no bigger favor that Trump opponents can do for him than attacking him with such lowly, shabby, obvious shams, recruiting large media outlets to lead the way. When it comes time to expose actual Trump corruption and criminality, who is going to believe the people and institutions who have demonstrated they are willing to endorse any assertions no matter how factually baseless, who deploy any journalistic tactic no matter how unreliable and removed from basic means of ensuring accuracy?
All of these toxic ingredients were on full display yesterday as the Deep State unleashed its tawdriest and most aggressive assault yet on Trump: vesting credibility in and then causing the public disclosure of a completely unvetted and unverified document, compiled by a paid, anonymous operative while he was working for both GOP and Democratic opponents of Trump, accusing Trump of a wide range of crimes, corrupt acts, and salacious private conduct. The reaction to all of this illustrates that while the Trump presidency poses grave dangers, so, too, do those who are increasingly unhinged in their flailing, slapdash, and destructive attempts to undermine it.
For months, the CIA, with unprecedented clarity, overtly threw its weight behind Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and sought to defeat Donald Trump. In August, former acting CIA Director Michael Morell announced his endorsement of Clinton in the New York Times and claimed that “Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.” The CIA and NSA director under George W. Bush, Gen. Michael Hayden, also endorsed Clinton and went to the Washington Post to warn, in the week before the election, that “Donald Trump really does sound a lot like Vladimir Putin,” adding that Trump is “the useful fool, some naif, manipulated by Moscow, secretly held in contempt, but whose blind support is happily accepted and exploited.”
It is not hard to understand why the CIA preferred Clinton over Trump. Clinton was critical of Obama for restraining the CIA’s proxy war in Syria and was eager to expand that war, while Trump denounced it. Clinton clearly wanted a harder line than Obama took against the CIA’s long-standing foes in Moscow, while Trump wanted improved relations and greater cooperation. In general, Clinton defended and intended to extend the decadeslong international military order on which the CIA and Pentagon’s preeminence depends, while Trump — through a still-uncertain mix of instability and extremist conviction — posed a threat to it.
Whatever one’s views are on those debates, it is the democratic framework — the presidential election, the confirmation process, congressional leaders, judicial proceedings, citizen activism and protest, civil disobedience — that should determine how they are resolved. All of those policy disputes were debated out in the open; the public heard them; and Trump won. Nobody should crave the rule of Deep State overlords.
Yet craving Deep State rule is exactly what prominent Democratic operatives and media figures are doing. Any doubt about that is now dispelled. Just last week, Chuck Schumer issued a warning to Trump, telling Rachel Maddow that Trump was being “really dumb” by challenging the unelected intelligence community because of all the ways they possess to destroy those who dare to stand up to them:
Chuck Schumer on Trump's tweet hitting intel community: "He's being really dumb to do this." https://t.co/MOcU8ruOPK
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 4, 2017
And last night, many Democrats openly embraced and celebrated what was, so plainly, an attempt by the Deep State to sabotage an elected official who had defied it: ironically, its own form of blackmail.
Back in October, a political operative and former employee of the British intelligence agency MI6 was being paid by Democrats to dig up dirt on Trump (before that, he was paid by anti-Trump Republicans). He tried to convince countless media outlets to publish a long memo he had written filled with explosive accusations about Trump’s treason, business corruption, and sexual escapades, with the overarching theme that Trump was in servitude to Moscow because they were blackmailing and bribing him.
Despite how many had it, no media outlets published it. That was because these were anonymous claims unaccompanied by any evidence at all, and even in this more permissive new media environment, nobody was willing to be journalistically associated with it. As the New York Times’ Executive Editor Dean Baquet put it last night, he would not publish these “totally unsubstantiated” allegations because “we, like others, investigated the allegations and haven’t corroborated them, and we felt we’re not in the business of publishing things we can’t stand by.”
The closest this operative got to success was convincing Mother Jones’s David Corn to publish an October 31 article reporting that “a former senior intelligence officer for a Western country” claims that “he provided the [FBI] with memos, based on his recent interactions with Russian sources, contending the Russian government has for years tried to co-opt and assist Trump.”
But because this was just an anonymous claim unaccompanied by any evidence or any specifics (which Corn withheld), it made very little impact. All of that changed yesterday. Why?
What changed was the intelligence community’s resolution to cause this all to become public and to be viewed as credible. In December, John McCain provided a copy of this report to the FBI and demanded they take it seriously.
At some point last week, the chiefs of the intelligence agencies decided to declare that this ex-British intelligence operative was “credible” enough that his allegations warranted briefing both Trump and Obama about them, thus stamping some sort of vague, indirect, and deniable official approval on these accusations. Someone — by all appearances, numerous officials — then went to CNN to tell the network they had done this, causing CNN to go on air and, in the gravest of tones, announce the “Breaking News” that “the nation’s top intelligence officials” briefed Obama and Trump that Russia had compiled information that “compromised President-elect Trump.”
CNN refused to specify what these allegations were on the ground that it could not “verify” them. But with this document in the hands of multiple media outlets, it was only a matter of time — a small amount of time — before someone would step up and publish the whole thing. BuzzFeed quickly obliged, airing all of the unvetted, anonymous claims about Trump.
Its editor-in-chief, Ben Smith, published a memo explaining that decision, saying that — although there was “serious reason to doubt the allegations” — BuzzFeed in general “errs on the side of publication” and “Americans can make up their own minds about the allegations.” Publishing this document predictably produced massive traffic (and thus profit) for the site, with millions of people viewing the article and presumably reading the “dossier.”
One can certainly object to BuzzFeed’s decision and, as the New York Times noted this morning, many journalists are doing so. It’s almost impossible to imagine a scenario where it’s justifiable for a news outlet to publish a totally anonymous, unverified, unvetted document filled with scurrilous and inflammatory allegations about which its own editor-in-chief says there “is serious reason to doubt the allegations,” on the ground that they want to leave it to the public to decide whether to believe it.
But even if one believes there is no such case where that is justified, yesterday’s circumstances presented the most compelling scenario possible for doing this. Once CNN strongly hinted at these allegations, it left it to the public imagination to conjure up the dirt Russia allegedly had to blackmail and control Trump. By publishing these accusations, BuzzFeed ended that speculation. More importantly, it allowed everyone to see how dubious this document is, one the CIA and CNN had elevated into some sort of grave national security threat.
Almost immediately after it was published, the farcical nature of the “dossier” manifested. Not only was its author anonymous, but he was paid by Democrats (and, before that, by Trump’s GOP adversaries) to dig up dirt on Trump. Worse, he himself cited no evidence of any kind but instead relied on a string of other anonymous people in Russia he claims told him these things. Worse still, the document was filled with amateur errors.
While many of the claims are inherently unverified, some can be confirmed. One such claim — that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen secretly traveled to Prague in August to meet with Russian officials — was strongly denied by Cohen, who insisted he had never been to Prague in his life (Prague is the same place that foreign intelligence officials claimed, in 2001, was the site of a nonexistent meeting between Iraqi officials and 9/11 hijackers, which contributed to 70 percent of Americans believing, as late as the fall of 2003, that Saddam personally planned the 9/11 attack). This morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that “the FBI has found no evidence that [Cohen] traveled to the Czech Republic.”
None of this stopped Democratic operatives and prominent media figures from treating these totally unverified and unvetted allegations as grave revelations. From Vox’s Zack Beauchamp:
Good god pic.twitter.com/BiGqkiobA1
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) January 10, 2017
Look, don't take anything in this dossier as gospel. But it's definitely evidence in favor of some pretty extraordinary claims.
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) January 10, 2017
BuzzFeed’s Borzou Daragahi posted a long series of tweets discussing the profound consequences of these revelations, only occasionally remembering to insert the rather important journalistic caveat “if true” in his meditations:
Whoa ????. So guessing the press conference tomorrow is off. https://t.co/e4iNrNKgrh pic.twitter.com/VEa44PeICe
— Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) January 11, 2017
Stunning and believable narrative in leaked docs describing alleged rift in Kremlin over meddling in US elections https://t.co/e4iNrNKgrh pic.twitter.com/qY2TuSM5Fc
— Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) January 11, 2017
According to raw intel file, Kremlin info ops regarded Trump, @DrJillStein, LaRouche and @GenFlynn all potential assets in war vs Clinton pic.twitter.com/3fxTcqUIUL
— Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) January 11, 2017
Bombshell if true: Trump lawyer @MichaelCohen212 & Kremlin reps allegedly held clandestine August meeting in Prague https://t.co/e4iNrO1RiP pic.twitter.com/7FBZjJyXMq
— Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) January 11, 2017
Meanwhile, liberal commentator Rebecca Solnit declared this to be a “smoking gun” that proves Trump’s “treason,” while Daily Kos’s Markos Moulitsas sounded the same theme:
With CNN confirming that intelligence chiefs consider this report credible, it's about time to start using the word "treason"
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) January 11, 2017
While some Democrats sounded notes of caution — party loyalist Josh Marshall commendably urged: “I would say in reviewing raw, extremely raw ‘intel,’ people shld retain their skepticism even if they rightly think Trump is the worst” — the overwhelming reaction was the same as all the other instances where the CIA and its allies released unverified claims about Trump and Russia: instant embrace of the evidence-free assertions as Truth, combined with proclamations that they demonstrated Trump’s status as a traitor (with anyone expressing skepticism designated a Kremlin agent or stooge).
There is a real danger here that this maneuver could harshly backfire, to the great benefit of Trump and to the great detriment of those who want to oppose him. If any of the significant claims in this “dossier” turn out to be provably false — such as Cohen’s trip to Prague — many people will conclude, with Trump’s encouragement, that large media outlets (CNN and BuzzFeed) and anti-Trump factions inside the government (CIA) are deploying “Fake News” to destroy him. In the eyes of many people, that will forever discredit — render impotent — future journalistic exposés that are based on actual, corroborated wrongdoing.
Beyond that, the threat posed by submitting ourselves to the CIA and empowering it to reign supreme outside of the democratic process is — as Eisenhower warned — an even more severe danger. The threat of being ruled by unaccountable and unelected entities is self-evident and grave. That’s especially true when the entity behind which so many are rallying is one with a long and deliberate history of lying, propaganda, war crimes, torture, and the worst atrocities imaginable.
All of the claims about Russia’s interference in U.S. elections and ties to Trump should be fully investigated by a credible body, and the evidence publicly disclosed to the fullest extent possible. As my colleague Sam Biddle argued last week after disclosure of the farcical intelligence community report on Russian hacking — one that even Putin’s foes mocked as a bad joke — the utter lack of evidence for these allegations means “we need an independent, resolute inquiry.” But until then, assertions that are unaccompanied by evidence and disseminated anonymously should be treated with the utmost skepticism — not lavished with convenience-driven gullibility.
Most important of all, the legitimate and effective tactics for opposing Trump are being utterly drowned by these irrational, desperate, ad hoc crusades that have no cogent strategy and make his opponents appear increasingly devoid of reason and gravity. Right now, Trump’s opponents are behaving as media critic Adam Johnson described: as ideological jellyfish, floating around aimlessly and lost, desperately latching on to whatever barge randomly passes by.
There are solutions to Trump. They involve reasoned strategizing and patient focus on issues people actually care about. Whatever those solutions are, venerating the intelligence community, begging for its intervention, and equating its dark and dirty assertions as Truth are most certainly not among them. Doing that cannot possibly achieve any good and is already doing much harm.
It is hard to bother with much of this rubbish,but a No Fly Zone in Syria is not the massive expansion of a proxy war in Syria, and the corollary of the argument is that it is OK for mass bomber, torturer and rapist, Bashar al-Assad, to continue to commit crimes without impediment, while we engage in a fake news discourse that his enemies are all Muslim extremists backed by a neoliberal cabal, because that would be to adopt the discourse of the far-right.
Characterizing the Dem’s loss in the presidential election as ‘a systemic collapse of their party,’ seems to me a tad extreme. They screwed up in three swing states and lost by ~100,000 votes, total, in the electoral college. They trounced Trump in the popular vote. How does this qualify as a systemic collapse?
There’s nothing to rebuild the party on except the systemic collapse. Any effort to stick to the story that there is or was not a systemic collapse of the party is not constructive and is delusional in my opinion.
Greenwald states that the FBI and America’s clandestine services are engaged in ‘open’ warfare. In this case we might define ‘open’ as ‘out in the public for all to view.’ This doesn’t appear to be the case. It’s happening behind closed doors and between anonymous sources, which is the opposite of open. We want to have confidence in Greenwald because we believe he is a man of integrity but, see, this mischaracterization now causes us to begin to question all of the characterizations in his story. Is it wrong to read this with an open mind but a critical eye?
Greenwald states that the FBI and America’s clandestine services are engaged in ‘open’ warfare. In this case we might define ‘open’ as ‘out in the public for all to view.’ This isn’t the case. The conflict seems to be happening behind closed doors and between anonymous sources, which is the opposite of open. We want to have confidence in Greenwald because we believe he is a man of integrity. But, see, this mischaracterization of open versus closed now causes us to begin questioning all of the characterizations in his story. Are we wrong for reading this with an open mind but a critical eye?
Crypto nazis don’t like it when you call them nazis. They take great efforts conceal that fact.
Sometimes they just are not sneaky enough to avoid notice.
Putin is the ultimate “Red” Herring.
Lots of people are throwing around the word ‘treason,’ while virtually nobody (Intercept included) is clarifying how wrong the usage is.
“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.
Despite what the Clintonistas think, the last time I checked, Russia wasn’t our enemy.
Indubitably. But hey, “Working on it.”
Careful Trump – The CIA likely has plans to do you the same way they did JFK. GREENWALD / SNOWDEN 2020
@ Lynn
How naive are you to be taking anything the MSM says seriously with regards to Trump and Russia? It seems their Red Scare tactics have worked their magic on you.
Glenn, you lost me after the second paragraph. When you utilize a fake poll from CNN to try to make a point that Trump is “already widely disliked” — in the SAME paragraph where you discuss how the “fake news” narrative has been created to de-legitimize Trump, you lose credibility. Come on, now. You’re better than that.
“we need an independent, resolute inquiry.”
In a bygone era, that was a legitimate description of journalism…
First it was the recounts. They revealed more votes for Trump and voter fraud in Detroit by Dems. Then there were the attempts to corrupt the electoral college, including multiple death threats. That failed as well. After that, they tried this fake news BS, and still no cigar. Now, they want to try to illegally disrupt the inauguration. The CDC should officially declare an epidemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome. The proggie snowflakes are pathetic!
However, this Deep State involvement is truly disturbing.
It was reported on major media news last summer that Russians admitted having been in continuous communications with Trump and his team throughout the election campaign. Why does this fact not join in the current conversation about if or how much Russia influenced the elections? with Russians admitting it outright and publicly, it seems clear it happened …. no dirty business, a clear honest admission ….
Major media news? Like CNN & Buzzfeed? Really?
A “fact” is not a fact until it is fully vetted and verified.
great article and thank you for being a real investigative journalist – what really gets me though is the republicans are just as bad as the democrats – the deep state rules both – how – why trump – whats the real story here – Assange said in his interview with John Pilger that trump would not win – would nto be allowed to – by who – why choose trump whose never been in congress or a politician – whats the real story – to me this is all just another game of thrones – people are still the pawns – but its interesting enough to get a bigger bucket of popcorn – glad I don’t live there :-)
The Dems lost not only the Presidency, but the House, the Senate, Statehouses, and Governorships, and there was no Ruski email about the last four, so this whole “Russia ate my homework” ploy is pure BS to divert attention from their miserable failure due to being the Second Corporate Party (as just shown by their darling, Cory Booker.)
This reminds me in a certain way of the Tonkin Gulf resolution. The task now is to deligitimize Trump. While I voted for Clinton, I am not hysterical about the threat to American Dominance that a greatly weaken Russia Militarily and static Economically since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Russians are a major supplier of oil and Gas to the West. While regionally aggressive and having a less than perfect democracy, more so than the United States they are closer to being an ally with similar interests to ours. In contrast, the growth of the Chinese economy to a size in purchasing power 1/7 larger than the U.S. and starting to dominate in international banking with institutions such as the Asian infrastructure is of much more concern. One of the reasons the Chinese grew so fast is that unlike Germany, American companies such as Apple, outsourced production to China letting the Chinese develop advanced manufacturing skills at the expense of the U.S. The U.S. military now buys essential military hardware from China and the Chinese are the first to second largest holder of U.S. bond. The cheaper labor costs the Chinese supplied meant short to intermediate gains in profitability to the outsourcing companies. Of course this depressed American ability to pay for these goods leading to an excess of debt and weakened international prospects. China now produces mag-lev trains like Japan whereas American infrastructure is stuck in the 20th Century at best. Given the Chinese are growing in excess of 5% a year and our growth rate is 2% over the long haul, Chinese dominance is increasing rapidly. China’s economic dominance is not even discussed or rebutted because of American corruption: The top .1% benefit short term by this outsourcing. In the end, with the lack of concern for the mass of its citizens , which is characteristic of a social-democracy like Germany we will descend to the level of corruption of Brazil, if we have not gotten there already. These issues which are much more serious that this Russian distraction is not even discussed in “serious” circles.
serious circles probably see a return to feudalism as the only “sustainable” future
My Opinion on video about the CIA is they are a bunch of criminals and thugs.
I just made a video about the crimes of CIA over 100 years. https://www.facebook.com/amidyousef/videos/10154822521518444/
I am very worried in some form or another the CIA will rear its criminal head again
and manage to evade extradition to SYRIA to be tried for war crimes just committed in our homeland SYRIA!
All in my opinion… see other episodes at my personal website
While Mr. Greenwald is correct to mention the lack of substantiation in Christopher Steele’s dossier accompanying the secret Russian hacking report shared with Trump and Obama, his vociferous and kneejerk damning of the Democratic party in this article is without substantiation, especially given the fact that Mr. Greenwald reports that Senator McCain leaked the document. The fact that some reporters and commentators discussed the contents of the memo in a way that risked violating standards of journalistic integrity is an indictment against individual reporters and commentators, not a political party. The Dems are reeling from an election disaster and by and large they’ve managed to limit their accusations and allegations to things supported by relevant and material evidence, unlike the alt-right and Republicans like Duncan Hunter who specialize in dressing up irrelevant and immaterial evidence in smoking gun outfits to fool uncritical thinkers into believing their claims. There may be more to the dossier that the IC omitted from the appendix to the secret report out legitimate fear that the sources would go dark and evidence would be destroyed in Russia if it were identified. The entire “unsubstantiated” story may be an intentional ruse to buy time for the IC to follow up on leads provided directly to the IC by Steele. And if the salacious claims were so unsubstantiated why did Trump rush to defend himself and waste time and credibility burning bridges with the IC, which did Trump a favor by sharing with him claims made by an ex spy to the Democratic party so he could add that info to the likes of info about the Dems he obtained from the Russians. Trump usually is quite content to make unsubstantiated claims in his tweets, so his extraordinary defensiveness in the face of the dossier smacks of guilt.
That is demonstrably false. All that Greenwlad writes about Democrats is either supported or so generally well-known as to not require it.
That’s reality inverted. The Democrats have gone insane, approaching Trumpian levels of irrationality and divorce from fact-based beliefs. See Greenwald on Democracy Now! last week, where he said in part:
And it’s not just Greenwald deeply alarmed by the Democratic Party’s extensive flight from reason. Journalists with special expertise in Russia, such as Matt Taibbi, are also very concerned.
Greenwald is too sure of himself here. Sure, the Dems took it on the chin in November, 2016. But they did make gains in the Senate and got nearly 3 million more votes out for Hillary. These are not signs of an historic collapse or a”landslide” as Trump and Pence keep repeating in the media. Citing a few bloggers and Democracy Now! (A small media operation) as indisputable evidence of the majority of members of the Democratic party concocting some rediculous and unsubstantiated reason for losing the election is a shaky way of convincing someone of your point of view. The sour grapes here are based on allegations of improper and illegal manipulation of the wider election process by insiders (e.g., Comey) and foreign intermeddling (e.g., DNC hacks). Most of us Dems are with Obama in ceding power to election winners, but when the incoming leader shows contempt for the process (e.g., his tweet before the election that the electoral college is a “disaster” and his refusal to continue complaining about it when it was the only thing that allowed him to win), right thinking Americans of all parties begin to complain. If Dems turn out to be the majority of these complainers, that’s more evidence of Dems being admirable patriots than anything else.
” 3 million more votes out for Hillary”
Lol, from where? 3 coastal states with high density populations… When the swell becomes big enough, it will push those democrat cesspools into the ocean and we will be liberated from their fake rage tyranny.
Hope I live to see the day…
Well put. This is exactly what the Russians want.
Excellent article!
And to the commenter below me(why can’t I respond to any comments here?): You think GG supports Trump because he doesn’t support the murderous Clinton cabal and the awful Deep state that was to use her lack of morals for their bidding?
That’s cute.
If you dare even question the Red Scare narrative in Dem circles now, you are a Putin Stooge. I’ve been a Yellow Dog Dem all my life, but since I’m addicted to reason and truth, I’m accused of getting weekly checks from the Kremlin, signed by Putin himself ;)
I agree there needs to be a system of “Support/non-support” for the comments section. Good comments will rise while dingy mud-slinging will fall off the edge. One can read through in real time or as posted, but for the stories with 1800+ comments a way to sort them would be nice.
180 of these–a full 10% of the comments–are -Mona- either starting a comment or -Mona- replying to a comment.
Maybe the -Mona- filter needs to be changed.
They’re working on acquiring some quality control for the comments. Scroll past pests such as Communete, and substantive, informative posts are found throughout this long thread. One of mine here. There are others from a variety of contributors.
Seriously, Glenn? At this point, I’m starting to think you’re a Trump supporter.
What? So if he calls fake news “Fake News”, he is a Trump supporter. Dude, until recently, I was a liberal. I totally understand why only 30% in 2016 trusted the mainstream media. That number is going down.
I give credit to Glenn and Julian Assange for shining a spotlight on Bush and Obama.
Glen, My understanding is that Trump got less votes than Mitt Romney at the last US election. Clinton got far fewer votes than Obama. It is pretty clear both candidates failed to get support but the proven cheating of the Hillary camp against Sanders turned off many voters who stayed home rather than supporting a corrupt candidate. This is despite the same non voters despising Trump. Democrats are now losing more support because of the clear attempts by the Deep State and undemocratic Democrats to get rid of Trump on very obvious and idiotic fabricated information.
If the Democrats want to survive they need a clean out of the self serving space wasters who have abandoned the Party’s principles and supporters. The time is now opportune to get some new young and honest candidates rather than rerunning geriatrics who have for too long relied on the largess provided as corporate bribery. Imagine a young honest candidate like Tulsi Gabbard taking on Trump. She is both intelligent and thoughtful towards the American people and prepared to tell the truth to the people. The revived Democrats will need address inequality and to wind back the Deep State and empower and listen to their supporters if they want a future. Not just soft soap them at election time.
Gary Younge has been on fire recently: How Barack Obama paved the way for Donald Trump
158 comments by Mona. Over 8% of the thread. She’s under par on this one.
Reply.
And that’s just her replies alone. The 158 (now 159) figure doesn’t include her originating posts on this page.
Reply.
Britain has long — since Tony Blair, at least — wanted to become the 51st state. California, on the other hand, would love (and I support it) to secede from the rest of the US; surely nobody doubts it would fit well in, and strengthen, the EU.
So, why not just do a quick Brexit and Calexit, and switch Unions?
I’m not exactly sure what to make of you. On many issues you’re entirely reasonable, even insightful. Multiple of your earlier comments caused me to think otherwise. [shrug]
Weeeell, perhaps because many of my earlier comments were critical of GG. Could that have anything to do with it, you think?
The criticisms spewed to and about him are frequently idiotic. From several directions, right and left, as well as center. At times I’ve criticized parts of his article, as well as his handling of promises about improvements in this comments section, but the broad-brush stuff is virtually always bullshit.
I’ve said before that I admire GG. However, I do think that particularly in his prevous article abt truth and the NYT, but also in this one, though to a lesser extent, he has gone a bit too far in finding evidence for his conclusions, putting them on shaky grounds.
I also said that his track record as a reporter/commenter of the news is long and solid, so it can withstand an occassional error of overextension in his claims.
In any case, my criticisms are meant to be constructive. In addition, I mostly share the points of view that are expressed in this site, though perhaps I take a more moderate approach to some than is the rule here.
PS. It’s getting to the point that I can barely post a comment on this page. The longer it gets, the worse it is.
We’ve been carping and righteously whining about the shitty commenting software since the outset in ’14, and repeatedly promised great things are coming any minute now. Hasn’t happened yet.
The Intercept keeps telling me “Something went wrong” as I refresh the page, which is pretty funny as so many tech experts work here. It’s a bit off-putting, though. Perhaps I’m commenting too much.
All day I’ve been getting the “something went wrong” message, which has happened before. And yes, that, and the cheapskate commenting software, is ironic for a site that employs such powerhouse tech staff. It should be embarrassing.
At the risk of repeating myself, sometimes a pop-up box mysteriously appears telling me “you’ve already said that”!
@ Mona
wrt the Taibbi
>”I’m far more scared of our own soaring Idiocracy factor than I am of Russia.”
A. It’s a low down crying shame the Intercept couldn’t work things out with the Taibbi … cab fare ffs!(?) and B. I’m far more concerned about the raving lunatics on the TV than the “Deep State” and Putin put together … but I repeat myself./
Agrees, I think Taibbi is…prickly. He had serious conflict with some of his staff, not just the issue with cab fare.
It’s your page Mona. You do something about it.
Glenn dealing with a dimwitted BBC journalist, on the subjects of: Trump, Russia, the CIA, Wikileaks and the emails.
“Deep State” is nervous about Trump
Because he is not stable. That’s the word used, and concern expressed, by a member of the UK’s Israeli embassy staff, caught on video by an under-cover reporter. The same embassy staffer who was organizing the destruction of UK politicians, as discussed (with a link to the documentary) in my post below.
You’ve expressed that same neurosis yourself. If the NYT, or the NY Daily News, or MSNBC, or CNN says something about Trump, then that’s the establishment line you’re comfortable with. Because you want GGs site accepted as establishment.
Reply.
He is showing every indication that he will be a ‘good dog’ for the establishment, in my opinion, regardless of how unpredictable he has appeared in the campaign. He is doing all the MIC wants, all Wall Street wants, all Israel wants, and then some. AIPAC loves him, as does Goldman Sachs, and all the arms manufacturers.
“He” being Donald Deep State Trump. He’s as much establishment as Clinton, for fuck’s sake, and is bending over backwards to show it, despite the media circus.
Trump is not remotely as establishment as Clinton. His opposition to the TPP alone makes that clear. Moreover, he’s entirely lacking in the polish and sophistication, as well as predictability, the establishment craves.
His opposition to the TPP is at the moment just words, and Clinton said much the same, but I’m glad he’s sticking to it so far. Any other anti-establishment behavior by Trump? No.
Weeeell, perhaps because many of my earlier comments were critical of GG. Could that have anything to do with it, you think?
OOOOPS! Another misplaced comment; this one was intended for Mona, above.
Sorry, my browser has serious trouble dealing w/ this web page.
His position on immigration runs counter to the establishment. Wall Street has always flirted with open borders because of the cheap workforce. (Which is why unions must include immigrants.)
Again, Trump is not stable; he’s unpredictable. That makes Deep State nervous. As the embassy staffer revealed, he’s not seen as reliably one of them.
Obama has deported more people than any other president, and I think the establishment expects Trump to tone down his nonsense to be somewhat roughly equivalent to that, or perhaps to use him to stretch the envelope that much further. And I see Trump behaving with notable good behavior toward the actual powers that be, regardless of how much bluster he puts on for show.
As I said, Big Banks love him, arms sellers love him, the military loves him, the Republican Congress are ready to support him and the Democrats are rolling over to allow his cabinet with hardly any fuss. And did you see the response he got from AIPAC?
Donald Trump AIPAC Full Speech
He was very popular with that crowd; there were certainly no signs they thought he was remotely ‘unstable.’
Maisie, the GOP establishment clearly saw him as unstable and an utter horror, all throughout the primaries. It’s preposterous to state otherwise. Glenn made that same (true) observation at many times.
That you think Trump will not do this or that doesn’t change how he’s perceived — and why — by establishment operatives and politicians. You can even argue Shai Masot (the Israeli embassy staffer) is wrong, but you can’t reasonably argue he does not believe Trump is unstable.
I’m saying that now the Deep State obviously want him as president he is being an overtly good dog for them, despite the residual and useful theater of his (false) reputation as an outsider trying to shake things up. I’m sure lots of individuals (and most non-GOP voters) think he’s unstable, just as many reactionaries in and out of power really think Obama is a Muslim socialist (!) at heart, but the Powers That Be and the right-wing generally (which, let’s face it is most politicians, behind the charade) seem pretty confident that Trump (like Obama) will not be rocking their corrupt boat to any great extent.
I don’t find all this harrumphing very convincing. Trump is now the face of the system.
Absolutely true, but that merely shows Obama isn’t pleasing to Wall Street on that issue, not that Trump also is not. Because the Wall Street Journal is so heavily paywalled I can’t link to them, but their editorials and coverage of Obama’s deportation policy is reported to be very critical.
I’m going to leave it here. I want to say thanks for all the in-depth discussions here, not just to you but to Doug and the whole lot of regulars. My new lover is more than a little concerned that I spend so much of my sparse free time here, plus I’ve got academic projects I need to work on that are going to need all my attention now. I was going to quit posting at the inauguration, but it looks like I’m going to be taking my leave before then, probably with this post (my darling seems happy about this).
It’s been a ride, Mona. Take good care of yourself, and keep at the bastards for me.
obama talks about deportations like a graduate seminar in cross-cultural social equilibria; trump talks about deportations like deportations
He’s doing some of what the MIC wants. He’s not gung-ho for war with Russia or even the fear of it. He talks about an international coalition to destroy ISIS, which necessarily means less weapons bought by the USA to fight them since others will be too. Of course some of them will use MIC contractors but not all (e.g. Russia will not).
Plus of course this is how he is before the inauguration, before he can fire whoever in the intelligence community might be a threat to him. Diplomacy is the art of saying “Nice doggy” while reaching for a rock.
Being an American these days is a source of embarrassment.
“Yes We Can” sounds clumsy and left field and ‘what the-‘ and ‘where did that come from’ because, reversed, it’s actually more clear; it phonetically translates in backward to “Thank you Satan”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvqHoLqgdBo
It’s a spell on America. Just one form of the ways globalists who manage Obama (and W before him) are expressing their objective.
I’ve heard of people playing Beatles’ records backwards, and this is similarly ridiculous.
Back at the Guardian, he also endorsed the “sex kitten” conspiracy. Initially, I found this all rather entertaining. But a constant flood of it, not so much.
“Sex kitten” is your words. You’ve already lost credibility with your readers downthread.
Reply.
Brennan: Trump needs to toe the intelligence comunity’s line and get tough on Russia, else the US as we know it will come to an end.
Bet the Donald will be beaten into submission before he takes the oath of office.
Meanwhile, Ash Carter, on Charlie Rose, offered some novel advice to the new administration on how to deal with these vexing foreign threats that we face:
The way to stop the Russian threat is with forceful US deterrence; the Chinese threat, deterrence; the North Koreans, deterrence; the Iranians, deterrence.
Carter didnt seem to think that perhaps it’s the US that’s in urgent need of being deterred.
Trump is already indicating to the Deep State that he’s willing to get with the program in such “deterrence”:
Navy, Trump planning biggest fleet expansion since Cold War
And in the case of Iran, it could well be more than deterrence Trump and his advisors (and evidently the Deep State, who now apparently think it’ll be an easier run than regime-change in Syria – which is being postponed, I guess) have in mind, as the military authoritarians in place in the cabinet are eager to agree with Israel that Iran should be messed with.
Yeah, Trump is more than a bit inconsistent in his foreign policy inclinations, being dovish on Russia but hawkish on China. Perhaps the Deep State strategy is to encourage his hawkish side to flourish while pressuring him hard to put sharp beaks and talons on his doves. My prediction — hope I’m wrong — is that he will CAVE.
The Iran angle is tricky, because it could lead to serious a confrontation between the superpowers.
As long as Iran is not proceeding with its nuclear program, it’s exceedingly difficult to come w/ a legal excuse to attack it. So if a US/Israel coalition tried to do so it may bring in the Russians who would see its influence seriously weakened in the area, as without strong Iranian support Syria (meaning its current regime) would then again be in jeopardy. and Russia would be hard put to do anything about it.
Interesting points. Trump has given no signs recently that he wishes to interfere with NATO’s intimidating encroachment on Russia, nor with Obama’s several wars, dirty and otherwise, nor with the ‘pivot’ to Asia, nor drone strikes etc., and that he appears with his military cabinet selections to want to now put Iran in the gunsight (as you say, this will take some propaganda, but if Trump’s supporters won’t argue and the Democrats continue to just lay down on the job – Obama’s just given him MORE executive power!) is indeed an indication that Trump has already begun to “cave” to corporate and other interests comprising the Deep State, if he ever was opposed to them. I’ve always been skeptical that he was an outsider, but what better way to get the job done for the Deep State than pretend that he is one…
Obama was similarly portrayed as an outsider, and he simply made the entrenchment of corruption even worse, even setting the tone for unauthorized wars, further unconstitutional invasions and even targeting U.S citizens for death without due process. And now Trump has these powers, and the only pushback he’s getting is about whether someone pissed on a prostitute for his amusement or whether Russia sent an email to WikiLeaks.
I suspect Obama was forced to cave in as well. Now, I absolutely abhor conspiracy theories on the grounds that they’re often in the eye of the beholder, so I have to say “suspect” as opposed to “think” or “believe” because it’s obviously speculation on my part.
But he came in talking abt resets, offering hands and unclenching fists, then went on to pusue a farily aggresive policies leading to the Ukraine fiasco, the nurturing (if not birthing) the Syrian civil war, etc, etc.
So how does one explain this change of heart? Russian aggression? Nyet, since the Russian moves followed the US’s, which came first.
Bill Hicks said each president is shown “the film”:
Bill Hicks • Mr. President, any questions?
It isn’t that hard to threaten someone, or their family, if you have the kind of power the elite do.
It’s fascinating to me that all the “infowars” types (one of whom put up that video) are now convinced Trump is anti-establishment, and that the general election win was legitimate – even though the hackable-voting-machine reality was indeed just as factual before the election as afterward (something Jill Stein tried to demonstrate, only to find that the establishment – even Democratic States – crushed her requests). Just because Trump won, all the conspiracies are forgotten, and his cowardly submission to Israel utterly ignored, and all signs of his being a Deep State puppet dismissed. Indeed, the infowars people are laughably somewhat in agreement with Greenwald (!) insofar as saying the Deep State is “out to get him,” and they go further and say the system wants to stop the inauguration! As if!! Seems to me the establishment loves the guy, not merely for his controversial image being a media draw but also because he’s a great disguise for making their puppety corporatist-militarist use of him look like ‘rebellion,’ for Christ’s sake.
The problem with America is tribalism, which the establishment manipulates easily. Each tribe will believe anything as long as it serves their cause, then will be hypocritical about it whenever convenient.
Personally I don’t think Obama or Trump needed much convincing to toe the line – I reckon they’re both
weasels and have always been so. But things like “the film” or “we have proof of your embarrassing sexual life” or “nice gamily ya got there – too bad if something was to happen” will certainly keep the pressure on.
Fie on you, spellcheck! In the last sentence ‘gamily’ should be ‘family,’ obviously.
Since I’ve made another post out of the correction anyway, I’ll put up my (latest) favorite music video just to share some joy in these dark times:
Alizee (4 mins)
I’m not sure I’d go as far as suggesting the Deep State uses actual life-threats to person or family to compel submission. I think it would be very difficult to keep such a secret, so it would have come to light by now.
On the other hand… can it be totally, completely and utterly ruled out? It’s difficult to go that far, too.
“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!”
Obama’s fate was sealed when chose HRC as Secretary of State.
Izzat just because she was a Deep State mole that burrowed close to Obama tasked to do the job of polluting and subverting his innocent and therefore vulnerable mind?
Or is there some insidious and/or nefarious reason why that’s the case?
”
threats from a resurgent Russia and saber rattling China”?????
It is NATO including the USA which is surrounding Russia with nuclear missiles and the USA has heavily increased its defensive missiles in breach of agreements with Russia. China has been receiving threatening noises from the USA which has a barrage of military bases built close to China as well as US and Australian warships prowling up and down the Chinese coast. Yes China has built islands to host missiles but these are anti missile missiles to create an Israeli like missile shield to protect China against the 400 US military bases encircling China . China has built these islands to protect its citizens and resources off the coast rather than on land where the fallout would cause more harm. I think most of us who are allies of the USA are sick of this bullying and see the USA as the greatest threat to mankind.
All this talk of Communete and “Brother Nathaniel” piqued my curiosity, weirdly enough, but I must say I can’t quite understand how Brother Nathaniel’s “work” fits in with Communete’s evident adoration of Donald Trump.
This Nathaniel guy absolutely hates Jews, from what I can gather, and like many anti-Semites has some valid things to say about institutional Israel’s manic violence and disgusting belief-system as manifest in Netanyahu’s right-wing. Brother Nathaniel is UTTERLY opposed to Donald Trump’s obsequious catering to AIPAC – and has some on-point, extremely strong criticisms of Trump’s military agenda and subservience to Israel’s agenda (please note that as I said, truly accurate and insightful information not covered by the media is here mixed with pepperings of evident vitriol and prejudice):
Trump’s ‘Mad Dog’ Military Policy
So, as I said, Communete’s apparently unconditional support of Trump flies straight in the face of this, and seems entirely incongruous.
And here’s the oddball Nathaniel arguing vehemently against Trump’s grovelling before AIPAC with regard to moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem:
Don’t Move The Embassy Mr Trump!
If anyone can explain how support of Trump and “fuck you” to AIPAC go together, I’d appreciate it, as Trump is obviously in love with and in thrall to Israel, as this weirdo points out.
I guess I’ve been spelling the guy’s name wrong: It’s “Nathaneal” But I doubt he’s reading this, so what the hell.
Antisemites on the lunatic fringe, such as Communete or this Nathanael freak, live in their own universes where their various positions do not need to constitute a coherent platform. This Nathanael thinks, e.g., that Obama, Jews and assorted others are plotting to make people gay. These are not minds interested in, or even capable of, logical consistency. (Why would Jews or Obama even care to do this, if it could even be done?)
We’ve had fiercely pro-Trump commenters here who are deeply antisemitic as well as anti-Zionist. One of them, dahoit, “explained” that Trump “has to” say and do some of the pro-Israel things he does, so that he can do the right things eventually. This minsaet cannot be reasoned with.
This Nathaneal guy has some legitimate concerns with the Israel/Deep State/Trump agenda confluence, in my opinion. I didn’t watch any of his videos about gays or anything else (and with my being bisexual I’m sure he’d hate me) – but the criticism of the military lunacy and Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is on point, and from the list of vids he’s got up on his channel his major points are far more on this sort of line than anything else, which is why I can’t understand Communete’s fondness for him Is it just the gay-hating thing Communete likes, and he ignores the rest (that would be hard to do, from the looks of things!)?
Maisie, the bottom line is it was once easy to keep pro-Palestinians marginalized by focusing on sickos like Nathanael — that is not the mindset that assists us. the Palestinians’ cause is no longer bereft of many smart, sophisticated outlets and spokespeople.
We not only do not need the Nathanaels of this world, they must be shunned. Bigots should be given no quarter.
I think you’re missing my point. I’ve expressed all necessary reservations and caveats about the guy, and I’m not trying to use him for the Palestinian cause. I’m pointing out that support for Trump is entirely incongruous with opposition to Israel’s agenda whether from legitimate or tainted sources. And this can’t simply be dismissed, as this ties in very strongly with what is to my mind a wrong notion that Trump is a ‘rebel’ to the Deep State. Indeed, Trump is more and more resembling a cleverly-disguised Trojan horse for the establishment’s realization of its most horrendous goals.
Interesting. Explain why you believe that. Especially in light of the fact that deep state corporate media pulled out all the stops in attempting to delegitimize him and still are.
It’s just his money, right?
1). THE DEEP STATE’S GOALS ARE CONTINUED CORPORATISM, MILITARISM AND IMPERIALISM. It uses the theater of “opposing” major Parties to further these goals.
2). DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET SELECTIONS OF TYPICAL ESTABLISHMENT FIGURES AND MILITARY AUTHORITARIANS DO NOTHING TO INTERFERE WITH THESE DEEP STATE AIMS. Indeed, these picks indicate willing subservience to Big Energy, Big Banks and the military-industrial complex.
Trump has shown no real signs of decreasing Obama’s obscene levels of warmongering; in fact there are strong signs that Trump is in favor of attacking Iran as well as continuing all ongoing assaults. Also, Trump wants to expand the war-machine, showing that even his touted de-escalation of tension with Russia is but a façade (see supplemental comment below). Nor does Trump want to de-militarize the police or the security state which Obama has entrenched. Renowned Libertarian Ron Paul from 11.00 to 13.00 minutes in this clip reveals his profound misgivings about Trump’s obviously Deep State warmongering and anti-civil-libertarian cabinet picks.
3). THE GENERAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED IN TRUMP’S FAVOR BY THE DEEP STATE. Hillary Clinton was quite obviously going to win if the election was legitimate, but her doubling-down on the ill-advised no-fly zone in Syria alarmed the Powers That Be that in this important regard she was a loose cannon. Jill Stein attempted to show the rigging, not because Stein preferred Clinton but to show that Americans do not in fact live in a democracy at all – however, her attempt was humiliatingly crushed by the establishment.
4). THE DEEP STATE IS ADAMANTLY PRO-ZIONIST. This isn’t because of loyal, religious or apocalyptic reasons, but merely because the Middle East outpost of Israel is essential for the imperialist Deep State’s assertion of Full Spectrum Dominance across the globe. Donald Trump has signalled utter capitulation to this strategic motif.
So it is, then, that Trump is no real threat to the Deep State, and the Deep State knows it – regardless of the theater and intrigue being presented by the establishment. This latest exertion on the shadow government’s behalf is simply a reminder to him to know his place – something he has already indicated he will do, in no uncertain terms.
Supplemental comment:
Navy, Trump planning biggest fleet expansion since Cold War
The two phenomena are unrelated. Nathanael and supporters like Communete, or overt antisemities like dahoit, are not capable of reasoned analysis. They not only connect dots that have no relationship to one another, they manufacture them. Any support — or lack thereof — this cohort offers to Donald Trump demonstrates nothing about the Deep State.
By contrast, the intelligence agencies and other constituent parts to what can reasonably be identified as the “Deep State,” are generally quite rational. When they promote falsehoods, that is done wittingly. They are not unhinged; they are venal and immoral. They wouldn’t be caught dead ranting about Satan, Jews trying to make us all gay, or anything else manifestly absurd. They’re too polished and sophisticated for such errors.
Well, the infowars crowd are unfortunately adopting any arguments of ‘establishment’ rejection of Trump for their own preposterous purposes, similar to Obama’s administration calling al Qaeda offshoots “rebels” (to make people think of Star Wars or something), so I find the overlay of unintentional or unwitting promotion of this idea that Trump is really an outsider quite troublesome.
But yes, Trump’s supporters, particularly these types, don’t appear to give a damn whether they make sense or not, any more than Obama’s or Clinton’s fanatics do.
This is recent, for the Democratic establishment beginning to “think” and spew as feverishly as the Infowars cohort. They seem to have let emotion trump (ahem) their capacity to reason as a result of Trump’s election. That’s why many of us find it so frightening. I’ll repeat what Matt Taibbi tweeted:
Having the moves and shakers of both major parties abandon themselves to unreason does not bode well for the culture or country.
It’s just tribalism (which the Deep State manipulates as theater to ensure a united country doesn’t align to defeat the 1%), and both sides have been doing it at least as long as I’ve been alive (over two decades).
Glenn himself points out what hypocrites the Democrats were once he started criticizing Obama; suddenly hating him although they’d loved him going after Bush and Cheney.
psst, hey Maisie. i don’t hate gays (but these Warren supporters do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THz8RlkrQPQ ( and rJIUxBMXyQQ))
It’s occurred to you Mona is trying to mislead and obfuscate and create straw comments because i’m not reciting leftist corporate media orthodoxy on Mona’s Glenn Greenwald site? no?
No, I can’t say it’s ever occurred to me that Mona would think Greenwald and corporate media orthodoxy are at all similar, or that she would be so strangely and peculiarly petty as to dismiss you for non-conformism (though it’s certainly obvious she finds you obnoxious and wants you to go away); nor does what you’ve linked to explain how you can support Trump’s subservience to Israel when you claim he is independent of establishment influences.
But I’m glad you don’t hate gays.
For me to dismiss someone on the basis of non-conformity would be like a nun dismissing advocates of chastity.
And Trump’s selection of military lunatics like Mad Dog Mattis and Flynn, who have a complete hate on for Iran, could never be dismissed as just Trump having only rhetorical support for Israel’s wishes.
But maybe as you seem to imply, Trump supporters are just not thinking it through, just relieved that they “won” and can rub Democrats’ noses in the dirt.
This is some serious malarkey, though, and may reveal the Deep State’s agenda (they love Israel for its contribution to their Full Spectrum Dominance, after all) now – and that’s extremely troubling. Iran would not be a walk in the park, and Trump doesn’t seem keen on undoing all the crap Obama is already doing, either.
Remember, to get the support of the rabid antisemites all he has to do is be less pro-Israel than Hillary. So only prepared to sacrifice his _second_ born to appease them. So the desperate and deluded grab any indication that a potential President won’t sell them down the river for a few Jewish votes and donations.
That said Trump doesn’t seem to be on board with the “Kill everything that isn’t Israel between Turkey, Indian and Sudan” plan. That seemed to be designed to benefit Israel (well certainly it didn’t benefit anyone else).
“and like many anti-Semites has some valid things to say about institutional Israel’s manic violence and disgusting belief-system as manifest in Netanyahu’s right-wing.”
I resemble that comment.
Okay, I wasn’t going to presume.
Israeli espionage to “take down” elected officials of Western governments
An undercover journalist has exposed conspiracies to destroy various British officials and political activists at the direction of the Israeli government. In this 4-part documentary, multiple Israeli embassy staff and others are revealed in their machinations to falsely claim non-compliant Labour or Conservative Party officials are “antisemites.” With the explicit goal of “taking them out.”
Conversations these Israeli and British operatives didn’t know were being recorded, show that prominent Labour Party members accused of antisemitic commentary — and subjected to formal investigation — did not say what they stand accused of. These operatives believe that Zionist Jews are entitled — in the words of one — to “safe spaces,” from any political views or questions that make them “uncomfortable.”
Amazingly, AIPAC is involved in much of this — including with money — with the goal of making the UK government as Israel-compliant as the United States.
What remains to be done, is a similar expose on the Israel Lobby’s purchase and control of U.S. politicians. Among the strategies adopted in the UK are front companies, supposedly private businesses run by Israel to oppose pro-Palestinian activists. This, and worse, is almost certainly also occurring here in America.
Imagine if we had such evidence of Russian interference in the American political process. It would be handled by both parties — and their supporting media — quite differently than this hysteria we are seeing over Russia.
“Amazingly, AIPAC is involved in much of this — including with money — with the goal of making the UK government as Israel-compliant as the United States.”
funny how just a few million people are always meddling, influencing even, foreign governments of countries with 100s of million citizens.
AIPAC, AEI, CFR, etc.
Zionists. Zionists are meddling. Jews are among those criticizing and exposing them.
“…multiple Israeli embassy staff and others are revealed in their machinations to falsely claim non-compliant Labour or Conservative Party officials are “antisemites.”
Well, of course, that’s just everyday modus operandi, xcpt that in the US there’s no particular need for embassy staff to get involved, as pro-Israel zealots are a dime a dozen and willing to take up the fight against any criticism of Israel at any time.
It’s hard to forget what happened 10 yrs ago when Jimmy Carter came out w/ his book critical of Israel policies that he felt put the country on the path to apartheid and (maybe more to the point) some time later professors Mearsheimer and Walt published “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy”.
A vicious and vitriolic pack of Israel defenders (w/ ultra-ultra Zionist Alan Dershowitz in the lead) came out and practically ate all three of them raw.
So, I dare Al Jazeera give it a try.
Thank you for injecting some sanity into this debate. I would love it if you would consider doing a story on the CIA and intelligence community infiltrating the media with its agents as reporters. I’ve seen documentaries that referred to a program but don’t know much more about it and think that you’re the reporter who could do it justice. Thank you for all your hard work
BusinessInsider.com today revives Steele dossier:
“Explosive memos suggest that a Trump-Russia tit-for-tat [sic] was at the heart of the GOP’s dramatic shift on Ukraine”
————————————–
On Nytimes.com today, Carlos Lozada steps out of line to critique Obama’s personality cult:
“The early drafts of the Obama legacy are in–and they’re way over the top”
Whoops, Lozada on washingtonpost.com, rather than nytimes.com.
From Kevin’s link:
I wonder if there was also an incentive for Russia to “sideline” the issue of EUKUSA/NATO interference in Ukrainie — the actual trigger for the ongoing disaster there.
Cookies, anyone?
this came across my “desk” today:
(washington)
c steele of MI6 is alleged to have met with wolverine this weekend to discuss the other x men
also implicated was the 4.6 lb dog that saved a baby from floodwaters
steele “cant be sure” that other small dogs are not trying to smear the x men
wolverine could not be reached for comment
READERS: The commentator (and self-styled “researcher”) Mona is so clueless that she had to be later convinced that Luke Rudkowski and We Are Change are truther. She’s that informed and curious about her world.
She stopped repeatedly invoking SPLC in her arguments a few years ago after she was shown this:
http://harpers.org/blog/2010/04/morris-dees-a-life-fighting-poverty/
Nothing you say to or about me can be believed, including all of that. You are a lunatic, who think Satanists are controlling the minds of thousands.
In sum: you are a nut, one who has often been banned here for crapflooding the board with your hallucinations. Some intelligent commentary can be found by scrolling past you.
Nice, Mona. Are you now actually trying to lose credibility with readers?
https://theintercept.com/2016/12/31/russia-hysteria-infects-washpost-again-false-story-about-hacking-u-s-electric-grid/?comments=1#comment-329198
You are a moron. My not initially being aware of a minor leaguer’s trutherism is relevant to nothing, and certainly says nothing about my “curiosity.” What I do have expertise in is the sociology of unhinged conspiracy theorists such as you. But I’m quite past being curious about YOUR manifestation of this unfortunate affliction.
Now, I have a new post up about an actually important matter. STFU and let the rational people — people who haven’t banned as crapflooding trolls who are evading the bans — carry on.
Readers (including Mona): Communete is a waste of space and precious electrons (there may be as few as ten to the eightieth in the observable universe — from here out to about 14 billion light years from here).
So, please, phasers on kill one last time and then, if it refuses to die, just fucking ignore it.
Doug Damn It All To Hell Salzmann: You engineered the telephony, this creation, you’re its father and damn it all to hell. Just when you cut off all telephony contact, it drags you back in. Damn it all to hell Doug.
If he keeps spamming the board with his political lunacy, I will remind everyone that he’s a loon.
READERS: The commenter “Communete” is a crapdflooding, far-right conspiracy theorist (who believes in Satanic/Illuminati plots) who’s been banned here multiple times. Please scroll past it.
Glenn,
Come on now….you know Trump’s in on the game.
As for Eisenhower…..this was a guy that in his capacity as
the supreme commander, expressed his life-long hatred of the German people
by ordering war prisoners to be reclassified as “unarmed combatants” to
evade the humane obligations of the Geneva Convention, and so committed
one of the crimes of the century holding German prisoners behind barbed-wire
stockades exposed to the elements without food or water, sanitation or
medical supplies, in an ocean of mud and excrement. Over 1,700,000 soldiers
died of deliberate exposure and starvation in this merciless act of savage
barbarity.
He was a willing tool used to make it clear that populist movements will not be tolerated.
His speech on the MIC was to make it appear that there are rogue elements in the government that are at odds with the ‘righteous’ government leaders.
And look how this myth has carried down to the present with the latest fake information about the CIA or FBI being at odds.
You’ve got to know that this is all misdirection.
The Bond franchise even re-enforced this fake notion in their latest film.
This charade is too classic to be missed.
The ‘deep state’/CIA internal war is just another in a long history of CIA tactics playing both sides of the game.
To the extent any of the ‘alternative’ media are supporting this con, it becomes clear that they’re either missing the obvious or they’re also in on the game.
Where do you fall here?
Cheers
When a deluded, easily suggestible progressive left is thwarted, it goes increasingly freak show. And again with a limited vocabulary, be it “folks,” or “1%,” or–particular to Hollywood–strung monologue:
http://video.wmagazine.com/watch/emma-stone-natalie-portman-and-chris-pine-perform-i-will-survive
Says the fuckwit who thinks “Brother Nathanael” makes a lot of sense.
In a contest of ideas, the progressive left knows it’s on an uphill climb without censoring the words of their political opponents. Preventing their words from seeing the light of print. NYT knows that much, Salon knows that much, the Guardian knows that much.
““If you try to go tweet-to-tweet with [Trump], more often than not you’re not going to succeed,” a candidate to lead the Democratic National Committee said at a forum.” -The New York Times, Jan. 15, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/us/politics/democrats-donald-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
Because the left understands it lacks the logical rigor and vocabulary to argue a point, same as in other venues including here.
Plus, Twitter is tailor made for Trump because his words around censored or deliberately taken out of context by a now increasingly marginalized, globalist progressive left corporate media.
aren’t
Oh, absolutely. Unlike yourself, who admires this man as a font of political wisdom. pfft.
Prison Planet wants you. Go there.
How true – nobody does suicidal tweets better than F…face von Clownstick.
And it has nothing to do with being liberal or not – as it separates Decent Human Beings form F…faces von Clownsticks.
F…face von Clownstick, lol??!…You’re talking about obama, right? Good one, hahaha!
Israel is getting hung on the Russia-hysteria petard
Al Jazeera has done a marvelous series — based on undercover reporting — of Israel’s attempts to subvert and control politicians in the UK. Which is nothing new, and not confined to the UK.
Latest story here — at bottom is a link to a 4-part video series on the machinations of UK’s Israel Lobby.
They’d never do one abt us, for existential reasons. Theyknow they wouldn’t recover from the vicious counterattack that would surely follow.
– and the problem with this kind of articles –
Not only ‘the Deep State’ – but every decent Human Being – starting with Meryl Streep – goes to war with this… (fill in you favorite expression) – and who cares about any ‘Unverified Claims’ if the Verified Claims are already sickening and disgusting beyond every believe?
– As not only ‘Democrats’ but every decent Human in the whole world cheers on…
You are grossly mistaken. Decent and intelligent people, people with a grasp of history, do not endorse powerful, unelected factions peddling layers of anonymous, evidence-free bullshit to the public. Especially not about a nuclear superpower.
‘Decent and intelligent people, people with a grasp of history, do not endorse powerful, unelected factions peddling layers of anonymous, evidence-free bullshit to the public.’
‘Especially not about a nuclear superpower.’
As for Putin goes the same as for F…face von Clownstick – we don’t more evidence to come to a decent and intelligent conclusion opposing them to the utmost degree.
Matt Taibbi — who spent about a decade as a journalist in Russsia — put it best on Twitter:
Everybody – please try to stay OT!
‘There are solutions to Trump. They involve reasoned strategizing and patient focus on issues people actually care about.’
The creation of well paying Jobs for American workers.
‘Whatever those solutions are, venerating the intelligence community, begging for its intervention, and equating its dark and dirty assertions as Truth are most certainly not among them.’
As SNL and US comedians are far more effective.
‘Doing that cannot possibly achieve any good and is already doing much harm.’
As SNL and US comedians are far more effective – the intelligence community is more or less irrelevant – but probably not as irrelevant as F…face von Clownstick?
It’s called thread drift, and not only has it always happened in Greenwald’s space, he endorses it. The drift generally occurs in the direction of issues he otherwise deals with, but not always and not necessarily.
The convention is to stay on topic the first day or so, but not so much as it ages.
Organizing to oppose Trump’s depredations is occurring, and many here, myself included, are part of that. A stale thread isn’t critical to that effort.
‘Organizing to oppose Trump’s depredations is occurring and many here, myself included, are part of that.’
Mr. Greenwald could do better!
Mr. Greenwald is doing extremely well. The above article is very important, and about important things.
Interests don’t make donations to First Ladies, you understand:
“The Clinton Foundation announced it’s laying off 22 staffers on the Clinton Global Initiative,….”
http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/14/heads-are-finally-beginning-to-roll-at-the-clinton-foundation/
Doc Hollywood to nuf said:
Well said, Doc. As I’ve recently had to remind some younger blood relatives, at one time, as Irish-Catholics — by culture if not conviction — were deemed “not white” by the white Christian majority in America, who defined “papists” out of Christianity. Being “not white” in the U.S. is an extremely threatening thought to most who so consider themselves, and for a good reason. Suddenly, purported belief in the non-existence of “white privilege,” erodes.
Anti-Catholicism has a long history in America, and can still be found among certain fundamentalists and some secularists. Decent people do not embrace it, and would not no matter what the Vatican may or may not do. (The same, by the way, goes for Scientologists. The formal structure and doctrine imposed from the top of that organization is horrifying, but thousands of good people have adopted the beliefs in “the tech” to their personal benefit. These are not properly made to suffer for the sins of those in charge.)
To my disgust with many older members of my family, some of whom are dead, were vicious racists and antisemites. The Klan hated Catholics, possibly even more than blacks, but not more than Jews. Unlike Jews, however, the general response of the Irish tribe was a bid for acceptance into the white club by hating blacks, and even Jews, with an impressive fervor. Jews, in the main, went in the opposite direction, strongly advocating for civil rights for black people; Bernie Sanders is not unique in that regard. To hate the “tribe” that gave us these Jewish men and women is especially rancid.
Deep and strong critiques of Irish Catholicism are merited. I make them myself. But that does not excuse the gross bigotry white Christian America long manifested against them. Nor would any Vatican behavior. Civil libertarians would and should side with the cause of Catholic Americans beset by the bigots.
And a recent one as well.
The US waged a relentlessly brutal proxy war against Liberation Theology that took hold in Latin America following Vatican II in 1962. Among the tens of thousands of victims were nuns, priests, and Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, many slain by forces trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning.
And it continues: the US Is Still Fighting The “Threat” of Liberation Theology
The US is tearing itself apart along feudalist and utterly psychopathic lines? That’s amazing news! Now maybe we can end this cold war and have the other evil empire collapse. About time. About 27 years late if you ask me.
DocHollywood
“………I couldn’t care less what craigsummers thinks; I only care about the sewage he spews on to multiple threads. I edit his spluges because it’s fun – it’s especially delightful when an edit makes him go all “potty-mouth” like a 12 year-old – and because I’ve seen others get innocently sucked-in and then angrily frustrated after they realize they’ve been engaging a dishonest hypocrite…….”
Oh I see (finally). You are doing this to help out the poor posters who get “innocently sucked in and then angrily frustrated” by the “sewage” of a “dishonest hypocrite”. Wow, Doc was I wrong about you or what? You really are a great guy. You do this for everyone else. To be perfectly honest with you Doc, I hadn’t realized I had made people so angry. I’m shocked, and at the same time deeply saddened by my own inattention to the feelings of others. Sometimes, it just takes some real honesty to bring things out into the open – so thanks again Doc.
“……..The Deep State of Glenn’s article dominates the politics of my country. It uses Israel as a means to an end for control over Middle East oil just as it uses dictatorships and ISIS/Al Qaeda for the same goal. All of these clients – with varying degrees of success and commensurate reward – are doing work for and trying to manipulate the Deep State in pursuit of their own agendas while the Deep State is manipulating and using them. Those other agendas and manipulations don’t matter to the Deep State, nor do repressive and violent acts unless they are seriously impeding Deep State goals……..”
Thanks. I’ll add this to my running list to define the alt-left. Unfortunately, it’s still really difficult to beat the extremely simply definition advanced by Nick Cohen (“Jeremy Corbyn’s failure of courage over Aleppo is no worse than that of other western leaders”, October 15, 2016”):
“……..The far left’s ideology is not “leftwing” in any sense that a socialist from the 19th or 20th centuries would have understood. It is simply opposition to the west whatever the west does. Occidentalism explains the appearances of Labour’s leaders on Iran’s propaganda channels , the endorsements of Russian imperialism, and the silence that greets the Syrian massacres……There is no secret about the nihilism and double standards. Both have been obvious to me at any rate since the bulk of the left failed to show solidarity with the victims of Saddam Hussein in the Iraq war of 2003 . Nor does the far left, if we can call it a left, try to hide its prejudices. When asked why the streets of London were not heaving with demonstrators protesting against Russia turning Aleppo into the Guernica of our times, Stop the War replied that it had no wish to add to the “jingoism” politicians were whipping up against plucky little Russia. The left’s task was “to oppose the west”. That was all……..”
Of course, far, extreme, radical left equals alt-left.
Thanks as always Doc.
>”… There is no secret about the nihilism and double standards. Both have been obvious to me at any rate since the bulk of the left failed to show solidarity with the victims of Saddam Hussein in the Iraq war of 2003.”
Hard to argue with that, craig. In retrospect, who knows how many victims of Saddam Hussein’s trashy love novels were saved “in the Iraq war of 2003″… while the alt-left twiddled their unAmerican thumbs?
*they probably think Nick Cohen is a duplicitous muckraker too.
Your Welcome .. in advance.
In hindsight..thanks.
Deep state with the help of Buzzfeed and CNN are helping Trump and Putin tremendously by releasing such obvious lies. Furthermore the former MI6 agent C.Steele was a close friend of Litvinenko……Champagne flowing again in Moscow and Trump Tower.
“…….Furthermore the former MI6 agent C.Steele was a close friend of Litvinenko……Champagne flowing again in Moscow and Trump Tower……..”
Again? Has the champagne stopped flowing in Moscow since the election?? The Soviet polonium treatment plan is very effective – and slow.
>”The Soviet polonium treatment plan is very effective – and slow.”
That would explain a lot about Trump’s behavior, craig.
“One must find the good in everything” *Russian Proverb
Even if the ‘deep government’ and in particular the CIA are not the leakers, it appears they are politicized whether they want to be or not. Trump says they are and we need to take that as a statement of intent.
Whether the dossier is real or not, Trump treats it as an attack on him. He will now lean hard on the CIA and others and start to drive out staff. If we recall the CIA also has analysts who study things like North Korean intentions and help Presidents make informed decisions, the loss of a tranche of experienced analysts would be a disaster.
Now consider what criteria a Trump administration would apply as it hires replacements. Most likely those who show loyalty to Trump and conservative/nationalist policies will be favored over those who might tell him things he doesn’t want to hear. What will that do for US policy?
And if we think the CIA is in fact politicised now, what will it be like after Trump gets done with it? Will it even be possible for a Democrat to come in and govern? He is going to use this crisis to gut the CIA and leave a poisoned well for anyone who tries to come in after him.
Who knows? Maybe the Russians leaked the document to help bring about the demise of their rivals? Facetious? Maybe. I worry either way.
Foremost foreign correspondent Patrick Cockburn calls BS on Christopher Steele: “I talked to Iraqi defectors in the 1990s who claimed to have plenty of information about WMDs and gossip about Hussein’s family affairs. It did not take long to work out that they were making it up when they produced convincing but uncheckable details.”
Steele’s “memo has all the hallmarks of such fabrications” says veteran Irish journalist Cockburn whose professional plaudits include: Martha Gellhorn Prize (2005), James Cameron Prize (2006), National Book Critics Circle award, shortlist (2006), Orwell Prize (2009), IMA Peace Through Media Award (2010), Costa Book Awards, shortlist (2011), Foreign Commentator of the Year (2013), Foreign Affairs Journalist of the Year (2014), and Foreign Reporter of the Year (2014).
“In its determination to damage Trump, the US press corps has been happy to suspend disbelief in this dubious document,” observes Cockburn in a column for UK newspaper The Independent.
“The dodgy Donald Trump dossier reminds me of the row over Saddam Hussein and his fictitious weapons of mass destruction”: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-president-russia-dossier-fake-news-sex-allegations-putin-kremlin-saddam-hussein-weapons-a7524001.html
time for some Deep firings across the entire government spectrum. I mean 30 to 50 percent of all government entities. then tell the remainder if they don’t pick up the pace their pensions will be taken too.
Shortly after the Billy Bush pussy grabbing video came out, I remember seeing Jim Sciutto on CNN saying that, for the first time, Russia had been “publicly fingered” for the DNC hacks.
Glad there wasn’t a typo – if they’d missed out that ‘L’ in “publicly”…
This must be fake news maisie … there is no discernible nexus, that I can see, between the Billy Bush pussy grabbing video and publically fingering Russia for the DNC hacks?
@DocHollywood
Fucking reply function…
Just to be clear and for what it’s worth, I don’t have any problem with you interacting with nuf said or agreeing with his/her non-bigoted comments. Sometimes I interact with nuf as well; indeed I have somehow grown perversely fond of him/her. (Weird, I know.)
I continue to appreciate your interpretations of Craig’s contributions and hope you will continue as long as he does.
“……..I continue to appreciate your interpretations of Craig’s contributions and hope you will continue as long as he does…….”
Before I helped him with his format, his posts were entirely unreadable. He has improved (because of my help), but they really amount to nothing more than personal attacks most of the time.
Thanks Gator.
I’ve been postulating that the Trump camp keeps the opposition running around fact checking, countering and disputing his every statement, while he is setting the course of action. We keep resorting to reason, common sense, verifiability, etc, to go after him. And you know what? He keeps winning. I do understand that to sensible thinking people all of this business about Russia and the “dossier” feels wrong. But I’m not at all convinced that it’s a bad tactic to weaken, distract, and put the Trump camp on the defensive. I think they’ve been banking on the fact that we won’t go there, and we went there. I think it caught them off-guard, and it changed the nature of his press conference from what had been intended. I don’t see that that’s such a bad thing, uncomfortable though it may make us feel. The rules of the game are set by the winning side, not the losing side.
The DNC and much of the media continues to portray Bernie Sanders’ economic policies as radical or extreme, which flies in the face of Americans’ support for them:
Establishment Democrats continue to depict Sanders’ domestic polices as extreme solely because they are bought and paid to. They are Republican Lite.
It would be wonderful if Sanders would capitalize on this fact and actually show some (more) spine in calling for a massive reduction of military/defense expenditure. I’ve said this before, but the fiscal year 2017’s “defense” budget is 773 BILLION DOLLARS, much of which is taxpayer money needed for purposes of domestic harmony rather than Full Spectrum Dominance for the militarized protection of corporate interests.
In doing this, Sanders could appeal even more directly to those millions of across-the-board citizens supportive of his domestic stances, without even calling for raising taxes (which alarms conservatives). Jill Stein was asked how she would afford some of her “radical” programs, and this reduction of military spending was one of her solutions – Sanders could use his considerably-larger platform to say the same thing to greater effect. He has unfortunately been disappointing in his lack of challenging the military-industrial complex, however, which some have suggested might be due to Vermont’s economy being somewhat tied up with the same.
Yes, Maisie, as you know I’ve often observed that Sanders is no Jeremy Corbyn when it comes to foreign policy. The best that can be said is that he’s the one of the least hawkish politicians on the national stage. And given who else is standing there, that isn’t saying much.
In his presidential run, Sanders made no effort to distinguish himself from Obama’s appalling hawkishness (drone-strikes, presently assaulting 7 nations, encroaching on Russia, ‘pivoting’ to Asia, and various dirty wars).
The military alone also has a carbon footprint equal to that of a small country, all by itself – thanks to various vehicular movements, unnecessary posturing and countless busy-with-nothing bases worldwide. This in itself is not just a great expense, it is a horrible rejection of principled behavior regarding fossil-fuel use.
Bernie Sanders (D-VT) is a way out there fringe hopeful who is supported by a small number of crazies. Americans would never take anything Bernie says seriously.
I’m not gonna get too involved in this overdone topic but just to correct you on the fact that Sanders was supported by a LARGE number of regular people – people like me. He said (and has done so for decades) many sensible, realistic and reasonable things that we’d all do well to at least listen to, whether or not we elect him president. But then I think that about Ron Paul, too, so what does that say about me? Maybe I am crazy.
You’re obviously just trying to troll his supporters with this one!!! You know very well he did well in various match-ups with Trump, and his fans were far more excited than Clinton’s. Mona’s link above shows how popular his domestic stances are, and although of course everyone (like you) who balks at the word ‘socialist’ would dismiss him, if he adopted a strongly non-interventionist foreign policy as I think he should he could well be a truly stunning national phenomenon.
Fringe, woo-woo, far out there candidate Bernie had no plans to do anything. He only ran because he thought it would bring more voters to the Democratic Party; his plan all along was to resign so that they would migrate to the Clinton campaign.
He sincerely endorsed the warmonger sociopath Democratic Party candidate; his mesmerized adherents dutifully followed suit.
Says the guy who admires and links to an ex con (for armed bank robbery) who rants about Satan and the Illuminati.
I always supported Jill Stein, but Sanders’ endorsement of Clinton did leave many people dazed and confused – although it was always in the cards, as he said beforehand he would endorse whoever the nominee was. I don’t really know what his plan was ”all along’ – and I’m surprised you think you do, as I would have thought you would avoid even thinking about him, reacting as you do like a hissing vampire in the sunlight every time the word ‘socialist’ appears anywhere.
His drafting-committee appointee, Cornel West, had more scruples (and decamped to the Greens).
If Bernie’s followers were told to send military assistance to Polan-…, er, Syria, they would.
Cornel West is indeed impressive; I appreciate that from you.
“…if he adopted a strongly non-interventionist foreign policy…he could well be a truly stunning national phenomenon.”
Indeed he could, by the luck of the draw — and the draw seems to be how he largely determines what his policies are going to be –, come up with some long-needed changes in our foreign policy.
Only a few days ago this seemed like a plausibility, if not a probability, but I’m afraid that by the time he takes control of the reins of policy he will have been beaten into submission by a combination of the Deep Sate, the foreign-policy establishment and the MSM, all deeply Russophillic.
He’s already showing signs of cracking under the almost unbearable strain. Let’s see how long he lasts.
I think we went from Sanders to Trump somewhere there. In any case I agree there’s little any president can do of their own initiative if it conflicts with the Deep State, as the establishment seems prone to make offers that can’t be refused. That’s why many here are cynical about the U.S. being a “democracy” or even a “republic,” since functionally it resembles an oligarchy. But as a bona fide presidential candidate nominee, pre-election (for what it’s worth), I reckon Sanders might possibly dramatically change the tone of public discourse for the better as a democratic-socialist non-interventionist, anti-establishmentarian in a manner that has never been seen before. And this long shot may have the massive momentum needed to actually challenge the Deep State/corrupt establishment itself, if we all clap really hard and believe in magic…
With regard to Trump, I don’t think he really wants to shake things up, personally, though I’m glad he still seems opposed to the TPP for now – but you’re right that if he does want to challenge the Powers That Be, he’s up against something that already seems to have him firmly by the throat.
Ooops, you’re right. Somewhere I lost the thread, and Bernie with it.
Anyway, yes, Trump wont, in the end, buck the Establishment. There’s nothing in it for him.
‘Democracy’ has long been a euphemism used to describe what in the Western World have been oligarchies since time inmemorial. On occasion (the 50’s, for example) they’ve deigned to hand us a bit more of the pie; but most of the time we’ve subsisted on crumbs. I dont see any changes coming in the near future.
As for Bernie… well, sad to say, I’m afraid his time has come and gone. We’d have to believe in Magic, Santa Claus, the Three Wise Men, and a few other things…
Nevertheless, hope still springs eternal, so let us hang in there.
LOL Says the guy who takes THIS lunatic seriously.
@DocHollywood
Concerning your reference below to nuf said’s “alleged anti-semitism,” I am wondering if you believe there is actually some question as to whether nuf said is indeed an anti-semite. I believe you are a regular reader of comments here, so I don’t see how you could be in doubt about that. Of course, if you are not a regular reader and just pop in from time to time to skewer Craig, then I understand. But assuming familiarity with nuf said’s contributions here, his/her anti-Semitism is really not a subject as to which reasonable minds could differ.
Gator, I second your assessment of nuf, but I do think it is the case that Doc is only semi-regular here. He really may not have noticed.
It’s not as if nuf is constant with it, and I don’t even recall seeing that kind of ugliness from him back at Salon; it actually took me by surprise when he manifested it here.
And btw, Gator, that book I was on about a day or two ago? It utterly eviscerates nuf’s antisemitic thesis that Zionism is some natural result of purported Jewish racism. Zionism was and is drawn from late 19th and early 20th century ethnic-based fascism. Up to and including the Jewish Agency’s actively working to prevent Jews from supporting the Allies in WWII and Zionists explicitly adopting SS tactics against Arabs.
One Jew after another, denounced these horrible, terroristic people in their midst. Not a few of them paid for it with their lives, dissident Jews being the primary targets of Zionist assassinations. Nuf could not be more wrong.
“One Jew after another, denounced these horrible, terroristic people in their midst. ”
So many denounced racism that we have the peaceful, loving, altruistic, people and land of Israel today … institutionalized racism in the form of apartheid. Why would anyone defend such a land or the people who practice its religion?
AIPAC wanted Hillary and now we have a megalomaniac running the country. This is how Jews have impacted negatively my life.
Jews are no more racist than Germans. Any people has the potential for some of its members to become corrupted by tribal excess. In the era in which Zionists rose to power they were not the only ethnic cohort to choose the fascist path. Many Jews, then and now, found political Zionism utterly repugnant.
Post-Holocaust, many Western liberal Jews — a group who had vehemently opposed Zionism — came to accept it. The idea of a land for Jews, where they would always be allowed in, seemed necessary to many.
As a white gentile, whose forebears generally gave not two shits what happened to the Jews of Germany and the rest of Europe, I don’t feel entitled to judge that generation of liberal Jews especially harshly. My unrestrained contempt is reserved for the Zionists who enthusiastically prosecuted their vile ideology entirely independent of Nazis.
“Any people has the potential for some of its members to become corrupted by tribal excess.”
tribal excess is what makes america great, tribal excess provides capital to survive the long winter and then build moon rockets
oh well
I do not doubt nuf said’s anti-semitism, Gator90, but neither do I doubt that craigsummers brought it up merely to deflect the criticism of his own bigotry, hypocrisy, and intellectual dishonesty. I know you’ve seen him try this particularly lame gambit many times before. I couldn’t care less what craigsummers thinks; I only care about the sewage he spews on to multiple threads. I edit his spluges because it’s fun – it’s especially delightful when an edit makes him go all “potty-mouth” like a 12 year-old – and because I’ve seen others get innocently sucked-in and then angrily frustrated after they realize they’ve been engaging a dishonest hypocrite. I’m not going to acknowledge, confirm, or engage his opinion of others when it’s offered as a sidetrack, and the words in the edited version were chosen with that in mind.
nuf said is an anti-semite, and much of what he posts is racist and wrong. However, his comments about craigsummers are spot-on.
As you know, he insists such observations constitute “character assassination.” He assassinates his character himself.
But I agree with you about not letting a sick authoritarian like Craig divert with spewing about nuf. Craig lacks any standing to offer moral judgments.
“nuf said is an anti-semite, and much of what he posts is racist and wrong. ”
answer a fool according to his folly.
that is my motto and what I aim to project.
That is why Doc’s cooking of cs posts is spot on.
I see Israel, the Jewish state, and, well, guess what I am going to do …
If The Vatican was doing what Israel does you can bet i would be railing against Catholics.
Israel dominates the politics of my country. Jews are responsible as a group for the actions of the self-proclaimed Jewish state.
You can bet you would be called a bigot or racist in that case too.
I would be railing against those who – Catholic or not – are culpable by their support; those Catholics and non-Catholics who were not supporters would not be culpable.
The Deep State of Glenn’s article dominates the politics of my country. It uses Israel as a means to an end for control over Middle East oil just as it uses dictatorships and ISIS/Al Qaeda for the same goal. All of these clients – with varying degrees of success and commensurate reward – are doing work for and trying to manipulate the Deep State in pursuit of their own agendas while the Deep State is manipulating and using them. Those other agendas and manipulations don’t matter to the Deep State, nor do repressive and violent acts unless they are seriously impeding Deep State goals.
Holding an entire race or religion responsible for state actions has neither legal standing nor moral merit. Those Jews and non-Jews who support the actions of Israel have a shared responsibility for the actions of Israel. All other Jews and non-Jews do not.
“I am wondering if you believe there is actually some question as to whether nuf said is indeed an anti-semite.”
lol.
fuck you too, gator.
You have spouted your racist crap many times. Remember when you gloated over the fact that Glenn is Jewish too? You have stated you believe Jews are their own race. That is the very definition of racism. The Aryan belief is no different than the Jew.
All religions rely on the fear of god to maintain control over the flock. Jews take it to an extreme.
Gator is not a racist and does not post racist comments.
With each election not only do we get a new president but we also have a new enemy and coincidentally our new president always has some kind of ties to that new enemy.
Before Obama, we were going after Al Qaeda, who hijacked a peaceful religion. Saddam was oppressing the Shia,. We had to win the hearts and minds of Muslims in order for the war on terror to end.
After Obama ran and won the switch flips and suddenly that was all wrong. Islam is what we are at war with, and btw, our president is a secret Muslim, born in Kenya.
We’re not saying that he’s ultimately working for the enemy but that is also exactly what we’re saying.
Trump runs and wins the switch flips and now its Russia that’s our enemy. The official line is that we’re not saying that Putin hijacked the election and put Trump in office or that Trump is working for Russia, but that is also exactly what we’re saying (?)
You wonder is it that the POTUS is under attack? I mean the position – is it being fazed out?
And during all of this you can’t help but notice that the unpopular US gov dismantling Congress always remains unscathed.
I just think its weird.
Very good article. I’ve just started reading this site and I have to say I like it despite being on the opposite side on most issues (not this one). Keep up the good work! BTW, do people here actually comment on the articles or just carry on feuds?
During the run-up top Iraq War II I found the, “evidence,” of Saddam’s wrongdoing so comical that one night I got really drunk and decided to chime in on it all.
So I copy/pasted a foreign news template, altered the news agency name slightly and wrote a scathing report on Saddam purchasing mass amounts of Sony Play stations to use as an array weapon against invading U.S. forces.
An American defense contractor clipped my piece that I posted all over the place on obscure news sights and put out a brief about it that taxpayers ponied up untold millions for that ended up on Fox News!
I was hysterical. That was the funniest crap I ever spewed while drunk on the net. A news media network and a defense intelligence contractor literally took some crap posted on the internet and sold that as a reason to invade Iraq.
You can Google it since I used my real name as the editor. It may still be around but I am sure the Fox News pieces is still out there…
..just like Fox Mulder and the, “aliens!”
I usually hate it when people pick apart spelling and grammar but…
There were laws regarding media ownership that were repealed. This was done at the same time as gutting equal time and fairness regulations. The media – broadcast/cable & print/electronic are now big money corporate machines serving the oligarchy because they are part of the oligarchy. The media will not call out the military industrial complex because they are part of that machine. They have been since the Bush years when they promoted as treason any dissent to the Iraq war. So don’t worry that the Democrats cheering on the deep state is going to make things worse. Trump’s rape and pillage is going to include the CIA real soon. We can only hope there will be media outlets that will still report the difficult truth.
Yea, investigate some stupid story of girls peeing on a bed Obama slept in. Many of us are still waiting for the criminal investigation of the murder of 3,000 American on 9/11, still waiting for an NTSB investigation of the airliners and passengers lost, still waiting for the Fire Investigation required by law. And, now demanding justice for the War Crimes of 2 administrations and some notice of our 16th yr. at war with the planet’s 5th poorest country.
It takes time for a newby — especially since it cant be said that every poster is on board with it — but after a while it starts to sink in that maybe there is, abroad on this site, a phenomenon that could be characterized as “The Intercept Groupthink”.
Alternatively, it could be seen as a virtual gathering of people who share an interest in rigorous analysis and some common points of view wrt a number of issues.
Along with a couple of persistent jerks and an ever-changing assortment of assholes and imbeciles.
Finish the sentence: “…assholes and imbeciles who dont think like us.
Helios
“……..Finish the sentence: “…assholes and imbeciles who dont think like us…….”
Correct Helios. For example, here is a post from Doug Salzmann to me awhile back:
“………Craig, you are a poisonous pollutant in this forum. You need to go away or be removed……”
This was a clear call to delete my account. There is nothing that the alt-left despises more than “debate”.
I think the common parlance these days is, the “ctrl-left”.
How amusing. The “regulars” here often disagree with one another, frequently rather…spiritedly. In fact, many of us even have strongly disagreed with (gasp!) Glenn Greenwald, myself certainly included.
Nope. Your reception here is due to your lack of logical and analytical reasoning skills. The cerebrally challenged do not do well at this site.
“The cerebrally challenged do not do well at this site.”
What, then, are you doing here?
You hit the nail on the head Helios (more than you can possibly know). In fact, the “regulars” want absolutely no disagreement at all. Maybe Mona will give you an invitation to the new “one viewpoint” site.
I aint attending.
Now, it’s relevant to point out that in the tongue of Don Quijote — and of a few other folks on this planet — mona = she-monkey.
So would it be appropriate if she named her ‘one-viewpoint site’ MonkeyPoint.com?
I’m not sure what she is naming the site, but Russian Television seems to work as well.
The sheer unoriginality and stupidity of that retort only demonstrates my point.
Funny thing, I thought it was exceedingly clever (and funny, too).
Anyway…
You know, arrogance is not a trait that endears anyone to anyone else.
On the other hand, when an arrogant individual is one who has accomplished difficult feats in his/her life, feats whose achievement set him notably appart from the rest of the herd, one has to admit that perhaps he/she has a certain right to feel superior and to flaunt his sense of infatuation with self.
But when a notably mediocre individual attempts to compensate for his/her banality with arrogance, bravado and insults, he/she deservedly becomes an object of derision and disdain to those who see through the ruse and recognize it for what it is.
In your case, your mediocrity, banality and total lack of redeeming intellectual value (redeeming of your obnoxiousness) is evident every time you open your mouth (metaphorically speaking) on this forum.
So run along, Babe. You’re not gonna get a lot of traction, much less respect, from me. And this is the last time I respond directly to your misdirected drivel.
“You know, arrogance is not a trait that endears anyone to anyone else. ”
Have you looked in the mirror lately, honey? You take yourself and your opinion way too seriously. It is to laugh…
Not only group think, but a group protection racket. So predictable for the Greenwald mousekateers!
By definition, I’m not intellectually mediocre, as has been demonstrated by extensive educational testing, performance and the passing of two especially difficult licensing exams. Few Greenwald fans are mediocre in that manner, and I’m not remotely the smartest of the bunch — merely very smart, while some are clinical geniuses, which I am not. That’ all just facts I don’t deny.
And Helios, I do not seek “respect” from individuals such as you. Indeed, having it would mean I was doing a great deal wrong.
Yeah, what Mona said. We may be deplorable, but we definitely ain’t mediocre. Which reminds me. . .
Once upon a time (in 1970), having already had a Supreme Court nominee rejected by the Senate, Richard Nixon followed up with the nomination of a guy named G. Harrold Carswell.
Carswell was a truly crappy choice. He was a racist, a white supremacist and a legal dunce, with a startling reversal rate as a federal judge (Northern District of Florida).
One of the nicest things you could say about Carswell was that he was mediocre (not accurate, he wasn’t nearly that good) and a number of people said just that. In response, political giant Roman Hruska, Republican senator from Nebraska, offered this defense:
Although mediocrity had long been, and continues to be, an honored tradition in America’s halls of government and justice, it lost that particular round.
~Carswell Nomination to Court Rejected by Senate
One of the more frustrating aspects of practicing law — and there are so many — is the stupid judge. (Found more often on the state rather than federal level.) One can accurately argue the law is on one’s side, but if they cannot be made to understand that, it doesn’t matter, at least not until any appeal.
Of course, non-lawyers have to deal with a similar issue, as when a supervisor or boss is less bright, or even dumb. It’s extremely frustrating, and a situation that has to be handled carefully or their insecurity and resentment can make them vicious.
Weeelll, I beg to differ. Some of “us” ARE mediocre, despite what we may think to the contrary.
But let me say this (quite unashamedly on what could be construed, but wrongly, as the path to divide and conquer) I appreciate your cynically wry humour, on most occasions, even when I may not agree totally w/ what you’re saying.
As for TI Groupthink, it’s definitely there. And I doubt that you, deep in the core of your tender heart, would sincerely deny it.
I don’t have a tender heart. I have a cold and cynical one.
And you can can take your mediocre commentary, fold it until it’s all corners and shove it up your ass.
Doug did you know that you and I engage in “groupthink,” which would necessarily mean we virtually never disagree? I assume, therefore — by virtue of the groupthink — that you concede I am right regarding the multiple times you’ve displayed the great lack of judgment to not see things my way.
Mona
Mona
You definitely engage in group think. That’s why you are the Greenwald Mousekateers – and sometimes known as the Wall Mart Greeters club. The new “one viewpoint” site is ample proof. You are all Greenwald ass kissers first and foremost. Helios has you pegged. You do a lot of good research, but that is offset by you saying really stupid things. I can always depend on it.
Thanks.
READERS: About 95% of the time I do not reply to Craig Summers, who is an authoritarian, pro-torture, Republican who had said he was voting for Trump. Multiple commenters asked that I not reply to Craig because doing so causes him to post yet more walls of drivel-text, which pollutes the board.
Ahem, having just read your post I wish to clarify that ‘ass-kissers’ is not a term that I would use when referring to any of the honorable, if perhaps on occasion rather groupthinkish, participants in this forum.
No, Mona, you misunderstand. It means that you concede that I have been correct on any occasion in which disagreement may have manifested.
Additionally, it would be best if you agree, now, not to disagree with me (or any of the other Certified Groupthinkers) in the future. Dissent can be so disruptive, you know.
Doug, this unseemly disagreement with me must stop, and I do mean now. It’s bad enough when Glenn has the chutzpah to post things I know to be horribly wrong and he fails to accept my corrections. But from any of you below the line, it’s simply not something I can or will tolerate.
I disagree with all those who agree to disagree, although I agree with disagreement concerning those who do or do not agree in a disagreeable manner.
Well. . . as long as you accept, and respect, my disagreeable seniority.
How could I not? I’d still like to object to your claim to not have a ‘tender heart,’ however, as I believe I’ve seen signs of it myself – despite your gruff exterior and ability to make my eyes glaze over with cyber-talk.
Shh!
Hah. As I said, I appreciate your cynically wry humour…but this is just a mean spiritted and uncalled for outburst.
Bestial is the word that comes to mind. Did you forget to take your mood-control pill today?
It was mean-spirited, certainly, but not an outburst. It was an intentional, contemptuous, dismissive insult.
If you continue to pollute these threads with your insulting mediocrity, you can expect more and worse.
Hah, again. Your mental state is in worse condition than I anticipated.
I am now terrified, terrified, of the consequences of possibly provoking your Cyclopian wrath. Almost as much as of the chicken that my neighbor is raising on his backyard, which I fear may slip under the fence and come after me.
I promise I’ll toe the line. I will; I will. Just dont peck on my blue swede shoes, pleeeaaaaase.
I wouldn’t worry too much Helios. I’ve seen him display the same arrogance on these threads only to get his ass clocked on several occasions.
What, me worry?
Funny thing, I definitely didnt realize to what extent this Doug guy is capable of making an ass of himself.
I mean, the posts of his that I’d read so far dont give an indication. One suspects he really IS under some sort of mood-control medication and has gone of the wagon, in the process transmuting from a moderately amusing commenter into a total, out of control, turkey case.
Oh, well. That’s why we’re here; namely, to learn and be amused.
An awake anti-globalist elected to the U.S. presidency is the stuff of science fiction. Trump had the resources to do it that the Pauls lacked.
_”Trump Team Shunning Davos Meeting of World’s Economic Elite“_
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-01-13/trump-team-shunning-davos-gathering-of-world-s-economic-elite
The progressive left has no clue what its witnessing.
It appears you also have no clue what you’re witnessing, falling for the Bloomberg headline-writer’s peculiar framing. This is a completely theatrical avoidance, meant to dupe people just like you who actually believe the nonsensical notion that Trump is a populist anti-establishmentarian.
From the very article you linked to, beneath the clickbait headline:
Avoiding official participation is a big deal, even historic, and sends an unmistakable message to globalists. A few team members attending in an unofficial capacity is a helpful way to keep tabs on the machinations of world government. Countries can’t inter-operate in ignorance.
His anti-globalism, i.e., nationalism, is part of what bothers progressives, is it not?
Well, in my opinion that makes you look awfully gullible.
Trump’s team is ‘avoiding’ the event by not actually avoiding it at all, just calling those it sends “unofficial” participants. But, hey, go on with your duped tribalism, see if I care!
I’m looking forward to a merciful at-least-four years where the word “folks” isn’t recited in any executive or cabinet speech.
We can agree on something! The “We tortured some folks” was the weirdest and most offensive incarnation of that idiosyncrasy.
To my mind – and putting aside policy-talk for a moment – Trump has some annoying phrases and mannerisms of his own that are sure to make America ‘grate’ again, though.
Herb Caen, “Mr. San Francisco,” who wrote a brilliant insider-news-gossip-and general-silliness column in the Chronicle, for about six decades, the father of “three-dot-journalism,” periodically featured what he called “Namephreaks.”
Herb would have absolutely loved the fact that Trump has a spokesperson named Hope Hicks — and he would have been sure to point out that she would be listed in a telephone directory (we still had those then) or a contact list as “Hicks, Hope.”
That’s wonderful. I always thought Obama’s name sounds like an Irish explosive expert.
And when we learned about Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ project in poli-sci, the teacher deliberately pronounced the president’s name as ‘Ray-gun,’ much to her own amusement (though the class found it a little tiresome after the third time, to be honest).
What sayeth Greenwald about this?
Trump adviser had five calls with Russian envoy on day of sanctions: sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN14X1YX
More Deep state sabotage? Or Nixonian subterfuge and treason?
I assume the NSA has all the calls on tape and transcripts available.
I for one expect government leaders and their advisers to maintain close and frequent communications with other governments — and that goes double for other governments of nations with more nuclear warheads than we have. ;^(
DocHollywood writes (trying to obfuscate his alliance with a known anti-Jewish bigot on these threads):
“…….craigsummers, replying to the same poster…….” – DocHollywood
Let’s post what “nuf” actually wrote which I responded to:
“……..Your usual long posts are not cohesive in a factual regard…….” – nuf said
My response:
“……. “God, I had no idea. Thanks for pointing that out. I’ll try to correct that in the future. Hmmm, facts. What a great idea!” – craigsummers
Sarcastically. Even a dimwit would know that. Tell me what you really think about Jews Doc. After all, forming a political alliance with a known bigot is a lot different than sarcastically replying to a known bigot, You know Doc: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. You’ve heard that right?
Thanks (as always) Doc.
The post lightly [edited] for accuracy:
“[I] write ([desperately] trying to obfuscate [my] known [hypocrisy] on these threads)[. I claimed that a reply to a post devoid of any anti-semitism “condones if not encourages” the poster’s alleged antisemitism though I’ve been] replying to the same poster. . .Even a dimwit would know that[‘s hypocritical]. After all, [injecting an unrelated, vague, and insubstantial assertion that] forming a political alliance with a known bigot is a lot different than sarcastically replying to a known bigot [mitigates neither my known bigotry nor my known hypocrisy.] You know Doc: my enemy [is honesty]. You’ve heard that right?”
“with a known anti-Jewish bigot”
Being known to one and all; according to craigsummers …
’tis a badge of honor.
Jews self-define apologetically as racists … xenophobia, misogyny, and more, one would have to create the illusion of birth-right to perpetuate such madness. Tack on the ever-present danger of being attacked for just being Jewish and you have the Herman Goering recipe for dragging the masses to the lunacy of today’s Israel.
People have got to stop with the non-stop hysteria and just go on with their lives, breath-deep and relax.
There’s always gotta’ be another crisis brewing or some people just aren’t happy, the RNC convention take-over, the election recount, the electors switching their vote, Obama’s creating a crisis to say in office.
There is no Trump battle with the IC, they simply informed Trump of what Sen. McCain and others were passing around, they had no choice ..either present it now or Trumps learns later and takes them to task over their having that information and not sharing. The IC already said its not their work and nothing written in it can be verified or substantiated. Trump wasn’t happy with the IC leaking and neither is Clapper ..regardless of what Schumer may say, these Agents are career professionals that will do their jobs and not attempt to retaliate against their current boss and face charges.
You don’t believe there is a battle between the IC and Trump?
You do know there are retired IC ( who are opponents of Trump. E.g. @20committee ) who say that is exactly what is happening.
What we see with dossier-gate is a classic disinformation op long practiced by all kinds of spy agencies over the centuries. Spreading false rumors to discredit enemies goes back to ancient times. This has spy fingerprints all over it.
What is disturbing is that this one is being spread maliciously by the die hard anti Trump media troops in a last ditch effort to derail an elected president and to make accusations which can’t really be fully proven false. Yes, the claims which have details (going to Prague) can be refuted, but the broader attack is too vague and lacking detail to fully “prove” false. Proving negatives is notoriously difficult which is why disinformation is so popular with spy outfits. Many past wars were ignited by similar dirty tricks (Bay of Tonkin, Zimmerman letter (forgery), etc.
JFK was screwing Marilyn Monroe and mafia don mistresses for gods sake, and the media at the time knew it! Did they publish any of that? Ditto for Bill Clinton and his notorious womanizing. None of the “respectable” news outlets uttered a peep. Evidently fears of “blackmail” have only recently become a valid worry. Of course those past behaviors were known to be true at the time.
The lame excuse that when people hear of vague rumors, that the press somehow has a “duty” to publish the details, so people can judge for themselves, is also false (though Glenn unfortunately seems sympathetic). So how many of the media titans smearing Trump by second hand scurrilous un-sourced gossip treated claims of Obama’s Kenyan birth the same way? Answer, none. To the extent it finally was even reported outside of rightwing news outlets was to ridicule the accusations and promote stories of his Hawaiian birth certificate, etc. which were prompted by Obama’s own statements.
The MSM aren’t merely Useful Idiots here. They are complicit actors and active willing stooges to the original Dem and GOP attack dogs who paid for the lies to be produced and doctored up to look authentic.
When this gambit fails, what next? Trump controlled secretly by aliens? Don’t rule it out. Buzzfeed and the NYT are always looking for clickbait. Feed the Hate, baby, Feed the Hate!
one of Trump’s real assets … that his hands aren’t drenched in blood (yet) … seems to go unnoticed by the Fourth Estate
You compare media take on Obama’s birth with trump scandal. No comparison is valid.
Trump bragged – recorded – about grabbing pussy. He’s spoken of his sexual behavior and multiple partners. Hookers and golden showers are plausible.
Forgery of Obama’s birth certificate was not plausible and proven false.
Glenn – I think you should be awarded a lifetime teaching certificate throughout the world for educating us on all the shenanigans being performed by too many powerful people. It’s noteworthy, however, that all of the talking head “journalists” that you have interfaced with give you pretty much of a wide berth in getting the truth out. I see you all over YouTube, and it’s great to watch you getting your points out with little little or no interruption. I’m speaking to you – MSNBC, Fox, CNN, etc.
craigsummers v craigsummers
–craigsummers, who has never been subtle about his bigotry, trying to rationalize his use of a racial slur.
– craigsummers, implicitly equating a reply to a post without any hint of anti-semitism as condoning if not encouraging the poster’s alleged anti-semitism.
– craigsummers, replying to the same poster.
“I have here in my hand, a list of 205 subversive acts committed by the communist stooge, President-Elect Trump.”
Just when you think the ghosts of the McCarthy era are dead and buried, the base nature of man rear’s its head and here we are once again.
These comments sound much like IN-BREEDING nagging, name calling, innuendo, b.s.
And I was rather liking some good reading material on Saturdays!
Now Intercept is just close to impossible to follow the comments because it is just TOO INSIDY game match play.
Glen, u r outsourcing way too much crap. I have lost interest at this time, though without a doubt, no one would care.
At Vox, Victor Beauchamp writes (“The WikiLeaks-Russia connection started way before the 2016 election” http://www.vox.com/world/2017/1/6/14179240/wikileaks-russia-ties?utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=entry&utm_medium=social&utm_source=tw):
“…….“I don’t necessarily think he’s some sort of paid agent for the Russians,” says Chris Zappone, an editor at the Age newspaper in Assange’s native Australia who has covered Assange’s Russian ties extensively. “But I do think he’s being manipulated by the Russians.”………”
There is some truth to that, but it marginalizes the goals of WikiLeaks and Assange. Assange gained the trust of Putin based on his interactions with RT – the long arm of the Russian government. So you really have to wonder who manipulated who in this case. WikiLeaks has become a powerful instrument to successfully manipulate western elections and the Russian government’s collusion(?) with WikiLeaks certainly set a precedent for future elections. German intelligence has already suggested Russian disinformation and hacking could be used to influence their upcoming elections.
Assange definitely views the west as the problem in world politics and at the same time hints at working with Russia. According to the Independent, 2012 (“Julian Assange launches talk show on Kremlin-backed broadcaster Russia”):
“…….Asked why he had chosen Russia Today Mr Assange said: “In the case we are in at the moment, where our major confrontation is with the West, although we have published material from many countries, RT is the natural partner.” He added that the relationship might not be so comfortable if WikiLeaks had published large amounts of compromising data on Russia…..”
Beauchamp goes on to write:
“………..What they do show, when put together, is that Assange doesn’t see Russia as an enemy or a target. He instead seems to see them as something akin to “the enemy of my enemy” — the “enemy,” in this case, being the US and its allies. As a result, he is more than happy to work with them in situations where their interests align……….”
Regime change in Iraq and Libya and the attempted regime change in Syria only reinforced the alt-left’s view that the US is the most dangerous country in the world. Furthermore, the alt-left views Russia (and China) as a check against the world’s only superpower so Putin and Assange are natural allies (for the moment). So here it becomes clear the reasons why Assange and Russia intervened in the US election on behalf of Trump. Putin saw Hillary as dangerous to Russian interests and Assange considered HRC to be a threat to world peace risking an unpredictable Trump Presidency on nothing short of a wing and a prayer. Assange writes on his website (“A vote today for Hillary Clinton is a vote for endless, stupid war”):
“……Hillary’s problem is not just that she’s war hawk. She’s a war hawk with bad judgement who gets an unseemly emotional rush out of killing people. She shouldn’t be let near a gun shop, let alone an army. And she certainly should not become president of the United States…….”
Russia and WikiLeaks worked beautifully in tandem to undermine HRC.
does the average trump voter even know who Julian Assange is?
maybe I could buy a Julian Assange sportcoat at macy’s …
“maybe I could buy a Julian Assange sportcoat at macy’s …”
Got mine at Nordy’s.
John
“……..does the average trump voter even know who Julian Assange is?……”
If you are interested in what the alt-right thinks about Julian Assange and the DNC hacking, then read what the alt-left says. They agree albeit for different reasons. The alt-left and the alt-right intensely distrust the government. Both will deny that there is any evidence that Russia was behind the hack. Greenwald writes (in the above article):
“…….As my colleague Sam Biddle argued last week after disclosure of the farcical intelligence community report on Russian hacking — one that even Putin’s foes mocked as a bad joke — the utter lack of evidence for these allegations means “we need an independent, resolute inquiry.”…….”
An utter lack of evidence is simply wrong. Additionally, both will argue that it was the CONTENT of the email that mattered, not who released the email, or even why. To the alt right and alt-left, Assange is viewed as exposing the DNC corruption (which the Intercept wrote about incessantly during the campaign).
Interestingly, Assange and Greenwald are ideologically very similar so Greenwald has chosen to avoid writing an article about Assange’s attempt to influence the election (although he interviewed Naomi Klein). I would say in Greenwald’s case, he views Assange interfering in the election as the good outweighing the bad (since Greenwald also vehemently opposed HRC).
“If you are interested in what the alt-right thinks about Julian Assange and the DNC hacking, then read what the alt-left says.”
if i’m interested in what Naomi Kline thinks about Julian Assange and the DNC hacking, maybe I should read what Calvin Kline says about Julian Assange sportcoats
“…….if i’m interested in what Naomi Kline thinks about Julian Assange and the DNC hacking, maybe I should read what Calvin Kline says about Julian Assange sportcoats…….”
You should read the interview. It’s fairly good.
Thanks.
“Interestingly, Assange and Greenwald are ideologically very similar so Greenwald has chosen to avoid writing an article about Assange’s attempt to influence the election (although he interviewed Naomi Klein)”
uh ..
learn to post.
Thanks for maintaining some semblence of reason in these times. The biggest impact of this propaganda was evident at Trump’s “press conference,” where most of the time was spent addressing this farce and not on Trump’s real issue: massive conflicts of interest that Trump is claiming to address using an obvious facade of manila folders. This controversy should be the lead story in every news outlet every day leading up to the inauguration.
I respect Greenwald’s reporting, but I find it interesting that he is ignoring the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Cay Johnston’s work that shows Trump has deep ties with many unsavory characters in Russia. hmmmm?
Caesar must appear reluctant to take the crown. The frenzied crowd will clamor for him to do so. Finally, with dramatic effect, Mr. Trump will reluctantly say, “OK, you can have a nuclear war with Russia”, amidst deafening cheers.
Such a war will require the President to have far more powers than the piddling executive authority granted to Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama. The first step will be to declare martial law, and suspend all future elections. The next step will be to disband Congress. Congressional oversight hampers the Executive, which may be tolerable for the War on Terror that consists of sniping at goat herders from the safety of drones, but not for an existential nuclear war. Then Mr. Trump must pull back the line of defense in order to secure the American heartland. The coasts are in easy striking range of Russian nuclear missiles and will have to be sacrificed to the overriding objective of winning the war. In any case, they have demonstrated they are bastions of Democratic support which are probably not worth saving.
However, I am getting ahead of myself. So far the situation is unfolding according to script and the next steps will follow in logical sequence.
The Leader a fount of wisdom and insight.
Maisie may be right. “They” could have shown Drumpf “the film” enough, by now, that the main idea is sinking in.
Ummm. . . link:
‘Deep State’ wins… Trump is being tamed to toe the line
HaHaHaHaHahaHaha. The source is RT. You should have left that out Doug!
No, Craig, you stubborn moron, the fact that the publisher is RT is an important element in understanding the column.
You could learn a lot by reading RT, and other sources you consider hostile propaganda, on a regular basis. Well, at least, some people could.
In general, Americans can learn a great deal of truth about their country and government from RT, while Russians can learn about theirs from a hostile U.S. media.
“……..You could learn a lot by reading RT, and other sources you consider hostile propaganda…….”
Don’t you think it’s kind of ironic when government-funded RT discusses the “deep state”? Russian intelligence settles old scores with plutonium. Corruption runs deep in the system. Norway might be able to get away with calling the US government a “deep state”, but certainly not Russia. Besides, I read and comment on several alt-left sites for a varied view of world events – the Intercept the most, of course. I don’t really have the time or the need to read RT which is just propaganda (IMHO). I generally use four sites for general news – New York Times, al Jazeera, Middle East Eye and the Jerusalem Post. I’m reading more of the Daily Beast lately.
Thanks.
Thanks for the mention, Doug. Revealing stuff there, very astute. I don’t think Trump or the Deep State want war with Russia, incidentally – in fact I reckon that sort of thinking is what got Clinton shoved aside – but the aim is certainly to intimidate Russia as much as possible, without risking insane provocation: Trump’s cajoling mixed with the MIC’s (and NATO’s encroachment) are means to this end, in my view.
Sadly how far we have fallen from the days of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite to the unethical reporting of today! I get all my news from Reuters and BBC as close as possible to the truth. If not for ethical reporting of Glenn we would in my opinion have literally no-one to go to for the truth!
useful article and point well made. Yet to say that the paper by the ex-MI6 officer is unsupported is untrue as the Guardian this week openly supported the credibility of the officer and have published several articles by their journalists and backed up by reference to both the ex-mi6 officer and diplomatic respected sources.
So to ignore these might seem perhaps rather churlish of the Intercept given their professional journalistic former and relatively recentish tenures formerly at the err Guardian?
…”All of the claims about Russia’s interference in U.S. elections and ties to Trump should be fully investigated by a credible body, and the evidence publicly disclosed to the fullest extent possible. “
The problem with that idea is that there exists no “credible body” in the USA. Who would you trust Glenn?
I can recall JFK and his statement on the CIA and what he was going to do to that organization. Before he could do anything a “lone nut” assassinated him with a magic bullet. That was unfortunate as the intel agencies (mainly CIA though) have been the enemy of world peace ever since.
Are we to trust reports from the “intelligence” community?
Are we to trust the New York Times? A D. C. judge?
What about the “impartial” guy who runs Facebook? (or the Twitter guy for that matter)
Oh well, most of the facts that would show Americans that their government does really evil things end up classified for decades. Some of the JFK files are still under lock and key and I despair of living long enough to see total declassification of that event. Or 9-11. Or how we got into war in the Middle East.
So, what trustworthy body should look into this matter?
Have you thought about the FSB or GRU?
The trouble with this analysis is that Trump did not in fact win democratically, under any plausible comstrual of “win” or “democratic.” He was chosen by the non-democratic electoral college, and not by the people under any stretch of the imagination, and he needed to openly court the intervention amd espionage of long-standing American enemies against whom we have active sanctions to even come close to being democratically elected. He was beaten by 2.8 million votes by his opponent, whom American voters preferrd by a margin of 2.1 percent. The people spoke, amd Clinton was the candidate the people chose by a fairly wide margin; it is a deplorable, shameful abuse of language to say that Trump was elected democratically. Trump was chosen by a profoundly anti-democratic institution despite losing the vote of the people. Words have meanings, Glenn.
First off, I’m a reader not a poster, but I felt compelled to voice a concern.
I started coming to the intercept to see more objective reporting. Glenn’s articles lately feel more like a critique of other news media, the intelligence community, and political partisans. I realize that opinion pieces are easier than actual investigative reporting, but I would be much more interested in the latter especially considering the serious nature of the underlying allegations that have been circulating.
Mona,
A lot of us here on the threads are confused about what your role is on Glenn’s Intercept entries. You’re a constant presence in them, and you’re always helpful about letting the readers know you’re his former law partner and good friend. And it’s difficult to move among the posts without your good natured contributions to most of its discorse, sprinkled witb pronouncements on everything Glenn.
Are you a spokesman for Glenn? And if readers have questions, should they post to you and you take them to Glenn?
When Glenn has a a spokesman other than himself, he’ll let us know. As you’d be aware if you were capable of rational thought, some, including Craig Summers, have accused me of “failing to disclose” my professional history with Glenn. Huddle with Craig and do decide how much “disclosure” is exactly right.
Not becasue I’ll care what you come up with, but it will keep you both out of our hair while we reasonable folk engage.
Are you in the layer that constitutes his announcer, the one who sits at the podium just off stage? Or are you more guest commentator, sort of a “Glenn Greenwald, starring Mona,” or “with special guest, Mona”? You’re providing the color?
Meh, you simply have a bee in the bonnet covering your fevered head because I often point out one of your favorite books and authors, which you’d rather people not be reminded of.
My new bumper sticker – Finish The Job, Jail The Warmongers
Thank you Glen for real journalism, this world is in desperate need of it.
Greenwald’s calls for reason and educated discourse are undercut by his baseless adjective-laden criticisms of Trump and the movement that backs him.
He asserts that Trump’s “instability” presents a “grave danger,” that his “extremist conviction” is some kind of plague to be gotten rid of. These are not the arguments of an educated discourse. In fact, they’re not arguments at all. He uses no evidence to back them up, nor provides any reason that what he’s saying has any validity whatsoever.
Trump got elected because people are tired of the linguistic fascism that is political correctness. They want lower taxes, they don’t want illegal immigrants, they want to preserve American cultural values and they want the economy to boom again. They don’t want politicians who are bought and paid for by special interests before they step foot in office. To dismiss the Trump movement is to ignore how revolutionary a self-funded candidate with no political entanglements truly is.
If the left ever wants to compete in the political arena again in a post-Trump environment, they’ll have to stop using emotional language and fragile logic in place of reasoned arguments. We’re simply not buying your rhetorical sophistry anymore. Step up to the plate and make a reasoned argument against the ethics and policies that Trump has embodied, or accept the political bulldozing you’ll be receiving for at least the next few decades.
I leave for you this as a reason to go after Trump. https://theintercept.com/2016/09/06/the-unrelenting-pundit-led-effort-to-delegitimize-all-negative-reporting-about-hillary-clinton/
I’m suspicious. Why hasn’t theIntercept been smeared as a “False News” (ie. Heretical) source?
mackey articles?
i wrote a bunch of stuff in these allegations literally as a joke to see if someone was dumb enough to take them seriously
that someone took the allegations seriously and passed it along the GOP who passed it along to the CIA
i literally WROTE JOKES TO MAKE LAUGHS and the CIA took them and tried to use them to bully trump
Yes this is what is going on today. So I ask all of you who have and are having enough of this BS what would you like to do about this/what can be done and where’s the support behind this?
Best article I’ve seen on this subject.
What the enemies of United Snakes imperialism should want is for neither Trump nor his opponents within the ruling class to have a clear victory over the other, but to keep the battle going. And it is essential that we on the left do not dirty ourselves by actively or passively supporting appeals to U.S. nationalism/patriotism.
Very interesting to hear about “Deep State”.
Watch out for ultra-salacious leaks about Donald Trump or his personal entourage that prove partly or wholly false. Such fake news will precede or render ineffectual real revelations. from the article
When American’s realize the intelligence agencies are all employed by regular people and not “special beings” who have the same issues as everyone else: drug abuse, alcoholism, spouse abuse, porn addiction, money problems, bad credit, past issues with family, religious -challenges, bad friends, lying, stealing, taking advantage of others with their powers, you will find nothing special about them in the end. What makes them special are their ties and inner connection to the media. Are they the same? I am thinking so.
Mr. Rilley is my new favourite person.
as long as i’m oversharing:
on salon.com, they would actually put up my posts so that ONLY I COULD SEE THEM
in other words, if i logged in on a machine with a different ip address, my posts weren’t there anymore
high praise from the salon mods i guess, anyway CraigSummers seems to have vanished from this place
Craigly took off to do damage control for; Netty Yayhoo with the criminal investigation into his fraud bribery etc., the UN vote acknowledging the criminality of the israeli apartheid state, the meeting in France to recognize the state of Palestine, and probably lots of other stuff. He is in denial of being beat and will soon be in denial of needing psychiatric treatment.
i’m zooming on his unique “ctrl-alt-left-delete” concept
I am alive and kicking. Sometimes comment sections are sanitized to reflect a certain point of view. The Intercept is a good place to post although the Greenwald mouskateers seem to prefer a “one viewpoint” comment section. I guess it just isn’t as much fun when someone disagrees with their point of view. I always enjoyed that part the most.
so you wondered why nobody responded to your comments.
well admittedly most of my comments are idiotic but even the idiots weren’t responding
I’ve done my part to reduce Craig’s presence by ignoring him the vast majority of the time for almost a year. Few others engage him, so he doesn’t have much to do here but piss in the wind.
But you, John, you’ll never go on my ignore list. I couldn’t even quite say why, but I’ve generally liked your persona. Your contempt is supremely well executed.
The post lightly [edited] for accuracy:
“I am alive [but still braindead]. Sometimes comment sections [need to be] sanitized [after I’ve spluged on them]. The Intercept is [one] place [that still allows me] to post [though others] prefer [higher standards in their] comment section. I guess it just isn’t as much fun when someone [is being a two-faced, dull-witted, hypocritical liar, but] I always enjoyed that part the most.”
Salon did that to a number of posters including myself. I later read one of them, who wrote earnestly on politics, complain he had even been a monetary contributor to the site; its pranks started no sooner than it stopped that funding model.
The progressive left has always been about political censorship. One need only look to the USSR or the DPRK or the NYT.
When is the Intercept going to get a Like button?
I cant read through 1,600 comments.
When it joins the rest of the Internet in treating reasoning, logic and argumentation as best judged in a popularity contest.
Maybe any time now.
maybe it could be a “confirm” button instead of a “like” button
Indeedy, reasoning, logic and argumentatio is just what goes on here. We treat it very seriously, and refuse to trivialize it by subjecting it to popularity contests.
Now, hold on a minute. Turk has a point. Several of the commenters on TI are just about as important, sometimes much more so, than the main article. But the intumescence of the commentary, now approaching 1800 comments, is more than most people have time to scroll through, skip over, waste time on, and ignore the pettiness and name calling, to find the outstandingly informed, droll or off-the-wall opinions.
A suggestion: Just as TI sends out a handful of Editors’ Picks every week, why not do the same for comments. But initially only for the comments following Glenn’s posts because that’s when the first team of commenters explodes off the bench.
The endless banquet that some of you prefer will always be right here. There may others, not necessarily stupid or catering to short attention spans––just short of time and a little impatient––who would appreciate a much richer sampler menu.
From the DailyBeast:
I imagine Microsoft will let them keep a few …
The implacable CraigSummers with Sauce Hollywoodaise:
very original and quite tasty. :)
Politics makes strange bedfellows, Doc. Or maybe it’s not that strange in your case. “Nuf said” has a long history on these threads of insensitivity toward Jews like:
“……….You wonder why the world had Jews wearing Yellow Stars 200 years before Hitler dolled them out?……”
Even Mona has called him an antisemite on numerous occasions. He has never been subtle about his bigotry so you must have known that. How long did you remind me about “brownies” when I was clearly being sarcastic? The alt-left condones if not encourages anti-Jewish bigotry while regularly calling people racist. The hypocrisy (and insensitivity) is breathtaking.
Keep up the good work Doc.
“Even Mona has called him an antisemite on numerous occasions.”
“Even -Mona- …”
WTF is rattling about your skull.
-Mona- is responsible for the ‘Comments Policy’ now in place. She did not develop it; it was developed to deal with her constant character assassination.
I’d discuss the historical aspect of the Yellow Star, relative to Israel’s current “Jews Only” policies and Israel’s disproportionate influence on America, but …
You lack the ability to reason without contortion and confusion, in my opinion.
Your long-winded posts are not in a user-friendly format. This behavior is not inconsistent with my former observation.
Not even sort of. It was developed because I and other regulars begged for it. We threatened to pick up our toys and leave if it didn’t start.
You know this and whined about the separate site many of us were contemplating (and still may be).
And by the way, the current moderating practices are temporary and stop-gap. They caused some problems, meant to control people like you, but the terms they put in the filter ended up keeping out valid comments from many, especially those writing about Israel and/or Jews. Something new will reportedly come in a month or so.
Or so Glenn and other TI staff say.
That should read: “Especially Mona.” Indeed, I reported a “joke” about Jews and lampshades last week or so, which was promptly deleted and the miscreant went silent until the last day or two. He may be working around a ban now that he’s reappeared.
Don’t listen to Craig. I also agree with nuf on occasion when he merits it.
Consoling DocHollywood is not going to help. He is just obsessed with my posts – and says stupid things. At any rate, the Intercept policy on antisemitism should be interesting. You reject the European definition, but now the Intercept is coming up with its own definition. I will be watching with extreme skepticism on how its defined.
Thanks.
Nope, to my knowledge there is no such thing.
D3S (dangerously deep deepstate) is the next level of threat
its reserved for stuff like the defense department and the dmv
deepstate is bad enough, thats like parking and marriage licenses
but D3S with IC may be too much for trump and the justice league
After the election results were in, CNN had a county level map of the US with the standard red/blue color coding for the votes.
It was really startling … the whole country was red, with blue concentrations in the urban centers.
The democrats are in a huge and obvious state of denial about the very obvious philosophical rift between urban and rural America.
And the electoral college showed that, as our constitution intended, the numerical majority cannot always dictate election results.
Instead of engaging the truth, we instead get to watch otherwise intelligent people go on and on about PuTInZ cyBerz , or Trump porking a russian prostitute on some dirty-tricks vhs tape.
“We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States.”
– Barack Obama
But the numerical majority SHOULD determine election results, as they do in every other democracy around the world. I don’t think what just transpired is what the founders intended with the electoral college.
you are wrong
Stalin, Hitler and Mao all “had balls.” Civil libertarians generally find that to be utterly insufficient, and often affirmatively dangerous, in a leader.
That was supposed to be in reply to Carol, right below.
Simple statements from a blue collar Trump supporter: Why the barrage of ill to Trump? He built an empire, raised good children, wants good things for this country. How could anyone want a hillary as President compared to Trump? Let us dismantle her seedy, dishonest, illegal history and place that along side Donald Trump’s background. No comparison. Yes, he has made mistakes and is rough around the edges. He has balls. This is encouraging and great to see and hear.
Enjoyed your interview on Carlson. I had no idea of the CIA supporting hillary and what you bought to light.
One doesn’t have to support Clinton to recognize that Trump is a vile racist bigot, which fact, unfortunately, makes him a good fit for white, patriotic United Snakes Americans.
I’ll take an obvious bigot like Trump over the crypto-bigots like Hillary and Anderson Copper who fully supported Bill Clinton’s killing of 1 million Iraqi children under the age of 5.
madeleine albright thought the sanctions were worth it, women’s rights are human rights but with children’s rights your mileage may vary
interesting projection there
“The serious dangers posed by a Trump presidency are numerous and manifest.”
I am having a problem finding a list of these numerous and serious dangers. Would this sentence have worked just as well eight years ago: “The serious dangers posed by an Obama presidency are numerous and manifest.” They were and I was aware of them before he even got elected. But I was in a lonely crowd. Looking back I hope a larger group can see them. Remembering 2008 there was a happy looking forward to the Obama Presidency on the part of most. Then what happened? If history has any logic, all this in my opinion unmerited fear of Trump will be followed by some embarrassment as things fail to fall apart. In any case I would like to see a list of the grave dangers we face during a Donald Trump Admin.
Jeff Sessions. The federal courts, especially SCOTUS. Those are just a few of the dangers Trump poses to any with a civil libertarian bone in their body.
Don’t forget to mention the potential havoc Trump could cause in Palestine, Mona.
There’s a great deal of truth to that. With Jared Kushner to be directing U.S. Israel policy, the dominant, in-control far right in Israel is delighted. Settlements now have a green light. It’s great short term for Zionists, but in the longrun it puts BDS on steroids and will accelerate worldwide opposition to Israel, now to be seen as part of opposing Donald Trump.
Maybe Trump will help boost BDS, but it still will not be successful. Let’s also not forget that the alt-left absolutely hated HRC for her “fealty” to Israel – so, indirectly, threw their support behind Trump because they thought he might be neutral on the issue. Alt-lefties detested HRC which is why Assange helped Trump get elected – on a wing and a prayer I might add! HRC might look pro-Palestinian by the time Trump is done.
Thanks.
Be very specific, please. After eight years of Obama and his disdain for the Constitution the “dangers” you point to seem fairly minor. Sessions strikes me as a very smart, experienced and fine person. And my guess is that the replacement for Scalia will be a better person than he was. Of course I may be wrong as seeing into the future is apt to give eye strain.
You’re a typical Trump supporter. The entire 3rd branch of government being turned to the far right, and a racist horror such as Sessions as AG, are of no concern to you. Exactly the kind of politically illiterate specimen common to the Trump fold.
The one bright spot is Trump’s almost certain putting BDS on steroids and causing opposition to Israel’s apartheid regime to take on a a whole new level of legitimacy and power. Craig Summers engages in wishful thinking, i.e., that nothing can undo his favorite ethno-religious supremacist state. History says he’s wrong, and Trump will hasten the end.
Actually, there is a second bright spot. If people thought Black Lives Matter was a factor before, just wait. It will grow and blossom (as will associated violence, which will have both good and bad effects). Race in America is going to be a huge issue, with the right side gaining a lot of energy and an edge, as far more are forced to take sides.
Not much has been said about Trump’s choice of Betsy DeVos for Ed Secy. This woman has eviscerated public education in Michigan through her dark money tactics and lobbying effects. She has no experience in public education, has never been a teacher or administrator and wants to privatise schools into for-profit centers that will and have drained millions of dollars from the public coffers. She is a right winged religious supporter and wants to force prayer and religion into schools. Look at Detroit’s school system and you get an idea of why DeVos is dangerous, since she has had a huge influence on the siphoning of money away from high-needs students and schools and into the pockets of charters. She alone is reason to oppose Trump but of course there are many many other reasons including Ben Carson, Tillerson, Bannon, Flynn…..just to name a few. DeVos is also the sister of Eric Prince whom any regular Intercept reader knows was the CEO of Blackwater (see Jeremy Scahill’s book for a concise rundown on the billions that company siphoned off the back of taxpayers) and you will get a chill up your spine when all the pieces of the puzzle are put together.
It has been great fun goading the alt-right morons with questions about this report though. “But don’t you think it would be dangerous if Trump WAS being blackmailed by Putin?” “Don’t you think our country should at least LOOK INTO this?” “Don’t you CARE about your COUNTRY???” “What can it hurt to GET THE FACTS???? What are you AFRAID OF??????”
The whole thing is right out of the Alex Jones Grand Conspiracy Theory cookbook. What caught the Trump people by surprise was that this time the recipe was used by their enemies.
Anybody with a grain of sense knows how to incorporate unsubstantiated reports into their understanding of “reality.” It’s entertainment, not news. News is Michael Flynn’s violations of the Logan act.
I agree with some of the points here (the media being manipulated by the CIA / Democrats with unsubstantiated intelligence only plays into Trump’s hands and is in no way good for American democracy), but I think you’ve missed some basic issues. Yes, the CIA may have supported Clinton and may be trying to fight dirty now. But the FBI supported Trump and fought dirty before the election. So I’d say the intelligence agencies are pretty well split politically.
And your argument that the people have spoken and elected Trump, and thus the intelligence agencies need to stay out of it, is undermined by the belief that the people haven’t been allowed to speak through the election (bear in mind Clinton won the popular vote, if not the electoral college game) and that it seems pretty clear the FBI and Putin were trying to interfere in the outcome. (I know Republicans who think that’s a great thing, and Democrats who are aghast, but in both cases those people seem to be taking the interference as highly plausible.) I’m the furthest thing from a conspiracy theorist, but I don’t think Russian meddling in foreign elections is very far-fetched. (I also read the German media and was living there through last summer; the German government has been worried about Russian interference in the 2017 elections for many months now, even well before the U.S. election outcome.)
Another interesting point for me has been that whether or not anything in the latest leak is actually true, Trump’s so bat-s*** crazy that no one questions it too much, because it *could* be true. It’s easier to put forth this stuff about Trump because there’s nothing in his behavior or history that would automatically discredit it.
I see. So we are to collectively get our knickers in a twist because Donald Trump may have once paid a Russian sex worker for a pee party?
Hillary Clinton did not lose the election to Donald Trump because of either the FBI or Russians, not even if Vladimir Putin personally ordered the email hacks and himself submitted the trove to Wikileaks: 1. She lost to Donald Trump!! A man who, going into office, has historically low approval ratings and sky high negatives, and 2. The Democratic Party is in the toilet at all levels, federal, state and municipal, which is no one’s fault but the Democrats themselves.
Of so, so, right!
These orgs shouldn’t be political at all! First of all, the FBI is a policing organization. Do you think it’s okay for Democrats to go free and Republicans to go to jail for same crime? All are equal (or should be anyways) before the law.
This is true for any normal private citizen. But for policing entities and those that serve wthin them, this is a slippery slope. Government agencies such as FBI and CIA are supposed to serve the civilian authority. By the mere fact that they would object to either political party is to state that they would not serve the government fairly or justly 50% of the time.
Would you advocate the fire department to put out fires of Republican homes and let Democrats homes burn as an example?
“Would you advocate the fire department to put out fires of Republican homes and let Democrats homes burn as an example?”
Give me a list first.
I can’t imagine where millions of people got the idea that the Democrats weren’t on their side.
So your saying Sanders hurt the Dem party by pointing out that Dems voted against a perfect bill for reasons that can be debunked by a child?
Praps because they’re thinking of establishment Democrats. Bernie ain’t one of them… cf. Corey Booker.
The way I look at it is that El Poder (the Power), as they say in Latin and South America, has been itching for a confrontation with Russia in order to consolidate the US’s hegemony around the world. My feeling is that if Trump doesn’t come around they’ll bounce him one-way or another. Don’t get me wrong here, I detest Trump and everything he stands for, but it seems pretty clear to me that this whole rigmarole is trumped up (pun intended) with hardly any solid proof, only innuendo. Trump is clearly out of his element here, and he is proceeding on the assumption that he’s actually in charge. The corporate/military complex (our version of El Poder) won’t allow it.
Why didn´t the CIA/ NSA come out with this stuff BEFORE the US elections? Now it looks like they are trying to bias the election outcome, a mission normally reserved for only the FIS, Mossad or the Chinese MSS.
How can they bias the election by coming out with it AFTER the election?
On the other hand the FBI ‘s director did influnence the election.
That the Gulf royals co opted and assisted Obama was clear after his kneeling for the Saudi king. The Bushes were also neck deep into Gulf oil (Bin Laden family!) as the Clintons in Gulf donations.
I haven seen Trump kneeling before Putin yet.
the guardian reports on the latest “threat”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/13/c-span-interrupted-by-russian-news-channel-rt#comment-91090558
it has become a joke of a paper.
The Graun is so obviously biased in their choice of authors, comment on/off, editorials etc. that it has become nauseating. I don even want to see its demise day by day. Don´t even lurk there.
I’ve only glanced at the headlines, but it is monumentally silly and the height of ignorance for the media to pay serious attention to this, at all.
If, as appears to be the case, the interruption affected the C-Span feed across all of the cable networks that carry the channel, it is virtually certain that C-Span, itself, mixed up the feeds.
Somewhere, in a network operations center, a bunch of C-Span techs sit around monitoring various networks and, in a few cases, their own feeds (as is the case with congressional hearings). At any given moment, a director may tell the techs to patch one feed or another into the C-Span output. If someone pushes the wrong button/flips the wrong switch/types the wrong command/clicks the wrong icon, the “wrong” feed goes out over the C-Span channel.
And it keeps occupying the channel until someone returns from coffee break or looks up from her crossword puzzle and notices that they have been streaming RT instead of Maxine Waters.
Or maybe a viewer in Peoria called his cable company and the local techies called C-SPan and said, “Hey! Do you guys know. . .”
Apparently US wants its next war w/ Russia; it’s been on a waiting list; but I believe Mattis may have just shortlisted them yesterday during the hearing. Nothing the news media does will stop this war machine.
The preposterousness of this fake news about Trump and the Russians shows those behind it are a bit unhinged. A theory. Could they be over doing the cocaine? Too far fetched?
Greenwald in October re: the Podesta emails: “Once the journalist has confidence in the authenticity of the material, the only relevant question is whether the public good from publishing outweighs any harm. And if the answer to that question is “yes,” then the journalist has not only the right, but the absolute duty, to report on it.”
Greenwald today:
“yesterday…the Deep State unleashed its tawdriest and most aggressive assault yet on Trump: vesting credibility in and then causing the public disclosure of a completely unvetted and unverified document, compiled by a paid, anonymous operative while he was working for both GOP and Democratic opponents of Trump, accusing Trump of a wide range of crimes, corrupt acts, and salacious private conduct…It’s almost impossible to imagine a scenario where it’s justifiable for a news outlet to publish a totally anonymous, unverified, unvetted document filled with scurrilous and inflammatory allegations..”
By Greenwald’s October logic, why is there any problem with Buzzfeed or CNN reporting on the existence of a dossier that they have come into contact with? They qualified their reporting by letting the public know that the claims in the dossier are unsubstantiated: no one is disputing or omitting that fact. However, in my opinion, the story is also about the simple fact that such a dossier exists, and that the claims can potentially be substantiated. We are, after all, talking about the highest office in the most powerful nation in the world. The fact that this dossier even exists is newsworthy, and thereby meets the standards Greenwald set forth back in October.
The DNC/Podesta emails are authentic documents of people at the apex of the US political system.
The dirt scraped up by the ex MI6 freelancer is hearsay.
I could create a “dossier” in five minutes containing allegations from my imaginary Russian friends that Trump is a robot controlled by Martians.
Is my dossier’s existence also newsworthy?
That “ex M16 freelancer” was found credible by US intelligence and has a strong reputation in the spook field.
You have this exactly right –
When I learned that the NY Times and media establishment had this story since late summer 2016, I immediately thought that it was an echo of the NYT holding the Bush spying story until after the election.
In fact, the dossier was widely discussed inside beltway circles among media and political strategists. The only ones that didn’t know were us rubes, The People.
It seems those putting out these ridiculous allegations are a bit unhinged, one contributary factor of which could possibly be over dosing on cocaine. Is that too far fetched?
Watching the liberals, neocons and media implode all at once is glorious. I have never been so happy in my life.
it is scary at the same time, but yes, there are moments that are comically glorious.
Why is progressive leftist media so afraid of Glenn Greenwald?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/13/glenn-greenwald-democrats-hoping-intelligence-agencies-will-undermine-and-subvert-trump-presidency.html
Only on FOX.
As Greenwald himself just tweeted to a Democrat giving hims shit for appearing on Fox:
Morons like you also invert the criticism.
Wondering why my fairly LONG comment from yesterday does not appear?
It’s the notable epitomy (perpetration of USA fabrication of false news to peddle and FOMENT false perception) of unsubstantiated and [to revere, venerate] substantiated falsehood for/as [worst than quasi] credence and authenticity.
— Alejandro Grace Ararat.
Who is still singing the land of the free? Disgusting is short. The establishment their puppets and their mocking bird operatives want the entire USA united in false perception as truth is why is going to be worst than all kosher dictatorship combined while chanting “in the land of the free and free press while subverting it at every turn.
Looks like you are waking up Glenn (that’s great) and tell Edward Snowden the corrupt establishment do not want anyone to expose and denounce their secret wickedness modus operandi of the novus ordos seclorum (to hack any person private details) which is repugnant as they are cloaked in democracy and chanting the land of the free while subverting it in a free an open society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS8yZnevvRk
_”Watch Kremlin-Backed Russia Today Take Over C-SPAN’s Feed (Video)“_
https://www.yahoo.com/tv/watch-kremlin-backed-russia-today-over-c-span-221702255.html
“At 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Representative Maxine Waters was on the floor of the House of Representatives, arguing for the importance of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
““At this time,” Ms. Waters, Democrat of California, said, “with a bill that would basically take our cop on the block, the S.E.C., and literally obliterate ——”
“Alas, politics junkies, news editors and anyone else who was watching the broadcast online did not learn how that sentence ended. Ms. Waters was cut off. Instead, they heard the jangling music of a feed from RT, a state-run Russian television network that has been accused of helping its government interfere in the American election.”
-the New York Times
I’m not sure that I see this as an attack on Trump. If the information is true, and the information was being used to blackmail Trump, then by releasing the information to the public, the information looses its value as blackmail material.
While it might be momentarily embarrassing, in the long term revealing the information frees Trump from the information’s influence.
Best take.
“C.I.A. Nominee Says He Won’t Balk at Seeking Russian Intelligence”, nytimes.com:
“Of all the arms of the government, the C.I.A. is particularly sensitive to slights from the president. It considers itself the eyes and ears of the president around the world, and it prides itself on being above politics (although that is an ideal that is at times more aspirational than many at the agency readily acknowledge). Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, it has also expanded far beyond its core mission of espionage with a campaign of drone strikes and paramilitary operations against militants in the Middle East and Central Asia.
“Leon E. Panetta, a former C.I.A. director, called Mr. Trump’s public berating of America’s spies ‘very dangerous.’ … He said the rift could tarnish the credibility of intelligence analysis and hurt morale at C.I.A. headquarters.
“Will Hurd, a former C.I.A. clandestine officer and now a Republican representative from Texas, said that Grizzly Steppe, the American code name given to Russia’s efforts to disrupt the 2016 election, had worked. ‘Russian intelligence will consider “Grizzly Steppe” to be their most successful covert action operation because it created a wedge, whether real or perceived, between the U.S. president, intelligence community and the American public,’ he said.”
It was the Republicans especially Jeb Bush that first requested this investigation into Trump, then after the primaries the Democrats joined in. After seeing Greenwald on Fox news I really lost all respect for him. Where there is smoke there’s fire. Trump is a dirty guy it is only a matter of time before the truth comes out about him.
“‘Yes We Can’ was a slogan that accompanied banners emblazoned with the solar symbol held aloft by adherents of the far right wing Barack Obama.” -from A History of the Early 21st Century, second printing 2057
attention TI
this presentation format needs to be replaced
you are at your limits
you are at the end of growth on comments
system resources time out
change already please
also please init a +/- dealie as follows; sort by + count, sort by – count, sort by total count, sort by difference in scores.
I GUARANTEE IT.
True. Browser gets really slow as the comments accumulate. Too much HTML + JavaScript to parse & execute for a single web page. Should break it up.
How the hell do ai find my thread and the responses to it related to this article?
“Not only was its author anonymous, but he was paid by Democrats (and, before that, by Trump’s GOP adversaries) to dig up dirt on Trump.”
The author is no longer anonymous, his name is Christopher Steele, a former British MI6 agent. He’s gone into hiding, fearing for his life. I wonder if Putin will poison him like he did with Alexander Litvinenko?
i read that this loser live in a mansion, lotsa money
cia did drug running for money
these spooky jerks are just criminals using agencies for protection for their organised crime activities
cia now one large racketeering out – dealing in extortion and blackmail, and hit jobs
competing with the mossad to corrupt overtake and run contries by blackmail extortion and murder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Sb5myARnY
these criminal outfits need to be DEFUNDED. put to sleep. deep sixed. bankrupted. closed for business.
“fearing for his life”=not wanting to have to back up the dodgy dossier in interviews. i guess it sounds more dramatic than wanting to spend more time with his family.
So, he fears for his life when the memo he wrote is published in January of 2017. His life would have been in danger had the memo been published in October or September of 2016! Or then he simply is not inclined to answer questions on his rather childish memo, especially since Trump won. I have read the memo and I am pretty sure that he expected Hillary Clinton to win when he wrote it, meaning that he would never be taken to task for the outrageous claims he makes.
Saw your interview with Carlson tonight; immediately went to your site and read your article. While I may not agree with your politics, I certainly will not fault you for your professional journalistic acumen. A powerful and needed piece. Journalism isn’t quite dead yet; you just proved that point. Perhaps some of your colleagues may want to take heed.
“The threat of being ruled by unaccountable and unelected entities is self-evident and grave. ”
Ironically, this is the lifeblood of progressive ruling strategy through and through.
James Clapper said today that the synopsis (of the Golden Rain dossier) was included in the Trump briefing because “part of our obligation is to ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security.”
And he’s absolutely correct, precisely for the stated reason, in having done so.
I wanted to say something else. I posted this article in a Facebook group. A fellow commented, “Holy shit! I almost forgot what real journalism looks like. This should be required reading by all Americans.”
Most news places sat on this file for weeks and weeks, which is what they should have done while looking into it. But as soon as word comes out it was given to the President and Trump in a briefing it’s fair game.
Is Glenn actually suggesting the media hide information it has and knows the president has from the public?
Stuff like this is why I don’t trust Greenwald. Too much hypocrisy is bad for any “journalist”.
One of the best (the best?) journalists of our time. Thank you, Glenn Greenwald.
Glenn is like the child in school who doesnt say a word when the bully is pushing around the other kids, but once another kid fights back, he runs and tattles to the teacher
Excellent article! However Mr. Greenwash portrays BuzzFeed, Vox and other outlets as though they are “useful fools” latching onto obviously fake intelligence reports for ideological reasons. I think this is a mistake. Like the Washington Post and New York Times, BuzzFeed and Vox are part of the deep state intelligence apparatus run by the liberal imperialists and neocon regime change fanatics on behalf of a very desperate (and thus dangerous) financial oligarchy who see the growing economic and military strength of the Asian nations, led by Russia and China, as a threat to their global empire. The onrushing collapse of the Wall Street and European banking system increases the danger of some wild US/NATO military provocation, 9-11 type terrorist attack or assassination(s) such as the Karlov assassination in Turkey. (Trump would be an obvious target.) But to get back to the main point, BuzzFeed, Vox and of course CNN are nothing but propaganda tools of the oligarchy, not ideological fools.
How effortlessly does progressive leftist Salon.com alum Jake Tapper combine with more globalist-fortified corporate progressive leftist media ABC and CNN.
ABC and CNN are “progressive leftist” only in the mind of a hallucinating case like you, you who thinks Adolph Hitler was a man of the left.
ABC and CNN love to push Climate Change, and gun control, and fuzzy borders, and volks, er, folks, and medical experiments and population control.
Admit that when someone founded a Socialist Workers Party, National as in NARAL, that progressives flocked to it. (Then later embarrassedly said he wasn’t theirs same as their successors used the same playbook, chapter and verse, to claim Obama wasn’t really theirs either.)
Mona, you’re pathetic.
Actually they don’t. But they should.
As for this:
You’re a deranged freak who has promoted this as fine, intellectually sound literature.
Very well written. Just saw you on Carlson. I am a Deplorable Trump supporter and I wish nothing but the best for everyone with the new administration. When I heard all this, I felt the same way. Each day there is a new assault, whether democratic or republican. I do believe the powers that be are continuous in trying to corrupt this election. And this presidency. They are trying to set stages for failure, blaming each other. It eventually will destroy us as we will turn on each other in the end. Here’s to the good fight. I hope your not right, but again, very well written.
So, if the intelligence community didn’t want Trump to win, then why in the world would they have not released this dossier prior to the election? They had it for months didn’t they?
Also, why would they let Comey break FBI protocol and go after HIllary right before the election?
Doesn’t add up. Also, the author is making suppositions about the community without any hard evidence … which is exactly what he’s accusing them of doing to Trump (despite BBC and other agencies having sources agreeing with Dossier )
Exactly right.
In addition to the dossier being widely available since late summer 2016, the Obama and Trump briefing was provided to 8 members of Congress on the Intelligence oversight Cmte.’s
Ford stays. Carrier stays. Toyota on tariff notice. Boeing told it won’t be paid for overpriced AF1s. F35 program to be shared among potential price competitor. Pharma pricing under the microscope.
All as a direct result of Trump’s scrutiny, even before taking office. Trump is the bad man.
Obama giggled as he chased American jobs away in order to hasten Cloward-Piven and globalism and SDRs.
Glenn Greenwald: Democrats Are Losing Again Amid Putin Frenzy, today on WNYC.
Another 11 minutes of Glenn’s patented clarity — with the dogs just audible in the background. ;^)
GG was a guest on Tucker Carlson’s show twice in two months? Or am I experiencing deja vu? Seems he was on yesterday. Well, at east Tucker does give him an uninterrupted space of time in which to speak unlike some hosts with whom GG has appeared, hosts who get argumentative and keep interrupting.
When the most sympathetic establishment interviewer for Greenwald is from Fox rather than MSNBC, well, that rather encapsulates all that’s wrong with liberals/Democrats.
There’s nothing ironic about the left’s hatred of Russia: the latter moved away from collectivism.
You’re hallucinating again.
This dossier is reported to have been floating around for months among journalists and others. No one really knew what it was, who wrote it, or where it came from. It was completely unsubstantiated, unverified, uncorroborated. At that point, it may as well have been a work of complete fiction. Then, this was attached to a report prepared by top US intelligence officials and presented Obama, Trump, and the Gang of Eight. This fact is leaked to CNN through unnamed sources. At that point, this becomes transformed from something of no journalistic value to something newsworthy. Buzzfeed, who apparently had been sitting on this report, realizes what it has and publishes it. The substance of the report is unverified, but there is no apparent dispute that this is indeed the authentic dossier, a portion of which was presented to Obama, Trump, etc. Then unnamed sources begin leaking details about its author; his name, his past experience as a former MI6 agent, him being a former FBI asset for decades, and having a reputation among the intelligence community to be credible based on his past work, etc. In essence, US Intel has outed the author with the specific intent and purpose to give as much credence to the substance of the dossier as possible. The author, who may ultimately lose his life over this, is forced underground.
This dossier was reported to have been funded first by anti-Trump republicans and later by the democrats. I wonder if HRC and the DNC had this in their possession before the election? Who had it? When?
It behooves US Intel to find Mr. Steele and question him regarding his sources. And the information should be made public in the most transparent way possible.
This is why you’re a big part of the very small group of great journalists in America, Mr. Greenwald! Thank you.
This has all the hallmarks of a CIA-Neocon operation:
It is imbecilic, it is crude, it is evident.
You can’t fake this stuff -it’s their signature.
Having said that, this will bring about two results:
– It will fail in its intended purpose.
– It will cause chaos.
For the rest of us this is popcorn time. Here, a puzzle:
Which is worse -going to war with Iraq on fake intel, or going to war with Russia on fake intel?
Agree with Glenn.
The Democrats’ Conspiracy Theory
https://politicalfilm.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/the-democrats-conspiracy-theory/
What journalism – to use a great evil to undermine a perceived lesser evil – rhetoric 101. The last good Republican President warned America about the great danger faced by US democracy vis a vis the military industrial complex. The threat Dwight D Eisenhower described is existential compared to the threat Mr Trump presents . By juxtaposing the two shadow concepts a) the deep state b) Mr. Trump receiving help from his Russian handler’s: most people’s attention will shift to the historically proven (as much as you can proof anything in history) deep state = military industrial complex. The aim of this piece of … journalism is to shift attention. Methinks the ‘journalist’ Greenwald doth protest too much.
Perhaps the dark deep state is at work for Mr. Trump (without evidence it is hard to know) – but so what. The two concepts are not mutually exclusive neither are they logically bound together. Maybe (most likely) the deep state is working to shine a dark light on Mr. Trump. Maybe Mr. Trump acted as he has in the past and broke the rules.
It is just that this time when he broke the rules rather than hurting just black renters (telling his apartment managers to not rent to black people); this time when he broke the rules accepting help from his big brother Vladimir Putin, his victim is the United States of America.
Is his victim the United States, or the American plutocracy?
Well, no.
The aim of this piece is to show how the Deep State works with establishment media to turn people into credulous zombies, willing to accept even the most preposterous lies, half-truths and narratives. As well as to create Russia as the Supreme Villain in the political landscape, who is responsible for Hillary Clitnon’s failure to take the crown, as well as the Zika virus, and teenage acne.
Since I have never before posted on The Intercept, let me introduce myself by saying that I supported and voted for Bernie in the primary and reluctantly voted for HRC in the general, along with a straight democratic vote. I’m not a lifelong democrat, I evolved into one as the republican party moved further and further to the right and allowed itself to be controlled by religious fanatics. I eschew all religion, and consider religion, from its inception, to be the biggest hoax and greatest evil ever perpetrated on the human race.
With that being said, I would like to pose a couple of questions to many of those posting here:
1) What exactly is wrong with wanting better relations with Russia? Antagonistic relations with Russia profits no one but the MIC. As regards Crimea – Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine, Putin took it away from them. So what? Crimea held an election wherein the citizens of that area made a decision as to where their allegiances lie. Who are we to criticize the outcome of a democratic election where people have voted for self-determination?
Putin reacted to European troops massing on Russia’s borders. Let us not forget that Europeans have a bad habit of invading Russia, and the last time it was at the cost of approximately 30 million Russian lives.
I have visited Russia on numerous occasions, and have discovered that, for the most part, Russians are quite cordial and quite amiable to Americans. Why do so many Americans insist upon trying to make enemies of people who would rather be our friends? There is also the fact that Russians, by and large, relish American made products, primarily because the inherent quality of same. Russia could be great trading partner for us, and a giant market for our products.
2) What exactly is wrong with wanting Europe to pay for its own defense? European nations are able to offer many social services, like excellent healthcare, to their citizens. One of the main reasons they have the resources to do this is because American taxpayers subsidize their defense. NATO is no longer necessary and if we were to cut our defense budget by what we spend defending wealthy European nations we could divert that money towards rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and providing more services for our own citizens.
Very sensible post. I hope you stick around. The first comment here is held to make sure it isn’t, e.g., commercial spam, but the rest should immediately post. I sincerely hope we hear more from you.
Does anyone actually think that Trump was elected without the help of Putin/Russia? If you do, the tooth fairy is going to leave you some money under your pillow tonight.
Quote from Theodore Roosevelt, while in office:
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Speaking of secret foreign influence on democracy check this out:
It’s causing a bit of a stir.
This one is fun, it’s all about Zionism and anti-semitism.
causing a bit of a stir where? in the UK? Nobody knows about it on this side of the Atlantic. Thanks for the link to part 2.
Drumpf is NOT duly elected. He only “won” the election because of the electoral college, which got created to maintain slavery.
The talking orange may offer lip service to better relations with Russia, but you can bet money that he’ll anger Moscow almost immediately (never mind that he endorsed the invasion of Iraq).
Just let us know which other provisions of the Constitution you find fatally flawed and we’ll erase them for you.
Sheesh. ;^)
lee: “screw that whole piece of paper”
You’re the kind of person that’s going to ensure that the democrats lose again, and again, and again.
Accept your loss. Come to terms with the fact than an Orangutan beat your Queen, whom you wanted to anoint. She lost because she’s the worst politician under the sun. She lost because she has no connection whatsoever with the average person.
It’s not difficult for me to say that Trump is a total idiot. But Hillary is even worse. She’s dumber than sand.
Take your medicine. Stop crying.
AiC, on that one point I am certain you are very wrong: Hillary Clinton is many things, but stupid is decidedly not one of them. She’s extremely smart, and calculating. No, her problem — aside from her policy history — is not being at all personable.
Tell me how she’s smart. What has she ever done? What are her accomplishments, other than being elected or appointed to public office? What has she done that has been smart or intelligent, that has affected anybody’s life in a positive way?
There is more intelligence and depth in a single probing question by Elizabeth Warren, than the totality of HRC’s career, in my opinion. But point me to the evidence that says otherwise and I’ll shut up.
Hillary Clinton by all reports was a very smart lawyer — she did, after all, make it into Yale Law School, and served as the first female head of Legal Services. Her tenure at State was smart if one grants her her beliefs and premises — which you and I avidly do not. She is a fierce debater and does well in that format. Very quick on her feet.
You could say nearly the same things about Trump.
Um, no.
Umm, yup. No.
I mean, you could say the same things about Trump, but you’d be wrong. ;^)
Trump can’t hold a candle to HRC’s intellect and ability to debate. Which makes it even more humiliating that she lost to him. Either Sanders or Biden would have beaten Trump — virtually anyone but her would have.
Of course, on a one on one level, on most issues, Hillary would be a more interesting conversationalist. But Trump also went to Wharton, and is pretty quick on his feet, and handled himself just fine with Hillary during the debates. It’s not like either one of them told the truth about anything.
My point is, I just don’t buy this whole “Hillary is smart” bullshit. It seems to me like one of those things, which becomes true because everybody in the media repeats it. I just couldn’t find anything that she’s done that’s “smart.” And while everybody, and I mean everybody disagrees with me, nobody ever points out what she ever did, that was “smart.” Lots of people go to Ivy League schools. Half the kids at any Ivy League school, are complete idiots, legacy kids, or children of rich or powerful people. Of course the other half are smart. But half the kids are like Trump and Bush. What brilliant legal case did she ever work on? What the hell is she famous for other than being Hillary Clinton? Trump is an idiot, no doubt. But this Hillary=smart thing is total bullshit.
Hillary, like Obama, has proven themselves to be not very politically smart.
Sure, they were able to navigate the neoliberal/neocon morass that each contributed to and benefited from; but unlike, for example, Bernie Sanders, they haven’t, and never had, a politically smart message that would resonate with a majority of Americans – nor, either one, the ability to use their voice and their bully-pulpit to create or motivate their fellow citizens – unlike Bernie.
Bernie showed that the voters were already here – while Hillary, Obama (and the DNC) were abysmally absent.
I think Obama proved that in terms of long term politics, yeah, he’s a fool. But when it came to campaigning or marketing for himself, I have to say he was pretty good. I was totally, totally sold. There was a time I absolutely loved him. And now I can’t stand him. That’s all I know.
Hillary really has been particularly obtuse. She seems like she doesn’t have a political bone in her body. Maybe it was the years of republican bullying that shut her off. I don’t know. But by the time of the election, it seemed that she was more interested in what Wall St thought of her, than what she wanted to do for people. And it was evident. It was so uninspiring. Such dumb politics.
Bernie Sanders would have been such a gift. What a missed opportunity. All because of the corruption of the DNC. These people should be jailed.
Yes, Obama was definitely the better salesman. That said, in the end, neither could speak to the American people in a way that was genuine and verifiable.
Of course, politics isn’t hard science, per se, but most folks, particularly millennials, recognized that what Bernie were was positions and actual deeds showing results that were consistent and verifiable over a long period of time, something both Hillary and Obama simply couldn’t do.
The Clintons built the biggest money-laundering, pay-for-play scheme on the planet. Literally. Their fingers are in everything. Hurricanes? Yep…they call it disaster charity, only they use their foundation as a front for soliciting donations, trafficking human victims of disasters, trafficking children, child pornography, and every other criminal enterprise imaginable. They’ve toppled entire countries…how many killed in Iraq – 1.5 million?
Forget people’s delivery. Look into what they have done.
https://medium.com/real-in-other-words/the-clinton-foundation-stories-18423be590e2#.pkixm8bly
There are links in the article for more damning evidence.
The Clinton Foundation story is one thing. The rightwing’s insane delusions about the Clintons from the 90s are wholly another: “Lesbian Hillary Clinton murdered her lover, Vince Foster.”
First Lady Clinton will have all the time in the world to speak at Goldman Sachs now.
yeah but at a reduced rate.
Her chief handler Huma revealed in the emails she had to be handheld and coached while Secretary of State because she didn’t remember the foreign leaders she was speaking with. Recall she quit the post after suffering what was called a head injury after a fall. She was once very calculating but with age has lost the ability. Too much was invested in her financially and she became essentially an empty pantsuit filled up with special interest baggage.
This electoral slavery college of yours. Did you ever complain about it when it was electing fellow tribe members?
so,, we credit fox for real news? his makes no sense to me.
Good to see BBC’s Newsnight appears to be quite critical of the… erm… ‘quality’ of the Steele/Orbits report. Watch here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mk25
And Auntie Beeb can hardly be accused of Trumpism. They took Hillary’s Coronation as a given.
The Beeb’s iPlayer screens IP addresses by country and won’t run for IPs out side the UK.
The rest of us either have to go through the hassle of the various schemes that make our requests appear to be from UK addresses or wait for the material to appear elsewhere.
The latest stable Opera browser with free VPN (42.0.2393.94) works well on videos at the BBC site without much hassle, even with the built-in adblock enabled. Opera’s VPN (via SurfEasy) allows you to choose servers in several countries and, important for me, it hits the remarkable maxed-out (for my ISP) 1 Mbs download speed almost all the time.
Thanks! I haven’t looked at Opera for years and had no idea they are providing a free VPN.
I’d holler “keep up!” but I’m much too far behind for you the hear me. ;-)
This is the absolute height of irony. The MSM roundly denounced “Pizza Gate,” just the last month, with NO consideration of the evidence whatsoever. Now this comes around and they do the exact opposite. The partisanship of the MSM has completely betrayed them of any claims to objectivity. This level of hypocrisy has truly rendered them devoid of any credibility.
Hallucinations do not constitute evidence of anything but the fact of hallucinations.
You geniuses have no idea how covert operations and intelligence actually works. There’s a little word called “redundancy” that is used to verify. That’s the same thing that wasn’t allowed to occur in the intelligence for the Iraq War. The issue is that Trump acted in collusion with the Russians to win the presidential election. The only questions are for how long and how it was done. There is also the obvious question of how Trump’s collusion with the Russian violates laws. Trump’s collusion with the Russians started with his plan to embrace purpose-driven political propaganda (fake news) and right-wing conspiracy theories somewhere around 2010. Wars are coming due to Trump’s treason.
There is an important historical analogy to the situation with Trump and the Russians. In 1968, Richard Nixon interfered in peace talks to end the Vietnam War. Nixon’s treasonous activities were discovered by the FBI and other intelligence agencies. LBJ then confronted Republican senator Dirksen in an effort to end Nixon’s sabotage. Nixon’s treason was a well-hidden secret until audio tapes of LBJ were released a couple years ago. (Nixon’s treason was also the reason for Watergate.)
We’re at an amazingly similar point in history that were were in 1969 prior to Nixon’s inauguration. The difference this time is that we know PEEOTUS Donald Trump engaged in treasonous activities to win the presidential election. We just don’t know all the details, and the intelligence agencies might not share what they have that proves, through redundancy, that Donald Trump worked closely with the Russians from 2010 to win the presidential election.
you mean the dragon lady episode?. that was reported a long time ago, in the 60’s or early 70’s i think.
Can you provide links with explanations and evidence supporting your theory that redundancy in intelligence gathering and reporting somehow equals collusion with regards to Trump?
Thus far, I’ve not seen evidence supporting Russia did anything extraordinary here; overtly, collusionally, or otherwise.
As a recent example, there’s plenty of actual evidence in the DNC/Podesta emails that demonstrate actual collusion. With these newest claims, though, not so much.
There is no shred of evidence to backstop any of these wild Trump/Russia assertions. Nor of the empty claim “redundancy” did not occur for the Iraq War deception. In sum, the above appears to be rather transparent, retread propaganda from “The Deep State” as Mr. Greenwald calls it.
Why does Trump hate CNN’s Acosta? Because in his mind he’s a f*****g (racial insult for Italian Americans). Every day from now on for the next 4 years, rampant racism will be normal in Trump World. If you’re an African American reporter in the WH press corps, God help you. If Trump’s pissed at you, he REALLY wants to say n****r, shut the f**k up. But of course his racist flunkies will tell him maybe you shouldn’t do that in this case. So he won’t.
This is standard procedure in a fascist state and a dictator. Regular press briefings. F**k that. I decide WHEN AND WHERE I speak. You do as I say. If you don’t, I’ll get your sorry ass fired. Now, how many multi millionaire corporate news mega superstars are going to fight that? Do you really think that Anderson Cooper will risk his $11 million a year salary for a principle? Of course not.
Except it’s not Italian, Tom. It’s Spanish and Portuguese.
Try again.
italians are a race?
Why won’t the corporate media do their job and report on Trump’s racism, etc.? Because they’re scared to death of him. Anonymous “news star” sources may be quoted in the Post’s Page Six section (“I’m fucking outraged by this!”). But they’re scared that if they piss Trump off, he’ll call their boss and get them fired. All powerful politicians do this all the time. Former House Speaker is a well known functioning alcoholic. Report that and he’ll get your ass fired.
The press gave Trump his power. Now they’ll never accept responsibility for that.
Forgot to add. Former House Speaker Boehner is a well known functioning alcoholic in Washington.
i suspect you can find a lot of articles on trump’s racism in the new york times, the washington post, and the guardian. if you’ve been cut off from all internet or news access for the past year, you might not be aware of it.
Not to mention the New York Daily News. Were you hiding under a rock? (Or just being abjectly disingenuous?)
https://www.google.com/search?q=new+york+daily+news+trump&espv=2&biw=1085&bih=767&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRj7DUjL7RAhWq6oMKHQSvCXkQ_AUICCgD
Only example of racism was some story from 30 years ago. That’s why the media can’t report on it. Same thing with gays. Nothing to report.
“This is the faction that is now engaged in open warfare against the duly elected and already widely disliked president-elect”
Let’s first note his election would be less contested had he welcomed a vote recount in MI, PA, NV and WI with open arms instead of doing everything he could to torpedo it. I realize how much the word may sound like an oxymoron when associated with the lunatic, but such a recount would have been nothing short of logical considering the hesitation he voiced when still low in the polls as to his intention of conceding his defeat had the outcome been different. And I’m not even mentioning the huge voter suppression Greg Palast claims to have discovered.
This said, if ‘the deep State’ equals ‘the powerful unelected’, it would seem its board of directors would not be limited to intel agencies (one in particular) only : didn’t Eisenhower use a compound adjective ?
___________________
“[T]he Deep State unleashed its tawdriest and most aggressive assault yet on Trump […]. What changed was the intelligence community’s resolution to cause this all to become public and to be viewed as credible.”
Throughout your entire article, you assert it is this faction that singlehandedly took the liberty to orchestrate what you describe as a cheap vaudeville. But do you have any evidence of that ? It might as easily have come straight from Brazile’s so-called war room, or even from some oval room… In French, they call that ‘le coup de pied de l’âne’ (‘the donkey kick’)…
___________________
“Th[e unelected faction]’s most valuable instrument is the U.S. media, much of which reflexively reveres, serves, believes, and sides with hidden intelligence officials.”
There are indeed many recent illustrations of this, starting with how fast and passionately they beat the Babylonian drums of war in unison over a decade ago. But isn’t this a counterexample ? You yourself mention the NYT article in which one of the once most fervent zealots of the Iraqi WMD story take their distance from the latest ‘revelations’. Some newspapers went even so far as to caution their readers against a possible manipulation by Drumpf himself in order to avoid embarrassing policy questions (To those, I’d say that if he needs such an elaborate scheme even before taking office, they should brace for impact once he has…).
___________________
“They are using classic Cold War dirty tactics and the defining ingredients of what has until recently been denounced as “Fake News.” ”
“such […] obvious shams”
While later in your article you’re calling for an objective review of the document’s many unverified claims, it seems you’ve already preempted its conclusion. But can you tell with 100 % certainty all the allegations are bogus ? Isn’t it possible some are, and some not ? I’d urge you to watch Drumpf’s answers to both BBC journalists’ questions again.
The second question (at the very end) was twofold, which was a dumb move since it allowed him to get away with not answering the first part. Amid the agitation, while some of her equally dumb fame-seeking colleagues were screaming to get the privilege of having the president-elect’s index pointed at them, you could vaguely hear the journalist yell : “what about my first question ?” Clearly, Drumpf was very happy he avoided the guillotine for now. And this is not the reaction of someone who has nothing to hide on this particular topic.
Neither is the very abrupt eight-word answer a man who can’t stop repeating himself and gloating about himself, his team and whatnot gave the first BBC journalist after showing clear physical signs of embarrassment while the question was asked (the only atypical sequence of the entire press conference).
None of this is proof, but in my opinion it should incite journalists to look further, were it only because of “the rather important journalistic caveat “if true” ”…
___________________
“When it comes time to expose actual Trump corruption and criminality, who is going to believe the people and institutions who have demonstrated they are willing to endorse any assertions no matter how factually baseless”
Considering how eager a substantial amount of voters were to believe anything coming out of the mouth of this patented liar, one may wonder whether truth still has any significance for them, don’t you think ? All those who didn’t vote for him will remain receptive, “believe me”…
___________________
“All of those policy disputes were debated out in the open; the public heard them; and Trump won.”
This was the most irrational, outlandish, US presidential campaign ever. Like a weather vane, the candidate who supposedly won went any way the wind blew : soft drugs, punishing women for abortions, “draining the DC swamp” and burning bridges with Wall Street were but a few recurring topics in Drumpf’s campaign on which his successive positions were highly incoherent : on some, he suddenly changed his mind during the first part of the masquerade, others he simply abandoned or reversed once elected. And others yet, like his promise to dramatically increase military spending while vowing to stop policing the world were paradoxical from the start. This is not to say honesty is the trademark that got all previous presidents elected, but can you honestly claim this one was elected based on the rationality of his policy proposals ?
___________________
“Chuck Schumer issued a warning to Trump, telling Rachel Maddow that Trump was being “really dumb” by challenging the unelected intelligence community because of all the ways they possess to destroy those who dare to stand up to them”
While for him to say that tends to indicate high-ranking elected politicians have internalized anti-democratic interference (Stay tuned for his upcoming statement about the AIPAC-Mossad connection…), he is (perhaps unwittingly) breaking with the usual newspeak by officially confirming what the public always knew but could not prove, and as such it’s newsworthy.
___________________
“He tried to convince countless media outlets to publish a long memo he had written”
Does this mean he contacted TI as well ? If so, why didn’t you make use of the opportunity to waterboard him a little ?
___________________
“At some point last week, the chiefs of the intelligence agencies decided to declare that this ex-British intelligence operative was “credible” enough that his allegations warranted briefing both Trump and Obama about them, thus stamping some sort of vague, indirect, and deniable official approval on these accusations.”
Once again, as Aristotle would say, don’t mistake (potential) cause for (potential) consequence…
___________________
“If any of the significant claims in this “dossier” turn out to be provably false”
Then still, some other significant claims may be proven right in time. If there is indeed malicious intent on the part of the former MI6 agent leading the charge, nothing prevented him from mixing false allegations with facts, or from giving the latter a change of scenery.
___________________
“The threat of being ruled by unaccountable and unelected entities is self-evident and grave.”
Aside from what I wrote earlier as to who really initiated this setup, I’d say the following :
1/ It is crucial to know how an unstable character like Drumpf will react when under duress. This might have been a first litmus test in that regard.
2/ As much as I abhor all too frequent reductiones ad Hitlerum, the fact His Greatness himself mentioned the nazi regime during his press conference allows me to say that, whether they’re “deep State” or not, people like Count von Stauffenberg may be quite useful at times, provided the threat assessment is genuine, in other words that world peace is at risk.
3/ In no way does this mean I am not fully aware of the perils Eisenhower talked about.
Thank you for such a thoughtfully reasoned and insightful analysis. You have no idea how calming it is to know individuals like you are in the world.
“”his election would be less contested had he welcomed a vote recount in MI, PA, NV and WI with open arms instead of doing everything he could to torpedo it. “”
Gibberish.
In PA and WI (and MI) the recounts were shut down by Dem-appointed, liberal courts.
Trump didn’t have to do bupkis.
Stein’s petitions for a recount were highly symbolic, agreed, but this shouldn’t alter the facts :
WI : “A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for Friday in a lawsuit filed last week by a Trump voter and two super PACs seeking to stop the recount.”
PA : “U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia on Tuesday scheduled a hearing Friday on the request for a recount. The Republican Party and Trump warned that the case threatens Pennsylvania’s ability to certify its election before the Dec. 13 federal deadline.”
http://fortune.com/2016/12/07/michigan-election-recount-pennsylvania-wisconsin/
MI : “Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel welcomed the federal judge’s ruling.
“This is a victory for the taxpayers and voters of Michigan who can be assured that their vote will count when the state’s electors meet on Dec. 19,” McDaniel said in a statement. “… Jill Stein’s 1 percent temper tantrum cost Michigan taxpayers millions of dollars and would have cost them additional millions of dollars if not for the actions of President-Elect Trump, the Michigan Republican Party, and Attorney General Bill Schuette.”
Schuette echoed the sentiment in a statement.
“In a huge victory for Michigan taxpayers and the rule of law, this recount is stopped. Our state of Michigan judicial system and the State Board of Canvassers protected Michigan taxpayers from a frivolous recount that would have cost millions of more tax dollars a day,” he said.”
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/07/judge-michigan-recount/95081650/
“Schuette was a delegate to the Michigan Republican conventions in 1972, 1974, and 1982.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Schuette#Political_career
Anyway, I hope you understand this was but a side note in my argument ?…
There was an intelligence report released yesterday that Donald Trump has repeatedly called “fake news”. This report was assembled by what appears to be a private company that was hired to investigate Trump’s relationship with Russia and the role of that relationship in the presidential election.
This is particularly interesting, because there are three specific conspiracy theories that Donald Trump enthusiastically embraced that easily could have been debunked by a similar intelligence report. PEEOTUS Donald Trump enthusiastically claimed that President Obama was born in Kenya, that President Obama was a foreign exchange student in college (from Hawaii) and that Hillary Clinton was asleep at 3am (DC time) during the Benghazi attack. An intelligence report similar to the report about PEEOTUS Trump’s relationship with Russia has certainly been assembled by Republican operatives about the Kenyan birth impossibility and the foreign exchange student from Hawaii impossibility. (The 3am Benghazi thing is impossible because of time zones.) Ironically, we have PEEOTUS Trump calling an intelligence report “fake news” after Trump could have easily requested an intelligence report to explain the impossibility of the conspiracy theories that he enthusiastically embraced. The role of Russia in creating and spreading purpose-driven political propaganda (fake news and conspiracy theories) to put Trump in the White House definitely fills a hole in the logic of Trump’s strategy to become president. PEEOTUS Trump made a radical change in his political views and suddenly embraced bizarre, demonstrably false conspiracy theories. It certainly appears that this strategy may have involved assistance from Russia and its leader, Putin. You’d have to ask a person familiar with election law to explain why what happened may be criminal activity by PEEOTUS Trump. If the report cannot be proven false, this is just the beginning of a horrible time for our nation. It is entirely feasible that PEETOUS Trump or his pal Putin could start a war(s) to distract attention from their criminal activities. If PEEOTUS Trump is allowed to become president, the military must question his commands to act. Our lives depend on it.
You’re missing important questions in this case:
Christopher Steele’s intelligence research firm has been in business for a long time. He’s a MI6 veteran who started it with 3 other former spies. They handle both political and business clients. Have they ever been sued in the past? Is there anything in Steele’s background that could be used against him?
Now Steele is in hiding to protect both himself and his family from possible Russian retaliation. Why would he deliberately damage his personal and professional reputation by publishing lies?
Some news outlets are criticizing this because of mistakes in grammar and spelling. All of Steele’s sources are Russians with probably varying levels of English ability. How many intelligence reports from assets are written with 100 percent perfect grammar and spelling?
Now, FBI Director Comey’s not talking about investigating this. After Hillary, he’s covering his ass.
Let’s assume that these allegations are investigated and proven to be true. Will Trump’s AG Sessions do his job and prosecute? Of course not. How will the public react (aside from the brainwashed die hard Trump followers)? If these are true, Trump has nobody to blame but himself.
steele is in hiding to protect himself from the press. no need to get so dramatic. you don’t know anything about steele’s sources.
Do you have a credible link for all this stuff about the purported travails of Christopher Steele?
There are spelling and grammar mistakes for two obvious reason:
1. The report needed to finished prior to the election.
2. Steele did not use clerical support in any way to create the report for obvious reasons.
Which allegations?
That Trump engaged in “distasteful” sex acts with willing adult sex workers? In Moscow? Do US AGs usually prosecute Americans for engaging in sexual activity in foreign countries (except where it involves children or sex slavery)? Of course not?
That Trump and his people may have communicated with Russians, even Russian officials? That “the Russians” may have provided Trump with opposition research material of some sort (you know, like the material on Trump that Steele was tasked by Trump’s opponents with getting from Russia)? What section of 18 USC does that violate?
It’s neither spelling nor grammar that matter here : nobody cares he misspelled ‘Alfa’ Alpha’. It’s unlikely claims like the alleged fact the Obamas stayed at the Ritz Carlton when visiting Moscow…
@ Scott Hite : the full report Buzzfeed made available goes beyond election day, and so it’s not entirely clear what copy Comey, McCain et al. were given.
Trump ran a campaign based on fake news and conspiracy; it’s only fitting that he have a presidency be comprised of the same filth that put him there. I look forward to finding out every little dirty secrete this unpatriotic piece of shit (trump) is hiding, starting with his taxes. Didn’t he say he would release them?
Interesting article, thanks Glenn. By way of interest, can someone confirm the following article in the Guardian by Nick Hopkins and Luke Harding:-
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/12/intelligence-sources-vouch-credibility-donald-trump-russia-dossier-author
What strikes me is the Guardian’s article about Steel, which I found extremely bizarre by the way, that failed entirely that not only did Steel work for the GOP and Demos on muck raking but also that this dossier was previously thrown out by editors for being unsubstantiated. I notice that comments were not open for this article. Can anyone confirm the guardian article is about the same personas I’m genuinely surprised such important information could be left out.
The Daily Mail has done a much better job of reporting on Steele.
After his experience with the Bay of Pigs, JFK intended as soon as he could to
smash the CIA into a thousand pieces and to have its functions, to the extent that they were preserved, taken over by the new DIA, newly established in 1961. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to carry out this plan before the CIA eliminated him.
Now, Trump’s National Security Adviser is going to be Gen. Michael Flynn, who headed the DIA until the Obama administration fired him, above all for opposing the warhawks’ plans over Syria. Now he is in a new position of power over the whole intelligence establishment. And he knows all the players in DIA and throughout the intelligence community. And the CIA has done everything it can to antagonize the notoriously thin-skinned Trump.
An excellent time to carry out the plan that JFK was unable to.
Techdirt under serious attack
The same lawyers Peter Thiel funded to destroy Gawker are now going after Techdirt.
This odious practice is a prime example of how vast wealth inequality is incompatible with political equality, including the ability to use First Amendment rights such as a free press or free speech.
Pfft. Thought Trump directly threatened BuzzFeed (&, maybe, CNN) during the “Press conference” (scar quote) yesterday.
Freedom of the Press, civil rights, justice and mercy were the things we argued with … President Obama.
*o/t I’m rather surprised at my protege jumping the great boa and into the mystic with this “Deep State” war, sis? … the people on the TV are scary enough!
“creeeak” … the sound of the Trump apocalypse opening the gates of hell.
Yeah, I have to say, Glenn’s using the “Deep State” model did surprise me. But I do not disapprove.
Of course there’s a “Deep State.” The Owners wouldn’t be so silly as to entrust long-term management to short-term political operatives.
It would be a mistake, however, to think that the “Deep State” is more than a bunch of highly-trusted managers and agents. The Owners are, ultimately, in charge.
And, no, they aren’t the Illuminati, not monolithic, not without fractures and schisms, not without the occasional fight to the death. But they are the Owners.
Do these owners have names? Can you point to one of these fights to the death?
maisie might be happy at last … maybe./
Don’t count on it. She’s not exactly a ray of sunshine. ;)
She is definitely a ray of sunshine! If half of her generation were half as bright as Maisie, we would be leaving the world in capable hands.
She just has a rather stubbornly narrow view of the Deep State — and she get a little grumpy sometimes. But, hey! If, at her age, I’d had to work two or three shitty jobs to barely keep up with the shared rent and the student debt while watching civilization crumble around me, I would have been kinda grumpy, too. Who wouldn’t?
There’s a lot I like about Maisie, but her approach toward things like the “Deep State” is too close to that taken by Illuminati enthusiasts for my comfort. If Deep State were All KNowing and All Powerful, it would be pointless to fight against it. this isn’t a conspiracy with a cabal of Leaders Directing from On High.
It’s a confluence of interests, with unelected factions working out of public view. They don’t want to upset the fundamental “needs” of the Owners. But, shit sometimes happens.
Yes, of course. But it takes time and perspective to understand these things and Maisie is a 20-something living in a much more hostile and unforgiving (US domestic) environment than the one in which we came of age. It shouldn’t be difficult to understand that, from her perspective, the Owners and their minions might appear monolithic.
The young woman shows great insight; imho, Maisie is a ray of light whose comments show there may still be some hope for the future. If I had possessed a mere fraction of her understanding of the US power structure back when I was her age, I would have been spitting hot nails.
She has the words, but she doesn’t know how to assemble them. Instead, everything spells “corporation” and “one percent.”
Thank you, Glenn. One of the few true journalists left in America. Oh…and he chooses not to live within U.S. borders. Smart man!)
Thought-provoking as always Glenn. Though of course you’re right with the larger picture, I also wonder if this was simply a matter of fighting fire with fire. Trump was impervious to facts and used B.S. stories. Hitting him with facts did nothing, but accusations of Russian hookers and other bizarreness struck his legendarily frail nerves.
In the end, though, I just see it all as a big f**kin mess. Two factions of goons warring while the working class is ignored. Would be nice if our civilization worked consistently for the better of all, but that’s not to be.
The author Glenn Greenwald makes false equivalency here. While report, published by BuzzFeed is not properly vetted and verified, it is not Fake News. It is simply that, unverified report that may or may not be fully true. Equating conspiracy theory nonsense that had been spewed over the past several months and propagated by various “news” sites, and report produced by private security agency, authored by a credible former MI6 agent is irresponsible at best and disgusting at worst. In either case it is not good. Fake News, characterized by bogus conspiracy theories and straight, verifiable lies, are meant to confuse public and to make them believe that everything they read is “fake news”. The report on Trump kompromat is nothing close to that, albeit it still needs to be verified. If Mr Greenwald doesn’t understand the difference, he should give up journalism, since this kind of article is nothing close to responsible journalism.
The fact is that despite many of his positions being attractive to a majority of his party (and I share many of them), Corbyn has no possibility of being elected to office given the current leanings of the British electorate.
Therefore, it’s perfectly reasonable for the Guardian and others of the more moderate left to oppose his candidacy in the hopes that a more plausible candidate will emerge. This is not necessarily another conspiracy of the World Wide Deep State in pursuit of its nefarious goals.
Ooops. This comment wound up in the wrong place.
Amusingly, Britain’s version of the Deep State is now going after Jeremey Corbyn with the same approach seen in the United States – and why? He’s in favor of normalized relations with Russia, as is Trump, instead of a return to the Cold War era mentality:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/12/army-minister-accuses-corbyn-of-siding-with-russia-against-nato
The banality of the Deep State mentality is on full display these days – it’s all about maintaining their status and their blank checks by whipping up fear and hysteria over the “Russia threat” – a pack of PR monkeys banging away at their little drums, trying to gain public support for their self-serving agenda. Fuck those sleazy old war pigs, they are as stupid and corrupt as the Soviet ministers who fought so hard against Gorbachev’s reforms in the 1980s.
The British Establishment, including its Labour members, are absolutely horrified that Jezza Corbyn — a real democratic socialist — won two landslide victories to lead the party.
The UK chapter of the EUKUSA Deep State has been in an ongoing frenzy trying to make certain that Corbyn is never able to actually affect anything as important as foreign policy.
And you can be certain that the Graun will jump at every chance to assist in demonizing or ridiculing him. C.P. Scott’s journalistic treasure has been fully assimilated by the the Rulers’ Borg.
the graun has published 9 articles on the dossier today by my count , and not one has an open comments thread. got to catapult that propaganda.
The comments sections on those pro-establishment articles are now by a long shot the most entertaining and informative parts of the Guardian. The more they refuse to open them the less and less worthwhile the Guardian in its present incarnation becomes.
Hear, hear!
The fact is that despite many of his positions being attractive to a majority of his party (and I share many of them), Corbyn has no possibility of being elected to office given the current leanings of the British electorate.
Therefore, it’s perfectly reasonable for the Guardian and others of the more moderate left to oppose his candidacy in the hopes that a more plausible candidate will emerge. This is not necessarily another conspiracy of the World Wide Deep State in pursuit of its nefarious goals.
Julian Assange will agree to U.S. extradition if Obama grants Chelsea Manning clemency
https://theweek.com/speedreads/672992/julian-assange-agree-extradition-obama-grants-chelsea-manning-clemency
Obviously he doesn’t want to wait for the rest of the Swedish statues of limitations to run out against him.
What, Tom? That’s either the observation of an intellect so far beyond my own that I am hopelessly incapable of comprehension or just ridiculously stupid and nasty trolling.
Why not elucidate in order that we may be more informed as we attempt to decide?
that’s interesting, and very courageous of him.
That’s rich, the NYT suddenly has scruples. Two weeks ago the bar for corroborating evidence for them was someone driving the same model car. What is becoming really self evident to the NYT is journalism itself is in an ash heap and they helped put it there. Better late than never but they also don’t get to whitewash history at this late stage of the game when it is a lie. They were happy to be water boys and water boys don’t suddenly become choir boys just because they claim it.
What do Democrats have to lose? Their strategy of being the adult in the room and appealing to logic and reason has clearly failed.
if only the adults in the room hadn’t ignored logic and reason to run a corrupt warmonger against trump, they might have succeeded.
Even if this dossier on Trump turns out to be a pack of nonsense, people love reading about this sort of stuff, so I wonder whether it will hurt Buzzfeed or other outlets that run with it in the long-run. People are less interested in the truth than they are in salacious, scandalous stories about the rich and famous, even if they’re fake. Truth in news doesn’t seem to be as high on the list of priorities any more as getting hits. And it may not just be anti-Trump people that love it either. Pro-Trumpers have heard him boasting about his sexual prowess and allegations of sexual misconduct yet still voted for him, so they’re hardly likely to be put off him by stories of him hiring hookers to wee on a bed once slept in by the Obamas. Quite the opposite.
It’s a Ploy,
Trump is trying to portray distance himself from Deep State in the get.
Actions speak louder than words, look at his cabinet. Comey the clown’s blunder was act, he was their fall guy.
Their all bedfellows: Trump=Agencies=Deep State.
170 hours to go. Then the giant flushing sound will ring in the new government.
Ahhh yes the flushing away of that piece of dung who’s occupied the White House for 8 painful years. Bob voyage, hope you run into those bushes in the sewer!
The toilet isn’t going to flush – it’s going to overflow when the new government assumes power.
As many commenters have pointed out, the Deep State is not engaged in a war. Rather, it is engaged in creating a diversion. Over the past several weeks, Mr. Obama has been significantly expanding executive powers, possibly because the Deep State fears there would be pushback if Mr. Trump assumes the presidency and attempts to do this. Today for example, he changed the rules to make it easier for the NSA to share raw data with the 16 other US intelligence agencies. Pundits, busily engaged on social media indulging in clever wordplay about the activities of Russian prostitutes, failed to notice.
” Pundits, busily engaged on social media indulging in clever wordplay about the activities of Russian prostitutes, failed to notice.”
Are you talking about Glenn?
Really!? Where is Glenn going on about “Russian prostitutes?” THAT I want to see.
But didn’t Obama just tell Trump not to rely on executive authority?
“Obama Warns Trump Against Relying On Executive Power – NPR, Dec 2016″
Hmmm… could have something to do with this from 2013:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-ban-spreads-government-made-news-to-americans/
Now that Operation Mockingbird activities are legal again, it’s worth reviewing how the CIA financed many such operations:
This is my theory, and it’s not a pretty one, and it is brief: We have been going back and forth as if on a see-saw. Trump makes a public request to find Hillary’s “missing” emails. Then there is the hacking/Assange/Wikileaks drip dumping. Then the Comey letter 9 days before the election. Then the reverse “There is nothing here, sorry” statement two days before Nov. 8th. Then the surprise win. Then the demand for a recount. Then Obama’s demand for a report on Russian involvement in the election, which turns out to be true. Then Obama’s farewell speech where he gives warnings about our democracy. Followed by the Buzzfeed dump and the press conference and Trump decrying that CNN is “fake news.”
This is all obviously undermining what the American people think, and it’s been happening for awhile now. Things are in such a state of chaos right now. My great fear is that this has all been planned and we are being played. By putting the U.S. on this footing of absolute chaos, I have nightmares at night of something bad happening either right before the inauguration, or shortly thereafter. I don’t know how we could ever handle another 9/11 at this point in time. And I think all of this has been a planned set up for total chaos. You need to google former Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s comments on his fear of losing our country.
I sure hope I am wrong, but I have never felt this depressed about anything else in my entire life.
Glenn, great article!!!! Please stay strong and stay TRUE!!!!
Snowden, Assange and Manning are the heros. They are the ones who were attacked, their lives threatened because the “deep state” wants to work in the darkness. Heaven forbid their crimes come to the light.
No respect for this guy any more. Him and Snowden. Disgusted.
How many people do you think have been blackmailed by the deep state using pedophilia. How do you get them out?
Love me, I’m a ‘liberal’ … who loves the CIA.
The alt-left fears and despyses US intelligence agencies – especially the CIA. Behind every world plot, the CIA lurks (think Ukraine, Syria, Kennedy assassination, 911 etc.) – and this gives rise to conspiracy theories about the “deep state”. Robert Parry at ConsortiumNews suggests that US intelligence attempted an electoral college coup (“A Spy Coup in America?” https://consortiumnews.com/2016/12/18/a-spy-coup-in-america/):
“………There’s another possibility in play here: that the U.S. intelligence community is felling a number of birds with one stone. If indeed U.S. intelligence bigwigs deemed both Clinton and Trump unfit to serve as President – albeit for different reasons – they could have become involved in leaking at least the Podesta emails to weaken Clinton’s campaign, setting the candidate up for the more severe blow from FBI Director Comey in the last week of the campaign……..Then, by blaming the leaks on Russian President Putin, the U.S. intelligence leadership could set the stage for Trump’s defeat in the Electoral College, opening the door to the elevation of a more traditional Republican. However, even if that unlikely event – defeating Trump in the Electoral College – proves impossible, Trump would at least be weakened as he enters the White House and thus might not be able to move very aggressively toward a détente with Russia………Further, the Russia-bashing that is all the rage in the mainstream U.S. media will surely encourage the Congress to escalate the New Cold War, regardless of Trump’s desires, and thus ensure plenty more money for both the intelligence agencies and the military contractors………”
That borders on ridiculous, and if true, it may be considered one of the biggest failures in CIA history since not one Trump electoral college representative changed his vote. Even the best journalists fall prey to unsubstantiated accusations directed at the CIA. Glenn writes (“After Vote to Remove Brazil’s President, Key Opposition Figure Holds Meetings in Washington”, April 18, 2016):
“……Many on the Brazilian left believe that the U.S. is actively engineering the current instability in their country in order to get rid of a left-wing party that has relied heavily on trade with China, and instead usher in a more pro-business, pro-U.S. government which could never win an election on its own……..although no real evidence has emerged proving this theory, a little-publicized trip to the U.S. this week by a key Brazilian opposition leader will likely fuel those concerns…….”
The article also revisited US interference in Brazil during the cold war leading up to the obvious conclusion that the US was trying to overthrow Rousseff for economic reasons. Despite Greenwald saying there was no real evidence of US interference; it did not prevent him from publishing the “possibility”. In the ensuing fiasco in Brazil reported by the Intercept, those accusations have not resurfaced. Greenwald writes in yesterday’s article (above):
“……..All of the claims about Russia’s interference in U.S. elections and ties to Trump should be fully investigated by a credible body, and the evidence publicly disclosed to the fullest extent possible. As my colleague Sam Biddle argued last week after disclosure of the farcical intelligence community report on Russia hacking — one which even Putin’s foes mocked as a bad joke — the utter lack of evidence for these allegations means “we need an independent, resolute inquiry.” ………”
The CIA does have a history of interference, but not every protest, change of governments, or election is a CIA plot. Not every fake story is planted by the CIA and the absolute demand for conclusive evidence in the DNC hack completely dismisses the findings of the 17 US intelligence agencies as well as the private cyber-security firms. Obama and US intelligence must be lying. Can anyone imagine that Russia might try to influence a US election in favor of (or against) a preferred US candidate? Who would have thought? It’s that classic paranoia of the CIA upchucking from the alt-left.
17! Count em, SEVEN damn TEEN! Alt-left!! Trust every spook, they always have the common man’s interests at heart, not those of the state. That Iraq war thing and all those bodies associated with it, it was an understandable mistake, they deserve a mulligan. Just like good ol Hillary, who cares only about the little children. Logic is a bitch to get around, but keep twisting away….
You’re trying to conflate a few paranoid conspiracy theories with the real issues at play. Those are two-fold, I think:
(1) The corporate Democrats want to blame their electoral failure on Russia, not on their own corruption and servitude to elite interests over those of their traditional base. This is not working; progressive Sanders Democrats have been winning the Democratic Party leadership battle:
How Bernie Sanders supporters are trying to gain power in California, 1/11/17
(2) So-called “Deep State” military-industrial-congressional actors are alarmed about their loss of control over policy and funding decisions under the unpredictable Trump (as compared to the utterly predictable Hillary Clinton). What if CIA operatives are called on to explain their actions in Syria, the training camps that fed weapons and fighters to ISIS and Al Qaeda? What if NATO funding is rolled back by Trump in a spat with EU nations? What if more pressure is brought to bear on corporations like United Technologies (see the Carrier plant issue recently)? To prevent this, they want to undermine Trump by portraying him as Putin’s pawn, standard drivel, fear and hyperbole to keep their budgets from getting slashed.
Really, however, the U.S. military-industrial budget could be cut across the board by 50% with no danger to U.S. national security or deterrence; that would free up hundreds of billions of dollars a year for domestic infrastructure, health care, education – basically everything countries like Germany and Japan invest in, which is why they don’t have the kind of Third-World poverty conditions seen all across the United States these days.
Thanks Photo
On point 1, Russian hacking could have cost the election for Hillary. The race was very close in the upper Midwest . There was a lot of electoral votes at stake which Trump won – but by a very small amount. This isn’t meant to provide an excuse for the sleazy and corrupt DNC. Hillary was a terrible (and entitled) candidate, but on this point, Hillary (and her supporters) are right.
On point 2, this begins to sound like Greenwald. First of all, the CIA operated in Syria under the leadership of Obama – the President. They didn’t really have to explain anything to Obama (presumably). Obama flip-flopped on his policy of arming the jihadists and began bombing ISIS and al-Qaeda in 2014 – a ridiculously stupid move if regime change was his goal!
As far as other foreign policy decisions, it’s not just fortuitous that he has surrounded himself with three Generals. He clearly is deficient in US foreign policy. Whatever route he takes, he will have reasonable opinions to help him. That doesn’t mean I will agree with everything he does, but I don’t believe he will just be winging it. Trump is not going to abandon NATO.
It seems almost like a given considering his rhetoric on Islamic terrorism that he will likely expand the drone program, move the US embassy to Jerusalem inflaming tensions and play hardball with China on trade (and possibly Taiwan). He probably will increase the military budget and expand intelligence. Just guesses.
Thanks.
Trump seems to take a soft position relative to Russia. I cannot say that he is Putin’s pawn right now, but after January 20th, we will see what Trump does about Ukraine. In my opinion, he should continue sanctions and pressure Russia on annexing Crimea and their invasion in eastern Ukraine. Outside of bombing ISIS and al-Qaeda, the US is out of the Syrian theater.
Can you please define what “alt-left” is? Are you just trying to draw parallel between alt-right and some imaginary “alt-left”. Alt-right has been defined by alt-right leaders (Bannon, currently serving as chief strategist for Trump, among them, proclaiming that Breirbart News was platform for alt-right) and has been accepted by its followers (neo-Nazis and white supremacists, included). Who on the left has defined “alt-left”? Who are the leaders? What are the defining principles of “alt-left”?
The alt-left is really just another term for the radical (extreme, far, hard) left, but I think it fits perfectly. There are no leaders. Extreme leftism begins with extreme anti-Americanism. It does not mean one is necessarily a Marxist. Of course as in any political label, there is overlap between various political designations such as liberalism, anti-war libertarians and extreme leftism. Note that some of these may also be elements of the far right (sometimes indistinguishable) and the list may not be entirely complete:
1. Anti-American/anti-Israel almost always in tandem and completely predictable. Some classic far left positions which pertain specifically to Israel:
(a). Zionism is racism
(b). Israel is an apartheid state
(c). Israel is not a democracy
(d). Israel is an ethno supremacist state
(e). Opposition to a Jewish state i.e., support the one state solution
(f). Israel is a colonialist venture
2. Jews have too much power and/or run the US and European governments (US policies are in the interests of Israel).
3. Belief that the US and Israel are two of the most dangerous countries in the world. One example constantly cited is that America was the only country to use nuclear weapons.
4. Belief that the neocons still run US foreign policy.
5. The Belief that the US is behind all political activism/coups such as in Syria, Ukraine, Brazil or Honduras.
6. Support for the rise of counter balances to US power such as anti-democratic China and Russia.
7. Colonialism is the foundation of the far left: five hundred years of western imperialism and racism.
8. The west is driven by racist policies – especially regarding Muslims and the greater Middle East (Obama has bombed seven predominantly Muslim countries).
9. Anti-corporatism and inequality (obsessively).
10. Climate and environmental extremism.
11. Anti-globalization/anti-neoliberal policies.
12. Anti-Christian bigotry and hatred (intolerance).
Thanks.
@Craigsummers
@JustWorld B
[slightly edited for clarity]
The alt-left is really just a term [that I just now made up because] I [don’t want to] think [and] it fits perfectly [ino my strategy to lie and misdirect other readers or infrequent visitors to this site]. There are no leaders [or other structure because I am just making this up to deflect my weak arguments against others here]. [I consistently label] leftism [as] bein[g] extreme anti-American [in an attempt to label my opponent because using ad-hominem directly is too easily called out as BS]. It does not mean one is necessarily a Marxist [but I’m hoping that is what you get out of my lies and deception]. Of course as in any political label, [I attempt] overlap various political [ideas] such as liberalism, anti-war libertarians and extreme leftism [in order to demonize them and support the US government].
Magnificent editing, DocBollywood; you clarified raw sewage until it was crystal clear. I could not have done it better.
DocHollywood, it’s really your journalistic writing style that provides the clarity.
I find your writing style exceptional for two reasons. First, it embeds the counter-argument directly into the commenter’s original statement. Second, it limits the rebuttal of the original poster as any rebuttal becomes a ‘shared’ rebuttal to the person’s original statement. In other words, you are forcing Craigsummers to partially rebutt himself it seems. Ingenious.
I think you should use your style against the many obvious trolls here and not limit yourself to Craigsummers.
If at anytime I am over-stepping or cramping your style, please feel free to say so and I will discontinue.
DocBollywood
“……..I think you should use your style against the many obvious trolls here and not limit yourself to Craigsummers…….”
DocHollywood is only obsessed with one poster – and he has rarely caused me to back off of a statement. In fact, Doc became somewhat discouraged because he couldn’t rebut me 99% of the time when we did debate issues – so he turned to his current style which amounts to mostly personal attacks.
There are all kinds of methods used to discredit posters with a different viewpoint than what the site promotes – like the use of the word “troll”, or “readers alert” or “Jew hater” (on pro Israel sites), “racist”, etc. Trust me. I don’t take DocHollywood seriously most of the time, and he rarely comments on the above the line article which makes him useless for debate. In addition, his style is awful and mostly unreadable. Why you believe its ingenious is beyond me. It does, however, show your political motivation.
What I have seen for the most part is that other posters ignore DocHollywood, or encourage him to continue his (mostly) personal attacks because they become discouraged with simple debate. Some even become so discouraged by alternate viewpoints, they start a new “one viewpoint” site. You gotta luv that Docs.
Thanks.
” Why you believe its ingenious is beyond me. ”
You do not need to remind us.
You play checkers with chess pieces most of the time. That is how you provide “alternate viewpoints”.
Your usual long posts are not cohesive in a factual regard. You’re acting like a propagandist with declarations of what is true and then you head off in the weeds attempting to drag people along.
“…….Your usual long posts are not cohesive in a factual regard……”
God, I had no idea. Thanks for pointing that out. I’ll try to correct that in the future. Hmmm, facts. What a great idea!
“What a great idea!”
Try learning simple HTML; that would be a great idea.
I just heard of a single mom using youtube to learn how to build a house. Trust me CS, I believe you can learn to use the blockquote function.
+1
You got it dialed, DocBollywood, and with a flare that’s all your own. You really do some tremendous work, and I really enjoy it; please continue.
I edit for just the one twit mostly because my time is limited and because no one else deserves it more: his obvious falsehoods, self-contradictions, bone-headed reasoning, and – worst of all – blatant hypocrisy have made him captain of the varsity all-American troll team.
You do some great work, so by all means offer your talents to the other trolls as you see fit.
Whatever you decide, I look forward to seeing more of your posts and working with you.
“…….The alt-left is really just a term [that I just now made up because] I [don’t want to] think [and] it fits perfectly [ino my strategy to lie and misdirect other readers or infrequent visitors to this site]…….”
I have seen the term used elsewhere. I wish I had made it up because it is a better fit for defining the “radical” left which sometimes can be confusing to “new readers” who might interpret it to mean “Marxist” (which they certainly can be, but is not a requirement). However, in your defense, I have noticed this trend to protect readers at some of these “alt-left” sites (like the Intercept) from alternate opinions. It’s gotten so bad that new “one viewpoint” sites are springing up – all in the name of democratic debate!
Thanks.
Craigsummers A Factual Redux
I have[n’t] seen the term used elsewhere[, otherwise I would have provided a link to it]. I had made it up because it is a better fit for [labeling and demonizing] the [L]eft which sometimes [is not] confusing to “new readers” who [I hope would] interpret it to mean “Marxist” (which [it definitely doesn’t but that’s what I am hoping]). However, in your defense, I have noticed this trend to [tell] readers [the truth and point them to fact-based] sites (like the Intercept)[. But I prefer the Government’s lies instead of other’s] opinions[, truth or facts]. It’s gotten so [hard to misdirect others] that [Fake] new[s] “one viewpoint” sites are springing up – all in the name of democratic debate! [But, I’m doing my best to help them by repeating the government’s lies here at The Intercept.]
BocHollywood
“………I have[n’t] seen the term used elsewhere[, otherwise I would have provided a link to it]……”
I was just reading the article (right now) and ran across the use of the term alt-left (Daily Beast, “How Putin Played the Far Left” http://thebea.st/2iNVSBl)
“…….At times, the substance and style of what has been dubbed the “alt-left” are indistinguishable from that of its counterpart on the other end of the political spectrum. And Moscow’s info-warriors appear to appreciate the resemblance, as the American arm of Sputnik exhorted supporters of Bernie Sanders to vote for Trump (as did Trump himself, repeatedly)…….”
I wasn’t even looking for it. The term is out there. I wish I could take credit. Now do you understand the frustration of DocHollywood, Boc?
Greenwald is probably right that the info released by Buzzfeed is not going to lead to a WaterSportsGate type of situation, but I haven’t heard anyone outside of a few bloggers promote the info as truth. BTW, what is the evidence that the CIA was supporting Clinton and trying to damage Trump? Between the FBI and Wikileaks, there is actual evidence of efforts to help Trump by damaging Clinton. I am sure Greeenwald will refute that if he hasn’t already
I was thinking the same thing. The media has been inordinately skeptical about the issue. I was confused about Glenn acting like they’d all taken the bait when really it was just CNN (who mentioned the report) and Buzzfeed, who no one would ever equate with credible journalism.
I mean, this is America. We forget about things 2 days after they happen. If this really is the nonissue that it’s made out to be, then it’ll disappear in less than a week. The hysterics over the media’s coverage, along with articles “proving” that its false are the only thing making me think that it might be real. Why not at least investigate it and see if its real? I’m failing to see who would lose in that situation
isn’t it possible that Trump camp “leaked” the memo in order to further discredit MSM? as Glen Greenwald points out, who will believe the crony capitalism, corruption info that will surely come out after this? MSM already has low approval ratings…
So now we know what we are seeing is not an anomaly or an operation. This is truly the unraveling of a very, uncaring and criminal control mechanism. :) The stories are irrelevant except to show us what happens when corrupted power players are challenged. This also applies to the legacy media who wish with all their hearts that they could also shed their arrogance and regain control of the narrative.
Trump will assume office and be a great president. He loves our country. The seventeen intelligence agencies have zero credibility to the American people at this point. They have been caught in too many lies and covering for Clinton. I suspect Trump has the goods on all of them along with the white hats in the military. What happened with Corbyn and Trump is a good thing. The people across the world have awoken and they know who the real enemy is, and it is not Trump it is the globalists and their corrupt minions who have started wars, stolen trillions of dollars, followed an agenda of depopulation. The people of this world are awake and we are taking back what is rightfully ours.
I don’t need a video of T. Rump being peed on to know that he’s a sociopath.
This is how they put the leash on, if He can’t be heeled by the masters, there’s Pence after the “event”. Motorcade in Dallas, or assassination attempt “linked” to Russia or China, maybe impeachment,assassination by the press hasn’t been effective so far, but nothing can sell the weapons like it being pinned on another cpuntry.
Below, in a series of exchanges, poster gazooks provides an unlabeled YouTube link and then repeatedly urges interlocutors to follow it.
Doing my bit of due diligence for our little corner of the Webosphere, I followed and checked out the link. It leads to a YouTube channel devoted to imbecilic Clinton conspiranoia — Huma Abedin and the Muslim Brotherhood, Clinton Foundation child trafficking in Haiti, etc.
The series title is “Where is Eric Braverman?” — referring to the report in October by a goofball, fake news — ;^) — site that former Clinton Foundation CEO Eric Braverman had fled to and sought asylum in Russia to escape the Clintons, because he “knew too much” as a result of his previous position.
Here’s the Snopes Eric Braverman page, with links to the fact checks on both the original “asylum” story and a later claim that “he’s missing.”
The channel is run by a guy from Oregon named George Webb. A quick check of his recent tweets (excluding promos for his videos and re-tweets) yields this charming bit:
So, if gazooks has more to share with us and you choose to engage. . . just keep this in mind.
Thank you for doing all that Doug, so no one else has to.
Shows just how debilitated your judgement is Mona.
The story board presentation is a true investigative tool used extensively in law enforcement, particularly of high calibre. It
illustrates complex relationships within conspiracies and every one of the panels has detailed citations to supporting evidence.
You don’t care about truth or fact you just troll here like it’s some social club for those that robotically recite party line bullshit irrespective of fact.
Facts take work to assemble, correlate and substantiate. You’re apparently too self absorbed to understand. George ‘Webb’ is a DoJ pro, BTW.
Too bad for you and your ship of fools swallowing the shit fed to you.
I am pleased that you are adamant in disapproving of and disparaging me. Anyone holding your fever-swamp views should find me intolerable. Do continue.
I find you completely charming, Mona, can’t you tell? Fever, indeed,
You seem bright enough but insist on this stupidly misinformed characterization of the work of George ‘Webb’ when the entire body of what he presents is documented fact as he assembles a case. He is in fact a pro using authentic investigative tools. Citations mean everything, otherwise you’d be correct in assuming him a fraud.
But referencing Snopes for verification? Really? That, my dear, is inane at best.
I mean you no misdirection. Please study the presentation over time and you will see the validity unfold. Use the citations. This is real intelligence like no other being presented. Have the good sense to critically absorb its reality.
Doug Salzmann is my friend. He is that becasue my long familiarity with him reveals that even when, as sometimes happens, we disagree, he is extremely smart and married to valid sources, and has his own strong analytical and reasoning skills.
Snopes is generally reliable. I use it myself. As does Doug, who has a long history of well-reasoned argumentation. Doug is nobody’s fool and I renew my thanks that he dealt with this stuff so no one else had to — we can rely on him.
the story board presentation is frequently used by elementary students who are hoping to get a c on their book report.
Snopes is a cat lady, her SJW husband, and their yip-yip dog.
“fact check” orgs, which coincidentally are all paid by DNC-tied proxy-groups, are “fake news”
“fact check” orgs…are “fake news”
So, since I don’t get paid for fact-checking, my facts are therefore factual?
Methinks your plasma-cutter slipped while in-use.
It’s really a drag that we have to work for free to be credible. Fortunately, there’ll be pie in the sky when we die.
Almost without exception, I dismiss anyone unironically deploying the term “SJW” as a moron. I’m seldom wrong.
Your whole premise is flawed. The Trumpettes already have no respect or belief in the MSM. They exist solely on a diet of fake news and propaganda, which we use to call lies. It is made worse by the right completely failing to disavow Russia, Putin or Tutin (trump). This means the GOP is now the party of Treason, Sedition, and Conspiracy and they are all AINO’s. American in Name Only.
You are a moron. If any party is guilty of pandering to fake news, it’s the moronic left.
I didn’t realize what a genius you are. Of course, you’re the only one who thinks you’re a genius. Personally, I think you’re an arrogant, opinionated a-hole. This piece isn’t “journalism.” It’s nothing more than an Op-Ed filled with erroneous information and your bias. For example, you say: “In December, John McCain provided a copy of this report to the FBI and demanded they take it seriously.” Where the hell do you come off saying that he “demanded they take it seriously?” Were you there? If not, you’re taking quite a step. I heard John McCain yesterday explain how he handled the material and what he did. There was no “demand.” Perceiving that the information related to the President-elect and the election, he did what he thought he should do…turn it over to the FBI. Your editorializing is just that.
You seem to blame the Democrats and assert that they are responsible for the leak, for making the leak become this enormous issue and, OMG, poor little Trump is being harassed by those big, bad Democrats. Give me a f’ing break. Get over yourself. You haven’t given one freakin’ example of a Democratic leader holding up the information in the 35 pages as the gospel truth. So, you are part of the post-truth journalism era. You are the liar. You make that argument several times and never give an example. What does that say about you?
This might be my favorite opinion of yours: “Democrats, still reeling from their unexpected and traumatic election loss as well as a systemic collapse of their party, seemingly divorced further and further from reason with each passing day, are willing — eager — to embrace any claim, cheer any tactic, align with any villain, regardless of how unsupported, tawdry and damaging those behaviors might be.” You have some big brass balls buddy. And you’re apparently clairvoyant. How special. You’re also like Trump in that you both have a God complex, ascribing motive and intent and feelings to people.
As for what this is going to do and how you think it’s going to backfire, do you honestly think that Trump’s base would care if every allegation were true? Do you honestly think that any Hillary supporters’ opinion of Trump would change because of this? Trust me, it won’t. Further, Trump has already sowed all the seeds necessary to destroy the trust of his base in the institutions of our government. If you don’t know that, you’re a bigger moron than I give you credit for.
You, Glenn, are denigrating our IC. It is obvious that you have an ax to grind when it comes to the CIA and the anger spills all over your Op-Ed. Who the hell are you to cast a shadow over the CIA for America citizens? By doing so, you are acting in the same fashion as those you accuse in your own article. That makes you a hypocrite. You, Glenn, have serious issues and I suggest you deal with them before you write another article because you sound like Trump throwing a tantrum. Given your issues, I hardly think you’re in a position to be casting stones at CNN or any other media outlet and that applies to the CIA as well.
As a general rule, I do not support publishing unverifiable / unverified allegations. With regard to Trump, however, in this circumstance, I can’t help but appreciate karma at work. I think you’re not seeing karma or appreciating it. But, you wouldn’t because you were part of the media that laid it on Hillary Clinton. You beat a dead horse long past the time when it was meaningful.
One more point, you go into this diatribe regarding the CIA’s preference for Clinton because of her pro-war stance in your opinion. And, you then cite your versions of Clinton’s and Trump’s stance on “war.” Then, you basically make it sound like war was the only issue on the ballot and Trump won. Well, let me educate you: Trump did not win in the way you describe. He lost the popular vote and only won the electoral college because of 80,000 votes. And, let’s be clear: 72,719,798 people voted against Trump. That’s 9,739,919 more people than voted for him. So, do us a favor and STFU.
Oh, my God! Heresy! Someone run for the smelling salts.
I think ERL’s semi-deranged spewing suggests that Revise the Record should have provided grief and reintegration counseling for operatives and associates after the election.
Or maybe just prescriptions for four years of sedatives.
No. Stop. Wait. Quiet dignity and grace….
I think ERL has scored some points w/ this post. There are a number of unsubstantiated or exaggerated claims and sweeping conclusions drawn from meager evidence in this article which have been accepted or glossed over without mention, much less discussion.
To wit:
1. “For months, the CIA, with unprecedented clarity, overtly threw its weight behind Hillary Clinton’s candidacy…”.
Evidence: Mike Morell and Mike Hayden endorsed Clinton. Now, a couple of swallows (out of thousands of birds in the CIA flock) do not a Spring make. How do you derive ‘unprecedented clarity’ from that?
2. “It is not hard to understand why the CIA preferred Clinton over Trump”.
No, it isnt. But the CIA almost certainly preferred McCain and Romney over Obama, yet that preference didnt lead to a vendetta against the sitting prez. This is long-shot circunstantial evidence, at best, and warrants no conclusions.
3. “Yet craving Deep State rule is exactly what prominent Democratic operatives and media figures are doing”.
Deep State rule? RULE? Dems “crave” the rule of the CIA, FBI, DNI? I don’t think so.
4. “In December, John McCain provided a copy of this report to the FBI and demanded they take it seriously”.
Demanded? Where’s the proof?
Again, we see Glen overextending himself a bit too far in order to make the facts fit his conspiracy theory.
Some of the same points were made earlier.
None of Glenn’s defenders were able to provide the asked for proof or even provide a cogent rebuttal.
It would be nice to see Glenn venture below the line and answer these questions.
Yanno, that one said of Glenn:
Glenn doesn’t talk about it, but I’ve heard from his mommy about the IQ tests. He is an actual, clinical genius.
Nice book, but Trump won fair and square. To all those who object, tough sh*t.
‘So, do us a favor and STFU.’ Always the sign of a brilliant and nuanced argument. Next time, just post that and save us the time wasted reading your screed.
Deserving of a tribute edit:
If only.
h/t DocHollywood
Perfect.
Did the U.S. Army Security Agency have an embassy signals intelligence collection detachment in Baghdad, Iraq in the 1960’s?
http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1065115.html
Two problems with this–1) Trump’s followers ALREADY don’t believe any news that doesn’t suit them, and 2) When it comes to Trump’s actual problems with ethics, the tax code and the responsibility-free life he has lived coming to light, it won’t matter what his fans think–it will be in the hands of Congress, then the law. The Republicans only needed him to win, and will be much happier with Pence in charge.
trumps pick for cia chief was not a good one wrt fighting deepstate
i would have selected wolverine … his razor-sharp claws and fierce loyalty make him a powerful ally
although ironman would have also been ok
Here’s the latest which mentions Greenwald and this source has been correct on everything so far. What ‘s going on behind the scenes is much more dangerous than most people realize. Liberal left progressive, SJW snowflake reality check coming?
Putin Orders Combat Alert After SVR Warns Of CIA Plot To Assassinate President-elect Trump
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index2206.htm
The Obama/Soros/Rockefeller Satanists are in a panic, they are desperate to start a war, deem presidential privilege/martial law or watch their New World Order crumble (along with NATO and the UN) from a jail cell.
Obama Starting War to Hide Ties to Pizzagate & Stop Trump Presidency- Fetzer/Ryan
https://youtu.be/P4Sjxd6NkqI
“Notice the deep purple in both Mrs. Clinton’s clothes, as well as Bill Clinton’s tie. This is the deep royal blue associated with royalty who can never be deposed regardless of the election outcome. They intended to be victorious as seen in the “V” in her lapels and his tie. And they fully intend on a victory whether it be by coup d’état, inciting a revolution or starting a civil war. Notice the victory “V’” formed by the American flag in the background.”
http://www.stateofthenation2012.com/?p=56307
Pizzagate | Pizzagate
http://www.pizzagate.com
Should John Podesta and Tony Podesta be questioned for the disappearance of Madeleine Mccann? This is a list of facts surrounding the McCann …
This right here. This is the kind of person who agrees with Glenn Greenwald’s take. Speaks volumes.
Yes, a random poster from god knows where ‘speaks volumes’ about Glenn. Smear much? And why, exactly? Would LOVE to know exactly what some of these posters really are, specifically their real motivations….
There are tons of pizzagate promoting whackos here.
And why wouldn’t there be? Glenn is peddling a bullshit “Deep State” conspiracy that fits right in with their world view. He might as well be blaming The Illuminati.
And there are other whackos telling us Glenn = them. Right? Convenient narrative if you want to dismiss important dissent, huh? Especially when it is practically the only voice willing to point it out. Shouldn’t you be reading a WaPo article or something and nodding fervently instead of coming over here to smear? Evil shit, brother. What are you, really? Stupid or paid?
“What are you, really? Stupid or paid?”
Another familiar tactic of the lunatic conspiracy fringe – accuse anyone who doesn’t buy into their position as a fool or a shill.
Actually, if there is one person at this site who most strongly and often agrees with Glenn Greenwlad, that would be me. (His former law partner and long-time friend. But we do sometimes disagree, and that can be…spirited.) It would be fair to say I’ve spent a great deal of time mocking debunking and ridiculing the handful of pizzagate freaks here, as have other longtime Glenn supporters.
Yeah, you’re officially nuts. Or posting for other reasons. Call me crazy when the war starts…(ps, it won’t)
I hate it when that happens. A good exorcist can be so hard to find, and nobody else can calm down those goddam panicked Satantists.
And now I hear, not from Powell this time, but from…a freelance ex British spook? That Russian spooks have told him (honest to god and hope to die!!!) that Trump had sex with a prostitute while in Russia!!!
lets count the possibilities,
Trump did have paid sex, and there is no video
There is a video
Trump didn’t pay a prostitute in Russia.
There is a fake tape.
And then there are the motives, The Russian government prefered Trump, that is clear, but now that Trump is Prez….don’t you think it is possible that they now want to weaken him as well?
So the tape might exist, but the Russians leak its existence, to damage Trump. It’s as plausible as leaking its existence (without evidence) to discredit his opponents.
All apart from the tape’s actual existence/nonexistence.
…Until we get to….Where does that leave us? Trump is a giant jerk, we know this. He has massive conflicts of interest, he has no coherent positions, he’s often unintelligible.
Why would a video of him with a prostitute add anything more to the issues facing the American people than the Billy Bush video did?
A discussion about what secret Russians did or didn’t say to an ex British spy about a real or imagined video adds even less.
This just proves how stupid the democrats in this country are. I’ve suspected this for a long time and this just proves it.