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REVEALED: China hacked Pentagon to ensure only incompetent officers get promoted
October 1, 2019
By Veishnoriets
WASHINGTON — The United States has charged a senior officer in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army with orchestrating decades of cyber attacks against US agencies intended to destroy the military talent management system from within.
“The Chinese basically built an algorithm to identify toxic leaders and hacked HR to put them on the fast track to becoming generals and admirals,” said an intelligence official familiar with the Chinese efforts. “It could take us years to recover from this.”
According to an FBI investigation, Sr. Col. Cha Buduo coordinated with the Chinese Ministry of State Security and a Chinese-based hacking group known as APT4 to attack U.S. Army Human Resources Command, the Air Force Personnel Center, and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps human resource activities.
Their objectives included encouraging the most talented junior officers to resign, preventing the promotion of officers with advanced degrees, selecting toxic leaders for senior commands and promoting the most egotistical and venal officers to the flag rank. The Coast Guard does not appear to have been targeted.
“Actually, we’re not even sure China knows the Coast Guard exists,” the official said.
Chinese hackers also falsified equal opportunity and command climate complaints against hundreds of Tier One operators to disrupt U.S. special operations. Those focused attacks appear to have overwhelmingly targeted Navy SEALs.
“The Chinese know that the American armed forces’ greatest strength is their leaders, like Patton, MacArthur, Petraeus and McChrystal,” said another intelligence official, who has tracked Cha for years. “They realized they could turn our strength into a weakness by hacking the computer systems that control promotions. So, since at least 2002—and maybe longer—Chinese military hackers have altered the results of every single promotion and command selection board across the entire Department of Defense.”
“They booted the best officers and pinned rank on the worst.”
Others have pushed back on the FBI’s conclusions, however.
“I ran the numbers and I don’t see it,” said John Martinet, the chief of analysis at U.S. Army Human Resources Command.”The algorithm the Chinese built to promote toxic leaders doesn’t produce statistically different results from typical promotion Army promotion boards.
“The main difference is actually that the supposedly malicious code improves diversity outcomes. We might keep using it.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing denied that China is involved. In a statement, a spokesman called the US indictment “an absurd attempt to blame America’s inevitable decline on an imaginary enemy.”
https://www.duffelblog.com/2019/10/human-domain-cyberwar/?utm_source=Normal+Subscribers&utm_campaign=bdef801cb2-Duffel_Blog_Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6d392bc034-bdef801cb2-23791221&goal=0_6d392bc034-bdef801cb2-23791221&mc_cid=bdef801cb2&mc_eid=cc8af7284a
'Wonder what this was about' has been replaced by 'WTF was THAT all about?'.
From 'Russia, if you're listening' to.....'I would like you to do us a favor, though', Trump has been explicitly dishonorable and corrupt.
Washington, DC, and the nation at large are in a frenzy. It’s been alleged that President Trump used foreign relations with a another world leader to get dirt on a political opponent. The Washington Post has an early review of the transcript; it’s here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/25/takeaways-transcript-trumps-call-with-ukraines-president/
In the article the following is noted ~ Trump asks the Ukraine president for “a favor”:
“I would like you to do us a favor, though, because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it," Trump said, in reference to those investigations.
“Whatever you can do, it’s very important that you do it if that’s possible,” Trump says.
Trump soon adds: “The other thing: There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution, and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can so with the Attorney General would be great.”
Note that, Trump says he’s asking for “a favor.” He is not about meeting a policy objective. Trump is aware of what he’s doing: he wants a favor, something that is outside the scope of what world leaders talk about.
Trump says he that he would like Ukraine to do “us” a favor. But, who is “us”? The US… or the Trump political operation?
Note also, Trump volunteers the US Atty Gen in this investigation. WTF is the US AG doing, getting involved in the politics of another country?
This is corruption on its face. Queue up the cartoons and the memes: https://www.instagram.com/p/BE19FVUk39w/
EDIT: I wanted to add one more thing. It is very important to note that the mere asking for a favor from a foreign leader is an abuse of power. It doesn’t matter if there was a quid pro quo.
Biden no doubt thinks that Donald Trump is corrupt in many ways. But Biden cannot call a foreign leader and ask for a favor, while said foreign leader is looking for support that only a US president can give. Biden cannot get the DOJ or State department to deputize his personal lawyer as Rudy Giuliani says is the case. Donald Trump is making requests from the Oval Office, using power and influence that only he can wield.
And he is wielding that power corruptly.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/9/25/1887776/-Trump-I-would-like-you-to-do-us-a-favor
Same old righty inference without a provable point. Any president looking toward a second term can credibly claim that they can be more flexible for the very fact that they won't be running again.
Now, can you point out any Trump like Putin ass-kissing that Obama did, much less refraining from ever criticizing Putin? You know, like the treasonous prick currently in the WH has done from the start?
Did you see the look on the Ukrainian's face when Trump expressed his wish that the guy would get together with Putin?
He looked as though he was thinking, "sure asshole, as soon as your buddy gets the fuck out of my country."
Yeah, if the usual business is holding another country's defense hostage in exchange for securing damaging info on a political opponent.
Describing anything that this lying, dishonorable, unethical piece of shit does as 'business as usual' is laughable.
Read This Blog, or I Shall Declare Civil War Upon You
Monday, September 30th, 2019
by Shower Cap | American Madness Journal |
http://showercapblog.com/read-this-blog-or-i-shall-declare-civil-war-upon-you/
Inspector General: Whistleblower had "DIRECT knowledge of certain alleged conduct, and..."
Jim Sciutto
? @jimsciutto
—>>IC Inspector General contradicts Trump/GOP claim whistleblower had only secondhand into stating, he/she had “...direct knowledge of certain alleged conduct, and that the Complainant has subject matter expertise related to much of the material information provided”.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212528141
The Rude Pundit
9/30/2019
Impeachment Is a Chance for Democrats to Take Back Patriotism
If there is one rhetorical success that has held back Democrats even when we win elections, it's the lie that Republicans are more patriotic than Democrats. While it used to be the province of right-wing nutzoids like Joe McCarthy and other red baiters that liberals were un-American, the odious scumfucker Ronald Reagan propagated that Republicans held the true mantle of the United States and that Democrats merely sought to tear it down with their gender equality and multiculturalism and civil rights and income equality and queasiness about war.
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This was couched in purely heteronormative and racist terms, that there was something inherently white and masculine about being a real American. It was an attack on academics and the media who would dare point out "facts" and "reality" as opposed to the will of the American ubermensch in the form of Reagan.
Goddamn, the right has been painting Democrats with that broad brush for so long and fucking Democrats bought into it. They fucking bought that they had to be more like Republicans in order to seem more patriotic. They had to be "tough on crime" with harsher penalties; they had to support stupid, worthless wars; they had to cut programs for the poor; they had to go along with tax cuts. Oh, yeah, there was that economic part, too, of patriotism: make sure the rich are as rich as fucking possible because you wanna be rich like that some day in the impossible future. It was selfishness as an end in itself. Me above nation.
The rubes bought into it because they weren't given an alternative way of viewing patriotism. Sure, with the election of Barack Obama in 2008, there was a brief window where it looked like we were finally going to change the narrative to an idea of a nation above individuals, but then Democrats returned to their natural state of allowing Republicans to define the terms of national identity (thanks in no small part to Joe Biden, but that's a rant for another time). Like I always say, motherfuckers fuck their mothers. It's all they know how to do. It's right there in the word. And Republicans are motherfuckingest motherfuckers around.
Now, Democrats have another chance to take back what it means to be American. I'll get to that in a moment.
There is something so clarifying about Trump's call to Ukraine's president and his brutish attempt to muscle info on Joe Biden out of Zelensky. It's like a distillation of everything that millions of us have been saying about Trump for decades: he does nothing unless there's something in it for him.
When his crimes were obfuscated by layers of bullshit provided by conservative hacks on Fox "news" and elsewhere, as well as by the mainstream media contorting itself in order to please some false god of fairness, Americans could put on blinders. But Trump's such a toxic combination of narcissist and dumbass that he really thought his phone call pseudo-transcript would exonerate him, that everyone would buy into his story. How fucking ludicrous.
It helps that there is genuine affection in the country and in the media for Joe Biden. Whatever you think of him (and, as I said, I've got a few problems), the man has been a DC fixture for nearly 50 years. You don't think that he's built up some good will? He's probably been to weddings, funerals, and parties with every reporter in the DC and New York press. He probably has sent presents and gift baskets and letters of encouragement, congratulations, and comfort. Whatever you think of the too-cozy relationship between our leaders and our reporters, this time it fucking worked.
'Cause, see, unlike every allegation against the Clintons and Barack Obama, Republicans are getting confronted with facts at every turn, and not just in a "well, some people say" way. Watch CNN's Jake Tapper absolutely lay into creepy goblin and child-fucking enabler Jim Jordan. Watch Fox's own Chris Wallace not have any of creepy psychopath Stephen Miller's bullshit. Watch CBS's Scott Pelley calmly vivisect bitch-faced creep Kevin McCarthy over what facts are.
Now, the tidal wave of revelations, like the Intelligence Community is finally fuckin' done with Trump, has added to the sense that shit's really going on. We're no longer talking about what Trump did before he was president (although, to be fair, you're a pretty shitty human if you were in any way fine with or apathetic about Trump before these latest revelations).
He's manipulating an election while president. And he's using our money to do it by threatening to withhold funds from Ukraine for Biden dirt.
The country is primed to wrench its primary identity away from Republicans. Nancy Pelosi couched the impeachment inquiry announcement in very specific terms to appeal to patriotism, with its hearkening to our founders and the Constitution. Adam Schiff did the same in his opening remarks at the House Intelligence Committee hearing last Thursday.
Essentially, they are saying, "You want to be a real patriots? Then fuck these traitors up." That's a powerful message. It's one that a majority of Americans are responding to, with a clear majority supporting the inquiry and a 10% jump in support for the removal of Trump from office.
Democrats are the ones upholding the laws and traditions of the nation. Republicans are merely aiding and abetting a criminal, if they're not doing crimes themselves. That's as crystal-fuckin'-clear as it gets.
For the first time in I can't remember how long (maybe since the Affordable Care Act), Democrats are leading the charge on something, and they're telling Republicans to get the fuck on board this train or fuck off and get run over.
And maybe the happy-clappy end result of this is that we take back the American story and try to make the country great. Not again. But for once.
(Note: Whatever optimism I have here is not that Trump will be removed. It's that Democrats will successfully set the terms for 2020 and that Trump will keep punching himself in the face along the way.)
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/
They're in long lines to buy Chapstick, Red State demand has placed supplies on backorder.
Jeff Flake: Fellow Republicans, there’s still time to save your souls
Then-Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) at the Capitol in Washington in November 2018. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jeff-flake-fellow-republicans-theres-still-time-to-save-your-souls/2019/09/30/ade876f6-e2d3-11e9-b403-f738899982d2_story.html?wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1
By Jeff Flake
September 30 at 8:46 AM
Jeff Flake, a Republican, represented Arizona in the U.S. Senate from 2013 to 2019. He is a resident fellow at Harvard University and a contributor to CBS News.
Two years ago I stood in the Senate chamber and said: “There are times when we must risk our careers in favor of our principles.”
In my case, I had not supported the president’s election. One year into his presidency, I knew that I could not support his reelection. While I had hoped that I could still run for reelection to the Senate in 2018 as someone who would help to provide a check on the president’s worst impulses, it soon became apparent that this was not what Republican primary voters in my state were looking for. Whatever reservations they might have had when they voted for Donald Trump, one year into his presidency they wanted a senator who was all in.
But I already had seen too much. Traveling overseas I witnessed the damage being done to our standing in the world as a result of President Trump’s fondness for authoritarians and his scorn for allies. His hostility toward security alliances and trade agreements had placed our long-term security and our economy at risk. His adoption of the tyrant’s phrase “enemy of the people” put journalists in even greater peril, all over the world. His resentment toward refugees and profane description of certain countries were destroying generations of goodwill.]
At home, I was convinced that his repeated disparagement of the judiciary, antagonism toward Congress and casual disregard for the truth were damaging our democratic institutions, and his persistent crudeness to his political opponents and cruelty toward vanquished foes were degrading our political culture. I knew that to have a chance of winning reelection, I would need to support policies I could not support and condone behavior I could not condone.
Now, two years later, it is my former Republican Senate colleagues who have a decision to make. Or, as I see it, two decisions to make. The first is difficult; the second is easy.
We have learned from a whistleblower that the president has abused the power of his office to pressure a foreign government to go after a political opponent. A rough transcript of the telephone call has removed all ambiguity about the president’s intent. In light of these revelations, the House of Representatives has launched an impeachment inquiry and will likely be forwarding to the Senate at least one article of impeachment.
Compelling arguments will be made on both sides of the impeachment question. With what we now know, the president’s actions warrant impeachment. The Constitution of course does not require it, and although Article II, Section 4 is clear about remedies for abuse of office, I have grave reservations about impeachment.
I fear that, given the profound division in the country, an impeachment proceeding at such a toxic moment might actually benefit a president who thrives on chaos. Disunion is the oxygen of this presidency.
He is the maestro of a brand of discord that benefits only him and ravages everything else. So although impeachment now seems inevitable, I fear it all the same. I understand others who might have similar reservations. The decision to impeach or not is a difficult one indeed.
[Even if the Senate won’t convict, impeachment will still punish and deter]
Now for the easy decision. If the House decides against filing articles of impeachment, or the Senate fails to convict, Senate Republicans will have to decide whether, given what we now know about the president’s actions and behavior, to support his reelection. Obviously, the answer is no.
I am not oblivious to the consequences that might accompany that decision. In fact, I am living those consequences. I would have preferred to represent the citizens of Arizona for another term in the Senate. But not at the cost of supporting this man. A man who has, now more than ever, proved to be so manifestly undeserving of the highest office that we have.
[Jeff Flake in 2017: Enough. It is time to stand up to Trump.]
At this point, the president’s conduct in office should not surprise us. But truly devastating has been our tolerance of that conduct. Our embrace of it. From the ordeal of this presidency, perhaps the most horrible — and lasting — effect on our democracy will be that at some point we simply stopped being shocked. And in that, we have failed not just as stewards of the institutions to which we have been entrusted but also as citizens. We have failed each other, and we have failed ourselves.
Let us stop failing now, while there is still time.
My fellow Republicans, it is time to risk your careers in favor of your principles. Whether you believe the president deserves impeachment, you know he does not deserve reelection.
Our country will have more presidents. But principles, well, we get just one crack at those. For those who want to put America first, it is critically important at this moment in the life of our country that we all, here and now, do just that.
Trust me when I say that you can go elsewhere for a job. But you cannot go elsewhere for a soul.
Trump Is Tweeting About 'Civil War' and Asking for His Political Opponent to Be Arrested
The president ventured into the insane during an hours-long tweet spasm.
By Jack Holmes
Sep 30, 2019
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a29302115/civil-war-adam-schiff-arrest-treason-trump-tweet/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_esq&utm_medium=email&date=093019&utm_campaign=nl18165344&src=nl
It was around nine o'clock on Sunday night when the President of the United States echoed language about a "Civil War" if he is impeached and removed from office. Now, he'll say he wasn't calling for a civil war—he was just announcing his belief that there would be a "Civil War like fracture" if he faced consequences for violating his oath of office and betraying the national interest for his personal gain.
Never mind that impeachment is a provision of the Constitution designed for removing a lawless or otherwise dangerous chief magistrate from power in a manner that comports with the law.
The intent here was clear: to tie one outcome to the other, and place the idea of violent response in millions of minds across this country. The vast majority of people would never act on that, but the tweets were incitement. The message has already been received, loud and clear, by at least one right-wing paramilitary group.
Here is the diatribe Trump quoted from a Fox News appearance by Robert Jeffress, one of these devoutly Evangelical pastors who talks a lot about following Jesus and also raises the prospect of violent civil war. Don't get it twisted: there is no Civil War-like fracture without political violence, and that is what they are threatening.
“Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats can’t put down the Impeachment match. They know they couldn’t beat him in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, and they’re increasingly aware of the fact that they won’t win against him in 2020, and Impeachment is the only tool they have to get........rid of Donald J. Trump - And the Democrats don’t care if they burn down and destroy this nation in the process.
I have never seen the Evangelical Christians more angry over any issue than this attempt to illegitimately remove this President from office, overturn the 2016........Election, and negate the votes of millions of Evangelicals in the process. They know the only Impeachable offense that President Trump has committed was beating Hillary Clinton in 2016. That’s the unpardonable sin for which the Democrats will never forgive him.........If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.” Pastor Robert Jeffress, @FoxNews
Nothing like an endless paragraph full of triple ellipses to reassure you the world's most powerful man is firing on all cylinders. And it continues to amaze that, three years on, we are still hearing about Hillary Clinton and 2016.
The Ukraine issue concerns Trump's conduct in office this year. It has nothing to do with the election he won despite getting fewer votes. (And never mind that, in the more recent 2018 election, Democrats absolutely routed Republicans in the House elections—not exactly an advertisement for the idea this president has the people's mandate.) The Ukraine scandal has to do with 2016 only insofar as Trump is trying to combine three separately debunked conspiracy theories into one to muddy the waters around what happened.
But none of these details are particularly important, since the president will soon enough be twisting or outright contradicting them to feed a constantly shifting narrative whose only steadfast feature is that he's totally innocent and it's actually his opponents who are traitors. Speaking of, the president also called for his political opponent to be arrested Monday morning.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people. It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?
It must be an incredible feeling when you see the President of the United States call for your arrest for a capital offense via some throwaway sentence fragment at the end of a tweet.
Traditionally, this kind of dictatorial call for abuse of the justice system would feature in some long, impassioned speech from a balcony.
In the Digital Age, however, it takes less than 280 characters to become an Enemy of the State. While Schiff did paraphrase the transcript of Trump's call with the Ukrainian president in language that made Trump's conduct more explicitly incriminating—a move that was unnecessary and wrong—there is no evidence he committed treason.
Make no mistake: the stakes are ramping up now, and the president's behavior will grow increasingly erratic and dangerous.
He knows full well that once he leaves office, he no longer enjoys the protection of that Justice Department guideline which dictates a sitting president cannot be indicted. It might be the only reason he hasn't been. If you thought he lied before, just wait.
If you thought he smeared people before, just wait. If you thought he had spasms of vicious stupidity before, just wait. And if you thought he embraced political violence before—and he has—just wait. Right-wing domestic terrorists, some of whom cited the president's rhetoric specifically, have already engaged in sporadic acts of violence over the last few months and years.
Of course, all of this is just further reason he should be removed, along with the manifest financial corruption at the heart of his domestic and foreign policymaking thanks to his refusal to divest from his private business holdings. He is capable of anything now, and defenders of the republic will need courage in response.
Trump's just projecting what a treason weasel he is.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212525534
Appears to me VA is irrevocably purple if not blue.
“It’s Management Bedlam”: Madness at Fox News as Trump Faces Impeachment
A Trump identity crisis at Fox as Hannity frets, Lachlan Murdoch prepares for a post-Trump future, Paul Ryan whispers in Rupert’s ear, and Shep Smith and Tucker Carlson trade blows.
Hidden from view Sean's left hand literally tickles Trump's nut sack, supplementing the verbal nut sack tickles he delivers continually.
By
Gabriel Sherman
September 26, 2019
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/09/madness-at-fox-news-as-trump-faces-impeachment-lachlan-murdoch?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=vf&utm_mailing=VF_CH_09292019&utm_medium=email&bxid=5be9d70d24c17c6adf3edd69&cndid=24399211&hasha=4598f2b6c0cd59a7a59daee9f650852d&hashb=671cd628e76263b323d81893330770d25227e6a4&hashc=bf3b42645b84b560d7a701f6a774e86e26ef76ed150095ebb2489a9ecea9251d&esrc=bounceX&utm_campaign=VF_CH_09292019&utm_term=VYF_Cocktail_Hour
In public, Donald Trump’s allies are putting on a brave face, repeating talking points, mostly staying on message. But in private, there are few who believe that the allegations leveled by an intelligence agency whistle-blower that Trump abused American foreign policy to leverage Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden won’t result in considerable damage—if not the complete unraveling of his presidency.
“I don’t see how they don’t impeach,” a former West Wing official told me today. “This could unwind very fast, and I mean in days,” a prominent Republican said.
Trump’s final bulwark is liable to be his first one: Fox News. Fox controls the flow of information—what facts are, whether allegations are to be believed—to huge swaths of his base. And Republican senators, who will ultimately decide whether the president remains in office, are in turn exquisitely sensitive to the opinions of Trump’s base.
But even before the whistle-blower’s revelations, Fox was having something of a Trump identity crisis, and that bulwark has been wavering. In recent weeks, Trump has bashed Fox News on Twitter, taking particular issue lately with its polling, which, like other reputable polls, has shown the president under significant water.
Meanwhile, Trump’s biggest booster seems to be having doubts of his own. This morning, Sean Hannity told friends the whistle-blower’s allegations are “really bad,” a person briefed on Hannity’s conversations told me. (Hannity did not respond to a request for comment).
And according to four sources, Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch is already thinking about how to position the network for a post-Trump future. A person close to Lachlan told me that Fox News has been the highest rated cable network for seventeen years, and “the success has never depended on any one administration.” (A Fox Corp spokesperson declined to comment.)
Inside Fox News, tensions over Trump are becoming harder to contain as a long-running cold war between the network’s news and opinion sides turns hot. Fox has often taken a nothing-to-see-here approach to Trump scandals, but impeachment is a different animal.
“It’s management bedlam,” a Fox staffer told me. “This massive thing happened, and no one knows how to cover it.” The schism was evident this week as a feud erupted between afternoon anchor Shepard Smith and prime-time host Tucker Carlson.
It started Tuesday when Fox legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano told Smith on-air that Trump committed a “crime” by pressuring Ukraine’s president to get dirt on Biden. That night, Carlson brought on former Trump lawyer Joe diGenova, who called Napolitano a “fool” for claiming Trump broke the law.
Yesterday, Smith lashed back, calling Carlson “repugnant” for not defending Napolitano on air. (Trump himself is said to turn off Fox at 3 p.m., when Shep Smith airs.) Seeking to quell the internecine strife before it carried into a third day, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace communicated to Smith this morning to stop attacking Carlson, a person briefed on the conversation said. “They said if he does it again, he’s off the air,” the source said. (Fox News spokesperson Irena Briganti denied that management had any direct conversation with Smith).
So yeah, the mail room guy talked to Shep.
The ultimate referee of this fight will be Lachlan Murdoch. In recent months, Rupert’s oldest son has been holding strategy conversations with Fox executives and anchors about how Fox News should prepare for life after Trump.
Among the powerful voices advising Lachlan that Fox should decisively break with the president is former House speaker Paul Ryan, who joined the Fox board in March. “Paul is embarrassed about Trump and now he has the power to do something about it,” an executive who’s spoken with Ryan told me.
(Ryan did not return a call seeking comment.)
But a person more sympathetic to Trump has told Lachlan that Fox should remain loyal to Trump’s supporters, even if the network has to break from the man. “We need to represent our viewers,” the source said. “Fox is about defending our viewers from the people who hate them. That’s where our power comes from. It’s not about Trump.”
Here is Trump's approval rating in all 50 states in Electoral College format, per the latest @Civiqs' tracking poll.
5:53 PM - 28 Sep 2019
AZ: -7, CO: -15, FL: -1, GA: -5, IA: -3, ME: -14, MI: -8, MN: -15, NV: -20, NH: -20, NC: -5, PA: -10, VA: -13, WI: -6
AK: +4, KS: +5, OH: +3, SC: +5, TX: +1, UT: +4
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212521582
Jack Webb Biography
Born April 2, 1920 in Santa Monica, California, USA
Died December 23, 1982 in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (heart attack)
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0916131/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
During the production of Dragnet 1967 (1967), he maintained a rigorous daily work schedule while ignoring his health. He loved chili dogs and cigarettes, enjoyed late nights playing cards and drinking with cast members who were amazed to find him fully alert at 7a.m. the next day, expecting the same from them. The combined effect of this lifestyle made him appear older than he actually was by the late 60's.
No kidding, really?
In 1977, director John Landis approached him with an offer to appear as "Dean Wormer" in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and recalled Webb sitting stone-faced and unimpressed at the offer. Sadly, he rejected it as being too counter to his public persona.
Webb managed to keep his company solvent until his untimely, yet not unexpected, death from a massive heart attack on December 23, 1982 at age 62.
Webb was married four times: to Julie London (1947-54), Dorothy Towne (1955-1957), Jackie Loughery (1958-64), and to Opal Wright (1980-death). He had two daughters by London: 'Stacey Webb' (1950-96) and 'Lisa Webb' (born 1952).
Maybe Julie's oft described smoky voice was from....second hand smoke?
Last Exit From Trumpland
AKA Wingnutistan, Trumpistan, Dumbfuckistan.
By Ross Douthat
Opinion Columnist
SEPT. 27, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/27/opinion/impeach-trump-republicans.html
Ask an intelligent Republican staffer what they imagine awaits their party after Donald Trump, and you’ll get an interesting disquisition on the factions and figures that might shape conservatism, the political and policy arguments to come.
Ask that same staffer what happens if Trump is re-elected, and you’ll get a heavy sigh, a thousand-yard stare and then a hopeful “Well, maybe we can just pretend he isn’t there …?”
This is the state of Republican politics with impeachment suddenly looming. People are ready for the after, the reckoning to come, the attempted restorations and Trumpisms-without-Trump, the great Nikki Haley-Tucker Carlson brawl.
But if Trump survives impeachment and somehow gets re-elected, there will be no after Trump, not yet and not for four long years. Instead Trump will bestride his party like a decaying colossus, and his administration’s accelerative deterioration will be the G.O.P.’s as well.
There will be no second-term policymaking, no John Kelly to stabilize the ship — just a floating hulk drifting between the icebergs of recession and foreign crisis, with all American conservatism onboard.
Outside the ranks of the truest Trump believers, most Republicans anticipate very bad things in 2022 and 2024 if the Trump Show continues uninterrupted. And most would happily fast-forward through that show if the magical remote control from that terrible Adam Sandler movie were suddenly available.
My days of writing high-dudgeon columns demanding that Republicans act in concert against Trump are behind me; cynicism and bemusement define my attitude toward G.O.P. decadence these days.
But in a bored-Roman-aristocrat drawl, I just want to suggest — mildly, dabbling my hands in a convenient finger bowl — that the current impeachment inquiry might, in fact, be that magical remote control: a chance to hit fast-forward and summon the post-Trump future into existence here and now, for the 2020 campaign.
Hitting the button requires only two things: the swift, before-primary-season impeachment schedule House Democrats are entertaining and then 20 Republican votes in the Senate for conviction, if the Trump-Giuliani operation in Ukraine looks as bad in a few months as it does today.
Of course the second thing is a political near-impossibility. But we’re fantasizing here, my dear Petronius, so we can imagine how it might happen.
Start with Mitt Romney, add the four retiring Republican senators, plus the most embattled purple-state 2020 incumbents, plus a clutch of Republicans most at risk in 2022, plus the handful of the senators who don’t face the voters till 2024 … and then you’re just a few Republicans of principle away from 20.
In voting to remove Trump (and to bar him, as an impeachment can, from simply running for president again immediately), these 20 would allow the other 33 Republican senators to stand by him, thank him for his service and promise to Make America Great Again themselves. And the more ambitious among the latter group of senators would then compete to succeed Trump, while his wrath was concentrated against the treacherous 20.
That competition would be the next phase of our fast-forward: With Trump gone, everyone from Haley and Carlson to Marco Rubio and Josh Hawley could jump into an accelerated primary campaign against the unloved Republican “incumbent,” Mike Pence.
The result would be, in effect, the 2024 G.O.P. primary four years early — with the possibility of either pre-empting a President Elizabeth Warren or preventing a Trump second term’s likely demolition of the G.O.P.
Of course this is just a pleasant conceit, whose mere description by a Trump critic like myself will irritate the many conservatives for whom it’s absurd to imagine any upside to allowing Democrats and the media to eject a fighting conservative president from office.
I think these conservatives underestimate, as liberals did with Bill Clinton long ago, the advantages in jettisoning a corrupt leader. (An Al Gore presidency was a better timeline for Democrats, even though it would have required the horror of letting Ken Starr win.)
But I certainly can see ways in which, after so much elite failure and populist anger, having elites (indeed, the C … I … A!) work to remove a populist president just before his re-election campaign could make our toxic politics that much worse.
But I would still ask — swirling my wine and adjusting my NeverTrumper toga — worse than what? Worse than a world where Trump survives impeachment, the Ukraine miasma chokes Biden’s campaign, Warren proves less electable than her supporters hope, we replay 2016 with the Electoral College and enter a second Trump term with the ship of state rudderless, Democrats yet more radicalized, and all those icebergs looming for the country and the G.O.P. alike?
In the event we do arrive in that world, consider this column a casually tossed marker for the Republican Senators who will probably vote to keep Trump in office, in case they find themselves very unhappy with the ultimate result.
You can’t say that you didn’t have an early exit from the Trump era. You can’t say you didn’t have a choice.
Right now at the White House ...
Pompeo is trying to figure out which country to invade as a ‘distraction’ from the current news.
Kellyanne has her fingers in her ears, chanting na na na as her husband keeps yelling, ”Told ya so, told ya so, told ya so!”.
Pence is locked in his prayer closet with Mommy.
Guiliani is asking if his hero’s parade has been scheduled yet.
Melania is singing, ”Free at last, free at last …”
Barr is trying to find a lawyer willing to take his case.
Lindsey Graham is on the fainting couch, dealing with an attack of the vapours.
Jared is manning the paper shredder, while furiously hitting the delete key on every computer in the building.
Ivanka is complaining that this could like totally, but totally ruin her chances to be elected POTUS in 2024.
Don Jr. is trying to land a spot on Dancing with the Stars.
Eric is just wondering what’s going on.
And Trump is asking his staff if this means his Nobel Peace Prize is permanently off the table.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212520615
We're running out of metaphors for Ukrainegate...sinking ships, crashing dirigibles, buses and shaky ground.
And coal, coal to diamonds through clenched GOPER butt cheeks.
George Conway responds to Lindsey Graham's claim that evidence against Trump is hearsay...........
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016240021
George Conway @gtconway3d
It has been a while since you’ve practiced law, so let me help:
* @realDonaldTrump’s incriminating statements are binding admissions against him and are not hearsay under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2);
* Even if that were not so, the statements would be admissible ...
…In America you can’t even get a parking ticket based on hearsay testimony.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 28, 2019
But you can impeach a president?
I certainly hope not.
Yep, the two of you dumb-asses are 2/3 of Fox and Friends with maybe 1/3 of the severely diminished brain power of the full couch.
And stop jumping up and down on the couch, the springs are
badly worn out from the 3 chimps jumping up and down every day.
Well yeah, Barr is angry and very uncomfortable. There's not much clearance under the bus for the portly AG. LOL!
2 ongoing investigations of where the Russian Collusion farce started = 2 Benghaziazms that will result in no charges.
Partly because of the growing documentation that Trump WAS colluding and is STILL trying to pay Putin off for his help.
I see the Russians are warning Trump against releasing the incriminating phone conversations.
WH mess is now stocking Geiger counters to make sure there's no polonium in Tangerine Idi Amin's Cheerios.
It is so clearly NOT about payback but rather about holding an amoral, incompetent, lying, self-dealing, justice obstructing, Putin ass-kissing prick accountable....he's done all of that to himself.... that it's not really even debatable in the reality based community.
It not only happened, the record of it as secreted in a special server. It had better be there when the subpoena comes, and without a 19 minute gap.
WTF difference does it make when Trump said that? It WAS a request for Russian interference on behalf of his campaign, so of course it was before he was president.
Trump has been Putin's ball-washer ever since.
"I don't know why they would...."
Followed the next day by "I don't know why they wouldn't"
First comment by Trump is ALWAYS the authentic one.
Barr's actions in the burgeoning Ukrainegate made me think that he is in the not so proud tradition of indicted and disgraced Nixon AG's Mitchell and Kleindienst.
Then I Googled my not so hypothetical triumvirate of assholes and found this comment at the NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/26/opinion/trump-william-barr.html
Robert E. Malchman
Brooklyn, NY 23 hours ago
When Barr first emerged as Trump's nominee for Attorney General, he was in the twilight of his career in a comfortable sinecure at Kirkland & Ellis who had been a mostly obscure Attorney General for the first President Bush. I thought he was inserting himself into the maelstrom of Trump World because he wanted his legacy to be like that of Elliot Richardson, famous and revered for standing up to Nixon's corruption.
When it became clear that Barr had lied about the Mueller Report and worked to blunt its damning conclusions about Trump, I thought instead that Barr wanted his legacy to be like that of AG Richard Kleindienst, who was a Nixon pawn who did his bidding to drop a suit against ITT because it was a big Nixon donor, and then cover it up by lying. That's a strange legacy to want to have, but it got even stranger this week.
Now I'm convinced Barr wants to be remembered like AG John Mitchell, a corrupt political fixer for Nixon who went to prison for his actions. Barr could have picked fame and honor as his legacy. Instead, he's picking infamy and dishonor. It makes no sense, but there it is.
Idiot, I'm not 'taking up for him'. That's a straw man argument you are making.
THE issue is the current president's willingness to extort an ally to dig up dirt on the president's political opponent.
He's on the record as believing it's OK to do that, as he is for 'Russia, if you are listening....'.
And if you believe that Barr, Giuliani and Trump represent 'good' then you are certifiably a moral imbecile. No grey areas there.
At Area 51. The aliens are so cute making pizzas.
Irrelevant. What was the deal on the table for the U.S. and what was the result of follow up investigation?
Why hasn't hyper-partisan, unitary executive proponent, hack AG Barr, not been all over it since he became AG?
Amateur pro-Trump ‘sleuths’ scramble to unmask whistleblower: ‘Your president has asked for your help’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/28/amateur-pro-trump-sleuths-scramble-unmask-whistleblower-your-president-has-asked-your-help/?wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1
By Craig Timberg and
September 28 at 7:00 AM
The looming battle over President Trump’s potential impeachment has sparked an online hunt in the far-right corners of the Web as self-styled Internet sleuths race to identify the anonymous person Trump has likened to a treasonous spy.
*Their guesses have been scattershot, conspiratorial and often untethered from reality, spanning a wide range of such unlikely contenders as presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner and Vice President Pence.
*Handy summary of the thought processes, I'm being generous there, that go into Trumpanzee posts on this board.
Some of the online commentators and anonymous posters said they have been spurred to action by Trump’s fury, foreshadowing the online clashes that are likely to engulf any upcoming impeachment hearings and the 2020 campaign.
“Carpet bomb the memes. Everywhere,” one anonymous poster on the message board 4chan wrote in response to one of Trump’s angry tweets about the whistleblower. “Time to rise up. Your president has asked for your help.”
The quest to identify the person who crafted the politically explosive complaint against Trump has become a fixation across the most extreme corners of such platforms as Twitter, Reddit and Gab — and has spread onto conservative news sites, radio shows and TV broadcasts.
The president’s scornful portrayal of the whistleblower shaped and stoked the online conversation throughout the week, as it descended into a case study of the Internet at its worst — frenetic, fueled by rumor and frequently racist, misogynistic and crude.
“the whistleblower is not white,” one 4chan commenter asserted Thursday, probably misreading a part of the complaint in which the whistleblower calls himself or herself a “non-White House official.” “see second set of bullet points on page 3. trump only has a handful of non white staff. I wonder who it might be.”
The hunt for the whistleblower revealed a glimpse of how polarized partisan media and the Internet have become, in which every news event becomes an opportunity for online brawlers to steer mainstream conversations and defeat the other side.
“We’re seeing all the elements of information warfare play out online during this episode,” said Peter W. Singer, a senior fellow at the think tank New America. “There’s this crowdsourced manhunt to find out who did it, and once that identity comes out, everything in their life — what they majored in in college, where they like to eat dinner, where their kids went to school — will be pulled out in the hope there is one little nugget that can be weaponized against them.”
After the complaint was made public Thursday morning, pro-Trump commenters guessed the whistleblower is Hispanic or Jewish or Arab or African American and, many were sure, a woman — though rarely did the commenters use such delicate terms. A top choice soon became Susan M. Gordan, a former deputy director of national intelligence, though others thought a more probable candidate is CIA Director Gina Haspel.
Some commenters offered names or rough demographic characteristics, while others posted photos of potential suspects. One 4chan commenter focused on former national security adviser John Bolton as a contender, posting a close-up image of his trademark bristly mustache with the words “Operation Infinite Walrus!”
The speculation gained energy at several key moments, beginning with the release of the transcript of a July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The frenzy accelerated with the release of the complaint itself and when Trump said the whistleblower, whom he suggested should be prosecuted, was “close to a spy."
Conservative commentator Bill Mitchell, who attended Trump’s social media summit in July, replied in a tweet: “No Mr. President, that IS a spy.”
On the pro-Trump Reddit message board r/The_Donald, a commenter using a pseudonym said, “This ‘whistleblower’ needs to be put in the public spotlight, and then f------ prosecute him/her to the fullest extent of the law.”
Another replied, “I bet the whistleblower is the fired ambassador [to Ukraine],” referring to Marie L. Yovanovitch, a career U.S. diplomat recalled abruptly in May.
The guessing game took another twist after the New York Times reported the complaint was made by a CIA officer detailed to the White House. A conservative writer, Stu Cvrk, tweeted out his guess a few hours later.
“Is This Guy The Ukraine Phone Call Whistleblower?” Cvrk tweeted, linking to a post he wrote on RedState, a conservative news and commentary site.
“A source known to me at the State Department, who will remain anonymous, tells me that everyone is pointing to Edward ‘Ned’ Price as the whistleblower who came forward with the accusation that President Trump ‘abused his office’ during a phone conversation with the Ukrainian president,” wrote Cvrk. Price is a former CIA officer who retired in 2017 and is now a political analyst for NBC News.
Price, who was more amused than upset at the claim, said it made him concerned about the development of “discourse that is just divorced from the facts.”
Really Ned? Drop in over here and take a look at some of the righty posts. Untethered to reality is SOP for most Trumpanzees.
“It’s part of the political atmosphere that we live in now,” Price said. “People are looking for anything on which to hang their tinfoil hats.”
Cvrk, in a direct Twitter message to The Post, stood by his assessment. “You didn’t seriously think he would admit it, did you?” he wrote, adding that he was insulted by the inference “that I am a tinfoil hat guy.”
On Friday, the Washington Examiner spread word of a $50,000 reward offered by two pro-Trump political activists known for smear campaigns, who called the scandal a “national disgrace” and said they hoped identifying the whistleblower would help put “this dark chapter behind us.”
A post on the conservative Washington Sentinel suggested the whistleblower complaint was written by a “very organized” team of individuals, based on what they called “document analysis (grammatic profiling) software.” Breitbart News said the “so-called whistleblower” marched to the orders of a vast operation bankrolled by George Soros, a longtime target of conservative conspiracy theories.
The whistleblower has remained anonymous. But should his or her name be publicized through the efforts of Internet sleuths, journalists or others, the consequences probably will be serious given the intensity of the fixation online.
Many people in such spotlights have had their personal information — such as their home addresses, family affiliations and Social Security numbers — published through online “doxing” harassment campaigns. It’s not unusual for figures identified in this way to be confronted in person at their homes or workplaces.
“It’s very disruptive,” said Joan Donovan, research director at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. “The president has already branded this person as a snitch and a spy, and that’s a problem.”
The whistleblower’s lawyer has publicly called for respect for the person’s privacy. But many in conservative media have shown no interest in standing down.
In response to this request, the Trump-boosting talk-radio host Mark Levin said on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show Thursday night, “Too bad, pal. Too late. You want to impeach our president, using this BS? We want to know all about your guy.”
Not unless some kind of arms for employment deal was on the table. It was looked at, and it is nothing like the current situation no matter how much you wish, need, fantasize it to be so.
Go to the college test prep you missed, did poorly on. 'Which one of these is not like the others?' is what you'll be looking for.
Right off the bat you are fact challenged:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton
The specific charges against the president were lying under oath and obstruction of justice...
There are 13 instances of obstruction of justice by Trump cited in the Mueller report. Only one is needed for an article of impeachment.
And if Trump had ever shown for an interview by Mueller he would have perjured his ass off, because it's his nature and because he is stupid.
And we're not even talking about the emerging Ukraine shit show and secret server.
All that the First Amendment freedom of the press clause intended was that the government shall make no law restricting that freedom.
That's as far as I care to go in demolishing your stream of conscious get off of my lawn rant.
Such is the stuff of which righty dreams, wet or dry, are made. Memes that are equal parts fantasy, conspiracy theory, and wishful thinking.
Sometimes infuriating, always puzzling and laughable.
I ALWAYS put my morning coffee down before reading, out of regard for my computer screen.
Is that you who has been saying that? I forgot. NOT!
LOL!
He Didn't Get Here Alone
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212516275
Donald Trump did not ascend to the highest office in the land due to intelligence, political skill, or patriotic ideals. In fact, he was sorely lacking in all of the above.
He achieved the presidency through the machinations of a adversarial foreign power, along with a Republican party willing to install a hand-picked Russian puppet in the White House in the belief that they, too, could manipulate him into doing their bidding.
Millions of people voted for him – some out of ignorance of his history, some because they believed his never-to-be delivered on promises, and some because his obvious racism and bigotry mirrored their own.
Many were persuaded by so-called “religious leaders” who marketed a lying, adulterous, corrupt businessman as a ‘good Christian’. Others were simply taken in by a professional con-man, whose snake-oil seemed a perfect tonic to cure the nation’s ills.
Once installed in the Oval Office, Republican powers-that-be enabled Trump’s every move, regardless of how unethical, unlawful, and/or immoral his actions might be. They ignored the distancing of our allies – because a SCOTUS pick was more important than our standing in the global community.
They ignored the cries of children locked in cages – because tax-cuts for the wealthy out-weighed upholding our long-held values as a nation. They supported his racism, bigotry, and divisiveness – because advancing their political agenda was far more important than the well-being of our country and the unity of its citizens.
And now Trump is where he is – a man being exposed as the traitor he’s always been, a corrupt liar willing to sell-out his own country for political power and personal gain, a useful idiot whose own stupidity and arrogance led him to believe he was above the law.
The man who stood proudly on the world’s stage and declared Putin more credible than our own intelligence community, the man who idolizes despots like Kim Jong Un and Mohamad Bin Salman, the man who surrounded himself with inept toadies and placed incompetent cronies in positions of power, the man who used his position to enrich himself while his policies destroyed the livelihoods of American citizens, is about to stand on a very different stage – and the eyes of the entire world will be upon him as the depths of his corruption are exposed, and as his crimes are revealed for all to see.
As we watch events unfold over the coming months, let’s never forget that Trump did not get where he is alone. He was aided and abetted by the Republican party, and could never have achieved his corrupt goals without those party members who – wilfully and with malice aforethought – assisted him in perpetrating his crimes against the country, as well as crimes against humanity.
I do not intend to mitigate Trump’s responsibility for his own actions by suggesting that his guilt is somehow diminished because it is shared with others in the GOP. But those who defended his lawlessness, shielded his treasonous behaviour, and allowed his corruption to flourish must forever be seen as guilty parties in their own right, and the Republican party held out as an example of a political power that will sink to the lowest depths in furtherance of own their greed, their own immorality, and their own blatant disregard for their country and its people.
House Intel hires former Russian mob prosecutor to lead Trump probes
Wow, what a perfect marriage of experience to the task at hand.
Trump is headed toward the most spectacular crash and burn since the Hindenburg.
The House Intelligence Committee has hired a seasoned former Southern District of New York federal prosecutor with experience going after Russian organized crime to lead its myriad investigations into President Donald Trump.
Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) announced on Tuesday that Daniel Goldman joined the committee last month as senior adviser and director of investigations. Goldman, who was second-in-command at SDNY’s organized crime unit, has prosecuted the Russian mob and has secured convictions for racketeering, murder and money laundering, including against the Genovese crime family.
........
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/05/house-intelligence-daniel-goldman-1204140
LOL! I got 71 points out of Rodgers, Adams and Ertz. My opponent stews between now and Sunday with a lousy 7 points from M. Sanders.
Looks like I dodged a bullet, though I do have G. Allison on my bench….
2 hrs ago) Following an MRI on Friday, the Packers are optimistic Adams (toe) avoided a serious injury, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.
The wideout referred to his injury as "turf toe" after he was removed from Thursday's 34-27 loss to the Eagles. It sounds like he'll have a shot to avoid any additional missed time, with the Packers enjoying a long break before a Week 5 matchup with the Lions next Sunday. Adams' practice participation leading up toe the game will be closely monitore
And of course there was this...…
Distraction from Clinton impeachment scandal[edit]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Iraq_(1998)
Some critics of the Clinton administration, including Republican members of Congress,[29] expressed concern over the timing of Operation Desert Fox.[30] The four-day bombing campaign occurred at the same time the U.S. House of Representatives was conducting the impeachment hearing of President Clinton. Clinton was impeached by the House on 19 December, the last day of the bombing campaign.
A few months earlier, similar criticism was levelled during Operation Infinite Reach, wherein missile strikes were ordered against suspected terrorist bases in Sudan and Afghanistan, on 20 August. The missile strikes began three days after Clinton was called to testify before a grand jury during the Lewinsky scandal and his subsequent nationally televised address later that evening in which Clinton admitted having an inappropriate relationship.
The Operation Infinite Reach attacks became known as "Monica's War" among TV news people, due to the timing. ABC-TV announced to all stations that there would be a special report following Lewinsky's testimony before Congress, then the special report was pre-empted by the report of the missile attacks. The combination of the timing of that attack and Operation Desert Fox led to accusations of a Wag the Dog situation.
And I'm just saying that the EPA and the opening to China do not expiate Nixon of his sins....from red baiting in the '50's right through an administration that still holds the record for the most number of members indicted and convicted.
Yeah plenty of blame for the Vietnam War, but expanding it to Cambodia while conducting a fighting withdrawal was decidedly NOT what people thought the 'secret plan' would entail.
We knew more by '68 than we did in '63, and McNamara definitely knew it couldn't be won as early as '66. The later that officials came to the war, the greater the responsibility to end it; illusions about it mostly having been stripped away.
Listen to Trump Muse About Treating the Ukraine Whistleblower’s Sources...‘Differently’
He called them traitorous spies who, back in the day, would have been dealt with differently.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a29252411/trump-whistleblower-sources-treason-spies/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_esq&utm_medium=email&date=092719&utm_campaign=nl18163108&src=nl
BY JACK HOLMES
Sep 26, 2019
One thing we shouldn't lose track of as the international ratfucking capers pile up—along with the related impeachable offenses—is that the president has, from pretty much the beginning, embraced political violence.
During the campaign, he egged on his supporters to assault protesters at his rallies, offering to pay their legal bills if they were arrested. He said "Second Amendment people" could do something about Hillary Clinton if she were elected and tried to institute regulations on guns.
He characterizes dissidents and independent sources of information like the free press as Enemies of the State, and whips his supporters into such a frenzy against them that one Red Hat physically attacked a BBC journalist at a rally, while another die-hard Trumpist sent pipe bombs to the president's perceived enemies at CNN.
He praised a political ally for physically assaulting a reporter. He has blithely suggested he "hates these people"—reporters—but "would never kill them," a disgusting way to put the idea on the table.
He did not consider, for a single second, holding the Saudis accountable when the crown prince ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
We should keep all this in mind as the president ramps up his defense against a whistleblower's report that he sold out the national interest in favor of his own in a phone call with the President of Ukraine.
The whistleblower compiled the accounts of a number of White House and other government officials into a detailed narrative of the president's attempts to pressure the Ukrainians into launching an investigation that could damage Joe Biden, his political opponent.
In this, he was inviting a foreign power to interfere in American elections, a betrayal of his oath of office and, of course, of the United States.
And yet, at a fundraiser on Thursday, the president characterized the whistleblower as in league with spies who've committed treason against the nation. Well, the people who talked to the whistleblower are treasonous spies, actually. The president mused about a positively medieval solution. Luckily, someone recorded it.
You don't even need to read between the lines to see what the president is getting at here. What is up for debate is whether people laughed out of nervousness or because they liked what they heard.
It's not clear when this era of American extra-judicial spy execution was going on, but whenever it was, the president says he wants to go back to it. This is reminiscent of his fond remembrances from the rally podium of a time when you could assault protesters in public.
But with what's already happened in this country—and it's not just that one pipe bomber—this is not loose talk. And The New York Times did not help things by publishing details of the whistleblower's identity Thursday. At the very least, the president is attempting to intimidate other potential whistleblowers from coming forward.
These are dangerous times, and the president will only grow more dangerous in them.