It’s a National Non-Emergency: Trump thread 91

[TheClaws]

Here we are in February 2019 - Trump has declared a National Emergency to funnel the funds for his border wall, he’s just come off a ridiculous SOTU that contained more lies than not, and he’s just tweeted this:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 2h2 hours ago
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“These guys, the investigators, ought to be in jail. What they have done, working with the Obama intelligence agencies, is simply unprecedented. This is one of the greatest political hoaxes ever perpetrated on the people of this Country, and Mueller is a coverup.” Rush Limbaugh

But here’s a reminder he’s not one of the sharpest tools in the box.

That’s extremely hostile, isn’t it, lion? NK don’t bother hiding the fact they harbour ill-will towards Japan, but this Is another level.

Yes, it is chilling. Sabre-rattling is one thing but with these particular 'leaders' ...

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/09/trump-ann-coulter-wacky-nut-job-border-wall

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/10/trump-legacy-conservative-judges-district-courts

Not fond of making fun of people' appearances but I do make an exception with Trump and his progeny.
If you really want to see what's under the hat, take a look at the replies to this tweet...

really can't recommend the mar-a-lago hashtag highly enough
twitter.com/ashleyfeinberg/status/1104605912130637825?s=21

SNL Weekend update

Hillary for 2020(?) as Rocky 4, who nobody believes can come out of retirement, against a Russian hero... who can barely speak English.

'Dear King ...'

www.propublica.org/article/trump-mar-a-lago-buddy-wrote-policy-pitch-the-president-sent-it-to-va-chief

I love this-- a 'perjury chart' no less:

www.justsecurity.org/61682/perjury-chart-trump-associates-lies-false-statements-russia-federal-authorities/

Paul Manafort is about to face another sentencing judge: Amy Berman Jackson
www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/paul-manafort-is-about-to-face-another-sentencing-judge-amy-berman-jackson/2019/03/09/ebdea46a-41cc-11e9-a0d3-1210e58a94cf_story.html?utm_term=.ef9b7cbe052f

She sounds like a much more measured and rational judge than Ellis so it will be interesting to see which way she goes with the sentencing on Wednesday.

Aside from the article - I'm loving the name of the lawers she worked for in 2000.

Switching from aggressive prosecutor to aggressive white-collar defender came easily. In 2000, Jackson became one of the bright stars among younger lawyers groomed at the law firm led by Robert P. Trout and Plato B. Cacheris, whose national security or scandal-scarred clients included John Mitchell, attorney general under President Richard M. Nixon; Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern involved with President Bill Clinton; and U.S. spies Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen.

Russia internet freedom: Thousands protest against cyber-security bill
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47517263

Another campaigner, Sergei Boiko, told AFP news agency that "the government is battling freedom".

"I can tell you this as somebody who spent a month in jail for a tweet," he added.
[...]
The government says the so-called digital sovereignty bill will reduce Russia's reliance on internet servers in the United States.

It seeks to stop the country's internet traffic being routed through foreign servers.

A second vote is expected later this month.

McConnell wasn't afraid of stealing a Supreme Court seat

He wasn't afraid of blocking a bipartisan response to Russian hacking

He wasn't afraid confirming a Justice who committed sexual assault

But he's terrified the #ForThePeople Act
twitter.com/lolgop/status/1104835825941037056?s=21

Mitch McConnell is terrified of the Michigan plan for rebuilding democracy
By prioritizing the “For the People Act,” Democrats show they get that voting rights are even more popular than legal weed.
www.eclectablog.com/2019/03/mitch-mcconnell-is-terrified-of-the-michigan-plan-for-rebuilding-democracy.html

On a similar topic, there is an excellent article on the Just Security site lionheart linked. Worth reading in it's entirety, for those interested in such things.

The Seven Step Program for Fighting Disinformation
www.justsecurity.org/62718/step-program-fighting-disinformation/

Second Step: classify disinformation as a cybersecurity problem. The problem with information operations isn’t just that they are unpleasant, disagreeable, or even false—it’s that their intended purpose isn’t to argue or communicate, but instead to destabilize and undermine genuine argument and communication. Even provable falsehood is no good as a litmus test. The most effective propaganda frequently contains seeds of truth; the truthful elements are incorporated precisely to immunize propagandistic communications from criticism. So truth policing and fact-checking can’t be this century’s Maginot Line. The goal of our adversaries is corrosion, not communication – they are working to create confusion, to make it feel exhausting to determine what’s true or what to trust .

No single state-actor or ideological group owns these tactics. Russia’s operation is the most widely-analyzed and publicly discussed, but it’s only one example of a wide-ranging collection of documented information attacks
[...]
Third Step: Any U.S. anti-disinformation strategy has to be designed with preserving both freedom of expression and privacy as a top priority. Disinformation isn’t merely “speech we disapprove of.” We can’t let genuine differences of political opinion (or other kinds of opinion) become collateral damage as we detect and root out disinformation campaigns. At the same time, we also have to remember that bad actors will insist, disingenuously, that what we do to combat disinformation is censorship. To defang these narratives, addressing disinformation campaigns must be done as transparently as possible.

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/08/trump-inauguration-money-shell-companies-revealed?CMP=share_btn_tw

'Donald Trump’s inauguration received tens of thousands of dollars from shell companies that masked the involvement of a foreign contributor or others with foreign ties.

The Guardian has identified the creators of three obscure firms that contributed money to Trump’s inaugural committee, which collected a record $107m as he entered the White House in 2017.'

What the heck? I missed this news a few days ago, so apologies if I'm just repeating it.

I'd barely got used to Shine being at the White House... and now he's gone again. Mostly.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2019/mar/08/donald-trump-latest-news-live-alabama-paul-manafort-russia-hr1-bill-vote
Bill Shine, the White House’s deputy chief of staff for communications, abruptly resigned. Shine was previously an executive at Fox News, and will serve as an adviser to Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.

Shine has left the WH?

Two days ago, apparently.

Trump’s reelection effort has already raised $100+ million, with millions of small- and big-dollar donors ready to give more.

GOP officials said he raised another $7 million this weekend in FL.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-massive-reelection-campaign-has-2016-themes--and-a-2020-infrastructure/2019/03/10/5f44109c-4124-11e9-a0d3-1210e58a94cf_story.html?utm_term=.59225b7750cd

President Trump and his advisers are launching a behemoth 2020 campaign operation combining his raw populist message from 2016 with a massive data-gathering and get-out-the-vote push aimed at dwarfing any previous presidential reelection effort, according to campaign advisers, White House aides, Republican officials and others briefed on the emerging strategy.

Trump’s advisers also believe the Democratic Party’s recent shift to the left on a host of issues, from the push for Medicare-for-all to a proposed Green New Deal, will help the president and other Republicans focus on a Trumpian message of strong economic growth, nationalist border restrictions and “America First” trade policies. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan will become, in signs and rally chants, “Keep America Great!”

The president’s strategy, however, relies on a risky and relatively narrow path for victory, hinged on demonizing Trump’s eventual opponent and juicing turnout among his most avid supporters in Florida, Pennsylvania and the upper Midwest — the same areas that won him the White House but where his popularity has waned since he was elected. Some advisers are particularly concerned about the president’s persistent unpopularity among female and suburban voters, and fear it will be difficult to replicate the outcome of 2016 without former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as a foil.

Snort!

MAGA sounds vaguely impressive. KAG sounds like something you'd find dangling from the back end of a sheep.

Trump told RNC donors Friday night that he actually said "Tim Cook Apple" really fast, and the "Cook" part of the sentence was soft, Axios reports. Republican donors in attendance called it one of Trump's weirdest lies ever.

The Hill @thehill
·
15m
Trump campaign adviser defends White House diversity: “How many black people were in Lincoln’s West Wing?" (link: hill.cm/4LPLKhE) hill.cm/4LPLKhE

FFS, he’s retweeted a numbskull Hillary-Steele-dossier conspiracy theory from Tucker Carlson-owned extreme right site The Daily Caller. Even those that visit The Daily Caller recognise it’s highly strung and mostly false (well, I hope so). at “dark money group”.

Donald J. Trump Retweeted

Chuck Ross @ChuckRossDC
2h2 hours ago
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NEW: Dark money group gave $2 Million DEMOCRACY INTEGRITY PROJECT, the org that hired Fusion GPS and Chris Steele to bolster the dossier and Trump-Russia narrative. dailycaller.com/2019/03/10/dark-money-fusion-steele-soros/ … @dailycaller

Not sure that MAGA sounds mildly impressive.

Urban dictionary:
A Greek term used to describe someone who thinks they are tough/cool but they really aren't.

In Spanish/Portuguese/Italian
MAGA means witch.

This is an ad the GOP made to appeal to liberals and oh my God it sure is wow
twitter.com/sarahksilverman/status/1104986388766822401?s=21

welladriansays
@welladriansays
If we could harness the energy of republican hypocrisy, climate change could be a thing of the past

more on the Beto/GOP ad.

GOP meddles in Democratic nomination with takedown of O'Rourke
The Club for Growth sees the ex-Texas congressman as a serious threat to Donald Trump, and they're treating him accordingly.
www.politico.com/story/2019/03/10/beto-orourke-2020-attack-1214805

I was thinking of maga as connecting in the tiny mind to "mega",Lweji.

So, hang on, am I right: The GOP is attacking Beto O'Rourke for running against Trump when he hasn't yet said that he is going to?