A story about a pathetic man's downfall [34 Felony Convictions]

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

 

9 minutes ago, Chooky said:

They snuck in Slobodan Milosevic.

I would've thought that Woody Guthrie was slipped in by a rogue staffer as well except the President is likely familiar with only one of his songs and doesn't understand it's meaning either.

[RPM 26,320]

5 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

 

I would've thought that Woody Guthrie was slipped in by a rogue staffer as well except the President is likely familiar with only one of his songs and doesn't understand it's meaning either.

He thought it was the bartender from Cheers.

[Grade of D as in David 13,253]

38 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Lulzy.

 

 

[henrygandorf 29,191]

6 hours ago, HenryJames said:

This absolutely needs to happen.

it's ~ tradition, but mostly to keep former presidents in the loop so they might provide necessary counsel for a new, inexperienced president.

-biden is not inexperienced, he has spent more time in the white house than trump.

-trump has shown zero interest in having any type of relationship with biden, so would not be on biden's short list for advice.

-obama and biden are still close, so he already has at least one former president on speed dial.

-as a private citizen, trump would only want this intel to impress people (which is exactly the opposite reason to give him sensitive information)

-as a potential future candidate, trump should also not be given any intel that fellow gop candidates don't have access to.

there are a bunch of reasons not to do it, and only one reason to do it - because that's the way it's typically done.  trump has trampled over all previous norms and traditions, so i don't see why this would be any different.

they should send him a folder marked "secret" and inside should just be word searches and jumbles.  that should keep him busy for a few days.

[TXSG8R 3,362]

I love Albert Einstein as much as the next guy, but how is he an American hero exactly?  He was a citizen for only 15 of his 76 years on this earth, and I think all his achievements were prior to his US citizenship. He will look great next to Kobe Bryant and Stormin Norman though. 
 

 

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11,669]

4 minutes ago, TXSG8R said:

I love Albert Einstein as much as the next guy, but how is he an American hero exactly?  He was a citizen for only 15 of his 76 years on this earth, and I think all his achievements were prior to his US citizenship. He will look great next to Kobe Bryant and Stormin Norman though. 
 

 

Oppenheimer knew Einstein would be taken seriously by Roosevelt so he had the letter come from him, and that ended up about as fuckin' American as you can get.

[4th&Five 41,550]

 

[RPM 26,320]

Cut that motherfucker off like a no good Brother inlaw.

[Mdhorn 5,949]

21 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

it's ~ tradition, but mostly to keep former presidents in the loop so they might provide necessary counsel for a new, inexperienced president.

-biden is not inexperienced, he has spent more time in the white house than trump.

-trump has shown zero interest in having any type of relationship with biden, so would not be on biden's short list for advice.

-obama and biden are still close, so he already has at least one former president on speed dial.

-as a private citizen, trump would only want this intel to impress people (which is exactly the opposite reason to give him sensitive information)

-as a potential future candidate, trump should also not be given any intel that fellow gop candidates don't have access to.

there are a bunch of reasons not to do it, and only one reason to do it - because that's the way it's typically done.  trump has trampled over all previous norms and traditions, so i don't see why this would be any different.

they should send him a folder marked "secret" and inside should just be word searches and jumbles.  that should keep him busy for a few days.

Want to know how to find a leak to the Kremlin?  

Edit: already posted.  Drat and double drat.

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by Mdhorn

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11,669]

11 minutes ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

Oppenheimer Sachs knew Einstein would be taken seriously by Roosevelt so he had the letter come from him, and that ended up about as fuckin' American as you can get.

FIFM

[Brisketexan 105,139]

Want to know how to find a leak to the Kremlin?  

Yeah...none of that matters. The kremlin knows better than to believe anything that Trump passes them that he “learned” after his term. For exactly this reason - he’s such an easily played moron.

[bolverk 29,672]

10 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

 

One name on the list that seems to be getting a lot of attention is that of Hannah Arendt - someone, until today, I'd never heard of. Apparently, she wrote the book on authoritarianism/totalitarianism. It's remarkably ironic she ended up being inlcuded.

Couple of good quotes from her here.

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

28 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

it's ~ tradition, but mostly to keep former presidents in the loop so they might provide necessary counsel for a new, inexperienced president.

-biden is not inexperienced, he has spent more time in the white house than trump.

-trump has shown zero interest in having any type of relationship with biden, so would not be on biden's short list for advice.

-obama and biden are still close, so he already has at least one former president on speed dial.

-as a private citizen, trump would only want this intel to impress people (which is exactly the opposite reason to give him sensitive information)

-as a potential future candidate, trump should also not be given any intel that fellow gop candidates don't have access to.

there are a bunch of reasons not to do it, and only one reason to do it - because that's the way it's typically done.  trump has trampled over all previous norms and traditions, so i don't see why this would be any different.

they should send him a folder marked "secret" and inside should just be word searches and jumbles.  that should keep him busy for a few days.

Forget all of that except for the last bit. The folder marked secret should contain about 10-20 pages of made up nonsense that appears to be Russian surveillance on Ivanka including date and time notifications for when she was seen showering, etc. It will drive him up the wall.

[Mdhorn 5,949]

7 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah...none of that matters. The kremlin knows better than to believe anything that Trump passes them that he “learned” after his term. For exactly this reason - he’s such an easily played moron.

But Putin could do it just to hang dotard out to dry and let it be known that he had compromised the US government.    

[Born to Run 6,569]

 

I remember those Biographies in elementary school that had brief simplistic stories about a wide range of historical figures complete with cartoon illustrations.

That plus an old man's favorite actors and sports heroes and it all makes sense.

[RPM 26,320]

6 minutes ago, Mdhorn said:

But Putin could do it just to hang dotard out to dry and let it be known that he had compromised the US government.    

[TwiceHorn 31,470]

1 hour ago, BrickHorn said:

I can’t think of a better example of the weird nostalgia driving the right wing nonsense in this country than that list. There’s this idea among MAGA dumb-dumbs of a mythical past America where Albert Einstein, Babe Ruth, Elvis, and Antonin Scalia ran things and everything was peachy keen and there wasn’t any abortion or any Chi-comm Antifas telling god-fearing American kids they can’t pray in or open carry an AR15 to school.

The whole thing is so muddled and sloppy and goofy, but these mush brains are inspired to do real-life stupid shit by their desire to return to a hazy, imaginary golden age. They oppose progressive advances because they believe any step forward is a step further away from the days when Benjamin Franklin, Johnny Appleseed, Amelia Earhart, and Ronald McDonald worked hand-in-hand to make sure America was the freest, richest, star spangledest, bald eaglest, most Christlike country in the world. 

I know patriotism is neat and shit, but teaching schoolchildren an infantile, whitewashed, simplified version of American history that is more fairy tale than historical account has really done this nation a huge disservice.

It's all based on TV show reality.  Andy Griffith, Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, Ozzie & Harriett.

These products of the idiot box think that was really America in the 50s and early 60s.

That explains their political nostalgia for the era in its entirety.

 

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

47 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

trump has shown zero interest in having any type of relationship with biden, so would not be on biden's short list for advice.

He’s also shown zero interest in having any type of relationship with the U.S. intelligence community. He’ll probably be content to receive regular propaganda briefings from the Kremlin. 

[Biff Tannen 45,684]

So did Obama get briefings this whole time?

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

21 minutes ago, Mdhorn said:

But Putin could do it just to hang dotard out to dry and let it be known that he had compromised the US government.    

He could’ve done that yesterday if he wanted to. 

[RPM 26,320]

3 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

It's all based on TV show reality.  Andy Griffith, Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, Ozzie & Harriett.

These products of the idiot box think that was really America in the 50s and early 60s.

Come now, every family of means had a maid named Hazel. Even Edith had Florida and Archie was as blue collar as you get.

[Beau Vine 54,226]

32 minutes ago, bolverk said:

One name on the list that seems to be getting a lot of attention is that of Hannah Arendt - someone, until today, I'd never heard of.

Pretty sure that was supposed to be Hannah Barbera.

[BrickHorn 18,234]

4 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

So did Obama get briefings this whole time?

Yes, but they were primarily excerpts from Alex Jones rants about the top threats to American security: the Clintons’ satanist cabal of illuminati lizard people; Soros-funded MS-13 immigrant caravan invasions; and invisible Antifas tricking well-meaning right wing patriots into committing unwitting enthusiastic treason.

[TwiceHorn 31,470]

16 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Pretty sure that was supposed to be Hannah Montana Barbera.

Fify.

[Pato del Muerto 52,498]

24 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Pretty sure that was supposed to be Hannah Barbera.

 

7 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Fify.

Hannah hayes

[Francisco 2.0 32,392]

https://www.axios.com/off-the-rails-trump-cia-kash-patel-6c5ea317-43e9-48da-993f-5c7ab823c4c1.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=1100

 

Spoiler

In his final weeks in office, after losing the election to Joe Biden, President Donald Trump embarked on a vengeful exit strategy that included a hasty and ill-thought-out plan to jam up CIA Director Gina Haspel by firing her top deputy and replacing him with a protege of Republican Congressman Devin Nunes.

The plan stunned national security officials and almost blew up the leadership of the world's most powerful spy agency. Only a series of coincidences — and last minute interventions from Vice President Mike Pence and White House counsel Pat Cipollone — stopped it.

The ploy to rattle Haspel and perhaps intentionally trigger her resignation unfolded in a lurching and incompetent way, like a bad Monty Python skit, on one chaotic day in early December. 

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was ordered to fire — and then immediately unfire — the CIA's Deputy Director Vaughn Bishop. 

In his place, Trump planned to install Kash Patel — a former top Intelligence Committee staffer to Nunes who had served on Trump's National Security Council but had no agency experience. In Trump's mind, this could potentially lead to Patel running the agency without needing to get Senate confirmation.

Trump had spent his last year in office ruminating over Haspel. Some of Trump's hardcore allies, including Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, had been publicly raising doubts in his mind about her. He grew to distrust her and instead wanted a loyal ally at the top of the CIA.

She wasn't the only national security official the president wanted out.

Six days after the election, he had fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper. He replaced Esper with counterterrorism chief Chris Miller — and then stunned long-time national security hands by installing Patel as Miller's chief of staff. Patel had no military experience and was widely seen as a political mercenary bent on punishing the president's perceived "deep state" foes.

But Trump told confidants he had bigger plans for Patel: He'd replace long-time CIA veteran Bishop with Patel, and if Haspel quit in protest, then Patel or another loyalist could lead the CIA.

Patel had found favor with Trump when he played a central role in Republican efforts to counterprogram special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. Patel was the key author of a memo in which Nunes accused the Justice Department and the FBI of abusing surveillance laws as part of a politically motivated effort to take down Trump. An inspector general later validated some of the Republican criticisms of the DOJ's process.

Trump had also become convinced that there were still all kinds of classified documents lying around, inside the CIA, that would harm his enemies — former President Obama, Hillary Clinton, former CIA Director John Brennan and others. He regarded Patel as somebody he could trust to do whatever he asked without challenging, slow-walking, questioning his judgment, or asking too many annoying questions.

Patel pushed back on this reporting in a text message to Axios in which he said such a view of him was a "total lie about how I behave with the president" and "completely" mischaracterized his "ability." He declined to comment on the president’s early December plan.

Trump had quickly brought Patel into his inner circle, trusting him with sensitive assignments, which included dispatching him to Damascus last year for secret hostage talks with the Assad regime.

Patel was traveling in Asia with acting Defense Secretary Miller when Trump abruptly summoned him back to Washington on Dec. 8. The Pentagon declined at the time to answer questions on why Patel was called back. 

Given the tensions running through the building after Trump had replaced top officials with loyalists, it set off feverish speculation among senior Pentagon staff. 

Patel had to link through multiple commercial flights to get back in a hurry. Meanwhile, Trump instructed Meadows to tell CIA Director Haspel he was firing Deputy Director Bishop and replacing him with Patel. Trump planned to name Patel deputy director of the CIA on Dec. 11. By that day, a Friday, the paperwork had already been drafted to formalize Patel's appointment. 

As soon as Cipollone learned of this, he spoke with the president and argued against installing Patel in that powerful position.

That same day, Haspel decided for the first time in weeks to attend the president's daily intelligence briefing. Reports she was on the ropes had been swirling for weeks and she'd been steering clear of the West Wing — a COVID-19 hot zone. During the briefing that day, Haspel deftly reminded Trump of what had initially impressed him about her: As Trump often put it, she was tough and good at killing terrorists.

After the briefing ended and Haspel had left the room, Trump asked a small group of his senior aides what they thought about her. 

Pence delivered a full-throated defense of Haspel, calling the CIA director a patriot, praising her job performance, and trying to reassure Trump that she had his back. Cipollone had also repeatedly defended Haspel to the president.

Trump abruptly switched course, deciding to call off the plan to install Patel. But there was one glitch: Just down the hall in the chief of staff's office, Meadows had already told Haspel that Patel would be taking Bishop's job. 

Haspel responded with the flinty aggression she was renowned for. She said she wouldn't stand for it, and that she would resign before allowing Patel to assume a position as her deputy. Meadows had presented it as a fait accompli, but this was not a decision Haspel would take lying down. Now that Trump had changed his mind, Meadows had to swallow his pride and reverse the order.

Had Pence and Cipollone not gone to bat for Haspel with such vigor — and had Haspel skipped the daily briefing that day — Patel likely would have become the CIA's deputy director or chief.

Instead, Trump on Jan. 4 awarded loyalist Nunes the Medal of Freedom — the nation's highest civilian honor and the same recognition President Reagan once bestowed on Mother Teresa. 

Meanwhile, Michael Ellis, another loyalist and former Nunes aide who'd worked on the National Security Council, was placed in a powerful new post — general counsel of the National Security Agency — with just three days left in Trump's presidency. The job's civil service designation, the New York Times noted, meant that while the incoming Biden administration could exile him, it could be more difficult to remove him altogether.

Even after Pence and Cipollone killed the "Kash Patel for CIA" dream, it lived on among outside allies of the president, including Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow and a prominent election-overturning conspiracy theorist. Patel told Axios: “I do want to say on the record that I have never met, spoken to, seen, texted, or communicated with Mike Lindell."

On Jan. 15, Trump's final Friday at the White House, Lindell visited Trump in the Oval Office. 

Washington Post photographer Jabin Botsford caught a picture of Lindell’s notes before he entered the West Wing. Among the pillow entrepreneur's prescriptions for the president was this eye-catching line: "Move Kash Patel to CIA Acting."

 

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20,400]

Trump's census bureau chief resigning. I'll give you one guess as to why.

Who would have thought that there are only 2017 people in the entire Rio Grande Valley?😃
 

 

[Mdhorn 5,949]

2 hours ago, RPM said:

Remember when Kushner was establishing a back channel to the Kremlin and then fast forward several years and a bunch of US government agencies, including the Pentagon got hacked and didn't even know it?  This is the intelligence that our current admin used to rurn government.  And now they fucked up rolling out Covid vaccines. Because of course they did.   We got many concerns.  

Edited January 18, 2021 by Mdhorn

[Mdhorn 5,949]

e 

1 hour ago, WhatTheBuck said:

He could’ve done that yesterday if he wanted to. 

He has and does but I'm waiting for some grand finale extravaganza.  

[Constant 6,732]

29 minutes ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

Trump's census bureau chief resigning. I'll give you one guess as to why.

Who would have thought that there are only 2017 people in the entire Rio Grande Valley?😃
 

 

Has to be the most corrupt administration in this country’s history.  They make the Nixon administration look like a bunch of boy scouts. 

[Pato del Muerto 52,498]

Next axios installment should look like this

[GhostOfTomJoad 9,324]

No Dale Earnhardt, Arnold Palmer or Joe Paterno? Is he giving the middle finger to his base?

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,819]

1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

 

Hannah hayes

Hannah Montana, duh!

[Pato del Muerto 52,498]

9 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

No Dale Earnhardt, Arnold Palmer or Joe Paterno? Is he giving the middle finger to his base?

Did he try to sneak in James earl Ray today?

[Bruh Man 3,160]

Decency is back. 

 

 

[Underdog 28,631]

Counterpoint... 

 

[Francisco 2.0 32,392]

 

 

[Dr. Teeth 5,844]

An usher that was brought to the WH by Trump. So I hope they send him packing as soon as they meet and have the person that handled the WH during Obama's years ready to go.

[High Plains Drifter 11,049]

27 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

 

lol DotARd got the couch

 

Yet one part of the bedroom set-up will be markedly different with the Bidens than it was for the Trumps: the Bidens will be sharing a bedroom. Melania Trump spent the majority of her time in the White House in the large bedroom suite typically reserved for Presidents and their spouse, adjacent to the West Sitting Hall, according to a source with knowledge of the arrangement.

"Donald Trump slept in his own bedroom, which was previously a study or den during other administrations," the source said of the arrangement.

 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by High Plains Drifter

[Scheiss Meister 8,407]

She isn't his wife; she is his SVR handler.

Edited January 19, 2021 by Scheiss Meister
Tense mattered.

[4th&Five 41,550]

 

[Al Czervik 1,229]

5 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

He’s also shown zero interest in having any type of intelligence.

I felt like this needed editing. 

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

Someone call Mark. I believe he should rethink this...

 

[Biff Tannen 45,684]

28 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

lol DotARd got the couch

 

Yet one part of the bedroom set-up will be markedly different with the Bidens than it was for the Trumps: the Bidens will be sharing a bedroom. Melania Trump spent the majority of her time in the White House in the large bedroom suite typically reserved for Presidents and their spouse, adjacent to the West Sitting Hall, according to a source with knowledge of the arrangement.

"Donald Trump slept in his own bedroom, which was previously a study or den during other administrations," the source said of the arrangement.

 

 

 

What a sad, sick life he leads.  Hopefully it doesn't last much longer.

[Anastasis 23,469]

20 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

 

I think that history will view this as a minor act in the theatre. We're talking about a country that literally genocided native people and enslaved another. Trump is a fucking speed bump wrt the judgement of our historical baggage.  

[Francisco 2.0 32,392]

 

 

[tx ind 7,013]

43 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

lol DotARd got the couch

 

Yet one part of the bedroom set-up will be markedly different with the Bidens than it was for the Trumps: the Bidens will be sharing a bedroom. Melania Trump spent the majority of her time in the White House in the large bedroom suite typically reserved for Presidents and their spouse, adjacent to the West Sitting Hall, according to a source with knowledge of the arrangement.

"Donald Trump slept in his own bedroom, which was previously a study or den during other administrations," the source said of the arrangement.

 

 

 

I'm blaming Melania for all the late night tweeting.  She kicked him to the couch and he was up all night spouting bullshit for 4 years.

[henrygandorf 29,191]

i have to assume his little side-bedroom was easier considering he sleeps 3-4 hours a night and watches (and re-watches) cable news about 20 hours a day.  not to mention all the tweeting.

when i get kicked to the couch i know i watch tv and play on my phone til 1-2am, so this hits close to home.

[Mole 4,333]

49 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

I think that history will view this as a minor act in the theatre. We're talking about a country that literally genocided native people and enslaved another. Trump is a fucking speed bump wrt the judgement of our historical baggage.  

Don’t ever change bro.

[Neonmoon 38,129]

53 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

I think that history will view this as a minor act in the theatre. We're talking about a country that literally genocided native people and enslaved another. Trump is a fucking speed bump wrt the judgement of our historical baggage.