When do we just call the Russia thing a criminal conspiracy?

Sorry Michael.

Britain exports £350 million plus worth of steel to the USA.

You guys are kind of in the middle of this.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/w ... enter.html

State Dept. Was Granted $120 Million to Fight Russian Meddling. It Has Spent $0.

WASHINGTON — As Russia’s virtual war against the United States continues unabated with the midterm elections approaching, the State Department has yet to spend any of the $120 million it has been allocated since late 2016 to counter foreign efforts to meddle in elections or sow distrust in democracy.

As a result, not one of the 23 analysts working in the department’s Global Engagement Center — which has been tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaign — speaks Russian, and a department hiring freeze has hindered efforts to recruit the computer experts needed to track the Russian efforts.

...

Nothing to see here folks... just the guy we know the Russians helped elect doing absolutely nothing to prevent them from attacking the next election every single US intelligence agency testified to Congress they are pretty much 100% expected to attack again...


Gee.... wonder why. Of course he is *very* busy starting trade wars with US allies and yelling at Alec Baldwin on Twitter in between any of the hundred (literally) golf trips he has taken in the last year. So you know...

gcomeau wrote:https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/world/europe/state-department-russia-global-engagement-center.html

State Dept. Was Granted $120 Million to Fight Russian Meddling. It Has Spent $0.

WASHINGTON — As Russia’s virtual war against the United States continues unabated with the midterm elections approaching, the State Department has yet to spend any of the $120 million it has been allocated since late 2016 to counter foreign efforts to meddle in elections or sow distrust in democracy.

As a result, not one of the 23 analysts working in the department’s Global Engagement Center — which has been tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaign — speaks Russian, and a department hiring freeze has hindered efforts to recruit the computer experts needed to track the Russian efforts.

...

Nothing to see here folks... just the guy we know the Russians helped elect doing absolutely nothing to prevent them from attacking the next election every single US intelligence agency testified to Congress they are pretty much 100% expected to attack again...


Gee.... wonder why. Of course he is *very* busy starting trade wars with US allies and yelling at Alec Baldwin on Twitter in between any of the hundred (literally) golf trips he has taken in the last year. So you know...

Now everyone is being distracted by Gerrymandering, and the Voter ID laws. Seems The idiot that was running Trump's voter fraud initiative now has to produce actual physical evidence od "massive voter fraud" in Kansas.

Well the UK has now come right out and told Russia either give us one hell of a good reason to think otherwise or we're saying this is you that released a chemical WMD in the middle of one of our civilian populations because that's where all the evidence points.


That's one of America's greatest and most longstanding allies on one side, and Vladimir Putin and the nation all of Trump's own intelligence people say attacked US elections on the other.


Let's watch how he responds shall we?

Well the GOP members of House Intel, Devin Nunes's little band of misfits, just released a statement that they are killing the inquiry into Russia, they find no evidence of any wrongdoing, US intelligence agencies are wrong, and they're done here.

They did not consult the Democratic members of the committee, who have been raising hell for months that the GOP members were deliberately obstructing the investigation and providing breakdowns of all the standard investigatory steps the GOP members were refusing to allow to occur.

If these people were in Congress in the 70s Nixon might have gotten away with it. Fortunately Mueller is still chugging along.... at least until they figure out how to fire him without it blowing up in their faces.



Edit: And unlike every other news agnecy accurately reporting what just happened.... that the GOP members of the committee alone issued their own report... Fox News broadcasts

"House Intel finds 'no evidence of collusion' between Trump campaign and Russia"


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03 ... ussia.html


The propagandizing to the flock of sheep begins... I expect a twitter storm out of Trump about it at any moment.

And just when do we call the killing of the enquiry —a decision to protect the president over protecting the country —a criminal conspiracy?

gcomeau wrote:Well the UK has now come right out and told Russia either give us one hell of a good reason to think otherwise or we're saying this is you that released a chemical WMD in the middle of one of our civilian populations because that's where all the evidence points.


That's one of America's greatest and most longstanding allies on one side, and Vladimir Putin and the nation all of Trump's own intelligence people say attacked US elections on the other.


Let's watch how he responds shall we?

Well there's stage one of the response.

Tillerson:"The nerve agent clearly came from Russia".

Hours later, Trump: "Tillerson you're fired."


And yet *another* high level administration official is toast. Not that in any other aadministration Tillerson would have kept his job, he was totally incompetent. But we know *that* isn't a firing offense in the Trump White House... (Carson, Devos, Zinke, Perry, and on and on...)

gcomeau wrote:

gcomeau wrote:Well the UK has now come right out and told Russia either give us one hell of a good reason to think otherwise or we're saying this is you that released a chemical WMD in the middle of one of our civilian populations because that's where all the evidence points.


That's one of America's greatest and most longstanding allies on one side, and Vladimir Putin and the nation all of Trump's own intelligence people say attacked US elections on the other.


Let's watch how he responds shall we?

Well there's stage one of the response.

Tillerson:"The nerve agent clearly came from Russia".

Hours later, Trump: "Tillerson you're fired."


And yet *another* high level administration official is toast. Not that in any other aadministration Tillerson would have kept his job, he was totally incompetent. But we know *that* isn't a firing offense in the Trump White House... (Carson, Devos, Zinke, Perry, and on and on...)

Now Tillerson can go back to is old job: EXXON/Mobil's Climate change denier-in-chief.

Mueller appears to have just subpoenad the Trump organization directly for business records related to Russia.

I imagine the few remaining sane people in the Trump administration are desperately trying to keep Trump from making a move to try to fire Mueller right about now.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/15/mueller ... a-nyt.html

gcomeau wrote:Mueller appears to have just subpoenad the Trump organization directly for business records related to Russia.

I imagine the few remaining sane people in the Trump administration are desperately trying to keep Trump from making a move to try to fire Mueller right about now.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/15/mueller ... a-nyt.html

Once again his staff at Foxnews are screaming that Mueller has exceeded his authority and redoublingtheir efforts to fire McCabe.