Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

[Mongrel]

The (metaphorical - for now) bombs just keep getting bigger and bigger.

A month before Trump clinched the nom in 2016, Paul Ryan had a recorded conversation where he stated he thought Putin was paying Trump

[Brantly B.]

I'll take a 50 to 1 on that story being instantiated by Ryan himself to show how TOTALLY NOT IN ON IT he was.

[Mongrel]

He's still fucked though. Politically, he's radioactive now.

[Sharkey]

There exists a perfectly plausible timeline where Mattis ends up president and in a couple years we'll be seeing Mad Dog 2020 campaign signs. Which is exactly the kind of stupid shit I've come to count on ever since we apparently slid out of the universe where they can spell fucking Berenstein correctly.

[Mongrel]

NYT: Trump Team Knew Flynn Was Under Investigation Before He Came to White House

Most damning is that it's come out that Flynn was paid $500k by Turkey and then had the Kurds hold off retaking Raqqa because it would look bad for Erdogan.

!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, can we go six hours without a new scandal big enough to theoretically sink a sitting president? I've spent all day just saying "holy shit!" over and over.

EDIT: If that aided ISIS in any way... that's literal treason, isn't it? Flynn actually took money to disrupt US or allied military activity in a way that directly benefited declared military enemies?

[Spooky Skeleton]

Forgive the non sequitur, but speaking of Erdogan: here he is with his security people BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF KURDISH PROTESTORS in Washington.



(filmed like a oner in an episode of True Detective or something so that you can pretend it's a cool movie or something and not really happening)

[Mongrel]

Politico longform piece on Comey & Mueller, their close relationship, and long service in Washington.

A bit laudatory (it's by Mueller's biographer), but a good read.

It is as if, after having an unrelated disagreement over movie trivia in a bar, Trump has challenged Usain Bolt to a 100-yard dash or John Cena to a cage match to the death.

But their unique partnership, one of the closest working relationships the top ranks of the Justice Department have ever seen, was truly forged in the crucible of post-9/11 Washington, when threats loomed large and the stress of tracking and preventing unfolding plots dominated the federal government. “The fire hose every morning hit the FBI director, the attorney general and then the president,” Comey recalled to me.

The twice-daily threat briefings, the flood of intelligence reports throughout the rest of the day, the panicked lurches and fruitless counterterror raids, had a profound effect on the principals involved in the years after 9/11. One night, after another day spent running down a possible terrorist weapon of mass destruction, Comey was dropped off by his security detail at his house outside Washington. He recalled to me years later that he’d stopped on the walk, noticing a light still burned inside; upstairs his five kids were already asleep. As he walked up the path to his front door, he paused for a moment and tested the wind’s direction, mentally calculating whether radioactive fallout from Washington would blow toward his family. I wonder whether my kids will be safe until the morning, Comey thought; then he realized just how paranoid he had become. As he recalls, “Your mind comes to be dominated by the horrific consequences of low-probability events.”

Yet even amid the stress of that time, Comey didn’t hesitate to force the issue of STELLAR WIND, standing up to the vice president. During one White House meeting, Comey said he couldn’t find a legal basis for the program.

“Others see it differently,” a scowling Cheney replied.

“The analysis is flawed—in fact, fatally flawed. No lawyer reading that could reasonably rely on it,” Comey said, his hand sweeping across the table dismissively.

Cheney’s counsel, the famously aggressive David Addington, standing in the back of the room, spoke up: “Well, I’m a lawyer,” he snapped, “and I did.”

Comey shot back, “No good lawyer.”

EDIT: Actually including the damn link would help, wouldn't it?

[Mongrel]

pffflol

The funny thing is, I can actually see Trump as the villain who sees wingtips poking out from behind the curtain and can't figure out who would leave their shoes behind there.

"Some idiot forgot his shoes! That's why they're a dumb loser and I'm president! Ha!"

[pacobird]

There exists a perfectly plausible timeline where Mattis ends up president and in a couple years we'll be seeing Mad Dog 2020 campaign signs. Which is exactly the kind of stupid shit I've come to count on ever since we apparently slid out of the universe where they can spell fucking Berenstein correctly.

Nah, Orrin Hatch looks clean.

Imagine being Mitt Romney and 4 years after your last run a major constitutional crisis makes Orrin Hatch the first Mormon President.

[Yoji]

Forgive the non sequitur, but speaking of Erdogan: here he is with his security people BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF KURDISH PROTESTORS in Washington.



(filmed like a oner in an episode of True Detective or something so that you can pretend it's a cool movie or something and not really happening)

Bonus round: it looks like Erdogan himself watched from across the street.

[Thad]

There exists a perfectly plausible timeline where Mattis ends up president and in a couple years we'll be seeing Mad Dog 2020 campaign signs. Which is exactly the kind of stupid shit I've come to count on ever since we apparently slid out of the universe where they can spell fucking Berenstein correctly.

Nah, Orrin Hatch looks clean.

Yeah, but he's also 83 years old; I can definitely come up with a few scenarios where he's removed from the order of succession that qualify as "perfectly plausible".

...I'm gone for a few days and this is the first thing I say in this thread when I get back? Yeah, I'm disappointed in me too.

Seriously, though, I don't know what the fuck to add to all the crazy shit that keeps coming out other than "What the fucking fuck?"

Interesting times indeed.

[Thad]

...I do have something else to bring up, though: I'm concerned that we're not seeing nearly as much coverage of Republican attempts to sabotage the census as we should be. This is a serious long-term threat; gerrymandering and disenfranchising minorities are the GOP's best shot at keeping power, and that's true no matter what happens to Trump. (I'm still holding out hope that his escalating scandals lead to a Democratic landslide in '18, but it's not going to be easy, and a census that doesn't correctly reflect the diversity of the US population means another decade of districts that look a whole lot like the ones we've got, or even worse.)

[Grath]

[Mongrel]

Bannon's discomfort here is glorious.

"So Steve, who came up with the ban islamic travel?"
"Yeah Steve, who was it?"
"Who came up with the muslim ban, Steve?"
"Tell us Steve!"

[François]

Bannon: so evil he makes Saudi aristocrats look like good guys.

[Yoji]

I'll give 'im this: at least in that clip, he doesn't look like he spent the last night sleeping in a cardboard box under a freeway overpass.

[malikial]

Every time you post it makes me laugh because of your god damn avatar. Jesus thank you for that. I was feeling a bit ill and then I saw this and went back and started reading other posts you made. Fucking hell that Kerbal is great. I know it's off topic, just wanted to say I loved it. Shit made me laugh so hard I almost died.

[Büge]

[Yoji]

Yeah, he's great, but a bit too on-the-nose. I use the radio as a morning alarm, so that usually means one of the first things I hear waking up is what crazy bullshit The Bastard has said in the past few hours. Centrifuge Kerbal just about sums up the feeling.

[Mongrel]

Every time you post it makes me laugh because of your god damn avatar. Jesus thank you for that. I was feeling a bit ill and then I saw this and went back and started reading other posts you made. Fucking hell that Kerbal is great. I know it's off topic, just wanted to say I loved it. Shit made me laugh so hard I almost died.

It is a damn good avatar. I smile when I see it too.