1669

Seems legit.

1670
1671

Am I the only one who is equally exasperated and concerned that motherfuckers, this is what actual corruption look like?

Is Fox et al able to process the cognitive dissonance that trump and his cronies actually seem to be guilty of the treason and corruption that they’ve been trying to find in Obama and Clinton all these years?

1672

Trump: So, these Congressional hearings. People are saying they look bad, they’re taking attention away from me. What are we gonna do about that to make me look good?

(Bannon whispers to Tillerson.)

Tillerson: I know! I’ll skip an important NATO meeting next month, then go to Russia right after.

Trump: Perfect. Perfect. People will love that. Strong, decisive. And people love Putin. They can’t get enough of that guy.

1673

To be fair, he’s skipping the NATO meeting due to the Chinese president’s visit to the US, which is probably more important.

1674

And why is the Chinese President visiting then and not some other time? Either Tillerson is terrible at planning or someone is trying to stick the knife into NATO and twist. (But given it’s the Trump Administration: why not both?)

1675

The icing on the cake is the meeting with the Chinese will be at Swamp 'o Fill-o, which sure is a secure place in which to do business.

1676

At least the Russian spy ship will have no trouble listening in :)

1677

What’s China’s stance on NATO? They are not going to care if NATO’s importance is diminished, will they?

1678

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators are examining whether far-right news sites played any role last year in a Russian cyber operation that dramatically widened the reach of news stories — some fictional — that favored Donald Trump’s presidential bid, two people familiar with the inquiry say.

Operatives for Russia appear to have strategically timed the computer commands, known as “bots,” to blitz social media with links to the pro-Trump stories at times when the billionaire businessman was on the defensive in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton, these sources said.

The bots’ end products were largely millions of Twitter and Facebook posts carrying links to stories on conservative internet sites such as Breitbart News and InfoWars, as well as on the Kremlin-backed RT News and Sputnik News, the sources said. Some of the stories were false or mixed fact and fiction, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the bot attacks are part of an FBI-led investigation into a multifaceted Russian operation to influence last year’s elections.

[…]

Russia also used “trolls,” hundreds of computer operatives who pretended to be Trump supporters and posted stories or comments on the internet complimentary to Trump or disparaging to Clinton. Sources close to the inquiry said those operatives likely worked from a facility in St. Petersburg, Russia, dedicated to that tactic.

“Russian bots and internet trolls sought to propagate stories underground,” said Mike Carpenter, a former senior Pentagon official during the Obama administration whose job focused on Russia. “Those stories got amplified by fringe elements of our media like Breitbart.”

“They very carefully timed release of information to shift the news cycle away from stories that clearly hurt Mr. Trump, such as his inappropriate conduct over the years,” he said, referring to the October release of a video in which Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitals. That event corresponded with a surge in bot-related traffic spreading anti-Clinton stories.

An additional Russian tool was the news from its prime propaganda machine, Russia Today, with a global television and digital media operation and a U.S. arm, RT America.

(Raw Story version)

1679

I really need to watch this. So many people talking about it and how funny it is.

1680
1681

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1682

Largest swamp in the world is on the Potomac nowadays. Amazing how much it grew in 90 days.

1683

90 days? Try just over two months (one of which is famously short).
But I get it–it feels interminably long to me too.

1684

Hey, turns out the government DID bug Trump Tower.

In 2013.

Because the Russian mafia was operating out of it.

Can’t make this shit up, folks.

1685

There’s Trump’s “out” if he wants to take it. His sources were accurate: Obama’s FBI did use wiretaps in Trump Tower… they just got confused as to the target.

1686
  1. Fart out Obama wiretapping allegations to detract from Russia connections.
  2. Media investigates said wiretapping accusations.
  3. Investigations turn up Trump Tower connection to Russian mafia.
  4. Profit SO MUCH WINNING!
1687

I guess we should have elected Charlie Sheen… Winning! Plus he’s a Warlock…

1688