General Trump hilarity free-for-all thread

[Cain]

Looks like Sessions perjured himself by lying under oath that he had contact with the Russian government during the election campaign.

Kislyak must be feeling awfully slighted by now.  All these conversations people have had with him, that they later on say they cannot recall.  Quite upsetting.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

Looks like Sessions perjured himself by lying under oath that he had contact with the Russian government during the election campaign.

Kislyak must be feeling awfully slighted by now.  All these conversations people have had with him, that they later on say they cannot recall.  Quite upsetting.

Yes, and I'm sure he'll have a sudden bout of integrity and resign. Any minute now.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Looks like Sessions perjured himself by lying under oath that he had contact with the Russian government during the election campaign.

Kislyak must be feeling awfully slighted by now.  All these conversations people have had with him, that they later on say they cannot recall.  Quite upsetting.

Having looked closely at the actual text of what he said, it may or may not be perjury. He claimed not to have spoken with any representative of or anyone associated with the Russian government about the Trump campaign. While I definitely agree that his responses were intentionally misleading and disingenuous, a lot rides on the wording of the questions, as he can deny that any conversation about the campaign took place, and I doubt there are any transcripts to prove otherwise.

[Cain]

True, the wording was quite...lawyerly.  The intent to decieve is fairly clear though, given how he initially claimed to not remember the meetings, and then claimed to remember precisely what was discussed.  Probably not enough for perjury...but enough that senior Republicans are requesting he remove himself from the FBI's Russia probe.  That's enough for me.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

True, the wording was quite...lawyerly.  The intent to decieve is fairly clear though, given how he initially claimed to not remember the meetings, and then claimed to remember precisely what was discussed.  Probably not enough for perjury...but enough that senior Republicans are requesting he remove himself from the FBI's Russia probe.  That's enough for me.

Yes, I think that he has certainly proven himself disqualified to be involved on the investigating end, at the very, very least.

[Salty]

This whole train-wreck is sort of beautiful. I feel bad for the people who are suffering because of these clowns and deeply fear becoming one of them before long.

But dear sweet JESUS. I remember missing the fun parts of W, making fun of his little gaffs and crimes against humanity. Trump is like W on crystal meth and tequila enemas. It's only been a month!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

This whole train-wreck is sort of beautiful. I feel bad for the people who are suffering because of these clowns and deeply fear becoming one of them before long.

But dear sweet JESUS. I remember missing the fun parts of W, making fun of his little gaffs and crimes against humanity. Trump is like W on crystal meth and tequila enemas. It's only been a month!

It feels like years. It feels like there was never a time before Godchild-Emperor Trump. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

This whole train-wreck is sort of beautiful. I feel bad for the people who are suffering because of these clowns and deeply fear becoming one of them before long.

But dear sweet JESUS. I remember missing the fun parts of W, making fun of his little gaffs and crimes against humanity. Trump is like W on crystal meth and tequila enemas. It's only been a month!

Poor W. He was The President Who Shouldn't Be.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

The fact that I now look back on the W years as a time of unspoiled, naive innocence says a lot. Granted, I can only do that because of a certain melanin content in my skin and because I was not the direct target of the more sinister forces at work during W's reign of incompetence, but it's still surreal to go from what I thought was a disaster, to the relatively boring Obama years, to... whatever the fuck this is.

[Junkenstein]

The fact that I now look back on the W years as a time of unspoiled, naive innocence says a lot. Granted, I can only do that because of a certain melanin content in my skin and because I was not the direct target of the more sinister forces at work during W's reign of incompetence, but it's still surreal to go from what I thought was a disaster, to the relatively boring Obama years, to... whatever the fuck this is.

Here's the thing: Obama normalised the idiocy of Bush. When you can accept a smiling guy telling you that gitmo will continue then it becomes easier to accept an idiot shouting that it's not far enough. Drone use is frequent enough now to be unremarkable. Bet that changes with a few fuckups over the next couple of months.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

The fact that I now look back on the W years as a time of unspoiled, naive innocence says a lot. Granted, I can only do that because of a certain melanin content in my skin and because I was not the direct target of the more sinister forces at work during W's reign of incompetence, but it's still surreal to go from what I thought was a disaster, to the relatively boring Obama years, to... whatever the fuck this is.

Here's the thing: Obama normalised the idiocy of Bush. When you can accept a smiling guy telling you that gitmo will continue then it becomes easier to accept an idiot shouting that it's not far enough. Drone use is frequent enough now to be unremarkable. Bet that changes with a few fuckups over the next couple of months.

This is totally true. But I'm also aware that the presidency is not the supreme power that many people assume it is. There are so many forces with so much power contending for the opportunity to wield the presidential pen that the force of any one person's will can only do so much at that level. Guantanamo should have been closed and, legally, I'm sure that Obama could have forced the issue if he had wanted to. As Commander in Chief I'm not convinced that power was not safely within his authority to do. And 2008 Obama certainly did want to do it. So why didn't he? There's more to that story than "man corrupted by Washington swamp". There are people, organizations, and just realities that presidents contend with that undermine oversimplistic ideas about the "corrupting influence" of power and influence (though those do certainly corrupt).

What I was getting at with that comment though is how odd a feeling it is to go from despising that accidental "shadow government" (no, not the Illuminati, but the hidden intersection of so many opposing strategies, bureaucracies, and agendas) to having to hope it is powerful enough to stymie a madman like Trump and thwart his administration's overtly Fascist intentions.

[Cain]

The WSJ is reporting that Session's Cleveland trip to meet with the Russian ambassador was paid for out of campaign funds.  Sessions was also, at the time, the leader of the Trump foreign policy team.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

The WSJ is reporting that Session's Cleveland trip to meet with the Russian ambassador was paid for out of campaign funds.  Sessions was also, at the time, the leader of the Trump foreign policy team.

He already recused himself, so that means there's no problem. Stop spreading FAKE NEWS.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/02/pence-used-personal-email-state-business----and-hacked/98604904/

Vice President Mike Pence routinely used a private email account to conduct public business as governor of Indiana, at times discussing sensitive matters and homeland security issues.

Emails released to IndyStar in response to a public records request show Pence communicated via his personal AOL account with top advisers on topics ranging from security gates at the governor's residence to the state's response to terror attacks across the globe. In one email, Pence's top state homeland security adviser relayed an update from the FBI regarding the arrests of several men on federal terror-related charges.

Cyber-security experts say the emails raise concerns about whether such sensitive information was adequately protected from hackers, given that personal accounts like Pence's are typically less secure than government email accounts. In fact, Pence's personal account was hacked last summer.

Cybersecurity experts say Pence's emails were likely just as insecure as Clinton's. While there has been speculation about whether Clinton's emails were hacked, Pence's account was actually compromised last summer by a scammer who sent an email to his contacts claiming Pence and his wife were stranded in the Philippines and in urgent need of money.

[Cain]

Well I got that one wrong

http://abcnews.go.com/US/man-accused-making-threats-jewish-community-centers-arrested/story?id=45884069

The arrested man is a former Intercept journalist who was let go after making up sources and quotes for his stories. He was apparently trying to implicate his ex-girlfriend in making the bomb threats.