They took crimea and nobody gave a damn.

Army officer, not sure about the unit. My friend that talked to him(ex Navy) said he was part of a small unit, so that if he was called up, then it's likely that a lot more units were called up. Though, I have no idea how the process works.

Solid post.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/

The other take on the timing of Republican statements on special counsel is that they were pre-meditated in an effort to delay the inevitable after recent news. But that would mean Rosenstein is involved and the 30 minute heads-up to Trump was staged, so doubtful I guess.

That's based off asking people at exit polls. Wouldn't shock me if Trump supporters lied about how much money they make... just like Trump.

That said I'm sure lots of people who make decent money vote republican simply for the tax cuts.

They took Crimea because of oil and gas.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/w...rves.html?_r=0

Even more than the US, especially at this point, oil and gas are central to everything foreign policy with Russia. Way more since it is so important to Putin's personal wealth. And they don't need the oil and gas for consumption, they need to get it and sell it. It doesn't mean they will behave well. In fact sometimes it may mean they behave badly. ****ing up Syrian oil production and interfering with pipeline routes may be in their interest. But, they need to sell and they need to sell to Germany. And other than staying in power so he can do more of this, it's probably all Putin cares about.

And the US has behaved as badly for the same reasons. Right now we're helping to genocide Yemen to keep a vile vicious totalitarian police state happy and secure.

I wonder if Ryan Zinke is strolling around his apartment in a robe practicing saying "President Zinke, nice to meet you"?

https://twitter.com/laurenduca/statu...72746581168128

Burn the republican party down to the ground...**** them.

wasnt that before anyone was supposed to know about the russian hacking?...............

i was willing to bet everything that the_donald was completely plastered with submissions about seth rich still. i was not wrong. i saw that place get called a cult formed inside an insane asylum which is the perfect description.

The lack of self-awareness is literally mind-bottling.

I just checked in after 10 hours away from the news. Holy ****.

Ron Paul itshappening.gif?

bit of timeline from a reddit thread...

The dots connecting around Flynn are pretty spooky.

Like we barely cared about Turkey but that **** is adding up

December 2015: Flynn attends Russia Today dinner. He is seated next to Putin. Receives $33k for his appearance
April 2016: Flynn has DIA security clearance renewed. He does not disclose any payments from Russia
July 2016: FBI begins to investigate any ties between Trump campaign and Russia
August 2016: Flynn begins lobbying for Turkey. Ultimately receives $530k over course of his work
November 8th: Flynn writes Op-ed advocating better relations with Turkey
November 8th: Donald Trump wins election
November 10th: In first meeting between Trump and Obama, Obama raises concern over Flynn
November 8-17th: At some point in November, Flynn informs transition team of intent to register as foreign agent
November 17th: Flynn is named for National Security Adviser.
November 18th: Elijah Cumming sends letter to VP-elect Pence, including notification of Flynn lobbying company's work with Turkey
November 30: The Justice Department sends a letter to Flynn notifying him they were scrutinizing his lobbying work.
December 2016: Michael Flynn has undisclosed conversation with Sergei Kislyak, the Russian Ambassador to the United States. Around the time Obama put new sanctions on Russia
January 4th: Flynn informs White House he was under investigation for Turkey lobbying
January ~10th: Flynn reportedly delays ISIS attack plan that Turkey objected to.
January 15th: Pence says Flynn phone-call with Kislyak in December was unrelated to sanctions
January 18th: Flynn meets for 'working breakfast' with Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs
January 20th: Donald Trump’s inauguration
January 24th: Flynn has interview with FBI
January 26th: Sally Yates informs the WH that reports about Flynn’s conversations were untrue and Flynn was susceptible to compromise.
January 27th: Donald Trump has dinner with Comey. Trump asks him for loyalty.
January 30th: Sally Yates is fired. Administration & Trump cite refusal to defend travel ban
February 9th: Washington Post reports that Flynn discussed sanctions
February 13th: Washington Post reports that Yates warned WH
February 13th: Flynn resigns
February 14th: Trump asks Comey to end Flynn probe. “I hope you can let this go”
March 9th: Flynn registers as foreign agent under FARA
March 9th: Pence says story that Flynn registering earlier in day as foreign agent is first he heard of it. Calls it affirmation of Flynn resignation
March 10th: Story breaks that Flynn had informed transition team of intent to register as foreign agent before inauguration
March 20th: Comey discloses Trump-Russia investigation by FBI. Rebuts Trump claims of Obama ‘wiretapp’
March 31st: Flynn requests immunity. Request rejected next day
May 3rd: Comey testifies to Senate about his decisions in Email investigation
May 8th: Sally Yates testifies that Flynn was at risk for blackmail and that she had warned the WH, confirming media reports
May 8th: Trump asks Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General to write justifications for firing Comey
May 9th: Trump fires Comey. WH claims that it was because of handling of Hillary Clinton email investigation
May 11th: Senate intelligence committee subpoenas Michael Flynn for documents
May 16th: Trump has meeting with Erdogan in White House

No mention of Nunes at all? He ran interference for the WH, doing everything possible to block Yates from testifying, and telling reporters "UNMASKING" concerned him greatly and emphasizing "this has nothing to do with Russia."

One of the WH contacts for Nunes was a Flynn protégé that Trump stepped in to avoid letting him go, and they were reportedly there to try to hack into FBI computers.

Plus after meeting the President, Erdogan's goons kicked the **** out of some peaceful protestors and a bunch of cops stood around and basically did nothing.

And let us not forget,

May 12th: Mike Pence ****ed a horse.

Today was such an insane amount of news to follow. At this rate we'll have far surpassed two full terms worth of scandal before the summer. It's hard to keep up but I'm grateful for this thread for keeping me in the loop.

I've seen a few people post this itt. Is this a forum joke I'm not getting? It's mind-boggling that you would actually think the term is bottling.

There has been so much happening, I cannot keep up this pace and work 50 hours a week. I don't get to do anything else after word days except read this thread and eat. Every different thing that happened just today is bigger than anything done in 8 years by the Obama administration. There are so many posts today I wanted to reply to, but I just can't get to them all.

President Hatch will be a different kind of comedy.

I will take a moment to quote this one. I near spit Dr. Pepper through my nose reading this.

****ing bonkers. There's got to be a book about all of this in the next few years. John Grisham needs something to do.

Thanks for posting Kirby. This might deserve its own sticky.