Lindsey Graham, a direct quote today from FOX News Sunday:
"If you wanna pick judges, then you need to win the White House."
How is anyone supposed to combat a party this cynical, this disingenuous, this focused on gaslighting and pretending the past doesn't exist?? How can someone who was at the forefront of not allowing a President who was OVERWHELMINGLY elected to pick any judge at all possibly go on national television and say this with a straight face?? How much straight up contempt to you have to have for the American people to think they would just forget what happened??
We also have an article from what I assume is one of the current bastions of conservative thought, The Federalist, encouraging Brett Kavanaugh to sue Professor Ford and The Washington Post. Oh, please please please please PLEASE do go ahead and sue both of them. I can't think of a single thing that would expose this guy faster. Of course, the author of this article knows this will never happen, just like Trump never sued his accusers even after explicitly promising to do so. And this is of course because of a legal process know as "discovery", in which the opposing lawyers can then depose the person suing for defamation and ask them nearly ANYTHING under oath.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5C. This is one of a series of special reports commissioned as part of the Paris Agreement.
It sets out the impacts of climate change and how a level of 2C would differ from 1.5C (and remember that we're already at about 1C above pre-industrial levels and currently growing by about 0.2C per decade).
It also sets out what policy options would be needed to limit current growth of temperatures to 1.5C. It's basically already too late to do that just by reducing CO2 emissions - barring social and technological changes at a totally unprecedented scale. A more plausible scenario is the use of various methods of CO2 removal from the atmosphere. There are a number of potential ways to do this, though none have been tried at scale yet - large-scale trials of the various options are something that should be being done now (but currently isn't).
There was a bit of discussion in the thread recently about the importance of opinion. I of course agree with @Mathsorcerer that opinion has no direct impact on physical processes - the world doesn't know or care if you believe in climate change. However, opinion is a necessary first step to action. The challenge of climate change is far too great for actions of individuals to make much of an impact on and can anyway be rendered useless due to the wider way society operates (for instance separating your recycling has no impact if collections just landfill it anyway; buying an electric vehicle is worse than useless if the energy required to power that comes from coal-fired power stations). Only government action has any hope of making a really significant difference, but governments won't respond unless individuals make clear their desire for a response.
The Court of Public Opinion is worthless and should be ignored.
So in a Democracy, you are saying Public opinion is worthless?
Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. Opinion does not result in anything, only voting matters. Opinions are like...well, they are like a piece of anatomy which every human being has *and* they both produce the same product. Voting matters. Contacting your elected representative matters. Okay, sometimes actions matter, but not as often as people would like to think--just ask anyone who was part of Occupy Wall Street whether their actions had any positive result (hint: they didn't).
I can prove that opinion is worthless a different way. What is your opinion on earthquakes? I'm not even listening because your opinion on earthquakes don't matter--they happen no matter what you think of them.
Perhaps we should listen to more opinions on earthquakes, because an increasing number in oil drilling-areas are likely man-made.
Live in Georgia? Republicans don't want you to vote. About 1.3 million Georgians were removed from the rolls between 2013 and 2017, representing perhaps 18 percent of the state’s eligible voting population.
Color me disgusted. Alt-Right people are now referring to people who don't agree with them as "NPC's", considering them to have the same lack of agency as NPCs as video games.
The Court of Public Opinion is worthless and should be ignored.
So in a Democracy, you are saying Public opinion is worthless?
Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. Opinion does not result in anything, only voting matters. Opinions are like...well, they are like a piece of anatomy which every human being has *and* they both produce the same product. Voting matters. Contacting your elected representative matters. Okay, sometimes actions matter, but not as often as people would like to think--just ask anyone who was part of Occupy Wall Street whether their actions had any positive result (hint: they didn't).
I can prove that opinion is worthless a different way. What is your opinion on earthquakes? I'm not even listening because your opinion on earthquakes don't matter--they happen no matter what you think of them.
Perhaps we should listen to more opinions on earthquakes, because an increasing number in oil drilling-areas are likely man-made.
It has been KNOWN since the 1960s that deep-well injection causes more earthquakes. It started with the US Army trying to dispose of wastewater by deep-well injection, causing earthquakes because it "lubricates" faults, which are everywhere, making them slip and move more.
This is far beyond "opinion", this has been settled science for close to 50 years.
Color me disgusted. Alt-Right people are now referring to people who don't agree with them as "NPC's", considering them to have the same lack of agency as NPCs as video games.
From the article: “I have a theory that there are only a fixed quantity of souls on planet Earth that cycle continuously through reincarnation,” a 4Chan poster wrote. “However, since the human growth rate is so severe, the soulless extra walking flesh piles around us are NPC’s [sic], or ultimate normalfags, who autonomously follow group think and social trends in order to appear convingly human.”
Quite an interesting theory there.
I wonder if the fact that, with few exceptions each covering a horrible event (massive war or plagues), the history of humanity is an ever increasing number of equipresent living humans might be...problematic to this theory.
Did we hit max_souls last year? 5 years ago? 20? 50? 100?
There's a grim story about the lover of Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney general who was forced to resign after sexual assault allegations came to light. The assault didn't happen until long into the relationship, and it was a very gradual progression. Apparently abusers make a good impression and build the relationship before things start turning ugly.
What I’ve realized is that I accepted the violence for many reasons. Like many abusers, Eric was loving before he became violent. He also had a peaceful side, meditating and surrounding himself with spiritual teachers. I thought that he could get better, and that I was going to help him. I even felt sorry for him. So many people were putting pressure on him to save the world, I would tell myself.
The idea is to get your victim invested in the relationship so it's harder for them to back out--and giving them time to make excuses for your actions. It wasn't until long after it started that the woman in question realized that she was not his only victim, nor would she be his last if she didn't speak up.
This is why the movement is important. It was only after the exposure of Weinstein that she considered telling the world what happened. If other women hadn't stepped forward, she would have kept silent, too--and the abuse would have continued, because criminals don't stop committing crimes until they start to face consequences.
This is why the movement is important. It was only after the exposure of Weinstein that she considered telling the world what happened. If other women hadn't stepped forward, she would have kept silent, too--and the abuse would have continued, because criminals don't stop committing crimes until they start to face consequences.
This is also why you report abuse and/or assault the moment it happens. I don't care who the other person in the relationship is, the first time they cross the line should be the last time--you report them, get out of the relationship, then get away from them. The reason I am so adamant about that is not only in relation to our daughter but I, myself, was in an abusive relationship--that is my way of wishing I could have given myself back then the good advice I have now. You can't fix the other person--the moment you realize they are broken in that manner is the moment you walk out. If someone gives you grief about reporting the person in question or criticizes you for leaving, then that is the flashing neon sign telling you that this person also needs to be removed from your life--who needs that kind of negativity?
Color me disgusted. Alt-Right people are now referring to people who don't agree with them as "NPC's", considering them to have the same lack of agency as NPCs as video games.
Cute. I don't care what alt righters call people. They can call people NPCs but they are deserving of much worse names for themselves - racist, pig, whatnot.
There are evil people in the world. Don't let the bastards bring ya down.
Color me disgusted. Alt-Right people are now referring to people who don't agree with them as "NPC's", considering them to have the same lack of agency as NPCs as video games.
From the article: “I have a theory that there are only a fixed quantity of souls on planet Earth that cycle continuously through reincarnation,” a 4Chan poster wrote. “However, since the human growth rate is so severe, the soulless extra walking flesh piles around us are NPC’s [sic], or ultimate normalfags, who autonomously follow group think and social trends in order to appear convingly human.”
Quite an interesting theory there.
I wonder if the fact that, with few exceptions each covering a horrible event (massive war or plagues), the history of humanity is an ever increasing number of equipresent living humans might be...problematic to this theory.
Did we hit max_souls last year? 5 years ago? 20? 50? 100?
Well, if whales and other primates have souls, then wiping out most of them has freed up a few.
From the article: “... who autonomously follow group think and social trends in order to appear convingly human.”
As we speed towards the future, I wonder how many of the "people" we see online are people at all.
The technology is already there to make bots appear human - convincingly human.
"Eugene Goostman" was a chatbot developed in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2001 that convinced people that he was a 13-year-old boy from Odessa, Ukraine, who has a pet guinea pig and a father who is a gynecologist.
There is no evidence that the Trump campaign acted on the proposals, and Mr. Gates ultimately was uninterested in Psy-Group’s work, a person with knowledge of the discussions said, in part because other campaign aides were developing a social media strategy. Psy-Group’s owner, Joel Zamel, did meet in August 2016 with Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Trump’s eldest son.
Although questionable, if they didn't follow through on it then there isn't anything to see here. This would be the equivalent of me looking at "dating" sites--questionable, yes, but if I don't act on it then I really did not do anything I should not have done.
This isn't fake news, of course, but it certainly is thin and boring.
*************
I see that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez wants to abolish the Electoral College, a goal some here advocate, as well. That is a fine goal but it will require a 2/3 majority in both Houses of Congress and ratification by 2/3 of the States *or* a referendum passed in 2/3 of State Legislatures. Either route is going to take a long time to bring to fruition.
*************
Suppose the Democrats retake the House and they follow through on their stated goal of impeaching Kavanaugh. The first immediate effect this will have is a non-effect--Kavanaugh will not be removed from the SCOTUS (only the Senate could remove him). The second, more long-term, effect would likely be the beginning of a cycle of what would amount to political revenge--you impeached our guy so we are going to impeach yours. Probably not, but it seems like politicians are becoming more petty these days so the possibility exists.
The second, more long-term, effect would likely be the beginning of a cycle of what would amount to political revenge--you impeached our guy so we are going to impeach yours. Probably not, but it seems like politicians are becoming more petty these days so the possibility exists.
Shots have already been fired. The Republicans pre-emptively attacked us claiming self defense or whatever because the war on christmas or some crap. They have been attacking us.
Merrick Garland was a disgraceful attack. The Bart Kavanaugh travesty was another attack. These two things and other attacks must be answered.
"What goes around comes around". When you are attacked, you must retaliate. Especially with these guys. They keep pushing and pushing. There must be a counter offensive.
The real headline about what Ocasio-Cortez said about the Electoral College should be her 100% spot-on observation that it's primary function when put into place was to protect slave states:
But beyond that, why do we never talk about the 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia who have NO representation in the House or Senate, despite having a larger population than some states and 3 Electoral votes for President??
So we live in a a country where an electoral system put into place to protect the power of people who participated in human bondage, and centuries later a population that is 50% African-American in Washington DC is completely disenfranchised. But by all means, no one should talk about systemic racism.
When people talk about the "original sin", it's because it's informed everything that has come after it. Yeah, the United States is a great experiment in self-governance. Provided you are the right skin color.
Yeah, the United States is a great experiment in self-governance. Provided you are the right skin color.
Oh, for pity's sake--it isn't like that any more.
Is too.
There is plenty of data to support it.
From the disenfranchisement of voters in Georgia I posted about earlier (there's a disproportionate amount of Deshawns and other 'black sounding names getting wiped from the voting rolls).
There's criminal statistics showing blacks getting locked up at an alarming rate. States like Florida remove your voting rights pretty much forever if you go to jail. If you are in jail you are pretty much slave labor getting 25 cents a day for backbreaking labor. Its a huge issue that Colin Kapernick is trying to bring awareness to police violence on people of color.
Black people also get longer sentences for similar crimes than white people. Net worths are a fraction of white peoples. Etc etc etc. There's tons more this is just scratching the surface but I'm tired of typing.
If you do the research, I don't believe you can come to any other conclusion.
Here's what Captain America had to say to Kanye saying the amendment that abolished slavery should be repealed.
You should believe on EVIDENCES, "believe on woman", what why if the accusated is guilty but pay an woman to say that he is innocent, should we believe on woman?
--------------------------------------------
Anyway, the left is accusint this candidate of being racist, note that he is married to a woman of mixed race and have a mixed race vice candidate.
It may not be written into law anymore, but racism is alive and well. Our black community regularly is treated as second class citizens by our governemnt and some businesses.
It may not be written into law anymore, but racism is alive and well. Our black community regularly is treated as second class citizens by our governemnt and some businesses.
Well, that is a problem, but this doesn't means that is ok to call a guy who marries a woman of mixed race and have an mestizo as his vice candidate is racist or threat then as "second class citizens", mainly in a country of mostly mixed race people.
It may not be written into law anymore, but racism is alive and well. Our black community regularly is treated as second class citizens by our governemnt and some businesses.
Indeed the Civil War ended a long time ago but the resistance to the loss has never stopped.
The resentment to losing resulted in resistance. The winners fell into apathy.
"There is no evidence that the Trump campaign acted on the proposals, and Mr. Gates ultimately was uninterested in Psy-Group’s work, a person with knowledge of the discussions said, in part because other campaign aides were developing a social media strategy. Psy-Group’s owner, Joel Zamel, did meet in August 2016 with Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Trump’s eldest son."
Although questionable, if they didn't follow through on it then there isn't anything to see here. This would be the equivalent of me looking at "dating" sites--questionable, yes, but if I don't act on it then I really did not do anything I should not have done.
This isn't fake news, of course, but it certainly is thin and boring.
From that very article: "A third document emphasized “tailored third-party messaging” aimed at minority, suburban female and undecided voters in battleground states. It promised to create and maintain fake online personas that would deliver messages highlighting Mr. Trump’s merits and Mrs. Clinton’s weaknesses or revealing “rifts and rivalries within the opposition.
Though it appears that Trump campaign officials declined to accept any of the proposals, Mr. Zamel pitched the company’s services in at least general terms during a meeting on Aug. 3, 2016, at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr. That meeting, revealed in May by The Times, was also attended by George Nader, an emissary from the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, and by Erik Prince, a Republican donor and the founder of the private security company formerly known as Blackwater.
Former Psy-Group employees said that, in anticipation of the Trump Tower meeting, Mr. Zamel asked them to prepare an updated version of the third proposal. A lawyer for Mr. Zamel said that Mr. Zamel had not personally discussed specific proposals with Donald Trump Jr. or anyone else from the Trump campaign.
“Mr. Zamel never pitched, or otherwise discussed, any of Psy-Group’s proposals relating to the U.S. elections with anyone related to the Trump campaign, including not with Donald Trump Jr., except for outlining the capabilities of some of his companies in general terms,” said the lawyer, Marc Mukasey.
Mr. Nader and Mr. Zamel have given differing accounts over whether Mr. Zamel ultimately carried out the social media effort to help the Trump campaign and why Mr. Nader paid him $2 million after the election, according to people who have discussed the matter with the two men.
The reason for the payment has been of keen interest to Mr. Mueller, according to people familiar with the matter.
It is unclear how and when the special counsel’s office began its investigation into Psy-Group’s work, but F.B.I. agents have spent hours interviewing the firm’s employees. This year, federal investigators presented a court order to the Israel Police and the Israeli Ministry of Justice to confiscate computers in Psy-Group’s former offices in Petah Tikva, east of Tel Aviv.
The company is now in liquidation."
Does that sound familiar to anyone - a denial that any services were commissioned, despite a transfer of considerable sums of money? Assuming this follows the standard trajectory I've seen several times now from the Trump campaign you will get a progression something like the following: - flat denial that any payment was made - the meetings held were really about something else entirely and the money paid was for a different purpose - discussions did take place, but were abandoned and no services were commissioned - services were commissioned, but only for standard electoral purposes that everyone does I won't comment on the likely legality of the UAE paying for services directly supporting the Trump campaign - except to say I imagine the Supreme Court would (now) rule those entirely legal and appropriate .
Yeah, the United States is a great experiment in self-governance. Provided you are the right skin color.
Oh, for pity's sake--it isn't like that any more.
Is too.
Every successful person who is not white *proves* my assertion. If this nation were as was suggested--racist to its core and anathema to non-white people--then there wouldn't be any successful people who were not white. On the other hand, if people wish to continue thinking that this is 1918 instead of 2018....well, that isn't my problem.
*************
Now...on the Psy-Group story....did the campaign actually use those services? No? Then there simply isn't anything to see here. Oh, wait...that's right--we are supposed to operate under the presumption that all assertions are true even if there is no proof and that people are guilty until proven innocent. I forgot.
Just for the sake of discussion, though, let us presume that they *did* use those services. In that case, we should sit back and wait for the FBI to conduct its investigation--we should find out at that point what actually happened.
Who were the targets of such a campaign supposed to be? People who get their news from social media. hrm....people who get their news from social media *deserve* to be punked and trolled.
*************
Pompeo was in Pyongyang over the weekend--who knew? The DPRK has agreed to allow international inspectors into its nuclear facilities and missile sites.
*************
Beto O'Rourke declined to receive an endorsement from Obama. I don't disagree with his decision on that--he wants to try and win on his own, beholden to no one.
What @Mathsorcerer said. Stupid people have been manipulated since the start of politics. The solution is reducing the number of stupid people, not demonizing the politicians who abuse their stupidity. I say this because I believe both sides abuse the gullibility of their bases to solidify their power base. Open-minded people are usually more intelligent and less likely to be on the fringes. I really don't think either party wants people to be truly open-minded. That would destroy this us vs. them dynamic that fires people up and adds money to their collective coffers...
Pompeo was in Pyongyang over the weekend--who knew? The DPRK has agreed to allow international inspectors into its nuclear facilities and missile sites.
Unfortunately, the DPRK is only allowing inspections of a site that is no longer active--a meaningless gesture. Their active facilities remain closed to free scrutiny by international inspectors.
It may not be written into law anymore, but racism is alive and well. Our black community regularly is treated as second class citizens by our governemnt and some businesses.
Well, that is a problem, but this doesn't means that is ok to call a guy who marries a woman of mixed race and have an mestizo as his vice candidate is racist or threat then as "second class citizens", mainly in a country of mostly mixed race people.
Comments
"If you wanna pick judges, then you need to win the White House."
How is anyone supposed to combat a party this cynical, this disingenuous, this focused on gaslighting and pretending the past doesn't exist?? How can someone who was at the forefront of not allowing a President who was OVERWHELMINGLY elected to pick any judge at all possibly go on national television and say this with a straight face?? How much straight up contempt to you have to have for the American people to think they would just forget what happened??
We also have an article from what I assume is one of the current bastions of conservative thought, The Federalist, encouraging Brett Kavanaugh to sue Professor Ford and The Washington Post. Oh, please please please please PLEASE do go ahead and sue both of them. I can't think of a single thing that would expose this guy faster. Of course, the author of this article knows this will never happen, just like Trump never sued his accusers even after explicitly promising to do so. And this is of course because of a legal process know as "discovery", in which the opposing lawyers can then depose the person suing for defamation and ask them nearly ANYTHING under oath.
It sets out the impacts of climate change and how a level of 2C would differ from 1.5C (and remember that we're already at about 1C above pre-industrial levels and currently growing by about 0.2C per decade).
There was a bit of discussion in the thread recently about the importance of opinion. I of course agree with @Mathsorcerer that opinion has no direct impact on physical processes - the world doesn't know or care if you believe in climate change. However, opinion is a necessary first step to action. The challenge of climate change is far too great for actions of individuals to make much of an impact on and can anyway be rendered useless due to the wider way society operates (for instance separating your recycling has no impact if collections just landfill it anyway; buying an electric vehicle is worse than useless if the energy required to power that comes from coal-fired power stations). Only government action has any hope of making a really significant difference, but governments won't respond unless individuals make clear their desire for a response.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/06/09/yes-humans-really-are-causing-earthquakes-but-not-how-you-think/?utm_term=.40751684656e
https://www.gregpalast.com/rolling-stone-expose-gops-secret-plan-steal-vote
1/10 voters in Georgia have been purged from the voting rolls since 2017.
https://www.gregpalast.com/georgia-voter-purge-list-2018/
Check if you have been purged from the Georgia voter rolls.
We must expose the practice of mass cancellation of voting rights in Georgia. Know anyone in Georgia? Share this list now!
The website plans to add the purge lists of 26 other states suspected of illegal voter registration cancellations.
https://kotaku.com/how-the-npc-meme-tries-to-dehumanize-sjws-1829552261
And this is more than just about Kavanaugh
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/07/opinion/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court.html
This is far beyond "opinion", this has been settled science for close to 50 years.
Quite an interesting theory there.
I wonder if the fact that, with few exceptions each covering a horrible event (massive war or plagues), the history of humanity is an ever increasing number of equipresent living humans might be...problematic to this theory.
Did we hit max_souls last year? 5 years ago? 20? 50? 100?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/07/climate/ipcc-climate-report-2040.html
Our generation may escape the worst of this. But your kids and grandkids?? No way.
This is why the movement is important. It was only after the exposure of Weinstein that she considered telling the world what happened. If other women hadn't stepped forward, she would have kept silent, too--and the abuse would have continued, because criminals don't stop committing crimes until they start to face consequences.
"Earthquakes" was chosen at random. Perhaps I should have chosen "meteors" or "novae", instead.
There are evil people in the world. Don't let the bastards bring ya down.
The technology is already there to make bots appear human - convincingly human.
"Eugene Goostman" was a chatbot developed in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2001 that convinced people that he was a 13-year-old boy from Odessa, Ukraine, who has a pet guinea pig and a father who is a gynecologist.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/us/politics/rick-gates-psy-group-trump.html
Although questionable, if they didn't follow through on it then there isn't anything to see here. This would be the equivalent of me looking at "dating" sites--questionable, yes, but if I don't act on it then I really did not do anything I should not have done.
This isn't fake news, of course, but it certainly is thin and boring.
*************
I see that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez wants to abolish the Electoral College, a goal some here advocate, as well. That is a fine goal but it will require a 2/3 majority in both Houses of Congress and ratification by 2/3 of the States *or* a referendum passed in 2/3 of State Legislatures. Either route is going to take a long time to bring to fruition.
*************
Suppose the Democrats retake the House and they follow through on their stated goal of impeaching Kavanaugh. The first immediate effect this will have is a non-effect--Kavanaugh will not be removed from the SCOTUS (only the Senate could remove him). The second, more long-term, effect would likely be the beginning of a cycle of what would amount to political revenge--you impeached our guy so we are going to impeach yours. Probably not, but it seems like politicians are becoming more petty these days so the possibility exists.
Merrick Garland was a disgraceful attack. The Bart Kavanaugh travesty was another attack. These two things and other attacks must be answered.
"What goes around comes around". When you are attacked, you must retaliate. Especially with these guys. They keep pushing and pushing. There must be a counter offensive.
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/original-sin-electoral-college-proslavery-tool/#!
But beyond that, why do we never talk about the 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia who have NO representation in the House or Senate, despite having a larger population than some states and 3 Electoral votes for President??
So we live in a a country where an electoral system put into place to protect the power of people who participated in human bondage, and centuries later a population that is 50% African-American in Washington DC is completely disenfranchised. But by all means, no one should talk about systemic racism.
When people talk about the "original sin", it's because it's informed everything that has come after it. Yeah, the United States is a great experiment in self-governance. Provided you are the right skin color.
There is plenty of data to support it.
From the disenfranchisement of voters in Georgia I posted about earlier (there's a disproportionate amount of Deshawns and other 'black sounding names getting wiped from the voting rolls).
There's criminal statistics showing blacks getting locked up at an alarming rate. States like Florida remove your voting rights pretty much forever if you go to jail. If you are in jail you are pretty much slave labor getting 25 cents a day for backbreaking labor. Its a huge issue that Colin Kapernick is trying to bring awareness to police violence on people of color.
Black people also get longer sentences for similar crimes than white people. Net worths are a fraction of white peoples. Etc etc etc. There's tons more this is just scratching the surface but I'm tired of typing.
If you do the research, I don't believe you can come to any other conclusion.
Here's what Captain America had to say to Kanye saying the amendment that abolished slavery should be repealed.
--------------------------------------------
Anyway, the left is accusint this candidate of being racist, note that he is married to a woman of mixed race and have a mixed race vice candidate.
The resentment to losing resulted in resistance. The winners fell into apathy.
"A third document emphasized “tailored third-party messaging” aimed at minority, suburban female and undecided voters in battleground states. It promised to create and maintain fake online personas that would deliver messages highlighting Mr. Trump’s merits and Mrs. Clinton’s weaknesses or revealing “rifts and rivalries within the opposition.
Though it appears that Trump campaign officials declined to accept any of the proposals, Mr. Zamel pitched the company’s services in at least general terms during a meeting on Aug. 3, 2016, at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr. That meeting, revealed in May by The Times, was also attended by George Nader, an emissary from the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, and by Erik Prince, a Republican donor and the founder of the private security company formerly known as Blackwater.
Former Psy-Group employees said that, in anticipation of the Trump Tower meeting, Mr. Zamel asked them to prepare an updated version of the third proposal. A lawyer for Mr. Zamel said that Mr. Zamel had not personally discussed specific proposals with Donald Trump Jr. or anyone else from the Trump campaign.
“Mr. Zamel never pitched, or otherwise discussed, any of Psy-Group’s proposals relating to the U.S. elections with anyone related to the Trump campaign, including not with Donald Trump Jr., except for outlining the capabilities of some of his companies in general terms,” said the lawyer, Marc Mukasey.
Mr. Nader and Mr. Zamel have given differing accounts over whether Mr. Zamel ultimately carried out the social media effort to help the Trump campaign and why Mr. Nader paid him $2 million after the election, according to people who have discussed the matter with the two men.
The reason for the payment has been of keen interest to Mr. Mueller, according to people familiar with the matter.
It is unclear how and when the special counsel’s office began its investigation into Psy-Group’s work, but F.B.I. agents have spent hours interviewing the firm’s employees. This year, federal investigators presented a court order to the Israel Police and the Israeli Ministry of Justice to confiscate computers in Psy-Group’s former offices in Petah Tikva, east of Tel Aviv.
The company is now in liquidation."
Does that sound familiar to anyone - a denial that any services were commissioned, despite a transfer of considerable sums of money? Assuming this follows the standard trajectory I've seen several times now from the Trump campaign you will get a progression something like the following:
- flat denial that any payment was made
- the meetings held were really about something else entirely and the money paid was for a different purpose
- discussions did take place, but were abandoned and no services were commissioned
- services were commissioned, but only for standard electoral purposes that everyone does
I won't comment on the likely legality of the UAE paying for services directly supporting the Trump campaign - except to say I imagine the Supreme Court would (now) rule those entirely legal and appropriate
*************
Now...on the Psy-Group story....did the campaign actually use those services? No? Then there simply isn't anything to see here. Oh, wait...that's right--we are supposed to operate under the presumption that all assertions are true even if there is no proof and that people are guilty until proven innocent. I forgot.
Just for the sake of discussion, though, let us presume that they *did* use those services. In that case, we should sit back and wait for the FBI to conduct its investigation--we should find out at that point what actually happened.
Who were the targets of such a campaign supposed to be? People who get their news from social media. hrm....people who get their news from social media *deserve* to be punked and trolled.
*************
Pompeo was in Pyongyang over the weekend--who knew? The DPRK has agreed to allow international inspectors into its nuclear facilities and missile sites.
*************
Beto O'Rourke declined to receive an endorsement from Obama. I don't disagree with his decision on that--he wants to try and win on his own, beholden to no one.