There's So Much Russia Happening Right Now It's

New Post Public Reply Private Reply Replies (0) Message Board

Jun 1, 2017 at 4:57 PM 167

Quote:

There's So Much Russia Happening Right Now

It's essential that we don't lose the plot.

Getty

By Charles P. Pierce

Jun 1, 2017

Well, ever since our last episode of Moscow on the Potomac, we have learned that the president* is thinking about giving the Russians back the pleasure palaces that his predecessor confiscated as punishment for Russian meddling in our election. (We have the quid and we have the quo. We're just investigating the extent of the pro at the moment.)

We also have learned that the attorney general, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, conveniently forgot during his sworn testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and in his letter to that committee "correcting" his testimony, that he had yet another meeting with boyar-about-town Sergey Kislyak. In other words, there appears to be mounting evidence that the Attorney General of the United States lied to Congress, which used to be a big deal.

Let's see. Have I missed anything?

Oh yeah, imported nuisance Nigel Farage seems to be on the FBI's radar, which indicates that the investigation is going international with an eye toward tracing the connections between the Russian ratfcking, the role of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and various rightwing candidates of many lands.

And the counterattack is beginning to take shape in the House of Representatives, courtesy of Congressman Devin Nunes, the allegedly recused chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

Just as the news broke Wednesday that James Comey indeed would be testifying in the Senate about his dealings with the president* on all these matters, it also was revealed that Nunes, acting alone on his authority as chairman, had issued subpoenas related to the "unmasking" of Americans caught up in surveillance during the Obama administration. From McClatchy:

On Wednesday, various news outlets reported that the intelligence committee had subpoenaed three former Obama administration officials to address Nunes' allegations. The reports identified the three as former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and former CIA Director John Brennan. But House Intelligence committee staff members would not confirm the reports, and one said whatever subpoenas might have been issued were not part of the committee's Russia probe and had not been approved by the Democrats on the committee.

"If the reports are accurate, subpoenas related to the 'unmasking' issue would have been sent by Chairman Nunes acting separately from the committee's Russia investigation," the senior aide wrote in an email. "This action would have been taken without the minority's agreement. Any prior requests for information would have been undertaken without the minority's knowledge."

It's fairly obvious that this "unmasking" business is going to be the primary mode of distraction employed by the Republicans in various congressional hearings to draw attention away from the slow dance this administration has been doing with the folks in Moscow.

(I think they subpoenaed Susan Rice out of pure conditioned reflex at this point.)

But the general scope of the disaster that is gathering speed in the direction of the White House is becoming clearer. There is virtually nobody in the Trump inner circle who is not compromised in some way by the connections the campaign had with the oligarchs and kleptocrats, and now that seems to be spreading into the Cabinet as well.

The corruption is systemic. What worries me is that it goes in so many directions at this point that the outrage may lose its focus on the simple fact that very effective means were employed to place in the White House an unqualified and vulgar talking yam for the specific purpose of hog-tying the government of the United States. That's the poisonous tree. The rest is all the fruit of it.

Newer

Older

Scroll down for more posts ▼

Top 10 Most Recent News Articles

YSTUDIO's Pens: A Nod to the Power of Writing

Slow Down, Write On: A New Era for Stationery In a world where sentiments zip around with a swipe, here we find YSTUDIO tapping into something analog and profound. Their latest offerings—a 'Brand Day Gift Box' and the 'Inner Universe' pen series—are more than just high-end stationery. They’re an invitation to reconnect with the written word, a gesture to slow our...

Servier's Data on Tovorafenib Shows Promise in pLGG

New Light on a Critical Challenge Talk about a fight in the dark. Pediatric low-grade glioma (pLGG) is a menace that families dread, an uphill battle with odds that feel relentless. Enter Servier and its four-year updated data on OJEMDA® (tovorafenib), a beacon of hope for kids battling these tricky brain tumors. Results, presented at the SNO meeting, are fresh off the...

AppLovin Legal Woes: A Deep Dive into Investor Claims

AppLovin Faces Legal Heat and Market Scrutiny Bitter truth has a way of crashing like a wave, and AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP) is feeling the brunt of it. Now knee-deep in a securities class action, the firm’s been accused of selling fairy tales about its AI capabilities, leaving investors clutching at substantial losses. If you’ve been banking on their promises between...

EZaccessMD Data Breach: Class Action Lawsuit Looms

Data breaches are the bogeyman no one wants lurking in the shadows, and when it’s your personal info at stake, folks rightfully squirm. This recent fiasco at EZaccessMD is one of those unsettling incidents. The word on the street isn't pretty: sensitive medical data has slipped through the cracks, leaving Edelson Lechtzin LLP, a heavyweight in class action maneuvers, to...

Webull Faces Class Action: Key Details for Investors

What's Really Going on With Webull? When you hear there's a class-action lawsuit brewing, you know something's gone real sideways. Webull Corporation (NASDAQ: BULL) finds itself neck-deep in a securities fraud class action alleging some dicey dealings with China. If you've got skin in the game—and if you bought Webull stock between April 26, 2025, and October 6,...

Fluence Energy Faces Leadership Departures Amid Legal Woes

Fluence Energy's Rocky Road Continues It's chaos once again in the halls of Fluence Energy (NASDAQ:FLNC). The ship seems to drift further from solid ground as their CEO and CFO candidly decided to jump ship, shaking investor confidence even more vigorously. The market's reaction was swift and brutal: a nasty 9% share drop, leaving investors with more than just a headache....

PASCAL's Holiday Gift Edit: Timeless Watches Shine

Fresh Sparkle for the Holidays Well, here we are again, staring down the barrel of another holiday season. And what do you know, PASCAL is out with its 2026 Holiday Gift Edit, like clockwork. This is the kind of stuff they’re good at—capturing a moment, slapping some color on it, and calling it a game-changer. Launching on November 14, this edit nods to their Timeless...

Advanta's Game-Changer: Acquiring Misr Hytech to Expand in Africa

Advanta's Strategic Move into Africa Alright, let's cut to the chase. Advanta is making a big splash with its acquisition of Misr Hytech, a move that's going to shake things up in Africa's agricultural sector. This isn't just another merger to gloss over with your morning coffee. We're talking about a deal that's supposed to wrap up by January 31, 2027, bringing together...

Breakthrough T1D Pushes Global T1D Awareness Forward

Shining a Light on T1D with Global Efforts In a world where a change in lifestyle can happen at the drop of a hat, Breakthrough T1D is making waves by expanding their global "See T1D" campaign in honor of World Diabetes Day. This isn't your run-of-the-mill awareness push—this is about propelling an understanding of what life truly entails for those living with type 1...

EFICYENT Ventures to Connect at Singapore FinTech Fest

Why the Singapore FinTech Festival Matters The world's hardly a stranger to hype, but the Singapore FinTech Festival carries some real weight. From November 18 to 20, 2026, this gig isn't just industry chatter—it's a high-stakes convergence of policymakers, financial institutions, fintech innovators like EFICYENT, and the money folk looking to mold the future of...