monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

TPM

At other moments, Russian Twitter users glommed onto the far-right news of the day, including the conspiracy theory that murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich had something to do with the stolen emails.

After Alabama, GOP anti-establishment wing declares all-out war in 2018

The stunning defeat of President Trump’s chosen Senate candidate in Alabama on Tuesday amounted to a political lightning strike — setting the stage for a worsening Republican civil war that could have profound effects on next year’s midterm elections and undermine Trump’s clout with his core voters.

The GOP primary victory by conservative firebrand Roy Moore over Sen. Luther Strange could also produce a stampede of Republican retirements in the coming months and an energized swarm of challengers.

It marked yet another humiliation for the Washington-based Republican establishment, particularly Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), whose allies pumped millions of dollars into the race to prop up Strange and reassure his colleagues that they could survive the Trump era.

Moore’s win, however, also demonstrates the real political limitations of Trump, who endorsed “Big Luther” at McConnell’s urging and staged a rally for Strange in Huntsville, Ala., just days before the primary. The outcome is likely to further fray Trump’s ties to Republicans in Congress, many of whom now fear that even his endorsement cannot protect them from voter fury.

“It’s almost as if there is a compulsion in the party to nominate the most ‘out there’ candidate just to show you can, with no concern about what that means for the rest of the party,” Sykes said. “Republicans — and that means Trump, too — have unleashed something they can’t control.”

should we look back to see who was pushing the Seth Rich story?

Quote:

should we look back to see who was pushing the Seth Rich story?

Could you, please? And demonstrate how you've done this?

It is actually less than I thought. Personally I don't think those Sander voters were true "progressives" if they could go from Sanders to Trump, knowing a republican president was going to get them a republican choice for the supreme court and a republican domestic agenda. Sure wasn't going to get them anywhere close to a $15 dollar wage or Medicare for all; much less free college. They must have been just all caught up in the hype rather than having any true cause.

It's interesting to see who was open to Russian stories.

The original defense from Pruitt’s spokesperson is that he needs a “secured communication area” because all federal agencies need something called a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), where officials can review sensitive and classified materials.

And that might make sense were it not for the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency already has a SCIF.

Stepping back, the broader context suggests Scott Pruitt’s leadership of the EPA isn’t just regressive; it’s also a little creepy.

The New York Times recently reported, for example, that many career EPA officials now have limited access to the floor where Pruitt works. Before meeting with Pruitt, some employees have been asked not to bring their cellphones into his office, and they’re not supposed to take notes, either. The piece added that the Oklahoma Republican “is taking extraordinary measures to conceal his actions.”

And this was before we learned of the $24,570 phone booth.

All of this comes on the heels of reports that Pruitt now has an 18-member security detail – that’s not a typo – made up of armed personnel who guard him 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some members of this security detail were responsible for investigating environmental crimes, but now they’re guarding the EPA chief directly.

In case this isn’t obvious, in the EPA’s 46-year history, we’ve never seen anything like this.

Canadian liberal parties are both moderate leftist parties

I don't consider anyone a progressive who could vote for Trump, either, but

In 1991, George H. W. Bush's chief of staff, John Sununu, was forced to resign in the wake of a specific kind of scandal: on multiple occasions, Sununu used government resources for his personal travel. The then-president first rebuked his top aide before eventually accepting his resignation.

When the story about HHS Secretary Tom Price's private-jet travel first broke, it appeared that this was a different kind of controversy because the Republican cabinet secretary's trips were strictly professional in nature. Politico moved the ball forward yesterday with a report that suggests Price actually mixed personal and professional interests while taking advantage of taxpayer-funded travel.

Quote:

I don't consider anyone a progressive who could vote for Trump, either, but

Nothing Someone Says Before The Word But Really Counts - Game of Thrones 1x03 (HD)

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9yzL7BgIrI[/youtube]

hightor wrote:

But it was Seth Rich...
In Ukraine, a Malware Expert Who Could Blow the Whistle on Russian Hacking
NYT
There they go, wasting taxpayer money on this silly witch hunt — we know it was Seth Rich.

Seth Rich, you fools. And Hillary. And don't forget Benghazi.

You talk real big for someone who has NO PROOF.
I will believe the election was influenced by Russians when someone shares evidence that it is so. Why do you act as though people should be ashamed to withhold judgment prior to evidence? That's crazy.

Meanwhile,... According to a new report at The Nation, forensic experts and former national security advisers have quietly gathered over the last several months to examine the breach and they have determined the DNC email hack heard ‘round the world was conducted from within the DNC.

The report says that "forensic investigators, intelligence analysts, system designers, program architects, and computer scientists of long experience and strongly credentialed are now producing evidence disproving the official version of key events last year. Their work is intricate and continues at a kinetic pace as we speak."

The group found that "there was no hack of the Democratic National Committee's system on July 5 last year—not by the Russians, not by anyone else."

The report continues, "Hard science now demonstrates it was a leak—a download executed locally with a memory key or a similarly portable data-storage device. In short, it was an inside job by someone with access to the DNC's system."
------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/when-is-a-russian-hack-not-a-hack-evidence-suggests-dnc-email-hack-was-an-inside-job/article/2631267


Maybe, it was DNC employee and Bernie supporter...(wait for it)...SETH RICH!!!

It was directed at the person who claimed that the term was nothing but a right wing ax against liberals; therefore, obviously a brilliant clue that I must be a right wing operative, probably posting from Kiev.

I still think of liberal largely by the basic definition

The adjective is from Old French liberal, from Latin liberalis (“befitting a freeman”), from liber (“free”); it is attested since the 14th century. The noun is first attested in the 1800s.