Honestly the biggest thing about this report is that we've known all of this for years. We had handwritten notes from the 'bigwig' meeting where they are discussing if they want to question Flynn or set him up. (They did the latter)
The years of breathless Russiagate coverage was ALWAYS a lie, and everybody knew it. The only question is -- is the Republic so far gone that they get away with it?
2024 was already 'fortified' via the 2022 midterm 'fortification' that kept the swing states in blue control, ensuring no Florida-style election reform. As long as we keep littering the cityscape with 'legal' ballots, it'll be far too easy to cheat.
And that's the way Democrats (and their Uniparty Republican friends) want it.
Yes, anyone outside of the establishment of either party must never be allowed to steal the presidency from it's rightful owners. Oh wait, that's nothing new at all.
Yeah. Biden literally says they won't allow Trump to take power........but nobody in the world is worried about Trump losing and trying to force his way into office -- they're talking about preventing Trump from taking office IF HE WINS.
"When asked at a post-midterms press conference how other world leaders should view this moment for America, with Trump potentially running for the presidency again, Biden said he will make sure Trump doesn’t take power.
And now we’ve reached the point where they don’t just go after the little people who can’t defend themselves against the full force of the government, they literally go after the leader of the opposition party in order to prevent him from being elected by the voters. Nobody is worried that Trump is going to lose the election in 2024 and try to force his way into the White House. This “plan” is to prevent Trump from taking office SHOULD HE ACTUALLY WIN THE ELECTION.
I have been wondering where they got the nerve to run a senile loser against a man who can beat him in a fair fight easily. It really looks like they plan on sweeping Trump off the board and simply installing a drooling, willing puppet.
Think about the cynicism of the Clinton campaign, knowing they were setting up a lie; you can see why they thought they would coast to victory. It is really astonishing even for a cynical bastard like me.
Which still cracks me up. You'd think after she private jetted into Iowa in '08 assuming that she had it locked up from the get go, only to have the proles decide they'd rather have a first term Senator instead, that she would have been a bit more cautious and humble next time around. Nope, she doubled down and locked up all of the money and superdelegates and sat on her fat ass in Malibu guzzling champagne while Trump flew into flyover country and talked to the deplorables. And still can't figure out how and why she is so loathed by the electorate. But the clues were there from way back in '08.
Everybody could see Hillary Clinton was cooked in Iowa. So when, a week-and-a-half out, the Service Employees International Union started hearing anxiety out of Michigan, union officials decided to reroute their volunteers, giving a desperate team on the ground around Detroit some hope.
They started prepping meals and organizing hotel rooms.
SEIU — which had wanted to go to Michigan from the beginning, but been ordered not to — dialed Clinton’s top campaign aides to tell them about the new plan. According to several people familiar with the call, Brooklyn was furious.
Turn that bus around, the Clinton team ordered SEIU. Those volunteers needed to stay in Iowa to fool Donald Trump into competing there, not drive to Michigan, where the Democrat’s models projected a 5-point win through the morning of Election Day.
Michigan organizers were shocked. It was the latest case of Brooklyn ignoring on-the-ground intel and pleas for help in a race that they felt slipping away at the end.
Actually, the clues were there from way back in ’98. At that time, First Lady Hillary appeared on The Today Show and claimed all allegations against Bill Clinton were a "vast right-wing conspiracy."
That short phrase became the endless loop that has dominated Democratic Party strategy, US politics, and corporate media to this day.
Yes, but it was absolutely delightful watching Clinton lose along with the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
It was not about anything but winning the election. The Clintons had escaped the issue of the FBI doing background checks on their enemies and then making those files available, Monica perjury, Whitewater, and a nearly endless series of abuses.
The move to exert political control over the internet dates back to the Obama years when his team talked of "curating " the internet to suppress dangerous ideas and information not favorable to the left. While "official" curating died as the result of public exposure, the left found a way through pressure and intimidation plus benefits to seriously censor what appeared on many of the major sites, perhaps most importantly Google. If this sounds strange take a few seconds to search for the contents of the Biden Laptop which were searchable and findable for a short period of time. Gone without a trace ......
It sure looks like it. There won’t be any justice. We know this. The current regime spies on opponents, uses the intelligence community and law enforcement against dissidents and political enemies, and rigs elections—all openly, without ever being held accountable for such egregious abuse of power. The elites play by one set of rules, we peasants by another, and the deep state is comprised of Democratic Party loyalists.
The question is what happens when the Rs are in charge once again. Do they clean up the FBI so that it is nonpartisan? Do they seize the levers of power and use them against the Ds? Or do they just make a big stink and not do anything? I vote for door number three.
I'd say both parties are Generals while Big Money is the Globetrotters. Since these are often multinational corporations, they literally trot the globe.
We know both houses are populated with unprincipled, venal small frys, but the alphabets are another matter. They may be bunglers when it comes to Castro's beard and Patriot Front marches, but they have been deadly effective in ending the JFK, Nixon, Carter and Trump presidencies with maximum unhappiness.
Let's hope that if he is inaugurated on January, 2025 - that DJT hires some ADULTS to help choose and vet Cabinet. I loved what Trump did as a president - but he sucks as a personnel manager. Take a look at the Clown Car that was DJT's first cabinet: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/politics/donald-trump-administration.html It's embarrassing. Except for Mnuchin, Wilbur Ross, Mike Pompeo and Mike Mulvaney - the rest were at best C or D level talent for the job. If you're going to eliminate the Swamp - you need to hire the 'A' Team - not the Mr. T 'A' team.
My God. What was it you loved? The infants in concentration camps? The enormous tax give-away to the ultra-wealthy? The unending racial slurs? The ongoing poisonous deadly sanctions against sovereign nations for choosing their own leaders? The ball-sucking sycophancy in Saudi Arabia and Israel (at least the man pays his debts)? The election of absolutely unqualified right-wing jurists to the Supreme Court?
The man was a fucking horror show. Still, better than Biden, and that's the crying shame of it all.
Yep - I loved all of that. But you forgot to mention RUSSIAN COLLUSION, INSURRECTION and TWO FAILED IMPEACHMENTS. (I didn't love those so much). But you do get extra points for recognizing that Biden is a total Shit Show! Good for you!
The first thing they should do is prosecute everyone who signed the letter dismissing the Hunter. laptop as it was clearly using federal resources to campaign for a political candidate.
What the RNC will do is take every cent they possibly can from the US citizens (social security, all medical benefits which are little to begin with, retirement savings, anything for children, pensions, unemployment insurance, sick leave, eliminate unions, etc.) . What's worse, that? ...or the Dems murdering millions of innocents in other countries that have no intentions of attacking us? Hmmmm.....
Y'all ought to take a look at inflation under Biden and see what it has done to the savings of Americans. . The hundreds of billions used to bail out Silicone Valley Bank. The press can't seem to mention that the Bank would hold gatherings of their most wealthy clients that were really fundraisers for major Democratic figures. An evening with 50 tech guys who have no problem writing very large checks, especially when their banker it makes the magic possible.
Steve, I agree with you. Both parties are despicable, neither wants regular people to have a cent when it can be taken for the oligarchs/war machine. I say, let's elect Robert Kennedy Jr.
I keep getting phone calls asking me to privatize my Medicare Insurance Plan as if they think we the people are too dumb to know what they are up to. Also I have heard that social security funding has been all spent years ago.
In fact, my brother-in-law, whom my sister assures me is one of the most informed people there is, told me exactly the opposite of SimulationCommander. He said, "Everyone knows Trump colluded with the Russians."
That’s the thing, these lies are always prefaced with “everybody knows” so that lies become established fact without any evidence ever having to be produced.
Yes-there is no one in my family, circle of friends/neighbors that I could talk to about this. I have tried and it's like how I imagine being in the Scientology headquarters questioning Scientology.
Yea, they believe what they want to believe. Also, it takes courage and honesty to admit they were wrong all along. Who wants to look like a fool? And the propaganda mainstream media employs is relentless and shameless. Don’t underestimate the brainwashing level. As my late supervisor used to say: “you underestimate the moron factor”.
I was a fool. I believed it all the way to Hunter Biden's laptop. But when they started saying Glenn Greenwald was an alt-right conspiracy theorist I finally said hey wait a minute. Some of us are thicker than others
One of the reasons they believe it is that Facebook, Google and a host of others have erased all of the trails leading to the Hunter Biden computer materials . There was a European site that had them but there are no trails left.
Anybody actually following the story knew everything that Durham laid out already. It's not about "being fooled" -- it's about already knowing the evidence that exists.
There's no excuse for ignorance, ESPECIALLY in a media market as toxic as ours was in 2016-2020.
If you disagree, what in the report do you think is new?
Not much new to you or me maybe. Some bits. But the value of the report is that it should set a pretty much irrefutable cannon of facts and evidence that the media will consult. Some media, possibly...
Most people do not have the time, the energy or the tools to sort through all the lies. I see this every day talking to my neighbours, people on the bus, and the like. They spend about 20 minutes a day, on a good day listening to, and then, astonishingly at this point, still believing everything that their teevees tell them.
I wish it were otherwise.
The internet, which should have been the greatest fact checker in history, is now used almost exclusively for literal mind control.
Do you think any of this came as a surprise to Matt? I'm just a part-time hack and I knew everything already. How could anybody following this story -- not just the media spin -- NOT know this information?
"Following the story" means "knowing what's happening", and we knew all this was happening long ago.
I dare say that you, I, and Matt are outliers. My earlier life was sheltered in university towns. Only during this past decade have I gotten an appreciation of how relatively obtuse, how unperspicacious most people are. George Orwell had it right, that most don't get beyond chanting "four legs good, two legs bad." Even very smart people will do this. It's too bad, but that's the way it is. Many to most people are conformists and won't deviate no matter what. We don't have to like it, but this is why propaganda is so effective.
I look at the Russia blew up its own pipeline story and cannot understand how anyone could be fooled by that. But many are.
Earlier i read the NYT piece on the Durham report. And a few of the comments - the koolaid is sloshing around in there as much as it ever does, it seems that people were buying hteir spin.
I'm a lot lowlier than you are, and i knew it right away. The first clue for me was Donna Brazile's book that kept banging on about the Russians. Next clue i remember was Hillary throwing a big bash for all her big donors to make excuses and banged on about Comey and the Russians. I'll give you that i had a bias of absoluteluy loathing her, but all i could think is like, oh this is how they're going to spin this loss then.
They are STILL hammering on Russiagate. The George W. Bush "never admit you were wrong" style dominates these days. I think H will take it with her to the grave.
What's happened is that the world of Orwell's 1984 has been transformed by the presence of electronic media so that no longer do you need a vast army of bureaucrats sifting through books , mail , speeches, etc. It is all electronic AND you have willing gatekeepers of the information highway controlling the flow of traffic and exterminating those whom they deem to be not accepting of their need to control.
Put me in the easily duped category. Probably because I have always loathed Trump personally. Still do. I was ready to believe he was guilty of some or all of the allegations and that is his campaign would play fast and loose with the rules based on that opinion. But when it unfolded, I found out I was wrong and had let my personal bias effect my opinion.. the difference is, I, changed my mind, those in charge doubled down.
Thanks. It does stand to reason you will think the worst of those you do not like. Which is why we have to see past our emotional response. As i said elsewhere. the irony is wouldn't it have be that the guy who finally ripped of the mask of the establishment was Trump? we just can't win.
The people who believed the Russia lies were anti-Trump. The most deranged nutcases in media calling for Trump's head were Keith Olbermann (that sack of offal who also used his dwindling airtime to berate the unvaccinated) and Rachel Madcow, who will be remembered as the most disgusting liar ever to assault viewers with her self-righteous histrionic garbage. She will also be lionized by those with terminal TDS as a heroine. There are those among us who still believe Trump conspired with Russians to sabotage the Clinton campaign and take over the US from the White House as Putin's stooge and will never believe otherwise, no matter how much factual evidence to the contrary is waved in front of their squeezed-shut eyes.
Skeptics could be found among disinterested journos. Taibbi is one. Trump loyalists obviously never believed a word. Most Americans didn't give a shit and still don't.
I'm surprised that "diligent reporters" covering the Russian Dossier story did not think back to a prior Democrat stunt to discredit George Bush jr. Remember the damming letter from his Air National Guard commander that challenged his integrity and competence. There was no interest from the FBI in looking at it but an individual did a simple check. The typeface used in the forged letter did not exist until years after the report was supposedly prepared. This was back in the pre computer era when letters and reports were typed on typewriters that left a signature typestyle.
The most minimal questions about the Russian Dossier
Who initiated it - Clinton campaign,
Who delivered it to DOJ - Clinton's campaign attorney
Who prepared it - Clinton operative with a very questionable background
Who paid for it - Clinton campaign
The funds to pay for the "Dossier". most likely came from DNC funds ( diverted under a secret agreement made by the DNC's then Chmn. Debbie Wasserman) to Hillary's control in violation of federal election laws (source - Donna Brazelle - Chmn DNC. and author of "Hacks" )
They didn't think back to the Bush letter, as they wanted this. They wanted to believe that Trump was guilty, they wanted to believe that Clinton was the best choice, they wanted to believe that destiny was putting the first woman president in place.
What they were going to be diligent about was denying Trump.
Hillary that was the force getting Bill to look beyond the daily commitment his "jobs" program . When Hillary gained control of the DNC through Debbie Wasserman things really began to roll. Sadly for our nation so many in DC believed that the end (election of Hillary) justified breaking so many laws. Ironically it was Donna Brazile , the DNC Chairwoman who replaced Wasserman-Schultz , who was saddled with the secret "deal" Wasserman made with Hillary to give her campaign control of the DNC and the DNC funds. Bernie was lynched by his own party. Highly recommended read Hacks, by Donna Brazelle ... https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/fpUAAOSwYMFg0wkd/s-l500.jpg
Somehow the multiple federal election law violations documented in her book were never of interest to the DOJ which was , in the words of Agent Strozk committed to the extermination of Trump through any means necessary.
When the Clintons went to DC two California attorneys close to the Democratic party moved to DC to serve their interests. McAuliffe stayed while the other attorney left in disgust with the Clinton admn. It was McAuliffe who provided Agent Strozk's wife around $500,000 allegedly for her campaign for a minor political office. The Agent then provided his mistress (another FBI employee) with the assurance that there was a Plan B in case Trump was elected. None of this seems to be of interest to the mainstream press.
It is difficult to find a clearer case demonstrating the corruption in the DOJ than to look at three cases involving retention of classified information . Hillary - a) had a vast trove of classified information after she left the State Department. The information was shared with Huma who had left US government work and was an independent consultant, selling her expertise to foreign nations, not all of whom were friends. Huma's husband was the legendary Carlos Danger prowling the internet for young women. Hubby was tasked by Huma for a variety of tasks including printing classified information provided by Hillary on the same computer with which he prowled the internet. The DOJ cleared Huma and ignored Carlos over a weekend while at the same time they were relentlessly. pursuing Trump. Later the same team would look the other way at the classified information on Hunter's laptops copies of which almost certainly fell into the hands of the Russians providing him with cocaine and hookers - per Hunter in his rants.
Except... the damning letter was a set up. It was a forgery of a REAL letter leaked to Dan Rather in order to kill a story that would have ended the Bush Dynasty with the added benefit of f*cking over a relatively honorable journalist.
Good Sir, you are not supposed to recall facts that do not compliment the "alternative fact" narrative❗
👀Speaking of the "Bush Dynasty", it seems that one might do well to recall the fact that Jeb Bush was the initial instigator ("initiator") of the so-called "Russia Dossier"⁉
Only the story about George W. "cocaine" Bush being AWOL from the National Guard was accurate. The corporate media's story about the typewriter font was debunked many times over. Dan Rather and CBS simply caved to the neocons and threw Mary Mapes under the bus for reporting the truth about GWB, a story that had been vetted many times over, unlike the Trump-Russia BS: https://www.democracynow.org/2006/2/9/fired_cbs_producer_stands_by_documents
The irony is that the people who ran the GOP then are running the Democratic Party today. In both cases, the neocons got away with their lies and never had to pay a price for it.
There's all the reason(s) in the world to believe that the 2020 election was rigged by the Democrats & employees of the federal gov't & social media bigwigs. We the people have lost the power of the vote. It's that simple.
The powers that be have been rigging elections for the far-right more and more aggressively since they got away with it in 2000 and 2004. By the time Bush/Cheney were preparing to leave office, they'd trashed the Republican brand, and Obama welcomed the neocons and Wall Street with open arms. Since 2008, the powers that be have been brazenly rigging elections for the Democrats, as they have become the party of the far-right, especially since Trump pulled so many Republicans leftward.
"is the Republic so far gone that they get away with it?"
Yes, and they (the Security State) already have gotten away with it. They succeeded in smearing and bogging down Trump's term in office with all this nonsense, even if they failed to prevent him from taking office the first time. Then, in 2020, they succeeded in keeping him from office. There does not seem to be any accountability aside from a couple dragged out and suppressed reports. The Durham report is just another report. The Mueller report has been out for years and was pretty clear that there was no collusion, but that did nothing to move the needle either. The MSM is long gone and will subdue and suppress this report so it never reaches the masses consciousness. They have fully gotten away with it.
You say "we've" known all of this for years, but that "we" is a very limited slice of the population in my estimation. The vast majority of people I know do not dig into information gathering the way you and I (and most folks reading stacks like this) seem to. Most people I know have no clue about most of these issues when I raise them in conversation. A great many people I know do not know what the Twitter files are or, if they do, what they have showed. It has been my experience that most people do not have the time or inclination to work as hard as is required to dig in and discover the truth. They do not understand that MSM is lying to them on the regular and is mainly a propaganda machine. They consume what they are fed and they go about their lives having absorbed the propaganda as "truth". This is why it works. This is why they will get away with it. When I attempt to explain the truth to these folks (and this seems to be most people) in conversation, it merely cements my status as the anti-vax conspiracy theorist that they see me as.
I wonder though. I think a majority of Republicans saw through it all early on. My husband, sister & BIL, and Mom did. But we were also reading Kimberly Strassel at WSJ, Nat'l Review, Victor David Hanson, Real Clear Politics & watching Tucker some. I voraciously consumed print media in 2016-2020. I first found Matt in an article about the Media have lost their integrity and souls, I can't remember when that was but years ago----it made me so happy that there was at least one liberal reporter who could see truth through the lies. Some of my family bought every single word the MSM told them & still do. I naturally think of them as the less intelligent ones (even though well-educated), and man do they love some virtue signaling. I do have friends who are pretty moderate & who just don't care that much----politics isn't that important to them. I think they think Whatever----don't all politicians lie? Hasn't it always been rigged? What can I do to make any worthwhile change? And I totally get why they think that way, but I guess I'm just too much of a fighter to accept that. I believe in the traditional morals & values of America, the Founding Fathers, & I refuse to just bend the knee to these outright criminals. I am stunned the government is this deeply corrupt but I have to think the American people are good people. I would trust most common criminals over Hillary Clinton & every single person who participated in this. I wish they could all be tried and thrown in jail where they belong, but they won't because they have the DC jury pool to save their slimy asses. At least Durham investigated & wrote the report. Only the blackest heart could look at the evidence & say but but but Trump!
You might want to change “and everybody knew it “ to “everyone with any sense knew it.” My guess is about 25 to 30% will always believe these flagrant lies.
Honestly I just rewatched the Game of Thrones episode where Cersei doesn't go to her trial and blows up the sept where it's held. End of season 6. And there's a point where Margaery says to the septon 'she knows the consequences of not coming and she isn't here anyway. Which indicates she doesn't intend to suffer those consequences.' Sorta reminds me of this. These people just do as they please, confident that they won't face consequences. So far they're right. We'll see if Republicans actually hold them accountable. I wouldn't bet on it.
House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer: Republicans "have made it quite clear they want to eliminate what they call the Deep State.
The Deep State is a cadre of professionals dedicated to honoring the Constitution (LOL) and the laws of this country.. He opens with the usual "projection" and then describes what they used to say was a conspiracy theory; the Deep State.
Well. Nova Scotia had a madman on the loose who killed 22 people 2 years ago. The only people he encountered that survived were waiting at their front door with a loaded gun. Not a pop gun .
It's "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" with a twist. In this version, there really IS a wolf, but no matter how much the boy points to the dead and bloodied sheep and fresh wolf tracks, no one believes him; after all, the credentialed members of the Amalgamated Shepherd's Guild are nearly unanimous in dismissing the boy's fantastic tales. Eventually though, after the damage is done, one member of the guild finally gets around to saying, "You know, the boy had a point." To which the villagers just yawn and call it "old news".
At this point, I'm almost rooting for the wolf to eat 'em all and be done with it.
Anyone that’s been paying a minuscule bit of attention to this fiasco for the last 6 or so years isn’t surprised by this report - at all. And the mainstream media will bury it faster than a dead cat’s carcass. Nothing will change and no one will be held accountable. Good reporting as always, Matt.
Just like "our democracy was at stake" in the midterm elections. Anyone doing shots to the number of times this hypnotic suggestion was repeated by a talking head got knee-walking drunk.
Honestly the biggest thing about this report is that we've known all of this for years. We had handwritten notes from the 'bigwig' meeting where they are discussing if they want to question Flynn or set him up. (They did the latter)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/29/michael-flynn-case-fbi-goal-was-get-him-lie-bombsh/
The years of breathless Russiagate coverage was ALWAYS a lie, and everybody knew it. The only question is -- is the Republic so far gone that they get away with it?
Likely, yes. The 2024 election results will be the final determinate. And possibly the final crucifixion nail in America as we once knew her.
2024 was already 'fortified' via the 2022 midterm 'fortification' that kept the swing states in blue control, ensuring no Florida-style election reform. As long as we keep littering the cityscape with 'legal' ballots, it'll be far too easy to cheat.
And that's the way Democrats (and their Uniparty Republican friends) want it.
They didn't bank on NY state fucking them out of the majority though.
Yes, anyone outside of the establishment of either party must never be allowed to steal the presidency from it's rightful owners. Oh wait, that's nothing new at all.
Yeah. Biden literally says they won't allow Trump to take power........but nobody in the world is worried about Trump losing and trying to force his way into office -- they're talking about preventing Trump from taking office IF HE WINS.
For democracy, of course.
Could you please cite a source or provide a link?
"When asked at a post-midterms press conference how other world leaders should view this moment for America, with Trump potentially running for the presidency again, Biden said he will make sure Trump doesn’t take power.
'We just have to demonstrate that he will not take power if he does run, making sure he — under legitimate efforts of our Constitution — does not become the next president again,' Biden said." https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3728174-biden-suggests-trump-will-not-take-power-again-if-he-runs-in-2024/
Dementia Joe was lucid enough to awkwardly include the qualifier.
Thanks for posting the link.
https://rumble.com/embed/v2dm33o/?pub=ztma8
This was just after the midterms.
Edit: https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/the-walls-close-infinally
And now we’ve reached the point where they don’t just go after the little people who can’t defend themselves against the full force of the government, they literally go after the leader of the opposition party in order to prevent him from being elected by the voters. Nobody is worried that Trump is going to lose the election in 2024 and try to force his way into the White House. This “plan” is to prevent Trump from taking office SHOULD HE ACTUALLY WIN THE ELECTION.
I have been wondering where they got the nerve to run a senile loser against a man who can beat him in a fair fight easily. It really looks like they plan on sweeping Trump off the board and simply installing a drooling, willing puppet.
My god.
Except in 2016 when someone actually did, which is what this whole Russia pseudo-drama was all about.
Never again! Oh wait, wrong injustice.
Think about the cynicism of the Clinton campaign, knowing they were setting up a lie; you can see why they thought they would coast to victory. It is really astonishing even for a cynical bastard like me.
"...they thought they would coast to victory."
Which still cracks me up. You'd think after she private jetted into Iowa in '08 assuming that she had it locked up from the get go, only to have the proles decide they'd rather have a first term Senator instead, that she would have been a bit more cautious and humble next time around. Nope, she doubled down and locked up all of the money and superdelegates and sat on her fat ass in Malibu guzzling champagne while Trump flew into flyover country and talked to the deplorables. And still can't figure out how and why she is so loathed by the electorate. But the clues were there from way back in '08.
You would have to accuse Hillary of having some self-awareness, and I suspect that her ego leaves no room for that in her cognitive warehouse.
Everything you talk about is perfectly described here:
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/michigan-hillary-clinton-trump-232547
Everybody could see Hillary Clinton was cooked in Iowa. So when, a week-and-a-half out, the Service Employees International Union started hearing anxiety out of Michigan, union officials decided to reroute their volunteers, giving a desperate team on the ground around Detroit some hope.
They started prepping meals and organizing hotel rooms.
SEIU — which had wanted to go to Michigan from the beginning, but been ordered not to — dialed Clinton’s top campaign aides to tell them about the new plan. According to several people familiar with the call, Brooklyn was furious.
Turn that bus around, the Clinton team ordered SEIU. Those volunteers needed to stay in Iowa to fool Donald Trump into competing there, not drive to Michigan, where the Democrat’s models projected a 5-point win through the morning of Election Day.
Michigan organizers were shocked. It was the latest case of Brooklyn ignoring on-the-ground intel and pleas for help in a race that they felt slipping away at the end.
“But the clues were there from way back in '08.”
Actually, the clues were there from way back in ’98. At that time, First Lady Hillary appeared on The Today Show and claimed all allegations against Bill Clinton were a "vast right-wing conspiracy."
That short phrase became the endless loop that has dominated Democratic Party strategy, US politics, and corporate media to this day.
Yes, but it was absolutely delightful watching Clinton lose along with the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
I love that you used "the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments" -- so, so apt
And with Hillary's garments, that takes a lot of rending.
It was not about anything but winning the election. The Clintons had escaped the issue of the FBI doing background checks on their enemies and then making those files available, Monica perjury, Whitewater, and a nearly endless series of abuses.
The move to exert political control over the internet dates back to the Obama years when his team talked of "curating " the internet to suppress dangerous ideas and information not favorable to the left. While "official" curating died as the result of public exposure, the left found a way through pressure and intimidation plus benefits to seriously censor what appeared on many of the major sites, perhaps most importantly Google. If this sounds strange take a few seconds to search for the contents of the Biden Laptop which were searchable and findable for a short period of time. Gone without a trace ......
It sure looks like it. There won’t be any justice. We know this. The current regime spies on opponents, uses the intelligence community and law enforcement against dissidents and political enemies, and rigs elections—all openly, without ever being held accountable for such egregious abuse of power. The elites play by one set of rules, we peasants by another, and the deep state is comprised of Democratic Party loyalists.
https://euphoricrecall.substack.com/p/the-durham-report
The question is what happens when the Rs are in charge once again. Do they clean up the FBI so that it is nonpartisan? Do they seize the levers of power and use them against the Ds? Or do they just make a big stink and not do anything? I vote for door number three.
They continue being the Washington Generals of the Uniparty.
I'd say both parties are Generals while Big Money is the Globetrotters. Since these are often multinational corporations, they literally trot the globe.
We know both houses are populated with unprincipled, venal small frys, but the alphabets are another matter. They may be bunglers when it comes to Castro's beard and Patriot Front marches, but they have been deadly effective in ending the JFK, Nixon, Carter and Trump presidencies with maximum unhappiness.
Nailed it.
Only Trump could clean out the Washington Swamp - the first go-round he had no clue what was working against him - this time he knows.
Let's hope that if he is inaugurated on January, 2025 - that DJT hires some ADULTS to help choose and vet Cabinet. I loved what Trump did as a president - but he sucks as a personnel manager. Take a look at the Clown Car that was DJT's first cabinet: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/politics/donald-trump-administration.html It's embarrassing. Except for Mnuchin, Wilbur Ross, Mike Pompeo and Mike Mulvaney - the rest were at best C or D level talent for the job. If you're going to eliminate the Swamp - you need to hire the 'A' Team - not the Mr. T 'A' team.
My God. What was it you loved? The infants in concentration camps? The enormous tax give-away to the ultra-wealthy? The unending racial slurs? The ongoing poisonous deadly sanctions against sovereign nations for choosing their own leaders? The ball-sucking sycophancy in Saudi Arabia and Israel (at least the man pays his debts)? The election of absolutely unqualified right-wing jurists to the Supreme Court?
The man was a fucking horror show. Still, better than Biden, and that's the crying shame of it all.
Yep - I loved all of that. But you forgot to mention RUSSIAN COLLUSION, INSURRECTION and TWO FAILED IMPEACHMENTS. (I didn't love those so much). But you do get extra points for recognizing that Biden is a total Shit Show! Good for you!
I recommend everyone write to their congressmen about overhauling the out of control intelligence apparatuses.
The first thing they should do is prosecute everyone who signed the letter dismissing the Hunter. laptop as it was clearly using federal resources to campaign for a political candidate.
It's easy to do and it can't hurt.
What the RNC will do is take every cent they possibly can from the US citizens (social security, all medical benefits which are little to begin with, retirement savings, anything for children, pensions, unemployment insurance, sick leave, eliminate unions, etc.) . What's worse, that? ...or the Dems murdering millions of innocents in other countries that have no intentions of attacking us? Hmmmm.....
Y'all ought to take a look at inflation under Biden and see what it has done to the savings of Americans. . The hundreds of billions used to bail out Silicone Valley Bank. The press can't seem to mention that the Bank would hold gatherings of their most wealthy clients that were really fundraisers for major Democratic figures. An evening with 50 tech guys who have no problem writing very large checks, especially when their banker it makes the magic possible.
Steve, I agree with you. Both parties are despicable, neither wants regular people to have a cent when it can be taken for the oligarchs/war machine. I say, let's elect Robert Kennedy Jr.
I keep getting phone calls asking me to privatize my Medicare Insurance Plan as if they think we the people are too dumb to know what they are up to. Also I have heard that social security funding has been all spent years ago.
Oh come on. Everybody didn't know that. Millions of people were fooled by Russiagate.
I thought it was phony from the getgo, but if nothing else this last decade has taught me that most people are more easily duped than am I.
In fact, my brother-in-law, whom my sister assures me is one of the most informed people there is, told me exactly the opposite of SimulationCommander. He said, "Everyone knows Trump colluded with the Russians."
(Yes, that's pretty much an exact quote.)
That’s the thing, these lies are always prefaced with “everybody knows” so that lies become established fact without any evidence ever having to be produced.
And tens of millions still believe it.
Yes-there is no one in my family, circle of friends/neighbors that I could talk to about this. I have tried and it's like how I imagine being in the Scientology headquarters questioning Scientology.
Yea, they believe what they want to believe. Also, it takes courage and honesty to admit they were wrong all along. Who wants to look like a fool? And the propaganda mainstream media employs is relentless and shameless. Don’t underestimate the brainwashing level. As my late supervisor used to say: “you underestimate the moron factor”.
I was a fool. I believed it all the way to Hunter Biden's laptop. But when they started saying Glenn Greenwald was an alt-right conspiracy theorist I finally said hey wait a minute. Some of us are thicker than others
It takes strength and self-confidence to make an admission like that, instead of doubling-down or just walking away.
I hope I can follow the example of people like you when faced with my errors.
Using critical thinking is a disappearing skill. They no longer teach it. I am glad you have it.
One of the reasons they believe it is that Facebook, Google and a host of others have erased all of the trails leading to the Hunter Biden computer materials . There was a European site that had them but there are no trails left.
Anybody actually following the story knew everything that Durham laid out already. It's not about "being fooled" -- it's about already knowing the evidence that exists.
There's no excuse for ignorance, ESPECIALLY in a media market as toxic as ours was in 2016-2020.
If you disagree, what in the report do you think is new?
Not much new to you or me maybe. Some bits. But the value of the report is that it should set a pretty much irrefutable cannon of facts and evidence that the media will consult. Some media, possibly...
Or future historians.
Thank you Susan Schmidt for your reporting here
Most people do not have the time, the energy or the tools to sort through all the lies. I see this every day talking to my neighbours, people on the bus, and the like. They spend about 20 minutes a day, on a good day listening to, and then, astonishingly at this point, still believing everything that their teevees tell them.
I wish it were otherwise.
The internet, which should have been the greatest fact checker in history, is now used almost exclusively for literal mind control.
"I don't have time" is simply fluffy-speak for "This is not a priority to me."
This is truth.
There is an excuse for ignorance. Most people don't have the time, interest, or inclination to root through all of this stuff.
So they work under the vague assumption that the "truth" is something they will never know but is loosely reflected in the media.
They may watch a couple debates and *might* vote. And if they do vote it will be based on where/how they live and who their parents voted for.
I object to "everybody" and "anybody" as obviously untrue.
Do you think any of this came as a surprise to Matt? I'm just a part-time hack and I knew everything already. How could anybody following this story -- not just the media spin -- NOT know this information?
"Following the story" means "knowing what's happening", and we knew all this was happening long ago.
I dare say that you, I, and Matt are outliers. My earlier life was sheltered in university towns. Only during this past decade have I gotten an appreciation of how relatively obtuse, how unperspicacious most people are. George Orwell had it right, that most don't get beyond chanting "four legs good, two legs bad." Even very smart people will do this. It's too bad, but that's the way it is. Many to most people are conformists and won't deviate no matter what. We don't have to like it, but this is why propaganda is so effective.
I look at the Russia blew up its own pipeline story and cannot understand how anyone could be fooled by that. But many are.
Earlier i read the NYT piece on the Durham report. And a few of the comments - the koolaid is sloshing around in there as much as it ever does, it seems that people were buying hteir spin.
Mick Wallace of Ireland has spoken about this at the EU.
I'm a lot lowlier than you are, and i knew it right away. The first clue for me was Donna Brazile's book that kept banging on about the Russians. Next clue i remember was Hillary throwing a big bash for all her big donors to make excuses and banged on about Comey and the Russians. I'll give you that i had a bias of absoluteluy loathing her, but all i could think is like, oh this is how they're going to spin this loss then.
They are STILL hammering on Russiagate. The George W. Bush "never admit you were wrong" style dominates these days. I think H will take it with her to the grave.
What's happened is that the world of Orwell's 1984 has been transformed by the presence of electronic media so that no longer do you need a vast army of bureaucrats sifting through books , mail , speeches, etc. It is all electronic AND you have willing gatekeepers of the information highway controlling the flow of traffic and exterminating those whom they deem to be not accepting of their need to control.
Put me in the easily duped category. Probably because I have always loathed Trump personally. Still do. I was ready to believe he was guilty of some or all of the allegations and that is his campaign would play fast and loose with the rules based on that opinion. But when it unfolded, I found out I was wrong and had let my personal bias effect my opinion.. the difference is, I, changed my mind, those in charge doubled down.
Thanks. It does stand to reason you will think the worst of those you do not like. Which is why we have to see past our emotional response. As i said elsewhere. the irony is wouldn't it have be that the guy who finally ripped of the mask of the establishment was Trump? we just can't win.
The people who believed the Russia lies were anti-Trump. The most deranged nutcases in media calling for Trump's head were Keith Olbermann (that sack of offal who also used his dwindling airtime to berate the unvaccinated) and Rachel Madcow, who will be remembered as the most disgusting liar ever to assault viewers with her self-righteous histrionic garbage. She will also be lionized by those with terminal TDS as a heroine. There are those among us who still believe Trump conspired with Russians to sabotage the Clinton campaign and take over the US from the White House as Putin's stooge and will never believe otherwise, no matter how much factual evidence to the contrary is waved in front of their squeezed-shut eyes.
Skeptics could be found among disinterested journos. Taibbi is one. Trump loyalists obviously never believed a word. Most Americans didn't give a shit and still don't.
I'm surprised that "diligent reporters" covering the Russian Dossier story did not think back to a prior Democrat stunt to discredit George Bush jr. Remember the damming letter from his Air National Guard commander that challenged his integrity and competence. There was no interest from the FBI in looking at it but an individual did a simple check. The typeface used in the forged letter did not exist until years after the report was supposedly prepared. This was back in the pre computer era when letters and reports were typed on typewriters that left a signature typestyle.
The most minimal questions about the Russian Dossier
Who initiated it - Clinton campaign,
Who delivered it to DOJ - Clinton's campaign attorney
Who prepared it - Clinton operative with a very questionable background
Who paid for it - Clinton campaign
The funds to pay for the "Dossier". most likely came from DNC funds ( diverted under a secret agreement made by the DNC's then Chmn. Debbie Wasserman) to Hillary's control in violation of federal election laws (source - Donna Brazelle - Chmn DNC. and author of "Hacks" )
They didn't think back to the Bush letter, as they wanted this. They wanted to believe that Trump was guilty, they wanted to believe that Clinton was the best choice, they wanted to believe that destiny was putting the first woman president in place.
What they were going to be diligent about was denying Trump.
Hillary that was the force getting Bill to look beyond the daily commitment his "jobs" program . When Hillary gained control of the DNC through Debbie Wasserman things really began to roll. Sadly for our nation so many in DC believed that the end (election of Hillary) justified breaking so many laws. Ironically it was Donna Brazile , the DNC Chairwoman who replaced Wasserman-Schultz , who was saddled with the secret "deal" Wasserman made with Hillary to give her campaign control of the DNC and the DNC funds. Bernie was lynched by his own party. Highly recommended read Hacks, by Donna Brazelle ... https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/fpUAAOSwYMFg0wkd/s-l500.jpg
Somehow the multiple federal election law violations documented in her book were never of interest to the DOJ which was , in the words of Agent Strozk committed to the extermination of Trump through any means necessary.
When the Clintons went to DC two California attorneys close to the Democratic party moved to DC to serve their interests. McAuliffe stayed while the other attorney left in disgust with the Clinton admn. It was McAuliffe who provided Agent Strozk's wife around $500,000 allegedly for her campaign for a minor political office. The Agent then provided his mistress (another FBI employee) with the assurance that there was a Plan B in case Trump was elected. None of this seems to be of interest to the mainstream press.
It is difficult to find a clearer case demonstrating the corruption in the DOJ than to look at three cases involving retention of classified information . Hillary - a) had a vast trove of classified information after she left the State Department. The information was shared with Huma who had left US government work and was an independent consultant, selling her expertise to foreign nations, not all of whom were friends. Huma's husband was the legendary Carlos Danger prowling the internet for young women. Hubby was tasked by Huma for a variety of tasks including printing classified information provided by Hillary on the same computer with which he prowled the internet. The DOJ cleared Huma and ignored Carlos over a weekend while at the same time they were relentlessly. pursuing Trump. Later the same team would look the other way at the classified information on Hunter's laptops copies of which almost certainly fell into the hands of the Russians providing him with cocaine and hookers - per Hunter in his rants.
Except... the damning letter was a set up. It was a forgery of a REAL letter leaked to Dan Rather in order to kill a story that would have ended the Bush Dynasty with the added benefit of f*cking over a relatively honorable journalist.
@ Shaun L. 🎯
Good Sir, you are not supposed to recall facts that do not compliment the "alternative fact" narrative❗
👀Speaking of the "Bush Dynasty", it seems that one might do well to recall the fact that Jeb Bush was the initial instigator ("initiator") of the so-called "Russia Dossier"⁉
EA☠
It's all one big club, and we ain't in it. (Thank you George Carlin)
That's a Bingo!
Only the story about George W. "cocaine" Bush being AWOL from the National Guard was accurate. The corporate media's story about the typewriter font was debunked many times over. Dan Rather and CBS simply caved to the neocons and threw Mary Mapes under the bus for reporting the truth about GWB, a story that had been vetted many times over, unlike the Trump-Russia BS: https://www.democracynow.org/2006/2/9/fired_cbs_producer_stands_by_documents
The irony is that the people who ran the GOP then are running the Democratic Party today. In both cases, the neocons got away with their lies and never had to pay a price for it.
"is the Republic so far gone that they get away with it?"
to ask the question is to answer it
There's all the reason(s) in the world to believe that the 2020 election was rigged by the Democrats & employees of the federal gov't & social media bigwigs. We the people have lost the power of the vote. It's that simple.
The powers that be have been rigging elections for the far-right more and more aggressively since they got away with it in 2000 and 2004. By the time Bush/Cheney were preparing to leave office, they'd trashed the Republican brand, and Obama welcomed the neocons and Wall Street with open arms. Since 2008, the powers that be have been brazenly rigging elections for the Democrats, as they have become the party of the far-right, especially since Trump pulled so many Republicans leftward.
"is the Republic so far gone that they get away with it?"
Yes, and they (the Security State) already have gotten away with it. They succeeded in smearing and bogging down Trump's term in office with all this nonsense, even if they failed to prevent him from taking office the first time. Then, in 2020, they succeeded in keeping him from office. There does not seem to be any accountability aside from a couple dragged out and suppressed reports. The Durham report is just another report. The Mueller report has been out for years and was pretty clear that there was no collusion, but that did nothing to move the needle either. The MSM is long gone and will subdue and suppress this report so it never reaches the masses consciousness. They have fully gotten away with it.
You say "we've" known all of this for years, but that "we" is a very limited slice of the population in my estimation. The vast majority of people I know do not dig into information gathering the way you and I (and most folks reading stacks like this) seem to. Most people I know have no clue about most of these issues when I raise them in conversation. A great many people I know do not know what the Twitter files are or, if they do, what they have showed. It has been my experience that most people do not have the time or inclination to work as hard as is required to dig in and discover the truth. They do not understand that MSM is lying to them on the regular and is mainly a propaganda machine. They consume what they are fed and they go about their lives having absorbed the propaganda as "truth". This is why it works. This is why they will get away with it. When I attempt to explain the truth to these folks (and this seems to be most people) in conversation, it merely cements my status as the anti-vax conspiracy theorist that they see me as.
You got it.
I wonder though. I think a majority of Republicans saw through it all early on. My husband, sister & BIL, and Mom did. But we were also reading Kimberly Strassel at WSJ, Nat'l Review, Victor David Hanson, Real Clear Politics & watching Tucker some. I voraciously consumed print media in 2016-2020. I first found Matt in an article about the Media have lost their integrity and souls, I can't remember when that was but years ago----it made me so happy that there was at least one liberal reporter who could see truth through the lies. Some of my family bought every single word the MSM told them & still do. I naturally think of them as the less intelligent ones (even though well-educated), and man do they love some virtue signaling. I do have friends who are pretty moderate & who just don't care that much----politics isn't that important to them. I think they think Whatever----don't all politicians lie? Hasn't it always been rigged? What can I do to make any worthwhile change? And I totally get why they think that way, but I guess I'm just too much of a fighter to accept that. I believe in the traditional morals & values of America, the Founding Fathers, & I refuse to just bend the knee to these outright criminals. I am stunned the government is this deeply corrupt but I have to think the American people are good people. I would trust most common criminals over Hillary Clinton & every single person who participated in this. I wish they could all be tried and thrown in jail where they belong, but they won't because they have the DC jury pool to save their slimy asses. At least Durham investigated & wrote the report. Only the blackest heart could look at the evidence & say but but but Trump!
Yes they’ll get away with it! Jake Sullivan on the JB team now.
Finken Blinken has been doing Joe & Hunter's dirty work for quite some time now...
You might want to change “and everybody knew it “ to “everyone with any sense knew it.” My guess is about 25 to 30% will always believe these flagrant lies.
Everybody who was actually looking into the issue instead of passing off their thinking to the MSM?
Honestly I just rewatched the Game of Thrones episode where Cersei doesn't go to her trial and blows up the sept where it's held. End of season 6. And there's a point where Margaery says to the septon 'she knows the consequences of not coming and she isn't here anyway. Which indicates she doesn't intend to suffer those consequences.' Sorta reminds me of this. These people just do as they please, confident that they won't face consequences. So far they're right. We'll see if Republicans actually hold them accountable. I wouldn't bet on it.
Boom.
Yes, yes it is. Since the only solution is to defund and close down all of the federal agencies involved and Congress ain’t gonna do that.
I believe that's what adds to their fear of Trump,
Jul 23, 2022 - Politics & Policy
Inside Trump '25
Trump's revenge
https://www.axios.com/2022/07/23/donald-trump-news-schedule-f-executive-order
Updated Jul 23, 2022 - Politics & Policy
How Trump could reimpose "Schedule F" in 2025
https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-presidency-schedule-f-federal-employees
Jul 22, 2022 - Politics & Policy
Inside Trump '25
A radical plan for Trump’s second term
https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-2025-radical-plan-second-term
Creating the Monster: The American Bureaucracy
https://afnn.us/2022/08/14/creating-the-monster-the-american-bureaucracy/
This monster,
Evidence of the above; Capitol Protest - Federal Employees Zoom Call Re: Breaking Windows Plans;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrPXiz4m7nk&t=11s
House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer: Republicans "have made it quite clear they want to eliminate what they call the Deep State.
The Deep State is a cadre of professionals dedicated to honoring the Constitution (LOL) and the laws of this country.. He opens with the usual "projection" and then describes what they used to say was a conspiracy theory; the Deep State.
https://rumble.com/v1k7fbv-september-15-2022.html
No they will not get away with it. Americans are more intelligent than many give them credit for and the population is still armed.
Don't be silly. The armed population of the US is mostly interested in killing poor people and school children.
Hilarious.
Well. Nova Scotia had a madman on the loose who killed 22 people 2 years ago. The only people he encountered that survived were waiting at their front door with a loaded gun. Not a pop gun .
Sorry. A cop also survived. With a slug in his guts.
Good like fighting a Marine division with your popguns.
That and you are not the Taleban.
It's "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" with a twist. In this version, there really IS a wolf, but no matter how much the boy points to the dead and bloodied sheep and fresh wolf tracks, no one believes him; after all, the credentialed members of the Amalgamated Shepherd's Guild are nearly unanimous in dismissing the boy's fantastic tales. Eventually though, after the damage is done, one member of the guild finally gets around to saying, "You know, the boy had a point." To which the villagers just yawn and call it "old news".
At this point, I'm almost rooting for the wolf to eat 'em all and be done with it.
Don't underestimate the possible crack up of this Admin looming
They've gotten away with it.
Unless you or I do it, it won't get done. Water boards might work to get a tiny crack of integrity started.
Anyone that’s been paying a minuscule bit of attention to this fiasco for the last 6 or so years isn’t surprised by this report - at all. And the mainstream media will bury it faster than a dead cat’s carcass. Nothing will change and no one will be held accountable. Good reporting as always, Matt.
"Nothing will change and no one will be held accountable."
Which is doubly hilarious because Democrats just spent the last month telling us that nobody is above the law..........
No One Is Above The Law*
*some exceptions may apply. See your Congressman for more detail.
Just like "our democracy was at stake" in the midterm elections. Anyone doing shots to the number of times this hypnotic suggestion was repeated by a talking head got knee-walking drunk.
Some are more equal than others…
It's all hot air to the Democrats - they truly don't believe in democracy - they are power hungry