Important or Shiny Object?
The Republicans have a brilliant plan. They do something dirty nasty horrible to try to kill democracy and then they wave bright shiny things in my face to keep me from remembering the dirty nasty horrible thing to destroy democracy that they did in the first place.
I am easily distracted by shiny crap. I know that because I can go driving around looking at Christmas lights and never really remember any of them individually because I’m distracted by the house across the street before I commit any of them to memory.
So ….
I am wondering, is this Important or is it Shiny Crap? Michael Flynn palling-around with the Russians.
Reuters reported last month, citing three sources familiar with the matter, that Flynn had held five phone calls with Kislyak on Dec. 29, the day then-President Barack Obama retaliated for Moscow’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The Post said Flynn on Wednesday denied that he had discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador, but on Thursday backed away from the denial through a spokesman.
You know, that would be kinda bad, especially since President Obama fired Flynn for being a hysterical, Chicken Little whiny butt jackass. Did Flynn call Russia and say, “Don’t worry about the black guy because we can fix this?”
It sounds like a really big deal but only because I think it may be a trinket on the Christmas tree of Russian interference in our election.
Thanks to everybody for the heads up.
The shiny things they flash now are immigration turmoil, danger, danger Will Robinson in the middle east, border wall, China, Australia and shopping hints at Nordstrom. Meanwhile the Russians are massing citizen soldiers at the Belarus border, while its dictator has suspended all visa requirements, the US congress has negated the need for oil companies to report payments made to foreign governments and Secretary Exxon meets with trump and his richest supporter.
1And KaC’s husband might be our next Solicitor General. Please smile.
Shiny thing, definitely. Focus on the goal; make Trump a half-term president.
2Total Twinkie. Not twinkle. I said Twinkie. I see a strait jacket in his future.
3Not the worst thing they’ve done but definitely a symptom. Reminds me of Nixon dicking (couldn’t resist) with the Paris peace talks to enhance his own odds of election.
4I sometimes think that the shiny light sparkling off in the darkness ahead is an on-coming train. I hope not.
5@Micr … it’s probably the Polar Express heading for Siberia with no stop at the North Pole. 🙁
6That was one of the quids for the quo of destroying Hillary’s chances. Trump owed Vlad big time and Putin expected payback.
7Flynn is as big a traitor as Trump. This is not an inconsequential violation of decorum. This was treason.
I think that it’s potentially a pretty big deal, involving violation of the Logan Act. And there should be an investigation, and a prosecution, if warranted. Flynn is an unstable, dangerous guy, and doesn’t belong in any important government position.
Because Folks, everything that the Trump administration does is testing us, whether deliberately or not. The deplorable Cabinet selections, the flurry of Executive Orders, the continued flaunting of the Emoluments Clause, and on and on, all coming at us at once, like an angry swarm of bees.These people are the most lawless bunch ever to come into power in the US. They recognize no authority but their own. Every time they try to take an inch, we need to push back. Because if they gain any ground, retaking it will be nearly impossible. And every time there’s pushback, the real people in power, like Bannon, rethink and try something else. Trump is pretty much clueless, and is a useful Blunt Instrument, and an invaluable distraction. The thing we can probably best afford to ignore are his tweets, and to encourage the media to do the same. As Rachel Maddow says, stop listening to what they say; start watching what they do.
Their strategy is to exhaust us, to wear us down until the millions of newly energized citizens get tired or distracted, and sink back into apathy and denial. So though it’s exhausting, remember that though there are only a limited number of major media outlets, there are millions of us citizens opposing these thugs. There are more of us than there are of them. We each have a voice. And we need to use our voices with our Congressmen, our local media, our families, friends, coworkers – everyone. Question, inform, encourage, motivate.
And we don’t each have to know about every issues. Share information. Pick what affects you most. But Question EVERYTHING the Trumpies do or say. Take nothing at face value. Because we know that they lie. It’s just a question of determining what that lie is concealing, or distracting us from. Then prioritize your response.
Trump’s approval rating went below 50% by his 8th day in office – astonishing. We can dump this chump. Then we need to reset for what comes next with Pence. A more discreet, and therefore dangerous, opponent, with an appalling agenda. But much less likely to get us all blown up, or converted to a satellite of Russia.
8Once again a member of Trump’s inner circle is caught lying and breaking the law. I imagine Flynn will receive the same “brutal” talking to that Conway received.
9When everything is a provocation, nothing is.
they know that no one can sustain anger and outrage forever, and Democrats are worse at it than anyone else. We’re the average, not the extreme. Hell, even republicans take turns being “outraged.”
Pick a focal point and all ahead full. I can’t get any more enraged than I am, so it makes no sense to me to worry at all about Flynn. When Trump goes, so will he, Bannon, and Jared, et. al. At that point, we better have the senate and a whole lot more people in the house, cause next comes Pence.
10Lunargent, that’s one of the best analyses of this bunch of blackguards that I’ve seen, and I’ve copied it off, with attribution, for later reference. When it all goes pear-shaped, we’ll know that you saw what was happening.
11Great posts, all. I called my Senators and asked what they are doing to get an investigation started on trump/bannon connection to Putin. The two of them along with Flynn and who knows who else. This is treason. Where is the outrage? Where are the Washington Post? The New York Times? Call your lawmakers. Keep this in their faces.
12Excellent, Lunargent. Let’s all keep in mind that Flynn is kind of stupid, too. He believed that load of turds his son told him about the DC Pizza parlor. I think it’s still on the table somewhere for some desperate republican to stir up all over again when they run out of real stuff.
13On jeopardy tonight, category: the elements, which one was named for the moon? and all I could think of was Lunargent
Then I get in here and read his wonderful cogent analysis.
All I can say is there are a lot of shining things whirling around, but tug on this Flynn thread. With the partial confirmation of the MI-6 man’s Trump dossier, Flynn indeed is looking more and more like the guy detailed to handle the sub rosa coordination with Russia, first pre-election. Word is that all lines of intelligence are being drawn into his office, jeopardizing the perspective multiple independent flows of data and analysis.
There’s a lot of smoke there.
14I know Flynn got canned by the Obama administration, but I can’t find anything definitive about why. All I can find is the requisite boilerplate “no comment” and “thanks for his service” stuff. Is there somewhere that shows a more lucid and honest explanation?
Thanks, folks.
15WA Skeptic:
From Flynn’s Wikipedia page:
Retirement
On April 30, 2014, Flynn announced his retirement effective later in 2014, about a year earlier than he had been scheduled to leave his position. He was reportedly effectively forced out of the DIA after clashing with superiors over his allegedly chaotic management style and vision for the agency.[22][23][24][25] In a private email which was leaked online, Colin Powell said that he had heard in the DIA (apparently from later DIA director Vincent R. Stewart) that Flynn got fired because he was “Abusive with staff, didn’t listen, worked against policy, bad management, etc.”[24] According to the New York Times, Flynn exhibited a loose relationship with facts, leading his subordinates to refer to Flynn’s repeated dubious assertions as “Flynn facts”.[26]
There’s also this tidbit:
Attendance of RT Gala Dinner
In 2015, Flynn attended a gala dinner in Moscow in honor of RT, a Russian government-owned English-language media outlet on which he made semi-regular appearances as an analyst after he retired from U.S. government service. Before the gala, Flynn gave a paid talk on world affairs.[7][8] Flynn defended the Russian payment in an interview with Michael Isikoff.[8] Journalist Michael Crowley of Politico reported that “at a moment of semi-hostility between the U.S. and Russia, the presence of such an important figure at Putin’s table startled” U.S. officials, in reference to president Vladimir Putin’s attendance of the dinner as the guest of honor.[7]
16I understand that the DeVos family are Christian Reconstructionists. Reconstructionists are an extreme group who believe it is their duty to take over the civil government of the United States and run it as a theocracy. (It’s God’s will, don you know.)
17Orange Lunatic and Flynn are golfing with Russian Dmitry Rybolovev in Florida at this moment. The question in the Twitterverse and several reasonable news outlets, including AP and Wapo, is this: Is Dmy Putie’s Russian handler of Orange and Flynn? AP and Wapo don’t put it so bluntly. Daily Kos has the story:
18https://goo.gl/0YnCkg
Doesn’t matter if it’s God or Trump he’s working for, it’s still treason.
19Aww, thanks, guys! (blush)
A friend called me at 10:45 last night to alert me that Maddow was covering this on her show. The WAPO story has NINE sources, which is an extraordinary number, apparently. It seems that many patriotic intelligence sources are really frustrated that the Congressional leaders, i.e. Mitch McConnell, didn’t do their jobs and launch an investigation when they were briefed on this last summer.
I think this may be it. If Trump doesn’t fire Flynn immediately, it’s only proof that Flynn and the Russkies (delightfully retro, don’t you think?) really do have some serious dirt on him. Because at very least, he should be fired. I think an investigation, indictment, and conviction would be more appropriate. I don’t think it rises to treason, because the bar is set so high for that. But this guy belongs in prison. And he should have lots of company. Tell me Tillerson isn’t part of this toxic brew.
And I saw this morning that Putin is maybe offering to send Snowden back as a gift for Donnie? That would be a yuuuuge distraction. I have real problems with Snowden, of course. But I think exposing all the NSA data collection was the right thing to do. Making the specific data public, OTOH, was pretty horrible.
Remember: Deplorable as he is, Donnie is the carnival barker, drawing the crowd. The real threats are his accomplices, the pickpockets in that crowd.
20Shiny object.
Important : Cuellar votes for Trumpism 75% of the time.
21Can we find an actual, you know, _Democrat_ to primary him next time around ?
And if we do so, can that person win?
I think you’re onto something with the shiny-object-theory, JJ.
Here’s the latest, imho:
I do believe the Mike Flynn debacle is a real deal — not a distraction.
It is speculated [at the least — perhaps it is KNOWN] that he told Russia [before the election], “Don’t you worry your pretty little heads about those nasty sanctions! We’ll take care of them for you once we’re in office. Oh, and btw, that fixing the election thingy is on track, right fellas?”
So then all that came to light — and right on cue — Kellyanne went on live teevee and did a commercial for Ivanka Trump’s merchandise. Saying, in essence, “Lookee over here! Pay no attention to that man over there! I”M the story!”
What do you want to bet 45 [I’m not using his name anymore. His number is sufficient] is congratulating himself. “I’m, like, a smart person. A VERY smart person! The rubes will never figure out the bait-and-switch Kellyanne and I just pulled off, right? Right?”
I’m expecting Kellyanne to get a promotion right soon. She just took one for the team and will be rewarded after the furor dies down.
22two crows, you and Ms. Juanita Jean are “all of the above” correct in my estimation. He of dubious distinction, Steve Miller, was out again floating the false voter ‘fraud’ message. In the modern era, perhaps our voter rolls state be state could be cleaner, so when a person moves to another state or dies, their names are removed from state voter rolls. But what Miller is saying is a leap from that reality with no evidence that people are voting in more than one state. Key word – clean; no Snotty Wanker expunging or NC ‘precision’ shenanigans.
If Miller were serious about talking voter fraud or interference, he would be discussing Flynn, Manafort, Boris Epshteyn, Uday and Qusay Drumpf, maybe Jared, certainly “no colt” 45 himself, and a few others.
In fact maybe little punter Jason Chaffetz should have a conversation with Mitch McConnell about what he knew last July, who also knew it and why they were sitting on the information. For the joy of head/desk hit pain on receiving a sane answer or any answer, will inquire with our Tea Bag Dean Heller, part-time Senator, full time Koch fluffer.
And, maybe there is something in the silence. AZ and GA residents, you might ask your Senators McCain and Graham why they have been so silent on a topic, Russia, that normally sends them on the Sunday morning bobble head tour yammer fest. Seriously. Their silence is odd. Scared silent?
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