Showing posts with label ukraine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ukraine. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Our Patriotic Moment Has Come - Trump is Toast



As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to hold a vote on Impeachment this Thursday, and as the so-called President is taunted while watching the Washington Nationals play baseball with chants of "Lock Him Up" from the crowd,as well as by protestors when he visited Chicago today. Have we reached our patriotic turn of the tide at last in this country? Dare we hope that this is the beginning of the end of Trump's reign of insanity?

Is this like the moment in Casablanca when Lazslo tells the band to play Le Marseillaise?


























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Monday, April 21, 2014

Snowden Has a Sad Over Putin Question

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Previous Related Posts:
Putin and Snowden Chat About Surveillance
All Hail the Snowden Pulitzer

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Poor Little Snowden! Always misunderstood and victimized by his own words and actions! The other day he showed up on Russian TV asking Vladimir Putin a carefully prepared question about surveillance. Whether he meant it to be a brave act or not, it came across as a publicity stunt orchestrated by the Russians. Snowden tried to follow-up with an editorial in the Guardian, but the damage was done and he was being mocked all over the internet. Now his advisers are trying to absorb the blame for his staged question, saying he "couldn't get in touch with his online advisers" that day, which makes Snowden sound naive and helpless on his own. Ironically, this just points to an obvious flaw in Snowden's mythos as an idealistic maverick whistleblower ~ he is actually the puppet of many - the Wikileaks crowd, Greenwald, Poitras, Guardian UK, the Libertarians, perhaps the Chinese, as well as Putin.

From the Daily Beast
NSA leaker Edward Snowden instantly regretted asking Russian President Vladimir Putin a softball question on live television about the Kremlin’s mass surveillance effort, two sources close to the leaker tell The Daily Beast.
“It certainly didn’t go as he would’ve hoped,” one of these sources said. “I don’t think there’s any shame in saying that he made an error in judgment.”

He basically viewed the question as his first foray into criticizing Russia. He was genuinely surprised that in reasonable corridors it was seen as the opposite
. . . I know this is hard to believe. I know if I was just watching from afar, I’d think, ‘Wow, they forced him [Snowden] to do this.' But it’s not true. He just f***ing did it.
~ Ben Wizner, ACLU Attorney and Snowden Adviser

I was surprised that people who witnessed me risk my life to expose the surveillance practices of my own country could not believe that I might also criticise the surveillance policies of Russia, a country to which I have sworn no allegiance, without ulterior motive. I regret that my question could be misinterpreted, and that it enabled many to ignore the substance of the question – and Putin's evasive response – in order to speculate, wildly and incorrectly, about my motives for asking it.
~ Edward Snowden in The Guardian UK



























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Jealous Clowns Brooks and Todd Discuss Whether Obama is a Manly Alpha-Dog ~ Updated

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Previous Related Posts:
Armchair Chicken Hawks Call Obama Weak, Trembling and Feckless on Russia
Obama Baffles Media by Ordering Congress to Vote on Syria
Chuck Todd Admits that Truth Isn't Part of His Job Description
David Brooks: GOP are Wackos Because Obama Divides GOP
Chuck Todd Jumps the Shark over Romney Voting Machines

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On Meet the Press this Sunday, Old Frat Boy David Brooks and MSNBC's Non-Journalist Chuck Todd questioned the President's "Manhood" in dealing with world affairs. The irony is painfully obvious. Number one, both of them are pretty much the antithesis of Macho, using talking points from the #GOP on any given day like a couple of trained parrots, which is an insult to parrots. And number two, they just sound jealous, as if they have career ~ if not "manhood" ~ envy.

They're just so ready to emasculate the President now that Obamacare is a success, while GOP has gone flaccid except for their "Patriot" rhetoric. The Republican Presidential candidates are the return of the clown show, and the Tea Party only wants to have an armed insurrection in Nevada. I guess size really does matter when you are the incredible shrinking party.

Transcript Via Crooks and Liars

DAVID BROOKS: And, let's face it, Obama, whether deservedly or not, does have a (I'll say it crudely) but a manhood problem in the Middle East: Is he tough enough to stand up to somebody like Assad, somebody like Putin? I think a lot of the rap is unfair. But certainly in the Middle East, there's an assumption he's not tough.

. . . CHUCK TODD: And isolating Putin, but also just sort of containing this issue, because there is this fear, as you know. He doesn't want this to become the rest of his presidency, you know. But in many ways, he is being tested here in some way on how he handles Ukraine.

So, for instance, I'm about to hop on a plane in two days. We're going on this Asia trip. And, oh, by the way, Japan has an issue with islands with China; Korea has some territorial issues. There are a lot of countries in Asia that have territorial issues with China. Where is the United States going to sit when this decides to raise its head and become an issue there? So that's why this does matter globally, sort of how the White House responds to this. And they have no interest right now in doing sectoral things.

DAVID BROOKS:I mean, basically since Yalta, we've had an assumption that borders are basically going to be borders. And once that comes into question, if in Ukraine or in Crimea or anywhere else, then all over the world, you know, the tokens--

CHUCK TODD: All bets are off.

DAVID BROOKS: All bets are off.

CHUCK TODD: It is open.

CHUCK TODD: By the way, internally, they fear this. You know, it's not just Bob Corker saying it, okay, questioning whether the president is being alpha male. That's essentially what he's saying: He's not alpha dog enough. His rhetoric isn't tough enough. They agree with the policy decisions that they're making. Nobody is saying-- but it is sort of the rhetoric. Internally this is a question.

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. . . It was this president who escalated the use of force against al Qaeda; it was this president that launched the mission that killed bin Laden; it was this president who increased the use of predator drones to strike at terrorist suspects (including killing Americans affiliated with al Qaeda living abroad); it was this president who helped assemble an international coalition to strike at the Gadhafi regime in Libya; and on and on.
. . . If you knew literally nothing about the last five years, you might hear this chatter about “manhood” and “alpha males” and assume that President Obama was a pacifist, reluctant to use military force under any circumstances. But given what we know about what actually happened over the last five years, the scuttlebutt is just bizarre.
~ Steve Benen, Maddow Blog

The racial aspect adds another dimension. Obama’s entire political career has been defined by pushing back against the “threatening, black alpha-male” stereotype. Conciliation, not confrontation, is not just his style, but the core of his substance as well.
. . . The more that physicality, per se, is demonized in the black male, the more problematic it becomes for white males asserting their own masculine identities, particularly their power over women. This inherent, largely buried contradiction lies close to the core of the GOP’s current problems, simultaneously losing the votes of women and minorities in a long demographic decline.
Faced with this reality, the GOP has no choice. No matter how riddled with contradictions it may be, faulting Barack Obama for his performance of masculinity is the only possible move Republicans have left.
~ Paul Rosenberg on Salon

Brooks exemplifies the problem with US foreign policy, which is that the inside-the-beltway chickenhawks with small peckers equate military aggression with “manhood.”
~ Juan Cole on TruthDig

How is it that the GOP still feels that if you don't threaten a war, you are not a man? It galls the GOP to no end that Obama is smart enough to fix problems and avoid conflicts without resorting to warfare.
~ ImaPragmatist on Huffington Post

Because as every good Tea-Thuglican knows, the only way to deal with any foreign country is by whipping out your missile and wagging it in their face.
~ Shawn K. on ThinkProgress

More Old White Ba___ds trying to Castrate a Black man.
War loving, A**kissing,"CHICKENHAWKS!" make me sick.
~ Tom L. on ThinkProgress

These folks are to funny...in other words, Obama is not being the bully of the world they are so accustomed too! And that's exactly why we reelected him! Alpha males don't start or look for fights...or stick our nose in others business!
~ Art W. on ThinkProgress

Pasty GOP Media Tools Chuck Todd and David Brooks Decide That Obama Has a Manhood Problem
~ Headline on PoliticusUSA





















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Friday, April 18, 2014

Putin and Snowden Chat about Surveillance

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Previous Related Posts:
All Hail the Snowden Pulitzer
Putin Shambles on Ukraine with Bizarro-World Press Conference
Snowden Evolves into Max Headroom for Ted Talk
Define Spy For Us ~ Greenwald and Snowden's Secrets
Snowden Finally Leaves Russian Airport
Snowden in Moscow Limbo
Crime or Punishment? Snowden Remains Stuck in Moscow Airport
Snowden the Heroic Outlaw

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President Vladimir Putin of Russia did one of his Q&A sessions on Live TV and guess who just happened to participate? His boy Edward Snowden, the spy most famous for stealing America's hi-tech secrets from the NSA. Once again Snowden appeared via live television, in a scene reminiscent of his recent "Max Headroom" appearance at a Ted Talk.

In a moment full of irony for the whole world but especially Europe right now, Snowden asked Putin if Russia uses surveillance. Yes, that really happened. As a child who grew up during the Cold War, the thought of asking a Russian Leader about oversight on citizens is a waste of a question. Of course they use surveillance! And Snowden knows good and well that every modern country has cameras everywhere. But the ultimate irony is that we are supposed to believe that Snowden asked that question of his own accord, and that none of it was a staged set-up to once again poke Obama in the eye. In the same live interview Putin proudly speaks of renaming Ukraine "Novorussia" - I guess Edward Snowden doesn't care about wars and aggression, as long as Putin doesn't have cameras everywhere. Oh wait - remember the Sochi Olympics when journalists and athletes discovered cameras in their rooms, even in the showers?

By the way, Ed - your friend Vlad is watching you right now.

From the New York Times
In a stunningly bold poke at the White House, the Kremlin arranged for Mr. Snowden, who is wanted on espionage charges, to ask Mr. Putin about Russia’s surveillance practices. Told there was a question from Mr. Snowden, Mr. Putin responded slyly, saying, “Well, how could we do without this?”

. . . “So I’d like to ask you,” he continued, “does Russia intercept, store or analyze in any way the communications of millions of individuals?”

Mr. Putin, a former K.G.B. agent and director of the Russian intelligence service, played up their experience in spycraft.

“Mr. Snowden, you are a former agent,” the president replied. “I used to work for an intelligence service. Let’s speak in a professional language.”
“Our intelligence efforts are strictly regulated by our law,” Mr. Putin said. “You have to get a court’s permission first.” He noted that terrorists use electronic communications and that Russia had to respond to that threat.
“Of course we do this,” Mr. Putin said. “But we don’t use this on such a massive scale, and I hope that we won’t.”


After Twitter erupted with disbelief and mockery, Snowden responded - where else? - in the Guardian UK, a newspaper that just shared a Pulitzer Prize with Washington Post, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras for releasing Snowden's secrets to the public. According to Snowden he was trying to hold Putin to the same standards as the United States. Or you could see it another way - it was just another opportunity for Snowden to get face-time on TV for the "cause" of praising his rescuer Putin and shaming America from a nice hidey-hole in Russia.

Guardian UK
I was surprised that people who witnessed me risk my life to expose the surveillance practices of my own country could not believe that I might also criticise the surveillance policies of Russia, a country to which I have sworn no allegiance, without ulterior motive. I regret that my question could be misinterpreted, and that it enabled many to ignore the substance of the question – and Putin's evasive response – in order to speculate, wildly and incorrectly, about my motives for asking it.
The investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov, perhaps the single most prominent critic of Russia's surveillance apparatus (and someone who has repeatedly criticised me in the past year), described my question as "extremely important for Russia". It could, he said, "lift a de facto ban on public conversations about state eavesdropping."














































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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Jon Karl and Mitt ~ Obama is Weak Because Putin Does Stuff

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Previous Related Posts:
Jonathan Karl Issues Non-Apology Apology Over Fake Benghazi Emails
ABC's Jon Karl Gets Juiced by Fake Benghazi Leak
3rd Debate 2012 ~ Horses and Bayonets
Romney - Most Awkward Candidate of All Time?
Republicans Predict Romney Landslide

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Mitt just can't seem to go away. Yes, during the last Presidential debate he did sort-of predict that Vladimir Putin might cause trouble in the future. Duh. But when asked what he would do differently from President Obama about the invasion of Ukraine, he had nothing but sanctions and more sanctions, which is what is happening now. Then along comes White House Press Corps member Jonathan Karl riding posse for Mitt, asking the President to 'splain his Fail, and Obama was having none of it. Epic smackdown!

Transcript of CBS Face the Nation March 23, 2014
Good morning, Governor, and welcome back to FACE THE NATION. During the campaign, and I want to start with this, you took a lot of heat for saying that Russia was our greatest geopolitical foe. In the third debate, the President came down pretty hard on you about that.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (2012): A few months ago when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America you said Russia. Not al Qaeda, you said Russia. And the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War has been over for twenty years.

BOB SCHIEFFER: I'm sure, Governor, you're tempted this morning to say, I told you so, but do you really believe that what happened in Ukraine had anything to do with what President Obama has or hasn't done?

MITT ROMNEY (2012 Republican Presidential Nominee): Well, there's no question, but that the-- the President's naivety with regards to-- to Russia and his faulty judgment about Russia's intentions and objectives has led to a number of foreign policy challenges that we face. And unfortunately not having anticipated Russia's intentions, the President wasn't able to shape the kinds of events that may have been able to prevent the kinds of circumstances that you're seeing in the Ukraine as well as the things that you're seeing in Syria.

. . . BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, we had put on some sanctions now, they don't seem to have done much good. You're saying if we had done it earlier, how-- how actually would we have done that? And-- and are the sanctions they put on now, do we need stronger sanctions?

MITT ROMNEY: Well, let's-- let's step back. I think effective leaders typically are able to see the future to a certain degree and then try and take actions to shape it in some way. And that's, of course, what this President has failed to do and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well. They thought resetting relations with Russia, handing out gifts to Russia would somehow make Russia change its objectives. Well, that certainly wasn't the case.
Had we from the very beginning of the demonstrations in Crimea, excuse me, in-- in Ukraine, had we worked with our allies and said, look, let's talk about the kinds of severe sanctions we would put in place if Russia were to decide to move and had we then communicated that to Russia beforehand, not put in place the sanctions, but communicate, look, Russia, stand down here. Don't you think about grabbing territory or these are the things that will have to happen. These are the actions we will take. And by the way, Russia, we're not going to interfere with your base in Sevastopol and so forth. Had we communicated those things there is always the potential that we could have kept them from invading a country and annexing it into their own?




Transcript Via RealClearPolitics
JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS: Mr. President, thank you. In China, in Syria, in Egypt, and now in Russia we've seen you make strong statements, issue warnings that have been ignored. Are you concerned that America's influence in the world -- that your influence in the world -- is on the decline? And in light of recent developments, do you think Mitt Romney had a point when he said that Russia is America's greatest geopolitical foe, if not Russia, who? And Mr. Prime Minister, do you think these sanctions will change Vladimir Putin's calculation? Or cause him to back down. Where do you see a Russian red line where if they go any further, into Eastern Ukraine, into Moldova, when would options beyond sanctions have to be considered?

BARACK OBAMA: I think if the premise of the question is that whenever the United States objects to an action and other countries don't immediately do what we want, that that's been the norm, that would pretty much erase most of twentieth century history.
. . . Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors, not out of strength but out of weakness...
. . . The fact that Russia felt compelled to go in militarily and lay bare these violations of international law indicates less influence, not more.





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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Snowden Evolves into Max Headroom for TED Talk

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Forget about the Russian invasion of Crimea in Ukraine - Edward Snowden needs to talk about the security of the United States as a remote robot! No really - irony is lost on this guy. We are in danger from the NSA, but meanwhile his friend Putin is invading other countries, not to mention spying on everybody. But nevermind that - Snowden is a hero!

Previous Related Posts:
Define Spy For Us ~ Greenwald and Snowden Secrets
Snowden Supporters Applaud His Empty Chair in Berlin
Edward Snowden ~ Hero or Villain

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Whistleblower Edward Snowden has appeared as a surprise guest at the Ted (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference in Vancouver.
Speaking via a robotic screen from an undisclosed location in Russia, the fugitive promised that there are more revelations to come.
He urged tech firms to protect users by encrypting all web pages.
Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee joined him on stage, describing him as a "hero".
~ The BBC

At the end of Snowden’s appearance, Anderson stuck a TED conference badge on Snownden’s bot and invited him to stick around for the week. With that, he rolled offstage, accompanied by his lawyer
~ Wired

Complete TED Transcript Here
Chris Anderson: You’ve been called many things in the last few months: whistleblower, traitor, hero… What words would you use to describe yourself?

Edward Snowden: You know, everybody who’s involved with this debate has been struggling over me, my personality and how to describe me. This isn’t the question we should be struggling with. Who I am really doesn’t matter at all. If I’m the worst person in the world, hate me and move on. What really matters here are the issues of the government we want, the Internet we want, the relationship between people and societies. That’s what I hope the debate will move towards. If i had to describe myself, I’m not a hero, patriot, traitor. I’d say I’m an American and a citizen. [Applause.]












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So surreal you could fry an egg on it.
~ Dave F. on YouTube

The nay Sayers of this video don't have a clue the planets round. Go back to your trailor park and be the all American you can be by being on welfare and taking pills and become controlled like a puppet 
~ Zachary V. YouTube

Just wait until you see Edward Snowden become the US president in few years LOL
This guy is making history, similar to Nelson Mandela!
~ DJ Lando on YouTube

Anyone noticing the irony that Snowden is only able to make his case for liberty and democracy because it happens to be a good way for Putin to poke the US in the eye?
~ Kevin T. on YouTube

Snowden might as well be working for RT (Russia Today)
Snowden said "What really matters here is the kind of government we want; the kind of internet we want."
The kind of place where child porn purveyors can trade their wares without worrying about prosecution.
Russia is playing him like a fool, stroking his ego to keep the goods coming.
~ SaucyMugWump on ZDNet






























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Saturday, March 8, 2014

CPAC 2014 ~ Lookit, We Have Crazy Women Speakers, Also Too

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Previous Related Posts:
CPAC 2014: Guns in the Air, Clowns on the Stairs
CPAC 2014: Persecution and Putin-Envy

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One question I've asked several times over the past few days is where are all the women of CPAC? There are only a few showing up in pictures I've seen, and even fewer on the stage. So today should be a relief except that the two women on the docket are Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin, who was actually banned from last year's CPAC, just like Chris Christie. What a difference a year makes! Oh wait . . . it's still the same old #GOP after all.

LA Times: The CPAC Gender Gap
. . . the CPAC mobile app listed 163 speakers and panelists. Men outnumber women by far.
The breakdown: 128 men (78%) vs 35 (21%) women. That’s a 57% gender gap, people. If Republicans have any hope of stopping the Democrats' blockbuster narrative that they are waging a war on women, they must first solve their own war of attrition on women.
. . . Even a writer on the conservative website, Breitbart.com, was brutal: “CPAC could have invited South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley or New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez," wrote Mary Chastain. "These women are not only in a position of power, but they are also minorities. Martinez can reach out to women and the Latino vote, which leans to the left. They did not even bring in Condoleezza Rice … she is respected on both sides of the aisle. CPAC also left out Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.”

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I do not like this, Uncle Sam.
I do not like this healthcare scam.
I do not like these dirty crooks
Or how they cry and cook the books
I do not like when Congress steals
I do not like their crony deals
I do not like 'oh yes, we can'
I do not like this spending spree
We're smart, we know nothing's free
I do not like reporters' smug replies
When I complain about their lies
I do not like this kind of hope
And we won't take it
Nope, nope, nope!
~ Ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin




Mr. President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.



The other party talks a lot about nominating a woman in 2016, and that's fine. But she's going to have a lot of tough questions that she's going to have to answer.
. . . We will have a woman for president, just the right one.
. . . Don't forget, we are the party, the only party, that had a woman on the presidential ticket this century.
~ Michelle Bachmann, R-Minnesota and former Republican Presidential Candidate, Dissing Hillary Clinton

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. . . it’s a cruel and Selfish thing…for the upper classes…to refuse to tell poor people ‘keep your knees together before you’re married' – that would solve so many of life’s problems.
. . . people who (are) crossing the border illegally in the back of trucks marked, you know, ‘pico de gallo,’ hiding in barrels, running from the border guard – it’s not like they didn’t know what they were doing was wrong.
. . . My favorite network for humor is MSNBC. They’re always sneering, demographics are changing. No this isn’t a natural process. It’s like you’re being raped and the guy is telling you ‘my penis is in you.’ No, you’re raping me. Demographics are changing by force. There is nothing natural about it.
~ Ann Coulter, scared of the demographics, via The Blaze






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