Althouse: At the Magenta Café...

May 18, 2018

At the Magenta Café...

... you can talk about whatever you like.

And please use my portal to Amazon.

118 comments:

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: Santa Fe, TX perp. Biological parents married and living together with the boy?; 5/18/18, 8:26 PM
FIDO said...: Instapundit has a collage. It seems being 'woke' no longer cuts it for white women. They are racists too, no matter how many black men they sleep with in college.

Even Cassandra would dismiss this as being too predictable.; 5/18/18, 8:28 PM
Humperdink said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/18/18, 8:33 PM
pacwest said...: I've read a couple of articles lately that say the states revenues have went up due to the federal tax cuts since the state taxes are based upon the federal taxes. That's a good thing for the states.; 5/18/18, 8:52 PM
Ralph L said...: I tried growing a deciduous magnolia like this 30 years ago, and it just didn't grow well and never bloomed.; 5/18/18, 9:13 PM
Darrell said...: 18 U.S. Code § 2384 – Seditious conspiracy

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.; 5/18/18, 9:37 PM
MadisonMan said...: Our magnolia did well this year -- but the lilacs were a big disappointment. I'm guessing the cold April is the culprit.; 5/18/18, 9:39 PM
chickelit said...: “Santa Fe, TX perp. Biological parents married and living together with the boy?”

The important factor is whether the dad was NRA or not. /sarc; 5/18/18, 9:58 PM
Big Mike said...: Took the wife on a date to see the "Avengers" movie. One of the downsides of having acquaintances who worked at the EPA is how much the villain Thanos sounds like perfectly serious environmentalists. [shivers]; 5/18/18, 10:19 PM
buwaya said...: Richard Pipes just passed away.
Expert on Russia and the Soviet Union, and a great Cold warrior.
One of the architects of victory.

His "Russia under the Old Regime" was a must-read. I think I found it in the old Army&Navy Club (the old US joint-services officers club in Manila, of which we were civilian members), perhaps a USNI edition of the late 70s. This was a deliberate homage to Hyppolyte Taine of course, Taine's "L'Ancien Regime", both being analytical histories.; 5/18/18, 10:21 PM
FIDO said...: I have heard an environmentalist pine wistfully for something like the Black Death to 'fix' the population problem.; 5/18/18, 10:26 PM
heyboom said...: So even the local news folks are tripping over themselves trying to show Rudy Guiliani as a hypocrite for his evolving views on whether a president can be subpoenaed. Complete with past video of him stating so. Funny, but I don't remember ever seeing anything similar when Obama's views evolved on gay marriage.; 5/18/18, 10:29 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-18/trump-wanted-to-double-amazon-postal-rates-washington-post-says

“President Donald Trump pushed U.S. Postal Service officials to double package delivery rates paid by Amazon.com Inc. and other companies, the Washington Post reported, highlighting that his beef with the e-commerce giant and founder Jeff Bezos goes beyond tweets.

Trump pressured U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan to raise Amazon’s rates, which Brennan resisted by explaining that the agency was bound by contract and any changes would have to be approved by a regulatory commission, the newspaper said, citing unidentified people familiar with their conversations.”

Shades of Richard Nixon and Abuse of Power, misuse of his authority to go after personal enemies. Because of animosity toward the Washington Post and jealousy of Bezos, the richest man in the world, Trump seems to want to add more charges to go toward impeachment.; 5/18/18, 10:31 PM
Darrell said...: The Left wants to get down to a "sustainable" global population of 1.5 billion--a number they pulled out of their ass, the same way they come up will all of their numbers. So 5.5 billion of you will have to go! Of course, that number is now low, but if they can off 5.5 billion, they can do more.; 5/18/18, 10:31 PM
FIDO said...: Inga, let me type this slowly so you can understand it: breaking a contract is not a high crime or misdemeanor. America has voided contracts many times in the past.

It might make you like him even less (and he tells me he loses sleep every time you get peevish at him) but wanting that traffic ticket to be the ticket to Mueller getting rid of Trump...not happening.

But you go ahead and dream big, sweetie!; 5/18/18, 10:38 PM
Darrell said...: The USPS loses money on every package delivered for Amazon, and taxpayers eventually pay the difference. That's cool with Crazy Inga, of course, because Bezos is part of the Resistance. Accountability dies in the darkness.; 5/18/18, 10:38 PM
buwaya said...: And other companies, not just Amazon.
The USPS is bleeding money.
The argument re "jealousy" vs Bezos is spin.; 5/18/18, 10:38 PM
Darrell said...: Insanity---and beyond!
--Crazy Inga, a.k.a. Buzz Badyear.; 5/18/18, 10:40 PM
Darrell said...: When Obama heard the USPS would be losing money on every package delivered, he said "But we can make it up with volume!"; 5/18/18, 10:41 PM
buwaya said...: Pipes was one of the core of the scholars and intellectuals holding the fort in a hostile environment, even back then.

He and Robert Conquest and Paul Johnson and Solzhenitsyn and a few others, on the nature and evil of the enemy.

The West had few friends among the serious scribblers. Its worse now.; 5/18/18, 10:47 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: FIDO, let me spell it out for you. Using the power of one’s high office to harm your personal enemies is an abuse of Presidential power.

Think Richard Nixon and the LA Times, think Nixon tapes and what he told the head of the IRS and FBI to do to the owner of the LA Times and his family. Abuse of Power was Article 2 in the articles of impeachment that would have been used in Nixon’s impeachment had he not resigned.; 5/18/18, 10:48 PM
Darrell said...: Obama used the IRS, the DOJ, the FBI and intelligence agencies to punish his enemies. Crazy Inga is cool with that.; 5/18/18, 10:54 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “The USPS loses money on every package delivered for Amazon, and taxpayers eventually pay the difference. That's cool with Crazy Inga, of course, because Bezos is part of the Resistance. Accountability dies in the darkness.”

No they don’t.

“The Postal Service reported a net loss of $2.7 billion for 2017. It has lost $65.1 billion since 2007. Much of the red ink is attributed to a 2006 law mandating that USPS pre-fund future retirees’ health benefits.

First-class mail, the USPS’ biggest source of revenue, also continued to shrink, seeing a $1.87 billion revenue loss in fiscal year 2017.

Package delivery, however, was one of the few bright spots in its latest financial statement. In 2017, parcels brought in $19.5 billion, or 28 percent of USPS’ annual revenue. At $2.1 billion, packages contributed the largest revenue increase.

Deals with private shippers like Amazon accounted for $7 billion of the $19.5 billion in revenue.”

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/apr/02/donald-trump/trump-usps-postal-service-amazon-losing-fortune/; 5/18/18, 10:55 PM
Darrell said...: Now Trump can't possibly want the taxpayers to stop losing money on crappy deals negotiated by incompetent twenty-somethings out of Lefty indoctrination colleges. Nooooo. That's not impeachable.; 5/18/18, 10:57 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Dumb Darrell,

You can’t read obviously. Poor dumb Darrell.

“Package delivery, however, was one of the few bright spots in its latest financial statement. In 2017, parcels brought in $19.5 billion, or 28 percent of USPS’ annual revenue. At $2.1 billion, packages contributed the largest revenue increase.“; 5/18/18, 10:59 PM
Darrell said...: If you don't pay into retirement programs starting on the worker's first day, you'll be in a huge mess come retirement time--like Illinois, Chicago, and many others are finding.; 5/18/18, 11:00 PM
narciso said...: Indeed buwaya one of the greats has passed, his multiple studies inn the Russian revolution, notably the personality of Lenin are classic.

He formed team b which challenged the consensus about Soviet economic and military policy.; 5/18/18, 11:02 PM
Darrell said...: At $2.1 billion, packages contributed the largest revenue increase.“

And if they are losing money on every package, the loss must exceed $2.1 Billion. Considerably. Inga goes for making it up on volume, too.; 5/18/18, 11:02 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: buwaya said...

Richard Pipes just passed away.
Expert on Russia and the Soviet Union, and a great Cold warrior.
One of the architects of victory."

RIP. He was less well known than Tom Wolfe,but both were giants in very different ways.; 5/18/18, 11:03 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Don’t be a dummy Darrell.

“What if your credit card company told you: “You will charge a million dollars on your credit card during your life; please enclose the million dollars in your next bill payment. It’s the responsible thing to do.” Doesn’t seem quite right, does it?

Well, that’s what the U.S. Postal Service’s requirement to prefund its long-term pension and healthcare liabilities is like. The Postal Service is required to pay the full estimate of its liabilities, currently estimated at nearly $404 billion, even as that estimate moves around and is based on assumptions that are highly uncertain and can frequently change over the life of the liability. Our recent white paper, Considerations in Structuring Estimated Liabilities, evaluates these assumptions and other considerations and shows the Postal Service is closer to being fully funded, or potentially overfunded, when certain assumptions are reasonably adjusted or considered.”

https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/be-careful-what-you-assume; 5/18/18, 11:05 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “And if they are losing money on every package, the loss must exceed $2.1 Billion. Considerably. Inga goes for making it up on volume, too.”

Except they aren’t losing money on every package. You really are dumb.; 5/18/18, 11:06 PM
narciso said...: So the washington post all but names Stephen halper, in their cover with a pillow system; 5/18/18, 11:08 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “Is the Postal Service losing $1.46 on each Amazon parcel? No. This number is a suggestion from a detailed report of how much more the post office should charge to increase its revenues. It doesn't represent losses.

For the record, Bolling acknowledged that Amazon wasn’t even the cause of the Postal Service’s losses. "Without Amazon, @usps would owe us a ton more $$ than they already do," Bolling tweeted.

Bolling pointed us to Wall Street Journal and Washington Examiner op-eds that cited the same April 2017 Citigroup study as the source of the $1.46 number.

The study focused on how to make the post office break even, given they have lost $65.1 billion since 2007. The Postal Service reported a net loss of $2.7 billion for 2017. Citigroup acknowledges much of the red ink is due to a 2006 law requiring the Postal Service to pre-fund future retirees’ health benefits.”

http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2018/apr/06/eric-bolling/usps-amazon-lose-146-every-package-delivers/; 5/18/18, 11:10 PM
traditionalguy said...: Big events coming down this weekend judging by rescheduling of everything for DJT and his biggest advisors. One rumor is that Trump is stepping down, effective January 21, 2025. So Inga can take heart.; 5/18/18, 11:10 PM
narciso said...: That 500 million dollAr data processing contract with the company probably helps out.; 5/18/18, 11:11 PM
buwaya said...: My employer, as nearly all private employers, "pre funds" my pension and medical benefits through third parties. That is, I will not be a cost to my employer when I'm sick or retired. The USPS is being required to behave like a private employer.

And revenue growth does not mean its not losing money.; 5/18/18, 11:13 PM
Darrell said...: The Obama brain trust didn't include the cost of pensions in their calculations. Amazing! I suggest Accounting 101.; 5/18/18, 11:14 PM
narciso said...: Devlin Barrett the pigeon for mccabe through strzok is on the byline for that piece.

One comes back to royal courts or semblance of same in malapartes long delayed tale, one looks at the footnotes to see most every he mentioned were either enablers of or perished in the purges.; 5/18/18, 11:16 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/18/18, 11:18 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Good for the FBI for using an informant. The investigation into the Trump campaign colluding with Russian operatives was opened in July of 2016, the informant wasn’t used until September 2016, they had more than adequate cause by then to use him. Good work.

https://lawandcrime.com/legal-analysis/there-would-be-nothing-illegal-even-if-the-fbi-really-had-trump-informant/

“Trump said that this would be the “all time biggest political scandal” if true. Well, that’s a bit of an overstatement. As far as having an “FBI representative” planted within the campaign “for political purposes,” former federal prosecutor Daniel Goldman said in a tweet that this “simply does not happen,” and the FBI doesn’t work that way.

Basically, that means that if the FBI did have an inside person within the Trump campaign, there would be a law enforcement-related reason for it, not some political agenda. This seems obvious, because why would they bother having someone on the inside if they didn’t suspect any wrongdoing?

Now, if the FBI did have an informant in the campaign, that might be a big story, but it wouldn’t be illegal. Law enforcement agencies use confidential informants all the time to gather information. They do this when they suspect that other people are breaking the law and they want to get proof.”; 5/18/18, 11:20 PM
JackWayne said...: Some commenters don’t understand that revenue is different from profit. Some commenters are confused that revenue on packages can be up but somehow the USPS continues to lose more money every year. Some commenters are confused by the fact that only a poorly run enterprise loses money when they have to pay into a pension fund which many businesses manage to do without losing money. Some commenters don’t understand that in order to break even, revenues must equal operating costs. But by all means, continue believing in unicorns. It’s all you’ve got left.; 5/18/18, 11:23 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: In Starlin's comic book version, Thanos was (as his name suggests) in love with Death. That's the actual physical personification of Death, like Neil Gaimain's, but not as perky or nice. He wanted to make an offering to her to prove his love. That really doesn't work on screen, so I'm good with them making him a Malthusian.

It's been a loooong time, but I kind of think he was a 'Titan' in the comics because he was, um, big, not because he was from a planet called Titan. Which was kind of a mess in the movie because we also have a big moon called that, and Stark et al clearly weren't *there*.; 5/18/18, 11:24 PM
buwaya said...: USPS overhead, including its cost of benefits (that "pre-funded" stuff) is too large to break even, then they are not a viable going concern.

As for Amazon, of course they would be worse off if they had less revenue. They have all that fixed overhead which they are stuck with. Which they can't operate without. Which they should be allocating to their charges to come up with a break-even or profitable rate. Which a private business would try to get, or would cut costs, or would go bankrupt.

If the USPS can charge more without losing business to a competitor, then they should.

Politifact is a rotten source for anything but spin. Their financial statements are online; download them and break out Excel.; 5/18/18, 11:25 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/05/donald-trump-amazon-postal-service

“As you’ve probably heard, Donald Trump’s feelings toward Internet-retail giant Amazon are roughly on par with his feelings toward stairs, and exercise, and steaks with even the slightest bit of pink in the center. Which is to say: he hates Jeff Bezos’s company, and its bevested owner, too—“He’s obsessed with Bezos,” a source told my colleague Gabriel Sherman. “Trump is like, how can I fuck with him?” And, clearly, the president has done little to hide his feelings about Amazon.

“Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” he tweeted in March, referring to the company. Then, presumably after catching wind of the many, many reports noting that, out here in reality, the post office makes a ton of money from Amazon, he insisted to his followers, “Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over the country . . . not a level playing field!” Because that’s how this president operates: in his own fact-free world, where even a cadre of advisers holding his hand and “explain[ing] to him in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate” can’t change his mind. And while it’s one thing to spout lies and delusions all over social media and during campaign rallies, it’s quite another to try to turn those lies and delusions into weapons against his enemies, which—surprise!—was exactly what he attempted to do.“; 5/18/18, 11:26 PM
Darrell said...: Inga is spinning furiously, like the rest of the Left. When hundreds of the FBI, CIA, Obama Administration people are in prison for 20 years, I will set the price of the goods they make above the cost of producing them. That is my pledge.; 5/18/18, 11:26 PM
JackWayne said...: And some commenters keep cutting and pasting. Trying to prove that what they lose on every post will be made up by the sheer volume.; 5/18/18, 11:28 PM
narciso said...: Actually I think they were there because of the distance although the atmosphere is an issue. Thanos is also a mule an anomaly in a culture social development.; 5/18/18, 11:29 PM
FIDO said...: FIDO, let me spell it out for you. Using the power of one’s high office to harm your personal enemies is an abuse of Presidential power.

Tell it to Lois Lerner. I don't think she found her abuses (ordered from On High) particularly damaging at all. And Obama got away scot free.

But then, she had you and your ilk in the MSM spinning for her like a Dervish.; 5/18/18, 11:29 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “According to The Washington Post, Trump “has personally pushed U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com,” as well as several other firms, to ship packages, a move that would likely cost the companies billions. Per reporters Damian Paletta and Josh Dawsey, Brennan and Trump have met about the matter several times, beginning in 2017 and as recently as four months ago, although the meetings, conveniently, have never appeared on the president’s public schedule.

Thus far Brennan, a 32-year veteran of the Postal Service, has resisted Trump’s demand, reportedly telling him “in multiple conversations occurring this year and last that these arrangements are bound by contracts and must be reviewed by a regulatory commission.” Like former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn, Brennan has tried to get it through Trump’s head that the Postal Service actually benefits from its relationship with Amazon. On one occasion, clearly knowing her audience, she apparently busted out “a set of slides that showed the variety of companies, in addition to Amazon, that also partner for deliveries.””; 5/18/18, 11:31 PM
FIDO said...: Shrug.

As far at the Post Office being profitable, is the military 'profitable'? It is more of a public utility which fewer and fewer people are using.

But I like getting my stuff and if the USPS delivers my stuff, it makes me happy.

I would be more than happy to have Trump deep probe Amazon's nether regions with an IRS probe for three or four years. Jeff already has a Trumpian hard on and can't hate him any more.

But money is not directly power. Power is power. And Jeff is a bit big for his britches.

He needs someone to whisper 'remember thou art mortal' into his ear.; 5/18/18, 11:34 PM
narciso said...: So fast and furious when the U.S. govt serves as quartermaster for not one but two mexican cartels may finally be examined.; 5/18/18, 11:34 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “When hundreds of the FBI, CIA, Obama Administration people are in prison for 20 years, I will set the price of the goods they make above the cost of producing them. That is my pledge.”

You people have become so delusional, it’s actually funny. I’m not even shocked by it anymore. What causes you people to be so easily duped?; 5/18/18, 11:35 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “But I like getting my stuff and if the USPS delivers my stuff, it makes me happy.”

Me too. I love my mailman.; 5/18/18, 11:36 PM
narciso said...: Well you have to get them convicted by a dc jury which will hang ted Stevens at the drop of a,hat sand evidence, went after colonel North even the predicate was invalidAted on appeals. Same for bob mcdonnell.; 5/18/18, 11:38 PM
buwaya said...: It is a bizarre argument really.
The thought experiments come to mind in vast numbers.
If a President Elizabeth Warren (stay with me here) sticks her favorite enemies, consumer finance companies, with, oh, some onerous regulations or fines, as she has often tried to do, and has done by proxy through her pet CFPB, certain to be vastly expanded in HER administration, will she be misusing the power of her office?
Consider a President Kamala Harris and whom she will persecute.
Or a President Bloomberg.; 5/18/18, 11:39 PM
buwaya said...: "what causes you people to be so easily duped?"

Decades of experience actually running things of some importance seems to have a nasty effect on the brain. You end up having seen everything.; 5/18/18, 11:43 PM
narciso said...: Consider herr schneiderman and his reign of terror or his predecessor Elliot Spitzer ?did he ever go to jail?; 5/18/18, 11:43 PM
narciso said...: What he dod to lehman aig even langones enterprises should have been considered a criminal offense.; 5/18/18, 11:45 PM
Ken B said...: Buwaya
RIP. His history of the Russian Revolution was excellent.
Conquest's The Great Terror is one of my favourite books. I loved his summary of the KGB archives: “I was right you fucking fools.”; 5/18/18, 11:46 PM
narciso said...: And conquest was originally on the left, but he turned around and ended up working ird.; 5/18/18, 11:48 PM
narciso said...: Applebaums red harvest is rather gripping reading particularly about the black legend about petlura, that led to his assasination.; 5/18/18, 11:50 PM
buwaya said...: The ousting of Greenberg from AIG was a truly titanic crime.
This was obviously done in cahoots with the gang of looters who leveraged AIG assets to use in the wild speculation on derivatives.
Really, that alone had a decisive effect on the situation in 2008.

Its arguable that Spitzer and his deputy Schneiderman were principally responsible for the global economic troubles of the last decade.; 5/18/18, 11:50 PM
Darrell said...: The FBI, CIA and Obama people committed dozens of felonies a piece. I know Hillary committed around a million*, but the deep state resisters don't have her clout.

* A felony for every government email on a private server, plus another for every classified email mishandled, plus another for stripping headers containing the classified designation.; 5/18/18, 11:55 PM
narciso said...: Isn't it, now Spitzer was denied subsequent office but the alternative was worse like with schneiderman or stronger for comptroller.

The circumstances re lehmNd collapse are still quite peculiar as witwh Geithner conspicuous absense at the time.; 5/18/18, 11:59 PM
narciso said...: Stringer and Lehman bros, why was Lehman chosen to call 60 days before an election, that is,unheard of. I have theories about that.; 5/19/18, 12:04 AM
buwaya said...: I still don't understand what was up with Lehman, or Bear Stearns.
How these guys got themselves so ridiculously leveraged. In retrospect it was insanity.; 5/19/18, 12:07 AM
narciso said...: The core of Lehman bros was an affordable housing project called tishman spewer it had plenty of capital.

Otoh you know,who two of Lehman directors were, Jeb and kasich who are not that adept to say the least.; 5/19/18, 12:11 AM
eddie willers said...: Amazon is bumping it's "Prime" service from $99 to $119.99.

Sounds like the contingency plan is kicking in.; 5/19/18, 12:14 AM
Darrell said...: Amazon is bumping it's "Prime" service from $99 to $119.99.

Don't you need approval from the UN High Commission On Human Rights to do something like that? Absolutely shocking!; 5/19/18, 12:18 AM
narciso said...: This was the last piece;

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/business/29deal.html

Before the collapse which came about because of it; 5/19/18, 12:21 AM
Darrell said...: Brennan, a 32-year veteran of the Postal Service

Hasn't the USPS been losing money for, at least, 32 years. I think I see a connection. . .; 5/19/18, 12:28 AM
Darrell said...: Remember the outcry when Spitzer raided sovereign Indian territory in Upstate NY to get lists of cigarette purchasers by holding automatic weapons against the heads of Indian businessmen--after the Feds declined such an operation?

Me neither.; 5/19/18, 12:32 AM
narciso said...: Consider his crusade against cei as well as exxon (despite having taken money from the tracking king blavitsky); 5/19/18, 12:50 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Well, the FBI and the CIA have all but completely outed the person who was the Trump Campaign mole- outed him in all but name. The mole is 99.99999% certain to be Stefan Halper, for which the NYTimes and WaPo gave no credit to Chuck Ross for figuring out 2 months ago.

The game is now afoot. Halper can now be subpoenaed by Congress even without getting the name officially from the DoJ. The DoJ apparatchiks delayed not because it puts Halper's life in danger, but specifically so the stories of the last two days could be leaked out and published by the NYTimes and WaPo- the purpose of which is to try lay the groundwork for supporting Halper's future decision to never return to the US to face questioning under oath. And why? Because Halper orchestrated every single meeting that poor sap Papadopoulos had, including the one with the professor who supposedly had Russian ties. The entire narrative was a lie- every single bit of it.; 5/19/18, 12:57 AM
Darrell said...: The entire narrative was a lie- every single bit of it.

Sure it was. But the FBI and CIA had people all over it to "protect" us from Trump. Real "American" "heroes." Inga sleeps happy.; 5/19/18, 1:02 AM
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Darrell said...: I haven't been so proud since the Wisconsin DNR SWAT team blew Giggles the baby fawn's brains all over that animal shelter run by a religious order, a few years ago.; 5/19/18, 1:06 AM
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Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/18, 1:13 AM
buwaya said...: Low velocity weapons do an acceptable job at ripping people to shreds.
The high velocity thing is an incidental and irrelevant fixation.
More symbolic than anything else.; 5/19/18, 1:31 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Halper, in the Spring (March and early April) of 2016, learns that Papadopoulos had been offered a low level position with the Trump Campaign. At that time, Trump was not the nominee- a big enough scandal could still have derailed his campaign at that point. Halper conspired with someone he knew, Joseph Mifsud, to meet with Papadopoulos with the offer of Clinton e-mails. The hope was that Papadopoulos would run that up the flag-pole at his new posting setting up a meeting with senior people in the Trump Campaign for meet with Mifsud to obtain this information. However, Papadopoulos had no such connections to set up such a meeting- he really was a nobody in the campaign- and certainly not anyone that would be trusted by a pro to organize such a thing.

Having failed to get Papadopoulos to take the bait and run with it- a fall back plan was initiated. Since Halper couldn't be a plausible source for Papadopoulos' knowledge of the Mifsud offer, Papadopoulos was set up to meet with Alexander Downer who no doubt knew about Mifsud before the meeting and arranged to ask leading questions to the drunk Papadopoulos to get him to tell about the Mifsud meeting. I am betting that Papadopoulos didn't fall for this ploy either, but the fact of the meeting was enough two months later for Downer to give the story to the FBI via the CIA- it at least solves the problem of how it is learned Papadopoulos had a meeting where Clinton e-mails were discussed, even if the story might be a complete fabrication on Downer's part, which is entirely possible in my opinion.

However, by September of 2016, not much has been accomplished on the Russian ploy. Even Glenn Simpson was unable to make much even though he appears to have actually gotten to the Trump inner circle with Russian/Clinton dirt meeting. For whatever reason, Trump Jr. and Kushner didn't bite when it was clear there was no dirt on offer, and abruptly left the meeting. I have often wondered about that and can't discount the possibility that Trump Jr. was tipped off by someone just before the meeting occurred that it might be a trap.

In any case, one last attempt was made by Halper to ensnare Papadopoulos- he invited him to Great Britain to write a paper for $3000 and then tried to steer the conversation back to the Clinton e-mails, but by this time Papadopoulos definitely knew this entire line of questioning as supsicious and didn't even nibble at it, to his credit, even with the implied offer of Halper's female Turkish assistant.

I am saying that Halper orchestrated everything involving Papadopoulos- the Mifsud meeting, the Downer meeting, and later Halper's own meeting with Papadopoulos.; 5/19/18, 1:33 AM
Darrell said...: We need a law enforcement FBI. Not an armed Democrat Party security team. Lock them up. Lock them all up.; 5/19/18, 2:45 AM
Humperdink said...: Beloved Inga said: " I love my mailman."

Mine new is one an a**hole. Lived here for 25 years, no issues. Old mailman retires and we get a new one. I soon receive a note saying my mail box (and my elderly neighbor's) is 6" too low. It was good for 2 1/2 decades. I like digging. *cough*; 5/19/18, 4:43 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: Yancey Ward at 1:33 AM
Halper, in the Spring (March and early April) of 2016, learns that Papadopoulos had been offered a low level position with the Trump Campaign. At that time, Trump was not the nominee- a big enough scandal could still have derailed his campaign at that point. .... I am saying that Halper orchestrated everything involving Papadopoulos- the Mifsud meeting, the Downer meeting, and later Halper's own meeting with Papadopoulos.

What superb explanation!; 5/19/18, 6:42 AM
iowan2 said...: Some have taken solace in the Democrat Stenographers attempted spin(lie about) the spy placed in the Trump campaign. They even spin the fact that it is not a spy, but if the person was just an informant, what danger is there in revealing the name? A 70 year old academic is in danger of being exposed? Even though everyone in the world knows who he is and the fact he works for MI6 and the CIA, not a covered spy.
The attempt to justify Obama placing a spy in the opposition party campaign is torturous to watch. Brennen admitted that in fact an asset was placed in the Trump campaign. That is now fact. He explains that, like the sun coming up in the east. "if the Russians were inculcating themselves with the campaign its normal procedure. "if" is doing, and has been doing 100% of the work in this bit of treason since April of 2016.

Also, Rand Paul has taken this seriously, demanding an answer from our new CIA director about MI6 working with the CIA to spy on the Trump Campaign. She refused to answer him directly, instead answering through an intermediary. Hmm.; 5/19/18, 7:08 AM
tim in vermont said...: A felony for every government email on a private server, plus another for every classified email mishandled, plus another for stripping headers containing the classified designation.

Don’t forget the records of meetings as Secretary of State with donors to her foundation, the one that in just one instance, paid her husband 17 million dollars (Thanks Putin!) that foundation. Abedin testified to it, but nobody seems able to see that she destroyed federal records. This all came to light because the AP tried to get them through FOIA, but once they realized the extent of the crime Hillary was covering up, oddly, they lost all curiosity.; 5/19/18, 7:12 AM
tim in vermont said...: Planting a spy in Trump’s campaign, leaking unverified and salacious stuff to the press before the election? No problem! Seeking a better deal from Amazon for the USPS! Beyond the pale!; 5/19/18, 7:18 AM
Big Mike said...: Good for the FBI for using an informant. The investigation into the Trump campaign colluding with Russian operatives was opened in July of 2016, the informant wasn’t used until September 2016, they had more than adequate cause by then to use him. Good work.

Inga has an interesting attitude towards law-breaking. As in it doesn’t bother her as long as the victims of the crimes are Republicans and the perps are Democrats.; 5/19/18, 7:36 AM
tim in vermont said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/18, 7:38 AM
tim in vermont said...: Taking 150 million dollars from Putin and handing over market control of North American uranium? Destruction of huge numbers of official records from the time you took the money and did the favor? No problem! Seeking a better deal for the USPS? Heinous!; 5/19/18, 7:38 AM
Fabi said...: Trump talking about getting a better deal for a Goverment agency is now an impeachable offense according to Inga. Lulz; 5/19/18, 7:47 AM
roesch/voltaire said...: Halper worked for the CIA during Republican administrations so I suspect he is just a source,as are a number of academics, for the CIA . Apparently there was more than one source that knew about the Clinton emails held by the Russians but they were mostly interested in working with Trump people goes the claim. The NYT has a background story on this as well in the morning paper today which is worth a read.; 5/19/18, 8:08 AM
Tank said...: Pretty good day so far.

1. Woke up.

2. Hillary is still not the President. But why isn't she in jail?; 5/19/18, 8:11 AM
tim in vermont said...: The NYT has a background story on this as well in the morning paper today which is worth a read.

Oh yes, lets all get the Democrat spin before the facts come out in the IG report!; 5/19/18, 8:23 AM
Humperdink said...: Tank said: "But why isn't she in jail?"

Patience, good things come to those who wait.

OTOH, wouldn't it be magnanimous of Trump to pardon this beast. The media would love him for it, right? Ah, no.; 5/19/18, 8:25 AM
Birkel said...: roesch/voltaire: "...worth a read. "

Amusing. The new modified limited hangout, after denials of reality about spying (wiretapping?) Trump these last 19 months, is a new lie. The new lie is useful only as a guide for those who might want to find some Pravda in Izvestia or some Izvestia in Pravda.

Meet the new lie, same as the old lie.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.; 5/19/18, 8:25 AM
pacwest said...: So if the Trump campaign was in collusion with the Russians why did they need to set up the meeting in Trump Tower to get dirt? Seems they wouldn't need to do this since they already had a deal with Vladimir.; 5/19/18, 8:30 AM
Original Mike said...: ”The NYT has a background story on this as well in the morning paper today which is worth a read.”

I just read the article. I am aghast. It reads like it was written by the DOJ.; 5/19/18, 8:32 AM
iowan2 said...: So if the Trump campaign was in collusion with the Russians why did they need to set up the meeting in Trump Tower to get dirt? Seems they wouldn't need to do this since they already had a deal with Vladimir.

Was this before or after the double super secret clandestine meeting in the Seychelles to set the secret back channels with Russia?

All the moving pieces of this Obama administration cover up keep contradicting them selves.

Remember, Moeller had to go back to 2005 and dig up an old SDNY investigation that was shelved instead of prosecuting Manafort. 2005 the back channels were in place, but Manafort sent inexperienced Jared to set up the 'real' back channels.

What I have learned, you can work with the Russians as long as you hire foreign spies and pay them thru a lawyers office. As always, we are to believe President Trump didn't use approved cut out.; 5/19/18, 8:52 AM
iowan2 said...: R/V, got any proof that the Russians had the Podesta emails? Proof that has a legal evidenturary trail? You know, proof that a prosecutor can enter into evidence without a judge fining him for gross incompetence?; 5/19/18, 8:57 AM
Original Mike said...: ”All the moving pieces of this Obama administration cover up keep contradicting them selves.”

Andrew McCarthy points out something along these lines.

The FBI found it necessary to spy on the Trump campaign because they feared that Trump and the Russians colluded to expose DNC emails. But we have only the word of a DNC contractor, CrowdStrike, that the DNC server was hacked by the Russians. Why didn’t the FBI inspect the server themselves? Because they didn’t want to appear to be meddling in the election ...; 5/19/18, 9:03 AM
Birkel said...: How is it that a man of Donald Trump's low repute needed all these machinations around him to generate a scandal?

It is amazing that all this hidden government activity managed so precious little.; 5/19/18, 9:30 AM
Jersey Fled said...: Wow. Read the entire piece by Andrew McCarthy in National Review this morning that Original Mike quoted above.

A damning indictment of how the FBI/DOJ white washed the Clinton investigation while railroading Trump and his associates.

I hope Ann opens a new post on this. Way too important to bury way down here.; 5/19/18, 9:34 AM
FullMoon said...: New spin, not a spy, an investigator; 5/19/18, 9:49 AM
Portia said...: Well if we can talk about anything, how about partially defunding PP? I think that's another win!; 5/19/18, 10:06 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: “The Postal Service reported a net loss of $2.7 billion for 2017..."

Funny how the person who pasted this quote doesn't realize what it plainly says. You can spin "net loss" all you want but let me tell you as a businessman it means the "bottom line" on the "income statement" is a negative number. You do not report negative bottom line numbers if you are PROFITABLE. Because profit, believe it or not, is a POSITIVE income, not a negative one. You are a prime example why America elects idiots who can't do math or run a business. Thank God we have Trump there now to straighten it out.

And by law if we raise the USPS contract rates everybody pays not just Bezos, you Bozo.; 5/19/18, 10:44 AM
Big Mike said...: Apparently there was more than one source that knew about the Clinton emails held by the Russians but they were mostly interested in working with Trump people goes the claim.

@roesch, OF COURSE EVERYONE KNEW THAT THE RUSSIANS HAD THE CLINTON EMAILS, you dumb shit. Ditto any other country interested in what the US Department of State was up to. How stupid can you be??? In this day and age I cannot believe that anyone would be so stupid as to not realize that (1) the Secretary of State's official (and unofficial) Emails would be a high value target for any decently run intelligence service and (2) the unsecured server would be so easy to hack that anyone who wanted to could hack it. Can you add one plus two and get three?

Tell me something, roesch, are you so illiterate with respect to computer security that you don't even have anti-virus software on your machine? Because if you do, then you're one up on Clinton's Email server.; 5/19/18, 10:44 AM
Michael K said...: "I hope Ann opens a new post on this. Way too important to bury way down here."

I added a new post at Chicagoboyz.

It would be interesting if Ann did one. The lefties would go nuts.; 5/19/18, 10:46 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: And by the way, PRIVATE COMPANIES have to "pre-fund" retiree accounts too, you idiot. It's the law and common sense. Only corrupt organizations like Democrat-run municipalities and sates can ignore their pension obligations. That's known as Chicago math.; 5/19/18, 10:47 AM
Big Mike said...: Here, roesch, read this..; 5/19/18, 10:50 AM
Big Mike said...: @Mike, the question I have is whether the contract that the USPS signed with Amazon gave them special rates that did not allow them to recover their costs.

My old company did work for the USPS. It was frightening how foolish their marketing department was, how disconnected they were from best management practices.; 5/19/18, 10:54 AM
n.n said...: After the sodomy and abortion session in Libya (a.k.a. Gaddafi solution), the information at Clinton's state department was probably a priority for most nations on Obama's bucket list. Trump will have to convince Kim Jong-un that he will not be another diplomatic target, or that America will no longer engage in that class of solutions from the Obama era.; 5/19/18, 10:55 AM
Michael K said...: The ousting of Greenberg from AIG was a truly titanic crime.
This was obviously done in cahoots with the gang of looters who leveraged AIG assets to use in the wild speculation on derivatives.

Something like that was done with Conrad Black. Not s big but it is interesting to think about cui bono ?; 5/19/18, 10:55 AM
Michael K said...: Big Mike, I doubt R/V will read that.

I doubt that anyone will find out what happened to Seth Rich, either.

I still wonder about that GW resident doc who was barred from ICU when Rich was taken there, still alive and talking.; 5/19/18, 10:58 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: It was frightening how foolish their marketing department was, how disconnected they were from best management practices.

The old OPM problem. They are spending other people's money.; 5/19/18, 11:07 AM
Big Mike said...: Over at Power Line Blog, Scott Johnson has a nice response to the Times article (and roesch).

"In the annals of media stupidity in blind service of their political allies in the “intelligence community” and the political world, it would be hard to top today’s New York Times installment of the new authorized version. It comes with an unintentionally humorous headline. Indeed it may be an instant classic of the “fake but accurate” variety: “F.B.I. Used Informant to Investigate Russia Ties to Campaign, Not to Spy, as Trump Claims.

...

It becomes clearer every day that the vaunted “counterintelligence investigation” initiated by the FBI in mid-2016 constituted a pretext to conduct surveillance of the Trump campaign using the panoply of powers held by the federal government to protect the United States from foreign threats. It is a helluva story, perhaps the biggest scandal in American political history.

Every day, Barack Obama, John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey and their underlings come ever more sharply into into focus as enemies of the constitutional order. The New York Times and the Times’s mainstream media colleagues have served as their indispensable tools."

[emphasis mine]; 5/19/18, 11:32 AM
wildswan said...: Why spy? Why not do politics? I mean - why not take Trump's issues and incorporate and/ or oppose a few of them in the Dem platform and run for election that way? Bill Clinton did that in his second term while opposing the Republicans and he was still around in 2016. Why spy?
Now, back in the day when Bill was triangulating, Hillary was talking about a vast right wing conspiracy. And she is still doing that - although the vast right wing conspiracy has rather confusingly expanded to include the Russians - who are working through the English?

Through the English? Dear me, does the Queen know about this? I'm sure she would not approve but maybe she was distracted with getting Harry out of the tabloids and into Westminster Abbey with a beautiful woman. She certainly seems to know HER job and be able to do it. The Queen, I mean.

You notice how right wing men are always surrounded by beautiful women? Melania, Meghan, Stormy - it's all the same. Beautiful women are accessible to left wing men in pictures and then only if the lefties write an ugly story about them. Otherwise left men have to lock the door to keep attractive women in the same room with them. If lefty men can think of a nasty newshook, then they have decent excuse to get a picture of a beautiful women and stare at it. And right wing men have women like that around them. So there you are, a perfect cover story. Stormy Daniels - 147 lefty men found a reason to interview her. After all she might be Russian spy; she certainly shows ... that Donald Trump ... is rising - the polls, the polls, I'm talking about the polls.; 5/19/18, 12:51 PM
Michael K said...: Pipes was one of the core of the scholars and intellectuals holding the fort in a hostile environment, even back then.

He and Robert Conquest and Paul Johnson and Solzhenitsyn and a few others, on the nature and evil of the enemy.

Even the movie were patriotic back then. I think it was post Vietnam when they all turned.

Academia was infected with all the left wing students who hid from the draft in grad school and became PhDs while they were waiting for the war to be lost.

We are now on the second, even more radical, generation.

The Great Student Loan crash is coming.; 5/19/18, 2:12 PM