Bad bad very bad.

https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1019684009897537538

Retired CIA Chief of Russian operations https://t.co/iwi0eDWl95

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 18, 2018

Reading this, everyone should feel the dark shadow of evil drawing across our country. Your politics shouldn't matter. The idea that a President would turn over a former Ambassador & help with prosecution of a man who crusaded against corruption in Russia should be unthinkable. https://t.co/OP1yVr72iL

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) July 18, 2018

https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/1019704904640843777

No "consultation" is needed to make clear that U.S. will never cooperate in Putin's crusade against Bill Browder or former U.S. officials, like Ambassador McFaul.@McFaul served his country honorably. His freedom is not up for negotiation or to be offered up as a gift to Putin.

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on Look at ambassadors not there.

Somewhat OT, but still on the subject of liars, here’s your next Supreme Court justice:

Asked at an American Enterprise Institute event in March 2016 if he could think of a case that deserved to be overturned, Kavanaugh said: “Yes.” Asked if he could specify a case, Kavanaugh first responded: “No,” prompting laughter from the audience.

Hahahahaha. It’s funny because they know he means Roe v. Wade (and hell, maybe Griswold v. Connecticut while you’re at it), but they know he can’t say it because one day he may get nominated to the Court and have to testify that gosh, he’s never really thought about whether Roe

People in charge of an event called Modern Witches Confluence 2018 wrote a poisonous Facebook post today congratulating themselves on having banished and shunned the feminist historian Max Dashu, who was scheduled to be on a panel. No prizes for guessing why.

Dear Community,

We sincerely apologize for involving Max Dashu in our workshop line-up. Since your community concerns have been raised regarding Dashu’s trans-exclusionary views, we have removed Max Dashu from our teaching line-up, and she will no longer be an influence on the Modern Witches Confluence. We appreciate you voicing your concerns, and we apologize for not responding to them sooner.

We should have done our research before asking Dashu to join us for our event, and after

Trump has been burning the place up since yesterday. He called John Brennan “a very bad person,” he called Montenegro “aggressive” and speculated it could get us into World War III being so aggressive, he ranted about Trump Derangement Syndrome and its responsibility for our failure to be awed by his success at kissing Putin’s bum.

Vanity Fair:

“Membership in NATO obligates the members to defend any other member that’s attacked,” Carlson said to Trump. “So let’s say Montenegro, which joined last year, is attacked. Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack?” In response, Trump told Carlson that he sympathized with his view. “I’ve asked the same question. Montenegro is a tiny country with

They’re smoothing the way for Putin.

The White House eliminated the position of cybersecurity coordinator on the National Security Council on Tuesday [last week], doing away with a post central to developing policy to defend against increasingly sophisticated digital attacks and the use of offensive cyber weapons.

A memorandum circulated by an aide to the new national security adviser, John R. Bolton, said the post was no longer considered necessary because lower-level officials had already made cybersecurity issues a “core function” of the president’s national security team.

Cybersecurity experts and members of Congress said they were mystified by the move, though some suggested Mr. Bolton did not want any competitive power centers emerging inside the national security apparatus.

Yes … Read the rest

Oh honestly.

https://twitter.com/CathyYoung63/status/1019297409925636098

Talk about tribalism, or groupthink, or living in a bubble, or whatever you want to call it. It takes some heavy duty ignorance of Obama not to realize that he has been saying this pretty much his whole life. It’s his theme. He annoyed colleagues at the Harvard Law Review when he was editor because he kept seeking out conservative contributions. It’s actually quite likely we’d be better off now if he’d been more of a street fighter for team slightly-left, but whether that’s true or not it’s absurd to claim he hasn’t urged listening to a wide range of opinion until just now.… Read the rest

Trump gives a report on his trip.

President Trump discusses his meetings at NATO and with U.K. Prime Minister May. pic.twitter.com/0wzcx18cWO

— The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) July 17, 2018

Fortunately his people wrote down the words for him, so that he could say them without having to think, but he had a hard time anyway, because he did have to read the words. He did it haltingly and clumsily, as if he were 6 years old and just starting out.

He didn’t say about Russia in this clip. Maybe his people are waiting to release that part until…erm…the seas rise a little higher? Something explodes and we’re looking the other way? I don’t know; I’d quite like to … Read the rest

Trump’s presidential PR team has put out its official spin on the lovefest in Helsinki:

Bold American diplomacy in Finland

When President Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday, he continued a proud American tradition on the world stage. “From the earliest days of our republic, American leaders have understood that diplomacy and engagement is preferable to conflict and hostility,” the President said.

America has no illusions when it comes to Russia. President Trump directly addressed the issue of Russian interference in U.S. elections with President Putin, and the Trump Administration has implemented a range of tough sanctions on Russian individuals and entities. “The disagreements between our two countries are well known,” President Trump said. “But if

The DOJ press release on the arrest of Maria Butina:

A criminal complaint was unsealed today in the District of Columbia charging a Russian national with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation within the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie K. Liu, and Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

Maria Butina, 29, a Russian citizen residing in Washington D.C., was arrested on July 15, 2018, in Washington, D.C., and made her initial appearance this afternoon before Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson in the U.S.