Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Saturday, June 27, 2020

Conservative Steve Schmidt

“Putin put contracts on American soldiers. He paid bounties for dead American soldiers and Trump did nothing. 

This is a low moment unequaled in all of our history. 

This President won’t defend America. 

He is a grotesque and vile man. He is the weakest and worst President ever!”




27 comments:

Les Carpenter said...

The "president" admires Putin and Longs to be an authoritarian ruler.

This is not suprising to me at all.

Dave Miller said...

We'll be waiting for all the idiots who decried how Pres Obama embarrassed America, didn't defend us against our enemies and lowered our international to chime in on this.

And of course, well be waiting forever.

Because for them, it was never about America. It was always about their America. As they wanted it. As they remembered it.

Les Carpenter said...

Yes Dave. When those folks talk about freedom and libery what they really mean is the freedumb to force everyone to accept their views and beliefs. For them light lies in our dark past. Their interest is in keeping it that way. Trump assured them he would. America's vocal minority. They have a right to be vocal. They do NOT have the right to force their troglydyte views upon the majority.

skudrunner said...

Rev, I will assume you are referring to me as all those idiots. If what is reported is true and trump knew about it he should be tried for treason. We know that much that is reported in the media is not accurate. The same could be said about the media and obama. Much of what was reported was not accurate and that which was accurate was short lived.

If what is reported is true than russia should be sanctioned by the world but we know that won't happen. Look at the actions taken against China for infecting the world. They just keep going on as if nothing happened. Now we will raise corporate taxes which will force more manufacturing to move off shore and our unemployment rate will stabilize in the mid teens.

Ray said...

Shaw, Your conservative troll is incapable of writing a comment without going after Obama. I wondered how he would attack Obama while referring to Trump’s traitorous behavior in this newest outrage. On Obama’s worst day as POTUS, he was Christlike compared with that Devil who’s president now. And that is the truth.

skudrunner said...

Ray, I actually said the press was not accurate about many of the things they said about the swell guy. I wish we had a choice in this election but we don't. Who can we blame if not the RNC and DNC for giving us no choice.

trump is off the rails and biden is so far gone it is embarrassing. 150 million killed by guns since 2007, 120 million have died by Covid and 85 million jobs lost due to Covid. He is simply not lucid and it is a good thing they don't let him out of the basement because whenever they do he is lost.

As a country I can't believe we can't do better

Shaw Kenawe said...

Skud, here’s how America can do better: by electing Joe Biden. I can guarantee you Joe Biden wouldn’t let Russia put bounties on our soldiers and Biden would never lie and claim he didn’t know anything about it. Of course Trump knew. He’s the POTUS and he would absolutely be told.

I have two close relatives serving in the military, my grandson and a nephew. What I learned today about Trump turned my stomach and made me shake with anger and fear. Anger because of the deaths of those who served their country, and fear that because of Trump’s treachery, my grandson and nephew could be in danger.

It’s been a terrible day for America. We now know that Trump cares more about the one-time head of the Communist KGB than the men and women who serve under him as the CiC.

I can’t imagine anyone in the military who would support Trump.

I can’t imagine who in this country still supports this traitor.

skudrunner said...

So you take as fact a report in the NYT by an anonymous source that russia put a bounty on American soldiers. Isn't it the same publication who was obsessed by trump an russia which turned out not to be true. I'm not saying it isn't true but late breaking news by the NYT has proven to be false more times than true. Their are enough factual things bad about trump that they could promote but they would rather take something from an anonymous source and publish it.

Remember biden learned from the president who wanted to work with the russians after the election. He also learned if you draw a line in the sand you call the russians to come to the rescue. That said biden will be a body in a chair. He can't keep a thought for more than 15 seconds. The next president will be his running mate. Why has he ot held a press conference or answered any questions from reporters. I don't blame him because it is an age related condition but he should not be elected and the DNC needs to select someone else.

Dave Miller said...

Skud... you said "If what is reported is true than russia should be sanctioned by the world..."

The world? What about the United States?

The fact that you even mention Pres Obama in your comment about a president doing nothing as Russia reportedly pays for the death of Americans, and never even mention Pres. Trump is telling. Pres Obama has no role to play in that drama. It happened on Trump's watch, he's either aware of it, or his leaders did not bring the info to him. Either way, it's bad and every single person in the US is 100% justified in asking the classic question of the president...

"What did he know, and when did he know it?"

Never in our history have we ever contemplated something like this, but here we are. And you continue to drag Pres Obama's name through the mud.

Stunning.

Anonymous said...

Clearly, people don't understand the policies behind allowing "anonymous sources" in news publications. Here are the rules at The New York Times:

"The Times sometimes agrees not to identify people who provide information for our articles. Under our guidelines, anonymous sources should be used only for information that we think is newsworthy and credible, and that we are not able to report any other way.

We realize many readers are skeptical about the credibility and motivation of unnamed sources; some even question whether the sources exist. We have rules and procedures to try to address those concerns.

Besides the reporter, at least one editor must know the identity of the source. Use of anonymous sources in any story must be approved by a high-ranking editor, usually a department head like the International editor or the Washington bureau chief, or their deputies. When the anonymous sourcing is central to the story, it generally must be approved by an even higher-ranking editor like a deputy managing editor.

We understand readers’ wariness, but many important stories in sensitive areas like politics, national security and business could never be reported if we banned anonymous sourcing. Sources often fear for their jobs or business relationships — sometimes even for their safety.

Some readers suggest that sources are more likely to be honest if their names are published, and more likely to lie if granted anonymity. But reporters in many areas know that the opposite can be true. On the record, people in sensitive positions will often simply mouth the official line; they will be candid only if they know their name won’t be used.

Of course, we have to be skeptical. There is a real risk of being spun and manipulated. Reporters and editors ask themselves: How does the source know this information? What’s the motivation for telling us? Has she or he proved reliable in the past? Are there ways to corroborate the information? Often we explain some of this background in the story, while still taking care to protect the source’s identity."

Possumlady

Shaw Kenawe said...


Dear Gawd, skud. Did you have a straight face when you typed your comment?

Trump is documented as having told over 20,000 lies, and you're suspect about the NYTies.

BTW, both the UK and Australia have confirmed that what was reported is true.

I can't take you seriously anymore.

PS> The Mueller Report DID SAY THAT RUSSIA TRIED TO HELP TRUMP WIN THE 2016 election. The fact that you block out these facts shows your confirmation bias.

Here's the CATO INSTITUTE, a LIBERTARIAN ORGANIZATION ON THE SUBJECT:

1. Did Trump collude with Russians who tried to influence the 2016 presidential election?

No. In Volume 1 of his report, Mueller didn’t mention “collusion,” which is not a legal term. He did, however, find that there was no evidence of a conspiracy, and he therefore exonerated Trump on that count.

Still, Mueller concluded that the Russians did interfere, Trump was aware of the interference, he benefited from and encouraged the interference – e.g., Don, Jr. was eager to get and use information on Hillary Clinton – and he didn’t report the interference to the FBI. So, there was no crime and maybe no impeachable offense, but Mueller’s findings will likely inform voters regarding Trump’s fitness for office.

The rest of your comment is just warmed over Limbaugh and FAUX NOOZ and Breitbart lies.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump knew about the Russians putting a bounty on American troops and all he did was lobby to have Putin come back to the G8.

Never in my lifetime have I ever witnessed such treachery against the US by a POTUS!

Shaw Kenawe said...

PS, skud, it wasn't just the NYTimes reporting this. The Wall Street Journal, hardly a liberal leaning newspaper, reported it as well, also the Washington Post and the LA Times, and the UK and Australian intel people.

But you keep telling yourself that THEY are all lying while trump, a liar of 20,000+ lies, is telling the truth.

Shaw Kenawe said...

President Trump’s long, aspirational, tortured relationship with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, entered one of its most controversial chapters this weekend. The New York Times first reported — with The Washington Post and others following up — that U.S. intelligence has assessed that a Russian military spy unit offered bounties to Taliban-linked fighters in Afghanistan to kill coalition troops, including American ones, and that there was intense debate within the U.S. intelligence community about how to respond as far back as late March. The Post further reported Sunday that the bounties have indeed been linked to U.S. troop deaths.

Most problematic in all of this is that today, about three months later, the Trump administration still hasn’t responded. What’s more, in the intervening period, Trump has continued to describe Russia and Putin as the friends of the United States, has sent humanitarian aid to Russia, and has continued to push for its inclusion into the Group of Seven, or G-7, summit.
--Aaron Blake, WaPo

Can anyone imagine how someone like skudrunner and his pals at AOW and Geeez would react to this incredible story of a POTUS betraying America's fighting men and women if that had been a Democrat in the Oval Office.

The Trumpers are a cult and their leader is a disgrace.

Shaw Kenawe said...

The Time Line is HERE.

This is from the report:

April 2019: Three U.S. Marines are killed and three service members are injured in an attack on an American convoy returning to Bagram air base in Afghanistan. The Taliban claims responsibility. Intelligence officials focused on this event and others as potentially being linked to the Russian bounties, according to the Associated Press.

Anonymous said...

The White House announced it's briefing on the Russian bounty scandal is for Republicans ONLY.

Trump is not the American president, he's the Republican president, not the POTUS. He's done this more than once. Trump is the president of the Republican Fascist Party. And that's it.

NOT MY PRESIDENT!

VOTE BIDEN! VOTE BLUE!

Ray Cranston said...

Hey skudrunner, do you remember when Trump wanted to invite the Taliban to Camp David?
He extended that invitation to them all the while knowing about the Russian bounties.

Dave Miller said...

Shaw... and not just the international news organizations. The evidence came from US Special Forces.

I am sure that is going to help morale in the military. A president, who will not read a briefing report, lying about knowing that Russians were paying for dead US servicemen, only speaking to the GOP about it, and then, in the end, not punishing the countries responsible for the actions.

Holy crap.

A sitting US President???

The only defense has to be this is a 100% made up story and everyone except Pres Trump is lying. Everyone.

News organizations, the CIA, Dept of Defense, the NSC and more.

I'm so glad our president has us winning so much...

Shaw Kenawe said...



Dave Are the usual Trump bloggers talking about it? I'm guessing they're not. I'm also remembering how they wouldn't shut up about Benghazi! even when the Republican Congressional committee led by Trey Gowdey said there was no wrong-doing.

This story is explosive.

I'm hearing that Trump may decide to drop out of the race because he can't stand being a loser, and at this moment, he's losing big time in the presidential race.

Clearwater, Florida said...

The President is pissed at the New York Times for breaking the story, but not Putin for putting bounties out on our military. That should tell you everything you need to know.

Dave Miller said...

Shaw... here's the skinny from the only traveler willing to even mention it...

"EVERYBODY:
I now completely understand the Russia/Afghanistan/Trump thing.

I just can’t imagine it’d be such a big surprise that Russia’s been paying Taliban to kill American soldiers… And I have always wished Trump would stop calling people like Putin, Xi and Kim Jung Un ‘friends’….that can’t help here with the lefties already saying Trump DID KNOW…..

Let’s HOPE AND PRAY the head of Intel confirms he’d not chosen to tell Trump!!!! PRAY HARD!!!!


That's the sum of their thoughts and ideas on this. Pray Trump was kept in the dark!.

Trump is essentially telling us, since he said he was never told, that we told the Brits and not him. Of all the explosive news that has come from the Trump Admin over the years, this is the worst. A US President, allowing Russia to pay Afghani rebels to kill US and British soldiers.

And it actually happened.

At what point would a Trump supporter say enough? Ever? Ever?

Shameless...

Shaw Kenawe said...

Dave, cultists never abandon their cult leader.

She and her friends are praying that a POTUS wouldn't have been given information about a hostile government paying the Taliban to kill American troops? That's insane.

Also what they completely ignore or don't care about is that Trumps is lobbying to reward Putin by asking that he be brought back into the G8!

The only explanation for their complete lack of outrage over this is that they are more loyal to Trump than to their country. And that's their tragedy.

Dave Miller said...

Literally, the extremists who now make up the GOP are praying that the President of the United States was not told that Russians were paying to have American soldiers killed on the battlefield.

That's what they are praying for.

Without any consideration as to why the president was not informed. By his administration. By his people. And that's their best case scenario.

We can, and undoubtedly will differ with Biden on policy should he become president. But there will no way we will ever see anything like this. Ever.

Even Liz Cheney is pissed. When Liz Cheney and the Dems are in agreement, that should tell you something.

I was not a big fan of GW Bush, or even Pres. Reagan. But they would never have done anything like this. Never.

35%. That's the percentage of people who apparently will vote for Trump even if betrays his oath of office, the Constitution and doesn't protect our US soldiers.

Dave Miller said...

Shaw... it just gets worse.

Now we know that the president was in fact briefed on this in the Presidential Daily Briefing [PDB] in, wait for it... February. February.

And yet today President trump lied to the American people. He straight up lied. Pure and simple. He lied because he did nothing to protect our American soldiers when they were under attack by soldiers essentially employed by the Russians.

Skud, if you think I'm angry, you're right. My brother was on the USS Turner Joy in Vietnam. I watched as Ronald Reagan admitted his administration broke the law and armed the Contras. But nothing I have ever seen prepared me for a president who ignore a warning as Trump did.

Honestly, the Dems should move to impeach him immediately and dare the Senate to defend him.

Dave Miller said...

Meanwhile, the reports keep adding up. Now it is being reported that the President was told of this in March of 2019, got a detailed briefing on Feb 27, 2020 and was given the PDB detailing this in March 2020.

One would think this would be THE top news story. That is unless you watched FOX News at 8pm PST/11pm EST.

That's where the first four stories involved the police in Seattle, Tulsa, Detroit and New York. That was followed by a story on the NBA putting Black Lives Matter on their uniforms. Then we shifted to Sen Tim Scott R-SC talking about police issues before moving on to Inglewood, California, to talk to leaders in that city about guess what? More police issues.

Moving on, we went to more police issues in Minnesota.

Halfway through the first half hour of an hour of hard/real news on Fox, we've yet to get to the story of a president not defending US troops targeted by Russia. Their teaser at the top of the hour did include 15 seconds of them talking about how the story about that malfeasance by our president got leaked to the press and whether charges would be filed.

Shades of the Pentagon Papers.

Literally, it's not the lies that are a problem, it's the leaks documenting those leaks.

Shaw Kenawe said...

This is David Ignatius writing in the Washington Post:

"For the first 15 years of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, in which our former allies were now mortal enemies, the Russians played along. They were happy to let Americans kill the same Islamist militants that had used U.S.-supplied weapons to kill Russians. But starting in 2018, U.S. commanders noticed a difference: The Russians appeared to be helping the Taliban.

Gen. John “Mick” Nicholson Jr., who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan for more than two years, revealed the secret Russian aid for the Taliban in a March 23, 2018, interview with the BBC. He said Afghan leaders had showed U.S. commanders Russian-supplied weapons that had been smuggled across the border to Taliban fighters. He said the Russians were also peddling a false narrative that the United States was fostering a buildup of Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan, to justify their actions.

Nicholson’s 2018 interview was a rare public protest by a U.S. official. Trump didn’t press the Russians to stop, and so they continued. The GRU military-intelligence units that were helping smuggle weapons to the Taliban in 2018 may have been the forerunners of GRU operatives who U.S. intelligence analysts suspect are the new bounty hunters.

Through this January and February, as the CIA and military surveillance gathered reports about a cash stockpile in northern Afghanistan and other indicators of a possible Russian operation, U.S. military and intelligence officials became increasingly concerned, several told me. By March, they were pressing for a top-level review by senior Trump administration officials of this still-unconfirmed threat to U.S. soldiers.

Through this agonizing period, Trump kept up a buzz of happy talk about improving relations with Putin, including the possibility of inviting him back into the Group of Seven. Were Trump’s commanders too afraid to warn him off this folly?

rump isn’t the only one who knows too little about Afghanistan. Our forces there are so hunkered down, I’m told the military hasn’t allowed any significant embeds by journalists. Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, the admirable commanding general, avoids briefing the press or Congress, perhaps for fear of unintentionally offending the White House.

Trump is an obstacle to good policy. Either people don’t tell him the truth, or he doesn’t want to hear it. Whichever way, he’s defaulting on his most basic responsibility as commander in chief."

Ray Cranston said...

Can anyone (especially skudrunner) explain to me how, after Trump knew Russia paid Taliban bounty hunters to kill Americans and did nothing to stop it, he isn’t literally an enemy of the United States?

Dave Miller said...

No Ray they can't.

Look, they are praying that Trump was not told, even as we informed the Brits. What they don't get is that if Trump was not told, that in and of itself, is a scandal. A sitting president not being told by his staff that Russians were paying to have Americans killed?

If it is true that he was not told, then he should immediately FIRE every single Exec Branch employee who knew. If he was told, and did nothing as soldiers came back dead in boxes, he should be impeached.

That's why FOX News looks at police violence, blogs look at Germany and wonder who could replace Trump should he decide not to run again in 2020.