@David, I saw most of it, I think. There was a whole lot of “I don’t have to do this, but I am, because I’m so bighearted, but really nobody cares if I do, except the media, who are forcing me to do it.”
He had a woman from a law firm come out and read a statement about divesting, which was full of little digs like “Nelson Rockefeller had a larger fortune but nobody gave a shit” and “they cancelled 30 pending deals, costing themselves millions of dollars” like they’re not going to be lining their pockets with as much as they can get.
She all but said divesting was impossible. They couldn’t sell because someone would have to come up with the money, and if D&E borrowed it, that would give someone financial leverage over Big Trump, and if The Don raised the money, that would defeat the purpose.
Oh, and the Name has to stay on, because if they sold out from under the Name, the properties would lose value bigly. Almost as though they’re … over rated. It seemed like she was hinting that people had to think that The Don still owned the properties.
Don and Eric are going to be taking over control of Big Trump. Ivanka’s out, and if you believe the spokeswoman, that’s only because she’s going to be busy settling her tykes into school in DC.
It was a great big whine-fest from start to finish, and very, very abusive, in the martyring, in the “look-what-you-made-me-do.”
Falconer
7 years ago
The misspellings in the dossier don’t seem like a big problem to me. They apparently consist merely of spelling “Alfa Group” as “Alpha Group” throughout.
1) The document was allegedly prepared by a former MI-6 agent, and they might have a quirky way of transliterating “Alfa Group” from the Cyrillic.
2) It was apparently prepared as oppo research for The Don’s Republican primary opponents, and then presented to the Clinton campaign, before “Alfa Group” was all over the media in October.
And the “geographical errors” seem to be only one — claiming a community outside of Moscow is reserved for the highest governmental officials, when it is actually inhabited merely by the filthy rich.
Falconer
7 years ago
Someone pointed out that the last time Trump tweeted that something was a WITCH HUNT, it turned out to be Trump University.
Arctic Ape
7 years ago
I will not, however, be apologising for the terrible pun.
From pizzagate to pissgate.
From watergate to watersportsgate.
And so on.
Arctic Ape
7 years ago
To paraphrase a btl commenter over at The Grauniad –
UK: Our former Prime Minister once stuck his dick in a pig’s head. Top that, US!
US: Hold my beer.
From Twitter:
World: It can’t get any weirder than 2016.
2017: Hold my beer.
World: Wait, this isn’t beer.
Ohlmann
7 years ago
@Artic Ape : you actually made me laugh.
Back to topic, I think it’s what the secret service of whatever country, likely the US, believe but can’t really prove. So they leak it because holy crap it’s important, but not yet “let’s assassinate the president” important.
Ohlmann
7 years ago
Also, it may be a cultural thing, but no French I know of had found the golden shower with prostitute thingy disgusting or particulary important. Might or might not be linked to a french tradition of knowing that the (french) president have a more sexually active life than most sex workers.
All I’m hoping is that the press conference he’s supposed to give today is about actual things and not whether he paid someone to pee on a bed Obama slept in once, or whatever it was.
Again, was the timing of this leak (or possibly fake leak) deliberate from Trump campaign? The distraction power is terrifying, and it makes me really wish for Trump’s impeachment. Although even then he might keep running some show that hogs media attention.
Nobody Special
7 years ago
So, what are the odds on Trump making it to the 20th?
Right now I reckon it’s around 60-40 that he’ll be forced to step down either by his own party or because further revelations will make his position untenable.
I also think there’s a more than 50% chance he’ll face arrest owing to his Russian collaboration rising to near certainty if the allegations are backed up with solid evidence.
Say what you will about the man, but there’s no denying he’s made politics…..interesting, if not entertaining. Which is not necessarily a good thing.
Policy of Madness
7 years ago
The piss story is important on the grounds that it might have been blackmail material. Regardless of how we feel about kink shaming, other people kink shame and that means that kink can lead to blackmail. A blackmail story involving Trump is an important story, and that doesn’t change just because the adults in the room are pointing out that we shouldn’t shame people for an innocuous kink.
Arctic Ape
7 years ago
Ohlmann:
@Artic Ape : you actually made me laugh.
That must count for something, considering circumstances.
According to a Finnish saying, schadenfreude is the best freude. Now it seems to be the only joy left.
Victorious Parasol
7 years ago
Dropping this URL here as an interesting view of the Trump stuff:
(Comey refused to comment on an ongoing investigation.)
I’m sure he did.
Sinkable John : Pansy Ass Pinko, Regicidal Beast-of-Burden
7 years ago
@Ohlmann
Might or might not be linked to a french tradition of knowing that the (french) president have a more sexually active life than most sex workers.
The wh- wait, what ? Okay, I’m assuming you just phrased that a bit weirdly, because otherwise I don’t understand what you’re saying.
Although, my own explanation is that the French don’t give a flying fuck about anybody else’s sex life unless they happen to be involved in it – and even then.
Like, remember the Hollande-Gayet thing ? Everyone was outraged… that the president would ride a scooter to his lover’s apartment, creating a hell of a security breach and an awful headache for anyone involved in ensuring his safety.
Now, regarding how Americans are reacting to “Goldengate” (@SFHC aight, you had me with that pun), it’s more about the pettiness of it, rather than its degree of kink. It’s a smaller equivalent to the absolute catastrophe that he’s wrecking on the remnants of the Obama administration – it’s basically the same thing, something he does just to spite Obama. The difference is that Goldengate we can laugh at. Unlike his wiping the slate clean of everything “Obama” without even a plan to replace that stuff and those people he’s getting rid off.
Sinkable John : Pansy Ass Pinko, Regicidal Beast-of-Burden
7 years ago
@SFHC
The universe is trying to tell us something.
Ohlmann
7 years ago
The only more direct message the universe could give us at that point would be by making a giant bullshit fall from the sky on his toupee.
@Sinkable John : I used sex worker only because I needed to compare to somebody who unambiguously have sex often without that being anormal. I wedded out the like five first comparison I have got because they were too sex-shaming to me.
In retrospect, I should have compared them to bonobos, because while it’s not shameful for a sex worker to have sex, it’s (sadly) shameful in the general opinion for someone to be a sex worker. But I did not though of it on the fly.
Let’s hope Donald Trump never visited Central Kalimantan prior to 2003.
Dalillama, Shepherd of Demonic Crocodiles
7 years ago
@SFHC
I wish the media cared about him raping children or promising to give Ukraine to Putin even half as much as they care about this.
So, so much of this.
@Conan the Librarian
Who does he owe money to?
AFAICT, everyone who’s ever worked with or for him in any capacity whatsoever.
@Falconer
And the “geographical errors” seem to be only one — claiming a community outside of Moscow is reserved for the highest governmental officials, when it is actually inhabited merely by the filthy rich.
Which may well be a temporal error rather than a geographical one anyway; prior to ’91, that probably was an accurate description.
Moggie
7 years ago
Sinkable John:
The universe is trying to tell us something.
You know that idea that we’re living in a simulation? I don’t normally think much of that, but I’ll admit that there have been times in the past year when I’ve wondered. That point in a sim game when you get bored with being sensible, and just start fucking things up? Yeah. If any kaiju appear in 2017, that’ll be why.
Ohlmann
7 years ago
Isn’t being a top official a requirement to be rich, russian, and living in Russia ?
Alan Robertshaw
7 years ago
Just watched the press conference.
Must confess that I find it mildly disconcerting that a warning that hotel rooms are routinely equipped with surveillance cameras should come from someone who owns a load of hotels.
Still as they say, “In West, tourists take pictures of hotel. In Soviet Russia…”
@Ohlmann
I’d rather have a literal all mighty diety come down in full view of all cameras and say “Okay stop all of this we are stopping this one way train to hells of hells.”
@Moggie
Remember in Pacific Rim where Not Ron Paul decided to build walls instead of funding giant mechs to protect humanity from Kaiju when things started going south? I get a feeling that if Kaiju appear the film’s going to look disgustingly optimistic in comparison.
Ohlmann
7 years ago
So, there is three french cyber-harassers who are currently in front of a judge with possibly prison sentence. It’s a small step, but I will take every steps on thoses dark days.
(it was homophobic insults against a french Communist elected official. The judge slyly noted that the harassers, who said they harassed him because of his political opinions, still resorted to homophobic slurs instead of just saying that he was a dirty red)
We Hunted The Mammoth
@David, I saw most of it, I think. There was a whole lot of “I don’t have to do this, but I am, because I’m so bighearted, but really nobody cares if I do, except the media, who are forcing me to do it.”
He had a woman from a law firm come out and read a statement about divesting, which was full of little digs like “Nelson Rockefeller had a larger fortune but nobody gave a shit” and “they cancelled 30 pending deals, costing themselves millions of dollars” like they’re not going to be lining their pockets with as much as they can get.
She all but said divesting was impossible. They couldn’t sell because someone would have to come up with the money, and if D&E borrowed it, that would give someone financial leverage over Big Trump, and if The Don raised the money, that would defeat the purpose.
Oh, and the Name has to stay on, because if they sold out from under the Name, the properties would lose value bigly. Almost as though they’re … over rated. It seemed like she was hinting that people had to think that The Don still owned the properties.
Don and Eric are going to be taking over control of Big Trump. Ivanka’s out, and if you believe the spokeswoman, that’s only because she’s going to be busy settling her tykes into school in DC.
It was a great big whine-fest from start to finish, and very, very abusive, in the martyring, in the “look-what-you-made-me-do.”
The misspellings in the dossier don’t seem like a big problem to me. They apparently consist merely of spelling “Alfa Group” as “Alpha Group” throughout.
1) The document was allegedly prepared by a former MI-6 agent, and they might have a quirky way of transliterating “Alfa Group” from the Cyrillic.
2) It was apparently prepared as oppo research for The Don’s Republican primary opponents, and then presented to the Clinton campaign, before “Alfa Group” was all over the media in October.
And the “geographical errors” seem to be only one — claiming a community outside of Moscow is reserved for the highest governmental officials, when it is actually inhabited merely by the filthy rich.
Someone pointed out that the last time Trump tweeted that something was a WITCH HUNT, it turned out to be Trump University.
From pizzagate to pissgate.
From watergate to watersportsgate.
And so on.
From Twitter:
World: It can’t get any weirder than 2016.
2017: Hold my beer.
World: Wait, this isn’t beer.
@Artic Ape : you actually made me laugh.
Back to topic, I think it’s what the secret service of whatever country, likely the US, believe but can’t really prove. So they leak it because holy crap it’s important, but not yet “let’s assassinate the president” important.
Also, it may be a cultural thing, but no French I know of had found the golden shower with prostitute thingy disgusting or particulary important. Might or might not be linked to a french tradition of knowing that the (french) president have a more sexually active life than most sex workers.
Oh boy, Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr. are up to some sort of antivax fuckery!
Again, was the timing of this leak (or possibly fake leak) deliberate from Trump campaign? The distraction power is terrifying, and it makes me really wish for Trump’s impeachment. Although even then he might keep running some show that hogs media attention.
So, what are the odds on Trump making it to the 20th?
Right now I reckon it’s around 60-40 that he’ll be forced to step down either by his own party or because further revelations will make his position untenable.
I also think there’s a more than 50% chance he’ll face arrest owing to his Russian collaboration rising to near certainty if the allegations are backed up with solid evidence.
Say what you will about the man, but there’s no denying he’s made politics…..interesting, if not entertaining. Which is not necessarily a good thing.
The piss story is important on the grounds that it might have been blackmail material. Regardless of how we feel about kink shaming, other people kink shame and that means that kink can lead to blackmail. A blackmail story involving Trump is an important story, and that doesn’t change just because the adults in the room are pointing out that we shouldn’t shame people for an innocuous kink.
Ohlmann:
That must count for something, considering circumstances.
According to a Finnish saying, schadenfreude is the best freude. Now it seems to be the only joy left.
Dropping this URL here as an interesting view of the Trump stuff:
https://lawfareblog.com/about-explosive-trump-story-take-deep-breath
From VP’s link, a darkly hilarious line:
I’m sure he did.
@Ohlmann
The wh- wait, what ? Okay, I’m assuming you just phrased that a bit weirdly, because otherwise I don’t understand what you’re saying.
Although, my own explanation is that the French don’t give a flying fuck about anybody else’s sex life unless they happen to be involved in it – and even then.
Like, remember the Hollande-Gayet thing ? Everyone was outraged… that the president would ride a scooter to his lover’s apartment, creating a hell of a security breach and an awful headache for anyone involved in ensuring his safety.
Now, regarding how Americans are reacting to “Goldengate” (@SFHC aight, you had me with that pun), it’s more about the pettiness of it, rather than its degree of kink. It’s a smaller equivalent to the absolute catastrophe that he’s wrecking on the remnants of the Obama administration – it’s basically the same thing, something he does just to spite Obama. The difference is that Goldengate we can laugh at. Unlike his wiping the slate clean of everything “Obama” without even a plan to replace that stuff and those people he’s getting rid off.
I swear I’m not making this up: The Watergate caught fire during the dipshit’s press conference.
…
ಠ_ಠ
@SFHC
The universe is trying to tell us something.
The only more direct message the universe could give us at that point would be by making a giant bullshit fall from the sky on his toupee.
@Sinkable John : I used sex worker only because I needed to compare to somebody who unambiguously have sex often without that being anormal. I wedded out the like five first comparison I have got because they were too sex-shaming to me.
In retrospect, I should have compared them to bonobos, because while it’s not shameful for a sex worker to have sex, it’s (sadly) shameful in the general opinion for someone to be a sex worker. But I did not though of it on the fly.
Bonobos vs. sex workers.
What if the sex worker IS an ape?
http://orangutan.or.id/ponys-new-life-2/
Let’s hope Donald Trump never visited Central Kalimantan prior to 2003.
@SFHC
So, so much of this.
@Conan the Librarian
AFAICT, everyone who’s ever worked with or for him in any capacity whatsoever.
@Falconer
Which may well be a temporal error rather than a geographical one anyway; prior to ’91, that probably was an accurate description.
Sinkable John:
You know that idea that we’re living in a simulation? I don’t normally think much of that, but I’ll admit that there have been times in the past year when I’ve wondered. That point in a sim game when you get bored with being sensible, and just start fucking things up? Yeah. If any kaiju appear in 2017, that’ll be why.
Isn’t being a top official a requirement to be rich, russian, and living in Russia ?
Just watched the press conference.
Must confess that I find it mildly disconcerting that a warning that hotel rooms are routinely equipped with surveillance cameras should come from someone who owns a load of hotels.
Still as they say, “In West, tourists take pictures of hotel. In Soviet Russia…”
(Sorry, best I could come up with)
@Ohlmann
I’d rather have a literal all mighty diety come down in full view of all cameras and say “Okay stop all of this we are stopping this one way train to hells of hells.”
@Moggie
Remember in Pacific Rim where Not Ron Paul decided to build walls instead of funding giant mechs to protect humanity from Kaiju when things started going south? I get a feeling that if Kaiju appear the film’s going to look disgustingly optimistic in comparison.
So, there is three french cyber-harassers who are currently in front of a judge with possibly prison sentence. It’s a small step, but I will take every steps on thoses dark days.
(it was homophobic insults against a french Communist elected official. The judge slyly noted that the harassers, who said they harassed him because of his political opinions, still resorted to homophobic slurs instead of just saying that he was a dirty red)