Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[hack]

Well that might be an interesting exercise. Two different eras of media consumption, and two different types of independent/special prosecutor, so it's maybe a bit like wondering whether Russell's Celtics could compete with today's athletes, to use a very loose analogy. In a way you might compare it to attempts by Ds today to smear messengers. Did Obama counter fake news with fake news on the birther stuff? A better question might be how Hillary defended herself against the Benghazi stuff. There's an example of something one side is certain is nonsense and the other side is certain is a grave threat. So that's a good comparison. Did Hillary take normal procedures that are a legitimate part of our political process and try to deligitimize them? I'm sure she lied her head off all along the way, but were these misleading misrepresentations as politicians do every day, or obvious contradictions of observable fact asserted time and again as if people can't go see for themselves?

Those would probably be better comparisons since Huffpo and Breitbart and the like weren't around back then, and Fox and MSNBC were only growing into what they are now. But, ultimately, the same type of thing. If you think that Clinton's and/or the Ds behavior was comparable, show us some examples. I'm skeptical. Different time; different game.


Among the sharpest remarks were from Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a longtime ally of Clinton who was described as even more angry than her statement reflected. "I was present in the Roosevelt Room in January when the president categorically denied any sexual involvement with Monica Lewinsky," she said. "I believed him. His remarks last evening leave me with a deep sense of sadness in that my trust in his credibility has been badly shattered."

Even the party's congressional leadership scolded the president. House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt said, "I cannot condone the relationship the president has acknowledged and am very disappointed in his personal conduct."

And Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said that while the president gave "a more complete explanation of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky," the senator was "disappointed he did not do so earlier."

(https://partners.nytimes.com/library...-politics.html)

[drok]

Re: Trudeau

Take it from a #lulzprog living in Canada...he sucks. He is literally all talk and photo ops. And a lot of time his talk is in contradiction to actual policy decision making. He's a classic wish-washy Liberal Party do-nothing, centrist.

[iam416]

So, I'm guessing he sucks at curling.

[drok]

Likely. But probably good at curling photo ops.

And you're so wrong about curling. It is a riveting sport to watch.

[Jeff Buchanan]

..... if you like watching paint dry.

[Kapture1]

Diane Feinstein f-ed up with releasing that Simpson transcript, where he claims the FBI had a mole in the Trump campaign.

There are unconfirmed reports that Carter Page had served as an FBI undercover Employee from 2012-2015


[…] The FBI obtained the recordings after Sporyshev attempted to recruit an FBI undercover employee (“UCE-1”), who was posing as an analyst from a New York-based energy company. In response to requests from Sporyshev, UCE-1 provided Sporyshev with binders containing purported industry analysis written by UCE-1 and supporting documentation relating to UCE-1’s reports, as well as covertly placed recording devices.(more)

♦ In 2016 Reuters published an article, based on the ongoing court case, going into detail about court records and how the FBI built their case. Reuters also describes the FBI UCE-1 (Under-Cover Employee) with strong detail. LINK HERE


NEW YORK (Reuters) – The FBI eavesdropped on meetings involving Russian intelligence personnel in New York City, including a suspected spy posing as a trade representative, by hiding recorders in binders containing supposedly confidential information about the energy sector, U.S. prosecutors said.

The hours of covert recordings from 2013 were disclosed in papers filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday in the case of Evgeny Buryakov, a Russian citizen who U.S. prosecutors say posed as a banker while participating in a Cold War-style spy ring.

[…] According to prosecutors, in April 2012, Sporyshev met an undercover FBI employee posing as an analyst at a New York energy firm at an oil and gas industry conference.

Over the next two years, they met to discuss the industry and other economic and political issues, prosecutors said, with Sporyshev providing gifts and cash for information.

In 2013, the FBI employee began providing Sporyshev with the binders containing purported industry analysis he wrote, supporting documents, and “covertly placed recording devices,” prosecutors wrote. (more)





In April 2017, writing a story about Carter Page (trying to enhance/affirm the Russian narrative), the New York Times outlined Page’s connections to the Trump campaign. However, New York Times also references Page’s prior connection to the Buryakov case. If you ignore the narrative, you discover the UCE1 description is Carter Page. READ [Notice how the story is shaped] LINK HERE:

Russian intelligence operatives tried in 2013 to recruit an American businessman and eventual foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign who is now part of the F.B.I. investigation into Russia’s interference into the American election, according to federal court documents and a statement issued by the businessman.

The businessman, Carter Page, met with one of three Russians who were eventually charged with being undeclared officers with Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the S.V.R.

The F.B.I. interviewed Mr. Page in 2013 as part of an investigation into the spy ring, but decided that he had not known the man was a spy, and the bureau never accused Mr. Page of wrongdoing.

The court documents say that Mr. Page, who founded an investment company in New York called Global Energy Capital, provided documents about the energy business to one of the Russians. […] To record their conversations, the F.B.I. inserted a listening device into binders that were passed to the Russian intelligence operatives during an energy conference, according to a former United States intelligence official. (more)

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/02/05/in-march-2016-carter-page-was-an-fbi-employee-in-october-2016-fbi-told-fisa-court-hes-a-spy/

[drok]

..... if you like watching paint dry.

No, that's baseball.

[hack]

He'll fucking curl your ass right up into the house, and then thank you for your cooperation and go back to being a lightweight showhorse who can at least dominate a world-leader handshake if nothing else.

[iam416]

And you're so wrong about curling. It is a riveting sport to watch.

..... if you like watching paint dry.

I'm going to have to side with Buchanan on this one. I would have gone with "like watching ice melt" -- but otherwise the sentiment is correct.

I'm also sure I could make it entertaining with sufficient beer and some folks willing to bet on every shot. But, then again, everything is entertaining if you're drinking and betting.

[drok]

He'll fucking curl your ass right up into the house, and then thank you for your cooperation and go back to being a lightweight showhorse who can at least dominate a world-leader handshake if nothing else.

LOL, exactly.

[Kapture1]

I personally found it odd that an individual under Title I FISA surveillance, where he was supposedly "on the FBI's radar for years" and the FISA warrant was renewed a number of times (where the left claims they were finding all of this evidence that Page was indeed a Russian spy) isn't sitting in GITMO right now.


Who was it that referred Carter Page to the Trump Campaign? Well, fuck me, it was Nixon's Son-in-Law citing previous work with Songbird John McCain, who, perhaps not so ironically, passed the dossier on to then FBI director James Comey

http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/30/nixons-son-in-law-explains-why-he-referred-carter-page-to-trump-campaign/

[hack]

drok I was just up last week in Toronto and Ottawa on a work trip, and it seems Cdns are remarkably united on Trudeau. Do you know anyone still swooning? I don't think I do. He's a lightweight, I agree. Which is what most of us thought of him before Mulcair's campaign turtled, IIRC. It's easy and costs very little to right historical wrongs done to marginalized groups, and it plays to his strengths. It is much harder to address the serious economic problems, which Canada has to a lesser extent than the US, but still has. That said, IMO credit where it's due for his leadership on the pipelines. We need to get those pipelines built and find more markets for our petroleum, as unpleasant as that may be. That's an unpopular message that he delivers when needed and consistently, IMO.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Canadians just aren't right in the melon...just sayin'...

[Ghengis Jon]

I thought the sand oil production had tanked. What price per barrel makes it viable? The pipeline within the Canadian borders is complete, no?

[hack]

2.5m bpd in '16, which is about half of overall production, but also more than most OPEC countries produce. No idea the cost per barrel, but 15 years ago it was ~$50. More importantly though, no export routes for LNG. Need to get a pipe to the BC coast, and that's going to be a huge enviro/nimby/indigenous issue. And, fair enough. But Canada has committed the cardinal sin of having only one customer.

I dunno about the tar sands long term, if oil demand is flat or shrinks over the coming decades as renewables eat into some of that market. They won't be the lowest-cost barrels. But Canada is going to make the argument that whatever petroleum needed would be best extracted in places like it and Norway or the US, where you don't get massive human-rights abuses in the process as you do in poor countries. IMO that's a good argument to make, whether you win the debate or not.