We Were Warned

Paul Krugman, NYT, July 2016:

If elected, would Donald Trump be Vladimir Putin’s man in the White House? This should be a ludicrous, outrageous question. After all, he must be a patriot — he even wears hats promising to make America great again.

But we’re talking about a ludicrous, outrageous candidate. And the Trump campaign’s recent behavior has quite a few foreign policy experts wondering just what kind of hold Mr. Putin has over the Republican nominee, and whether that influence will continue if he wins.

I’m not talking about merely admiring Mr. Putin’s performance — being impressed by the de facto dictator’s “strength,” and wanting to emulate his actions. I am, instead, talking about indications that Mr. Trump would, in office, actually follow a pro-Putin foreign policy, at the expense of America’s allies and her own self-interest.

That’s not to deny that Mr. Trump does, indeed, admire Mr. Putin. On the contrary, he has repeatedly praised the Russian strongman, often in extravagant terms. For example, when Mr. Putin published an article attacking American exceptionalism, Mr. Trump called it a “masterpiece.”

 

Keith

Watch this video on The Scene.

The Big Diversion

Time Mag online from two fellows at The Brennan Ctr:

The Trump administration continues to double down on its false and widely-criticized assertion that 3 to 5 million non-citizens illegally voted in the 2016 election.

On Sunday, White House Senior Advisor Stephen Miller claimed 14% of non-citizens are registered to vote. “We know for a fact, you have massive numbers of non-citizens registered to vote in this country,” he said, appearing on ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos. “The White House has provided enormous evidence with respect to voter fraud.”

Actually, it hasn’t. Nevertheless, President Trump announced earlier this month, despite the lack of evidence, that Vice President Mike Pence will lead a federal investigation into voter fraud.

Tons of ink has been devoted to debunking the president’s claims that our elections are marred by widespread voter fraud. But few have focused specifically on his administration’s larger false claims about non-citizens. It is important to put this particular allegation to bed once and for all.

Like voter fraud generally, non-citizen voting is incredibly rare. Simply put, we already know that ineligible non-citizens do not vote in American elections — including the 2016 election — except at negligible rates. Here are the facts.

It's another shiny object dangled in front of us to get us away from the Russia thing. 

• &/or to drive more attempts to suppress the vote 
• &/or to cover the attempts to gut Social Security, etc
• &/or just about any other shitty thing these pricks are always up to

And btw - when did a Veep get the power to investigate anything? That's an honest question for me. I don't know that he doesn't have the standing to do that, it just seems a little, uhm, odd? 

Sure sounds like a snipe hunt to me.

Today's Today

Your Daily Schmuck

Mike Flynn railed against Hillary for "putting national security at extreme risk", possibly while he was committing treason.

Your modern GOP.

RIP Michael #Flynn, who led "LOCK HER UP" chants and then literally committed treason.
pic.twitter.com/W6yM2jVkhz

— E (@esheikh_) February 14, 2017

Today's Quote

Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends? 

--Abraham Lincoln

Keith

Watch this video on The Scene.

Uh - What Now?

Abe Lincoln was the father of the GOP and the savior of our great nation. 

White southern Republicans honor his many achievements and his commitments to equality and unity by proudly displaying the flag of the Confederacy.

Today's Tweet

EXCLUSIVE: Trump releases photo of "huge crowds" on the road as he left Mar-a-Lago. @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/jKpzjwGCR8

— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) February 13, 2017

John Oliver

Feb 12, 2017

"We have a president capable of standing in the rain and saying it was sunny day."