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Robert Mueller's Team Reportedly Interviewed Facebook Staff As Part of Russia Probe (thehill.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hill: Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has interviewed at least one Facebook employee tasked with helping the Trump campaign's digital operations during the 2016 campaign, Wired reported on Friday. The report, which cited a source familiar with the matter, does not say when the employee was questioned nor does it detail the focus of the interview. Mueller's team has been investigating for months any collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russia. During the election, Facebook deployed employees to embed with the Trump campaign to assist its digital operations. The company also worked with Hillary Clinton's campaign team but did not have employees embedded with them. The company has also been scrutinized by Congress for selling more than 3,000 ads to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian "troll farm" alleged to have carried out misinformation operations online during the campaign.

229 comments

  1. Hold on, let me get some popcorn by kenai_alpenglow · · Score: 3, Funny

    Let the Pro/Anti Trump fights begin!

    1. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What fight? Mueller has everything handled, the world has decided Trump's a moron from his own words alone. He's the least popular US President in recorded history. It's just time trickling down an hourglass at this point.

    2. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He did what? Signed an executive order so that Hillary and the Crime Syndicate will be prosecuted in the near future?
       
      The Soros-fueled Internet FUD is beginning to stall out. Tick tock.

    3. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Oh dear, you actually believe that anything is going to happen to Trump don't you? Mueller is a special counsel, essentially a US Attorney. He can bring indictments against citizens for crimes but he cannot bring an indictment against an elected sitting US President or any Senate approved Cabinet appointees. That would be highly unconstitutional. All he can do is report what he thinks happened, and give that to the DoJ and Congress.

      The IC law expired many years ago - there will be no repeat of the Ken Starr and Clinton investigations. Congress may decide to Impeach, but Mueller can't do anything except report it.

      Also - there have been far less popular presidents in the past. I think you may be living in an echo chamber.

    4. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Derpublicans are pretty well-versed on how actual legal charges come about, lol. Meanwhile in Trump's future prison cell, a man slips in his own shit and breaks his neck clearing the space for a new inmate. Your move Mueller.

      Here, your rope.

    5. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well living in an ecochamber is the life choice of a libtard.

    6. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      He's the least popular US President in recorded history.

      Trump current - 40% on RCP (or anywhere from 36% to 45% if you want to cherrypick polls to suit your agenda)

      Truman (Feb 1952) - 22%
      LBJ (Aug 1968) - 35%
      Nixon (Aug 1974) - 24%
      Ford (March 1975) - 37%
      Carter (June 1979) - 28%
      Reagan (Jan 1983) - 35%
      HW Bush (July 1982) - 29%
      Clinton (June 1993) - 37%
      W Bush (Nov 2008) - 25%
      Obama (Sept 2014) - 38%

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating#Historical_comparison

      In the history of presidential job approval polls, only FDR, Eisenhower, and JFK were decisively *more* popular than Trump throughout their presidency.

    7. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh dear, you actually believe that anything is going to happen to Trump don't you? Mueller is a special counsel, essentially a US Attorney. He can bring indictments against citizens for crimes but he cannot bring an indictment against an elected sitting US President or any Senate approved Cabinet appointees.

      There is no case law establishing that. In fact there is case law one of trumps own cabinet members husband worked to establish that says just the opposite.

    8. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let the FoxNews / FoxNews 40-minutes-later factually-challenged-pivot-fights begin! https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/01/26/hannity-nyt-report-trump-mueller-orig-vstan-bk.cnn - CAN YOU BELIEVE THESE IDIOTS LOL?

    9. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is fake news bullshit.

      Read the link. Trumps best is 20 points lower than the next lowest presidental approval rating AT THEIR PEAKS.

    10. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're inventing a nonsense metric to get the talking point you want. Whatever makes you happy.

      Side note: Take notice of the date of Clinton's peak job approval rating and what else happened that day, and maybe factor that into your fantasies about how this Russia bullshit plays out.

    11. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let the Pro/Anti Trump fights begin!

      OK, but civilians should be protected.

    12. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0, Redundant

      If you look at those dates, you will find that none of them were in their first year.

      Trump is the least popular president at this point in their presidential term. It took those other presidents years to get to the point of being hated more than Trump.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    13. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm, looking at the same page, his lowest point is 6th worst and he has the lowest average approval overall of any past president, already - 38% vs 45 for Truman. Do you see that changing for the better?

    14. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just about every president except Trump rode into office fresh off a 3-month long sloppy media transition blowjob. Trump came in off of 3 months of "TREASON!!" and "ELECTION FRAUD!!!" and "PEEPEE!!". In fact, notice that most presidents' highest approval rating came right about the day they were inaugurated. (Either that or right after some huge event like 9/11)

      Obama's favorability/job approval (same thing for all intents and purposes) peaked just after the election, declined sharply throughout 2009, and never got within 15 points of its high again until his late-2016 nostalgia bump. Meanwhile Trump's rating has actually gone up a bit since election day.

    15. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Trump came in off of 3 months of "TREASON!!" and "ELECTION FRAUD!!!" and "PEEPEE!!"

      And now we're learning why.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    16. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ignoring the wrongness of comparing an overall average for full-term presidents versus Trump's one year, there's literally nowhere for Trump to go but up (unless he actually does fuck up in some serious way of course). Two years of the most recklessly aggressive media attacks ever faced by any president have proven *completely* ineffective at shrinking his poll numbers. As we finally start to move past the Russia bullshit, Trump keeps racking up wins, and the economy keeps doing great, numbers will probably continue to go up as they have been for the last month or so.

    17. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed. #ReleaseTheMemo

    18. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      It is ten thousand years into the reign of God Emperor Baron Trump. Humanity has spread out into the galaxy and an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity has dawned. The only issue is that contact has been lost by a few outlying colonies and there are rumours they have been attacked by a hostile extra galactic force.

      Here's how Hillary can still win....

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    19. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He didn't sign an order, because there's nothing you can prosecute Hitlery for. She's bad taste, vindictive, evil to the core, legally corrupt up to her eyebrows, but nothing of that is a crime. So, tough luck, freeper. Tick tock.

    20. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      This should be a non-partisan issue. It doesn't matter who side the Russian meddling was in support of, the fact that it happened and is now being properly investigated is the important thing.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    21. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      For a comprehensive and well presented comparision of these figures, see Nate Silver's site trump-approval-ratings

    22. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump came in off of 2 years (or longer for those who knew him) of "But he's a complete fucking idiot, how in hell can he be President".

    23. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great now get an investigation into all the US meddling in foreign elections in the last hundred years and post it here. Whats that the internet has run out of space? Jeez.

    24. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by bestweasel · · Score: 1

      Russian meddling, are you completely mad? There was no Russian meddling, in fact I have it on the best authority and I mean the very best, none better believe me, that this whole Russian thing is totally made up and fake and that experts have said, people who know things, are saying THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS RUSSIANS.

    25. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      He can bring indictments against citizens for crimes but he cannot bring an indictment against an elected sitting US President or any Senate approved Cabinet appointees.

      Actually never been tried.
      Anyone claiming that they know is full of shit. The experts in the field are still arguing about what and what not can be done here.
      There is nothing in the constitution or any other law that says that the president is exempt from the law. The question is who is in a position to hold him accountable.

      No president has ever pardoned himself and Nixon had the decency to not get a situation like this tried.

    26. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > He's the least popular US President in recorded history.

      may be so, or may be not. He still got elected and he is in office with all powers. Get used to it, you've had more than year by now.

    27. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by asylumx · · Score: 1

      Trump came in off of 3 months of "TREASON!!" and "ELECTION FRAUD!!!" and "PEEPEE!!"

      Obama had to start after 3 months of the tea party claiming he was already responsible for our the 'great recession', which started before he was even elected and began to turn around within his first year.

    28. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Demena · · Score: 1

      The US turned over Australia in 1975. We were not even an enemy. Been g a friend was not enough. We have to be a servant.

    29. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 2

      > He's the least popular US President in recorded history.

      It seems that you are seeing the popular analyses that show him the least popular _after his first 100 days_, which was a popular message in various media. America has had Presidents become far more loathed and disliked:at various points in their career. In living memory, Richard M. Nixon at the end of his presidency comes to mind.

    30. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by BlueStrat · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Mueller should know a lot about the Russians. After all, he's on their payroll.

      On top of that, there are the revelations from the Strzok-Page emails (and the curiously-selective and conveniently-missing Strzok-Page emails surrounding certain critical dates) that compromises Mueller and the entire "Russian collusion" investigation, and the very legitimacy of the FBI and DoJ. This is big, bigger than Watergate in it's breadth, scope, and implications for the nation going forward.

      They may have just went a bridge too far with this. People I talk to who normally never talk politics or about these sorts of government shenanigans have started spontaneously expressing anger and disgust with the FBI. Obama could be called to testify under oath in a Federal court if some of this stuff goes to trial. That should be interesting, to say the least.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    31. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why arent we reafing the juicy sex bits they shared if they were having an affair? Conveniently removed? If those removed then what else is removed?

    32. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know he did it. Slashdot WILL work to expose Trump for all he really is... ...part of the KGB, let's just say Vladimir Putin's personal recruiting office.

      You'll think me when it's all over.

      -::===}x.X.x{Beau}x.X.x{===::-

      Vladimir Putin is still preferable to Hillary Clinton. Go cry in your vagina hat!

    33. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great now get an investigation into all the US meddling in foreign elections in the last hundred years and post it here. Whats that the internet has run out of space? Jeez.

      The USA also bombs other countries. Should we just accept it and do nothing if they bomb us back?

    34. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's just misdirection from the people who are trying to help Donald Trump get away with Treason and keep Putin's Puppet in the White House.

      None of what you have posted changes the fact that Donald Trump has been caught red handed committing treason and conspiring with Russia's criminal attacks on our election and democracy.

    35. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As an Obama supporter, are you sure you want to compare Obama with Trump regarding the performance of the economy?

    36. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Traitors are scum.

    37. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, because of a seditious group of shadow government losers who are pissed off that their agenda is being threatened.

    38. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look up "Wolfowitz doctrine". If any nation starts getting too much power or independence from US influence, the US starts meddling with them.

      The US is a nation that you must watch your back with at all times, no matter how friendly you consider your relations with them to be.

    39. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by quantaman · · Score: 2

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating#Historical_comparison

      In the history of presidential job approval polls, only FDR, Eisenhower, and JFK were decisively *more* popular than Trump throughout their presidency.

      Presidents almost always become less popular over time.

      Trump's the least popular US President in recorded history up to this point in his term.

      Other Presidents had years of legacies and scandals with which to erode their legacies, not to mention congress controlled by hostile parties trying to undermine them.

      Trump has been historically unpopular out of the gate, and become only more unpopular as he and his party attempts to govern.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    40. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Yes, because of a seditious group of shadow government losers who are pissed off that their agenda is being threatened.

      "And the Illuminati! Everyone knows that the Reptilians are behind this! Subscribe to my YouTube channel for my 9-hour video to see the actual evidence."

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    41. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good one, Comrade Wang!

    42. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whatever you say, comrade.

    43. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      #ReleaseTheEvidenceBehindTheMemo

    44. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      As an Obama supporter, are you sure you want to compare Obama with Trump regarding the performance of the economy?

      Yes. During the Obama administration, the Dow went up by 149%. Trump has barely gotten a fraction of that growth.

      This year, job growth is the worst since 2010.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    45. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obama, Billary, Comey, Mueller, Strzok, and many more will die of old age in prison while Trump goes down as one of the greatest US Presidents in modern history.

      Learn these facts now so you'll be prepared to pass your American History class when you decide to finish highschool in a couple more decades.

    46. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by ClickOnThis · · Score: 0

      That's just misdirection from the people who are trying to help Donald Trump get away with Treason and keep Putin's Puppet in the White House.

      None of what you have posted changes the fact that Donald Trump has been caught red handed committing treason and conspiring with Russia's criminal attacks on our election and democracy.

      Look, I'm no fan of Donald Trump, but whatever he allegedly did that was illegal, it wasn't treason -- for the simple reason that the US constitution is specific on what treason is: aiding or giving comfort to an enemy at a time of war declared by Congress. Congress hasn't declared war since 1942.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    47. Re:Hold on, let me get some popcorn by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      So he shouldn't try to run a second term. Being unpopular does not get you fired as President, being impeached and the prosecuted does but of course Clinton never won and Obama is already out, so no impeachment required for them, just an end to the corruption that keeps them from being prosecuted and the Bush's as well. Everything coming out now points to Democrat Party/Russia Oligarch collusion and it looks suspiciously like the Democrats under Clinton sold the Crimea to Russian Oligarchs. The uranium one thing makes no sense what so ever because the US government could simply take it back at any time for any reason, so what were the Russian oligarchs really spending that much money on. The way it happened is the one and only way Russia could ever get back the Crimea, the US government gave it to them by staging the coup and providing the subsequent chaos. It seems like Russian oligarchs paid millions for the US government to spend billions (ignoring the bulk which was likely stolen) in order to create the opportunity for that Crimea vote and reunification of the Crimea with Russia (the Crimea now to be a top holiday location with casinos and major hotels, probably even a Trump one).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    48. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 0

      There is still no indication that Trump has done anything illegal. The Special Council isn't even investigating something that would be illegal even if it happened (which the two-year colonoscopy with zero leaks of results demonstrates didn't happen). But the coming week should certainly be interesting for revelations of FBI and DOJ corruption.

    49. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Dr_Terminus · · Score: 1

      I'd say obstruction of justice is pretty illegal...

    50. Re: Hold on, let me get some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd say so too. In light of recent revelations we have every reason to believe that FBI agents colluded with the Clinton campaign to hide Hillary Clinton's willful negligence in handling classified material, and colluded with the DNC to manufacture evidence in a way to allow them to purger themselves before the FISA court to justify unmasking the communications of U.S. citizens, and then attempting to cover it up.
      Absolutely. Obstruction of justice is illegal and hopefully those in the FBI and DNC who were involved in it will be prosecuted.

  2. show us the beef by harvey+the+nerd · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    1. Show us the Internet Resch Agency ads and be more clear who authored them, FB, IRA or 3rd party.
    2. The lack of interest in Hillary's collusion makes this probe seem disingenuous and partisan. Hillary definitely collected millions from Russia.

    1. Re:show us the beef by AlanObject · · Score: 0

      2. The lack of interest in Hillary's collusion makes this probe seem disingenuous and partisan. Hillary definitely collected millions from Russia.

      We do not have the reports lest (publicaly at least) but what is generally known is that the Russian operation agitprop was wholly anti-Hillary and pro-Trump. There is simply no path of logic that can conclude that the same Russians (Putin-connected) were out to help Hillary. Your assertion is nothing more than right-wing derp.

    2. Re:show us the beef by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Collusion is not a crime. You mean conspiracy, say conspiracy. Trump keeps saying collusion because he knows he can't be found guilty of collusion. He wants the whole things to be about collusion, which again, is not a crime. CONSPIRACY. He CONSPIRED with a foreign government.

      Trump, Hilary, lock them both up.

    3. Re:show us the beef by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      the mainstream media and mainstream politicians are the ones who created the "collusion" narrative and very deliberately decided on the "collusion" phrasing instead of saying "conspiracy." conspiracy is obviously what they mean to say and should say, but ironically of course they have long since burned the "conspiracy" terminology, having trained the public to instead associate it with an untruth, a false narrative, with outlier schizophrenic lunatics being the only ones to think it true.

    4. Re:show us the beef by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Eh? That's not quite right. She, among others, approved the Uranium One deal, there's plenty of strange money flowing into the Clinton Foundation, one of their own people complained about such money going to things like Chelsea's wedding, and from what little they've revealed of supposedly Russian operations, they were supporting things like Black Lives Matter.

      It seems just a bit odd to categorize that as "pro-Trump" but then again we have so many articles were "sources" say any damn thing they want that I don't really believe anyone any more, and yes, that's including Trump.

      The whole lot of you are full of BS.

    5. Re:show us the beef by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Page and Strzok texts. Ignore smoke because partisan faggotry.

    6. Re:show us the beef by harvey+the+nerd · · Score: 2

      Have you considered that perhaps you watch too much TV, "antifa" fa and Dem propaganda ? Serious TDS issues there.

    7. Re:show us the beef by harvey+the+nerd · · Score: 0

      mod up

    8. Re:show us the beef by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "there's plenty of strange money flowing into the Clinton Foundation" from what i can gather on the subject this might be a slight understatement. I believe the correct terminology is "corrupt as fuck". Still they seem good at burning stuff down so they are probably safe for now.

    9. Re:show us the beef by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump certainly knows what he's talking about when he says that lots of funny money found its way to the Clinton Foundation.

      It Trump's money, after all.

      Which he got from the Mob.

    10. Re:show us the beef by pipingguy · · Score: 1

      Why would Teh Russians, not known for their vibrant economy, concern for Americans or charitable nature, be giving tens of millions of dollars to *any* "charity" in the United States?

      Why would that be? Do Teh Russians routinely donate to charities not named Clinton Foundation?

    11. Re:show us the beef by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you have any proof that said Teh Russians routinely donate to charities named Clinton Foundation? Or even did once?

      Prediction: crickets.

    12. Re:show us the beef by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dumbass

  3. Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Trump won, get over it.

    1. Re: Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think we may just see /. continue to report on this nonsense through the next seven years of President Trump's presidency. Then they'll probably continue to report on it through all eight years of President Ivanka's presidency, too.

    2. Re:Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except he didn't. He lost by over 3 million votes. Hillary can still become president as Newsweek noted. After Trump is arrested for treason, Pence could appoint her VP since she won the election then when he has to resign, she becomes president.

    3. Re:Trump Won by greenwow · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I've been a Newsweek subscriber for the vast majority of the years since the late-sixties, but even I though they were crazy for publishing that. Not going to happen.

    4. Re: Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then they'll probably continue to report on it through all eight years of President Ivanka's presidency, too.

      Ivanka wasn't born in the US, she's not eligible to be president you idiot.

    5. Re:Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, haha.

    6. Re:Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yet another brainwashed fool who doesn't understand how the US electoral college works despite it being explained everywhere over and over again for the past year.

      Sad!

    7. Re: Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      She was born in Manhattan. It will really piss off you lefties when the first female president is white, Republican, and a Trump.

    8. Re:Trump Won by greenwow · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This. If only pure votes counted, Trump probably would have only concentrated on NY, Chicago, and LA, and most likely still would have won. Instead, he had a smart strategy of trying to win important states instead of using the "50 state strategy" Hillary used. Damn, it hurts for me to admit that.

    9. Re: Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, DJT Jr. is next.

    10. Re: Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      She was born in Manhattan.

      Lol no she wasn't dude. Everyone knows she was born in eastern europe dude. A wikipedia article isn't proof here.

    11. Re:Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except he didn't. He lost by over 3 million votes. Hillary can still become president as Newsweek noted. After Trump is arrested for treason, Pence could appoint her VP since she won the election then when he has to resign, she becomes president.

      Trump won in precisely the same way as every previous president: By getting the most votes in the Electoral College.

      The popular vote's ONLY FUNCTION is to factor into the selection of the Electors, the members of the Electoral College, in ways determined by the individual states.

      Yes, Pence COULD do that. He could also strap on wooden wings and jump off the Matterhorn. But you haven't specified exactly why he would do anything that stupid.

    12. Re:Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You missed the chance to say Newsweak.

    13. Re: Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For anyone not old enough to remember, the way the democrats sound right now is exactly how the republicans sounded all through eight years of Bill Clinton. Get over it already and pick a better candidate for 2020.

    14. Re: Trump Won by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0

      I think we may just see /. continue to report on this nonsense through the next seven years of President Trump's presidency.

      Here in the US, a presidential term is four years.

      Don't they teach US civics in your part of the world, comrade?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    15. Re: Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You meant Newspeak

    16. Re: Trump Won by fafalone · · Score: 4, Interesting

      He's alluding to the problem that, from all indications, the Dems have learned nothing from losing to Trump and will find a way to do it again. Probably by trying to run Kamala Harris for instance. So they lose everyone not cool with 'equality is racism/sexism and white men are evil' and eliminating all due process for sex crimes (particularly on college campuses) to staying home or even going (R), then doubly alienate everyone concerned with civil rights (she's a "tough on crime" prosecutor notorious for shitting all over the 1st Amendment and trying to destroy Section 230 from the Backpage case- truly awash in misconduct; defending the conviction of a man based on a confession inserted into a transcript (and saying it wasn't prosecutorial misconduct to submit it when the prosecutor *knew* it was fraudulent), and fighting tooth and nail against improving prison conditions/reducing overcrowding when those were so bad it got ruled cruel and unusual punishment... I could go on).

      We're in a *lot* more trouble on the left with party-fracturing ideologies. There's a couple others that are at the top of the list that will have similar problems with getting people to vote instead of stay home (which is how Trump won; not from people switching sides, but so many many more Dems simply not voting over 2012/2008 then R's). Also consider that Trump absolutely 100% is enough of a megalomaniac nutjob to start a war with NK in his 3rd year because someone informs him that wartime presidents are a lock for re-election, which unfortunately is true. Dems would need to put up someone truly compelling, and the writing is already on the wall that they intend to do no such thing. So yeah, 7 more years of Trump. The best we can realistically hope for is taking back the house or senate to block the R's from their worst bs.

    17. Re:Trump Won by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Instead, he had a smart strategy of trying to win important states instead of using the "50 state strategy" Hillary used.

      If Hillary was doing a "50 state" strategy she wouldn't have skipped campaigning in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa. Whereas Hillary's popular vote "victory" (scare quotes because there is no such thing at presidential level) came almost entirely from NY and CA - two states that Trump didn't bother to campaign in because he knew he wouldn't win.

      If there was a real popular vote for president, a lot of Republicans in California would have gotten out of the house who otherwise stayed home, same for Democrats in Texas. Which is why talking about the pop vote is misleading at best and sophistry at worst.

    18. Re:Trump Won by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      If you want to win a US election thats the way to do it. Speak to all the different voters all over the USA. Visit and give good speeches on jobs, the USA, eduction, wealth, exports, winning.
      Know the name of the state your in and as a candidate have a real, positive story about that state.
      Be able to give a long speech.
      Voters remember who could give a good speech in their state, who had the energy to speak in their state and who said good things about their state.
      Short negative statements to the tame media from coastal states do not win US elections.
      No social media and "other" nations needed. An "embassy" cant magically change US votes that get counted at a city, state level and are witnessed by local observers.
      Good news and great speeches gets the votes out all over the USA.
      Find a good candidate that can give an interesting speech around the USA and win elections.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    19. Re:Trump Won by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      Indeed. Clinton would not become anything if Trump was removed from office. Speaker Paul Ryan would become Vice President, per the U.S. Presidential line of secession.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    20. Re:Trump Won by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 1

      With only a pure popular vote, there would be no United States: it would have disintegrated a hundred years ago into several independent countries. The purpose of the electoral college is to prevent this from happening by preventing the bulk of the country from feeling powerless against a small number of big cities. Here are the county-level results from the 2016 election. Note the small dots of blue in the ocean of red. Of course, while Hillary claimed her $1.2B "participation trophy" from the popular vote, it's telling that her own party doesn't believe in the "popular vote" for use in their primary elections. Instead, they use a regional points-based system with a even large percentage of the electors coming from party insiders. That's how much they value the popular vote!

    21. Re:Trump Won by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      'smart'...you're a dumbass

  4. Mueller by AlanObject · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I have been thinking since this started that Mueller has the most phenomenal luck in catching this assignment. After running the FBI pretty much everything else he could do would be anticlimactic; a downhill slide to obscurity and retirement.

    Instead, everyone in the entire world is breathlessly waiting for what he has got. What his real skills are. What effect he will have on the history of the civilized world.

    Add to that there could not be a bigger, fatter, softer target that Donald J Trump and his hapless progeny and minions and cronies. These guys are up to their armpits in Russian mob money that's what has Jared, Junior, and fat old dad so worried. The collusion business is barely actionable, but they know that the trail leads to all the money laundering they have been doing for the past two decades.

    I don't expect anyone named Trump to do any jail time. And certainly Trump is immune from the consequences of any action he took as long as Republicans control congress. But if Mueller has even 1/10th of what he is generally believed to have Trump is going to have a very miserable year.

    1. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      He has 0/10ths because there was never anything to find.

      If you expect anything to come of this you're in for a big letdown when the time comes.

      All you need to do to spot the BS is compare past media claims about Trump to current ones, then ask yourself how they could be so off base.

    2. Re:Mueller by oldgraybeard · · Score: 1

      I want some of what this poster is smoking ;)

      Just my 2 cents ;)

    3. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, he didn't. Try again.

    4. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mueller will have nothing. Not only because there's almost assuredly nothing there, but because he knows he's on the ropes next when the Uranium One investigation focuses on his involvement.

      He's just another political crony who would ignore dirt on someone else if it got them to ignore the dirt on him.

    5. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He has a stack of stuff but it incriminates the Democrats and the FBI. Now he is off topic and trying to look into obstruction (I don't know the law but it isn't obstruction if the guy is innocent.) However since he has no evidence he wan't to try and push all sorts of other crap to try and justify his job, and probably because he is anti trump himself.

    6. Re: Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No he didn't. Leave your alinskyte trolling training asside and provide evidence like a link at least or fuck off.

    7. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      Ok then, here's a video of him flat out saying it. but ok, keep on living in your little bubble snowflake.

    8. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nunes memo.

      He has nothing.

      We now know, beyond any doubt, that the whole Mueller investigation is payback for Trump firing Comey, and that Obama and the FBI had been illegally spying on Trump since the campaign.

      Mueller has nothing on Trump, but the Senate Intelligence Committee has a bombshell they're working on declassifying against Mueller and the previous administration.

    9. Re: Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    10. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Morons are bad, but bitter morons, who seem to never learn when to shut up, are insufferable.

    11. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bill Clinton committed an actual crime (perjury) and they still didn't have enough impeachment votes to do anything.

    12. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (I don't know the law but it isn't obstruction if the guy is innocent.)

      It's pretty clear you don't know the law, since it definitely is obstruction even if the guy is innocent.

    13. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, if you're still a Nixon supporter even knowing what we know now, you're straight up a traitor. Trump is a repeat verbatim performance done in complete ignorance of the original history which occurred during his lifetime even. Lol.
      Prison is going to suck so you'd better prepare your anus now if there's a golf club handy or something, traitor gaybeard. You don't want your asshole to rip open on day 1 like Trump Jr... Just my 2 cents ;)

    14. Re:Mueller by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Add to that there could not be a bigger, fatter, softer target that Donald J Trump

      All I know is that the next time I'm arrested, I pray that the cop sitting across the table questioning me is not Robert Mueller. I mean, Jesus Christ, the guy looks like an FBI hard case out of central casting. He gives me one of these looks and I'd give up my own mother.

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/con...

      I have a feeling that everyone from the Trump administration who's been questioned by Mueller so far looked exactly like this:

      https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-vEVoMb...

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    15. Re:Mueller by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      He has 0/10ths because there was never anything to find.

      There have already been four arrests and two convictions. That happened in record time for this kind of investigation. There will be a parade of people flipping on Trump before this is over, and it's nowhere near over.

      Hell, Trump's own lawyer, Don McGahn has made the entire case for criminal obstruction just in the past few days. And Mueller is ignoring all the baiting and trolling by Trump and quietly and methodically building a case. For someone with nothing to hide, Trump is sure trying his best to hide, cover up his tracks and derail the investigation. It's no longer some case of "maybe he obstructed and maybe he didn't". There's a clear pattern of him trying to stop the investigation in which he is the primary target. The closer we get to the 2018 election, the more you'll see Republicans in congress start to wet themselves. You're already seeing all sorts of "secret society" conspiracy theories and calls for some made up "memo" to be released to try to derail the investigation, all of which never amount to anything. Remember, these are the same members of congress who couldn't even make a case against Hillary stick and they threw absolutely everything at her. We may still see some sitting members of Congress indicted for obstruction of justice along with Trump.

      I'm going to look back and miss the excitement of 2018.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    16. Re:Mueller by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0

      Nunes memo.

      If the memo was real, it would have been released already.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    17. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What effect he will have on the history of the civilized world.

      I'm more interested in the effect he'll have on the USA.

    18. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >If the memo was real
      wew lad

    19. Re:Mueller by Earthquake+Retrofit · · Score: 1

      Now looky here, everybody knows Hillary Hussein Clinton is the one who's to fault for the plutonium-210 pizzagate poisoning. But that whole Benghazi investigation was just a Republic party plot to distract Fox news's excellent infestigative reporters from the real conspiracy: the Wall Street branch of the Youth International Party's (Yippie$) involvement in the Iraq-Contra affair. You thought Jerry Rubin was dead? Not exactly fool, just more fake news. In a rare instance of cooperation between the Wall Street and Haight Street branches of the increasingly misnamed party, we uncovered Donald 'The John' Trump's actual Nicaraguan birth certificate and used it as leverage to blackmail him into running for president. Ever since then, Jerry has been controlling him and I've been getting free Ganja from the Sandinistas

      --
      Fifty years of Yippie! 1968-2018
    20. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'd roll over because potato face can't manage a coherent investigation?

      Well, of course you would, you'd roll over for anyone willing to stick it in your chute.

    21. Re: Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope. You reframing it alinskyte sryle again. You eliminate a lot of surrounding context and refer only to what resonates into your ecochamber - alinsky's trolling tactics have been exposed, do yourself a favour and ask your trainers for a tactics training update.

    22. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Uranium One

      Oh please. No one cares about giving Uranium to the Russians. They didn't even care when Obama gave Uranium to Iran. The American people have a short-term memory and don't even remember the Iranian hostage crisis that Raygun ended.

    23. Re: Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unlike a certain pant suited criminal, Representative Nunes understands what "classified" means. It's going through declassification, but it can't just be emailed. Be patient. The Democrats and the conspiracy at the Obama DOJ and FBI will be revealed in due time.

    24. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well this is really what's frustrating about how partisan the whole Trump thing has become. The GP actually makes a good point, long before Trump decided he was going to run for president and people decided they were either on the red or blue team and either right or wrong, and there were no possible shades of grey in between Trump was already a questionable character.

      People forget that well before there were any presidential ambitions, that he was already investigated a number of times, in the UK here alone for example he was investigated over his dodgy Scottish dealings, having had one of our main TV channels (I think it was on Channel 4) did a pretty detailed expose of his links to the mafia. Essentially the point was that he had gone bankrupt a number of times, and yet there was no traceable source of income to lift him back up into the millions again. One possible theory was that because he's such a good showman, that he's never really been the great businessman he sells himself as, but merely a front for great businessmen doing business that's actually illegal - this was based on the fact that despite blowing all his cash and going bankrupt multiple times, he magically kept ending up with hundreds of millions again despite having no traceable sources of income at the time that could remotely fund him to that level.

      But people like him are hard to charge, ironically because he had close friends in important places like Hillary Clinton, so it never really went anywhere.

      So there's an even bigger irony here in that even if there's no Russia connection, there's a substantial chance that by making himself a target by becoming president, he'll be investigated in every possible way, and it may well be that his downfall isn't collusion with Russia, but past mafia connections that he presumably thought were irrelevant. His downfall could well be the Al Capone tax evasion equivalent rather than the actual thing his being targeted for.

      I don't think there's any escaping Trump is shady as fuck whether his voters want to acknowledge it or not now that he's become a partisan issue. So points about mafia connections are quite relevant, because again, even if the Russia thing is a dud his exposure to other criminal elements is massive and potentially ripe pickings for the FBI. He could've been working so hard to evade the Russia charges that he's been outflanked on the decades of other stuff which they may well have been investigating and building evidence on quietly in the background.

    25. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now looky here, everybody knows Hillary Hussein Clinton is the one who's to fault for the plutonium-210 pizzagate poisoning. But that whole Benghazi investigation was just a Republic party plot to distract Fox news's excellent infestigative reporters from the real conspiracy: the Wall Street branch of the Youth International Party's (Yippie$) involvement in the Iraq-Contra affair. You thought Jerry Rubin was dead? Not exactly fool, just more fake news. In a rare instance of cooperation between the Wall Street and Haight Street branches of the increasingly misnamed party, we uncovered Donald 'The John' Trump's actual Nicaraguan birth certificate and used it as leverage to blackmail him into running for president. Ever since then, Jerry has been controlling him and I've been getting free Ganja from the Sandinistas

      Worth repeating. I am somewhat surprised that the CIA director does not fly with Air America in your melodramatic whimsy dialogue. The big question though is: who actually got all the money Trump borrowed to buy up casinos years ago, the Clinton Foundation? My take on what is happening is that if Mueller really does have the goods on His Majesty when it comes to the bucks being laundered by the Russian mob associates of Putin then shit is about to really hit the fan. We have all known for years that the CIA under just about every president since it evolved past the OSS stage has let the clandestine works of American intelligence agencies run amok and get involved with organized crime in a big way.

      Perhaps having clandestine branchs of government that are corrupted by organized crime affiliations that in turn can twist arms all the way up the chain of command to the commander in chief of the US is at the very core of the problem. We all know who shot Bobby, who was in principle the last real threat to organized crime in the US, but do we really know why Sirhan Sirhan did it or indeed if he was the one who fired the fatal shots? But then again the Washington Post is without a doubt the countries largest fake news organization. At least according to the Orange Chimp mafia/Putin sock puppet in the Whitehouse.

      Mueller is either the biggest patsy being set up for disgrace as an investigator or shit is about to really hit the fan, the extent of which could quite easily go into much more than just what it is purported to be investigating. A rats nest of connections and corruption stretching back decades.

      Whether or not the actors behind the scene that are creating a State run by organized crime in the West are exposed this time around is anyones guess. My fear is that instead they will come out of hiding in the woodwork of their skyscraper offices and become American's worst nightmare, a full fledged organized crime based dictatorship. Instead of a bunch of hidden back room criminals. You can tell their modus operandi has been to date to twist arms and kill people, if they are finally exposed it won't take long for them to turn to open extortion and murder of their opponents the same way Putin operates in Russia.

      PS. I ain't a commie or a shill just a person who asks questions as to why organized crime has been allowed to exist in the US and associate with branches of government. Bobby knew that we had made a deal with the devil and might have done something about changing things; perhaps that is why he and his brother both died.

    26. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Four arrests and two convictions... for nothing to do with Trump.
      In fact, Manafort and Gates were arrested for financial crimes they committed while under the employment of the Podesta Group.

      Remember the Podestas? The amazing brothers John and Tony who were a Clinton Chief of Staff and Obama White House Counselor and Head of the DNC that clicked on a phishing link, and also ran a lobbying firm that was repeatedly hired by Russia and the Ukraine?

      The fact is Mueller is a friend of Comey, who leaked classified info specifically in order to get back at the man who fired him - AFTER Comey had testified under oath that there was no evidence that Trump had obstructed justice or colluded with the Russians. Mueller staffed his investigation entirely with Democrat partisans. Strozk helped Comey write a memo exonerating Clinton before she or her staff had even been interviewed. They modified reports to prevent the appointment of a Special Counsel into that issue, covered up the President's involvement and helped him lie about it, and then worked with the Ohrs and Fusion GPS to publicize that BS dossier full of Russian propaganda - also so the FBI could file a false FISA report.

      There is a lot of criminal activity being uncovered by this investigation alright... but so far, NONE of it has been about Trump or the Trump Campaign working with the Russians.

      You're going to look back from 2019 and miss the delusions you had back in 2018.

    27. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The 'memo' is under hold because the FBI refuses to certify the redaction and declassification of the information. The FBI claims that it would be too damaging to them if the memo - a summary of thousands of pages of information the FBI tried to hide from Congress - were released to the public.

      If there's nothing there, why is the FBI trying so hard to hide it?

    28. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My take is that there is nothing essential against Trump himself and Trump is just trying to obstruct the investigation because his a stupid trolling asshole. And there is not much more to say about this case or Trump. The world, including the US, is waiting for his term to end, and then they will fall over him and his 'legacy' like hawks and shred it to pieces. He will be treated as an error of history that came to power through a series of unfortunate incidents, as a sign that voters were fed up with the two party system, and not much more. That's what's makes him so sad, it's the wrong job for him, and he knows it.

    29. Re:Mueller by ABEND · · Score: 1

      To get modded up, you should put your anti-Trump rant at the beginning of your post. The anti-Trump moderators don't read past the first sentence. The first sentence of your post is not obviously anti-Trump.

      --
      In all seriousness:
    30. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yoir conspiracy theory is beautifully nutty. Hillary was coronated by the same people who selected the sitting president. there wasn't a chance that the Obama DOJ would help the opposition. If even 5% of the shit on Fox news about the Mueller investigation is true, it was rigged from the start. In any case, it was stated as a witch hunt to sabotage the opposition.

    31. Re:Mueller by deathguppie · · Score: 1

      I'm going to look back and miss the excitement of 2018.

      These are the halls of law in the US. These are the people that make the laws, that change the laws. They don't have to worry about breaking them. They can simply change them for their needs. All they need to do is win in the court of public opinion and as far as I can see that is nowhere near decided.

      Something very similar to this played out in the 1930's somewhere in Europe. In the end, the authoritarians won. Don't think we are immune because people here know better, or that the right wing in our country is not as hard line as theirs was. There is still a way to go on this one.

      When people we would have considered average can reasonably accept the explanation that "being a nazi", and "fighting against the nazis" is equally bad. We have a problem.

      --
      once more into the breach
    32. Re:Mueller by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      The 'memo' is under hold because the FBI refuses to certify the redaction and declassification of the information.

      The President could declassify the "memo" right now. He does not have to wait for anything.

      The "memo" is something Nunes cooked up to protect Trump. It doesn't have any of the underlying information, it is just a freshman term paper without citations.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    33. Re:Mueller by AlanObject · · Score: 1

      To get modded up, you should put your anti-Trump rant at the beginning of your post. The anti-Trump moderators don't read past the first sentence.

      So it would seem. I really don't care about getting up-mods all that much. Less than I care about clicking "submit" and there are still spelling errors.

      But given the nature of the pro-Trump responses in this thread already (obviously the source of my "Troll" rating) it is clear that they are so committed to "their side" that any discussion or rating of an objective statement seems wholly pointless. There is no objectivity in their world -- just their tribe and their agenda. So I leave it at that.

    34. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "melodramatic whimsy"?

      Actually, EQRF's post was intended as satire.

    35. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >He has 0/10ths because there was never anything to find.

      What are you talking about? Trump has already obviously committed several crimes, the least of which is violation of the emoluments clause, and the nepotism clause. I have a close friend who worked with the Trump org and he told me they were in bed with Russian mafia long before the election. I just laughed when the evidence that Trump is laundering money using his foreign Trump towers came out.

      You could already indict Trump for the emoluments. The only real question is how bad does it get.

    36. Re:Mueller by ABEND · · Score: 1

      Maybe a nice project for someone doing a thesis would be to quantify the pro vs anti Trump posts and moderating. Are there more pro or anti? Do the biased posts and moderations follow a chronological pattern? Could "'bots" be involved? ...?

      --
      In all seriousness:
    37. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >He has a stack of stuff but it incriminates the Democrats and the FBI
      >since he has no evidence

      Mueller's evidence and interviews are under lock and key, how do you know what was in them? Do you work for Mueller's office or something? Or are you just pulling things out of your butt?

    38. Re:Mueller by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      If the memo was real, it would have been released already.

      If Mueller was running a real investigation, the first thing he would have done is subpoena the DNC servers for a proper FBI investigation, as the Putin-hacked-DNC-servers idea is the Jenga block holding up the entire Russiagate narrative. Without that, you have no reason for a special prosecutor. Don't waste your time and mine by brining up his indictments which have nothing to do with Russiagate.

    39. Re:Mueller by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      No one cares about giving Uranium to the Russians.

      Because we're supposed to be too focused on so-far imaginary Trump deals to pay attention to the one the Clinton's actually made.

      They didn't even care when Obama gave Uranium to Iran.

      The only thing Obama "gave" to Iran was their own money, held by a butthurt United States still pissy that Iranians dared to overthrow the U.S.-backed dictator that had run the country since the CIA-backed coup of their elected government in '53.

      and don't even remember the Iranian hostage crisis that Raygun ended

      By giving them weapons.

    40. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ignoring all the latest bullshit talking points about how Mueller is totally mean to investigate the Trump crime family:

      Manafort, Trump's campaign leader, has been indicted for money laundering, Donald Trump is being investigated for money laundering. You sure you want to claim there is no connection?

    41. Re:Mueller by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      What are you talking about? Trump has already obviously committed several crimes, the least of which is violation of the emoluments clause, and the nepotism clause. I have a close friend who worked with the Trump org and he told me they were in bed with Russian mafia long before the election. I just laughed when the evidence that Trump is laundering money using his foreign Trump towers came out.

      None of which has anything whatsoever to do with the Russiagate narrative. Which is the entire impetus for Mueller's "investigation".

    42. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Manafort and Gates are indicted, Trump's former campaign manager and deputy campaign manager, and Gates had a limited role in Trump's WH.

      Papadopoulos was a foreign policy advisor dating back to the fledgling phase of Trump's campaign, and pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI as part of a deal to cooperate with the special prosecutor.

      And, biggest of all, Flynn was Trump's National Security Advisor, one of the top positions in the White House, and pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russians during transition. Given the other potential crimes that were rumored around him involving Turkey and the conspicuously limited nature of his plea deal for lying to the FBI, this suggests a very generous deal and that he has very useful testimony to the special prosecutor.

      This has everything to do with Trump, his campaign, and now his administration.

      The right wing claptrap of the parent is straight up Russian troll or useful idiot material, which is increasingly in distinction without a difference territory. The only genuine nugget I can pull out is that Tony Podesta might be dirty too, as he was part of the lobbying effort for the previous Russian puppet government of Ukraine as well as Manafort. To put that in perspective, I'd like to see where there are the folks carrying at least a mL of water for Tony Podesta compared to the bucket brigade for Trump and his crew. "Law and Order" my ass.

    43. Re:Mueller by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Bill Clinton committed an actual crime (perjury)

      Except he didn't. Blow jobs were not included in the court's definition of "sexual relations". Right-wingers tend to get all poutraged over that but it doesn't change the fact that Clinton did not commit perjury.

    44. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thankfully you acknowledge that Russiagate is real. It's been a long time coming but an important step for many conservatives.

    45. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and you're proud of this? ... pathetic person you are

    46. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why the -1? Seems accurate to me...

    47. Re:Mueller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mueller has complete scope within 28 C.F.R. 600.4(a). Emoluments accepted would be a violation of this statute. Know your law before you comment ignorantly.

    48. Re:Mueller by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      You first, dipshit.

      In appointing Mueller, however, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave him broad authority not only to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated" with Trump's campaign, but also to examine "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."

      None of the indictments or investigation thus far has anything to do with supposed collusion between Trump and Russia. Like I said the first time. And for law, you might want to read up on the 4th Amendment, general warrants, and writs of assistance.

    49. Re:Mueller by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Facts matter. And you're as pathetic as the Dems who think I'm a major Trump supporter because I call bullshit on Russiagate.

  5. Nothing will come of it by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    unless the electorate turns on the Republican party. That's really what doomed Nixon. I don't see that happening. There's not a lot of difference between the Dems & the Rs right now (excluding Abortion & maybe Gay rights). There's a movement in the Democratic party to change that but so far they've been successfully shut out by the party leaders, even after the huge loss to Trump.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Nothing will come of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The media pushes so hard against Trump, they push the citizens to support him. Things won't go the way they want until they chill out a little I think.

    2. Re:Nothing will come of it by rogoshen1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you don't want to lose to someone like Trump, don't run someone like Hillary.

      (in south park terms: I see your turd sandwich, and raise you a giant douche)

      The election wasn't ideological at all-- it's just they took one of the most hated figures in modern american political history -- and ran her against a jingoistic, populist mouth-breather.

      Ignore the pollsters and the news, what did you really think would happen?? A large swath of the voting public voted against Hillary. the fact that they wound up voting for trump was happenstance.

    3. Re:Nothing will come of it by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      The Justice Democrats are American political left's version of the Tea Party so it's little wonder that the Democrats want to have nothing to do with them. They might be able to garner a little bit of support, but they'll do more to drive people away from the party than they will to help the Democrats regain control of Congress.

      Even if that weren't the case, I don't expect that they would even manage to be as effective as the Tea Party managed to be, which isn't terribly much. They already have started cannibalizing themselves over ideological purity as seen when they tossed Cenk out over some shit he wrote ~20 years ago that normal people wouldn't give two shits about. To some degree that's the problem with the Democrats in general as of all the slimeballs in Congress, Franken ends up getting booted (over some of the saddest, weakest crap no less), which is especially bad considering he was at least a viable contender for a presidential bid (long odds to win the party nomination, but then again Trump somehow pulled it off) in 2020.

    4. Re:Nothing will come of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But only superficially and sometimes poor enough to be able to be called out as fake news. They could fact check everything he says, but they don't, that would take work. Just blast whatever outrage of the day and do it half assed, that's what the media owners want, so it's not gonna change, that's the plan. #MAGA

    5. Re:Nothing will come of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >unless the electorate turns on the Republican party.

      Not happening. And not because I'm asserting Trump didn't/won't do anything horrible (though he didn't), but because he - with the perpetually hysterical media's indispensable help - has immunized himself against almost any imaginable scandal. Trump's approval rating has been 40% +/- 5% for over 2 solid years despite constant pants-shitting about racism and treason and rape and literal-Hitlerness from every out of touch 'elite' in the media or show business.

      >Justice Democrats

      I was (pleasantly) surprised that an org named "Justice" wasn't an SJW derpfest, but exactly how is anything on their site different from the standard democratic platform? This is clearly some half-assed pseudo-Tea Party astroturfing bullshit that's going nowhere.

      Anyway, the democratic party is much better immunized against (actual) grassroots uprisings than the republicans, as the last election should've conclusively proven to you even if OWS didn't. And now that Trump has transformed the GOP into a populist party, driving all the corporate interests to the democrats, your chances are even less than the effectively-zero that they were previously.

    6. Re:Nothing will come of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a jingoistic, populist mouth-breather.

      Either give a good reason why "Populist" is a bad thing, or leave it off your litany of tired, regurgitated pejoratives next time.

    7. Re:Nothing will come of it by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0

      even after the huge loss to Trump.

      3,000,000 more votes = "huge loss".

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    8. Re:Nothing will come of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The #BlueMidterm has already started happening (hint: see Alabama). The Elephant tears are going to be so sweet in November, and then Trump's ass is getting impeached on Jan 22.

    9. Re:Nothing will come of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > There's not a lot of difference between the Dems & the Rs right now (excluding Abortion & maybe Gay rights).

      That tax cut thing. That was kind of a big deal and a big difference.

      And the Rethugs don't spout off anti-business (aka socialist) themes like "you didn't build that". That's also a big difference.... general Democratic animosity towards business.

    10. Re:Nothing will come of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >If you don't want to lose to someone like Trump, don't run someone like Hillary.

      Trumps criminal acts have nothing to do with the election. He committed many of these crimes while in office. The Trump crime family runs the US right now.

    11. Re:Nothing will come of it by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Who said it was?

  6. Alien "Russia" probe up the anal orifice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Man! it would so cool if you people would wait for real evidence before posting your tabloid bullshit! Ah! But the advertisers! (And the democrats) I forgot. Carry on then..

  7. I'm not sure we'll have a choice by rsilvergun · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hilary was run because she was popular with the billionaires who basically run things. Between Hilary and Trump they'd have taken either one, but they made damn sure we didn't get Bernie. Already I'm seeing stuff like top ten Democratic contenders lists without Bernie on them. The mainstream media (CNN, MSNBC, etc) are doing their best to pretend he and the actual American Left don't exist.

    Meanwhile the Republicans took both the House and Senate but lost the popular vote both times. And not by small margins. Dems took home 55% of the votes in the last round of elections to 45% on the Republican side and _still_ lost the House and Senate. You can't even blame that on Gerrymandering since the Rs took the Senate. And then there's Trump's victory despite losing the popular vote by 3%.

    It's getting difficult to even pretend we live in a democracy anymore... I don't know what's worse, that these statistics exist or that our government doesn't even have to bother covering them up.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:I'm not sure we'll have a choice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't like the rules of presidential elections? Work to change them. Don't go complaining after the fact that hillary would have won if the rules were different. If the rules were different, the whole election would be run differently.

    2. Re:I'm not sure we'll have a choice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Absolutely nothing in the history of the United States has EVER been decided by a national popular vote. (Well, except American Idol) Disproportionate representation among the states exists for a reason (Connecticut Compromise) and California knew and agreed to the rules when they applied for statehood.

      And it's ironic that you explicitly mention the Senate as something *not* affected by this, when it's precisely there that the effect is dramatically most pronounced. Someone from Wyoming has 67 times more voting power in the Senate than someone from California, versus 3.6 times more in a presidential election.

      Another fun fact: in the 3 elections since Bernie Sanders last defended his Senate seat, over 80 candidates *lost* senate races while getting more votes than Sanders did in his victory.

    3. Re:I'm not sure we'll have a choice by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

      Look at proposition 65 in California to see what allowing people to directly vote on accomplishes. Warning labels on nearly everything about hazards that only exist within that state.

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    4. Re:I'm not sure we'll have a choice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhhh, parking garages cause cancer so I'm glad we forced everyone to put up multiple warning signs in every garage. That created jobs.

    5. Re: I'm not sure we'll have a choice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is true we don't live in a pure democracy, especially when it comes to presidential elections thanks to the electoral college. In this scheme the sum total popular vote is meaningless. This result may be an interesting talking point but is a fairly useless statistic unless one is petitioning the abolishment of the electoral college.

    6. Re:I'm not sure we'll have a choice by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Disproportionate representation among the states exists for a reason

      Bullshit reasons that aren't even historically accurate, as the number of House seats was capped. If the number of citizens per district had stayed constant from the Constitution, California would have ~650 representatives today, whereas low population states like Alaska would have a dozen.

  8. Manchurian Zuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ANGRY! VERY ANGRY AT MANCHURIAN ZUCK! not happy one bit. yes upset. well not so much. like the Zuck. Zuck is good. Feeling happy. Zuck is so sweet. LOVE THE ZUCK!

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/06/28/facebook-manipulated-689003-users-emotions-for-science/ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/29/facebook-users-emotions-news-feeds

  9. Re:Hold on, let me get some prison for hillary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    Good god you're a fucking moron. ... "Deep State"... blah blah "Clinton Crime Family" blah blah.. Let me guess you watch Alex Jones and think he's a god, right? Or perhaps your a Rush Limbaugh fan?

    Hillary has been investigated for decades by republicans and the end result is not one indictment. So, either the republicans investigating her were complete morons like yourself or they were complicit in hiding her supposed crimes.

    Which is it you fucking dimwit?

    Please don't breed we don't need your stupidity polluting the gene pool any longer.

  10. Partisan nonsense vs real attack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Despite your attempt to make it partisan, it was a real attack on the USA. It started BEFORE Trump was picked for the nomination, so it was also an attack on the Republican party.

    Do you think for a second Republicans want this whiny streak of loser in the Presidency? Their servers were attacked too, Putin's lot attacked them too. Trump attacks them too, undermines them too.

    Or Republican supporters, do you imagine they want a Russian sell out? If you think that, perhaps you've forgotten Roy Moore and his "hello, how are you speech" to Putin in Russian. Shortly after dissing the USA and fluffing Putin. He managed to turn a safe Republican seat into a Democrat seat. They rejected him.

    I see you're trying to define it as a narrow partisan thing, to avoid discussions of the wider attack from Russia on America.

    1. Re:Partisan nonsense vs real attack by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      The problem is that too many people (aided through deliberate efforts by most of the media) cannot (or pretend they are unable) grasp the difference between reporting on the latest episodes in Russia's decades-long campaigns to destabilize and meddle with politics here and in every other country around the world ... and the fantasy of Trump colluding with Putin to "hack the election." The ongoing attempt to qualify the investigation as strictly into the latter is indeed a narrowly partisan thing.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  11. Trump lost by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Trump won, then why is he not have power and why do the Republicans and wheels of government not follow him?

    Because of this:
    https://xkcd.com/1939/

    They won't act against the majority of Americans interests no matter what that screaming piece of whiny shit and his Russian friends say.

  12. Mercenaries. by Templer421 · · Score: 1

    They are only as loyal as the last payment you made.

  13. You are very confused by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Melania, President Trump's wife, was born in eastern europe.
    Ivanka, President Trump's eldest daughter, was born in the United States (in New York)

    Trump is not a Clinton or an Obama, so nobody is talking about his wife following him into the presidency as people have spoken of Hillary and of Michellle.

    People HAVE spoken about his daughter Ivanka (as some have spoken of Clinton's daughter Chelsea) running for the office someday.

    As a deeply patriotic American, I find all this dynastic talk rather repellant. We are not a monarchy with royal families, and we make a point of it with a 200 year old tradition that while we are happy that other societies have royals and we can treat them civillay as representatives of their nations, we do not bow to royals (which is why many of us were angered to see Obama do it). With 300Million+ people, it is insane to assert that we can only find leaders within a couple of elite families (and, yes, I was pretty annoyed when the Bushes foisted a son on us once and positively outraged that they would try it again with Jebbers).

    1. Re:You are very confused by LiENUS · · Score: 1

      Ivanka, President Trump's eldest daughter, was born in the United States (in New York)

      I know damn good and well who she is. I also remember the big hoopla when he and Ivana (her mother) came back from their trip to eastern europe and announced she was born overseas. Ergo Ivanka was not born on US soil and is not eligible to be president.

    2. Re: You are very confused by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      Damn straight, my brother - fuck monarchy and fuck dynasties! We don't need or want that crap in America.

    3. Re:You are very confused by Straif · · Score: 1

      Being born on American soil is only one method of being a natural born citizen; anyone born to an American father is also a natural born Citizen and eligible for President. I believe the law now, and possibly when Ivanka was born, just says born to an 'American Citizen' but I know it was the 'father' thing that gave rise to birtherism back when Hilary and Obama were duking it out in the primaries.

      When Obama was born the law specifically stated 'fathers' as granting natural citizenship to their children and since his father wasn't American some people saw that as a disqualification. A lot of laws back then were pretty sexist and excluded women from a lot of things that were later decided to be unconstitutional. If it was ever shown he was born outside of the country I'm sure the fact that his mother was an American citizen would have been enough for any judge to say that that met the legal requirement for being natural born.

      --
      Of course that's just my opinion...... you could be wrong!
  14. You are advertising your idiocy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Stop embarrasing yourself.

    A person can only win a contest by winning according to the rules of that contest. The American electoral system uses an electoral college to protect against the tyranny of a few highly populated cities running the nation. According to the rules, Trump won, therefore no matter what you say with your fevered imagination, HILLARY LOST.

    You are like a fool who instsist that the team that lost the superbowl actually won because they had possession of the ball longer, scored points be damned!

  15. If he won more votes he'd be the winner by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    ... i.e. to paraphrase, if he won more votes then he'd be the winner. You then hypothesize that he could have won more votes if he's done something differently. TV reaches all states, he won the votes he won and would ever have won, NY Chicago and LA saw him on TV and his physical GPS location does not affect the outcome.

    But yes, you are accepting the problem with being a 'winner' when the majority of the people across the US voted against you. Power comes from being the democratically elected people's choice, that's how democracies work. It's not that you can't see the issue, the majority of Americans can clearly see the issue.

    "Damn, it hurts for me to admit that."
    I read your comment trail, it's full of divisive 'Clinton ate my puppy' daily mail fluff and deflections equating Trump as Apple. It doesn't hurt you, you're just being the divisive you that you always are.

    1. Re:If he won more votes he'd be the winner by ABEND · · Score: 1, Interesting

      1. The U.S. has "tradition" of democracy. It is legally a constitutional republic. Bush/Clinton legacies seem anti-republican (note the small "r") though...
      2. You do not seem to understand the "electoral college." I'm assuming from your comment that you are intelligent enough to understand the college and its value. I believe there is a good Wikipedia entry you can read to learn out about the EC and its value. You should read it.
      3. Ad hominens undermine your argument. Stick to the pertinent facts. The poster's history has nothing to do with the value of "its" argument here.

      --
      In all seriousness:
  16. no luck involved by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Mueller investigation IS the coverup.
    1. Mueller was running the FBI and is a long-time good friend of Comey.
    2. Mueller handed off the FBI to Comey and then was involved serving Hillary in the Uranium One deal during the Obama years.
    3. Mueller, Comey, and even Obama are all tangled-up in Uranium One (which transferred piles of cash from Russia through the Clintion org to who-knows-whom) and all three were communicating with Hillary via her illegal private server (so ALL are involved in her felonies, which explains why she was not prosecuted)
    4. They all expected none of this to come out because they were certain Hillary would win.
    5. Hillary funds an "October Surprise" intelligence report using a foreign spy who in-turn used russian spies as sources, and the document gets injected into the FBI where Comey uses if to get a FISA judge to OK spying on Trump and his team, and the FBI and team Obama leak fake tidbits from that "dossier" mixed with bits of info they got from the illegal wiretaps to their friends in the press, but it fails to stop Trump's election. This puts Comey and Obama in Nixon-like legal jeopardy if anybody finds out, so they need it to stay secret.
    6. After Hillary loses, she needs to blame SOMEBODY for her loss which cost over a billion dollars, she blames Russia even thoug in the months before the election the entire Democrat team including Obama have publicly scoffed at the idea our elections could be tampered with, particularly by Russia (you can find youtube vid of Obama mocking the very idea). Democrats begin demanding an investigation of "Russian collusion with Trump".
    7. The Democrats and the press demand Trump's AG Sessions recuse himself from the "collusion probe" because he worked on the Trump campaign as a volunteer and publicly met the Russian Ambassador when as a Senator he attended an event arranged by Obama's Stats dept - This is very "comvenient" becasue the Democrats have stalled Trump's appointments in the Senate and the #2 guy there is still an Obama person.
    8. When Trump fired Comey, a move that SHOULD have been universally-approved given that both Republicans and Democrats had been calling for his firing for months, Comey leaked classified info to a buddy to have him indirectly leak it to a friendly press outlet specifically to try to trigger a special prosecutor.
    9. When Sessions stepped aside, it left in-place Obama appointee Rosenstein, a friend of Comey who Comey could count on to name Meuller, which is what happened. While the laws that govern here require a crime to be listed in the documents authorizing the prosecutor, Rosenstein breaks this law and makes the commission open-ended with no specific law listed.
    10. Meuller's team was supposedly investigating whether Trump colluded with Putin, but has instead been on quite a fishing expedition and leaking furiously. Every time Trump seems to get traction on something, the Meuller team leaks something (such leaks are criminal acts under the governing statutes) to the New York Times or the Washington Post to start a new distraction - the current leak is a perfect example: Trump goes to Davos and gets some positive press, Meuller then leaks that Trump tried to fire Meuller (a non-story given that [a] Meuller was NOT fired and [b] Fox reported that incident months ago).

    It's rather apparent that Meuller's job is to try to keep a non-crime investigation bubbling along for as long as possoble both to immobilize Trump and to keep Trump's AG Sessions sidelined and unable to investigate Meuller, Comey, Clinton and Obama.

    1. Re:no luck involved by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This would be more convincing if as many as 20% of your claims were, y'know, at least consistent with the record. But they're not.

      Point 1 was public knowledge when Mueller was appointed (to widespread Republican approval), and wasn't considered an impediment then. Point 4 is purely speculative: you couldn't have evidence for it even if it were true. The rest - are just plain demonstrably false.

      2. Mueller's role in the uranium deal was not as you seem to have picked up from whatever fair and balanced news sources you've been reading.
      3. "Sending an email to the secretary of state" is not a criminal act, just because the SoS receives it on a private server. That's just silly.
      5. If this is true, then why has Trump, a year into the job as commander in chief and CEO of the US government, failed to uncover any evidence of it? Any glimmer of evidence?
      6. Obama publicly stated before the election that the Russians were trying to tamper with it.
      7. Sessions chose to recuse himself from everything Russian-related the moment the probe was announced. No pressure was needed, because Sessions had the sense - and the survival instinct - to know that he would be compromised to the hilt if he didn't distance himself from it.
      8. If you have evidence of Comey leaking classified info, then please pass it to a prosecutor of your choice. Heck, you should be able to find one appointed by Trump himself by this time. But you can't, because you don't have that evidence. Nor does anyone else.
      9. Rosenstein was appointed Deputy A-G - by Trump himself, not Obama. And the law does not require a specific crime to be named, merely that "a criminal investigation is warranted". It is not unusual for "criminal investigations" to refrain from naming specific crimes in their early stages. See also: Ken Starr.
      10. Mueller's team is about the only agency in the federal government that isn't "leaking furiously". And now you're accusing Mueller of "leaking" a story that Fox published months ago? (And that Trump, incidentally, categorically denies?) Yeah, right.

    2. Re:no luck involved by herbierobinson · · Score: 1

      You tell 'em Comrade!

      --
      An engineer who ran for Congress. http://herbrobinson.us
  17. US is part of civilized world? LOL! US = shithole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since when did US become part of the "civilized world?" The country is a complete dump. It's an oligarchy (as per Harvard) filled with corrupt politicians; and I'm not even talking about Trump-- think Obama, Bush, Clinton, Reagan, and the rest of the trash. I always find it funny how idiots point to Russia when they talk corruption yet they're completely oblivious to the fact that they live in the most corrupt country in the world: USA. Americans are fucking stupid. Lol

  18. Goalpost moved by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You're moving the goalposts.

    GP claimed: "He's the least popular US President in recorded history."
    You changed that to: "Trump is the least popular president at this point in their presidential term"

    And several of those examples don't appear to be any too far into their terms.

  19. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by greenwow · · Score: 1

    There's been no evidence released yet to prove Russian influence of the election, but all thinking people know it to be true. The media wouldn't be talking about it so much unless it was true.

  20. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  21. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You really need someone to explain the logical fallacy of your argument? Maybe you could grow up and read a book on logic.

  22. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by Rockoon · · Score: 1

    The media wouldn't be talking about it so much unless it was true.

    Just like the WMD's in Iraq!

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  23. Re: Keep on believing that bologna.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And the WMDs in Syria, eh comrade?!!

  24. Rape?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not surprising that Der Mueller and this "Team" raped a FB employee, given that they payed Zuck to "supply" a pig to squeal.

    1. Re:Rape?! by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      Silly person. It's not Rape. It's just an interview because it's the Democrats doing it. Maybe improper touching.

  25. Re:Hold on, let me get some prison for hillary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You mean those investigations that were concluded before she was even interviewed? Or the times she sat in Congressional hearings claiming she either couldn't remember or "what difference, at this point, does it make now?" - those investigations?

  26. Thanks Slashdot by scumdamn · · Score: 2

    I needed a bunch of nerds who still hang around this obscure irrelevant tech site to tell me there's nothing to see here. Thank goodness you random people on the internet know more than the former head of the FBI and his team. It's good to know there will always be somewhere on the internet I can go to be reassured that Trump did nothing wrong and America is just as bad as the Russians anyway.

    1. Re:Thanks Slashdot by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      America starts most of the world's wars. You're not one of those right wing patriots, are you? Because American patriots are the cause of most of the world's problems. Without America, who would be around to start all the wars?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    2. Re:Thanks Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I needed a bunch of nerds who still hang around this obscure irrelevant tech site to tell me there's nothing to see here."

      It's a bunch of old autistic white engineers that haven't gotten laid in a year that watch Fox News because MSNBC's females and 'gay boys' are too 'uppity'.

      They weren't nerds - they were engineers. Nerds have empathy. Engineers push paper. People told to do shit by bosses they didn't understand, don't now, and now they're taking it out on the 'youths', because their fathers beat them, their mothers were basic and didn't divorce, and their wives are either out of their lives or just as retarded as they are.

      And none of them *actually* do anything, but psychologically, these are the Las Vegas shooters type of people. A lot of time, almost no understanding of politics, more money than sense, and no one to teach them, because they're basically NEETS with 60 years of obesity to go along with it.

  27. Mueller is a criminal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Could you name the arrests involved with Russian collusion?

    Oh, you can't? Did you know the FBI has a corrupt agent, responsible for one of those charges, that had to be tossed off the team? It looks like that agent is responsible for a REAL "obstruction of justice" charge himself, and any evidence he presented will not hold up and charges he brought will likely have to be dropped.

    Did you know Muller covered for that agent instead of reporting his misconduct? That would be aiding a felony after the fact, another felony committed by Muller himself.

    Did you know Comey used FBI budget money to help the Clinton campaign? WHOOPS! Did you know the DOJ and FBI colluded with each other to affect the outcome of an election? WHOOPS! Did you know the DOJ was wiretapping Trump's campaign illegally? WHOOPS (remember Watergate)

    Yea, I'm against firing Muller. When you have an obvious corrupt cop running the investigation against you, that is probably the easiest way to get out. Also, day 1 Muller was told there is no Russian collusion evidence, so he has just been ripping off the taxpayers since then. Muller is a criminal.

    Feel free to ignore this post, but a significant number of people in the country believe the above is true. Since the FBI and DOJ to day have refused to answer ANY questions that would easily clear this all up, including deleting evidence that would clear up or prove it, I'm just going to assume its all true at this point.

  28. Re: Hold on, let me get some prison for hillary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I do not watch or listen to those. Purely the facts from the investigation. If it walks and talks like a duck, it must be a duck. Many FBI agents are coordinating his take down. If that doesnt upset you, then wait to the tides turn and its a republican heavy FBI that takes down the next democrat president. It cuts both ways. You should be real concerned you doped up idiot.

  29. Actually those hazards exist everywhere by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    And it's been incredibly useful. There's all sorts of nasty things businesses don't do because California won't let them and it's too expensive to run two lines of production (one for Cal and one for the parts of America where people don't get to vote). You shouldn't be content with your 'betters' telling you what to do. You should want your vote to count and be weighted equally.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  30. The ONLY solution out of this mess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only solution is to DEMAND VOTER ID.

    Russia not only HACKED the system by sending out FAKE facebook ads that skewed the electorate but HACKED the ELECTION.

    Voter ID is the only way to bring sanity to the process. Otherwise we have more Russia meddling.

    1. Re:The ONLY solution out of this mess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I jus hackezed voterid

    2. Re:The ONLY solution out of this mess by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Photo ID to use social media? That would be a very interesting private sector database to create and keep secure AC.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  31. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by hey! · · Score: 1

    If you believe the whole Russian collusion line I feel bad for you.

    Interesting that you can't even call "bullshit" without bullshit.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  32. Replace Trump with Obama... by arse+maker · · Score: 2

    Imagine what the Republicans would do if Muller was investigating president Obama under the same circumstances?

    1. Re:Replace Trump with Obama... by quantaman · · Score: 1

      Imagine what the Republicans would do if Muller was investigating president Obama under the same circumstances?

      How many impeachment votes can you have in one year?

      --
      I stole this Sig
    2. Re:Replace Trump with Obama... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wonder how the FBI became so fucking corrupt?

  33. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And consumption of Tide Pods.

    Reality: Something like ~30 dumbasses have eaten Tide Pods. Cool story. We had Mr. Yuck stickers when I was a kid because kids are fucking Windex-drinking morons.

    That number ain't even a blip on a chart.

    Far cry from the media selling the idea that your kids are EATING TIDE PODS RIGHT NOW OH MY GOD.

  34. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You of course keep believing that, even though several American soldiers have been injured by Iraqi chemical weapons, and significant evidence that they've been used in Syria.

  35. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    Just like the WMD's in Iraq!

    When I try to explain that to people, they say, "No, that was different. Trump is much worse than Bush."

    Trump is more annoying than Bush, but so far he hasn't started any wars, so he's better than Bush. That's a low bar but it was a low Bush.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  36. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, my, someone hasn't been keeping up with current events.

    FaceBook has even acknowledged they have a Russia problem. Every US intelligence service says Russia was interfering, and all of the intelligence services of our allies verify it.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections

    And we've found out lately that Russia was funneling money into the NRA and pro-Trump/GOP super PACs.

    And they do this all over the world. The US is the only country not doing anything about it.

    I can't imagine why.

  37. Re:Hold on, let me get some prison for hillary by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    ...Or the times she sat in Congressional hearings ... "what difference, at this point, does it make now?"

    Since it made no difference....
    Just ask Trey Gowdy where your 45 million in witch hunt money went

  38. Re: Hold on, let me get some prison for hillary by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    Many FBI agents are coordinating his take down.

    So...nothing but speculation and bullshit?
    Figures.

    wait to the tides turn and its a republican heavy FBI that takes down the next democrat president.

    It's a 4:1 REPUBLICAN FBI now. Where do you think the leak threat came from that caused Comey to give the Republicans their October Surprise?

  39. Re:Hold on, let me get some prison for hillary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Last I checked HRC lost the election and Trump has been running things for over a year. The reason we don't give a flying foo about HRC is because she isn't the president. The president is subject to higher standards of scrutiny because he's.... THE PRESIDENT.

    Anyone who sits around grinding their teeth about Hillary is a moron at this point.

  40. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great point, the republitards ate that shit up back then. Of course Trump voters are even more stupid so anything goes.

  41. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, there has been plenty evidence of Russian influence, unless you explicitly define Russian influence down to the size of a point mass.

    Just this week it was revealed that Dutch intelligence caught the Russians hacking into the DNC, by them themselves first hacking into the servers that the Russian operatives used and watching them do it. Given the costs to Dutch intelligence having their own espionage ops outed combined with the other circumstantial evidence, this story is a lot more believable that the half hearted denials coming from the Russian government and their allies.

    You have to be willfully obtuse to think that hacking the DNC and dumping their internal communications for the world to see is not Russian influence, and a whole lot of it at that.

  42. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Those chemical IEDs were old mustard gas shells dated back to the Iran/Iraq war. Saddam never had the bio-weapons labs he was accused of, and never had the anthrax that Colin Powell waved up in front of the UN. Syria is a totally different matter, Sarin doesn't have a long enough shelf life for it to have anything to do with Saddam.

    also, on a related note
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK5T_rZmVyg

  43. YOU are advertising your idiocy, AC by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    The American electoral system uses an electoral college to protect against the tyranny of a few highly populated cities running the nation.

    No it fucking wasn't. The EC was set up to protect against "the mob" selecting the president of the United States - otherwise known as preventing the poor and working class from having a say in their own governance. Same reason senators were originally selected by state legislatures, and why voting was originally a right limited to property owners.

    Because the sacrosanct Founders were all a bunch of elitist assholes (even the ones who didn't own other people) who should have spent five years in a labor camp before being made to re-write the Constitution, before being sent back for another five years.

    Another problem with this retcon is the fact that that the number of seats in the House (which the EC apportionment is based on) was capped. If it had kept expanding and each district was made up of ~60,000 residents like at the time of the signing of the Constitution, California would have 650+ votes in the College compared to Alaska's 12+.

    According to the rules, Trump won, therefore no matter what you say with your fevered imagination, HILLARY LOST.

    Finally, something that isn't a bad comic book retcon. Yes, Hillary lost. After telling independent Bernie supporters to STFU about closed primaries because the rules were known in advance, and after saying that Trump would undermine our democracy if he didn't accept the results of the election.

  44. Talking about cherry-picking by Namarrgon · · Score: 1

    You match Trump's above-his-average current poll against the absolute lowest point of every other president - how is that supposed to be comparable?

    Why not compare everyone's lowest, where his 33 puts him merely sixth from the bottom? Or their disapproval rating, where he's second-worst. Or if you actually wanted to genuinely compare overall popularity, maybe look at the averages over their entire terms, where in a field ranging from 45 (Truman and Carter) to 70 (Kennedy), Trump comes in at a decidedly unpopular 38.5.

    --
    Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
    1. Re:Talking about cherry-picking by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      So you're saying we should compare entire terms, while only having a year of his to work with, during which most of the media hasn't yet even slightly paused in being completely unhinged about Hillary Clinton's inability to win the election, and spends untold hours every week trying their hardest to poison the well. How were you planning to make that full-term comparison, at this point? Check back next month when people's paychecks go up, no matter how much Pelosi tries to tell them they're victims.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    2. Re:Talking about cherry-picking by Namarrgon · · Score: 1

      Considering most presidents had their highest popularity ratings in the first year after they were elected, I'd say that was being generous. And I'm not sure if you've noticed yet, but Trump's biggest enemy is himself.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
  45. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I can't imagine why."

    Because it's not real. It's propaganda that you are now trying to justify thats why.

  46. Eventually it will come out and we will learn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .. the reasons they forced Mueller to resign from the FBI in the first place....

  47. Re: Hold on, let me get some prison for hillary by ClickOnThis · · Score: 4, Informative

    I do not watch or listen to those. Purely the facts from the investigation. If it walks and talks like a duck, it must be a duck. Many FBI agents are coordinating his take down. If that doesnt upset you, then wait to the tides turn and its a republican heavy FBI that takes down the next democrat president.

    LOL, right.

    - James Comey, a Republican, was head of the FBI until Donald Trump fired him.
    - Christopher A. Wray, a Republican, was confirmed as Comey's replacement in August 2017.
    - Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General, a Republican, appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
    - Robert Mueller, a Republican, is conducting the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
    - Donald Trump, POTUS, a Republican, supposedly wanted to fire Mueller last June (shortly after firing Comey) but was talked out of it.

    Whatever it is that's motivating the FBI and the Department of Justice to investigate the Russian connection to the 2016 election, it isn't partisan politics.

    --
    If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  48. Re:Keep on believing that bologna.. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    US "experts" looked all over Iraq really wanting to find anything to help their political masters.
    The expert who could look all over Iraq found vacuum cleaners, license plates, a swimming pool.
    The "experts" the US media and press trusted so much all lied to the US media.
    Now the same failed media is pushing social media stories about other nations winning US elections.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  49. You're just making it worse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now we have established that you have not read what our founders wrote and said, nor first-hand accounts of their deeds.

    The electoral college was not set up to protect against the masses - that's a line pushed by liberal teachers to gullible students who they assume will never read the actual source documents, and it is pushed second-hand by idiots on TV who want to appear smart without also actually reading any source material and becoming educated. Your description of our founders reads like a 14 year old's comic book version. Our founders were very serious people who spent a lot of time and energy worrying about their descendents and whether the systems they built would hold up well over time. They were NOT as you portray them and you would know that if you were better read on the subject. These men risked EVERYTHING founding ther country and some lost nearly everything, they were NOT some pack of gilded elitist perfumed French aristocrats.

    Senators were originally elected by state legislators for the very same reason there are two per state without regard to the populations of those states: Because the job of a SENATOR is to represent his/her STATE and NOT the population of that state. Members of the House represent the PEOPLE, which is why the founders wrote a Constitution that assigns House seats according to populations.

    You would know this stuff if you were both literate, and sufficiently curious.

    Yes, it IS a problem that we have not greatly expanded the House to keep the voters-to-representatives ratio better, and that's a reform that could be done at any time.

    Team Hillary rigged the Democrat primaries in 2015 meetings that set the rules for the 2016 races, as I warned liberals here back at that time. I also warned them here in 2016 that they were wasting their time supporting Bernie because the outcome of the Democrat primary was already fixed. Incidentally, there are efforts underway right now in both parties to rig the 2020 primaries. The Democrats want to do a better job than before, and the "never Trump" establishment Republicans are desperate to perfect the strategy they saw Hillary succeed with (in her PRIMARY) in 2016. The big money interests in BOTH parties want to hand pick their nominees and they want the average Joe to just accept it. Trump has been a massive shock to these people and they are not amused.

  50. ahem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. The fact that this was known does not invalidate it, it CONFIRMS it.
    2. What do you assert I think his role was? I only pointed out that he was involved in the deal (documented fact) and that means he is tainted by it.
    3. Yes, sending classified content to an insecure server is a felony. I'd have gone to prison if I had done it back when I was in the Navy and had a clearance.
    4. Admittedly, it was quite an assumption on my part that Meuller,Comey and Obama believed as all the press and pundits and pollsters and most Americans believed: that Hillary would win an easy victory in a landslide. Yup. That was quite a stretch.
    5. Wow. The FACT that the dossier was a team Hillary funded political attack, created by a former British spy, using input he bought from Russian spies is all now so well documented that even the Democats in congress have stopped pretending otherwise and the current "talking point" is to pretend that because the firm that did the footwork previously (before involvement of the Brit and Russian spies) did some oppo research for some Republicans the later spy-generated stuff is somehow a Republican thing. [facepalm]
    6. Go to YouTube. Yes, Obama said Russians were TRYING, but he loudly and sarchastically ridiculed Trump for suggesting that it was even POSSIBLE to succeed in tampering with our elections. Don't just rely on HuffPo selective editing of reality, look at the ENTIRE record.
    7. BEFORE Sessions recused himself, there were many members of congress demanding he do so and pointing to his meeting with the Russian Ambassador as justification. Former Senator Franken made quite a spectacle of himself on this subject. Even Lindsey Grahm jumped on the recusal bandwagon, making it obvious to anybody that even moderate Repubs would require it. So, once again, look at the WHOLE record and timeine.
    8. This is public record. Comey has publicly said he leaked his memos to his pals with instructions to leak them to the Times, AND the inspector General of the FBI has said the content of those memos was classified. Care to deny the existence of gravity while you're at it? A little googling might help you here.
    9. No, Rosenstein was NOT appointed by Trump. Trump still has something like 60 appointees awaiting confirmation in the Senate where Schumer and the Dems have been slow-walking the process to a record-breaking degree. Trump has not even bothered to name an appointee for deputy AG because he has been told no such nominee will be considered while the investigation is underway. Rosenstein is a holdover.
    10. You apparently do not read well. When information that ONLY Meuller's team has gets leaked to the NYT (one of the fave two outlets of leaks for Democrats) it takes a wild leap into fantasyland to believe the leaks are from somewhere else. Now as to the latest "leak", it's a more unusual one in that the NYT hyped a big story supposedly based on their anonymous well-connected sources (the Meuller team) but they just happen to have screwed up because this one item got out months ago and made it onto Fox because, in substance, it was actually beneficial to Trump therefore the other side of it was leaked to Fox. None of that stopped the anti-Trump folks at the NYT from hyping it as new and shocking as the "leakers" intended.

    Now, I have ansered EVERY one of your imaginary debunkings, so .... where's the 80% you claimed were wrong?

    Or are you bad at math too?

  51. You're projecting again by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    The electoral college was not set up to protect against the masses - that's a line pushed by liberal teachers to gullible students who they assume will never read the actual source documents, and it is pushed second-hand by idiots on TV who want to appear smart without blah blah blah blah

    Of course they were elitist assholes. You don't get to be a slave owner without being an elitist asshole by definition, or limiting the right to vote to those who owned property. And even those that didn't own other people didn't want the proles having a say in their own governance. You can complain some more about those facts, but to paraphrase NDT, the neat thing about facts is they don't give a shit about whether or not you believe in them.

    Because the job of a SENATOR is to represent his/her STATE and NOT the population of that state

    This was always an unbelievably stupid talking point, as that's a distinction without a difference. A state is nothing more than a set of boundaries and the people who live in said boundaries.

    Trump has been a massive shock to these people and they are not amused.

    Stick to Dems and not this fan-fiction history, mmkay? Because yes, the DNC rigged their own primary, and would rather lose to Trump in 2020 rather than clean up their mess or change course.

  52. Re:show us the beef. Some people say.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some people say Hillary collect billions.

  53. Re:show us the beef....Everybody new Russia.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everybody knew Russia was running out of Uranium. They need it to fuel their atomic icebreakers and atomic batteries. In addition they need to make new atomic suitcase bombs and atomic landmines. Simply put, Russia raped America of it's precious and limited resource, our Atomic Ore. Lock her up!

  54. Re:Keep on believing that bologna..Bannon Mercer.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cambridge Analytica says it all.