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North Korea Announces Plans To Dismantle Nuclear Test Site (npr.org)

The Associated Press is reporting North Korea has announced plans to dismantle its nuclear test site between May 23 and 25. The dismantling will occur before President Trump is scheduled to meet with Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12. NPR reports: Reuters reports that Punggye-ri nuclear test site has been the location of all of North Korea's six known nuclear tests. At the site, there's a system of tunnels under the mountain Mount Mantap. Journalists from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Britain will be invited to watch a special ceremony in which all of the tunnels at the testing ground will be destroyed and observation and research facilities and guard units will be taken down. The North Korean government will provide journalists with a charter flight from Beijing to Wosnan, North Korea. From there, a train will take them to the test site in the northeast part of the country.

The AP also reports that at a ruling party meeting last month, North Korea announced the plan to close the nuclear testing ground, along with a commitment to suspend all tests of nuclear devices and ICBMs. At that same meeting, however, North Korea said it has been performing a kind of nuclear test classified as "subcritical." The "subcritical" experiments give scientists an opportunity to test weapons without causing an actual nuclear chain reaction and explosion.

217 comments

  1. "Dismantled?" by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wasn't their test site already "dismantled" by a massive tunnel collapse?

    1. Re: "Dismantled?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      One tunnel collapsed after a test.

      They did not store the entirety of their nuclear weapons program in a tunnel at the test site, if that's the retarded thing you were suggesting.

    2. Re:"Dismantled?" by DoktorMidnight · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Wasn't their test site already "dismantled" by a massive tunnel collapse?

      It is actually a little annoying that while the scientific and anti-proliferation communities/groups have been discussing what has happened to the testing site, you may only find a bare hint of that discussion in the regular news. But, as one commentator here has pointed out, if we all just close our eyes and pretend that the DPRK didn't shift an entire mountain on accident and create a potentially massive environmental disaster in its backyard, then it might help facilitate the peace process. Face gets saved, and actions of desperate necessity become grande gestures of peace. All the important people can get Nobel Peace prizes and feel good about themselves.

      Welcome to Diplomacy 101, where you don't have to feel good about what you did as long as the results are acceptable.

    3. Re: "Dismantled?" by murdocj · · Score: 5, Informative

      No, he's not suggesting that. He's suggesting that this test site was already getting pretty defunct, so as a PR stunt NK is inviting everyone to watch while they blow up the old test site.

    4. Re:"Dismantled?" by zioncat · · Score: 2

      Wasn't their test site already "dismantled" by a massive tunnel collapse?

      No, North Korea's Nuclear Test Site Wasn't Destroyed in an Earthquake

      "The reporting has been mostly hot garbage," Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, tweeted after reviewing satellite imagery of the 7,200-foot Mount Mantap, where North Korea's Punggye-ri test site is located.

    5. Re:"Dismantled?" by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      I've read a number of pieces on the rumors about the collapse in papers like the Washington Post and the Guardian. The journalists are being cautious because North Korea is a very hard country to get solid evidence of anything out of, but those papers did report it, and certainly no merely as "hints".

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    6. Re:"Dismantled?" by rtb61 · · Score: 2

      The whole thing, the whole USA North Korea thing, was a pile of bull puckey. It was all about tying up China in a defence of North Korea to block their 'COMMERCIAL' expansion, not war, simply business. This all blew up when China would not play and although the US government attempted to keep it going, it all fell flat. So then when that North Korea gambit failed, the US government went with a trade and tarriff war but when the Government of China threw in copyright duration into the mix, that collapsed to.

      So North Korea, now has taken the opportunity to alter diplomatic rhetoric to look more conciliatory leaving the US to look like the war monger, yet again. So the US now is forced to lie and pretend it created peace because no other political option. Peace, yeah, not so much, just better public diplomatic communications in the age of the internet and saying stupid shit hangs around for ever. None look more fucking stupid in the diplomatic stakes than that budgy brain Nikki Haley, starting to get a real odour going and likely better off tossing the talking head out and replacing it with another.

      That test site had reached it's use by date and it seems North Korea finally did manage workable nukes and now delivery systems have altered from ballistics to long range torpedoes and cruise missiles. Although it has been proven that US et al cruise missiles are very vulnerable to attack from actively defended locations, however not a problem with Nuke cruise missiles because blowing one up, means it does actually properly detonate, killing that which killed it and the defended target probably still inside the destruction zone.

      Defending against nuke cruise missiles requires an airborne defence system to increase the attack range as much as possible. Torpedoes much trickier seeing as they can take their time quietly approaching the target at depth and only surfacing to detonate, coastal cities are fucked, especially one in particular, Pearl Harbour and Honolulu, pretty clear it is the number one target, neither one will survive a nuke war of even a start panic stop variety as they are the first targets, not Washington (add in 3m sea level rise and Honolulu looks to be quite the questionable investment).

      North Korean peace, not possible with the current government, if they was peace, and democratic voting occurred the current leadership would be investigated, prosecuted and probably executed, so hugely unrealistic for North Korea to undergo change without social breakdown and revolution but everyone has to pretend because the China gambit failed and there really seems to be no coming back from that, it really seems to have been the last major Asian geopolitical gambit and it failed. The only one left is fucking with Australia China trade and that would not go done well at all, cause a major irreversible rift between Australia and the US (pissing on about a China base in Vanuatu all about more American bases in Australia, which does not look to be on, which in turn is all about Australia having basically ten times as much high grade Uranium ore as the US, plus of course being the same size as the US mainland and having a largely undeveloped coastline suitable for future development post flooding, no flooded rubble to content with).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    7. Re:"Dismantled?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget that now NK already proved the world the fact that is able to build 1MT yield nukes and that they work better that even they expected.

      What now still has to prove is that is able to deliver them reliably farther away than their neighbourhood as if that was some kind of relief for the world.

    8. Re: "Dismantled?" by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      That is a post full of speculation and lacking evidence.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    9. Re:"Dismantled?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Welcome to Diplomacy 101, where you don't have to feel good about what you did as long as the results are acceptable.

      So basically: let the Great Orange One get his Nobel Hair Piece Prize if it helps stabilize that part of the world.

    10. Re: "Dismantled?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But seems legit.

    11. Re: "Dismantled?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So we should wait until it becomes a reality and then try to get FP to say "I told you so!"?

    12. Re:"Dismantled?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps the "subcritical" testing was more than subcritical and there's a need to bury the isotopes?

      On a side thought. I've always wondered how many nukes or how large of a nuke you'd need to destabilise the Arctic or Antarctic Ice Shelf enough to cause the collapse and eventual melting to raise the sea levels before we have prepared ourselves for the outcome.

    13. Re: "Dismantled?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would be ironic if they blew up the old test site using a nuclear device.

  2. Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin... by bogaboga · · Score: 2

    North Korea has announced plans to dismantle its nuclear test site between May 23 and 25.

    Just wait. Western nations are going take credit for this development; yet the North Korean leadership has stated that there's no need to test anymore as they've "mastered" how to place nuclear war heads onto ballistic missiles.

    This means there's no further need for "testing."

  3. North Korea Embraces Feminist Diversity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All feminist are welcome in the North Korea.

    Please come to North Korean ASAP

  4. Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Obama the change we wanted!

    1. Re:Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When Obama made a deal with Iran to prevent them from developping nuclear weapons, it was a horrible deal, a sellout, etc.

      Now Trump will do the same type of deal with North Korea, including billions of americans dollars to the NK buffoon, and it will be labeled a stroke of genius.

    2. Re: Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obama never made a deal to keep Iran from making nuclear weapons. They agreed to a 10 year pause. Iran was a few years behind where NK is today. Iran should have had to destroy all of their centrifuges. They were not required to do so. They should have had much lower caps on enrichment, but the caps were allowed to be higher.

      Iran has not given up their pursuit of nuclear weapons. I hope that NK is giving up the pursuit of these weapons.

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

      Furthermore, Obama never carried through in his 'deal' with Iran to involve anybody else in the US government. It was basically a handshake deal involving John Kerry without any formal treaty or action by the other branches of the government.

      Just another Obama era autocratic action.

  5. Very Old News... by TheEyes · · Score: 1

    In fact, this very site has already had tests suspended indefinitely, likely because a mountain fell on it. From the article:

    "The breakdown not only took off part of the mountain’s summit but also created a “chimney” that could allow fallout to rise from the blast centre into the air"

    So, um good job Kim, taking a desperate attempt at mitigating a massive environmental disaster that could have blanketed half a hemisphere in radioactive fallout and trying to parlay it into a gesture of goodwill?

    1. Re:Very Old News... by Jeremi · · Score: 0

      So, um good job Kim, taking a desperate attempt at mitigating a massive environmental disaster that could have blanketed half a hemisphere in radioactive fallout and trying to parlay it into a gesture of goodwill?

      Well, why wouldn't he? He's got nothing to lose by doing so, and by playing to Trump's ego he might better be able to manipulate him.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    2. Re:Very Old News... by gtall · · Score: 0

      Imagine Trump playing poker...bwahahahahaha....Art of the Deal my ass. Kim will own him.

    3. Re:Very Old News... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So, um good job Kim, taking a desperate attempt at mitigating a massive environmental disaster that could have blanketed half a hemisphere in radioactive fallout and trying to parlay it into a gesture of goodwill?

      Well, why wouldn't he? He's got nothing to lose by doing so, and by playing to Trump's ego he might better be able to manipulate him.

      Its amazing how much it bothers people that Trump appears to be close to possible accomplishing something that didn't seem possible during the last administration. They'll find any reason they can to not give any credit at all to the hard line that Trump put in place, with much more effective sanctions than Obama or previous presidents could muster.

    4. Re:Very Old News... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His only move is all in on huge bluffs, one might then understand how he lost so much fucking money as the CASINO OWNER, lol.

    5. Re:Very Old News... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A chimney that "could" allow fallout to rise out : "could", but not "did".
      It would have definitely done had the chimney reached the surface.

      As shock waves tore through and loosened more rocks, a large section of the mountain’s ridge, less than half a kilometre (0.3 mile) from the peak, slipped down into the empty pocket created by the blast, leaving a scar visible in satellite images.

      So, a large amount of rocks collapsed, hundreds of meters underground. Something to be concerned about but it's sort of okay if you don't test at the exact same place again.

    6. Re:Very Old News... by WinstonWolfIT · · Score: 1

      It's obvious what's going to happen. Ten years of building a new test facility, meanwhile cashing in on an economic cash influx from relaxing sanctions.

    7. Re:Very Old News... by isdnip · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The most interesting account I saw was from, of all things, a Pakistani newspaper. It said that the test set off an earthquake. It caused a tunnel to collapse... with about 100 people in it. They may have been many of NK's nuclear scientists. And when they sent people in to try to rescue them, another collapse took out another hundred or so people. So the site is entirely unusable, and they may have lost many of their nuclear scientists in the process.

      I guess they had enough physicists but not enough geologists.

    8. Re:Very Old News... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      pakistani journalism, ah yes, the pinnacle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0XQRdaOjPM

  6. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well would you want Trump with the largest army in the history of mankind threatening you?

  7. Didn't that site collapse? by RandomFactor · · Score: 2

    Punggye-ri may not even be usable at this point. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Punggye-ri+collapse

    Awfully nice of them to offer to decommission it at this point :-p

    This is a purely symbolic gesture to improve their optics.

    --
    --- Mercutio was right.
    1. Re:Didn't that site collapse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is a purely symbolic gesture to improve their optics.

      It is more important to look good (the optics) than feel good.

      In the end, anything that actually results in denuclearization, whatever the motivation, is a good thing, so I am willing to overlook the lies that some need to tell to others.

    2. Re:Didn't that site collapse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would like to see Washington D.C., Pearl Harbor, Guam and Okinawa get nuked, I think that would be a good thing. But failing that denuclearization is likely a good thing.

    3. Re: Didn't that site collapse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was hoping for LA or SF myself. But I do not think rocket man can even reach that far.

  8. Dismantled by China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    They blew the top off the mountain and it began venting fission products over China.

    China told them "yo, knock it the f*** off. or we're gonna have Serious Problems"

    1. Re:Dismantled by China by jcr · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Decades from now, I hope that some Chinese official lets us know in his memoirs just how close Kim Fat Ass came to getting a PRC bullet to the head.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    2. Re: Dismantled by China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously. China has to have people close to Kim or within striking distance. They like him in charge enough to keep him around, but blowing radioactive dust over the region has got to be reason enough to start pulling harder on those puppet strings.

    3. Re:Dismantled by China by psycho12345 · · Score: 1

      The most definitive memoir will be Xi Jinping. Those will be quite an interesting read, now that he is ruler for life of China.

    4. Re:Dismantled by China by fizzer06 · · Score: 0

      Is there anything Anonymous Cowards don't know?

    5. Re: Dismantled by China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The real identity of Fizzer* may be?

    6. Re:Dismantled by China by hdyoung · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Xi Jinping's memoirs will probably be fairly uninteresting, for three reasons.

      First, he inherited his leadership position. Actually, this whole generation of Chinese leaders are called "princelings" because their fathers were leaders. None of them earned their title through any sort of true merit.

      Second, nothing that he's said or written has indicated any sort of really novel thinking. His famous "socialism with Chinese characteristics" that makes up the basis of his writings basically amounts to a form of hereditary, authoritatian oligarchy. Pretty blase, boring stuff that's been tried over and over again with little success.

      Third, he's a dictator. Dictators are fairly one-dimensional, unimaginative types who have very little to add to the sum of humanity's achievements. They don't do their countries any good and very rarely leave any good legacy behind.

    7. Re: Dismantled by China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you read anything Xi has written before forming an opinion. There are two volumes of his 'collected works' published in English now. A lot of it might be ghost written, but it's thoughtful and interesting reading. Both volumes can be ordered on Amazon or direct from China Books, who have a website.

    8. Re:Dismantled by China by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      Decades from now, I hope that some Chinese official lets us know in his memoirs just how close Kim Fat Ass came to getting a PRC bullet to the head.

      Rumor is that Kim had his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, executed in order to head off a Chinese sponsored palace coup. Jang was widely seen as "China's guy" within the NK government. China was upset about Jang's execution, but Kim sent them a very clear message that he was not going to be pushed around.

    9. Re:Dismantled by China by fafalone · · Score: 1

      What? That couldn't possibly have anything to do with it. Everyone knows it's all because of Trump's twitter insults and threats! Nobel! Nobel! Nobel!

    10. Re:Dismantled by China by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      And then Xi called him to Beijing and gave him a very clear message to the effect that, if NK started lobbing nukes of its own accord at the US or its allies, NK was going to be on its own.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    11. Re:Dismantled by China by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 4, Informative

      You make it sound like he's walked a red carpet from the cradle straight into power, and his biography doesn't read quite like that:

      In 1963, when Xi was age 10, his father was purged from the Party and sent to work in a factory in Luoyang, Henan. In May 1966, Xi's secondary education was cut short by the Cultural Revolution, when all secondary classes were halted for students to criticise and fight their teachers. The Xi family home was ransacked by student militants and one of Xi's sisters, Xi Heping, was killed. Later, his own mother was forced to publicly denounce him as Xi was paraded before a crowd as an enemy of the revolution. Xi was aged 15 when his father was imprisoned in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution; Xi would not see his father again until 1972. Without the protection of his father, Xi was sent to work in Liangjiahe Village, Wen'anyi Town, Yanchuan County, Yan'an, Shaanxi, in 1969 in Mao Zedong's Down to the Countryside Movement. After a few months, unable to stand rural life, he ran away to Beijing. He was arrested during a crackdown on deserters from the countryside and sent to a work camp to dig ditches.

      So... he might have been born a "princeling", but that did not guarantee him an easy ride into the Politburo. (Did you know that his first nine applications to join the CPC were rejected?)

      Third, he's a dictator. Dictators are fairly one-dimensional, unimaginative types who have very little to add to the sum of humanity's achievements. They don't do their countries any good and very rarely leave any good legacy behind.

      I think you're mischaracterising his desire for stability--which appears to be both genuine and well-founded--as "lack of imagination" and ignoring both his background and its historical context. The Chinese experience of the past 120 years or so has been nothing like the American one.

      XI is a very smart guy, and he's got balls. Do not underestimate him.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    12. Re:Dismantled by China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you really read Xi's collected works and memos that he wrote throughout the late 90s-early 2000s, now compiled into a multi-volume set?

      You are wrong about Xi being a mere dictator. He's still a political chosen leader rather than a hereditary one. He's not like some of the Ming era emperors, where some were barely literate.

    13. Re: Dismantled by China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He is skinny compared to half the US population.

    14. Re:Dismantled by China by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1
      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    15. Re:Dismantled by China by Bearhouse · · Score: 1

      Apparently it's "Kim Fatty the Third" on Chinese social media...

    16. Re: Dismantled by China by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Informative

      One of the driving forces of the Chinese government is to avoid another person like Mao. They were the ones who saw firsthand how bad the Cultural Revolution actually was. When they talk about stability, there is some reality behind it.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    17. Re:Dismantled by China by hdyoung · · Score: 1

      You have a good point about his biography. It could be interesting. However, I stand by the general idea that when rule passes down from father to son, it means that many better candidates were skipped over. I don't believe that leadership qualities are inherited to any significant degree. The point about dictatorship also stands. He just got himself appointed as leader-for-life. "We need to maintain stability" and "Nobody else can hold down the fort" - that's a pretty standard justification that dictators use. The reality is that dictators care first about keeping themselves in power and everything else is secondary, including the good of their country. The result: the country loses opportunity for development.

      I could be wrong. Maybe Xi Jinping will turn out to be a visionary. Until about a year ago I thought that the Chinese method of governing a large country was fairly interesting, unique, and seemed to be yielding novel results (not that I ever wanted my own country to emulate them.... shudder). However, with Xi taking a life-long dictator-like position, I've largely concluded that the interesting aspects of Chinese government were transient, and that their system is stabilizing into an oligarchy with a dictatorial leader. That's not interesting at all. It means that China will top out around the level of economic and societal development that Russia currently has.

  9. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    North Korea has announced plans to dismantle its nuclear test site between May 23 and 25.

    Just wait. Western nations are going take credit for this development; yet the North Korean leadership has stated that there's no need to test anymore as they've "mastered" how to place nuclear war heads onto ballistic missiles.

    This means there's no further need for "testing."

    Even the US and Russians want to continue testing since there's always more to learn. If you go assuming every Trump thing is bullshit without checking the evidence you will end up being discredited. Instead you should look at b0s0z0ku's comment, which shows that you were right - this is bullshit propaganda - but for different reasons. The test site has collapsed and is unusable so dismantling it is the right thing. What's scary is that this was reported just a couple of weeks ago. The assumption seems to be that nobody remembers that long so we won't notice.

  10. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The South Korean president and Foreign Minister both said that Trump was the primary reason for NK's capitulation.

    Lots of things are spin in this day and age, but sometimes there's an actual fact that gets out. You can still hate Trump and also appreciate that he might have ended the Korean War by shitposting on Twitter.

  11. Exit ramp by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In fact, this very site has already had tests suspended indefinitely, likely because a mountain fell on it. From the article:

    "The breakdown not only took off part of the mountain’s summit but also created a “chimney” that could allow fallout to rise from the blast centre into the air"

    So, um good job Kim, taking a desperate attempt at mitigating a massive environmental disaster that could have blanketed half a hemisphere in radioactive fallout and trying to parlay it into a gesture of goodwill?

    One potential problem with Korean negotiations is the optics, and the tendency of people to dislike being proven wrong, losing face, and being shown as disingenuous or hypocritical.

    We could help the process along by giving Kim the widest exit-ramp from his situation. We don't have to be the sore, arrogant winners here.

    So let's suppose that the existing test site was partially destroyed by the collapse, and still held significant development capability. We don't know that this is *not* true.

    If the rest of the world were to take the positive view and assume the best, then this is Kim making a real effort to promote peace between the two nations.

    A highly respectable gesture, and offered before negotiations.

    Actually, that sounds 'kinda classy when you think about it.

    1. Re:Exit ramp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "We don't have to be the sore, arrogant winners here." Right, Trump doesn't have to be an arrogant, boastful, moronic luck-into-a-win-and-brag shameless self promoter talking about RATINGS with recently released torture victims...

      As he actively promotes bringing back torture and allows jokes about dying McCain to become the normal decorum... Nobel prize is in the mail, sure redneck nazi idiots, lol!

      Get real, Trump is being played. You apparently ALLOW yourself to be played, actively and ongoing. NK did all the tests they needed to develop what they already have now. Using them overtly was never the plan. Bargaining chip.

      Trump gets 3 prisoners released, basically nothing, and gives NK's slavery totalitarian state a seat at the table of business as usual. DENNIS RODMAN accomplished more than Trump did by light years.
      Trump's just needs to take credit for anything that isn't him being guilty of collusion or incompetence to compete with the other headlines. North Korea will remain as it is today, completely unchanged but legitimized.

      I'm sure the cell blocks of Leavenworth will echo with the boasts of his "victory" in North Korea, and the unfair treatment he received at the hands of not-entirely-white Grand Juries that convicted and sentenced him.

    2. Re: Exit ramp by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      It's worth mentioning that for all Trump's faults, he does have skill in making deals, so he may be OK in this situation (and for those people who say he made deals with people then later ripped them off by going into bankruptcy, in that case he was good at convincing people to get into a deal, even if it was bad for them. ) The follow-up may have trouble, but when it comes to making a deal, that is a skill he has. You might even say that persuasion and deal making are the essential skills for any huckster.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re:Exit ramp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds like the same strategy China and SK could use to improve relations with the US; by stroking Trump's ego and telling him it was because of his tweets. It doesn't pass the laugh test to anyone serious, but Trump and his supporters will sure think it's true (which sadly seems to include people here). Win-Win.

    4. Re: Exit ramp by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It's worth mentioning that for all Trump's faults, he does have skill in making deals,

      s/making deals/running cons/

      The follow-up may have trouble,

      Yes, that is the concern.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re: Exit ramp by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      The real trouble is that people are utterly irrational in their hatred of politicians. I don't like the guy but get real. If you can't say something nice you're probably partisan.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    6. Re: Exit ramp by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The real trouble is that people are utterly irrational in their hatred of politicians. I don't like the guy but get real. If you can't say something nice you're probably partisan.

      I think both the Democratic and Republican parties are bullshit, and the Libertarian and Green parties while we're here, too. But Trump is a career criminal, and it's not clear he actually has a fortune aside from what he can get by going to Mar-a-Lago every weekend and charging the Secret Service extra to protect him. As an investor, he is outperformed by Paris Hilton, or pretty much any investment fund. If he has actually got a fortune, it's predicated entirely upon the suffering of others; sweatshops, foreclosures, layoffs.

      If you can say something nice about Trump, you're probably a willful supporter of racism and misogyny.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re: Exit ramp by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I didn't say he was good at managing money. I said he was good at making deals. While we're on the topic, he's also very good at drawing attention to himself. Most clowns disappear after a couple years. He's kept it on him for decades.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    8. Re: Exit ramp by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I didn't say he was good at managing money. I said he was good at making deals.

      He's good at making illegal deals that hurt people, which are based on lies. We call those cons.

      While we're on the topic, he's also very good at drawing attention to himself. Most clowns disappear after a couple years. He's kept it on him for decades.

      Actually wealthy people don't want attention. He has to keep getting attention because he keeps running out of money, and his cons depend on it. He conned his way into his first loans by committing fraud against the banks and pretending to be someone else on the phone with them, claiming that his father's assets were his when they weren't. Trump's apparent success is not an accolade for Trump, it's an indictment of our entire financial system, rotten to the core.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re: Exit ramp by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I really don't care if he's wealthy or not. That's not the point and his problem not mine.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    10. Re: Exit ramp by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I really don't care if he's wealthy or not. That's not the point and his problem not mine.

      I note you didn't respond to anything actually important in my comment. Want to try again? Trump's lack of wealth is relevant, because it helps demonstrate what a liar he is, and I brought it up only in that context. Your parser is broken... or whatever is supposed to stop your knee from jerking.

      Trump is a fraud and con-man. Trusting him on any level is useful idiot behavior.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re: Exit ramp by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      He also has skills. Can you continue to deny that?

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    12. Re: Exit ramp by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      He also has skills. Can you continue to deny that?

      I deny that he has skills at making deals. He only has skills at running cons. But those aren't the skills we need as a president. We need someone who can do real things; someone who can build things, not only destroy them.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    13. Re: Exit ramp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Drinkypoo, I know phantomfive comes across as a rational person, at least compared to the average Trump supporter since he's not currently foaming at the mouth over Obama's birth certificate, or Hillary Clinton's secret underhanded perfidy, but he's entirely fanatical in his Trump apologia, unable to even fathom the idea that his glorious Emperor is covered in the tattered rags of his own squalor.

      The idea of criticizing Trump, does not sit well with him, the concept that Trump himself has earned the scorn and derision he receives is beyond belief. It doesn't sit well with him, makes his gut churn uncomfortably, and disturbs his precious worldview.

      All was terrible under Obama. Now? Things must be great under Trump.

      Except all of the stuff that justifies Trump's hamhanded acts of tyranny. Because he must feel threatened.

    14. Re: Exit ramp by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      He only has skills at running cons. But those aren't the skills we need as a president.

      Wrong. Those are *precisely* the best skills to have when dealing with nations like NK, Iran, Russia, China, etc.

      Those are invaluable skills to have as a President engaged in foreign diplomacy.

      Diplomacy: The art of saying "nice doggie!" while reaching for a stick.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    15. Re: Exit ramp by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      He only has skills at running cons. But those aren't the skills we need as a president.

      Wrong. Those are *precisely* the best skills to have when dealing with nations like NK, Iran, Russia, China, etc.

      Trump keeps finding himself broke because the long-term repercussions of his cons are that he is broke again. We don't want to find ourselves dealing with "NK, Iran, Russia, China, etc." again in a few years because of Trump's short-term fixes.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    16. Re: Exit ramp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Somebody mod this man up for making sense. Jesus Christ, more people should realize this. But they don't, or won't.

    17. Re: Exit ramp by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Indeed we don't.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    18. Re:Exit ramp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's important not to ignore history in this. Back in 2000 there was another peace attempt between north and south Korea. In hindsight its now obvious that it was just a ploy by the north to ease pressure on themselves for a little while.

      Yeah, we can hope *this* time something will come of it, but say hello to the new North Korea... same as the old North Korea.

    19. Re: Exit ramp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your posts are very contradictory. Is he a brilliant 4D chess conman who managed to scam himself into presidency, or is he so dumb he can't figure out how to keep a business running? Is he the most shrewd and maliciously devious negotiator ever or is he incapable of making even basic investment decisions?

      Don't offhand disregard this! You have some serious dissonance here. It's never comfortable to resolve conflicting beliefs, but until you do your posts are going to continue to sound mad.

  12. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by greenwow · · Score: 0

    The South Korean president and Foreign Minister both said that Trump was the primary reason for NK's capitulation.

    But how would they know? That's just pure conjecture.

  13. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shared Nobel Peace Price for Kim Jong-un for ending the Korean war with a peace agreement and to Trump for not tweeting inappropriate things about it!

  14. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kim is playing all of them for morons and Trump is dumb enough to think he's won something out of it, lol. Three prisoners out of tens of thousands, great job traitor idiot. "The bluster worked! Maybe I'll try that with Mueller..."

    He will be the most famous traitor in Leavenworth's long history. So maybe if you slightly change the theme of your cocksucking fawning, you can still worship his obese carcass there - during inmate visiting hours. Maybe.
    If he's not being anally savaged by the other criminals in a shower or laundry room at the time, as his punk traitor ass deserves, that is.

  15. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shared Nobel Peace Price for Kim Jong-un for ending the Korean war with a peace agreement and to Trump for not tweeting inappropriate things about it!

    Let's not forget Xi Jinping for leaning on Kim Jong-un to make this happen.

  16. Nobel while jailed by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 4, Informative

    Can you get a Nobel prize while serving concurrent life terms for treason in Leavenworth?

    As it happens, you can get a Nobel peace prize while in prison. Most recently Liu Xiaobo was awarded the prize while jailed.

    The Nobel committee apparently doesn't use "laws of other countries" as a criterion. Why would they?

    Also as it happens, treason is specifically defined in the constitution. Nothing that Trump has been accused of comes under that definition.

    Also also, I was reading about some of the trial transcripts from Mueller's indictments, and he'll be lucky if he doesn't get slapped by the court. The Manafort case in particular had the judge asking how Mueller's investigation can extend to actions that happened ten years before the election... and the prosecution being evasive and rude to the judge... causing the judge to demand prosecution submit the full, redacted indictment recommendation.

    And in the Flynn case, the judge ordered prosecution to turn over any exculpatory evidence they have. This is unusual for a case where a guilty plea has been entered. The polite interpretation is that the judge feels Flynn might not have entered the plea because he was guilty, but because he couldn't afford a defense. The bad interpretation is that the judge might be looking into whether Flynn's plea was coerced. (Heard somewhere that prosecutors told Flynn that after they were done prosecuting him, they'd go after his wife and kids.)

    And remember those 13 Russian nationals that were indicted? Turns out, it was 13 Russian nationals and four corporate entities. And one of the entities actually showed up in court to contest the charges. The indictments were widely viewed as a PR stunt, and that Mueller never expected anyone to contest them. He wasn't expecting to actually have to go to court, he's unprepared, and prosecutors tried to postpone the trial, saying "the plaintiffs were never served notice". Plaintiffs responded with "we're here voluntarily to answer charges and intend to enter a plea of "not guilty", let's have a trial!". Judge agreed, and now Mueller is scrambling to find evidence to support a bogus indictment.

    Also, I heard that the IG report got postponed (last Wednesday) by "a couple of weeks" because they found new evidence about the Clinton E-mail investigation.

    So overall, wait about 4 weeks or so and get back to me on whether Trump will be in jail, or whether we have a dozen high-level politicians indicted on corruption charges.

    1. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The whole system seems rotten to the core, doesn't it? Good thing we keep arguing over whose team is worse.

    2. Re:Nobel while jailed by tomthepom · · Score: 4, Informative

      Also as it happens, treason is specifically defined in the constitution. Nothing that Trump has been accused of comes under that definition.

      The constitution defines treason against the US as adhering to its enemies or giving them aid and comfort. If a presidential candidate or surrogates secretly work with a foreign adversary to manipulate elections and get their candidate elected, that would be a pretty textbook case of treason.

    3. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can Ted Kennedy be charged posthumously? Perhaps the graveyard he is buried in can be converted into a dog park and his grave marker replaced with a fire hydrant.

    4. Re: Nobel while jailed by jmcharry · · Score: 1

      You are referring to Arlington National Cemetery.

    5. Re:Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      You gotta love the Trump apologists.

      It goes something like this:

      1. It is not that bad.
      2. Democrats did it (even if they didn't)
      3. No one really cares.
      4. Even if it happened it doesn't matter.

      Did Trump collude with russians? Yes, we have two examples of proof. First his chosen people had that meeting with Russians. Second Trump openly asked for help on national tv. Will whatever he did along those lines result in jail time? Don't know. Have to wait and see.

      Is Trump guilty of pay for play? Most certainly. Trump's lawyer, who represents Trump directly, and is presumably acting with Trump's knowledge directly accepted crazy sums of money for influence. That is obvious influence pedling.

      Is Trump guilty of reckless disregard for the environment. Yes, see scott pruit.

      Is Trump guilty of far more than Clinton was impeached for? Sure. You've got what a dozen or so women, and at least one confirmed pay off, which certainly was illegal since it was a material contribution way outside of bounds to his campaign.

      Is Trump's word good for anything? Nope. He's over 3000 lies since he took office. I believe he has been awarded lie of the year at least once, likely for the birther crap, which was a perfect example of the low form of life that he is.

      Is trump generally morally repugnant and unfit for office? Hell yes, see massive insults to gold star families, war heroes(mccain), etc, etc. Hell he just praised the leader of north korea who sent the previous guest to his country home as a vegetable. Meanwhile one of his staff said something repulsive about McCain and he does nothing.

      Was getting out of the iran deal wise? Well given that I see no real plan for a better solution, and that other major credible countries are struggling to save it, I'm going to go with no. The fact that gas prices spiked is just an added bonus.

      Did trump obstruct justice? Yes, see lester holt interview, and recent interviews by Juliani. Hell he regularly threatens to get involved with the justice department and regularly threatens to fire people. He tried and failed to push Jeff Sessions out only because he dare not actually fire him. Hell he actually apparently approved using the excuse that he fired comey because he was mean to Hillary, and no one with a brain could buy that Trump cared a crap about that.

      He also seems to be doing the odd strategy pardon, such with scooter libby, likely to give people a sign if they just hold out the fix is in. I believe his lawyers have even discussed pardoning some of the people under investigation.

    6. Re:Nobel while jailed by lucm · · Score: 2, Informative

      If a presidential candidate or surrogates secretly work with a foreign adversary to manipulate elections and get their candidate elected, that would be a pretty textbook case of treason.

      You mean like the Clinton Foundation?

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    7. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Okay, just a little mini dog park with a 4 foot square perimeter fence.

    8. Re:Nobel while jailed by BigDukeSix · · Score: 1

      I don't know anything about the law but I think you are wrong. There have been plenty of candidates in American history who worked openly with the Soviet Union as members of Communist affiliated parties (seriously, the whole 20th century up to WW2, at least!). But let's take the 'collusion with Russia' story at face value. What exactly is the crime? Posting three thousand articles on Facebook is the century- ago equivalent of publishing a bunch of pamphlets. That's not a crime.. arguing your case in the public forum is the very definition of Western democracy. This dossier thing seems to me to have duped both parties as well as the FBI. Is that a crime? Even if it is, I haven't heard anyone accuse Trump of being the guilty party, except maybe being guilty of being peed on by a bunch of Russian models (and based on everything I've seen to date, if that video ever came out he would be tweeting about look how hot the girls are). And this whole 'manipulate elections' narrative- there's already a term for that: "Running a campaign." And finally, "adversary" := "enemy

    9. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nothing that Trump has been accused of comes under that definition.

      Except you know, the actual treason of being in the service of a foreign power that has engaged in hostile actions against the United States.

      Meanwhile, actually passing a healthcare reform law? Not treason.

    10. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump seems to be demonstrably better than the Democrat and Republican swamp.

    11. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's going to be sweet when Trump wins again in 2020 and you hang yourself from a shower curtain rod.

      I voted for him to put sniveling arrogant cunts like you into a full psychological break.

      Did not disappoint.

    12. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not the definition of treason, dipshit.

      Also you're 2 years into your retarded investigation without a single "collision" charge. Literally not one.

    13. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean the fantasy you have about them doing anything illegal?

      Meanwhile, Trump made fake magazine covers of himself.

    14. Re: Nobel while jailed by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      Stop throwing up flak. There's no evidence of that. There IS however a very serious investigation by republican appointed investigators lead by a republican , Mueller, that is strongly indicating that certain factions within trumps team did infact collide with a hostile foreign power to rig the election. Let's stick to what we know instead of throwing up smokescreens based on lazy conspiracy theories

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    15. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not the definition of treason, dipshit.

      Hey shitstain, guess what? I was describing something that fits under the definition, not recounting the definition of treason so you got righthing right. Great job.

      Also you're 2 years into your retarded investigation without a single "collision" charge. Literally not one.

      And yet the offenses keep growing. The investigation, hindered as you correctly describe it, is building results.

      At&t and Giuliani just this week.

      Strange you can't argue for innocence though.

    16. Re:Nobel while jailed by dog77 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A text book case of treason would be something like joining the enemy that the United States is at war with or leading an insurrection against the government. I don't think there are any examples of someone convicted for the treason you refer to in the United States history so I think that would qualify as the opposite of text book. If Russia actually used force to install Donald Trump in office like in a military coup than maybe. At most this would be a highly unusual case of treason and if you are being honest with yourself you will admit it is a stretch. It is a lot like someone on the right saying that former president Obama gave money to Iran is treason. The government of Iran is considered our enemy; a supporter of terrorism and their rockets were used to kill US soldiers in the very recent Iraq conflict. President Obama gave them our money which aids and comforts them. He did this on his own without the approval of the congress and so maybe we should put him on trial for treason.

    17. Re: Nobel while jailed by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      I think it's doubtful he will even run in 2020, and even if he does, it's unlikely he'll be able to reproduce the conditions that lead to those narrow victories in a few key states.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    18. Re:Nobel while jailed by GrimSavant · · Score: 1

      I know that was probably fun to do, but either you've been mislead by what you've read, or you a painting a misleading picture here, perhaps intentionally.

      I'll just focus on one issue, the Manafort case. The judge did dress down the prosecution, that much is true, but you have conspicuously left out what were the stakes of the argument. It was an issue of jurisdiction, and the judge was pressing the special prosecutors as to why they hadn't passed off Manafort's prosecution on bank fraud and such to the local US attorney, as opposed to running the prosecution themselves. The special prosecutor had previously done that with the case against Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen, where at least some of that prosecution was handed off to the Southern District of New York. This doesn't imply that the judge will necessarily rule against the special prosecutor, but in the event that he does that doesn't mean that Manafort is left off the hook on prosecution, it means that the US attorneys in the Eastern District of Virginia handle it instead.

      Personally, I thought the judge went out over his skis on that, but judges sometimes like to rant against prosecutors, especially ones who have been around for a very long time like Judge Ellis, and sometimes prosecutors deserve it. This special prosecution was explicitly granted authority to probe activities related to Manafort's earlier work for Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine, and the financial crimes in a lot of these indictments seem to be direct consequences from that. That memo from Deputy AG Rosenstein seems to be what you are alluding to, since several of the leadership from the House Republicans have been desperately trying to get their hands on the unredacted version of it, as it laid out much more specifically the special prosecution's mandate last year. Of course, that is law enforcement sensitive material and outing it would tip off the targets of the probe, which seems precisely the intent of their "oversight" given how quickly they leaked other things like the Comey memos after receiving them.

    19. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Meanwhile the rest of the world agrees he is a lunatic. Sweet dreams.

    20. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      very unlikely they have enough money to update the voting machines bios imho, so a good chance he gets 2020 too.

    21. Re:Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is Trump guilty of far more than Clinton was impeached for? Sure. You've got what a dozen or so women, and at least one confirmed pay off, which certainly was illegal since it was a material contribution way outside of bounds to his campaign.

      Clinton was impeached for lying to Congress under oath, not for having sex. Trump's lied about tons of things, but he's not actually been under oath on the subject and so he's not actually guilty of what Clinton was impeached for.

      Likewise on the EPA matter, that's not being guilty of being anything but a corporate tool. Elect a corporate tool, you get what you vote for.

      I happen to agree with the rest of your stuff, but the above were definitely reaching.

    22. Re: Nobel while jailed by lucm · · Score: 1

      You mean the fantasy you have about them doing anything illegal?

      Meanwhile, Trump made fake magazine covers of himself.

      Right. Trump made fake magazine covers, and Clinton took money from Putin, from China, from Saudis and so on. I can see why you would throw Trump in jail and give Clinton the keys to the white house.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    23. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The same world where Trudeau apologizes for turning a ship of refugees around 70 years agobut the USA leader is solving nuclear Korea?

    24. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      In the end most likely neither of them is going to end up in prison or even jail, because all that shit about them is still technically 'legal', blown out of proportion, and not enough for a prosecutor to go on in the American legal system.

    25. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fake magazine covers were as real as your claims about Clinton.

      Aka bogus. Really your own fault, and what makes it more obvious that you don't care is your total silence on Trump's own sellouts to his best friends in Saudi Arabia, Russia, and now North Korea.

      Heck, you even forgot how the ruckus over Qatar ended once the bribe check cleared.

      But it's still Clinton, Clinton, Clinton, for you, the same futile cry you made in the 1990s while ignoring the criminals of Gingrich, Hastert, Daley and Moore.

    26. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean zero evidence of any malfeasance, you mean nothing exculpatory, and you mean a prosecution that Trump is still so desperate to shutdown he's ordering his own unethical lawyers to lie for him, bribe others, and still paying frauds like you to shill over?

      Mashiki, Mark Twain had a quote for people like you. He said you should demand more money to sell your soul.

      And yes, we do have the cancelled checks.

    27. Re: Nobel while jailed by phrobot · · Score: 1

      And what defines the Russians as our enemies? As a brilliant Nobel Peace Prize laureate once famously said on that subject, âthe 80â(TM)s called, and theyâ(TM)re asking for their foreign policy back. â

    28. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Posting shitty memes on Facebook is not "rigging" an election, no matter how hard you moronic liberals shout about it.
      Buying your Party Nomination is much closer, but since Hillary's actions were exposed by Russians we're supposed to pretend it didn't happen.

      I thought the imbeciles whining about Obama for 8 years was bad, but you snowflakes really have taken it to a whole new level.

    29. Re:Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then all the spoiled self hating white liberals who favor lives of immigrants over the lives of fellow citizens are in fact guilty of treason.

      There are many ways to look at things.

    30. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Name them.

    31. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How long was Hillary investigated for and they found jack and shit?

      Stfu, this is our witch hunt, you had yours already. It is out time to shine.

    32. Re:Nobel while jailed by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 1

      Indeed, Hillary should be found guilty of treason for paying foreign national Christopher Steele to pay foreign nationals in Russia for fake information on Trump. While "Collusion" is not a crime in US law (and hence, Mueller's appointment is unconstitutional in that one way and several others, as the trial judges will soon be ruling), paying foreign nationals to help your campaign IS a crime that Hillary and DNC are guilty of.

    33. Re:Nobel while jailed by ClickOnThis · · Score: 2

      The constitution defines treason against the US as adhering to its enemies or giving them aid and comfort.

      Legally, how do you define "enemy?" Answer: a country you are at war with. For the US to be at war, Congress must make a declaration. Authorizations of force don't cut it.

      Congress has not declared war since 1941. Therefore, nobody at this time can be guilty of treason. Not Chelsea Manning, not Edward Snowden, and yes, not even Trump or his associates. (And for the record, I'm no fan of Trump.)

      Treason is a serious crime. It is the only crime mentioned in the US Constitution. The criteria for being guilty of it are very stringent, and rightly so.

      If a presidential candidate or surrogates secretly work with a foreign adversary to manipulate elections and get their candidate elected, that would be a pretty textbook case of treason.

      No doubt it's an indictable offense, one that can lead to serious punishment. But it's not treason. See above.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    34. Re:Nobel while jailed by cyberchondriac · · Score: 2

      How did this drivel get modded up to 5 Informative? It's full of crap.

      Did Trump collude with russians? Yes, we have two examples of proof. First his chosen people had that meeting with Russians.

      There is no evidence any of those meetings had a direct bearing on the election and weren't just business meetings. We have nothing except the fact that Russians tried to foment division in the US by taking out FB ads and websites, some of which were pro Bernie Sanders. They went for the fringe candidates.
      As it is, it looks like any information Flynn handed over is now suspect, or due to coercion.

      Second Trump openly asked for help on national tv.

      lol To cite this as a serious matter of treason is lunacy. He said, IF they have the emails, release them. The working assumption here is, they already had them. Said in public at a rally, as a joke. Not something seriously behind closed doors.
      In any case didn't tell Russia to go hack Hillary's missing 30,000 emails that you mysteriously don't care about.
      The TV soundbyte is much ado about nothing.

      Is Trump guilty of reckless disregard for the environment. Yes, see scott pruit.

      WTF has that go to do with anything? Non Sequitur.

      Is Trump guilty of far more than Clinton was impeached for? Sure. You've got what a dozen or so women, and at least one confirmed pay off, which certainly was illegal since it was a material contribution way outside of bounds to his campaign.

      Wrong, and wrong. Here we see you really don't have any idea what you're talking about. Clinton was not impeached for having an affair; the impeachment was due to lying under oath to Congress during a hearing. Affairs aren't illegal, just immoral.
      And there is still zero evidence so far that this has anything to do with campaign contributions, except on the suggestion made by hearsay of Stormy McDaniels lawyer.

      Everything else is you belly aching.

      Is Trump a big headed lout? Yup. No contest. We had no ideal choices this election. But that's not illegal nor does it constitute treason.

      --

      Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
    35. Re: Nobel while jailed by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      He said candidates, not elected officials, so I'm guessing you can find some list of guys somewhere that fall under that. It's like naming a list of candidates of left handed Cherokee shamans.

    36. Re: Nobel while jailed by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Don't worry intellectual coward, it's very easy to spot who makes posts like this. Why don't you try sticking to the content at hand instead of waving it around like your usual whataboutism that you go on about.

      https://www.redstate.com/strei...

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    37. Re: Nobel while jailed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except there were no such revelations, despite Trump "no collusion" publicly asking the Russians to look for them.
      But don't worry little fuhrer comrade snowflake, Trump still loves you for your efforts, and will let you keep all the guns you want to save you from the evil Jews and Mexicans.

    38. Re: Nobel while jailed by sdinfoserv · · Score: 1

      If he runs, he'll likely win. The GOP hasn't won popular vote for a first term president in 35 years. The last 2 GOP presidents won the electoral college while losing popular vote. Furthermore, it can be argued that Bush Sr was just an extension of the Reagan administration euphoria since he was so utterly crushed after his first term. If you ignore Sr, then it's only 20 years....

  17. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    If anything got reported, it was speculation that was reported and maybe "simplified" circular reporting of that speculation. A test chamber collapsed, because there was a frigging thermonuclear explosion in there. This means this particular place is definitely ruined. You might dig in there again and detonate a nuke again and it would be a very bad idea. But there's a bit more room than that and there are *other* tunnels that are ready, one of which the West one was actually maintained so that a test can happen on a moment's notice.

    I figure I should give sources rather than asking to take my worthless word, so here is reporting from seven months ago that warned against excessive speculation about "tired mountain syndrome" already
    https://www.38north.org/2017/10/mtmantap101717/

    Conclusion

    Nuclear tests previously conducted at the US Nevada Test Site (as well as at the former Soviet nuclear test sites) show that test-induced seismic events (small post-test earthquakes), associated with tests having magnitudes of 5.0 or more, are not unusual. Moreover, such activity did not lead to site abandonment prior to the general test moratorium in 1992. Because Mt. Mantap has been the location for the last five of six of North Korea’s declared underground nuclear tests (via the North Portal) and has undergone widespread observable surface disturbances resulting from the most recent test, it is not surprising that there were a number of post-test earthquakes. This may have caused some concern both inside and outside North Korea about “Tired Mountain Syndrome.” For the time being, however, given the presence of additional test portals, we see no reason that the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site as a whole has or will be abandoned for future underground nuclear testing.

    Two recent ones :
    https://www.38north.org/2018/04/mtmantap043018/
    https://www.38north.org/2018/04/punggye043018/
    One has drawings and explanation to teach you what is a "chimney collapse", the other one has a terrain maps showing *three* adjacent testing areas, one of which is disturbed and two available for testing.

  18. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Develop nuclear weapons
    2. ???
    3. Profit

  19. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would be nice to know all the contributors to the events, but I suspect the Asian contributors will pass their credit to their superiors and leaders.

  20. Well Played by hduff · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well played, North Korea. Well played . . .

    --
    "I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
    1. Re:Well Played by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed.. Take away as much leverage from the US and South Korea as possible. You'll get everything you want and need for pennies and dimes. This whole stint of lunatic diplomacy by Spanky McBonespurs is an unmitigated disaster. North Korea got the negotiating position if sought for decades simply because that orange idiot decided to isolate its ally and rattle sabers with Kim Jong Un on Twitter.

      The real losers here, of course, are the people of North Korea as the sovereignty and power of the North Korean regime will now most likely be cemented for the unforeseeable future.

  21. Nothingburger ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... because they don't need no more steenkin' tests.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    1. Re:Nothingburger ... by drnb · · Score: 1

      ... because they don't need no more steenkin' tests.

      Actually because the mountain has collapsed upon their underground testing facilities, they can't test anymore.

  22. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 0

    The South Korean president and Foreign Minister both said that Trump was the primary reason for NK's capitulation.

    That's because Trump nicely asked them to say it. And the president later remarked something to the effect of that if Trump wants the praise, he can have it, they want only peace.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  23. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yet the North Korean leadership has stated that there's no need to test anymore as they've "mastered" how to place nuclear war heads onto ballistic missiles.

    No, they've mastered how to make nukes albeit probably pretty crude in today's US standards, and they've mastered ballistic missiles. Putting the two together is and making an effective weapon is NOT easy, not have they proven they can do this.

  24. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump is the president of China? The US is 3rd in terms of numbers. In terms of shock & awe, as well as warfare, the US would be ranked 1st only just ahead of China.

  25. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They may have said that, but it doesn't make it directly true.
    If China decided to ignore US's sanctions, NK would be in a completely different position, so by that logic it's China that brought them to the table.

  26. I do not..... by MerlTurkin · · Score: 1

    .....trust that little fucker. At all.

    1. Re:I do not..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why. He's going to get the Nobel Prize, while it's doubtful they'll give it to Trump. This is gonna be fun to watch.
      Feel free to not trust him but later at the end of this year maybe you'll trust the Nobel Peace winners.

    2. Re:I do not..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wise words.

      BTW, nor should you trust the other little fucker, the one at the White House.

    3. Re:I do not..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They've shutdown before only to start back up. In 2008, they blew up their cooling tower, and got Bush to remove them from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/world/asia/27iht-korea.1.14044540.html

  27. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Except for the south korean gov basicly saying 'yeah it was him' How do you 'spin' that?

  28. Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It's amazing how Trump hasn't gotten shit actually accomplished but is already talking about awarding himself a Nobel prize, like they give those to traitors headed to prison within a year or so? Lol you're a moron. He's a traitor. He lied.

    He obstructed justice so obviously and plainly that Republicanism had to completely retard, embarrass and blind itself to continue viably existing as a legitimate party in any form, until voters ACTUALLY drain their swamp in the midterms.

    Meanwhile NK isn't giving up any of their nukes and has no intention of doing so, because playing Trump is just too easy so far. I bet the moron gives Kim a White House visit soon. He's that clueless. You are a product of it.

    Many deals have been made with the hermit state. Enjoy your final days of freedom, Drumpftards. The Mueller convoy isn't slowing down, they're coming for you.

    1. Re:Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's amazing how Trump hasn't gotten shit actually accomplished

      Well, other than a tax cut. And ending the Obamacare mandate. And moving the embassy to Jerusalem. And starting to build a real wall. And cutting 2+ regulations for every new regulation. And scaling back on Federal overreach. And pulling out of the Paris Accord. And pulling out of the Iran giveaway deal. And bringing North Korea to the table. And re-opening trade talks with China. And withdrawing from the TPP. And ending "catch and release" with illegal aliens. And 100 other things.

      But, yeah, other than that, what's he actually accomplished?

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    2. Re: Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Well, other than a tax cut.

      You mean a debt increase.

      And ending the Obamacare mandate.

      You mean another debt increase?

      And moving the embassy to Jerusalem.

      You mean how he claimed to move the embassy for cheap when all he did was instead of building an actual, you know, embassy, put a shingle out that said an existing building was now the embassy?

       

      And starting to build a real wall.

      You mean the same work they've been easing money on for decades?

      And cutting 2+ regulations for every new regulation.

      You mean a specious claim that lacks substance, has no value, and ends up costing American lives to provide corporations immunity from their misdeeds?

      And scaling back on Federal overreach.

      Nope. He's expanding Federal tendrils into private lives.

      And pulling out of the Paris Accord.

      You mean increasing the harm Americans will suffer from pollution?

      And pulling out of the Iran giveaway deal.

      You mean the temper tantrum that isn't being respected by Iran, Europe, or Asia, and is about as smart as how he tried to start a war with Qatar because they broke off a real estate deal?

      And bringing North Korea to the table.

      You mean the table that's been in three different places so far, and under four different prior presidents?

      And re-opening trade talks with China.

      You mean the trade talks we've been having for the past fifty years?

      And withdrawing from the TPP.

      You mean the treaty already dead in the water for which he still has no replacement?

      And ending "catch and release" with illegal aliens.

      You mean spending billions to keep people in custody in a way that he gets kickbacks?

      And 100 other things.

      Like what? Proclaimed National Cabbage Day? Only 100 things? He's played over 100 golf games. Hmm, surprised you don't mention those.

      But, yeah, other than that, what's he actually accomplished?

      Posted a lot of vainglorious tweets?

      Gotten dozens of his appointees to quit due to his temper?

      Demonstrated the extent of his personal and familial corruption?

      Supported Roy Moore, a fellow grandstanding buffoon of extreme corruption so badly even Alabama couldn't tolerate him?

      Found out that Kris Kobach couldn't find the millions of illegal voters without making it up?

      Had to defend his attempted Muslim bans by arguing his own beliefs and words don't matter?

      Lost an aircraft carrier and failed to find Phat Leonard?

      Gotten an EPA administrator so corrupt his own family tried to kill him?

      Had his ethnic appointee somehow purchase tens of thousands in furniture without knowing it?

      Sent the National Guard to the border without training or funding?

      Proclaimed the Navy in need of a fleet of Battleships and tried to order their construction?

      Decided that the NRA's choice of a known criminal to lead it means that they're heroes, not the people who stand up everyday against violence?

      Endorsed white supremacist groups as good people?

      Pardoned a felon who violated court orders and cost taxpayers billions?

      Declared a war with Mexico based on two border agents driving drunk?

    3. Re:Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by fafalone · · Score: 1

      I think the 'what's he accomplished' thing is more along the lines of 'what's he accomplished that's not screwing the poor, screwing the environment, screwing immigrants and making other gestures to his anti-immigrant base, and undoing positive developments just because Obama started them', which among the things on your list Trump is actually responsible for, is everything.
      The single thing on your list I could agree on as something good attributable to Trump, withdrawing from the TPP, he is of course reconsidering. And 'scaling back federal overreach' is 99% just giveaways to let companies screw their customers or the environment, so I couldn't agree on that even though there's that 1% of regulations/guidance that were a good thing to remove.

    4. Re:Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's amazing how Trump hasn't gotten shit actually accomplished

      Well, other than a tax cut. And ending the Obamacare mandate. And moving the embassy to Jerusalem. And starting to build a real wall. And cutting 2+ regulations for every new regulation. And scaling back on Federal overreach. And pulling out of the Paris Accord. And pulling out of the Iran giveaway deal. And bringing North Korea to the table. And re-opening trade talks with China. And withdrawing from the TPP. And ending "catch and release" with illegal aliens. And 100 other things.

      But, yeah, other than that, what's he actually accomplished?

      You list all of those things as if they're either (a) good or (b) true.

      Tax cut: huge deficits and giving money to people who don't need any more. ACA mandate: potentially reducing the number of people who are medically insured. Embassy move: what use is this? Wall: what use if this? Regulation reduction: see EPA and FCC/net neutrality problems. Paris accord: yay, more pollution. Iran: yay, less motivation for them to keep away from nukes. North Korea: I'm sure China had nothing to do with it. TPP withdrawal: actually good for the rest of the countries, because the IP/copyright stuff got removed (of course Trump is now talking about rejoining).

    5. Re:Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I don't really buy the argument that he hasn't accomplished things. He's accomplished plenty. Personally I think they are almost all terrible things to have done, with hugely negative consequences that will be felt long after he is out of office.

      I'm in favour of small central government and less regulation, but introducing more regulation on things I don't want regulated and cutting more regulation on things that do need to be regulated (e.g. environment, labour laws) is not a net gain unless you are a worker-abusing environment-hating plutocrat.

      Pulling out of Paris = short-term political gains for the Trumpublicans, temporary economic benefits to witheringly narrow interests; long term massive economic costs either in responding to worse-than-necessary climate change or scrambling to catch up with technology everyone else will have been using for years.

      Pulling out of Iran deal = short-term political gains for the Trumpublicans, potentially slow economic development in Iran; long-term promoting the spread of nuclear weapons and ruining the credibility of every US Administration forever, because anyone negotiating a deal now knows that it's only valid till the next election.

      Moving the US Embassy in Israel doesn't seem to have magically produced peace in the Middle East; what has it accomplished other than massaging the egos of our Israeli allies and riling up our Arab enemies?

      Trump taking credit for "bringing North Korea to the table" is like some crazy guy taking credit for making downtown safer by tweeting a bomb threat and saying "see, it's full of cops now!". Whilst "Rocket Man" is absolutely schooling him in diplomacy and statesmanship, he should probably pipe down.

      Trade negotiations with China will only count in the "accomplishment" column when they actually accomplish something; no participation trophies, remember? His "treaties don't mean anything if the President doesn't like them this morning" shtick isn't going to make that any easier.

      I couldn't care less about illegal aliens. Really. If people want to come here and work, all we need to do is make sure they get paid the same as an American and pay their taxes like everyone else. That goes for farm labourers to HB-1s to doctors. If their employer can't pay a proper wage, then their business model sucks and they shouldn't be in business. I don't see how spending a bajillion dollars on a wall will solve the deep-seated economic and social problems at work in both the USA and Mexico that make immigration a problem rather than an opportunity.

    6. Re:Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Pulling out of Paris = short-term political gains for the Trumpublicans

      I realize that you're a fucking typical leftist sack of shit, but only a couple Slashdot stories over is the tale of China who is refusing to pay any money to the Climate Change fund despite the fact that their pollution is skyrocketing. Furthermore, the countries that are still in the agreement are refusing to pay the 100 billion dollars that's being demanded. NOBODY is doing shit. You know this, but you still decided to be a fucktwat and pretend like it's all the fault of the people you don't like.

    7. Re: Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mod up.

    8. Re: Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about the rest of his post? You agree that that is all facts? You find one thing to bitch about, but ignore all of the other bad shit trump is doing. Typical righttard cocksucker.

    9. Re:Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by jwhyche · · Score: 1

      Well practically everything on that list is a good thing.

      Trump isn't screwing immigrants in any manner. What he is doing is enforcing US immigration law. His policies do not in any way affect immigrants.

      Well legal immigrants. What they do is make life hell for illegal immigrants. What you progressives like to call "migrants" or "undocumented." When what they are is simply illegal immigrants. Trump is making their lives hell and this is a good thing.

      If you are about the bring up that DACA thing, don't bother. Trump did exactly the right thing there. He kicked it back to congress and told them to get "ther shit together on it." As of yet there has been no mass deportations of DACA recipients. I doubt there will be.

      The environment, will you might be on to something there. I'm willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt on this one. Since up till now his track record has been pretty good.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    10. Re:Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Flicking a switch on precepts is not an accomplishment. It is just defacing the leaders before him.

      Establishing REAL things like fixing the publics severely broken health system will be an actual feat to remember; a real accomplishment.

    11. Re:Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by fafalone · · Score: 1

      You think harming the poor and environment to help the rich and corporations are a good thing? I guess if you're benefiting and unethical.
      Trump wants to sharply restrict legal immigration. You've gotta be ignorant or lying to pretend otherwise. On top of that, ones that are already here legally, he wants to make having an American-born child receiving benefits grounds for denying green cards to the parents. DACA, like NN, isn't one of those things you just cancel entirely because you think Congress should do something or it has flaws; too much harm in the interim.
      And you think his record on the environment has been *good* up until now? Christ man, you're as delusional as he is. It's only good if your metric for good is how many environmental protection laws he's trashed in the name of corporate profit.

      Finally, stop confusing liberals and progressives. I'm not a progressive. I rail on them about their identity politics bs, them shitting all over due process, denying established science, and false cries of racism/sexism every bit as hard as I rail on you Trump supporters and other assorted right wingers.

    12. Re:Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      See, this is the reason that so many of your liberals keep getting into so much trouble. You don't read things all they way through, and you barely think about things that you do read. An even if you do read some thing you just twist it to mean what ever you want it too. That is a symptom of TDS.

      I specifically said that was concerned about Trumps environmental policies. In fact I disagree with several of them. But here is the difference between people like me and liberals suffering from TDS. We are willing to see where the final plans start to go before we start frothing at the mouth over it.

      Again, no safe legal immigrants are being affected. What is happening is some temporary worker visas are being changed or eliminated, some at the requests of the companies that sponsor them. Temporary worker are not immigrants. Some countries have had immigration temporary altered or suspended due to unstable conditions in their country. That a temporary condition.

      DACA hasn't been cancelled. I believe Trump has given them 2 extra months for congress to act. DACA has to go. It was a good policy when implemented but now its time for proper and legal action to take place by congress. Until congress acts there is no path to citizenship for DACA recipients. Trump is just putting pressure on Congress to act.

      According certain websites there is no difference between progressives and liberal. Looks like most issues between the two overlap. So I'm just going to continue to use the term interchangeably since most suffer from the same issues and lack of understanding that I point out.

      Finally, you should stop railing so hard against anything and start paying attention to what is really happening. A pure blind hatred for anyone, even Trump, isn't good for you. Do more like I do. Praise Trump for the correct things he does. Discuss the ones that concern you. And speak out about things that you disagree on. But most important make sure you know what is actually happening and not what just some progressive blog is telling you. I recommend several news stories on a subject from several different sites. One conservative and one liberal. For me its Fox news and NPR, but I hardly call Fox news, news. More like a neutered Rush whats his name. I cant' listen to Rush, he makes my head hurt.

      Good luck with the new outlook

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    13. Re:Count your chickens in Leavenworth yard by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

      Their pollution is half America's...

  29. They should nuke it from orbit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only way to be sure.

  30. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It is amusing that the South Korean leadership (who are directly talking with Kim) is giving Trump credit for ending the Korean War, and you are saying they don't know what they are talking about, yet somehow you do.

  31. Lol. Maybe after he grabbed them by the crotch by raymorris · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I believe asking nicely is what Obama did. Nice fellow, Obama.

    I don't know how much Trump had to do with this.

    Remember North Korea is smaller than Hewlett-Packard, they the US could easily destroy NK; we don't mostly because of politics. I know that if *I* were Kim Jong-un, and that wacky Trump dude were threatening to nuke my country, pointing out his big nuclear button, that would make me a bit more nervous than Obma's approach did. Trump seems like the kind of guy who just might decide, against the advice of his advisers, to go ahead and send a flight of three B-52s loaded up with 60 cruise missiles to go ahead and eliminate most of the major buildings in North Korea.

    Keep in mind, North Korea has much less industry (gdp) than Birmingham, Alabama; Jacksonville; or Memphis.
    It would be easy for Trump to just wake up one morning and decide "I'm tired of little Rocket Man. Let's blow up North Korea today and be done with it". It might not be a GOOD idea, but it would be easy for the US to do. Trump just might do something that Obama and Bush wouldn't do.

    It may be that Trump asked nicely AFTER he grabbed them by the crotch. That's more Trump's MO, just asking nicely isn't really his thing - even when he should.

    Without knowing, I can only listen to what the people who are in a better position to know have to say.

    1. Re:Lol. Maybe after he grabbed them by the crotch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      They have no GDP but they have a number of virtually unpaid military conscripts that they use for building stuff, who work in the fields (e.g. harvest), prisoners too, and women are like caricatural 1950s' American wives too. What little Potemkin socialism they actually do (like building a catfish farm or something) doesn't really directly generate GDP, since they may allocate labor and resources directly. Then fish may be sold (GDP) or just taken away for use by the military (no GDP).

      That said, they really do have very little GDP and a small economy. It's fascinating how cities are immediately surrounded by undeveloped rural lands and dirt or gravel roads unless it's a very wide unpainted highway that was likely intended for military trucks, tanks and other military vehicles.
      Well, it's agrarian lands with everything made by hand :)

    2. Re:Lol. Maybe after he grabbed them by the crotch by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      I don't know how much Trump had to do with this.

      I'm merely referring to this.. Your "people who are in a better position to know" are mentioned there as well.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    3. Re:Lol. Maybe after he grabbed them by the crotch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would take N Korea about 10 minutes to deploy it's considerable conventional weapons force and wipe out Seoul, killing 100's of thousands of people including thousands of US troops. As soon as US jets invaded N Korean airspace in a way that looked dangerous, we'd have a full scale disaster on our hands. KIm has tunnels hidden all over N Korea; he will NEVER give up nukes. KIm got what he wanted - A) nukes; B) status by getting a face-toface with POTSU, and 3) the forthcoming billions of dollars of our taxpayer money to "modernize" N Korea.

      Dotard has been played for the fool that he is, and of COURSE Moon and Kim and Xi will say "Trump made this happen" because they all know all one has to do is compliment POTUS and he will be one's cock holster.

    4. Re:Lol. Maybe after he grabbed them by the crotch by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The politicians in SK find it useful to give Trump credit because they are under pressure from their own hard liners to take a tough stance. They can say it was brinkmanship and military force that brought NK to the table, which is kinda true.

      It also makes it easier for the US with withdraw military forces from SK later, painting it as a US victory.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  32. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump is the President of the United States. His primary interest is in getting Americans wrongly imprisoned in NK freed. There are not "tens of thousands" of Americans wrongfully imprisoned in NK.

  33. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

    Never underestimate the effect of Fox News and the millions who listen to Rush, Hanity, and others on Facebook and AM radio.

    Fox is the number one watched infonews station and it impacts people's views

  34. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by murdocj · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Once NK has a credible threat to deliver a nuke on target to the USA, they really don't have to "learn" anymore. It's not like they are going to first strike and take out the USA's retaliatory capability. All they need is a credible threat, which is what they've got now.

  35. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by murdocj · · Score: 1

    So far, all we've got is NK is talking and they aren't currently testing. They've been dying to have direct talks with the USA for decades, and trump is giving them that, basically for free. Let's save the "NK capitulation" talk for when they actually capitulate.

  36. Another Reason Why by Humbubba · · Score: 4, Informative
    Scientists are certain that the last detonation at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site vaporized a vast chamber of rock more than a quarter mile below Mount Mantap's summit, and created a chimney-like structure that could leak radioactive fallout into the air. Before and after spaceborn monitoring, seismic readings, thermal imagery and radar snapshots reveal a complete 3-D surface displacement.

    The only thing this site is good for now is to give Kim Jong-un a diplomatic trump card.

    http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2143171/north-koreas-nuclear-test-site-has-collapsed-and-may-be-why-kim-jong-un

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/958444/North-Korea-nuclear-missile-nuke-bomb-Punggye-ri-test-site

  37. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by VeryFluffyBunny · · Score: 1

    If this opportunity for opening channels of communication and cool, calm, collected negotiation is here, why not take it? If managed well by all sides, many more good things can come of it? Who thinks that nuclear armed countries spending time together, talking about non-proliferation isn't a good thing?

    --
    Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
  38. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

    This means there's no further need for "testing."

    If the North Korean leadership thinks that, then they know less about nuclear weapons than they think they do. A LOT less....

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  39. Re: Traitor Drumpftard isn't getting a Nobel, lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    And the right keep thinking these posters aren't trolls from other countries.

    They've never been good at parody, really.

  40. The judge asking those questions about Manafort by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    is a Regan appointee and well know to be partisan. It's entirely possible he'll try to shut down the investigation himself. The Republican party has been stacking the courts for decades for just such an occasion.

    I don't think Trump and Co will ever be found guilty of treason in the legal sense, but any fool following the money can see they've already sold us out more times than can be counted. Colloquially his administration guilty at least 5 times over. Note that I said "his administration". Trump's a con man and a patsy. He's not smart enough to sell us out the Russians. The people around him OTOH...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:The judge asking those questions about Manafort by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      "Partisan" as in demanding that Muller's team follow the law and produce the exculpatory evidence that Muller's team MUST provide for a defense team, as to allow a full and complete defense.

      I bet every time you see a meme like: "Hawaii judge orders N.Korean prisoners must remain jailed." You're really hoping it's true.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
  41. Where ya from, Angel? by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Off topic a bit, I'm just curious where you're from. We've talked on here quite bit over the years. Anyway, to respond to your questions and comments:

    I said:
    >> that wacky Trump dude were threatening to nuke my country, pointing out his big nuclear button, that would make me a bit more nervous than Obama's approach did. Trump seems like the kind of guy who just might decide, against the advice of his advisers, to go ahead and send a flight of three B-52s ...
    >> It might not be a good idea

    You asked:
    > why you proclaim such barbaric actions. Are you a barbarian? ...
    > Sorry, mad pigs like you, who demand bombing another country back into the stone age

    Where I'm from, if someone says "I'd be nervous that a wacky person might", that's not demanding that they do it. That's saying it's a wacky (crazy) thing to do, and the thought ought to make people nervous (worried). "Not a good idea" means one should NOT do it.

    I said:
    >> it would be easy for the US

    You asked:
    >> Why? NK is on another continent. What the fuck does the US care

    When hammering nails, it's easy to hit your thumb with the hammer. Why? What the fuck would you want to do that for?

    1. Re:Where ya from, Angel? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well replied.

  42. Re: Traitor Drumpftard isn't getting a Nobel, lo by aliquis · · Score: 1

    I don't post AC and I'm very open with me being from and in Sweden.

  43. what they are NOT saying by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    is that the site already collapsed and NK is building a NEW test site.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:what they are NOT saying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They are not saying that because it isn't true.
      You really think with all the scrutiny they are under they could pull something like that off?

  44. Call me cynical but... by JustNiz · · Score: 1

    this just makes me wonder where they moved it to now.

  45. Re: Traitor Drumpftard isn't getting a Nobel, lo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know people right here in the US who honestly believe Trump s a traitor ad will go to prison for lif and Hillary will be insalled as potus and a bunch of other crazy ass shit.

    So when I read the exact same stuff on slashdot I assume these are people just like my coworkers, not foreign trolls.

  46. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by lucm · · Score: 1

    change the theme of your cocksucking fawning

    Looks to me that you're the one who's pretty intense on the whole cocksucking/gay stuff. Maybe you have issues to deal with before you can get involed in serious discussions.

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  47. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    What do numbers have to do with it? Much of China's vast army is relatively poorly armed. Taking on China in a land war would be very hard but not impossible for the US, particularly if the aims were relatively limited. China can threaten the US with nukes, but then again the US arsenal certainly outweighs China's. The US Navy and Airforce outgun China considerably, so numbers of soldiers doesn't seem an appropriate metric here.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  48. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spi by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 1

    If Obamacare would have ended a 60 year war by shitposting on Twitter he would have been given another Nobel peace prize and weâ(TM)d never hear the end of how much of a genius he was.

  49. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the sp by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 1

    No idea how obama turned into Obamacare.

  50. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The problem with leftists is they know everything; unfortunately everything they know is wrong.

  51. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by jrumney · · Score: 1

    Personally I think the primary reason is more likely to be the accident they had at their nuclear test site last September. They are closing it down now, because it isn't recoverable, and quite possibly they've already lost a lot of troops trying, to tunnel collapses and radiation poisoning. They have been defeated by their own inadequacies, and finally facing up to that.

  52. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    Where was the parent giving Trump credit for anything? Sounds like the amusing fool is you.

  53. Re: Traitor Drumpftard isn't getting a Nobel, lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, they give out Nobels for doing literally jack shit.

    Citation: Obama

  54. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How would they know? You mean other than days of talks, negotiations, and witnessing historic events...? Or were you just being a fucking moron?

  55. Mod Parent up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you read the 2 books about Trump you'd already know his operating pattern. He only cares about himself looking good and goes into meetings with people with that is his agenda. He doesn't give a rip about them what he wanted is credit for anything GOOD that happens and problem discussions all relate only to how his brand looks--- if decent results happen it's only incidental to his goal.

    They want Peace and Trump doesn't care about peace. They'll say whatever keeps him from causing trouble; that has worked well for Trump and to some degree has helped in this situation but it's really quite naive and ignorant to think the Kim was impacted by Trump anymore than his friend Dennis Rodman... Dennis deserves the Nobel as much as Trump.

    China and the South had far more to do with it but MOSTLY it was Kims success at getting a viable nuclear deterrent like they've always wanted and after Iraq, needed to get (and always was their sovereign right to do so, BTW.) People in the know who weren't distracted by nightmares knew the whole situation would change once NK could negotiate from a position of power/security. They have their whole economy screwed with by the USA; like during their farm season they have to devote too much to defense because the USA does practice invasion drills purposely at that time.

    Kim is not crazy; never was, that was US propaganda. Meanwhile, Trump is actually crazy just not padded-room kind of crazy; a much more functional kind of crazy.

  56. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by idji · · Score: 1

    Lol. He is capitulating because his nuclear mountain collapsed. Trump is only taking credit for it. South Korea is "playing" sycophant to the Narcissist in Chief in the hope of getting better conditions for themselves after the meeting in Singapore.
    Don't forget that Kim took his first trip to China by train a few months ago. Do you know what was said there? Maybe "Reconcile with the world you petulant child, before we turn you into a province or starve your people to death."

  57. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unless you idea of a land war is blockading them and hoping they eventually get tired of shooting down all your planes and sinking your ships, you declaring a tie and retroactively declaring that tie a win...

  58. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin. by vakuona · · Score: 1

    But why is Xi leaning on Kim? Is it because a madman in the White House has brought the issue to a head by threatening Kim into doing stupid things which finally annoyed China enough to lean on him.

  59. um, WHAT DEAL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Obama "deal" gave the US nothing, certainly NO inspectors or inspections in Iran. The "international inspectors" included in this so-called deal were not allowed to inspect Iranian military sites (makeing the inspections a joke, DUH!) and even gave the Iranians 30 days to between an inspection request and an inspection (time to move everything and clean up).

    The "deal" was so bad that Obama knew he could never pass it through the Senate, so he did not even try. At the time, Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer (currently outraged that Trump pulled out) and many of his peers loudly denounced the deal.

    The "deal" was so bad that the Iranians never even signed it.

    In fact, the only thing the "deal" appears to have done was give the Iranian regime billions of dollars and give the Europeans a green light to make lots of money trading with Iran. The Europeans, who have spent decades expecting the American people to pay the costs to defend them and who have always expected Americans to allow their cities to be nuked in part of a plan to save Europe, care not one jot that Iran is an enemy of the US who has regularly killed Americans and spent decades claiming they would destroy the US if they ever got the power. All that seems to matter in Europe is the Euros.

    This was much less about keeping Iran from going nuclear (something it was actually not designed to do) and much more about enabling Airbus to send big shiny new cruise missiles (AKA long-range airliners with advanced autopilots) to the largest state sponsor of terrorism on Earth.

    1. Re:um, WHAT DEAL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Keep spreading the right wing propaganda. As someone who used to be in the intel community, we were inspecting them and they were contained.

      If anything, it was the Russians and Pakistan who would help. And when the US military has invaded Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan...along with being buddies with Saudi Arabia, I can't blame them for being paranoid and wanting nuclear weapons.

  60. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Capitulation? Where are you getting that from?

    It's a big win for Kim and a huge win for China.
    NK has wanted direct talks with the US for 60 years. Now they have them.
    NK wants the US out of Korea completely (so does China and Russia). Now they are negotiating them out.
    NK wanted trade blockades ended. Trump has said he will end them.
    Trump has further promised that he will give US taxpayer's money to NK for de-nuking. Now there's a way forward for Iran and Cuba. If you don't have a nuke then the US hits you with sanctions. Get a nuke and the US will not only be nice to you, but actually give you money not to make any more and stop the sanctions shit.

    Amazing!

    China loves this as there is every chance that Trump can claim that he has "won the war" and is now going to bring the troops home.
    At that moment the Sea of Japan becomes a Chinese lake and Taiwan just gives up.

    In one of the most amusing chapters of modern history the US will then turn to it's close friend Vietnam to contain the spread of Chinese hegemony.

    All this will be claimed as a series of wonderful victories by Trumpy. Way to go!

  61. Re: Traitor Drumpftard isn't getting a Nobel, lo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The people you're talking about are useful idiots. They've existed for as long as propaganda has existed. And they exist everywhere because stupidity and bias is not a partisan issue. However that does not mean that foreign influence is non existent. And that it can't make things even worse for all of you.

  62. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by turp182 · · Score: 2

    Wait for the trade war, it is brewing.

    77,000 Chinese workers learned about this last week (ZTE, who attempted to purchase Qualcomm).
    http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/0...

    A 7 year ban on using US technologies, consider that. China will fund development of replacements, thus resolving the dependency (they probably already are/were).

    And Europe is leaning against unilateral sanctions on Iran (this is as interesting as the Chinese stuff, Europe is a different beast):
    https://www.reuters.com/articl...

    Avocado's are an interesting view as well:
    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0...

    The world is being pushed towards protectionism, through tariffs and/or sanctions.

    This is very dangerous territory.

    --
    BlameBillCosby.com
  63. Re: Traitor Drumpftard isn't getting a Nobel, lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobel = a liberal circle jerk and love fest

  64. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It is almost like they know exactly what to say to keep Trump happy. Macron did the same over his last visit to the US.

    This is all Xi Jinping's doing. Hear MAGAers asking for a nobel prize for Trump over, apparently, forcing NK to capitulate over tweets is incredible.

  65. Pity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    My retirement plan depended on dying in a fiery nuclear holocaust. I guess I should have been putting money in my 401K

  66. Re: The judge asking those questions about Manafor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure man, you want Mueller to believe your fake racist KKK alibi witnesess who claim you were at home, and the picture of you burning that cross is totally fake, don't you?

    I know, you subscribe to the narrative that two plus two is five. It is intrinsic to your character. That's why you still post pictures declaring that Obama's birth certificate was found to be fake.

  67. movie remake #3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We've seen this movie before. Both Clinton and Bush 2, I believe.

    Meanwhile, he keeps running reactors and building more nukes.

  68. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the sp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You really think trumps twitter rants had a play in this? I mean seriously? Think logically here.

  69. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    I love Fox News. Great source of news and commentary. Possibly the most fair and balanced source of news on the planet.

    So was that as hard to read as it was to actually type it? Fair and balanced my ass. But I do like Tucker Carlson. I love that little head tilt he does when the gears in his head start to turn. Reminds me of my favorite beagle when I would magically pull a milk bone out of his ear.

    "Whos a good boy? Who's a good boy?"

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  70. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And before all that takes place, seeing as its china. the US unveils some of its secret toys and declares a win due to the smoldering rubble of the former PRC.

  71. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    It's not that people don't think its a good thing. It is they just don't want to give Trump credit for it, or for anything. We should be clear, this was a major event and Trump actions are what lead directly too it.

    If this does go down it will become a pivotal moment in history. It could literally reshape the political climate in the area. This could be the defining moment of Trump's legacy and progressives just hate to think that Trump isn't the incompetent baffoon they make him out to be.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  72. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    NK wants the US out of Korea completely (so does China and Russia). Now they are negotiating them out. NK wanted trade blockades ended. Trump has said he will end them. Trump has further promised that he will give US taxpayer's money to NK for de-nuking. Now there's a way forward for Iran and Cuba. If you don't have a nuke then the US hits you with sanctions. Get a nuke and the US will not only be nice to you, but actually give you money not to make any more and stop the sanctions shit.

    No he hasn't. He has not done any of this as of yet. These options will be on the table I imagine in the future, as they should be.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  73. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's because Trump nicely asked them to say it.

    Does not compute.

  74. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

    You make it sound like Trump has some kind of carefully-crafted strategy for this and other foreign and domestic efforts. That's not what I'm seeing. Mostly I see a man who just breaks stuff to see what happens.

    Look at Trump's tweets about NK leading up to a few months ago, and tell me with a straight face that he was planning to be Mr. Nice Guy all along. This opportunity just landed in his lap, because NK is on the ropes due to so many other things that have precious little to do with him. Don't get me wrong, I wish him luck. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking he deserves to be at the front of this parade.

    --
    If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  75. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by VeryFluffyBunny · · Score: 1

    My guess is that diplomacy between North Korea, South Korea, China, the USA, and a few others had already been quietly ongoing for months, if not years. More than likely without the president's knowledge. Not picking on the stable genius in the White House at the moment. This is pretty much how international diplomacy mostly works; long, slow, quiet, and boring and you never hear about it until right near the end when some politician, by sheer serendipity, takes the credit for it. Yes, you can become a Nobel Peace Prize winner just by not being an asshole for one critical moment and the rest has all been done for you long in advance.

    --
    Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
  76. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    That would be a good guess. That is pretty much how it always goes. The leaders on the stage strut around and bluster, while quiet diplomacy happens in the background. The strutting roosters step in and take the credit.

    But what makes TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome is every one affected by it wants to blame everything on Trump. For instance there is a thread about flat earth convention some where. And some one just had to bring up a comprising with Trump. Trump has nothing to do with flat earth or any of that nonsense but people with TDS just can't help but bring it up.

    Some people have TDS so bad they simply can not acknowledge the positive things that Trump has done. Nor can they acknowledge what is perfectly plain to every one else, even Trump critics not suffering from TDS, Trump is doing a good job as president and we are doing just fine.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  77. Re: Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the sp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Possibly. Given the harsh actions the Trump administration has taken in Syria despite criticism from all over the world, even China and Russia had to stand by and did nothing. So it could very well be that Kim Jong Un thought he's dealing with a dangerously insane human being similar to himself. But with the big difference that Trump wields some actual power and apparently doesn't only fire warning shots. That on top of pressure from China this could very well lead to some gestures that are at least superficially forthcoming towards the US, giving NK some room to breathe while Trump is distracted by bathing in the applause he craves so much.

  78. Remember When? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remember when Republicans said that moral integrity was important? Seems a long time ago now.

    Remember when Republicans said that a balanced budget was important? Whatever happened to that?

    Remember when Republicans said that taking responsibility for your actions was important? I haven't seen them doing that in, oh, dog's years.

    Remember when Republicans said that telling lies was a sure sign of the Other Side? Hmmm. Awkward.

    Remember when Republicans said that Executive Orders were a bad thing? They sure have been signin' up a storm on those EO's!

    Remember when Republicans said that, for sure, absolutely, the election was going to be "stolen"? If it was stolen, and the Repubs won, doesn't that mean it was stolen from the Dems?

    Remember when Republicans said that Saudi Arabia had to be dealt with harshly as the source of most of the 9/11 attackers? When exactly is this harsh treatment going to begin?

    Remember when Republicans said that there was No Way, No How, Never, Seriously Never Would They Intervene in Syria? The Repubs sure seem to be involved in Syria.

    Remember when Republicans said that the Presidency was a reverent and sacred institution, and that the Democrats were defiling it? Meanwhile we are just a Pee Tape, a Hooker, and a Baggie of Blow away from viewing the Presidency as a cesspool of immorality and sin. The ghost of Rob Ford is laughing his ass off.

  79. Re: The judge asking those questions about Manafor by Mashiki · · Score: 0

    I have to wonder what it's like to be as stupid as you are. How did you get so far in life with no-one holding your hand.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  80. Re: The judge asking those questions about Manafor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I enjoy how KKK and racist has become the derogatory goto for weak arguments, when previously it was simply calling someone a moron.
    Primarily because it's painfully easy to prove you don't belong to the KKK. Also pretty simple to prove you're not racist, not in the new "you're racist if you don't believe everything I say about you" manner, but in the classical "I think your race is inferior" method

  81. Re:Trump to take credit. Let's wait for the spin.. by VeryFluffyBunny · · Score: 1

    No, Trump is, without a doubt, the least competent POTUS in history.

    --
    Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.