[Closed] Helsinki + Putin + Trump = The Day Democracy Died

a big (yellow) hair plug!

Ugh. "Drain the swamp" was Mussolini's campaign motto. I hate hearing it. It's just a suprisingly and jarringly audible dog-whistle for the fascists in our government and nation. More Christian Nationalism stuff. Why do they always need dog whistles, anyway? 

I believe that when Putin told Trump that "the ball was in his court," that he meant the opposite. Of course. Putin has the upper hand. If Putin wants to create chaos, which he has been doing so spectacularly well lately, he can start leaking the evidence he holds of financial crimes the Trump family has committed over the years they have been working for the Russian Mafia. If Putin wants the American people to willingly drop out of Democracy, he could release that while we watch the GOP do nothing to censure or prosecute the President or his blood ties.

They only thing that matters to Americans is money. Crass, but true. We will go through a financial revolution, that is fated and set in stone. When we find it difficult to make ends meet, we'll pay attention to what happens at the top. I find this revolting to think or write, but most Americans don't really know or care about this country. They take it for granted. Putin couldn't have an easier time of it here. Do the American people care if Trump considers sending American diplomats to Russia to be tortured and probably killed? They would only care if Clinton had considered it (OMG, NEVER), but because it's the GOP, it's totally legitmate. 

All puns intended Unk P. Nice catch.

"all Americans care about is money" Unfortunately there's some truth in that statement. For me it's only really republican voters who feel this way but it's nauseating to listen to them lecture me all the same. They would rather keep more of their tax dollars and watch 50 000 of their fellow citizens die every year because they can't afford healthcare then give up a small sliver of that money to ensure everyone's well being. The same goes for higher education, public schools, roads, post offices you name it, the only thing they like financially paying for is the military, everything else is socialism and therefore evil. 

Greed and selfishness are part of the makeup of this culture and it's time for a powerful punch to the gut to teach all of us to value each other more than we value material wealth. I have often wondered what people like this will do and feel like if they are in a position to need the assistance of others. I've had some visions of it and all I've gotten so far about people in my own life that fit the description above is that in 2030 they are not very happy and look shabbier and less well off.

I don't think Kelly turned out the lights. The lights dimmed until they were out. It wasn't like when you hit the switch and they just turn off.

I've been playing with my Osho Zen tarot deck a lot this summer and threw on where Kelly and Mattis were at right after the press conference featuring Trump and Putin in Helsinki.   Kelly was in sorrow and Mattis was jubilant (success); very contrasting points of view.  

That doesn't ring true for Mattis unless there is something that we don't know (there are many things that we don't know). I could see it if Trump fell into a trap set by the national security establishment as one step in the path to remove him from office maybe. Otherwise, that press conference, and the whole European tour, goes against everything that Mattis holds dear.

Could it be that Mattis' definition of "success" is minimizing Trump's damage, or seeing him removed from office, and Helsinki was the start of that?    

And perhaps Kelly's "sorrow" is seeing the damage being done and not being able to prevent it or sorrow over the misuse of presidential power.

Just suggesting an alternative interpretation.

As an aside, I read that last week (right after Helsinki) Mattis changed the nuclear activation protocol for the military. Previously, when the president ordered a nuke strike,  the military decision to follow the command was made by committee.  Mattis has now given total control over the decision to General Hyten who is on record as saying that if Trump ordered an illegal nuke strike, the military would refuse to follow the command.   

Two articles on this (read both):

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/politics/mattis-dunford-nuclear-changes/index.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/11/18/trump-nuclear-launch-order-john-hyten/878323001/

from what I have read from others it is possible that Matthis started the wheels moving in a plan to remove T which he did right after the Nato performance. if this is true then Matthis would have been very happy that what he did what he did  after seeing T with P.

While no aspect of the military industrial complex ever inspired my trust previous to Trump's presidency, I must admit that I have experienced no small amount of relief in viewing Flynn as an aberration in the general character of American military leaders and in assuming that these leaders have been working with one another to keep a steady hand on the wheel, as Paul and RosieHeart suggest.  I don't want to let go of that assumption and truly hope and pray it is not a false one.   The problem is that they are sworn to defend the U.S. Constitution against foreign and domestic enemies but also to obey the President; quite a pickle, especially given Trump's heated rhetoric towards Iran.

Posted by: Gracesinger

While no aspect of the military industrial complex ever inspired my trust previous to Trump's presidency, I must admit that I have experienced no small amount of relief in viewing Flynn as an aberration in the general character of American military leaders and in assuming that these leaders have been working with one another to keep a steady hand on the wheel, as Paul and RosieHeart suggest.  I don't want to let go of that assumption and truly hope and pray it is not a false one.   The problem is that they are sworn to defend the U.S. Constitution against foreign and domestic enemies but also to obey the President; quite a pickle, especially given Trump's heated rhetoric towards Iran.

Remember:   the military oath puts allegiance to the constitution FIRST before obeying the President.  My husband is a retired military career officer who still works for the military in a high level civilian role, and he's often told me that this is stressed in military training and discussed frequently.   If the President orders something that is not aligned with the constitution or that would do damage to the constitution, military members can and would refuse.  In fact, that would make the president a "domestic enemy."   

Read the second article with General Hyten talking about what he would do if he received an illegal request from the President for a nuclear strike.  He would refuse it, and so would most of the military officers I know.

That's not to say there aren't some military members who might violate their oath and put the president's order first, before the constitution, but they would be violating their sworn oath if they did so.   

I trust that we will not get to that point.  It's hard not to worry with everything going on, and Lord knows I do my share of worrying, but I also still believe that there are people working behind the scenes (Mattis, Coats, Wray, among others) who are trying their best to keep Trump from doing irreparable harm to humanity.   

That doesn't mean that Trump hasn't and won't do harm in other ways, but I am still hopeful that good will triumph over evil in the end.

Let it be so.

Ok,  so Bloomberg is reporting that the soccer ball that Puten gave T has a chip with a tiny antenna that can transmit to nearby phones.

If the story of the chip in the soccer ball is true, it's quite possible that the phones of a number of people close to Trump have already been hacked by Russia. It doesn't take all that long for a device to get hacked into.

According to the article in Bloomberg, the  chip was put there by Adidas, the maker of the ball.  It put chips in all of the souvenir balls it made for the World Cup so that people could use their mobile phones to see videos and content on the games.

Bloomberg noted that the Secret Service did an immediate security screening of the ball, as they do for all gifts given to the President. 

 I doubt that ball ever made it on Air Force One or into the White House, let alone Baron's bedroom.

Yeah well Adidas refused to say if the device could be used as a vector, and the PossumQueen declined to answer whether it had been modified.  All i know is how i felt when i saw it.

The wired ball may be just symbolic of the back channel the Russians are setting up for their greatest asset - Donald Trump.  Then there's that private meeting that only a Russian interpreter attended.  My take: Trump:  "Mr. Putin, I am doing everything I can to bring Russia forward in a partnership with the U.S."  (Trump was told that Putin wants to be invited to the WH as an honored guest.).  Trump: "I will have you come to the WH as my honored guest just as soon as my people can set it up.  It's going to be amazing. You will love it." 

Even if the ball wasn't modified in any way, it's not unknown for intelligence agencies to meddle in manufacturing, if they're targeting a person of high interest. I know a story of a new computer that contained malware as a special addition during manufacturing.

It isn't beyond the realms of possibility that the chip put on all the Russia World Cup balls has special undocumented features. The balls are made in China, and China and Russia are allies to most intents and purposes right now. The Russia World Cup has taken years to plan, it was known from the start that all sorts of people of interest could show up, and Russia has been actively trying to attract them. Getting the US president on the list could just have been an extremely sweet bonus.

I said earlier on this thread that I felt something big related to Trump and Russia would be happening before the end of the month. Now we have news that his lawyer, Cohen, is fully collaborating with the Mueller investigation. I think that's it. And if you think the Trump sex scandals are entirely unrelated to the Russia collusion issue, think again. Once he created a shell company for the purposes of dubious money transfers, it's a safe bet that he used it for every dubious money transfer he was involved in during the campaign.

When I started thinking about it, a crazy thought went through my mind: What if Trump actually paid the Russians? With campaign donation money? And the more I thought about it, the truer it felt. It's just how a conman would behave.