Beet L. Jooz
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NASA renames Kuiper Belt rock after complaints about old name's Nazi ties
NASA report finds Boeing seat prices are 60% higher than SpaceX
On Thursday, NASA's inspector general released a report on the space agency's commercial crew program, which seeks to pay Boeing and SpaceX to develop vehicles to transport astronauts to the International Space Station.
Although the report cites the usual technical issues that the companies are having with the development of their respective Starliner and Dragon spacecraft, far more illuminating is its discussion of costs. Notably, the report publishes estimated seat prices for the first time, and it also delves into the extent that Boeing has gone to extract more money from NASA above and beyond its fixed-price award.
Boeing's per-seat price already seemed like it would cost more than SpaceX. The company has received a total of $4.82 billion from NASA over the lifetime of the commercial crew program, compared to $3.14 billion for SpaceX. However, for the first time the government has published a per-seat price: $90 million for Starliner and $55 million for Dragon. Each capsule is expected to carry four astronauts to the space station during a nominal mission.
‘Survivor’ has #MeToo moment, producers step in after contestant accused
Disney Puts "Outdated Cultural Depictions" Trigger Warning On Old Movies
Authored by Paul Jospeh Watson via Summit News,
Disney’s new streaming service includes trigger warnings on old movies that caution the viewer about “outdated cultural depictions.”
The launch of the new Disney+ service in the United States made available many classic films, but they could not be presented without the need to genuflect to political correctness.
Movies including Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, The Aristocats, Peter Pan and The Jungle Book all feature the trigger warning in their plot descriptions due to negative racial stereotypes like the Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp, the Native American characters in Peter Pan, and the crows in Dumbo.
“This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions,” reads the disclaimer.
Movies deemed too controversial due to their stereotypical depictions of non-white people, such as the 1946 film Song of the South, are not included as part of the Disney+ service.
There is a constantly increasing number of movies and songs that are being forgotten or done over in order to conform to the ever changing social mores of progressivism.
John Legend and Kelly Clarkson recently released a re-recorded version of Baby, It’s Cold Outside, completely changing some of the supposedly “misogynistic” lyrics.
The song was a total flop, receiving almost twice the number of thumbs down than thumbs up on YouTube.
Get woke, go broke.
* * *
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Bill Clinton advises Trump to ignore impeachment: 'You got hired to do a job'
13.1 Million Watched First Impeachment Hearings, With Fox News Most Viewed and CNN Second in Demo
Day 1 of the impeachment hearings captured the nation’s attention — and blanket coverage across the big three broadcast and cable news networks resulted in a massive daytime audience.
Overall, 13.082 million people watched Ambassador Bill Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent testify on Capitol Hill Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET — according to Nielsen. Of that number, 2.555 million fell in the advertiser-coveted adults 25-54 demographic.
Fox News nearly pulled off the clean sweep of beating not only its cable news rivals in both categories, but the broadcast networks as well. The network posted 2.898 million total viewers and 444,000 in the key demo. That former total was tops among all outlets televising the hearing, with the demo number trailing only ABC — which led that category with 496,000.
MSNBC — which made one of the cable news bookings of the year by landing George Conway to participate in its coverage — saw that big get pay off in the total viewers metric, posting 2.686 million overall. That number exceeded all three broadcast networks, and trailed only Fox among cablers.
CNN scored as well on Wednesday, posting a solid second in the demo among the cable networks, with 427,000 in the 25-54 bracket. Overall, the network was watched by 1.844 million during the day on Wednesday — outpacing CBS, and trailing NBC and ABC only marginally.
House minority leader flat-out calls Schiff a liar: 'His body language' told on him
The gloves are off.
After one day of public hearings on the House “inquiry” into impeaching President Donald Trump, California Republican and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy took to the media on Capitol Hill on Thursday to level an explosive charge against Democrat Adam Schiff.
The Intelligence Committee chairman, McCarthy said in brutally unguarded language, has been lying to the American public about his knowledge of the “whistleblower” behind the impeachment drive.
As if to make sure there was no misunderstanding his words, McCarthy repeated them in more than one interview.
In what is likely to become an infamous moment from Wednesday’s hearing, Schiff assured his congressional colleagues and the American viewing audience that, “I do not know the identity of the whistleblower and I’m determined to make sure that identity is protected.”
Given Schiff’s record of grandstanding during these hearings, and shading the truth about the "whistleblower," he hasn't exactly established a reason for any American to trust him – at least any American who is not blinded by Trump Derangement Syndrome.
And on Thursday, McCarthy made it clear exactly how little he thinks Schiff’s words are worth.
“You know Adam Schiff has had contact with this whistleblower,” McCarthy told TheBlaze’s Eric Bolling.
“His staff had. His staff reached out to people. Prior to even the public knowing about this. This has been orchestrated, coordinated…”
Can Congress or the American people actually trust anything Adam Schiff says?! @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy says ABSOLUTELY NOT.
In an interview airing tonight on BlazeTV, McCarthy tells @EricBolling why Dems have no credibility on impeachment.
Watch here: https://t.co/i7H0MRcrBp pic.twitter.com/3Hlm6kkVBh
— BlazeTV (@BlazeTV) November 14, 2019
When Bolling asked if McCarthy thought Schiff had looked into the cameras and “lied,” McCarthy made no bones about it.
“If you watched him on all the shows, ‘Do you know who the whistleblower is?’ And you can tell in his body language that he’s lying at the moment. He says ‘No, I do not know.’ Then we find out later that they did know who the whistleblower was, and you know what the whistleblower also did?
“When they met with the inspector general, never mentioned that they met with Schiff’s staff.”
At a news conference Thursday, McCarthy repeated the charge when a reporter asked, “can you just say it plainly? Do you think he's lying?”
“Yes,” McCarthy answered. “And I don’t think it’s the first time he’s lied to us either.”
REPORTER: "You just asserted…Adam Schiff either personally met with the whistleblower or knows the identity of the whistleblower, which he continues to deny...do you think he's lying?"
MCCARTHY: "Yes. And, I don't think it's the first time"pic.twitter.com/IkR1nierOV
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) November 14, 2019
There’s not a lot of wiggle room there, but there’s plenty of room for this to escalate.
When the leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives openly calls a top Democrat a “liar,” it’s bad enough.
When that top Democrat has essentially been deputized by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to conduct an “impeachment inquiry” into the president, McCarthy is either calling Pelosi a “liar” too, or he’s calling her a fool.
In politics, being called a liar is no compliment, of course. But being a fool is unforgiveable.
However this kabuki-theater impeachment comes out – whether it dies in the House of Representatives or is murdered in the Republican-controlled Senate – there’s going to be no backing away from partisan confrontation for the rest of the Trump presidency, and probably for years after that.
The gloves are off now, and Democrats have only themselves to blame for where it takes the country.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post House minority leader flat-out calls Schiff a liar: 'His body language' told on him appeared first on WND.
Burglar shot and killed by homeowner in Vermilion Parish
ABBEVILLE, La. (KLFY) – A homeowner on La. 35 South in Vermilion Parish shot and killed an alleged burglar in the early morning hours Thursday.
Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Cpt. Drew David said 911 received a call at around 2:15 a.m. The homeowner, who has not been publicly identified, confirmed that he had shot a person who had broken into his residence.
The body of Landon Blake Hebert, 30, was found at the scene. The homeowner was questioned. No charges have been filed. The investigation is ongoing, according to David, and the case will be forwarded to the district attorney’s office.
Louisiana has so-called “castle” and “stand-your-ground” laws that can allow a property owner to defend themselves or their property with deadly force. Louisiana RS 14:20, Section C states “A person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and who is in place where he or she has a right to be shall have no duty to retreat before using deadly force…”
Elon Musk Claims Neural AI Technology Could 'Cure' Autism, Schizophrenia
Rand Paul Considers Forcing Vote Seeking Hunter Biden Testimony in Impeachment Trial
Have You Noticed That The Crazy People Are Starting To Take Over Our Society?
Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,
It is getting scary out there...
In order for society to function properly, we need to be able to assume that most people are going to behave rationally. And when I was growing up, it was generally safe to make that assumption. But now things have completely changed. No matter how hard one may try, there is simply no avoiding the hordes of crazy people that seem to be taking over our society. It is almost as if millions of us never learned the basic rules for how civilized people should treat one another. Sometimes this manifests in behavior that is simply rude, other times it manifests in behavior that is actually dangerous, and if you are really unlucky you will personally encounter someone that has fully embraced depravity on a level that most of us never even want to think about.
Let me give you an example of crazy behavior that is simply rude. Not too long ago, a Reddit user posted a photograph that really freaked a lot of people out…
A female plane passenger took to Reddit this week to share a horrifying photo of a stranger performing a rude act during her flight.
The woman, who goes by WoodySoprano on the social media platform, posted an image of a traveler resting their bare feet on her headrest. Though the Reddit user’s face is cropped, her terrified eyes tell all.
“Going to be a long flight,” she captioned the photo.
This woman was never in any physical danger, but this type of behavior is incredibly rude.
Who would do something like that?
Of course sometimes crazy behavior does cross the line and actually becomes dangerous. For example, just consider what recently happened to one woman in Los Angeles…
Heidi Van Tassel was parked in Hollywood after having a pleasant evening out with friends at an authentic Thai restaurant. Suddenly a man randomly pulled her out of the car, dragged her out to the middle of the street, and dumped a bucket of feces on her head, Van Tassel said and public records confirm.
“It was diarrhea. Hot liquid. I was soaked, and it was coming off my eyelashes and into my eyes,” Van Tassel said. “Paramedics who came to treat me said there was so much of it on me, that it looked like the man was saving it up for a month.”
Nobody in their right mind would dump a bucket of warm diarrhea on some random woman.
But if you visit the major cities on the west coast, something like this could actually happen to you. In San Francisco alone, there have been more than 132,000 official complaints about human feces in the streets since 2008.
We have literally become a nation where hordes of people use the streets as a toilet.
What in the world has happened to us?
And if you are brave enough to go get something to eat at a local fast food restaurant, there is a chance that you might be viciously attacked by a complete nutjob…
A woman has been sentenced to seven years in prison for slashing a man’s throat in front of his family at a Taco Bell after he asked her to stop ranting at employees for taking too long on her food.
The victim, 48-year-old Jason Luczkow, told The Oregonian Thursday that he and his wife went to a Taco Bell along Highway 26 in July to pick up some food for the family when the errand took a horrifying turn, which was miraculously caught on video.
Have you noticed that people seem to get “triggered” a whole lot more easily than they once did?
These days, saying the wrong thing to one of these crazy people at the wrong time can result in violence very quickly…
A Twitter user received over 126,000 ‘likes’ after she bragged about stealing a “homophobic” white woman’s purse and spending her money on tacos.
Yes, really.
“A white woman spawned out of nowhere today and started being homophobic to me so I stole her purse and now miss thing’s ID is resting in a target trashcan and her money is paying for my tacos and rent,” tweeted a user called @yourholygaymom, who describes herself as “the high priestess of gay twitter.”
The most frightening thing about that story is the fact that more than 126,000 people decided to hit the like button.
Like I said, the crazy people are literally taking over our society.
Those of us that try to behave rationally still depend on the police to protect us, but the crazies are going after them too…
Video posted by CBS shows people deliberately covering an NYPD vehicle in trash on Halloween night, while a small group of residents sit by, laugh, and taunt the two officers that were left to clean up the mess.
One resident is heard saying “trick or treat”, followed by a slur.
The officers calmly show restraint as they are left to clean up trash filled boxes, broken eggs and rotting food. The officers were in the midst of responding to a domestic dispute call and were upstairs at a residence long enough for their vehicle to be vandalized.
It certainly isn’t easy to be a police officer these days.
If those officers had lashed out against the residents that vandalized their vehicle, they would have probably been demonized by the mainstream media for committing “police brutality”.
And as I mentioned above, once in a while you run into a crazy person that has completely embraced depravity.
In New Jersey, authorities recently arrested a man that was ““harassing people who refused to let him have sex with their farm animals”, and Vice Media recently showcased a program about people that “incorporate insects into their sex lives”.
Yes, this is what our society is actually becoming.
So why is this happening?
There are certainly a lot of factors, but two of the biggest are the fact that we have completely turned away from the moral standards that this nation was founded upon and instead we are constantly filling our minds with complete and utter filth.
Today, the average American spends more than three and a half hours watching television each day, and the material on our televisions is becoming increasingly depraved…
A new study has a message for the many families who have said television content has grown coarser with each passing year: You’re right.
The study by the watchdog group Parents Television Council found a 28 percent increase in violence and a 44 percent increase in profanity over the past decade in shows rated TV-PG. It’s part of what the PTC calls “content creep” – that is, an increase in offensive content within a given rating compared to similarly rated programs a decade ago.
When we put garbage into our minds, that is eventually going to come out in our behavior. For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled “What You Think Is Controlled By What You Watch, And What You Watch Is Controlled By The Elite”.
Unfortunately, the trends that are causing all of this crazy behavior in our society are likely to continue to intensify in the years ahead.
The thin veneer of civilization that we all rely on every day is steadily disappearing, and that means that things are going to become increasingly difficult for those of us that are still trying to behave rationally.
Russia Convicts 12th Jehovah’s Witness This Year For ‘Extremist Activities’
Desperation or Strategy? – Pelosi and Schiff Hiring More Lawfare Members for Impeachment Effort…
Two State Witnesses: Ukraine Unaware of U.S. Aid Hold During Call, Suggesting Quid Pro Quo Absurd
‘Today Was A Public Joke’: Stephanie Grisham Says Impeachment Hearing Was A Dud
Catholic Church challenges law protecting sex-abuse victims
(NEW YORK POST) -- A Long Island Catholic diocese is suing to overturn the Child Victims Act, claiming the new law that protects sex abuse survivors, many of whom suffered at the hands of the church, is unconstitutional.
The Diocese of Rockville Centre filed papers Tuesday in Nassau County Supreme Court against the act, which changed the statute of limitations for child sex crimes and opened up a year-long window where any child sex abuse victim can file a claim against their abuser, regardless of when the alleged crime happened.
The diocese challenged the law on many grounds, but focused on saying New York’s constitution allows for time-barred claims “only in exceptional circumstances where claimants were previously prevented in some specific manner from asserting timely claims,” papers filed in court show.
The post Catholic Church challenges law protecting sex-abuse victims appeared first on WND.
Jeffrey Toobin: Neither Witness ‘Had Direct Contact with the President …That’s a Problem’
WH Reportedly Flooded House GOP With Dozens of Talking Point Emails During Hearings and One Fumed: ‘Stop Spamming Me’
The White House was in furious, rapid reaction mode during the first day of impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump, reportedly sending out as many as six to seven talking-point emails every hour to House Republicans, overwhelming them to the point of frustration.
This frenzied, behind-the-scenes spin control, reported by CNN’s Jamie Gangel, stands in stark contrast to the public posture of the White House, which has tried to blithely dismiss the hearings as “boring” and a waste of “time and money.” Trump, too, has attempted to affect a disinterest in his own public impeachment battle, claiming he would be “too busy” to watch the impeachment hearings. Yet he also still found time to post about them on Twitter 30 times on Wednesday.
Speaking to CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip, host Erin Burnett pointed out the conflicting narratives between the White House’s public and private strategies during the first, historic day of Trump’s impeachment.
“Abby, we’re hearing that the president says he didn’t watch, didn’t even watch a minute,” Burnett pointed out. “Jamie Gangel was reporting that the White House was emailing Hill Republicans sometimes six to seven e-mails an hour — there were six hours of this — and the Members were inundated, they complained, apparently one telling them, one wrote back: ‘Stop spamming me.’ What does that say to you that it was an onslaught?”
“They may have overshot the mark here. This was the White House’s attempt to convince Republicans on the Hill that they’re on top of this, that they have a plan and they’re not just going to kind of wing it as they have in the past,” Phillip said. ” You have to imagine that if Republicans on the Hill felt that these e-mails were helpful and they must have felt that the content of the e-mails were not advancing their interests or helping them defend the president in a useful way, so I think it’s very interesting that that was the reaction.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
Democrats may be hemorrhaging voters to Trump, 1-in-4 rallygoers were Dems
To win re-election in 2020, President Donald Trump will need more than just his die-hard supporters to turn out and vote for him. He'll likely need to have some independents and even some disillusioned Democrats crossing the aisle on his behalf.
Judging by numbers compiled by 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale, such an outcome appears to be a real possibility, as data he has obtained following the president's rallies in various states show that over a quarter of rally attendees are registered Democrats and a significant number of rallygoers are also minority voters that Democrats tend to take for granted as belonging to them.
Parscale released those numbers in a Nov. 4 tweet after Trump's rally in Mississippi three days earlier.
In that tweet, the digitally adept campaign manager noted that of the more than 16,000 voters identified by the campaign, about a quarter were "unengaged" registered voters, 27 percent were registered Democrats, and 20 percent were black voters -- all of which buck the prevailing media narratives about who Trump's supporters really are: white Republicans who vote in every election.
Data from Friday’s Mississippi rally:
16,432 voters identified
24% voted once or less in last 4 elections (12% in zero)
27% Democrat
20% Black
More winning numbers that will help secure #FourMoreYears for @realDonaldTrump!
Continue to outperform 2016.
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) November 4, 2019
According to Parscale, those numbers aren't simply pulled out of thin air but instead come from phone numbers and email addresses obtained from all rallygoers that are meticulously cross-referenced with the Republican National Committee's database.
He explained the data campaign in an interview with Fox News.
At future rallies, Parscale intends to allow attendees to check in with their phones, which would, in essence, transform them into a legion of mobile campaign volunteers.
"We can use it as a data-mining opportunity," he said. "Turn every single one of our rallygoers into a volunteer on-site for the rally. They can get out there and actually collect data. 'Hey, who were your ten friends? Who were your hundred friends? Tell us what your friends like about Trump. Give us their phone numbers.' That will give us an even greater opportunity to expand the spider web of data."
Parscale revealed that by using the data obtained from attendees, combined with artificial intelligence programs, the campaign could find "lookalikes" who may be likely to vote Trump.
"I do think that the Republican Party with the Trump campaign, right now, is the most digitally sophisticated operation in history," he said. He added that he thought Democrats were "freaking out" over the campaign's digital dominance.
TRENDING: Adam Schiff blasted as 'lying sack of excrement'
Democrats should indeed be "freaking out" if Parscale's numbers are accurate. And the campaign manager has posted similar numbers before, as The Epoch Times reported following Trump's Oct. 17 rally in Dallas.
At that Dallas rally, Parscale claimed that nearly 54,000 voters were identified at the event -- and that over 21 percent were Democrats and 11 percent were Latino.
Similarly, following the president's September rally in Rancho Rio, New Mexico -- a state Hillary Clinton won by eight points -- 31 percent of the 45,000 who signed up were Democrats, and 40 percent were Hispanic, according to a tweet from Parscale.
Along those lines, Parscale also said that 30 percent of the over 42,000 who signed up for an October rally in Minneapolis were Democrats.
Parscale's numbers have not been independently verified, but they don't bode well for Democrats -- regardless of who their eventual nominee is.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Democrats may be hemorrhaging voters to Trump, 1-in-4 rallygoers were Dems appeared first on WND.
Victims say their identity, assault stories were revealed without consent in new 'Me Too' documentary
"She Doesn't Know Who The F**k She's Tweeting": Leon Cooperman Explodes At Elizabeth Warren 'Eat The Rich' Ad
Billionaire hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman says Sen. Elizabeth Warren "represents the worst in politicians," and that "she doesn't know who the fuck she's tweeting" after the Massachusetts Democrat's latest salvo against the rich.
A new ad by Warren, titled "Elizabeth Warren Stands Up to Billionaires," targets Cooperman, along with former CEO of TD Ameritrade Joe Ricketts, former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel according to CNBC.
In it, Cooperman - who joked in September that "they won't open the stock market if Elizabeth Warren is the next president - has the words "CHARGED WITH INSIDER TRADING" superimposed over his face.
"As far as the accusations of insider trading, I won the case. She’s disgraceful. She doesn’t know who the f--- she’s tweeting. I gave away more in the year than she has in her whole f----ing lifetime," Cooperman told CNBC on Wednesday.
Days before breaking out in tears on CNBC over the American political divide, sent Warren a Halloween letter in which he said she's treating him like "a parent chiding an ungrateful child."
Warren hit back, tweeting "Leon is wrong. I'm fighting for big changes like universal child care, investing in public schools, and free public college."
Leon is wrong. I'm fighting for big changes like universal child care, investing in public schools, and free public college.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 31, 2019
We can do all of that with a #TwoCentWealthTax. Leon can and should pitch in more—so that every kid has the same opportunities he did to succeed. https://t.co/38fJSXKKCJ
Other business titans, including J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, have taken on Warren for her attacks on the wealthy.
Her war with business leaders has led to her crafting a strong group of supporters that have propelled her in the polls.
After being behind the Democratic front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden, by at least 30 points in May, she has surged to being only six points from catching up to his lead, according to a Real Clear Politics polling average. -CNBC
Interestingly, Warren's poll numbers started tanking after Warren unveiled her wealth tax plan and cooperman said "Her policies are counter-productive, they're negative for capitalism...you don't make the poor people rich by making the rich people poor."
Now, for fun, the inverse of Warren's odds against the Dow:
Location of long-discussed tire shredder in East Baton Rouge sparks heated Metro Council debate
Ukraine State Dept. Experts Clueless – Senator Grassley Asked DOJ to Investigate Ukraine in 2017…
Graham blocks resolution recognizing Armenian genocide after Erdoğan meeting
The Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur files to run for Katie Hill's House seat
Graham says Schiff should be a witness in Trump impeachment trial
The Manchurian Candidate Theory Will Never Die
Authored by David Harsanyi via NationalReview.com,
...but now it’s much more than a kooky conspiracy shouted from the margins. It’s headline news.
One of the most durable conspiracy theories of our times finds Vladimir Putin recruiting a billionaire media personality named Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency. In some iterations of the tale, Trump is willingly serving his Kremlin comrades; in others, he is merely the victim of kompromat. In every version he is an asset.
The basic account holds that Putin, who is apparently blessed with seer-like abilities, knew in the late 1970s that Trump, whose political positions would wildly fluctuate over 40 years, was presidential material, and that now, after decades of patiently waiting, the duo’s nefarious plan to cut taxes and place originalists onto the federal bench has finally come to fruition.
In a sprawling July 2018 New York piece headlined, “Will Trump Be Meeting with His Counterpart — Or His Handler? A plausible theory of mind-boggling collusion,” Jonathan Chait offered a fully realized rendering of Trump’s potential sedition. Cobbling together every interaction the real-estate developer ever had with Russians — helpfully laid out in a handy Pepe Silvia–like flow chart — Chait posits that Trump might have become a Kremlin asset in 1987 when visited Moscow.
Chait was just asking questions. And I have no doubt the story seems highly “plausible” to partisans who suddenly treat every Russian-bought social-media ad as the next Pearl Harbor.
Which brings me to John Harwood, the DNC’s man in Washington. Piggybacking on a recent tweet by the New York Times’ Michelle Goldberg, Harwood brings up Chait’s piece, arguing that that while “conservative media dismissed as ridiculous the idea that Russia might have cultivated Trump for decades, Fiona Hill, a leading US govt Russia expert, now makes clear it’s not ridiculous in the slightest.”
Here’s Harwood on Twitter:
Typing this out for those who’ve called it implausible
Q: why do you believe Putin was targeting Trump from his days as a businessman?
HILL: Because that’s exactly what Putin and others were doing. Again, he was part of a directorate in the KGB in Leningrad. That’s what they did exclusively, was targeting businessmen.
The quote Harwood highlights from Hill’s October 14 testimony specifically points to Putin’s role in exclusively “targeting” American businessmen in the late 1970s, not “for decades.” In an adjacent quote, in fact, Hill argues that everyone was targeted by Russians for decades — not that Trump was “cultivated,” as Harwood asserts — and that it was a mistake to focus only on meddling in relation to the president rather than on meddling in a broader perspective.
Here is Hill:
I firmly believe he was also targeting President Trump, and he was targeting all of the other campaigns as well. And I think that that was the mistake when the 2015 investigations were launched, not to take it from the point of view [of] what Russia was doing to target Americans, no matter who they were in the system.”
And again:
I think that there’s a good chance that was the case and that, you know — and, again, compromising material was being collected on a whole range of individuals. And it was most definitely being collected on Secretary, former First Lady and Senator Clinton as well.
And still again:
So, if Secretary Clinton had won, there would have been a cloud over her at this time if she was President Clinton. There’s been a cloud over President Trump since the beginning of his presidency, and I think that’s exactly what the Russians intended.
The context of her statements are a far cry from “Russia might have cultivated Trump for decades.” Of course, no one can dispute that Russians have been digging up dirt on prominent Americans citizens forever, but the word “cultivate” or “handler” — or any other term that intimates that the president is working for Russians — does not appear, even hypothetically, in any form in the transcript of Hill’s testimony.
Also, does anyone really believe that Harwood types in the media would be grappling with the “cloud” that Fiona Hill, “a leading US govt Russia expert,” now makes clear would be hovering over Hillary Clinton’s head as well, if she had won?
Even if Harwood had accurately conveyed Hill’s claims, we’ve now had three years of intense journalistic effort, wide-ranging congressional investigations, and an independent inquiry that have been unable to turn up a single instance in which Trump was compromised or colluded with Russians.
Anyone paying attention during the 2016 campaign was already well acquainted with the president’s views on Russia: Trump isn’t going to bash Putin because Trump respects Putin, and he strives to build friendly relations with Russia.
I’m sorry to say, Trump’s policies towards Putin differ very little from those of his predecessors. Perhaps no better, they are certainly no worse.
As many others have noted, it was Obama who mocked Romney’s claim that Russia was our most dangerous geopolitical foe.
It was also Obama who told Putin’s stooge Dmitry Medvedev that his administration would have more “flexibility” on missile defense after the 2012 election.
It was Obama who refused to offer lethal military assistance to Ukraine.
It was Obama who canceled the sale of American missile-defense systems to Poland and the Czech Republic to appease Russia.
It was the Obama administration, according to Bill Browder, one of the driving forces behind the Magnitsky Act, who spent two years trying to kill the Act before acquiescing to bipartisan pressure.
It was Obama, not Trump, who capitulated to Russia and gave in on accession to the World Trade Organization.
It was Joe Biden, not Mike Pence, who in 2009 told Medvedev that “the most important item on our agenda” was to restore Russia–U.S. relations after eight years of the Bush administration’s antagonism.
It was also Obama who abandoned the Syrian “red line,” leaving Russia’s allies to massacre thousands of civilians in a broader effort to appease the Iranians. Just because the 44th president habitually aligned the United States with the Islamic regime in Iran doesn’t mean he was a foreign Muslim interloper.
The Manchurian Candidate conspiracy theory is much like birtherism. Too many conservatives rationalized their anger over politics by convincing themselves that Obama wasn’t only a dangerous ideological adversary but a seditious and illegitimate one as well. (One of the people rightly pilloried for doing this was Donald Trump.) The only difference is that Democrats have mainstreamed this kind of destructive paranoia.