Should I remain in bed, leave my country or fight against the dragon?
( see also the story by Wolfgang Hampel,
' Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say ' )
Betty MacDonald's sister Alison Bard Burnett
Betty MacDonald's mother Sydney with grandchild Alison Beck
Betty and Don MacDonald in Hollywood
Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
great Betty MacDonald fan club news.
As already mentioned we got a great collection of Betty MacDonald's unique Christmas cards.
A Betty MacDonald fan club fan whoses grandfather knew Betty MacDonald and her family is going to share three delightful Christmas cards by Betty MacDonald, we've never seen before.
Do you remember in which book Betty MacDonald described her exciting experiences sending some Christmas cards?
Tell us the title please and you can win three copies of Betty MacDonald's new Christmas cards.
We have a special Betty MacDonald fan club Christmas surprise for you.
In which of her books did Betty MacDonald mention a rather sad Christmas and a very happy one?
Tell us the title please and you might be our next Betty MacDonald fan club Christmas winner.
We are working on a DVD 'Christmas with Betty MacDonald and her family'.
You'll be able to see many interviews with Betty MacDonald, her family, many photos and the already mentioned homemade Christmas cards.
You will learn how Betty MacDonald got the idea to create them as a special Christmas gift for family and friends.
The best thing is you can win our new Betty MacDonald fan club DVD 'Christmas with Betty MacDonald and her family'.
Tell us the titles of the books please Betty MacDonald describes Christmas.
Good luck folks!
Deadline: December 31, 2016
In which year did Betty MacDonald create this Christmas card?
If you know the answer you might be our Betty MacDonald fan club parcel winner.
Good luck!
We are so glad that our beloved Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is back.
You can celebrate Christmas with Mr. Tigerli.
New Betty MacDonald documentary will be very interesting with many new interviews.
Alison Bard Burnett and other Betty MacDonald fan club honor members will be included in Wolfgang Hampel's fascinating project Vita Magica.
Very exciting Betty MacDonald fan club news!
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel is going to present life and work of Betty MacDonald in Vita Magica January 2017.
More info will come soon!
Vita Magica December was very successful.Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel invited a very famous author.
The visitors enjoyed Vita Magica very much.
A great event!
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel interviewed Betty MacDonald's daughter Joan MacDonald Keil and her husband Jerry Keil.
This interview will be published for the first time ever.
New Betty MacDonald documentary will be very interesting with many interviews never published before.
We adore Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli
Thank you so much for sharing this witty memories with us.
Wolfgang Hampel's literary event Vita Magica is very fascinating because he is going to include Betty MacDonald, other members of the Bard family and Betty MacDonald fan club honor members.
It's simply great to read Wolfgang Hampel's new very well researched stories about Betty MacDonald, Robert Eugene Heskett, Donald Chauncey MacDonald, Darsie Bard, Sydney Bard, Gammy, Alison Bard Burnett, Darsie Beck, Mary Bard Jensen, Clyde Reynolds Jensen, Sydney Cleveland Bard, Mary Alice Bard, Dorothea DeDe Goldsmith, Madge Baldwin, Don Woodfin, Mike Gordon, Ma and Pa Kettle, Nancy and Plum, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and others.
Vita Magica was very witty and enjoyable.
We know the visitors had a great time there.
Congratulations dear Letizia Maninco, Wolfgang Hampel and Friedrich von Hoheneichen!
Linde Lund and many fans from all over the world adore this funny sketch by Wolfgang Hampel very much although our German isn't the best.
I won't ever forget the way Wolfgang Hampel is shouting ' Brexit '.
Don't miss it, please.
It's simply great!
You can hear that Wolfgang Hampel got an outstandig voice.
He presented one of Linde Lund's favourite songs ' Try to remember ' like a professional singer.
Thanks a million!
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli and our 'Italian Betty MacDonald' - Betty MacDonald fan club honor member author and artist Letizia Mancino belong to the most popular Betty MacDonald fan club teams in our history.
Their many devoted fans are waiting for a new Mr. Tigerli adventure.
Letizia Mancino's magical Betty MacDonald Gallery is a special gift for Betty MacDonald fan club fans from all over the world.
Don't miss Brad Craft's 'More friends', please.
Betty MacDonald's very beautiful Vashon Island is one of my favourites.
I agree with Betty in this very witty Betty MacDonald story Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say by Wolfgang Hampel.
I can't imagine to live in a country with him as so-called elected President although there are very good reasons to remain there to fight against these brainless politics.
Security analysts believe state-sponsored hackers penetrated the DNC and the email accounts of Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign manager, John Podesta, before passing along their contents to WikiLeaks for publication before the Nov. 8 election. President Obama said last week that he has “great confidence” in intelligence reports that links those hacks and others to Russian actors and that their actions were aimed at having Mr. Trump win the White House race.
“This happened at the highest levels of the Russian government,” Mr. Obama said last week. “Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin.”
Don't miss these very interesting articles below, please.
Lately,
it appears Trump has gone back into the field to drag in a whole new
bunch of State contenders.
My favorite is Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, a person you have probably never heard of even though he’s been in Congress since the 1980s and is currently head of the prestigious Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats.
Rohrabacher
is also a surfer and former folk singer who once claimed global warming
might be connected to “dinosaur flatulence.” My favorite is Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, a person you have probably never heard of even though he’s been in Congress since the 1980s and is currently head of the prestigious Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats.
Don't miss the very interesting articles below, please.
I think the future dinosaur flatulence will be the behaviour of 'Pussy' and his very strange government.
Poor World! Poor America!
The most difficult case in Mrs.Piggle-Wiggle's career
Hello 'Pussy', this is Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
You took calls from foreign leaders on unsecured phone lines, without consultung the State Department. We have to change your silly behaviour with a new Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle cure. I know you are the most difficult case in my career - but we have to try everything.......................
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel sent his brilliant thoughts. Thank you so much dear Wolfgang!
Hi Libi, nice to meet you. Can you feel it?
I'll be the most powerful leader in the world.
Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say
Copyright 2016 by Wolfgang Hampel
All rights reserved
Betty MacDonald was sitting on her egg-shaped cloud and listened to a rather strange guy.
He said to his friends: So sorry to keep you waiting. Very complicated business! Very complicated!
Betty said: Obviously much too complicated for you old toupee!
Besides him ( by the way the First Lady's place ) his 10 year old son was bored to death and listened to this 'exciting' victory speech.
The old man could be his great-grandfather.
The boy was very tired and thought: I don't know what this old guy is talking about. Come on and finish it, please. I'd like to go to bed.
Dear 'great-grandfather' continued and praised the Democratic candidate.
He congratulated her and her family for a very strong campaign although he wanted to put her in jail.
He always called her the most corrupt person ever and repeated it over and over again in the fashion of a Tibetan prayer wheel.
She is so corrupt. She is so corrupt. Do you know how corrupt she is?
Betty MacDonald couldn't believe it when he said: She has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.
Afterwards old toupee praised his parents, wife, children, siblings and friends.
He asked the same question like a parrot all the time:
Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?
I know you are here!
Betty MacDonald answered: No Pussy they are not! They left the country.
They immigrated to Canada because they are very much afraid of the future in the U.S.A. with you as their leader like the majority of all so-called more or less normal citizens.
By the way keep your finger far away from the pussies and the Red Button, please.
I'm going to fly with my egg-shaped cloud to Canada within a minute too.
Away - away - there is nothing more to say!
I can understand the reason why Betty MacDonald, Barbara Streisand, other artists and several of my friends want to leave the United States of America.
I totally agree with these comments:
This
is incredible! I'll You get what you pay/vote for and Trump is the
epitome of this ideology. America I won't feel bad for you because you
don't need my sympathy for what's coming but I am genuinely scared for
you. 'Forgive them lord for they know not who they do' or maybe they do
but just don't care about their future generations who will suffer for
this long after the culprits have passed away.
Daniel Mount wrote a great article about Betty MacDonald and her garden.
We hope you'll enjoy it very much.
I adore Mount Rainier and Betty MacDonald's outstanding descriptions
Can you remember in which book you can find it?
If so let us know, please and you might be the next Betty MacDonald fan club contest winner.
I hope we'll be able to read Wolfgang Hampel's new very well researched stories about Betty MacDonald, Robert Eugene Heskett, Donald Chauncey MacDonald, Darsie Bard, Sydney Bard, Gammy, Alison Bard Burnett, Darsie Beck, Mary Bard Jensen, Clyde Reynolds Jensen, Sydney Cleveland Bard, Mary Alice Bard, Dorothea DeDe Goldsmith, Madge Baldwin, Don Woodfin, Mike Gordon, Ma and Pa Kettle, Nancy and Plum, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and others - very soon.
It' s such a pleasure to read them.
Let's go to magical Betty MacDonald's Vashon Island.
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund and Betty MacDonald fan club research team share their recent Betty MacDonald fan club research results.
Congratulations! They found the most interesting and important info for Wolfgang Hampel's oustanding Betty MacDonald biography.
I enjoy Bradley Craft's story very much.
Don't miss our Betty MacDonald fan club contests, please.
You can win a never published before Alison Bard Burnett interview by Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel.
Good luck!
This CD is a golden treasure because Betty MacDonald's very witty sister Alison Bard Burnett shares unique stories about Betty MacDonald, Mary Bard Jensen, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Nancy and Plum.
Do you have any books by Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard Jensen with funny or interesting dedications?
If so would you be so kind to share them?
Our next Betty MacDonald fan club project is a collection of these unique dedications.
If you share your dedication from your Betty MacDonald - and Mary Bard Jensen collection you might be the winner of our new Betty MacDonald fan club items.
Thank you so much in advance for your support.
Thank you so much for sending us your favourite Betty MacDonald quote.
More info are coming soon.
Wolfgang Hampel's Betty MacDonald and Ma and Pa Kettle biography and Betty MacDonald interviews have fans in 40 countries. I'm one of their many devoted fans.
Many Betty MacDonald - and Wolfgang Hampel fans are very interested in a Wolfgang Hampel CD and DVD with his very funny poems and stories.
We are going to publish new Betty MacDonald essays on Betty MacDonald's gardens and nature in Washington State.
Tell us the names of this mysterious couple please and you can win a very new Betty MacDonald documentary.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is beloved all over the World.
We are so happy that our 'Casanova' is back.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel
and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are going to share very
interesting info on ' Betty MacDonald and the movie The Egg and I '.
Another rare episode (from March 21 1952) of the short-lived comedy soap opera, "The Egg and I," based on best selling book by Betty MacDonald which also became a popular film.
The series premiered on September 3, 1951, the same day as "Search for Tomorrow," and ended on August 1, 1952.
Although it did well in the ratings, it had difficulty attracting a steady sponsor. This episode features Betty Lynn (later known for her work on "The Andy Griffith Show") as Betty MacDonald, John Craven as Bob MacDonald, Doris Rich as Ma Kettle, and Frank Twedell as Pa Kettle.
Betty MacDonald fan club exhibition will be fascinating with the international book editions and letters by Betty MacDonald.
I can't wait to see the new Betty MacDonald documentary.
Enjoy a great breakfast at the bookstore with Brad and Nick, please.
Don't miss this, please. You'll enjoy it very much.
Excerpts from SVT and TV4 broadcasts from Lucia 2015.
Participating are students from music classes in Gothenburg and Växjö.
Don't miss Christmas in Seattle, please.
We are very sad because famous singer George Michael died at the age of only 53.
It was his last Christmas.
Very sad and tragic, indeed.
2016 is a very special year!
Love,
Martine
Another rare episode (from March 21 1952) of the short-lived comedy soap opera, "The Egg and I," based on best selling book by Betty MacDonald which also became a popular film.
The series premiered on September 3, 1951, the same day as "Search for Tomorrow," and ended on August 1, 1952.
Although it did well in the ratings, it had difficulty attracting a steady sponsor. This episode features Betty Lynn (later known for her work on "The Andy Griffith Show") as Betty MacDonald, John Craven as Bob MacDonald, Doris Rich as Ma Kettle, and Frank Twedell as Pa Kettle.
Betty MacDonald fan club exhibition will be fascinating with the international book editions and letters by Betty MacDonald.
I can't wait to see the new Betty MacDonald documentary.
Enjoy a great breakfast at the bookstore with Brad and Nick, please.
Don't miss this, please. You'll enjoy it very much.
Excerpts from SVT and TV4 broadcasts from Lucia 2015.
Participating are students from music classes in Gothenburg and Växjö.
Don't miss Christmas in Seattle, please.
We are very sad because famous singer George Michael died at the age of only 53.
It was his last Christmas.
Very sad and tragic, indeed.
2016 is a very special year!
Love,
Martine
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.de/…/betty-macdonald-…
Dear Aashish Adam Ananda Brian Christa Dana Dawid Ewa Friedrich Geli Gigi Heiderose Heidrun Heinz Holger Horst Ingrid Inna Jana Jitka Jitka Laurie Melitta Miroslav NA NG Pascale Peter Peters Bookcorner Pram Sabine Sandra Thomas Ursula and all our other friends we wish you a very nice Thursday.
Please don't miss new info on Betty MacDonald, a wonderful Christmas gift and other very interesting news and articles.
All the best and many greetings from Greta, Linde and Lund family.
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/
www.wolfvitamagica.blogspot.com/
Dear Aashish Adam Ananda Brian Christa Dana Dawid Ewa Friedrich Geli Gigi Heiderose Heidrun Heinz Holger Horst Ingrid Inna Jana Jitka Jitka Laurie Melitta Miroslav NA NG Pascale Peter Peters Bookcorner Pram Sabine Sandra Thomas Ursula and all our other friends we wish you a very nice Thursday.
Please don't miss new info on Betty MacDonald, a wonderful Christmas gift and other very interesting news and articles.
All the best and many greetings from Greta, Linde and Lund family.
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/
www.wolfvitamagica.blogspot.com/
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.de/…/betty-macdonald-…
Dear Aashish Ananda Brian Christa Dana Dawid Ewa Geli Gerda Gigi Heiderose Heidrun Heinz Holger Horst Friedrich Ingrid Inna Immo Jana Jitka Jitka Melitta Miroslav NA NG Peter Pascale Pram Sabine Sandra Swiss Charrd Thomas Ursula and all our other friends we wish you a very nice Friday.
Please don't miss new info on Betty MacDonald, Dorita Hess, Hollywood and other very interesting articles.
All the best and many greetings from Greta, Linde and Lund family
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/
www.wolfvitamagica.blogspot.com/
Dear Aashish Ananda Brian Christa Dana Dawid Ewa Geli Gerda Gigi Heiderose Heidrun Heinz Holger Horst Friedrich Ingrid Inna Immo Jana Jitka Jitka Melitta Miroslav NA NG Peter Pascale Pram Sabine Sandra Swiss Charrd Thomas Ursula and all our other friends we wish you a very nice Friday.
Please don't miss new info on Betty MacDonald, Dorita Hess, Hollywood and other very interesting articles.
All the best and many greetings from Greta, Linde and Lund family
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/
www.wolfvitamagica.blogspot.com/
Vita Magica
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Wolfgang Hampel - LinkFang ( German ) Wolfgang Hampel - Academic ( German )
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Singer George Michael has died at his home at the age of 53.
The
star, who launched his career with Wham! in the 1980s and had huge
success as a solo performer, "passed away peacefully" on Christmas Day
in Goring, Oxfordshire, his publicist said.His manager, Michael Lippman, said he had died of heart failure.
Former Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley said he was "heartbroken at the loss of my beloved friend".
Writing on Twitter and referring to Michael by his family nickname of "Yog", he added: "Me, his loved ones, his friends, the world of music, the world at large. 4ever loved. A xx"
How the world reacted
George Michael: Six songs that defined his life
Michael's family announced news of his death in a statement issued through the singer's publicist.
"It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period," it said.
"The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage."
South Central Ambulance Service were called to Michael's property at 13:42 GMT. Thames Valley Police also attended and Michael was confirmed dead at the scene.
They added: "At this stage the death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious. A post-mortem will be undertaken in due course. "
A small heart wreath and a rose are among the tributes left outside the front door of Michael's home, a detached property by the River Thames.
Court battle
Michael, who was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in north London, sold more than 100 million albums throughout a career spanning almost four decades.He first found fame with schoolfriend Ridgeley in duo Wham! - reaching number one in the UK singles charts on four occasions. One of the band's most enduring songs Last Christmas, is currently number 16 in the UK singles chart.
The song was originally released in 1984 and is the biggest selling single not to reach number one.
It was kept off the chart's top spot by Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas, which actually featured Michael.
Solo albums followed, including the multi-million selling Faith in 1987.
The follow-up Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 outsold Faith in the UK but led to Michael losing a court case with record label Sony over his frustration at how the album has been marketed.
From teen idol to long-term stardom
As a solo artist, Michael scored a further seven number one singles in the UK with songs including Careless Whisper and Fastlove, collaborated with the likes of Aretha Franklin and Elton John, and won three Brit Awards and two Grammys.
The Grammy organisers said Michael's "extraordinary talent had a profound impact on countless entertainers worldwide, and his creative contributions will live on forever".
Troubled artist
Michael later began facing headlines for reasons other than his music.After years of refusing to be drawn on speculation about his sexuality, Michael disclosed he was gay in 1998 after being arrested in a public toilet in Beverly Hills, California, for engaging in a lewd act.
The music video for the single that followed, Outside, featured a men's bathroom transformed into a disco and policemen kissing.
In October 2006 he pleaded guilty to driving while unfit through drugs, and in 2008 was cautioned for possession of class A drugs, including crack cocaine.
In September 2010, Michael received an eight-week prison sentence following an incident in which he crashed his Range Rover into a shop in north London. He admitted driving under the influence of drugs and possessing cannabis.
Boy George wrote: "He was so loved and I hope he knew it because the sadness today is beyond words. Devastating.
"What a beautiful voice he had and his music will live on as a testament to his talent. I can't believe he is gone. I hope the Buddha will hold him in his arms."
In 2011, Michael postponed a series of concerts after being taken to hospital for treatment for pneumonia.
After treatment in a Vienna hospital, he made a tearful appearance outside his London home and said it had been "touch and go" whether he lived.
The experience inspired the single White Light which was his last Top 40 hit in 2012 and which he performed at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London.
Earlier this month it was announced that producer and songwriter Naughty Boy was working with Michael on a new album.
Michael had also recently been working on a documentary chronicling his rise to fame with Wham! and made a direct appeal on Twitter to his fans, asking them to send in their own videos and photographs dating from 1988 to 1996.
The documentary film entitled Freedom was originally expected to be released this year but was recently delayed until next March.
What are your memories of George Michael? Did you meet him? You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
- WhatsApp: +44 7525 900971
- Send pictures/video to yourpics@bbc.co.uk
- Upload your pictures / video here
- Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay
- Text an SMS or MMS to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (international)
Or use the form below
See more reaction to Michael's death
George Michael's UK number one singles
- Wake Me Up Before You Go Go (with Wham!) - 1984
- Freedom (with Wham!) - 1984
- Careless Whisper - 1984
- I'm Your Man (with Wham!) - 1985
- The Edge of Heaven (with Wham!) - 1986
- A Different Corner - 1986
- I Knew You Were Waiting For Me (with Aretha Franklin) - 1987
- Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (with Elton John) - 1991
- Five Live EP (with Queen and Lisa Stansfield) - 1993
- Jesus To A Child - 1996
- Fastlove - 1996
Putin reaches out to Trump for cooperation, calls Democrats sore losers
The letter, written earlier this month, offers Christmas and New Year’s wishes. Mr. Putin then suggests that the two nations find a way to get beyond the loggerheads of the past few years.
“I hope that after you assume the position of the President of the United States of America we will be able — by acting in a constructive and pragmatic manner — to take real steps to restore the framework of bilateral cooperation in different areas as well as bring our level of collaboration on the international scene to a qualitatively new level,” Mr. Putin said.
Mr. Trump, in a statement, called it “a very nice letter” and said “his thoughts are so correct.”
“I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path,” he said.
During the U.S. presidential election campaign, Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump had positive things to say about each other’s leadership style.
But answering questions Friday from a group of journalists assembled for his annual end-of-year press conference, Mr. Putin said Democrats were wrong to blame “outside factors” for Mrs. Clinton’s loss.
Democrats “are losing on all fronts and looking for scapegoats on whom to lay the blame,” Mr. Putin told reporters, as translated by the Kremlin.
“I think that this is an affront to their own dignity. It is important to know how to lose gracefully,” he said.
Asked specifically to comment on accusations that Russia used state-sponsored hacking to influence results of the election, Mr. Putin denied responsibility before noting that arguments about “who did it” are less important than what the hacked emails showed.
“These days, it is very easy to designate a random country as the source of attack while being in a completely different location,” Mr. Putin said of the hackers. “But is this important? I think the most important thing is the information that the hackers revealed to the public,” he said.
He also said the resignation of Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz over the information vindicates its authenticity.
“What is the best proof that the hackers uncovered truthful information? The proof is that after the hackers demonstrated how public opinion had been manipulated within the Democratic Party, against one candidate rather than the other, against candidate [Bernard] Sanders, the Democratic National Committee chairperson resigned. This means she admitted that the hackers revealed the truth,” Mr. Putin said.
Security analysts believe state-sponsored hackers penetrated the DNC and the email accounts of Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign manager, John Podesta, before passing along their contents to WikiLeaks for publication before the Nov. 8 election. President Obama said last week that he has “great confidence” in intelligence reports that links those hacks and others to Russian actors and that their actions were aimed at having Mr. Trump win the White House race.
“This happened at the highest levels of the Russian government,” Mr. Obama said last week. “Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin.”
A day earlier, CrowdStrike, a security firm hired to examine the DNC breach, said the perpetrators used a specific strain of malware used exclusively for nearly a decade in cyberattacks attributed to Russia, including a previously undisclosed hacking campaign in recent months against the Ukrainian military.
The letter was released and the Moscow news conference was held a day after Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump suggested that they might push to expand their countries’ nuclear capabilities.
Donald Trump praises Vladimir Putin for slamming Hillary Clinton
Philip Rucker, The Washington Post
In Putin's letter, dated Dec. 15, the Russian leader wrote that he hopes he and Trump can act "in a constructive and pragmatic manner" following the Jan. 20 inauguration. Trump was pleased with the correspondence, saying in a statement Friday, "A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct."
Trump has long spoken admiringly of Putin and what he considers the Russian president's strong leadership qualities. Some of Trump's incoming advisers have past connections to Putin and the Russian government, including Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state nominee, and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the White House national security adviser designee.
Trump has so far rejected the conclusions of the CIA, FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia intervened in the 2016 campaign in part to help Trump secure the White House. The agencies believe Russia is responsible for the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails as well as the private emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia under President Obama, tweeted Friday night that Trump's praise of Putin was "unprecedented": "So now the President-elect and an autocrat in the Kremlin team up to trash an American. Unprecedented. Will Republicans speak up?"
Evan McMullin, a Republican former CIA operative who ran unsuccessfully against Trump as an independent candidate, called Friday night for Republican leaders to condemn Trump's "alliance" with Putin: "must condemn @realDonaldTrump's alliance with Putin, a foreign adversary who is actively undermining our democracy. "
For leaders who lacks the courage to stand up when it's most needed, dismissing an obvious problem is always an attractive option.— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) December 24, 2016
Commentary: The United States isn't Russia
on December 24, 2016 11:00 AM
Trump’s every significant appointment and foreign policy pronouncement has been exactly as the Russians would have it. “The man has very strong control over his country,” Trump has said. “He’s been a leader far more than our president has been a leader.” So what if Putin’s leadership skills include having political rivals and troublesome journalists jailed or killed?
For all of his crudity, Trump can be excruciatingly polite.
More telling are Trump’s cabinet picks: first, national security adviser Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, a flaky conspiracy-theorist who not only gave credence to the delusional “Pizzagate” tale, but has also dined publicly with Putin and done paid gigs on the Kremlin-sponsored “Russia Today” TV network.
Then there’s Rex Tillerson, the ExxonMobil CEO who has done billions in business deals with state-dominated Russian oil companies and accepted that country’s highest civilian medal from Putin himself.
The Guardian has revealed that “Tillerson was the longtime director of a U.S.-Russian oil firm based in the tax haven of the Bahamas” — perfectly legal, but unusual behavior in a man nominated as secretary of state. Imagine the caterwauling if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had done something similar.
Also, did you know that Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign director forced to resign last summer after reportedly taking millions from the Russian puppet government in Ukraine, actually lives in Trump Tower? Did he ever really quit stage-managing the campaign? It’s worth wondering if, like the omnipresent Trump children, he remains on the president-elect’s private payroll.
Add the skeptical noises that Trump has made about NATO, his seeming indifference to Russian military interventions in Ukraine and its role in the ongoing Syrian slaughter, and it becomes hard to imagine anything Putin might want that Trump’s unwilling to give him. It’s a good bet President Trump will withdraw U.S. support for NATO economic sanctions imposed after Russia’s seizure of Crimea — a blow to our European allies and a boost to the faltering Russian economy.
What Trump gets out of his “bromance” with Putin is also perfectly clear. His campaign’s response to The Washington Post’s revelation that CIA and FBI analysts have concluded that Kremlin operatives meddled in the 2016 presidential election on his behalf was a classic of the Trump method.
“These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” the Trump campaign responded. “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.’”
Almost every significant syllable was a barefaced prevarication. Without rehearsing the history of Vice President Cheney’s 2003 bullying of CIA analysts during the run up to the Iraq War (which Trump has also lied about opposing), his election win was one of the least decisive in U.S. history. Besides losing the popular vote by 2.86 million, he won fewer electoral votes than Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan and many others.
And what exactly do Trump voters think they’re getting out of the Russian connection? Most simply don’t care. They’ve basically chosen party over country. They dislike Americans who vote Democratic far more than the Russian dictator, a distant figure of seemingly no significance to their lives. Most are too busy gloating and rationalizing Trump’s boasts to worry about the Kremlin’s armlock on the White House.
But how much money does the House of Trump owe to Russian banks? If the president-elect gets his way, we’ll surely never know.
Writing in New York Review, expatriate Russian journalist Masha Gessen analyzes the two men’s deep similarities. “Lying is the message,” she explains. “It’s not just that both Putin and Trump lie, it is that they lie in the same way and for the same purpose: blatantly, to assert power over truth itself.”
She examines Putin’s brazen 2014 denial of Russian troops in Ukraine. His lies, Gessen argues, “communicated a single message: Putin’s power lies in being able to say what he wants, when he wants, regardless of the facts. He is president of his country and king of reality.”
Similarly, millions watched Trump and Clinton bicker about Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential debates. “You’re the puppet,” he pouted, like a third-grader. Now he insists nobody mentioned the subject until Hillary lost.
Trump too, Gessen emphasizes, “was demonstrating his ability to say whatever he wanted about the election, precisely because he had won it.”
No doubt. But Americans aren’t Russians, with their long history of serfdom and dictatorship. Nor can Trump have his opponents bumped off or imprisoned. As partisan passions cool, skepticism will reawaken.
And then we’ll see what happens.
eugenelyons2@yahoo.com
Putin Speaks Out
In a news conference, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia talked about Donald J. Trump and nuclear proliferation.
By REUTERS.
Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images.
Watch in Times Video »
MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on Friday that a statement by Donald J. Trump, the American president-elect, that the United States should expand its nuclear abilities was not a surprise because he had said the same thing during the election campaign.
Asked
about the American election, Mr. Putin, who has made no secret of his
distaste for Hillary Clinton, said her defeat was a “humiliation” for
the Democratic Party.
The
Russian president, speaking at his annual marathon news conference,
also said that Russia would continue to modernize its armed forces,
including nuclear weapons, but he added that the level of spending would diminish somewhat in coming years.
He
said Russia was not seeking a new arms race or to develop new nuclear
warheads, but was instead seeking ways to improve its armaments so that
they could pierce missile defenses. The deployment of NATO missile
defense systems in countries near Russia has been a sore spot between
Moscow and the West.
Mr. Putin said again, as he had on Thursday, that the Russian armed forces were now strong enough to repulse any attacker.
He suggested that officials from the Obama administration had
overreacted by pointing out that the Russian military was far weaker
than that of the United States.
“Of
course the U.S. has more missiles, submarines and aircraft carriers,
but what we say is that we are stronger than any aggressor, and this is
the case,” Mr. Putin said toward the beginning of the news conference,
which typically lasts four hours or more.
“As
for Donald Trump, there is nothing new about it, during his election
campaign he said the U.S. needs to bolster its nuclear capabilities and
its armed forces in general,” he added.
Mr.
Putin said that any new Russian nuclear weapons would stay within the
limits of existing treaties. Although Moscow and Washington have taken
to rattling sabers more than in the past, experts said that the
architecture of previous nuclear arms treaties has so far held.
In
2007, Russia spent 2.7 percent of its gross domestic product on
defense, Mr. Putin said, but the figure grew to 4.7 percent in 2016.
Russia spent about $52 billion on its military in 2015.
He
said that the proportion would gradually decline to 2.8 percent again
by 2019. “This will not have an impact on our plan to increase our
defense capabilities,” he said.
The
budget cuts are being forced by an extended recession, though Mr. Putin
tried to put a positive spin on that, as well. He said the overall
economy had contracted 3.7 percent in 2015 and probably a further 0.5 to
0.6 percent in 2016, but that some sectors were expanding, like
agriculture, which grew 4 percent.
He said this had happened despite Western sanctions
imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis. In retaliation, Russia has
banned imports of many Western dairy and other agricultural products.
Some analysts have suggested that the growth in agriculture was nothing exceptional.
Mr.
Putin also noted other positive signs, including that inflation and
capital outflows had slowed, but he said that there were still problems,
including a drop in personal income for most Russians.
On
the American election, Mr. Putin said the Democrats were trying to
blame their defeat on external factors like Russia. He said his
popularity among American Republicans was not personal, but a reflection
of their worldview.
“It
means that a significant part of the American people have the same
perception about how the world should be developing,” he said. “It is
good that people support us in this, in terms of traditional values.” He
said it was a good basis for improving Russian-American relations.
Mr.
Putin mocked recent statements by President Obama and others that
former President Ronald Reagan would be turning in his grave over the
support for Russia and for Mr. Putin among Republicans.
If
anything, he said, it would be former presidents like Franklin D.
Roosevelt who would be turning in their graves over the losses suffered
by the Democratic Party.
Mr. Roosevelt united the country, Mr. Putin said, but “the current administration divides it.”
The Obama administration has accused Russia of interfering in the American election, not least by hacking the computers at the Democratic National Committee and releasing emails embarrassing to Mrs. Clinton.
Although
Mr. Putin did not publicly endorse either candidate during the
campaign, his administration made its preference for Mr. Trump clear.
Among other reasons for disliking Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Putin has blamed her
for the street demonstrations in Russia in 2011 and 2012 that greeted
his return to the presidency, citing her endorsement of the protests
while she was secretary of state to accuse her of fostering them.
Asked
directly about statements by Mr. Obama that he had warned Mr. Putin to
stop hacking in the United States, Mr. Putin said that he would not
reveal the contents of a private conversation.
But
he repeated statements by Mr. Trump that anyone could have done the
hacking, including someone in the United States sitting on his couch.
And Mr. Putin repeated his usual response to questions about the
hacking, saying the main point was the contents of the emails and the
light they shed on the Democrats’ activities and plans.
Douglas Cole from Beaverton, Oregon, wrote an ironic open letter on the subject to Canada, asking: “Just please take us. Pretty please?”
The Independent has contacted the office of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada for comment.
- More about:
- US election
- Donald Trump
- California
- Canada
|
Trump said in 2014 that Russian hacking was a 'big problem'
Story highlights
- "No, I think he's 100% right, it's a big problem, and we have that problem also with Russian," Trump said in 2014.
- Trump continues to cast doubt that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election.
(CNN)President-elect
Donald Trump continues to question whether Russia was behind the hacks
during the 2016 presidential campaign. Just two years ago, however,
Trump said he was very aware of Russia's hacking, calling it out --
along with China -- as a "big problem."
In
an interview with Fox News Sunday earlier this month, Trump questioned
the CIA's assessment that Russia played a role in the election, calling
it "ridiculous" and saying, "It's just another excuse. I don't believe
it."Airways
On
Fox News in 2014, however, Trump was quick to agree with a similar
assessment by FBI director James Comey about hacking by China, and also
raised the threat from Russia.
"I think that's great, I think what he said is fantastic," Trump said, referring to comments Comey had made on "60 Minutes."
"I've
been talking about China for a long time," Trump added. "You know, they
put on the front like, we're your friend and everything, and in the
meantime the cash comes out of your back pocket. It's disgraceful what's
going on with China generally. No, I think he's 100% right, it's a big
problem, and we have that problem also with Russia. You saw that over
the weekend. Russia's doing the same thing."
A report that month, as Trump noted, said hackers with ties to the Russian government had targeted NATO and the Ukrainian government.
"The
problem with the Internet and frankly computerization is that there's
always some genius that can figure it out," continued Trump. "I mean
let's face it. You know, the old ways, when Gen. MacArthur would hand a
valise or an envelope with somebody with a written word and that was the
attack. This is a different world today. You say things on the
Internet, you say things over a computer and people are going to find
out what you're saying it's very dangerous and very bad in many ways."
A Trump transition team spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump has repeatedly called into question whether Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help him win.
Trump
again tweeted about the hacking last week, writing, "If Russia, or some
other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act?
Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?"
"Personally,
it could be Russia. It -- I don't really think it is. But who knows? I
don't know either. They don't know and I don't know."
Trump
again tweeted about the hacking last week, writing, "If Russia, or some
other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act?
Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?"
Donald Trump: The Russian Poodle - by Nicholas KristofQuicklink submitted By Susan Lee Schwartz
Permalink,
|
1
"Frankly,
it’s mystifying that Trump continues to defend Russia and Putin, even
as he excoriates everyone else, from C.I.A. officials to a local union
leader in Indiana. Let’s be clear: This was an attack on America, less
lethal than a missile but still profoundly damaging to our system. It’s
not that Trump and Putin were colluding to steal an election. But if the
C.I.A. is right, Russia apparently was trying to elect a president who
would be not a puppet exactly but perhaps something of a lap dog — a
Russian poodle. Now we come to the most reckless step of all: This
Russian poodle is acting in character by giving important government
posts to friends of Moscow,
in effect rewarding it for its attack on the United States. "So it’s
critical that the Senate, the news media and the public subject
Tillerson to intense scrutiny. We must be vigilant and recognize what
is afoot!" WOOF!
Read the rest of the story HERE:
At www.nytimes.com
At www.nytimes.com
Trump Is Not the Problem
Donald Trump may
be the ultimate con man, having convinced about 25% of the American
public who voted for him that he was a populist interested in helping
the working class. His recent cabinet appointments of banksters and
corporate elites prove otherwise. Although the prospect of this man as
president for the next 4 years is frightening to even contemplate, it’s
not really Trump that’s the problem. He is just a symptom of the deeper
problem we have in America: the fact that our country is morally and
ethically bankrupt.
For at least the last half century, we have lived in a culture not of self-awareness, but of self absorption — a culture in which concern for the greater good has been replaced by a “what’s in it for me?” attitude. Racism, misogyny, and xenophobia are ingrained in our culture. We have just covered it over with political correctness so we can deny how extensive an issue it really is. But just like an alcoholic, we can’t begin to recover unless we admit we have a problem.
Just try to hint that the US is not the greatest country in the world and you’ll be labeled a traitor, despite the fact that we are number 1 in some of the worst statistics possible. We are first in rates of obesity, divorce, incarceration, gun deaths per capita, infant mortality, rape, murder, and student loan debt, to name just a few. Meanwhile, we are last in paid sick days, paid maternity leave, income equality, and programs that reflect a society that cares for its people.
Far too often, the poor, working-class white population votes against their best interests. It’s easier for them to believe that an immigrant or a person of color is stealing their livelihood than to accept that a wealthy white billionaire doesn’t have their best interests in mind, and that there is no such thing as The American Dream.
The reality is that the system is set up to ensure there will always be a huge gap between the rich and the poor because the elites want it that way and most people don’t care enough to do anything about it. We are a country that does not like to take personal responsibility for anything, particularly if it requires effort. We would rather have someone else take care of everything so we can go back to watching Monday Night Football.
The average American barely gives a passing thought to the suffering we are causing to innocent civilians around the world in the 7 countries on which we are currently dropping bombs. Unless it’s in their own backyard, they just don’t care. Imagine just a single one of those bombs suddenly dropping on your home while you are in the middle of dinner, killing your children, husband, wife. What is unimaginable for us is daily life for some.
For centuries, Western culture has been dominated by white men obsessed with empire-building. They feel it is their God-given right to invade less developed countries, steal their resources at will, and then expect the conquered to be grateful to us for “liberating” them from their backward ways. We commit mass murder around the world and don’t think twice about it. The hubris is astounding, and like Rome, it will ultimately be the instrument of our downfall.
Fears of Trump becoming the next Hitler are unnecessary because we’re already there. Hitler may have gathered the Jews into extermination camps to systematically murder them, but we have been systematically murdering Muslims in their own countries for at least the past 26 years. An estimated 4 million Muslims have been killed due to our wars. The genocide is the same, just under a different façade.
The very founding of our country is a prime example. White Europeans arrived here in the 17th century and began to commit genocide against the indigenous Americans practically from day one. Those atrocities continue to this day in the form of government-approved militarized mercenaries violently attacking peacefully protesting Native Americans with rubber bullets, pepper spray, sound cannons and concussion grenades.
We seem to have forgotten that we were once the immigrants here. Every US citizen, unless they are from one of the many indigenous tribes that were here far before the first pilgrims, has an immigrant ancestor. Yet it’s amazing how many people say it’s the immigrants who are hurting our country. Like your own great-grandparents once did, most immigrants work hard to establish their lives here. A long-term study has shown that immigrants do far more good for the economy than harm; however, the oligarchy wants to distract you from knowing who the real welfare queens are: the banks and our corporate-owned government.
Congress doesn’t want you to know that they are the reason why you have unaffordable health care. They are the reason our youth are drowning in student debt, and could never dream of making nearly as much money as their parents did — all while they find money to bail out the banks. Congress never has a problem funding more than 50% of the annual budget for the benefit of the military industrial complex, and never have to worry about losing their 100% government-paid health insurance.
As Noam Chomsky and Martin Luther King said, America is socialist for the rich and capitalist for the poor. We allow our government to bail out the banks while working people lose their homes. The wealthy like to maintain a comfortable gap between themselves and everyone else. If everyone is wealthy, nobody is. How could they continue to feel superior? The far-right white supremacists (often oddly called alt-right) have massive fears of immigrants and minorities, believing they are the ones responsible for the disappearance of what they always believed to be their racially guaranteed upward mobility.
Our educational system is a joke; the oligarchy does not want an educated population. If Americans were actually taught to think for themselves, they might begin to question government policies. For example, I’ll bet you didn’t know that our income taxes do not fund federal spending. So any government official claiming there is not enough tax money to fund universal health care, higher education, etc. is either ignorant or flat-out lying.
But even if it’s not your “hard-earned dollars” that would pay for these vital programs, what type of person thinks that any human being does not have the right to decent health care? Universal health care is not even a question in every other Western country, all of which have some form of it. People in these countries almost universally state that health care is an inalienable human right.
It’s no wonder the Kardashians and reality TV shows like The X Factor and American Idol are so popular, not to mention Trump’s own show, The Apprentice. We glorify unbridled wealth, cutthroat competition, and cruelty. The meaner and more demeaning, the better. We shore up our huge insecurities by belittling others, whether they are TV contestants, women, or minorities.
None of this will change until we make significant changes to our ethical code. We need to learn from the Native Americans and adopt a different way of looking at our existence on this planet. Much can be learned from what’s happened at Standing Rock. The indigenous peoples of this country understand that everyone is their relative. What harms one of us harms all of us. They have respect for the earth upon which we all must live and which provides us with food and water. They have astoundingly met brutal violence with only love and compassion.
Privatization must end. The earth’s natural resources should be owned by all of humanity collectively. Nobody should have the ability to make a profit on a natural resource. Along with a minimum wage, there also needs to be a maximum wage. No more allowing a small handful of people to hoard money in amounts so large they could never possibly spend it all, when meanwhile their fellow citizens are struggling to feed their children.
We seem to have lost our sense of compassion for other human beings. Yet we wonder how Donald Trump won the presidency? We need to take a serious look in the mirror and see the ways in which Trump is simply a reflection of the darkest parts of ourselves and examine where it comes from, rather than running from it. At that point, we can make conscious changes and become a better people.
A striking example of this is the stirring ceremony that occurred at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in early December, in which US military veterans asked forgiveness from the Native Americans for the numerous crimes the military had committed against them. Recognizing and admitting our part in these atrocities allows for a beginning in healing the world instead of harming it.
We must always try to remember that we are all members of the same human race living on the same fragile planet. When we make significant changes to our outlook on others and on the world around us, we will finally stop getting leaders like Trump.
For at least the last half century, we have lived in a culture not of self-awareness, but of self absorption — a culture in which concern for the greater good has been replaced by a “what’s in it for me?” attitude. Racism, misogyny, and xenophobia are ingrained in our culture. We have just covered it over with political correctness so we can deny how extensive an issue it really is. But just like an alcoholic, we can’t begin to recover unless we admit we have a problem.
Just try to hint that the US is not the greatest country in the world and you’ll be labeled a traitor, despite the fact that we are number 1 in some of the worst statistics possible. We are first in rates of obesity, divorce, incarceration, gun deaths per capita, infant mortality, rape, murder, and student loan debt, to name just a few. Meanwhile, we are last in paid sick days, paid maternity leave, income equality, and programs that reflect a society that cares for its people.
Far too often, the poor, working-class white population votes against their best interests. It’s easier for them to believe that an immigrant or a person of color is stealing their livelihood than to accept that a wealthy white billionaire doesn’t have their best interests in mind, and that there is no such thing as The American Dream.
The reality is that the system is set up to ensure there will always be a huge gap between the rich and the poor because the elites want it that way and most people don’t care enough to do anything about it. We are a country that does not like to take personal responsibility for anything, particularly if it requires effort. We would rather have someone else take care of everything so we can go back to watching Monday Night Football.
The average American barely gives a passing thought to the suffering we are causing to innocent civilians around the world in the 7 countries on which we are currently dropping bombs. Unless it’s in their own backyard, they just don’t care. Imagine just a single one of those bombs suddenly dropping on your home while you are in the middle of dinner, killing your children, husband, wife. What is unimaginable for us is daily life for some.
For centuries, Western culture has been dominated by white men obsessed with empire-building. They feel it is their God-given right to invade less developed countries, steal their resources at will, and then expect the conquered to be grateful to us for “liberating” them from their backward ways. We commit mass murder around the world and don’t think twice about it. The hubris is astounding, and like Rome, it will ultimately be the instrument of our downfall.
Fears of Trump becoming the next Hitler are unnecessary because we’re already there. Hitler may have gathered the Jews into extermination camps to systematically murder them, but we have been systematically murdering Muslims in their own countries for at least the past 26 years. An estimated 4 million Muslims have been killed due to our wars. The genocide is the same, just under a different façade.
The very founding of our country is a prime example. White Europeans arrived here in the 17th century and began to commit genocide against the indigenous Americans practically from day one. Those atrocities continue to this day in the form of government-approved militarized mercenaries violently attacking peacefully protesting Native Americans with rubber bullets, pepper spray, sound cannons and concussion grenades.
We seem to have forgotten that we were once the immigrants here. Every US citizen, unless they are from one of the many indigenous tribes that were here far before the first pilgrims, has an immigrant ancestor. Yet it’s amazing how many people say it’s the immigrants who are hurting our country. Like your own great-grandparents once did, most immigrants work hard to establish their lives here. A long-term study has shown that immigrants do far more good for the economy than harm; however, the oligarchy wants to distract you from knowing who the real welfare queens are: the banks and our corporate-owned government.
Congress doesn’t want you to know that they are the reason why you have unaffordable health care. They are the reason our youth are drowning in student debt, and could never dream of making nearly as much money as their parents did — all while they find money to bail out the banks. Congress never has a problem funding more than 50% of the annual budget for the benefit of the military industrial complex, and never have to worry about losing their 100% government-paid health insurance.
As Noam Chomsky and Martin Luther King said, America is socialist for the rich and capitalist for the poor. We allow our government to bail out the banks while working people lose their homes. The wealthy like to maintain a comfortable gap between themselves and everyone else. If everyone is wealthy, nobody is. How could they continue to feel superior? The far-right white supremacists (often oddly called alt-right) have massive fears of immigrants and minorities, believing they are the ones responsible for the disappearance of what they always believed to be their racially guaranteed upward mobility.
Our educational system is a joke; the oligarchy does not want an educated population. If Americans were actually taught to think for themselves, they might begin to question government policies. For example, I’ll bet you didn’t know that our income taxes do not fund federal spending. So any government official claiming there is not enough tax money to fund universal health care, higher education, etc. is either ignorant or flat-out lying.
But even if it’s not your “hard-earned dollars” that would pay for these vital programs, what type of person thinks that any human being does not have the right to decent health care? Universal health care is not even a question in every other Western country, all of which have some form of it. People in these countries almost universally state that health care is an inalienable human right.
It’s no wonder the Kardashians and reality TV shows like The X Factor and American Idol are so popular, not to mention Trump’s own show, The Apprentice. We glorify unbridled wealth, cutthroat competition, and cruelty. The meaner and more demeaning, the better. We shore up our huge insecurities by belittling others, whether they are TV contestants, women, or minorities.
None of this will change until we make significant changes to our ethical code. We need to learn from the Native Americans and adopt a different way of looking at our existence on this planet. Much can be learned from what’s happened at Standing Rock. The indigenous peoples of this country understand that everyone is their relative. What harms one of us harms all of us. They have respect for the earth upon which we all must live and which provides us with food and water. They have astoundingly met brutal violence with only love and compassion.
Privatization must end. The earth’s natural resources should be owned by all of humanity collectively. Nobody should have the ability to make a profit on a natural resource. Along with a minimum wage, there also needs to be a maximum wage. No more allowing a small handful of people to hoard money in amounts so large they could never possibly spend it all, when meanwhile their fellow citizens are struggling to feed their children.
We seem to have lost our sense of compassion for other human beings. Yet we wonder how Donald Trump won the presidency? We need to take a serious look in the mirror and see the ways in which Trump is simply a reflection of the darkest parts of ourselves and examine where it comes from, rather than running from it. At that point, we can make conscious changes and become a better people.
A striking example of this is the stirring ceremony that occurred at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in early December, in which US military veterans asked forgiveness from the Native Americans for the numerous crimes the military had committed against them. Recognizing and admitting our part in these atrocities allows for a beginning in healing the world instead of harming it.
We must always try to remember that we are all members of the same human race living on the same fragile planet. When we make significant changes to our outlook on others and on the world around us, we will finally stop getting leaders like Trump.
SundayReview | Op-Ed Columnist
Donald Trump: The Russian Poodle
In
1972, President Richard Nixon’s White House dispatched burglars to bug
Democratic Party offices. That Watergate burglary and related “dirty
tricks,” such as releasing mice at a Democratic press conference and
paying a woman to strip naked and shout her love for a Democratic
candidate, nauseated Americans — and impelled some of us kids at the
time to pursue journalism.
Now
in 2016 we have a political scandal that in some respects is even more
staggering. Russian agents apparently broke into the Democrats’ digital
offices and tried to change the election outcome. President Obama on
Friday suggested that this was probably directed by Russia’s president,
saying, “Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin.”
In
Watergate, the break-in didn’t affect the outcome of the election. In
2016, we don’t know for sure. There were other factors, but it’s
possible that Russia’s theft and release of the emails provided the
margin for Donald Trump’s victory.
The C.I.A. says it has “high confidence” that Russia was trying to get Trump elected, and, according to The Washington Post, the directors of the F.B.I. and national intelligence agree with that conclusion.
Both
Nixon and Trump responded badly to the revelations, Nixon by ordering a
cover-up and Trump by denouncing the C.I.A. and, incredibly, defending
Russia from the charges that it tried to subvert our election. I never
thought I would see a dispute between America’s intelligence community
and a murderous foreign dictator in which an American leader sided with
the dictator.
Let’s
be clear: This was an attack on America, less lethal than a missile but
still profoundly damaging to our system. It’s not that Trump and Putin
were colluding to steal an election. But if the C.I.A. is right, Russia
apparently was trying to elect a president who would be not a puppet
exactly but perhaps something of a lap dog — a Russian poodle.
In
Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair was widely (and unfairly) mocked as
President George W. Bush’s poodle, following him loyally into the Iraq
war. The fear is that this time Putin may have interfered to acquire an
ally who likewise will roll over for him.
Frankly,
it’s mystifying that Trump continues to defend Russia and Putin, even
as he excoriates everyone else, from C.I.A. officials to a local union
leader in Indiana.
Now
we come to the most reckless step of all: This Russian poodle is acting
in character by giving important government posts to friends of Moscow,
in effect rewarding it for its attack on the United States.
Rex Tillerson,
Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, is a smart and capable manager.
Yet it’s notable that he is particularly close to Putin, who had
decorated Tillerson with Russia’s “Order of Friendship.”
Whatever
our personal politics, how can we possibly want to respond to Russia’s
interference in our election by putting American foreign policy in the
hands of a Putin friend?
Tillerson’s
closeness to Putin is especially troubling because of Trump’s other
Russia links. The incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn,
accepted Russian money to attend a dinner in Moscow and sat near Putin. A
ledger shows
$12.7 million in secret payments by a pro-Russia party in Ukraine to
Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort. And the Trump family
itself has business connections with Russia.
It’s
true that there will be counterbalances, including Gen. James Mattis,
the former Marine commander who has no illusions about Moscow and is
expected to be confirmed as defense secretary. But over all it looks as
if the Trump administration will be remarkably pro-Putin — astonishing
considering Putin’s Russia has killed journalists, committed war crimes in Ukraine and Syria and threatened the peaceful order in Europe.
So
it’s critical that the Senate, the news media and the public subject
Tillerson to intense scrutiny. There are other issues to explore as
well, including his role in enabling corruption in Chad, one of the
poorest countries in the world. The same is true of his role in complicity with the government of Angola, where oil corruption turned the president’s daughter into a billionaire even as children died of poverty and disease at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world.
Maybe
all this from Russia to Angola was just Tillerson trying to maximize
his company’s revenue, and he will act differently as secretary of
state. Maybe. But I’m skeptical that his ideology would change in
fundamental ways.
This
is not only about Tillerson just as the 1972 break-in was not only
about the Watergate building complex. This is about the integrity of
American democracy and whether a foreign dictator should be rewarded for
attacking the United States. It is about whether we are led by a
president or a poodle.
Ross Douthat and Maureen Dowd are off today.
I invite you to sign up for my free, twice-weekly email newsletter. Please also join me on Facebook and Google+, watch my YouTube videos and follow me on Twitter (@NickKristof).Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTOpinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.
How a Putin Fan Overseas Pushed Pro-Trump Propaganda to Americans
The Patriot News Agency website popped up in July, soon after it became clear that Donald J. Trump
would win the Republican presidential nomination, bearing a logo of a
red, white and blue eagle and the motto “Built by patriots, for
patriots.”
Tucked
away on a corner of the site, next to links for Twitter and YouTube, is
a link to another social media platform that most Americans have never
heard of: VKontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook.
It is a clue that Patriot News, like many sites that appeared out of
nowhere and pumped out pro-Trump hoaxes tying his opponent Hillary Clinton to Satanism, pedophilia and other conspiracies, is actually run by foreigners based overseas.
But
while most of those others seem be the work of young, apolitical
opportunists cashing in on a conservative appetite for viral nonsense,
operators of Patriot News had an explicitly partisan motivation: getting
Mr. Trump elected.
Patriot
News — whose postings were viewed and shared tens of thousands of times
in the United States — is among a constellation of websites run out of
the United Kingdom that are linked to James Dowson, a far-right
political activist who advocated Britain’s exit from the European Union and is a fan of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. A vocal proponent of Christian nationalist, anti-immigrant movements in Europe, Mr. Dowson, 52, has spoken at a conference
of far-right leaders in Russia and makes no secret of his hope that Mr.
Trump will usher in an era of rapprochement with Mr. Putin.
His
dabbling in the American presidential election adds an ideological
element that has been largely missing from the still-emerging landscape
of websites and Facebook pages that bombarded American voters with
misinformation and propaganda. Far from the much-reported Macedonian
teenagers running fake news factories solely for profit, Mr. Dowson made
it his mission, according to messages posted on one of his sites, to
“spread devastating anti-Clinton, pro-Trump memes and sound bites into
sections of the population too disillusioned with politics to have taken
any notice of conventional campaigning.”
“Together, people like us helped change the course of history,” one message said, adding in another: “Every single
one of you who forwarded even just one of our posts on social media
contributed to the stunning victory for Trump, America and God.”
In
a recent email interview from Belgrade, where he has met with Serbian
nationalists, Mr. Dowson explained how his decision to establish an
American social media presence was similar to the move into European
markets by Breitbart News, the conservative provocateur media operation
run by Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist.
“Simple
truth is that after 40 years of the right having no voice because the
media was owned by the enemy, we were FORCED to become incredibly good
at alternative media in a way the left simply can’t grasp or handle,”
Mr. Dowson said. “Bottom line is: BREXIT, TRUMP and much more to
follow.”
While
it is easy to overstate the influence of fringe elements whose overall
numbers remain very small, the explosion of fake news and propaganda
sites and their possible impact on the presidential election have
ignited alarm across the American political spectrum. A recent study
found that most people who read fabricated stories on Facebook — such
as a widely circulated hoax about Pope Francis endorsing Mr. Trump —
were inclined to believe them.
Then
there is the added element of Russian meddling. The Central
Intelligence Agency has concluded that Moscow put its thumb on the scale
for Mr. Trump through the release of hacked Democratic emails, which
provided fodder for many of the most pernicious false attacks on Mrs.
Clinton on social media.
Some of those attacks found a home on Russian websites such as the one for Katehon,
a right-wing Christian think tank aligned with Mr. Putin. Katehon
recirculated anti-Clinton conspiracies under headlines like “Bloody
Hillary: 5 Mysterious Murders Linked to Clinton.”
Another Russian site that urged support for Mr. Trump, called “Just Trump It,”
is linked to the International Russian Conservative Forum, an annual
gathering of far-right leaders in St. Petersburg that has featured Mr.
Dowson, among others, as a speaker. The site, which seems mostly aimed
at selling Trump T-shirts, was registered to an individual at a Russian
company that trademarked a logo used to certify that merchandise was not
made with migrant labor.
Some
analysts see danger signs in the nexus of Russian interests and
far-right agitators in Europe and the United States. Social media can
amplify even the most obscure voices, giving them a stage from which to
broadcast a distorted message to credulous audiences.
“These messages seep into the mainstream,” said Alina Polyakova, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council,
a nonpartisan international affairs institute in Washington. “They may
have been extreme or fringe at one point in time, but they have been
incredibly influential in shaping people’s views about key geopolitical
events in a very specific direction.”
Russia
is particularly adept at playing this game, Ms. Polyakova said. “Moscow
specifically encourages and facilitates” the spreading of propaganda
through proxies, she said, as well as through events like the Russian
conservative forum, which showcases views and narratives favored by the
Putin government.
At
the inaugural forum in March 2015, Mr. Dowson praised Mr. Putin as a
strong defender of traditional values, while belittling President Obama
and the United States itself as “feminized men.” In the email interview,
Mr. Dowson said he was not supported by Russia in any way, and he
accused critics of trying
“I
look on this rebirth of McCarthy-type anti-Russian hysteria by the LEFT
as a hilarious reaction born out of the left’s inability to realize
THEY elected Trump, not me, not the Russians, not even the right,” he
said via email.
A colorful if somewhat enigmatic figure in Britain — The Times of London recently described him as “the invisible man of Britain’s far right” — Mr. Dowson, at first blush, would not be an obvious mouthpiece for Russia.
Formerly
a church minister in Northern Ireland and the father of nine, he became
involved in anti-abortion campaigns, joined the British National Party
in the mid-2000s and, later, founded Britain First, a stridently
anti-immigrant group opposed to what it called a creeping Islamic threat
to traditional British values. He publicly split with the group in 2014
after some of its leaders started invading mosques and threatening
Muslims, which he criticized as un-Christian and counterproductive.
While
involved with Britain First, Mr. Dowson made deft use of social media
and websites to promote its work and convey the impression of a mass
following. A British watchdog group called Hope Not Hate, which has tracked Mr. Dowson’s online activities, concluded
that he has “a rather canny knack for building up protest groups and
movements on the basis that it was your Christian duty to follow his
work.”
Mr.
Dowson claims to have reached millions of Americans across all of his
online platforms in the run-up to the November presidential election, a
number that could not be verified, in part, because he would not confirm
all of his sites. Online visits to Patriot News
did not come close to that, although when combined with several other
sites that appear to be connected to Mr. Dowson, the total number edges
above a million; most viewers were in Britain.
Whatever
the precise numbers, there is little question that postings on the
sites and Facebook pages linked to him were viewed and shared hundreds
of thousands of times. Many of the postings appear to be lifted from
other conspiracy websites, repackaged and launched back into the social
media maelstrom. Another site that trafficked heavily in pro-Trump news
was run by Knights Templar International,
a militant religious group that Mr. Dowson is involved in, which has
recently supported anti-immigrant militias patrolling border areas in
Bulgaria and Hungary.
For
Mr. Dowson, such activities are in keeping with his philosophy that
traditional Christian values are under siege because of feckless
leadership by America and European powers. The success of Mr. Trump, he
said, is the logical result of voters’ rejection of the weakness of
global elites.
Mr. Dowson has long been optimistic about the effectiveness of social media. During the 2015 conservative forum in Russia, he spoke presciently about the looming online battle for the attention of American voters.
“We
have the ability to take a video from today and put it in half of every
single household in the United States of America, where these people
can for the first time learn the truth, because their own media tell
lies, they tell lies about Russia,” Mr. Dowson said then.
“We
have to use popular culture to reach into the living rooms of the youth
of America, of Britain, France, Germany, and bring them in,” he said.
“Then we can get them the message.”
Trump has been lying about the Russian hack. He just accidentally admitted it himself.
(Mindaugas Kulbis/Associated Press)
THE MORNING PLUM:
In recent days, Donald Trump has been spinning a new narrative about CIA charges of Russian interference in our election: The administration did not leak the news of this finding until after Trump won, which shows this is just an after-the-fact effort to undercut the significance of his victory over Hillary Clinton. As Trump tweeted Thursday: “If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?”
This is not some small offhand remark. It represents an effort by Trump — one that is going to continue — to construct an alternative narrative to replace the increasingly substantiated one in which Russia may have in fact tried to interfere in our election to help him, which would obviously carry enormous significance on many levels.
But Friday, Trump send out a new tweet that accidentally reveals that he knows this entire narrative is a lie:
Trump is referring here to news that broke in late October: That a hacked email showed that interim DNC chair Donna Brazile may have leaked a Democratic primary debate question to Clinton’s campaign in advance. Brazile publicly blamed this leak on Russian hackers who were out to divide Democrats by feeding the perception among Bernie Sanders supporters that the DNC was putting its thumb on the scales for her. This built on a formal statement that the intelligence community put out earlier in October declaring itself “confident” that Russia was trying to interfere in the elections by hacking into DNC emails.
And so, by referring to this episode, what Trump is inadvertently revealing here is that, yes, the complaint about Russian hacking to hurt Clinton did in fact precede the election, and this was widely and publicly known. Of course, there is ample other evidence that Trump is fully aware of this. The intel community had publicly declared it weeks before the election. Trump had reportedly been privately briefed on it by U.S. officials. Trump was confronted with evidence of the hack at a debate with Clinton that was watched by tens of millions of people. At the debate, he cast doubt on the notion that Russia had hacked the materials to hurt Clinton. And yet, as Mark Murray points out, Trump himself widely referenced the material dug up in the hacks at rallies, where he used that material to — wait for it — try to damage Clinton.
Obama says U.S. will take action against Russia for hacks
President Obama said in an interview with NPR
on Dec. 15, that, "we need to take action and we will, at the time and
place of our own choosing," against Russia for its involvement in
cyberattacks during this year's election.
(Reuters)
Once again, we do not know for sure that Russia interfered. But, should more evidence emerge, Trump’s position on this is very likely to grow unsustainable. Confronted with evidence that a foreign power may have tried to swing our election — something that’s being widely condemned by Republicans — Trump continues to refuse to take it seriously (even as his own advisers gamely try to pretend he does). Instead, Trump appears to harbor boundless confidence that he can spin any substitute story line he wants, and that, no matter how deeply absurd it is, his supporters will eagerly buy into the alternate reality he’s concocted for them.
How long can Trump maintain this posture? It’s possible that the intelligence community will leak more evidence of Russian interference in coming days. What’s more, there will soon be confirmation hearings for two retired generals Trump has picked for his Cabinet — James Mattis as defense secretary, and John Kelly as head of the department of homeland security. They will be asked about the intelligence community’s confidence that Russia did try to swing our election, and what should be done about it. One presumes they will treat the topic with the gravity it deserves. Meanwhile, Trump — and let me remind you, he will soon be doing this as president of the United States — will be dithering around with tweets designed to spin his own reality about what happened that everyone knows is straight out of la-la land, including (presumably) him.
That can’t go on for too much longer. Can it?
****************************************************************
* GOP MAY TRY TO REPLACE OBAMACARE IN PIECES: CNN reports that GOP aides have settled on a process that involves repealing big chunks of the ACA through a simple majority “reconciliation” process, followed by replace:
Republican aides are saying there may not be one overarching “replace” bill. One senior Republican aide said the party will look for legislative opportunities to get “pieces” of Obamacare reform through — a process that could drag out for years.Republicans will tell you that they have “leverage” to force Senate Democrats to support these “pieces” of “replace.” But Dems don’t have to play along with this.
* GOP REPLACE PLAN WILL LIKELY COVER FEWER PEOPLE: The New York Times reports that the American Medical Association is calling for the GOP replace plan to cover as many people as currently are covered on Obamacare. But:
It’s likely, then, that the replace plan will cover far fewer people, and this is how it will be spun.House Republicans, preparing for a rapid legislative strike on the law next month, emphasize a different measure of success. “Our goal here is to make sure that everybody can buy coverage or find coverage if they choose to,” a House leadership aide told journalists on the condition of anonymity.
* VERY LITTLE SUPPORT FOR REPEAL: A new CBS News poll finds that only 25 percent of Americans support repealing Obamacare entirely, while 63 percent say it needs minor changes, and another 9 percent say leave it as it is. Support for repeal is down 10 points since January.
Of course, this doesn’t really count, because the public hasn’t yet seen the “terrific” replacement Republicans and Trump will put forth, and Americans are gonna love it big league.
* DEMS PLAN BIG FIGHT AGAINST TRUMP NOMINEES: The Associated Press reports that Senate Democrats plan to use the hearings into Trump’s nominees to position themselves for the 2018 elections by persuading working-class whites he’s not on their side:
To highlight what they say is the hypocrisy of Trump’s campaign promise to be a champion for the economically struggling little guy, they’ll focus on the nominees’ wealth, ties to Wall Street and willingness to privatize Medicare, among other issues. In some cases, they’ll seek to drag out the process by demanding more information and ensuring a full airing of potential conflicts of interest.All those Goldman Sachs and oil and gas executives give Dems a lot to work with, but let’s face it, the 2018 map is awful for them.
* CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIR RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT FBI: Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta has written a new op-ed in The Post that asks why the FBI didn’t try harder to notify the DNC that it had been hacked:
This is a real escalation — it represents an effort to get the press to shine a brighter light on the FBI’s broader conduct throughout this whole election (see: Comey, James).I was surprised to read in the New York Times that when the FBI discovered the Russian attack in September 2015, it failed to send even a single agent to warn senior Democratic National Committee officials. Instead, messages were left with the DNC IT “help desk.” … at nearly the exact same time that no one at the FBI could be bothered to drive 10 minutes to raise the alarm at DNC headquarters, two agents accompanied by attorneys from the Justice Department were in Denver visiting a tech firm that had helped maintain Clinton’s email server.
* YES, TRUMP IS A THREAT TO OUR DEMOCRACY: Two Harvard professors of government publish a must-read today that relies on a political scientist’s metric for determining whether a politician is “anti-democratic,” and delivers the bad news:
His indicators include a failure to reject violence unambiguously, a readiness to curtail rivals’ civil liberties, and the denial of the legitimacy of elected governments. Mr. Trump tests positive. … In the event of a war, a major terrorist attack or large-scale riots or protests — all of which are entirely possible — a president with authoritarian tendencies and institutions that have come unmoored could pose a serious threat to American democracy. … The warning signs are real.And as I keep shouting at you, congressional Republicans really must be seen as a crucial part of this story.
Comments
The Post Recommends
Trump’s pro-Russian posture is neither unprecedented nor likely to last very long.
"If Russia, or some other
entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why
did they only complain after Hillary lost?"
Pants on Fire! Trump tweet about White House, Russian hacking probe
President-elect Donald Trump continues to question whether
the Russian government tried to interfere in the U.S. election. Trump
has said it could have been China who hacked emails of Democratic
operatives and the Democratic National Committee. Or someone "sitting on
their bed who weighs 400 pounds."
And if it is the Russians, why did the White House wait so long to act? Trump asked on Twitter.
"If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?" Trump tweeted early Dec. 15.
Only that’s not true. The administration announced its findings a month before Election Day, and the White House’s announcement prompted a memorable exchange at the final presidential debate.
Who’s the puppet?
On Oct. 7 — a few months after WikiLeaks released a trove of DNC emails, but the same day WikiLeaks released emails of Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta — President Barack Obama’s administration said it was confident Russia was behind the cyberattacks.
"The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations," read an Oct. 7 joint statement from the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The U.S. Intelligence Community consists of 17 agencies and organizations within the executive branch, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence speaks on the group’s behalf.
Their statement said releases of alleged hacked emails on DCLeaks.com and Wikileaks and by the online persona Guccifer 2.0 were "consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts."
"These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process," the statement said. "Such activity is not new to Moscow—the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities."
Clinton used the statement as ammo when she referred to Trump as Putin’s preferred "puppet" in the Oct. 19 presidential debate. ("No puppet, you’re the puppet," Trump replied.) When Clinton brought up the intelligence community’s statement, Trump said, "She has no idea whether it is Russia, China or anybody else."
Post-election doubts
After the election, Trump has been just as dismissive about Russian involvement.
Regarding Russia’s involvement in the DNC email hack, Trump told Time magazine (which named him Person of the Year), "I don’t believe it. I don’t believe they interfered."
On Dec. 12, Trump also questioned the timing of concerns about election-related hacks, tweeting, "Unless you catch ‘hackers’ in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn't this brought up before election?"
Republican and Democratic leaders have raised concerns about Russia’s role in the election and have called for a congressional investigation.
According to a New York Times investigation, Obama warned Putin about the cyberhacking and potential U.S. retaliation in person at the G-20 summit in China.
The administration, however, chose to issue the joint written statement from Homeland Security and the national intelligence director rather than a more public rebuke from Obama. "It was far less dramatic than the president’s appearance in the press room two years before to directly accuse the North Koreans of attacking Sony," the New York Times noted.
Obama was aware of Russian hackers previously targeting the State Department, White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the New York Times reported, but he chose not to publicly call out Russians or issue sanctions out of "fear of escalating a cyberwar, and concern that the United States needed Russia’s cooperation in negotiations over Syria."
Our ruling
Trump tweeted, "If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?"
About a month before the Nov. 8 election, the Obama administration accused Russia of interfering in the U.S. elections, directing the release of emails "from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations."
This didn’t happen under the radar. Trump was confronted with it at the final presidential debate.
For a ridiculously wrong statement, we rate it Pants on Fire!
And if it is the Russians, why did the White House wait so long to act? Trump asked on Twitter.
"If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?" Trump tweeted early Dec. 15.
Only that’s not true. The administration announced its findings a month before Election Day, and the White House’s announcement prompted a memorable exchange at the final presidential debate.
Who’s the puppet?
On Oct. 7 — a few months after WikiLeaks released a trove of DNC emails, but the same day WikiLeaks released emails of Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta — President Barack Obama’s administration said it was confident Russia was behind the cyberattacks.
"The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations," read an Oct. 7 joint statement from the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The U.S. Intelligence Community consists of 17 agencies and organizations within the executive branch, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence speaks on the group’s behalf.
Their statement said releases of alleged hacked emails on DCLeaks.com and Wikileaks and by the online persona Guccifer 2.0 were "consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts."
"These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process," the statement said. "Such activity is not new to Moscow—the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities."
Clinton used the statement as ammo when she referred to Trump as Putin’s preferred "puppet" in the Oct. 19 presidential debate. ("No puppet, you’re the puppet," Trump replied.) When Clinton brought up the intelligence community’s statement, Trump said, "She has no idea whether it is Russia, China or anybody else."
Post-election doubts
After the election, Trump has been just as dismissive about Russian involvement.
Regarding Russia’s involvement in the DNC email hack, Trump told Time magazine (which named him Person of the Year), "I don’t believe it. I don’t believe they interfered."
On Dec. 12, Trump also questioned the timing of concerns about election-related hacks, tweeting, "Unless you catch ‘hackers’ in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn't this brought up before election?"
Republican and Democratic leaders have raised concerns about Russia’s role in the election and have called for a congressional investigation.
According to a New York Times investigation, Obama warned Putin about the cyberhacking and potential U.S. retaliation in person at the G-20 summit in China.
The administration, however, chose to issue the joint written statement from Homeland Security and the national intelligence director rather than a more public rebuke from Obama. "It was far less dramatic than the president’s appearance in the press room two years before to directly accuse the North Koreans of attacking Sony," the New York Times noted.
Obama was aware of Russian hackers previously targeting the State Department, White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the New York Times reported, but he chose not to publicly call out Russians or issue sanctions out of "fear of escalating a cyberwar, and concern that the United States needed Russia’s cooperation in negotiations over Syria."
Our ruling
Trump tweeted, "If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?"
About a month before the Nov. 8 election, the Obama administration accused Russia of interfering in the U.S. elections, directing the release of emails "from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations."
This didn’t happen under the radar. Trump was confronted with it at the final presidential debate.
For a ridiculously wrong statement, we rate it Pants on Fire!
John Podesta: Something is deeply broken at the FBI
John Podesta speaks in Washington. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)
John Podesta was chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
The more we learn about the Russian plot to sabotage Hillary Clinton’s campaign and elect Donald Trump,
and the failure of the FBI to adequately respond, the more shocking it
gets. The former acting director of the CIA has called the Russian
cyberattack “the political equivalent of 9/11.”
Just as after the real 9/11, we need a robust, independent
investigation into what went wrong inside the government and how to
better protect our country in the future.
As the former chair of the Clinton campaign and a direct target of Russian hacking,
I understand just how serious this is. So I was surprised to read in
the New York Times that when the FBI discovered the Russian attack in
September 2015, it failed to send even a single agent to warn senior Democratic National Committee officials.
Instead, messages were left with the DNC IT “help desk.” As a former
head of the FBI cyber division told the Times, this is a baffling
decision: “We are not talking about an office that is in the middle of
the woods of Montana.”
What takes this
from baffling to downright infuriating is that at nearly the exact same
time that no one at the FBI could be bothered to drive 10 minutes to
raise the alarm at DNC headquarters, two agents accompanied by attorneys
from the Justice Department were in Denver visiting a tech firm that had helped maintain Clinton’s email server.
Seven reactions to CIA assessment of Russia’s role in presidential election
President-elect Donald Trump as well as
Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Dec. 11 reacted to the CIA’s
assessment that Russia intervened to help Trump win the election.
(Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)
This trip was part of what FBI Director James B. Comey described
as a “painstaking” investigation of Clinton’s emails, “requiring
thousands of hours of effort” from dozens of agents who conducted at
least 80 interviews and reviewed thousands of pages of documents. Of
course, as Comey himself concluded, in the end, there was no case; it was not even a close call.
Comparing
the FBI’s massive response to the overblown email scandal with the
seemingly lackadaisical response to the very real Russian plot to
subvert a national election shows that something is deeply broken at the
FBI.
Comey justified his handling of the
email case by citing “intense public interest.” He felt so strongly
that he broke long-established precedent and disregarded strong guidance
from the Justice Department with his infamous letter just 11 days before the election. Yet he refused to join the rest of the intelligence community
in a statement about the Russian cyberattack because he reportedly
didn’t want to appear “political.” And both before and after the
election, the FBI has refused to say whether it is investigating Trump’s
ties to Russia.
There are now reports that Vladimir Putin personally directed the covert campaign to elect Trump. So are teams of FBI agents busy looking into the reported meeting
in Moscow this summer between Carter Page, a Trump foreign policy
adviser, and the Putin aide in charge of Russian intelligence on the U.S. election? What about evidence that Roger Stone was in contact with WikiLeaks
and knew in advance that my hacked emails were about to be leaked? Are
thousands of FBI person-hours being devoted to uncovering Trump’s
tangled web of debts and business deals with foreign entities in Russia and elsewhere?
Meanwhile,
House Republicans who had an insatiable appetite for investigating
Clinton have been resistant to probing deeply into Russia’s efforts to
swing the election to Trump. The media, by gleefully publishing the
gossipy fruits of Russian hacks, became what the Times itself calls “a
de facto instrument of Russian intelligence.”
But
the FBI’s role is particularly troubling because of its power and
responsibility — and because this is part of a trend. The Justice
Department’s Inspector General issued a damning report this summer about
the FBI’s failure to prioritize cyberthreats more broadly.
The
election is over and the damage is done, but the threat from Russia and
other potential aggressors remains urgent and demands a serious and
sustained response.
First,
the Obama administration should quickly declassify as much as possible
concerning what is known about the Russian hack, as requested by seven
Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Second,
the administration should brief members of the electoral college on the
extent and manner of Russia’s interference in our election before they
vote on Dec. 19, as requested by a bipartisan group of electors.
Third,
Congress should authorize a far-reaching, bipartisan independent
investigation modeled on the 9/11 Commission. The public deserves to
know exactly what happened, why and what can be done to prevent future
attacks. Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) have introduced legislation to authorize such an investigation.
Finally,
Congress should more vigorously exercise its oversight to determine why
the FBI responded overzealously in the Clinton case and insufficiently
in the Russian case. The FBI should also clarify whether there is an
ongoing investigation into Trump, his associates and their ties to
Russia. If ever there were a case of “intense public interest,” this is
it. What’s broken in the FBI must be fixed and quickly.
Read more here: Eric Chenoweth: Americans keep looking away from the election’s most alarming story
The Post’s View: ‘Lessons learned’ about Russia
Paul Musgrave: If you’re even asking if Russia hacked the election, Russia got what it wanted
White House: Trump 'obviously' knew Russia hacks were benefiting him
White House: Trump knew Russia hacked Clinton 01:21
Story highlights
- Russia's interference in the US election is coming into clearer focus
- Earnest defended the White House against accusations they were slow to act
Washington (CNN)President-elect
Donald Trump was "obviously aware" that Russia meddled in the US
election to benefit his own campaign, the White House said Wednesday.
Citing
Trump's own suggestion over the summer that Moscow locate missing
emails from Hillary Clinton's private server, White House Press
Secretary Josh Earnest said the beneficiary of Russia's cyberintrusions
was clear.
"There
was ample evidence that was known long before the election, and in most
cases long before October, about the Trump campaign in Russia,
everything from the Republican nominee himself calling on Russia to hack
his opponent," Earnest said. "It might be an indication that he was
obviously aware and concluded, based on whatever facts or sources he had
available to him, that Russia was involved and their involvement was
having a negative impact on his opponent's campaign."
Earnest
was speaking as the extent of Russia's interference in the US election
is coming into clearer focus. The CIA has told a group of top US
senators that Russia's hacking was aimed at helping Trump, a finding
that's caused angst among some Democrats, who believe the White House
should have provided more details about the hacking ahead of the
election.
The Obama
administration, through a statement from the Director of National
Intelligence, did identify Russia as the culprit in early October. But
private assessments had pinned the blame on Moscow far earlier.
Earnest
defended the White House and President Barack Obama against accusations
they were slow to act, saying it was essential all 17 US intelligence
agencies completed their reviews before making the information public.
He
insisted the administration didn't want to appear politically motivated
in naming Russia as the culprit in the election meddling.
"It
would have been inappropriate for White House figures, including the
President of the United States, to be rushing the intelligence community
to expedite their analysis of this situation, because we were concerned
about the negative impact it was having on the President's preferred
candidate in the presidential election," Earnest said.
"That
would have been all the more damaging in an environment where you have
the Republican nominee without evidence suggesting the election was
rigged," he continued.
Trump repeatedly made the claim the election was rigged against him, an allegation Obama said was harmful for democracy.
Christmas with Mr. Tigerli
Copyright 2015/2016 by Letizia Mancino
translated by Mary Holmes
All rights reserved
He
is in Maine, Betty!
B:
What on earth is Mr. Tigerli doing in Maine?
He
is spending Christmas in the “The Jackson Laboratory” in Bar Harbor.
B:
Isn’t it too cold for him there?
He
has his winter coat and a wooly hat! It is not much colder in Maine than on
Olympus!
B:
Is he alone?
Yes,
and he hasn’t taken his motorbike.
B:
And the beautiful Greek girl?
She
doesn’t celebrate Christmas. A Greek goddess isn’t a Christian.
B:
I have already heard something of this world famous Institute on Mount Desert Island!
Yes
Betty! It’s a cats’ paradise. There are six million mice there. More than anywhere
else in the world!
B:
Six million! Oh my god, and all sitting around under the Christmas tree?
Yes,
they are all related to each other!
B:
And they are waiting for the Christmas presents to be handed out?
Yes.
B:
Oh god, and they all want to have their Christmas dinner at the same table?
Yes.
B:
How many tons of cheese would one need for such an enormous family?
Mr.
Tigerli will invite them all to dinner.
B:
Rockefeller could not be more generous.
Neither
could Pope Franciscus.
B:
Aren’t the mice afraid of our cat?
He
has disguised himself as the Christmas tree.
B:
That would certainly suit him well!
As
a Christmas present he will let all the six million mice free. The mice will be
absolutely overjoyed.
B:
Has our little friend already drunk too much mulled wine?
Happy,
happy, cats and mice
Christmas
together is very nice.
Mr. Tigerli in China
Copyright 2016 by Letizia Mancino
translation by Mary Holmes
All rights reserved
Yes Betty, either or it seems he wanted to fly only with
Singapore Airways.
Boeing or Airbus, it’s just the same
isn’t it? Aren’t they both just fat birds with 500 passengers?
Yes, but Singapore Airlines has the
most beautiful airhostesses: delicate, fine, graceful… Mr. Tigerli had looked forward to the flight
so much!
So the little man was disappointed?
You just can’t imagine how disappointed
he was.
But thank God one of the hostesses was a
pretty Chinese girl. Mr. Tigerli purred loudly but she didn’t hear him because
the purring of the Airbus 380 was even louder.
The poor cat!
You’ve said it Betty. Mr. Tigerli was
in a very bad mood and asked me for a loud speaker.
I’m sure you can get one in 1st
Class.
“”Russian Girl” had even heard you over
the roar of the Niagara Falls” I said to Mr. Tigerli. “You are a very
unfaithful cat. You wanted to get to know Asiatic girls. That’s how it is when
one leaves one’s first love”.
And what did he say to that?
“Men are hunters” was his answer.
Yes, my dear cat, a mouse hunter. And
what else did he say?
Not another word. He behaved as if he
hadn’t heard me.
The Airbus is very loud.
I told him shortly “Don’t trouble
yourself about “Chinese Girl”. There will be enough even prettier girls in
China. Wait till we land in Guilin”.
Did he understand you?
Naturally Mr. Tigerli understood me
immediately. Yes, sweetheart, don’t worry. They will find you something sweet
to eat.
And he?
He was so happy.
No problem going through the immigration
control?
Naturally! Lots of problems. How could I explain to
customs that the cat had come as a tourist to China to buy shoes?
Fur in exchange for shoes…
Don’t be so cynical Betty!
Cat meat in exchange for shoes?
He came through the pass control with
no trouble!
Is this Mr. Tigerli?
 |
Betty MacDonald's Vashon Island is a paradise.
info to: Sandra Lorinda Traci Petr Dana Jana Michaela Rebekah Swiss Charrd Tru John Darsie Darsie Toby Jeanine Carol Justin Lila Daniel Mo Nika Steve Neal Jitka Jitka Tami Pete Laurie Maia Nancy Kelly Pam Mary Jan and all our other friends
www.bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/
info to: Sandra Lorinda Traci Petr Dana Jana Michaela Rebekah Swiss Charrd Tru John Darsie Darsie Toby Jeanine Carol Justin Lila Daniel Mo Nika Steve Neal Jitka Jitka Tami Pete Laurie Maia Nancy Kelly Pam Mary Jan and all our other friends
www.bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/
Take an illustrated day trip through Washington state’s largest city with artist Candace Rose Rardon.
gadventures.com
Linda White yes,if my health allows.I have a few problems but is something I have always wanted to do,especially as I reread her books.
Unlike · Reply · 1 · August 1 at 6:37pm
Linde Lund Dear Linda I'll keep you posted.
Like · Reply · 1 · August 1 at 6:42pm
Bella Dillon · Friends with Darsie Beck
I still read Mrs Piggle Wiggle books to this day. I love her farm on vashon.
Unlike · Reply · 1 · August 1 at 10:32pm
Lila Taylor Good morning...Linde Lund
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 18 hrs
