Discussion: Maria Butina Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy

I gotta believe Sen. Rand Paul is going to be implicated with this one. He has just folded on being critical of tRump. Like, “hey, its Ok to build a hotel in Russia… blah, blah, …” Then again, has there been any noise besides Sen Flake or Corker that has been critical?

7 Likes

Didn’t you post something a million years back from the Dallas paper about the NRA spreading around money for the Russians? It was a while back but they were on this early.

5 Likes

To paraphrase the Vietnam era protest chant Hey hey how many Russian spies did the NRA sleep with today

6 Likes

There was a major story in the Dallas News about GOP pols getting Russian money. I wish I had it bookmarked and I’ll see if I can find it - but yes. It was all legal but it all smelled.

5 Likes

Heh. Fair enough. Gotta admit, I’ve been noticing a lot of that lately too. Less here than at another site, but, yes, here too sometimes.

4 Likes

Yes.

 

No.

3 Likes

I don’t know what’s more pathetic: that the Russians knew to target American right-wingers - Trump, the GOP, Evangelicals, the gun fondlers - or that fat, balding Republican men (like Erickson and Trump) actually thought these young women were attracted to them.

7 Likes

hahahahahaha unfortunately, that particular delusion is as common as dirt.

8 Likes

These last few years have to be the death of “rational actor” theory. Even before we get into the lack of radical action on global warming on the parts of either individuals or nation-states, as you point out certain actors just seem content to sow chaos. Its the “you’ve lost all your money at the roulette wheel, so you might as well pull the fire alarm and hope you can grab some money on the way out” theory of statecraft that Putin has developed, and which Trump, who is an experienced scavenger himself, is aping. Anne Appelbaum’s column on Brexit in the Post yesterday shows just how Brexit is a poison pill for Britain that is just beginning to release its toxins, and for all Mueller appears to be gaining purchase, Trump’s legacy of disruption will last for decades at the very least. I have no idea if this is some weird feature of end-stage capitalism, or a by-product of people getting unfiltered information from anonymous sources, or what. But it sure does seem as if “what’s the matter with Kansas” has become “what’s the matter with the whole damn world.”

14 Likes

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve thought that …

4 Likes

You’re not wrong - well, only a little bit anyway. The more I think about it (And damn you for making me think about it, Joey - lIke I don’t have enough to think about between holiday shit and Trump being president! [grumble, grumble] I keed, I keed.) the more I think the ‘[sic]’ should have been placed after interests not lies. Like you said, there’s just one focus - which means interest should singular, not plural.

Edited to Add: If the writer intended plural ‘focus’, then he/she should have used ‘foci’.

2 Likes

I doubt that Butina will return to Russia.
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1073274611331145728

11 Likes

Like I said, nothing personal. It’s just easy to get wrapped up in this and forget we might as well be cats on the windowsill, watching the world go by, for as much as our opinions matter.

5 Likes

One can argue that both “lie” or “lies” is correct based on the writer’s intent. Normal style calls for agreement between the singular noun ‘Focus’ and the verb ‘lies’ but if the writer intends to say that there are multiple Russian interests each with a point of focus, then ‘lie’ is called for. In this case, the sentence is said to have a compound plural noun “Focus of Russian Interests” which would get the plural verb “lie.” It might be correct to use 'Focuses of Russian Interests" in this case, but the writer might not want to sound so ambiguous.

1 Like

Because, why not. To the tune of the Sound of Music:

How do you solve a presnit like Pariah?

How do you catch a clod and pin him down?

How do you call the turd, that mean Pariah?

A flibbertijibbet! A will-o’-the wisp! A clown!

6 Likes

The research on cognition suggests were never were that rational. Explains a great deal.

9 Likes

The Party of Reagan has allowed itself to be co-opted by Trump and his many Russians. From "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” to this. Perfect.

2 Likes

Be that as it may, @icarrion, may I just insinuate that Ronald Reagan was, at the very best, a twerp?

2 Likes

Since the [sic] is wrong… would I then have to
quote as such:
… interests lies [sic] [sic]… or nested sic
… interests lies [[sic] sic]…
I’m going to be sick :nauseated_face:

4 Likes

But then they would. They’re not going to say something nice.

I have a particular tinfoil theory that will either be refuted or confirmed in the next few months: It could be that she’s planning a Papadopoulos. If she spends her time giving misleading or plain old false evidence (except the details she already knows Mueller) then she slows down the investigation at a crucial time while passing information through her lawyer to russia and her NRA contacts that would let them confuse the trail and/or get out of Dodge.

Like I said, it’s tinfoil, but it has the saving grace of being testable.

3 Likes
Comments are now Members-Only
Join the discussion Free options available