Strongbow wrote:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frAEmhqdLFs

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Editing this for convenience ratehr than log another entry in a dead thread:

Just to note somewhere: Friday, 13th April, 2018.
I'm having a personal wager as to whether today begins the road to the second US Civil War.

Drumpf pardoned Scooter Libby - who was convicted of lying to the FBI and leaking information that led to the identification of an undercover CIA agent that he didn't like, in the GW Bush era. This is a clear signal to all those currently charged with the same crimes in the current Russia investigation that if they keep their mouths shut, Drumpf will give them full pardons of whatever charges are made against them.

Also today, the FBI Investigator General  has expeditied a section of his report unexpectedly, and it condemns former FBI deputy director, Andrew McCabe, as having a repeated 'lack of candor' in some issues - essentially, he was not entirely forthcoming and leaked some information to the Wall Street Journal - information that hurt Hillary Clinton.
However, Drumpf's supporters see this as the tip of te corruption iceberg and are ready for any amount of blood. They find everything laid as charged against Drumpf to be a 'deep state' coup attempt. They hate this lying and leaking  - except when Drumpf pardoned Libby earlier today about the same crimes - then it was definitely courageous and good.

Anyway... Drumpf immediately tweets that this is final proof that their is no collusion, no corruption, and it is all a plot to do him in, "No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!" - yes, that's from a real tweet by the President.

James Comey, former FBI Director, whom Drumpf fired, has a book coming out soon, and his press begins this weekend. Drumpf and his party have already engaged a massive smear campaign against him, using all the power of the State and the offices of State up to and including POTUS. Press Secretary, Sarah Huckerbee Sanders, today gave lengthy excoriating prepared responses to questions damning Comey as a liar and a traitor, directly to the press corps. She lambasted the assembled media for not crucifying him. She also acknwledged for the first time publicly that Drumpf is very unhappy with current Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein (more on him later) the important bit here is that she is now saying that Drumpf is unhappy with Rosenstein, in public, and indicating that Drumpf may be looking to fire him.

McCabe matters in this context, as he was Comey's Deputy Director. They paint them as both part of one grand conspiracy to damage Drumpf (despite all being Republicans themselves). This runs damage control against Comey's press tour for his new book - which is not flattering to Drumpf at all - and paints everything in it as lies, and falsehoods and part of the ongoing plot.

But, it aslo contributes to the bigger picture: the Russia investigation.
Drumpf has had it with the investigation, he wants it ended, and having insisted he and everyone linked to him is inoocent, doesn't seem to understand why people are advising him that he just can't fire everyone involved with it and thus end it - he has determined his own innocence, and that should be good enough for everyone.
By tarring Comey & McCabe, he smears two of the key FBI movers in the commissioning and enactment of the Russian investigation.
So, to Rosenstein, he is currently in charge of the Special counsel, Robert Mueller, and his investigation; Rosentstein approves moves made by the investigation on grounds of law, and signs of on them. The Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, is recused form that oversight, because... he lied about his dealings with Russians on at least 4 occasions. So, it's down to Rosenstein.
Rosenstein keeps authorising new avenues to the investigation, as new evidence and leds arise.
Drumpf hates this, and by extension, hates Rosenstein. He has had his surrogates smear him mercilessly for months, trying to find a way and justification to remove him too. Then, Drumpf could put a stooge in place that is not recused, and that would be loyal to Drumpf, not the Constitution, and would stymie the Mueller investigation at every turn meaning it could not continue. He just has to get rid of Rosenstein first.
Well, Trum's lawyer was raided a few days ago as part of the investigation, and that was Drumpf's 'red-line' as it begins to speak to his past business dealings with Russia - an area Drumpf insists cannot be justified. Rosenstein signed off on that raid of the lawyer.

So, by smearing Comey & McCabe right before Comey's book comes out, he also manages to smear Rosenstein becasue he was working with those two during the process of the Russia investigation, and the Hillary Clinton investigation before it. If, Drumpf's supporters say, those two are liars and leakers, then Rosenstein must be too, and therefore he can't possibly stay in position. A steady stream of Drumpf surrogates have been on FOX News round the clock urging Drumpf to fire Rosenstein.
Drumpf has a short temper, he has been wanting to do this anyway, all Republicans acknowledge that the best way to get Drumpf to listen to you is to make the point on his favourite FOX shows - they've even started turning directly to camera and giving a monologue to the 'audience of one' back in the Whitehouse.
Now would be the perfect time by Drumpf and his supporters logic, to fire Rosenstein, install a surrogate, end the investigation.

So why am I typinig this right now? well, the US Markets just closed, and it was only ever going to happen after that - Drumpf loves to be associated to a rising Stock Market, and if he did this during trading hours, the uncertainty about the future would likely panic the markets and send them tumbling.

So, now, a Friday evening launch the offensive, all at once, and leave it to play out over the weekend.

So will this be the drop that leads to the Civil war flood? I wish my work did not have me so familiar with all of this, of how violently opposed and hateful of each other America now is, and how they are ready to all but wipe the other side out in order to 'win'.

Here's the kicker: Syria. It is not beyond Drumpf at all that in order to deflect from all of this back home, if it goes spectacularly badly, that he would launch a major offensive in Syria under the pretense of outrage over the horrific chemical weapons attack this week - US media and Americans of all sides would fall in line quickly with troops in danger.
And we'd get sucked in to it... again. Just like in Iraq where the dodgy dossier got us duped into fully committing.~
Oh! One of the key authors of that dodgy dossier, and the one who sold it around, made up the lie about yellow cake uranium,and evangelised it? None other than... Scooter Libby! Yes, the very same guy that Drumpf just pardoned!

So... I'm leaving this here it may not happen tonight, but... time will tell.

Oh! and I'm not even going in to the North Korean angle here! Sleep well!
-- Edited by blob on Friday 13th of April 2018 08:21:00 PM

And.... we're at war.
We tag along at the US behest on the evening of the day I said we would. There was extra bad news for Trump in the late afternoon as his lawyer Michael Cohen was supposedly definitively placed in Prague at a meeting with Russians in 2016 he swore he never attended, and his business records and Trump Corp. records were seized.

So, Wag the Dog it is.

Putin swore he would retaliate to the sort of action that we have just taken part in. The last time he made a direct threat like this and didn't follow through was... well, I can't find one, ever.

If you have a God, may they have mercy on us all, and the victims tonight and to come.
Best Wishes to all.