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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Monday, May 21, 2018
The 65-year-old queen, dressed in a below-the-knee blue and red dress, black gloves and three strands of pearls, entered the Orioles dugout along the third base line. She formed a receiving line with her husband and the president, clad in a navy blazer, and Barbara Bush. The first lady wore a blue and white floral print dress.
While the VIP guests took their positions designated by their names on 3-by-5 cards, the song “Brown-Eyed Girl” played over the stadium’s public-address system. Their images appeared on the video screen in right-center field.
“I’ve been playing baseball for 10 years, and I’m used to a normal atmosphere,” said Cal Ripken Jr., the Orioles shortstop, after exchanging handshakes. “This is a lot different. There’s a lot of excitement.”
(As always, views expressed in the article lede and comments are the views of the individual commenters and the submitter of the article and do not represent the views of Baseball Think Factory or its owner.)
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EDIT: Or what Jason said.
One last time: There wouldn't have been a Comey October Surprise if McCabe hadn't sat on the Weiner stuff for a good month in an effort to run out the clock.
Hey, remind us again why the Bureau never took possession of those servers? Why was Clinton-affiliated Crowdstrike permitted to hold onto them?
And I don't know what "Clinton affiliated Crowdstrike" means. First I've heard that. I mean, the DNC engaged their services, yes. But it's an outside cybersecurity company, run by an ex-FBI guy.
Normally, they do that themselves, not wait on the "victim" to designate a financially-connected third-party vendor to provide the data, thereby creating potential chain-of-custody issues that could hamper any actual prosecution.
FBI: DNC rebuffed request to examine computer servers: Emphasis mine.
Yup, not suspicious at all...
WH Says DOJ IG Probe Expanding ‘Based On The Meeting With The President’
Are you seriously calling that exculpatory?
You're pathetic.
Christopher Steele attempted to peddle the dossier/FBI investigation story all over town. Apparently, some folks here think the Democrats October Surprise efforts don't count because they didn't work, and Hillary lost. Interesting way to look at things.
I mean, yes... but I'm not sure what you're getting at. Why "except"?
And you're a Trumpkin.
I'm not sure what's more pathetic - you covering your ass with a distinction your +1 didn't make, or that you think it's a legitimate point of principle that "investigation for whatever cooked-up superficial reason it wanted" has some super secret double asterisk to count.
Congrats on your slide into parody.
Here's a Verge story from January 2017 (so written before much info was public) that addresses it from a technical perspective rather than a political one. It says that the arrangement in which law enforcement doesn't look at the underlying devices is not uncommon, disagreeing with Buzzfeed's claim that there was something unusual about it.
See the Verge story I linked in 220 for a counter view:
The FBI could have leaked anti-Trump material but instead we got this: "Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia"
YC, you were involved in an argument about the FBI leaking, not the Clinton campaign (or whoever else) trying to circulate a story, and the FBI's actions to favor Trump during the campaign are very relevant to allegations that the investigation was manufactured for political advantage.
When you're a talking bullet-point with no principles or morals, everything else looks interesting.
They know this, they won't address it, and you know they won't address it. You are on a treadmill. Why?
Oh, I'm pretty sure you do, the same way everyone on the board does.
And now Seth Rich is dead. Are you happy, hippies?
Wait until the (((Soros))) connection is revealed.
Ouch.
Yeah but he hereby demanded it. That’s the appropriate avenue for an emperor.
Of course it took Emperor Fatbody multiple tries to spell “hereby” correctly because he’s an idiot. Like his base.
My question has never been addressed. I still want you to lay out in broad terms how you think things went down. You know what this shadowy conspiracy you think is all about.
It is funny how the Trumpkin side never actually lays out their side. It is all "This is suspicious ... what about that ... and this other thing seems funny", but there is never ever any coherent "What was going on is Clinton and Obama were ...".
There is a reason for that, of course. It is because there is no coherent narrative that fits the known evidence. Well there is one, of course, but it happens to be some variant of "The Trump campaign found it self in bed with Russia and at best was used as their innocent patsy and at worst actively colluded with them along with a variety of crimes having been committed along the way by various parties."
As we've noted here before, the hallmark of all good conspiracy theories. You start looking for anything discrepant, and suddenly JFK is getting shot by 17 separate snipers simultaneously.
Given that hip young Republican icon Ted Cruz openly brags that the Republican Party is the Party of Homer Simpson because of its general stupidity and slovenly disregard for common sense, it might not be too far a leap to get them to admit to also being the party of Dale Gribble.
It is much (much, much, much) easier to attack than defend, especially when attacking something as complex as an ongoing investigation. There are many moving pieces, thousands of details, and endless angles for attack. So Jason - and the rest of the GOP establishment - would rather attack the current investigation than put forth a theory of their own.
If they put forth something of their own they would be subject to analysis and attack, but the endless "This looks a bit odd, don't you think" type attacks don't have to be defended in the slightest. They can be put out there and then when refuted you just move on to the next attack. And then the next attack and the next attack, and then eventually come back to the first attack.
Never ever stating any affirmative theory as to what happened means never ever having to defend such a theory. Since there is no even vaguely coherent other theory, obviously that is a non-starter. And besides they have nothing to gain from any alternate theory, they just want the investigation mitigated as much as possible. There is no goal of finding out the truth, nope just attack in order to defend.
Shows what ewe no!
His servants have a psychotic mold with him so it doesn't antimatter if he spells all you're fanta words rite - they no EXACTLY what he want's.
When the Rat Signal goes out, they immediately slide down the Bot pole (and back up the bot pole and back down the bot pole and then back up the bot pole...) into the Gnat Cave. At wants, they go too work on the Doormat supercomputer to find the answer he once.
Merchandising odors in (the other) hand, they put on their ukulele belts and jump onto the catmobile, sorry - pussymobile....
Nananananana Leader!
Trump has actually "declared" bankruptcy several dozen times, but he often forgets to hereby declare it so only 6 of them have counted.
So what happened to all this swamp-draining that was supposed to be going on. From over here, it looks a whole helluva lot swampier.
The Daily Caller, the tellingly favored political publication of a number of regulars at the think factory, has some recent history with anti-semites. Hmm.
Well, there's a shock... (/eyeroll)
But now that the Post has named him**, I do think it's interesting to see just who this evil man is who's been involved in the Deep State Plot to overturn the election. Apologies if this has been posted before, but anyhoo.....
Who is Stefan A. Halper, the FBI source who assisted the Russia investigation?
No mention of any blood ties to Sidney Blumenthal or Huma Abedin, but I'm sure that one of JE's sources will eventually get around to that.
** On the back page of the front section of the print edition, though on their front page online
New and Hot: So dear reader, in addition to passing along his entire life story, let me know clue you into Halper's organic food preferences...
Nobody likes a sore winner, Clap...
(Specifically: Hillary’s server, the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign, and now Mueller’s investigation.)
Covfefe!
Conveniently stepping over the fact that he's had the Rs' crap smeared all over him since the early '70s...
Fair enough. I was mostly talking about the second and third one (which I did conflate), but yeah they keep grabbing stuff from the past and re-purposing it, sort of like how they are the only ones who still care deeply and fervently about the dossier. Meanwhile everyone else has moved on to developments that are much more recent and applicable to now, but man they have their chew toy.
Because in a highly polarized environment, I thought it was dangerous to have a belligerent leader who doesn't possess basic qualities of human empathy or concerns beyond his own beatification and as such, worried that any number of incidents could spiral unrest out of control... especially considering sad guy likes to throw gasoline onto conflagrations rather than de-escalate them, as a proper President - of either party - should.
Weighing the three pilars of Trumpism - incompetence, malevolence, and ridiculousness - I vastly underestimated the proportion of the third... but - change is good and an interesting chapter to the book of Zonk got added... though, truth be told - other than still being flummoxed by Celsius and kilometers - it was really just a lot more air travel in a city that felt a lot like half a dozen other cities in eastern North America.
Except it's been addressed it before. While no one here has claimed every round peg fits neatly into a hole -- the picture is still incomplete -- here's what may be said with confidence:
(EDIT: You already know my view of the server investigation. It was tanked, pure and simple. And at the time Comey spoke to reporters on 5 July 2016, I expressed a modicum of sympathy for him, much like I had done after he claimed there was nothing to see here WRT the IRS scandal. Hillary was almost certainly going to win and this was not the hill to die on, especially someone with such a bright and wide self-preservation streak.)
Back in 2015-16, Trump and his pals were pushing mostly pro-Russia policies and some related comments from him were positively cringeworthy. Team Hillary sought to take advantage of this seeming low-hanging fruit through its work with Fusion GPS. Whether Steele deliberately sexed up his dossier or merely got played by Russian intelligence remains unclear, although with each passing day the former appears more likely. What is nearly certain, however, is that the dossier is ####.
Either in tandem with Team Clinton or on its own, the Obama DoJ and the Bureau may have manufactured its own intel operation against the Trump campaign, and later relied on the dossier's contents to secure themselves a FISA warrant that had up until then eluded them. (IIRC, a judge had rejected their applications -- twice.)
After Trump won, both the outgoing administration, including their allies within the Bureau, teamed up with Team Clinton, to sabotage the incoming/new administration. Frankly, Yates' talk of the Logan Act is all the evidence one needs to know their intentions, but the leaks to Ignatius and CNN are further proof that these folks were playing dirty.
I'm looking forward to reading what's inside Horowitz's reports and learning more.
Who knows, maybe I'm wrong about much of this, but there are way too many coincidences for me to think that. And at this point, very little would surprise me going the other way, including yes, learning that there was tampering of the 302 used in the Flynn case.
I hope this updated answer satisfies your curiosity, Mouse.
Still anticipating DJT to go full-on Caligula and declare himself a god.
And it gave some proud boys here the opportunity to smugly bring it up every week, thinking they were dunking on you.
Old and Busted: It's treason to even speculate Halper might have been the informant. TREASON!!!
Not sure where that's coming from, since this was the first time I've even weighed in on the Halper outing angle. That's your obsession, not mine.
New and Hot: So dear reader, in addition to passing along his entire life story, let me know clue you into Halper's organic food preferences...
And the minor fact that for his entire career he's been associated exclusively with Republicans.** But I'm sure that if he'd worked for Clinton and Obama you'd have deemed that to be irrelevant.
** Go on, JE, take the final plunge. Tell us that those Republican presidents he worked for (Nixon, Ford, Reagan) or raised money for (G.W. Bush), were RINOs in service to the Deep State.
In fact, my ex-pat status ends in a couple days... though, it's back to Chicago and this case, the impetus was work. They were decidedly accommodating in making the move possible - though, I worked remotely a lot anyway. However, I was 'offered' some new responsibilities - and while it wasn't point-blank demanded, it was 'strongly suggested'/implied that the task would benefit from more face time with the team I'll be running.
I did - to some extent - look at Wisconsin, but solely from the perspective of buying a house (our HQ is in the north suburbs - basically equidistant between Chicago and Kenosha/even Racine)... but the truth is that I miss Chicago.
+1
My wife's employer was recently bought out by a well known outfit from Racine. It's unlikely she'll be offered a transfer, thank god.
Maybe SBB didn't disappear after all.
In the background, we see Trump looking like a gold tie-wearing Zeus, ready to shove a lightning bolt up someone's ass.
It worked, he got you out of it.
I was wondering where he's been. Did he declare his exit or just ghost away?
Oh, no doubt.
The far north suburbs are McMansion land - I suppose you've got Mr T, but I am not a big fan of suburbs. Kenosha, at least, has some character - the Mars Cheese Castle, the Bratstop... I'd take a sleepy midwestern town over a suburb.
But yes, I'll take Chicago over either of them.
Well, those are all highway off ramp shops and while I know a lot of construction of was happening or planned near the highway by the time I left the heart of Kenosha is by the lake and that is where most Kenoshans spend their time.
I was wondering where he's been. Did he declare his exit or just ghost away?
I think he signed up for one of those time travel deals, and he's now happily living in 1979. Be nice if he'd just stay there.
Dancing like a monkey is exhausting. He needs a rest, at the spa, in the hot springs, where he and some like minded individuals can enjoy a hot soak while grooming each other.
The price of a moderate - but not exceptional - Lakeview one bedroom condo... fixer-uppers even less.
I have a college buddy in Racine and he was quite eager, too eager, to show me around. Though I took a pass more than a month ago, he still occasionally e-mails me new listings.
I will admit, were I married with kids - I think I might have been interested. I need to get myself back in the FIB mindset, I guess, but I like Wisconsin.
It's a real thing too. I stared into a mirror at midnight and said "Candyman, Candyman, Candyman" and Sammy Davis Jr appeared with a plate full of gefilte fish.
Welcome back to the US (soon) zonk.
Not sure where that's coming from, since this was the first time I've even weighed in on the Halper outing angle. That's your obsession, not mine.
By your own admission (#244), you "haven't been following it [the Halper story] too closely", so perhaps that's an excuse for the cluelessness. Before leaking every last detail about Halper that removed any and all doubt that he was the FBI informant who spied on the Trump campaign, the current or former FBI/DoJ sources were claiming that the informant was some kind of super-secret, covert undercover operative engaged in such sensitive matters that his life and other's would be endangered if his identity was disclosed, even to Congress. That was untrue. Halper had some association with the CIA, but not of that nature. He didn't overthrow foreign governments, just pontificated on the state of the world. You might ask why folks lied about that.
What about Morty? I'm a bit concerned, as I know he's had some pretty strenuous health problems at times. Last visit shows as 4/29.
The day after convicted felon and RNC Finance chair Elliot Broidy made his first Michael Cohen hush payment, he got a private audience with Trump.
Very coincidental coincidence...
Meh. Some of it is right and some likely nonsense. I don't think it matters at this point much either way.
This is pure wish-casting/wild speculation. The fact is you don't know one way or another, so sure they "may have" done any number of things, or they may not have. Well I object to your characterization of it as an "intel operation against the Trump campaign". Because of course what you are speculating there is about intent. You don't know one way or another on the facts (what buttressed the FISA application), but sure speculate wildly on the motivation behind getting the FISA warrants and just assert something dire sounding I guess.
Again, this is nonsense with nothing resembling proof. And of course like most of what you are asserting really has nothing to do with anything Mueller might find. If there was a mysterious FBI/Clinton/Obama conspiracy to sabotage the Trump campaign that would be bad and I would support investigating, indicting and so forth, but it really really doesn't do anything to mitigate what the Trump campaign and/or Trump administration did or did not do.
You seem to argue if there is bad actors on each side then both sides get a pass. I would suggest that if there are bad actors on both sides then let us expose ALL the bad actors and go after them all.
Sure. I am not holding my breath, but years and years of ridiculous Clinton/Obama investigations have inured me to another one. Have at, neither Clinton (either) nor Obama have any real electoral future, so have a good time.
My point is you are obsessing over the mote in your neighbors eye and ignoring the beam in your own. Even worse you are suggesting that mote means that beam is irrelevant and in fact couldn't possibly even exist.
Not sure where that's coming from, since this was the first time I've even weighed in on the Halper outing angle. That's your obsession, not mine.
By your own admission (#244), you "haven't been following it [the Halper story] too closely", so perhaps that's an excuse for the cluelessness. Before leaking every last detail about Halper that removed any and all doubt that he was the FBI informant who spied on the Trump campaign, the current or former FBI/DoJ sources were claiming that the informant was some kind of super-secret, covert undercover operative engaged in such sensitive matters that his life and other's would be endangered if his identity was disclosed, even to Congress. That was untrue. Halper had some association with the CIA, but not of that nature. He didn't overthrow foreign governments, just pontificated on the state of the world. You might ask why folks lied about that.
David and others have already responded to that narrative.
.
And the minor fact that for his entire career he's been associated exclusively with Republicans.** But I'm sure that if he'd worked for Clinton and Obama you'd have deemed that to be irrelevant.
** Go on,
JEClapper, take the final plunge. Tell us that those Republican presidents he worked for (Nixon, Ford, Reagan) or raised money for (G.W. Bush), were RINOs in service to the Deep State.But maybe you can respond to this. You already had one opportunity above, but I'm always willing to give you a second chance.
Behold as Clapper manages to simultaneously cast the Trump spy as both a silly fluffer AND the linchpin of his grand mother of all conspiracies.
Why, if I didn't know any better - I would say that people and events take on an importance that is wholly and precisely correlated with whether they're a black mark against Trump or, a black mark against the anti-Trumps.
They call it Grab Em by the Schrödinger --
Other examples include a former campaign coffee fetcher who was simultaneously a counter-intelligence superhero and cooked-up reasons for DOJ investigations being simultaneously a grave danger to the Republic AND wholly necessary and within the President's purview.
Authoritarians hate science. The Soviet Union prohibited discussion of Darwinian evolutionary theory in favor of Lysenkoism which was more consistent with their political worldview. Republicans do the same every opportunity they get, because their political philosophy eschews data and serious analysis. "Feels before reals," they might say, genuflecting to their fat, bald, spray-tanned anti-vaxxer leader.
Hell, if Trofim Lysenko were alive today, he'd probably be Trump's Science Advisor.
David and others have already responded to that narrative.
David contended that the earlier, somewhat speculative IMHO, articles suggesting that Halper might be the FBI informant justified the leaking & publishing of detailed information that removed any and all doubt that was the case. However, I don't believe he has addressed the fact that Halper was not a super-secret covert undercover operative, which had been suggested as grounds for withholding his identity and other information from Congress.
And the minor fact that for his entire career he's been associated exclusively with Republicans.
Obviously, you think that is dispositive. Others, not so much.
Others think failure to slide down the bot pole on command makes one a traitor to the Dear Leader.
I've seen that.
Bryer gets 80 votes and it's "bipartisan support." Roberts gets 78 and it's Evil Democratic Partisanship.
Fcvk you, you simpering cnvt.
Obviously, you think that is dispositive. Others, not so much.
And yet the fact that the wife of Andrew McCabe ran for state senate in Virginia as a Democrat is constantly cited as evidence that The Fix was in against Trump. I guess some dispositives are more equal than others.
It's so embarrassing when he has to "who dis" every time Vlad texts new instructions.
What if the decision to go with a decidedly NON-James Bondian spy to infiltrate the Trump campaign and administration was all just CYA?
Oh dear...
It's thet-there fancypants book-learnin' agin! What good does 'at do? Unh-hunh.
You egg-heads better gitcher noses outta them books and do some REAL work...
* Harley Davidson shuts plant in York PA, 350 layoffs now, more later
* Pockets cash on stock buyback after Trump tax cuts
* Announces move of work done in York plant to new facility in Bangkok Thailand to get around costs of new steel tariffs
* Harley Davidson shuts plant in York PA, 350 layoffs now, more later
* Pockets cash on stock buyback after Trump tax cuts
* Announces move of work done in York plant to new facility in Bangkok Thailand to get around costs of new steel tariffs
Link, please. I'm not finding anything by googling other than a 4 month old story.
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