Vee

Don't sleep on me! International cooperation.

He's done.

Yeah, the Atlantic piece I posted the other day about the State Department touches on that as well.

Welp: Chris Hayes is interviewing (and hammering) Carter Page on MSNBC.

Another bad night for Donald begins:

Pence is not Trump. He doesn't have a fraction of even that man's odious charisma. To preemptively mythologize him based entirely on his dogmatic fundamentalist policies is to empower him, and he isn't empowered or charismatic.

People have already begun sectioning off Pence for this very reason. Pence can't win an election so I don't care.

The media had a bad night with the speech because, just like in the election, their bar was so low and they seem to jump at any chance to go back to playing the normal, fun, breezy Beltway politics game. Honestly, I expected that flip for the night. I also expected Trump to fúck up again and send them back on the hunt in a day or two. I didn't expect this to happen, or quite so fast. For the most part I feel they are doing the job on Trump now, but that doesn't excuse the flip or their past conduct. They have to learn more consistent discipline and focus, and most of the news media has lost that. I think the collapse of this administration will be both faster and slower than any of us expect. Not that makes sense, but whatever. There are levels, y'all. And multiple targets.

Unconfirmed report that the Democrats intends to call Christopher Steele, the British agent behind the mostly-confirmed Trump dossier, for testimony.

Per NYT, now Jared, Flynn and the mysterious Carter Page are all confirmed to have met Kislyak. From CNN: Nancy Pelosi and many of the Democrats have called for Sessions' resignation. This is especially interesting, because to me it reads like Page - who is on the outskirts of House Trump and probably knows everything - wants to cut a deal:

Yeah, I believe the first episode was Carlsen (or at least still officially his work on paper) and the second is apparently Malone. Every source I've ever seen claims Gottlieb started a month or two prior to this, but who knows on the credits. She created Jason Webb for that actor, I know that much.

Now with new audio clips, listen at the link:

Very, very early Gottlieb and, I think, Malone. That's Jason Webb on the Banner loading dock(!) with Kevin also working his own way up, and I know Gottlieb hired Mark Brettschneider.

The Atlantic on the State Department facing Trump.

Beat you to it by a minute! But by all means, keep it up. The more spotlight the better. And yeah, the media is seizing on it. This has been disclosed before, but more on how Obama's administration scrambled to leave a trail on the Russia issue for our intelligence agencies before leaving office.

Meanwhile: Sessions did not disclose Russian contacts, insists he didn't. Drip drip drip. Also:

Even more Karen Gillan as Nebula (and Fleetwood Mac) in the new GOTG trailer.

Yeah, it won't last. The media is having its occasional bout of desperation for Trump to pivot and return things to normal in the Beltway - just like multiple instances last year. It never lasts, he's too insane. They'll be back at him in a day or two. As for Van Jones, he needs a break from the cameras to get his head together.

People should stop reading the Intercept and Glenn Greenwald on principle. He is a right-to-left and back again lunatic who has been a crank since the Bush years, when he was last relevant. He's also been out there decrying all leaks on Russia/Trump as "Russophobic". Everything comes under his lens of the "American evil empire" he believed he was fighting against under Bush - if it's not American, it's his friend.

Eeesh. She's aged since her DW episode.

I know, baffling!