352 Comments

Insightful piece. The only utility that the New York Times has for me is to line the bottom of my parrot's cage.

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You'd better hope he can't read. You'd never hear the end of the Woke screeching.

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Isn't that animal abuse?

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What is happening right now that they are so eager to draw out attention AWAY from?

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China, and the Bidens' ties to Beijing business interests. They're desperate to distract us from that for a few months. Then Uncle Joe will be told he needs to step down "for the good of the nation."

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Ah yes, thank you. That is always the right question to ask with the rhetoric of the political class. When it comes to being scammers, they are the cream of the crop, the absolute most skilled. Distraction is an elementary tactic used when they are about to steal a couple $trillion.

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Can Americans be anymore apathetic? I mean, it’s not like we are too busy at work to care.

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Those who advocate for this corrupt statism - deserve it. But frankly all the Americans who don’t care for one reason or another- they probably deserve it too. I don’t know what’s worse.

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Apathy is earned. Chris speaks the truth.

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December 24, 2020
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That's been true for many decades.

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True journalists seek out and covet solid evidence. The harder the evidence the better. Mainstream media propagandists with agendas relish the imaginary and the unreal that somehow support their storyline. Notice how Glenn ALWAYS has evidence!?!?

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If only true journalist weren't so few and far between.

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"true journalists" have—as the late great Frank Zappa once said—no commerical potential.

I do miss Suzy Creamcheese.

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Sad, but mostly true.😟

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the inevitable outcome of consolidation of all power and profit centers

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I subscribed to your site because of this article. I also shared the newsletter with a number of my friends and family that I thought would take the time to read it. You cannot find this kind of information and insight anywhere else right now.

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I'm awaiting the moment the MSM declares Glenn to be "Alt-Right" and dangerous, according either to "experts" or anonymous "former _______ officials".

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Better late than never! Jk I only got here a couple weeks ago - thanks to Reason.

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Yeah? Well, if you brought Hihn, the Rev or Tony with you, I'm gonna drive by your house and shoot out your porch light with a BB gun.

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Anyone showing up with the slaver Hihn would be promptly advised to kill themselves.

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The "LEFT" (I apologize as I don't know what other label to assign)......maybe the "Crazied Russian Haters" is better)....

They hate RUSSIA because:

============================

1. It's generally an unabashedly orthodox Christian nation;

2. It's largely 'white' - meaning not diverse;

3. It's portrayed as generally 'anti-gay';

4. Russia appears to still believe there's value in the 'traditional' nuclear family;

5. Russia is very protective of its sovereignty;

6. Russians (as a people) appear to love "Mother Russia" (imagine that!);

7. Russians seem to appreciate hunting and firearms(?);

8. Russians appear to appreciate their military;

9. Russia has a track record of tramping on its neighbors sovereignty (very legitimate); BUT

10. The Cardinal Sin: the "Orange Man" has expressed a desire to get along with Russia (that has to be really bad!)..

No doubt there's likely many other attributes that drive delusional Russian Haters, but I think people could summarize it as Russia is the "Land of White Supremists"...too conservative, too homogenous, too Christian, too nationalistic..... Russian leadership certainly does not buy into political correctness...

HEADLINE: Biden to his staff: Hey, where's Hillary's "Reset" Button again...

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"They hate RUSSIA because"

Because the must have an enemy to focus the masses' hatred on.

It's got almost nothing to do with the items you enumerate. Liberals hate Russia because of the 2016 election -- the release of the Podesta/DNC emails -- and have found that Russia makes an excellent, useful, ongoing focus of fear and hatred, with easily invoked Cold War tropes that still resonate in the cultural memory.

Neoliberals don't give a rat's ass about the strength of e.g., the Russian Orthodox Church or the racial/ethnic groups in Russia. When they occasionally yammer about, say, oppression of gays in Russia, it's just another brick with which to construct their Evil Empire. Absent that cynical "need," they would never give a shit whether personal liberty fares well in Russia.

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Respect your opinion....but disagree with it...

It fails to address even remotely "why Russia"? There's no proof Russia had anything to do with the Wikileaks email postings. The "Cold War" wouldn't resonate with any of these Russia Haters...they can't remember what they had for breakfast let alone concern themselves with 30 years... Evil Empire?? These are not Reaganites... These Russian Haters despise the past... They believe they have nothing to learn from it other than how stupid people were back then as compared to the enlightened opinions they now hold.

My thesis is that the irrational RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA motif has everything to do with the fact that Russians (rightly or wrongly) are viewed by this crowd as appreciating (or at least tolerating) everything we're supposed to 'hate'....including (and especially) the Orange Man... These perpetual "war clowns" believe Trump needs to get TOUGH with Russia but won't because he's a Russian stooge..

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Honestly, I think you are giving the Neoliberals too much credit. I agree with Mona. Their hatred of Russia is just an easy target to get the non thinking masses focused on as the new bogeyman.

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But there are other easy targets if all that's needed is a bogeyman: Iran (which still has "Death to America" ralllies) and China (which really is a geopolitical threat) spring readily to mind. I think Heime Israel's list is a good starting point to explain the choice of this bogeyman. Though the vilification of post-Soviet Russia long predates Orange Man Bad, in fact, it even predates (and to some extent fueled) Vladimir Putin's rise to power. Some of us remember that Wesley Clark and Madeline Albright seemed eager to start WWIII with the Russians in their enthusiasm for backing war-crimes committing Muslim Bosniaks and Roman Catholic Croats in their war with war-crimes committing Orthodox Christian Serbs, that there were voices during the Yeltsin era in Russia that warned against pushing NATO expansion into the former Soviet Union, and thought the fomenting of the "color revolutions" was a bad idea. It would have been far better to embrace Russia as a new friend after the fall of Communism, but instead the neoliberals insisted on keeping Russia, almost definitionally, as an enemy.

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"It would have been far better to embrace Russia as a new friend after the fall of Communism, but instead the neoliberals insisted on keeping Russia, almost definitionally, as an enemy."

They did embrace Russia as a great friend indeed, with gusto and $$ investment when they installed Boris Yeltsin. Putin, however, isn't their puppet, and his role in Syria is anathema to them. Moscow genuinely was greatly displeased at the prospect of a President Hillary -- she promised to impose a No Fly Zone in Syria!

I find it almost quaint that anyone here thinks Hillary and the neoliberal gang would choose to hate a country because they perceive it as too religious and anti-gay. Really, dudes, that's kinda precious.

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No, they did not. If your theory were right, Wesley Clark would not have tried to order British troops to attack Russian troops arriving at Pristina Airport in June 1999 while Yeltsin was still President of the Russian Federation, two months before Putin even became Prime Minister, only to be talked down by the British General Mike Jackson. They embraced Russia as a business opportunity the way venture capitalists embrace a bankrupt firm which still controls valuable assests. If we had regarded Russia as a friend, there no one in NATO would have objected to the Russians arriving in Pristina, and we'd have actually considered Russian interests when NATO was gung-ho to prove its post-Soviet usefulness by picking sides in the Balkans.

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Mona’s Razor.

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Russia is surely more conservative in some ways, but many Russians are quite "liberal" in the American sense of the word. For me as EU citizen the Russia hate comes from the fact that Russia said stop to USA when USA was busy destroying Syria , for two reason: Russia doed not want jihadi's developping in other places, second after Lybia Russia considered USA had done enough destruction in other countries. First time USA imperalism was challenged. And this happened under Dem president & Dem foreign secretary of state H. Clinton. They cannot swallow it so they are really in a revenge thinking. That contains a danger of becoming ugly. USA has enemies they think they can destroy by all means, allies they consider they have to rule and partners they consider they can use for their benefit. Many Americans live on the island of their supremacist thinking. They really should go of it and make a 180° turnfor the benefit of the world.

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"Russia hate comes from the fact that Russia said stop to USA when USA was busy destroying Syria , for two reason: Russia doed not want jihadi's developping in other places, second after Lybia Russia considered USA had done enough destruction in other countries. First time USA imperalism was challenged. "

Exactly. It has fck all to do with whether Moscow is nice to gays or the people love Mother Russia. [eyeroll]

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Your comments continue to explain nothing about why the USA media and ruling political class continues to characterize RUSSIA as a mortal enemy.

Remember, OBAMA and CLINTON wanted a Russian re-set...

The factors you cite (Syria, US imperialism, etc) may play well outside the USA, but they do nothing to explains why people in the US should perceive RUSSIA as a threat.

In my view, anti-Trump politicians (with their media acolytes) in the US leveraged anti-RUSSIA hatred because Trump expressed a rationale willingness to deal with Russia as an equal and Russia was an easy boogeyman because it is perceived as primarily WHITE, Religious, conservative, family-oriented, i.e., not diverse and inclusive.

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"Russia was an easy boogeyman because it is perceived as primarily WHITE, Religious, conservative, family-oriented, i.e., not diverse and inclusive."

Uh-huh. Except all that played almost no role in the Russiagate hysteria of the last 4 years. You are free to hold an evidence-free belief, but you won't persuade those who require evidence. (And who have a clue about neoliberals, who don't care a whit about the social and religious state of the Russian population, or Russia's state repression of gay people. C'mon, they love the Saudi's fer chrissakes.

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This is nuts:

"The factors you cite (Syria, US imperialism, etc) may play well outside the USA, but they do nothing to explains why people in the US should perceive RUSSIA as a threat."

Do you have the first clue about what cable "news" and establishment print media have been bombarding the public with for the last 4 years? Here's Greenwald on how intense and absurd it's been: https://theintercept.com/2019/01/20/beyond-buzzfeed-the-10-worst-most-embarrassing-u-s-media-failures-on-the-trumprussia-story/

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“ but they do nothing to explains why people in the US should perceive RUSSIA as a threat.”

I don’t think this is the case. The average American doesn’t believe a word out of these idiot’s mouths. They know the Russia narrative was all about taking out our President.

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Heime Israel, your answers pretending the comments explain nothing why USA media and ruling class continues to characterize Russia as a mortal enemy: then you do not read what others have written or deny it. It has all to do with the challenge of USA imperialism by Russia. This was not the case in the period Obama -Medvedev. You also contradict yourself when you say "continues to characterize Russia as its moral enemy as you say it was not the case as Obama & Clinton wanted a Russian re-set. The direct intervention of Russia in Syria (which is by the way an old ally of Russia) against a possible jihadi take over of the country is the reason why USA has turn crazy on Russia. Before USA was still working in enclosing Russia by NATO and sanctioning it, still hoping to destroy it as a power. And there is Russia intervening in Syria . Impossible to endure for American imperialistic way of considering the world.

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Thanks for the comment...

It was Obama who said to Medvedev “tell Vladimir I’ll have more flexibility after the election”... and it was Clinton who did the lame (stupid) red “reset” button with Russian Ambassador Larov that said “overcharge” instead of reset because her arrogant staff used google instead of working with a Stare Dept translator...

It’s the “media” - the press - that carries this message. Regular Americans find no trouble with Russia or the Russian people at all. That’s the point. It has nothing to do with American supremacy...

Mr. Greenwald’s point is that this is a false narrative pushed to the public that “we” need to watch out for Russia.

Other than the political elitists, no one in America believes it...

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When I first read your comment, I totally disagreed with it. But then I realized I was looking at it from my personal lens. When I stepped back and thought about how many on the liberal end (more so the far left) is obsessed with looking at the world through a critical theory lens it made more sense.

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>>t fails to address even remotely "why Russia"? There's no proof Russia had anything to do with the Wikileaks email postings.<<

Because there is *some* evidence the GRU did the hacking, and also because neoliberals love and miss the Cold War. These people are warmongering hawks, and Russia was in Hillary's sights because of Syria -- Russia REALLY DID oppose her, and for good reason.

It's surpassingly easy to answer "Why Russia?" with no resort to all that cultural stuff.

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Assange insists the leaked emails did not come from Russia, and he's never been caught lying about the source of leaks before. He could be, of course. But that's hardly evidence.

Now, the private company the DNC hired to examine their servers claimed they found Russian IP addresses in the activity logs. But anyone with a modest IP skill set can set up a VPN to go through Russian servers - so that means nothing.

It's hard for me to accept that there is ANY evidence the Russians were involved. Ironically, though, Russia won't proclaim its innocence because it serves Putin's interests to have the U.S. obsessing over Russia as a threat - makes the Russian people forget their economy is, as President Obama pointed out, smaller than Italy's. Lets them pretend they're still a great power, and not a nation with a shrinking economy, plunging population, and a future as a satellite state to China.

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"Assange insists the leaked emails did not come from Russia,"

Mueller indicted the GRU based on U.S. intel findings -- I believe from NSA. We haven't seen most of that evidence, but I agree with Greenwald that Mueller wouldn't fabricate the stuff.

It's not dispositive, but that indictment is evidence of, well, the existence of evidence.

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Mueller had no evidence. There is a very simple reason for this; he was never investigating anything (partly because there was nothing to investigate) but mostly because his whole purpose was to snipe away at the Trump administration, eroding the network of supporters around him. You can see this very clearly because this is what actually happened; people prosecuted and in some cases jailed for irrelevant idiocies (Flynn caught lying to the FBI) but nobody ever presented any evidence to a court (you're hot on courts, right?) that anyone did anything they were alleged to have done, including Russia itself.

You talk about evidence-free theories but here you are, repeating the evidence-free theories of professional liars and schemers. Oh, I know, you call them "the intelligence community" so that somehow makes them respectable, but professional liars and schemers is what they actually are. There's a logical inconsistency here that damages your own arguments.

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Mona,

You’re conflating things again... the supposed GRU indictments had ZERO to do with Wikileaks and the release of the DNC and Podesta emails.

Podesta ADMITTED he gave his password to whoever accessed his gmail account..

As for the DNC Emails, Julian Assange basically admitted they were an inside job but won’t confirm it. He did state infatuatedly that the material was not from a “State Actor”.

I won’t guess at your motives. I’ll let other judge that but let’s talk facts...

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Agree with this. We shall see. I predict Biden will announce some meaningless sanctions and then the menacing Russian Bear will disappear from media and Democrat/Neo-Con talking points.

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My understanding is that they hate Russia for its freedoms.

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Misplaced jealousy .. . they got nothing on the NSA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEX3BA5WliY

*merry Christmas & happy New Year

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LOL NSC

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I hate Russia becasue it is Neo-Tsartist.

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How many American military bases are in Russia? What, zero? No friend.

Are there American military bases in Germany, Italy, Japan? Friends.

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Sorry... I’m not getting the point of your statement....

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December 23, 2020
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Black Russians Matter!

(At least to those Big Lebowski fans who suffer from lactose intolerance)

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"I am the walrus"

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A real Russian bot would say, "I am walrus."

Arrogant Americans with their superfluous definite articles...

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Lennon wanted to claim the title. Lenin probably wouldn't care.

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Yes. But both knew that sometimes you have to break a few egg men to make an omelette. Besides, the walrus was Paul.

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December 23, 2020
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This short article explains all, including the Big Lebowski reference.

liquor.com/recipes/black-russian/

You should probably drink more. It's the American Way.

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Isn't it interesting that these guys pick the second-rate power to accuse? The CCP has bought influence at so many US globalized companies, and by extension, so many US politicians, that its just not possible to blame them for anything. Mike Bloomberg, for instance, sucks up to China in the most egregious way possible. So - if you are "the new left", and you have to blame someone for something, the choice is obvious: it is far better to blame the fallen regional power, whose economy is slightly larger than Spain, and who doesn't have enough cash flow to bribe anyone, vs the #2 power in the world that has massive influence with your Donors. I mean, why would you expect any other behavior? It's all about the money.

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So right! The same actors who drone on about Russia always seem to treat China with kind gloves

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What about China A.I. And gaming out war scenarios like when to take Taiwan or Hong Kong ? Oops HK gone but we are more worried about an economy the size of Italy in Russian garb ? Thanks NYTimes, Wapost, CNN, MSNBC...

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so tell us, do you recognize yourself here?..."Mainstream media propagandists with agendas relish the imaginary and the unreal that somehow support their storyline."

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whoever benefits from the change in sanctions that Biden will (probably) make in Feb 2021 is driving the Novel Writing Machines to make this Russia pulp right now. As a computer scientist, I have tried to follow the technical details of these hacks and they all go back to some DCCC funded DC cyber-tech firm that puts out some non-nonsensical technical sentences.

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The hallmark of Russian hacking is that they leave no evidence behind. The lack of evidence in this case seems pretty conclusive.

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I am assuming this is sarcastic. If so, well done.

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"........The hallmark of Russian hacking........."

..........is lying and denying. Wait, that's the hallmark of the Russian government.

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Priceless!

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Those clever communistic fiends!

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The key point is it is a myth to believe that the MSM is factually-based, whose goal is Truth. The MSM appear to be platforms the function of which is to disseminate national security state propaganda. This is a dangerous situation where the general public is being manipulated.

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> the hack has what he calls the “markings” of Russian hackers

Maybe I missed this, I still have to see someone pointing out that whoever the actual hackers are, I expect they would be capable to ensure their hacking has the "markings" of whoever they want. i.e. "Russians" in the current case.

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It works the same way the same way that dogs leave "markings" on fire hydrants. Just take a whiff. If the story smells like hooker pee on a mattress, the reporter KNOWS that it was the nefarious Rooskies. You can buy little vials of the original scent by Christopher Steele on Amazon. Or for quite a bit less, the thrifty intelligence operative may opt for the cheap Chinese knock-off.

Either way, you're golden!

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President Trump cannot pardon Ed Snowden fast enough. Followed by awarding him the Medal of Freedom. In the Oval Office. On live TV.

Right after that, Texas should secede.

Come on, Santa. Make it happen!

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They’ve got something on trump - I have my doubts he will man up. I mean, the “declassify” trope was all bark and no bite. Did he even have anything to declassify?

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Never fuck with Santa, dude. He's an essential worker.

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Santa is a sick, exploitative CEO. Slave elves do all the work. He rides his stylish sleigh, powered by animal labor, and takes the glory.

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Ain't capitalism just the best!

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Hey now, Santa may be a hard-nosed competitor, but his ethics are unimpeachable.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWxsK3uvkYc

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Quite right!

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Like I said, NEVER fuck with Santa.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPxXNaWcvZY

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his taxes

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December 24, 2020
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his taxes will show his sources of income, investments, creditors etc. etc.... as you and your fellow willfully ignorant trumpholes know.

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"Trumpholes" Very classy.

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your feigned offened sensibility is noted and your hypocritcal pretense of moral high ground laughed at.

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I saw them. Every statement printed on "Sberbank" stationary. Plenty of cyrillic letters. Work hours in Moscow time zone. Phones start with +7.

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I find Mr. Greenwald's lack of faith in the pronouncements of the intelligence agencies to be disturbing. Yes, they have always lied to us in the past - but that was for our own good. When they say something, it's for a reason and in the case of an intelligence agency, you can be sure it is an intelligent reason.

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If this was sarcasm, well done.

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It may be true or false, but how do they get all the major newspapers to report it in such 'stunning lockstep' without any proof whatsoever so far? That's what's so vexing.

It has all the hallmarks of a sewing circle and the earmarks of a stimulus bill.

*I find Ben&Glenn After Hours disturbing .. . I was expecting some hard liquor and pole dancers.

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Once you realize newspapers no longer do journalism, but propaganda for the corporate industrial statist canal, it's not so surprising.

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About as intelligent as the below one, which is what makes it effective.

https://youtu.be/uMSV4OteqBE?t=118

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Two recent headline occurring before the hack was announced say it all: “Trump Ally Nunes Seeks to Derail Key Bill Funding Intelligence Community” and “Trump Threatens To Veto Defense Bill” I find it an amazing coincidence that these hacks were announced at about the same time that votes on the Defense Authorization Bill (and Trumps threatened veto) were scheduled. There is nothing like a good Red Scare to push through a massive increase in spending on intelligence agencies.

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Reminiscent of The Atlantic story about Trump “disrespecting soldiers” dropping just as Will Ruger was announced as nominee for Ambassador to Afghanistan, and how “Russian bounty” stories always pop up when Trump makes overtures toward drawing down in Afghanistan.

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I haven’t seen a shred of publicly available evidence tying this hack to Russia. Only opinions (Pompeo, Barr, anonymous sources in media pieces). The implication being that facts do exist to support this, but they are just too sensitive to make public. So trust us and the conclusions we have drawn. This is horseshit. The conclusion (Russia did this!) and accompanying rhetoric (act of war!) is already out of the bag and the situation is already escalated. In my view, any “sources and methods” privilege claimed by the IC is outweighed by the public’s right to know before we are dragged into another war. We all know who pays the price in an armed conflict. In addition to the damage done to the invade-ee, the burden for the US is carried by young 20-somethings who come home in boxes, missing limbs, etc. These are the folks politicians like to call America’s finest, but really don’t give a shit about. No one with the last name Pompeo, Barr, Durbin, Trump, Biden, etc etc will pay any price if we are bungled into an armed conflict.

The tragi-comical figure in this is Biden. Riding an election win based far more on a rejection of his opponent than on whatever fragile coalition he has, this go-along-to-get-along career DC creature is being backed into a corner. He is being pressured to “do something” when he takes office in response to an “act of war”.

My suspicion on this, and I hope I’m right, is that all of this “Russiagate” nonsense was a balm used to soothe fractured minds following the stunning 2016 election result. It has simply lingered on and will hopefully die with Trump leaving office. That any threat from Russia, while real, is relatively minimal to the world’s economic and military superpower. That people like Durbin and his loose rhetoric are not taken seriously. That once Biden is inaugurated, the temperature will go down. He will impose some meaningless sanctions, the Dem party and their media allies will drop Russia from their vocabulary, and that will be that. It will expose the fraud of the Russian menace, but at least it will keep us out of another war.

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I miss the late Stephen Cohen

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This comment is underrated

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GG does not overstate the danger of escalating rhetoric about Russia. Remember, Biden does not remember his own name (O'biden), does not remember Obama's name ("my boss"), and twice on camera endorsed Donald Trump for president, while proclaiming that he was running for he senate. And he'd call anyone who remembers those facts a "lying dog faced pony soldier." THAT is the man to trust with nuke codes? Walt Kelly in the comic strip Pogo said "we have met the enemy, and it is us."

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You forgot "one horse pony"

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Hopefully they keep Joe away from the red button. I heard he’s so senile, they convinced him to take Kamala on as VP by telling him she is Leslie Uggams.

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It's not a matter of trusting him with the codes, it's trusting that he won't remember the codes.

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