Thursday, February 02, 2017

The Trump administration is already starting to lift sanctions against Russia, beginning first with the agency that was involved in hacking our election. Wait, what?



Yeah I know, the jury is still out on whether this Twitter account is on the up and up.

However there appears to be some confirmation.

Courtesy of Politico:  

The Trump administration on Thursday relaxed the sanctions that the Obama administration placed on a Russian spy agency in retaliation for its alleged cyberattacks. 

The “general license” issued by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control appears to authorize U.S. companies to continue requesting licenses from Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, to sell American technology products in the country. 

The FSB was one of several individuals and entities former President Barack Obama hit with penalties over the suspected cyberassault that destabilized the Democratic Party and roiled Hillary Clinton's campaign. 

Treasury's directive covers "certain technology products," although it is unclear which products the license is intended to cover. The Treasury Department did not explain the reason for the exception.

Okay I'm all ears.

Anybody have a reasonable explanation, besides the settling of a debt, for Trump to want to quickly remove sanctions from the agency that has been accused of hacking into civilian and government accounts in order to sway the outcome of an election?

Anybody?

Yeah, that's what I thought. 

49 comments:

  1. Who says Trump never pays his debts?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:44 PM

      Are you saying he didn't pay Comey?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:09 PM

      Hundreds of contractors, six bankruptcy courts, his lawyers...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:30 PM

      Well the debts that could cost him his life anyway.

      Delete
    4. *facepalm*
      By lifting sanctions against a Russian entity, Trump is paying his debt to Putin for helping him get elected.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous5:29 PM

    Gosh did Niki run that comment past her boss?
    =======================

    6 killed in Ukraine; Putin says Ukraine seeking US support

    By INNA VARENYTSIA - The Associated Press

    AVDIIVKA, Ukraine (AP) Salvos of artillery shook eastern Ukraine on Thursday, the fifth day of escalated fighting between government troops and Russia-backed separatist rebels. Two Ukrainian troops were killed overnight and 10 others wounded, the government said, while rebels said one of their fighters was killed.

    .... Later Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley condemned Russia's "aggressive actions" in eastern Ukraine and warned Moscow that U.S. sanctions imposed after its annexation of Crimea will remain until the peninsula is returned to Ukraine.
    The new American envoy said it was "unfortunate" that she had to condemn Russia in her first appearance at the U.N. Security Council, saying "we do want to better our relations with Russia."

    But Haley said "the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:25 PM

      I was going to ask if others heard Trump was rolling back sanctions and then Haley stated at the UN they will remain. Which one is it as my daughter came to say bout her father's pathalogical lying. Without the press we will not know what the Trump administration is doing because he and they say opposite incongruent conflicting statements bout the same topic.

      Will the rolled backp sanctions remain or the more stringent ones of the Obama administration?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:10 PM

      It came as quite a surprise that Haley said what she did. I think it was just because there's now so much attention being put on what's going on and he had to finally say something, albeit through another person, and he surely hated having anything said that was anti-Vlad. Of course, Trump himself will not say a thing.

      Delete
  3. Don't miss Maddow tonight:Russia/Putin doing some housecleaning(?).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:26 PM

      Well I would say so...I mean who wants to deal with 'take no prisoners' motto? smirk.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous8:00 PM

      How can nobody but us peons connect the dots? They have infiltrated our government, probably military and all our major security depts. It's so obvious. Even if herr trump gets the boot, they will all still be in place.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous9:12 PM

      I know! And when is someone going to finally show the connected dots as evidence? We know it's there. There have to be people working like mad at getting the full intel. I thought it'd be out there by now for all to know about.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:44 PM

      Maddow is a paid for idiot on the idiot box for idiots. You still haven't learned.

      Delete
    5. You may not like what Maddow has to say, but calling her an idiot just demonstrates your ignorance and stupidity.

      You obviously have nothing remotely close to her credentials in international affairs.

      When will you ever learn?

      Delete
    6. Maddow is certifiably smarter than you, 10:44. Why the angst? Do you have buddies in Russia too?

      Delete
  4. Anonymous5:43 PM

    BuzzFeed

    Maryland Judge Dismisses Melania Trump’s $150-Million Lawsuit Against The Daily Mail
    - 1 hour ago


    Ahhhh hail naaaaaa not Pretty Woman 2.0

    Was the judge one of dem Mexicans?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:07 PM

      Good, she is just a plagerizing whore.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:30 PM

      Nasty boys and classless toys.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous7:32 PM

      She'll never be a first lady and she knows it. That honor was given to Ivanka. Pardon me while I wretch up my dinner.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous5:11 AM

      Yeah as far as we know, there isn't any nude photos of ivanka, so that makes her less of an embarrassment than wife #3.

      Delete
    5. That stupid lawsuit never stood a chance. She would have had to demonstrate that the Mail 1) knowingly spread false information about her and 2) that she was harmed by it.

      Since she is technically first lady, it would be very difficult for her to show harm.

      Also, the bar is much higher for people who are public figures.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous5:43 PM

    O/T Maybe Ivanka should be talking to "real” working women not CEO’s, you know the ones that actual do the work and can’t afford nannies, but I suppose she needed an excuse to use taxpayer money for a party of trump supporters.
    =============================
    Ivanka Trump's dinner party diplomacy

    ....was for Ivanka Trump to solicit ideas on how to promote women in the workforce and fight for issues like paid maternity leave.

    Attending the Thursday night dinner was Walmart CEO Doug McMillon; General Motors CEO Mary Barra; Ernst & Young CEO Mark Weinberger; Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky; investment banker Adebayo Ogunlesi; JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon; Trump’s head of the National Economic Council, Gary Cohn; and Dina Powell, the former Goldman Sachs partner who recently joined the administration to advise Ivanka Trump and Kushner.

    http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/ivanka-trump-women-workplace-234581

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:00 PM

      Nordstrom just dropped Ivanka's line thanks to the boycott started in the fall. Well done, everyone.

      Delete
    2. She's asking a bunch of male CEOs who are basically responsible for gender income inequity and the glass ceiling on how to promote women?

      Yeah, this was some fucking excuse for a party at taxpayer's expense.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous6:12 PM

    Gosh that didn’t take long, 2 weeks and trump has turned the office of the president into the laughing stock of the world. All the world leaders consider him a cry baby, except for Vlad of course.
    ================================================

    It's 14 days into the Trump presidency, and "normal Trump tantrum" is already a thing foreign leaders say

    Donald Trump has been president for less than two weeks, but his bizarre, meandering, angry phone calls with foreign leaders have spawned a frighteningly concise description: “a normal Trump tantrum.”.....
    .... Even more striking, Richardson is explicitly saying what many foreign leaders are beginning to grasp about Trump: that his unpredictable tirades at close allies (on Wednesday, Trump also kinda sorta maybe threatened to invade Mexico) are the rule, not the exception......


    http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/2/14488122/trump-anger-australia-invade-mexico-refugee-deal-obama-insult-prime-minister

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:35 PM

      I like to call them "Trumper Tantrums".

      Delete
    2. "All the world leaders consider him a cry baby, except for Vlad of course."
      -------------------------
      Oh, Vlad thinks he's a big fat crybaby all right. But he's a useful big fat crybaby.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous6:13 PM

    WASHINGTON — When President Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware this week to pay respects to a fallen member of the Navy SEALs, it was his daughter Ivanka — not his wife, Melania, who accompanied him.
    -NYT


    Well he did say he would be dating her if she wasn't his daughter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:29 PM

      From my education of narcissists it is possible Trump did not want his wife having any attention as the First Lady. He would need all of the oxygen in DC and all the press. While I have no reason to doubt Melania Trump is a devoted mother. I can not imagine Donald wanting her to be more than a beautiful possession to illuminate his grandiose self.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:35 PM

      So gross.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous9:07 PM

      He sees Ivanka as the female version of himself, and so she is the ultimate woman, he thinks, and sex partner--there is no way he's not thought about what sex with her would be like.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:05 AM

      I'm thinking the estrangement is surely mutual at this point: he doesn't want to share the limelight, she has no stomach for the public scrutiny and by all indications no stomach for him either. There's gotta be a pre-nup that would leave her high and dry if they split up, and probably unable to protect Barron.
      At the women's march in DC there were more than a few signs that said, Free Melania. Until she proves me wrong, my sympathies are with her.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous6:18 PM

    Mrs. Trump’s approval rating is 37 percent, according to a Gallup poll conducted last month, which found that she was substantially less popular than previous first ladies at the dawn of their husbands’ presidencies.
    -NYT


    People don't like her husband, not a surprise her poll numbers are down to.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. People also aren't keen on an immigrant with limited command of the English language and readily available nude photos representing our country as first lady. It's undignified and insults the position.

      I'm one of the ones who disapproves. Let her stay hidden in New York with her son. I'd be fine if she never moved into the White House.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous6:29 PM

    I will donate the direct tv pile of fake news equiptment that aided the hacked election results. Direct TV and other communication corporations helped old rump scam the American public. I canceled the contract and told them why. Next up amazon and homedepo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pretty soon we'll have nothing BUT fake news. Trump now owns the FCC and his pick is going to destroy Net Neutrality.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous6:34 PM

    I have been with Chase bank for 20yrs. I will be closing my account and when they ask why? I will tell them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. IIRC these people were big fans of that fake ass teabagging back in the day6:58 PM

    OT

    Republican members of tRUMP pwned CONgress forced to live in own private Idahos due to their constituents protesting the bad taste of the New Orange Cheeto Republican Brand!

    Even Idaho Republicans are now forced to hide and work in their own Private Idaho just like Sarah Palin!

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jim-risch-appointment-sign-up

    "Sen. Jim Risch’s chief of staff, John Sandy, said the decision to ask constituents to schedule meetings came amid the senator receiving "1,000s of calls a day" and receiving 30-40 visitors daily at his Boise office for the past two weeks, “demanding meetings right now," according to the Idaho Statesman."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:05 AM

      Again they need to be reminded who they are working for.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous7:16 PM

    Trump Touts Plan to Allow Russian Money in US Elections

    Freedom of religion is a sacred right, but it is also a right under threat all around us. That is why I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution.

    That doesn't seem so bad. Trump just wants ministers to be able to speak up and support Godly candidates if they want to. What's the problem with that?

    Maybe nothing. Except that repealing the Johnson Amendment would also allow churches to contribute to campaigns. And churches aren't required to disclose their donors. And setting up a church isn't really very hard. Mark Kleiman explains:

    The Russian, Chinese, Saudi, and Iranian governments would all, predictably, either find congregations already recognized by the IRS to use as front groups or incorporate new ones. Of course a group organized as a mosque might not be able to wield much influence without stirring up opposition, but nothing bars the Saudis or the Iranians from paying some stooges to set up a fake Baptist church.

    ....So, like most of Trump’s ideas, this one reduces mostly to corruption and the sacrifice of American sovereignty to foreign — especially Russian — influence. And of course that won’t keep the tame preachers of the Christian Right from backing him all the way.
    So maybe my headline wasn't really so clickbaity after all? It all depends on the fine print, I guess.

    http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/02/trump-touts-plan-allow-russian-money-us-elections

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous7:22 PM

    Why did they need to boycott her clothing line?

    Daddy told everyone America first: buy only American made , her stuff is made overseas:)

    ======================================
    Boycotts force Nordstrom to cut back relationship with Ivanka Trump

    Nordstrom will curtail its stock of Ivanka Trump brand products following boycott threats, Bloomberg reports. The chain will keep some inventory for the moment, but plan to significantly reduce Trump merchandise.

    The decision has not yet been confirmed publicly by Nordstrom, but a campaign called Grab Your Wallet called on consumers not to spend their money at retailers that carry Trump-name brand products. According to the Hill, Ivanka’s brand is no longer listed on the Nordstrom website.....

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/boycotts-force-nordstrom-to-cut-back-relationship-with-ivanka-trump/

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous7:26 PM

    Another Pinocchio moment for kellyanne
    =======================================

    Kellyanne Conway made up a fake terrorist attack to justify Trump’s “Muslim ban”

    In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that aired on Thursday night, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway managed to get two huge things wrong in a short, 19-second answer. First, she said that the Obama administration banned Iraqi refugees from entering in the United States for six months in 2011 — which is flatly untrue.

    Second, and more significantly, she made up a terrorist attack committed by Iraqi refugees that never happened — the “Bowling Green Massacre”:
    Joe Sonka @joesonka
    .@KellyannePolls says that 2 Iraqi refugees "were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre."
    (There was no such massacre.)
    9:34 PM - 2 Feb 2017

    Joe Sonka is, to be clear, 100 percent correct about this. There has never been a terrorist attack in Bowling Green, Kentucky committed by Iraqi refugees.

    Conway claims that “most people don't know that because it didn't get covered.” Most people don’t know about it because it didn’t happen.

    http://www.vox.com/world/2017/2/2/14494478/bowling-green-massacre

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:02 PM

      God she's nuttier than a fruitcake.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous8:03 PM

    New twitter to follow!

    https://twitter.com/25thAmdt

    " 25th Amendment
    @25thAmdt

    Born in 1967, had been leading a quiet life
    USA, USA "


    Last time I checked Donald J. TrumpVerified account
    @realDonaldTrump had 23.4 million followers.

    @25thAmdt https://twitter.com/25thAmdt needs more followers than Trump!



    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous9:17 PM

    Don't know if anyone has already said this, but Nordstrom has cut ties with the Ivanka brand.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous10:06 PM

    Gryphen, what can we do? I live in a blue state. I call my reps all the time. Today I called about Russia. I just cannot believe that this Russian coup has really happened to our nation. And no One's doing anything yet. But there are still whispers on social media that his aides will be called out soon by IC...

    ReplyDelete
  18. WA Skeptic11:17 PM

    So now the pipeline of information goes directly from the Oval Office to the Kremlin and it's the size of the Holland Tunnel.

    Impeach Trump and Pence.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you impeach Trump and Pence simultaneously and are successful, you get President Paul Ryan.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous12:55 AM

    and this is how trump and his allies (#popularvoteloser, #donthecon) got paid for lifting the sanctions

    A dossier with unverified claims about President Donald Trump's ties to Russia contained allegations that Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russia's state oil company, offered former Trump ally Carter Page and his associates the brokerage of a 19% stake in the company in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions on Russia.
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/1/30/1627621/-19-5-of-Rosneft-Russia-s-State-Oil-Co-Sold-to-Unknown-Parties

    and here
    How Russia sold its oil jewel: without saying who bought it
    Russia sold exactly the amount of shares it promised to all too shell companies so the new owner can't be identified
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-rosneft-privatisation-insight-idUSKBN1582OH

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.