Like an episode of The Americans...Saudi hit squad kills journalist

Audio recording from journalist Apple watch transmitted sounds of his murder. A professional hazmat type cleaning crew was seen entering the embassy and this morning reports of repainting inside. Now they are going to allow an investigation? 45 making excuses for this killing. Currently WH and/or Saudi spin doctors trying frantically to come up with a plausible story to explain events.

US intelligence knows what actually happened but 45 keeps saying "we'll get to the bottom of this". Our lack of moral leadership is showing as is Agent Orange's disdain for the press. They thought they could get away with it without problems from us. Will Congress do anything meaningful?

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, the crown prince and other top officials in Riyadh on Tuesday to discuss the disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist who Turkish officials say was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

The Oct. 2 disappearance and alleged killing of the dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, who lived in the United States and whose 60th birthday was on Saturday, has heightened tension between Saudi Arabia and both Turkey and the United States, while severely tarnishing the reputation of the kingdom and its powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

President Trump has vowed “severe punishment” if a Saudi hand is confirmed in Mr. Khashoggi’s killing, but has said he does not want the case to affect arms sales that create American jobs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/world/middleeast/pompeo-saudi-arabia-turkey.html

It is time for a reckoning.

2seaoat wrote:It is time for a reckoning.

HA! There's not going to be any reckoning--there'll be a lot of hand-wringing and some sort of wrist-slap with a "Go and sin no more" warning and then things will go back to the way they were.

Do the math: Saudi Arabia has 280 BILLION barrels of proven reserves and their production cost is $8.98 a barrel. The production cost for U.S. shale oil is $23.35 a barrel. https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Saudi-vs-Shale-The-Breakeven-Myth.html  

Do you think the Big Oil is going to jeopardize it's access to those reserves because some dumb-ass journalist got killed?

The Saudis could jack the price of crude up to $200 a barrel and the world economy would fold like wet tent.

Reckoning, my ass. The Saudi's will get away with it, nothing will change.

Reading the story line about this man's obvious demise is anything but credible. Trump giving lip service to this charade tells everyone all they want/need to know about the depth of his conviction(s) . . . . how totally shameful and lame!

Trump's handing other countries they keys to getting away with any human rights violations they want. All they have to do is:

(A) Flatter him so he feels like they admire and/or "like" him -- Trump is a weak, needy daddy-issues drip who can't stand up to anybody who "likes" him because he needs it too badly,

(B) Make a business deal with Trump. He won't hold you accountable if he might lose money on the deal. Saudis are buying weapons from us, so Trump's not going to really do much to them because he doesn't want to lose their money. And it's not even as big an arms deal as Trump's saying, it's just the promise of buying more weapons over the coming years. When it's a little eeeeeyarrrrrggggh to be selling our top-notch fighting gear to a country where most of the 9/11 terrorists came from.

And there's a (C) that's not as tested (because all the ones in question have already filled an A or B requirement) but I think would also theoretically work: just be a "strongman" in general. Trump is a toadie by nature. Bullies get him all turned on and he wants to be friends with them so he can feel like he's a tough-guy, too. That's more daddy-damage from Fred Trump. If you're a strongman, Trump might give you carte blanche to do whatever you want even if you don't flatter him or make deals with him.

But, (A) or (B), most definitely. He's sent that message out to the world. Want to murder anybody, torture people, oppress people, whatever? Do (A) or (B) and Trump will make all the excuses in the world for you. Kim sent us back a guy who'd been maltreated to the point of insensibility and died soon after. Trump's response? "We fell in love! He sent me such nice letters!" Putin hacked out election, but he once said Trump was "flashy" (which got mistranslated as "brilliant") and so Trump says, "He said he didn't do it, so... what can ya do?!"

The United States has zero leadership right now. NONE.

Yeah, but without Trump we wouldn't have gotten supremely entertaining stuff like this:

Trump calls Stormy Daniels 'Horseface' after a federal judge dismissed her lawsuit against him

President Donald Trump on Tuesday crowed about his court victory over Stormy Daniels, calling her "Horseface" after a federal judge dismissed her defamation lawsuit against him and ordered her to pay his legal fees.

"Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas," he tweeted. "She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!"

[...]

Daniels, who has said she and Trump had an affair in 2006, hit back at Trump's tweet on Tuesday, suggestively mocking his manhood, which she recently described in detail in her book.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present your president," she tweeted. "In addition to his...umm...shortcomings, he has demonstrated his incompetence, hatred of women and lack of self control on Twitter AGAIN! And perhaps a penchant for bestiality. Game on, Tiny."

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-stormy-daniels-horseface-lawsuit-win-2018-10

Deus X wrote:Yeah, but without Trump we wouldn't have gotten supremely entertaining stuff like this:

I'd be willing to pay that price and miss it all...

The dude just... agh. He's embarrassing on so many levels, it's like a Rubik's Cube of shit-to-be-ashamed-of. Every day he comes up with some new configuration of multi-level awful.

First, the asshole got himself in this situation in the first place. While he was in his late 60's.

Then, he's 70-some and he's doing this juvenile schoolboy shit in public.

And... he's the freakin' president.

I don't know how anybody who voted for this guy can show their face in public. I really don't.

I can remember thinking Republicans had embarrassed themselves about as far as they could manage by electing Dubya, with all the stupid shit he said and did. He seems completely quaint and reasonable now, in comparison.

Then I thought, my god, you found somebody even fucking DUMBER when they brought out Palin, who was not only 'bout as smart as a pine-knot, she was trash-nasty in the bargain, getting in drunk-ass clod-brawls with her methy-mess of a family. It was like "if Honey Boo Boo's too sophisticated for ye, here's somethin' ya'll can clap fer!" And I thought -- while discounting Louie Gohmert as a regional figure, and Michelle Bachmann who's nutty as a squirrel turd but at least can be counted on to probably not light a fart during a debate -- "Okay, this is going to be as walloping-goddamn-stupid as the Republicans are going to ever go. There has to be a limit for everything, and Palin is gonna be it, surely."

And the conservative gods heard me, and they said, "Hold my beer." And lo, they taught me how foolish it is to underestimate the just fucking-DUMB-dumbDUMBdumb-DUMMMMB-B-B-B! limits of the American conservative, and they blew past a field of not-good-but-come-onnnnn candidates to elect a stupid fucking Al Capone-ish criminal con-man who is, quite possibly, the worst person in the world.

And then he gets in office... and he turns out to behave even worse than you'd think. The office is supposed to change people a bit. Even Dubya managed moments of dignity now and then. But Trump? Nope! "I'm gonna call her horseface even though I told her she reminded me of my daughter, which was yeeeee-agggh-a-spider's-on-me-creepy to begin with!"

Years ago, 2011, when Comedy Central decided to do a roast of Donald Trump, I wrote 'em saying, "God, don't do this, this guy's such a piece of shit I can't even get entertained by people insulting him... no insult would go far enough, he's just too much of a toilet-clog. Please don't even give him the airtime, roast someone more likeable. Hell, Charles Manson's still alive, he'd qualify!"

And then... ye gods, that's the guy who Republican voters picked.

If they ever seemed redeemable, those days are gone now. They're now the party of people who have teeth marks on everything they own because they forget what's edible and what ain't. Just dumber'n shit 'n' angry about it. I cannot imagine having to defend that fuckwit.

And he spent half his 60 Minutes interview saying "I'm not a baby!" Sheesh. He may not be a baby, but if he ain't, he's no more than four.

zsomething wrote:  ...While he was in his late 60's.  

I'm not sure I like your tone, young man.

I'm not big on crazy conspiracy theories -- that's a right-wing thing -- but it would explain some of Trump's weird reactions in protecting the Saudis, if he was in on it:

https://twitter.com/AmericanMousa/status/1052260163506331648

Jamal Khashoggi interview on Egyptian TV revealing classified deal between Trump and the Royal king of Saudi Arabia to take money from Royal Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal to bail him self out after being arrested for corruption the money end up to Trump / Kushner weapon deal

Supposedly Khashoggi was looking into some Kushner/Trump finagling with MBS to get the weapons deal money out of Bin Talel, and they killed him to silence him before he could reveal that Trump and Kushner took bribes. But, who knows. It sounds so diabolical and conspiracy-theorist that I'm staying skeptical. Don't wanna turn into the Democrat version of a "Vince Foster/ Uranium One/ Fast and Furious/ Qanon" idiot who believes every-damn-thing just because I hate the opposition. But it's something that's out there, and if he has his fingers involved in the murder it would explain why Trump is defending the Saudis so much. But, Trump defends everyone who flatters him or that he has money invested with, and that seems the more likely explanation to me. And that's bad enough.

In any case, the Saudis are fucking lying about the whole thing. Nobody brings a goddamn bone saw to an abduction-gone-whoopsie. They went in there intending to kill that guy. You don't go, "Okay, let's go kidnap this fella... but, hey, bring along all the dissection equipment just in case he has a bad reaction to the sedatives!" And if they weren't trying to cover things up, why the re-painting?

I hope Congress will override the president and hold the Saudis accountable, because it's clear that Trump's not ever going to do a damn thing against America's enemies. Russia, North Korea, the Saudis, all get a free pass. The only people Trump's tough with are our allies. It's highly screwed-up.

Frank Luntz, word-smith and (at least) former advisor to Republicans just posted this on Twitter:

President Trump has taken a harder stance on Canadian milk than on Saudi murder.

and Julia Davis called this defense of Saudi Arabia "another Helsinki" moment.

I know he messes up by the numbers but this continued name calling of women and siding with dictators is really amazing right before the election. He really cannot help himself. The more agitated he gets the more frequently he lashes out and creates more problems for his party. Fine with me.

OK, the guy was a Saudi citizen so what should the U.S. do? What about all the deaths at the hands of Boko Harem? (according to BBC something like 1500 this year) Or is this just another liberal opportunity to get press by publishing all kinds of "what if" leading statements, conspiracy theories, etc?

What a show....Leave the Trumpet alone and he will eventually self-implode, it's doubtful the endless liberal hee haw is going to make any difference - it just masks the real issues.

Khashoggi may not have been a citizen... but he was a permanent resident, and working for the U.S. Trump's just trying to use paperwork to dodge having to actually do anything about it, because he's a fucking coward who can't confront America's enemies and lets them use him as a doormat. He did it for Putin, he did it for Kim (who he claims he's "in love with"), he's done it for neo-Nazis in our own country, and now he'll do it for MBS. And all the other dictators of the world are watching and taking note that, under this jackass's "leadership," the United States now bends over for anybody and they can do what they want.

Yeah, Boko Haram is horrible. Maybe if they send Trump a "beautiful letter" he'll belly-slither for them, too. If I was MS-13, I'd be telling Trump he's "pretty" and watch ICE get disbanded by next week.

It's funny how conservatives all claim they're for "law and order" and "American exceptionalism" and yet they back this clown who abdicates both on the basis of who gives him a few bucks or flows him a little of the approval his daddy didn't give him. There's no dictator who feels like playing Manson that Trump won't play Squeaky for.

And yeah, he'll implode on his own, but if an enemy's drowning, why not throw 'em an anvil? And maybe chum the waters to bring in sharks.

Z-something is 100% right on all of this, gator. ALL of it.

I'm a little lazy today so just imagine a picture of mushroom and Abubakar Shekau kissing each other on the lips and talking about the love letter he received from Boko Haram.

polecat wrote:

Q: What did it cost to kill Jamal Khashoggi?


A: An arm and a leg.

When you murder a journalist from an American newspaper, it is a big deal. When we turn our head on this cowardly deed, we turn our head on our values.

2seaoat wrote:When you murder a journalist from an American newspaper, it is a big deal.  When we turn our head on this cowardly deed, we turn our head on our values.

America flushed it's values down the toilet when it allowed 45 in the White House.