Trump Dumps Paris Agreement, Comey's Back, Putin Points Blame to 'Patriotic' Russian Hackers: P.M. Links

• 

  Jeff Malet Photography/Newscom

  President Donald Trump formally announced this afternoon the United States was pulling out of the Paris climate change agreement. He is open to negotiating terms to re-enter the agreement.

• Witnesses report gunshots and explosions at a hotel and casino complex near Manila's airport.
• Mark your calendars! Fired FBI Director James Comey will indeed be testifying openly before a Senate committee next Thursday. Will he state on the record whether Trump tried to get him to stop investigating former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn? Stay tuned.
• The Trump administration is working to return two diplomatic compounds in New York City and Maryland that had been seized by President Barack Obama's administration over the allegations of Russian meddling in the presidential election.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin says it might have been some "patriotic" Russians totally not connected to the Russian government who hacked into the Democratic Party's emails.
• Somebody left a noose at an exhibition on segregation at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
• The Orlando Police Department has released hours of body camera footage from their response to the deadly Pulse Nightclub attack.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Donald Trump formally announced this afternoon the United States was pulling out of the Paris climate change agreement.

Carrie Underwood isn't going to care for this at all.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Fucken-A Donnie. Fucken. A.

Make Elon cry, bro.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Heeelllloooooo!

[pulls slot machine lever]

[Fist of Etiquette]

PITTSBURGH NOT PARIS. (Or Nashville.)

[Shirley Knott]

Elon crying is always a good thing. ____ing crony c__t.

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

Smiling cat?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Witnesses report gunshots and explosions at a hotel and casino complex near Manila's airport.

And unfortunately not a man in a tuxedo asking for a dry martini shaken not stirred.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Watched Timothy Dalton #1 the other day (The Living Daylights). It was dope, Dalton gets a bad rep; dark haired, slightly severe Bond worked for me.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Agreed. Roger Moore was the best bond, but Dalton was the second best, IMHO. The Living Daylights might be my favorite Bond flick.

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

That's like saying Clooney was the best Batman.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

He was.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

^IDK what this obvious lunatic is talking about.

[The Last American Hero]

After Lewis Wilson, you cretin.

[BiPolarMoment]

Nipples!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Will he state on the record whether Trump tried to get him to stop investigating former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn? Stay tuned.

I'd be more surprised that Comey was actually the one personally doing the investigating.

[BYODB]

I can't wait to hear about why Comey didn't mention in any congressional hearings he testified in after the fact, or about why he never mentioned it at all until some anonymous 'friend' read a theoretical memo to the press.

If Comey was pressured to drop the investigation, not reporting it immediately was a crime in and of itself. Oops. I suspect he'll use the Hillary defense, in that he didn't know it was illegal. Who do we think he was, anyway, the head of the FBI or something?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Past hearings are null and void because they happened back when he was a Team Blue villain.

[BYODB]

Clink on the CNN story linked and gaze in awe at the picture CNN decided to go with on this story, and tell me they aren't turning Comey into a badass with a halo. So, yeah, I guess he's unquestionably amazing again all of a sudden.

[BYODB]

Oh, nevermind, if CNN's famous anonymous source can be trusted (and they probably can't be) this tells you what you need to know about Comey being punished for his law breaking:

A source told CNN on Wednesday Comey has spoken privately with special counsel Robert Mueller to work out the parameters for his testimony to ensure there are no legal entanglements as a result of his public account.

1. So they give him an immunity deal, in exchange for testimony.

2. He accuses Trump of pressuring the FBI to back off Flynn, likely without any more evidence than we have now.

3. Democrats push for impeachment.

Sounds like a game plan!

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

No, what's going to happen is the same MO that Comey's pulled the last eight months--he'll tap-dance around the legal questions and provide answers that won't satisfy anyone instead of taking a hard stance.

This is a dude who spent years learning bureaucratese to the point that it's the only language he speaks anymore.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Trump administration is working to return two diplomatic compounds in New York City and Maryland that had been seized by President Barack Obama's administration...

If only the Obama people had taken them under eminent domain.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

President Donald Trump formally announced this afternoon the United States was pulling out of the Paris climate change agreement.

Only betas pull out.

[Rich]

"Pull out -- like Trump's father should have."

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

You gotta pull out to push back in.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I think I read that in The Art of War; and yes the principles of that book can be applied to all situations.

[The Last American Hero]

Unless they're getting ready to stealth.

[Rich]

Comey will testify in open session beginning at 10 a.m. ET, followed by a closed session around 1 p.m.

"With all due respect, Senator, I'll reserve my answer for this afternoon's session."

[Fist of Etiquette]

Russian President Vladimir Putin says it might have been some "patriotic" Russians totally not connected to the Russian government who hacked into the Democratic Party's emails.

So that's what Snowden has been up to!

[DJF]

We would know more if the Democratic National Committee had allowed the FBI to investigate the DNC servers but the DNC did not want law enforcement looking at what was on those servers

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Witnesses report gunshots and explosions at a hotel and casino complex near Manila's airport.

Ocean's 11 cosplay enthusiasts?

[Rufus The Monocled]

"Somebody left a noose at an exhibition on segregation at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C."

Would it surprise anyone if these incidences are actually staged by leftists?

[Rich]

It wouldn't surprise me if the noose were actually part of the exhibition.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Come one, there are many legitimate reasons to carry a noose around.

[DJF]

So the Museum of African American History and Culture wanted some news coverage?

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Next up: someone leaves a scalp at the American Indian Museum.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

After that: Road kill remains at a PETA convention.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Chop sticks at a Chinese restaurant?

No?

/shrugs shoulders.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Scraps of flannel at a Canadian Museum?

[BYODB]

Those weren't Canadians, they were butch lesbians stuck in the 90's. Common mistake.

[MP]

Likely. Also likely that, given the level of racial sensitivity of the snowflake generation, someone is doing this just to be an asshole and knowing it'll make big headlines.

I tend to think that actual white supremacy is the least likely answer.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

It hasn't been in any other instance of, e.g., swastika in black church etc.

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

If you're going to use books to resist Trump, pick better ones than 'Harry Potter'

Now, look: I'm not above using popular culture to help explain the political moment. Far from it. But there's something tacky about the near-universal retreat by adults into children's literature to voice their concerns.

Perhaps you could read another book?

Thank you. This goes a bit too far, though:

If you're tempted to argue that Trump is Voldemort ? a genocidal maniac who murdered countless individuals ? perhaps take a step back and consider that there are other, better options. For instance, you could compare him to President Johnny Gentle from David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest."

Nobody has actually read Infinite Jest.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I did.

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

Liar.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I saved up all of my pretense and blew it on a month long drug addled reading frenzy.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I prefer the music video

Colin Meloy is a dude who I am certain could read that book.

[Square = Circle]

I actually had a temp job once where I literally didn't have to do anything, and I did read Infinite Jest.

But, if I had to pick a Harry Potter character to represent Trump, it would be Mundungus Fletcher, not Voldemort.

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

Liar. Also, nerd.

Lying nerd.

[Square = Circle]

Just for that, Gates dies in the end!

*runs away sobbing*

[AnonCowHerd]

Started, never finished.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I found it surprisingly easy to read, it took forever but it was individually very entertaining at most points.

After I finished it I spent over a week trying to find analysis that made it make any fucking sense. I honestly thought my copy was messed up as it just kind of ends. I still do not get the point of it. But it was a fun read.

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

I started and stopped a few times, but then I just gave up. Kudos to you for getting through it; Wallace is a treat.

[Square = Circle]

I still do not get the point of it

My hot take was it's basically the last, most-heroic effort of post-modernism to make narrative without meaning.

To me, what was central was the polar opposition between Gately and the tennis-player guy (can't remember his name now - it's been about 12 years), Gately being pretty unreflective in his approach to life, while tennis-player is literally paralyzed by indecision by the end of the book, even though tennis-player's life is essentially devoid of struggle or real difficulty.

Gately gets himself killed doing a "good deed," while tennis-player guy mindfucks himself into near-catatonia thinking he's constantly in danger of making catastrophic mistakes.

The end-point being, of course, that there is no point, but that the tragic pointlessness (and the self-importance behind indecision) goes on forever.

I like to think there's some sort of redemption that Gately experiences for knowing he made a good decision even though it turned out catastrophically for him, but then Wallace ultimately hung himself, so maybe "pointless misery" is really what is at the heart of it, after all.

[BYODB]

So, the Big Lebowski then?

[BestUsedCarSales]

There seemed to be something about drug usage as well. The son eating the mold in the basement which is said to be a slow release psychoactive and his ultimate descent into his final state.

But like I said. I really don't know. Or maybe I just don't want to admit that the pointlessness of events is the meaning of it all. I am not familiar enough with post modernism.

I often think Tom Wolfe is right about the retreat of Literaries into navel gazing. Devoid of considerations of events in the world.

Eh.

[BearOdinson]

Nah, I am thinking Fight Club.

Maybe Trump is actually a figment of some nerd's imagination.

[Meh.]

Won't you all think of the children for once?!? We need to be able to brainwash and scare the crap out of them in ways their tiny brains can comprehend.

Also, Chelsea Clinton totally = Harry. This analogy is perfect, case closed.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

But there's something tacky about the near-universal retreat by adults into children's literature to voice their concerns

It's not tacky, it's a perfect indication of how infantilized and ill-read Gen-X and Millennials actually are.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

The Orlando Police Department has released hours of body camera footage from their response to the deadly Pulse Nightclub attack.

I am surprised that cops don't try to obscure abuses of power and excessive force incidents by releasing ALL body camera footage. Imagine being a reporter and having to watch through hours of snoring, baseless machismo boasting, donut crumbs falling down, and ear-grating nut scratching.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Fuck you, squirrelzz, my tags were right.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

As part of her Taking-Responsibility-Tour, Clinton now blames the DNC.

An organization that many would say was too loyal and invested in Hillary Clinton, and she throws them under the bus too. What a person.

[Rich]

A top former DNC aide tweeted overnight that Clinton's allegations were "f???ing bulls???"

Farting bullseye?

[Sunresistant]

She said the DNC was broke and had shitty records. Big fucking deal.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Enjoy your time here.

[BearOdinson]

The records were so shitty, they cost her the election!

[The Last American Hero]

After giving her a billion dollars to run and rigging the primaries against the Bernie Bros - WTF else were they supposed to do, provide a surrogate for the debates?

[BYODB]

Geez, it's not like the head of the DNC was a former Clintonite who rejoined her during the campaign itself. Obviously there was nothing going on there! Good riddance to DWS, as well. She was loathsome.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

That coders convention speech was vintage Hillary--tone-deaf, unself-aware, and blaming everyone else for her failures but herself and the people around her, while executing that same phony "how do you do, fellow kids" schtick that she pulled during the campaign.

What really made me laugh was how she blamed the DNC's data folks--the VERY SAME group of incel nerds that Obama used in 2008 and 2012--for her losses in the Rust Belt, and yet her poor, past-his-political-prime husband was basically conducting a one-man campaign in those states trying to drum up support for her because he was the one who didn't take their votes for granted.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Somebody left a noose-

I think they renamed that the hoax knot.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Mark your calendars! Fired FBI Director James Comey will indeed be testifying openly before a Senate committee next Thursday. Will he state on the record whether Trump tried to get him to stop investigating former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn? Stay tuned.

Damn TV cliffhangers! I can't wait til next week!

[colorblindkid]

"Somebody left a noose at an exhibition on segregation at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C."

There hasn't been a lynching of a black man in America in like 60 years.

[Rich]

Perhaps this will refresh your memory.

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

Did you forget about OJ?

[BestUsedCarSales]

That's the worst part of all of this, the outdated references.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

I am sure you could find a pretty recent case from eastern Texas.

[colorblindkid]

Nope. There have been a few hate crime murders, although they are even rarer than Islamic terror attacks, but the last actual lynching was in 1981. The last one before that was in the 60s.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

What about pickup truck draggings?

[colorblindkid]

One of those. One. I'm just saying that black people fearing being killed for being black in 2017 is even more irrational than fearing Muslims.
3X as many white people are killed by blacke people than the other way around every year, and black people actually make up 24.3% of hate crime offenders, over 2X the rate of white people.

[Shirley Knott]

The interesting, but *entirely* politically incorrect figure is the percentage of black people killed by black people.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

'Fag Drags' as they are known in uncivil sectors of society.

[BYODB]

Nah, I think they vape now.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

You calling the Brits 'uncivil'?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Seems like a full lynching requires a lot more watchers to just stand by and accept what is happening. While one guy can just murder a person.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

And?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Orlando Police Department has released hours of body camera footage from their response to the deadly Pulse Nightclub attack.

Hours? How much video of doughnut shop counters before they arrived?

[Ron]

well the police did spend a lot of time outside waiting for the killer to run out of bullets

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

College baseball player has the most incredible handshake routine with the bat boy

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Slow Lena news day, huh?

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

Forgive me for trying to bring a little fun into the commenting world.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Crusty, your very presence here puts the fun into funtastic.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

If I had my way, fun would be a four letter word.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Funn?

[Shirley Knott]

shun

[Shirley Knott]

Damn autocorrect. That was supposed to be 'phun'.
You filistines.

[BigT]

FUNCK

The n is silent

[The Last American Hero]

I was expecting the kid from Weekly World News.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

The Trump administration is working to return two diplomatic compounds in New York City and Maryland that had been seized by President Barack Obama's administration over the allegations of Russian meddling in the presidential election.

Russia won the war without firing a single shot.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Russian President Vladimir Putin says it might have been some "patriotic" Russians totally not connected to the Russian government who hacked into the Democratic Party's emails.

The Fake News has gotten to Putin!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Somebody left a noose at an exhibition on segregation at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

I know it's inductive reasoning and thereby slightly flawed; but as I've only seen False Flags since pre-election I'm going to assume this is the same.

[colorblindkid]

Thoughts on the Lebron James graffiti? It was likely somebody who just wanted him to lose his next game. Pretty good chance the graffiti artist isn't white.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Thoughts on the Lebron James graffiti?

Didn't know this was a thing, let me *sigh*, hop over to yahoo quick.

[BigT]

Somebody wrote my nigga! on his gate and it's a hate crime.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Nowhere near as offensive as still using Yahoo.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

The Orlando Police Department has released hours of body camera footage from their response to the deadly Pulse Nightclub attack.

Oh FUCK YOU PIGS!

Just the hero shots, eh? What about the footage of cops killing plebs? Too graphic?

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

The Dangerous Idea of the Greater Good

And there's a ton of laws still on the books, designed to shape society for the "greater good."

Public dress codes, free speech zones, the FCC's censorship of TV and Radio, the Washington Wives, prostitution laws, restrictions on homeschooling and private schools, the war on drugs, eminent domain, civil asset forfeiture? Even the stuff most people think is not that bad, like occupational licensing, zoning restrictions, or anti-smoking laws are based in the same kind of technocratic utilitarian thinking.

[BestUsedCarSales]

It should never be used as an argument.

Besides, the greater good is aleays just whatever those in power want the world to look like. This is not often a great outcome for everyone else.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Hah, my mind went to Hot Fuzz even before clicking the link.

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

Painting Break Results in Town Greeting Visitors With 'Sex'

One driver, Jessica Bruss, told the television station she "almost drove off the road" when her 8-year-old son pointed out the word as they drove past the water tower Wednesday on their way to his first baseball game.

Bruss says the unfinished paint work may be funny for adults, but added: "People should remember that kids are seeing it."

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

God forbid kids learn about sex before having it.

[Stormy Dragon]

They're aren't even learning about sex. At most they're learning about the word "sex".

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

You know, yokels bitch about SJWs, and cosmos bitch about socons, but we should all come together and recognize that the biggest threat to our freedoms are soccer moms.

[BearOdinson]

That is for damn sure. Soccer moms really are the worst of both worlds. They think they are all "woke" so they modern and don't "discriminate" so asking simple questions about the "rape culture" in college gets slapped down. And yet. while they are all for "gay marriage", try bringing up swinging, or 1 man and 2 women, or even better, what their daughter's might be doing and they make Westboro Baptists look like free-lovers!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

And what is with the vans!?

(Can text do Jerry Seinfeld?)

[BearOdinson]

Seinfeld Van! Seinfeld Van!

I think he said Son of Sam!

[Stormy Dragon]

People should remember that kids are seeing it.

OH NO!!!

[BestUsedCarSales]

I remember when I first learnes about sex. I was 9 years old, and as soon as I saw it I began screaming and trying to fist any orifice I could.

I was in a fisting frenzy. No hole was safe until I finally fell alseep in the back of my parents station wagon.

[Shirley Knott]

And you were daddy's favorite from then on?

[Stormy Dragon]

President Donald Trump formally announced this afternoon the United States was pulling out of the Paris climate change agreement. He is open to negotiating terms to re-enter the agreement.

The reality is, this is probably totally symbolic, as the other countries in the accord will just require US companies selling goods or services in their jurisdiction to continue complying with the agreement anyways.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

The agreement itself is symbolic.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Boom.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I feel like a lot of it was symbolic either way.

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

It was symbolic.

[Sunresistant]

Trump sacrificed America's global brand with this bullshit in your face announcement to fulfill a campaign promise to his base. Most politicians are selfish motherfuckers but Trump beings it to a whole new debased level.

[CE]

America's global brand? Kowtowing to European Socialists was never our global brand.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Shows how ignorant you are. If you asked a child scavenging for food in China, or a mother in a Kenyan village, what they think when they think America, they will say, "That is the shining beacon on the hill, the country that agreed to reduce carbon emissions by 2030."

[BearOdinson]

Trump Obama sacrificed America's global brand with this bullshit in your face announcement to fulfill a campaign promise to his base. Most politicians are selfish motherfuckers but Trump beings it to a whole new debased level.

FTFY

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Trump sacrificed America's global brand

I think Coke and McDonalds will be fine.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

Trump sacrificed America's global brand with this bullshit in your face announcement to fulfill a campaign promise to his base.

Shit, if only Bush had done the same with his "read my lips" promise.

[Sunresistant]

Putin suggests Russians hacked the DNC for patriotic reasons.
That is an incredible admission.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

If we fire all our nukes now maybe those Ruskie fucks won't even notice until they're face to face with Stalin in Hell!

[BYODB]

HA! The joke's on you, Stalin's in a glass box!

[BearOdinson]

Way to pull a partial quote out of context:

President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that some "patriotic" individuals may have engaged in hacking but insisted Russia as a country has never done it,

He also stated that people in Asia, America and Europe wouldn't be swayed by something so simple as a hack. Is that true? I don't know. But it is interesting that he gives people more credit than anyone at the DNC.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

But it is interesting that he gives people more credit than anyone at the DNC.

Have you met people?

[BearOdinson]

Yeah I know.

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.

[Crusty Juggler - lamebrain]

The Orlando Police Department has released hours of body camera footage from their response to the deadly Pulse Nightclub attack.

Almost a year later they tell this story, and the story was all about how heroic they were.

[robovo]

as Mary responded I'm amazed that anyone able to get paid $4246 in one month on the internet . go now ONLINE START JOB????