Day: October 30, 2017

A horror in Catalonia is about to begin: Daily Bullshit, October 27-30, 2017

benfell

There are two new blog postings, here and here.

Updates

  1. Originally published, October 28, 12:02 pm.
  2. October 29, 4:39 am:
    • In an article I was having trouble archiving earlier, Feargus O’Sullivan points out a false dichotomy in the Catalan and Spanish government positions.[1] (Catalonia)
    • John Cassidy makes the best of a near-total absence of specific information about the first charges Robert Mueller has filed in his investigation of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election[2] while John Bennett takes a dive into speculation about who might be charged for what.[3] (James Comey)
  3. October 29, 11:41 am:
    • A large number of people, who presumably didn’t turn out for the referendum on independence for Catalonia, now protest the outcome, effectively endorsing election violence waged by the Spanish government.[4] So okay, children, repeat after me: STOCK-HOLM SYN-DROME!
  4. October 30, 1:08 pm:
    • Robert Mueller has charged Paul Manafort and Richard Gates with several crimes.[5] They were arrested[6] and pled not guilty.[7] (James Comey)
    • In addition to the charges against Manafort and Gates, it was revealed that a “Trump adviser, George Papadopoulos, has pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his meetings with [a professor who had close ties to the Kremlin and claimed that Russian officials could provide the Trump campaign with ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton] and with a female Russian national he believed was related to President Vladimir Putin.”[8] (Donald Trump’s aides)
    • One of my pet peeves is the—okay, it’s a word, but it’s disgusting—word pleaded. I don’t know when mass media decided that pled is not a word and to use the word pleaded instead, but pled is still in my copy of the Oxford Dictionary of English. Take your pleaded crap and shove it up your fucking ass.

Catalonia

I comment on this situation here.

William Booth and Pamela Rolfe, “Catalonia finally declared independence — but Spain vows it won’t last long,” Washington Post, October 27, 2017,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-day-of-fireworks-in-catalonia-both-spanish-and-catalan-parliaments-are-scheduled-to-convene/2017/10/27/09685d34-ba90-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_story.html

Feargus O’Sullivan, “Catalonia Just Declared Independence,” CityLab, October 27, 2017, https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/10/catalonia-just-declared-independence/544207/

Laura Smith-Spark and Claudia Rebaza, “Catalonia government dissolved after declaring independence from Spain,” CNN, October 27, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/27/europe/catalonia-independence-spain/index.html

James Comey

John T. Bennett, “Analysis: 5 Possible Outcomes of First Mueller Indictments,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, October 28, 2017, https://www.rollcall.com/news//analysis-5-possible-outcomes-first-mueller-indictments/

John Cassidy, “Robert Mueller Sends a Message: He’s Deadly Serious,” New Yorker, October 28, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/robert-mueller-sends-a-message-hes-deadly-serious

Associated Press, “Ex-Trump chairman Paul Manafort and his aide, Rick Gates, plead not guilty in Russia probe,” Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-pol-essential-washington-updates-paul-manafort-and-business-associate-1509365548-htmlstory.html

Joseph Tanfani, “Trump campaign manager Manafort, ex-aide charged in Russia probe,” Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-pol-essential-washington-updates-paul-manafort-and-business-associate-1509365548-htmlstory.html

Aruna Viswanatha and Del Quentin Wilber, “Former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort Charged in Russia Probe,” Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-trump-campaign-chairman-paul-manafort-charged-in-russia-probe-1509365767

Donald Trump’s aides

Shane Harris, “Former Trump Adviser Contacted Russian Who Promised ‘Dirt’ on Hillary: Plea,” Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-trump-foreign-policy-adviser-to-plead-guilty-to-lying-to-fbi-1509374354

Matt Zapotosky, Rosalind S. Helderman, and Carol D. Leonnig, “Three former Trump campaign officials charged by special counsel,” Washington Post, October 30, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/manafort-and-former-business-partner-asked-to-surrender-in-connection-with-special-counsel-probe/2017/10/30/6fe051f0-bd67-11e7-959c-fe2b598d8c00_story.html

  1. [1]Feargus O’Sullivan, “Catalonia Just Declared Independence,” CityLab, October 27, 2017, https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/10/catalonia-just-declared-independence/544207/↩
  2. [2]John Cassidy, “Robert Mueller Sends a Message: He’s Deadly Serious,” New Yorker, October 28, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/robert-mueller-sends-a-message-hes-deadly-serious↩
  3. [3]John T. Bennett, “Analysis: 5 Possible Outcomes of First Mueller Indictments,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, October 28, 2017, https://www.rollcall.com/news//analysis-5-possible-outcomes-first-mueller-indictments/↩
  4. [4]British Broadcasting Corporation, “Catalonia independence: Huge Barcelona pro-Spain rally,” October 29, 2017, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41794087↩
  5. [5]Aruna Viswanatha and Del Quentin Wilber, “Former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort Charged in Russia Probe,” Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-trump-campaign-chairman-paul-manafort-charged-in-russia-probe-1509365767↩
  6. [6]Joseph Tanfani, “Trump campaign manager Manafort, ex-aide charged in Russia probe,” Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-pol-essential-washington-updates-paul-manafort-and-business-associate-1509365548-htmlstory.html↩
  7. [7]Associated Press, “Ex-Trump chairman Paul Manafort and his aide, Rick Gates, plead not guilty in Russia probe,” Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-pol-essential-washington-updates-paul-manafort-and-business-associate-1509365548-htmlstory.html↩
  8. [8]Shane Harris, “Former Trump Adviser Contacted Russian Who Promised ‘Dirt’ on Hillary: Plea,” Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-trump-foreign-policy-adviser-to-plead-guilty-to-lying-to-fbi-1509374354; Matt Zapotosky, Rosalind S. Helderman, and Carol D. Leonnig, “Three former Trump campaign officials charged by special counsel,” Washington Post, October 30, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/manafort-and-former-business-partner-asked-to-surrender-in-connection-with-special-counsel-probe/2017/10/30/6fe051f0-bd67-11e7-959c-fe2b598d8c00_story.html↩