July 23, 2018 6:41 AM
Morning Reads for Monday, July 23, 2018
Good Morning! Theresa here, filling in for Will who is gallivanting across the world this week.
Just one more sleep until Election Run-Off Day. Make sure you vote tomorrow!
- If you didn’t see this late night post from Charlie, make sure you read it here.
- Vice President Pence made a campaign stop in Macon on Saturday for Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
- It’s like Madam Secretary is playing out in real life.
- Prayers for Branson.
- A friend of mine missed being in this horrible situation by minutes because she left her purse inside her house.
- Umm…Goodbye, Hello Fresh. Hello, Chick-fil-a.
- A facebook post debate on a city council race in Columbus took a turn for the worse last week when a School Board member began harassing a 26 year old woman.
- There was a mass shooting in Toronto last evening.
- Will the Democratic Women’s Primary success in Georgia continue tomorrow?
- The Hollywood of the South. I like the sound of that.
About Author
Theresa Garcia Robertson
Wife. Mama. Foodie. Political Junkie. Southern Enthusiast. Taco Lover.
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Imagine that you’re President Trump. OK, sorry ’bout that. Your week has gone badly when you started it off by leaving your knee pads at home when you met with Putin. Even Republicans objected to your genuflecting. You walk it back with a weak contraction explanation. Later in the week you walk it back the other way. How to keep the sheeple otherwise occupied? Why you wag the dog of course! Screw trade wars we need a real one!
“NEVER EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKE OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”
It doesn’t hurt to have war hawks Bolton and Pompeo by your side either. Pompeo of this quote from the House floor in 2015: “In an unclassified setting, it is under 2,000 sorties to destroy the Iranian nuclear capacity. This is not an insurmountable task for the coalition forces.” or John Bolton’s 2015 NYT Op-Ed piece with this little ditty, ““The inconvenient truth is that only military action like Israel’s 1981 attack on Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in Iraq or its 2007 destruction of a Syrian reactor, designed and built by North Korea, can accomplish what is required. Time is terribly short, but a strike can still succeed.”
I mean what could possibly go wrong with this bunch?
Too much money and effort to go after Iran when there are easier diversions, like landing Marines in Venezuela.
This is what you get when you have people who can be baited with a tweet.
“More than likely, [Helsinki] has torpedoed the Russian president’s chances of extracting practical benefits from Trump’s fervent attempt to court him — favors Putin badly needs. As the foreign relations scholar Stephen Sestanovich put it on Twitter, “an idiot who’s too big an idiot can’t be a useful idiot.”
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From a Washington Post column.
Trump holds the nuclear codes!
His deranged reckless behavior creates more danger in an already dangerous world. He has absolutely no check and balances on him because the republican congress has abdicated it’s responsibility to restrain him when he oversteps the bounds of his office. He seems ready to amp up from a trade war to a real one if the Mueller report goes against him or his Russian handlers threaten to release what ever they have on him.
Not really a big concern. He would likely mis-spell the code.
Rut roh! Turns out Maria Butina, you know, that smoking gun Russian “ spy” caught cavorting with Trump folks, previously was documented meeting with Obama administration officials.
We are gonna run out of rakes for you lefties to keep stepping on.
Well, now I know where you get your news from Breitbart. No, she was not cavorting with the Obama Administration. She met with the Fed Undersecretary and you’re missing the point of Butina. It wasn’t that she met the Republicans but that apparently she conspired with them against the US. None of these Obama Administration people went to Russia with her like the NRA people did and the real catch is the money laundering through private organizations like the NRA which of course maybe the Fed had questions about where she was getting the money from. That meeting could have spurred the investigation of her. Have to wait for all the facts to come out.
Alpha, why not post the link when you make the assertion?
Interesting comments from Joe Lieberman. If Democratic socialism is our future, we are in trouble.. I agree. That is behind almost everything I have posted. This is an honest appraisal from a lifelong democrat not some young novice from a Bernie Sanders rally. I could care less if any politician is black, white, male or female. The policies are the problem. The results a disaster. And Bernie is not radical enough for the democrats these days. Which is the bigger threat to America? The Soviets or the socialists/communists from within? https://eaglerising.com/60869/joe-lieberman-if-democratic-socialism-is-our-future-were-in-trouble/
It’s not about the issues. It’s about the word “socialism”.
Folks who spout the evil of socialism often just don’t understand the kind of economy we already have. Capitalism without socialism would lead inevitably to oligarchy or monarchy. For democracy to work, there needs to be some socialism. I naturally believe in a balance between the two, and we in fact have a pretty hybrid economy,
I also like to point out that if you’re against any socialism, you are by definition anti-social. Which is a mental disorder.
Newsflash: Everyone is gonna support “free” anything. See my Confucius posts.
Hence the “tax cuts”?
Dem’s don’t care about Lieberman!? Rich! Your VP candidate in 2000 and just 500 NoWay voters from winning. This is how far left the party has plummeted. And now Bernie is too conservative. How is this playing in Realville?
The current group of radical leftists don’t care. I agree. Seriously, why would someone vote liberal these days? More taxes, less growth, more food stamps, more misery and dissention? No borders and illegals voting? Or just the irritation of listening to whiners before a damn football game and nonstop name calling? How is this attractive to anyone? Does any adult think we should have free college for everyone? Why not free Cadillac Escalades and free housing? Oh and free minimum income. I heard Obama was for that one too! We already have a $20 trillion deficit? How about encouraging a little hard work, freedom, a strong military and being thankful we still live in a free US?
Because socialism has worked so well everywhere else . I know, I know. Everyone else has just not implemented it correctly yet, right?
Face it, today’s left wants us to go full Venezuela. Except, of course, for the part where Venezuela does not have open borders.
Even The Pilgrims tried that Socialism crap and Governor Bradford cut it off in short order. It’s failed everywhere it’s EVER been tried. Even five hundred years ago, long before Karl Marx!
OK, so where is this free-market utopia you idolize?
Why not, I’m bored:
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Your VP candidate in 2000
One: That was 18 years ago. Two: Since then he has: Called himself an independent, Keynote speaker at the 2008 GOP convention , lost his senate race as a Dem in 2006. He’s not exactly speaking for the mainstream Dem majority, or any Dems for that matter.
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And now Bernie is too conservative.
Just because you say it doesn’t make it true. But it may be true someday.
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More taxes, less growth, more food stamps
Actually the economy has done pretty well under Dem stewardship in the past, oh, 40 years or so.
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more misery and dissention?
You seem pretty miserable under GOP ‘leadership’. Maybe a change would be good.
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No borders and illegals voting?
You know you are making that up, right? Really. But if you want to discuss either of those points further, let’s get it on.
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whiners before a damn football game
Not one shred of care for what is on their minds? Just the annoyance of interrupting your beautiful afternoon of watching guys maim themselves? How 15th century.
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nonstop name calling?
Maybe you need to close your twitter account? Or unfollow some people? One person in particular?
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Does any adult think we should have free college for everyone?
It’s worth looking into. It just might pay for itself in increased productivity and competitiveness in the world. OK, if it bothers you, we don’t have to call it ‘college’. We’ll just extend high school for four more years, up to Grade 16. Feel better?
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Why not free Cadillac Escalades and free housing?
Free Escalades would be kind of silly when we could probably do public transportation more cost-effectively, and it potentially benefits everyone. Free housing is being tried here and there, and shows promise for getting people with problems back on their feet and becoming productive worker-bees.
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Oh and free minimum income.
Same as above.
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I heard Obama was for that one too!
Well we can’t have that then, can we?
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We already have a $20 trillion deficit?
These programs you refer to are attempts to reduce that deficit. But yeah, sometimes you have to invest a little in order to show a profit. Tax cuts just means people spend more on football tickets and not much changes.
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How about encouraging a little hard work, freedom, a strong military and being thankful we still live in a free US?
One: The free housing idea in particular is designed to do exactly that. Homeless people have almost no chance to re-enter the workforce- no address, no shower, no place to keep stuff, no laundry… Give ’em a place to live for a year or two and see what happens. Not all will succeed, but some will.
Two: We already spend more on the military than the next 7 nations combined. How much friggin stronger does it need to be?
Oh B., you know it’s not about making our military stronger. It’s about spending billions of unaccountable dollars on overpriced widgets for the profit of politically well connected.
Not all of us do what I do, and others of us do, and go out of our way to fully read the links others post on this site, or watch and read diverse news sources– all in efforts to listen to opinions that are different than our own, and grow our understanding. I don’t like dismissing people as stupid just because their minds are closed, but many comments can be dismissed as wastes of time. You can’t counter 10 hours of listening to Rush with well-informed comments. You just need to say Hey, you’re only listening to one idiot, and you need to open your mind more.
Fwiw, there are moments here and there, for everybody, where conversations seem to happen. Noway even asks questions now and again, in what sometimes appears to be genuine attempts to understand. Nothing- not even facts- will change his position or manners, so you just engage in ways that are for your benefit. But your deep dives of info are appreciated by readers who you may not be directly responding to.
Unhinged invective is all they know how to do.
How low can you go? Hillary has dinner with Weinstein after the election.
Hillary did not lose because of the Russians. Not one vote was altered. No she lost because she is Hillary. And still is. And still making excuses for losing 2 presidential runs and personally giving the Republicans both houses of Congress in 1994.
I think the new direction of Bernie Sanders, that young visionary of socialism, or folks even more radical and clueless are the answer. I guess you democrats support this stuff…Lord help us.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5976133/PICTURED-Hillary-Clinton-having-dinner-Harvey-Weinstein-election-loss.html
So having dinner with someone is worse than hosting cocaine fueled parties with underage girls? You guys are a piece of work. https://www.google.com/search?q=donald+trump+harvey+weinstein&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiL8tO9qbXcAhVPU98KHQD0BV0Q_AUICigB&biw=1012&bih=608#imgrc=sC7kAZbZ6w4o-M:
Where’s the condemnation of Trump hanging out with Harvey? Oh, there isn’t any from you. You guys are just sad and pathetic.
OK I get it. The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has trained you guys to hate Hillary for the past, oh, 30 years or so. It’s hard to let go. But you can do it. You don’t HAVE to grit your teeth and copy/paste every time her name pops up in some media outlet trying to get more clicks. Just move on to the story on the Flat Earth movement, or the Meghan Markle pregnancy story and you’ll feel better. Promise.
No, Not wanting to be around Nurse Ratchet has had me disliking that hag for years
I grew up in Glynn county. I loved traveling across south Georgia in my 1956 Plymouth station wagon with a push button transmission and wood paneling on the side. I would met these girls at Episcopal youth meetings and conferences. Then I would drive to Thomasville or Tifton to have a date. A long way but I was young and foolish back the 1960’s.
Yesterday I came across a blog named “Trouble in God’s Country” by Charlie Haslett (some of you probably already know about).
I am heartbroken after reading his posts about south Georgia. It is becoming so bad economically and socially in the 56 counties he includes in his “Trouble in God’s Country” south Georgia area.
From December 2016.
“Here’s an easy way to understand the widening gap between Metro Atlanta and the rest of Georgia.
Compare all 56 counties of interior South Georgia to Gwinnett County alone.
Gwinnett County’s 2013 population was estimated at 859,304 – just under three-fourths of the 1.16 million people living in our 56-county South Georgia region.
But despite that population disadvantage, Gwinnett County:
Generates more income and contributes more in taxes than all 56 counties of South Georgia combined.
Consumes substantially less in social services than South Georgia. In 2013, as one example, Gwinnett County consumed less than a third as much in Medicaid services than South Georgia. The federal share of South Georgia’s Medicaid costs totaled $927.6 million; Gwinnett County, $266.2 million.
Sends more students to University System of Georgia colleges than all of South Georgia.
Is substantially healthier than South Georgia.
Produces about half as many criminals as South Georgia.”
https://troubleingodscountry.com/2016/12/13/south-georgia-vs-gwinnett-county/#comments
From August 2015:
“A basic premise of Trouble in God’s Country is that rural Georgia is dying. Truth is, I’ve meant that figuratively rather than literally – a reference to local economies gutted by globalization and other factors, failing schools and small hospitals in danger of closing, among other things.
Recently, however, I read an article that made passing reference to the growing number of rural counties across the country where deaths outnumber births. I wondered if that might be the case in Georgia.
A quick dive back into the Georgia Department of Public Health’s (DPH) OASIS system produced some pretty startling results.
In 1994, the first year for which DPH has data, 12 of Georgia’s 159 counties produced more deaths than births. All were rural.
By 2013, the latest year for which DPH has data, that number had quadrupled to 48 counties, 47 of which were rural.
https://troubleingodscountry.com/2015/08/17/is-rural-georgia-dying-literally/
We have to do something, I do not think they have any bootstraps left to pull on .
Yes, rural Georgia has been in a bad way probably since the 1980’s. I used to travel there for business back then. However I’m not sure what the solution to the problem is. It is stuck in a cycle that no one seems to know how to break.
Make high-speed internet a utility and REQUIRE providers to service all rural areas (like they did with power and telephone in times past).
Good idea. I think that is what Terry McAuliffe did in VA and it really helped the rural areas.
I agree it should be considered a utility. I oppose government involvement unless and until state government takes action toward making it so.
I agree too. I was going to suggest that the legislation could be named after U.S. Congressman Thomas E. Watson of Georgia, who wrote the bill creating RFD (Rural free Delivery), but he has a spotty legacy.
As a child, my family at one time had two baby blue 1957 Plymouths, one a coupe and the other a station wagon. Monster fins. I was a small child then, and don’t remember either having a push button transmission, unlike the 1964 Dodge Polara that replaced the coupe.
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I travel some to south Georgia on business, and to Bainbridge (actually Climax, a running household joke is that it’s necessary to travel through Hopeful to get to Climax) at least a couple times a year to visit family. It’s bad. It’s economic creative destruction that likely can’t be fixed, which is not to say measures to mitigate hardship and transition aren’t warranted.
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A perhaps bitter self-help pill to swallow would be county consolidation. Certainly two, in many cases three, and in some cases even four into one would provide economy of scale with respect to the services provided by local tax revenues, and efficiency in the dispensation of state assistance. The party that proclaims government ought to be run like a business is quite quiet.
https://www.allpar.com/history/plymouth/1946-1959/photos/1956/pushbuttons.jpg
I didn’t mean to imply I doubted you. I recollect the ’64 Polara buttons were in a vertical row, and included a 1 and 2, or a low and a 2, and a park lever to the side down for park and up to select a gear..
No more commenting allowed at Walker County School Board meetings. Power to the people.
“Two weeks after Walker County Schools officials settled a lawsuit with a teacher over the board’s public commenting policy, Superintendent Damon Raines issued a press release Friday afternoon. In it, he blamed the litigation for the fact that there is no longer a public commenting policy for school board meetings.”
https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/breakingnews/story/2018/jul/20/walker-county-superintendent-blames-lawsuit-no-public-commenting-policy/475406/#document_2217
While there is no requirement to allow publice commenting at public meetings it is not good policy.
Not to be out done by Atlanta Mayor’s Limo rides. http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2018/07/20/feds-order-georgia-sheriff-to-return-69g-spent-on-hellcat-muscle-car.html
A $70,000 700hp coupe probably used for commuting more than anything else is a sign of a good Gwinnett County government deterioration. It’s something one would expect of the Clayton County sheriff.
Yeah but as I pointed out last week when I linked this article Butch’s hot rod is only 9K more than the Ford Explorers Gwinnett Police purchased for their Sergeants. Now 10K of that is for their notebooks and 50K is for the Explorer but jeez how do you get an Explorer up to a 50K price tag? I’m also shocked however that the feds finally rejected a “drug money confiscation” reimbursement to a Georgia Sheriff. Previously they haven’t questioned ‘Vettes, Vipers, and the like, or even a salt water speedboat.
So 12 Russians can influence US elections, but 24 million illegal immigrants can’t. Uh huh.
I don’t care so much if you post your drive-by comments and never engage in defending them, as it still gives us a chance to expose the lies and explain the truth.
But it would be helpful if your comments at least made a little bit of sense.
Well the 12 Russians may have an easier time hacking Georgia elections compared to the “illegal immigrants”. And we have never heard anything more about those “illegal” votes in 2016. I guess President Dump has more pressing matters to worry about.
February 2018:
“Despite increasing scrutiny of Georgia’s voting technology ahead of the 2018 midterms, the state will not join more than a dozen others asking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for special help protecting its election system from hacks, the Secretary of State’s office confirmed this week.
Russia views the upcoming midterms as a potential target for interference, top U.S. intelligence officials told Congress on Tuesday.
In the Georgia Legislature, lawmakers are reviewing multiple bills that would overhaul the state’s voting technology and set up a paper ballot system.
Georgia is one of just a few states that still exclusively use voting machines without a paper trail. Cybersecurity experts agree it exposes the system to potential doubt, hacks and glitches.
After DHS announced Russian hackers targeted election systems in 21 states before the 2016 election, the agency prioritized giving states what it calls in-depth, onsite assessments of their election technology.
The evaluations are free to states if requested.
They can include testing weaknesses in networks and security controls, crafting e-mails to trick election staffers and database scans.
“We already contract with a private vendor to conduct all the same security assessments that the Department of Homeland Security is offering, or has been offering to states, in terms of cybersecurity,” said Candice Broce, with the Secretary of State’s office.
Broce declined to provide the name of the company conducting the assessments, or the cost to taxpayers, citing security risks.”
https://www.wabe.org/georgia-says-no-thanks-election-security-help-feds/
Not a drive-by. Just a statement to see if there were any rational responses. No need to defend or argue. That’s not my bag.
So it was a random unsubstantiated comment, just thrown out there to see if it got any hits?
BTB, see below — I never know whether or not I get any hits these days, unless I happen to be working at the computer and manually check! Can you help me figure out why the “Notify me of comments” function isn’t working?
Sorry, man, I don’t use that function. I just use my addiction to the refresh button.
Thanks anyway, BTB. Regarding my initial post, everybody knows that those indictments are merely allegations against 12 people who will never be tried in court to determine whether guilty or not. They live in another country, but illegal aliens actually live in the U.S. Doesn’t it stand to reason that one of the millions of foreign nationals here illegally have a greater chance of impacting our elections in some manner?
One one hand, you have a dozen sophisticated intelligence operatives that are just one piece of a foreign power’s disinformation campaign and cyber-assault on all Americans and federal, state, and local election authorities. On the other, you have however many people who don’t vote, and couldn’t vote if they tried, The #s on the voter fraud issue are absurdly low, and anything that says otherwise is unsubstantiated hype. I suppose that those not lawfully present in the country could use their powers of persuasion upon their friends or families that could vote, but at least that would be information presented honestly, unlike the widely distributed lies spread by foreign powers,
Hey, Charlie or somebody – Help! I always check the “Notify me of follow-up comments by email” box beneath any comments I post, but NEVER get any notifications of any responses.
So now I’m accused of “drive-by” comments because I don’t even know about anybody’s responses.
Can somebody please tell me how to make that function work, so I can know whenever anyone comments on one of my posts?
I think it went away with the edit function. Many have commented on this but no replies.
Argh! Thanks, Gregs. Hopefully people will stop accusing me of “drive-by” posts merely because I can’t sit on here all the time.
This should be an amusing past time, nothing more, nothing less. The minute it gets to be more, GET OUT!
Nice try, ACP. There is no specific page to reference — that is the point. The “failed to disclose” as you said, my friend.
Well, crap! that obviously wasn’t meant for you, Gregs! This whole blog is acting up on me. Sorry.
Bearing in mind that I will not receive any notification from GAPol of follow-up comments, I believe this might be insightful reading for all. Nothing more, nothing less.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/07/22/a-review-of-the-doj-fbi-fisa-application-release/
So we finally know it was an ill-gotten FISA warrant, based on Steele’s phony pee-pee dossier, that started the Mueller investigation. That is thus fruit of the poison tree that has cost we the people tens of millions of dollars – and should be immediately closed down before they can illegally persecute any other American citizen like Carter Page, who has never been legally accused or convicted of anything. A graduate of the Naval Academy and as far as we actually know, a good citizen and accomplished business man who doesn’t deserve the stuff he’s had to go through.
As Peter Strzok said to his lover Lisa Page in 2016, “There’s no there there.” It’s way past time to end the Mueller hunt based on that despicable man’s made-up “insurance policy.”
I agree Sally. It is a joke, based on a joke and it was done to destroy a candidate and throw the election to the democrats. They paid for it, disseminated it through the intelligence agencies, multiple abuses of power and crimes, fueled by the media and the liberals know this. And they continue to support it. Pitiful.
So true, DTM — I just saw the 5 signatures on the FISA warrant that started this whole mess (Comey, Rosenstein, Yates, and three I couldn’t read), swearing to a bunch of lies paid for by Hillary and the Podesta Group, then cycled through circular reporting via Yahoo “news”!! YAHOO , for God’s sake!! What a joke — if not such a serious offense by public officials.
ACP, please see my response above — it wandered astray when Ihit “add comment.”
Damn not having edit function!! :\ That should be two I couldn’t read – not three.
The Russia investigation wasn’t launched because of Carter Page.
The House Intelligence Committee determined that the Russia investigation began after the FBI learned about Papadopoulos being approached by a Russian agent offering Russian dirt on Clinton.
So the FBI began to take a look. It would have been malfeasance for them to do otherwise.
That means your whole argument is BS. If you try to back it up to say that no Steele memorandom no FISA warrant you run into the problem of additional presentations prosecutors made. Those are mostly blacked out for us, but people who have read them (not Devin Nunes, who couldn’t be bothered) say they’re compelling.
They think if they repeat a lie over and over it will turn into a fact. Such is the world of the alternative facts crowd.
I have a question. Why did Trump hire so many people who have a Russian problem? Did he not put anyone through a vetting process or did he pick them based on the fact that they had ties to Russia?
Well, it would seem your friends were right about it being poisonous but for different reasons. Apparently the current people working in the white house or what is now known as the Kremlin Annex have been saying to the press that they can’t find work because of working for Trump. So anyone who had anything going killed their careers. Nichole Wallace said everybody knew Manafort was dirty in DC and nobody would hire him. So I guess Manafort and Trump were a match made in heaven.
What people did he hire who had a proven Russian “problem”?
Just to start with a few:
Paul Manafort.
Carter Page
Michael Flynn. Flynn was even photographed sitting at the Kremlin with Putin.
And about all those FORMER governmental employees who should not have top-secret security, any more than you or I should…
Those 5 upper echelon members of the Obama FBI and DOJ who signed the FISA warrant lied to federal judges and committed major FISA abuses. There was collusion during the 2016 election, but it was by the Obama administration based on unverified Russian fantasy. Sick.
Rand Paul is a Putin apologist. Why would anybody think he would do anything different than attempt to help Putin? In fact pretty much the entire GOP is run by Putin these days. The suprise comes when a Republican actually stands up and says Putin is not our friend, he attacked us and we need to defend ourselves.
Sure those guys have done plenty of great things. They also tried to sway a US election and they abused their power. Its called repercussions. I am sure many criminals in prison today did many good things in their lives, then they lost their temper and did so and so…does that excuse it? If anyone is defending the actions of the FBI and Justice Department you might want to examine your motives. Okay you hate Trump. Get over it. It is no excuse to thy and throw an election and then frame the other candidate. The press is guilty of this too. They are part of it.
So the Intelligence Community is against, you, the previous administration is against you, the media is against you, the higher education system is against you, minorities are against you, Hollywood is against you, the justice system is against you, our allies are against you, apparently the Fed is against you… at what point do you question what it is you are for?
This has gotten to bizzarro world. I think folks just don’t understand the level of integrity that professionals have, the ethical decisions they make regularly in order to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. Personal feelings exist, but they’re not going to sell their souls- or risk their entire careers- on a small chance their personal feelings will be vindicated. Plus, there is not one piece of evidence of the rigging against DJT. Strozk was biased, but there was no public release of info re: the investigation of Trump, and Comey went back and forth (in wrong-headed efforts to try to secure his job).
Nothing else, besides the actual and proven Russian interference, could have, or did, make an impact.
But facts don’t matter to feelings, especially feelings of conspiracy against you. It’s not hard to accept that DJT won- everyone I know is over it (although that doesn’t mean the wheels of justice stop). But is hard for Trumpists to accept that their guy may not have won cleanly, or ever had clean hands.
Doctors don’t ask who you voted for. Professionals in may disciplines do their work without bias even though they may have personal opinions.
It’s paranoia and the true witch hunt to go after these guys.
Dude, the only one who appears to have abused their power is Trump. The intelligence community did not make Trump fire Comey. The intelligence commitee did not make George Papadopolous blab to the Austrailians about colluding with the Russians. Nobody in the intelligence community made Mike Flynn go to Russia and sit at a table with Putin and then call Russian spies. Nobody in the intelligence community made Carter Page give an American bashing speech at the Kremlin. Nobody in the intelligence community made any of those people do anything. The truth is you’re mad because they are not covering up for Trump and other Putin apologists.
Apparently they have not lapsed — they all need to be double-checked and cancelled if not lapsed. Since they are issued for a number of years, they may still be active like the gal over at Augusta was as an ex-federal employee.
People like Clapper and Brennan have been making money from CNN and other networks based on access to security info that belongs to the American people — not to disgruntled former employees.
Whether or not they are making money because of their previous positions isn’t the reason for revoking their clearance. If they were not being critical of Trump this wouldn’t be happening. This is an attempt to silence his political critics, which is yet another small step towards fascism. But of course it won’t stop them from talking or being critical, it just denies the IC of those guys’ potential usefulness to them, so it’s a stupid move.
How about Scaramucci, or Spicer, or Bannon, or Priebus, do they still have clearance? Why aren’t they on the list? They aren’t making money based on their previous positions?
Putin apologist? What factual basis for calling him that?
He was against Montenegro joining NATO the same goal as Putin. He’s also on TV regularly apologizing for Putin. Paul also voted against sanctions for Russia attacking us.
A Putin apologist is one of the easiest claims to blow away. Here are 4 things that are hammering the Russian. All policies liberals abhor.
1. Rebuilidng out military. Does Putin want that?! Oh hell no! Do liberals want that? Oh hell no.
2. A stronger economy through lower tax policies and pro growth policies. Trillions coming back into the US. The Liberals hate these policies. They are running on reversing them. All of that HELPS the Russians.
3. Trump promoting US energy industry. The useful idiots don’t like Nuke, Fossil Fuels and Fracking. Well lets let them live on the 1% of our energy need produced by renewables. Let the rest of the normal folks have cheap energy and a good economy. Fracking which the LIBS HATE is THE REASON our c02 emissions are doing hugely. Its cleaner than coal. Nuke has zero co2.
4. Trump busting Germany’s rear end over sucking up to Russia with that pipeline and offers Europe to buy US gas.
Busting the Iranians rear end and limiting their exports and getting out of the Iranian deal. Do you think Trump can get the 152 billion back? Iranian is Russian’s sock puppet.
Supporting Israel. Not trying to destroy our biggest ally in the region! Speaking of election collusion, did OBAMA ACTIVELY COLLUDE in Israel’s election? Is that legal. Did he send some of his own election team over there. Did Putin send his election team over hear or have a few bots place some Facebook adds?
Oh spare me…did the libs hate Reagan more than Russia? Oh hell yes they did!! Get lectured by folks that harbor the Communist party in the USA and home of the radical socialist movement is absurd.
So tell me hw
I think there is a consensus that Putin’s goal would be to weaken the US and the west in general. This is supposed to in turn strengthen Mother Russia. So:
– Strengthen the military- How has Trump strengthened the military? You mean his proposed spending increase? At the cost of a trillion dollar deficit? Putin would like that. After all, that is supposedly how Reagan defeated the Soviet Union, make ’em spend more than they have.
– tax cuts- at the same time as military spending increase. Perfect. Hey, didn’t G.W. Bush try that?
– I don’t think Putin gives a crap about how we do our energy. This exposes your true motivation though- if the libs hate it you are compelled to like it.
– Trump hassling Germany isn’t going to change a damn thing. I’m sure Putin is happy about a public spat between allies though.
– Getting out of the Iranian deal actually pushes them closer to Russia. Putin probably likes that.
– Putin probably likes the Chosen One creating even more conflict in the Middle East by moving embassies and stuff.
– Obama- really? If Obama broke Israeli laws they can charge him if they like. I don’t believe they have.
– libs- communist blah blah. Not sure what all that is about.
P.S. I see an edit button. And I don’t even need it!!!1 Yay!
Good lord you’re stuck in the past. Putin could care less about our military. He attacked our country without firing one shot. Putin could care less about our tax policies. As a matter of fact most of the GOP tax policies help Putin simply because they make us a debtor nation. Promoting the energy industry helps Putin because it is one of the few things that Putin has a hold on. Using more fossil fuels helps Putin not hurts him. If the world went completely solar tomorrow Putin’s entire regime would pretty much collapse. Getting off of fossil fuels is a national security issue. Busting Germany is EXACTLY what Putin wanted. He wants to bust up our alliances. He wants to embarrass us on the world stage and Trump has been doing a pretty good job of it so far.
To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS! – DJT
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Or what? Be subjected to a Trump demand that Iran participate in a summit meeting where the stable genius will humiliate Iran in front of the whole world?
I predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order to save face!
DJT tweet, 5:23 PM – Sep 16, 2013
Remember what I previously said–Obama will someday attack Iran in order to show how tough he is. DJT tweet, 1:44 PM – Sep 25, 2013
Well, that’s not one of the scariest projections ever.
And I don’t mean projection like prediction.
I mean projection like “I’m not the violent narcissist- you are.”
Dave, does anyone here remember the term “wag the dog”? That movie came out one month before a certain president bombed an aspirin factory the very day Monica Lewinski was testifying before Congress about her blue dress. Were the Clintons involved in almost every scandal the last 30 years?
Yeah, Iran-Contra, Abramoff, Tom Delay, The Keating Five, Jim Traficant, Scooter Libby, Rostenkowski, Packwood, federal response to Katrina, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Bush’s warrantless NSA wiretaps, Newt’s unethical book deal, the millions that voted illegally in the 2016 election et al aren’t in the same league as Vince Foster, Pizza-gate, and Clinton’s looting of the WH. It’s a dump anyway.
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Indeed Hillary’s e-mails were totally different than the Bush administration using RNC web servers for millions of emails which were then destroyed, lost or deleted. Totally.
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The cruise missile attack by most accounts was what you claim it to be, a diversion. A diversion just like you reaching back for something from 20 years ago, (Hillary natch, though the Trump quotes were about Obama) to divert from a President so weak on foreign policy he obsessively blusters about war.
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LOL. I thought that claim had gone down in the anals of right wing nonsense after 9/11 since the bombing was an attempt to kill Osama Bin Laden. Repeating a lie over and over works with conservatives apparently or they wouldn’t keep doing it.
You should know about repeating talking points!
Uhhh, was Source #1 doing anything but making up crap about Trump…for 12 million no less? Comey said none of it was substantiated and almost the entire reason for the spying in the first place. Again, lets say any fool attorney tried to bring this kind of evidence into court and it was tossed. Anyone on a jury with a prosecutor like Strzok and Comey, Clapper and the rest of these biased goobers would vote not guilty. Actually the judge would throw it out wouldn’t they? So why in the hell does anyone defend this crap? We know why. Why don’t you look in the mirror. If republicans tried to do this to Hillary wouldn’t there have been riots all over the country and everyone one of these biased people would be fired and prosecuted. Just be honest for a change. If Trump did something bust his tail. They haven’t found a blank darn thing. I don’t like watching folks get railroaded. We know where the collusion is.
False.
“Comey stressed that the dossier was not the reason why federal authorities opened an investigation into possible connections between some members of the Trump presidential campaign team and Russia.
“The investigation began because of reliable information that George Papadopoulos was having conversations about obtaining information from the Russians,” Comey said, referring to the president’s former campaign foreign policy adviser. “That’s probably as far as I can go at this point.”
“It, at its core, was consistent with the other information we’d gathered during the intelligence investigation,” he said of the dossier.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/comey-believes-source-steele-dossier-credible/story?id=54488781
You can believe what you want to believe, but you are choosing to believe things that aren’t true.
Comey lied.
Jesus wept.
Wow! A Lib using Jesus’ name! Shouldn’t you be in your coffin during the day?
So Russians think that all Christians are conservatives?
Lol! In that case, Will, Merry Christmas!
With the likes of you representing themselves as a conservative while you are actually just trolling for Trump/Putin, I’m fine with being called a lib. I’ve never claimed to be a social conservative, quite the opposite. Meanwhile President Trump is not a fiscal conservative by any stretch of the imagination. I paid a higher percentage in taxes with his so called cuts. What with raising and implementing tariffs, triggering trade wars, currency wars, screeching at the fed for trying to anticipate the inflation to come as a result of those policies… and now $12 Billion in welfare for farmers getting squeezed by his policies. So no you are not a conservative if you support this crap, you are simply a Trumpist, well, and in your case, part ass as well.
“But is hard for Trumpists to accept that their guy may not have won cleanly, or ever had clean hands.”
No evidence whatsoever has been provided that Trump’s victory was tainted in any way. Period. Zero. He simply outworked the only candidate that he could beat. Pretty simple. Manafort is being prosecuted for potential crimes that have no relation to Trump. He was with Trump, for what, three months? Nothing there. Solitary confinement? Really? The Dipshit is squeezing him to roll on Trump. There’s nothing to squeeze. Prosecutorial abuse at the highest. Truly shameful behavior.
It’s not about Trump. It’s about Russian meddling.
We’re not going to re-do that election even if the Russians did flip millions of votes.
Who cares if Trump feels diminished if people think he didn’t win straight up. That’s his problem.
Manafort apparently did something wrong and he caught caught. Why would you defend that? If he’s got nothing to offer Mueller then he’ll do his time or get off. Whatever.
He’s in solitary equipped with a toilet, a shower, a place to sit, a small table, a TV with basic cable, and a phone to make outgoing collect calls. But hey, if he wants to be in the G.P. the judge might allow that.
By the way, the only reason he is in jail at all is because he was WITNESS TAMPERING.
Nah, Manafort is in jail because he was ACCUSED of witness tampering by Mueller. Manafort was out on bail and has never been tried or convicted of anything. What Mueller indicted him for was an accusation of something to do with taxes about 15 years ago — NOTHING to do with the Trump campaign or any other political thing.
Placing him in solitary confinement for some back tax accusations instead of allowing him to stay at home with an ankle bracelet (like they do illegal aliens who crash the border every day) is outrageous. If he were a Dem or Socialist, there would be rioting in the streets – like they do for murders, drug dealers, illegal aliens, etc.
It’s. Not. About. Trump.
You guys are taking on the paranoid defensiveness of your Leader.
Trump may get in trouble but if he does it will be because that is where the investigation led. But even so, he seems to have enough GOPers willing to jump off a cliff for him so he’s probably safe until the mid-terms anyway. And I think it’s unlikely that Dems then go after him even with a majority. It would look too political at this point and they can just stop his idiocy unless/until he actually negotiates with them.
And let’s be more explicit: Manafort is charged with laundering millions of dollars for Russians. Manafort then became campaign chairman for Trump. Between him, and Flynn, and Papadopolous, and Page, and about 6 other guys forgetting to disclose their contacts with Russians, it was practically an annex to the Russian embassy over there. So yeah, Mueller is going to look closely at that.
So don’t say it has nothing to do with the Trump campaign. We don’t know that yet. Russians maybe had something on Manafort. If he was laundering money for them that is pretty compromising right there. And if he then gets the be campaign chairman, you don’t think they might lean on him a little bit? “Hey comrade, get rid of sanctions or Washington Post finds out you are money launderer.”
Read the indictment. It goes all the way to 2017 and the charge is conspiracy against the USA. And yeah, if he was laundering some of that money through the Trump campaign it does matter. There apparently was quid pro quo with one of the loans Manafort got.
They let Manafort have an ankle bracelet. Twice he was caught breaking the rules of his home confinement. You would THINK that he would quit talking to Russians but he just could not. The judge let him off the first time with a warning but the second time the judge found out he was STILL NOT obeying the terms of his bail they threw him in the slammer. Apologizing for Manafort makes you look like a Putin sympathizer but maybe you are.
My point was that y’all get triggered by the mere implication that your guy got elected with a little foul assistance.
Noted as proven.
As for the facts, we’ll see.
I never put the cart before the horse.
That’s the entire point of your side. To taint his win. He did nothing wrong. He beat Hillary honestly. No votes were changed. No machines were hacked. Even Obama said a national election couldn’t be influenced. All of America knows you effort is dishonest. They’ll voice their feelings in November.
Trump himself told you the election was rigged and he wasn’t going to accept the results…until he won!
There was colusion with the Russians by the Trump campaign and I accept Trump’s assertion that the election was rigged.
I honestly do hope no votes were altered.
But I sure want to know exactly what happened, and where the election systems’ weaknesses are. To me, that’s the point.
I consider Trump is an ancillary issue. I won’t say he’s guilty of anything until and unless it’s proven by facts. Until then, he is entitled to a presumption of innocence. But you wouldn’t find me going to the mat for him with this fact pattern.
I merely pointed out that Trump himself asserted that the election was rigged. Even after he won he claimed massive vote fraud. He claimed he won the popular vote. He appointed a commission to prove it was rigged. Of course the commission was just another in long line of red meat for the cultist.
I am now officially cross-eyed from all that legalese! Plus I don’t have time to dredge through all the FISA wrong-doing. And even if I did, nothing would change your mind. I give up.
You know for somebody who was so butt-hurt and caterwauling his intention to leave GaPol, you sure look back to your earlier ways! Combo of cry-closet and Midol work for you??
Do you have pictures of Trump hanging up in your domicile? Maybe a screensaver of his orange face? Have you named any of your weapons after him? If he asked you to drink some punch out of a large bowl, would you?
Don’t be hatin’. No tonight. We have enjoy Kemp’s win due in large part to TGM’s endorsement!
What he hell are you babbling about? Ducking your obtuse ass? I have been out playing golf, working and that last thing on my mind is you! I think you took your ball and went home to your safe space!!
I cant even figure out who replies to what on this website, so this is the first time I knew I was supposedly ducking you?! Bottom line Andrew, do you think the exoneration of Hillary and the attempts to frame Trump on collusion charges are unbiased and on the up and up? If you think that I think you are out of your mind. Every other little detail is a waste of time.
Instead of me ducking you which is a joke, why don’t you name one darn thing Trump has done in this “collusion” story. And it is a story. Then we can make a list of the evidence of collusion from the FBI, Justice Department, CIA, IRS, DNC, Hillary and the crooked press. Then we all can compare notes right? Now I know all of us on this blog can name dozens of the latter. I have seen nothing from anyone telling any of us a damn thing Trump has done. So big boy, the ball is in YOUR court!
I feel like Groundhog Day, because this happens so often.
Ladies and Gentlemen, May I present to you…The Democrat Party…
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-pol-cuomo-civil-confinement-sex-offenders-vote-pardon-20180721-story.html