Trump II

[Alan Klein]

Again I really don't know...but I sure wouldn't be surprised to find out that there's no proof he himself colluded with the Russians. But I'm convinced Russia sure did try and succeeded in interfering with our election and that Trump would not have won if they didn't. I wonder why Trump clings to his claim it's fake news and thinks it's a conspiracy by the democrats to explain why they lost.

I also believe that there is something very weird about his love of Putin...it defies logic. Everybody else in the weatern world knows they are our enemy.

I think the Democrats should stick with their point that Russia stole the election rather than facing the real reasons that they ignored the hurting working class.  It will make it easier for Republicans.

[Alan Klein]

Well, the DNC was broken into June 17, 1972.

March 17, 1973: Watergate burglar McCord writes a letter to Judge John Sirica, claiming that some of his testimony was perjured under pressure and that the burglary was not a CIA operation, but had involved other government officials, thereby leading the investigation to the White House.

May 19, 1973: Independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox appointed to oversee investigation into possible presidential impropriety.

July 23, 1973: Nixon refuses to turn over presidential tapes to Senate Watergate Committee or the special prosecutor.

October 20, 1973: "Saturday Night Massacre" - Nixon orders Elliot Richardson and Ruckleshouse to fire special prosecutor Cox. They both refuse to comply and resign. Robert Bork considers resigning but carries out the order.

November 17, 1973: Nixon delivers "I am not a crook" speech at a televised press conference at Disney World (Florida).

April 16, 1974: Special Prosecutor Jaworski issues a subpoena for 64 White House tapes.

June 15, 1974: Woodward and Bernstein's book All the President's Men is published by Simon & Schuster (ISBN 0-671-21781-X).

July 24, 1974: United States v. Nixon decided: Nixon is ordered to give up tapes to investigators.

May 9, 1974: Impeachment hearings begin before the House Judiciary Committee.

July 27 to July 30, 1974: House Judiciary Committee passes Articles of Impeachment.

August 9, 1974 Nixon resigned the presidency.

In case you don't remember the time line, Timeline of the Watergate scandal.

So, it didn't happen over nite.

Although Nixon was a Republican like Trump, at the time of Watergate, both the House of Representatives and the Senate were both Democrat controlled.    Today, Congress is controlled by Republicans.  Of course, if the Dems take over the House and Senate, there still requires a 2/3 vote in the Senate to convict after the House impeaches. 

In any case, this talk of impeachment isn't good for the country.  Everything that's going on is a lot of accusations and political theatre.  A reach for power.  Meanwhile we have major international and domestic issues that will go unaddressed.  We have to get back to important matters.  Health care, terrorism, jobs, trade, debt, war, etc.  I think half the noise and juice by the media or more is just to keep their ratings up with more viewership.  They could give a crap about the rest of us. 

[Alan Klein]

...

My wife loved that.  She really despises Hillary.

[James Clark]

Thanks Jeff, thanks for the history.  I'm being sincere; I really did not know the timeline of the Nixon impeachment. 

Now can you address the other points I made.

What other points?  Are you suggesting that Comey's last minute revelations had zero effect on the electorate? That some number of individuals didn't view HRC's competencies differently because of her sex? That the asymmetric release of private documents via Wikileaks didn't sway a single vote? 

Help me out, please, because while most reasonable people agree she ran a horrid campaign, I'm quite certain that you can't be making an argument on the relative merits of the two candidates actual qualifications for the office.

[Alan Klein]

Trump confirms he supports Article 5 NATO defense of all agreement. http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/09/politics/trump-commits-to-natos-article-5/index.html

Did he get everyone to pay the 2% or agree to pay or what?

[Alan Klein]

What other points?  Are you suggesting that Comey's last minute revelations had zero effect on the electorate? That some number of individuals didn't view HRC's competencies differently because of her sex? That the asymmetric release of private documents via Wikileaks didn't sway a single vote? 

Help me out, please, because while most reasonable people agree she ran a horrid campaign, I'm quite certain that you can't be making an argument on the relative merits of the two candidates actual qualifications for the office.

I don't understand this constant pointing at Comey as the reason.  every campaign has moments that could change the electorate view of things.  One could say that when the bias news release of the tape about what Trump said ten years earlier about grabbing women could have hurt him.  If he lost, couldn't he have a similar complaint?  Could he have blamed the biased media.  (I think it was NBC)  There are dozens of things that happen on both sides that you can point too that are brought out during the election that effect people's votes.  This is all just an excuse to blame someone else for her own failings.

[Alan Klein]

It's similar about blaming the Russians.  If they had released damaging information about Trump, the Democrats would have said, yeah, the Russians shouldn't have done it.  But knowing the truth about a candidate is more important and what he did should be what counts.  Of course, the liberal biased press is against Trump, so Russia becomes the issue, not Hillary's miserable performance, lies and corruption in dealing with the DNC.

[Schewe]

every campaign has moments that could change the electorate view of things.  One could say that when the bias news release of the tape about what Trump said ten years earlier about grabbing women could have hurt him.

Well, let's see, the Donald Trump and Billy Bush recording was released about 4:30 pm on Oct 7, 2016 (just about a month before the election) and that should have had a chilling effect on Trump's chances but guess what? WikiLeaks dumped Podesta emails about an hour after the Trump video surfaced.

An hour after Trump's recording hit the media WikiLeaks starts dumping emails? What are the odds? Seriously, what are the odds that WikiLeaks just sat on the Podesta emails and happened to time their release to coincide to an hour after the Trump recordings?

Pretty lucky that the Podesta emails surfaced to help take the attention off of the Trump recordings...

Don't believe me?

It's True: WikiLeaks dumped Podesta emails hour after Trump video surfaced

[Schewe]

It's similar about blaming the Russians.  If they had released damaging information about Trump, the Democrats would have said, yeah, the Russians shouldn't have done it.

Funny about that, it seems that the GOP was indeed hacked but stuff wasn't released. At least that's what Comey said back in Jan, 2017 (Lyin' Comey?)

FBI's Comey: Republicans also hacked by Russia

Washington (CNN)Top intelligence officials indicated on Tuesday that the GOP was also a Russian hacking target but that none of the information obtained was leaked.

FBI director James Comey told a Senate panel that there was "penetration on the Republican side of the aisle and old Republican National Committee domains" no longer in use. Republicans have previously denied their organizations were hacked.

The testimony came in a Senate intelligence committee hearing that examined Russia's intrusions in the 2016 election campaign and its intentions, with America's top intelligence officials testifying just days after they released an unclassified report blaming Moscow for the hacks.
Comey later added that "there was evidence of hacking directed at state-level organizations, state-level campaigns, and the RNC, but old domains of the RNC, meaning old emails they weren't using. None of that was released."

Comey said there was no sign "that the Trump campaign or the current RNC was successfully hacked."

Asked by Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, whether the hacker had the ability to selectively leak that old information, Comey indicated that they did.

Comey also said that the Russians "got far deeper and wider into the (Democratic National Committee) than the RNC," adding that "similar techniques were used in both cases."

I guess Trump supporters didn't bother to read the full unclassified intelligence report? Well, here's your chance to catch up...

Read the full, unclassified intelligence report on Russian hacking here

January 6, 2017 at 3:58 PM EDT  | Updated: Jan 6, 2017 at 6:49 PM

WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a hidden campaign to influence America’s presidential election in favor of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, U.S. intelligence agencies declared Friday in the government’s first formal allegation supporting sensational claims that Trump and his supporters have staunchly resisted.

The intelligence report, an unclassified version of a more-detailed classified account given earlier to Trump, the White House and congressional leaders, withheld any evidence to back up its assertions. The president-elect said after his own meeting with the nation’s top intelligence officials that it was clear Russian email hacking did not deliver him the presidency.

The unclassified version was the most detailed public account to date of Russian efforts to interfere with the U.S. political process, with actions that included hacking into the email accounts of the Democratic National Committee and individual Democrats like Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta. Russia also used state-funded propaganda and paid “trolls” to make nasty comments on social media services, the report said. There was no suggestion that Russia affected actual vote counting or tampered with ballot machines.

The report, for the first time, explicitly tied Putin to the hackings, called it the “boldest effort yet” to influence a U.S. election, and said the Russian government provided emails to WikiLeaks — something the website’s founder, Julian Assange, has repeatedly denied. The intelligence agencies also said Russia will continue to try to influence future events in the U.S. and worldwide, particularly among U.S. allies.

Read the full report below:

Unclassified version of intelligence report on Russian hacking during the 2016 election on Scribd

(I'll betcha Trump hasn't read it :~)

[Schewe]

Did anybody remember this? I know that a lot of stuff has come down the pipe but if you are dubious about the Russians being involved, why are so many Russians dead?

"Follow the trail of dead Russians": Senate hears testimony on "cyber invasion"

WASHINGTON -- Under the great dome where Congress has debated matters of war and peace, the Senate Intelligence Committee heard testimony Thursday about a 21st-century cyber invasion by Russia that is still under way.

Senators opened the first day of hearings on Russian meddling in the U.S. election by an army of hackers, and delved deeper into what the Russians have been hiding.

Former FBI special agent Clint Watts was part of the committee’s investigation. He told the committee that the Russians may now be trying to cover their tracks.

“Follow the trail of dead Russians,” Watts said. “There’s been more dead Russians in the past three months that are tied to this investigation who have assets in banks all over the world.”

There have been a series of arrests of Russian cyber security officials and a number of mysterious deaths of Russian dissidents around the world, including the recent murder of exiled Russian lawmaker Denis Voronenkov outside a hotel in Kiev.

“This Russian propaganda on steroids was designed to poison the national conversation in America,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, said Thursday.

Warner and his colleagues heard details about Russia’s vast information warfare campaign, which involves at least 15,000 operatives worldwide writing and spreading false news stories and conspiracy theories online. Witnesses said the effort goes back years and often starts with Russian-backed media.

The campaign has targeted President Trump himself.

“I can tell you right now, accounts tweet at President Trump during high volumes when they know he’s online and they push conspiracy theories,” Watts, the former FBI agent, told CBS News.

Hum, is it just me but does Putin's tie look a bit long?

Coincidence?

[Schewe]

Hum, I don't get Showtime and I doubt Oliver Stone got Putin to reveal his true colors but it would be interesting to see...

‘I challenged Putin the best I could’: Oliver Stone on upcoming documentary

During his 19 hours of face-to-face conversations with Vladimir Putin, Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone posed some challenging questions that enabled the Russian president to reveal his often misinterpreted character to the public.

“I’m here to get Putin to talk. Let him talk, If I can encourage him to talk by having an empathetic ear, that is the reporter’s way. I’m also a dramatist. I’m encouraging my actors to be better. To say more. To give me a performance,” Stone, the maker of the 'The Putin Interviews' documentary, told the New York Times.

The most recent interview, recorded in February after President Trump assumed office, touched on allegations of Russian interference in the American presidential election and the hysteria that exploded in the Western media over these unproven claims.

‘The Putin Interviews’ will air on premium cable and satellite television network Showtime on four consecutive nights starting Monday.

[pegelli]

Trump confirms he supports Article 5 NATO defense of all agreement. http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/09/politics/trump-commits-to-natos-article-5/index.html

Did he get everyone to pay the 2% or agree to pay or what?

No sign of that. In the same speech he still calls for countries who didn't spend 2% to "repay" their underpayment. So he still doesn't understand the existing agreement and how NATO works. But he finally understood article 5 is also in the best interest of the US (he probably listened for once to his wise advisors like Tillerson or Mattis) so he decided to make the point. Since some people here claim he is a fast learner he might one day understand the 2% agreement and how NATO works, but I think it's taking an awful long time

[LesPalenik]

US President Trump despises the EU, withdraws from the climate treaty, has damaged trust in NATO - how should the Europeans deal with this partner?

Juncker has warned US President Donald Trump not to abort the Paris Climate Agreement. "I am a Transatlanticer, but if the American president says in the next few hours or days he wants to get out of the Paris deal, then it is the duty of Europe to say: You can't do this," said Juncker in Berlin. In the US, there have been signs that Trump is about to abolish the climate protection agreement.

"It's not just about the future of Europe, it's about the future of people elsewhere," he said. 83 countries are in danger of disappearing from the earth's surface if the fight against climate change will not being carried out resolutely, the President of the EU Commission said.

http://www.politico.eu/article/trump-climate-juncker-you-cant-leave-paris-deal-overnight/

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

My wife loved that.  She really despises Hillary.

Why? What has she done to your wife? And more to the point, what has Trump done for your wife?

Cheers,
Bart

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Trump confirms he supports Article 5 NATO defense of all agreement. http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/09/politics/trump-commits-to-natos-article-5/index.html

Probably another lie.  As the saying goes, “Trust comes on foot, but leaves on horseback”

Did he get everyone to pay the 2% or agree to pay or what?

He didn't achieve anything that wasn't already being implemented, as agreed in 2014.

Russia loves it when Western solidarity is broken.

Cheers,
Bart

[Manoli]

'Trump is an idiot, but don’t underestimate how good he is at that’

 " ... Trump’s novelty was to take the shock doctrine and make it a personal superpower. “He keeps everyone all the time in a reactive state, it's not like he is taking advantage of an external shock, he is the shock. And every 10 minutes he creates a new one. It is like he has these lasers coming out of his belt.”


Naomi Klein

One of the questions that Klein’s book does not reach a conclusion about is how conscious Trump is of his shock doctrine tactics. Is he a demagogue in the scheming manner of Putin and Erdoğan, or just a useful idiot for the forces around him?

“I think he is a showman and that he is aware of the way that shows can distract people,” she says. “That is the story of his business. He has always understood that he could distract his investors and bankers, his tenants, his clients from the underlying unsoundness of his business, just by putting on the Trump show. That is the core of Trump. He is undoubtedly an idiot, but do not underestimate how good he is at that.”

[Alan Klein]

Why? What has she done to your wife? And more to the point, what has Trump done for your wife?

Cheers,
Bart

It's a woman thing.  Hillary wanted to be president all her life.  So she put up with Bill's cheating on her all the time because she needed his coat tails.  She also went out of her way to protect his political career when his "bimbo" girlfriends got him in trouble by trying to destroy them, not exactly showing support for woman when it counts.  She went out to hurt them.   It really turned my wife off that Hillary went along with Bill's lack of moral scruples when it came to their marriage.  Arguing that she just wanted to keep it intact was BS.  It was all done for political expediency.  She sold her soul for politics.

[Alan Klein]

No sign of that. In the same speech he still calls for countries who didn't spend 2% to "repay" their underpayment. So he still doesn't understand the existing agreement and how NATO works. But he finally understood article 5 is also in the best interest of the US (he probably listened for once to his wise advisors like Tillerson or Mattis) so he decided to make the point. Since some people here claim he is a fast learner he might one day understand the 2% agreement and how NATO works, but I think it's taking an awful long time

Mattis is a government bureaucrat all his life so cares little about money and costs.  Tillerson who ran Exxon, a commercial company,  should know better. NATO countries agreed to the 2% ten years ago.  Some of the richest European countries like Germany and France have actually been paying less and less as the years roll by.  Waiting until 2024 to meet the 2%, 17 years after the agreement was signed, is not meeting the spirit of it.  If they're not increasing it slowly now, how could anyone expect such a big jump in one year anyway?  It's just being passed on to the American taxpayer.   Trump is letting Europe slide again like his predecessors.  Very disappointing.  Maybe he'll re-visit it next year if they don't increase their percentages as they said they would.  But I'm not holding my breath.

[Alan Klein]

13:43
Donald Trump has told Theresa May in a phone call he does not want to go ahead with a state visit to Britain until the British public supports him coming.

Note to Donald: It's gonna be a long wait ...

Who cares?

[Manoli]

13:43
Donald Trump has told Theresa May in a phone call he does not want to go ahead with a state visit to Britain until the British public supports him coming.

Note to Donald: It's gonna be a long wait ...