“Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite.”
–Charles Spurgeon
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Nothing Burger
So the Tin Foil hat Dem scandal machine went at it this week to prove the connection between Trump and them Russians. FBI director Comey was grilled by the best the Dems have. Here are the results:
In an exchange with Democratic Sen. Al Franken, Comey revealed the assumptions undergirding his investigation, which started in the heat of the 2016 presidential campaign, despite any specific evidence of a crime.
“What is your assessment of why the Russian government had a clear preference for President Trump?” Franken asked.
“One is he wasn’t Hillary Clinton,” Comey replied, “who [Russian President Vladimir] Putin hated and wanted to harm in any possible way; and so he was her opponent, so necessarily they supported him.”
Also, “Putin believed he would be more able to make deals . . . with someone with a business background,” the FBI chief added. But, a disappointed Franken pressed, wasn’t it also because Trump was “ensnared in their web of patronage?” No, said Comey.
Not to be outdone, the Dem head of the Foreign Relations committee was asked about what information she had to prove Trump was in Putin's pocket.
After Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, CNN asked the ranking Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, if she had evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the election. “Not at this time,” Feinstein sheepishly replied.
Seems this is all about Dems having acceptance problems with the fact that they lost. Let me help you. You lost because the public thinks you suck.
Nothing more, nothing less.
What I enjoy most about your post AC is that you get to post your drivel on this progressive blog without fear of being banned from the site. As much as we disagree on policy and politics -Alva gives you license to parade your ideology in the full light of day as a
brave patriotanonymous troll whose only purpose here is to agitate and obfuscate. Unfortunately you're immune from 'full daylight' operating as a sanitizer for such things when the veil you hide behind blocks the Sun's rays.I'm looking forward to the day you grow a set of cajones big enough to come out from behind your curtain and attach a name to your brave, trolling positions.
Blowman
I get it. What the resident nut jobs have been posting for months turns out to be nonsense, so attack the messenger. The attack is that he uses a name other than his own to post, which is what most of the people who post here do. It is particularly dishonest with the level of vitriol and threats reserved for posters who do not agree with the left wing party line. It takes no cajones, to use your term, to be a yes man for those who share your views.
I will decline your kind invitation to self-identify. I am secure in my masculinity and your sexist taunts are ignored. You also may have noted that all of the other posters on this thread also use made up names. They must also be missing a certain body part.
Have a nice weekend.
Don't you mean you are secure in your tiny paycheck, shill boy? No one believes you write from principle. Unless it is the principle of cheating the taxpayers who finance your day job.
I'd hold the same opinion about our fellow posters (or anyone) here if they were performing the equivalent of your role on a conservative website. Sadly, they'd most likely be banned in short order if they mimicked your modus operandi here on CoPols.
I think anonymity in general has led to the collapse of public discourse. I don't go to Ruth's Chris looking for a stale Twinkie; that said, your presence here (and often-obfuscation of facts) does sharpen the debate skills of most of us on this site. In that sense you do perform a public service and your first-amendment rights are accommodated (assuming that right extends to trolls).
Its a beautiful weekend here in rural Alabama; they're preparing for their 200th anniversary of statehood and we're celebrating the return of industrial hemp to their countryside. I could do with a few less Confedreate flags, but, 'Merrika' – a situation akin to your presence here, giving us a healthy dose of yin and yang.
We need to start making Confederate flags from hemp. Blow Beauregard's mind.
Yes!
Andrew should be lobbying to get Colorado Peak Politics to open up to other posters.
CHB.
Why would I do that?
There are sites that are set up for blogging and sites that are not.
Pols is and I partake.
Peak is not and I do not partake.
There are left wing sites that are not blog sites and right wing sites that are. People north of me on the totem pole get to figure out how they want to set up their own sites. It is their call, not mine.
I don't think the broad universe of political sites is what I'm talking about; just one particular site in Colorado that could be the right side equivalent of Pols. And why wouldn't you do that? You would have a much bigger audience on Peak than what you have on Pols.
Carnegie writes on a couple of local and national right-wing blogs.
Wishing for a "like" button
V – I'll get the weavers to throw in a Trump flag for good measure (taken in Alabama last night):
What's the flag on the bottom, Mike? I don't recognize it.
It's a Ford Racing flag. The pic was taken at the Talladega Speedway.
Sweet Home Alabama 🙁
Too bad Martin Truex of Denver’s Furniture Row Racing got caught up in the big crash near the end of today’s race. Fortunately, the cars are world’s better with safety in the last 10 years so I don’t think anyone was hurt in that huge 200mph pile up.
I was there. What a spectacular crash. How drivers can walk away from a pile-up like that is a testament to American engineers.
So it is. If the photo had been taken in daylight I probably would have recognized it. I spent a lot of summers in Huntsville. My grandparents lived there, and by dumb luck, I was born there.
It is a region of great contrasts. Their hospitality is bar-none; the cognitive dissonance of their politics is suffocating. My favorite story of the weekend (from outside the fence): on Speedway Boulevard as you approach the entrance, the church group 'Hot Dogs for Jesus' were camped out along the boulevard at a place where the cars have slowed to a crawl to enter. Two lovely women, one holding a sign and another a megaphone, offer those passing by a free hot dog and a bottle of water if you'll stop long enough to have them share the good news of their SkyGod and how he can save you. I flashed the crucifix around my neck and assured them I was covered.
There's apparently nothing that screams Jesus loves you like stuffing a weiner, wrapped in intestinal casing, made from the nitrate-laden animal parts from three animal species and over 1000 unique DNA traces, into your mouth.
Outside the fence Saturday evening on Talladega Boulevard was quite another story. Booze, open-air stripper poles, pigs on a spit, Leonard Skynard on speakers attached to old, modified school buses, whole pigs on spits, free meat for the asking (no Jesus requirement). Nearly every camper had some combination of an American flag, Confederate and/or Trump. Hoards of millenials wearing their Trump hats backwards, flashing their 'boobies for beads' at a tent infested by old white men (that one was a little creepy). An occasional whiff of cannabis smoke. All I could think of was 'what would Jeff Sessions think if he walked down this street?!? And where are the Hot Dogs for Jesus chicks? It was a veritable gold mine for their mission. Right under their nose.
Bless their (pre-diabetic) hearts.
Putin's ignorant puppets sure do stay on message well. Their shameless fealty and obvious desire to live under totalitarian Russian rule must give him the warm and fuzzies at night.
Zap:
Have you run out of nice things to say about Thurston?
He knows his gaping weaknesses.
I'm just here to remind this blog's proprietors that in order to win office and enact progressive policies you actually have to believe in something and communicate it to voters.
And it has to be more than refinancing your student loans.
Well, it also helps if you win an occasional election, and moderate policies can help with that![smiley smiley](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.6.0/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png)
There is more than one reason to be anonymous
I'll say!
We'll see when the investigation is completed. Until then, neither you, me or anyone else knows how this will turn out.
Is the investigation over already?
A few problems with this post:
1. You didn't cite your source (NY Post 5/4/17). Of course, you seldom cite your sources. In this case, Paul Sperry is a conspiracy theorist and Muslim-hater from way back. The New York Post endorsed Trump, has clear pro-Trump bias.
*James Comey himself is something of a political maverick; but the FBI as a whole was biased against Hillary Clinton
*Both Comey and Feinstein would not comment on the Trump – Russia investigation because it directly impinged on national security matters and ongoing FBI and CIA investigations.
* Not only is it not a "nothingburger", the Trump – Russia ties are extensive, pervasive and dangerous to national security. I have this on file, will put it up whenever you try your disingenuous spinning:
Evidence is mounting that Trump and his inner circle were acting in Russia's interests to weaken NATO and the European Union, and strengthen Russian hegemony over the Ukraine and Crimea. In return, Russian propaganda helped get Trump elected. The Trump campaign intentionally spread lies about HRC, which were generated in Russia and Macedonia.
Nine Russian Operatives Dead – Two with strong connections with Trump campaign –
*Oleg Erovinkin, who helped to assemble the KGB dossier with "kompromat" (compromising information for blackmail purposes), and
*Alex Oronov – Ukrainian businessman, connections with Michael Flynn, Russian Mafia, lived in Trump's building, met with Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen during the campaign, murdered after NYT exposed Ukrainian plotMembers of Trump's inner circle with strong Russian connections (partial list)
1.Michael Flynn, fired Security Council Chief, while on the Turkish payroll, was a propagandist for Russia today. During the campaign, he met with Russian ambassador Kisleyak, and lied about it. He is turning state's evidence, for a price.
2.Secretary of State Rex Tillerson skipped the NATO meeting, and went to Russia, presumably to work on eliminating US sanctions that block a 500 billion dollar Exxon – Rosneft Arctic oil drilling deal.
3.Trump's former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, worked directly for Russian and Ukranian businessmen and dictators with an anti-democracy agenda. He was paid millions for this work.
4.Trump's Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, met with Russian diplomats and businessmen secretly during the campaign, and later lied about this under oath.
5. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with a sanctioned Russian banker with ties to Putin during the transition.
6. Wilbur Ross, vice chair of money laundering Cyprus Bank
Granted, all this is confusing. The web of corruption and intrigue includes many foreign- sounding names which our parochial American brains reject. Luckily, CNN has a scorecard, a "Who's Who" of the Russian scandals. Washington Post put up another infographic on the web of relationships between the Trump administration and Russian interests.
Trump's business ties to Russian organized crime are well known. The FBI has arrested 10 men in New York as part of its Trump / Russia investigation.
You won the pinned weekend post lottery today. But the facts are not on your side. Your guy's administration is riddled with people on the take from a brutal, murderous dictator. He didn't just attack Hillary Clinton; he attacked democracy itself. And you're OK with that.
Pols – ^^^^^^^^awaiting moderation^^^^^^^^^again.
Chicken Little appears sane compared to the Unabomber’s rant.
MJ,
I think it is a quality control issue.![smiley smiley](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.6.0/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png)
Facts are like Kryptonite to Gerbils and other TrumpFools. Blinded by flash, deafened by sizzle, they cry "sell me more snake oil!". Sad!
Speaking of Trump Brand Snake Oil, Question: When is an $880 billion cut to Medicaid not a $880 billion cut to Medicaid? Well of course, when Tom Price says so:
Inconvenient facts? Just close your eyes and ears and sing "Lalalalala"
Gerbils and his ilk are depending on there being absolutely no cost to peddling bald-face lies. That's why their campaign to discredit and destroy our institutions has been going on for years, and will continue as long as it takes. In light of that, Trump's victory with the help of actual fake news from Russian-sponsored sources, explains why they adopted the term as their own to discredit actual facts that are not in their favor. This shows the depths of their moral, ethical and intellectual depravity.
They do have a blue print on how to make things they covet seem like they cost the public nothing.
Yup — using invisible ink to hide deficits:
Then giving their right-wing warmonger buddies big fat contracts:
What's the point of going to war if you can't make a buck, right Gerbils?
One of the first orders of business for Obama in 2009 was to reject the accounting tricks used by the Republicans, believing (rightly so) that taxpayers have the right to know. Responsible move. Unfortunately the morans think Obama those 'already spent' dollars.
So, the evidence that Trump is on the take, which apparently remains unknown to the head Dem on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is:
1. Putin had some KGB types killed recently.
2. Trump has employed some people who know and have done some work with Russians.
3. Someone associated with the campaign likes Vodka.
Granted I made the last one up, but you made up all the rest so that makes us even.
You're always ready to try to distract from the Russian / Trump connections. None of it's made up, as you well know. That's why mine has links to actual news articles from mainstream sources, and yours does not, although you did plagiarize from the NY Post.
As far as Trump being "on the take", of course he is. The entire Presidency is one big business opportunity for him – Trump Industries has too many conflicts of interests to even count. The Atlantic lists over 40 of them.
As for Feinstein's comments after the Comey briefing, which was on March 15,
Contrary to right wing media, which has regurgitated the March 15 Comey briefing story and is spinning it hard, Feinstein did not say that there was nothing to investigate. In fact, the FBI and CIA investigations of the Trump / Russia ties are ongoing and are heating up – per a NYT article of 5/5.
What is happening is that the Trump administration is stonewalling all requests, and that the Congressional Republicans are running away from their responsibility to investigate.
Between the Trump campaign collusion with Russia, and the plethora of conflicts of interest, the country may be relieved of this disastrous presidency yet.
MJ:
It is all made up.
What evidence is there that Donald J Trump did, or did not, do anything on account of ties that he has with the Russians.
Did he attack their ally the Syrians, which is not something Obama did, on account of his ties with Russia?
Perhaps trying to take care of the problem in North Korea (a Russian neighbor)?
Your alleged ties are all bogus and you know it. There is absolutely nothing that anyone has been able to identify that Trump did, or did not do, on account of any relationship anyone associated with him has or had to do with Russia.
This is all about Hillary and the Dems lost because they sucked and we can't accept that. Accept it. That was the judgement delivered in November. Until you accept it and change it will continue to be the judgement delivered.
MJ:
Here is the quote:
"WOLF BLITZER: I know that you and some of your colleagues from the Senate Intelligence Committee drove over to Langley, Virginia, yesterday to CIA headquarters and you were briefed. Here's the question. And you don't have to provide us with any classified information, Senator. But do you believe, do you have evidence that there was in fact collusion between Trump associates and Russia during the campaign?
DIANNE FEINSTEIN: Not at this time."
Priceless. That briefing was last week, not in March.
Here's the link to the video:
https://youtu.be/0BS5amEq7Fc
<iframe width="720" height="405" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0BS5amEq7Fc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Having a rough day at the office? Tee Hee Hee 🙂
Hell, that's the only honesr thing he's written in weeks.
He seems to be getting desperate that someone believe Trump isn't being blackmailed by the Russians.
Besides …Trump will get his cut of the $500 billion Exxon/ Mobil deal. He is motivated.
If it's all made up, then why has the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) announced he won't run for re-election in 2018? In fact, he has said he may not even finish out this term. Why did Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, re-cuse himself from further participation in the Trump-Russia investigation? Jeff Sessions also re-cused himself. Where there is smoke, there is usually some substantial amount of fire. Andrew is trying hard to make everyone here believe there is nothing to see, but it's not working.
The video you posted above (and corrected, since you originally and bafflingly had a Ted Cruz rant about the 2nd amendment there) is of the last 30 seconds of the 5/3/17 interview.
You were correct that the Feinstein quote "Not at this time" was fromWolf Blitzer's interview with Feinstein on May 3, 2017. However, most of that interview dealt with Comey and whether he was out of line in releasing HRC's email investigation info, while keeping the Trump / Russia stuff quiet.
Feinstein said in the May 3 interview:
"One of the things he said to us, well, one of the reasons for … holding the Clinton press conference 11 days before the election, was there was such great interest in this," Feinstein said. "Well, let me tell you, when Russia hacks into our election systems, there's exceptional interest in that too. So that argument doesn't hold up."
At the very end of the interview, (9:33 in a 10:08 interview, posted below), Blitzer does ask Feinstein if she has evidence of Russian collusion. She answers, "Not at this time." Hardly worth all of the hyperventilating, and hardly conclusive….not with a House, Senate, FBI, CIA, and possible grand jury investigation in play. Feinstein, canny old spook that she is, is not about to jeopardize ongoing investigations just so Wolfie can get a scoop. She said pretty much the same thing in her March 15 interview with Blitzer.
Here's the actual video. It's worth watching the entire thing, although it may challenge your teeny attention span:
With his performance and flip-flopping last year during the election, Director Comey is hardly a credible source.
There is also still the matter of WikiLeaks, and all those leaked e-mails, which Trump, I think, said is a criminal organization (he says so much it’s hard to know what is true).
Oh, the Superficiality!
Chris Cilizza, CPols' favorite WaPo columnist and Master of the Trite, takes Dems(!!!) to task for their response to the Republican Kegger Party/Lie Fest/Obamacare R&R*:
Cilizza is one reason our politics is so fucked up.
Another is the inane desire of "journalists" such as him to make sure it looks like "both sides do it". It's their raison d'être, no matter the fact that both sides don't do "it" . Regularly quoting idiot journalists who report that they do is political neglect and is why much of the public believes this horseshit.
Have a nice day at the track, everyone!
Cilizza manages to get his shot in. Washington Monthly includes a comment
His "both siderism" is clearly one-sided. 😉
Whoo boy, here's the Man, the Legend himself, Chris Cilizza, showing his expertise in all aspects of ballard fences, levee walls, border chain link, and who's winning the ever critical political border-fence-fund headline of the day. I can only imagine CPols hopes their "Get More Smarter While Sitting Between Two Ferns" show catapults them into this kind of brain-dead, million-dollar job.
Kernberg described malignant narcissism as a syndrome characterized by a narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), antisocial features, paranoid traits, and egosyntonic aggression. Other symptoms may include an absence of conscience, a psychological need for power, and a sense of importance (grandiosity).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malignant_narcissism
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder in which there is a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of understanding of others' feelings.[2][3] People affected by it often spend a lot of time thinking about achieving power or success, or about their appearance. They often take advantage of the people around them. The behavior typically begins by early adulthood, and occurs across a variety of situations.[3]
…
Treatments have not been well studied. Therapy is often difficult as people with the disorder frequently do not consider themselves to have a problem.[2] About one percent of people are believed to be affected at some point in their life.[4] It appears to occur more often in males than females and affects young people more than older people.[2][3] The personality was first described in 1925 by Robert Waelder while the current name for the condition came into use in 1968.[6]
CPols would do themselves, and all of us, a favor by quoting Bill Maher about politics rather than that moron Chris Cilizza.
A brilliant piece, Zappy. But how can you reconcile its popular front logic with your constant attacks on bennet, cpols, and others who don't follow your third period dogma?
Oh you hurt my fee fees!
At least you know what "third period" means. Carnholio thinks it was the one reserved for Bible study at his Anti-Evolution Academy.
I generally like Bill Maher. He does have his blind spots. One of them is blaming only the "liberal purists who voted for Jill Stein" for Trump's election win, even though he lost the popular vote by 3 million.
This ignores the effects of disenfranchising millions of voters through deliberate voter suppression, and also deliberate interference in the American election by a foreign power (Russia).
Maher's invitation to Stein voters to "go f*ck yourselves with an organic cucumber" perpetuates the fractures within the Democratic party. The fact is that the Democratic establishment needs Stein and Bernie voters. They need our energy, our money, and our votes.
Dem strategists know they'll get those things from us boomers, but it's doubtful whether the genXers and millenials will overcome their cynicism and skepticism about the corporate ties of the Democratic party to troop in and volunteer the way they did for Obama.
Read Shattered and you will learn that Jill/Bern fanatics tried to sabotage Hillary all through the convention — though Bernie, jeff Fisher and others generally thwarted them. Bernie proved his worth. Jill the jerk can take her cucumber and go perform obscene acts on Donald Trump. God knows, she earned the privilege.
Jill Stein running for president was an equivalent to Ralph Nader's Ego running for president in 2000. The only person less qualified to be president than Trump was Stein. At least Gary Johnson had been a state governor.
Johnson might have made a decent president, and light years better than the fart joke now defiling the office.
You know you want to hear it:
Trump stinks.
Stay upwind, my friends.
So the GOP tax cut for the wealthy bill masquerading as a healthcare bill is getting rave reviews in TrumpLand (or not):
So it appears willful ignorance is the defense Republicans have settled upon, right Gerbils?
Remember, it's ok to kill if you are white, male, middle-aged and wealthy. And earn a $176,000 salary if you can kill thousands with a single vote
Republican reaction when asked about the impact of their Tax Cut Bill for Millionaires on all the rest of us:
PP and anyone else interested.
We discussed the new book Shattered, detailing Hillary's downfall. Having finished it, I really don't recommend it. It should be named The World as Seen from Brooklyn" because its all inside stuff about how Robbie Mook screwed up the campaign. While that is indisputably true, we never get out in the hustings to really sense what was moving people toward Trump, let alone how Trump conquered the Republican party and thus, by default, the presidency when Hillary collapsed.
Like Game Change, it's mostly superjicial inside baseball. If there is a new Teddy White out there to tell us what happened, he or she hasn't come forward.
My favorite campaign book:
What It Takes: The Way to the White House
by Richard Ben Cramer
Too bad he's no longer with us — he would have feasted on the 2016 campaign.
V, thanks for the heads up on Shattered. The reason for Trumps victory is the same as the reason for Bernies support, change. Change from the policies and results of 8 years of Obama and his administration.
All of the failed Republican candidates represented a continuation of the elite ruling class. Only Trump and Bernie represented a new approach. With Bernie out, Trump was the only change agent on the ballot.
There is a lot of truth to that, PP. Alas, as the theme from MASH notes, suicide brings on many changes![smiley smiley](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.6.0/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png)
If you like your pre-existing condition, you can keep your pre-existing condition.
Yup, sad when The Onion is reporting exactly what will happen:
They can't satirize when it's actually the reality.
FTW
Jason S: Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Trump's ex-deputy security guy and comic book supervillain, will be a guest on Weekend Talk with Tron, 1pm Sunday on AM 740 KVOR.
Remember; He's not a real doctor.
Tempest in a Weld County Teapot: Forget all of the fracking next to schools. Forget that the air quality is unhealthy. Forget that the city council is mostly bought off by O&G.
Forget that houses are being blown up by pipeline leaks from Anadarko negligence.
What's really important in Weld County School District Re5J – (Johnstown / Milliken) is that a Roosevelt HS Spanish teacher allowed his students to smash a Trump piñata. The horror.
The teacher has been suspended, is on administrative leave. To follow the controversy, check out #freemoser on Facebook.
Following the Sunday news today you're faced with the questions of whether POTUS is smart as a fox or as dumb as a box of rocks (per George Will)
Macron may have hacked the hackers in France
http://m.dailykos.com/stories/1659800
What say you, Andrew Carnegie?
Andrew is probably disappointed that the conservative, xenophobic nationalist did not win. And to make matters worse, the centrist endorsed by Obama did.
He's busy getting his talking points from the Russian Foreign Ministry to prepare to spin all the bad news that will be coming out tomorrow:
Both Siderism Alert: New York Times editorial board whacks Trump and Hillary for not binding America'S wounds. Bad Trump. Bad Hillary.
BBC reporting Le Pen concedes.![laugh laugh](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.6.0/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png)
Peace
And not even close – Macron won 65% to 35%. So he's a centrist – it's still a victory for the French people, for democracy, and for the European Union – and a slap upside the head for Trump and for Putin.
I bet they’re mad. They got told “NO”.
I will never mock or ridicule the French again!
They were right on Iraq and trashed their trump. On the other hand, their cars suck. And I love the way they serve escargot. Advantage: France
erased duplicate
Eating Raul
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/07/politics/raul-labrador-healthcare-ahca/index.html