Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[hack]

If any of this were true, why didn't Hillary use it? It appears Harry Reid was willing to go with it.


Say what you will about the Clintons, but there's a line even they won't cross.

Ultimately, the fact that this made it into intel briefings suggests the intel people think it's credible. It's certainly common sense that the Russians would be trying to get incriminating evidence of something or other on him. Would be more surprised if they weren't.

If it really was a hoax, well, that's how things are these days. The timing sure favors the cabinet nominees. Which makes you wonder if it's not coming from GOP leadership. They've got him by the balls now. Impeachment proceedings can now begin any time McConnell and Ryan feel like it. Get their people in place for the next four years, get Trump out of the way, and they're off to the races.

[Whitley]

so.. what will be Obama's legacy in your mind? What will people talk about 20 yrs from now?

I initially thought Obamacare, but for all those who benefitted, an equal number were harmed (financially). I'm not sure if you add up all the + and - it equates to something great. Yes, I do acknowledge the R's made it difficult, but is his legacy that he started it? He tried?

Economy is better today, not in the Bill Clinton improved way, but better.. but I've often argued every president gets too much blame or credit for the economy (at least short term)

At the same time, I'm not sure he did anything damaging to the country during his presidency.. So he wasn't great, but wasn't bad either. Maybe it's too soon to tell/guess.

He is a great speaker. No question about that..

Oh I think there will be a great many things that we will be talking about with regard to President Obama. Besides the obvious of that he was the first African-American President opening up a world of possibilities for million of people.

1) Obamacare. He is the first president to actually get a national health care down. That has been something that every President since Kennedy has wanted. And there have been pieces added here and there. However, President Obama achieved it. It has been the law of the land and now the Republicans are finding it very hard to find something that they can agree on to replace it with. I think you are going to get tweaks but the total gutting of it seems unlikely now.

2) The Great Recession. This was only a great recession, it could have been much worse. If the automakers do not get that bailout (minus Ford which was only extended credit and wound up not taking), then you lose 3 million jobs and that plunges the country into a depression. As it was it was touch and go for a long time.

3) Rise of the tea party/partisanship. The Republican Congress said from Day 1 that their entire purpose was to make sure that President Obama was going to be a one term president. So every chance they would have it would be objected to. They courted the fringes and then found out that controlling the fringe was much harder than they thought it would be. Eventually the fringe took over the Republican Party and the grassroots finally got their man Donald Trump. God help us all.

4) The Death of Osama Bin Laden. While ISIS did grow up on his watch. The destruction of Al Quada as the top terrorist threat is a significant achievement. The call was not an easy one either.

[hack]

Too early on Obamacare. If things smooth out, he'll go down as one of the best. If they don't, he should go down as a guy who fiddled while Rome burned. He probably won't. He'll be very fondly remembered if at least for acting like a grown up. Not just in contrast to Trump, but to Bush before him and Clinton as well.

[Dr. Strangelove]

All between 7-8 AM

[ame]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/819155311793700865[/ame]

[ame]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/819159806489591809[/ame]

[ame]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/819162968592183298[/ame]

[ame]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/819164172781060096[/ame]

[iam416]

The gist of the 4chan allegations:

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017...y-4chan-prank/

Yeah, I would be ultra dubious of that particular nonsense as well as the report itself.

[Dr. Strangelove]

One thing Mr. Drumpf hates, it's an unverifiable, nonsensical report. Heh

[ame]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/232572505238433794[/ame]

[entropy]

Good point. Trumps behavior will cement BO's. He also won the noble peace price...

On the negative the rich did get richer compared to the poor


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dr. Strangelove]

I'm guessing the report is largely nonsense but just a minor point about it...

Michael Cohen (of 'says who??' fame) has been showing pictures of his passport to prove he never traveled to Prague to meet with Russian agents. But he probably wouldn't get a passport stamp even if he did unless he flew direct to Prague, and there's virtually no direct flights there even out of NYC. You'd get a stamp at whatever airport you enter the EU Zone at, more likely the UK or Germany. That's easily verifiable too obviously.

[hack]

He's a Trump lawyer I guess? I can't be bothered getting into so much of this. Nothing is verifiable. It's a waste of time, IMO. Especially when we have, what -- 5 confirmation hearings today? It's a distraction. I agree that if Trump was taking intel from a Russian agency that's a big deal, but the bottom line is that it won't really and truly matter unless McConnell and Ryan want it to.

What I would like to see from the Ds right now is a pledge to strengthen ethics loopholes. I'd like to see it from either party, but let's be realistic. So start talking about how ethics laws need to be strengthened, and how you'd do it once in office. This is an easy add to Bernie's platform.

[hack]

Good point. Trumps behavior will cement BO's. He also won the noble peace price...

On the negative the rich did get richer compared to the poor


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

IMO he was the right guy at the wrong time. Washington doesn't need someone who is going to politely endure the decay and work within the system. It needs someone to fix the system.

[Dr. Strangelove]

He's a Trump lawyer I guess? I can't be bothered getting into so much of this. Nothing is verifiable. It's a waste of time, IMO. Especially when we have, what -- 5 confirmation hearings today? It's a distraction. I agree that if Trump was taking intel from a Russian agency that's a big deal, but the bottom line is that it won't really and truly matter unless McConnell and Ryan want it to.

What I would like to see from the Ds right now is a pledge to strengthen ethics loopholes. I'd like to see it from either party, but let's be realistic. So start talking about how ethics laws need to be strengthened, and how you'd do it once in office. This is an easy add to Bernie's platform.

Cohen's one of his lawyers, a particuarly goonish one. He talks and sounds like a guy out of a bad gangster movie.

[Jeff Buchanan]

He's a Trump lawyer I guess? I can't be bothered getting into so much of this. Nothing is verifiable. It's a waste of time, IMO. Especially when we have, what -- 5 confirmation hearings today? It's a distraction. I agree that if Trump was taking intel from a Russian agency that's a big deal, but the bottom line is that it won't really and truly matter unless McConnell and Ryan want it to.

What I would like to see from the Ds right now is a pledge to strengthen ethics loopholes. I'd like to see it from either party, but let's be realistic. So start talking about how ethics laws need to be strengthened, and how you'd do it once in office. This is an easy add to Bernie's platform.

Term limits are the way to address ethics issues not rules that have little chance of being acted upon once written.

I thought talent's observation that democracy is a good system but, in the end, relies on good people doing the right thing for it to survive.

[hack]

Cant count on getting good people. Especially now that Trump is establishing a blueprint for how bad people can take advantage. The line of bad people waiting to join the swamp is only gonna grow.

You may be right. No sense having laws on the books if they can't be enforced. That's just a mockery of the concept. But, in this case, Trump is very clear -- he's read the rules and is arguing that he's in bounds. And in some cases he actually is. The rules are more lax for the White House staff than for anyone else. They shouldn't be. It's a failure of Obama the guys before him started a war and profited from it, and his administration didn't do anything to firm up the rules. Is a classic case of the system requiring good people.

[froot loops]

Trump could have cleared up the matter about his finances by disclosing them. He got the money somewhere and he has been pals with the Russians for a long time. It's his fault for "reports" of this source. His campaign manager and an adviser were clearly getting paid by Russians. These allegations are sticky because they have at least a kernel of plausibility.

Michael Cohen was the Trump lawyer/goon who said a husband couldn't rape his wife.

[Wild Hoss]

I thought talent's observation that democracy is a good system but, in the end, relies on good people doing the right thing for it to survive.

There is an issue of fundamental beliefs that comes into play. Picking on the GOP here, but we all agree that this circus of stacked confirmation hearings is a clear effort to obfuscate the process.

Tactically, its sound...but does the notion that the people deserve a clear view of the process not weigh in at all? No belief in going through the rigors of the process because it?s the right thing to do? The nominees are supposed to face tough questions and be faced with subsequent public judgment, because the influence they have on our lives is immense.

But, in the end, it does come back to the people. The voting booth is the ultimate judge, and if enough people support this kind of behavior- or by lack of action, tacitly endorse it- then it continues and worsens. Our reps are only as good as we force them to be, and as bad as we allow them to be.