Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Crash is probably nodding along with Newt Gingrich on Fox as he bitches that Mueller's investigation (which hasn't even lasted 2 months yet) is dragging on endlessly without direction.

Same Newt Gingrich that, y'know, I can't recall ever suggesting that Ken Starr was taking too long.

[froot loops]

That investigation might get uncomfortable for Newt, it's understandable he would call for its end. You can lie and omit things to the press, you can't to the Feds.

[Wild Hoss]

Once you place ex-intelligence officers in the room we’ve moved past the point of CAPS! and snarky dismissals.

At the very least, we need to start seeing security clearances be suspended.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Here's a profile on the Russian lobbyist who was in the meeting with Don Jr. Written about a year ago.

Don Jr.'s lawyer is also now saying that there was a 6th thus-far unidentified person in the room.

https://www.rferl.org/a/rinat-akmetshin-russia-gun-for-hire-washington-lobbying-magnitsky-browder/27863265.html

[crashcourse]

no my point would be just the opposite

the entire bozo universe is continuously leaking and speculating and investigating and hoping against hope they find some spectacular tidbit that leads to some gigantic newstory sending this county down a road not too many of us want to see--an American president being impeached--present company excluded.

I say let Mueller do his job and leave it at that instead of this 24/7 speculative smear job done by almost every media outlet there is

[Ghengis Jon]

White House lackey Gorka calls for the reinstatement and return to operation of two Russian spy nests. Bad, evil Obama booted them out in retaliation for election meddling. Virtuous, pure Trump will return their secret decoder rings as everybody knows that the Russians did nothing wrong - Putin said so, which is good enough for the Orange Menace.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/13/politics/sebastian-gorka-russia-sanctions-cnntv/index.html

[Da Geezer]

Let me toss a poser out there. Is it legal to enact a law that would prevent any party affiliation to be printed on a ballot? Or a step further, no title either? On the surface I would think it would force voters to actually be somewhat cognizant of the candidates. The cynic in me thinks that 40% of the electorate are idiots and no party listing would result in random choices made, perhaps biased by gender.

Would such an action have a +/- result? Would such a restriction even be constitutional?

I like it when hypotheticals are proposed.

That proposal would increase the Republican share of votes down-ballot. Rs have always been in favor of eliminating the straight-party ticket voting, at least in MI.

You only need to look at the "non-partisan" voting in MI for the state Supreme Court. Conservative candidates for the SC routinely out-perform conservatives in the partisan section of the ballot. Rs in MI are simply better informed, more intelligent, and more focused than their D counterparts. Both parties have recognized this for all of my lifetime. All of the "voter suppression" nonsense we hear about, like showing an ID to vote, comes from the D side of the argument. In general, the Ds want to lower the amount of effort it takes to vote, and Rs want to raise it.

It seems to me that having a totally non-partisan ballot makes intelligent voting more difficult, and the Ds would be against that, as well they should be.

[Wild Hoss]

I say let Mueller do his job and leave it at that instead of this 24/7 speculative smear job done by almost every media outlet there is

Indeed! This isn't at all like Whitewater or Benghazi...we need a calm, measured, and patient approach from the media in this instance.

There is really no call whatsoever for the media to be investigating or talking about people with intimate access to the president meeting with representatives of a hostile (Or what conservatives used to consider hostile, like a year ago) government under suspicious auspices.

Once placed in those terms, it really does sound silly. Back to Hillary's server!

[Da Geezer]

I'm going to call the female Russian lawyer Ms V.

Has anyone heard an interview of her in which she speaks English? I haven't. If she needs an interpreter, why is she sitting in on capital hill hearings (front seat no less). Why is she cruising the halls of Congress, lobbying against the Maginsky Act? I also wonder why she got a special visa, allegedly to represent a Russian client who was charged with money laundering. Really? Is her legal acumen that profound that a non-English speaker is uniquely able to represent her client?

At least you guys won't hear me say "...absolutely ZERO evidence...." again. As Talent said, this is evidence that, at the least, Don Jr. was willing to collude with the Russians.

[froot loops]

Matt

no my point would be just the opposite

the entire bozo universe is continuously leaking and speculating and investigating and hoping against hope they find some spectacular tidbit that leads to some gigantic newstory sending this county down a road not too many of us want to see--an American president being impeached--present company excluded.

I say let Mueller do his job and leave it at that instead of this 24/7 speculative smear job done by almost every media outlet there is

The news came from inside the White House and the meeting of collusion was validated by Donald Trump Jr.

[Mainevent]

Maybe if the Tump people stopped lying about EVERYTHING related to Russia there would be less drip-drip-drip of news to the media?

But Don Jr. started a good trend of being transparent right? Just after he was caught in 3 or 4 lies. Way to go Fredo, you're high quality, just the best, a very significant person.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Who is "Tump"?

[froot loops]

I'm going to call the female Russian lawyer Ms V.

Has anyone heard an interview of her in which she speaks English? I haven't. If she needs an interpreter, why is she sitting in on capital hill hearings (front seat no less). Why is she cruising the halls of Congress, lobbying against the Maginsky Act? I also wonder why she got a special visa, allegedly to represent a Russian client who was charged with money laundering. Really? Is her legal acumen that profound that a non-English speaker is uniquely able to represent her client?

At least you guys won't hear me say "...absolutely ZERO evidence...." again. As Talent said, this is evidence that, at the least, Don Jr. was willing to collude with the Russians.

I believe Manafort, Kushner and DJT are fluent in Russian.

[THE_WIZARD_]

nyet

[Dr. Strangelove]

I'm going to call the female Russian lawyer Ms V.

Has anyone heard an interview of her in which she speaks English? I haven't. If she needs an interpreter, why is she sitting in on capital hill hearings (front seat no less). Why is she cruising the halls of Congress, lobbying against the Maginsky Act? I also wonder why she got a special visa, allegedly to represent a Russian client who was charged with money laundering. Really? Is her legal acumen that profound that a non-English speaker is uniquely able to represent her client?

At least you guys won't hear me say "...absolutely ZERO evidence...." again. As Talent said, this is evidence that, at the least, Don Jr. was willing to collude with the Russians.

The article I posted earlier explains that she was allowed into the country on two separate occasions. The first time, to represent a Russian client, was granted through the special parole privilege that everyone's talking about. This was given to her by the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan and Homeland Security, not Loretta Lynch as some Trumpinistas have been claiming. Her parole expired in February and she left the country.

The time she met with Don Jr. (and appeared in Congress) she was here on a work/tourist visa.