Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

Here is the Logan Act, Geezer:

"Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States...

So, there are a series of requisite elements for a violation:

1. A citizen of the US (check)
2. Without authority of the US (check -- I rather doubt Obama gave him authority in his final days)
3. Communicates with a foreign government or agent thereof (check)
4. Intending to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government (at this stage, there's no way to know, but 30,000 foot type discussions/establishing relationships, etc = big fat no)
5. And the conduct of the foreign government has to be in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States. (so, talking about, e.g., Russian-Japanese relationships wouldn't qualify).

So, I'm not sure how anyone could say it's illegal at this point unless they have the transcripts of the calls.

[Rocky Bleier]

The Logan Act of 1799! Ha Ha Ha! Wasn't William Casey on the phone with Iran the day after Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 undermining Jimmy Carter? No problem there. Flynn was a private citizen who had his conversations tapped by the CIA. Big Brother loves you!

Trump has been a study in amateur hour, and it's clear that this is the Deep State showing him who runs things in the U.S. of A.

[iam416]

Yeah, it's dubiously illegal, Rocky.

But, Flynn (and the campaign communications) play into the "Trump=Putin Puppet" narrative that has been spinning full force for months.

Fortunately, DJT has easy outs. He can simply act in a way contrary to that assertion. Then it all fall apart.

[Rocky Bleier]

Trump is finding out how Washington works. It doesn't matter how many people vote for you if you aren't playing ball with the establishment. He is completely out of his element and he'll crash and burn within 18 months. You have no chance to succeed when your own party, the opposition party, the media, and the intelligence services are lined up against you. He's a total amateur playing in the world's biggest game, and he proven himself pretty incompetent, too.

[Dr. Strangelove]

1) Flynn was calling Russia while on his vacation. Apparently there's been a steady stream of contact between his campaign staff and Russian intelligence officers. Manafort says yes he talked to Russians but he had no idea if they were intelligence officers or not. "They don't wear badges, y'know"

2) Technically, it was the Russian individuals Flynn called that were bugged, not Flynn himself.

3) If Flynn did nothing wrong, why would he lie to Pence?

4) Why did Trump wait nearly three weeks to fire Flynn? Why did he only fire him after the press got wind of this? Why was a lie over 'nothing important' or a simple case of "i forgot" worth firing the man over?

5) If Flynn did nothing wrong in these calls, release the transcripts and prove to the American people that a fine, beautiful, tremendous man was sacrificed on the alter of demonic PC culture/Establishment/Swamp.

[Dr. Strangelove]

On another note, Trump will be flying to Melbourne Florida to have a pointless rally in a hanger. Then it'll be onto another weekend of golf. Third in a row.

I'm old enough to remember when Republicans hated it when the President took time off to golf.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Republicans in Congress explore gutting the Endangered Species Act.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/15/politics/endangered-species-act-republicans-congress/

[The Oracle]

This kind of shit bothers me as much as all the other bullshit they have going on. Fucking losers.

[Wild Hoss]

I'm old enough to remember when Republicans hated it when the President took time off to golf.

I'm old enough to remember when anybody with a scintilla of the chummy relationship with the Russians like many in this administration do would have been considered politically radioactive. Today, we parse the Logan Act.

#MAGA

[iam416]

Great news on the ESA, Strangelove. Thanks for sharing.

[Wild Hoss]

Bald Eagle wings are GMO-free.

[AlabamAlum]

No gluten, either!

[iam416]

I'm pretty sure we can't kill bald eagles regardless of the ESA. So, a few more regs to roll back before we can enjoy that delicacy. Hopefully DJT stays in office long enough to make it happen!

[AlabamAlum]

I wonder if BWW will run a mango habanero eagle wing special?


MmmMMMmmmmMmmm.

[iam416]

Talk about making America fucking great!