Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[AlabamAlum]

I read a while back that Scotland's supply of peat is actually running out, proving the existence of God for the first time.

lol.


Also, fuck off.

[iam416]

The existence of Scotland disproves God, at least God as a sentient, benevolent entity. Not as a spiteful, scorned motherfucker.

[AlabamAlum]

The existence of Scotland disproves God, at least God as a sentient, benevolent entity. Not as a spiteful, scorned motherfucker.

Haha. This talk of Scotland reminds me of a story:

As a child, many years ago, while visiting my aunt and uncle in Aberdeen, I played shinty with some local boys. Shinty is an ancient game, it predates Christianity, and is similar to field hockey in many ways. I was an athletic young man and did well in the game - which did not sit well with Ian, a local rapscallion, who fancied himself the finest youth shinty player in all of Scotland.

The stick (called a Caman) was firmly gripped as I ran toward the winning goal as time expired when Ian...


TO BE CONTINUED!

[Whitley]

When you hear Republicans off the record talk about what a good solider Gen. Flynn is, it makes me think that Flynn was doing this on his own. It seems likely that he was getting his directions from somewhere and I think that he was getting them from Candidate/President Trump.

Trump knew about the calls since Jan 26th, and only acted when it reached the public domain.

Donald Jr. has said that the Trump organization (in front of other big time real estate people) gets a lot of money from Russia. And President Trump refuses to release his income taxes, so the public does not know how extensive the Trump empire is and who and where he owes money to. Trump is not a stupid man, so he made the calculation a long time ago that whatever is in his taxes is a lot less damning than the media hitting him over the head of it every day.

[iam416]

It seems likely that he was getting his directions from somewhere and I think that he was getting them from Candidate/President Trump.

So what? If what he was doing wasn't unlawful, then so what? It's plainly lawful to speak with the Russians. It's only unlawful under very specific circumstances. And for it to matter, DJT would have not only had to direct Flynn to call the Russian ambassador, but then specifically say -- "DO X, Y and Z" -- with x, y and z being the specific unlawful acts.

[iam416]

I have to take my little victories: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...obama-guidance

DJT will not defend Obama's decision to redefine Title IX to have "sex" mean "gender." That means the various lawsuits against this utterly preposterous reading of Title IX will win.

Down goes one awful "Dear Colleague Letter" that was a substitute for, you know, actual legislation. When the Ds regain everything by 2020 perhaps they can set about doing this in the right way and, say, amending Title IX. Instead of doing so by autocratic order.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Why would Flynn lie to Pence? Possibly because he was doing something with the Russians that Pence would likely be opposed to?

Well, I guess we could believe Flynn when he says he simply 'forgot' what he talked about. In which case Flynn was fired for 'forgetfulness'.

[SeattleLionsFan]

So what? If what he was doing wasn't unlawful, then so what? It's plainly lawful to speak with the Russians. It's only unlawful under very specific circumstances. And for it to matter, DJT would have not only had to direct Flynn to call the Russian ambassador, but then specifically say -- "DO X, Y and Z" -- with x, y and z being the specific unlawful acts.

Why is lawful/unlawful the line? It's never ever been the line for presidents. I know it wasn't the line for Obama or Clinton. Why is it too much to ask that the president act with integrity?

Hillary did nothing illegal, and yet the Republicans wanted to kill her. Literally.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Less noticed news from yesterday...Trump gave the Pentagon till the end of February to come up with a new strategy to beat ISIS. Looks increasingly like the new strategy will be: "ground troops in Syria. More troops to Iraq".

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/15/politics/pentagon-considering-recommending-combat-troops-in-syria/

[iam416]

Why is lawful/unlawful the line? It's never ever been the line for presidents. I know it wasn't the line for Obama or Clinton. Why is it too much to ask that the president act with integrity?

Hillary did nothing illegal, and yet the Republicans wanted to kill her. Literally.

Well, we're talking about the need for an investigation -- we're talking about the continued innuendo -- and to very clear, it is innuendo -- of nefarious dealings. The FBI has investigated and concluded no charges are warranted re Flynn. I mean, I think that's pretty fucking clear.

I also think it's pretty clear the Ds can make whatever political hay they can out of it. They are certainly hysterical and they certainly have the "talking points" theme -- RUSSIAN PUPPET!!!! OMG!!! -- that they're riding. And they've certainly matched -- and IMO surpassed -- the Rs distaste for Clinton.

The Rs rode out Benghazi for all it was worth. Death by a thousand cuts. I expect the Ds to do the same with RUSSIAN PUPPET.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Raid in Yemen killed a US Ally. What a clusterfuck

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/navy-seal-raid-yemen-ally-u-s-backed-president-killed-n721616

[SeattleLionsFan]

Talent,
Sounds like we are on the same page. This is at least as severe as "Benghazi," and should be scrutinized similarly. So you'll support continuous investigations for the next 4-8 years?

I doubt it happens because like Rand Paul says, Republicans shouldn't investigate Republicans.

[iam416]

Well, I'll support investigations until the FBI says they've concluded the investigations and won't recommend filing charges. I think it's important for the Rs to resolve the issue and move forward one way or the other. Flynn is done, for the time being. No doubt about that. Now they have to put to bed the "campaign" stuff. Again, I have a hard time believing the intelligence community didn't know what was said contemporaneously. And I simply can't believe that if were actually bad that the Obama administration wouldn't have leaked it or made otherwise available.

It's important for DJT to put to bed the RUSSIAN PUPPET stuff, and they only way he does that is to have the FBI or the like put it to bed.

[hack]

Well, I'll support investigations until the FBI says they've concluded the investigations and won't recommend filing charges.

This statement highlights how crucial it is to have good people in charge. Having the FBI ``investigate'' isn't going to put anything to bed, because the agency has already soiled itself. We know that it's a politically-captured agency at this point, more likely to do the deeds of its political masters than to fulfill its stated obligation. We just can't have institutions this politicized. Which goes back to SLF's point - Why is it too much to ask that the president act with integrity? We have very little left without that. If democracy does indeed die in a thousand-cuts process, Trump is doing his best to speed it up. No matter who the next president is, the first 100 days should be filled with little other than new laws on conflicts, transparency and ethics.

And, heads have to roll by the thousands. If only because it looks like the FBI and CIA are now in a battle for the ages. Gonna be hard to get them to ever work together again when necessary with current leaderships in place.

[iam416]

At this point, there is no investigative body that wouldn't be politically captured. IMO, the FBI is as good as anyone and, politically, is still very credible with the voters that matter. Not that you don't matter, hack, but you're not one iota even ambiguous about DJT. Convincing you and other ardent Ds isn't the political objective. It's about the middle and, perhaps even more specifically, the B10 Middle. IMO, the FBI saying there was no wrong-doing still carries a lot of weight with that group.