SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on Dec 20, 2017 22:14:48 GMT -5
Another step towards an obstruction of justice case against Trump: The White House turned over records this fall to special counsel Robert Mueller revealing that in the very first days of the Trump presidency, Don McGahn researched federal law dealing both with lying to federal investigators and with violations of the Logan Act, a centuries-old federal law that prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments, according to three people with direct knowledge of the confidential government documents. The records that McGahn turned over to the special counsel, portions of which were read to this reporter, indicate he researched both statutes and warned Trump about Flynn’s possible violations. foreignpolicy.com/2017/12/20/white-house-counsel-knew-in-january-flynn-probably-violated-the-law/
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EasyEd
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Post by EasyEd on Dec 21, 2017 14:17:51 GMT -5
More irresponsible Fox punditry. Remember Pizzagate? OK City Bombing (which came in the wake of the right wing calling federal law enforcement "jack booted thugs")? This kind of talk may have real world consequences. www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/12/20/fox-news-contributor-channeling-alex-jones-suggests-fbi-plot-to-assassinate-trump/?hpid=hp_rhp-morning-mix_mm-fox%3Ahomepage%2FstoryTime for Hoftstadter: American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. In using the expression “paranoid style” I am not speaking in a clinical sense, but borrowing a clinical term for other purposes. I have neither the competence nor the desire to classify any figures of the past or present as certifiable lunatics. In fact, the idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant. harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/SS, can you read this quote you posted and look at the mirror?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2017 22:49:45 GMT -5
Banana Republicans... Of course Scooby Doo Nunes is the ring leader... ___ "It makes you wonder, 'How many floors of the FBI building are they willing to burn down to protect the President?'" says Rep. Eric Swalwell on Devin Nunes' claims the DOJ is under investigation cnn.it/2DrbJR6
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TC
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Post by TC on Dec 22, 2017 8:42:03 GMT -5
More irresponsible Fox punditry. Remember Pizzagate? OK City Bombing (which came in the wake of the right wing calling federal law enforcement "jack booted thugs")? This kind of talk may have real world consequences. www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/12/20/fox-news-contributor-channeling-alex-jones-suggests-fbi-plot-to-assassinate-trump/?hpid=hp_rhp-morning-mix_mm-fox%3Ahomepage%2FstoryTime for Hoftstadter: American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. In using the expression “paranoid style” I am not speaking in a clinical sense, but borrowing a clinical term for other purposes. I have neither the competence nor the desire to classify any figures of the past or present as certifiable lunatics. In fact, the idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant. / SS, can you read this quote you posted and look at the mirror? I think trying to compare what Hofstadter is talking about here to today is generally wrong. Our problem today is not overarching paranoia, the problem is nihilism. Other than power, what do Republicans stand for? It's not fiscal conservatism. It's not family values. It's not free and open markets. Definitely not truth or realism. When there's no guiding principles or safeguards within your party, anything goes. Trump doesn't have the attention span or intellectual consistency to drive a conspiracy like McCarthy or the Birch Society.
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on Dec 22, 2017 9:15:16 GMT -5
SS, can you read this quote you posted and look at the mirror? I think trying to compare what Hofstadter is talking about here to today is generally wrong. Our problem today is not overarching paranoia, the problem is nihilism. Other than power, what do Republicans stand for? It's not fiscal conservatism. It's not family values. It's not free and open markets. Definitely not truth or realism. When there's no guiding principles or safeguards within your party, anything goes. Trump doesn't have the attention span or intellectual consistency to drive a conspiracy like McCarthy or the Birch Society. Fair points but I believe that the Infowars/Alex Jones types/Fox News and some (not all) GOPers carry out that function on behalf of Trump while Trump skims the surface of those theories. The paranoia is that the so-called "deep state" is seeking to foment a coup d'etat against Trump. To me, that is paranoia in response to the rule of law. I once referred to some in the GOP as radical nihilists and anything but conservative in the Burkean sense. When I think of the same paranoia on the left wing I come up with the conspiracy theory that the CIA created the AIDs crisis to kill off African-Americans and gays in the 1980s. content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1860871_1860876_1861031,00.html The Russia investigation does not count as left wing paranoia as some might suggest because Mueller is a lifelong Republican (as is Comey) and even some Republicans admit to the validity of the investigation buttressed by facts and the finding of the USIC.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2017 21:45:11 GMT -5
"Hires the best people". Good think Trump isn't a serial liar or anything....
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Dec 28, 2017 8:32:59 GMT -5
In Trump's defense, when he says that he "hires the best people," you have to keep in mind that he thinks that he's the best person in the history of people. Sort of makes sense seen through that prism.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2017 12:53:56 GMT -5
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 10:32:36 GMT -5
He also says FBI had a source in the Trump campaign. They're calling for Republicans to release the transcripts.... __
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 10:34:13 GMT -5
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on Jan 4, 2018 15:01:19 GMT -5
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2018 10:55:49 GMT -5
Susan Hennesy: More specifically Nunes bypassed his colleagues to brief Trump on classified info that actually came from Trump's own staff in an effort to try to publicly justify Trump's absurd wiretapping charge against Obama. Nunes then became so enthralled in how own pretend unmasking controversy, that he actually torpedoed essential national security authorities over not getting a face-saving provision in the final bill thus imperiling genuine US security. Thus, Trump aides created a fake natsec controversy by using Nunes, then lost control of Nunes and the story in a way that now threatens the WH's own real legislative security priorities.
Bravo. It'd be funny, if it wasn't actually terrifying.
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SSHoya
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"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."
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Post by SSHoya on Jan 5, 2018 10:57:16 GMT -5
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Jan 5, 2018 13:21:53 GMT -5
Serious question: what would President Trump have to do/have done to have "his" party abandon him or publicly distance itself from him? I think it's pretty clear that even proven collusion wouldn't cause a significant ripple. If my line of thinking is correct, all other things being equal, I don't know which is worse. A president that conducts himself the way this one has or an entire party that tacitly approves of those actions.
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SSHoya
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"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."
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Post by SSHoya on Jan 5, 2018 13:33:03 GMT -5
Serious question: what would President Trump have to do/have done to have "his" party abandon him or publicly distance itself from him? I think it's pretty clear that even proven collusion wouldn't cause a significant ripple. If my line of thinking is correct, all other things being equal, I don't know which is worse. A president that conducts himself the way this one has or an entire party that tacitly approves of those actions. Perhaps actually shoot someone on 5th Avenue? The GOP has so lowered the bar that some believe that the GOP House would never impeach him and if the Dems take the House, and the GOP retains its majority in the Senate, it would never convict him. The GOP that impeached Clinton over lying about a BJ supported an apparent child molester/perv. Go figure. Applying "logic" and a "timeline" to Trump's behavior with respect to the Russian investigation, it sure seems like obstruction of justice to me. Give this podcast a listen: www.lawfareblog.com/lawfare-podcast-special-edition-new-york-times-obstructionThe GOP has abdicated all responsibility and has demonstrated how morally bankrupt it is. For most in the GOP (and to some on this board) there is apparently no moral component to the leadership of the United States as long as you support Trump's "agenda". He is clearly mentally unstable and unfit for office. I await his physical examination to be conducted this month and the supposed full disclosure of his health status.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2018 14:55:39 GMT -5
Banana Republicans...
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on Jan 5, 2018 15:02:25 GMT -5
This is laughable. I surely imagine that the FBI sits there dumbly when they suspect a witness or informant has lied to them! Truly ridiculous and desperate. Lindsey Graham must be bucking for AG when Sessions gets canned. And Grassley, well, he's just over-the-hill. Lawfare also had a very interesting article on Rosenstein and why he hasn't he recused himself since he is in the middle of the Comey firing: www.lawfareblog.com/why-hasnt-rod-rosenstein-recused-himself-mueller-investigation
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TC
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Post by TC on Jan 5, 2018 16:04:39 GMT -5
Republicans are fascists and it isn't even hyperbole at this point.
In the last week they've called to jail : Jerry Brown, Huma Abedin, pot users and growers in states where it is legal, Hillary Clinton, Steele - for no reason other than political cover or to beat up on hippies.
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TC
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Post by TC on Jan 5, 2018 16:15:12 GMT -5
BTW where's the Greenwald / Assange / Snowden / Manning "we gotta protect the whistleblowers" crowd on Republicans trying to prosecute Steele for reporting his findings to the FBI?
Hmmm....
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on Jan 5, 2018 16:40:26 GMT -5
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