President Trump: Making America Great Again...

[Crockett]

It's ok. We love Russia now.

Actually that started a little over 8 years ago.

[BigPiney]

It's ok. We love Russia now.

Russia is pretty freaking awesome. St Petersburg is at least.

[BlueK]

Actually that started a little over 8 years ago.

Good thing she invited the Russian media or we wouldn't know about this.

[frank ryan]

Hey, a Trump superpac just lunched an ad going after Mueller. That is completely normal and happens all the time. I bet Mueller is on to something or this effort to go after him wouldn't be going on.


http://www.latimes.com/politics/wash...htmlstory.html

[Walter Sobchak]

The case for not courting conflict with Russia

To shun the Russians now simply makes no sense, and the fact that it is Trump who is pushing a sensible policy towards Russia does not make this policy any less sane. Indeed, I agree wholeheartedly with Russian expert Robert David English, who recently wrote in Foreign Affairs:

Trump has enunciated a clear three-part position on Russia, which contrasts strongly with that of most of the US political elite. First, Trump seeks Moscow’s cooperation on global issues; second, he believes that Washington shares the blame for soured relations; and third, he acknowledges “the right of all nations to put their own interests first,” adding that the United States does “not seek to impose our way of life on anyone.”

The last of these is an essentially realist position, and if coherently implemented could prove a tonic. For 25 years, Republicans and Democrats have acted in ways that look much the same to Moscow. Washington has pursued policies that have ignored Russian interests (and sometimes international law as well) in order to encircle Moscow with military alliances and trade blocs conducive to US interests. It is no wonder that Russia pushes back. The wonder is that the US policy elite doesn’t get this, even as foreign-affairs neophyte Trump apparently does.

In short, Trump’s at-least-stated goal of finding ways to cooperate with Russia (though it is never clear exactly what Trump may truly be thinking or intending) is reasonable on its face and should be welcomed.

[...]

The current demonization of Russia will be used, and is indeed currently being used in such theaters as Ukraine and Syria, for similar purposes—to justify unjust wars that destroy the lives of poor people abroad; to sacrifice the lives of our poor, who are largely recruited into the armed forces for economic reasons; to deplete this country’s rich resources on the continued build-up of our over-bloated military to the detriment of much-needed infrastructure and social spending; and to greatly increase our carbon footprint.

While the Democrats see the Russia-bating as a way to get rid of Trump, either through impeachment, or in the next election, they must realize that this is a short-sighted gamble that is both unlikely to succeed, and that will do much harm to international relations even if it does. They would be better to focus on principled fights over health care, infrastructure improvement, jobs, a living wage, and ratcheting down our reliance on the military, rather than pursuing this short-end game.

[Uncle Ted]

CNN fires asks for the resignation of three of its reporters... including its Pulitzer Prize winner, Thomas Frank over Rusky fake news:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-0...ews-retraction

Obviously this is all fake news... We all know the Russia thing is real.

[Walter Sobchak]

We need an America First Caucus to save us from President Trump's "America First" foreign policy.

[Eddie]

Hey, a Trump superpac just lunched an ad going after Mueller. That is completely normal and happens all the time. I bet Mueller is on to something or this effort to go after him wouldn't be going on.


http://www.latimes.com/politics/wash...htmlstory.html

There may be something to it. There may not. But you aren't actually advocating the position that when people complain about being investigated and want the investigations to stop it is because they are guilty - are you?

For the record - I'm OK with the investigation. I get those who are frustrated at what appears to be partisanship within the investigation. But I think when there are allegations they are worth investigating. I just think it's funny to say that there must be guilt if someone wants an investigation to go away.

[frank ryan]

There may be something to it. There may not. But you aren't actually advocating the position that when people complain about being investigated and want the investigations to stop it is because they are guilty - are you?

For the record - I'm OK with the investigation. I get those who are frustrated at what appears to be partisanship within the investigation. But I think when there are allegations they are worth investigating. I just think it's funny to say that there must be guilt if someone wants an investigation to go away.

When they try to unethically fire people and shut down the investigation it points to guilt. Obstruction of justice is also illegal. Remember, that's what got Nixon into trouble, the whole Saturday Night Massacre. There may or may not be evidence of direct collusion but there sure are a lot of suspicious indicators that point to it. Bluek did a good of outlining those things in an earlier post.

[frank ryan]

A superpac directly attacking a special investigator is new, and pretty disturbing.

[cowboy]

When they try to unethically fire people and shut down the investigation it points to guilt. Obstruction of justice is also illegal. Remember, that's what got Nixon into trouble, the whole Saturday Night Massacre. There may or may not be evidence of direct collusion but there sure are a lot of suspicious indicators that point to it. Bluek did a good of outlining those things in an earlier post.

Frank. I don't want to offend you, but you're starting to sound like the Obama birthers. I didn't vote for Trump, and I'm certainly not saying that there is anything acceptable about Russia involving themselves in our election, either by trying to hack voter info or simply releasing information. Still, nobody is all good or all bad, and your rantings are convincing nobody because nobody sees you as objective.

If you are just venting here, that's your prerogative, and we'll listen or ignore you, but if you really want to convince anyone here I suggest toning down the rhetoric. This is a pretty easy crowd because the vast majority of regulars here aren't Trump fans. On the other hand, not everything he has done is bad (I'm particularly happy with the name being floated for BLM director), and until you acknowledge that, I don't think you'll be as persuasive as you otherwise could be.

In some ways, I think Trump is the mirror image of Obama. Obama was very likable, and a devoted family man, but he did lasting damaging to the economy with his love of regulation. On the other hand, I don't know anyone who wants to have Trump over for dinner, but I believe his bent against new regulations is absolutely what the economy needs to regain the confidence necessary to invest.

[frank ryan]

Frank. I don't want to offend you, but you're starting to sound like the Obama birthers. I didn't vote for Trump, and I'm certainly not saying that there is anything acceptable about Russia involving themselves in our election, either by trying to hack voter info or simply releasing information. Still, nobody is all good or all bad, and your rantings are convincing nobody because nobody sees you as objective.

If you are just venting here, that's your prerogative, and we'll listen or ignore you, but if you really want to convince anyone here I suggest toning down the rhetoric. This is a pretty easy crowd because the vast majority of regulars here aren't Trump fans. On the other hand, not everything he has done is bad (I'm particularly happy with the name being floated for BLM director), and until you acknowledge that, I don't think you'll be as persuasive as you otherwise could be.

In some ways, I think Trump is the mirror image of Obama. Obama was very likable, and a devoted family man, but he did lasting damaging to the economy with his love of regulation. On the other hand, I don't know anyone who wants to have Trump over for dinner, but I believe his bent against new regulations is absolutely what the economy needs to regain the confidence necessary to invest.

yeah, that is pretty offensive and also ridiculous. The justice department didn't launch an investigation into where Obama was born. Knock it off. I'd recommend you read the news.

[Shaka]

yeah, that is pretty offensive and also ridiculous. The justice department didn't launch an investigation into where Obama was born. Knock it off. I'd recommend you read the news.

For the record Cowboy has you nailed.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Blows my mind when someone here gets riled up by our mild-mannered frank ryan.

[old_gregg]

Frank. I don't want to offend you, but you're starting to sound like the Obama birthers. I didn't vote for Trump, and I'm certainly not saying that there is anything acceptable about Russia involving themselves in our election, either by trying to hack voter info or simply releasing information. Still, nobody is all good or all bad, and your rantings are convincing nobody because nobody sees you as objective.

If you are just venting here, that's your prerogative, and we'll listen or ignore you, but if you really want to convince anyone here I suggest toning down the rhetoric. This is a pretty easy crowd because the vast majority of regulars here aren't Trump fans. On the other hand, not everything he has done is bad (I'm particularly happy with the name being floated for BLM director), and until you acknowledge that, I don't think you'll be as persuasive as you otherwise could be.

In some ways, I think Trump is the mirror image of Obama. Obama was very likable, and a devoted family man, but he did lasting damaging to the economy with his love of regulation. On the other hand, I don't know anyone who wants to have Trump over for dinner, but I believe his bent against new regulations is absolutely what the economy needs to regain the confidence necessary to invest.

good lord this is a profoundly stupid post.