Trump and Russia; Spasiba, Harasho!

[Sean Hayden]

Many are now over invested in wilfully conflating the fact that Mueller's investigations could, and indeed have, encompassed the activity of some members of Trump's campaign with an investigation specifically structured to personally investigate Trump for political reasons. Trump's DOJ appointed, mandated and resourced Mueller, but according to the Trump conspiracy theory machine it's all a dirt-fabricating put up job by Democrats, the FBI and #FAKENEWS designed to stop him being elected and/or to make him look foolish.

What Americans need to ask is why are Trump and chums working so very hard to undermine an Investigatory process they themselves initiated and oversee - and, importantly, what might be the consequences of that on the well ordered operation of US democracy.

Come on man, you can't spend a lifetime undermining the US authorities and especially the feds and then expect a question like that to be taken seriously. The obvious answer for anyone who's been on the other side of the law, or who's been listening to the left is 'because only an idiot wouldn't, only the hopelessly naive would trust the system"...

...we made this bed

[Brian Peacock]

Many are now over invested in wilfully conflating the fact that Mueller's investigations could, and indeed have, encompassed the activity of some members of Trump's campaign with an investigation specifically structured to personally investigate Trump for political reasons. Trump's DOJ appointed, mandated and resourced Mueller, but according to the Trump conspiracy theory machine it's all a dirt-fabricating put up job by Democrats, the FBI and #FAKENEWS designed to stop him being elected and/or to make him look foolish.

What Americans need to ask is why are Trump and chums working so very hard to undermine an Investigatory process they themselves initiated and oversee - and, importantly, what might be the consequences of that on the well ordered operation of US democracy.

Come on man, you can't spend a lifetime undermining the US authorities and especially the feds and then expect a question like that to be taken seriously. The obvious answer for anyone who's been on the other side of the law, or who's been listening to the left is 'because only an idiot wouldn't, only the hopelessly naive would trust the system"...

...we made this bed

Then I guess the only thing you can do is roll over, spread 'em, and bite down on the pillow until it stops.

Stormy knows how that feels.

[pErvinalia]

Lay back and think of Stormy. Should be easy..

[Sean Hayden]

Many are now over invested in wilfully conflating the fact that Mueller's investigations could, and indeed have, encompassed the activity of some members of Trump's campaign with an investigation specifically structured to personally investigate Trump for political reasons. Trump's DOJ appointed, mandated and resourced Mueller, but according to the Trump conspiracy theory machine it's all a dirt-fabricating put up job by Democrats, the FBI and #FAKENEWS designed to stop him being elected and/or to make him look foolish.

What Americans need to ask is why are Trump and chums working so very hard to undermine an Investigatory process they themselves initiated and oversee - and, importantly, what might be the consequences of that on the well ordered operation of US democracy.

Come on man, you can't spend a lifetime undermining the US authorities and especially the feds and then expect a question like that to be taken seriously. The obvious answer for anyone who's been on the other side of the law, or who's been listening to the left is 'because only an idiot wouldn't, only the hopelessly naive would trust the system"...

...we made this bed

Then I guess the only thing you can do is roll over, spread 'em, and bite down on the pillow until it stops.

Stormy knows how that feels.

Or try in the future to be more nuanced in my criticism of the system so as to avoid contributing to an even worse situation.

[Seabass]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/20 ... rumps.html

Britain Has a Russia Collusion Scandal Now. It Looks Exactly Like Trump’s.

The most important thing to understand about the Russia scandal is that it perfectly fits a clear pattern of behavior. What Vladimir Putin is accused of doing to help Donald Trump win the presidency is essentially identical to what he is either accused of or proven to have done to help many other right-wing candidates in many other countries. As the plot in the United States is slowly exposed, a remarkably similar one in the United Kingdom is quickly surfacing.

Months before the United States narrowly elected Trump, the United Kingdom narrowly elected to withdraw from the European Union. Both votes advanced Russian foreign policy goals — in the latter case, by splitting up the Western alliance. (Trump has energetically pursued this strategy, too.) Russia employed many of the same tools to influence both elections. It deployed social-media bots and trolls to spread its message. It recruited friendly candidates who gave voice to previously marginal Russophile positions. And, as the newly surfaced evidence suggests, it indirectly financed the campaign.

British magnate Arron Banks supported the Brexit campaign with the largest political donation in British history. Leaked documents obtained by British reporter Carole Cadwalladr suggest Banks had more than mere philanthropic motives for this donation. Banks met several times with representatives of the Russian government, contradicting his previous claim to have met with Russians just one time.

More significantly, the documents suggest the Russians dangled a lucrative business deal. He would have the chance to buy in to a gold-mining consolidation, “potentially netting a profit of several billion dollars.” Banks denies that the gold deal ever happened, or that any of the meetings included any surreptitious collusion. “It’s a convenient political witch-hunt, both over Brexit and Trump,” he insists, using the same term favored by Trump.

To say that Bank’s defenses appear suspicious is a substantial understatement. If his meetings were innocent, why did he lie? If he never consummated the Russian gold-mining deal, why did he tweet at the time that he was investing in a big gold-mining deal?

The unfolding scandal in Britain contains many of the hallmarks of Russian covert influence elsewhere. The Russians are not manufacturing an issue out of whole cloth — nationalism clearly has an authentic popular basis — but instead use their influence to magnify it. They cloak their influence behind undisclosed meetings and hidden financial transfers. And when their partners’ lies about their contacts are exposed, they insist they lied for no apparent reason and have nothing else to hide.

The dangling of the gold-mine deal likewise reflects a classic Putin-era Russian strategy. The most lucrative sectors of Russia’s oligarch-driven economy involve monopolies over natural resources. They are the perfect bait for functional bribes. Russia can send businessmen, who may be operating with quiet support or control from the Kremlin, to offer deals that promise guaranteed profits. And those profits can be cover to inject Russian money into the West. If Banks was promised a lucrative gold-mining deal, as it appears, then he may have functioned as essentially a pass-through, enabling Russia to finance the Brexit referendum.

Trump has many surface ties to the Brexiteers. He has met with Banks and the nationalist leader Nigel Farage. He has echoed their rhetoric and even their cause, labeling himself “Mr. Brexit.” But more revealing is the pattern of similarities below the surface. The covert meetings, the endless false denials that they took place at all, the patina of legitimate business discussions, and the web of undisclosed financial ties. To believe that neither Trump nor Banks colluded directly with Russia in 2016 is to believe in an awful lot of strange coincidences.

[Seabass]

Inbred Republican congressman Trey Gowdy who investigated Hillary/Benghazi for 2.5 years calls for special counsel to "finish the hell up" and "present the damn evidence".




Trey Gowdy, who headed the Benghazi investigation for more than 2 years, claims Mueller is taking too long

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) went on a tirade Thursday during a hearing with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray, demanding that "whatever" has been uncovered in the probe into links between the Trump campaign and Russia, "finish it the hell up, because this country is being torn apart."

Gowdy is hardly the only Republican to have expressed frustration with how long Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is taking — his probe is now in its second year — but the South Carolina lawmaker is perhaps the least justified in complaining about it. As many have pointed out, Gowdy chaired the House Select Committee on Benghazi, an investigation that lasted more than two and a half years and resulted in no criminal indictments.

By comparison, Mueller in 13 months has "issued more than 100 criminal counts against 20 people and three companies," The New York Times reports. "Of the 20 people, five — including three Trump associates — have pleaded guilty. Fourteen are Russians accused of meddling in the 2016 presidential election." Watch the pot call the kettle black below. Jeva Lange

[Brian Peacock]

It's not the length of the investigations that is worrying Republican but their relationship to the facts.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Inbred Republican congressman Trey Gowdy who investigated Hillary/Benghazi for 2.5 years calls for special counsel to "finish the hell up" and "present the damn evidence".

The shamelessly weaponized double standard is part of any politician's toolbox. It seems to me that Republicans tend to use it more freely, though.

[Tero]

I think Putin is succeeding. By 2020 Nato is history.

[Joe]

Inbred Republican congressman Trey Gowdy who investigated Hillary/Benghazi for 2.5 years calls for special counsel to "finish the hell up" and "present the damn evidence".

The shamelessly weaponized double standard is part of any politician's toolbox. It seems to me that Republicans tend to use it more freely, though.

Well, I'd tell Gowdy that if he thinks the President is innocent, he should act like it. After all, it wasn't that long ago, in an interview with Chris Wallace, that he said:

WALLACE: Congressman, I wanted [to start] again by getting your reaction to President Trump's lawyer calling for Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, to end the Mueller investigation. Do you support that?

GOWDY: I don't, and I think that [the] president's attorney frankly does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way. Chris, if you look at the jurisdiction for Robert Mueller, first and foremost, what did Russia do to this country in 2016? That is supremely important, and it has nothing to do with collusion. So, to suggest that Mueller should shut down and all that he is looking at is collusion, if you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.

[Scot Dutchy]

I think Putin is succeeding. By 2020 Nato is history.

Hope so. It is just an American toy. Has NATO ever achieved anything? Only maintaining tension world wide. The Warsaw Pact has been dissolved so should NATO be.

[Brian Peacock]

Wouldn't it be great if we could just get along with Russia?

[Svartalf]

Problem is that what Russia calls "get along", other people call "get colonized", Russia has a culture of Empire, it's dominate or be dominated, there are no equals relationships...

[Scot Dutchy]

Sorry Svarty disagree. The usual NATO propaganda. Peace is an an anathema to the Americans as it does not sell weapons which is why NATO must play war games just keeping up tension.

[Tero]

The NATO bases in Europe have a function. They supported Bush's middle east adventures including Iraq.