Politics Trump asking if he can pardon himself

[barfo]

Well, he did pwn Obama.

But it's more reasonable to expect that Russia is poor, spends heavily on inferior military equipment, and is utterly corrupt. Closer to a 3rd world country.

Our federal budget is ~4x Russia's entire GDP. Brazil has a bigger GDP.

So why is your orange boyfriend so in love with Russia? I don't ever hear him talk about Brazil.

barfo

 

[SlyPokerDog]

So why is your orange boyfriend so in love with Russia? I don't ever hear him talk about Brazil.

barfo

When Brazil sends their criminals, they're not sending their best criminals.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

 

[theprunetang]

 

[Denny Crane]

So why is your orange boyfriend so in love with Russia? I don't ever hear him talk about Brazil.

barfo

Why are you so in love with Brazil? It seems you want to turn us into that.

 

[riverman]

Brazil has a bigger GDP.

China has a huge part in that being the case....actually China has quietly taken over investments in South America and Africa where we've really not shown that much interest....now China is running the Panama Canal pretty much....Russia is trying to expand..Crimea, Ukraine...Syrian port..etc....Putin is spending big on his military.....Russia has more weapons of mass destruction...nukes...than anybody outside of us.....game changer right there...Brazil does not, but they have natural resources that replace American exports to China...

 

[riverman]

Why are you so in love with Brazil?

I have a thing for Bossa Nova music

 

[Denny Crane]

China has a huge part in that being the case....actually China has quietly taken over investments in South America and Africa where we've really not shown that much interest....now China is running the Panama Canal pretty much....Russia is trying to expand..Crimea, Ukraine...Syrian port..etc....Putin is spending big on his military.....Russia has more weapons of mass destruction...nukes...than anybody outside of us.....game changer right there...Brazil does not, but they have natural resources that replace American exports to China...

Russia's only real importance (e.g. more than compared to other countries) is its nuclear arsenal.

But their nukes have little to do with Russia's ability to effectively meddle in anything. Or the continuous claims that any Russian is linked to the KGB (or whatever it's called now) and/or the Kremlin.

 

[riverman]

any Russian

that's a stretch.....Gary Kasparov is not perceived as a security threat

 

[Denny Crane]

that's a stretch.....Gary Kasparov is not perceived as a security threat

If he met with anyone that that could even loosely claim to be involved with Trump or his campaign, he would be perceived as a security threat. That's the point.

 

[MarAzul]

When your mission is to cast dissension for the purpose of sidetracking the agenda, any Russian will due for a Democrat.

 

[barfo]

When your mission is to cast dissension for the purpose of sidetracking the agenda, any Russian will due for a Democrat.

Please do explain how Russia kept the Republicans from agreeing amongst themselves on a health insurance plan... or any other policy item.

barfo

 

[riverman]

When your mission is to cast dissension for the purpose of sidetracking the agenda, you attack the press and start firing people.

fixed

 

[Minstrel]

Please do explain how Russia kept the Republicans from agreeing amongst themselves on a health insurance plan... or any other policy item.

You're looking at this all wrong. The Russian fake news controversy has kept the American people in a constant state of distraction, preventing them from realizing how good the Republicans' health care plan is. Thanks to that, their health care plan has about a 10% approval rating, making it hard to pass among any senators who want to keep being senators. If that distraction went away, people would pay attention to the policy and realize how much they want separate risk pools for those with pre-existing conditions and those without, and how much they want Medicaid slashed.

Claiming it doesn't all come back to Russia is the kind of classic left-leaning views we've come to expect from you, Neil Barofsky.

 

[BigGameDamian]

 

[Stevenson]

I just don't get it. What could possibly be fake about Russia's involvement, or the Trump campaign meeting with them and then lying about and failing to disclose it? Something like 16 federal agencies have confirmed the Russian efforts to manipulate our election.

Needless to say, had Hillary done this, the outrage on the right would be deafening. The hypocrisy of some posters in this forum is truly astonishing.

 

[Denny Crane]

How can our government agencies determine there was any hacking when they couldn't physically examine the server?

They're relying on a private company hired by the democrats telling the truth or not being accurate.

 

[barfo]

How can our government agencies determine there was any hacking when they couldn't physically examine the server?

They're relying on a private company hired by the democrats telling the truth or not being accurate.

Right, there was no hacking. The democrats sent their emails to wikileaks themselves, so that they would have a way to justify a special counsel after Comey was fired. Or Aliens. Could be Aliens.

Pretty sure the gummint has other sources of information besides just examining email servers.

barfo

 

[barfo]

You're looking at this all wrong. The Russian fake news controversy has kept the American people in a constant state of distraction, preventing them from realizing how good the Republicans' health care plan is. Thanks to that, their health care plan has about a 10% approval rating, making it hard to pass among any senators who want to keep being senators. If that distraction went away, people would pay attention to the policy and realize how much they want separate risk pools for those with pre-existing conditions and those without, and how much they want Medicaid slashed.

Claiming it doesn't all come back to Russia is the kind of classic left-leaning views we've come to expect from you, Neil Barofsky.

But I hear that Real Americans consider the Russia fake news story a big nothingburger. I better ask Mayor Bloomberg to outlaw Nothingburgers. When you are not having a Big Gulp, you can not have a Nothingburger to go with it.

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

Right, there was no hacking. The democrats sent their emails to wikileaks themselves, so that they would have a way to justify a special counsel after Comey was fired. Or Aliens. Could be Aliens.

Pretty sure the gummint has other sources of information besides just examining email servers.

barfo

WikiLeaks claims it wasn't the Russians, and it sure seems possible, even likely, that some whistleblower within the DNC might have handed over the emails on a thumb drive.

Pretty sure the gummint relied exclusively on information from a 3rd party hired by the DNC.

We know for sure the Russians didn't write the awful things in those emails.

 

[lawai'a]

WikiLeaks claims it wasn't the Russians, and it sure seems possible, even likely, that some whistleblower within the DNC might have handed over the emails on a thumb drive.

Pretty sure the gummint relied exclusively on information from a 3rd party hired by the DNC.

We know for sure the Russians didn't write the awful things in those emails.

this is ignoring completely the assessment of 3 US intelligence agencies. not credible in the face of it.

 

[Denny Crane]

this is ignoring completely the assessment of 3 US intelligence agencies. not credible in the face of it.

I'm not ignoring what they chose to decide. I'm questioning how they came to their conclusions without being able to perform forensic analysis/examination of the supposedly hacked machines.

You believed what they said about Saddam's WMDs?

There was a clear rush to blame the Russians by the Obama administration on its way out. That includes the swamp known as those 3 US intelligence agencies.

 

[barfo]

I'm not ignoring what they chose to decide. I'm questioning how they came to their conclusions without being able to perform forensic analysis/examination of the supposedly hacked machines.

There are lots of ways. They could have intercepted communications. They could have a mole or 20.

You believed what they said about Saddam's WMDs?

Definitely a false equivalence. Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. cherry picked the intelligence to justify their preconceptions.

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

There are lots of ways. They could have intercepted communications. They could have a mole or 20.



Definitely a false equivalence. Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. cherry picked the intelligence to justify their preconceptions.

barfo

The intelligence reports were not cherry picked. The contained the claims Saddam had WMDs.

If they have proof, let's see it. I read what they released and it's not well supported with evidence.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

These are the folks you side with.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-...memos-detail-extent-of-improper-obama-era-nsa

 

[lawai'a]

The intelligence reports were not cherry picked. The contained the claims Saddam had WMDs.

If they have proof, let's see it. I read what they released and it's not well supported with evidence.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

These are the folks you side with.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-...memos-detail-extent-of-improper-obama-era-nsa

You must have read the Rand report where it was found that despite the CIA's reservations, the WMD mantra was pushed by the republican administration with no reference to the afore mentioned caveats that the cia had listed , including the citation of unreliable or verifiable sources. as the report went up the chain of command at defense and the white house, mention of the cia's reservations were ignored and/or the assessment CHERRY PICKED to produce the WMD excuse to "liberate" Iraq.

 

[Denny Crane]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael...n-powell-about-cia-pre-iraq-war-wmd-evidence/

Morell "wanted to apologize" to Powell about WMD evidence

In the book, Morell details how the CIA was wrong to conclude Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

"We said he has chemical weapons, he has a biological weapons production capability, and he's restarting his nuclear weapons program. We were wrong on all three of those," he said.

Almost a year after he made the United States' case for war to the world, Powell said he was not sure he would have supported the invasion of Iraq if he knew Iraq had no weapons stockpiles.


(Morell was CIA director, endorsed Clinton, etc.)

 

[lawai'a]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael...n-powell-about-cia-pre-iraq-war-wmd-evidence/

Morell "wanted to apologize" to Powell about WMD evidence

In the book, Morell details how the CIA was wrong to conclude Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

"We said he has chemical weapons, he has a biological weapons production capability, and he's restarting his nuclear weapons program. We were wrong on all three of those," he said.

Almost a year after he made the United States' case for war to the world, Powell said he was not sure he would have supported the invasion of Iraq if he knew Iraq had no weapons stockpiles.


(Morell was CIA director, endorsed Clinton, etc.)

yes and I have also read the rand report. my statement stands

 

[Denny Crane]

yes and I have also read the rand report. my statement stands

One report of many. The guy at the CIA admits they got all three things wrong.

The one report thing is cherry picking, by definition.

 

[lawai'a]

the one report "thing" was an all inclusive rreview of the failures of the intelligence community and how the information was used and disseminated. hardly cherry picking LOL

 

[Cippy91]

Please do explain how Russia kept the Republicans from agreeing amongst themselves on a health insurance plan... or any other policy item.

barfo