Russia, friend or foe?

Discussion in 'Political Opinions & Beliefs' started by Sandy Shanks, Jul 3, 2017.

  1. osbornterry

    osbornterry Well-Known Member

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    Are the diehard Trump Haters still trying to breathe life into the Russian Collusion Illusion?

    That is like trying to breath life into a dead horse.
     
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  2. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    Fine, so when I present a fact-based article, or what I consider a fact-based article, then you should correct me. Your generalized, non-specific criticism is meaningless. You must be specific to be effective.

    You can start with this article. What did I get wrong?

    Trump set up Priebus to fall. It is obvious and as transparent as it could be.

    I have watched Reince Priebus for six months. He was a loyal soldier for Trump, always supporting the President even though, at times, that was extremely difficult. Trump has a nasty habit of telling lies, changing his story, and making unproven claims against political figures. Through it all, Priebus weathered the storms and carried on. However, because Trump himself caused turmoil within the White House, and, while he enjoys the chaos he creates, Trump decided to blame someone for the chaos.

    That someone was Reince Priebus.

    Without telling anyone and against the advice of his senior advisors, including Priebus, Bannon, and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, Trump hired a complete political novice as communications director. We now know why. Anthony Scaramucci was a hit man from New York, Trump's twin, in other words, euphemistically speaking.

    Within a week Scaramucci had a trash talking interview with the New Yorker magazine that embarrassed every lawmaker on the Hill and brought condemnation from nearly every conservative pundit. Scaramucci's delivery was inexcusable by every measure.

    Scaramucci reports directly to the President. The new communications director was doing the President's bidding. We know that because of the ramifications of that interview which will be discussed in a moment.

    Here are some choice comments from Scaramucci in that interview. This is not for children.

    “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own c**k,” he said, speaking of Trump’s chief strategist. “I’m not trying to build my own brand off the f**king strength of the President. I’m here to serve the country.”

    “O.K., I’m going to fire every one of them, and then you haven’t protected anybody, so the entire place will be fired over the next two weeks. They’ll all be fired by me. I fired one guy the other day. I have three to four people I’ll fire tomorrow. I’ll get to the person who leaked that to you."

    "Reince Priebus—if you want to leak something—he’ll be asked to resign very shortly. Reince is a f**king paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac.”

    On Friday Trump dismissed Priebus and replaced him with John Kelly.
     
  3. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    Funny, that is what I said. "The meeting itself doesn't prove a conspiracy."
     
  4. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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    You seem to have a gift for presenting "opinion" or "speculation" (especially regarding the so called 'Russian narrative) as absolute uncontestable facts.
     
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  5. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    First, what is wrong with being a "fan" or a "friend?" I happen to be a Dodger fan and proud of it. I have many friends, and I see no harm in having friends. Obviously, if one is a supporter of Trump then that someone is a "fan" or "friend" of Trump. I don't understand your concern.

    Secondly, I have been called or accused of worse. Why, just the other day someone accused me of "trolling." I don't know what that means, but it sure sounds bad.
     
  6. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    I'm taking that as a compliment. Thank you.
     
  7. osbornterry

    osbornterry Well-Known Member

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    Someone slaps you in the face and you take that as a compliment?

    That is pretty sad even for devotee to the cause of hating PRESIDENT TRUMP
     
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  8. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    Trump's continues to equivocate on Russian interference in our election. In fact, notwithstanding his continued yips on Twitter about "fake media" and "witch hunt," his last statement on the subject was this one July 6 at the G20 conference. "I think it was Russia, but I think it was probably other people and/or countries. I see nothing wrong with that statement," he continued. "Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure."

    When Junior was caught accepting an invitation from the Russian government to attend a meeting with Russian operatives in June 2016, Trump's only reaction was "My son is a wonderful young man" and he argued that everyone would have accepted that invitation from the Russian government.

    However, Secretary John Kelly, Trump's new chief of staff, begs to differ. Last week, at the Aspen Security Forum, Kelly was among several top national security officials who backed the government's conclusion that Russia carried out a campaign of cyber attacks and fake news to influence the election in favor of Trump.

    Kelly joined CIA Director Mike Pompeo, White House Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism adviser Tom Bossert and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats who all expressed their support last week for the intelligence community's findings.

    Now this could prove very interesting. Ever since the revelation of Junior's meeting with the Russians in Trump Tower, Trump's actions, statements, and tweets have been bizarre. Junior's meeting brought home the charge of collusion and Trump knows it. He reacted accordingly. Conservative pundits all agree this past week was the worst week of the Trump administration. Low lights of the week would include his sustained attacks against his A.G. for recusing himself from the Russian probe and his sudden dismissal of Reince Priebus and Kelly's appointment.

    He is unhappy with Sessions because of the Russian issue, but then he hires someone who has diametrically opposing views on the Russian issue. How is that going to work?
     
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  9. Merwen

    Merwen Well-Known Member

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    ...but went on with almost a page full of innuendo built upon it.
     
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  10. Merwen

    Merwen Well-Known Member

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    Did you write the article? The entire first paragraph is unsupported opinion. If the quotes are exact, that is factual, but who said them and how trustworthy are they?
     
  11. osbornterry

    osbornterry Well-Known Member

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    More silly semantics leading to even sillier conclusions.

    You trump haters have crossed the line from being sore losers to CRACKPOTS.

    You're scrambling for clues the way a crackhead scrambles to get high.

    Trump was right. Nobody really knows if the Russians hacked the DNC, or not.

    DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz refused to let the FBI look at their server. She hired a private security firm which no one listened to before to look at it.

    Their evidence has been called "flimsy" by others in the security field.

    Considering Wasserman's choice in IT people (her IT director was arrested trying to flee the country this week), anyone with common sense can see this smells.

    Congress is catching on and demanding a second look.

    BTW: I listed to Kelly's interview at the Aspen Security Forum. He spoke for an hour on homeland security. He mentioned nothing about the election, or the Russian Collusion Illusion.

    He was not part of the campaign. He would have had no first-hand knowledge to contribute to this fantasy.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2017
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  12. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    No, actually, I provided the opinion of Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor.

    Do you have a reading problem?
     
  13. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    You didn't question one single statement in my article. Simply issuing a moronic characterization without providing specific reasons for the characterization is totally meaningless. Then you changed the subject completely.

    It seems all you can do is lob personal insults. You didn't offer anything intelligent.

    Actually, you did get specific with one statement. You claimed Kelly said nothing about Russia at the Aspen conference. You lied, but that is what Trump fans do when they are not issuing personal insults.

    Last week, at the Aspen Security Forum, Kelly was among several top national security officials who backed the government's conclusion that Russia carried out a campaign of cyberattacks and fake news to influence the election in favor of Trump.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...roke-trump-russia-election-hacking/521844001/
     
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  14. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    The White House Circus continues its show this week. Now Trump has dismissed Anthony Scaramucci. He lasted eleven days.

    Spicer was loyal to a fault. On July 21st, he's gone.

    Preibus was a loyal soldier for Trump, always supporting the President even when Trump made that impossible with his contradictory and mindless statements and position changes that often occurred on the same day. On July 28th, he's gone.

    Trump knew the White House was in chaos and leaking like a sieve. He personally hired Scaramucci to make changes. Mooch made changes and thought he was doing the right thing by the President. He said he loved Trump and he, too, was extremely loyal to the President. On July 31st, he's gone.

    Trump fired Corey Lewandowski as his campaign manager. Trump fired Paul Manafort as his campaign manager. As President, Trump has fired Sally Yates, acting attorney general. Trump fired Mike Flynn as his NSA. Trump fired Katie Walsh, assistant to Reince Priebus. Trump fired James Comey as FBI director. White House communications director Mike Dubke quit after three months on the job. The director of the Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, quit. Mark Corallo, spokesman for the legal team defending Trump on the Russia investigation, quit. Lead attorney Marc Kasowitz quit his position.

    Then came Spicer, Priebus, and Scaramucci.

    It seems being loyal to Trump is the kiss of death.

    Jeff Sessions is extremely loyal to Trump.

    So, is Rex Tillerson.
     
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  15. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    The information overload is just too much for Trump fans.

    In a sense I don't blame them. Defending Trump over the past two weeks would be a daunting task. Ever since the revelation of Junior meeting with Russian government operatives, Trump has been freaking out.

    Honoring a MOH recipient during all this to change the narrative is disgustingly political and typical Trump. It is sort of like leaving Washington to give a political speech to 24,000 12 to 18-year old scouts. Trump learned as a reality T.V. star to be big on ceremony and rhetoric.

    Big on substance, not so much.
     
  16. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    Yes, I did.

    Well, let's just say it is a logical opinion based on what actually happened.

    What do you mean, "IF?" The quotes are exact. Who said them? Scaramucci. Trustworthy? This is straight from the reporter who wrote the New Yorker article. You don't know what I am talking about, do you? You have to be from Mars to not know about the article. Every network on the planet was talking about it.

    But you don't know about it. Amazing! I didn't even think that was possible.

    That's it. You said, "I honestly doubt that you are capable of discerning fact from opinion." I then challenged you to question my facts in an article. This is all you can come up with?

    I'm guessing you voted for Trump. That would explain it.
     
  17. Merwen

    Merwen Well-Known Member

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    It was still innuendo. Perhaps that is your problem--anything someone you agree with writes is considered a "fact" by you.
     
  18. Merwen

    Merwen Well-Known Member

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    Apparently that's your problem--you must sit with glazed eyes listening to every bit of brainwashing the corrupt media is putting out. Those of us who understand that they are now just propaganda mills stopped listening months ago.
     
  19. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    It was an article in the New Yorker magazine. Boy, you are one sick puppy.

    It stands to reason you voted for Trump. He is supported by the non-intellectual types as I have already shown.
     
  20. Merwen

    Merwen Well-Known Member

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    No...you shift your narrative when proven wrong, without acknowledging you have done so...and you certainly have not been demonstrating that Trump supporters are as intellectually challenged as you appear to be.

    So, now, anyone that doesn't agree with your side is a "sick puppy"? I suppose that is true for those trapped in the Borg....
     
  21. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Would those sources by any chance be anonymous sources like Fake News CNN, Fake News New York Times and Fake News Washington Post always use ?
     
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  22. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    Show me where I was proven wrong. Be specific.
     
  23. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    Speaking of the Post, the Washington Post writes:

    On the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Germany last month, President Trump’s advisers discussed how to respond to a new revelation that Trump’s oldest son had met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign — a disclosure the advisers knew carried political and potentially legal peril.

    The strategy, the advisers agreed, should be for Donald Trump Jr. to release a statement to get ahead of the story. They wanted to be truthful, so their account couldn’t be repudiated later if the full details emerged.

    But within hours, at the president’s direction, the plan changed.

    Flying home from Germany on July 8 aboard Air Force One, Trump personally dictated a statement in which Trump Jr. said that he and the Russian lawyer had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” when they met in June 2016, according to multiple people with knowledge of the deliberations. The statement, issued to the New York Times as it prepared an article, emphasized that the subject of the meeting was “not a campaign issue at the time.”


    https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...up-the-russia-scandal/?utm_term=.9d38d7ee5a1d

    We now know that to be completely false. We know from emails provided by Junior that he accepted an invitation from the Russian government to gather dirt on the Clinton campaign.

    For someone who is supposedly innocent, Trump is acting very guilty.

    Trump helped write his son’s controversial statement on his meeting with a Russian lawyer, the White House confirmed on Tuesday. “The president weighed in—as any father would—based on the limited information that he had," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during a press conference.

    We are all familiar with Trump. He is the boss. He is a take charge kind of guy. "Weighed in" is a euphemism for Trump taking charge of what Junior said. Picture Trump weighing in but someone else tells his son what to say. That does not compute.
     
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  24. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    Notice from the post above that Trump and his entourage were on board Air Force One when Trump concocted Junior's story. That is a very tight circle. On board the aircraft are the people closest to the President.

    Yet someone leaked the story to the Post.

    So much for John Kelly shutting off the leaks by White House staff. This is the worst yet.

    The Post adds:

    This latest story is clearly one of the most significant developments in this scandal to date, for two reasons. First, it describes an organized effort to mislead the public — not to spin, or minimize the story, or distract from it, or throw out wild accusations about someone else, but to intentionally fool everyone into believing something false. Second, it implicates the president himself. Indeed, the most extraordinary part of the picture this story paints is that while other people involved were recommending some measure of transparency on the assumption that the truth would come out eventually, they were overruled by the president, who personally dictated the misleading statement.
     
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  25. Sandy Shanks

    Sandy Shanks Banned

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    I welcome intelligent replies to my posts. I also can appreciate someone who doesn't invent what I say. Based on your silly posts, I accused only one person of being a "sick puppy."

    You.
     
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