Random Politics & Religion #24

Actually eliroo, after the past 7 months of TDS you have been displaying, I'm more inclined to believe Savael's analysis than your own words.

Did it ever occur to you that maybe you are only looking at the event in a lens that supports your narrative? Or is that a bit too hard to grasp?

Attempting to influence the results of an investigation through intimidation.

You have to be taking the situation very literally to not be able to see how that could be construed as intimidation.

Let's not even dive into the fact that Trump was so insecure that he threatened Comey on twitter.

Furthermore, I don't think him "not being a politician" is good enough excuse here. Didn't republicans tear into Obama for being "inexperienced"? In the words of President McCain "Seems like a double standard to me".

Onto this, do you really think that the people holding this investigation have some sort of pre-conceived narrative?

G'morning RP+R. Top story of the day, crazed gunman opens fire at the congressional baseball game practice field, wounds at least one congressman (Steve Scalise, R) and a handful of other people before being taken into custody. Make of that what you will.

Seriously. For a guy who keeps stating that only you looks between the lines, you certainly are blind to narratives of actual events.

TDS - Trump Down syndrome?

Furthermore my view on how Trump handles himself in office has literally nothing to do with my political views, at all. I still believe in the same political things that I normally do and due to my heavy split in certan areas I could easily support a republican president.

But that has NOTHING to do with my views on how Trump is currently acting.

Ah so you don't think Hillary Clinton committed perjury? Or that in the very least she showed gross negligence when handling her email server?

We can go one day without bickering....

This has to be a false flag attack.

1, 50 shots fired, 5 wounded, none critically.

2, Liberals don't own guns.

I blame Alex Jones.

In RP&R? To dream the impossible dream....

2, Liberals don't own guns.

The head of the Michigan health department was charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter, the highest-ranking member of Gov. Rick Snyder's administration to be snagged in a criminal investigation of Flint's lead-contaminated water.

Nick Lyon is accused of failing to alert the public about an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the Flint area, which has been linked by some experts to poor water quality in 2014-15.

Charges were read in court by a member of the state attorney general's team. Lyon was not in court. A message seeking comment was left for his attorneys.

Flint began using water from the Flint River in 2014 but didn't treat it to reduce corrosion. Lead from old plumbing leached into the water system.

Some experts also have linked the water to Legionnaires' disease, a type of pneumonia caused by bacteria that thrive in warm water and infect the lungs. People can get sick if they inhale mist or vapor, typically from cooling systems.

There were nearly 100 cases in the Flint area, including 12 deaths, in 2014 and 2015.

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, So wrong, Very wrong, and I'm-starting-to-sound-like-Ace-Ventura-now-Wrong....

I don't see that as a "sound state of mind". You are right though, I don't know for certain. My guess he was borderline psychotic with a left leaning. I'd think you would have to be to ask such a simple question and then respond by grabbing your gun and firing at people.

Also is the shooter dead? I thought he was apprehended.

But in actual bipartisan good news, which is rare in political discussions.

Head of Michigan health department charged with manslaughter in Flint water crisis
AP - Chicago Tribune

But in actual bipartisan good news, which is rare in political discussions.

Head of Michigan health department charged with manslaughter in Flint water crisis
AP - Chicago Tribune

Oh, silly me, I forgot the sarcasm tags.

Trump Derangement Syndrome. Signs of it is the irrational urge to attack Trump based on what he had for dinner last night, or making up stories of obstruction of justice that didn't exist.

That's kindof a big charge.

Look, it was bad what happened with Flint, and whoever was responsible should be fired, but charged with manslaughter? Isn't that a little too much?

I mean, you already ruined the guy's life. It's not like he personally attempted to kill everyone in Flint and create sickness to the survivors....

The shooter sorta looks like the Walter from Big Lebowski:

Now is not the time to discuss Bernie control.

According to the U.S. intelligence community, Russia’s objectives in meddling in the 2016 election included not only hurting Hillary Clinton’s chances but also undermining “public faith in the U.S. democratic process,” “impugning the fairness of the election” and calling into question “the U.S.-led liberal democratic order.” If the spectacle of the past few months is any indication, Russian leader Vladi­mir Putin is certainly succeeding in these latter goals.

And here is the great irony: Those who are falsely claiming that Trump was under FBI investigation for collusion with Moscow are, in fact, the ones inadvertently colluding with Putin to undermine American democracy.

Case in point is the campaign of McCarthyite character assassination on display in the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday. No doubt Putin was smiling as Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced to rebut what he correctly called “appalling and detestable” accusations that he colluded with the Russians and lied to the Senate. Sessions testified that the much-vaunted “third meeting” between Sessions and the Russian ambassador at the Mayflower Hotel — which Sessions reportedly failed to disclose — did not happen, at least not beyond possible incidental contact that he doesn’t even recall.

There was a time when airing unproven allegations of coordinating with the Kremlin was seen as bad form. Now it is common practice in Washington. These kinds of false charges and innuendo directly assist Russia in its efforts to undermine public confidence in our democratic institutions. Those raising such accusations without proof are, wittingly or unwittingly, doing the Kremlin’s bidding.

For months, Democrats (a.k.a. “The Resistance”) have been spinning the false narrative that President Trump was under FBI investigation to call into question the validity of his presidency. In March, Democrats used it as a pretext to argue that Trump did not have the legitimacy to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) declared in a floor speech that the Senate should not vote on Neil Gorsuch’s nomination because Republicans “stopped a president who wasn’t under investigation” from filling the seat. Two days later, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said the same thing, declaring, “The FBI has revealed that the sitting president of the United States is under investigation. And it raises a really, I think, important question and that is whether or not a president who is under investigation by the FBI ought to be ramming through a Supreme Court nominee that would have a lifetime appointment.”

The media gleefully echoed these false claims. The day before Comey testified, CNN blared: “In testimony, Comey will dispute President Trump’s blanket claim that he was told he wasn’t under investigation.” In fact, Comey said precisely the opposite. When Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) asked, “While you were director, the president of the United States was not under investigation. Is that a fair statement?” Comey replied: “That’s correct.” Even then, CNN was not willing to concede its error, declaring in a so-called “correction” that “Comey does not directly dispute that Trump was told multiple times he was not under investigation” (emphasis added).

No, Comey did not fail to “directly dispute” it, he directly confirmed it. The CNN story — and its non-correction correction — was “facts I don't like.”

Not only that, Comey also testified that Trump never tried to get him to stop the probe into Russia’s election meddling, which Comey explained was a separate matter from the FBI’s investigation of disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Not only did Trump not ask Comey to stop the probe, the former FBI director told Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), “He went farther than that. He said, and if some of my satellites did something wrong, it’d be good to find that out.” Rubio pressed Comey, asking whether he was testifying that Trump effectively said, “Do the Russia investigation. I hope it all comes out. I have nothing to do with anything Russia. It’d be great if it all came out, people around me were doing things that were wrong.” Comey replied, “That was the sentiment he was expressing. Yes, sir.”

Given these facts, Trump has legitimate reason to be frustrated. If you knew you were not under investigation by the FBI, but everyone was saying you were, you’d want the truth to get out. And you might be upset with an FBI director who refused to lift the “cloud” hanging over your administration by confirming that he was not investigating you.

That said, Trump has been fueling the liberal feeding frenzy with his tweetstorms taking his critics to task. If Trump knows he did nothing wrong — and if he really wants to find out whether any of his “satellites” did — he should stop talking and tweeting about the investigation, let special counsel Robert S. Mueller III do his work and focus on his job: governing. His daughter Ivanka Trump was recently asked how she dealt with the media frenzy over Russia. She replied, “I’m trying to keep my head down, not listen to the noise and just work really hard to make a positive impact in the lives of many people.”

That’s a good strategy — and one her father ought to emulate.