Whatever anyone thinks of Trump, we must admit to ourselves that this Mueller thing from beginning to end is 100% politics. Manafort would have none of these legal problems had he not gotten himself mixed up in Trump’s campaign. I’ve heard reporters on supposedly progressive NPR say with glee that so and so will have to cop a plea to a felony because he has a family with small children and just can’t afford to fund his defense. It’s not right.Originally Posted by LA Ute
One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike -- and yet it is the most precious thing we have.
--Albert Einstein
The fact that life evolved out of nearly nothing, some 10 billion years after the universe evolved out of literally nothing, is a fact so staggering that I would be mad to attempt words to do it justice.
--Richard Dawkins
Be kind to all, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.
--Philo
Wait, are you arguing that Manafort hasn't broken the law, or he simply wouldn't have been caught?
I'm with you that I don't like the glee of cornering people because of their financial situations or others as described, but it is hard to have sympathy for Manafort. The guy was clearly a bad actor and presuming Trump's innocence, whomever did the vetting of Manafort in his campaign blew it big time. The guy is seven layers thick of stank.
he’s entitled to the presumption of innocence until convicted. But aside from that, whatever he’s been charged with has nothing to do with, and happened many years before the 2016 campaign. Nobody claims there’s a nexus, except that the prosecutor wants to cut a plea deal and enlist him as a witness. And I submit that since he’s never been pursued before he’d not be charged now but for the larger political game. Prosecutors are selective about whom they will investigate or indict.
Last edited by SeattleUte; 06-06-2018 at 10:37 AM.
One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike -- and yet it is the most precious thing we have.
--Albert Einstein
The fact that life evolved out of nearly nothing, some 10 billion years after the universe evolved out of literally nothing, is a fact so staggering that I would be mad to attempt words to do it justice.
--Richard Dawkins
Be kind to all, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.
--Philo
Paul Manafort was on the FBI's radar going back to 2013. So, yah, there is a nexus.
https://www.politicususa.com/2018/04...-campaign.html
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...-trump-mueller
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-7...s-0-1528326234The media has turned the Trump presidency into a phenomenon of constant self-absorption—their self-absorption in this one person. Donald Trump has become the biggest balloon in a political Macy’s parade of modern media’s own creation. They could let go of the ropes. But they won’t.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
The author is spot on.
How to Lose the Midterms and Re-elect Trump
By Frank Bruni
Opinion Columnist
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/06/1...antha-bee.html
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
He only won once.
I can't believe how much better G Dub looks today. The Republican Party just keeps lowering the bar.
Hey, the worst you can say about 2000 is that he only won 5-4.
Dems made fun of Romney’s Boy Scout image. Now you’re appalled by Trump. It’s hard to figure you guys out.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Romney's image was a class thing, Trump's the utter lack of any (as well as competence, character, integrity, honesty, ...)
...and a party thing. Democrats would have had no problem with Romney's class or image if he'd been a member of their party.
How to get more Trump.
Pam Bondi confronted by protesters outside Mister Rogers movie
http://www.tampabay.com/florida-poli...-rogers-movie/
This is another way:
Then you’ve got DHS Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen being chased out of a Mexican restaurant in Washington, activists protesting at her home, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family being refused service in a restaurant.Earlier this week, actor Peter Fonda tweeted that First Lady Melania Trump should "stand up against the giant a****** she is married to," and "we should rip Barron Trump from his mother's arms and put him in a cage with pedophiles."
In other tweets, he said that Sanders' children should be kidnapped and Nielsen should be caged naked and raped in public while being filmed.
The new American Way, I guess. Trump is far from blameless in this, of course. But whatever happened to simply voting somebody out of office, or stopping their legislative initiatives, instead of engaging in tactic that look like fascism?
This looks like a decent breakdown:
https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2...tm_medium=pushAri Fleischer, who served as press secretary for President George W. Bush, tweeted Saturday: “I guess we’re heading into an America with Democrat-only restaurants, which will lead to Republican-only restaurants. Do the fools who threw Sarah out, and the people who cheer them on, really want us to be that kind of country?”
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, a frequent critic of the Trump administration, was one of the few Democrats to speak out against the restaurant owner’s actions.
“I think the restaurant owner should have served her. I really do,” Mr. Cummings said on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.”
At the same time, he blamed the increasingly vicious political climate in large part on Mr. Trump.
“This tone is horrible,” Mr. Cummings said. “I think President Trump has created this. Since he’s become president and even before, he’s basically given people license to state things that are ugly, and those things then turn into actions, as we can now see.”
However, Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, took a different tack and called for more public confrontations. She told a cheering crowd that Trump administration officials should not be allowed anywhere in public.
“Let’s stay the course, let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up,” she said at a speech, the video of which was posted Sunday on social media. “If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
Rep. Barbara Lee, California Democrat, said Mrs. Sanders should be reported to the Office of Government Ethics for tweeting about a private business on her government Twitter account.
“If you use a government account to attack a private business on personal time, I mean, that’s not right,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Democrats routinely blame Mr. Trump for lowering the public discourse through his name-calling of political adversaries, including Ms. Warren (“Pocahontas”) and former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (“a crude dope”).
Former CIA Director Michael V. Hayden even compared the family separation issue to death camps in Nazi Germany. That brought a rebuke from others, including University of Pennsylvania history professor Jonathan Zimmerman, writing at SFChronicle.com.
“If I engage in the same violent and irresponsible rhetoric as Donald Trump, I’m not ‘resisting’ him,” Mr. Zimmerman wrote. “To the contrary, I’m going into the muck with him. That’s not resistance; it’s capitulation.”
Public anger directed at Mr. Trump and top administration officials is increasing as the White House proposes to assign protection duties for Cabinet-level officials to the already stretched-thin U.S. Marshals Service. The Office of Management and Budget announced the plan Thursday as part of a proposed major overhaul of the federal government, including the merger of some Cabinet agencies.
Marshals around the country were alerted in a memo on Wednesday that the service was preparing for the move.
“Consolidate protective details at certain civilian Executive Branch agencies under the US Marshals Service in order to more effectively and efficiently monitor and respond to potential threats,” stated the White House’s recommendation. “Threat assessments would be conducted with support from the U.S. Secret Service.”
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, invited Mrs. Sanders back to Lexington, saying the rude reception she received at the Red Hen restaurant didn’t reflect the “kind and caring people” of his 6th Congressional District.
“What @PressSec experienced in Lexington [Friday] night is very unfortunate and doesn’t reflect accurately upon the kind and caring people of Lexington that I know,” tweeted Mr. Goodlatte. “There are many great innovative businesses in #VA06 that I hope you’ll come to back to visit.”
Last edited by LA Ute; 06-25-2018 at 07:18 AM.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
It is kind of fascinating to see people pivoting around some somewhat similar situations. Granted, I know the restaurant owner in this case is claiming to ask Sarah Sanders to leave because of her political beliefs and actions and that is different from someone being gay, but it becomes a little hard to reconcile why it is or isn't okay to refuse service in one instance and not the other. But I guess this is what happens when party is priority over principle.
And if you think I am calling out the left or the right on this, you are correct. Do we want a world where people can't use a business because of their political beliefs, or because of their sexual orientation? Or do we want a world where businesses can't chose whom they serve? I don't know the answer to this, but I'm fairly certain the people giving the Red Hen negative yelp reviews are not the same people who gave negative reviews to the Colorado baker, and vice versa.
I don't believe that the restaurant owner kicked Sanders out simply because of Sanders' political affiliation or beliefs. I believe it has much more to do with what many, including myself, believe is Sanders willingness to blatantly lie and to defend immoral conduct. I don't share the same political beliefs as my sister and her husband, but we can sit down and eat together. I could sit down and eat with most GOP politicians in Utah, but I would have a hard time sitting down with Sanders. I know I would not sit down with Trump.
Lest people think I side with Sarah Sanders I don't, but if the litmus test is a person's willingness to lie and defend immoral behavior then all politicians should be banned from eating establishments.
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As two recent presidential elections have shown us, there’s nothing simple about voting people out.
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You’re right, there is nothing simple about democracy.
Last edited by LA Ute; 06-25-2018 at 11:44 AM.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Whoah. You of all people throwing around the f-word? After years and years of complaining that self-rightoous leftists use the f-word to describe everything they don't like about conservatives, or comparing them to Nazis? I love it.
Very funny, you commie. But I know you must’ve taken some political science courses at some point.
I’m applying the term to behavior, not people. You know, liberal vs. illiberal, in classical political science parlance. It is illiberal to shut down speech, refuse service based on one’s political beliefs, and so forth. That’s why I said their behavior looks like fascism. Illiberality is where fascism and communism intersect. That’s one reason why the behavior of the people calling themselves “antifa” is so ironic.
Last edited by LA Ute; 06-25-2018 at 01:13 PM.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Thar sentence itself is laden with irony.
Stop using such big words.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
And, of course, there’s now this
Politics is literally a dumpster fire
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I bet he didn't. I think I took one, and it would have been an obscure topic. Did they even have a political science dept at Yale?
Yes they did. Not that I availed myself of it , however.
David French (a never-Trumper, BTW) says it better than I did:
Days of Rage
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/...eres-the-line/Angry, in-your-face confrontations dramatically increase the chances of violence. Put people in close proximity, yelling and spitting, and public officials will rightly start to fear that they’re in physical danger. While millions of Americans don’t remember that a Bernie Sanders supporter last year tried to assassinate a significant portion of the GOP Congress, you can be assured that not a single Republican in Washington has forgotten. They can never be sure that the screaming person in front of them doesn’t mean them physical harm.
Argue against these dangerous confrontations, and you’ll always get the same response: This administration is uniquely evil. It was taking children from their parents. The president just tweeted that he wants to strip due-process rights from illegal immigrants. Desperate times call for desperate measures....
Last edited by LA Ute; 06-26-2018 at 08:35 AM.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Add to this that people's outrage is continuing to be stoked by Russian operatives...
http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/21/tech...lls/index.html
Which brings us to the media. They are operating under such a fast news cycle that long ago now they began to value getting the report first over accuracy. Journalists used to make an attempt to verify before they published and now they just plan to correct later.
The above article asks why the media keeps falling for it and that is why.
I think over time that people will learn to filter through this stuff better and prize accuracy over speed, kind of like how we've learned to filter through advertising. I'll bet we'll look back on this time as total chaos and naïveté.
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SCOTUS Kennedy just announced his retirement. Trump to get another pick. 😡
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I hope he doesn’t nominate a Gorsuch or a Thomas. Another Kennedy or a Lewis Powell would be fine.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I disagree. I think he's really starting to come into his own with his recruiting and coaching the D-line.
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