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JJLehto View Drop Down
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Points: 34550 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2017 at 00:21
Anyway, the pieces keep adding up:
"Trump campaign aides had repeated contacts with Russian intelligence"


Putin sets up missiles, in violation of a treaty, while also buzzing a US ship with Russian jets and a Russian spy ship is sighted off the US coast, not doing anything illegal or at all, just sending a nice messageSmile http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/02/14/russian-spy-ship-off-east-coast-us-officials-say.html

People have waved off all this stuff as wanting to re start the Cold War. Hell no, I don't want that! It's Putin who's started thisLOL
But really, this is getting kind of scary. 
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Points: 34550 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2017 at 00:06
Originally posted by LearsFool LearsFool wrote:

Originally posted by JJLehto JJLehto wrote:

WOW. 
Flynn resigns. 

This is over the conversation he had with Russia in December, (which did happen), seems he gave "incomplete information" about its nature ie lifting the sanctions, to the WH. Not only is this possibly actual treason, but this means the National Security Adviser to the President....lied to the WH, about a meeting he had with a foreign diplomat over major policy. 

Yeah nothing wrong thereLOLWacko
I also find it odd Flynn would do this on his own, and not tell the truth to his own VP and others. Sorry, I can't believe he wasn't acting on Trump's behest and thus taking the sword, Oli North style. OR Trump really had no idea and Flynn went rogue. 

Yup no other to put this scenario, some real shady stuff

Yay!

Seriously, Flynn was a complete moron, with his treason just the icing on the turd. Good to get rid of a guy who turned the sitting president against the intelligence community long before election day. A guy who couldn't give up on his disastrous biases, to the point the DIA gave him the boot. A guy who reads Mike Cernovich. Dead

And the zenith/nadir of his stupidity was using the closely monitored diplomatic cables to try and sell our nation and our allies out to Putin. You just can't make up how foolish the Trump Administration as a whole are with secrecy either necessary or criminal. Now we see Trump willing to blab about national security in front of everybody at Mar-a-Lago. Speaks even more about how completely unqualified these people are.

Oh absolutely. All this being in bed with Russia thing aside, he was an utter loon, unqualified and incredibly dangerous. I am absolutely glad he's gone and his reputation shattered. I was honestly scared at the thought of him being in Trump's ear. 

Trump has been shockingly subdued about all this...given he will go nuclear over a play, SNL, Mark Cuban, the size and weather of his inauguration crowd, will personally respond to twitter comments, he's been pretty darn quiet on the fact his National Security Adviser has resigned over possibly treasonous actions. He will foam at the mouth about negative media coverage, but isn't jumping to defend Flynn against a tsunami of bad news coverage? 
His response to all this says all we need to know. 

Anyway, it gets better!
Jason Chaffetz says he won't investigate the matter because "It's taken care of itself". This guy was prepared to fight Clinton for 4 years with investigations. Rand Paul sells out again, says it makes "no sense" for Republicans to investigate a Republican. Others seem to have no care either. 
Aren't these the people that made Clinton go through 8 hearings over Benghazi and force her through the gauntlet over emails? Right, yeah guess possible treasonous actions from a major figure in the government is no biggie. 
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LearsFool View Drop Down
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Points: 8644 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 14 2017 at 14:46
Originally posted by JJLehto JJLehto wrote:

WOW. 
Flynn resigns. 

This is over the conversation he had with Russia in December, (which did happen), seems he gave "incomplete information" about its nature ie lifting the sanctions, to the WH. Not only is this possibly actual treason, but this means the National Security Adviser to the President....lied to the WH, about a meeting he had with a foreign diplomat over major policy. 

Yeah nothing wrong thereLOLWacko
I also find it odd Flynn would do this on his own, and not tell the truth to his own VP and others. Sorry, I can't believe he wasn't acting on Trump's behest and thus taking the sword, Oli North style. OR Trump really had no idea and Flynn went rogue. 

Yup no other to put this scenario, some real shady stuff

Yay!

Seriously, Flynn was a complete moron, with his treason just the icing on the turd. Good to get rid of a guy who turned the sitting president against the intelligence community long before election day. A guy who couldn't give up on his disastrous biases, to the point the DIA gave him the boot. A guy who reads Mike Cernovich. Dead

And the zenith/nadir of his stupidity was using the closely monitored diplomatic cables to try and sell our nation and our allies out to Putin. You just can't make up how foolish the Trump Administration as a whole are with secrecy either necessary or criminal. Now we see Trump willing to blab about national security in front of everybody at Mar-a-Lago. Speaks even more about how completely unqualified these people are.
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Points: 501 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 14 2017 at 07:54
I live right on the Canadian/US border. I mean right on the bordeer. Right next to the Peace Bridge on the Niagara River r. I can see Buffalo from my living room window. I come across Americans often and for the most part they don't give a tinker's cuss about politics juust as we Canadians couldn't care less. The world is in such a mess that I am just here for the ride for the next 50years or so. But you have to admit you can't beat this dog and pony show for it's entertainment value. I like listening to Lewis Black's commentary but he has a hard time because Trump does his job for him just like Ceorge W. Bush did.
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Points: 10387 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 14 2017 at 06:39
the stupidity of the Trump administration is apparently seeping through even to non-political US-organizations. it is an absolute ignominy for the USTA to have the banned first verse of the Deutschlandlied, "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" ("Germany, Germany above all") sung before the matches started.

only the third verse of the Deutschlandlied is used for the national anthem of Germany. here a translation of this third verse:

"Unity and justice and freedom
For the German fatherland!
Towards these let us all strive
Brotherly with heart and hand!
Unity and justice and liberty
Are the foundation of happiness;
Flourish in the radiance of this happiness,
Flourish, German fatherland".

this should be well known, even to the USTA. so was this really stupidity or cunning strategy? no matter, either way it is an ignominy.

when Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the lyrics they had a completely different meaning. Germany did not exist back then; it was split into many small principalities. so the lyrics originally were for the unification of these principalities, which was more important than anything else in the world to von Fallersleben. that was what "Deutschland über alles" originally was about.

the Nazis did of course reinterpret these lines as meaning Germany was superior to all other nations. the music was originally written by Joseph Haydn for the birthday of emperor Francis II. the lyrics were "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" ("God save emperor Francis"). (on a side note: since "erhalten" may mean "save" or "preserve" in German but also "receive" these lyrics have an ironic double meaning).

for a short time after WW2 the Germans used Beethoven's "Ode an die Freude" ("Ode to Joy") as national anthem. on March 7th 1990, seven months before the reunification, the German constitutional court declared that only the 3rd verse would constitute the text of the German national anthem of a reunified Germany. the first verse of the Deutschlandlied has NEVER been officially used after WW2 (until now by the USTA).

I used to be an American citizen for the first 30 years of my life. in 1993, at age 24, I moved to Germany for professional reasons and became a German citizen in 2000 because I wanted to be able to vote here. since German law allows double citizenship only in specific cases, none of which applied to me, I had to give up my American citizenship then.

anyone who is familiar with modern Germany, as I certainly am after having lived here for 24 years, knows that the singing of the 1st verse of the Deutschlandlied was extremely offensive. someone compared singing "God save the Queen" instead of the national US-anthem to this incident on YouTube, but it does not even come close. to the German team it must have felt like a slap in the face

Edited by BaldJean - February 14 2017 at 06:42


A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta
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The Dark Elf View Drop Down
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Points: 13227 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 14 2017 at 04:54
Bye-bye to that Michael Flynn guy,
Held discussions with the Russians, 
And had Mike Pence tell a lie. 
Then Ol' Donald Trump left him high and dry,
Singin' “this'll be the day you resign!”
...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined
to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology...
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JJLehto View Drop Down
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Points: 34550 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 14 2017 at 01:28
And the nightmare continues!

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has dropped all pretense about this debate, and taken it to the next level:
Ugh...

And sickeningly he's using the "protect our workers" cover but he supports extremely anti labor policies that would hurt our workers.
Not sure if this is honest, cognitive dissonance or something, or simply the new GOP strategy to win over blue collar/working class voters: Appeal to protecting their jobs and wages through keeping people away, and hyping up social conservatism/law and order. 
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JJLehto View Drop Down
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Points: 34550 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 14 2017 at 01:15
WOW. 
Flynn resigns. 

This is over the conversation he had with Russia in December, (which did happen), seems he gave "incomplete information" about its nature ie lifting the sanctions, to the WH. Not only is this possibly actual treason, but this means the National Security Adviser to the President....lied to the WH, about a meeting he had with a foreign diplomat over major policy. 

Yeah nothing wrong thereLOLWacko
I also find it odd Flynn would do this on his own, and not tell the truth to his own VP and others. Sorry, I can't believe he wasn't acting on Trump's behest and thus taking the sword, Oli North style. OR Trump really had no idea and Flynn went rogue. 

Yup no other to put this scenario, some real shady stuff
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SteveG View Drop Down
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Points: 20617 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 13 2017 at 13:51
Once again White house press secretary Sean Spicer gets the SNL treatment! LOL While Alec Baldwin doubles down on Trump in the People's court!


Edited by SteveG - February 13 2017 at 13:58
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Points: 20617 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 13 2017 at 04:10
Originally posted by JJLehto JJLehto wrote:

My preference for DNC chair is, no surprise, Keith Ellison. Everyone has long assumed he has it because of the # of endorsements he's racked up, including big mainstream names like Schumer and Reid. Some unions have backed him and a letter from hundreds of Jewish leaders didn't endorse him, but said he is not anti semitic and that line of attack is ridiculous and should stop (I always feared his past comments would haunt him).
I think it would be great because that's a true blue progressive, and I'd like to see one in a major position, even if its more image than anything (though I'd say he would have some input on the fight over where the party goes)

 

Hmm. I agree that Ellison is fully qualified but his being Muslim may be a stumbling block to some that are not as enlightened as you and I, as that presents some extra baggage. We'll have to see how goes.
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JJLehto View Drop Down
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Points: 34550 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 11 2017 at 13:20
Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

I definitely feel the support of a movement in the making. But how to unite the people with the DNC when the DNC is so weak right now? How to channel this energy and not waste it, is very worrying to me. Perhaps it will come together organically. (While the Beatles' "Come Together" plays in my head! LOL)

Well, a void can be a pretty great opportunity. It does remind me of 2008 for the GOP. Tough to be in a much lower spot, lost the WH, completely smacked in Congress (way more than the Dems which frustrates me they still held up so much and we can't do anythingLOL) and they had no leader, no aim.
Up steps the tea party.

Micky is part right, the establishment wasn't very happy with em but they also didn't totally stop it. I believe the RNC took a "hands off" approach and let local races be decided by well, the people, and they didn't really intervene. Which means: Tea Party.
So he's right the Dems will face a similar choice of getting in the way to preserve their position, or letting it happen. Not like they will be vanquished or anything, the mainstream GOP has adapted to the tea party and the Tea Party's true origin, Ron Paul, got lost as the movement itself adapted to the GOP. The system does work, still, sort of kinda ha

And obviously the people still choose, least I hope!, the people of PA chose McGinty over Fetterman (a Sanders type) in the Senate Primary (she of course lost to Pat Toomey) and Tim Canova failed to unseat DWS. Zephyer Teachout won the Dem primary but lost in the election. So it'll be up to the people finally and how this all plays out.
Kamala Harris did win the senate seat in CA so one small victoryLOL
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Points: 34550 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 11 2017 at 13:02
My preference for DNC chair is, no surprise, Keith Ellison. Everyone has long assumed he has it because of the # of endorsements he's racked up, including big mainstream names like Schumer and Reid. Some unions have backed him and a letter from hundreds of Jewish leaders didn't endorse him, but said he is not anti semitic and that line of attack is ridiculous and should stop (I always feared his past comments would haunt him).
I think it would be great because that's a true blue progressive, and I'd like to see one in a major position, even if its more image than anything (though I'd say he would have some input on the fight over where the party goes)

That said it's no guarantee, I have never assumed he has it. BUT I would be happy with Tom Perez who has his own impressive "pro person" credentials and was a good Sect of Labor. I like he's an Obama person more than a Clintonite, but he may also be a more unifying force than Ellison. I prefer Ellison but I'd have no issue whatsoever with Perez, who I think would also fight for a more pro labor, purple/red/rural area policies instead of relying solely on minorities and urbanites/northeast & west coast. At least for now...that's not a winning strategy.

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Points: 20617 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 11 2017 at 10:09
I did get a big laugh from Trump tweeting "See you in Court!" as a response to the Court upholding the suspension of the ban. For God's sake, they're judges! Where else is Trump going to see them? In the men's room? LOL
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oh true.. there is little they can do now.. but symbolic gestures at this point. The Democrats are not in power.. any of it. Thus.. who gets the blame for this sh*t sandwich ... yep

but look on the bright side.. at least the Courts haven't laid down and spread their legs for Emperor Trump. And what was that latest headline

'The legal system is broken' 

Yeah buddy.. simply because he didn't get his way. Yep...alienate the judicial branch in addition to the majority of hte population. Some Americans still do remember that branch is the final protection against dictators and strong men who wish to rule.. not govern. 


the GOP.. they hold all the keys.. no blaming Democrats for not standing up to Trump. Not invetigating his transgression.. or just going completely limp dicked to policies they KNOW are disasterous.  Even if not 2018.. by 1020 they will have to answer to a highly engerized and damned angry majority of the population.
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SteveG View Drop Down
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Points: 20617 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 11 2017 at 09:58
I agree with everything you've said except that the Repubs were not as politically weak as the Dems are right now. There's not much we can do except to wait and see, I'm afraid. But hope springs eternal I once heard someone say. (Now I have the mellotron driven album by Spring running through my head! Time to breakout the old vinyl and fire up the turntable!)

Edited by SteveG - February 11 2017 at 09:58
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Points: 46838 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 11 2017 at 09:52
that is the parallel with the Tea Party.... the RNC had nothing to do with it.. in fact they tried to fight against that grassroots movment. The DNC either gets on board... or not...  but the comparison end that the Tea Partiers were a small segment of the Republican Party.. this movement.. could be a entire party... the leftward shift we thought would come after HIllary.. but Trump may have acceleraed. Driven in part by Warren who is a hero among many, including I might add my HIllary hating best friend who couldn't vote for her (thankfully in Va. so it didn't matter haha). Even pro-gun as he is... he has said the same as I have.. he'd go through a brick wall to see her elected. She is the anti-Trump... inspriratial.. fiery and able to tap into populism which of course is a leftward leaning device already. 

We shall see.. a lot can happen.  But signs are encouraging.. the DNC? Immaterial at this point.... this is local activism at its finest.
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Points: 20617 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 11 2017 at 09:46
I definitely feel the support of a movement in the making. But how to unite the people with the DNC when the DNC is so weak right now? How to channel this energy and not waste it, is very worrying to me. Perhaps it will come together organically. (While the Beatles' "Come Together" plays in my head! LOL)
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micky View Drop Down
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Points: 46838 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 11 2017 at 09:39
what I am seeing and reading Steve.... the people are taking this over. The DNC is immaterial at this point.  Trump has done what I had hoped they would.... mobilized, organized, and energized people as the DNC never could.  I saw a great quote... we are seeing a reverse Tea Party movement starting.. at the grassroots level.

“Trump is not popular, he does not have a mandate. He does not have large congressional majorities. If a small minority in the Tea Party could stop President Obama, then we the majority can stop a petty tyrant named Trump.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/protest-movement-republicans-234863

Warren is going to run... that is plainly evident... and regardless of what the DNC does. She will tap into this grassroots movement. wait... she is the hero and inpiration of much of it herself.  she is the political face of it.  Even Republicans are being boo'd and shouted down... IN THEIR OWN DISTRICTS....

unless Trump does a 180 and who really thinks he will.. he could be the progressive and liberal wet dream. Inspried the silent apatheitc majority to finally take control.  I've already seen hints among the experts that 2018 may be an interesting off year election...lord knows we've seen massive off year blow backs against unpopular Presidents... sow ye oats while you still have power GOP.. you may not be there in Congress too long. LOL


Edited by micky - February 11 2017 at 09:41
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SteveG View Drop Down
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Points: 20617 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 11 2017 at 09:25
Let's rebuild the DNC. Now!

Ok, I've stressed endlessly that I see minorities, so far, as sitting out on this Trump indignation until they've had enough and get back into the fight. But at the moment, the DNC is at a fork in the road as to the direction the party is to take. The DNC chair is up for takes. Populist or Centrist? Bernie and Elizabeth? Or more of the Hillary crowd? Which way should the DNC go?


Edited by SteveG - February 11 2017 at 09:31
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Points: 20617 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 10 2017 at 13:57
Originally posted by infocat infocat wrote:

Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

Yeah, sometimes you just gotta laugh!
One of the best skits ever.  How she can keep a straight face through it all is amazing!
Yes, absolutely fantastic. She must be a damn good actress not to crack up when doing this skit. Especially when she went through the props! "Radical moose lambs!" LOL

Edited by SteveG - February 10 2017 at 14:16
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