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Really not looking forward to John Bolton taking over as National Security Advisor.
Bookmarking this post for when you’re proven right.
Curse this, the age of the internet!
Keep Circulating the Tapes.
END OF LINE
(It hasn’t happened yet)
The Russia and gerrymander worries provide cover for the horrible management of the DNC and other failures by the Democrats. Convenient.
Oh, you don’t have to tell me how Democrats can always snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, they are very adept at that. Nevertheless, if the Democrats beat Republicans by 9 points and fail to take the House (my current projection), I think gerrymandering may just be a weensy bit more central to the cause of their failure than any failures at the DNC (and assuredly, there will be some of those). Much as the Democrats stormed the Virginia Assembly races just recently by ten points, but failed to win control of the Assembly. Was gerrymandering just a convenient scapegoat for mismanagement there? Hardly.
The Russia and gerrymander worries provide cover for the horrible management of the DNC and other failures by the Democrats. Convenient.
Are you saying that they’re somehow responsible or taking advantage, or just coincidence?
Who, responsible for what?
The Democrats being responsible for “the Russia and gerrymander worries.”
Everyone should be concerned about the fact that Russia did and continues to fuck with our elections. Regardless of whether or not they tried to help Trump win. But nah, that’s just a worry and not an actual thing.
Ditto with gerrymandering. Although that’s not connected to Russia…yet.
I still don’t understand why the Probe isn’t examining trump’s tax returns.
"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars
Everyone should be concerned about the fact that Russia did and continues to fuck with our elections. Regardless of whether or not they tried to help Trump win. But nah, that’s just a worry and not an actual thing.
Ditto with gerrymandering. Although that’s not connected to Russia…yet.
We should be worried about everything Russia is doing. I was only commenting on the collusion/coordination thing. It’s wonderful that Democrats are finally waking up about Russia, even if for partisan reasons.
Gerrymandering is a problem too. It’s great that Democrats are now so strongly opposed to it, even if for partisan reasons.
I’m not impressed by how everything is pushed through these partisan lenses. That goes for Republicans too.
The blue elephant in the room.
I still don’t understand why the Probe isn’t examining trump’s tax returns.
They may be.
But Mueller would have to satisfy a reasonable cause standard.
The blue elephant in the room.
I still don’t understand why the Probe isn’t examining trump’s tax returns.
They may be.
But Mueller would have to satisfy a reasonable cause standard.
Yep, as with all things Mueller, we wouldn’t know if he had the returns or not until they showed up as Exhibit A in a trial. I’d assume he’s had them for a long time. He didn’t hire all those financial crimes experts for their skills in tracing cyber-espionage.
Guccifer identified due to his embarrassing mistake: https://www.thedailybeast.com/exclusive-lone-dnc-hacker-guccifer-20-slipped-up-and-revealed-he-was-a-russian-intelligence-officer
The blue elephant in the room.
I guess it’s nice to have confirmation but we pretty much knew that already, didn’t we?
Or was it supposedly fake news?
Everyone should be concerned about the fact that Russia did and continues to fuck with our elections. Regardless of whether or not they tried to help Trump win. But nah, that’s just a worry and not an actual thing.
Ditto with gerrymandering. Although that’s not connected to Russia…yet.
We should be worried about everything Russia is doing. I was only commenting on the collusion/coordination thing. It’s wonderful that Democrats are finally waking up about Russia, even if for partisan reasons.
That doesn’t mean as much when Republicans are now actively being apologists for and refusing to stand up to Russia and Putin. Even though Obama and the Democrats used to be softer on Russia, they were never as pathetic and weak as the Republicans are now.
The Person in Question
Everyone should be concerned about the fact that Russia did and continues to fuck with our elections. Regardless of whether or not they tried to help Trump win. But nah, that’s just a worry and not an actual thing.
Ditto with gerrymandering. Although that’s not connected to Russia…yet.
We should be worried about everything Russia is doing. I was only commenting on the collusion/coordination thing. It’s wonderful that Democrats are finally waking up about Russia, even if for partisan reasons.
That doesn’t mean as much when Republicans are now actively being apologists for and refusing to stand up to Russia and Putin. Even though Obama and the Democrats used to be softer on Russia, they were never as pathetic and weak as the Republicans are now.
The GOP congress passed the sanctions law against Russia last year. Trump hasn’t led on this issue and that is a major problem but we’ve not bowed to Russia in Syria or anything like that. I also don’t think it behooves our government to be relentlessly hostile to Russia.
The blue elephant in the room.
Everyone should be concerned about the fact that Russia did and continues to fuck with our elections. Regardless of whether or not they tried to help Trump win. But nah, that’s just a worry and not an actual thing.
Ditto with gerrymandering. Although that’s not connected to Russia…yet.
We should be worried about everything Russia is doing. I was only commenting on the collusion/coordination thing. It’s wonderful that Democrats are finally waking up about Russia, even if for partisan reasons.
That doesn’t mean as much when Republicans are now actively being apologists for and refusing to stand up to Russia and Putin. Even though Obama and the Democrats used to be softer on Russia, they were never as pathetic and weak as the Republicans are now.
The GOP congress passed the sanctions law against Russia last year. Trump hasn’t led on this issue and that is a major problem but we’ve not bowed to Russia in Syria or anything like that. I also don’t think it behooves our government to be relentlessly hostile to Russia.
I mean, sure, but they’re relentlessly messing with us (100% common knowledge now that they interfered with our elections, and various votes around the world, and will continue to do so), and we probably shouldn’t let that go. Perhaps it doesn’t behoove our government, but just laughing off the fact that they put millions of dollars and thousands of hours towards choosing our President (regardless of who it was) is a dangerous thing to do.
If Putin ever goes and Russia has a decent, non-tyrannical leader, maybe we can play nice then.
Keep Circulating the Tapes.
END OF LINE
(It hasn’t happened yet)
Everyone should be concerned about the fact that Russia did and continues to fuck with our elections. Regardless of whether or not they tried to help Trump win. But nah, that’s just a worry and not an actual thing.
Ditto with gerrymandering. Although that’s not connected to Russia…yet.
We should be worried about everything Russia is doing. I was only commenting on the collusion/coordination thing. It’s wonderful that Democrats are finally waking up about Russia, even if for partisan reasons.
That doesn’t mean as much when Republicans are now actively being apologists for and refusing to stand up to Russia and Putin. Even though Obama and the Democrats used to be softer on Russia, they were never as pathetic and weak as the Republicans are now.
The GOP congress passed the sanctions law against Russia last year. Trump hasn’t led on this issue and that is a major problem but we’ve not bowed to Russia in Syria or anything like that. I also don’t think it behooves our government to be relentlessly hostile to Russia.
I mean, sure, but they’re relentlessly messing with us (100% common knowledge now that they interfered with our elections, and various votes around the world, and will continue to do so), and we probably shouldn’t let that go. Perhaps it doesn’t behoove our government, but just laughing off the fact that they put millions of dollars and thousands of hours towards choosing our President (regardless of who it was) is a dangerous thing to do.
If Putin ever goes and Russia has a decent, non-tyrannical leader, maybe we can play nice then.
There are plenty of different ways to do this though. The Obama way was to kick the legs out from under oil/natural gas prices and use the Magnitsky Act to target Russian corruption. That was the “bad cop” part. The “good cop” part was to try to involve Russia in various multilateral diplomatic efforts, give them a chance to be a good actor on the world stage. Basically we were as friendly as could be diplomatically, but economically, we were very aggressive with Russia. Who knows what mix future administrations would use, but it would and should be a mix.
Everyone should be concerned about the fact that Russia did and continues to fuck with our elections. Regardless of whether or not they tried to help Trump win. But nah, that’s just a worry and not an actual thing.
Ditto with gerrymandering. Although that’s not connected to Russia…yet.
We should be worried about everything Russia is doing. I was only commenting on the collusion/coordination thing. It’s wonderful that Democrats are finally waking up about Russia, even if for partisan reasons.
That doesn’t mean as much when Republicans are now actively being apologists for and refusing to stand up to Russia and Putin. Even though Obama and the Democrats used to be softer on Russia, they were never as pathetic and weak as the Republicans are now.
The GOP congress passed the sanctions law against Russia last year. Trump hasn’t led on this issue and that is a major problem but we’ve not bowed to Russia in Syria or anything like that. I also don’t think it behooves our government to be relentlessly hostile to Russia.
I mean, sure, but they’re relentlessly messing with us (100% common knowledge now that they interfered with our elections, and various votes around the world, and will continue to do so), and we probably shouldn’t let that go. Perhaps it doesn’t behoove our government, but just laughing off the fact that they put millions of dollars and thousands of hours towards choosing our President (regardless of who it was) is a dangerous thing to do.
If Putin ever goes and Russia has a decent, non-tyrannical leader, maybe we can play nice then.
There are plenty of different ways to do this though. The Obama way was to kick the legs out from under oil/natural gas prices and use the Magnitsky Act to target Russian corruption. That was the “bad cop” part. The “good cop” part was to try to involve Russia in various multilateral diplomatic efforts, give them a chance to be a good actor on the world stage. Basically we were as friendly as could be diplomatically, but economically, we were very aggressive with Russia. Who knows what mix future administrations would use, but it would and should be a mix.
Agreed.
Keep Circulating the Tapes.
END OF LINE
(It hasn’t happened yet)
Everyone should be concerned about the fact that Russia did and continues to fuck with our elections. Regardless of whether or not they tried to help Trump win. But nah, that’s just a worry and not an actual thing.
Ditto with gerrymandering. Although that’s not connected to Russia…yet.
We should be worried about everything Russia is doing. I was only commenting on the collusion/coordination thing. It’s wonderful that Democrats are finally waking up about Russia, even if for partisan reasons.
That doesn’t mean as much when Republicans are now actively being apologists for and refusing to stand up to Russia and Putin. Even though Obama and the Democrats used to be softer on Russia, they were never as pathetic and weak as the Republicans are now.
The GOP congress passed the sanctions law against Russia last year. Trump hasn’t led on this issue and that is a major problem but we’ve not bowed to Russia in Syria or anything like that. I also don’t think it behooves our government to be relentlessly hostile to Russia.
I mean, sure, but they’re relentlessly messing with us (100% common knowledge now that they interfered with our elections, and various votes around the world, and will continue to do so), and we probably shouldn’t let that go. Perhaps it doesn’t behoove our government, but just laughing off the fact that they put millions of dollars and thousands of hours towards choosing our President (regardless of who it was) is a dangerous thing to do.
If Putin ever goes and Russia has a decent, non-tyrannical leader, maybe we can play nice then.
There are plenty of different ways to do this though. The Obama way was to kick the legs out from under oil/natural gas prices and use the Magnitsky Act to target Russian corruption. That was the “bad cop” part. The “good cop” part was to try to involve Russia in various multilateral diplomatic efforts, give them a chance to be a good actor on the world stage. Basically we were as friendly as could be diplomatically, but economically, we were very aggressive with Russia. Who knows what mix future administrations would use, but it would and should be a mix.
What do you mean re Obama and natural gas prices? The revolution in our production came about because of fracking. Prices are decided by the market. What exactly are you crediting Obama for?
Re Magnitsky Act, it was an unprecedented intrusion into a country’s domestic affairs, albeit corrupt and horrific affairs. It was a diplomatic blunder that focused on the wrong things. “Carrots and sticks” don’t work if they’re not understood as such. It was a hopelessly naive approach. We need a good strong dose of realpolitik.
The blue elephant in the room.
Everyone should be concerned about the fact that Russia did and continues to fuck with our elections. Regardless of whether or not they tried to help Trump win. But nah, that’s just a worry and not an actual thing.
Ditto with gerrymandering. Although that’s not connected to Russia…yet.
We should be worried about everything Russia is doing. I was only commenting on the collusion/coordination thing. It’s wonderful that Democrats are finally waking up about Russia, even if for partisan reasons.
That doesn’t mean as much when Republicans are now actively being apologists for and refusing to stand up to Russia and Putin. Even though Obama and the Democrats used to be softer on Russia, they were never as pathetic and weak as the Republicans are now.
The GOP congress passed the sanctions law against Russia last year. Trump hasn’t led on this issue and that is a major problem but we’ve not bowed to Russia in Syria or anything like that. I also don’t think it behooves our government to be relentlessly hostile to Russia.
I mean, sure, but they’re relentlessly messing with us (100% common knowledge now that they interfered with our elections, and various votes around the world, and will continue to do so), and we probably shouldn’t let that go. Perhaps it doesn’t behoove our government, but just laughing off the fact that they put millions of dollars and thousands of hours towards choosing our President (regardless of who it was) is a dangerous thing to do.
If Putin ever goes and Russia has a decent, non-tyrannical leader, maybe we can play nice then.
There are plenty of different ways to do this though. The Obama way was to kick the legs out from under oil/natural gas prices and use the Magnitsky Act to target Russian corruption. That was the “bad cop” part. The “good cop” part was to try to involve Russia in various multilateral diplomatic efforts, give them a chance to be a good actor on the world stage. Basically we were as friendly as could be diplomatically, but economically, we were very aggressive with Russia. Who knows what mix future administrations would use, but it would and should be a mix.
Prices are decided by the market. What exactly are you crediting Obama for?
Although US is a top producer, we don’t necessarily have much effect on world prices due to transport issues (slightly more expensive local natural gas is more feasible than faraway slightly cheaper gas, if the transport costs are greater than the difference). Diplomatically, Obama is credited with arranging to keep Saudi production high to the point of self-inflicted harm throughout his term, and unlocking natural gas availability by aiding various pipeline initiatives, and opening up Iran.
I actually don’t know how much credence to give those credits, but it’s a pretty common attribution. US production is still very high under Trump but world prices have rebounded from their low levels under Obama.
Re Magnitsky Act, it was an unprecedented intrusion into a country’s domestic affairs, albeit corrupt and horrific affairs. It was a diplomatic blunder that focused on the wrong things. “Carrots and sticks” don’t work if they’re not understood as such. It was a hopelessly naive approach. We need a good strong dose of realpolitik.
Presumably, if the Magnitsky Act only dealt with people who did business in Crimea, we could get the approval of the Ukrainian government and then we wouldn’t be intruding into a country’s domestic affairs at all. And then take it global, so every country has a Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky Act was really the first sign that the US was finally waking up about Russia. But I think we could stand to be more awake. There’s lots more we could do along these lines – mutual extradition agreements specifically for Russian-backed separatists (so fighters picked up in Ukraine could be held in the US, since we’re all fighting the same fight and it greatly reduces the chances of a rescue operation), helping seek damages when Russia fails to pay its rent to Ukraine for use of Sevastopol facilities (once we convince Ukraine to charge that rent), etc.
While I think you’re probably right we don’t have a great effect on world prices, we do have a great effect on world demand and the income of foreign producers. When we consume less foreign oil, they get less money.
Obama was known for banning much oil drilling and absurdly impeding the Dakota Pipeline. His legacy on energy is mixed at best. I would credit his general inaction on fracking, which led to where we are now but that’s not to say he helped it.
The problem with the M.A. was that it didn’t have an international hook. Sanctions re Crimea (which we also have) do have that hook.
The blue elephant in the room.
absurdly impeding the Dakota Pipeline.
Lol.
The same pipeline that had a leak and spill last year?
Where were you in '77?
The same pipeline that had a leak and spill last year?
The very same!
The blue elephant in the room.
Yeah, impeding things that will turn our country’s environment into a shithole (hey, I thought Trump was against shithole countries!) is a really horrible thing to do.
The Person in Question
Yeah, impeding things that will turn our country’s environment into a shithole (hey, I thought Trump was against shithole countries!) is a really horrible thing to do.
CatBus said that Obama aided various pipeline initiatives (in part at least) to combat Russia. I don’t know how true that is but it’s arguably a worthwhile trade. But in any event, we have pipelines crisscrossing this country. It’s crazy to say one particular one is one too many or that stopping it will change our consumption. Fracking is vilified too and yet we all enjoy the benefits of it. I know very few people who restrict themselves and avoid conveniences in order to help the environment. For all the complaining about fossil fuels I don’t see many people doing anything about it in their own lives.
The blue elephant in the room.
People don’t do anything about it in their own lives because making little sacrifices like riding the bus won’t make any real difference.
The Person in Question
Yeah, impeding things that will turn our country’s environment into a shithole (hey, I thought Trump was against shithole countries!) is a really horrible thing to do.
CatBus said that Obama aided various pipeline initiatives (in part at least) to combat Russia. I don’t know how true that is but it’s arguably a worthwhile trade. But in any event, we have pipelines crisscrossing this country. It’s crazy to say one particular one is one too many or that stopping it will change our consumption. Fracking is vilified too and yet we all enjoy the benefits of it. I know very few people who restrict themselves and avoid conveniences in order to help the environment. For all the complaining about fossil fuels I don’t see many people doing anything about it in their own lives.
What would you call the benefits of earthquakes in places that normally didn’t have any before fracking began?
It’s hilarious whomever named fracking was totally unaware it was a swear word equivalent of saying fuck on Battlestar Galactica. Seriously, they couldn’t do a five minute search on the web before going with that? 😛
Where were you in '77?