Russian Collusion! (Page 8/11)
olejoedad FEB 24, 01:31 PM

quote
Originally posted by rinselberg:

It could happen. I don't want to go off completely half-cocked, or serve up anything that's even more half-baked than my usual offerings. A propitious moment of calm would have to emerge at the surface of the chaotic whirlpool that is my predominant state of mind. It can't be forced. I cannot become the Buddha. The Buddha must become me.






Interesting comment. It's a window into how your mind works.
Mental discipline has never been more important.
It is a necessary tool in problem solving.....

[This message has been edited by olejoedad (edited 02-24-2018).]

rinselberg FEB 24, 02:53 PM
Speaking of problems, I look at this long-running "Russia-gate" episode as a problem for President Trump. Someday, the Mueller investigation will start to wind down, and if the President is not named as an unindicted co-conspirator, then I would say that he has made this episode into a much more irritating and unpleasant ordeal for himself than it ever needed to be. If that is the outcome, then I would describe him as having been a victim of his own undisciplined temperament, and his inability to focus, prioritize and compartmentalize.

I know that I'm much in that very same boat myself, and especially so on this particular day.

How has the President been his own worst enemy, in terms of his handling of Russia-gate?

I think he has been, at the very least, distracted from a very important aspect of his job as President--to ensure good management practices and good behavior in all the domains that are under the supervision of his Cabinet appointees and within his own White House staff. He sold himself to voters--at least, in part--with the idea that he would appoint and hire the "best" people. I think, as he now into his second full year in office, he has so far come up kind of not so greatly effective in achieving that promise. He's made some good appointments and hires, and some not good ones. Like his first pick for Health and Human Services, Tom "Charter Airlines Travel" Price--and that is not the only example.

There could be a big positive uptick for the President, in terms of his general popularity--in terms of how he "polls"--but he will need to do better in terms of his public image, or he will not register any gains in this aspect of his Presidency, outside of his "base." He needs to start looking more in control. When the Mueller probe starts to wind down and releases the Big Report Card, it will give the President's Election Campaign and his Transition Team low marks for having brought in Paul Manafort as his campaign manager and Mike Flynn as his first pick for National Security Advisor. That's what I think is a likely outcome.

The President can say, in his own defense, that he fired those two guys, but the other side of that coin is that it was poor judgment and slipshod performance of Vetting that let those two in the front door, in the first place.

That's why the President needs to look like he's improved on these scores, to offset what Mueller is likely to come out with in the way of a Report.

I might have more to say on this "Russia-gate" angle--about the President's handling of it--as the day wears on.

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 02-24-2018).]

williegoat FEB 24, 04:01 PM
Still jumping to collusions, I see.

[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 02-24-2018).]

rogergarrison FEB 28, 04:24 PM
What I dont get is why the left keeps harping on Trump at Russias attempts to mess with the 2016 election. The simple fact is all the Russian hacking happened under OBUMAs Administration. If anyones to blame on the hacking and meddling would it not come under that administrations problems and ignorance. Trump ran NO government agency in any way until after January 2017. BTW Trump announced his re election campaign the other day for 2020.
Rickady88GT FEB 28, 10:07 PM

quote
Originally posted by rinselberg:

Speaking of problems, I look at this long-running "Russia-gate" episode as a problem for President Trump.




The only real problem here is that the fake news "liberals" can't find a real link between Trump and the Russians. Not a conspiracy at least. In fact they have such a hard time attempting to find a link that they invented a bogus and meaningless word,.... collusion. There is no crime punishable by a Court of Law that can put Trump behind bars for " collusion". IF there were a real crime here, it would be called conspiracy.
Weak and pathetic, are the liberal fake news media and talking heads.

[This message has been edited by Rickady88GT (edited 02-28-2018).]

rinselberg MAR 01, 10:47 AM

quote
Originally posted by rogergarrison:

What I dont get is why the left keeps harping on Trump at Russias attempts to mess with the 2016 election. The simple fact is all the Russian hacking happened under OBUMAs Administration. If anyones to blame on the hacking and meddling would it not come under that administrations problems and ignorance. Trump ran NO government agency in any way until after January 2017. BTW Trump announced his re election campaign the other day for 2020.


I don't know if Roger has a mind to "drill down" on this, using any of the online search engines like Google.

It's been reported that before the final voting on November 8, 2016--not sure exactly how much before--Obama wanted to have Congress sign on to a bipartisan statement that would have called out the Russians for their attempts to influence the voting, but he was blocked by the Republican majority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell.

I will not look into this any further myself, because I cannot keep up with the political-related news cycle anymore. I have to become more selective, just to get through a day without using it all up entirely for these online discussions.

As far as the message here from Rick, "collusiion" is a word that caught on with the media. But make no mistake, if the Special Counsel comes out with a report that formally accuses President Trump or anyone else of actively cooperatiing with the Russians or offering a Quid Pro Quo to the Russians (think "sanctions") in exchange for their election-related activities, the accusation will not be of "collusion." It will be "Conspiracy Against the United States."

That's a HYPOTHETICAL. So I am not getting out in front of my skis (so to speak).

"Collusion" vs "Conspiracy"... MSNBC has been quite clear about the distinction, and making the point that I just made.
rogergarrison MAR 01, 11:15 AM
So the ONLY attempt Obuma made with all the hacking DURING HIS administration was he asked Congress to smack Russia on the wrist... He obviously had months of time to do something a little more creative. Trump was not responsible for anything before Jan 20, 2017. Libs in fact tried to tie his hands about him doing anything about anything between the election and swearing in. None of the incoming administration was allowed to talk or meet with anyone during that time...or the libs raised hell.
rinselberg MAR 01, 12:42 PM

quote
Originally posted by rogergarrison:
So the ONLY attempt Obuma made with all the hacking DURING HIS administration was he asked Congress to smack Russia on the wrist... He obviously had months of time to do something a little more creative. Trump was not responsible for anything before Jan 20, 2017. Libs in fact tried to tie his hands about him doing anything about anything between the election and swearing in. None of the incoming administration was allowed to talk or meet with anyone during that time...or the libs raised hell.


Yo', Roger. I'm not saying that message that you just posted here is wrong, but it raises some questions for me.

Was it just a "smack on the wrist" when Obama pushed back on the Russians, the day after the final voting here on November 8 (or very shortly thereafter) by kicking a bunch of Russian foreign ministry employees out of the U.S. and closing some of the Russian diplomatic facilities here?

According to the reporting that I find credible, the Obama administration had a plan to take some active measures against the Russians in retaliation. To hack into some Russian networks or infect some of their networks with viruses. To hack into some of the closely guarded data about Vladimir Putin's personal bank accounts and other kinds of money and then to let that information become public, as a way to try to embarrass Vladimir Putin about his "oligarchical ways."

The Obama administration left that cyber counterattack plan on the shelf for the Trump administration. The Obama people thought it should be Trump's call to go ahead with that retaliatory cyberattack against Russia. Or to not go ahead with it.

I don't fault Trump for not going ahead with that plan and authorizing the NSA and the CIA to go on offense against the Russians in the Cyber Warfare sphere of operations. It could lead to escalation and counter counter operations by the Russians. The potential upsides have to be weighed against the risks.

In terms of "optics"--the way that President Trump comes across about this, personally, when he is connected to the media--he just doesn't seem at all concerned about any of this. The White House National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster, called out the Russians by name, not too long ago, at some security confab somewhere in Europe, and then Trump came out with a kind of dumb or sophomoric Twitter message--pure "Trump"--that "dissed" H.R. McMaster.

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 03-01-2018).]

olejoedad MAR 01, 12:45 PM
DJT certainly doesn't telegraph his intent on foriegn policy. I like that he keeps most people guessing while the hard work continues in the background.
randye MAR 02, 08:34 PM

quote
Originally posted by rinselberg:

Yo', Roger. I'm not saying that message that you just posted here is wrong, but it raises some questions for me.

Was it just a "smack on the wrist" when Obama pushed back on the Russians, the day after the final voting here on November 8




You answered you own stupid question and wild assertions right there.

Despite all the professorial posing and faux-intellectual babbling you do on this forum, you actually aren't very bright at all Ronald.

[This message has been edited by randye (edited 03-02-2018).]