[Zarquon]

The fun thing is that if they go through with this, they'll put the one guy in charge of the war who has the least interest in ever winning it.

[lpetrich]

Trump gets along with Putin much better than he does with fellow leaders of democratic nations. By contrast, Barack Obama and Angela Merkel are good friends.

(Image snipped for brevity. It showed an anguished Captain Picard, and it stated "Just. Stop. Your stupid is making my brain cry.")

I can't help it if the truth hurts.

[lpetrich]

Not long ago the left loved Russia and all things Russia. Said America should adopt their communist ways.

Like who? There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in groves of birch trees.

But where did the love go? LOL

Putin-era Russia has been much more sympathetic to the Right than to the Left.

You have went full retard with the Trump hate Ipetrich. Never go full retard. Have you overdosed on CNN or something?

CNN? The Capitalist News Network?

[Cog]

The Mueller report found no Russian collusion or conspiracy by any American. I guess the premise of this thread didn't age well.

[lpetrich]

The Mueller report found no Russian collusion or conspiracy by any American. I guess the premise of this thread didn't age well.

The whole report or Trump lackey Barr's summary of it?

[Plantagenet]

The Mueller report found no Russian collusion or conspiracy by any American. I guess the premise of this thread didn't age well.

The whole report or .... Barr's summary of it?

Both of them.

Mueller found there was no collusion or conspiracy between Trump or his Campaign with the Russians.

The bottom line is you've been fooled into believing a conspiracy theory with no basis in fact.

Cheers!

[lpetrich]

Mueller found there was no collusion or conspiracy between Trump or his Campaign with the Russians.

Mueller Found Evidence of Collusion - The Moscow Project -- which goes to show that there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in Fox News.

Trump’s Russia Cover-Up By the Numbers – 251 contacts with Russia-linked operatives - The Moscow Project -- with that many, one has to ask what they are up to.

On April 18, 2019, a redacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election” (Mueller Report) was released to the public. The Mueller report builds on the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that there were two campaigns to elect Donald Trump— one run by Trump and one run by the Russian government. The Mueller report clearly identified collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, despite repeated denials from Trump and many of his senior advisers and close associates that there were any connections between the two campaigns.

About these contacts,

None of these contacts were ever reported to the proper authorities. Instead, the Trump team tried to cover up every single one of them.

Beyond the many lies the Trump team told to the American people, Mueller himself repeatedly remarked on how far the Trump team was willing to go to hide their Russian contacts, stating, “the investigation established that several individuals affiliated with the Trump Campaign lied to the Office, and to Congress, about their interactions with Russian-affiliated individuals and related matters. Those lies materially impaired the investigation of Russian election interference.”

Links between Trump associates and Russian officials - Wikipedia has plenty on this subject.

[Cog]

If Mueller had a chargeable offense he should have charged someone. He charged no one with conspiracy or collusion. I know this bums you out. Go march in a May Day parade comrade. You will feel better.

[Cog]

You really should read the Mueller report so you can discuss it. From Page 5 of the report

The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.

So two years later here we are. A political investigation of a candidate and then a president that had no underlying crime. Now the Attorney General and OIG are investigating how we got here and what elements of the intelligence and law enforcement community conspired to unseat a duly elected president.

The Dems should have never gone down this road since its going to blow back on them. Something I warned about a year ago.

[lpetrich]

The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.

"We couldn't prove that they were guilty" != "We proved that they were innocent"

[KaiserJeep]

It is impossible to "prove" a negative. That is why the US Constitution, and the English Common Law it is based upon, give an accused person the right to be assumed innocent.

Which you would understand if you had two wits to rub together. But then, you don't understand it. Nor do you understand that the opposition politicians who kept this useless "investigation" alive for 2+ years both wasted hundreds of millions of dollars, and did incalculable damage to the office of the Attorney General, the Dept. of Justice, and the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

For the reasoning-challenged among you, each politician that participated in this "special" investigation is guilty of violating their oath of office - the part where they swear to uphold the provisions of the US Constitution.

The burden of proof is on the prosecutor, who failed to find a single chargeable criminal offense. What happens next is that anybody who was coerced into false testimony by threats of "criminal conspiracy" sues the government for malicious prosecution, which cases will be settled for even more money. The clear winners: all the attorneys involved. The clear losers: the U S taxpayers.

[lpetrich]

KaiserJeep, are you talking about the Republicans' endless wastes of time about Benghazi and Hillary's e-mails? This seems like something from a card-carrying member of the ACLU.

Mueller Found Evidence of Collusion - The Moscow Project found these six pieces of evidence:

Trump knew about Russia’s interference and asked Manafort to keep him “updated” on WikiLeaks.

Trump’s campaign chairman discussed the campaign’s strategy for winning Democratic votes in midwestern states and continuously shared polling data with a Russian intelligence agent.

The Trump Campaign developed a whole campaign plan based on their knowledge that more WikiLeaks releases were coming.

The Trump campaign knew it was coordinating with a Russian “spy.”

Russian intelligence gave Roger Stone the Democrats’ turnout model for the “entire presidential campaign.”

Trump directed his campaign to get Clinton emails in an effort that included outreach to Russia.

In addition to known examples of collusion:

The June 9 meeting: Donald Trump Jr. received an email from an emissary for a Russian oligarch explicitly offering dirt on Hillary Clinton “as part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Trump Jr. not only eagerly took the meeting but brought in the campaign’s chairman and Jared Kushner, and even offered initial guidance for when to release the “dirt.”

George Papadopoulos and the hacked emails

A suspected Russian agent was on the campaign

Mueller decided not to prosecute for collusion because he found nothing that fit a rather strict standard that he set for himself for prosecuting anyone. But he has already found plenty of evidence of wrongdoing. From the Moscow Project's home page:

37 Indictments.
7 Guilty Pleas.
250+ Contacts.

[Plantagenet]

Mueller Found Evidence of Collusion - The Moscow Project found these six pieces of evidence:

....Trump knew about Russia’s interference

Actually, no. Even though the FBI knew that Russia had interfered in the 2014 election Obama kept it secret. The FBI knew early on that the Russians were again interfering in the 2016 election, and Obama again decided to keep Russian interference secret until very late in the game. Obama never went public on it until very late in the 2016 campaign, putting the integrity of the 2016 election at risk.

... WikiLeaks.

Trying over and over to link Trump to Wikileaks is IDIOTIC. The whole world knew about Wikileaks. Wikileaks regularly published material that was then reprinted in the NY Times, WaPo, London Times, Guardian, etc.

For heavens sakes....we regularly discussed what was released on Wikileaks right here on peakoil.com. Trying to make a big deal out of reading Wikileaks is crazy.

Trump’s campaign chairman discussed the campaign’s strategy for winning Democratic votes in midwestern states and .... shared polling data with a Russian intelligence agent.

True enough. But Trump fired him because he wasn't a good campaign manager.

WikiLeaks ...

See my note on Wikileaks above.

If you still don't understand that Wikileaks is a news organization publishing news, then answer this question. WHY DIDN'T MUELLER INDICT WIKILEAKS? And the answer is....because its a news organization.

Do you get it now?

------------------------

Cheers!

[KaiserJeep]

Note that I am not, and never have been, a Republican. In fact I despise them almost as much as the Democrats. What I am is resolutely anti-partisan.

I have YOU, Ipetrich, tentatively tagged as another victim of American-style "higher education" and the stridently anti-Republican, pro-Democrat American media, including unfortunately the NPR/PBS crowd where all the nutjobs come to rest.

I just wish that "higher education" nowadays still included training young minds to reason after assessing evidence. Because you see I came from a different world, one where Eisenhower was considered a dangerous Liberal because he racially integrated the US Armed Forces, while encouraging the exercise of Civil Rights for minorities. This while the extreme right wing of American politics - the anti-Civil Rights Democrats called the "Dixiecrats", burned crosses and threatened violence.

You see, every damned time they peeled the sheets off of a KKK member, they invariably found a Democrat. Which you obviously cannot process and resolve, because you actually believe the hot gases the Democrats are blowing out of both ends of their GI tracts.

[dissident]

The faith of the D. partisans in the D. Party is unbalanced. It is much like some religious sect that is not engaged in rational thought. The D. Party is just another political party and not the party of God or the guiding light of humanity. I have heard people practically foaming at the mouth call Trump a racist. If he was one, then it would have been an issue long before 2016. Trump was a freaking celebrity for decades. I now listen to D. partisans yap about how "Trump thinks that he should not be investigated for anything before 2016" after the big fat nonthingburger delivered in Mueller's report. What the Holy F*ck. Do you clowns even listen to the tin foil hat drivel you spew? Trump has let this witch hunt for himself proceed without interference. But you partisan clowns run around that he is preventing a proper investigation. Grow up and get a life.

[lpetrich]

Fox & Friends wants you to think Trump losing $1 billion is impressive - Vox

Fox News wants you to believe that a bombshell New York Times report about Trump losing more than $1 billion in the decade between 1985 and 1994 is actually no big deal. In fact, it actually reflects how impressive Trump is.

Then continued with the FaF discussion of it, "a discussion that would likely make Kim Jong Un blush if it appeared on North Korean state TV."

But it’s worth remembering previous New York Times reporting from last October about how Trump received nearly half a billion dollars from his dad, then maintained his fortune with the help of “dubious tax schemes,” including “instances of outright fraud.” Viewed in that light, losing so much money is nothing to be proud of, and in combination, the stories cut against the image Trump has cultivated as a successful self-made businessman.

It’s also worth remembering that Fox News spun the Times report from last October in the most pro-Trump manner possible.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Wouldn’t you think someone who personally lost over a BILLION dollars (“more than nearly any other taxpayer in America”) be vulnerable to shady activity to get out of that hole? If they became the most powerful public servant in America, wouldn’t you want to see their taxes? (hmmm...) … https://t.co/NxX9ozSewD"
noting
Susanne Craig on Twitter: "JUST POSTED: The New York Times has obtained 10 years of previously unrevealed figures from Donald Trump's federal income-tax returns - from 1985 to 1994. Trump ran up $1.2 billion in core business losses in the decade we examined. LOTS here -> https://t.co/Yc23kj9HEa"

I think that AOC is right about that. That's why I compared Donald Trump to John Walker.

[Cog]

Is there a crime somewhere in all of this? Cause I'm not seeing it.

Sorry your girl lost. Maybe in six more years of Trump, you can move on with your life.

[lpetrich]

Is there a crime somewhere in all of this? Cause I'm not seeing it.

Does there have to be? Even if there isn't, it is strong evidence that DT is not a genius businessman. A genius bullshitter, maybe, but not a genius businessman.

Sorry your girl lost.

Personality-cultism projection. Hillary Clinton isn't a Donald Trump figure for me. She was no FDR, even though she would have been MUCH better than that what we have now, with his garbage-fire presidency.

Maybe in six more years of Trump, you can move on with your life.

Seems like it could be two years. Governor William Weld has entered the race on the Republican side, and other Republicans might do so, like Bob Corker, Larry Hogan, and John Kasich. I think that Bill Weld, Larry Hogan, and John Kasich could easily position themselves as level-headed moderates who know how to work with other politicians, and who know who the US's friends are.

[Plantagenet]

DT is not a genius businessman. A genius bullshitter, maybe, but not a genius businessman.

You lost me there. Is there something wrong with minimizing the amount of taxes you pay? Google and Amazon pay no income taxes year after year and nobody thinks they're stupid for not paying income taxes.

I'm not saying its right. In fact I'd like to see our tax code changed so rich companies pay more taxes. But given the nature of our tax code is seems silly to criticize Trump for not paying taxes. Minimizing the amount of taxes you pay is actually smart if there is a legal way to do it.

CHEERS!

[Cog]

Weld, Corker, and Kasich are all cucks and Rinos. Not a chance they do anything against Trump. Only a Democrat would give them any credence at all.

Why would you vote for Democrat Light like Kasich when you can vote for the real thing?