[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?

[lpetrich]

John Kasich Warns That Russia Is Still Meddling in U.S. Elections, but ‘Nobody Is Doing Anything About It’

GOP lawmaker: Trump has engaged in multiple actions that 'meet the threshold for impeachment' | TheHill:

A Michigan Republican and member of the House Freedom Caucus accused President Trump of "impeachable conduct" in a break with his party.

Justin Amash on Twitter: "Here are my principal conclusions: 1. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller’s report. 2. President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct. 3. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances. 4. Few members of Congress have read the report."
Followed by several other tweets where he elaborates on his conclusions.

[Cog]

Amash is a Never Trumper and Kasich is an ex politician. What else you got?

[lpetrich]

Amash is a Never Trumper and Kasich is an ex politician. What else you got?

What would you find impressive? Senator Mitch McConnell turning against him?

[lpetrich]

I doubt that John Kasich has permanently retired from politics. He may be back some day, like running for President.

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "Russia, Russia, Russia! That’s all you heard at the beginning of this Witch Hunt Hoax...And now Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected. It was a crime that didn’t exist. So now the Dems and their partner, the Fake News Media,....."
Then, Aaron Rupar on Twitter: "Trump flatly denies a tweet he posted just an hour earlier, now claims "Russia did not help me get elected."… "

[Cog]

Kasich is irrelevant as he is a RINO who cares more about what the media and the Democrats think about him then what Trump's base thinks of him. A graceful loser like McCain and Romney. If I wanted to vote for a Democrat I'd vote for a real one. Kasich only matters to Never Trumpers and the media. He is not important to anyone else.

[lpetrich]

If Trump and his associates were not colluding with Russian officials, then what were they doing? Trump ought to have come clean about whatever it was, and he ought to have conceded that the bailouts of him made him seem bought. Instead, he tried to cover it up, and the coverup made it worse.

It is just like the Watergate scandal, where President Nixon and his aides tried to interfere with investigations of their misdeeds. Doing so only made it worse, and it became so bad that Nixon decided to resign.

[Cog]

If you were accused of a crime you know you did not commit, would you not proclaim your innocence of such a crime and accuse your accuser of a witch-hunt? That is precisely how Trump has reacted over the last two years.

What bailouts are we talking about? Be specific. It is not illegal to talk to foreign agents to dig up dirt on your opponent. The DNC and the Clinton campaign spent millions contacting a foreign agent ( Ex-MI-6 Steele) to dig up dirt on Trump. Do you want her charged with something? I don't. This is politics.

Now if you have a specific charge you want levied on Donald Trump then specify it. The Special Counsel could not find one. Perhaps you will tell the class what you want Trump charged with. Collusion is not a crime, and it did not occur in any event. But perhaps CNN can find a charge. LOL

[dissident]

We are dealing with MSM generated hysteria. Not rational thought. I know a university professor who teaches science topics (i.e. not some humanities or social science SJW idiot) who is basically spouting all the CNN tropes and narratives as if he is actually doing the thinking. It is really sad to see a smart man be nothing more than an information condom for CNN et al. propaganda. Thanks to the cacophony of MSM BS people actually experience cognitive dissonance when a balanced view of Trump is offered. They stand there flailing with vapid assertions such as "Trump is a racist" and "Trump thinks that none of his business dealings should be investigated". These condoms are clearly not using their brains whatsoever.

The cherry on top of the this propaganda turd cake is the recent Orwellian consensus in the D. Party for impeachment due to "lack of exoneration". This is making up legal concepts on the fly to serve a political agenda. And these clowns are the ones who are supposed to pass legislation...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjljhgZgH4g

[lpetrich]

If you were accused of a crime you know you did not commit, would you not proclaim your innocence of such a crime and accuse your accuser of a witch-hunt? That is precisely how Trump has reacted over the last two years.

No, one would challenge one's accusers to provide evidence, and then rebut whatever case that they had made. He has not done that. Instead, he has whined about how what a victim he is.

What bailouts are we talking about? Be specific.

How Russian Money Helped Save Trump’s Business – Foreign Policy Something that Donald Trump, Jr. has admitted.

Robert Mueller was not allowed to indict Donald Trump. In fact, he seems to want Congress to take over from him. But his report has oodles of evidence of suspicious contacts and attempts to cover them up.

[lpetrich]

We are dealing with MSM generated hysteria. ...

Hysteria???

Political Polarization & Media Habits | Pew Research Center
Some sources are trusted mostly by the Right, and some mostly by the Left, but there are no sources that are mostly trusted by the Center. There are lots of sources that are trusted by both the Left and the Center, but only Fox News is trusted by both the Right and the Center. So it is evident that the Right has its own media bubble.