I did (not on that alone). I am not defending his actions in Syria and wish we weren't fighting a war there that has no implication for our national security that a sane immigration policy couldn't fix. I am just pointing out that this thread has been littered with bullshit about Russian collusion for a year now, as though nothing else of substance has occurred politically in some corners, while the reality around the world doesn't match the bullshit articles. There are a lot of things about Trump I don't like but I also don't like the fact that the other side won't let go and face reality. There is a mid-term election coming up in several months and to date I have not seen a single cogent argument from liberals to counteract conservative gains. I'm beginning to get the impression that the blue wave is going to be postponed if Russian collusion and identity politics is all they have. I've said this before, as a country, we need at least two functioning parties (I use that term loosely) but right now there doesn't seem to be many answers from the other side.
He did not. Bolded parts mine. He is doing his job, which is to be a professional and keep to the matter at hand, which is the specific indictment he is commenting on. It is not his job to speculate or to declare what the special counsel will or will not conclude in due time. You can tell he's referring to the indictment and the indictment only because an American plead guilty literally the same day to a charge from the Mueller investigation.
And there are two more sealed charges against Manafort and Gates. This is only starting. It’s quite telling when major players switch up their legal defence teams to consist of lawyers who are experts at white collar plea deals. I really don’t care what people are quick to dismiss as “nothing to see here”... this is only just beginning, and we are starting to see the careful legal orchestrations of a team that is second to none at what they do. It will be glorious watching it unfold.
Democrats have flipped 37 of the 41 seats that could be flipped since the election, so some people are seeing answers.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/21/politics/manafort-gates-filing/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/23/poli...orney-mueller-russia-investigation/index.html
I'm not trying to get into a broader debate. I shouldn't have jumped into this because I'm making a sort of silly point, but since I'm here, this is my point. Trump hasn't done something that he said he would do that would obviously benefit Russian interest (pulling troops out of places). It's quite possible that he worked with the Russians and then just didn't do what he was supposed to do. I mean it's even possible that he never even offered to do anything for them but just welcomed their help. We have lots of evidence of his campaign being open to their help. Who the fuck knows what's going on. Time will tell. .
The thing that I'm really enjoying is the complete silence from the Mueller camp. No leaks, no hints, no nothing... just pure professionalism. And when you look at his team, you can't help but be totally impressed. They are chess grand masters dealing with tic-tac-toe players. When something from his team hits, it's deeper and broader than was speculated, revealing elements that weren't known or discussed previously. And you know that it's just another domino that is expected to fall to help set up the next one... and then the next one... There are going to be university courses taught around his investigation in the future... I have no doubt.
I almost bought this T-Shirt: https://www.redbubble.com/people/mu...lers-office-declined-to-comment?p=classic-tee
From a legal strategy standpoint, Mueller is raining threes from Steph Curry range (or for you Canadians, he’s killing moose from a mile off with a .22). It’s not the rapid fire “LEAKS LEAKS LEAKS!!!” like the 24 hr msm news cycle wants, but that slow and steady drip is still entertaining as hell to me. Tip of the cap for sure. I don’t know, and can’t pretend to know, where this will end up. Regardless, gotta give the chess master props. He’s killing it, one drip at a time.
I have to say, I'm not pulling for Mueller's investigation to upend fucking democracy. He'll do his job, and that's all anyone can ask for. I'm not thrilled about the entertainment value of this investigation. We've said "where there's smoke, there's fire" and now it seems to be proven. The question I'm curious about is the ramifications: what is done to the tech companies that perpetuated this, what's done to Russia, and what happens to our media landscape where millions of people were propagandized. Here we are in year 2 of the Donald Trump presidency and Hillary and Obama are still in the conservative news cycle as villains, very little in the way of policy has been made (and what has been done has been reckless, or did we add trillions to a deficit for the absolute fuck of it?) and our country is still bitterly divided. Between the stupefying scope of the opioid crisis, the uniquely modern fear of public shootings (an atrocity committed by an abnormal number of white disaffected men) and an economy that seems to be heating up, but with most of that being driven by speculation (explain to me how Netflix will make it's multi-billion dollar market cap back on $20/month, or why adding "blockchain" to a company's name resulted in an exponential increase in stock price) we have dramatic issues. I think it's pretty safe to say...he's a bad president. But we elected him. We might have been under the influence at the time, but millions of Russian bots didn't create our issues, they exploited them. We can work to heal the issues, I think that's our only path forward. If you see this as red vs. blue in 2018, 2020 and so on...we're fucked. This needs to stop being a zero sum game: I don't "win" when a shitty Democrat wins and I don't "lose" when a shitty Republican wins, we are all worse off. I'm all for responsible government, a simplified tax code and keeping the federal government the fuck out of things. I would love to see Trump apply some common fucking sense to the millions of laws we have on the books from the 1800's and 1900's that simply don't need to be there anymore. A specific example is the Jones Act in Puerto Rico, something I encounter at work: it makes life and work on the island more expensive, it raises the costs for taxpayers and it pushes business into ports like Kingston, when the major shipping companies would much rather use PR's infrastructure, legal framework and shipping lanes. This law is kept in place by Crowley and a handful of people who've grown rich as fuck exploiting it (common theme?). I would love to see Trump kick some of the Koch-suckers out of power, reduce their influence and start to apply actual common sense to conservative issues. That said...we've spent a lot of time over the last 50 years or so not taking care of people. Our education and healthcare are out of reach for too many, medical bankruptcy shouldn't be a thing, and the fact that so many of us have no security whatsoever is pulling our society apart at the seams. Not enough people have jobs and not enough companies invest in their people for the lifestyle we pioneered in the post-WW2 era to persist. It's a fantasy at this point: no one I know has a pension, no one I know can afford college on a part-time job, and no one I know works for a company that offers better benefits than their parents got. Families used to make up the slack, but very few of us are living that life anymore and the safety net needs an update. That's not communism, it's the basic reality of American life. When an entire generation reaches their 30s and can't afford to marry or have kids, that's not "lazy entitlement", it's a system that's fundamentally broken and needs to be changed. The point is, this red vs. blue shit has to stop. This investigation will be explosive, I have no doubt. But the main reason I'm following it is to see who has the balls to cross over to the other side and say "guys, we have to put this ahead of the color of our fucking tie".
Something to keep in mind when you say it’s been a year. It took over a year for everything with Nixon to play out as well. Just to point out that it taking over a year means nothing as far as anyone’s guilt or innocence.
I just re-read some of the timeline for the Clinton perjury and impeachment process - that went on for like 6 years. Is this really what we have to look forward to again? I'm hoping in this digital age they can speed this process up and either get him out of there or conclude this thing a little faster.
It’s more important to get it done right than it is to get it done fast. This is something that cannot be fucked up. The Republican Party already wants to purge the FBI because of some dumb text messages. Think about what happens if they make a real mistake.
The reason for wanting to purge the FBI & Justice extends beyond some text messages. As a matter of fact, the last week's unrelated events give the FBI an even more odious stench.
Looks like Mueller is making it rain today with a 32 count indictment against Manafort and Gates for various bank fraud, tax fraud, and other financial crimes.
Both sides have lost any concept of fairness, and it's been replaced with "our side must win at all costs". Even when the Republicans are being shown legitimately concerning information that should be looked into and investigated, it's being brushed aside or under the rug. As a result anything that is being presented or charged has to be absolutely complete and thorough, and such a no-brainer that idiots can't dispute it.
538 had a pretty good breakdown: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-russia-investigation-is-moving-really-freaking-fast/ Their conclusion: These things take a long time Mueller is moving really fast by historical standards So ultimately my guess is it won't take as long as Clinton, but it's not like this was ever going to be done in a year.