Bob in Mich

His online persona is Canadian. Actually he is an ignorant Russian troll - bot. Right 33? Da or Nyet? lol

Trump is just a guy. He does have his unique talents and without doubt he has hypnotized his base. My point though was that historically I think we will look back and see that the real issue with his rise wasn't necessarily Trump himself but was in fact the political enablers. The environment is currently so toxic that the expected checks on his power are MIA or just willing to 'go along' with Trump as long as he is accomplishing generally what they want to do. I am reminded of a passage from an Ann Arbor writer, Robert Faber, though he was referring to the rise of another. ‘We shall always have our fools and ideologues in positions of power, but our system of laws and logic, of checks and balances, is designed to guard against the abuses of ..power, to protect the weakest from the more powerful... If the elected of our democracy, for reasons of greed or power or cowardice, fail in that task, that is the more troubling threat. It was McCarthy’s colleagues who let us down, by failing in their obligation to uphold the spirit and intent and integrity of our democratic system.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtH5wf5_LcY The interview was pretty interesting. It was tough to say who interviewed who at times. Lots of the same issues that are discussed here but with civility

Bump 8pm Greenwald interview on Youtube's The Young Turks. I am unsure though now whether it is in the clear or only for their subscribers.

There a lot of areas that he has taken control or violated previous norms. Any of the following done by prior presidents would bring complaints around here. Not any more. Exposing secure information, Executive Order overdrive, Hiding Tax Returns, Meddling with the Justice Dept, Interference with Corporate Mergers, Fed interference, Manufacturing the Border Crisis, end run to take money for his wall, Emoluments violations, nepotism, the incessant lying, etc. The problem with backing a bully even when you know he is wrong is that someday the bully will use those same tactics again and the next time he may not care about your rights.

You crack me up. You somehow don't seem to mind the myriad of insults that get thrown my way but you are ever outraged when I respond. Don't interpret that as a plea for your protection....please. I will be gone soon enough - true. To be honest, I have never been happier about that than lately. Certainly don't mourn for me. I have had a pretty good life. Good luck trying to get our country back from Trump. History tells us that leaders like him will rise periodically. Usually the people see through it and those politicians fade. Why do some succeed and become dictators? It is the enablers, such as the many Trump lawyers here, that are to blame for allowing him to take ever more power.

You can do whatever you want. I use it for pain management. Some days are worse than others for me but I have gone from 120+ Vicodin a month down to maybe 2, on average. In addition I have more days that I am able to get out and about than I did before. To me, it is working well. Edit: Jim, you need to be careful about switching topics to cannabis within a post. 3rdRate is a real stickler on this issue and he will give you a stern scolding.

See, Lanny Skinhead gets it. Thanks, pal.

Aw, Tom. I'm so sorry. I know you worked tirelessly to capture this largest anal orifice award. Truth be known, at one point, compared to the rest, you had Gretzky-like numbers. But recently, DR has become obsessed to super human levels. He clearly won it and he deserves the award but you can still hold your head high. You were a pretty large one too. Now, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but you have 'Pompous Prick' locked up for this year and I have even heard whispers of lifetime achievement award in that very same category. Don't quote me but I can't really see how you could lose that one. You are outstanding in this field.

Thanks but my opinion of you has degraded considerably with your incessant quoting me when I have literally begged you to spew your ***** to somebody else. You are a bad guy and a bad poster. Full Stop. I'm into my 60's now and in all of my life I have never encountered a larger anal orifice, on-line or in person. I am being completely serious. Congratulations, there were several here in the running but you are the clear winner. I don't give a flying ***** about your opinions. At this point in our interactions, you couldn't tell me where to find buried treasure. YOU KNOW THAT BUT CANNOT SEEM TO STOP YOURSELF!! You should recognize that as a problem. Only a person with severe personality issues would still think I would want to interact with them. STFU You are waaaay worse than any religious zealot that I ever had to endure. Quit trying to save me and please for whatever God's sake you like, STFU.

I'd have to suspect a lot escapes your 'capture ability'. Thanks for a reasonable reply. Yeah, this board can sometimes provide a good distraction. The only times I post on here is when my pain levels are high and I am desperate for distractions. Lol, just stating that in case you were thinking that a person would need to be crazy to continue to battle all of the opposition. If we are watching the Bills together and I say, that back reminds me of OJ. That likely means his size, speed, cutback ability, vision, and/or etc. It doesn't have to mean all of those factors and that he is a double murderer. Just as clearly, two 'comparable' situations can have both similarities and differences. Identical was never claimed but there were enough similarities to allow several reasonable people to independently draw the exact same comparison. I allowed that Trump's overrides were legal all along. Second, I am uncertain how frequently security clearances are denied and I don't know how often the denials are strictly political. I doubt though that each and every denial is political. I don't think we should just assume that they all fall into the same category and so are nothing to be concerned about. Oversight of this process is reasonable, imo. We don't know who among the overrides may be compromised. We don't know who has already or who may someday, divulge state secrets. To say it hasn't happened is naive. Information from spies often doesn't immediately come to light back in his home country. Also, back to OJ. Back in the 70's I would have no problem with him dating my sister. Today, no. People change. To say we don't need to investigate a person's CURRENT situation because we investigated him years ago, would be a mistake too, imo.

I have repeatedly answered your question of how the situations are similar. Once again, the chief similarity is that both actions may have resulted in some of our national secrets being exposed to our adversaries. And, yes, I do appear to be one of the few mature posters in this entire thread. Recall you claimed that I didn't know the definition of hypocrisy. Recall then how I showed you the ***** dictionary definition? Recall then how you said, gee, I guess I was wrong on that? No, you don't remember that part? Know why? Because you weren't mature enough to admit that mistake. Recall how you claimed that it didn't make sense to compare the two situations? After I pointed out how a whole lot of folks came to the same comparison that you said, gee I strongly disagree with that comparison but I guess it was not all that crazy? No, me either. Know why?

Well, not sure if Glenn Greenwald is a good source or not. I did hear that the Youtube news/opinion show, 'The Young Turks', are going to interview him today. I believe the interview will be on their 6-8pm youtube show. Since Greenwald seems to take swings at pretty much everyone, it might be an interesting watch.

I tell you that you have missed my point and you tell me that you haven't. You then proceed immediately to again misstate my point. So, let me say again, you have missed my point. Full stop. I don't like that Trump is overriding the clearance recommendations but that wasn't the point I was making. I have known throughout this thread and have said repeatedly that Trump broke no laws with these overrides. Where the 'scandalous' came from one can only guess but it wasn't anything from my posts. So, no, you weren't accurately characterizing my posts. Full Stop I was pointing out the hypocrisy in those that claimed to be worried about potential exposure of state secrets in Hillary's case but were just fine with potential exposure of state secrets in Trump's case. Full Stop

What a steaming pile of horseshit! The ignorant one would be the fool that keeps repeating the same conceded point. Unless, wait, how old are you? If you are a preteen, I am sincerely sorry. Your way of constantly kind of shouting the same point again and again....well, I get it now. You're a cute kid. What grade are you in? If you want to have a dialogue and you are an adult, let me give you some advice. Read (or listen), think about what was said, and then consider what might be gained by a further response. If responding, try to perhaps draw more out of your partner or to add some new slant or information to the discussion. If you just want to sort of shout out your opinion with no push back, perhaps something closer to a blog would better suit you. Posting on a board like this opens one up to hearing other opinions, fortunately, or not. Now I think I just heard the bell. Best run along to 1st period.

Gravy! Lead! Very small Rocks!

What are the odds? How could soooo many morons congregate on a single board? Do you all perform somewhere in that Python 'We Found A Witch' scene when not posting here? Amazing! Here's a real head scratcher for y'all. If my post comparing Hillary's email server actions to Trump's clearance overrides was 5 hours before Representative Cummings' interview, did he just hear and repeat my talking point? Let's see which one of you fools will break character and solve the riddle first

Are you a good driver, Ray?

One thing I have learned. You need help. Seriously dude. Obsession to this extent where you feel the need to harass any one that does not see it your way, is, well deranged. Oh, I get it now. Is that it? Do I win something now? I hope the prize is that you now will truly go the ***** away, lunatic!

If you haven't been paying attention to the discussion, please don't feel obligated to jump in. Your characterization of my posts is incorrect.

What time is Wapner on there?

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/04/02/elijah_cummings_wh_security_clearance_issue_a_million_times_worse_than_clinton_email_scandal.html Here is an LA Times Story also making the same comparison. (The above link seemed to be bogged down when I tried it) Please don't repeat the 6 time conceded point that Trump's actions were legal. You are beginning to sound like The Rainman, only badly concussed. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-security-clearances-20190403-story.html

Yeah, it is such an outlandish comparison. Sort of odd that I heard the exact same comparison being made from several members yesterday in the House Oversight Committee hearings

I no longer feel you are attempting a legitimate discussion. Too bad.

See, Leonard Stilskin gets it. Thanks pal.