leh-nerd skin-erd

Hogwash. I don't make the rules up, I just observed what was alleged, what was said, the actions of key players and the outcome. I'd love a fair and equitable distribution of power and a move away from weaponizing the DOJ against political opponents. Sadly, it doesn't exist in Washington and folks like you are part of the problem. You seem inordinately comfortable with seeds of distrust being sown, you just want to choose the seeds. A thorough review of the Mueller manifesto by AG Barr and the DOJ led to an entirely different conclusion than that which you've offered over these past few days and weeks. You know this but simply choose to disregard that analysis. I've done nothing more than consider the totality to the multi-year-multi-million-dollar investigation, the actions and words of democrats in positions of leadership and reject your summary as superficial and biased. I do want you to know that if I could absolutely prove you were not guilty of personal bias, I would be willing to say it.

Gene Freckle gets it. Russiagate 2.0 Ukrainamania 2.0 Mueller 2.0 Durham 2.0 (I don't understand the point.o system so to be safe i went with 2point0 like you, Gene)

The short, and correct version of the bottom line is no collusion, no obstruction, just a whole lot of people sowing seeds of distrust in our political process.

Fair take. A prosecutor does his research, sets the table and does the best he/she can in prosecuting the case regardless of obstacles. All that matters now is the political capital to be gained from this outcome, if any.

We’re not that far removed from NYS leadership taking people with a potentially fatal virus and requiring them to be placed in direct proximity to the most vulnerable citizens in the country, in a closed environment, family members prohibited from visiting and overseeing care, and having a “Holy Crap” moment when they decided the best course of action was to cook the death count books hoping nobody would notice thousands of deaths. They are just scratching the surface here.

I think a government board charged with formulating/propagating the one true truth was idiotic, so you don’t have to sell me here—by some elected officials think it’s a crackerjack idea. I was just wondering how Radio Free Tom missed that particular board. Maybe he used “Free” in the ironic sense?

All those stations, and Radio Free Tom has never heard Joe Biden speak? Now that's weird.

I guess one side of that political spectrum is off the “If he has nothing to hide, he should testify” and “if he can’t prove definitively he’s innocent, he’s probably guilty” shtick these days.

When we were younger, my wife and I were arguing and she walked out to the garage for reasons I no longer remember. I locked the door as she walked out, chuckling to myself how funny it was going to be when she realized I got one over on her, and thinking about how we would have a great laugh over it later that day. Silly me, I had forgotten she was Italian, from whatever part of Italy all them crazy women are from, and she grabbed the sledgehammer once used by her grandfather, a mason who did beautiful work in the lower Hudson Valley. She got one whack in on the metal door before I opened it up, the impression is still in the door to this day. I was like "Huh, now I know.". "B*tch be crazy sometimes" - Leh-nerd S.

I’m completely comfortable staying out of the fray on this one, there is nothing to be gained in having some message board sock puppet comparing being pro 2A with responsibility for the slaughter of innocents in Buffalo, Texas, Chicago or wherever else this madness occurs. I will say two things, however. 1. Well-intentioned people looking for some emotional release here, or other places online, are reduced to suggesting that “something must be done”, while often never quite suggesting what that means. 2. When I consider the aforementioned sock puppet mentality, coupled with the recognition that indeed something MUST be done, I can’t help but think that the same politicians are elected over, and over, and over again…and before much time passes, we face the same sort of issue all over again. In the case of the current admin, the prez has been a key player on the national stage for 5 decades. 50 friggin years as a senator, presidential candidate, VP and for the last 16 month the top dog in the land with control of the house and senate. It seems to me that electing an old man who for 50 years was unable to persuade, bargain, manipulate or demand sensible action and hoping he might stumble onto a solution is probably not setting the nation up for a positive outcome.

Tom Cruise. Lots of hypocrisy on Tom Cruise. Hollywood loved him. Then he was jumping on couches and they hated him. Now Top Top Gun is coming out, now they love him again. I wonder what the Pete Davidson thinks about all that.

If I’m reading you correctly, there would be some number, % or other, of….anticipated poverty regardless of skin tone? In other words, the black poverty rate of roughly 8% was realized, it might make sense even given past injustices? I see this today and thought it was interesting, from someone with a different perspective than I have. https://unherd.com/2022/05/buffalo-and-the-myth-of-racist-america/

I'm always interested in this thought process. In the larger picture, I don't disagree with all your thoughts on this issue. One thing I always wonder though, so I'll ask directly. With the tilting of the system toward white and away from black citizens, why do you think we have such a problem with white poverty 70+ years after the the beginning of the civil rights struggle, and 160 years after the Civil War? I understand the desire to look at percentages, it sort of isolates the humanity out of the equation, but the number is around 16,000,000 people, and that with--the argument goes anyways--the system clearly rigged in their favor. By sheer numbers, you're looking at the 5th largest state in the Union behind only Cali, Texas, Florida and NY. Why do you think these folks were left behind?

Ah, maybe you left something unsaid. You're suggesting that while the GOP "bows down to white supremacists" , the Democrats bow down to something like antifa anarchists? Is that fair? Because that wasn't what you said earlier...you went from a vague reference to AOC, on to the old WS crowd, then some nebulous comment about immigration.

This is incandescent blather, Bill, and while you're free to drink the hate-infused Kool Aid, you have no right to ask others to drink it along with you. The first step to restoring sanity to the middle is to recognize where you, personally, stand...and it doesn't seem to be where you think based on this gem.

Right—and we agree. I believe for example, that another poster here doesn’t care one way or the other on this issue, his response boiled down to whether it was criminal or not to withhold the info. I’m just trying to gauge ChiG’s feelings on this sort of thing, as he seeks understanding from folks in the Stop the Steal camp.

ChiG is new to the board, or at least seems to be, and I think the best option is always to start by establishing certain benchmarks so we gain and understanding of where we fall on these issues. There is so much evidence historically speaking that unconditional trust in such declarations as “most secure election ever!” makes very little sense in the big picture. I understand politically why it makes sense to position it as such if one is a Biden supporter, but that doesn’t move the needle for me. So, I ask the question. I don’t alway get answers, like my question on whether or not Obama/Biden, the DOJ etc should have revealed the Clinton ties to the the Steele Dossier and Russian collusion when first made aware of it—long before the conclusion of the Mueller Report. It seems that information would have put some context in place for ordinary Americans during an extremely contentious time as we argued about treason, Putin in the White House and the like. I think for the greater good and national unity, Obama, Biden and Mueller later on should have revealed that information when briefed on it.

I guess I’m not really sure why you have an issue if those in leadership (or ordinary citizens) raise concerns of legitimacy of the/an election. In the end, Biden is president, people generally don’t trust much that comes out of Washington, and the world continues to turn.

I think it’s fair to say that men, generally, are very understanding of comments where one guy compares himself to a figure of legendary, almost mythical, historical significance, and that comparison is not made in jest. One of my friends is a workout maniac, when he calls himself “…the new Schwarzenegger” most of us think, well, you’re 5’9 and 185 pounds, have seagull legs and sound like you’re from Topeka, but yeah, of course, you’re like twins! We need more undxrstanding on the baseball diamond, because that’s as real as life gets.

Well, it wouldn’t be controversial if there wasn’t a sell out on some level.

You and your friends sit around discussing the relative romance ratio of a wedding cake, Tibsy? What’s that all about? Weddings are about two people (or more these days, I suppose) sharing their lives together. Think of a jigsaw puzzle, Tibsy, a big beautiful puzzle where each piece represents the thoughts, hopes and dreams of one of the members of the union. Singularly, nothing special is revealed. When joined together, however, a beautiful tapestry of love is created and, God willing, a permanent eternal union is formed. Sometimes, though, you put all those pieces together and you get yourself a little person Trump cake. I’m fine with it, but I’m a tolerant soul.

Again, without malice, the reality is a politically motivated investigation resulted in political accusations best described as “We can’t not not say there was no guilt” with a 4 page summary revealing no collusion and no obstruction. If Mueller was frustrated, he and his investigators failed in the investigation. All this DJT Jr was too dumb to be caught, and DJT left no paper trail leads back to the same point. No collusion, no obstruction, but a whole lot of accusations and speculation to feed supporters of the tribunal. Should the connection between Steele and the Clinton campaign been revealed when the CIA briefed Obama and Biden on it early in the investigation? That was a key piece of information during some very dark days in the country.

Real nice Shaw, I just paid $13.50 for Eleven Rings on my Kindle. Don’t you dare start a thread on Titanic.

Clinton Deadpool... I say he accidentally chokes on the shoelaces of his loafers.

It took less than 4 pages for AG Barr to square the Mueller report. All the political inferences in the world can be drawn from a deep dive into the report, but the end result is simply and demonstrably what it is. Political ruminations up to, and including the old "If we knew he was innocent we would have said so" are simply an attempt to stir up hostility without an actual crime to pursue. Stepping away from that, let's assume Mueller was doing the Lord's Work and honoring the notion that the President could not be charged, did that courtesy extend to all Trump associates? I read here and in many other places of the nefarious work undertaken by his children. Surely there must have been something related to Russia and/or obstruction? You're read the report, you've done the deep dive. We know anecdotally that deals were struck, people strong-armed, threats made and swat team sent to gather up little old men under the watchful eye of CNN. We know Mueller had no qualms pressing the button on financial crimes unrelated to Russia and such, why not take out his family given the connection to the campaign and what seems to be ooodles of evidence? It seems clear now that the Clinton campaign worked with a representative of a foreign government to influence the election, and it seems clear that Biden and Obama knew of her efforts early in the election. Do you see that as acceptable just because the guy likes Bangers n Mash v Stoli straight? On that note, btw, you seem like a reasonable person. Was it incumbent upon Obama and Biden to reveal that the Clinton campaign was connected to the Steele Dossier when they were briefed on it in 2016? You'll remember of course that these were difficult times in the Republic, the country being torn apart over Red Scares and Russians in the woods. https://nypost.com/2020/09/29/cia-told-obama-of-claim-clinton-conjured-trump-russia-scandal-spy-chief/ What do you think? If the CIA knew of the plan, and Brennan read the admin in on the plan to use the falsified dossier to impact the outcome of the election, shouldn't that have been revealed for the greater good? Speaking only for me, I'm no more happy to be manipulated during an election cycle by a Brit with bad intent than I am a guy from Moscow. ---Oh, and btw, as for Sussman, man I wish we could all find some common ground on knocking some heads when people leverage their role in government and leave the rest of us fighting in the street over whose crook is better than the others. I have zero confidence that justice will prevail, that he has too many friends on the inside, including possibly the judge overseeing the matter. Such is life.