I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

From here on out, I assume that "no contact" means "no penetration".

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

From here on out, I assume that "no contact" means "no penetration".

Thanks, but didn't Bill Clinton invent this joke?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

What about the fact that Russia is just one of many issues where there is a clusterfuck of disloyalty, incompetence, greed, abuse of process, and stupidity going on?

I mean, this is framed by his attacks on the media, his ignoring or downplaying of hate crimes and domestic terrorism, and his immigration nightmares. For a start.

It's like you guys have never seen The Sting. You're distracted by the short term, tiny cons. The man will repeal the inheritance tax, and his fam will benefit to the tune of $1B. $1B.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Not a big deal because you don't think his lying about the subject is a big deal or because you don't think he lied? Because, regardless of what Franken asked him, he said, “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and I did not have communications with the Russians.” Seems like he was lying to Congress, which is a crime, right? He also apparently denied it in a written application.

I interpret SEC Chick's silence to mean the following:

"You are right, Flower. My comment about Franken not asking the right questions was silly and irrelevant. It doesn't matter if Franken asked Sessions what flavor donut he would be if he were stranded on a desert island. If in response Sessions volunteered that he had never had any communications with the Russians during the campaign, this is a lie, regardless of the question asked. And I also feel a little silly suggesting this was all much ado about nothing. I am a self-professed lover or irony, but the highest (Hi Sebastian!) law enforcer in the land committing a crime in order to get confirmed as the highest law enforcer in the land is a step too far, even for me."

No worries, Chick, I totally understand and appreciate your thoughtful comments. Let's have an early Daily Dose today. A little Parliament with the 12" of Aqua Boogie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBVNOrV0Pr4

[Not Bob]

"The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them; like Russians do" would also be a good re line from the same song.

I mean, what the fuck? Why does everyone* forget meeting this guy? Now we're hearing that he met with Jared and Bannon at Trump Tower - an event that was previously denied. And we're also hearing that Corey gave permission for Carter Page** Page to talk to the Russians. And that Trump approved of the change in the GOP platform language re the Ukraine.***

I have some sympathy for the argument that this is all paranoia and that Russia is being used as a boogeyman, but this is really getting ridiculous at this point.

And don't even get me started on the fact that even now, Trump aides are still using Gmail accounts for official business. Or that Mike Pence used an AOL**** account when he was governor - and when it was hacked, he just opened a second AOL account. A certain amount of hypocrisy is expected, but Jimminy Christmas, at least do a better job pretending to be consistent.

*Hi, Claire! At least you weren't under oath when you said you never met him.

** "Carter Page? Never heard of him. Doesn't work for us."

*** Yes, I said "the Ukraine" and not just "Ukraine." I also don't say "Mockba" or "Kyiv." And I still say "Burma," too.

**** I would make a joke about Prodigy or Compuserve here, but I still have an AOL email account.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Not Bob

"The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them; like Russians do" would also be a good re line from the same song.

I mean, what the fuck? Why does everyone* forget meeting this guy? Now we're hearing that he met with Jared and Bannon at Trump Tower - an event that was previously denied. And we're also hearing that Corey gave permission for Carter Page** Page to talk to the Russians. And that Trump approved of the change in the GOP platform language re the Ukraine.***

I have some sympathy for the argument that this is all paranoia and that Russia is being used as a boogeyman, but this is really getting ridiculous at this point.

And don't even get me started on the fact that even now, Trump aides are still using Gmail accounts for official business. Or that Mike Pence used an AOL**** account when he was governor - and when it was hacked, he just opened a second AOL account. A certain amount of hypocrisy is expected, but Jimminy Christmas, at least do a better job pretending to be consistent.

*Hi, Claire! At least you weren't under oath when you said you never met him.

** "Carter Page? Never heard of him. Doesn't work for us."

*** Yes, I said "the Ukraine" and not just "Ukraine." I also don't say "Mockba" or "Kyiv." And I still say "Burma," too.

**** I would make a joke about Prodigy or Compuserve here, but I still have an AOL email account.

The only other people in the world who were still using an AOL account at that time were my parents, who are very nice people, but who are similarly unfit for the vice presidency. But I'm sure that SEC Chick will have a rational and cogent explanation for why the whole e-mail server thing is no longer an issue we should be talking about during every waking moment now that it is not Hillary's e-mail server.

[SEC_Chick]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

The only other people in the world who were still using an AOL account at that time were my parents, who are very nice people, but who are similarly unfit for the vice presidency. But I'm sure that SEC Chick will have a rational and cogent explanation for why the whole e-mail server thing is no longer an issue we should be talking about during every waking moment now that it is not Hillary's e-mail server.

Sorry to disappoint you, but I believe all federal government business should be conducted on government accounts, no matter which party. I care a tiny bit less about Pence than I do the Trump administration people , who were also reportedly using RNC email, or the email of any Federal employees, because 1) I don't live in Indiana and 2) I don't know the Indiana scheme for preserving government records. Heck, every place I have worked it can be cause for termination to use private email for firm/company business, and that is not a particularly difficult provision to comply with.

If the Republican Governor of Texas were to use private email for state business, I would be pretty pissed.

[SEC_Chick]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

You don't think what is a big deal? The fact that a staggering number of people in Trump's campaign were in contact with Russia throughout the election while Russia was hacking the DNC to aid Trump? The fact that we have no idea what was being discussed? The fact that Trump is acting completely irrational (even for him) when it comes to anything Russian? The fact that he has admitted to having major business dealings with Russians? The fact that we can't examine his tax returns to understand whether he does in fact have those business dealings (or maybe hasn't reported them)? The fact that if he does have business dealings that they may be ongoing and since he hasn't divested, his decisions w/r/t Russia may be colored by self-interest? The fact that there may be information out there that compromises him and may subject him to Russian influence?

Or is it just no big deal that no one in the GOP gives a shit about any of this?

TM

I am pretty pissed about all of them. It's just on the continuum of my outrage at Trump and his administration, Sessions is maybe a 6 on a scale of 10. It's not nothing, but I am not personally concerned about Sessions as much as many of the other things on your list.

I can't be outraged all the time. And say Sessions resigned, what is your confidence level that the new AG wouldn't be much worse. At least Sessions was pretty anti-Russia before Trump, it's a wait-and-see to determine if Trumpism has corrupted him completely.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

Sorry to disappoint you, but I believe all federal government business should be conducted on government accounts, no matter which party. I care a tiny bit less about Pence than I do the Trump administration people , who were also reportedly using RNC email, or the email of any Federal employees, because 1) I don't live in Indiana and 2) I don't know the Indiana scheme for preserving government records. Heck, every place I have worked it can be cause for termination to use private email for firm/company business, and that is not a particularly difficult provision to comply with.

If the Republican Governor of Texas were to use private email for state business, I would be pretty pissed.

It's hard for me to be too disappointed about consistency of position. Don't forget, I lived through the Sebastian era here.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

It's like you guys have never seen The Sting. You're distracted by the short term, tiny cons. The man will repeal the inheritance tax, and his fam will benefit to the tune of $1B. $1B.

Which is small potatoes compared to what he's going to put in his pocket via bribes & government contracts.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

I am pretty pissed about all of them. It's just on the continuum of my outrage at Trump and his administration, Sessions is maybe a 6 on a scale of 10. It's not nothing, but I am not personally concerned about Sessions as much as many of the other things on your list.

I can't be outraged all the time. And say Sessions resigned, what is your confidence level that the new AG wouldn't be much worse. At least Sessions was pretty anti-Russia before Trump, it's a wait-and-see to determine if Trumpism has corrupted him completely.

I think it's almost impossible for a new AG to be worse.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Adder

I doubt that this administration cares much whether Congress thinks they are lying.

They don't seem to care if anyone thinks they're lying.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

They don't seem to care if anyone thinks they're lying.

In a perverse way, you kind of have to admire their "zero fucks given" swagger. It's like, yeah I'm lying to you, and yeah I know you know I'm lying to you, and I even know that you know that I know that you know that I am lying to you, but I am lying to you anyway, and I'm lying to you on national television about things that are incredibly easy to factually verify as lies, but fuck you, I'm lying anyways.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

In a perverse way, you kind of have to admire their "zero fucks given" swagger. It's like, yeah I'm lying to you, and yeah I know you know I'm lying to you, and I even know that you know that I know that you know that I am lying to you, but I am lying to you anyway, and I'm lying to you on national television about things that are incredibly easy to factually verify as lies, but fuck you, I'm lying anyways.

Maybe they read Ty's W-era posts?

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

I am pretty pissed about all of them. It's just on the continuum of my outrage at Trump and his administration, Sessions is maybe a 6 on a scale of 10. It's not nothing, but I am not personally concerned about Sessions as much as many of the other things on your list.

Sessions is a huge piece of garbage for many reasons--most especially, his public proclamation that he won't be "suing local police departments over civil rights violations" when any asshole knows he should be making these decisions on a case-by-case basis based on the actual fucking facts. But when it comes to his lie to Congress w/r/t Russia, I do not have the ability to isolate these issues, that all seem to be linked, the way you do.

It seems to me that if everyone in the Trump campaign had contact with Russian officials and then they all tried to hide it, something is up. How do you separate out just Sessions' involvement in order to place it on your scale of outrage? It's all the same shit.

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

I can't be outraged all the time.

That's a weird thing to say when outrageous shit keeps coming out every single day.

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

And say Sessions resigned, what is your confidence level that the new AG wouldn't be much worse. At least Sessions was pretty anti-Russia before Trump, it's a wait-and-see to determine if Trumpism has corrupted him completely.

Ah. Well, if that's the standard, I guess we're all completely fucked. "Sessions is a complete piece of shit, but Trump is sure to replace him with someone equally fucking awful and corrupt, so, fuck it!"

Insanity.

TM