And un-American. They’ve been sabotaging Trump from day one, mostly by way of entrenched holdovers.
But spying on a presidential candidate using govt resources is a serious offense. This needs to be investigated by Congress. What’s been happening here is high crimes and misdemeanors are rampant.
“The charge of high crimes and misdemeanors covers allegations of misconduct peculiar to officials, such as perjury of oath, abuse of authority, bribery, intimidation, misuse of assets, failure to supervise, dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming, and refusal to obey a lawful order. Offenses by officials also include ordinary crimes, but perhaps with different standards of proof and punishment than for nonofficials, on the grounds that more is expected of officials by their oaths of office.”
Abuse of authority, misuse of assets, and conduct unbecoming are all obvious in this case. This wasn’t the normal vetting candidates receive, it wasn’t simply “opposition research” which would be permitted were it a campaign paying for it, but such actions are prohibited by govt offices/officials. This is serious stuff.
It is extremely bewildering, Michelle. These things are the reason I would hate to have been serving in the higher echelons of our military, intelligence or law enforcement communities over the last several months. Both Hillary and Trump are completely amoral vindictive liars. One was bound to be your boss.
I respect Comey and the job he has done at the FBI. He has taken extremely hostile fire from both sides while trying to do his job. The problem is that at this point both Trump and the Democrats will use any technique, lie or distortion to gain an advantage over the other. The sides are no longer playing by the “rules”.
I think broadening the privacy setting for that particular Facebook post to “general public” is critical. I tried to share Sarah the Missionary’s Facebook post on our Prayer Requests thread the other day. It didn’t work, and I think that was because she didn’t make that Facebook post available to the general public.
Hmmm. The latest “white nationalist” in the news is…Charles Murray. I guess we’ll all have to be checking under our beds nightly now, since you never know where the next one will turn up. ;–)
Poor Murray! The Trumpkins don’t like what he said in Coming Apart. The liberals don’t like anything he says. He is just a researcher, a sociologist. Debra, My son and I were laughing about this while we were playing Number 2 this morning. We were making a list of subjects that professors, researchers and writers should never study and certainly never write about.
Security does seem to be an issue from many different angles and apparently it’s been slipping for a few years.
Federal officials are putting sensitive materials in foreign-owned buildings, making them vulnerable to cyberattack and espionage, senators warned Friday.
Their alarm bells were set off by a report that said the General Services Administration has been placing FBI agents and other “high-security” government officials in buildings owned by foreign entities in China and other countries. The GSA didn’t tell the tenants, according to the government report, so the officials aren’t taking addition security precautions.
“A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”
Like Senator Sasse, I would like to know the full truth. Until then, it simply appears that Obama’s IQ is about 50 points higher than Trump’s. Murray would enjoy telling us the statistical odds of that being true.
You do realize he’s Obama’s propagandist, and one of the far-left leaders of Obama efforts to undermine Trump, right?
You need better sources. Unless of course you enjoy being part of the far-left, anti-Trump efforts, then by all means, carry on. But really, you can do better.
“The abrupt resignation Monday evening of White House national security adviser Michael Flynn is the culmination of a secret, months-long campaign by former Obama administration confidantes to handicap President Donald Trump’s national security apparatus and preserve the nuclear deal with Iran, according to multiple sources in and out of the White House who described to the Washington Free Beacon a behind-the-scenes effort by these officials to plant a series of damaging stories about Flynn in the national media.
The effort, said to include former Obama administration adviser Ben Rhodes—the architect of a separate White House effort to create what he described as a pro-Iran echo chamber—included a small task force of Obama loyalists who deluged media outlets with stories aimed at eroding Flynn’s credibility, multiple sources revealed.
The operation primarily focused on discrediting Flynn, an opponent of the Iran nuclear deal, in order to handicap the Trump administration’s efforts to disclose secret details of the nuclear deal with Iran that had been long hidden by the Obama administration.
Insiders familiar with the anti-Flynn campaign told the Free Beacon that these Obama loyalists plotted in the months before Trump’s inauguration to establish a set of roadblocks before Trump’s national security team, which includes several prominent opponents of diplomacy with Iran. The Free Beacon first reported on this effort in January.”
————-
“In an article on the Atlantic website, a former Obama White House staffer explains why she resigned from the Trump White House after only eight days. Rumana Ahmed thought she should “try to stay on the NSC staff during the Trump Administration” she writes, “in order to give the new president and his aides a more nuanced view of Islam, and of America’s Muslim citizens.”
But then the executive order suspending visa issuance for Syrian refugees and suspending it temporarily for nationals of seven Muslim majority countries forced her hand. She quit. She “had to leave because it was an insult walking into this country’s most historic building every day under an administration that is working against and vilifying everything I stand for as an American and as a Muslim.”
The basic premise of the story doesn’t pass the smell test. Trump campaigned with an opening bid to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the United States. But Ahmed wanted to stay on anyway. And then she left, after eight days, when a much more lenient policy was implemented. It doesn’t make sense.
Hers was the second story in less than a week in which a government official explained that they’d resigned because of Trump’s policies. Ned Price, a CIA analyst who worked at the Obama White House, authored a cri de coeur for the Washington Post to explain why his disagreements with Trump’s policies prompted him to leave government service. “To be clear,” wrote Price, “my decision had nothing to do with politics.”
What a strange coincidence that Price and Ahmed worked for the same person in the Obama White House, national security adviser for strategic communications, Ben Rhodes. In fact, they worked in the same room, outside of Rhodes’ office, as the 2016 New York Times Magazine profile of Rhodes showed: “In the front office, [Rhodes’] assistant, Rumana Ahmed, and his deputy, Ned Price, are squeezed behind desks, which face a large television screen, from which CNN blares nonstop.”
Among their other duties, Price and Ahmed helped manage Rhodes’ “echo chamber” to market Obama’s policies. Former CIA analyst Price explained to the Times magazine how he manipulated American public opinion from his desk in the White House. The Obama NSC relied on “compadres” in the media to proliferate its message, Price said. “I will reach out to a couple people, and you know I wouldn’t want to name them — ”
———————-
AJ, Did you read Sasse? He is basically asking the same questions as Rhodes. Did you read the illiterate Trump? None of his own staff can explain what he meant. Trump is going to make many liberal Democrats look smart and correct before he is done. Republicans can either behave rationally like Sasse or look very foolish and/or intellectually dishonest by supporting Trump when he lies or acts like an uninformed buffoon.
On a serious note, most of the conservatives who refused to support Trump did so in part because they believed he was mentally, morally and psychologically unfit to hold office. He had some sort of meltdown before he left Washington because he believed the Sessions episode distracted people from his speech.
Apparently, he woke up this morning still in a rage and struck out with the unsubstantiated accusations against Obama and the attack on Schwarzenegger. When he has one of these fits during a meeting with a leader of another country, it is not going to be funny.
The SOTU speech shows that he can learn and when he practiced and prepared, he did a good job that night. I think Ivanka (and maybe Jared Kushner) are the only ones who can curtail the loony behavior. They are obervant Jews and are not around as chaperones from dusk on Friday until dusk on Saturday. That has seemed to be when the worst Tweets and bad phone calls (along with the initial commissioning of Spicer to humiliate himself) have occurred.
Republicans need to speak up when he humiliates himself and/or them. Otherwise, they are enablers.
“Neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false,” said Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for the former president.
Remember James Risen: “The US government has been relentless in its pursuit of Risen in the Sterling investigation. Along with serving three subpoenas on the reporter, the DOJ obtained his credit reports, travel records, credit-card records and bank records.” https://www.thenation.com/article/government-war-against-reporter-james-risen/
The Obama lies continue, even when he is no longer in office.
Sasse is right. We need to get to the bottom of this. Either:
1. Obama illegally wiretapped Trump;
2. Trump is referring to a search based on a FISA request that was politically motivated and/or should not have been granted;
3. Trump is referring to a search based on a FISA request that was legitimate; or
4. Trump’s accusation was false either because of ignorance or malice.
I am really tired of lying and deception and people lining up with their own party regardless of the facts. Republicans control Congress. Let them investigate Trump’s serious accusation and let the truth be known.
It should be noted that the current White House doesn’t want a full public Congressional investigation and might have avoided one until Trump issued his intemperate Tweet storm on Saturday morning.
The really comical thing about yesterday’s Trump Tweet storm is that by making these allegations, he has guaranteed a Congressional investigation of the Russia/Trump connections. The Congressional Republicans really didn’t want to go there, but my making these charges he has left them no choice. It is as if Richard Nixon was actually Deep Throat.
By contrast (that centrists & conservatives notice) last night I (an atheist) was in a room of polite Christians who listened attentively. https://t.co/Epy2uhIA9A
To use an analogy we can both appreciate: Trump is DeMarcus Cousins and the press is a biased referee. It is actually hard to detect or prove the bias when Cousins and Trump are constantly misbehaving and making fools of themselves.
BTW, I think Durant’s injury may make your Spurs the favorites in the West.
It’s business as usual. Nothing to see here folks, move along.
What must be noted is that Obama’s spokesperson is not denying that wire-tapping of Donald Trump took place. Only that Obama did not “order” it, nor did anyone within the office of the White House. They are not denying Donald Trump was targeted by the Obama Administration; in fact, they seem to suggest such targeting was done by an “independent investigation led by the DOJ.”
This would be the same Department of Justice headed by Obama appointee Loretta Lynch, who within weeks of the first FISA request in June 2016 requesting surveillance on Trump and his associates was secretly meeting with the husband of Trump’s campaign opponent.
Debra, That is exactly what makes the whole thing so funny. White House aides thought they were going to get Congressional Republicans to “move along” with little or no investigation of Trump/Russia. However, the wild accusations of the deranged and unchaperoned Trump now make that impossible.
This was just reported. There will be no “moving along”. This is going to last for a long time. Pandora’s box has been opened. Dems will be sending Trump a giant Thank You note.
Add this to my 1:48am post. Obama has emphatically stated that he never ordered surveillance on anyone, but I guess intercepting conversations between members of Congress and Israel don’t count.
Debra, Healthcare is the one industry that is almost completely homegrown. The countries that get better results for less are also free trade counties.
There is no way for you to blame this on “globalism”. Blame Medicare, Medicaid and employer funded health insurance, all of which give no incentive for cost savings to the consumer.
I have said before that I don’t think Americans really like other Americans. And that dislike is largely to blame for the fact that we can’t get our policies together for our mutual self interest. We DO have a mutual self interest if we care about being a unified country. I am suspecting more and more that we do not want to be unified.
Debra, I would agree that the stratification of the country has made it difficult to deal with major issues. It would help if more people went to church and school with people who were different from them, culturally and economically.
Interesting perspective, Debra. In Titus 1:12, Paul does something unusual as he writes to Titus who was pastoring a church on Crete – he points out a prevailing national characteristic of the Cretans which needs to be corrected in those Cretans who have become Christians. I think every country has its national character flaws. Canadians tend to be too complacent – the relaxed attitude of live and let live can allow and has allowed abuses to carry on far too long. Our pastor, who comes from the States, was commenting this morning on another character flaw prevalent in Canadians which we derive from our British background, that of keeping a stiff upper lip and thus concealing our problems. After observing American culture from the sidelines for several years, I would say that you describe the national flaw pretty much as I’ve seen it, only the way I would describe it is that there is such a dislike of being told what to do that even the constraint of interacting with one’s neighbours is irritating to the American spirit of independence.
Poor Comey. During the campaign he had to inform the public about the inappropriate actions of Hillary. Now he wants to inform the public about the untrue statements made by the lunatic.
In all honesty, although it would be more humorous if it were the Democrats doing this rather than Trump, I can’t say that I’m greatly perturbed over the events. Russia did hack DNC emails, and they should get a good knuckle-rapping for their troubles—but Obama already did that, so I am not greatly interested in seeing the matter escalated.
Roscuro, what you say about national flaws is true, I think. Sometimes I fear that ours will be the end of us. The scriptural reference is appropriate, and could be our salvation as a nation.
My pastor thinks otherwise. The thinking there is that blessing Israel will be our salvation. We had a hugely political sermon this morning, by a visiting speaker. I was transfixed in alternating amazement and horror. I am sincerely glad that Trump has lifted the threat of IRS prosecution for political speech in churches. I can remember being stunned when one pastor was forced to apologize for a passing mention of abortion in one sermon years ago. However, it feels like a great dam has been broken and all the pent-up energy has suddenly been released in an awful torrent. I will be glad when it finds a new balance.
Now I must get dressed. I’m going back for Part II. A Rabbi Landry is speaking. :–)
Debra, I hear you about the need for balance. Is the Rabbi supposed to be preaching in your church? I think that in looking for a national blessing for supporting Israel, that the church – speaking in general here, since I am aware that many churches have that idea – is losing its way. Christ is the litmus test of who is a friend of God, not Israel. If one denies Christ, there is no other way to God. Sadly, the Jewish religion denies Christ. The Church cannot lay aside its Head for the sake of unity with another religion.
Roscuro, The Rabbi and his wife are Messianic Jews. I think the idea is that the Jewish people will receive Jesus as the Messiah, not that there is some other way—there isn’t. However, receiving Christ does not necessitate they stop being Jewish, but that they realize their Old Covenant has been fulfilled and that the New Covenant is through Christ.
Our church has relationships in Israel and works hard to minister Christ to the Jews there. Our Minister of Music was ‘borrowed’ by Gov. Mike Huckabee last year to spend 2 or 3 weeks ministering in Israel. Another of our ministerial staff just came back from a ministry trip to Israel (also with Mike Huckabee). We’ve been told that Huckabee is going to speak at our church before too long, but I don’t have a date for that yet.
Several years ago, I read a book called Betrayed by a Jewish father who felt betrayed & angry when his college-age daughter found Jesus. So he delved into the scriptures so he could prove her wrong.
Wandering Views 
It’s all so bewildering.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/03/03/occams-razor-did-nsa-admiral-mike-rogers-warn-trump-on-november-17th-2016/
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Michelle,
And un-American. They’ve been sabotaging Trump from day one, mostly by way of entrenched holdovers.
But spying on a presidential candidate using govt resources is a serious offense. This needs to be investigated by Congress. What’s been happening here is high crimes and misdemeanors are rampant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_crimes_and_misdemeanors
“The charge of high crimes and misdemeanors covers allegations of misconduct peculiar to officials, such as perjury of oath, abuse of authority, bribery, intimidation, misuse of assets, failure to supervise, dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming, and refusal to obey a lawful order. Offenses by officials also include ordinary crimes, but perhaps with different standards of proof and punishment than for nonofficials, on the grounds that more is expected of officials by their oaths of office.”
Abuse of authority, misuse of assets, and conduct unbecoming are all obvious in this case. This wasn’t the normal vetting candidates receive, it wasn’t simply “opposition research” which would be permitted were it a campaign paying for it, but such actions are prohibited by govt offices/officials. This is serious stuff.
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It is extremely bewildering, Michelle. These things are the reason I would hate to have been serving in the higher echelons of our military, intelligence or law enforcement communities over the last several months. Both Hillary and Trump are completely amoral vindictive liars. One was bound to be your boss.
I respect Comey and the job he has done at the FBI. He has taken extremely hostile fire from both sides while trying to do his job. The problem is that at this point both Trump and the Democrats will use any technique, lie or distortion to gain an advantage over the other. The sides are no longer playing by the “rules”.
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Meanwhile, the circus continues with the clown in the center ring.
http://fortune.com/2017/03/04/president-trump-obama-wiretapping-trump-tower/
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Apparently it is easy for mentally ill people to relapse into childish imbecility.
https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN16B0G6
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I think broadening the privacy setting for that particular Facebook post to “general public” is critical. I tried to share Sarah the Missionary’s Facebook post on our Prayer Requests thread the other day. It didn’t work, and I think that was because she didn’t make that Facebook post available to the general public.
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Uh-oh! 3:32 was supposed to go on Rants and Raves. Sorry about that.
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A Lawfare article with ten questions for Trump on this morning’s Twitter accusations:
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Hmmm. The latest “white nationalist” in the news is…Charles Murray. I guess we’ll all have to be checking under our beds nightly now, since you never know where the next one will turn up. ;–)
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Poor Murray! The Trumpkins don’t like what he said in Coming Apart. The liberals don’t like anything he says. He is just a researcher, a sociologist. Debra, My son and I were laughing about this while we were playing Number 2 this morning. We were making a list of subjects that professors, researchers and writers should never study and certainly never write about.
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Conservative Senator Ben Sasse issued a response to Trump’s wiretapping allegations:
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Security does seem to be an issue from many different angles and apparently it’s been slipping for a few years.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/senators-warn-fbi-other-agencies-work-in-buildings-owned-by-china/article/2616412#!
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It is extremely interesting to compare Trump’s allegation and Obama’s response on the wiretapping allegation. Here is Trump:
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Here is Obama’s response:
“A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”
Like Senator Sasse, I would like to know the full truth. Until then, it simply appears that Obama’s IQ is about 50 points higher than Trump’s. Murray would enjoy telling us the statistical odds of that being true.
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Ben Rhodes Ricky? Really? 🙄
You do realize he’s Obama’s propagandist, and one of the far-left leaders of Obama efforts to undermine Trump, right?
You need better sources. Unless of course you enjoy being part of the far-left, anti-Trump efforts, then by all means, carry on. But really, you can do better.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/former-obama-officials-loyalists-waged-campaign-oust-flynn/
“The abrupt resignation Monday evening of White House national security adviser Michael Flynn is the culmination of a secret, months-long campaign by former Obama administration confidantes to handicap President Donald Trump’s national security apparatus and preserve the nuclear deal with Iran, according to multiple sources in and out of the White House who described to the Washington Free Beacon a behind-the-scenes effort by these officials to plant a series of damaging stories about Flynn in the national media.
The effort, said to include former Obama administration adviser Ben Rhodes—the architect of a separate White House effort to create what he described as a pro-Iran echo chamber—included a small task force of Obama loyalists who deluged media outlets with stories aimed at eroding Flynn’s credibility, multiple sources revealed.
The operation primarily focused on discrediting Flynn, an opponent of the Iran nuclear deal, in order to handicap the Trump administration’s efforts to disclose secret details of the nuclear deal with Iran that had been long hidden by the Obama administration.
Insiders familiar with the anti-Flynn campaign told the Free Beacon that these Obama loyalists plotted in the months before Trump’s inauguration to establish a set of roadblocks before Trump’s national security team, which includes several prominent opponents of diplomacy with Iran. The Free Beacon first reported on this effort in January.”
————-
And he’s a leader in the spreading of fake news.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/fake-news-exposed/article/2006996
“In an article on the Atlantic website, a former Obama White House staffer explains why she resigned from the Trump White House after only eight days. Rumana Ahmed thought she should “try to stay on the NSC staff during the Trump Administration” she writes, “in order to give the new president and his aides a more nuanced view of Islam, and of America’s Muslim citizens.”
But then the executive order suspending visa issuance for Syrian refugees and suspending it temporarily for nationals of seven Muslim majority countries forced her hand. She quit. She “had to leave because it was an insult walking into this country’s most historic building every day under an administration that is working against and vilifying everything I stand for as an American and as a Muslim.”
The basic premise of the story doesn’t pass the smell test. Trump campaigned with an opening bid to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the United States. But Ahmed wanted to stay on anyway. And then she left, after eight days, when a much more lenient policy was implemented. It doesn’t make sense.
Hers was the second story in less than a week in which a government official explained that they’d resigned because of Trump’s policies. Ned Price, a CIA analyst who worked at the Obama White House, authored a cri de coeur for the Washington Post to explain why his disagreements with Trump’s policies prompted him to leave government service. “To be clear,” wrote Price, “my decision had nothing to do with politics.”
What a strange coincidence that Price and Ahmed worked for the same person in the Obama White House, national security adviser for strategic communications, Ben Rhodes. In fact, they worked in the same room, outside of Rhodes’ office, as the 2016 New York Times Magazine profile of Rhodes showed: “In the front office, [Rhodes’] assistant, Rumana Ahmed, and his deputy, Ned Price, are squeezed behind desks, which face a large television screen, from which CNN blares nonstop.”
Among their other duties, Price and Ahmed helped manage Rhodes’ “echo chamber” to market Obama’s policies. Former CIA analyst Price explained to the Times magazine how he manipulated American public opinion from his desk in the White House. The Obama NSC relied on “compadres” in the media to proliferate its message, Price said. “I will reach out to a couple people, and you know I wouldn’t want to name them — ”
———————-
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AJ, Did you read Sasse? He is basically asking the same questions as Rhodes. Did you read the illiterate Trump? None of his own staff can explain what he meant. Trump is going to make many liberal Democrats look smart and correct before he is done. Republicans can either behave rationally like Sasse or look very foolish and/or intellectually dishonest by supporting Trump when he lies or acts like an uninformed buffoon.
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I take it all back. Here is Trump’s proof:
https://twitter.com/djd/status/838184531941339136
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On a serious note, most of the conservatives who refused to support Trump did so in part because they believed he was mentally, morally and psychologically unfit to hold office. He had some sort of meltdown before he left Washington because he believed the Sessions episode distracted people from his speech.
Apparently, he woke up this morning still in a rage and struck out with the unsubstantiated accusations against Obama and the attack on Schwarzenegger. When he has one of these fits during a meeting with a leader of another country, it is not going to be funny.
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I am trying to give Trump the benefit of the doubt in his presidency, but sometimes he really does come across as petty, & even unstable.
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In other breaking news….
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The SOTU speech shows that he can learn and when he practiced and prepared, he did a good job that night. I think Ivanka (and maybe Jared Kushner) are the only ones who can curtail the loony behavior. They are obervant Jews and are not around as chaperones from dusk on Friday until dusk on Saturday. That has seemed to be when the worst Tweets and bad phone calls (along with the initial commissioning of Spicer to humiliate himself) have occurred.
Republicans need to speak up when he humiliates himself and/or them. Otherwise, they are enablers.
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“Neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false,” said Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for the former president.
That is a bold-faced lie. Both the Bush and Obama administrations did it. Does anyone remember what Obama’s Justice Dept did to James Rosen? https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/justice-departments-scrutiny-of-fox-news-reporter-james-rosen-in-leak-case-draws-fire/2013/05/20/c6289eba-c162-11e2-8bd8-2788030e6b44_story.html?utm_term=.7bc12dba9b6c
Remember James Risen: “The US government has been relentless in its pursuit of Risen in the Sterling investigation. Along with serving three subpoenas on the reporter, the DOJ obtained his credit reports, travel records, credit-card records and bank records.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/government-war-against-reporter-james-risen/
The Obama lies continue, even when he is no longer in office.
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Tychicus,
Sasse is right. We need to get to the bottom of this. Either:
1. Obama illegally wiretapped Trump;
2. Trump is referring to a search based on a FISA request that was politically motivated and/or should not have been granted;
3. Trump is referring to a search based on a FISA request that was legitimate; or
4. Trump’s accusation was false either because of ignorance or malice.
I am really tired of lying and deception and people lining up with their own party regardless of the facts. Republicans control Congress. Let them investigate Trump’s serious accusation and let the truth be known.
It should be noted that the current White House doesn’t want a full public Congressional investigation and might have avoided one until Trump issued his intemperate Tweet storm on Saturday morning.
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Con men always change the subject when challenged.
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Really good con men bring up two or more different subjects when challenged.
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The really comical thing about yesterday’s Trump Tweet storm is that by making these allegations, he has guaranteed a Congressional investigation of the Russia/Trump connections. The Congressional Republicans really didn’t want to go there, but my making these charges he has left them no choice. It is as if Richard Nixon was actually Deep Throat.
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A nice Tweet from an honest atheist:
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rw: I agree with your 6:56am post.
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However, the media is again being terribly dishonest…
http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/heres-what-the-medias-not-telling-you-about-trump-wire-tapping
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Tychicus, I agree with your 8:51 post.
To use an analogy we can both appreciate: Trump is DeMarcus Cousins and the press is a biased referee. It is actually hard to detect or prove the bias when Cousins and Trump are constantly misbehaving and making fools of themselves.
BTW, I think Durant’s injury may make your Spurs the favorites in the West.
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It’s business as usual. Nothing to see here folks, move along.
Debra, That is exactly what makes the whole thing so funny. White House aides thought they were going to get Congressional Republicans to “move along” with little or no investigation of Trump/Russia. However, the wild accusations of the deranged and unchaperoned Trump now make that impossible.
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This was just reported. There will be no “moving along”. This is going to last for a long time. Pandora’s box has been opened. Dems will be sending Trump a giant Thank You note.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-idUSKBN16C0MG
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Add this to my 1:48am post. Obama has emphatically stated that he never ordered surveillance on anyone, but I guess intercepting conversations between members of Congress and Israel don’t count.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-nsa-recorded-members-of-congress-with-israeli-leaders/
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This may strain your eyes.
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And New York’s Hometown Newspaper says:
https://twitter.com/paladine/status/838441693846331394
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Sooo. Pretty much everyone has cheaper and better healthcare than we do. I guess all that globalism has been better for some than others. ;–)
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Debra, Healthcare is the one industry that is almost completely homegrown. The countries that get better results for less are also free trade counties.
There is no way for you to blame this on “globalism”. Blame Medicare, Medicaid and employer funded health insurance, all of which give no incentive for cost savings to the consumer.
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Chile, Greece, and So Korea (the 3 best cases on that graph) have national healthcare of some sort.
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Or am I reading it wrong. It is hard to see. :–)
At any rate, I don’t think it’s necessarily globalism that is responsible for this particular disaster( I was yanking your chain just a bit ). :–)
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I have said before that I don’t think Americans really like other Americans. And that dislike is largely to blame for the fact that we can’t get our policies together for our mutual self interest. We DO have a mutual self interest if we care about being a unified country. I am suspecting more and more that we do not want to be unified.
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Debra, I would agree that the stratification of the country has made it difficult to deal with major issues. It would help if more people went to church and school with people who were different from them, culturally and economically.
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Interesting perspective, Debra. In Titus 1:12, Paul does something unusual as he writes to Titus who was pastoring a church on Crete – he points out a prevailing national characteristic of the Cretans which needs to be corrected in those Cretans who have become Christians. I think every country has its national character flaws. Canadians tend to be too complacent – the relaxed attitude of live and let live can allow and has allowed abuses to carry on far too long. Our pastor, who comes from the States, was commenting this morning on another character flaw prevalent in Canadians which we derive from our British background, that of keeping a stiff upper lip and thus concealing our problems. After observing American culture from the sidelines for several years, I would say that you describe the national flaw pretty much as I’ve seen it, only the way I would describe it is that there is such a dislike of being told what to do that even the constraint of interacting with one’s neighbours is irritating to the American spirit of independence.
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Poor Comey. During the campaign he had to inform the public about the inappropriate actions of Hillary. Now he wants to inform the public about the untrue statements made by the lunatic.
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Let’s try again.
https://twitter.com/jwgop/status/838503405282799616
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In all honesty, although it would be more humorous if it were the Democrats doing this rather than Trump, I can’t say that I’m greatly perturbed over the events. Russia did hack DNC emails, and they should get a good knuckle-rapping for their troubles—but Obama already did that, so I am not greatly interested in seeing the matter escalated.
Alas, I am overruled, and the joy goes on. :–\
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Roscuro, what you say about national flaws is true, I think. Sometimes I fear that ours will be the end of us. The scriptural reference is appropriate, and could be our salvation as a nation.
My pastor thinks otherwise. The thinking there is that blessing Israel will be our salvation. We had a hugely political sermon this morning, by a visiting speaker. I was transfixed in alternating amazement and horror. I am sincerely glad that Trump has lifted the threat of IRS prosecution for political speech in churches. I can remember being stunned when one pastor was forced to apologize for a passing mention of abortion in one sermon years ago. However, it feels like a great dam has been broken and all the pent-up energy has suddenly been released in an awful torrent. I will be glad when it finds a new balance.
Now I must get dressed. I’m going back for Part II. A Rabbi Landry is speaking. :–)
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Debra, In the end I don’t think any collusion between the Russians and Trump or the Trumpkins will be found. The Russians are too smart for that.
Tychicus, The Thunder are in town to play the Mavs. Our girls are staying at home out of the rain, but Travis and I are heading to Big D.
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Debra, I hear you about the need for balance. Is the Rabbi supposed to be preaching in your church? I think that in looking for a national blessing for supporting Israel, that the church – speaking in general here, since I am aware that many churches have that idea – is losing its way. Christ is the litmus test of who is a friend of God, not Israel. If one denies Christ, there is no other way to God. Sadly, the Jewish religion denies Christ. The Church cannot lay aside its Head for the sake of unity with another religion.
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Roscuro, The Rabbi and his wife are Messianic Jews. I think the idea is that the Jewish people will receive Jesus as the Messiah, not that there is some other way—there isn’t. However, receiving Christ does not necessitate they stop being Jewish, but that they realize their Old Covenant has been fulfilled and that the New Covenant is through Christ.
Our church has relationships in Israel and works hard to minister Christ to the Jews there. Our Minister of Music was ‘borrowed’ by Gov. Mike Huckabee last year to spend 2 or 3 weeks ministering in Israel. Another of our ministerial staff just came back from a ministry trip to Israel (also with Mike Huckabee). We’ve been told that Huckabee is going to speak at our church before too long, but I don’t have a date for that yet.
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Several years ago, I read a book called Betrayed by a Jewish father who felt betrayed & angry when his college-age daughter found Jesus. So he delved into the scriptures so he could prove her wrong.
You can probably guess what happened. 🙂
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rw: Dirk has still got it, right?
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