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  • Nothing good is allowed to come out of a GOP-controlled congress when there is a Democrat in the White House, not even to support crucial, urgent national interests. OK, there is one exception: when it hands lots of money to corporations that generally can be counted on to donate to GOPer campaign coffers. Other than that, Nothing.

    The GOPers would rather wait until unemployment is a full percentage point below the historic average (which was 5.6% in the 60 years to end-2007) before recognizing the necessity of investing in infrastructure and the obvious savings of doing it at low interest rates.

    = = = = =

    citanon
    has some interesting ideas.

    upgrade our conventional military footprint in Europe.
    In response to cyber attacks on our democracy? Doesn’t seem appropriate.

    recapitalize and reinvigorate our nuclear weapons enterprise and expand our deployed arsenal back to parity with the Russians.
    See above. You don’t fight a cyber war with nukes.

    vigorously pursue the third offset in military capabilities.
    Ah, now we get to next gen systems.

    develop and put into practice covert cyber band disinformation capabilities centered around Russian vulnerabilities.
    Much more appropriate.

    continuation of a robust sanctions regime.
    Old school. Minimally useful against widely dispersed attackers.

    long term continuation of a low ceiling in global energy prices.
    Totally off subject and likely to do more long-term damage than anything.

    utilize conciliatory diplomacy to define the overt US Russian competition within safe boundaries and seek cooperation where ever possible. Our strong and far reaching actions need to be offset by conciliatory and face saving words in public.
    When did “face saving” become a military or national security necessity?
    Trust me?
    I'm an economist!

    Comment


    • My dear fellow, you need to get off your partisan horse imv: This was not attack on the US Democrat Party but an attack on democracy in the US. All citanon's suggestions and more are warranted, particularly increased support (and pressure to reform) in Ukraine where we have been fighting them for two years on all fronts and winning; you are at war whether you chose to like or believe it or not. Welcome to reality.

      Comment


      • Originally posted by DOR View Post
        Nothing good is allowed to come out of a GOP-controlled congress when there is a Democrat in the White House, not even to support crucial, urgent national interests. OK, there is one exception: when it hands lots of money to corporations that generally can be counted on to donate to GOPer campaign coffers. Other than that, Nothing.

        The GOPers would rather wait until unemployment is a full percentage point below the historic average (which was 5.6% in the 60 years to end-2007) before recognizing the necessity of investing in infrastructure and the obvious savings of doing it at low interest rates.

        = = = = =
        [
        infrastructure???

        Obama rebuilt our infrastructure in his first few months in office, all 'shovel ready' jobs too.

        Comment


        • Why the Russia-Trump Memos Are Dubious

          11:58 AM, Jan 11, 2017 | By THOMAS JOSCELYN


          A set of memos alleging disturbing ties between President-elect Donald Trump and Russian officials has set off yet another media firestorm concerning Russia's putative role in the 2016 presidential election. Many people have had copies of the memos for some time, but the documents were published online by BuzzFeed only after CNN reported that U.S. intelligence officials had briefed both Trump and President Obama on the allegations contained therein.


          The content of the memos, their sourcing to anonymous or non-existent witnesses, and obvious political taint make this story highly suspect. Here are several reasons why.


          First, the public doesn't even know who the author of the memos is or if he or she is truly an honest broker of information. And many of the underlying sources cited in the memos are unnamed. Therefore, they can't be questioned about their supposed testimony.



          According to CNN, the memos were "compiled by a former British intelligence operative, whose past work US intelligence officials consider credible."


          So, anonymous "US intelligence officials" have claimed than an unnamed "former British intelligence operative" is "credible"—which means next to nothing.


          Even if this person was "credible" in the past, it doesn't mean that he or she is "credible" on this issue. BuzzFeed candidly reported that the memos were "prepared for political opponents of Trump," meaning that there is an obvious political motivation in play here.


          Second, while the ultimate source of the memos may or may not be "credible," the allegations contained in the memos have not been substantiated or verified. Indeed, CNN makes it clear that the FBI is "is investigating the credibility and accuracy of these allegations…but has not confirmed many essential details in the memos about Mr. Trump."


          Which raises an important question: If the allegations haven't been confirmed, then why were they included in briefings given to both Trump and Obama? Did the briefers simply note that these allegations were swirling around, or did they give any weight to them?



          What makes this even more curious is that some of the allegations are so specific that the FBI should be able to substantiate, or disprove, the basic fact pattern pretty quickly.
          http://www.weeklystandard.com/why-th...rticle/2006240
          To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

          Comment



          • he Strange Things We Found in the Trump Kompromat Memo
            18:00 (GMT)
            Photo: A mural in a Moscow pub. Photo by Aleksandr Zemlianichenko/Meduza

            UPDATED: Much has been written about a memo passed around intelligence and media circles purporting to contain kompromat about president-elect -- a Russian word that means "compromising material" held to blackmail an enemy or leak to the press to embarrass him.

            As we reported, Trump himself has called the entire report "fake news" as part of a "witch hunt" and some of the key figures named have denied the implications in the report.

            In its first story on the memo, The Guardian called out the English spelling of the word "Alpha" and the claim that the suburb of Barvikha was "reserved for elites" as tips that the memo was written by people who didn't know facts about Russia and therefore could be fake.

            These two points are trivial indeed compared to other strange aspects of the memo; many English speakers would anglicize the word "Alfa" to "Alpha" for the name of the bank; and dachas are indeed reserved in the Russian leadership's system of perks, although oligarchs as well as some ordinary people do live in Barvikha, including those who work at the elite compounds.

            The memo has clearly been cobbled together from various different reports, and if it is true that the reports originated in a firm owned by a former British MI6 agent, there are few Briticisms at all in the report, either in spelling or lexicon ("programmes" is on page 4, "organisation" on page 18). So it has been summarized and rewritten, perhaps with mistakes introduced along the way.

            What we'd like to point out are some of the very curious claims about how the Russian intelligence system works, and recent facts of political life.

            Many of the allegations about Trump have been known for months and were covered in The Interpreter's four-part series for The Daily Beast. Of particular interest were Trump's possible links to figures in Russia, some with ties to the Kremlin or organized crimes, to whom Trump may be indebted in some way.

            What this new memo recounts are claims of actual actions taken by individuals already known in the Trump story to blackmail the real estate mogul -- and it is these allegations which will continue to hang over the Trump presidency regardless of his own dismissal or the failure of the press to find "smoking guns."

            Even so, we have to point out that certain episodes in this report do not seem consistent with what we know about Russia, and either they are bizarre enough to be true or evidence that it is false in part or in whole.

            -- The section that claims that Michael Cohen, a lawyer for Trump, met with a Russian operative says that the Russian is in a "parastate" agency and "under cover," but works for Rossotrudnichestvo. That is a state agency that cultivates emigres and foreigners abroad and *is* a state agency which reports to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It functions like the Soviet Friendship Committee but has even more reach as it also sponsors cultural activities abroad. So it's not very secret and would probably not be used for a covert meeting, although it is used to find agents of influence.

            Cohen reportedly met Russian officials, including possibly Russian politician Konstantin Kosachev in August in Prague. The dossier (page 18) claims that Kosachev as a "plausibly deniable" figure not in the executive but the Russian legislature had "facilitated" the contact and by implication, could have attended the meeting.

            Cohen denies he was in Prague during the dates indicated, although he does say he went to Italy in July. The drive to Czech republic from whatever town he visited in Italy would be between 650 and 1000+ miles -- not a realistic trip to meet a Russian agent. Cohen also claims he was in New York In September.

            As we reported, CNN's Jake Tapper claims that the Michael Cohen in question was not in the Czech Republic, and the dossier references a different Michael Cohen.

            Kosachev, former head of the State Duma's Foreign Relations Committee, has issued a statement on his Facebook page denying the claims about him in the report or any involvement in the affair. Kosachev is currently the chair of the Committee on International Relations of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament. He served in 2012 as the head of Rossotrudnichestvo, the Russian state agency for cooperation with emigres and foreigners.

            First, Kosachev notes that he left the position of chair of the State Duma's Foreign Relations Committee five years ago, although he is identified in the report as still holding that title in the Duma. Second, he says he does not know Michael Cohen "with all due respect." And third, he says he has not been to Prague or any other Czech city in more than five years. We found him at a conference in Prague titled "Democracy in the Post-Soviet Space" -- but in 2012. It seems unlikely that if he went to another conference more recently, there would be no press coverage.

            -- Carter Page, said now to be a former advisor to Trump and owner of Global Energy Capital, has close ties to Gazprom and allegedly met with high-ranking Russian officials on frequent travels to Russia. But as we reported last year, he denied he met Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin -- and indeed, why would someone as important as Sechin meet with a former advisor to Trump? The issue isn't just the difference in their levels; the issue is the political fall-out that could occur should Sechin's meeting with Page be exposed.

            But what's most odd about the claims for that meeting are that Sechin allegedly offered Page/Trump the 19.5% of shares in Rosneft that eventually went to Qatar and Glencore. It just doesn't make sense that Sechin would offer these shares to either a small American energy company or an American real estate mogul who do not have the cash for such a big investment (it sold for more than $11 billion) and who are not even in the oil business. The Russian news service RBC was sued last year by Sechin for reporting that the government warned the British oil company BP, which already owns shares in Rosneft, not to get involved in this deal (so as not to obtain a controlling share), and the shares were frequently rumored to be shopped to "Asians" or proxies for Rosneft/Russia itself. It just doesn't seem plausible that they could ever have been offered to Americans in any form, especially these Americans. And to get Trump on their side, the Russians wouldn't need to force him to spend money he didn't have on an oil company in Russia where he would stick out like a sore thumb.

            -- The weirdest part of the memo for Russia-watchers is the notion that Russian presidential administration spokesman Dmitry Peskov was handed this very sensitive dossier of Trump kompromat [compromising material] to manage, and then supposedly overplayed his hand, and he and others suffered the consequences.

            Peskov himself dubbed these claims "pulp fiction" today at a press briefing, Gazeta reported.

            First, it makes no sense to have the PR voice of the presidential administration handling a dossier of this nature -- he wouldn't have compiled it as part of his job description, and it would be handled by intelligence agencies, either the FSB (Federal Security Service] or SVR [Foreign Intelligence Service]. He might be an end user of parts of such a dossier, but he himself didn't publicize them (unless he did so as part of his office's job telling state media what and what no to write).

            It is plausible that Sergei Ivanov, previously Putin's chief of staff, as a trusted former KGB officer and long-time crony of Putin's, might have had this job "outside the usual channels." But the claim Ivanov was "backed by the SVR" then (not the FSB, which would have had to gather the kompromat inside Russia) doesn't make sense -- nor does the strange odyssey of this dossier "from the MFA to Ivanov/SVR to Peskov." All of this is odd; given agency rivalries and chains of command and mandates, it does not make sense. Intelligence just doesn't work that way.

            Then there is the claim that Ivanov was removed from his job over this blowback. This is an interesting tidbit because the dismissal of this trusted aide was very sudden, and no one can really explain why he was removed; he himself may really have wanted to leave voluntarily. Ivanov did not fall from favor; Putin made him a special envoy on the environment, and he retains his seat in the National Security Council.

            The Trump memo certainly provides an explanation, then, for his sudden departure, but it equally could be cited as evidence that the dossier is fake since the authors don't realize how the Kremlin works. If Putin did not trust his own intelligence agencies to handle such a sensitive matter and wanted personal control over it, he would not likely give the job to Peskov or even Ivanov, but rather he might bring in Viktor Zubkov, his former body guard -- former head of the Federal Protection Service which guards the leaders and the Kremlin grounds, and who is now head of the National Guard.

            Perhaps this is a very garbled version of a story that does involve Ivanov in the links of people handling the Trump dossier. As we reported, even after he was fired, Ivanov was sent out to do spin control on the 'Russia wants Trump as president' story, walking it back. That was both evidence that Ivanov was still very much in favor in the Kremlin and that the Kremlin needed to downplay the story. But the wild bungling and overplaying of hands described in the account don't square with the way the hacks and media coverage have been handled. They maintained plausible deniability, and needed only a slight nudge to be effective.

            -- The part that has the most attention is the least substantiated. Could it be that someone as important as Trump orders prostitutes for the presidential suite, and they all disappear and are silent after taking bribes? Really? This seems bizarre and meant as a red herring. Trump has always been careful to surround himself with aides and lawyers who keep scandal away. We're to believe that he'd be indiscreet enough in Russia to hire prostitutes?

            The most important aspect of this report is not whether it is true or flawed but the use to which it has been put -- notably by the US intelligence community in confronting Trump and trying to get him to believe he could be compromised by the Russians. Obviously, it's easier for the intelligence community to use a thing like this than its own real reports.

            Of course, the entire memo could be yet another Russian disinformation operation of its own, as now total chaos has broken out in the media over it.

            The report is based on the agents' network of a figure close to British intelligence. That means it is likely available to UK intelligence which cooperates with US intelligence. The US may have its own sources or the same sources, and may have found it convenient to have the information get to Trump and the media this way -- in other words, the copy given to the US intelligence by Senator John McCain may not have been their only copy..

            The sources have very high access and that seems surprising, then, that they end up in a report that is shopped around widely like this because, with some digging, any of those involbed could be exposed. Who is that Russian emigre in the Trump camp? Is that Felix Satter or somebody else?

            So far, the Russian-language state and independent media have reported on the Trump kompromat memo as an event, summarizing the BuzzFeed article and claiming that none of the allegations are verified. But Russian media has not provided a detailed critique of the allegations raised, such as the claim of Peskov's or Ivanov's involvement, and Ivanov's dismissal and replacement by Anton Vaino, who was portrayed in the memo as "clean" in terms of having no involvement in the Trump campaign. Perhaps that's because the Kremlin is as much of a black box for them as it is for us.

            Gazeta.ru has questioned a key element of the memo, that Trump was assigned the job of providing intelligence on what Russian oligarchs do abroad. We found that odd as well, as we were unable to find any actual ties between major oligarchs and Trump, although he became involved with second-tier wealthy Russian businessmen like Arif Agalarov in the Miss Universe beauty pageant in Russia. Gazeta said they didn't think Trump would have anything to contribute that Russia's own networks would not report. They also expressed doubts about the sexual allegations.

            To be sure, it is a classic feature of Russian intelligence tradecraft to hook in informants by giving them jobs to do like reporting on something, even if Russian intelligence knows it already. And dangling prostitutes to create kompromat situations is another classic move.

            An earlier version of this post appeared at Minding Russia.

            -- Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
            . http://www.interpretermag.com/live-u...?pressId=15920
            To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

            Comment


            • Russian blackmail of Trump does not seem a good option.

              If the documents are true, then.

              The fact that the Russians flat out stated that this document is untrue, means that their secret service cannot blackmail Trump without some nasty side effects.
              http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-v...p-fabrication/

              A release of damaging information on Trump, for instance a piss sex tape, would prove that the document is true.
              It would also prove that the Russian secret service has indeed been influencing / "hacking" the US election as stated in the document.
              And it would prove Putin to be a liar

              So the moment the Russian secret service carrries out the threat part of the blackmail, they create bigger problems for themselves than for Trump.
              Because of this statement carrying out a blackmail threat hurts Putin the Russian secret service much worse than Trump.
              Trump would most likely get away with a bit of embarrasment in a kindof "Clinton / Kennedy / J Charlie Sheen" way.
              (considering public opinion and that a lot of average people do all sorts of wierd stuff in their bedrooms)

              All of a sudden any possible blackmail is now based on a hollow threat or at the very least results in a Mexican standoff.

              Why would Putin and his Russian secret service painstakingly gather incriminating information on Trump only to make carrying out a blackmail
              practically impossible? Against their own self interest?

              Most likely this report is fake news. Because if the report was real, Putin and his Russian secret service would not wreck their efforts and their
              statement would neither deny or confirm anything in this report. (One never can be 100% sure though)

              Now on the other hand if you are CIA you make up a document with some truths and some propaganda you want the public to believe.
              Should Putin and his Russian secret service confirm any single thing in this document, then the public will also believe the propaganda.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by FJV View Post
                And it would prove Putin to be a liar
                That we already know.

                Comment


                • Originally posted by snapper View Post
                  That we already know.
                  Still, loss of face = bad for Putin.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by DOR View Post
                    Nothing good is allowed to come out of a GOP-controlled congress when there is a Democrat in the White House, not even to support crucial, urgent national interests. OK, there is one exception: when it hands lots of money to corporations that generally can be counted on to donate to GOPer campaign coffers. Other than that, Nothing.

                    Dor, were you away from the planet in 2015?



                    http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/...bills-in-2015/

                    In case you missed it, Congress passed some big bills in 2015


                    BY Quinn Bowman December 30, 2015 at 4:47 PM EST
                    WASHINGTON, DC -

                    Congress passed several major bills in 2015, despite continued partisanship and a leadership shakeup in the House. Photo by Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

                    The dirty open secret about Capitol Hill is that there’s a very narrow window in which significant legislation can pass between the campaigns that reshape Congress every two years. It’s the new normal, formed by the rise of partisanship and big-money politics.

                    But after half a decade of divided government, in which congressional Democrats worked to stymie President George W. Bush and, conversely, congressional Republicans used every opportunity to block or roll back President Obama’s agenda, something changed in 2015: Congress passed significant bipartisan legislation that was signed into law by the president.

                    The list includes a major reform to the K-12 education system, a long-awaited fix to Medicare’s formula for paying doctors and a five-year agreement on how to fund the nation’s transportation infrastructure.

                    That isn’t to say that the enormous gulf between conservative congressional Republicans and Obama has disappeared — Republicans in 2015 were successful for the first time in passing a partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the president’s signature legislative achievement, through both chambers. But after years of gridlock that led to a near default on the nation’s debt and a two-week government shutdown in 2013, this year was a feast of legislative compromise and achievement

                    Here’s what was accomplished:

                    Doc Fix

                    A complicated 1997 Congressional budget agreement created a formula for paying doctors who treat Medicare patients. Unfortunately for the doctors, that formula regularly cut their pay, leaving doctors unsure of their income each year. Congress repeatedly voted for more money to make up for the gap.

                    That “doc fix” ritual continued until 2015, when then-Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi worked out a change to the formula. Over five years, a new formula will pay doctors based on the quality of care they provide, not just the amount of care.

                    The $210 billion measure sailed through the Senate and House, and was largely deficit-financed.

                    Highway bill
                    Drivers on Interstate 580 approach the MacArthur Maze interchange in heavy traffic near Oakland, California, in this 2007 file photo. Photo by Noah Berger/AP

                    This month Congress passed the first long-term highway funding bill since 2009. Photo by Noah Berger/AP

                    Prior to this year, Congress hadn’t passed a long-term funding bill for the nation’s transit and infrastructure since 2009.

                    Negotiators in the House and Senate were finally able to hammer out an agreement this month that easily passed both chambers. One of the most important aspects of the bill is that it shores up the highway trust fund, which pays for the highway system using revenue from the federal gasoline tax. The fund has been running out of money since 2008, causing disruption to road repair and construction nationwide.

                    Like the doc fix, the highway measure relies on a creative financing solution that does not involve taxes. The $305 billion bill is paid for in part by transferring money from a Federal Reserve account and selling part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

                    Budget deal

                    Since 2010, battles over spending have been the main event in the long-running feud between Obama and House Republicans.

                    But in late December of this year, House Speaker Paul Ryan and other leaders worked with Obama on a massive spending bill that funds the government until next October. Although House conservatives had helped remove Boehner from office over similar deals, there were no widespread hard feelings toward Ryan this time. In a rare moment of bipartisanship, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ryan and Obama all praised each other’s work after the bill sailed through Congress.
                    In a rare moment of bipartisanship, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ryan and Obama all praised each other’s work after the budget deal sailed through Congress.

                    The spending bill was paired with a package of tax cuts known as tax-extenders, meant to entice some Republicans to vote for both measures. Those $650 billion in tax cuts were also deficit-funded (notice a theme?)

                    Security and visa waivers

                    This quiet reform moved through Congress as part of the massive appropriations bill mentioned above.

                    In the aftermath of the ISIS-linked terror attacks in Paris, Republicans and some Democrats in the House rushed to pass a bill making it harder for Syrian refugees to enter the country. It didn’t reach Obama’s desk.

                    A separate proposal that was already in the works was ultimately included in the spending agreement. That measure makes changes to the visa waiver program that allows citizens from 38 “friendly” countries easy access to the U.S. The reform requires residents of those countries who are originally from or have visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria in the past five years to go through a stricter visa review process before entering America. Several of the Paris attackers were born in Belgium and France, two of the countries in the visa waiver program.

                    The European Union and Iran are not at all happy with the reform.

                    Education reform

                    Congress also overhauled the No Child Left Behind federal education reform bill signed into law by President George W. Bush. The Every Student Succeeds Act transfers power from the federal government to the states, giving states more say on how to evaluate teachers and improve schools.

                    The education bill was yet another example of legislators from different parties — led by Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee — working closely together on a product nearly every member of Congress supported.

                    What’s next in 2016?

                    For all of Congress’s success this year, legislative action in 2016 will likely grind to a halt. Major legislation typically falls by the wayside during presidential election years. And with Obama leaving office, he has even less leverage over Congress.

                    One possible area of compromise is criminal justice reform. A group of senators from across the political spectrum teamed up to write legislation earlier this year that reduces mandatory minimum sentences for some drug crimes, among other reforms. Obama has also expressed interest in working on that issue.

                    Also pending is congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a massive trade deal between the U.S. and 11 Asian countries that’s a priority for the White House. The deal could be finalized next year, although opponents from both sides of the aisle are already trying to block the agreement.
                    Last edited by JAD_333; 12 Jan 17,, 05:40.
                    To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by JAD_333 View Post
                      Dor, were you away from the planet in 2015?
                      Be kind to him, he's been in England
                      In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                      Leibniz

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by JAD_333 View Post
                        Dor, were you away from the planet in 2015?
                        Originally posted by Parihaka View Post
                        Be kind to him, he's been in England


                        2015, 2015 . . . that would be the 114th Congress, right?

                        Speaker Boehner invites a foreign head of state to address a joint session of Congress without consulting the POTUS.

                        Senator Cotton and 46 other GOPer Senators (out of 54) sign a letter to Iran undermining American foreign policy.

                        But, perhaps you’re thinking of the (largely unfunded) $305 billion, five-year infrastructure spending bill. That's like, $61 billion a year!
                        Whoopee?

                        That’s the one that is supposed to be paid for not by user fees of gas taxes but by passport fees, Fed dividends and other “free” money.

                        That’s the transport infrastructure bill that authorized the Ex-Im Bank through 2019 and funds new crop insurance.

                        Is that the bill you're thinking of?
                        Trust me?
                        I'm an economist!

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by FJV View Post
                          Still, loss of face = bad for Putin.
                          So Putin threatens "do this or we spill the beans", Trump says "Go to hell"; it all (if anything) comes out; taped conversations, sex tapes or whatever, Trump is impeached and maybe jailed and Putin loses? Not following your logic here...

                          Comment


                          • Just when you thought the things coudn't get worse.

                            Trump considers appointing 'anti-vaxer' to head review committee.

                            http://http://www.nbcnews.com/politi...-trail-n705296

                            Albeit his transition team has started back-peddling in the last 24 hours WTF?
                            If you are emotionally invested in 'believing' something is true you have lost the ability to tell if it is true.

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by snapper View Post
                              So Putin threatens "do this or we spill the beans", Trump says "Go to hell"; it all (if anything) comes out; taped conversations, sex tapes or whatever, Trump is impeached and maybe jailed and Putin loses? Not following your logic here...
                              And Putin is confirmed "controlling" the US election which will cause the diplomatic shit to hit the fan for Russia.
                              It will take them decades to live this down.
                              Russia will be isolated from the entire West for decades and this move will be back on widespread citizen support.

                              Maklng all trade /export impossible with the richest part of the world for decades is not a good deal for getting Trump impeached.
                              Lets face it the largest consumer market is still in the US.

                              No access to customers, no access to the latest tech, diplomaticly shunned in international matters, being regarded with extreme suspicion by everyone else.

                              Cold war 2 for Russia, without allies.

                              Pulling dirty tricks without nasty consequences ain't all that easy.

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by DOR View Post
                                2015, 2015 . . . that would be the 114th Congress, right?

                                Speaker Boehner invites a foreign head of state to address a joint session of Congress without consulting the POTUS.

                                Senator Cotton and 46 other GOPer Senators (out of 54) sign a letter to Iran undermining American foreign policy.

                                But, perhaps you’re thinking of the (largely unfunded) $305 billion, five-year infrastructure spending bill. That's like, $61 billion a year!
                                Whoopee?

                                That’s the one that is supposed to be paid for not by user fees of gas taxes but by passport fees, Fed dividends and other “free” money.

                                That’s the transport infrastructure bill that authorized the Ex-Im Bank through 2019 and funds new crop insurance.

                                Is that the bill you're thinking of?

                                You mean things didn't go exactly the way you'd like them to go, and you blame that on there being a democrat in the White House. But if you were to take the conservative point of view, you'd see things differently. Speaking of obstructionism, I don't suppose you were critical of the Democratic-majority congress obstructing the GOP agenda when Bush was in the White House.
                                To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

                                Comment

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