US General Election 2016

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/357995-dem-pollster-vast-majority-of-trump-voters-say-he-should-stay-in

Well they did vote him in for a reason. I think only a fraction of Trump voters actually believe he's a decent human being, but that's not what they were voting for.

Surely this will be the end of "Drumpf." /s

I don't see possible Russian collusion - in the form that it most probably would have taken - to be that big a deal.  Getting help to dig up dirt is far different than asking to plant fake news; which is to my mind far worse, is something the Russians did, but not what I believe Trump or direct associates like Kushner would have been involved in.  They just wanted dirt.  Big deal.

I thought Mueller was to be investigating election tampering by the Russians, not a grab bag of malfeasance by Manafort.  We'll have to see what else he comes up with before I'm impressed.

As for Trump, I've got bigger things that bother me about him than simple campaign muckracking. Straighten out health care; streamline taxes.  Don't ruin either one.  The Russian thing IS a distraction.

A pretty successful distraction, too. They weren't able to get anything done on health care, and I'm 100 percent certain they won't be able to get anything done on taxes. And what is this in the proposed tax plan about limiting 401k contributions even more? You've completely lost me there. No, thanks.

I can't for the life of me figure out why they'd limit 401k. All retirement savings is eventually taxed.

halfwise wrote:
I thought Mueller was to be investigating election tampering by the Russians, not a grab bag of malfeasance by Manafort.  We'll have to see what else he comes up with before I'm impressed.

But fishing trips is how the Special Prosecutor thing has always worked, isn't it? Remember Ken Starr was appointed to look into some sketchy real estate deals by the Clinton's 20 years before (Whitewater) and ended up with Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, and Bill's impeachment for lying about his sex life  

I'm still just sitting back and watching in amazement......

I think he should have laid out the grand Russian plan first, with no indictments because the Russians can't be prosecuted - then once we see the grand tapestry start nailing Americans who aided and abetted.

But I suppose that comes in the final report, and I should't let my sense of proper theatrics interfere with legal proceedings.

Those who are far better versed than I lay out the case the Mueller is playing a masterful hand:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/10/31/daily-202-10-takeaways-from-mueller-s-shock-and-awe-gambit/59f778d330fb0468e7653ee5/?tid=pm_pop&utm_term=.1d7f81452f9c

What's interesting is that it was legal for the Clinton campaign to pay for information to be collected from the Russians, but not legal for the Trump campaign to accept cooperation from the Russians freely given.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-10-30/both-campaigns-sought-russian-dirt-clinton-s-way-was-legal

halfwise wrote: I should't let my sense of proper theatrics interfere with legal proceedings.

Wow, you're a pretty tough critic if you're not satisfied with the theatrics yet!

But remember this is just the 1st year of the Presidency and the 1st act of the opera. We're going to have to wait until at least the 3rd act before we'll really get an idea where this tragi-comedy is going, and I'd hold off on writing my review until after the final curtain falls.
There's no doubt we're watching history in the making here!

Is that 'making' or 'unmaking'?

Myself, I both am riled and am impressed at the wisdom of Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt at hiring an unprecedented security detail of 24.  If I was ever within 50 feet of him I seriously question whether I'd try to kill him.

Verily shocked to see something like this coming from the Amazon-Washington Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/11/02/senate-democrats-falsely-claim-gop-tax-plan-will-raise-taxes-for-most-working-class-families/

Good. The media doesn't have to be biased.

BTW, I've read somewhere that Obama's tax cut was actually bigger than what Trump's proposing.

Well we just had a revelation about Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist who constantly refers to Trump as a "master persuader". I never bought it because everything Trump says sounds like bunk to me, but it turns out Adams is a trained hypnotist, and hypnotists call their art "persuasion". So Scott Adams is really saying that Trump is a master hypnotist, which makes a lot more sense.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2017/11/04/dilbert-creator-on-trumps-power-of-persuasion.cnn

I knew that a couple days after following him last year. He talks about it a lot.

I should pick up his new book, or is that just me being hypnotized?

I think reading it as hypnotist rather than persuader makes Scott Adam's take far more interesting and...um...persuasive.

Probably no need for further proof how two-faced Trump is about the policies he promotes, but this is too blatant to ignore.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-gets-visas-70-foreign-212915468.html

KOI-GATE: CNN Deceptively Edits Japan Video To Show Trump Fish Faux Pas

https://news.grabien.com/story-media-invent-two-fake-trump-scandals-first-day-asia-trump

Jeez. There's no need to make anything up. And so the feud continues....

Funny she didn't use any examples from Fox News.

Oh, this is why:

The greatest threat to America is that most Americans don’t know what makes America great. PragerU's mission is to explain and spread what we call “Americanism” through the power of the Internet. Our five-minute videos are conservative sound bites that clarify profoundly significant and uniquely American concepts for more than 100 million people each year.

Though that said I've been very impressed with the Fox anchor, Chris Wallace.  He has been very balanced and more non-partisan than many of the other anchors IMHO.  It's just the personality-driven 'news' interview shows afterwards that go off base.

A story about your area, Dave - they even mention cranberries!

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/fear-regrets-as-pacific-county-residents-go-missing-amid-immigration-crackdown-police-chief-neighbors-kind-of-in-shock-after-immigration-arrests-in-pacific-county-immigration-crack/

Yeah, it's pretty messed up!
Sheriff Johnson came to one of our little community meetings the day before he was "summoned" to talk with Jeff Sessions. I could tell he was personally angry about what was happening in his County (or at least that ICE wasn't talking with him about it) but I think he was a little starstruck at getting to talk to the Attorney General one-on-one.

I know of one granny who'd come into the US on a tourist visa so she could babysit the grandkids while both parents worked shellfish. The ICE agents hauled granny away in handcuffs with the kids watching. I don't have words for how WRONG that is!!!