sleeper;1857334 wrote:Great NPR podcast about Kansas and it's attempt at GOP economic nirvana:



http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/01/11/509378842/episode-577-the-kansas-experiment

Fail.

People here still think California is failing. Kansas will be given a pass because it doesn't have bountiful resources (but in the same breath Texas' bountiful resources are,overlooked) and the fact that the most innovative city in,the world is also probably the most liberal in the country is also ignored because "oh look a,couple antifa douchers shut down a taco stand!" etc.

You know like you used to as sleeper2.0

Ahhhh, yes....Kansas.

Another example of not understanding economic theory and its underlying assumptions. But even if we accept it as a poster-child for failed Reaganomics, you still have CA....and IL....and NY....and NJ....not to mention numerous democratically organized cities.

BoatShoes;1857341 wrote:To paraphrase Comey on Hillary - no reasonable prosecutor would take that case given the facts and circumstances.

That would have been an awesome line, had the DOJ not previously charged 2 other people under the exact same facts and circumstances.

A better analogy would be Bill's tarmac meeting with Lynch.

BoatShoes;1857341 wrote:To paraphrase Comey on Hillary - no reasonable prosecutor would take that case given the facts and circumstances.

Understandably .............Exhibit A - Seth Rich.

Is anyone watching the hearing? I'm not, but if my twitter feed is any indication, it's looking like a pretty colossal democrat faceplant.

fish82;1857621 wrote:Is anyone watching the hearing? I'm not, but if my twitter feed is any indication, it's looking like a pretty colossal democrat faceplant.

I have. There has been things said by Comey that is bad for Trump politically, but nothing really that can damage him legally.

I did find it interesting he subtly threw Lynch under the bus stating she urged him to refer to the Clinton investigation as a "matter."

Yes, the updates I am getting indicate that fact. I assume the main networks have resumed regularly-scheduled programming.

QuakerOats;1857274 wrote:And yet we had the former prez arranging a meeting between his Attorney General and the husband of a presidential candidate who was under federal criminal investigation.



And the media went on snooze.





And some people STILL don't understand why Trump was elected.

The media didn't go on snooze though...everyone talked about that and without any hard evidence people inferred impropriety (not an unreasonable suspicion) and in the same way people infer impropriety - based on suspicion and no hard evidence - with the TrumpRussia stuff...

The same smoke = gotta be a fire and ensuing media frenzy that harmed Hillary is now dragging down Trump.

In both cases Hillary and Trump (and their internal circles) ultimately only have themselves to blame.

BoatShoes;1857631 wrote:In both cases Hillary and Trump (and their internal circles) ultimately only have themselves to blame.

I very much agree with this. Although there were other things that hurt Hillary's campaign in a bigger way, the emails definitely played a part.

Nothing we didn't already know was revealed. You could easily argue that Trump committed obstruction of justice by firing Comey for the Russia stuff and trying to ask for a loyalty pledge from an independent organization.

If Trump was a Democrat or if the Democrats owned Congress, Trump would be impeached and out the door before the end of the month. GOP continues to choose party over country.

like_that;1857624 wrote:I have. There has been things said by Comey that is bad for Trump politically, but nothing really that can damage him legally.

I did find it interesting he subtly threw Lynch under the bus stating she urged him to refer to the Clinton investigation as a "matter."

Yeah, +1 here. I read a little bit of it while at an event. The Flynn stuff looks just idiotic and dumb. Legally, nothing there technically, but the President does look like an idiot saying that. It does nothing to change Trump's view to many that he is a creepy dude.

Trump is not getting impeached, but the perception of him as an idiot and aloof will continue.

sleeper;1857644 wrote:Nothing we didn't already know was revealed.

Exactly as you were told it would be.

fish82;1857659 wrote:Exactly as you were told it would be.

Well right except now the memos that were leaked weren't really fake news like conservatives wanted it to be. Also, now the testimony is under oath which enhances the credibility substantial.

Amazing how everything labeled 'Fake News' turns out to be true.

sleeper;1857663 wrote:Well right except now the memos that were leaked weren't really fake news like conservatives wanted it to be. Also, now the testimony is under oath which enhances the credibility substantial.

Amazing how everything labeled 'Fake News' turns out to be true.

Comey just admitted orchestrating the leak.

Nice.

like_that;1857624 wrote:I did find it interesting he subtly threw Lynch under the bus stating she urged him to refer to the Clinton investigation as a "matter."

Comey expounded on this. He said it gave the impression that the AG was trying to get the FBI to align how they describe their work with the Clinton campaign. Also he did not push back and complied with the request because it was not a hill worth dying on. He also noted that he believed him calling it a "matter" would fail anyways because the press would still refer to it as an investigation.

QuakerOats;1857666 wrote:Comey just admitted orchestrating the leak.

Nice.

Question, was any of it classified?
I don't think so...

I had this on while working so I would catch bits and pieces. I recall one Senator asking him if he would be required by law for him to report the commission of a crime. Comey said he was not aware of one but said something along the lines of FBI doing it out of duty. It would surprise me that he would not know that their is such a law or that the Senator did not seem to know either. At first I thought the Senator was laying some type of trap to get Comey to admit that he believe nothing illegal occurred.

Sounds like the only worthwhile event today was the verification that it's long past time for John McCain to retire.

fish82;1857676 wrote:Sounds like the only worthwhile event today was the verification that it's long past time for John McCain to retire.

Impression I got from reading is that he came off as a senile, rambling doofus.

Heretic;1857678 wrote:Impression I got from reading is that he came off as a senile, rambling doofus.

Same.

Heretic;1857678 wrote:Impression I got from reading is that he came off as a senile, rambling doofus.

Senile old men are no strangers to the Senate. Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd come to mind. Thurmond was 100 and Byrd 92. One of them if I remember correctly passed out in the Senate. I believe Thurmond used to fall asleep. Either way at this age its just their name getting them elected and their aides run the show.

sleeper;1857663 wrote:Well right except now the memos that were leaked weren't really fake news like conservatives wanted it to be.

While the memos are real (allegedly - still hasn't provided them to Congress), how they were presented and characterized wasn't exactly what I would call journalism.

They intimated Trump may have committed a crime, or obstruction or whatever other sensational BS you drooled over. Oh, and they excluded the fact that Trump, in fact, was not a target of the investigation (one that is counter intel, not criminal....a fact often ignored).

So what really happened here was a memo was used to manufacture an opinion piece - one that was inaccurate and incomplete at best - and presented as fact/journalism. That certainly IS one definition of fake news. This was going to be a bombshell, remember? Then when Comey himself addresses the memos, it ends up being a great big nothingburger (like we told you, repeatedly). Guess you can't believe everything you read in NYT and CNN.

We've gone from Trump committing crimes, to Trump colluding, to Trump obstructing to... ."who cares just impeach him".

fish82;1857676 wrote:Sounds like the only worthwhile event today was the verification that it's long past time for John McCain to retire.

Great point. The guy has been honored - deservedly - for his service and POW time in Vietnam. But he has turned that into a tenured position where he represents the entitled and out of touch Washingtonite as much as Ted Kennedy ever did. This guy has never seemed to see a war he didn't want us to join.

Please go enjoy your retirement.

BoatShoes;1857631 wrote: The same smoke = gotta be a fire and ensuing media frenzy that harmed Hillary is now dragging down Trump.

We'll see. Hillary had a server obviously to evade FOIA, did not comply with an order to turn over all her emails, and violated laws on classified information. We know this. We have proof of a crime. In Trump's case, we have no proof he's committed any crimes.

Some evidence may eventually turn up, but until then no it's not the same. Yeah, maybe this is kind of like Benghazi, X10....of course, it WAS eventually shown that the BS about a video and "spontaneous demonstrations" was a deliberate attempt to lie to and mislead the American people.

QuakerOats;1857274 wrote:And yet we had the former prez arranging a meeting between his Attorney General and the husband of a presidential candidate who was under federal criminal investigation.

And the media went on snooze.

This is a worthwhile point. While people talked about it, it wasn't covered much on most credible news sources, and it probably should have been, as it was very much in poor taste.

gut;1857282 wrote:Politicians will continue these abuses because their voters are blindly partisan.

Pretty much this.

sleeper;1857334 wrote:Great NPR podcast about Kansas and it's attempt at GOP economic nirvana:

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/01/11/509378842/episode-577-the-kansas-experiment

Fail.

It's a failure at the state level because one school with 65 kids in it closed down, and they had to go 10-20 miles away for school?

Please tell me there are better examples of it failing, because that's a pretty small trade off. Kids are still going to school, it sounds, and 10-20 miles is hardly unreasonable. My elementary school growing up was about that far (12, if Google Maps can be trusted).

BoatShoes;1857631 wrote:In both cases Hillary and Trump (and their internal circles) ultimately only have themselves to blame.

Bingo.

How on earth these became our "best" options, I'll never know.

ptown_trojans_1;1857656 wrote:Trump is not getting impeached, but the perception of him as an idiot and aloof will continue.

I have a hard time imagining that not continuing anyway. His entire public persona seems to exude it.

Heretic;1857678 wrote:Impression I got from reading is that he came off as a senile, rambling doofus.

Imagine if we'd had HIM as president from 2008 to 2016. Yikes.