George Rebane
Having strong or well-formed political beliefs doesn’t always mean that one is also willing or able to reason about them.
Now some keenly honed liberal minds around here think that we should consider the source and therefore ignore the evidence against Hillary. That’s like telling the DA he can’t prosecute because the police got the goods on the defendant from shady informant Vlad the Snitch. Only in America.
In the 3jan17 Union there’s a letter from a Mr Ron Lowe, another leftwinger who lights off on President-elect Trump. The man shows his union school education by citing the non-existent “60s Republican war playbook” that is the source of Trump’s “obvious inferiority complex”, “fear mongering”, and “openly flagrant nuclear war talk”. Now since none of this is happening during his current efforts to set up his administration, Mr Lowe must be getting such reports from one of the many fake news manufactories that have sprung up within the usual lamestream media outlets.
I’m happy to know that our neighbors on the Left will now have at least four enlightening years of the Trump administration during which they will know exactly how we felt and why we protested during the last eight years under the ministrations of Barack Hussein Obama whose domestic policies increased regulations, decreased freedoms, raised taxes, stifled the economy, grew corrupt government; and whose foreign policy can be summarized by ‘Protect Muslims, Ignore Christians, Blame Jews’.
We’re told that former POTUS Obama will have to remain in DC to guard his legacy and provide much needed leadership to the Democrats. Apparently there will be no one else from the Left who is willing to spend much political capital to secure fPOTUS an acceptable place in history. So he’ll just have to do the job himself and become the festering fly in the federal ointment and also his own monument around which today’s over-wrought socialists can rally while they seek to preserve the swamp.
[4jan17 update] Read if you dare Victor Davis Hanson’s most recent report on the state of the Golden State. Abetted by the toxic coastal elites and as we witness daily, our local Left is doing all it can to expand their progressive septic tank to Nevada County. Here is a paragraph, suitable for family reading, that summarizes the details of Hanson’s piece –
Abstract idealism on behalf of the distant is a powerful psychological narcotic that allows caring progressives to dull the guilt they feel about their own privilege and riches. Nowhere is this paradox truer than in California, a dysfunctional natural paradise in which a group of coastal and governing magnificoes virtue-signal from the world’s most exclusive and beautiful enclaves. The state is currently experiencing another perfect storm of increased crime, decreased incarceration, still ongoing illegal immigration, and record poverty. All that is energized by a strapped middle class that is still fleeing the overregulated and overtaxed state, while the arriving poor take their places in hopes of generous entitlements, jobs servicing the elite, and government employment.
rebanesruminations.com 
264 responses to “Scattershots – 3jan17 (updated 4jan17)”
One man’s opinion: 8 years of Obama can be summed up as Arrogance coupled with Ignorance. One cannot get by with voting ‘Present’ when running a country as big as the USA.
Much has been written about the failure of the Left in 2016. “The Rust Belt”/ Midwest grabbed the lion’s share of the focus. Looking back, it is easier to see ignored trends that were in front of our faces the whole time. 2016 was not an anomaly. In the Midwest plus Pennsylvania the Democratic presidential percentage dropped from 54 percent in 2008 and 51 percent in 2012 to 45 percent in 2016. That’s Dem 50 electoral votes that went to Trump. Trump could have lost Florida and still won. Reminiscent of voters leaving the Southern Democrats of an earlier era. 66% of the Midwesterns (and Pennsylvanians outside of the Philly metro area) tie themselves to their regional culture. Midwestern values. Culture is king.
Here is one sentence that sums up the last 8 years for this poster. It includes a word that has been absent from the Left lately. That word is citizenry.
“What’s missing in that is a concentration on the interests of one’s own citizenry. To the left that smacks of nationalism, which some seem to regard as only a baby step away from Nazism. It is not.”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/the-collapse-of-the-political-left/article/2609139
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Hey Paul, check this out: Tech Company Casts Doubt On DHS/FBI Russian Hacking Report
Code identified by the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation as being used by Russian intelligence services is an outdated malware developed by Ukrainians that can be downloaded online, according to a blog post by the founder of WordFence.
WordFence is a plug-in designed to protect users of WordPress that has been downloaded over 1 million times. The report released last Thursday by the DHS and FBI, titled “Grizzly Steppe,” contains a PHP malware sample which WordFence employees analyzed.
“Our security analysts spend a lot of time analyzing PHP malware, because WordPress is powered by PHP,” the blog post written by WordFence founder and CEO Mark Maunder said in a post Friday. “We used the PHP malware indicator of compromise (IOC) that DHS provided to analyze the attack data that we aggregate to try to find the full malware sample.”
The tech CEO wrote: “The PHP malware sample they have provided appears to be P.A.S. version 3.1.0 which is commonly available and the website that claims to have authored it says they are Ukrainian. It is also several versions behind the most current version of P.A.S which is 4.1.1b. One might reasonably expect Russian intelligence operatives to develop their own tools or at least use current malicious tools from outside sources.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/02/tech-company-casts-doubt-on-dhsfbi-russian-hacking-report/
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Something of a fixture on Broad Street, Ron Lowe is always amusing; some of that is unintentional but he’s more of a George Rebane age than a Hillary Hodge age… I’m pretty sure his education predates the teacher’s unions.
He does strike me as a Vietnam War era peacenik and I’d cut him a bit of historical slack… yes, Vietnam grew under Democratic presidents Kennedy and LBJ but Republican Robert McNamara was the Secy of Defense from ’61 to ’68, and Nixon’s Melvin Laird wasn’t any better.
I do find Lowe open to new ideas, though it’s unclear for how long he remembers them. He obviously has problems getting around and I’m more worried about people as thin as he as I am about people as pudgy as Pelline. Nice enough guy, and local color.
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Drain the swamp, my ass! The first thing house Republicans do is meet in secret to cut ethics from their vocabulary.. Ethics, ethics – we don’t need no stinkin’ ethics. What a hoot! It is going to be a fun 4 years!
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/us/politics/trump-house-ethics-office.html?_r=0
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Well George whatever the fuss about Hillary it was only campaign fodder for Trump since he doesn’t intend to jail her as he blatted endlessly during the campaign. If she’s a “crook” as we interminably heard from the Trumpster during the campaign go for it. It’s not important anymore which means it was a bunch a crap from the start.
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Not surprisingly, the Ethics story is not what BradC is ranting about.
WaPo described it like this:
“Under the proposed new rules, the office could not employ a spokesman, investigate anonymous tips or refer criminal wrongdoing to prosecutors without the express consent of the Ethics Committee, which would gain the power to summarily end any OCE probe.”
In other words, it would have been more above board.
What got started by Pelosi in 2008 is more like the House Inquisition Office. It needs fixing but, by the terminology now in vogue… the “optics” are bad.
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Paul, you’re once again conflating issues. The corruption exposed by the WikiLeaked files are not the same acts of Clintons of illegally keeping classified material in her unsecured email server, or emailing it.
You’re the one who thinks the Russkies interfered with the election… well, what you are charging is that the Russkies intentionally revealed Clinton’s minor corruptions… helping push Trump in the earliest primaries, getting Hillary copies of “town hall” questions, pushing Bernie down in the polls… Fun stuff, not unlike the “rat fucking” preferred by Segretti and friends in an earlier time.
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Brad C. Good thing Trump bitch slapped the GOP back down with that one as your link clearly illustrates. The Swamp includes many a politician and the cancer which is found in the Washington bureauracy. Unfortunately Trump has no control over the race baiters and haters on the left side of the aisle. Concerning the semi-independent Ethics Panel, it never hurts to keep an open mind and listen to ideas before giving a bad idea the big “You’re fired”.
Trump gave it a thumbs down. We must focus on fixing the damage done to our economy, our homeland security, our valuable Justice Department, our foreign affairs, our nation and not get hung up on such minor insignificant distractions. Gotta pick your battles. Wisdom displayed. All is well that ends well. Next.
Did you hear what Trump’s New Year Resolution is? When asked he replied “To make America Great Again”. I feel cautiously optimistic.
Happy New Year, Brad. May 2017 bring you much blessings and gratitude.
https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/992980244169346/?type=3&theater
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PaulE 1257pm – Great logic Paul.
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Brad C again. Trump is his own man and is as much a Republican as life long registered Independent Bernie Sanders is a Democrat. Gregory is right. The optics s wrong. Trump said the timing is wrong. I am sure they will try again to put the Ethics Panel back under House ontrol at a atter date and you can slay the dragon then. 🙂
This migh help you in what to expect from Trump. I enjoy reading Michael Barron, a pragmatic old school Democrat. Like the way he looks at things through unfiltered lens. Something for everybody…..something good and something bad for the.both the more ideology bent on the Left and the Right. Call it Midwestern values for lack of a better term.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-nixes-pet-projects-of-liberal-and-conservative-elites/article/2610292
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Well once again Trump wimped out after his big bluster that he was going to put Hillary in jail. This is a Trump video in July during the 2nd debate. So Comey
right, there is no grounds for prosecution. This guy Trump) is a real phony and a liar. You can’t believe a word he says.
“Donald J.Trump told Hillary Clinton during their second presidential debate that if he were elected he would seek a special prosecutor’s investigation of her and that if he were in charge, “You’d be in jail.”
https://www.conservativeoutfitters.com/blogs/news/video-donald-trump-tells-hillary-clinton-she-should-be-in-jail
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Posted by: Paul Emery | 03 January 2017 at 02:23 PM
This guy Trump) is a real phony and a liar. You can’t believe a word he says.
So just like the current chair warmer in the Oval Office then…….good to know!
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Paul… not so fast. This has been in the background from the beginning. You don’t need a special prosecutor when the FBI is doing their job… no effort from the Oval Orifice:
http://hotair.com/archives/2016/12/15/lock-her-up-the-fbi-probe-into-the-clinton-foundation-is-still-ongoing/
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No logic to it George. Trump will say whatever advances his cause at any given time with no intention what so ever to follow up, Do you want a definition? According to Webster “A liar is someone who tells lies” If trump says things like this and has no intention to do it at the time he says it he is, well, a liar.
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Posted by: Paul Emery | 03 January 2017 at 03:47 PM
“….your medical premiums will drop on average $2500 per year…….and you can keep your doctor”!!
They all lie Paul!
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Fish
Thanks for agreeing with me that Trump is a liar.
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Paul It’s obvious you didn’t read the link I posted last night, about Hillary not being free and clear. The investigation is back on. Somehow you think Trump is going to personally walk her to prison and make sure she’s bunked with “Big Marge”.Hillary burned her “get out of jail free” card. Trump seems to hold grudges. Revenge is a dish served cold. So when hillary least expects FBI cars littering her compound, she should expect the arrival. Trump may be following his own advice. keep your mouth shot, and don’t give the opponent any clue.
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Posted by: Paul Emery | 03 January 2017 at 04:15 PM
Paul
Thanks for agreeing with me that Obama is a liar.
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By your definition they are both liars Fish.
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Dr. Rebane. Re: ‘Protect Muslims, Ignore Christians, Blame Jews.’
Looking back from the top of my head…….
Obama spent two decades sitting in Rev. Jerimiah Wright’s church soaking up all that Black Theology hate for Israel. He puts The Muslim Brotherhood in the White House as advisors and on advisory committees. He immediately dropped the voter intimation charges against New Black Panthers members brandishing arms outside polling places (Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam’s followers) that the Bush Administration filed. He palled around with and quoted professors who sing praise for Hamas and welcomed them to the White House.
He made the Israeli Ambassador and Foreign Minister sit in the waiting room for two-three hours as he goes upstairs and has dinner with his family and hangs out up there. Obama has shown nothing but contempt for Israel since day one. He directed $350,000 from the Administration’s funds to a NGO to actively work on the ground in Israel to defeat Netanyahu in the 2015 elections. Talk about trying to influence other countries elections.
I recall that line I will never forget about Obama from the Austrialian press. To paraphrase from memory, “You can disagree with Obama on politics and he is ok with that. But if you disagree with Obama on ideology, he will hate you.” Obama has shown hate for Israel. Maybe the seed was planted by his father or his time growing up overseas of which he wrote the “sweetest sound I ever heard was the call to prayer” from the Mosque.
We all know how much contempt Obama has shown for Conservative governments from Austrialia to Great Britain. So much so he had his Secretary of State declare the Socialist Party French President “our greatest alley.” No conservative government ever received such love from Obama as new liberal Prime Minister of Canada when he beat the Conservatives.
At first I thought such hate it was about ideology. Looking back, I have no doubt we had a full blown anti-Semite in the Oval Office. Add anti-Semite to the list when discussing Obama’s legacy.
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Posted by: Paul Emery | 03 January 2017 at 04:23 PM
“They all lie Paul!”
Not just both……
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Dr.R… My last post went to the great beyond. That’s a first.
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Fish and Walt: You guys crack me up. Remember the mark of Lefties is they no sense of humor and they will even argue with you over that, lol. It’s a fact, jack. A glum lot they are.
When all else fails remember to have fun as you enter into deep discussions with them. It took awhile, but it wasn’t that hard to get Hillary to “short circuit”.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=APaBX-etLi4
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Posted by: Bill Tozer | 03 January 2017 at 04:34 PM
Remember the mark of Lefties is they no sense of humor and they will even argue with you over that, lol. It’s a fact, jack. A glum lot they are.
Still trying to figure out why self declared “libertarian” Paul Emery is so livid over the Trump victory if he doesn’t like liars but breathlessly trots Obama stats like a hardcore lefty fanboi when even a casual search that Barry handles the truth like Dracula handles sunlight!
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Glad to be able to give ya’ a chuckle Bill. But your the perverted poet here. Even Mrs. who doesn’t care too much for let’s say,,,colorful language? Even she makes and exception for you. You do set off a nuke here now and then.(love it)
Your 4:23 is a great trip down memory lane. Now that would be a great “skunk” to toss onto the editorial page of The Union.
Good job Sir. Good job.
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<i.Posted by: Walt | 03 January 2017 at 04:46 PM
Concur Walt…..Bill is truly the Poet Laureate at RR’s!
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This just in.
http://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2017/01/03/gop-rep-introduces-national-concealed-carry-reciprocity-day-one-new-congress/
OH how the LIBS are going to howl.
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Walt 433pm – It surely must have, for it is not even in the TypePad Spam folder. Please repost.
Paule 347pm – “No logic to it George” – we agree!
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Geeze Louise. First it was Bush lied, Bush lied! Year in and year out each time we tried to discuss Zerobama. Now, today’s obsession is a slightly different variation of BDS with the non-stop Trump lied, Trump lied, Trump lied! Let me tell ya fellas, the silent treatment is where it’s at. It’s glorious.
Beginning to feel sorry for ourresident tortured soul. I would throw the rabid dog a bone and say Trump lied just so he doesn’t go postal on the innocent pedestrians in the Berkely of the Foothills. Come on, fellas, you can do it. So some mercy.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hafaW1uLE-4
Ok, take a deep breath and let’s try it again. We got a mental health crisis going down. I am counting on you.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zR1Yoqp6MCs
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Thanks for looking George. No biggie.
But I sure would love to hear the excuse for this.
http://www.theunion.com/priority/main-headline/nevada-county-police-chase-suspects-in-stolen-truck-on-highway-20/
From here to Sac.? And down 20 no less?,, In a delivery truck???
I know our cops have it rough right now,, but Come On….
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Promises, promises. The truth shall set you free…..or maybe not for some.in 2017.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-03/wikileaks-hints-huge-upcoming-revelations-2017-will-blow-you-away
I did notice Brother Julian got his internet turned back on without fanfare after the elections. Boy, I can here it now and it ain’t going to be pretty. Ear plug time.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JxkWJcFhfkE
PS: Yes, this is on topic. Found the line in Dr. Rebane’s excellent opening words, “Now some keenly honed liberal minds around here think that we should consider the source and therefore ignore the evidence against Hillary.” Best to put Sam to bed now. May need him later after the Inauguration.
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Rules? WE don’t need follow no stink’n rules!
Dems Take Photos on House Floor to Protest Proposed GOP Fine – See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/57026-2#sthash.Ep8irkmG.dpuf
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Progressive agenda/ideals? We don’t need no stinkin’ ideas, we just need to oppose Trump every single step of every single day. By Jove, I do believe I found his new playbook.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery.
Critically, they [The Tea Party] were also purely defensive. They didn’t feel obligated to present alternatives to what was happening in Washington; they just said no. “While the Tea Party activists were united by a core set of shared beliefs, they actively avoided developing their own policy agenda,” the guide says. “Instead, they had an extraordinary clarity of purpose, united in opposition to President Obama. They didn’t accept concessions and treated weak Republicans as traitors.” Stopping Trump isn’t about coming up with alternatives, since Democratic alternatives will have nowhere to go under a unified Republican government, the guide adds. “The hard truth of the next four years is that we’re not going to set the agenda;”
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/12/the_tea_party_taught_us_how_to_resist_donald_trump.html
Oh goodie! More of his playbook, more of the same. Sweet.
“The key elements: organizing locally, sustained targeting of individual members of Congress (MoC), and accepting that we will be playing defense for at least the next four years (blocking a conservative/authoritarian goals, not advancing a progressive vision/agenda”
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/12/15/24750221/required-reading-a-practical-guide-for-resisting-the-trump-agenda
Play it again, Sam.
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Watching the news, seems LIBS already for they lost.
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Obama’s legacy: a different view from a non-fake progressive. Lengthy.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/obamas_neoliberal_legacy_rightward_drift_and_donald_trump_20170103
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Yeah Bill
Bush lied. Just ask your guy Trump. He’ll agree. He even wanted him impeached.
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Yeah Paul Emery, your guy Obama never lied and either did your gal Hillary or her hubby Bill. You are stuck in a rut and boring as hell now.
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Paul, Bush “lied” by repeating and acting upon what Democrat George Tenet, head of the CIA, assured him was a “slam dunk”.
It isn’t a lie if you believed it when you said it. Gore would have been told the same thing had he won (no, he really didn’t win).
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My biggest concern about Trump is that he’s an idiot. Taking on the entire US Intelligence community on the Russian hacks is stupid beyond comprehension. Does he have any idea what they can do to him? Siding with Assange publicly is egotistic idiocy beyond belief.
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Hay Paul. Go ahead. Bitch about Bush. Look what your pal “O” is up too.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2531054/america-special-forces-russian-border-lithuania-obama-putin/
If LIBS can’t rule the U.S., no one should. Leave it smoking in destruction.
Fine time grow a set of balls, or did he borrow Valary Jerrod’s?
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PaulE 1139am – I wonder if you and yours would have called Bush2 an idiot if he had taken on the entire western world’s intelligence community (including our own) when they all agreed that Saddam had and was using WMDs. Just a thought.
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Gregory
George Tenet was Bush’s guy Gregory once he selected him to be the head of the CIA. Gosh you know that.
The fact is that your guy Trump said Bush lied and should be impeached.
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Get over it Paul. It wasn’t “PC” to admit that WMDs existed. I will take the word, AND the photos that were taken by one of my workmates, who “was there”,, that they existed.
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George
Good jab George. The difference is that Bush and the CIA were deliberating secretly on the matter. Trump is taking on the entire intelligence community and the Senate publicly through social media to apparently discredit their credibility and faith in their judgement. This is beyond precedent in my opinion.
George if you are willing to once again go through the blow by blow narrative as to how the CIA came to that conclusion about WMD’s let’s do it. Let me know. I am only reporting what Trump said about Bush.
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So Walt you are in disagreement with Trump when he says the CIA lied about WMD’s as a reason for caution on their view of that the Russians interfered with the election.
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I watched the Wikileaks guy Julian last night. Asked if the Russians or their agents supplied the emails, he NOPE! So Paul Emery, why do you think you have seen no facts from our government agencies on this?
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LOL Paul,, Try harder. There is less evidence that the Russians hacked. I see another good application of salve to that LIB backside is in order.
Never mind the FACT that those WMDS that “didn’t exist” HAVE been used, and under “O” watch no less. “Red lines” Paul,, RED LINES…. President nutless tucked tail and ran.. For the golf course.
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So Todd lets get this straight. You believe Assange rather than the entire intelligence community on the issue of Russian hacking. Yes or no..
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Love it. The “intelligence community ” said there were WMDS. Pauld still doesn’t believe, because “they were Bush’s people”. Now just because they are on the LIB leash, he now takes their word?(with no proof what so ever.)
This keeps getting better and better Paul.
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Yes, just like you believed your sources that Bush was misformed by his. So what is your point? Are you now saying Bush was right? Looks like it to me.
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