156 responses to “Sandbox – 5dec18”

1. 

   Gregory

   08 December 2018

   A bit of “yellow vest” trivia from France… the obnoxious lime-green-‘yellow’ vests worn by les Deplorables? They’re required to be in the car, to be worn after an accident… or needing to change a tire.
   A brilliant campaign. I wonder to where it will lead, besides to Macron being a lame duck?

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2. 

   scenes

   08 December 2018

   “the Lamestream news media has been able to ignore and/or suppress all the crap China has been up to for the last 20 years.”
   An odd thing to be sure. Perhaps they share financial interests or it’s just that people like loading up their baskets at Walmart.
   It’s fun to live in an era when the Democrats are all-in with large multinationals and the 17 intelligence agencies. To me, Trump is the best thing that could have happened to the Republican party. The Green Libertarians can flutter their hankies all they like about Trump’s pussy grabbin’ exploits, but in the final analysis they’ve shackled themselves to their new bestest buddies: Google, Sam Walton, and the CIA.
   This latest business with equating nationalism with Nazism makes their philosophy quite a bit more plain.

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3. 

   Bill Tozer

   08 December 2018

   @8:14 am
   “It’s the ‘Russia’ investigation, remember”
   Not anymore. The Special Prosecutor, DOJ prosecutors, legal beagles, and armchair quarterbacks watching TV can toss any term out there they wish wth references to violations of law in court filings. But, but, but that does not mean that those chargess are ever brought forth, filed, or would stand up in a court of law. What ever happened to the hype over the Logan Act? What ever happened to Sally Yates?
   As far as the Russian Collusion goes, Bruce Ohr, Andy McCabe, Peter S, and Comey got fired along with Steele while Simpson of Fusion GPS is under investigation for lying to Congress. Then there are investigations into who leaked stories about Flynn to the media, a serious felony. And let’s not forget the signatories to the FISA apps.
   Hmmm. Hey, let’s look at obstruction of justice or the meeting at Trump Tower where nothing of value was received or exchanged. Let’s look at campaign finance law…..where the prosecutors stopped short of accusing Trump of committing any crime.
   Interesting article I read this morning……a non partisan article.
   “But thus far the foreign donation ban has played an elusive role in Mueller’s investigation. Despite leveling more than 100 criminal charges at a total of 34 individuals and three companies, Mueller has yet to directly charge anyone with violating the foreign donation ban.
   The foreign donation ban was cited in an early Mueller search warrant for the Alexandria condo owned by former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who has since been convicted of bank and tax fraud and admitted to evading a federal law requiring registration of lobbyists for foreign governments.
   Some have accused Mueller of deliberately avoiding charging a violation of the ban. A Russian firm that is the only defendant currently fighting a Mueller charge, Concord Management and Consulting of St. Petersburg, has alleged that the special counsel didn’t charge the company with violating the prohibition because prosecutors knew they couldn’t show the defendants knew their conduct was illegal, which the law requires.
   A criminal complaint against a Russian accountant connected to Concord, Elena Khusyaynova, explicitly cites the foreign donation ban, but doesn’t charge any specific violation of it. (However, that case, focusing on alleged interference in the 2018 midterm elections, is being handled by prosecutors in Alexandria, Va. — not by Mueller’s team.)
   “The Special Counsel has pleaded around the knowledge requirements of all related substantive statutes and regulations,” Concord’s American lawyers, Eric Dubelier and Kate Seikaly wrote in a filing earlier this year that accused Mueller’s team of “sleight of hand.
   https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/08/the-legal-battle-that-could-undermine-law-at-center-of-mueller-probe-1052217

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4. 

   Scott O

   08 December 2018

   scenes ” Perhaps they share financial interests or it’s just that people like loading up their baskets at Walmart.”
   Not to mention a certain CA Senator with a certain husband who has been extremely chummy with the ChiComs.
   She even hired a ChiCom agent to drive her around for years.
   I’m sure the Chinese let white boys from America drive their govt mucky-mucks around.

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5. 

   Paul Emery

   08 December 2018

   Gregory writes:
   ALSO nothing to do with Russia.
   It’s the ‘Russia’ investigation, remember?
   Doesn’t need to be just about Russia. Thought you knes that. It’s a pleasure to educate you. Here’s the details
   “But it is important to note that Mueller’s written directive from Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who appointed the special counsel, establishes that Mueller is to investigate any links between Russia and the Trump campaign, and “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”4 In other words, the special counsel is duty-bound to investigate other serious crimes that may crop up in his investigation, including, but not limited to, money laundering, tax evasion, perjury, abuses at the Trump charities, or espionage. The Manafort-Gates indictments suggest that the Special Counsel investigation traverses a timeline that includes, but again, is not limited to, the campaign.”
   https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/reports/2017/12/07/443833/donald-trump-criminal-conspiracy-law/

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6. 

   Bill Tozer

   08 December 2018

   Scott @ 8:31.
   Depends how you look at it.
   “M – Trump certainly didn’t ‘start’ a trade war. He was just the first POTUS in a while to stand up to the ChiComs and try to get them to play fair. They’ve been ripping off the rest of the industrial world for decades. If the Chinese govt limits imports, they’re ‘protecting their domestic industries’.
   If Trump does the same, he’s ‘starting a trade war’.
   I would go further. I would say Trump is the first person in the world to stand up to the Chinese. No Euopean nation, no Asian nation, no African nation, no nation from the Americas ever stood up to the Chinese on fair trade. Sure, various Presidents have decried Chinese currency manipulation and bemoaned to private groups about Chinese theft of our Crown Jewels from our companies ( good old Yankee invention, know how, and technological advances), yet Trump is the first I am aware of that has stood toe to toe with the Red Chinese and matched tariff for tariff. Fair trade is something new.
   So, did Trump start a trade war? Or did the Chinese start it decades ago and Trump is the first to say, “No mas, we aren’t going to take it no more.” Depends how you look at it.

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