Trolls beware, the US just indicted a bunch of Russians for trolling Americans on social media.

RightON wrote:

Thanks Flagpole.

Another wrong does not make a wrong right. Never has, never will. Unfortunately we had a terrible choice for President in 2016. Both had seriously polarizing issues and at the very least moral improprieties, probably both had criminal issues. Now people want to justify their choice by ignoring the problems, but this is very misguided.

Those denying or defending Russian election hacking at this point are Anti-American. We don't know if Trump was directly involved, but as Americans we should want to know the truth. I hope he was not directly involved.

I ALSO hope he was not directly involved. I think it will be found out that he was though, even if just a little bit, and I think that solely based on his behavior since being elected though I do think it is possible he has behaved that way because he has committed financial crimes he doesn't want discovered. We all deserve the truth.

I agree that the truth is the most important thing here. All Americans should want this investigation to be full and complete.

"Country over Party" ... when it's protecting Democrats...

Those denying or defending Russian election hacking at this point are Anti-American.

"Hacking"...

Flagpole wrote:

Johnny Chung wrote:

b) arguably the usage of slush money funded by foreign entities with advert campaigns goes back to Clinton and China in 1996

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I ALSO hope he was not directly involved. I think it will be found out that he was though, even if just a little bit, and I think that solely based on his behavior since being elected though I do think it is possible he has behaved that way because he has committed financial crimes he doesn't want discovered. We all deserve the truth.

So then (to stick with on particular): what do you think of Hillary's paying foreigners for Steele dossier, to be used in secret FISA court as "evidence" to spy on Trump (via the oblong Carter Page, otherwise a nobody, who might have even been planted)?

We all deserve the truth.

The main thing here is that there was no collusion at all! I won fair and square. Good news for me is the pee pee video still hasn't come out.

I used to be a Democrat. But they wouldn't accept me. It may have been the hairpiece. So I became a Republican. As I said, they are very easy to fool. Now I'm president, and they love me even though I don't care about them. Tremendous!

The list could be endless wrote:

So then (to stick with on particular): what do you think of Hillary's paying foreigners for Steele dossier, to be used in secret FISA court as "evidence" to spy on Trump (via the oblong Carter Page, otherwise a nobody, who might have even been planted)?

We all deserve the truth.

HRC's actions were filtered through enough know-nothing (or at least say-nothing) shell-intermediaries to skirt any red flags.

Not to mention that she unprosecutable in any event.

Foreign countries have been interfering in U.S. elections at least since World War II, and probably since the dawn of the republic. Similarly, the US has been interfering in other nation's domestic issues, including both democratic elections and coup's de tat, in a similar manner. It's a big, ugly, messy world-and every nation on earth has interests that cause them to maneuver in unsavory ways.

It goes beyond elections--anyone who thinks Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby were not tools of the Soviet government is an idiot.

Umm, ever hear of a reality check? wrote:

Foreign countries have been interfering in U.S. elections at least since World War II, and probably since the dawn of the republic. Similarly, the US has been interfering in other nation's domestic issues, including both democratic elections and coup's de tat, in a similar manner. It's a big, ugly, messy world-and every nation on earth has interests that cause them to maneuver in unsavory ways.

Even unrelated to the indictments yesterday take 2 other prominent things from the last election - the Steele dossier and Hillary's email. Unless I'm reading it wrong, they both show Russians with their hands all over things related to the election.

If the Russians are the ones who uploaded all of Hillary's emails to Wikileaks they did that for a reason and it affects an election (bad for her)

With the Steele Dossier, if everything in it were true that means the Russians surveilled Trump, and wanted it out there (bad for him). If the dossier is not true, then they still wanted the false information to get out there (bad for him).

Now the emails and dossier seems to be at cross purposes so maybe different groups of Russians were behind them. Who knows. I'd like an explanation.

And with the emails and dossier many Americans wanted the information presumably from the Russians because they think it helps their candidate.

Flagpole wrote:

You know, they often lie to you too wrote:

Don't tempt me to give some other such definitive statements from the US intelligence community.

Hey, he was appointed by Trump himself. Trump is a serial liar...you should not believe anything he says.

A weak US President is good for Russia. It's not that they have a preference really-or that one is weaker than the other. It benefits them if whomever is elected is compromised. It doesn't matter much who is elected--only that they are embroiled in scandal and discontent, and spend more time defending against that than defending against Russia advancing her interests. It's not a boolean world, with him good, she bad-or she good, him bad. An America deeply divided is a weaker America--and all this partisan bullsh!t is exactly what serves Russia's interests.

Manure from the Horse's mouth wrote:

Flagpole wrote:

Hey, he was appointed by Trump himself. Trump is a serial liar...you should not believe anything he says.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/965079126829871104

So the POTUS is still more focused on convincing everyone that he did win the election rather than focusing on the larger picture of clear evidence that there was interference from a foreign country.

You nitwits elected him. You deal with him.

The list could be endless wrote:

I ALSO hope he was not directly involved. I think it will be found out that he was though, even if just a little bit, and I think that solely based on his behavior since being elected though I do think it is possible he has behaved that way because he has committed financial crimes he doesn't want discovered. We all deserve the truth.

So then (to stick with on particular): what do you think of Hillary's paying foreigners for Steele dossier, to be used in secret FISA court as "evidence" to spy on Trump (via the oblong Carter Page, otherwise a nobody, who might have even been planted)?

We all deserve the truth.

1) The Steele dossier wasn't the thing that kicked off the eavesdropping of Carter Page. He was on their radar as far back as 2013, and Papadapolous' discussion with that dude in Australia was way more important.

2) I am only interested in whether things are legal or illegal. So far I have not heard one legal expert say that anyone paying for the Steele Dossier (Republicans initiated that research) broke the law. IF it is determined that the DNC or Hillary broke a law (and I'm not saying she or the DNC didn't), then I am for them paying the price. People who break the law need to be held accountable, no matter who they are.

3) What matters most is what the person who is the President is doing or has done. Right now, everyone and their brother agrees that if there was collusion (conspiracy) with Russia to help Trump win the election that that would break election laws at a minimum and could possibly bring stronger charges.

I am fine with any truth...the whole truth, no matter if Democrats are found to be guilty of things or not.

I am only interested in whether things are legal or illegal.

OK, what did Trump do that might plausibly be illegal?

Noter of question dodging wrote:

Flagpole wrote:

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Nice try, but the dude didn't ask me any questions, so it's impossible to dodge questions that weren't asked. Read more carefully next time.

Meddling, they call it wrote:

I am only interested in whether things are legal or illegal.

OK, what did Trump do that might plausibly be illegal?

That's why the investigation has been going on for 16 months. Still have to find something.

Usually not difficult, given how fast/loose most politicos play things (cf. any number of people), but then, Trump is not the usual in the political world.

Meddling, they call it wrote:

I am only interested in whether things are legal or illegal.

OK, what did Trump do that might plausibly be illegal?

WELL...nothing has been charged yet, but he obviously is under investigation. The comment you quoted of mine had to do with the Russians that were indicted, not Trump.

However, in order of likelihood, here is what Trump faces:

1) Obstruction of Justice and Money Laundering (tied)

2) Perjury (he needs to talk to someone first, but if he does, he will be charged with this)

3) Conspiracy against the United States (he almost for sure has done this, but it will be the hardest to prove, AND it IS slightly less likely that he did this than the two things tied for #1)

Again, I am interested in legality or not, so, the truth. Trump is responsible for this investigation when he fired Comey and then flat out admitted that he did it because of the Russia investigation. That was stupid beyond belief. If he really had nothing to hide, he should have let it go on. If a Democrat President fired the person leading an investigation into his or her dealings, Republicans (and I) would want that President investigated, and rightly so. Trump made his bed...unfortunately there was also a whore porn star and Playmate in it too.

Meanwhile, HRC is not in jail wrote:

Meddling, they call it wrote:

OK, what did Trump do that might plausibly be illegal?

That's why the investigation has been going on for 16 months. Still have to find something.

Usually not difficult, given how fast/loose most politicos play things (cf. any number of people), but then, Trump is not the usual in the political world.

1) Mueller began investigating in July...that is when this all began in earnest. The FBI investigation before that wasn't anywhere near as in depth as Mueller's. Actually a lot of things have been discovered in such a short amount of time.

2) You are correct that Trump is not the norm...he is so utterly criminal it is insane. He is a puppet of Putin's. He is an adulterer and sexual abuser that Christian Conservatives support, he swears a lot, he's a serial liar, he's rude, crude, creepy, lazy to record-setting proportions, such a horrible leader that he has a very hard time keeping employees at the White House, and he is the least-prepared person for the office ever who has made taxpayers pay so much extra so that he can go play golf in Florida. How Evangelicals fell for Mr. "Two Corinthians" is beyond me...shows they really don't care about morals, because he is amoral.

Hope that helps.