DogofWar1

I think at this point Flynn is well beyond the probable cause needed to issue a warrant, and likely beyond all reasonable doubt with all the evidence. The question now is, is there illegal activity from those who were not under the same restrictions as Flynn, seeing as Flynn had some special requirements due to being ex-military. My guess is that yes, there was, but it won't be as readily apparent as it is with Flynn. But it's crazy to think of the magnitude of this. An individual who violated the law, and whose violations involve being cozy with Russia no less, was our National Security Adviser. That is the kind of **** they shoehorn into movies but handwave the process of how they got there because no rational writers can ever figure out a way to do without tripping up our suspension of disbelief. I'm frustrated with how calm everyone is. I suppose there's time for it to sink in still, but a sense of urgency would be nice.

The iHop menu. Because Flynn is toast. If Chaffetz is saying what Flynn did was likely illegal, it's basically lights out for him, he's getting indicted. This means his offer to testify in exchange for immunity had some actual reason behind it other than clearing the air as his attorneys said. Whoever hands up the biggest fish to fry will get immunity, the rest will get indictments. It will likely take some time, gotta get through the roadblocks (see: administration denying request for documents), but it'll happen.

Damn it Comey, you broke the rules one time and doomed us all. You better make this up to everyone. You have until November to take down Trump and his whole cult. You can never make the US totally whole, but you can at least mitigate the damage for your mistake.

The Grey War's front lines. https://mobile.twitter.com/sturdyAlex/status/856571608374366209

Joke's on you, Putin. We're rolling back environmental regulations so fast there won't even BE an Arctic. So there.

Le Pen's Russian financial backing is much more in the open than Trump's was. Hopefully that fact hits people hard. If I was French, I would be outraged at the possibility that someone whose financial backing is Russian in origin could be leading the country. You are beholden to whoever finances you. Le Pen is not beholden to the French people. It is my hope that the runoff polls showing a big win for Macron hold and Europe can turn the tide back against Russia and it's grey war.

Can the GOP use reconciliation on the budget? I was under the impression that reconciliation was available to bills involving budgetary matters. I'm not sufficiently well versed in the Senate's minutiae to say with certainly there isn't some exception or reason a budget bill couldn't fall under reconciliation, but if there isn't and a budget bill could be passed under reconciliation, then the GOP really has no excuse. This isn't to say the GOP shouldn't try to find common ground with Dems on the budget, but the battle lines are already drawn up that any budget failure is the fault of Dems, when really this could be another healthcare situation.

Generally speaking you don't bail in the middle of your term to start "looking" for a private sector job. Especially not a high ranking GOPer like Chaffetz. Either he's got something lined up or there is a scandal and he's desperately trying to keep a lid on it for as long as possible. Also for ****s sake, take your own advice dingus. “Not in any way shape or form,” he said. “I’ve been given more enemas by more people over the last eight years than you can possibly imagine. From the Secret Service to the Democratic Party. I am who I am. If they had something really scandalous, it would’ve come out a long, long time ago.” Either Chaffetz is a raging hypocrite (yes), or the above is not true and stuff could still come out (also potentially true).

Something big happened. If he actually resigns soon, that's too weird to not suggest that something is about to drop.

Interesting times. Ossoff nearly won outright and is a toss up to win the run-off in the 49th least red district. That means there are at least that many in play next year, and likely more if Kansas is any indication. Mix that with Trump potentially thinking he's more popular than Ryan in Ryan's stomping ground, and you've got a situation where Trump might finally toss Priebus out, while the rest of the GOP, probably 60 or so of them, are facing down exceptionally tough 2018s. If Ossoff wins the run-off, the odds of a Trump impeachment go up considerably.

Yeah, Chaffetz out in 2018 https://mobile.twitter.com/politico/status/854709888714510336 Can't read too much into it right now, but he was one of the worst in there so I suppose it's at least leaning towards good news.

I think he did the "show" part of "show and tell." He left the "tell" part to his doctor, who apparently is as loony as Trump, and investigated Trump's health about as thoroughly as Putin investigates Russian corruption.

I mean, syphilitic insanity, leading to him making baseless accusations based on paranoid delusions, probably isn't impeachable but certainly it's immoral he didn't disclose it during the election.

Steele Dossier looking better every day:

Sometimes the obvious answer is the right one. Sessions is a massive racist. He just subscribes to the "honey, not vinegar" theory. You get a lot more done by politely institutionalizing things than by yelling angrily about it and probably dropping an N-bomb or two along the way. Ms. King warned us.

Who here ever played musical chairs? There's one chair left, and a bunch of people who need seats, but only Flynn and Page seem to be circling the chair, everyone else is off trying to ignore it. Flynn has made it quite clear he wants to get into the chair, but it would be rather easy to coax Page into the chair. Seriously, Page is either an idiot or he's wracked with guilt. After the Tapper interview he should have tapped out. Instead, he talks with George Stephanopoulis (that spelling is probably wrong but meh) and all but confirms he spoke about easing sanctions with Russians. Between that and his whining about not wanting to be a spy, he seems like quite the fool. Whether an idiot or via guilt, I suspect he'll sing lovely tunes once the FBI deposes him. Probably why Flynn made it clear he was interested in immunity for flipping. Needed to get his foot in the door before someone asks Page questions under oath and he spills all the beans.

OH MY GAWD HE'S SO TOAST. This is basically a "yes, but for court purposes they gotta get me on tape." Also note how he's equivocating. His previous letter to the FBI (was it the FBI? It was some official agency) was very defiant. That he's kind of hedging here I think shows he knows he screwed up and, at a minimum, they caught him in lies between what they know to be true and his letter. So he's gotta hedge now because he doesn't want to stack more lies on top of more lies and get in even more trouble, even if an interview is not "under oath."

That is precisely it. At a minimum, Flynn, Page, and Manafort are all toast and they know it. They're hoping they can avoid some of the charges if they sort of follow procedure after the fact. It's the kind of thing I would argue at their sentencing. "Your honor, we would ask for the lowest possible sentence because while, yes, my client was a foreign agent and failed to disclose it, he did ultimately attempt to rectify the situation and report on the matter." That kind of thing usually doesn't work particularly well.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/ He's on a slight upswing since bottoming at around 4/2. But only a slight one.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-obtained-fisa-warrant-to-monitor-former-trump-adviser-carter-page/2017/04/11/620192ea-1e0e-11e7-ad74-3a742a6e93a7_story.html?utm_term=.4e2a60c0bd29 Carter Page is toast.

FBI doesn't move on. FBI gonna drop some indictments one of these days. Media is worse than a 5 year old with ADHD. But more developments will come. More shoes will drop. And then suddenly it will be big news again. Things going a little quiet is probably a good thing. It means Putin will hopefully stop murdering loose ends on the Steele dossier long enough for the FBI to corner people.

Nah, you're fine. Shoes are dropping at a breakneck pace, and doing so publicly. Seriously, how many meetings with Russian officials/oligarchs have failed to be disclosed, by Trump's administration, combined? Dozens, at this point? Some people are definitely getting indicted. Whether it's limited to Manafort/Page or whether it expands to other members of his team, or whether it gets to the Trumper-in-Chief himself, at the end of the day, his presidency will be irrevocably tainted.

Best Trump impression: "Jennifer Rubin...she is, so, so nasty. She has said very nasty things about me. I think she was a never Trump person. Nasty lady. I won an unprecedented election victory, many people have told me it was totally unprecedented. It's very unfortunate that she is doing this."

Well, politicos may be willing to embrace it, but I'm not sure the voters know the duplicitous nonsense that is going on. It goes back to the entire right-wing media machine out there. A huge chunk of GOP voters, not all, but a very large percentage, is inside this bubble. I have a family member who, about once a month, posts like 20 super far right articles in a 24 hour period, and they reveal a totally alternate universe that is incompatible with the actual facts of our real reality. Like, her last batch had a ton of articles shortly after the Nunes WH Press Conference, saying that Nunes uncovered this HUGE Obama scandal and how Obama was definitely guilty of crimes and definitely going to jail and how the ENTIRE Russian investigation was DEFINITELY lies from Obama to try and cripple Trump. All those articles conveniently left out the part where Nunes said that everything he saw appeared totally legal and done in the normal course of intel gathering. And of course they neglected to ever discuss what Comey/others were saying about how the Russian investigation is completely legitimate and very concerning, at a minimum. Wherever Comey is mentioned, it's always picking out a phrase or two to try and find something to support their alternate worldview, and again, completely leaving out everything else. But if those websites are your only source of news...well shoot, your brain is toast.