The Putin - Trump Controversy: Here to Stay - Links between Trump and Russia are being officially investigated by the FBI

[PointOfViewGun]

The headline? It's just false. And they likely took it from Fake News CNN anyway since they have been reporting it as well.
Fully expect you to try to spin it around anyway.

The headline doesn't show us what they base it one, so, no. Since reading the article requires subscription for me it's your obligation to quote the relevant section where they touch upon what they based on their allegation upon. Will you show us or will you bicker like this endlessly?

[Harith]

So the circus show continues. Michael Flynn on immunity:

But Flynn saw immunity differently in September 2016, when reports surfaced that aides around Hillary Clinton had been granted immunity by the government in exchange for talking freely to the FBI about Clinton’s private email server.

“When you are given immunity, that means you probably committed a crime,” Flynn, then a top campaign aide to Donald Trump, said on “Meet the Press.”

Donald Trump on immunity:

Trump in 2016: 'If You're Not Guilty of a Crime, What Do You Need Immunity For?'

You would think a lieutenant general would have more integrity than this. It seems, however, Flynn boy is willing to sit next to thugs, acts as a foreign agent and a mouthpiece for muppets given the right price.

Still doesn't beat this baby:

I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke.

Spoiler for WARNING: Not for the faint hearted: 

[irontaino]

So the circus show continues. Michael Flynn on immunity:



Donald Trump on immunity:



You would think a lieutenant general would have more integrity than this. It seems, however, Flynn boy is willing to sit next to thugs, acts as a foreign agent and a mouthpiece for muppets given the right price.

Still doesn't beat this baby:

Spoiler for WARNING: Not for the faint hearted: 

After all that "lock her up" business, the irony is palpable.

[Roma_Victrix]

This story broke yesterday; surprised no one here has mentioned it yet:

Blackwater founder held secret Seychelles meeting to establish Trump-Putin back channel

Here's the beginning of the article, the rest of which you can read on The Washington Post:

The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladi*mir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.

The meeting took place around Jan. 11 — nine days before Trump’s inauguration — in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean, officials said. Though the full agenda remains unclear, the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would be likely to require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions.

Though Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, according to the officials, who did not identify the Russian.

Prince was an avid supporter of Trump. After the Republican convention, he contributed $250,000 to Trump’s campaign, the national party and a pro-Trump super PAC led by GOP mega-donor Rebekah Mercer, records show. He has ties to people in Trump’s circle, including Stephen K. Bannon, now serving as the president’s chief strategist and senior counselor. Prince’s sister Betsy DeVos serves as education secretary in the Trump administration. And Prince was seen in the Trump transition offices in New York in December.

U.S. officials said the FBI has been scrutinizing the Seychelles meeting as part of a broader probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and alleged contacts between associates of Putin and Trump. The FBI declined to comment.

[Ludicus]

What controversy, it's only such if you continue to watch and read and believe the fake news ie CNN, WP, ABC, MSNBC etc etc, they're all rubbish now,

AsTrump put it,the media is the enemy of the people,"It doesn't represent the people; it never will represent the people".
He tend to forget that the press is the backbone of a democracy. My humble suggestion is a High Commission for the press that would not interfere with the freedom of the press - with a "insignificant" exception for any activity contrary to the national interest. Where is Benito when Trump needs him?

[fkizz]

AsTrump put it,the media is the enemy of the people,"It doesn't represent the people; it never will represent the people".

Trump is correct. On XXI century, that is. It's 2017 after all.
Even before, what ended our Estado Novo regime wasn't newspaper, but info-spreading organized efforts by the people.

He tend to forget that the press is the backbone of a democracy.

Technologies have moved on and people do for free faster and more efficiently what journalists were paid to do before with a Monopoly/Oligopoly of information and their Market Power.

[Love Mountain]

Trump is correct. On XXI century, that is. It's 2017 after all.
Even before, what ended our Estado Novo regime wasn't newspaper, but info-spreading organized efforts by the people.
Technologies have moved on and people do for free faster and more efficiently what journalists were paid to do before with a Monopoly/Oligopoly of information and their Market Power.

"Good evening. I'm Will McAvoy. This is News Night, and that was a clip of Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism chief to President George W. Bush, testifying before Congress on March 24, 2004. Americans liked that moment. I liked that moment. Adults should hold themselves accountable for failure. And so tonight I'm beginning this newscast by joining Mr. Clarke in apologizing to the American people for our failure. The failure of this program during the time I've been in charge of it to successfully inform and educate the American electorate. Let me be clear that I don't apologize on behalf of all broadcast journalists, nor do all broadcast journalists owe an apology. I speak for myself. I was an accomplice to a slow and repeated and unacknowledged and unamended train wreck of failures that have brought us to now. I'm a leader in an industry that miscalled election results, hyped up terror scares, ginned up controversy, and failed to report on tectonic shifts in our country. From the collapse of the financial system to the truths about how strong we are to the dangers we actually face. I'm a leader in an industry that misdirected your attention with the dexterity of Harry Houdini while sending hundreds of thousands of our bravest young men and women off to war without due diligence. The reason we failed isn't a mystery. We took a dive for the ratings. In the infancy of mass communications, the Columbus and Magellan of broadcast journalism, William Paley and David Sarnoff, went down to Washington to cut a deal with Congress. Congress would allow the fledgling networks free use of taxpayer-owned airwaves in exchange for one public service. That public service would be one hour of air time set aside every night for informational broadcasting, or what we now call the evening news. Congress, unable to anticipate the enormous capacity television would have to deliver consumers to advertisers, failed to include in its deal the one requirement that would have changed our national discourse immeasurably for the better. Congress forgot to add that under no circumstances could there be paid advertising during informational broadcasting. They forgot to say that taxpayers will give you the airwaves for free and for 23 hours a day you should make a profit, but for one hour a night you work for us. And now those network newscasts, anchored through history by honest-to-God newsmen with names like Murrow and Reasoner and Huntley and Brinkley and Buckley and Cronkite and Rather and Russert-- Now they have to compete with the likes of me. A cable anchor who's in the exact same business as the producers of Jersey Shore. And that business was good to us, but News Night is quitting that business right now. It might come as a surprise to you that some of history's greatest American journalists are working right now, exceptional minds with years of experience and an unshakeable devotion to reporting the news. But these voices are a small minority now and they don't stand a chance against the circus when the circus comes to town. They're overmatched. I'm quitting the circus and switching teams. I'm going with the guys who are getting creamed. I'm moved that they still think they can win and I hope they can teach me a thing or two. From this moment on, we'll be deciding what goes on our air and how it's presented to you based on the simple truth that nothing is more important to a democracy than a well-informed electorate. We'll endeavor to put information in a broader context because we know that very little news is born at the moment it comes across our wire. We'll be the champion of facts and the mortal enemy of innuendo, speculation, hyperbole, and nonsense. We're not waiters in a restaurant serving you the stories you asked for just the way you like them prepared. Nor are we computers dispensing only the facts because news is only useful in the context of humanity. I'll make no effort to subdue my personal opinions. I will make every effort to expose you to informed opinions that are different from my own. You may ask who are we to make these decisions. We are Mackenzie McHale and myself. Miss McHale is our executive producer. She marshals the resources of over 100 reporters, producers, analysts, technicians, and her credentials are readily available. I'm News Night's managing editor and make the final decision on everything seen and heard on this program. Who are we to make these decisions? We're the media elite. We'll be back after this with the news."


Journalism ought to be a noble profession, but as usual, Capitalism tends to unintentionally ruin things. There is always a higher calling than monetary gain, but that's hard to do in a world of big media and paid advertisement. And it is especially hard for Journalists to pursue honest-to-God work and get recognized for it. Why? When you can make a good, comfortable living by writing for the tabloids.

[grinder]

Source

Apparently Nunes "temporarily stepped away" from the Russia probe. Maybe the committee can actually do it's job now.

[Heathen Hammer]

AsTrump put it,the media is the enemy of the people,"It doesn't represent the people; it never will represent the people".
He tend to forget that the press is the backbone of a democracy. My humble suggestion is a High Commission for the press that would not interfere with the freedom of the press - with a "insignificant" exception for any activity contrary to the national interest. Where is Benito when Trump needs him?

Press can only be "backbone for democracy" if it is impartial and has a financial interest in retaining its credibility.
Mainstream media doesn't make profits. It doesn't need to even pretend to be impartial.
It is simply what it is - propaganda outlets to promote views that favor their sponsors interests, in this case being propaganda for globalist warhawks, hence all the loonie conspiracy theories about trump's "racism" or "ties to Russia", that did cost such outlets a lot of audience.

[irontaino]

"Everything I dislike is propaganda"

[Basil II the B.S]

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/4/...ld_is_laughing

Chomsky: With U.S. History of Overthrowing Govts, Outrage over Russian Hacking Claims is Laughable

It’s a pretty remarkable fact that—first of all, it is a joke. Half the world is cracking up in laughter. The United States doesn’t just interfere in elections. It overthrows governments it doesn’t like, institutes military dictatorships. Simply in the case of Russia alone—it’s the least of it—the U.S. government, under Clinton, intervened quite blatantly and openly, then tried to conceal it, to get their man Yeltsin in, in all sorts of ways. So, this, as I say, it’s considered—it’s turning the United States, again, into a laughingstock in the world. So why are the Democrats focusing on this? In fact, why are they focusing so much attention on the one element of Trump’s programs which is fairly reasonable, the one ray of light in this gloom: trying to reduce tensions with Russia? That’s—the tensions on the Russian border are extremely serious. They could escalate to a major terminal war. Efforts to try to reduce them should be welcomed. Just a couple of days ago, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Jack Matlock, came out and said he just can’t believe that so much attention is being paid to apparent efforts by the incoming administration to establish connections with Russia. He said, "Sure, that’s just what they ought to be doing."

Then again most liberals have long departed from common sense.

[Telamon]

We should ignore Russian interference in the American democratic process because the US previously did it too? What? That doesn't sound like common sense to me.

So, you know, yeah, maybe the Russians tried to interfere in the election. That’s not a major issue. Maybe the people in the Trump campaign were talking to the Russians. Well, OK, not a major point, certainly less than is being done constantly.

Uh, yes it is a major issue that the Russians interfered in the election.

[Basil II the B.S]

Another one ''it's ok when we do it''.

Lol. Hypocrisy.

[Telamon]

Are you a bot? Try reading, I didn't say that. I'm saying it doesn't make any sense to ignore Russian interference just because the US has done it too.

[Basil II the B.S]

It doesn't even exist anyway.

Why do you choose to focus on something that doesn't exist, and is even more ridiculous after the latest developments, while at the same time ignore the fact that the US can't go 3 months without meddling in other countries?

[Napoleonic Bonapartism]

I see the Trump camp has split in two; the ideologues now claiming that Trump is a puppet of the Deep State, and the loyalists claiming "it was targeted and the Russians said OK". Because we all know Hillary's plan was to just indiscriminately carpet-bomb Russian positions without telling them, it was in her platform and all.

Trump is an agent of US foreign policy - this is the kind of US foreign policy we've seen for years. If anyone truly thought their saviour from vested interests and aggressive foreign policy was a pandering millionaire who espoused comical Americanisms, I don't know what to tell you.

[Basil II the B.S]

Apparently sticking to the policy of ''no more pointless wars'' makes me an ideologue?

Wow, didn't know coherency was so lowly rated.

I guess I should change my opinion like the wind.

[Telamon]

It doesn't even exist anyway.

Why do you choose to focus on something that doesn't exist, and is even more ridiculous after the latest developments, while at the same time ignore the fact that the US can't go 3 months without meddling in other countries?

What doesn't exist? Russian interference? Yes it does, the entire US intelligence community has officially concluded as such. See here. You choosing not to believe this fact does not negate the existence of this fact. Whether this interference was in cooperation with the Trump campaign is a matter that is under investigation.

The topic of this thread is not American 'meddling'. In any case, I'm not ignoring or condoning it. Your (and Chomsky's) argument seems to be that the US shouldn't consider or do anything about Russian interference because the US has also interferred in other countries. Which is a totally nonsensical argument.

[Napoleonic Bonapartism]

Apparently sticking to the policy of ''no more pointless wars'' makes me an ideologue?

Wow, didn't know coherency was so lowly rated.

I guess I should change my opinion like the wind.

I didn't mean it in a bad way necessarily - probably a poor choice of words. I just meant there's a division between those who adhere to the whole broader Trumpian ideology and the Trump loyalists, who just adhere to the man.

[Basil II the B.S]

What doesn't exist? Russian interference? Yes it does, the entire US intelligence community has officially concluded as such. See here. You choosing not to believe this fact does not negate the existence of this fact. Whether this interference was in cooperation with the Trump campaign is a matter that is under investigation.

The topic of this thread is not American 'meddling'. In any case, I'm not ignoring or condoning it. Your (and Chomsky's) argument seems to be that the US shouldn't consider or do anything about Russian interference because the US has also interferred in other countries. Which is a totally nonsensical argument.

Same people who swore under oath about Saddam's WMD. The US intelligence community is infested by warmongering neocons who have no qualms about lying or working with terrorists.

Worst people on the planet.

None of the stories about Russia and we had a dozen since the election turned out to be even remotely true. The golden showers, the hacking of Hillary, the hacking of the vote, the hacking of the electricity grid. None. Zero evidence.

I didn't mean it in a bad way necessarily - probably a poor choice of words. I just meant there's a division between those who adhere to the whole broader Trumpian ideology and the Trump loyalists, who just adhere to the man.

Pacifism or to the very least common sense pacificism is Trumpian now? Wew.