Also, nothing like a pandemic to really put wasteful, useless wars into perspective.

And if countries do pull back from China, we'll see an interesting case study. A lot of this posturing and foreign diplomacy might be rendered meaningless by the power of good 'ol capitalism.  Tariffs and trade are about the only thing I've seen make China blink - 30+ years of talking tough certainly didn't accomplish anything.

Putin is still pissed we sent a couple hundred Russians home from Syria in body bags.

posted by SportsAndLady

Russia/Putin put bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan. Trump has known for months and hasn’t done anything. Let’s see how CC and QO soon this one. 

Lies

The Russia/ Afghan story does sound like it has merit to it. The NYT has a pretty good track record throughout its history with breaking stories like this. It is also classic Washington. A member of part of the bureaucracy leaks a story that they felt the administration should have acted on. We see this in every White House going back years.  This has enough sources tied to it that I highly doubt it is fake. 

It seems like members of the intelligence community or people inside the White House/ NSC felt we should have done something, so they leaked the story. I do kinda buy that Pence or Trump were not briefed on it, as it may have only been discussed at the National Security Advisor or multi-agency level at the White House. That lower level brief may have happened in March. Maybe the intelligent agencies needed more time to verify exactly if American service members were killed because of the bounty before they briefed the President. 

But, if the report was part of the Presidential Daily Intel Brief..that is pretty damning and Trump should have known that then. 

posted by ptown_trojans_1

But, if the report was part of the Presidential Daily Intel Brief..that is pretty damning and Trump should have known that then. 

Since when did Trump start taking his briefings?

I'm sure the story is legit, but it's not hard to see the NYT pushing this story with Obama as "financial support" that becomes a "bounty" with Trump.  The former just doesn't rise to the level of bombshell.

But what should the response be?  I assume a bounty would be a war crime?  Or just slap more useless sanctions on them?

CNN analyst the other day was saying "Putin has been emboldened by Trump".  Ummmm, were you asleep from 2008-2016?

posted by QuakerOats

posted by SportsAndLady

Russia/Putin put bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan. Trump has known for months and hasn’t done anything. Let’s see how CC and QO soon this one. 

Lies

No spin, eh? Just going with “FAKE NEWS”? Interesting

posted by gut

posted by ptown_trojans_1

But, if the report was part of the Presidential Daily Intel Brief..that is pretty damning and Trump should have known that then. 

Since when did Trump start taking his briefings?

I'm sure the story is legit, but it's not hard to see the NYT pushing this story with Obama as "financial support" that becomes a "bounty" with Trump.  The former just doesn't rise to the level of bombshell.

But what should the response be?  I assume a bounty would be a war crime?  Or just slap more useless sanctions on them?

CNN analyst the other day was saying "Putin has been emboldened by Trump".  Ummmm, were you asleep from 2008-2016?

True, we all know Trump has the attention span of a 5 year old and cannot sit through a real PDB. Good point. 

I see your point on the framing of the story. But, if we take the timeline the Ruskies were doing this in 2019 and we had an idea back in March, Trump was trying to get Russia in the G7/8. It makes zero sense to admit them in the G7/8, especially now. 

I guess what we would do is kill any G7/8 idea and continue to sanction the shit out them. Putin has been emboldened since 12 when he came back into power. But, really, for whatever reason, Trump just refuses to really scold them or say anything bad about them. I have no idea why. 

posted by ptown_trojans_1

posted by gut

posted by ptown_trojans_1

But, if the report was part of the Presidential Daily Intel Brief..that is pretty damning and Trump should have known that then. 

Since when did Trump start taking his briefings?

I'm sure the story is legit, but it's not hard to see the NYT pushing this story with Obama as "financial support" that becomes a "bounty" with Trump.  The former just doesn't rise to the level of bombshell.

But what should the response be?  I assume a bounty would be a war crime?  Or just slap more useless sanctions on them?

CNN analyst the other day was saying "Putin has been emboldened by Trump".  Ummmm, were you asleep from 2008-2016?

True, we all know Trump has the attention span of a 5 year old and cannot sit through a real PDB. Good point. 

I see your point on the framing of the story. But, if we take the timeline the Ruskies were doing this in 2019 and we had an idea back in March, Trump was trying to get Russia in the G7/8. It makes zero sense to admit them in the G7/8, especially now. 

I guess what we would do is kill any G7/8 idea and continue to sanction the shit out them. Putin has been emboldened since 12 when he came back into power. But, really, for whatever reason, Trump just refuses to really scold them or say anything bad about them. I have no idea why. 

posted by Spock

posted by ptown_trojans_1

posted by gut

posted by ptown_trojans_1

But, if the report was part of the Presidential Daily Intel Brief..that is pretty damning and Trump should have known that then. 

Since when did Trump start taking his briefings?

I'm sure the story is legit, but it's not hard to see the NYT pushing this story with Obama as "financial support" that becomes a "bounty" with Trump.  The former just doesn't rise to the level of bombshell.

But what should the response be?  I assume a bounty would be a war crime?  Or just slap more useless sanctions on them?

CNN analyst the other day was saying "Putin has been emboldened by Trump".  Ummmm, were you asleep from 2008-2016?

True, we all know Trump has the attention span of a 5 year old and cannot sit through a real PDB. Good point. 

I see your point on the framing of the story. But, if we take the timeline the Ruskies were doing this in 2019 and we had an idea back in March, Trump was trying to get Russia in the G7/8. It makes zero sense to admit them in the G7/8, especially now. 

I guess what we would do is kill any G7/8 idea and continue to sanction the shit out them. Putin has been emboldened since 12 when he came back into power. But, really, for whatever reason, Trump just refuses to really scold them or say anything bad about them. I have no idea why. 

link?

Ummm, any inside story or former official the last 4 years? 

Also, Dan Drezner has a well documented Twitter thread called toddlerinchief. It has 1516 references. 

I’ll believe that Trump is growing into the presidency when his staff stops talking about him like a toddler. https://t.co/NQxMmIjwXg

[This is the 1516th tweet in the #ToddlerinChief thread.] https://t.co/StJufmm1B5

posted by ptown_trojans_1

But, really, for whatever reason, Trump just refuses to really scold them or say anything bad about them. I have no idea why. 

He has a really odd negotiating style where he butters up the bad guys and insults our allies.

It's kind of like he's trying to get Putin to move a little by being nice...but just so Putin knows Trump isn't a pushover he's going to take a shit on Angela Merkel.

Well, even House R's acknowledge the story was not fake. The details are still being determined. Some intel officials even said it was included in the PDB, which Trump really does not read on a regular basis. Apparently, the intel was credible enough where we shared it with our UK allies as they were targets too. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-us-intelligence-did-not-find-reports-of-russian-bounties-to-taliban-linked-militants-credible/2020/06/29/a69e1722-b9f4-11ea-80b9-40ece9a701dc_story.html

So, yeah Trump knew in some fashion and either did not care or his National Security Council just screwed up how to respond, either way it is a bad look. Either the President ignored it or his interagency process was so screwed up that they did not figure out a repsonse, so the Trump Whiote House looks disfunctional. 

posted by ptown_trojans_1

Ummm, any inside story or former official the last 4 years? 

Also, Dan Drezner has a well documented Twitter thread called toddlerinchief. It has 1516 references. 

I’ll believe that Trump is growing into the presidency when his staff stops talking about him like a toddler. https://t.co/NQxMmIjwXg

[This is the 1516th tweet in the #ToddlerinChief thread.] https://t.co/StJufmm1B5

You do realize that there is a coordinated effort from some very deep people to get Trump out of office dont you?  People like Bolton literally write a fake book or print classified info to make Trump look bad.  

He is draining the swamp and most of those gators are deep into illegal shit.  THey are running cover for Former officials cause Trump is going to line up arrest warrants in his 2nd term.

So I dont believe that he is the way that he is portrayed.

posted by Spock

You do realize that there is a coordinated effort from some very deep people to get Trump out of office dont you?  People like Bolton literally write a fake book or print classified info to make Trump look bad.  

He is draining the swamp and most of those gators are deep into illegal shit.  THey are running cover for Former officials cause Trump is going to line up arrest warrants in his 2nd term.

So I dont believe that he is the way that he is portrayed.

Troll

posted by ptown_trojans_1

Well, even House R's acknowledge the story was not fake. The details are still being determined. Some intel officials even said it was included in the PDB, which Trump really does not read on a regular basis. Apparently, the intel was credible enough where we shared it with our UK allies as they were targets too. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-us-intelligence-did-not-find-reports-of-russian-bounties-to-taliban-linked-militants-credible/2020/06/29/a69e1722-b9f4-11ea-80b9-40ece9a701dc_story.html

So, yeah Trump knew in some fashion and either did not care or his National Security Council just screwed up how to respond, either way it is a bad look. Either the President ignored it or his interagency process was so screwed up that they did not figure out a repsonse, so the Trump Whiote House looks disfunctional. 

Yup, just about to post that he received this report in writing. The NYT article on it is a pay site article for some reason so can’t link it  

posted by Spock

You do realize that there is a coordinated effort from some very deep people to get Trump out of office dont you?  People like Bolton literally write a fake book or print classified info to make Trump look bad.  

He is draining the swamp and most of those gators are deep into illegal shit.  THey are running cover for Former officials cause Trump is going to line up arrest warrants in his 2nd term.

So I dont believe that he is the way that he is portrayed.

Cool. Keep thinking that conspiracy man....

CC gonna play that "everything anyone says about Trump is false because everyone is in on it!" card until it all comes crashing down. Because when you never actually think, one blanket statement to cover every situation works out great!

posted by Heretic

CC gonna play that "everything anyone says about Trump is false because everyone is in on it!" card until it all comes crashing down. Because when you never actually think, one blanket statement to cover every situation works out great!

Have you seen the outcome of the Russia collusion crap......that seems to be more of the case then not.

Big win for the school choice movement at the High Court today.  Great win for students and parents.

Thank God.

posted by QuakerOats

Big win for the school choice movement at the High Court today.  Great win for students and parents.

Thank God.

I don’t even know what this is, but based solely off you supporting it, and your post about it, I’m gonna disagree with whatever decision was made  

posted by QuakerOats

Big win for the school choice movement at the High Court today.  Great win for students and parents.

Thank God.

You gotta post about this one to make up for the string of other decisions that you probably did not agree with right? Thoughts on yesterday's? 

Also, I am fine with this ruling, but I also think religious schools and institutions should not be tax exempt. If you are going to reap the benefits of public funding as an institiutuoin, you should also have to pay into it. 

posted by ptown_trojans_1

You gotta post about this one to make up for the string of other decisions that you probably did not agree with right? Thoughts on yesterday's? 

Also, I am fine with this ruling, but I also think religious schools and institutions should not be tax exempt. If you are going to reap the benefits of public funding as an institiutuoin, you should also have to pay into it. 

Private schools will surely not take everyone, matter fact they will likely get the best students (and turn away all the others) and get their state and federal money for them.

We will be creating schools that are going to excel and others will be way worse then what they are now.

Good example of how messed up the SCOTUS is.

First of all, giving public money to private schools seems kind of like charity to the 5%.  I realize not all private schools are for rich kids, and they pay more than their share in taxes, but most of the private schools can just raise tuition.

That said, I don't know how you can deny private schools that teach religion.  Can't we say it's like funding for Planned Parenthood and pretend like money isn't fungible?

So it ends up a 5-4 decision with the 4 liberal justices once again voting in lockstep.  When it comes to social issues do they consider the law, at all, any more?

I actually think Mayor Pete's idea for expanding the court was really interesting.  Let Dems and Repubs each select 5 justices, and have those 5 justices agree on 5 more.  So cancel out the politics and have, presumably, 5 apolitical moderates making rulings based on law.

bumping this down because the timestamp issue. ignore this post.

posted by SportsAndLady

I don’t even know what this is, but based solely off you supporting it, and your post about it, I’m gonna disagree with whatever decision was made  

Good ..... we have little in common; let's keep it that way.

posted by QuakerOats

Good ..... we have little in common; let's keep it that way.

No problem at all lol