The disingenuous thing about it is that they want you to believe that conservatives are somehow as upset as they are about the choices. With the exception of George Will (who is slowing falling into a anti-Trump induced logic coma) most of the conservatives I tend to read and listen to have been more than pleased about the picks. Once again, it appears that the left is "still" completely out of touch with why Trump got elected and why his approvals have been growing in leaps and bounds.
Over the past eight (or really sixteen) years, we have had our Executive branch run by lawyers and academics. Going all the way back to the many "neoconservatives" who infiltrated the Bush administration we have had leadership that were long on theories and ideas and short on practical experience to get things done. Can anyone really argue that the neoconservative theories were any more than marginally successful when brought into practice? Can anyone really say that the neoliberalism attitudes of deferential globalism and leading from behind left the world a better place?
Trump (on the other hand) appears to be bringing in people who seem to have one or both of the following characteristics. People who specifically share specific political believes on a particular subject (DeVos, Pruitt) and people with a history of being in charge and getting things done (Generals and business leaders). Yes, he seemed to "reach out" a little with his picks of Haley, Carson, and Chao, but overall it appears that most of these picks serves a very specific purpose.
While I think Newt Gingrich could have added an interesting flair to the executive team, I am personally glad neither Giuliani or Christie were added to the roster. I don't believe they were "owed" anything for being loyal campaigners. In fact, providing them with jobs would have seemed like the very cronyism that he was trying to avoid.
I don't believe that Generals and business leaders are considered part of the political establishment that Trump promised to do away with. He picked a school-choice advocate to run education department and someone who has sued the EPA multiple times to run it. To suggest that he isn't draining the swamp would suggest that he would be conducting business as usual. Hardly.
Bottom line. Of all the possible situations I might have imagined with Trump picking a cabinet, I cannot come up with too many that would have exceeded what we are seeing right now. Most all other scenarios would have been drastically less functional in my humble opinion. Trump is proving himself to me that he is serious about running a good solid conservative administration. Remembering, of course, that I am someone who hasn't generally been much of a fan.
And don't kid yourselves, folks. The left isn't really afraid that Trump will have a disastrous Presidency. They are afraid he will be seen as successful with the core of Americans. This (more than anything else) is ultimately why they don't like these picks. Because these picks can probably help get him there.
69 comments:
CNN Was so Sure of a Hillary Clinton WIN
Almost everyone on Wall Street currently predicts Hillary Clinton will win the White House. A Trump triumph would likely cause investors to flee stocks to the safety of gold and bonds. "
Wrong, wrong and wrong, Liberals never learn.
“The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra…” – Speech given at Solyndra, Inc. headquarters in Fremont, CA, May 26, 2010
well, $545 million dollars of US tax payers money and not one job, congrats.
You have to be fucking Kidding me!
Exxon Mobil Chief is Trump's Choice for Secretary of State. Rex W. Tillerson, the president and chief executive of Exxon Mobil,
HB, you make CHT point on every post, you might be too angry to know it.
Hillary is going to appoint who to her cabinet, oh yeah, no one, she lost as you did.
Have you got your leaving America Plans solid, or are you just another liar , that said they would leave forever IF Trump WON.
When does Obama order his Chevy Volt?
Exxon Mobil Chief is Trump's Choice for Secretary of State. Rex W. Tillerson"
Really and you read that where?
Got link, since you , used the word "is".
Andrea Mitchell is reporting it.
Roger Amick said...
You have to be fucking Kidding me!
Exxon Mobil Chief is Trump's Choice for Secretary of State. Rex W. Tillerson, the president and chief executive of Exxon Mobil,
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imagine that.
an accomplished individual, as opposed to the pathological liar wife of a rapist ex-president, or a gigolo whose claim to fame is a knack for marrying money.
i can see why you're pissed. the era of liberals failing upward is coming to an end.
at least for a little while.
First,your belief that the liberals WANT Trump to fail. That's total fucking bull shit. We are afraid he's going to damage the country that may take decades to fix.
President-elect Donald Trump has picked Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, sources close to the Trump transition told NBC's Andrea Mitchell.
Tillerson has a close business relationship with Vladimir Putin and has spent his entire career at the company that is now Exxon Mobil.
He's going to put John Bolton as his assistant. He's the biggest war hawk in the country.
Putty Poot is thrilled and Iran better get ready for war with the United States.
A fucking disaster CH is going to damage badly, the nation we love.
Roger Amick said...
First,your belief that the liberals WANT Trump to fail. That's total fucking bull shit. We are afraid he's going to damage the country that may take decades to fix.
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hmmm...
i can see why you're panicked. to you, 'damage' is the total destruction of 0linsky's failed legacy, as well as a golden opportunity to shitcan the welfare/entitlement state.
and here's the best part - according to larry sabato, you clowns might just give the GOP a filibuster-proof majority in two short years.
we truly are on the verge of a glorious age, where a significant amount of the horror that is liberalism can be vanquished. and all the left can do is stand there and watch, cry and blubber.
heh.
HB wants Trump to serve two full terms, good news.
So is this ,, great news actually:
"Tillerson has a close business relationship with Vladimir Putin and has spent his entire career at the company that is now Exxon Mobil."
Every founding father was a business man and or Farmer.
Tillerson has a close business relationship with Vladimir Putin and has spent his entire career at the company that is now Exxon Mobil.
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Friends and associates said few U.S. citizens are closer to Mr. Putin than Mr. Tillerson, who has known Mr. Putin since he represented Exxon’s interests in Russia during the regime of Boris Yeltsin.
“He has had more interactive time with Vladimir Putin than probably any other American with the exception of Henry Kissinger,” said John Hamre, a former deputy defense secretary during the Clinton administration and president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank where Mr. Tillerson is a board member.
In 2011, Mr. Tillerson struck a deal giving Exxon access to prized Arctic resources in Russia as well as allowing Russia’s state oil company, OAO Rosneft, to invest in Exxon concessions all over the world. The following year, the Kremlin bestowed the country’s Order of Friendship decoration on Mr. Tillerson.
The deal would have been transformative for Exxon. Mr. Putin at the time called it one of the most important involving Russia and the U.S., forecasting that the partnership could eventually spend $500 billion. But it was subsequently blocked by sanctions on Russia that the U.S. and its allies imposed two years ago after the country’s invasion of Crimea and conflicts with Ukraine.
Mr. Tillerson spoke against the sanctions at the company’s annual meeting in 2014. “We always encourage the people who are making those decisions to consider the very broad collateral damage of who are they really harming with sanctions,” he said.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-candidate-for-state-has-close-ties-to-vladimir-putin-1481033938
i can see why you're a little anxious, rog. for 8 years we've had to just stand there and watch as pooty-poot did donuts on the white house lawn at his leisure. now we're entering a phase where we just might be on our way to a much better relationship with russia.
so let's see...
masayoshi son willing to invest $50 BILLION, an oil deal with russia that might result in $500 BILLION in investment.
i'm seeing the potential for that workforce participation rate to come back down to a respectable level. a tough pill to swallow for anyone who believes that the sun rises and sets on a massive, dysfunctional, welfare state-driven government.
At this point, a guffaw is all I can muster re the growing Russia connections.
" In 2012, the Russian government awarded Mr. Tillerson the country’s Order of Friendship decoration."
" In 2012, the Russian government awarded Mr. Tillerson the country’s Order of Friendship decoration."
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and in 2016, skeets 0linsky stood in front of a massive image of che` guevara and fellated the castro brothers.
624 for the week of December 9, 2016. It is 85 rigs (12.0%) lower than last year."
Better get those Rigs, up , oiled and running , jobs coming to those that power the USA and we become energy independent under Trump.
Bet on it.
He's going to put John Bolton as his assistant. He's the biggest war hawk in the country.
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finally.
a state department that isn't going to kiss the ass of every tin horn shit bird dictator on the planet.
and a defense department led by a mad dog who is fully prepared to kill every person he meets.
geezus, if we're not careful we just might become respected around the world again. what a novel concept.
and as a bonus we can shitcan the apology tours and stop bowing before every foreign leader we meet.
It keeps getting better
"" In 2012, the Russian government awarded Mr. Tillerson the country’s Order of Friendship decoration." The Mutt
It is better to work with the Russians, we already have billions of dollars in trade, good trade is good.
It is better to work with the Russians
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at least that's what ted kennedy thought when he worked with them in the 80's in an attempt to fuck up reagan's re-election hopes.
HB -
You do understand that the entire job of the Secretary of State is to "advance" relations with other countries, which would (in fact) include countries like Russia.
So the fact that we may have pegged a person with experience working with some of the most influential people on the globe should be a good thing, not a bad thing.
In what other possible scenario is having experience with the ultimate goal of a job a negative?
"CH is going to damage badly, the nation we love." The Mutt
CH, why is HB holding you responsible?
With this successful Pick, I can hear the stock prices in oil rising and the drilling rigs count going up over the next couple of years, Drill Baby Drill.
(Thanks Balls)
It seems that trump blames disgruntled agents for the latest CIA headlines of russian meddling. Oh well, just like millions of illegal votes, another unsubstantiated claim from the showman. Yep, this is becoming rather worrisome for anyone with a brain.
Trump also boasted that the CIA said Saddam had WMD's. Seems to me that is another load of Bullshit. Typical for your showman and chief.
By Jason Leopold
March 19, 2015 | 1:10 pm
Thirteen years ago, the intelligence community concluded in a 93-page classified document used to justify the invasion of Iraq that it lacked "specific information" on "many key aspects" of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.
But that's not what top Bush administration officials said during their campaign to sell the war to the American public. Those officials, citing the same classified document, asserted with no uncertainty that Iraq was actively pursuing nuclear weapons, concealing a vast chemical and biological weapons arsenal, and posing an immediate and grave threat to US national security.
Congress eventually concluded that the Bush administration had "overstated" its dire warnings about the Iraqi threat, and that the administration's claims about Iraq's WMD program were "not supported by the underlying intelligence reporting." But that underlying intelligence reporting — contained in the so-called National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that was used to justify the invasion — has remained shrouded in mystery until now.
The BS continues daily.
Anonymous opie said...
It seems that trump blames disgruntled agents for the latest CIA headlines of russian meddling.
That's because Trump is an idiot, but there may be a grain of truth in that. The CIA does not just leak things like that, and US elections aren't in their jurisdiction anyway. This was politics, and relates to Obama's proposal of a deep dive into the allegations and also to target Wikileaks.
I wish that Trump would stop saying stupid things. Or better yet his staff should hire someone to spoof the entire internet on his ISP connection.
Do you have a problem with the deep dive subject.....it seems to me that has more credibility than all the trey howdy investigation revelations..... I hope your wish comes true but i limit my optimism that the leopard can change his spots.
CH he may have some diplomatic experience, but he's got no military experience, or working with intelligence, civilian or military. With Bolton as his assistant, his well know super hawk reputation, and we will, if he has his way, we will have boots on the ground again, and we all know how that works out most of the time.
Kerry and Clinton were far more qualified for the job. I wish he had chosen Mitt Romney. i can see a fucking disaster with them and Trump's impulsive style.
BOOM
Clinton had no military, intelligence, or even as much diplomatic experience... at least if you define diplomacy as the ability to negotiate.
She had spent almost no time dealing with international situations.
The fact that the the Chief Diplomat is not an elected politician is a good thing to many many people.
Clinton had zero qualifications for Sec of State, and it showed. Random selection would be an improvement. Kerry is not that bad other than being a rich goofball.
Clinton was a two term senator, and in that role they get many top secret reports, and work on military issues.
Kerry appeared to have interest in accomplishing something. Which was the improvement over Clinton.
Is that where Clinton learned how to deal with classified material?
CH as a senator.
One of my older brothers, him and I get along well on politics.
A never ending nightmare. But Trumpers don't care about world affairs or big economic issues. They just believed a con man when he said he would get their jobs back, which he cannot do on a scale large enough to do some good for the majority of Americans. The question is how long will it take for the Trumpers to come to their senses; if they have any sense?
This could be seen as a Putin approved choice,
During the 1990s, Tillerson oversaw an Exxon project on Russia’s Sakhalin island and developed a working relationship with Putin. In 2011, the company signed an agreement with the state-controlled oil company, Rosneft, to work jointly on oil exploration and development in the Arctic and Siberia.
After inking the deal in New York, Tillerson and Rosneft chairman and Putin confidante Igor Sechin dined on caviar at the luxury Manhattan restaurant Per Se, according to one account. The next day they gave oil analysts black pens with the date of the agreement engraved in gold.
Two years later, the Kremlin awarded Tillerson the Order of Friendship, honoring foreigners.
“I don’t know the man much at all, but let’s put it this way: If you received an award from the Kremlin, [an] order of friendship, then we’re gonna have some talkin’,” Graham said. “We’ll have some questions. I don’t want to prejudge the guy but that’s a bit unnerving.”
Exxon discovered oil in a well it drilled in the Kara Sea, but the joint partnership was put on ice after Russian intervention in Ukraine and annexation of the Crimea led to international economic sanctions. As secretary of state, Tillerson, who has been critical of the sanctions, would be in a position to argue for an easing them, which could allow Exxon to resume operations.
“Russia is critical for Exxon,” said Fadel Gheit, oil analyst for Oppenheimer & Co. “Not only for how much production it has there, but the potential growth is huge.” He said once sanctions are lifted, “Exxon will go back to develop the Arctic business at a rapid pace.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-expected-to-pick-exxonmobil-chief-executive-rex-tillerson-as-his-secretary-of-state/2016/12/10/6e018e90-bd9e-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trumptillerson449pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.939974ad9813
CH, consider this. The CIA report released yesterday, that the Russians did intervene with the releases of data at time that would damage Clinton at critical times. And on top of this, Tillerson has strong ties to Putin.
Donald J. Trump is the favorite of Putin, and this is one of the reasons. He is going to a man who was awarded a medal for being a friend of Russia. The Russians are trying to rebuild much of the Soviet Empire, and Donald Trump won't interfere with Russians expansion into the Ukrain and ?? What's next?
Top secret reports and military issues? Roger, you're fantasizing - Clinton had literally nothing to do with either in her entire Senate career. She was as close to a zero as you can get as a Senator.
The FBI disagrees with the CIA.
Let's bear in mind that the totality of what we're talking about is exposure of emails. The vast majority of which should have already been public. This is all political. If that isn't already obvious, this quote from the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence panel should make it so:
"Only in this way (wph edit: joint congressional investigation) can the American people know the extent of Russian interference, and we can attempt to inoculate ourselves against continued meddling in our election"
If that doesn't peg your BS meter there's no hope for you.
Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. Eurasia is our ally in the war against Eastasia.
I don't live in a fantasy world, far from it. I face realities every day, that you have no clue I have to deal with.
Our assessments differ, but that does not necessarily that you have a lock on reality. We have different opinions. That's a lot different than you assume.
Roger, you're fantasizing" yep
Financial, ALL Americans will be helped with the tax plan with a lot of Democrat ideas in it.
1, Eliminate the Death Tax
2, Eliminate the alternative minimum tax
3, Brackets & Rates for Married-Joint filers:
Less than $75,000: 12%
More than $75,000 but less than $225,000: 25%
More than $225,000: 33%
*Brackets for single filers are ½ of these amounts
4, standard deduction for joint filers to $30,000, from $12,600, and the standard deduction for single filers will be $15,000.
Those will be for starters.
Americans that earn a wage or are earning unearned income with the passed tax reductions pay less to the Federal Government keeping more for their family and gaining freedom.
IF your a liberal , just continue filing at the higher rates.
During an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer in September, Hillary Clinton was unable to name her “number one accomplishment” as Secretary of State.
When she gave her answer, she turned to her tenure as the junior Senator from New York, saying:
“As [a] senator working across the aisle on issues like getting better health care for our veterans. You know, this is just the silly season. I am looking forward to eventually debating on that stage whoever they finally nominate once they get around to doing that.”
What exactly were Hillary's accomplishments as a U.S. Senator?
As reported by Washington Examiner, of the 713 pieces of legislation she sponsored or co-sponsored during her 8-year senate career, only three pieces of legislation that she sponsored became law.
As documented by Congress.gov, these “monumental” laws were:
1.S.3145 - A bill to designate a portion of United States Route 20A, located in Orchard Park, New York, as the “Timothy J. Russert Highway”.
2.S.3613 - A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2951 New York Highway 43 in Averill Park, New York, as the “Major George Quamo Post Office Building”.
3.S.1241 - Kate Mullany National Historic Site Act"
And for that we paid her over a Million dollars, wow, that is really a waste.
Roger Amick said...
I don't live in a fantasy world, far from it. I face realities every day, that you have no clue I have to deal with.
Our assessments differ, but that does not necessarily that you have a lock on reality. We have different opinions. That's a lot different than you assume.
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well sport...
in your gin soaked version of reality we went from 'kerry by a landslide!!!11!' to 'hillary by a landslide!!!11!' to 'boom/devastation.'
so if the rest of us insist on disagreeing with your 'assessment' i think you should understand why.
Blogger C.H. Truth said...
Is that where Clinton learned how to deal with classified material?
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yes.
requiring a 'willing suspension of disbelief.'
Our assessments differ, but that does not necessarily that you have a lock on reality. We have different opinions.
I can accept that Roger, and I accept the possibility that lack of evidence is not proof that something is lacking. *I* have seen no evidence that Clinton was involved with military issues as a Senator. No bills sponsored, no debates, no committees, no news reports with Clinton and classified reports.
Senators are briefed on classified reports, intelligence or military, if they are involved in a committee that is appropriate for the information but otherwise not.
Do you have any examples that I can learn from? Can you point me to an accomplishment by Clinton in the Senate that has something to do with either classified reports, or military issues?
Can you point me to an accomplishment by Clinton in the Senate that has something to do with either classified reports, or military issues?
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landing under bosnian sniper fire?
oh wait.
that's a fake news thingy.
never mind.
rrb landing under bosnian sniper fire?
Give him a chance to find something. Maybe Clinton WAS involved with something as a Senator that could somehow relate to qualifying her for Secretary of State, and no one knows about it. Something from a secret email exposed by Wikileaks, maybe something buried in the congressional record. I don't necessarily expect an immediate answer.
But if there is no answer, I'm going to think that he just imagined Clinton's accomplishments in those areas.
he leaders of the Democratic Party of the future will be Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Joe Biden, said Joe Biden in an interview Sunday.
The outgoing vice president appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper:
TAPPER: “Who is the leader of the Democratic Party as of January 21st?"
BIDEN: “Well, like after every presidential election where the party loses, there is no single leader. There are voices that hopefully will be heard. Hopefully, I’ll be able to have a voice in the direction of the party. The president of the United States will. Obviously, Chuck Schumer will. Obviously, Nancy Pelosi will. There is going to be governors that will emerge. So it’s a contest of ideas of which direction to take the party. After every single loss, the political party that loses, they go and do a retrospective what happened, where did we make a mistake, what did we do wrong? That debate is going to ensue and hopefully the party will grow from it.”
TAPPER: “Chuck Schumer, liberal from New York City, Brooklyn, Nancy Pelosi, liberal from San Francisco, is there a voice that will represent Scranton in there?”
BIDEN: “I’m not going anywhere. By the way, I’m really not. I think 2018 is going to be a very good year for the Democrats, because now these guys are going to have to say not generically make America better, here’s how I’m going to make America better.”
TAPPER: “Republicans control the House, they control the Senate, they will control the White House.”
BIDEN: “Watch when they do it. Watch the response of the public when they do it. I can hardly wait for these debates."
Bitter Joe and clueless.
“The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra…” – Speech given at Solyndra, Inc. headquarters in Fremont, CA, May 26, 2010
well, $545 million dollars of US tax payers money and not one job, congrats.
WP,,, you are a kind person, giving HB time to "search" for those times he can show all of us she was qualified to be the Sec of State.
The Queen of 'Fake News" well documented.
"“I think if we were to just go around this room, there are a lot of immigrant stories. All my grandparents, you know, came over here and you know my grandfather went to work in lace mill in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and worked there until he retired at 65.” Cow Hillary
Clinton’s paternal grandfather, Hugh Rodham Sr., was born in England, but her three other grandparents were born in the United States.
Hugh Rodham’s wife, Hanna (also Hannah) Jones Rodham, was born in Scranton, Pa., to Welsh parents a couple years after they emigrated. Census, civil and military records show Clinton’s maternal grandparents, Della and Edwin Howell, were born in Illinois. (Della’s mother was the one great-grandparent born in the United States.)Politio.
What about that Fake story of her being rejected by the US Marines, well, I went to my brothers in arms for their point of view on the Hillbilly.
US Marines call Hillary a Liar, The Good Men and Woman of the Corp know she is a snake
But if there is no answer, I'm going to think that he just imagined Clinton's accomplishments in those areas.
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he imagines much. we're talking about a guy who actually believed a two-bit ACORN hack to be qualified to be president.
the only reason obama selected clinton to be sec state was that he was smart enough to want her inside his tent pissing out vs. outside his tent pissing in.
We have a far better economic policies for the middle-class than the Republicans." The Mutt
Well, Mutt we asked you to give us that plan , like Hillary, you could not give us that plan, and that is why in part she lost."
Dec 2, 2016,,, WP, If you have the time get HB to tell us the Details of that Election Winning Plan Hillary had, ty.
WP -
Some people (like Roger) believe that if you can get elected Senator that it qualifies you for pretty much everything else.
The problem is that Legislating and Executing are two entirely different functions that require entirely different skill sets. It's why so many Governors are elected Presidents and why "Senators" who have become President tend to struggle with the execution of their duties. (Obama continued to behave as if he was a legislature rather than an executive - thinking the Presidency would give him more power to enact laws).
Bill Clinton selected a cabinet similar to what we are seeing now. Christopher was not a politician. He replaced Bentson with Rubin (of Goldman Sachhs) after two years. His Secretary of Labor was Reich (who was not a politician). I don't believe Ron Brown (his Secretary of Commerce ever held an "elected" position). HE also replaced Aspin (another Politician) with Perry (a pentagon employee) after two years. His NSA was not a politician (Berger) either.
So if Trump is doing it wrong by not selecting Senators and Representatives, then apparently Clinton did it wrong too.
BIDEN: “I’m not going anywhere. By the way, I’m really not. I think 2018 is going to be a very good year for the Democrats
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huh.
larry sabato thinks you're going to get crushed and the GOP just might end up with as many as 62-63 seats in the senate.
god bless you joe. every time you open your pie hole a bucket of stupid tumbles out.
(Obama continued to behave as if he was a legislature rather than an executive - thinking the Presidency would give him more power to enact laws).
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the fact that the guy actually taught constitutional law never ceases to amaze me.
Again, another giant step backwards. But. as long as the right thinks science does not support GW, you also think the moon is made out of blue cheese. Oh well, lets just ignore it and pull out of the accord since the climate ain't our problem. Dumb beyond words.
Some people (like Roger) believe that if you can get elected Senator that it qualifies you for pretty much everything else.
Some people think that it proves you do have some qualities that you trivialize in another throw against the wall statement like everything else you post.
KD, US Marine Hillary Clinton, liar said...
The Queen of 'Fake News" well documented.
Wow!!!! An article over a year old without proof her story was fake. Again, good going farmer for perpetuating more fake news.
wp Big
Not extraordinary but
Our ruling
Bush said that as a senator, Clinton had her name "on three laws in eight years."
Bush used vague language here, so it’s fair game to look at the three sponsored bills and the 74 co-sponsored ones that passed. Also, congressional experts warn that legislative influence goes beyond having your name as a sponsor or co-sponsor. Senators weigh in with amendments, debate and negotiations.
The statement is partially accurate, but leaves out important details so we rate this claim Half True.
Share The Facts
On this blog, the queen of fake news is K'putz
Via Drudge!
Politico
Donald Trump's insult-laced dismissal of reports that the CIA believes Russia hacked the 2016 election to help him is rattling a spy community already puzzled over how to gain the ear and trust of the incoming president.
Some fear that Trump's highly public rebukes of the U.S. intelligence apparatus will undermine morale in the spy agencies, politicize their work, and damage their standing in a world filled with adversaries. After all, if the U.S. president doesn't believe his own intelligence officials, why should anyone else?
Story Continued Below
"There is nothing more sacred to intelligence officers than their professionalism, honesty and non-partisanship. Trump's charges strike at the core of their integrity," said John Sipher, a former CIA officer with broad expertise on Russia.
Trump, a career businessman with no national security experience, has long taken positions that have alarmed intelligence officials, such as supporting torture and suggesting that it's OK to kill the family members of terrorists.
His choice of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a man who promotes conspiracy theories on Twitter, as his national security adviser has unnerved observers. And his apparent reluctance to accept daily intelligence briefings since winning on Nov. 8 has fueled concerns that Trump will assume the presidency blind to the dangers facing the United States.
But Trump, who often speaks fondly of Russian President Vladimir Putin, really struck a nerve during the latter stages of the presidential campaign by refusing to accept the U.S. intelligence consensus that Moscow was behind cyber-attacks on U.S. election organizations. On Friday, after The Washington Post reported that the CIA believes Russia was trying specifically to help Trump, the president-elect's team compared the allegations to the flawed claims that prompted the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
President Barack Obama has ordered a "full review" of hacking-relating activity aimed at disrupting last month's presidential election.
PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION
Trump breaks with Obama, intel agencies on election hacking
By JOSH GERSTEIN, JENNIFER SCHOLTES, ERIC GELLER and MARTIN MATISHAK
"These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," Trump's transition team said in a statement that made jaws drop across the intelligence world, where many blame the George W. Bush administration, not spy agencies, for selective use of the data that led to the war.
Incoming Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Saturday called for a bipartisan congressional probe into the reports of Russian electoral interference. "That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core," the New York Democrat said.
But Republicans have remained largely quiet on the subject, possibly out of an awareness of where the president-elect stands. Even Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, who acknowledged that the notion of Russian interference was not a surprise and signaled plans to probe the matter in the next Congress, noted, "The CIA has not always been exactly right, to say the least."
Trump would not be the first U.S. president to harbor a distrust of the intelligence community, which has worked hard to restore its standing in the public eye since the invasion of Iraq and revelations of intelligence agencies use of waterboarding and other torture techniques.
Some fear that Trump's highly public rebukes of the U.S. intelligence apparatus will undermine morale in the spy agencies, politicize their work, and damage their standing in a world filled with adversaries
That ship sailed when somebody at the CIA decided to leak a story impugning the legitimacy of Trump's election.
Boston Globe Op-Ed: Hillary Lost Thanks to One Word, and It's Not 'Russia'
In the end it wasn't Russia who did Hillary in. Nor was it James Comey and the FBI's on again, off again email investigation. It boiled down into one self-inflicted speech that perfectly encapsulated the contempt the elite ruling class had for middle America.
Someone from within the CIA is "leaking" information about possible Russian hacking, without providing any real specifics. A so called "report" that nobody will release.
The FBI is on record as saying they have uncovered no evidence of Russian hacking. Since it would be a federal crime to try to hack an election, rather than a national security issue... the jurisdiction would fall to the FBI rather than the CIA.
So the reality is that the organization with the jurisdiction is stating they have seen no evidence of hacking. The organization that answered directly to the Obama administration is "leaking" that they uncovered something (but no specifics).
It's impossible to prove a "negative" - but it's also very wrong to make these sorts of alegations unless you are willing to back them up. By definition, a media outlet reporting allegations without any evidence is a classic example of a "fake news"" story.
Seems to me CH, that your naive interpretation ignores the October releases that basically said the rusk's were screwing with us. Yes, they never released the source data, but my guess that the ways and data are classified, and you know how that warks since you are an expert in security. i would say with 95% certainty, the russians were fucking around and probably hacked into the RNC in spite of Wrench's denial.
“We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities,” said the office of the director of national intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a joint statement.
The accusation marked a new escalation of tensions with Russia and came shortly after the US secretary of state, John Kerry, called for Russia to be investigated for war crimes in Syria.
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman dismissed the accusation as “rubbish.”
“Every day Putin’s website gets attacked by several tens of thousand of hackers. A lot of these attacks are traced to the territory of the USA, but we do not blame the White House or Langley each time,” he told the Interfax news agency.
The Russian foreign ministry said Washington lacked any evidence for its accusations, which were an attempt to fan “unprecedented anti-Russian hysteria”.
The deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said: “This whipping up of emotions regarding ‘Russian hackers’ is used in the US election campaign, and the current US administration, taking part in this fight, is not averse to using dirty tricks.”
He said Moscow reiterated an offer to US officials, first made last year, to hold talks on fighting cybercrime together.
The White House declined to say whether the formal attribution would trigger sanctions against Russia.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/07/us-russia-dnc-hack-interfering-presidential-election
Congress: aoc.gov/Wikimedia Commons; Soviet flare: serkorkin/iStock; Soviet background: badvviser/iStock
Despite all the news being generated by the change of power underway in Washington, there is one story this week that deserves top priority: Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. On Tuesday, the director of the National Security Agency, Admiral Michael Rogers, was asked about the WikiLeaks release of hacked information during the campaign, and he said, "This was a conscious effort by a nation-state to attempt to achieve a specific effect." He added, "This was not something that was done casually. This was not something that was done by chance. This was not a target that was selected purely arbitrarily."
This was a stunning statement that has echoed other remarks from senior US officials. He was saying that Russia directly intervened in the US election to obtain a desired end: presumably to undermine confidence in US elections or to elect Donald Trump—or both. Rogers was clearly accusing Vladimir Putin of meddling with American democracy. This is news worthy of bold and large front-page headlines—and investigation. Presumably intelligence and law enforcement agencies are robustly probing the hacking of political targets attributed to Russia. But there is another inquiry that is necessary: a full-fledged congressional investigation that holds public hearings and releases its findings to the citizenry.
If the FBI, CIA, and other intelligence agencies are digging into the Russian effort to affect US politics, there is no guarantee that what they uncover will be shared with the public. Intelligence investigations often remain secret for the obvious reasons: they involve classified information.
I'm wondering "how" the Russians supposedly "interfered" with the US election according to the CIA.
Did they interfere with the actual vote?
Nom all experts agree there is no evidence of such tampering.
Did they spread disinformation and lies?
No, there is no evidence or that either. No one has disputed the authenticity of the DNC and Clinton campaign leaks.
No, the only accusation to date is that DNC and Clinton campaign information they would rather not have the public see was made public.
So they interfered by revealing the truth about Clinton and her confidants?
Did they spread disinformation and lies?
Cherry picking is spreading the information that creates the most harm. Something you do with regularity menstral.
Trump has picked former Texas governor Rick Perry for Secretary of Energy. Here are 4 things you should know about Perry:
1. Texas is rich in energy resources and Perry is an enthusiastic advocate of extracting them.
2. During a televised debate in 2011, when Perry was seeking the Republican nomination, he intended to list the Department of Energy among agencies he wanted to eliminate, but he could not remember its name.
3. Although the Department of Energy manages the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile and runs American programs on nuclear nonproliferation and counterterrorism, Perry has no experience in any of these things. Before being Texas’s governor from 2000 to 2015, he was Texas’s agriculture commissioner. He holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Texas A&M University.
4. While campaigning in 2015 for the Republican nomination, Perry called Trump a “barking carnival act” and a “cancer on conservatism.” But he campaigned energetically for Trump this year in the months leading up to the presidential election.
Bottom line: Another bizarre cabinet pick.
What do you think?
Robert Reich
It could be a problem having a science denier like Perry in charge of Energy. And remember the Republican debate where Perry drew a blank on the name of the Energy Department, but allowed that he'd shut it down? Unless the idea is to throw a wrench in the works, a truly bad choice.
WP - and old management trick.
When someone steps up and criticizes a policy or department or in this case an agency... that's the person you put in charge of fixing it. If you are smart enough to recognize it needs fixing, then you should be smart enough to figure out how to fix it.
The idea is to promote the concept that complaints without solutions are dangerous. Better not come with one, unless you have the other.
Whether that is what he is doing, or whether it's a valid manner to deal with some of these things is up for debate. But to put critics in charge at the very least signals that he wants to see real change in these agencies.
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