Cont: All things Trump + Russia Part 2

[Emily's Cat]

Evidence?

Evidence would be abundant if you actually checked some of the stories yourself. I've ended up spending at least as much time on Snopes as I have reading linked articles.

So... For instance...

Trump Server with ties to Russian Bank:
CNN
Business Insider
CBS
SnopesOrigin Story: Slate

Trump has ties to Russian Law Firm of the Year:
The Guardian
CNN
ABC
Snopes
I don't have time to do more digging for you. Just try occasionally fact-checking stuff. It's not hard.

 

[rwguinn]

Of course. And I haven't expressed any skepticism about those verifiable events.

But the meat of that article isn't the events that are already well established. The meat of that article is that investigators are 'keenly focused on' Trump's role, and that whether Trump made a knowingly false statement os 'now of interest to prosecutors'. The only new information in that article is unnamed and references fairly weak descriptions for those sources "people familiar with the matter" and "a person familiar with".


Actually, I'm not so convinced as you. Lots of moderately reputable news outlets have been making a habit of linking to blogs created by people who don't have any evidence. There's been a host of false information presented by previously respectable organizations this year. And there's been an awful lot of sensationalism relying on speculation and "if X is true then it could mean Y" allegations, even though there's no support for X being true.

My confidence in the media is at an all time low. Not nearly as low as my confidence in the government, but still, pretty low.

Then the Tea Party strategy is working very well.
If you undermine the credibility of the Press by nitpicking and misrepresenting little stuff, it makes people more susceptible to thinking that the big stuff is suspect. Help a to undermine the basic remnants of our way of government and life.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Childlike Empress]

Okay now. Responding to crappy journalism with crappier journalism isn't really the solution here.

Solution to what? To our friends' pseudo-skeptical problem? Frankly I'm way past that (even a lobotomy would be useless as one half of their brain is already self-suppressed), but it's great that you try. I for one slack posting the odd mocking article and enjoy the following half page of whining...

Did you read the update in my sig yet? There's a far better writer than the hack at The Duran, admittedly.

 

[varwoche]

Evidence would be abundant if you actually checked some of the stories yourself. I've ended up spending at least as much time on Snopes as I have reading linked articles.

So... For instance...

Trump Server with ties to Russian Bank:
CNN
Business Insider
CBS
SnopesOrigin Story: Slate

Trump has ties to Russian Law Firm of the Year:
The Guardian
CNN
ABC
Snopes
I don't have time to do more digging for you. Just try occasionally fact-checking stuff. It's not hard.

Please quote the bits in the first CNN article that you think supports your claim. Either I can't find it, or you're making stuff up yet again.

 

[phiwum]

Of course. And I haven't expressed any skepticism about those verifiable events.

But the meat of that article isn't the events that are already well established. The meat of that article is that investigators are 'keenly focused on' Trump's role, and that whether Trump made a knowingly false statement os 'now of interest to prosecutors'. The only new information in that article is unnamed and references fairly weak descriptions for those sources "people familiar with the matter" and "a person familiar with".

The exact same analysis applies to the articles I cited. The meat of each article was found in the unnamed sources' claims.

Actually, I'm not so convinced as you. Lots of moderately reputable news outlets have been making a habit of linking to blogs created by people who don't have any evidence. There's been a host of false information presented by previously respectable organizations this year. And there's been an awful lot of sensationalism relying on speculation and "if X is true then it could mean Y" allegations, even though there's no support for X being true.

My confidence in the media is at an all time low. Not nearly as low as my confidence in the government, but still, pretty low.

Links to blogs are not the same as unnamed sources.

I don't agree with your disdain for respected media. The New York Times, the Washington Post, PBS Newshour and NPR are all reliable sources. When they cite unnamed sources, I have some confidence that the sources are relevant and authoritative. I won't deny that the Post in particular aggressively attacks Trump, but as far as I've seen, they do not make **** up.

 

[phiwum]

Evidence would be abundant if you actually checked some of the stories yourself. I've ended up spending at least as much time on Snopes as I have reading linked articles.

So... For instance...

Trump Server with ties to Russian Bank:
CNN
Business Insider
CBS
SnopesOrigin Story: Slate

Trump has ties to Russian Law Firm of the Year:
The Guardian
CNN
ABC
Snopes
I don't have time to do more digging for you. Just try occasionally fact-checking stuff. It's not hard.

Sorry, are these examples of articles whose sources were men-in-the-street who know nothing in particular, or faithful reports about knowledgeable persons whose interpretations of the facts remain unproved? Did these articles claim there was no doubt about the facts of the matter?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Trump and Manafort get big reminder that pardon power does not extend to state crimes

Well well well...

 

[Stacko]

Mueller enlists the IRS.

Special counsel Bob Mueller has teamed up with the IRS. According to sources familiar with his investigation into alleged Russian election interference, his probe has enlisted the help of agents from the IRS’ Criminal Investigations unit.

This unit—known as CI—is one of the federal government’s most tight-knit, specialized, and secretive investigative entities. Its 2,500 agents focus exclusively on financial crime, including tax evasion and money laundering. A former colleague of Mueller’s said he always liked working with IRS’ special agents, especially when he was a U.S. Attorney.

And it goes without saying that the IRS has access to Trump’s tax returns—documents that the president has long resisted releasing to the public.

Potential financial crimes are a central part of Mueller’s probe. One of his top deputies, Andy Weissmann, formerly helmed the Justice Department’s Enron probe and has extensive experience working with investigative agents from the IRS.

 

[sts60]

Mueller enlists the IRS.

"You're muckin' with the G here, pal!"

 

[C_Felix]

Mueller enlists the IRS.

Why are you resurrecting this fake news? Do you want to get crushed on social media?

 

[Arcade22]

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who has come under scrutiny for his own ties to Russia, is behind the Assange pardon push.

The deal Rohrabacher is trying to cut: pardon Assange in exchange for information he claims proves Russia did not collude with the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential race.

The California Republican became the first U.S. lawmaker to meet with Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London early last month, where Assange has been holed up for years in an attempt to avoid arrest. Rohrabacher claims Assange offered him "firsthand" evidence during the meeting that would prove there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the race.

Earlier this week, Rohrabacher claimed a meeting is in the works between himself and the president to discuss Assange's information and a potential pardon.

Trump showed he is willing to flex his pardoning power last week when he announced he would pardon Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/348773-could-trump-pardon-assange

Brilliant!

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Assange can be pardoned? What?

 

[Beelzebuddy]

Assange can be pardoned? What?

For all of those imaginary crimes that the US would in no way extradite him for should he ever leave the Ecuadorian embassy.

 

[jimbob]

Another summary here

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ion-evolved-this-week/?utm_term=.d694587b2b96

Some of the headlines

A lawyer from Trump’s company — who acted as a surrogate for the campaign — emailed an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin last year for help with a development project. The Washington Post reported this week that Michael Cohen — whose interview about the campaign with CNN last summer went viral online — had emailed Putin’s personal spokesman in January 2016, asking for his help advancing a stalled development project in Moscow.

Mueller’s team is working with the New York attorney general in investigating former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

The special counsel’s investigators have subpoenaed Manafort’s former lawyer and current spokesman.

Manafort’s notes from the meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower include references to political contributions

- He took the notes were taken on a smartphone, so the claim that Manafort was uninterested during the meeting because he was on his phone is looking weaker.

Trump’s lawyers met with Mueller’s team in June to argue against pursuing obstruction of justice charges.

Mueller obtained a copy of a letter Trump drafted but never released, explaining why he planned to fire Comey

 

[quadraginta]

Assange can be pardoned? What?

Pardons, Republican style.

"a full, free, and absolute pardon ... for all offenses ... which he ... has committed or may have committed or taken part in"
​

No need for charges to be specified, preferred, or adjudicated. No need for an arrest, or an arraignment, or a trial.

It's better than a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card. It's a "Get out of Everything Free" card.

 

[NoahFence]

US closes Russian consulates, and now smoke coming from line of them.....

Nothing fishy there!

 

[Stacko]

US closes Russian consulates, and now smoke coming from line of them.....

Nothing fishy there!

Fireplaces help cool buildings right?

In normally cool and foggy San Francisco, temperatures reached an all-time high of 106 degrees (41 degrees Celsius) Friday afternoon, well above the city’s 90-degree (32-degree Celsius) record set for this day in 1950 and the all-time record high of 103 degrees (39 degrees) set in 2000.

 

[Stacko]

Looks like Pence is in this up to his eyeballs too.

Mr. Trump ordered Mr. Miller to draft a letter, and dictated his unfettered thoughts. Several people who saw Mr. Miller’s multi-page draft described it as a “screed.”

Mr. Trump was back in Washington on Monday, May 8, when copies of the letter were handed out in the Oval Office to senior officials, including Mr. McGahn and Vice President Mike Pence. Mr. Trump announced that he had decided to fire Mr. Comey, and read aloud from Mr. Miller’s memo.

Some present at the meeting, including Mr. McGahn, were alarmed that the president had decided to fire the F.B.I. director after consulting only Ms. Trump, Mr. Kushner and Mr. Miller. Mr. McGahn began an effort to stop the letter or at least pare it back.

It's not very Christian of you to bear false witness Mr. Pence.

Vice President Mike Pence has once again delivered the White House line, in the face of growing contradictory evidence, on a charged topic related to Russia’s possible connections to the Trump campaign.

In meetings on Capitol Hill and in interviews, Pence has said this week that Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

“Let me be very clear that the president’s decision to accept the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general to remove Director Comey as the head of the FBI was based solely and exclusively on his commitment to the best interests of the American people and to ensuring that the FBI has the trust and confidence of the people this nation,” Pence told reporters Wednesday.

So when Pence went on TV to say Comey was fired because of Rosenstein's memo, he knew the story wasn't true.

 

[quadraginta]

Looks like Pence is in this up to his eyeballs too.



It's not very Christian of you to bear false witness Mr. Pence.



So when Pence went on TV to say Comey was fired because of Rosenstein's memo, he knew the story wasn't true.

Lying For Jesus™ is okay.

...

...

As long as you are a Republican of the conservative evangelical fundamentalist variety, of course.

 

[varwoche]

Please quote the bits in the first CNN article that you think supports your claim. Either I can't find it, or you're making stuff up yet again.

Emily's Cat, I take your failure to respond as a tacit admission that the article doesn't support your claim.

Highly unimpressive across the board.