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See it what what?

Quote:true..but saudi arabia remains among the top 3 exporters of crude to the us. and the type of crude that saudi arabia exports could also be a big factor. and don't forget about our allies needing all that oil. plus saudi arabia has been a piggy bank for the us, in financing wars in syria, etc

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We have our own oil. Wasn't the criticism of the Iraq was that it was done to seize control of oil?

Quote:there might be plenty of oil but is it coming from stable or friendly countries....where is it gonna come from? russia? venezuela? iran? libya? africa - nope, china has pretty much locked up african crude?

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Hopefully Trump will see it that way.

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I don't think it's necessarily oil, either.

But surely there's a reason why we support an authoritarian regime that sponsors Islamic terrorism. 79% of the 9/11 Bombers were from Saudi Arabia. Should we ban them? Nah

The fact that Iran is on the list and Saudi Arabia isn't is a complete joke.

There is plenty of oil everywhere. I don't buy that argument anymore.

Quote:really, you don't think trump is gonna do anything to jeopardize that oil....neither did obama or gwb for that matter.

Why hasn't Trump banned Saudi Arabians from the US - Wasn't there a number of Saudi's that crashed the planes in the WTC ... and wasn't Bin Laden a Saudi too ? Oh Siht ! We still get oil from them ... my bad.

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The article makes no mention of his political leanings but does mention him griping about Mexicans taking jobs. Are you really that ignorant that you think just because he's Puerto Rican and Colombian he can't possibly be racist against Mexicans?? ....You are aware those are all different countries right?

Another day, another liberal arrested for committing hate crimes.

This time, right in NYC.

A 65 year old Hispanic man (Puerto Rican and Colombian) was arrested and charged with hate crimes after being caught writing ?KKK? and ?Mexican Go Home? on Penn Station walls. Keep it coming!

http://nypost.com/2017/03/06/man-arre ... wastikas-in-penn-station/

Re-post ... I posted it in the 'wrong' thread and was deleted ... Hoping this is the correct one!

It's crazy with this increased military spending - Our so called 'enemies' spend very little and can at times outwit and outplay us. Military spending needs to be halved, with a focus on technology and less 'foot-soldiers', but rather small specialist soldiers then simple grunts.

I don't see ISIS or any so called threats with a massive naval armada as ours or the endless supply of tanks and planes (not to mention all the surplus crap we have). Neither China or Russia would ever invade the US; why would they? How in the hell would they be able to have an occupying force within the US? We wouldn't be able to in their countries ... All this increase will do is go to fill the pockets of government contractors and raise the incomes of senior military personal who as 'yes' men to Trump's (or any president in power) requests

The increase is stupid and 40% should be removed from the military budget and passed onto the health, manufacturing and education of this country, that's if we truly want to remain viable and competitive.

I'm betting many of the secret service agents, senior military staff and others (his party colleagues) are all of the mind-set, that I'll provide safety and respect to the title holder of President, but not the person!

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Yes... what is it with Presidents who ignore their professional intelligence advisers. Who exactly told Obama that ISIS was just "a JV Team" in the wide world of terrorism.

If congress deep dives Trump's claim, it will be discovered that one of the 15+ intelligence agencies did in fact over step their surveillance authority and break the law. The system is just too ripe for that abuse.

And given that Hillary will be the next president, what is the risk that this illegality will ever be discovered?

Not to digress, but I thought in the interests of all of you who keep track of such things, this tread is on a pace to have 76k+ comments in 4 years... all by a handful of people. And if DJT manages to swing 12 years (by ruling the 22nd amendment fake?), there will be 230k+ posts. Thanks for the entertainment.

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Thank you Comrade JCMan8! You are TRUE PATRIOT! Good work follow my advice! Yes true - Trump not narcissist, Obama narcissist!

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The world is bound to be confusing for people who take shortcuts, think in absolutes, and insist on using stereotypes.

He isn't that stupid. Thin skinned maybe but not stupid. He won the election on a slanted field. I bet there is truth to this. Whether he can prove it is another matter. Obama's own website indicates he is raising money to fund Trump protesting groups. Is it so inconceivable that he would wire tap? Something is leaking and based on the response from the press and then left on his appointments I doubt it's any of his cabinet.

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Maybe because with his latest accusation (Obama wiretapping Trump Tower) Trump has gone off the deep end (to a greater extent than anyone thought conceivable)?

Trump has the best intelligence at his disposal and ignores it, instead relying on Fox & Friends, anonymous twitter posts and alt-right news blogs. It must be insulting for intelligence analysts at the FBI, CIA and NSA.

Wait. All the libs claimed Comey was in bed with Trump. How can this be?

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Russia mystery threatens to consume Washington

By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 6:36 AM ET, Mon March 6, 2017

(CNN)The mystery over Donald Trump and Russia is taking a corrosive hold on his presidency, sowing accusations and hysteria that threaten to overwhelm his White House and drain his personal credibility.

Washington has become a hall of mirrors, where it's impossible to distinguish between rumor and fact as conspiracy theories and partisan paroxysms rage -- all arising from an alleged Russian spy plot to sway last year's election that is now clouding the new administration.
The White House is finding it impossible to put to rest claims it has improper ties to Russia. Often, President Trump himself reignites the drama ? apparently to his detriment ? as with his sensational claim Saturday that his predecessor Barack Obama tapped his phones.
Congress meanwhile is becoming consumed by gossip and hearsay, while a drip, drip, drip of disclosures about Trump world's contacts with Russian officials feed blockbuster news stories.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the intrigue over Russia, the election, and the new administration is deepening, and has the potential to distract the White House and the machinery of the US government for months.

Furthermore, ethical, political and personality dynamics at play at the top of the administration and incentives for Trump's enemies to prolong the sense of scandal are complicating the White House's effort to move on.

Only one thing is clear in the fog of accusations and allegations: If the goal of Russia's alleged intelligence swoop was to pit Washington's centers of power against one another, to foment political chaos and to cast doubt on the functioning of US democracy itself, it is working better than anyone in Moscow can have hoped.
"We are in the midst of a civilization-warping crisis of public trust," Republican Sen. Ben Sasse said in a statement on Saturday.

Questions clouding the White House essentially revolve around extensive meetings between prominent Russian officials and members of the Trump orbit and whether there was collusion between them at a time when US intelligence agencies assessed the Kremlin was trying to interfere in the election.

As it stands, an FBI probe into whether such contacts were improper is underway. Several congressional investigations into hacking operations designed to influence the election are also being conducted.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces his recusal.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces his recusal.
In the latest developments, the position of Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been called into question after he recused himself from oversight duties after failing to disclose to Congress two contacts with the Russian ambassador.

The White House spokesman Sean Spicer insists that there is "no there, there" in the Russia intrigue.

But the conduct of the President himself often undercuts that message. Some observers have noted that while there may be nothing nefarious going on, the President often acts in a way that suggests there is.
For instance, the White House call Sunday for an investigation into "reports" that Obama ordered wire taps on Trump appeared to be a classic attempt to blur the issue and to distract attention from accusations against the President or the political blowback of the Sessions recusal.

But his claims seem likely to give the controversy new legs.
"He just put another quarter in the conspiracy parking meter, they have extended this story for a week, two weeks," former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday.

The credibility of the President's statements on the issue is also eroding.
"Russia is a ruse, I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge, no person that I deal with does," Trump said during his news conference on February 16.
But since then, details have emerged of repeated meetings between Trump aides and Russian officials, casting doubt on the president's words.

As well as the two Sessions meetings with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the campaign, it emerged this week that the President's son-in-law Jared Kushner and his first national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had to resign after not being truthful about phone calls with the ambassador also had talks with Kislyak in December at Trump Tower. Others associated with the Trump campaign including J.D. Gordon, Walid Phares and Carter Page have also disclosed meetings with the Russians.

Of course, just the fact that the meetings occurred do not mean that anything inappropriate was going on. But the fact Trump officials continued to meet the Russians while an alleged Russian espionage plot was public knowledge is raising questions about their nature.
White House unlikely to shake off drama
There are at least six reasons why the White House is unlikely to be able to shake off the Russian drama in the short term.
The first possibility is the most serious: that the rumors are true and the administration was the target of a Russian espionage operation.
It would not be surprising. After all, Russia is also reported to have tried to influence other key moments in Western democracy ? like the forthcoming French and German elections for instance.

CNN reporting meanwhile revealed earlier this year that US intelligence agencies presented Trump with evidence that Russian spy services tried to compromise him. The previous Obama administration issued an unclassified report alleging that hackers linked to Russian intelligence hacked servers belonging to the Democratic Party and the Hillary Clinton campaign in an operation intended to boost Trump's electoral hopes.

A second reason why questions about Russia will linger is because what some observers see as Trump's odd fixation with Moscow raises constant questions about his motives.
Former Obama administration national security adviser Tom Donilon told CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday that the root of the issue was "an approach to Russia which has been uncritical, a refusal to criticize Vladimir Putin personally and a refusal to underscore a number of the steps the Russians have taken really in what has been a pattern of active hostility towards the United States."
"It really has been unexplained, there never has been a presentation on this," said Donilon.

Democrats are not alone in their puzzlement.
"I can't figure out why the administration is taking the position on Russia that it is," said Kori Schake, a former Bush administration Pentagon official.

"It doesn't make sense to me for all sorts of reasons," Schake said. "The obduracy with which they are committed to it. The kind of weird connections and weird answers that they keep giving. Something doesn't feel right."
It also seems curious how many of Trump's comments about Russia seem to line up with Russian foreign policy goals.
During his campaign, Trump slighted NATO and suggested he could lift sanctions on Russia and recognize its grab of Crimea from Ukraine. He called on Russia to release Hillary Clinton's emails, and cast doubt on US intelligence agency assessments that Moscow hacked her servers.
Trump's personality gives oxygen to story
The President's unique personality also appears at times to be exacerbating the sense of crisis being fostered in Washington.
In theory, he could flush away questions about whether undeclared links with Russia are influencing his attitude to Moscow by releasing his tax returns.

His refusal to do so gives oxygen to claims that he has some secret business or creditor relationships with Russia that compromise him.
Trump's praise for Putin and vows to revive relations with Moscow exposed him to fierce criticism during the campaign. A decision to walk back that position could be humiliating.
Another reason why the Russian story will fester is because there appear to be ideological similarities between foreign policy priorities of some top Trump aides and those in power in Moscow.
If Russia represents a populist, nationalistic strain of geopolitical thought in conflict with a more globalist, Western interpretation of international relations, it seems to have fellow travelers in the White House.

Russian hostility to Western institutions like the European Union seems mirrored by Trump aides like Stephen Bannon, for instance, who has laid out a deeply nationalistic vision for the administration.
That aside, it's also clear that the way the White House has handled the drum beat of accusations about Russia has suggested a new administration may not yet be up to the job of navigating treacherous Washington.

The White House has often seemed unable to coordinate its damage limitation and coordination efforts.
Both Trump and Spicer said last week Sessions didn't need to recuse himself. But within hours, he did just that, raising questions about the level of coordination within the administration.
Some observers have also meanwhile wondered why the White House does not simply list all the meetings top Trump aides have held with Russians to avoid the damaging litany of disclosures.
Inside the White House and among Trump supporters outside, there is a strong belief that the President is the victim of an orchestrated campaign of leaks to undermine his authority and discredit his election victory.
The President himself claimed there was a "witch hunt" against him last week.

Given his feud with the intelligence agencies since he won the election, it's not farfetched to think that disgruntled spy sources sense an opportunity to hurt the President by cooperating with journalists.
There's also a final reason why the Russia scandal is not going to end any time soon.

Democrats have a clear political incentive to prolong a situation which is helping to unify them, to slow Trump's agenda by bogging the White House down with investigations and to present the President in a scary light.

Interesting interview.. buried in the middle is Clapper's clear statement that the multi-intelligence agency investigation DID NOT FIND ANY evidence of collusion between Trump/Russia with regard to stealing or influencing the presidential election.

So why does the Left perpetuate "The Big Lie" that Trump and Putin stole the election?

Also despite the convenient and misleading NBC Denial Headline... Clapper backpedals from the denial statement. He starts with an out right denial of any FISA order, then when asked specifically about Trump Tower bugging, he says not to my knowledge and he hopes he would be informed of such activity?

Then he says that he can not speak for any other authorized government agencies?

So the facts are this, Trump is cleared of colluding with Putin by the Obama DOJ and 15 other US intelligence agencies. The Russians or some proxy are caught hacking Hillary and the DNC.

In response Obama applies sanctions, closes known Russian Spy facilities in the US and expels dozens of "Russian Diplomats".

And currently because of selective leaks, the Trump Admin people are being smeared by innuendo ONLY because they spoke to Russians. There is no evidence (recorded conversations) that anything illegal was discussed, because they have all ready been cleared by Clapper and the Report.

I am very confused at this point why there have to be congressional hearings..... for what? I think the democrats need to be very careful with this one.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/polit ... retap-trump-tower-n729261

Um have you looked at the history of that part of the US? If you do then you know that you have it all wrong.

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Thanks for confirming what I said in my first sentence... Here let me try this again... How do you suppose the intelligence community that leaked the story about Flynn's Russian Phone Call knew that he made the call??? Obama/WH told the AG/ DOJ to start the investigation. We know this because Obama told the American people he initiated an investigation during speech.

Trump is trying to cut $1.3 bil from the Coast Guard budget.

Hmm.. how can you say you're tough on border security and then cut resources from the Coast Guard?

The Coast Guard is facing $1.3 billion in cuts in the Trump administration's fiscal 2018 budget guidance, a move that will "severely undermine U.S. national security," according to one GOP lawmaker.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., sent a letter to President Trump on Thursday to say that the cut to the Coast Guard "egregiously conflicts with your stated goal to strengthen national security.

"These proposed cuts, should they proceed, will guarantee negative consequences," Hunter wrote. "Undoubtedly, America would be less safe based on the suggested recommendations of career bureaucrats positioned within OMB."

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tru ... ast-guard/article/2616285

Obama is a real piece of crap, who wants to see this country torn apart. He's been leading the effort to impeach Trump, because he's a raging narcissist (far more than Trump) who only cares about his "legacy."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic ... -moves-Kaloroma-home.html

So many of these issue are a distraction, a smokescreen to distract people from other, more dangerous things. Like today's wiretapping nonsense from Trump....a big, bright, shiny bauble designed to throw everyone off the stench of Russia and other various and sundry illegalities of the New Regime. Don't fall for it.

Quote:there is a process for getting wiretaps...if it was part of an ongoing investigation, then the jsutice dept/fbi would have initiated wiretap proceedings..not obama

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Of course the president can order wiretaps... there is a whole documented legal process as part of the Patriot Act that needs to be followed by his AG and the DOJ.

Obama directed as a final act and promise to the American people that he would expedite the investigation of the Russian hacking. Part of that process could be legal wiretaps. Do you think Obama just decided to put new sanctions on the Russians without evidence they hacked HRC and the DNC?

The reason the leaks are happening now is because the information collected during the investigation was intentionally not marked as classified / top secret so virtually any person with minimal clearance can leak with no risk to prosecution.

There is no smoking gun conversation..... instead the corrupt media only reports that phone calls took place... ooohhhh scary,,, but they purposely leave out what was discussed, because at this moment, there is no evidence of collusion to steal the election.

Innuendo and smearing is more important than facts. in the progressive's kangaroo court of public opinion.

sicko is now accusing obama of wiretapping his phones. the president can not order wiretaps