The [Current Year] General Political/Salma Hayek discussion thread, part 4!!!

[Leadeye]

Different groups pay law/lobby firms in dc to influence US policy every day, and I'm assuming those lawyers pay their taxes on the income they get from those groups, both foreign and domestic. I have a hard time drawing a moral distinction between what these people do every day and people like Mr. Manafort, although there is obviously a legal one. Would what he did rise to the level of investigation if he had hired it out and paid his taxes?

Always follow the money

 

[T.Lex]

Strange monologue to append to my post. I don’t see that it has much to do with my comment re Kut. But maybe I’m missing your point.

Ah - ok. I'll try to explain better.

I think you're confusing Kut's statements about Russian meddling in the election and Mueller's investigation of that with the notion that Trump "colluded" with Russia on some nefarious thing. But, I'm also excusing that confusion because the MSM does it, and it gets blurry here, too.

My point was that there are (at least) 2 separate issues. I think Kut has been consistent on the "collusion" thing, even if he is disparaging of Trump on the other stuff.

Sometimes I get lumped into that same bucket, so I felt like I should explain my own view.

 

[T.Lex]

Different groups pay law/lobby firms in dc to influence US policy every day, and I'm assuming those lawyers pay their taxes on the income they get from those groups, both foreign and domestic. I have a hard time drawing a moral distinction between what these people do every day and people like Mr. Manafort, although there is obviously a legal one. Would what he did rise to the level of investigation if he had hired it out and paid his taxes?

Always follow the money

Well, it is a bit more complicated than that. First, yes, there appears to be a metric shton of money that he didn't pay taxes on that he should've. So, on that part, if he had properly disclosed it and paid the taxes, he would've avoided that problem.

Second, though, there's the part about registering as a foreign agent. No, not like a secret agent, but as someone who is advocating on behalf of a foreign government. I believe he did register at certain times, but did not register as often as he should have, nor disclose which governments were paying him. That's another set of problems.

From what I gather, he was able to secure safety from investigations under prior administrations by leveraging relationships.

 

[T.Lex]

Apropos to what happens on INGO....

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-warnings-grow-forgotten-republicans-044631823--election.html

"There's not a lot of room for dissent in the Republican Party right now," Conant said. "Moderates don't feel welcome. And if you're not loyal to Trump, there's not necessarily room for you."

 

[nonobaddog]

Tim Pawlenty was only a so-so governor and probably could not win an election again. He is just spouting sour grapes.

 

[printcraft]

Im a collusion neutral. I don't have all the facts.

 

[actaeon277]

Apropos to what happens on INGO....

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-warnings-grow-forgotten-republicans-044631823--election.html

"There's not a lot of room for dissent in the Republican Party right now," Conant said. "Moderates don't feel welcome. And if you're not loyal to Trump, there's not necessarily room for you."


And the Democrat Party?

 

[T.Lex]

"There's not a lot of room for dissent in the Republican Party right now," Conant said. "Moderates don't feel welcome. And if you're not loyal to Trump, there's not necessarily room for you."


And the Democrat Party?

Probably the same.

 

[actaeon277]

Probably the same.

Probably?

 

[Hawkeye]

Probably?

I don’t think there’s any probably about it. But apparently someone doesn’t want to recognize that.


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[Alpo]

Relevance, grasshopper. Saying the other guys are a clown contest doesn't fix the problem with the guys with the big red noses in your Volkswagon.

 

[Hawkeye]

Relevance, grasshopper. Saying the other guys are a clown contest doesn't fix the problem with the guys with the big red noses in your Volkswagon.

Who said that acknowledging Dems are a messed up party is fixing the Republicans? I certainly didn’t. But I’m tired of seeing them constantly trashed by apologists for the oppo party.

Think about this. Which party is more likely to march in lock step when it comes to voting? Hint: it’s NOT the GOP.


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[T.Lex]

I don’t think there’s any probably about it. But apparently someone doesn’t want to recognize that.

Care to elaborate about who that "someone" is, friend?

I've repeatedly stated that the Dems are as fractured (along different lines) than the Republicans. I just happen to care FAR less about the Dems fracturing. I'm also less connected to the Dems than I am the Republicans, so I'm not as familiar with who is important and who isn't.

Alas, to follow up Alpo's point, that their clowns might be scarier and less entertaining than our clowns doesn't change how scary and non-entertaining our clowns are.

 

[T.Lex]

Who said that acknowledging Dems are a messed up party is fixing the Republicans? I certainly didn’t. But I’m tired of seeing them constantly trashed by apologists for the oppo party.

Think about this. Which party is more likely to march in lock step when it comes to voting? Hint: it’s NOT the GOP.

That might not be the best analogy....

 

[Hawkeye]

Care to elaborate about who that "someone" is, friend?

I've repeatedly stated that the Dems are as fractured (along different lines) than the Republicans. I just happen to care FAR less about the Dems fracturing. I'm also less connected to the Dems than I am the Republicans, so I'm not as familiar with who is important and who isn't.

Alas, to follow up Alpo's point, that their clowns might be scarier and less entertaining than our clowns doesn't change how scary and non-entertaining our clowns are.

If the shoe fits, wear it. If not, who cares.


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[Kutnupe14]

Who said that acknowledging Dems are a messed up party is fixing the Republicans? I certainly didn’t. But I’m tired of seeing them constantly trashed by apologists for the oppo party.

Think about this. Which party is more likely to march in lock step when it comes to voting? Hint: it’s NOT the GOP.


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Well, it's not the Democrats either. So....Libertarians?

 

[Hawkeye]

Well, it's not the Democrats either. So....Libertarians?

Must be. Right....


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[Spear Dane]

[video=youtube;zwCUB5VisU0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwCUB5VisU0[/video]

 

[jamil]

Wow. That was very, very sexist.

 

[Trigger Time]

Just like with Benghazi, the Democrats owned the white house and obviously the intelligence agencies and FBI leading up to the presidential election. What does that mean? Well it means that they are really good at covering their tracks whether that means killing people or I mean people close to them having accidental deaths. Or destroying records or never creating any records at all. By Whatever means necessary to accomplish the mission and keep the official record clean they will do it. Dirtiest mother****ers in the history of earth