Trump-Russia: Bountygate

[Steve M. Galbraith]

It has nothing to do with me.  Take it up with the media that keeps retracting fake news stories.  And note that the FEC quietly closed the investigation into an alleged campaign finance violation involving Stormy Daniels.  The woman who tried to blackmail Trump and should have gone to jail.  A story that CNN breathlessly ran for months with her now convicted attorney as the star on TV every night.   

The tribal fanaticism by Mr. Plant is part of the problem we have. It's like a religious war now. You guys need to stop thinking about teams or tribes and think beyond that. You're not quite as bad as he is but you're succumbing to this type of worldview.

The incredibly courageous Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who saw tribal politics destroy her native country of Somalia, explains it in "Tribalism Comes to the West":

"While such violence is yet to seize America, all the tribalist ingredients are present. There is a blind commitment to one party or the other; emotions are running high; there is a lack of trust in civic institutions. If such tribalism isn’t overcome, it’s only a matter of time before the situation escalates."

And: "Many Republicans continue to dispute the legitimacy of the result of the last presidential election; while on the Left, the woke are eroding the Democratic Party from the inside, as identity politics displace universalist aspirations. Some citizens are viewed as part of oppressive groups, some as part of oppressed groups. A person’s individual actions can generally do little to change the immutable characteristics of the tribe to which they belong."

Really, this zero sum view of things has to stop.

Full piece here: https://www.somtribune.com/2021/05/10/tribalism-comes-to-the-west/

[Richard Smith]

The tribal fanaticism by Mr. Plant is part of the problem we have. It's like a religious war now. You guys need to stop thinking about teams or tribes and think beyond that. You're not quite as bad as he is but you're succumbing to this type of worldview.

The incredibly courageous Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who saw tribal politics destroy her native country of Somalia, explains it in "Tribalism Comes to the West":

"While such violence is yet to seize America, all the tribalist ingredients are present. There is a blind commitment to one party or the other; emotions are running high; there is a lack of trust in civic institutions. If such tribalism isn’t overcome, it’s only a matter of time before the situation escalates."

And: "Many Republicans continue to dispute the legitimacy of the result of the last presidential election; while on the Left, the woke are eroding the Democratic Party from the inside, as identity politics displace universalist aspirations. Some citizens are viewed as part of oppressive groups, some as part of oppressed groups. A person’s individual actions can generally do little to change the immutable characteristics of the tribe to which they belong."

Really, this zero sum view of things has to stop.

Full piece here: https://www.somtribune.com/2021/05/10/tribalism-comes-to-the-west/

I deal in results and facts and not hype.  Is Trump a nice guy or someone that I admire?  No.  But he didn't start wars under false pretense or engage in the hypocrisy of establishment politicians.  He is like the most unlikeable football coach whose team wins championships.

[Richard Smith]

Where is the outrage about paying the Russian hackers $4 million to allow them to reopen the pipeline?  Wow.  What a failure of leadership.  If that had occurred under Trump the media would be howling with outrage.  A product of weakness and incompetence under Old Joe.  Putin must be laughing his arse off.  A handful of Russian teenagers are millionaires and shutdown the gas supply to half of the US.  A national security nightmare in which the terrorist have been emboldened.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

I deal in results and facts and not hype.  Is Trump a nice guy or someone that I admire?  No.  But he didn't start wars under false pretense or engage in the hypocrisy of establishment politicians.  He is like the most unlikeable football coach whose team wins championships.

One final try from me:

The fact is that Bush declared war not Cheney. And the fact is that Bush was told by his intelligence agencies that Iraq had WMD and a WMD program. George Tenet, the CIA director, told him, "It's a slam dunk" that Iraq had WMD. This was not Cheney telling him this.

And the fact is that numerous others governments also believed Iraq had WMDs. Did Tony Blair believe Dick Cheney? Or did he rely on his own intelligence services?

And the facts are that members of Congress based on their own briefings and intelligence provided to them by the intelligence agencies  - and NOT Cheney - believed there was WMDs in Iraq. And so they agreed to authorize the use of force - the war - that ensued.

And the fact is there were several investigations - including the Silberman/Robb report - that concluded that the intelligence agencies were wrong about the issue. The intelligence agencies and analysts informed Congress about the question. Congress has its own intelligence committees and oversight and staff. They got the information directly from the intelligence community and NOT Dick Cheney.

You think Hillary Clinton and Kerry and the other Democrats in Congress agreed to the authorization because they listened to Dick Cheney? You think the intelligence community told them there were no WMDs in Iraq but instead they believed Cheney's "lies"? Is that what you think happened?

The Silbermann/Robb Report concluded: "The Intelligence Community's performance in assessing Iraq's pre-war weapons of mass destruction programs was a major intelligence failure. The failure was not merely that the Intelligence Community's assessments were wrong. There were also serious shortcomings in the way these assessments were made and communicated to policymakers."

Again: The intelligence community said Iraq had WMDs. It wasn't Dick Cheney. You think they said there were no WMDs in Iraq and then Cheney made up a story that Iraq did have them? And then all of the Democrats believed Cheney? This is JFK conspiracy level fantasy.

This is not about Trump being likeable. It's about him telling egregious and dangerous falsehoods about the election and about his cavalier reaction - at best - to the assault on the Capitol.

Our institutions are under assault from the Trump right and the "woke" left. Both sides are undermining our institutions, our history, our country. This illiberal assault has to stop. There are no sides; there's just facts and the truth. And one of them, if not the main one is this: the election wasn't stolen. Period.

[Jon Banks]

Where is the outrage about paying the Russian hackers $4 million to allow them to reopen the pipeline?  Wow.  What a failure of leadership.  If that had occurred under Trump the media would be howling with outrage.  A product of weakness and incompetence under Old Joe.  Putin must be laughing his arse off.  A handful of Russian teenagers are millionaires and shutdown the gas supply to half of the US.  A national security nightmare in which the terrorist have been emboldened.

Colonial is a private company. It was their call.

They were losing millions of dollars for each day that the pipeline was not able to distribute Gas. So it makes sense to pay the ransom rather than lose the same amount of money or more due to delays in getting their computers back online.

[Jon Banks]

One final try from me:

The fact is that Bush declared war not Cheney. And the fact is that Bush was told by his intelligence agencies that Iraq had WMD and a WMD program. George Tenet, the CIA director, told him, "It's a slam dunk" that Iraq had WMD. This was not Cheney telling him this.

And the fact is that numerous others governments also believed Iraq had WMDs. Did Tony Blair believe Dick Cheney? Or did he rely on his own intelligence services?

And the facts are that members of Congress based on their own briefings and intelligence provided to them by the intelligence agencies  - and NOT Cheney - believed there was WMDs in Iraq. And so they agreed to authorize the use of force - the war - that ensued.

And the fact is there were several investigations - including the Silberman/Robb report - that concluded that the intelligence agencies were wrong about the issue. The intelligence agencies and analysts informed Congress about the question. Congress has its own intelligence committees and oversight and staff. They got the information directly from the intelligence community and NOT Dick Cheney.

You think Hillary Clinton and Kerry and the other Democrats in Congress agreed to the authorization because they listened to Dick Cheney? You think the intelligence community told them there were no WMDs in Iraq but instead they believed Cheney's "lies"? Is that what you think happened?

The Silbermann/Robb Report concluded: "The Intelligence Community's performance in assessing Iraq's pre-war weapons of mass destruction programs was a major intelligence failure. The failure was not merely that the Intelligence Community's assessments were wrong. There were also serious shortcomings in the way these assessments were made and communicated to policymakers."

Again: The intelligence community said Iraq had WMDs. It wasn't Dick Cheney. You think they said there were no WMDs in Iraq and then Cheney made up a story that Iraq did have them? And then all of the Democrats believed Cheney? This is JFK conspiracy level fantasy.

This is not about Trump being likeable. It's about him telling egregious and dangerous falsehoods about the election and about his cavalier reaction - at best - to the assault on the Capitol.

Our institutions are under assault from the Trump right and the "woke" left. Both sides are undermining our institutions, our history, our country. This illiberal assault has to stop. There are no sides; there's just facts and the truth. And one of them, if not the main one is this: the election wasn't stolen. Period.

UN Weapons inspector and former spy, Scott Ritter, admitted that he knew most of Iraq's weapons stockpiles were destroyed after the first Gulf War.

There was no evidence that Iraq created new stockpiles of banned weapons after they kicked the Weapons Inspectors out.

It's simply naive to think that WMDs were anything more than a convenient excuse to overthrow Saddam's regime. Something that Hawks on both the Left and Right wanted to do going back to the Clinton administration.

Iraq Liberation Act of 1998
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Liberation_Act#:~:text=The%20Iraq%20Liberation%20Act%20of,is%20the%20policy%20of%20the


Lastly, Dick Cheney might not have been responsible for the WMD disinfo but he is largely responsible for spreading debunked lies about Saddam playing a role in the 9/11 attacks.

Remembering Why Americans Loathe Dick Cheney
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/08/remembering-why-americans-loathe-dick-cheney/244306/

...despite overwhelming skepticism within the government of a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda--resulting in the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission that "no credible evidence" for such a link existed, and the CIA's determination that Hussein "did not have a relationship" with Al Qaeda--the vice president continued to insist that the relationship had been confirmed

[Steve M. Galbraith]

To add a post note to my own post above: I have no idea, literally none, what Dick Cheney's views or statements, alleged "lies", comments on Iraq almost 20 years ago has to do with Liz Cheney's views today about Donald Trump and the dangerous falsehoods he is saying about the election and the January 6th assault on the Capitol.

How is what Dick Cheney said about Iraq and WMDs even remotely relevant to Liz Cheney's views on an entirely different matter? These are two separate people on two different subjects.

To put it differently: If Dick Cheney opposed the Iraq war would that somehow make Liz Cheney's views on Trump correct? How are Liz Cheney's views affected by what Dick Cheney said almost two decades ago?

Answers: They wouldn't and they aren't. Liz Cheney's views on Trump stand or fall on their own and shouldn't be judged because another person on another subject two decades ago did something.

And with that, I'll return to the JFK assassination issue.

[Jon Banks]

Liz Cheney worked at the State Department while her father was VP and while she worked for the government, she co-signed her father’s lies.

She went even further by defending the CIA’s torture program.

Worse, she publicly threw her gay sister under the bus.

I commend her for taking a principled stance against Trump but that doesn’t mean she’s a good person…