FBI Uncovered Russian Bribery Plot

[Antiboyscout]

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... nistration

(removed snippy political comment)

[The Romulan Republic]

Since the computer I'm on grinds to a halt when I try to read the article....

Have you got any actual specific evidence that Hillary or Obama took bribes, to go with that vague innuendo? Somehow, I doubt it.

Also, can't you Rightists let it go already? I know it offends you deeply that a black man... er, woman... um, Democrat would aspire to be President, and that the American people would vote for them over your beloved orange psychopath, but you can stop the smear campaign now, since its purpose (to prevent Hillary Clinton's election) is accomplished (with the generous help of Big Brother Vladimir).

Actually, I'm pretty sure I know exactly why you're bringing this up- to try to deflect from/discredit the Russian collusion allegations against Trump. Because for some reason "someone else did something bad too" is now considered a defence for doing something bad. Or perhaps you hope to undermine the credibility of Democrats making such allegations. In that case, you are engaging in an ad hominem attack.

Its certainly not because you actually care about Russian interference in our politics. Because if you did, you wouldn't attack the Democrats over this while ignoring the far more severe allegations against Trump.

Remember: Its only bad if a Democrat does it! Or if a Democrat is vaguely associated with it.

Otherwise, anything goes. Even Treason.

[Fixer]

Reminder: Insinuating someone is a racist/sexist rather than calling them one directly is not a clever way around the rules about making attacks on an individual's character. I've pointed this one out before.

In addition this thread is just made as a "gotcha post" and isn't built for discussion. I can see merit in talking about what this news story means but if it's just going to be an angry political slap fight I'm going to throw a warning at everyone involved and lock it down until someone wants to discuss it civilly.

The news forum tends to be more relaxed in enforcing rules as politics inflames passions but I'm keeping my eye on things. Consider this a polite reminder.

[Antiboyscout]

Too bad you can't click the link otherwise you would see scanned documents collected by the FBI showing the Russian Gov. was worming its way into the US uranium market via corruption and bribes. This report was known to Obama and Clinton but the sale of Uranium One went ahead anyway. Not to mention a few million dollars found its way into the Clinton Foundation right before the sale went through.

[The Romulan Republic]

That doesn't demonstrate that either Hillary Clinton or Barrack Obama did anything illegal or even unethical, however. Just that Russia was doing sleazy shit, but they didn't feel that it was enough to warrant stopping the deal. Because the US does business with ethically-challenged governments all the time, and unfortunately, diplomacy and the global economy would break down if they didn't.

So yeah, just vague innuendo.

I'll also ask weather your objection to Obama and Clinton's behaviour here will extend to the far greater conflict of interest regarding Trump and Russia, or if you will spare any concern for the Russian interference in the election (while Trump directly colluding isn't yet proven, Russian interference, and communications to that end with high-ranking members of the Trump campaign, are). Considering that while Russia's actions in this story are corrupt and illegal, the election interference represents something far worse- a fundamental attack on the integrity of our elections, government, democratic principles, and independence as a country.

[Antiboyscout]

From the article:
"The investigation was ultimately supervised by then-U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, an Obama appointee who now serves as President Trump’s deputy attorney general, and then-Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe, now the deputy FBI director under Trump, Justice Department documents show.

Both men now play a key role in the current investigation into possible, but still unproven, collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election cycle."

The people who kept this quiet for 8 years are the ones heading the investigation.

Even CNN downgraded "interfered in the election" with "bought Facebook ads"

[The Romulan Republic]

From the article:
"The investigation was ultimately supervised by then-U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, an Obama appointee who now serves as President Trump’s deputy attorney general, and then-Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe, now the deputy FBI director under Trump, Justice Department documents show.

Both men now play a key role in the current investigation into possible, but still unproven, collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election cycle."

The people who kept this quiet for 8 years are the ones heading the investigation.

So what's your take on that? Are you acknowledging that their is legitimate grounds for concern about Russia's interference in the election? Given the next line of your post, evidently not.

So it seems likely that you are indeed arguing by ad hominem- attempting to discredit the investigation by attacking the character and credibility of certain individuals associated with it.

Who aren't actually running the investigation, contrary to your claims. Or at least not exclusively running it. Forgot about Robert Mueller (who IIRC is widely respected and generally not considered partisan)? And the multiple Congressional investigations?

Even CNN downgraded "interfered in the election" with "bought Facebook ads"

In which the latest aspect of the case to be reported on is treated as the totality of the case.

No, they didn't "downgrade" it, at least not to my knowledge. Buying Facebook adds to manipulate voters is one facet of a larger investigation which happens to have been reported on recently.

So, no, you don't give a damn about Russian interference in our politics, and will brazenly lie in order to obfuscate and defend it, as long as it benefits Trump.

[Antiboyscout]

except buying Facebook ads and online trolling is not illegal, is not anymore interference than anyone else buying an ad, and does not involve trump, but that won't stop the media from conflating this with "Russian interference" and then conflating that with "Russian collusion". I'll stop conflating things when CNN stops conflating things.

[The Romulan Republic]

Yeah, keep pretending that that's all that happened. Just forget about the email exchanges in which top Trump campaign members discuss meeting with Russians to try to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. Or Trump's blatant Obstruction of Justice to impede the investigation. Just to name two obvious examples.

And, actually, I do think there are legal issues with a foreign government buying campaign adds, though I suppose I could be mistaken.

Edit: I also just love how your position is literally "CNN is dishonest, so I will be too".

The False Equivalency Meme in action. "The other side is just as bad, so its okay when I do, but they're bad when they do it!"

[Antiboyscout]

The Russian lawyer meeting has been discredited to the point of meaninglessness:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10 ... -help.html

Comey could not get an obstruction of justice claim to stick:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/to ... c16bb525e4