By Whskyjack, a Trail Mix Contributor
Who does or doesn’t attend the inauguration event is unimportant. However, the fact that we have a peaceful transition of power is very important. In a world where too many transitions of power end up with the execution of the losers. it is something to celebrate. Where and how you celebrate it is your choice.
Donald Trump is the legitimately elected President of this nation. He won it fair and square by the rules in place. Unlike the previous Republican president he didn’t use the court system to circumvent the rules. In that regard he is my President. Am I happy about it? No. But my happiness is irrelevant. Elections being what they are, there are winners and losers.
At least in this country the losers get to live to fight another day.
And fight we should. fortunately there are many ways to fight for the causes we believe in without violence and with respect toward those we fight. There will be plenty of time to do so later.
Right now I hope those who participate in the inauguration and those who just look on, taking in the rare spectacle of it all, have a safe and fun time. I wish I could have been there to watch HRC take the oath of office. But it was not to be. However like baseball there is always next time.
More Posts by Whskyjack
“At least in this country the losers get to live to fight another day.”
albeit the loser must endure another congressional kangaroo court hearing, another fbi investigation and prepare for a possible prison sentence promised by a president if not pre-emptively pardoned by the present president.
jack, okay okay I agree he is going to be my president twit too altho I completely disagree with your “He won it fair and square by the rules in place.” the rules do not allow for candidates to wittingly accept foreign hanky-panky, be it money or otherwise.
that Russia had damaging character info on the twit isn’t new since a lot of smarmy stuff has been published but ignored over the years, what is new relevant to the election is a concerted cooperation by putin with team twit to smear her instead of him.
nytimes at msn link
The memos describe several purported meetings during the 2016 presidential campaign between Trump representatives and Russian officials to discuss matters of mutual interest, including the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta.
The first hint of the F.B.I. investigation came in a Senate hearing on Tuesday in a series of questions from Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, to the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey.
Mr. Wyden, trying to draw Mr. Comey out on information he may have heard during a classified briefing, asked whether the F.B.I. had investigated the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia. Mr. Comey demurred, saying he could not discuss any investigations that might or might not be underway. Mr. Wyden kept pressing, asking Mr. Comey to provide a written answer to the question before Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, because he feared there would be no declassification of the information once Mr. Trump took office.
After the hearing, Mr. Wyden posted on Twitter: “Director Comey refused to answer my question about whether the FBI has investigated Trump campaign contacts with Russia.”
The F.B.I. obtained the material long before the election, and some of the memos in the opposition research dossier are dated as early as June. But agents have struggled to confirm it, according to federal officials familiar with the investigation.
Allies of Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader from Nevada who retired at the end of the year, said the disclosures validated his call last summer for an investigation by the F.B.I. into Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia.
“The evidence of a direct connection between the Russian government and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign continues to mount,” Mr. Reid wrote in a letter to Mr. Comey on Aug. 27.
Holy Compromising Information! Dirt on the electoral college winner! Thank you John McCain for forcing the fbi’s hand on the russian hacks. Perhaps we will be hearing more about guiliani and his fbi fanboy and faux news pundit. trumpence will still reign, but this looks like a nixon WH. Makes nixon’s dirty tricks and enemies list great again.
the top cop, comey, looked awful yesterday. He has bags above and below his eyes….not living correctly or is that trump made his lockheed martin cronies unhappy. dead man walking.
Holy private server….while trumpence and sessions were part of the ‘lock her up’ chant at every rally? trump’s private server to the russian bank. Only women have private server problems in the eyes of the fbi. Maybe we will hear of roger stone, kushners computer kids, etc., as this new incoming salvo (trumpence) should be dubbed the soprano administration…very evident after a guy like President Obama. A rather scandal-free prez with a super family. Faux News kicking his ass all the way to the curb. Nothing about trumpence seems correct!
John McCain, war hero, called traitor by his own party….dossier passing.
sorry for the over commenting….one more….info from ‘golden showers’ dossier.’
I was resigned to Trump’s election a long time ago despite assuming he was a total sleaze and unworthy of the office for more than a year. Nothing in the memo has enough evidence to be considered as more than speculation. My confirmation bias is such that I find the behavior discussed or similar actions as highly possible but unconfirmed.
So yes, he is “My President” choke choke. Please let something confirmed occur that will bring about a resignation.
flatus & bbronc, would folks with intel and classified rules expertise consider that alleged passing by sen mccain of a dossier to fbi a treasonous/criminal/unpatriotic act?
Blonde Wino,
You never over comment. I missed you – so good to read your thoughts again.
Whskyjack,
99.999999% of the time I would agree with you on this subject. I’m not disputing he won. But this time is different. We aren’t celebrating a peaceful transition of power. We are tools surrendering to a candidate tied to a hostile foreign power. We know this man is unfit & engaged in collusion with said hostile foreign power to deliberately derail our Presidential election. This man’s actions struck at the very heart of our democracy. Isn’t our duty as defenders of democracy to defend it by calling out those who intentionally work against it, not appeasing its enemies by yielding to business as usual? Showing up at this sham legitimizes the man. This is not business as usual. He may legally be our President but he will never be Our President. Of America, anyway. Nyet.
I want to be associated with sjwny’s comment.
Going to the art museum today. Wanna immerse myself in something positive and something I love. And oh yeah…. great speech by Obama last night…
renee, thank you thank you thank you for finding this.
live by the scimitar. die by the scimitar.
from wapo:
A spokesman for President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday dismissed as an “absolute fantasy” allegations that the Kremlin has collected compromising information about President-elect Donald Trump.
“The Kremlin has no compromising dossier on Trump, such information isn’t consistent with reality and is nothing but an absolute fantasy,” Dmitry Peskov, who handles Putin’s day-to-day communications, told journalists.
[….]
Peskov, whose own alleged role in overseeing and effort to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is described in the report, on Wednesday called the dossier claims a “complete fabrication” and said the Kremlin “does not engage in collecting compromising material.”
[….]
Responding to the Kremlin’s denial Wednesday, Trump tweeted: Russia just said the unverified report paid for by political opponents is “A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE.” Very unfair!
Later, Trump added in a follow-up post: Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA — NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!
yeah sure and santa’s reindeer are really flying pigs
also from today’s wapo fix: This new poll has all kinds of bad news for Donald Trump
Quinnipiac is the first high-quality pollster to poll on Trump twice since the election. And while its poll in late November showed his favorable rating rising from 34 percent to 44 percent, that number has dropped back to 37 percent, which is about where it stood for much of the campaign. That’s tied for Trump’s worst favorable rating in a poll since his election. And a majority — 51 percent — now have an unfavorable view of him.
Likewise,the Quinnipiac poll shows a drop in confidence in Trump across the board. Although 59 percent were optimistic about the next four years under Trump in November, today that number is 52 percent. While 41 percent thought he would be a better leader than President Obama, it’s now 34 percent. While 52 percent thought he would help the nation’s economy, it’s now 47 percent. While 40 percent thought his policies would help their personal financial situation, it’s now 27 percent. While 53 percent thought he’d take the country in the right direction, it’s now 45 percent.
You get the idea. There are similar drops in views of his honesty (42 percent to 39 percent), his leadership skills (56 percent to 49 percent), his compassion for average Americans (51 percent to 44 percent), his levelheadedness (38 percent to 33 percent) and his ability to unite the country (47 percent to 40 percent).
And then it gets worse. Toward the bottom, Quinnipiac asked respondents whether they thought Trump’s behavior since the election made them feel better or worse about him. Although “better” won out in late November, 36 percent to 14 percent who said they felt worse, that showing has been flipped. Today, 28 percent say they feel worse about Trump since Election Day; just 23 percent feel better.
And clearly people still aren’t enamored of Trump’s social-media habits and fight-picking; by a 2-to-1 margin (64 percent to 32 percent), they think he should give up his personal Twitter account as president — bigger than the 59-to-35 margin in November.
Trump won the election, which in his mind — and in the minds of many analysts — would seem to have vindicated his brand of politics and many of the decisions he made on the campaign trail. He got elected, so it all must have been secret political genius!
That’s not really how things work, though. Trump squeaked his way into the White House with a very narrow win in which he got 46 percent of the vote, won the states he needed to by less than a point, and lost the national popular vote, as voters told pollsters said they had huge reservations about him.
People set aside those reservations a little after he was elected. This poll suggests that those concerns have returned, as real as ever. And that’s bad news for Trump’s political mandate 10 days before he’s sworn in.
I got an interesting email last night from Mrs Jack. It is something being passed around in their industry. It is a list of the 50 top infrastructure projects that the Trump Transition team has identified that will be priorities as they go forward. It was a rather interesting list. It was a pork filled Democratic wish list. Given the connections these companies maintain The list is probably real. Was it compiled by a serious person or an intern is the question. If serious it has the potential of busting the Democrat coalition wide open with Senator and Congress critters saying “what’s a little bigotry among friends”.
Resistance may be futile as Trump take triangulation to new highs and triangulates the resistance’s base out from under them.
Remember Trumps real skill is putting together deals.
Jack
jack, the twit seems to be living by fu’s sayings like the above
BTW, if you think it won’t happen read this
Pat
Trumps real savior right now is his VP choice. Democrats would much rather have a crippled erratic Trump that Pence as president. Then next in line is Ryan,,,,,,
Jack
for poobah, pogo, and sturge
garrison Keillor: Face it, Southerners are nicer people
Pat
The interesting thing is that it would be so easy for all this stuff retreat to the background.
Call the Russian an evil empire, and throw Rodger Stone under the bus. Promise a thorough investigation. Then STFU.
The fact that he hasn’t is what makes me question his mental health.
Jack
someone else who questions his mental health
Little Marco Happy at Last —
The Tillerson hearings are interesting – Senators aren’t happy with him
Little Marco is giving Trump heartburn
Fortunately resistance is not futile
Infrastructure spending should target the long term unemployed especially those over 50
The current plan is being widely circulated and is on line
just google it– and o by the way a lot of people think it isn’t very well done
Brian Williams gag
We watched part of the Cesspool last night another gag me
she was terribe ending up with a very fake call to support the police
And how about Jefferson Voter Suppressions or HalfBlind Boy from Ala
Something to ponder — how best to spell China the way Trump pronounces it: Jhina?
KGC, must be a nickname to make out of Beauregard, or maybe that’s funny enough
So here’s a link to the report all the hubbub is based on. Enjoy.
And BW, Welcome back.
How’s TChaiNah?
Craig, just call Sessions “Noregard.” As in no regard for civil rights.
so upon coronation, it was announced at presser that all foreign profits/payments to twit org will go directly into u.s. general treasury. will this in any way count as a tax deduction or offset other expenses for tax purposes for twit org?
I actually made it through the “news conference” without throwing anything at the TV screen. For this non action Jamie should be praised for my magnificent restraint. (Learning Trumpspeak).
Pat, when people walk through the door with information that is considered reportable, a formal IR (intelligence report) is prepared. The preparer concisely encapsulates the information that the source is reporting. Comments as to its perceived significance may be added. And attachments, as appropriate, are also made part of the report. The identification of the source is not given beyond something like, in your case, ‘an elected official of the majority party of the US Congress’.
Here is the key. Two evaluations are made by the preparer of the report. First, is the reliability of the source. The ratings go from A to F. A being unimpeachable and F being unable to evaluate. As this particular source has not walked through the door before, he would probably be assigned an F rating which is much better than the E that would be assigned to someone who will mislead us at every opportunity.
The second component of the rating is on the probability of the information being accurate or true. Those ratings run from 1 to 6. A report assigned a 1 rating would generally be confirmed by other sources. A 6 rating would indicate that the preparing official simply doesn’t have the tools/sources/data to assign a probability of accuracy of the information. A 5 rating indicates that the info is absolutely false or deceptive.
I would assign a rating of F6 based on info as described in today’s scenario. I would also thank the source for having the consideration to share his information with us; we will keep his identity close hold. The source would not be apprised of the contents of my report, its distribution, or its evaluation.
a better man than I am, Gunga din. didn’t throw anything but had to come up for air a few times… couldn’t swallow most of the swill slopped to us pigs.
flatus, thanks for the info. but what my questionto you guys was about bw’s comment “John McCain, war hero, called traitor by his own party….dossier passing.” why would he not be seen as a good citizen in this case? wasn’t it his duty once it fell in his lap to pass it along to the proper authorities?
Pat, very few people do their duty without some ulterior motive being present. That is why we try to depersonalize the process. FWIW, it Sen McCain found this document on a corridor floor, I believe he would do his duty as an American
So the lie about releasing the drumpf tax returns at the conclusion of the audit is confirmed. He ain’t releasing no stinking tax returns – only the press cares. This is going to be one wild ride.
Jack, peaceful transition of power doesn’t mean citizens have to forego their constitutional right to free speech. I accept that drumpf won and he is our president (I don’t get to choose my own just because I voted for Hillary). But I have no problem with 100,000 people screaming “Trump sux” at the top of their lungs while he’s being sworn in. It’s their right. I know I read it somewhere.
Also, Pat, I consider that website to be an out-rider. I do not frequent it, would not use it as a precedential source, etc.
Exactly WHY is McCain being called a traitor? He didn’t disseminate the report – he passed it along to the FBI – which I would think is the appropriate thing to do with such information. They do the investigating – it’s their job, right? If it later came out that drumpf had violated US law and the violations were reflected in the dossier, McCain might be accused of being a traitor if he hadn’t turned the information over.
“people screaming “Trump sux””
It is certainly their right to do so
But is it an intellegent use of their time at this point?
BTW, yesterday Craig said that Sessions smirked when the protestor disrupted the hearings. I’m amazed Sessions didn’t run around the room doing high fives with all the Republicans.
Jack
Pogo
given that Republicans have long demanded loyalty to party over country, of course he is a traitor.
Jack
KGC
Yes there is the “plan”
But if there is a similar list of projects out there I can’t find it
Got a link?
“I’m amazed Sessions didn’t run around the room doing high fives with all the Republicans.”
jack, me too. some of the protests…not all… looked a tad phony, more like what rws think nutty libs look/act like, probably same actors that played protesters during primaries.
wapo: Jeff Sessions won’t seek justice for all as attorney general, Sen. Cory Booker testifies
“If confirmed, Sen. Sessions will be required to pursue justice for women, but his record indicates that he won’t,” Booker said. “He will be expected to defend the equal rights of gay and lesbian and transgender Americans, but his record indicates that he won’t. He will be expected to defend voting rights, but his record indicates that he won’t. He will be expected to defend the rights of immigrants and affirm their human dignity, but the record indicates that he won’t.”
The remarks mark the first time a sitting senator has testified against a colleague’s nomination for a cabinet post, and they were among the most notable on the second day of Sessions’s confirmation hearing. Booker said he knew “many of my colleagues aren’t happy that I am breaking with Senate tradition,” but, “in the choice between standing with Senate norms or standing up to what my conscience tells me what is best for my country, I will always choose conscience and country.”
Then he came after Sessions perhaps more forcefully than any witness before him.
“Sen. Sessions has not demonstrated a commitment to a central requisite of the job – to aggressively pursue the congressional mandate of civil rights, equal rights and justice for all of our citizens,” Booker said. “In fact, at numerous times in his career, he has demonstrated a hostility toward these convictions.”
the hill via msn link:
A former British intelligence officer who prepared a dossier about President-elect Donald Trump’s ties with Russia has been identified, according to a new report.
Christopher Steele created the controversial document about the Russian government’s power over Trump, The Wall Street Journal said Wednesday.
The Journal said Steele is now a director at a private security and investigations firm in London.
Steele, 52, is one of two directors at Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd., people familiar with the matter told the newspaper.
Orbis was formed in 2009 by former British intelligence professionals, according to the firm’s website. The company mounts “intelligence-gathering operations” and conducts “complex, often cross-border investigations.”
A source told the Journal that Steele created the dossier, which is a series of unsigned memos seemingly written between June and December 2016.
Steele also devised a plan for disseminating the document to U.S. and European law enforcement officials, they added, including the FBI.
The Journal added Orbis’ other co-director is Christopher Burrows, 58, a former counselor in Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth office.
Burrows told the publication he would not “confirm or deny” Orbis had a role in the report.
“We have no political ax to grind,” he said, adding Orbis “sees what’s out there first” when conducting an investigation and then performs a “stress test” on its results.
CNN reported Tuesday, meanwhile, that top intelligence officials presented Trump a two-page synopsis of the dossier last week.
The document was reportedly attached as an appendix to the intelligence community’s report on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race.
The controversial dossier alleges the Russian government possesses compromising financial and personal information about Trump. It also claims key figures in Trump’s orbit kept touch with Moscow during last year’s presidential campaign.
U.S. intelligence officials have not verified the explosive details, however, and it remains unclear how reliable they are.
Trump on Wednesday, meanwhile, fiercely criticized the dossier’s leak to media outlets.
“I think it was disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake [to get out],” he said at Trump Tower in New York City.
“That’s something that Nazi German would have done and did do,” Trump added during his first press conference as the preside-elect.
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