Why would Putin's regime spend so much money trying to slant our presidential vote in 2016, what could he possibly have had to gain for the millions of dollars spent? And if anyone associated with either of the candidates had any contact with the Russians, sort of to negotiate with Putin. I'd think that might shed some light on this odd Very expensive behavior of the Russians

 

@anon_de_plume

What then is Trump guilty of?
Collusion with Russia? Mueller said no.
Obstruction? Barr says no and will not prosecute.

Or is there something Shooter is missing?

 

Trump has not been ‘soft’ on Russia. He’s been tougher than Obama.


3/28/19

Now that the Mueller investigation is over, we can put to bed the persistent and erroneous allegations that President Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians to get him elected. Likewise, we should also put to bed another persistent and pernicious narrative: that the president and his administration have been “soft” on Russia.

This narrative has been continuously promulgated by a host of former Obama administration officials (see, for example, the recent Post op-ed by a former U.S. ambassador to Russia) — and disseminated by a headline-chasing national media — who have attempted to disassociate the Trump administration’s Russia policies and actions from the president himself. They have done this by disparaging the president for his words but not crediting him for his administration’s actions.

I agree that the president’s rhetoric regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin should be tougher, but as his critics surely know, it is actions backed by power and force that ultimately matter in the world of international politics, not Obama-style soaring rhetoric. This is particularly true when it comes to Putin. And the record thus far clearly shows that the Trump administration, working with Republicans in Congress, has been far tougher on Russia than the Obama administration ever was.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, Ukrainian leaders desperately requested from President Barack Obama defensive anti-tank weapons systems that could fend off the invadingRussian T-72 tanks in eastern Ukraine. In 2015, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee — Democrats and Republicans — encouraged Obama to grant this request to help Ukraine defend itself. Obama refused . Soon after coming into office, Trump changed course , and the Ukrainians now have Javelin anti-tank weapons systems from the United States. Russian tank drivers have a lot more to worry about today.

The Trump administration has also replaced Obama’s reticence regarding U.S. troop deployments near Russia with a full embrace of the European Deterrence Initiative. In just more than two years in office, Trump has requested more than $17 billion for EDI compared with just $5 billion requested in Obama’s final three years in office. As a result, thousands of U.S. troops, along with other NATO allies, have deployed to Poland, the Baltics and Norway to deter further Russian expansion.

In the Middle East, Obama’s passive actions and policies — including a now-infamous unenforced “red line” — led to the rise of the Islamic State and left an open door for Russian ground and air forces. Russian troops and their proxies, aligned with Iranian and Syrian forces, now occupy large swaths of territory in Syria. Nevertheless, the Trump administration has unleashed the United States’ military might in Syria, leading the efforts to destroy the Islamic State territorial caliphate and militarily punishing Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad for his use of chemical weapons. When Russian-backed proxies and possibly Russian military forces got too close to our Special Operations forces in Syria and failed to back off as warned, they were systematically destroyed by the U.S. military. And while much has been made of the president’s announcement of withdrawing troops from Syria, he has since pulled back to keep U.S. and NATO troops in the country.

More broadly, under Obama, the Pentagon’s budget was slashedby 25 percent from 2010 to 2016. Our military’s readiness, unsurprisingly, plummeted. This certainly emboldened Putin. By the end of Obama’s tenure, the Air Force was the smallest and oldest (in terms of aircraft age) it has ever been, and only a small fraction of the Army was combat-ready.

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have reversed this hollowing out of our military by dramatically increasing funding. Readiness is returning. Trump’s national defense strategy clearly prioritizes Russia and China as rising great powers to which our military and nation must respond.

Finally, Trump has taken decisive action to unleash an instrument of American power that Putin fears the most: U.S. energy. I’ll never forget a meeting I attended with Sen. John McCain and a prominent Russian dissident, who told us that the No. 1 thing the United States could do to undermine Putin was to “produce more American energy.”

Crude oil production may have risen during the Obama administration, but that was only despite Democrats’ systematic efforts — which continue to this day — to undermine U.S. energy production on state and federal lands. As Alaska’s attorney general and the commissioner of the state Department of Natural Resources, I fought the Obama administration’s consistent policies to delay and shut down hydrocarbon production in my state.

Fortunately, the Trump administration has reversed most of Obama’s harmful anti-energy policies. The United States is once again the world’s energy superpower — producing more renewables, oil and natural gas than any other country on Earth, including Russia and Saudi Arabia. And with Trump administration policies, such as opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for responsible energy production, U.S. energy dominance is likely to endure for decades.

So yes, Trump and his administration clearly have been tough on Russia — more so than his predecessor. Facts are stubborn things, and when it comes to Russia and Vladimir Putin, actions speak louder than words.

 

https://twitter.com/JulianCastro/status/1144055853093462016

 

Oh, too funny!
So, the "trans community" has a champion that supports their right to an abortion!!

Candidate Castro can count on the 100% support of the "trans community" now. All the other candidates can go on home now.

 

But the question still remains. OK, they have "the right to an abortion", so whose pregnancy do they have the right to abort? As I've said before, I am flexible on certain "late term" abortions.

 

Or why are they so in favor of killing the innocent, but not the guilty?

 

Harris blasts, and takes money from, Epstein's law firm


Kamala Harris bemoaned the influence of the powerful and connected elite last Tuesday when she called on top Justice Department officials to recuse themselves from any matter related to Jeffrey Epstein. She said their former law firm’s work on behalf of the financier accused of sexual abuse “calls into question the integrity of our legal system.”

Yet the same day, Harris’ husband headlined a Chicago fundraiser for her presidential campaign that was hosted by six partners of that firm — Kirkland and Ellis, according to an invitation obtained by The Associated Press.

Harris, a California senator and Democratic presidential candidate, was one of several White House hopefuls to blast the handling of Epstein’s case in Florida a decade ago, when his lawyers negotiated a deal with federal prosecutors that allowed him to avoid the possibility of years in prison. But her decision to move ahead with the fundraiser hosted by Kirkland and Ellis partners while criticizing the firm underscores the tension that can arise when a politician’s rhetoric collides with his or her need to raise money to sustain a presidential campaign.

“If any connection with Kirkland and Ellis is a stain on (senior Justice Department officials), why isn’t a connection with the law firm for the receipt of campaign contributions a stain on her own campaign?” said Paul S. Ryan, an attorney for the good-government group Common Cause.

Ian Sams, a Harris spokesman, said there wasn’t a problem with accepting the campaign contributions because the firm is big and the partners who hosted the fundraiser didn’t work on Epstein’s plea agreement.

“The people involved in that case have not supported her campaign, and she wouldn’t want that support anyway,” Sams said.

The firm and the six partners named on the event invitation did not respond to requests for comment.

The Epstein case has roiled Washington this month after federal prosecutors announced fresh charges against the financier, who is accused of paying underage girls for massages and then molesting them at his homes in Palm Beach, Florida, and New York during the 2000s. President Donald Trump’s labor secretary, Alex Acosta, resigned on Friday over his handling of the case. As a U.S. attorney in Miami, Acosta met with Kirkland and Ellis lawyers and agreed to a deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal trial by pleading guilty to state charges and serving 13 months in jail.

The new attention being paid to the case has also drawn scrutiny on Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who both worked for Kirkland and Ellis. Harris, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it’s necessary that they recuse themselves from involvement in the matter to avoid even the “appearance of impropriety.”

“In our democracy, no one — no matter how powerful or well-connected — is above the law. Yet Epstein’s deal, secured by his lawyers at Kirkland and Ellis, calls into question the integrity of our legal system and undermines the public’s confidence that justice will be served,” Harris said in a statement released hours after the Chicago fundraiser.

Barr is recused from any review of a 2008 plea deal, but has said that he doesn’t need to do so with the current case.

Before her election to the Senate, Harris was the attorney general of California and was elected to two terms as San Francisco’s district attorney. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, is also a high powered attorney who works in corporate law. So it is perhaps little surprise that law firms have been one of the top industries that have donated to her presidential bid, with Kirkland and Ellis being no exception.

Her campaign declined to say how much was raised at last week’s event, and the sum won’t have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission until October. Records show that a handful of employees and partners of the firm donated about $6,000 to Harris during the first quarter of the year — a drop when compared to the $12 million she raised during that time.

“It’s an international law firm with thousands of employees, many of whom probably support Kamala Harris because she’s a tough prosecutor who actually knows how to put away predators, unlike the Trump lackeys who protect them,” Sams said.

-------------------

Ah, the life of a liberal.

 

Shooter thinks a lot of politicians are praying that Epstein keeps his mouth shut and/or disapears promptly if allowed bail.

 

Hmmmm...now where have I heard this before?

 

Well, it looks like KamAlex HAcosta might have some 'splainin' to do.

Plea deal by Kamala Harris AG office for sexual-harassing San Diego mayor was too lenient, critics say


7/18/19

Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign biography rests heavily on her career as a prosecutor, including six years as California attorney general. But it omits a plea deal her office negotiated for former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, a serial sexual harasser, which let him escape jail time and avoid registering as a sex offender.

In 2013, about 20 women accused Filner, a two-decade Democratic congressman-turned-San Diego mayor, of sexual harassment and misconduct. Some said he put them in “Filner headlocks.”

Harris' office drew considerable criticism in 2013 for allowing Filner to plead guilty to state charges of false imprisonment and battery against three Jane Does in exchange for a light sentence. Filner could have faced up to five years in prison, but the plea bargain instead gave him three months of house arrest, three years' probation, and partial loss of his mayoral pension.

Some of the criticism persists today, with past lenient sentences looking less understandable after a swath of prominent men drummed themselves out of public life over sexual harassment episodes.

"The cultural change since #MeToo is having an impact of how prosecutors listen to victims now. I think it all comes down to whether we believe women and how seriously we take these allegations. In serious instances, you need serious consequences," Maya Raghu, director of workplace equality and senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, told the Washington Examiner. "Powerful people can afford high-profile legal counsel that others don't have access to. People [such as Filner] know how to leverage the system in their favor."

A spokesman for Harris' presidential campaign, Ian Sams, said of the Filner episode: "She prosecuted a politician from her own party for sexual harassment, and he pled guilty to a felony. She was broadly praised for taking action, including by the Republican San Diego County district attorney who said it sent 'a strong message that nobody is above the law, abuse of women won't be tolerated and victims will be treated with respect.'"

Harris, rising in the Democratic primary polls and now a first-tier rival to front-runner Joe Biden, is critical of departing Labor Secretary Alex Acosta for his role in Jeffery Epstein's 2008 plea deal, going back to his days as U.S. attorney in Florida.

Epstein, a one-time Wall Street whiz with connections to prominent figures in both parties, pleaded guilty and was convicted in a Florida state court in 2008 of soliciting two women, one of whom was a 17-year-old girl, for prostitution. He served 13 months in "custody with work release" as part of a plea deal where federal officials had identified 36 victims. Under the deal, Epstein was allowed to leave his cell for 12 hours per day to work at his office, chauffeured by a personal driver.

The Epstein deal was a “simple, very light pat on the hand," Harris said last week on The View.

"I personally prosecuted child sexual assault cases. And they are some of the most difficult cases to prosecute," said Harris, an Alameda County, California line prosecutor in the 1990s and then San Francisco district attorney from 2004-11. "The thing I found so troubling, disheartening and really unbelievable was the way that Acosta has described the challenge ... It's like saying it's really difficult to make an omelet ... Well, then get out of the kitchen!"

To be sure, the Epstein and Filner cases don't command a direct comparison. The Epstein case in Florida involved years of allegations the wealthy financier preyed on underage women. In Filner's case, the women were all adults, and the alleged aggressive behavior happened while he held public office.

But both involve powerful figures given sentences lighter than they would have otherwise received absent their public profile or deep pockets and political influence.

Filner, 76, up to that point had a charmed political life. The Pittsburgh native and San Diego transplant served on the city's school board for a decade after beating a longtime incumbent in 1982. A decade later he won a newly drawn congressional district, and from 2007 to 2011 led the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Filner reached the pinnacle of his political career in 2012, winning the mayorship of San Diego. Filner promised to improve city services, increase staffing for public safety, bring jobs to the city, and develop stronger regional ties with neighboring Tijuana, Mexico. Harris endorsed him in that race.

Yet the good times didn't last.

Filner’s communications director Irene McCormack Jackson was the first to come forward about his behavior in June 2013.

She alleged that in an elevator in March 2013, Filner, who was accompanied by a police officer, put her in a headlock and said, “You know I would like to do with these handcuffs?” On another occasion, McCormack said Filner asked her, “Wouldn’t it be great if you took off your panties and worked without them on?”

McCormack filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the City of San Diego, ultimately winning $250,000 in a 2014 settlement.

Then, on July 11, 2013, three of Filner's longtime supporters held a press conference to call for his resignation as mayor, based on numerous unspecified but "credible" allegations that he had sexually harassed women. Radio station KPBS-FM said that it had been investigating reports of sexual harassment of female staff members for several months and the complaints included "inappropriate comments, kissing and groping."

Later that day, Filner issued a video statement apologizing and saying that he was seeking professional help to change his behavior.

San Diego businesswoman Patti Roscoe also alleged the mayor had put her in a “Filner headlock” several times and would try to kiss her. “I turned and he just slobbered down my chin,” Roscoe said.

After months of scrutiny and condemnation, including from California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Filner resigned in August. He denied any wrongdoing and summed up the scandal as “a combination of awkwardness and hubris.”

The legal case fell to Harris's attorney general's office after San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, a Republican who had run against Filner for mayor, recused herself from the case.

In October 2013, Harris’ office announced Filner pleaded guilty to one count of felony false imprisonment and two counts of misdemeanor battery for instances associated with three unnamed women.

To many, that seemed awfully light.

In particular, the fact that Filner’s team was able to plea his charges down to mere battery assured that he would not have to register as a sex offender despite alleged repeat defenses.

Nor did Filner have to show up for his sentencing, an unusual clause in his plea agreement that likely helped him avoid further public scrutiny.

San Diego Tribune columnist Logan Jenkins described the arrangement as a “quick, stripped-down, clean resolution,” from a prosecutor who “clearly wasn’t interested in running up the score … [in] a nationally notorious case.” Jenkins

Attorney Gloria Allred, representing Filner’s communication’s director in her sexual harassment lawsuit, said at the time the former mayor deserved more punishment.

“Some may feel Filner has paid the price, I think he is one lucky man,” Allred said after Filner’s plea agreement. “Mr. Filner, count your blessing. Your freedom is a gift which you do not deserve.”

Lenient enforcement of serial harassers often create a dangerous culture for women who are afraid to speak up, Raghu said.

"In general, accountability and consequences are really important for prevention. If you don't have that, other men will act the same way."

 

How sweet. Still playing wingman to his Tom Cruise Obama.

Now, for those who didn't catch last night's debate, you'd have had a good idea as to just how far (and how quickly) left the Democrats have moved. While BamBam is still popular with mainstream Democrats, he is not so pleasing to the PressOcasiOmanTlaib army. His record/administration/actions etc were criticized in some form or another by virtually every candidate on the stage, with the exception of bracelet boy.



He may as well be considered a right-wing radical in their book, considering how far left they are. (Although, they don't consider themselves "radical". Oy!)

 

Drumple Dorf's Last Bull Shitting Lying baptist Broom Driving Bitch/Witch ..
couldn't get Laid on Mr. Ed's Stud Farm with Fresh Oats an a Bale of Timothy Hay Hey Baby

View attachment 1ymcy5-picsay.jpg

 

Considering she's married and has children, I'd say it's clear that getting laid isn't a problem for her. So, it looks like you're safe from worrying about her invading your turf.

 

Gaffer McGaffeAgain at the plate.





Love how the crowd applauded "truth over facts". Birdbrains of a feather.