Our national attention span seems to last only few days at a time. The media reports one thing, President Trump says another, and it's into the pit we go for another round of mud wrestling. Then the next week we're on to something else.
Our most recent bout with dysfunction resolves around whether the FBI used the infamous Steele dossier (written by former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele) as the basis for obtaining a FISA court order allowing eavesdropping on the Trump campaign in 2016.
Republicans say that Mr Steele was working for the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was in turn being paid by the Democratic National Committee, and that his dossier should therefore automatically be considered biased and invalid. "No Steele dossier, no FISA court order, no FBI spying, case dismissed" they say. The Democrats....wait for it....disagree! *BIG shock*
Brief background: The investigation by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS on Donald Trump was initially funded by a conservative political website, and was later picked up and funded by the Democrats after Trump emerged as the probable Republican nominee. Fusion GPS contracted with Steele, asking him to use his foreign connections to investigate Trump. Following Trump's election funding from the Democrats ceased, but Steele continued working on the report, with financing coming directly from Fusion GPS principal Glen Simpson.
Lost in all this "yes he did...no he didn't" BS is this: Is the information contained in the dossier true? If the collection of 17 memos, aka "the dossier", written by Steele between June and December 2016 are accurate, then I personally don't care who paid for it. I don't want Russia worming their way into our election system, and possibly into a position where they can blackmail a candidate they helped.
We're not talking about a friendly Australia or Canada or even Spain here folks....but RUSSIA! Russia is NOT our friend. Vladimir Putin longs to see Russia elevated back to the level of power and prestige enjoyed by the old Soviet Union. Contrary to popular myth, Russia in NOT a great economic power today. In fact, Russia's GDP is roughly equal to that of the state of California. Their ace card, of course, is that they still possess a massive nuclear arsenal, and they are rapidly modernizing their conventional military forces as well.
Putin alone controls Russia. The billionaire business oligarchs inside Russia operate with the approval and support of Vladimir Putin, and they in turn know that when Putin calls, they respond. Nobody crosses him. (The few that have tried have found themselves charged with "tax evasion" and locked up, or worse.) Think of it as an old-school organized crime family. Russia's objective is to weaken (mainly) the United States, NATO, and the European Union any way possible. If the West bickers and fractures, Russia benefits.
This is a serious position we're in today. Much is at stake. Anyone who doesn't understand this and blindly tries to stymie Special Counsel Muller's investigation are potentially doing the United States great harm. Let Mueller do his job, and if there has been Russian collusion, say so and put away the guilty. And if not, tell us that, too, and lets move on.
S
Forward this to trump, I'm sure he'll clap his palm to his forehead thinking "of course, that's what I'll do..."
ReplyDeleteYes, I say jump, he say's "how high?" Hahaha!
DeleteThe fact Trump continues praising Putin, won't enforce the sanctions Congress voted almost unanimously for, and continues trying to interfere with the investigation into Russian interference all scream GUILTY. Unfortunately he'd rather take America down with him and Republicans are cool with it because they're just as dirty.
ReplyDeleteThere are many ways to paint this story, I think both sides talked with Russians. Not sure talk equals collusion. I wonder, if the Russians wanted Trump to win, why would their agents collude with Steele, hence Fusion and hence Clinton campaign to provide fodder against Trump? Perhaps the Russians only want to put doubt into the election and weaken our government that way...if so, they seem to be pretty successful so far.
ReplyDeleteI'm just a dope on this whole thing, so I have a problem figuring out how we use information gathered from Russian agents to prove that others illegally sought out information from Russian agents. I guess I'll just wait for intelligent people who don't have a bone to pick to sort it out.
Everyone here somehow already seems to know.
It's never been suggested that Christopher Steele colluded with the Russians. Steele was a former British MI6 agent (like our CIA), and he just beat the bushes around Europe, talking to his old contacts, finding out what he could about Donald Trump. Whether the DNC paid Fusion GPS or some conservative political website paid Fusion GPS, and Fusion GPS in turn paid their subcontractor, Steele, I don't care. What I want to know is, WERE STEELS FINDINGS TRUE OR NOT? If they were true, I want to see heads roll, and if not, I want us to get back to business. No more smoke screens. Focus! Truth or just rumors?
DeleteI have read this many places
Delete"Fusion, in turn, subcontracted with Christopher Steele, a retired MI-6 officer with considerable expertise on Russian matters, to use his contacts in Moscow to find what he could about Trump’s connections to the Russian government."
Contacts in Moscow; I assumed they would be Russians.
Seems to me most people including FBI accept the dossier is crap. I was taken back by the story of Trump, a notorious germaphobe asking prostitutes to pee on a bed, never rang true to me. He hates even shaking hands, talked about it often on the Stern show years ago.