Laguna comments

Great anthology, Superlib. I'm wondering which of the above categories I listed he belongs to; perhaps the latter.

Very simple. Trump lied about Obama in order to distract from some very serious allegations against him and his team. He knew that many would chase this red herring, whether true believers, those instructed by Trump or with alt agendas, or paid Russian trolls.

Trump's accusations were and remain an outrageous lie. The man has no shame, and every day he continues with this farce is another which history will condemn him for ignominy.

Some may be easily distracted. Professionals will not. The "Obama wiretapping" farce is over as a serious case. The real issue - Russian involvement - is just getting started.

i said because TRUMP cant prove it doesnt mean that it didnt happen.

Riiiight. My heart bleeds for the poor, innocent man who has done nothing in his life to suggest erratic behavior.

Thats like saying I personally have to prove that someone broke into my home and stole my TV.

Blacklabel, you're obfuscating again. Actually, what Trump is trying to do is say that the person who anonymously reported the person who broke into the home is more culpable than the person who actually did the breaking in.

Certain agents within the Russian government broke into the house. They were aided by others, mostly non-American but possibly including members of Trump's campaign. No matter how you try to change the story, that is it.

All this, plus that Trump only feels 'somewhat vindicated' gives me speculation he also has his own evidence too.

Frankly, I don't give a whit how Trump "feels." He's stated that his own net worth depends on how he "feels." Sorry, but when you reach the level of the presidency, your feelings now longer matter.

Trump accused Obama of breaking the law. He has been challenged by members of both parties as well as heads of security agencies, yet he refuses to back down. Fine. If he has evidence, he must show it. If he does not, he should apologize. There is no reason to drag Barry Manilow into this.

The GOP is panicking now, making major changes to the bill within only hours of its vote. There will be no time to subject these changes to CBO ranking or any debate whatsoever. One such major change is to eliminate ten essential benefits that, according to the Affordable Care Act, must be offered as part of any insurance plan:

• Outpatient care without a hospital admission, known as ambulatory patient services

• Emergency services

• Hospitalization

• Pregnancy, maternity, and newborn care

• Mental health and substance use disorder services, including counseling and psychotherapy

• Prescription drugs

• Rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices, which help people with injuries and disabilities to recover

• Laboratory services

• Preventive care, wellness services, and chronic disease management

• Pediatric services, including oral and vision care for children

If the GOP has its way, only women between the ages of 18 and 45 will foot the entire maternity bill of the US population. Typical: Force woman to have babies by drastically restricting female health options, then force them to cover the costs of bearing the child out of pocket, and finally drastically restrict social programs which could help them. Disgusting.

But it doesnt change the fact that non criminal, non Russia related communications were briefed in intel briefs with names attached after Trump was elected.

You're on a roll today, Blacklabel. The nature of the communications has not been revealed - whether criminal or innocuous and with whom. Whether identities of US citizens gathered during monitoring of foreigners were "unmasked" - revealed - is also unknown, and even if they were, that would be legal to advance a criminal investigation.

How do I know? The person who read and reviewed the documents that FBI and NSA claimed don't exist told me.

Ah. Okay, enough said.

The point all along is the Obama and his team were collecting phone calls and sharing it through the government when it wasn't criminal or related to any investigation.

No, that's not the point.In fact, zero evidence has surfaced regarding this (if you have some, share it and win the Pulitzer Prize). The point is that Russia interfered in an American presidential election. How, to what end, and were there collaborators on the US side: these are the points. Everything else you say is garbage, of the type Trump wishes people would direct their attention to.

Nunes, who used to raise cattle in Bakersfield and now works with them as part of the House GOP, has certainly stepped in it. His biggest problem is not that he dashed off to tell Trump of an unusual find - it is that he does not know exactly what that find is. One thing I learned in elementary schools is that, when you declare "I'm going to tell on the teacher!" and then do so, you'd better have your facts straight.

It is clear now that many in Trump's campaign were in communication with other, foreign entities that FISA felt disturbing enough to allow monitoring - that is, the foreign entities were monitored, not Trump nor his staff. Why the communication? Another question is "unmasking" - revealing identities of US citizens caught in the dragnet. This is legal if US citizens' identities are determined crucial for investigation, but their identities can also be surmised, particularly if they are multiple.

So: Nunes screwed up by inappropriately revealing info into an investigation that could result in fatal damage to the Trump administration. Just another day in Trumpland.

Those people decided better to keep their money for any sicknesses rather than spend it for insurance coverage they cant even use at their preferred doctor. Liked your doctor? Well, too bad, sorry about that says Obama(care).

It appears that what you're saying is that no insurance is better than some. A recent analysis I read suggested that only 23 million would be thrown off insurance if the ACA were simply rescinded as compared to to 23-26 million predicted under the AHCA. Perhaps you will get your wish, either way.

What I do not want to go back to is hospitals required to care for the uninsured at emergency rooms, passing those grossly inflated costs on to consumers. That requirement was a Reagan-era law, remember. A GOP truly truthful to its philosophy would rescind that requirement rather than passing it on to those of us fortunate or wise enough to have taken countermeasures. After all, if you don't let them "die in the streets," as Trump said, where is the incentive? (This is not a rhetorical question.)

Ah. So it's become this argument again:

the Democrats have become the party for the rich and elite, go to California, Boston and New York, all the people that exceptionally affluent are almost all liberal.

Causation is not correlation. Perhaps the most successful areas of the country are so because they are liberal; perhaps the elite move there because the areas are successful. Look at Kansas under their governor, Brownback: he has created a GOP fantasyland there. How is that working out for Kansas?

The GOP has become the party for the working class, the religious persecuted and the fighter for small business

The GOP decimates the working class by taking away their health care, education for their children, and the right to live in a safe environment. The GOP on the whole is solely concerned with Christians and Jews, the latter insofar as they are required to fulfill Christian Biblical prophecy. The GOP puts priority on big business issues well over small business, which is quite off their radar. Again, look at Kansas: Wages down (working class); non-Christians unwelcome; CEOs doing quite well while small businesses fold or leave the state.

How much Koolaid does one need to drink before he/she realizes it tastes a bit funny?

Excellent HuffPo article on the view from Mario Molina's perspective - he's the CEO of the 10th largest health insurance company in America. Capitalism: he wants to make money by providing a product in a way that ensures he profits. That is good. But:

Molina warned that if the GOP bill or something like it passes, and many millions of Americans end up losing coverage, the effects will eventually spread. He said the loss of payments would eventually hit the hospital sector, forcing closures particularly in rural areas, while eroding the quality of coverage available to everybody. “You can’t say this is not my problem ― I have insurance, this is not my problem,” Molina said. “This is your problem. You just don’t know it yet.”

There are some tasty details here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mario-molina-health-care-bill_us_58d16e4ee4b0be71dcf8a97f?gkh3nq4i6hka7fd2t9&

Schadenfreude is not an emotion I commonly feel unless it is a result of foolish people caught by their own foolish endeavors. One topic not frequently discussed in this two-week rush to cram through the bill is the loss of "community ranking" (perhaps not the least as "community" is a bad word for the GOP, particularly after our previous president).

Here's how it works under the ACA: healthcare costs vary widely across the great expanse of America, with those in rural areas generally far higher than those in the metropolises, and as such, the ACA provides staggered subsidy levels to account for actual costs. The AHCA does not. This means that subsidy reductions will hit rural areas far harder than urban areas - that is GOP areas far harder than Dem areas. This is not to mention that the greatest beneficiaries - upper-bracket types - also tend to live in blue areas.

Trump voters: Talking about shooting yourself in the foot. Ah, schadenfreude.

Reminds me of Bush's Iraq war (or wars in general): Starts with a concrete goal in mind but ends in a mad rush just to claim some sort of success and get it done with. Yet another "Mission Accomplished" for the GOP (though this time, they had eight years to plan. Doesn't in the least look like that, does it? To placate moderates, they've added $85 billion for the Senate to "do what they'd like" with. Some piece of legislation this is.)

Nice logic there Donny: Don't pass the bill, and you've broken your promise not to repeal and replace Obamacare; pass it, and you've broken a dozen, more specific promises on coverage and access and pricing - and cuts to Medicare. You explicitly promised no cuts to that program, but the bill cuts it by $800 billion over ten years. H ha! Pity those poor rubes who believe you - and, no, not the voters this time - GOP congressmen. Will they still tremble at your call, or will they understand a promise from you is worse than a threat?

Oh, and nice job trying to distract attention from yesterday's Russiagate hearings. Not gonna work, though.

Breathtakingly stupid. Still, Trump's been in office two months now, and it's about time to start repaying all of those favors he owes Putin. Plus, Tillerson can't help himself when it comes to Russian oil.

Having access to classified info is no biggie.

Right, considering the numerous precedents Trump and his brood have already set.

Mishandling of classified information by Hillary and her staff. As evidenced by classified emails being sent to an unclassified system using an unauthorized home server.

Blacklabel, for all GOP hyperventilation over Clinton's server, it ironically appears to have been secure enough never to have been hacked so has nothing to do with the story at hand.

Also, for all of your (and Trump's) efforts to twist this into an investigation of "wiretapping" and leaks, that is not reality. The investigation regards Russia's attempts to influence the election (mostly indisputable) and possible Trump campaign involvement (speculative, but no fire yet). Let's not change the subject.

So how did Russia know that Hillary/DNC/Podesta email would be a treasure trove of corruption?

Uh, one example of "corruption," please? You know - the kind where people go to jail?

More importantly, you don't seem to understand how Russian security services go about securing "kompromat." The basically target anyone and everyone they think might be of use in the future; all info collected is retained until it is needed. It may be that the DNC and Clinton's campaign manager's email accounts were hacked quite some time ago. It may also be that the RNC email was also hacked but that they chose not to release any info.

Blacklabel: See, Trump's gambit is already working! You're not alone: Most GOP questions to Comey followed Trump's gameplan by focusing on how security agencies obtained info re: Trump functionaries' interactions with Russian officials and who leaked that info. Seems you've also swallowed that hook, line, and sinker.

A few facts are incontrovertible: DNC and Podesta mail accounts were hacked; the material was passed on to Wikileaks; it was then leaked strategically to cause maximum damage to Clinton. A great amount of information already available regarding these hacks clearly points to Russia as the mastermind.

Meanwhile, many individuals at the center of Trump's campaign have had rather inexplicable ties with Russia that they have attempted to hide. Then there is a sliver of known involvement between Russia and the Trump Organization (e.g., Russians have purchased some $100 million worth of Trump-branded condominiums) and a huge amount we do not know thanks to Trump's refusal to release his tax returns.

Of course, Trump wants Americans to think like you - There's nothing there! What about the leakers? - and his latest tweet is an implied threat to accuse Comey of being a leaker ("FBI Director Comey refuses to deny he briefed President Obama on calls made by Michael Flynn to Russia"). But that's the "Squirrel!", see: how security agencies obtained info re: Trump functionaries' interactions with Russian officials and who leaked that info is of far less importance than why Russia committed these acts and who aided them. That is, important for real Americans. Partisan hacks will stick with Trump's obfuscation.

The Donald is a devious guy. He has carefully set up a strategy to deal with this that might be most accurately called, "Squirrel!" The main thrust is to pretend that the investigation is about the leaks - the messenger - rather than about the message - Russian influence in both/either Trump's campaign and the election itself. His mouthpiece Sean Spicer stated so in this word salad yesterday:

What I am getting at is there’s a lot of information that we have come to learn in terms of what happened in terms of surveillance throughout the 2016 election and the transition. And when you look at somebody like Michael Flynn, and you realize that while they might have been looking at somebody else at that time, how does somebody’s name that’s protected by law from being disclosed get put out in the public? ... What were the motives behind that? What else do we need to know? Who was behind that kind of unmasking?

Trump appears to be further trying to muddy the waters with a slightly new tack. His tweets after the conference imply that, as no evidence has been found of Russian tampering with voting machines - see third tweet - this investigation should be over (except for determining the leakers, of course). He also upped the ante by implying that perhaps Comey and Obama have been the leakers all along. Pretty brazen, but here are some of his most recent tweets:

FBI Director Comey refuses to deny he briefed President Obama on calls made by Michael Flynn to Russia.

NSA Director Rogers tells Congress unmasking individuals endangers national security.

The NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence electoral process.

Put together, these tactics point to a disturbing conclusion: Why would a sitting POTUS go to so much trouble to invent and obfuscate unless he actually had something to hide?

It's long been said NATO exists to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down. Trump must not have gotten the memo - wouldn't be the first time. Somehow, publicly insulting Germany does not seem a particularly wise move ... unless ... you're working for Russia.

The trash talking clowns on here prove that most of them would thrive in a communist government and have no idea what leadership looks like.

Ha! Leadership?! - How's that GOP healthcare bill going? A major factor behind its impending, devastating (for the GOP) failure is that Trump is not leading. That is because he does not know what he wants - his priorities are liable to flip 180° depending on the most recent news segment he's watched. His rapid fade into irrelevance at only nine weeks into his presidency will also figure in the likely failure of Ryan's Holy Grail - tax "reform" (better known as tax cuts for the rich) - and this is actually something he wants. Too bad no one will listen to him. And his budget? - it's attracted nothing but scorn.

Tomorrow will likely see him taken down a few more notches as Congress opens hearings into both Trump's Obama spy claims (nada there, and Trump will again look foolish) and possible collaboration between Trump campaign officials and Russia (could be seismic). This will be an interesting week, with no one sure what will happen except for one relative certainty: The continuing emasculation of Trump. Sad.

What - a Fox report about a Brietbart story based on the ramblings of a noted conspiracy theorist and picked up by the Twitterer-in Chief turns out to be FALSE?! Shocking!

I just want to let the world know I am 100 percent in favor” of the measure, Trump said at the White House after meeting around a dozen House lawmakers and shaking hands on revisions. “We’re going to have a health care plan that’s going to be second to none.”

Let's parse this here. Obama said, "If you want to keep your doctor,you can keep your doctor" and, when insurance companies dictated that not to be the case (though that is exactly what he was alluding to - hey, free market, man), he was eviscerated.

Then Trump promises, "So — and we're going to have — you know, we have to cover people that can't afford it. And that's what I'm talking ... And nobody is going to be dying on the streets with a President Trump." Honestly, "people dying on the streets" is a rather low benchmark to overcome, but an estimated 24 million Americans losing access to health insurance is a close second (welcome back, emergency room treatment!). Any word on how his complete reversal is being received? (I know - so many, difficult to track.)

Fortunately, Republicare will go nowhere; unfortunately, instead of acting like adults and fixing ACA flaws, the GOP will do its best to let it - FORCE it - to fail. They don't care about how it affects Americans - to them, it's simply an ideological game.

Trump has led the way in his first two months by issuing numerous executive orders to get his agenda rolling while Congress dithers on many issues.

Aside from the scorn Republicans hurled at Obama when he issued executive orders (and aside from how ephemeral they are), the reason congress is "dithering" is precisely because the GOP cannot unite on an integrated path. There are now effectively three parties: the unified Democrats and the GOP, split irreconcilably between "moderates" (known as "conservatives" in more civilized countries) and the "freedom caucus" (known as reactionary dead-enders).

Trump's budget will be well-received by the latter but viciously opposed by both the former, so it will go nowhere. Patrick, how is Trump's agenda proceeding? I see nothing but internecine conflict and morass (not that I'm sad about it).

One cannot lead if no one follows. Trumps budget will be promptly "filed" when received by Congress. You'd think he'd have learned this by the fiasco the AHCA has become. Fundamentally, America is now leaderless.

My son is at college in New York now and my daughter in California, and one thing they've both learned is that at least Japan is very simply binary - quite quaint, actually. Venture into the real, modern world and things become much more complex.

theeastisred、good point. Trump will never change. At 70, he's been lying so long it's doubtful if he even knows (much less cares) when he does so. For the GOP as a whole, though, the story is different. Eight years in the opposition made fabrication an easy fallback; giddiness at victory allowed them to extend reality avoidance for a few months. But the birds are coming home to roost. Nothing - NOTHING - is going well for the administration or for the GOP Congress, and avoidance of reality is the major factor for this.

Many adults within the GOP tent recognize this, and their voices will carry greater weight. Still, how they'll dig their way out of this is anyone's guess. Likely Trump will lead a caretaker government until 2018, when the Dems will take over congress (that is, if he lasts that long).