B.A. Bearacus said:

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concordtom said:

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B.A. Bearacus said:

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It's very sad.
Rudy did a great job during 9/11. Yet, he's turned himself into an evil and ugly man. Big time.

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B.A. Bearacus said:

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So one or more conservations between sloppy Donald and Cohen are in the possession of investigators.

Trump, he DONE.

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Another Bear said:

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Democrats are finally doing politics the way Republicans do

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blungld said:

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Another Bear said:

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Democrats are finally doing politics the way Republicans do

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Good find. Not a fan of polarization, but I do want Dems to stand for something and quit always compromising and effectively being moderate Republicans. We have very little "left" in our politics despite what FOX would say.

It would be poetic justice that instead of working with Dems while they could, the Reps own greed and criminal overreach will cost them big time as Dems regain power and perhaps this time actually press their advantage and change things.

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"Republicans are easy to make fun of. It's like shooting fish in a Chris Christie. But I also want to make fun of Democrats. Democrats are harder to make fun of because you guys don't do anything.

"People think you might flip the House and Senate this November, but you guys always find a way to mess it up. You're somehow going to lose by 12 points to a guy named Jeff Pedophile Nazi Doctor."

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blungld said:

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It's time for the Democrats and the media to stop playing nice. They need to demand over and over the way Republicans repeat their sound bytes: Mr. President it is time to stand up and be accountable to the American public under oath. There needs to be a clear demand that no spin or soft peddle can avoid.

And, they need to start calling out co-conspirators and demand they too speak under oath and that they are under jeopardy. For too long the lying and spin is permitted as "politics." No more. You lie for this President and your reputation and legal standing should be at risk too. No more playing nice. Someone needs to come out and say openly what seems conspicuously obvious: FOX and Congress are not just protecting the President because of politics, they are protecting him because they may be guilty too (lots of signs of Russian money floating in the NRA/RNC sphere, and obstruction, false statements, working against their oath and the American public, etc).

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Michelle Wolf nailed in the WHCD. I had to groan because...she's right. Hopefully they turn this around.

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"Republicans are easy to make fun of. It's like shooting fish in a Chris Christie. But I also want to make fun of Democrats. Democrats are harder to make fun of because you guys don't do anything.

"People think you might flip the House and Senate this November, but you guys always find a way to mess it up. You're somehow going to lose by 12 points to a guy named Jeff Pedophile Nazi Doctor."

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concordtom said:

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Michelle Wolf nailed in the WHCD. I had to groan because...she's right. Hopefully they turn this around.

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"Republicans are easy to make fun of. It's like shooting fish in a Chris Christie. But I also want to make fun of Democrats. Democrats are harder to make fun of because you guys don't do anything.

"People think you might flip the House and Senate this November, but you guys always find a way to mess it up. You're somehow going to lose by 12 points to a guy named Jeff Pedophile Nazi Doctor."

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The fat joke was in very poor taste!
And if she wanted to riff on something regarding Dems and doing something, she should have brought up the gerrymandering advantage that the GOP has. Makes it kinda hard.

If the Dems take over in time for the 2020 gerrymander re-do, the GOP will be sunk for a very long time. There are a few good jokes in there, better than the ones she made.

Her routine was 75% crap, I thought!

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But Russia experts believe Torshin's interest in U.S. gun culture masked a dark, ulterior motive. "It's all a big charade, basically," Glenn Simpson, founder of the research firm behind the infamous Steele Dossier, testified to the House Intelligence Committee. Much of what passes for civil society in modern Russia is, in fact, controlled by Putin. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee published a January 2018 report on "Putin's Asymmetric Assault on Democracy," which describes how the Kremlin has "sought to co-opt civil society by 'devot[ing] massive resources to the creation and activities of state-sponsored and state-controlled NGOs."

Some of these faux grassroots groups buttress the Kremlin's domestic agenda. Others are projections of Putin's foreign policy. Sen. Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, says it is common for Russian groups that "appear to be independent" but are "really Putin groups" to build relationships with civic groups in Western democracies, like the NRA "to have tentacles," Cardin says, "to try and influence public opinion here in the United States. It is certainly part of Putin's MO."

Hall agrees. "The idea of private gun ownership is anathema to Putin," he says. "So then the question is, 'Why?' " Why was a pro-gun campaign being hatched by a leader in Putin's own party? The answer, according to Hall, is that Putin was baiting a trap. "He's reaching out to attract the NRA, specifically, over to Russia."

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bearister said:

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-cohen-took-cash-from-russian-oligarch-after-election

I'm afraid this is going to require a 3 dimensional crime board.

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AT&T confirmed Tuesday that it paid President Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen for "insights" on the Trump administration.

AT&T said in a statement obtained by The Hill that Cohen's company "was one of several firms we engaged in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new administration."

"They did no legal or lobbying work for us, and the contract ended in December 2017," AT&T added in its statement, which was first reported by CNBC.

The payment was first revealed on Tuesday in a document published by Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who is suing the president and Cohen.

Avenatti had claimed that AT&T, drug company Novartis and a Russian oligarch had all made payments to Cohen's shell company, Essential Consultants.

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For all the speculation about the existence of the pee tape, the latest revelations prove what is tantamount to the same thing. Russia could leverage the president and his fixer who, recall, hand-delivered a pro-Russian "peace plan" with Ukraine to Trump's national security adviser in January 2017 by threatening to expose secrets they were desperate to keep hidden. Whether those secrets were limited to illegal payments, or included knowledge of sexual affairs, is a question of degree but not of kind.

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NYCGOBEARS said:

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Loving Avenatti. Trump is jealous that a porn star has a better attorney than a sitting president.

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Another Bear said:

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I think we've hit a major juncture with the discovery of Michael Cohen's slush and porn pay out fund and as you have pointed out...things are starting to clarify and connect. It's not a question of if...but how and how deep.

The question now is how does this go down and end. I think we're in for a long summer, but perhaps we'll get a major summer blockbuster surprise or script flip. If I were to guess, I think Michael Cohen goes full stooly and dump his load...during the dog days of August when DC is on recess. That's a good time to drop a bomb, when everyone is gone.

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