Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
The Tuesday afternoon ambush was the firing of FBI Director James Comey who was conducting an investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 elections and possible collusion by the Trump administration and campaign.
Why fire FBI Director Comey now? Is this another Trump administration attempt to misdirect, mislead and cause such confusion that all probes into the Russian interference in the 2016 elections and possible collusion by the Trump administration and campaign are delayed and hindered.
Continue reading “Why fire FBI Director Comey now (Russian investigation)”
Our intelligence agencies agree that Russian election interference took place in 2016. President Trump and the Republican party clearly benefited and there is the possibility that the Trump campaign or others may have colluded with the Russians.
On January 6, 2017 a bill (HR 356) was introduced in the House of Representatives called the “Protecting Our Democracy Act”. The bill would establish an independent commission to look into Foreign Interference in the 2016 Election.
Continue reading “Protecting U.S. Democracy from Russian Election Interference”
Tiresome is the word that came to mind. I wasn’t sure if it was the right word.
So I looked it up. Well, a lookup online. I knew I had a dictionary around but it seemed so much easier this way.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary online offers “causing you to feel bored, annoyed, or impatient”. So it looks like I found a good word because –
Continue reading “This is getting tiresome”
Delay the probe in the Russian interference in the 2016 elections and possible collusion by the Trump administration. Misdirect and mislead us so we don’t notice the delay. Misdirect and delay, again.
When will we ever learn? I had just written about the bizarre actions of Rep. Nunez, chair of the House Intelligence Committee which to me seemed to be an attempt to delay the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 elections and possible collusion by the Trump administration.
Continue reading “Misdirect and delay, again”
What is going on with Representative Devin Nunes, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee? Is this just another distraction to delay looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the possible collusion of President Trump oor his associates?
This this just another example of misdirection?
Senator Mitch McConnell made history when he stopped the Senate from doing it’s job in holding hearings to allow President Obama to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. His somewhat novel theory was that a President had limited powers during his last year in office and should not nominate someone for the Supreme Court if there was a vacancy.
Senator McConnell now has a second chance to make history, President Trump has nominated Judge Gorsuch to fill that vacancy. But President Trump is now under FBI investigation for colluding with Russia to influence the 2016 election. It seems to me that this is reason enough to stop the confirmation process now.
Continue reading “Supreme Court vacancy: Senator McConnell’s second chance”
I don’t understand why President Trump and the Republicans are against an independent investigation.
Our intelligence agencies agree that the Russians interfered in our election. There are suggestions that the Trump campaign may have been aware or perhaps aided in this. But that is far from proven.
We have now learned of multiple contacts between the campaign and the Russians. They may be totally innocent but it looks bad.
Continue reading “Why is President Trump against an independent investigation ?”
We need a nonpartisan investigation on Russian influence on the presidential election of 2016, the Trump campaign, and President Trump’s administration. There are so many unknowns but there is highly suggestive evidence for at least the election and campaign. I think it also reasonable to look into the possibility that this Russian influence may extend into the administration as many of the same individuals are involved.
There is little doubt that Russia intervened in our election in favor of candidate Donald Trump. There are reports that Trump campaign aides had contacts with Russian intelligence but this is disputed by President Trump’s administration. For a good review of the situation see the PBS story which is now a few days old.
Continue reading “Nonpartisan investigation on Russian influence”
Is it time for an independent investigation on Russian influence in the election and the Trump administration?
According to a story titled Trump administration sought to enlist intelligence officials, key lawmakers to counter Russia stories Which was published a few hours ago in the Washington Post, the Trump administration has tried to compromise the FBI, Senate, and House investigations and succeeded in getting the chairs of the Senate and House committees to speak to the press on their behalf.
Continue reading “Are we ready for an independent investigation yet?”
The news about the Trump administration brings Richard Nixon to mind. I am wondering if news on Russian influence could lead us to something even bigger than Watergate.
I don’t think is reasonable to expect Republicans to investigate Republicans and do much of a job. You can see all the party-line votes occuring in Congress in the past weeks.
Continue reading “This could be big, maybe even bigger than Watergate”
Republican Senator Rand Paul has said the is no need to investigate former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and it would not make sense having Republicans investigate Republicans. I partly agree.
I think his implication was the there was too much for the Republicans to do and they should not waste time on investigations into each other. But my agreement comes not from thinking Republicans are too busy or that they have important things to do but because I think this is a issue could be very important and if Republicans investigate Republicans they seem unlikely to look very hard. I think the investigation should be as nonpartisan as possible and look at some of the wider problems of Russian influence rather than be limited to the problems of one former official.
Continue reading “Republicans investigate Republicans”
This is potentially really big. Is it time for a special prosecutor or commission on Russian influence in the election and the government in general?
With the resignation of Michael T. Flynn from his post as National Security Adviser, the near certainly on Russian influence on our election, and other possible problems with Russian influence, is it not time to appoint a special prosecutor or high-level indedendent commission on Russian influence on our government.
There are several ongoing and completed investigations on some aspects of this but should we look at the big picture in a nonpartisan way ?