Right now we are commenting on pure speculation, right? There is still the presumption of innocence. What would Trump want with top secret nuclear documents in his private home? What was his motivation? Sound pretty bad and completely far-fetched at the same time. Let's see something we have not seen from the Inquisitors in the previous six attempts..... factual first hand evidence. By the way, I think we already have lawlessness and a dose of anarchy in place. And lots of chaos.
Unfortunately, the affidavit as opposed to the warrant is what we would need to look at to evaluate the evidence that supports the claimed charges of criminality. Without it, all discussions about whether the search was a legitimate prosecutorial act or a politically motivated device are pretty speculative with the speaker’s bias or favor of Trump possibly influencing the conclusions rendered. Obviously a federal magistrate thought the affidavit passed the probable cause threshold but without looking at the affidavit it really is difficult to tell if Trump is now thrashing in the deep end of the pool.
Bobda, what are the chances that we'll get to see the evidence in advance of any trial ? My understanding is that it would be very unusual for the evidence to be unsealed in advance of even a grand jury proceeding, no? It would seem a grand jury being empaneled is imminent if not already seated and if they choose to indict, the trial will tell us all we need to know about the evidence......
If Trump is indicted, his attorney will receive a copy of the affidavit and can choose to publicly disclose it unless the court orders the document to be remain sealed. If no indictment is ever issued, the defense can request it remain sealed or made public.
Last night Liz Cheney was run out of Wyoming on a rail, losing 66% to 28%. Look for her to re-locate to another state, likely Virginia, take one election cycle off and then run again as a true carpetbagger.
We'll see Krebsie.....my take is that right now she has a much bigger job upon which to focus her attention and I for one am thankful that she has risen to the occasion. Every American needs to read her concession speech and remember that this is how our founders had intended it to be done. In my view she is one of the true heroes to rise above this debacle wherein she has put her duty to her country first before any short term political benefit. If this group of republican leaders had half the balls that she has displayed we wouldn't continue to be in this f'n nightmare. They would have jettisoned his baggage long ago rather than continue to let him fester and poison our body politic and erode the institutions of our nation. The bigger issue is that they know that, they are not ignorant to his societal poison, they just didn't have the sack and now.....they're stuck and praying for the justice system to remove the curse so they don't have to.
If you didn't see, a whistleblower explained his NGO (that signed a $130 million contract with DHS), is transporting 35-40k illegal alien children every month - in Texas, alone. The group transports the children to anytown, USA. Under Trump, DHS performed a background check on the 'sponsor' of the minor. Biden did away with any background checks on the 'sponsors'. So, we have no idea who is taking the child. The U.S. is the world's largest child trafficker. Children are from over 100 countries. In Illinois, for example, there are 22,000 children who are wards of the state/foster care. That costs IL $1.5 billion per year. Intentional destruction of this country.
Don't worry about Liz, it's reported that her net worth increased by 36 million during her 6 yrs. in DC.
Seems we've stumbled on to a meeting of "whataboutism" society..... see logical fallacies - "whataboutism" Whataboutism: When People Counter Accusations with Accusations - Fallacy In Logic
Liz Cheney represents the old guard Republicans, the country club set. The entrenched dynasty faction. Look who two of her biggest financial supporters were; GWB and Karl Rove. And she got a lot of financial and some vote support from the Democrats as well who view Trump as THE roadblock to their MWO aspirations. This highlights the incestuous nature of politics. In 2016 Jeb Bush was the presumed candidate for the GOP and many thought the likely President to be until Trump derailed him. It basically ended Rove's tenure with FOX as well. And now the Cheney's dynasty has taken a direct hit. And what the Democrats do not and will not understand is that Trump represents to many our best bet to hold on to something from the past; our heritage and core values. The mistake the Democrats made include their identity politics which is laser focused on skin color over qualifications; their raced based ideologies, their constant name calling, their perverse social re-engineering tactics and their ceaseless attacks om American institutional values. People like me feel under assault. And in a perverse way Donald Trump has assumed the role of St. George standing between us and the Democratic dragon that threatens to consume us in fire.
Biden basically ran as the anti-Trump. Every time he reverses Trump's policies it seems to harm the country. From the boarder, to the economy, to foreign policy it's a disaster. Friend of mine sent me this. Many I know agree with it. Prague newspaper quote hits the nail on the head! Extraordinarily accurate analysis from a foreign country. God help the USA. Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way that you can quickly understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic. Someone over there has it figured out. It was translated into English from an article in a Prague newspaper. "The danger to America is not Joe Biden, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of a Biden presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Biden, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Biden, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their president.”
She represents SOOOO much more than that Krebsie...she represents those conservatives, like me, who see through the fairy tales being spun by the grifter to feed his fund raising machine. She represents those conservatives that actually believe in the rule of law and order, that election results matter, the authority of the courts and our constitution, that character counts and the truth is important and that our long tradition of peaceful transfer of power is to be cherished as a bedrock of our democracy. She represents conservatives longing for the days before their party was hijacked by the cultists and sycophants that have crafted their own plank along the designs of a Carlsen/Trump/Putin wing. She represents those of us that still believe in the core values of party that have long since been abandoned in the name of short term political gain. She represents me and those of us that refuse to lap up the incessant vomit of lies and stupidity that he spews forth that is the antithesis of so many of the core foundations of this country. Wow....yes I agree that to many he does represent their best bet because they are unwilling or unable to see that they have a duty to find or groom another conservative that does represent our heritage and core values, in fact and deed, not rhetorical nonsense. That person will necessarily be vastly more effective in leading our country without the division and societal destruction he brings. I ask anybody, to look again and observe and judge his behaviors and their effect on our body politic from November 2020 till current, including of course Jan 6 and events leading up to it. Tell me that that in any way shape or form is a leader that represents our heritage and core values. That notion is absurd on its face....that mf'er doesn't represent anything remotely close to that to me and so many more like me. Had he been a military man after such an egregious failure of leadership and treasonous dereliction of duty, the courts martial would have been swift and he'd be in the brig preparing to face a firing squad. Don't take my word for it, feel free to review the comments of those who knew him best and with whom he worked most closely e.g., Mattis, Kelly, Milley or any other member of the general staff
Conversation is getting hotter but we're all still friends. Hang in there everybody. My problem is this; I agree with T about Trump...can't help it. Never liked him before he entered politics. Voted for him (consider the alternative) and think he accomplished some great things amidst all the chaos and unrest he caused and continues to cause. Don't think he handled the pandemic very well...kind of ironic that he was so instrumental in getting the vaccines ready so rapidly (thank you) but if he had shown a little more leadership in promoting them (maybe he never believed in them) we wouldn't have all the COVID politicization that we have today. Totally agree he was disgraceful after Nov 20. Don't think impeachment was a good idea...just token ******** that wouldn't accomplish anything. I agree with Gip about Biden, Hillary, the deep state, and the hit job they have tried to do on Trump and continue to try to pull. I won't belabor all that because he and George have been very eloquent. I am afraid that Trump is gonna get a bunch of Trumpists to win the primaries and they are going to go down in defeat in the general election. I don't particularly want any more MTG's in congress but the alternative (letting the Dems keep the Senate and maybe even the House) scares me to death. Hell, the Dems are even contributing big bucks to the Trump endorsed candidates hoping to get to run against them. I will say this about "whataboutism". I was gonna talk about it in an earlier post (kinda did in my tit for tat comments) but since T brings it up; I have always seen a lot of whataboutism in political arguments and roll my eyes because usually that isn't relative to the problem at hand. Where I DO feel "well, whatabout..." in my heart is where there is a double standard...where there is a two tiered system of law and consequences. In my belief that is and has been going on...and that is where I feel justified in thinking "well, what about..."
Friendly family disagreement....nothing more. I agree with much of what Stu has said. I too voted for Trump in 2016, was optimistic about his presidency and was a vocal defender throughout much of his term until such time as he failed his people and evidenced to me he was unfit, did not have the requisite skill set for office and was incapable of leading the nation.....all of us. His calculus became about placing political gain in front of the best interests of the people. And then came the election shenanigans and of course Jan 6 is a disqualifying event in any scenario. Stu I think you are aware of my views on the effectiveness of the federal response to the pandemic, so I won't belabor it here....suffice to say that our results were unworthy of the wealthiest, most technologically advanced society on the planet Krebsie, conservative values can be described as a great many things but one has to imagine tho that chief among them would be respect for law and order, our constitution, justice system and the role of the courts therein, the sanctity of our elections, their decisive nature and an understanding that our tradition of peaceful transfer of power was one of the key elements that separated the worlds greatest democracy from the others.... do you think for half-a-minute that he has apologized (or thanked?) to those in law enforcement who defended our Capitol on that day or to the family of Officer Brian Sicknick whose life was ended due to injuries sustained at the hands of attackers? Quite the contrary, his rhetoric, during and after was a slap in their face and an insult to his memory.....I know that ain't included on the core value cheat sheet. The whataboutism speaks for itself in my estimation. What I really find interesting is the anti-Biden snippets as if the fact that Biden is incompetent, unfit/or and ineffective for the job, that somehow mitigates the evidence as to Trumps failings. Not so at all. I'm happy to say that they are both are incompetent, unfit and ineffective. But what is not true is that just because Biden is incapable therefore Trumps failings magically disappear. Not so....I missed that logic class. Biden's fitness has no bearing on any of the mountain of evidence as to the disgraced ex-president's failings
The ultimate conundrum for you would be if Trump was the candidate against pretty much anyone from the Democrats then. Person foibles aside, which he has many, Trump checks off all your boxes except for respect for the peaceful transition of power. Conversely, you can easily argue that the Democrats have failed in all your criteria but especially in the peaceful transfer of power as many boycotted Trump's inauguration, many more boycotted his SOTU speeches and the ones who did show up were in costume and catcalling him. And of course the Speaker famously ripped up his transcript of the SOTU speech with a smile. Puts you in a tough spot ! Also, Brian Sicknick died of a stroke he suffered the next day which coroners determined was caused by two blood clots in his brain stem and completely unrelated to the Jan. 6 riots. In fact, they note in their report that his body showed no signs of trauma whatsoever. The only person who died that day was the unarmed lady who was shot point blank by the Capitol police officer from about 5 feet. He suffered no disciplinary action for that whatsoever.
Respectfully disagree with the above re: Trump, you could not have "sugar coated" his value resume more. As for the Dems, they are not even in my equation, it's no conundrum at all. I will support and cast my vote for somebody with the beliefs, skills and character consistent with those I believe necessary to lead our nation towards being the best version of itself possible. Would I vote for a Dem? Extremely unlikely any would pass the test and haven't for since I began voting in 1976. Would I prefer 4 more years of bad policy over Trump? That's an easy one, short term policy failures are much easier to correct than a chief executive that has no more respect for our society than to seek power by throwing the Constitution in the crapper....no brainer for me. Re: values, let me put it another way, even tho I would suggest that the little "peaceful transfer of power" thingy is disqualifying in and of itself, I would characterize conservative values in this manner in that I find the voting record and behaviors evidenced by Ms. Cheney before, during and after her election as being much more aligned with the conservative values that I cherish than I do those of Mr. Trump yet the "party" has made her a pariah solely for having the sack to tell the truth....which is simply put, he lost the election, he knew or had a duty to know he lost the election yet he chose to continue to lie, spread misinformation, mislead his supporters and there is evidence to suggest that he conspired to employ extra-legal means to hang on to power culminating in his ultimate betrayal to the people on Jan 6. Re: Sicknick, coroners report notwithstanding, I would offer the following: On March 14, Julian Elie Khater, 32, of State College, Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of Morgantown, West Virginia, were arrested for assaulting Officer Sicknick. Khater and Tanios are each charged with one count of conspiracy to injure an officer; three counts of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon; one count of civil disorder; one count of obstructing or impeding an official proceeding; one count of physical violence on restricted grounds, while carrying dangerous weapon and resulting in significant bodily injury; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct, act of physical violence on Capitol grounds." Had he been your boy, would your views of the circumstances of his death and the perps responsible be any different?