Puterbac News Network and Political Discussion Thread

[Professor Tiger]

House Speaker Jim Wright (D-TX). In 1984, 10 Democrats sent a letter to Daniel Ortega Saavedra, the head of the military dictatorship in Nicaragua, praising Saavedra for “taking steps to open up the political process in your country.” House Speaker Jim Wright signed the letter.

In 1987, Wright worked out a deal to bring Ortega to the United States to visit with lawmakers. As The New York Times reported:

There were times when the White House seemed left out of the peace process, uninformed, irritated. ”We don’t have any idea what’s going on,” an Administration official said Thursday. And there was a bizarre atmosphere to the motion and commotion: the leftist Mr. Ortega, one of President Reagan’s arch enemies, heads a Government that the Administration has been trying to overthrow by helping to finance a war that has killed thousands of Nicaraguans on both sides. Yet he was freely moving around Washington, visiting Mr. Wright in his Capitol Hill office, arguing his case in Congress and at heavily covered televised news conferences. He criticized President Reagan; he recalled that the United States, whose troops intervened in Nicaragua several times between 1909 and 1933, had supported the Somoza family dictatorship which lasted for 43 years until the Sandinistas overthrew it in 1979.

Ortega then sat next to Wright as he presented a “detailed cease-fire proposal.” The New York Times said, “Mr. Ortega seemed delighted to turn to Mr. Wright.”

Senator John Kerry (D-MA). Kerry jumped into the pro-Sandanista pool himself in 1985, when he traveled to Nicaragua to negotiate with the regime. He wasn’t alone; Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) joined him. The Christian Science Monitor reported that the two senators “brought back word that Mr. Ortega would be willing to accept a cease-fire if Congress rejected aid to the rebels…That week the House initially voted down aid to the contras, and Mr. Ortega made an immediate trip to Moscow.” Kerry then shilled on behalf of the Ortega government:

We are still trying to overthrow the politics of another country in contravention of international law, against the Organization of American States charter. We negotiated with North Vietnam. Why can we not negotiate with a country smaller than North Carolina and with half the population of Massachusetts? It’s beyond me. And the reason is that they just want to get rid of them [the Sandinistas], they want to throw them out, they don’t want to talk to them.

[bluetick]

Did 47 Republican Senators Break the Law in Plain Sight - CNN.com

GOP Senators Probably Broke Law With Iran Letter - US News and World Report

GOP Senators Violated the Logan Act - http://www.alternet.org

Republicans Are Crossing a Dangerous New Line - Vox.com


Hillary Clinton's Private Emails: We Should Distrust!! - Then Verify - Fox News

[Toemeesleather]

I'm sending emails to Tennessee's two republican senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, in praise of their decision to reject the treasonous letter authored by freshman senator Tom Cotton as addressed to "the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran," rejecting any nuclear deal our country makes with Iran in the future tense.

This latest attempt by the GOP to nullify and humiliate a sitting president has crossed a line that in all likelihood can't be uncrossed. For a couple of hundred years political division has stopped at the shoreline - now comes this outrage. All you mouthbreathers who made noises about gun confiscations and martial law need to pay attention...this shit is real. A cabal of U.S. rightwingers making an end-run assist to Iran's rightwingers happened.

Oh, and kudos to the other GOP senators who refused to sign as well.

Try googling "Ted Kennedy letter to russia"......among others.

[Toemeesleather]

Sen. Dick Durbin (search) went to the Senate floor late Tuesday to offer his apologies to anyone who may have been offended by his comparison of treatment of detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Cambodia's Pol Pot.

"More than most people, a senator lives by his words ... occasionally words fail us, occasionally we will fail words," Durbin, D-Ill., said.

"I am sorry if anything I said caused any offense or pain to those who have such bitter memories of the Holocaust, the greatest moral tragedy of our time. Nothing, nothing should ever be said to demean or diminish that moral tragedy.

"I am also sorry if anything I said cast a negative light on our fine men and women in the military. ... I never ever intended any disrespect for them. Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line. To them I extend my heartfelt apology," Durbin said, choking on his words.

[Toemeesleather]

"I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — (know) this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday," said Reid.

[sardis]

I'm sending emails to Tennessee's two republican senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, in praise of their decision to reject the treasonous letter authored by freshman senator Tom Cotton as addressed to "the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran," rejecting any nuclear deal our country makes with Iran in the future tense.

This latest attempt by the GOP to nullify and humiliate a sitting president has crossed a line that in all likelihood can't be uncrossed. For a couple of hundred years political division has stopped at the shoreline - now comes this outrage. All you mouthbreathers who made noises about gun confiscations and martial law need to pay attention...this shit is real. A cabal of U.S. rightwingers making an end-run assist to Iran's rightwingers happened.

Oh, and kudos to the other GOP senators who refused to sign as well.

Heh, this President caused the die to be cast, even by his own admission. Don't be all of a sudden spouting off "dangerous precedent" when it's been going on at the executive branch for years now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfZ3kaKZoIw

[bluetick]

LOL Bring on the false equivalencies..

[Toemeesleather]

Wait a minute, this ain't Fox.....


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the State Department to force the release of email correspondence and government documents from Hillary Rodham Clinton's tenure as secretary of state.

The legal action comes after repeated requests filed under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act have gone unfulfilled. They include one request AP made five years ago and others pending since the summer of 2013.

"After careful deliberation and exhausting our other options, The Associated Press is taking the necessary legal steps to gain access to these important documents, which will shed light on actions by the State Department and former Secretary Clinton, a presumptive 2016 presidential candidate, during some of the most significant issues of our time," said Karen Kaiser, AP's general counsel.

[Professor Tiger]

Nobody will care.

[Professor Tiger]

Quote of the day:

"Half of America will vote for Hillary if there is an email where she says her favorite dish is roasted puppy on a stick."

[Jungle Rat]

I'm sending emails to Tennessee's two republican senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, in praise of their decision to reject the treasonous letter authored by freshman senator Tom Cotton as addressed to "the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran," rejecting any nuclear deal our country makes with Iran in the future tense.

This latest attempt by the GOP to nullify and humiliate a sitting president has crossed a line that in all likelihood can't be uncrossed. For a couple of hundred years political division has stopped at the shoreline - now comes this outrage. All you mouthbreathers who made noises about gun confiscations and martial law need to pay attention...this shit is real. A cabal of U.S. rightwingers making an end-run assist to Iran's rightwingers happened.

Oh, and kudos to the other GOP senators who refused to sign as well.

Let us know how that works out for you because I don't think anybody gives a shit about what you think.

[Professor Tiger]

What Bluetick emails?

[bluetick]

Let us know how that works out for you because I don't think anybody gives a shit about what you think.

You think? Me - I'm convinced nobody gives a shit. Try to keep up..

What Bluetick emails?

Ed Zachery.

[hedge]

Quote of the day:

"Half of America will vote for Hillary if there is an email where she says her favorite dish is roasted puppy on a stick."

What's wrong with that?

[bluetick]

Quote of the day:

"Half of America will vote for Hillary if there is an email where she says her favorite dish is roasted puppy on a stick."

What's wrong with that?

Prof pretty much got it right.

Oprama won the last election with 332 electoral votes. The GOP needs to move 64 votes out of that column to win in 2016. Yet they're running essentially the same cast of characters with the same party platform..

The dems have the west coast and Hawaii, New England and the Northeast, MI, IL, and MN. Those states total 236 electoral votes, and that's 90% of the needed total without any swing states.

The election is 20 months away. This email flap probably won't last 20 days. At least that's what I think. heh

[Johnette's Daddy]

Ferguson City Manager resigns.

Ferguson Chief of Police resigns.

Darn protesters.

[BigRedMan]

Well the crime rate will drop now for sure!! That community will turn itself around in no time.

[Johnette's Daddy]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03 ... ppearance/

Obama says 'no excuse' for shooting of police in Ferguson during 'Kimmel' appearance

Agreed. I hope the shooter/s are captured, tried and convicted . . . but shooting at a cop is like shooting at a made mafia guy, They won't have to worry about a trial.

[Toemeesleather]

NYT.....



Now you, Hillary, are following the same disheartening “We’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse” pattern. You started the “Guernica” press conference defending your indefensible droit du seigneur over your State Department emails by referring to women’s rights and denouncing the letter to Iran from Republican senators as “out of step with the best traditions of American leadership.”

None of what you said made any sense. Keeping a single account mingling business and personal with your own server wasn’t about “convenience.” It was about expedience. You became judge and jury on what’s relevant because you didn’t want to leave digital fingerprints for others to retrace. You could have had Huma carry two devices if you really couldn’t hoist an extra few ounces. You insisted on piggybacking on Bill’s server, even though his aides were worried about hackers, because you were gaming the system for 2016. (Or even 2012.)

Instead of raising us up by behaving like exemplary, sterling people, you bring us down to your own level, a place of blurred lines and fungible ethics and sleazy associates. Your family’s foundation gobbles tens of millions from Saudi Arabia and other repressive regimes, whose unspoken message is: “We’re going to give you money to go improve the world. Now leave us alone to go persecute women.”

That’s an uncomfortable echo of a Clintonian trade-off, which goes: “We’re going to give you the first woman president who will improve the country. Now leave us alone to break any rules we please.”.....

You seem like an annoyed queen, radiating irritation at anyone who tries to hold you accountable. You’re less rhetorically talented than Bill but more controlling, so it’s harder for you to navigate out of tough spots.

[Johnette's Daddy]

NYT.....

By an author who won a Pulitzer for covering Monica Lewinsky. Darn MSM and their conservative bias . . .