Jeff Sessions met with Russian Ambassador twice in 2016

[Barnabas]

35 Russian foreign service officials. There is only ever 1 Ambassador. There is a difference.

And expelling an Ambassador is a massive deal, and almost never done between the most powerful countries in the world because it would be reciprocated. The Ambassador speaks for the government he or she represents in an official capacity, which is a bit different (and more important) from other people who work in the Russian mission to the US.

Didn't you realize that?

I mean't diplomats. I'll go back and correct it so the people that like to cherry pick comments won't fill my reply box with this obvious error they can find.

[Yelmurc]

Again, the charge in this case would be making a false statement, and just the available public documentation makes him look guilty enough to get to prosecution. (If, you know, he wasn't in the position of being the person in charge of prosecuting himself - Trump's corrosion of America's democratic government (far from perfect to begin with, but still mostly functional as a goverment) is going far quicker than I'd have guessed possible.)

You need to understand that they can charge him of making a false statement. He should of been clearer yes but I don't see any real evidence of knowingly and willfully making false or fraudulent statements, or concealing information. Because both of the meetings where probably about the arms services committee. Not about Trumps campaign.

[Barnabas]

Yep most of the Hilary crap was a witch hunt. I consider my self bipartisan and call out bs when I see it.

That investigation turned into one after she kept dragging it out for so long. My only take away from the benghazi thing was her attitude towards the families and of the people involved. It's why I'd prefer she not return to politics in any official capacity.

[Matchles]

The question was aimed at his role in the campaign he did not meet with the ambassador as a Trump Campaign official he met with them as a Senator. Big difference.

No it wasn't. The question he was asked was whether he would investigate if it was found that Trump's campaign had communication with Russia. He offered up the lie in response.

[The Emperor]

Oh look those cold war lightweights Graham and McCain are at it again.. Though I am pretty sure most people are already fed up with those alleged contacts. Typical russophobic witch hunt, get over your selves, senators.

I wish Trump delivers on his promise to limit Congress terms. Those old people have over stayed their welcome, by this point they are just impeding progress with their archaic thinking

[Elegiac]

Oh look those cold war lightweights Graham and McCain are at it again.. Though I am pretty sure most people are already fed up with those alleged contacts. Typical russophobic witch hunt, get over your selves, senators.

I wish Trump delivers on his promise to limit Congress terms. Those old people have over stayed their welcome, by this point they are just impeding progress with their archaic thinking

You're aware that Congress will have to vote on term limits, yes?

[ringpriest]

Absolutely, all perfectly true.

Of course the history of it all is more complicated than either perspective, but there is a kernel of validity to say "two walked into the 20th century, one walked out".

The oddidity in that analysis though is of course, it's generally agreed that the period from 1871-1945, with respect to Europe, is centered on the balance of power in Europe with a united, strong Germany. The US and Russia were key players in a drama that focused ultimately, on another country.

In some sense, with the end of the Cold War and the EU, we're still figuring out how to live in a world with a strong Germany in the center of Europe.

Such a Deutschlandzentriert view of the modern world is an interesting one, and given the amount of capital in the EU / Europe does have an interesting basis - thank you for the introduction to a novel viewpoint I hadn't really considered before.

That so much centered on Germany perhaps shouldn't be surprising in retrospect - if you could build a map of the strength and flow of capital (in all it's forms) for the last two centuries up until the (quite recent, on that scale) ascent of Asia, I'd guess that Germany would be near the center.

And I'm starting to think that when it comes to the 21st Century, the same saying could be applied to the US and China (and I'm not very confident that the nation that just elected a reality TV host with no skills for the actual job of President (he's moderately well-suited to be running for President, which, while a prerequisite (mostly) is also a completely different job in practice) is going to be the one walking out - at best, it'll be staggering or limping) - not that I have any desire to see a US-China confrontation of any sort. From the perspective of continuing the Long Peace... it gets tricky - a US collapse would prolong it in the short term, but probably guarantee the collapse of the American-led Pax UN, which would guarantee such a collapse in the medium-term. Hopefully there's some way to squirm through the keyhole (treating the present unsettledness as a sort of mid-life crisis) and the process will continue for another half-century or more with some America-equivalent power (including the possibility of America itself) or powers (less stable, I know) acting as the 1800# gorilla of the "lets all play nice" school of thought.

[Matchles]

Oh look those cold war lightweights Graham and McCain are at it again.. Though I am pretty sure most people are already fed up with those alleged contacts. Typical russophobic witch hunt, get over your selves, senators.

I wish Trump delivers on his promise to limit Congress terms. Those old people have over stayed their welcome, by this point they are just impeding progress with their archaic thinking

Ahh yes term limits. The brilliant idea to limit democracy and make lobbyists the most senior people in the building.

[Elegiac]

I would prefer to not see Sessions resign

Why? He's a massive cunt as well as a liar.

[The Emperor]

Ahh yes term limits. The brilliant idea to limit democracy and make lobbyists the most senior people in the building.

No its mainly to keep senile people like Maxine Waters and many others from having a say in matters they hardly understand nowadays.

[Kaneiac]

So why did some folks make giant waves about Obama and ISIS, Clinton and emails, Clinton and Benghazi, but the mountain of evidence against Trump & Russia is fake and conspiratorial, water under the bridge and nothing we should care about?

Wasn't Trump's big agenda solely nationalism and isolationism?

[Elegiac]

No its mainly to keep senile people like Maxine Waters and many others from having a say in matters they hardly understand nowadays.

This is best accomplished by imposing a mandatory retirement age for senior government officials (i.e. 70).

Term limits don't really accomplish anything besides stroking the fee fees of "small government" folks.

[Zaydin]

No its mainly to keep senile people like Maxine Waters and many others from having a say in matters they hardly understand nowadays.

Yeah, hate to break it to you, while term limits sound good on paper, in practice, it would make lobbyists the most powerful people in Washington. Last thing they need is even more influence than they already have.

[Elegiac]

So why did some folks make giant waves about Obama and ISIS, Clinton and emails, Clinton and Benghazi, but the mountain of evidence against Trump & Russia is fake and conspiratorial, water under the bridge and nothing we should care about?

Wasn't Trump's big agenda solely nationalism and isolationism?

Simple, because Obama and Clinton were guilty of Governing While Democrat.

[Barnabas]

So why did some folks make giant waves about Obama and ISIS, Clinton and emails, Clinton and Benghazi, but the mountain of evidence against Trump & Russia is fake and conspiratorial, water under the bridge and nothing we should care about?

Wasn't Trump's big agenda solely nationalism and isolationism?

We have little to no proof except one person resigning so far. It's still young.

[The Emperor]

Yeah, hate to break it to you, while term limits sound good on paper, in practice, it would make lobbyists the most powerful people in Washington. Last thing they need is even more influence than they already have.

Faults can be found with just about any initiative. The situation now is definitely not acceptable so we'd rather take a shot at something better than leave it as it is

[Elegiac]

Faults can be found with just about any initiative. The situation now is definitely not acceptable so we'd rather take a shot at something better than live it as it is

"Something is wrong so we should try anything regardless of whether or not it works in theory let alone in practice."

I'm curious as to how you think "old people in Congress" is solved by term limits.

[ati87]

That investigation turned into one after she kept dragging it out for so long. My only take away from the benghazi thing was her attitude towards the families and of the people involved. It's why I'd prefer she not return to politics in any official capacity.

Oh please can we finally admit it that having 8 different investigations which all concluided the same bloody thing was nothing but a smeer campaign using government funds

[Nathreim]

No it wasn't. The question he was asked was whether he would investigate if it was found that Trump's campaign had communication with Russia. He offered up the lie in response.

The question was absolutely aimed at the Trump campaign and cooperation with the Russians.

"If there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump Campaign communicated with the Russian government during the course of this campaign, what will you do?"

[yetgdhfgh]

This administration is gonna be fucked harder than drinking some Russian Bath Oil!