A decade ago, I was a manger at a healthcare facility that was unionized. When an employee performed in a way that was improper in some way, I was obligated to formally discipline that employee, to 'write them up'. Invariably the employee would always say to me 'look what you've done to me'. My fellow managers and even other union members pointed out that I didn't do anything to them, that they did it to themselves.
Yesterday, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, chaired by California's Devin Nunes, had a rare open door meeting. Nunes, after listening to hours of testimony from FBI director James Comey said to Mr. Comey:
"You've put 'a big gray cloud' over [the] [t]rump administration."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/nunes-to-comey-youve-put-a-big-gray-cloud-over-trump-administration/2017/03/20/03be6f26-0da3-11e7-aa57-2ca1b05c41b8_video.html
Come on......let's be adults. Completing my analogy, who put the " 'big gray cloud' over the trump administration"? The answer is obvious. But this is not the distraction that took place yesterday. The 'watch this' moment was at the beginning of Comey's testimony when he said:
"I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. And that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts. As with any counterintelligence investigation, this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed."
DISTRACTION!!!!!!!! That's what;s going on here. Isn't Comey the one who always says he has a policy of not commenting on active investigations. But now it's ok because the Department of Justice ( DOJ) told him it was ok......more like told him to do so. 'Oh look.......we, the DOJ (and therefore sessions and trump), we're doing the right thing. we're 'allowing' Comey to talk about this active investigation........boy are we good people, or what?'
Assessing if crimes have been committed? Another distraction. What this means is that trump will put forward campaign personnel and possibly expendable political appointees that he brought with him from the campaign to take the fall. The distraction here is the appearance that those that may have committed crimes will be named, but you can bet that those named will not be far up the food chain. 'Oh look .......we're so good that we're going to get to the bottom of who done it'. Yeah? But will they get to the top?
In the middle of the hearing, trump (or at least someone with access to his twit account, oh I'm sorry, I meant twitter) tweeted six times (at least that's what I'm seeing). I also see that these were the first twit tweets since the 19th and that there was only one tweet on the 19th. Sadly enough one of the representatives on the committee, saw the tweet and payed attention to it.......distraction.
Yesterday, i was speaking with a friend and I noted that I haven't read the book and it might be difficult for me to do so without talking to Ralph on the big white phone (puking), but I bet that distraction is a component of trump's the art of the deal. I'm also willing to bet that he and his staff are starting to confuse themselves.
Defining the balls and keeping my eye on them is, as I've written before, the key. As far as I'm concerned the balls are:
- the appointment of an independent prosecutor to investigate trump with reference to possible conflicts of interest involving possible links to the Russian government. This must include the subpoena of trump's last seven years of tax returns.
- following an investigation by an independent prosecutor, the impeachment of trump and then removal from office by the Senate
Only activities that relate to these two basic goals concern me. I'm willing to have fun with, get angry about, research, be critical of, call out other issues that trump et.al. present, but these two basic goals are what I have chosen to focus on.
these guys think their clever.....imagining them sitting in oval office snickering
- if I can figure it out, then any clear sighted person can and that means they're not so clever
msgs being sent =
- only persons that will be under suspicion = campaign personnel / nobody of any great consequence
- russia will be the scape goat (and they should be, but they are not without accomplices in the U.S.)
- this will be declared as the be all & end all & therefore no need for independ prosec
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