Maggie's Farm

I've been hearing about this memo since yesterday afternoon. I'm not ready to get excited yet. Given the press and the Demoncrap's skill at obfuscation, anything less than somebody told somebody to do something to somebody else could require a lot of explaining and then the impact is watered down. I'm hoping it will be so unambiguous that some Demoncraps will have to join the ranks of Pubbies who are outraged. I realize that's a very high bar.

We'll see what's in this document sooner rather than later, I hope. This might, however, turn out to be another instance when Pubbies show themselves to be inept in taking advantage of a situation. After all, Pubbies don't seem to understand that all you need is a cold to be able to release whatever you want to release even though it was just recently demonstrated about a week ago.

Tucker had a segment on it tonight.

Big deal! Let's try not to be stupid.

Would you say the same thing about Bernie since he honeymooned in the USSR during the Cold War? What about Ted Kennedy who tried to work with the KGB to derail Reagan's re-election?

It is well known that Putin hates Hillary. And why wouldn't he? She's a loathsome individual. Hillary didn't object to a Russian criminal enterprise buying control of 20% of the US's uranium and he still hated her! Now, that's real hatred!

The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend - especially when dealing with other friends or enemies.

Z: Sanders was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, which was a sister city to Yaroslavl, Russia, part of a common type of cultural exchange.

That says a lot about how he viewed his honeymoon or the sister city. Neither, in my mind is very flattering.

Z: The decision was made by others across several U.S. agencies.

You keep saying that so I'll keep saying, "Let's try not to be stupid." That's like telling your mother, after she catches you doing something stupid, "Everybody else is doing it!" The fact that Hillary joined the other Obama administration officials of such high repute like Eric Holder, to allow a Russian criminal enterprise to control a substantial portion of our uranium production is explained as either she blindly follows that herd, she is truly as stupid (or corrupt) as that herd, or she didn't take the time to investigate the situation and so didn't care. Hillary could have declined to approve the sale and it would have been up to Obama to overrule her.

Z: But, in any case, you seem to approve of Putin's interference in U.S. politics.

I didn't even suggest that. Read my post again.

Z: As for the underlying story, it appears to be based on a memo written by Republican partisans. It's doubtful it will amount to much, probably on the order of other pseudo-scandals, but there's no reason an unclassified version couldn't be released.

Neither of us know the content of the memo or the source or veracity of the information in the memo. Republicans may be hyperventilating over nothing (sort of like Pelosi when she said the Trump tax bill was Armageddon and that people would die because of it) or they may be understating it. It would make sense to have some information before you conclude anything. I have concluded nothing (see post #4). I think it's worth noting that no Democrats voted to declassify it or even let other members of the House see it. In fact according to Congressman Gaetz, Democrats haven't even taken the opportunity to view the memo - reminds me of the Democrats who refused to review the evidence in Clinton's impeachment. It seems that if it were so embarrassingly banal and inconsequential, they wouldn't care who saw it. They certainly feel justified in releasing private testimony without authorization when they want to.

Z: No. It's a decision that was made by career employees of the various agencies. Clinton was not involved. As the U.S. is a net importer of uranium, and the quantity involved was small and not for export, it was of little strategic consequence.

That's a great excuse: "Clinton was not involved." There's leadership for you! Since uranium is required for a significant portion of our energy needs and armaments as well as scientific purposes, it is a strategic resource. And as you pointed out, the US is a net importer of uranium, 20% of production is not a small amount. Let's put this another way. If you have to borrow money to make ends meet, would you consider it significant if somebody took 20% of your cash out of your control? Of course, we have already seen that even though it is not supposed to leave the US, some of it already has - and who should be surprised since we are dealing with a Russian criminal enterprise.

I've seen lots of people be asked why this deal with Uranium One was good for the country and nobody has been able to answer that question. Maybe you can tell us why this deal that benefits Putin allies is a good deal?

Z: It reads as maybe yes, maybe no, but if Democrats are the enemy, then maybe yes. Your shifting alliances apparently may include siding with Russia against a major U.S. political party.

Groan... Let me spell this out for you. Read slowly: Hillary is Putin's "enemy" because he hates her because she is loathsome. Hillary is also the Republican's "enemy" because she wants to impose stupid ideas of Obama's and her own on the people of the US. That doesn't mean that Putin and the Republicans are friends. Now if the Republicans implemented policies that were friendly to Putin such as withdrawing a promise to install missile defense systems in Poland or implemented a weak response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, but those are things Obama and Clinton were involved with. My comment was an alteration of the Arab saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", designed to make it more accurate because it depends on the enemy and the potential friend. Sheesh...

Z: That's right. From the track record so far, it may be up with Benghazi™. Or Lewinskygate®.

You're right. So far, there is no evidence that anybody was involved in those minor matters of people getting killed over inept or criminal mismanagement and then lying about it by blaming it on a youtube video and there's no evidence that anybody just goofed and lied to a Grand Jury or tampered with witnesses, but there's still plenty of time for that and more to happen.