Editor:
Just in case anyone missed it today:
“Trump, his allies and his supporters are a clear and present danger to this country.” – Judge J. Michael Luttig
Sincerely,
Michael Rutherford/San Ramon
Letters: Dangerous Liaisons
Editor:
Just in case anyone missed it today:
“Trump, his allies and his supporters are a clear and present danger to this country.” – Judge J. Michael Luttig
Sincerely,
Michael Rutherford/San Ramon
I have little or no trust in the major media or many political commentaries anymore, so I looked up this Luttig guy. True he was a judge long ago. My research unfortunately shows his latest gig seems to have been the legal muscle that Boeing used in their best defense is a good offense in blaming pilot incompetence instead of design flaws in those Boeing 737 Max crashes. Can you imagine the family of one of these pilots whose plane’s control was taken over by the computer and crashed, but having Boeing say it is their husband’s or father’s fault so Boeing could minimize their losses? Wow. And imagine Luttig’s legal team crafting their case even while knowing it was their fault? If you find something else than I did, please speak up and let me know. If not, his credibility is zero at least for me.
I have not watched the Jan 6 hearings and don’t intend to, and that conclusion was only reinforced by the story they hired network professionals to see how best to present their TV show. Something has gone very wrong with the Democrat party in the past few years. I am still a registered Democrat, but I could not possibly support the tactics and policies they now follow. I wish I could have my party back, and toss out the scoundrels like Pelosi, Schiff and their ilk. We now have, after Buchannan and the second George Bush, arguably the worst president this country has ever had, and the Democrat party, just like those Boeing lawyers, is using the best defense is a good offense approach to distract from the current mess.
“I have not watched the Jan 6 hearings and don’t intend to”
To that I say, avert your eyes, cover your ears, dig a hole in the sand, and bury your head. Prejudgment can only be undone with new information. Rest assured, your opinion, your bias, will remain intact.
Yes. I saw that too. I think many Americans are looking for a reason to look away. A lot of people don’t want to confront the fact that they’ve been misled and conned by someone who is only good at doing those things. And because a lot of people predicted we would get to this place. Others just don’t care. And when Americans stop caring about what’s going on in their country, the country will suffer.
The Millers: The public opinion polls show the majority believe the country is headed in the wrong direction with severe problems in all areas such as economics, international relations, disunity at home, and failing social infrastructures. You can’t argue with a Gallup Poll and tell them they are looking at the wrong things. Democrats have control of the presidency and Congress, and when Biden was asked recently why he is failing, he said he does not have enough control with only a slim majority in the Senate. Tell me how a professionally produced TV show with some kind of kangaroo court filled with Democrats and two Republicans who hate Trump fix things for us? Three countries have now threatened nuclear war with the US, something not seen since the USSR times.
LamorindaVoter: Well, we all know how far off those polls can be, don’t we?! We regard them as indicators at best, and take them all with a dose of salts.
Are we happy with the state of America today? No. We haven’t been happy with the state of America for some time. We think politicians – many of them – have forgotten who they work for and are out to feather their own nests. We don’t think President Biden falls into this category. The previous guy certainly did. Our stature in the world and our quality of life has fallen commensurately as a result.
Congressional hearings conducted under the supervision or with the guidance of a TV person don’t fill us with suspicion as much as they do gratitude. We’ve seen other hearings with politicians bloviating and posturing unchecked and the J6 hearings have been informative and move right along.
What do they do for us? Speaking for myself, they’re giving us evidence of things we’ve suspected were true for some time. Those who claim they are biased and unfair have generally avoided testifying, seeking pardons or pleading the 5th. A lot.
We’re watching with interest and will continue to do so. You of course are free not to. But we think Americans should be paying attention to what their elected officials are up to – for what should be obvious reasons.
Good luck.
A failed coup d’etat with no consequences for the perpetrators! Exciting! You know, you wouldn’t see THAT (no consequences) in a banana republica. I wonder what will happen next. The Democrats say DJT has been bad, very bad! Perhaps he will be given a time-out. Oh, wait. Twitter did that. 17 months and no consequences…
Luttig. Barr. et al. It’s not a refreshing pause to scratch a corpse flower in this historical moment. It’s CYA time. “I had no idea that birtherism and white nationalism would lead to this”…”Why those were just tourists taking pictures of checkpoints and basement hallways” on a day when the Capitol was closed. “That may not have even been me in those photographs”…
Neither party cares about common citizens, only about their pocket books and their fight between each other for control. The only people protected in our country are the wealthy. We don’t need to see poll results ask anyone, Dem, Rep, or people in the middle and all will tell you we are way of course as a country. We are ripe for those groups from within or groups/country’s from outside to try and take advantage or worse. We need to wake up and make some serious changes to those in charge and I’m talking both parties!
I’ve voted for both parties in the past but unfortunately have no idea whose out there to replace them..
We have a billionaire problem, and it’s just part of the wealth inequality problem. My knowledge of history is weak, but it seems that when the Robber Barons ruled the roost, capitalism was eventually re-balanced for a while with “trust busting” legislation. We are, it seems, at a similar crisis moment when “corporations are people”, i.e. have the same rights as people, and a lone billionaire can toy with the idea of buying Twitter, like it’s a new yo-yo, to make more money, of course. Another billionaire can claim that there is no way that FB influenced votes in a significant way by amplifying misinformation and antagonism to make money, of course. And, all the while an allegedly billionaire ex-president runs a scam raising zillions of small donations to fight election fraud which is trivial for a non-existent legal-defense fund, solely to make money, of course. Egos run amok.
“I’ve decided I should be on the pardon list if that’s still in the works.”
Where did he find these effing people?
They find him. Grifters, including an unremarkable environmental attorney who sees an extreme shortcut to the top of DOJ by making himself available for coup planning as part of the bargain. Trump doesn’t pay his bills like normal people. He can no longer attract top legal talent, just those seeking 15 minutes of notoriety and bags of cash accumulating from small donations from the thralls. If you wrote this as a movie plot, no one would think it credible enough to sell.
Trump doesn’t give a damn about America, he only cares about himself – why there’s still people out there who haven’t figured this out continues to amaze me, I’ll never understand it…
I guess I am one of those you find fault with. I must confess that at the time, I was focusing instead on how Trump managed to achieve the lowest unemployment rate ever recorded for black Americans.
Of all the measurements possible about “country in the right direction”, economic vitality, world standing, etc…why oh, why would you focus on that data point, real or not, Lamorinda Voter? Are you the lone black man in Lamorinda? Why feign the interest? Oh, to poke the liberals. You got me.
And, btw, I join John G in wondering in amazement at your very existence. “I’ll never understand it…”
Here is an unpopular opinion. Trump is a very bad man. He inspired the Jan 6 events. Those that broke the law are rightfully being prosecuted. The election was fair and Biden won. Biden is a disaster and it is clear to all but hard partisans that he is not up to the job.
It is also clear that some forces in the DNC sabotaged Trump with a false Russia conspiracy claim and that was even worse than the Jan 6 events. I dont ever want to see Trump in office again but we have deep problems that have nothing to do with him as well and the current administration is terrible.
I agree with some or most of what you said, but definitely not that the election was fair. It was not. In autocratic states like China and Russia, the media control the narrative with propaganda. Would you say they have fair elections? Various studies (please look it up) showed 92% of stories about Trump were negative coverage in a country where the voters were split about evenly between the two candidates. The alphabet media plus outlets like NY Times and WAPO consisting of several hundred propagandists determined the election. The record shows they kept the Russia collusion narrative going long after it was proven false. Anything about Trump was spun as a negative, and any negative about Biden such as his family’s business dealings with China was suppressed. Don Lemon of CNN just did an interview (please look it up) saying there is no reason to give fair treatment to opinions he disagrees with. No, it was not a fair election just because the ballots were counted more or less correctly.
Russia did help Trump in 2016, that’s not in dispute among most rational, knowledgeable people, incl all of our intelligence services, who know more than we do. The only question is, did Trump know? I think he did but there’s only circumstantial evidence, such as having a meeting at Trump Tower with Russian intelligence to “get dirt” on Hillary Clinton, remember that? People seem to forget about that, along with Trump trying to blackmail Zelinsky to get dirt on Biden.
Btw, I do not want Biden OR Trump to run again…
PS – When looking at the interactions between Trump and Putin, can anyone seriously suggest there isn’t something nefarious going on?
It is the person making the accusation who has the burden of proof, and not the responsibility of the person being accused to defend himself. If you are referring to any election influence, in my opinion clearly Putin preferred Trump but there was no substantive relationship, much like when Obama was president, he was very vocal about supporting one particular national candidate in Canada above the others. I don’t see anyone complaining about that.
Trump is a flat out bad person. I dont deny this. I think Putin viewed him as favorable vs Clinton or Biden. The DNC planted hoax of a story regarding Russia, backed on CNN most every night by former high level intel people is pretty damning. Again, I never ever want to see Trump again but that was wrong.
I believe you’re conflating support vs meddling, which the Russians obviously did and likely still do…
He’s going to have a lot of company in prison. His minions tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people and they should pay the price – along with the abysmal excuse for a human fools elected and praised as their president.
No, Biden does not belong in prison. He was just used as a bland non-controversial name to fill a box in the quest to get rid of Trump. The catastrophic mess we are in now can be blamed on those who chose not to choose a qualified candidate. There will not be any real retribution except maybe at the ballot box in November.