by Charles Toy
Let this sink in. Vladimir Putin “asked” Trump to take Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak on a private tour of the Oval Office. Trump complied and the “Russian press” was allowed in but the American press wasn’t.
Russia just hacked our presidential election, breaking in to the DNC computer network and distributing their confidential information with precise tactical timing to cause the maximum political damage. They were sanctioned by President Obama because this kind of cyber-sabotage is an act of war. Every single US intelligence agency confirmed it was Russia behind these attacks. In recent public hearings James Comey stated that Russia continues to manipulate and sabotage the US political system on a large scale. Trump fired Comey the day before he granted the private tour of the Oval Office to Putin’s Russian officials. Then he made veiled threats to Comey via Twitter.
A few questions come to mind.
Are you KIDDING me? What the hell is going on?! Why are we giving private tours of the Oval Office to our enemies? How many Russian spies do you think were in that Russian press pool in the Oval Office? What does Putin have on Trump? What do you think Ronald Reagan would think of all this? What actions do you think he would recommend moving forward? Why is every member of the US congressional leadership utterly paralyzed to do anything about this? Even McCain is walking back his comments comparing all this to Watergate earlier today and is now trying to water down those statements. Watergate was 5 guys breaking in to DNC headquarters. This was an entire nation with vast resources breaking in to the DNC’s electronic data files and using them to sabotage one party in the presidential election.
Several more developments have recently come to light. It turns out Trump invited Comey over to the White House for dinner the week after he was elected. After spending dinner talking about crowd size Trump told the other two guests, AG Sessions and VP Pence, to leave. He then demanded loyalty from Comey and dropped big hints that he wanted the Michael Flynn investigation terminated. Comey refused on both counts and went home and typed up a memo detailing the entire encounter. He sent the memo to contacts within the FBI and filed it.
In an interview with Lester Holt last week Trump said that when he fired Comey he was thinking, “This Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story; it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election.”
During the private Oval Office tour, in an attempt to brag, Trump blurted out information categorized as “Top Secret” and held in a secure “compartment” to which only a handful of intelligence officials have access. Several news agencies including ABC reported the life of a spy placed by Israel inside ISIS was at risk last night as a result of Trump’s carelessness.
Today, in his commencement address to United States Coast Guard Academy graduates, Trump didn’t even try to take the high road. On one of the biggest days of their lives Trump made it all about him. Everyone is being mean to him. “Look at the way I have been treated lately, especially by the media,” he said. “No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly.”
There was one small silver lining in Trump’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad two weeks. Vladimir Putin put the word out that he would be happy to provide a transcript of the private Oval Office tour. Let that sink in.
Russia just hacked our presidential election, breaking in to the DNC computer network and distributing their confidential information with precise tactical timing to cause the maximum political damage. They were sanctioned by President Obama because this kind of cyber-sabotage is an act of war. Every single US intelligence agency confirmed it was Russia behind these attacks. In recent public hearings James Comey stated that Russia continues to manipulate and sabotage the US political system on a large scale. Trump fired Comey the day before he granted the private tour of the Oval Office to Putin’s Russian officials. Then he made veiled threats to Comey via Twitter.
A few questions come to mind.
Are you KIDDING me? What the hell is going on?! Why are we giving private tours of the Oval Office to our enemies? How many Russian spies do you think were in that Russian press pool in the Oval Office? What does Putin have on Trump? What do you think Ronald Reagan would think of all this? What actions do you think he would recommend moving forward? Why is every member of the US congressional leadership utterly paralyzed to do anything about this? Even McCain is walking back his comments comparing all this to Watergate earlier today and is now trying to water down those statements. Watergate was 5 guys breaking in to DNC headquarters. This was an entire nation with vast resources breaking in to the DNC’s electronic data files and using them to sabotage one party in the presidential election.
Several more developments have recently come to light. It turns out Trump invited Comey over to the White House for dinner the week after he was elected. After spending dinner talking about crowd size Trump told the other two guests, AG Sessions and VP Pence, to leave. He then demanded loyalty from Comey and dropped big hints that he wanted the Michael Flynn investigation terminated. Comey refused on both counts and went home and typed up a memo detailing the entire encounter. He sent the memo to contacts within the FBI and filed it.
In an interview with Lester Holt last week Trump said that when he fired Comey he was thinking, “This Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story; it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election.”
During the private Oval Office tour, in an attempt to brag, Trump blurted out information categorized as “Top Secret” and held in a secure “compartment” to which only a handful of intelligence officials have access. Several news agencies including ABC reported the life of a spy placed by Israel inside ISIS was at risk last night as a result of Trump’s carelessness.
Today, in his commencement address to United States Coast Guard Academy graduates, Trump didn’t even try to take the high road. On one of the biggest days of their lives Trump made it all about him. Everyone is being mean to him. “Look at the way I have been treated lately, especially by the media,” he said. “No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly.”
There was one small silver lining in Trump’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad two weeks. Vladimir Putin put the word out that he would be happy to provide a transcript of the private Oval Office tour. Let that sink in.
Update On My Shoulder Surgery: So many of you were very generous to me with your prayers and emotional support around my shoulder replacement surgery. I'm two weeks out now and so far so good!
It's going to be a long recovery process but I'm feeling good about it. There is hope now that I'll be able to resume a life without severe pain, especially when trying to sleep. I'm sleeping in a recliner right now and I probably will be for several more weeks.
Your prayers have been working! The day before my surgery my insurance company canceled authorization for the procedure. They tried to say it wasn't justified. Fortunately my surgeon is the best in town. He's the Chief Orthopedic Surgeon and professor for upper extremities at Oregon Health Science University. He's the guy all the other surgeons send their problem cases to.
He spent two hours on the phone with my insurance company and got them to reverse their cancellation. On top of that he just took care of it without worrying me about it. I didn't even know until after the surgery.
That was a God thing as far as I'm concerned. I gave thanks to my surgeon and God ... and you. I knew your prayers made a difference! 3 years of terrible pain and very little sleep was long enough. What a miserable ordeal.
I'm easing back in to my daily TCL duties typing with one hand. I'll take it slow and keep you posted moving forward. Thanks again for your concern and prayers.
Charles
It's going to be a long recovery process but I'm feeling good about it. There is hope now that I'll be able to resume a life without severe pain, especially when trying to sleep. I'm sleeping in a recliner right now and I probably will be for several more weeks.
Your prayers have been working! The day before my surgery my insurance company canceled authorization for the procedure. They tried to say it wasn't justified. Fortunately my surgeon is the best in town. He's the Chief Orthopedic Surgeon and professor for upper extremities at Oregon Health Science University. He's the guy all the other surgeons send their problem cases to.
He spent two hours on the phone with my insurance company and got them to reverse their cancellation. On top of that he just took care of it without worrying me about it. I didn't even know until after the surgery.
That was a God thing as far as I'm concerned. I gave thanks to my surgeon and God ... and you. I knew your prayers made a difference! 3 years of terrible pain and very little sleep was long enough. What a miserable ordeal.
I'm easing back in to my daily TCL duties typing with one hand. I'll take it slow and keep you posted moving forward. Thanks again for your concern and prayers.
Charles
