{"id":783,"date":"2018-04-09T10:06:47","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T14:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=783"},"modified":"2018-04-09T10:06:47","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T14:06:47","slug":"while-we-were-distracted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/04\/09\/while-we-were-distracted\/","title":{"rendered":"While We Were Distracted"},"content":{"rendered":"

While We Were Distracted<\/p>\n

The United States is buried in \u201cRussiagate.\u201d\u00a0 There no longer is a question that Russia attacked our election in 2016, and, according to a new study released by THE Ohio State University (yes, I live near Columbus) Russian actions on social media altered the election (WCMH \u2013 Channel 4<\/a>.)\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t include collusion, conspiracy, and actual attacks on the voting process \u2013 all still being investigated.<\/p>\n

The Mueller investigation has grown quiet again:\u00a0 we are waiting for the \u201cother shoe to drop.\u201d\u00a0 However, if someone has direct knowledge of Paul Manafort, Trump finances, or other aspects of the investigation, they need to be wary of airports.\u00a0 The FBI is lurking, Mueller is looking for answers, and airports seem to be the place where potential witnesses\/suspects are grabbed.<\/p>\n

President Trump continues to distract America from the investigation.\u00a0 It seems strange that the President may prefer being sued by a porn star, rather than questions about the Russiagate investigation.\u00a0 By the way, a report just out states that the Trump Organization (Trump\u2019s business) billed the Trump Campaign (the Presidential campaign) $129,999.72 a week after Trump\u2019s lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels (Inquisitr<\/a>.)\u00a0 Odd coincidence:\u00a0 somebody owes Cohen $.28.<\/p>\n

If the campaign paid hush money to Daniels, and didn\u2019t report it, that\u2019s illegal.\u00a0 If the Organization (or Cohen) made an \u201cin kind\u201d contribution to the campaign to keep Daniel\u2019s quiet \u2013 that\u2019s illegal.\u00a0 And since Trump now says he didn\u2019t know about a contract with Daniels, then Cohen may lose his law license (for making a contract for Trump without Trump\u2019s knowledge.) Even if you think Trump knew about the contract, it sure seems he\u2019s willing to throw Cohen\u2019s career under the bus.\u00a0No wonder he can\u2019t find lawyers.<\/p>\n

In Syria, Assad, backed by Russia, continues to use chemical warfare against his own people.\u00a0 This weekend\u2019s barrel bomb dropped on civilians is only the most recent example, and while the US may react to that in some way (maybe a missile attack on airport runways again) it doesn\u2019t change the multiple times we\u2019ve turned our back to the problem.\u00a0 Certainly President Trump\u2019s statement in Cleveland last week that we were going to pull out of Syria may have given some license to Assad.<\/p>\n

In Europe, Hungary elected a right-wing prime minister, Victor Orban, and gave him a super-majority in the Parliament.\u00a0 Nationalists throughout Europe are rejoicing, as anti-immigrant, anti-European Union and pro-Russian candidates become ascendant.\u00a0 How much help Russian social media intervention gave we aren\u2019t sure:\u00a0what is clear is that the vacuum created by the absence of a strong United States is being filled.<\/p>\n

We have picked a trade war with China, but haven\u2019t negotiated new trade deals with anyone else in Asia.\u00a0 The argument made for pulling out of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) was that we could negotiate better deals individually with countries rather than as a group; it now looks like we have abandoned Asia to the Chinese.\u00a0 The new \u201cPresident for life\u201d of China, Xi, is acting as if we have.<\/p>\n

In the Middle East, in Europe, in Asia; the lack of American presence has opened doors to China and Russia.\u00a0The relative peace created by the \u201cPax Americana\u201d after the Cold War concluded is ending, because the US has pulled away from engagement.<\/p>\n

And the Trump administration has made it clear that we now \u201cside\u201d with Russia.\u00a0 When Russians used chemical weapons to try to assassinate former spies in the United Kingdom, we joined most of Europe by expelling sixty Russian diplomats.\u00a0 However, we now hear that they sixty will be replaced by sixty more, more of a substitution than an expulsion.<\/p>\n

Russian mercenaries (so-called \u2013 it\u2019s hard to imagine they weren\u2019t under the control of Putin) attacked US forces in Syria.\u00a0 The US forces defended themselves, suffering no casualties and leaving close to three hundred Russians dead.\u00a0 One would think that\u2019s a reason for public comment, but not a word was spoken.<\/p>\n

With no Secretary of State, National Security Advisor McMasters seemed to be the one moderating force in the White House keeping America involved.\u00a0 He departed on Friday; next up, John Bolton, who hasn\u2019t met a war he didn\u2019t like.\u00a0 No one on the Republican side of the Congress says a word \u2013 Bob Corker where are you?<\/p>\n

Russiagate has silenced them.\u00a0 And Russiagate is consuming the American attention.\u00a0 But as we wait for the next Mueller move, or the next woman to sue the President, the world goes on.\u00a0 \u201cGoing to Hell in a hand-basket\u201d is more like it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While We Were Distracted The United States is buried in \u201cRussiagate.\u201d\u00a0 There no longer is a question that Russia attacked our election in 2016, and, according to a new study released by THE Ohio State University (yes, I live near Columbus) Russian actions on social media altered the election (WCMH \u2013 Channel 4.)\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t … Continue reading “While We Were Distracted”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhile We Were Distracted : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/04\/09\/while-we-were-distracted\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"While We Were Distracted : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While We Were Distracted The United States is buried in \u201cRussiagate.\u201d\u00a0 There no longer is a question that Russia attacked our election in 2016, and, according to a new study released by THE Ohio State University (yes, I live near Columbus) Russian actions on social media altered the election (WCMH \u2013 Channel 4.)\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t … Continue reading "While We Were Distracted"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/04\/09\/while-we-were-distracted\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - 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