The topic has come up, that there are protocols for presidential discussions with foreign entities, especially adversaries. When Trump was criticized early on for insisting on secrecy, the only defense in his favor was that Obama talked to Putin alone for a few minutes so it was okay.

There are dozens of good reasons why every minute of discussions between the president and adversarial leaders need to be 100% monitored and transcribed, which they are supposed to be. This prevents a foreign leader from claiming our president said something he did not, promises, commitments, threats, bribes, whatever, he needs witnesses.

Trump has had multiple conversations with Putin that he didn't even disclose, we have no idea what was said. Then we have found out about them through Russian press, which is Putin's propaganda machine, Putin says what he wants to say. Trump says conversations were meaningless when we find out about one, then the Russian press makes claims about conversations and involvements that are definitely more than nothing. We can assume that conversations with dictators are conversations with liars who could easily be believed to lie about what the president says. But then we have a president that quite frankly can't be believed for a second when he tries to relay his side of a conversation, which leaves us with a dire need for 100% monitored conversations.

Now we have a whistle blower complaint that is marked urgent, must be dealt with as soon as possible. National security is not a time for obstructing serious complaints that involve national security, disturbing promises made. It is ridiculous to think someone is going to jeopardize their career over something silly, and impossible to believe that the Intelligence Inspector General is going to validate something as urgent that is not. Laws are there for a reason, and those involving national security and the intelligence community are more serious than most.

The western world, including America, has socially evolved over the last 2 1/2 centuries, and what were norms then are anathema today.

The founders' vision has proven correct where our country is concerned, those of us alive today had nothing to do with the proclivities of the distant past nor do we bear any responsibility for them.

All you're doing is running the usual leftist guilt trip, like the rest of the traitors who want to erase our history through revisionism and the toppling of our national monuments.

In the kind of society you and the rest of your Bolshevik comrades promote, you wouldn't even have the right to speak out as you do without "disappearing" into a "reindoctrination" facility, a mental hospital or a gulag.

See, your ilk likes to pretend, for political agenda purposes, that you really care about human beings and their "plights," but in reality your only concern is your political agendas -- to the left, people are little more than pieces of meat.

Your self righteousness is so obviously false.

If you leftists don't like America as it is, as the majority of us do, instead of trying to destroy this great nation perhaps you should simply move someplace where things are more to your liking, like Cuba or Venezuela.

See, your ilk likes to pretend, for political agenda purposes, that you really care about human beings and their "plights," but in reality your only concern is your political agendas -- to the left, people are little more than pieces of meat.

Your self righteousness is so obviously false.

If you leftists don't like America as it is, as the majority of us do, instead of trying to destroy this great nation perhaps you should simply move someplace where things are more to your liking, like Cuba or Venezuela.

Oh, I see alright... I see a little item called the "double standard" that is depending entirely on a complete fantasy about how the people and the media would react if Trump was negotiating with Medvedev. LOL.

Got news for ya... That never happened. Also, since you apparently don't understand what people are concerned about with Trump... the Obama-Medvedev Commission was NOT a secret. In fact if Trump were to do what Obama did, our jaws would drop in disbelief. Liberals would be on the floor twitching. The shock of seeing Trump doing something constructive would simply blow our minds.

I have a great idea: since Britain is still part of the EU, you can travel to Curacao on your EU ID -- once there, it's less than 20 miles by boat to Venezuela...

Fig. A: Boats ⛵⛴️🚤🛥️

...or a short hop by plane...

Fig. B: A plane 🛩️

...or helicopter...

Fig. C: A helicopter 🚁

...and then you will be in your dream country.

And you can leave the free countries you so despise, leaving us, in turn, to enjoy freedom and prosperity without your leftist ilk's trying to deprive us of them.

-- "What a deal!"

-- "Don't let the door hit you..."

-- "Bon voyage!"

LOL - how can you miss the point by so much? The numbers don't matter, they never did. The liberals are laughing at the dolt simply because he made such a big deal out the crowd size in the first place. I mean what president ever takes the podium and starts off by commenting on how large his audience is?

If anyone else said it... people would be like... "okay..." like it's kinda weird but move on because it's not a really big deal. But Trump has made it apparent that he has a personal obsession with affirming his own greatness which is a trait often found in weak people and especially among the two-bit dictators that super-powers love to manipulate. It's not a good trait for a president to have.

But trying to subdue the ridicule and laughter with checks on the numbers... Ha, ha, ha - that's just plain good old fashioned stupid... No offense, I'm not referring to you as a person, only to your assumption that the numbers somehow redeems your "leader". Hey, we all say stupid things from time to time.

Here's something that might serve to put your accusation of my double-standard to rest. I don't support the original vision of our founders. I think they were all assholes. As someone who has until recently identified as a Jeffersonian this is an example of how I have changed as a result of debate. Something you have accused me of not being capable of.

I've come to realize that in 1772 the British government started to consider the eradication of slavery throughout it's empire and founders like Jefferson and Washington (both slave owners) didn't much like the idea. There is much evidence to suggest that preserving the slave trade was at the heart of our declaration for independence where things like the Stamp Act were mere excuses. Because of this, during the revolution itself, almost every black man involved in combat was on the British side.

Most of the Indians were also aligned with the British but for a different reason... they didn't trust the colonists to honor the land treaties, which in the end they did not.

Indeed, the founders created a system that served them as white male landowners and disadvantaged everyone else. Just within Jefferson's lifetime, America broke numerous treaties they signed with the Indian while under British rule and invaded their neighbors in 1812 in efforts to expand their territory by force. So make no mistake, I am not a believer in our foundation. I think there were some nice ideas in our founding documents that reflected intellectual thinking of the time, such as all men being created equal, but they were obviously using these lofty concepts to decorate their appeals not to actually live by. How else would you explain a man writing a letter to a king that all men are created equal while his slaves were chained up a few yards away?

Oh, that's right - slaves were only 3/5ths human. Yeah, f**k the foundation. That doesn't mean I hate America today... quite the contrary. America changed for the better. Through the courage of countless people that stood up to exploitation and selective oppression and ironically, those lofty ideas that the founders rhetorically spoke of, not thinking people would actually use them to validate social movements, America went through a slow process of becoming a more fair and just nation. That process is still happening despite the bitter complaints of those who pine for the old ways of bigotry and oppression.

So... getting back to your accusations... Yes, I strongly support the efforts to counter the original vision of our asshole founders. As for subduing our culture, that's far to vague an accusation to respond to because America is in fact a mix of many cultures. But if YOUR culture is based on bigotry and unfair advantages then yes, I am opposed. As for the economy - I think it's pretty clear. For the past 40 years we have seen Republicans trash the economy and Democrats fix the economy. I don't know how you can possibly see it any other way. I mean the economy is so easy to measure empirically and all it takes is simple math to understand how the Republican habit of cutting taxes and spending more money results in larger deficits and eventually higher debts and the historical trends illustrate that as plain as day.

Deleting the Bill of Rights, which many founders fought bitterly NOT to ratify, is not under attack by the left by any stretch of the imagination. I see the right-wing arguments all the time, especially around the 1st and 2nd Amendments but they all depend on this overstated slippery-slope notion, which means most of the argument is fictional.

To avoid an already long answer getting even longer, I will answer the rest of your unfounded charges in a subsequent post.