Agree, I never liked the label “RINO!!!”, as it was greatly misused.

But, in light of the last election, not sure the ones that were calling Romney a “RINO” are necessarily “true conservatives”.

Several in “conservative” media made much noise about “RINOS!!!” for some time.

Yet, we have trump, the “RINOiest” of them all, per their definition. Don’t hear “RINO” used much any more, especially not these same one who used it – do we?

Strangely, that is not all – a lot of what they’ve said they stood for, and roasted dems for, doesn’t seem to matter much, nowadays.

I agree with that, but, actually, you said something rather different:

“maybe POTUS seems forgiving … because he knows that his government has done the same thing over the course of many administrations.”

…Essentially making a moral equivalence argument, and that “forgiveness” is somehow justified on that.

I don’t see that whatsoever, as it is rather FAR from merely “working for better relations”.

I DO see an argument to try to maintain relations and try to collaborate where it makes sense.

I DO see an argument to change our policy regarding international intervention.

I DO NOT see the current scenario where russian hacking of emails of highly sensitive targets and running rogue news type operations to influence our election is something to ignore / forgive / or whatever similar, in the name of “better relations”.

There has to be some kind of consequence, and to be rather praiseful of putin, let alone practically ignoring these things, seems woefully wrong headed.

Congress has made the right kind of choice with sanctions, imho.

I would not be surprised if I know better than you our history with Russia. That has nothing to do with Trump and Putin. The fact is that Reagan worked for better relations with Russia; only a fool would not. “Trust, but verify.” Nuclear powers, Russia and the United States, will have to figure out a way to exist together long after that megalomaniac Putin is gone.

By the way, I supported Romney in every way that I possibly could. I seem to recall that it was those folks with the myopic view of conservatism, who loudly proclaimed themselves its only true voices who called him a RINO; and were probably the reason he was not President the past eight years.

ha! people really have to catch up (not anyone here of course, but everwhere else, right?)

Yuri Milner
a Russian entrepreneur, venture capitalist and physicist. Milner is Russia’s most influential tech investor as the founder of investment firms Digital Sky Technologies (DST) now called Mail.ru Group and DST Global. Through DST Global, Milner is an investor in Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Flipkart, Spotify, Zocdoc, Groupon, JD.com, Planet Labs, Xiaomi, OlaCabs, Alibaba, Habito, AirBnB, WhatsApp, Wish and many others. Milner’s personal investments also include a stake in 23andMe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Milner

In July 2012, Yuri and Julia Milner established the Breakthrough Prize, joined the following year by fellow-founders Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan, Anne Wojcicki and Mark Zuckerberg.

its almost as if, once he got out of wharton as a exchange student, he makes all the right moves and knows the stock and so on… too bad state agencies arent supposed to help or else he may do even better, no?

look how many awards to build him up in such a short time, so he gets to buy a 100 million compound..

“The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” — Fortune, March 2017.
“The Midas List 2017” — Forbes, April 2017.
“The Wired 100 – 2016” — Wired, August 2016.
“The 100 Richest Tech Billionaires In The World In 2016 — Forbes, August 2016.
“Time 100 Most Influential People 2016” — Time, April 2016.
“The Midas List 2016” — Forbes, April 2016.
“The Midas China List 2016” — Forbes, April 2016.
“New Establishment List 2015” — Vanity Fair, September 2015.
“Wired 100” — Wired, August 2015.
“The Midas List 2014-” Forbes, April 2015.
“New Establishment List 2014” — Vanity Fair, September 2014.
“The Midas List 2013” — Forbes, May 2013.
“Power Map: 500 most powerful people on the planet” — Foreign Policy, May 2013.
“Most Influential 50” — Bloomberg Markets, September 2012.
“The Silicon Valley 100” — Business Insider, February 2012.
“Top 50 Digital Power Players” — The Hollywood Reporter, January 2012.
“Businessperson of the Year — Top 50” — Fortune, November 2011.
“Man of the Year” — GQ (Russian), October 2011.
“Vanity Fair’s New Establishment List 2011” — Vanity Fair, September 2011.
“Kommersant of the Year” — Kommersant, June 2011.
“The 100 Most Creative People” — Fast Company, May 2011.
“The Midas List of Tech’s Top Investors” – Forbes, April 2011.
“World’s Billionaires” — Forbes, March 2011.
“Owners of Virtual Reality List” — Forbes (Russian), February 2011.
“Businessman of the Year” — Vedomosti, December 2010.
“The Smartest People in Tech” — Fortune, July 2010.

and to BigMaq

First, Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats but only after the election.

Second, Obama told Putin to “Cut it out!”. Well, he says he did.

That’s some tough stuff. And it only came long after he learned of Russian meddling in 2015.

And let’s remember that Hillary and Bill Clinton were colluding with Russia to repeal the Magnitsky Act in return for cash. And let’s also remember that democrat donors were colluding with the Russians to fabricate a phony dossier on Trump:

What is the company hiding? Fusion GPS describes itself as a “research and strategic intelligence firm” founded by “three former Wall Street Journal investigative reporters.” But congressional sources say it’s actually an opposition-research group for Democrats, and the founders, who are more political activists than journalists, have a pro-Hillary Clinton, anti-Trump agenda.

“These weren’t mercenaries or hired guns,” a congressional source familiar with the dossier probe said. “These guys had a vested personal and ideological interest in smearing Trump and boosting Hillary’s chances of winning the White House.”

Fusion GPS was on the payroll of an unidentified Democratic ally of Clinton when it hired a long-retired British spy to dig up dirt on Trump. In 2012, Democrats hired Fusion GPS to uncover dirt on GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. And in 2015, Democratic ally Planned Parenthood retained Fusion GPS to investigate pro-life activists protesting the abortion group.
[edited for length by n-n]

Did you laugh Romney off, along with obama in their 2012 debate, where he mentioned russia as one of our greatest foes?
.

I’m all for a debate about how much the US should be involved in international affairs, but you go much too far in excusing an authoritarian regime, as this was part and parcel of their greater systematic conflict with us, not just one isolated part.
.

The msm have been dishonestly framing it as “hacking the election”. True, and deserves much criticism, but that is a different issue.

Assuming you can get the darn thing open and if the battery is less than 5 yrs old, you might find success by merely rotating the battery a quarter turn. Also, don’t pinch the fob too hard in normal use.

I bought a new car recently, a modestly priced one, and you just leave the fob in your pocket; all the time. That takes some getting used to, for an old guy. Now I wonder how long my battery will last since the fob is in constant radio contact with the car.

What is unforgivable is that the Media and the Democrats, supposedly sophisticated people who know how it works, use this in just the way that Putin desires. Knowing that it is phony, they still scream the lies from the minarets, like the evening calls to prayer that Barack Hussein Obama so admired, in an effort to cast doubts on our political process–because they lost.

Epstein published that July 31, concluding that russia just wants to destroy our confidence in democracy, no matter who the winner was.

Had that conclusion long ago, and is why it seemed/seems particularly strange our POTUS seems much too lenient and forgiving (if even recognizing the issue).

My older car needed new tires. I took it to the place my ‘motorhead’ buddy suggested. He is REALLY into cars. I talked with the salesperson. I told him I needed to buy a new set of tires and he asked the usual sort of questions.

Then he asked to look at the car. He walked around with a flashlight and magnifying glass. After a few minutes he turned to me and said ‘I won’t sell you a new set of tires. The car doesn’t need them.’

Of course I was amazed. I asked ‘Really? If your wife was driving this car and carrying your kids to school is that what you would tell her?’

He chuckled and said ‘yes’.

Needless to say that is the only tire dealership I’ve been to since. I buy whatever they recommend. Or not buy if they say to just rotate them.

Everyone I’ve told that story to had gone there and received the same great service.

Some guys are great professionals even in the most mundane of fields.