[Few minor updates & format corrections, since WordPress changed their writing software & I’m still on a learning curve]
Nothing makes the Season brighter than the fact that Mueller now has Twitler in his legal crosshairs and the walls are closing in … provided that Twitler doesn’t go totally bonkers and kills us all.
But Twitler has provided another neologism classic with his “SmockingGun” Tweet – which he misspelled not once, but TWICE.
“Democrats can’t find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony. No Smocking Gun…No Collusion.” @FoxNews That’s because there was NO COLLUSION. So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,…
No matter how many crimes and misdeeds Mueller uncovers, we are forced to agree on one issue …
Also in an effort to help Twitler out with something totally foreign to him – The Truth – Mueller’s team has extended their superb redacting skills to his Tweets – and the results have been refreshing:
But sadly, their efforts came too late. The “Washington Post” Fact Checking editors were forced to create a brand-new category to accommodate Twitler’s endless whoppers since their previous max of four was NOT enough. Meet the “Bottomless Pinocchio”
And his search for a new Chief of Staff goes on with no success. (Which is no surprise – who would want to work for an impending felon?)
Let’s close out the week with a heartfelt “THANK YOU!” to Sen. Schumer and Rep. Pelosi for showing the world on real-time TV what a totally incompetent ASS Twitler is. Here they are triumphantly leaving the White House after destroying him …
So we are on the downside of the week whoosing into the weekend with less than 2 weeks until Christmas. The days will undoubtedly pass quickly for the next few weeks. When my Winnie was diagnosed with diabetes last September, his hind legs were affected making walking difficult — he was walking on his hocks, rather than his toes like a healthy cat. I am please to say that he is back to walking on his toes more often. He will back at the vet’s this afternoon for followup blood work. That won’t be an easy trip as it is pouring cats and dogs and he does not like “dogs”. I hope everyone is having a great day!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 6:03(average 6:19). To do it, click here. How did you do?
TC’s took me 4:45 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?
As committee Republicans fixated on Hillary Clinton’s emails, the Steele Dossier and text messages between two FBI agents accused of expressing bias against Donald Trump, Comey turned the proceeding into a defense of the special counsel’s investigation and the integrity of the Department of Justice. No wonder President Trump launched into yet another Twitter tirade on Sunday morning, labeling Comey’s testimony “so untruthful!” while complaining that this “whole deal is a Rigged Fraud headed up by dishonest people who would do anything so that I could not become President. They are now exposed!”
Leakin’ James Comey must have set a record for who lied the most to Congress in one day. His Friday testimony was so untruthful! This whole deal is a Rigged Fraud headed up by dishonest people who would do anything so that I could not become President. They are now exposed!
With all of the news happening this past week, reviewing a 235-page transcript was probably not at the top of a lot of people’s to-do lists. With that in mind, here are 10 takeaways that are worth a second look.
7. As has been the case for two years, Republicans on the Oversight and Judiciary Committee used their time with Comey to try and undermine the Russia probe. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., incoming oversight chairman, gave Comey a chance to define the threat posed by Russia. “The aim of the Russian effort in 2016 was to destabilize, undermine, damage our democracy,” Comey told the committees. “That was their overwhelming goal. And so you have a foreign nation that is attacking the United States of America in an effort to undermine that which is essentially us, our democratic process. So that’s a very serious threat. And understanding whether any Americans were part of that effort is incredibly important because the threat of those Americans by virtue of their alliance with the Russians would pose to our country.”
8. Cummings followed up by asking what would happen if the special counsel’s investigation was impeded or ended prematurely. “Well, in my opinion, it would undermine our national security by not holding accountable people who might have been involved in either the Russians or people who worked with them, first,” Comey responded. “And second, it would send an absolutely appalling message about the rule of law in this country of ours. … The Russians’ goal was for everyone in the world to have doubt about the nature and credibility of the American democracy, to dirty it up so it’s not a shining city on the hill. So their attack had implications for that, the role of the American democratic experiment. And if someone were to order it stopped, the investigation into that, it would have a similar effect.”
These are but 2 of the revelations from James Comey’s interview with the House Oversight and Judiciary committees behind closed doors on 07 December 2018. Click through for the others. If you want to peruse the transcript you can HERE.
The Globe and Mail — The context of the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou – a dangerous move by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in its intensifying conflict with China – matters enormously. The United States requested that Canada arrest Ms. Meng in the Vancouver airport en routeto Mexico from Hong Kong, and then extradite her to the United States. Such a move is almost a U.S. declaration of war on China’s business community. Nearly unprecedented, it puts American business people travelling abroad at much greater risk of such actions by other countries. …
Quite transparently, the U.S. action against Ms. Meng really seems to be part of the Trump administration’s broader attempt to undermine China’s economy by imposing tariffs, closing Western markets to Chinese high-technology exports and blocking Chinese purchases of U.S. and European technology companies. One can say, without exaggeration, that this is part of an economic war on China – and a reckless one at that.
Huawei is one of China’s most important technology companies and therefore a prime target in the Trump administration’s effort to slow or stop China’s advance into several high-technology sectors. America’s motivations in this economic war are partly commercial – to protect and favour laggard U.S. companies – and partly geopolitical. They certainly have nothing to do with upholding the international rule of law.
The U.S. appears to be trying to target Huawei especially because of the company’s success in marketing cutting-edge 5G technologies globally. The U.S. claims the company poses a specific security risk through hidden surveillance capabilities in its hardware and software. Yet the U.S. government has provided no evidence for this claim. …
…UN Security Council Resolution 2231 calls on all countries to drop sanctions on Iran as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. Yet the United States. – and only the United States – now rejects the Security Council’s role in such matters. The Trump administration, not Huawei or China, is today’s greatest threat to the international rule of law, and therefore to global peace. [emphasis mine]
Click through for further details. I don’t know how much coverage this is getting in the US, but in Canada it is getting a lot of coverage. I have a great deal of disdain for the pernicious ham handed Trump who has no regard for the rule of law except for how to break it when he said
“If I think it’s good for the country, if I think it’s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made – which is a very important thing – what’s good for national security – I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary,” …
For Trump, his foreign relations is all transactional — what do I get out of this through what does the country get out of it. He wants the title of the great deal maker at somebody else’s expense, in this case Canada and two of her citizens.
I want to say to him, “Stay the hell out of Canadian affairs!”
YouTube — This is Part 3 of an ABC (Australian Broadcast Company) programme examining the Trump Russia relationship. Some of this is ‘old hat’ while other parts may be new information. Sarah Ferguson, the interviewer, talks with various people involved with Trump.
Hopefully you have had a chance to watch the previous two videos. Did you learn more about Trump’s shenanigans? Between these videos and reading “The Making of Donald Trump” by David Cay Johnston, Trump is a con man, fraudster, and definitely not deserving of holding the highest elected office in the land, let alone being competent to do the job. He is in it for the money opportunities even though they are not allowed and for the personal recognition/glory.
TomCat dropped by the site yesterday around noon to say that his move was a nightmare and he would likely be scarce for a few more days. Hopefully, he’ll remember to take it easy and preserve his sanity. Today is physio and teaching so my time is very tight. Hopefully I’ll have an OT for Thursday. Well all, have a great day!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 6:03 (average 7:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?
TC’s took me 5:11 (average 7:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes
Sojourners — Every year from Dec. 16 to 24, Las Posadas begin in many Latin American countries and immigrant communities in the U.S. Roughly translated, posadas means “inn” or “shelter.” Las Posadas recalls the events in Luke’s Gospel leading up to Jesus’ birth. It’s a Catholic Christian observance with a sung liturgy that’s performed on the streets rather than in church.
A posada begins with a street procession that reenacts Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter at an inn. Those playing the protagonists of the story, Mary and Joseph, are dressed in costume and carry candles as they follow along a prescribed route, knocking on doors. At each door they ask, through special posada songs, for room at the inn. In rural areas, Mary may even ride on a donkey.
The verses of the song are sung alternately by those outside and those inside the home. This creates a sung dialogue between Joseph and an innkeeper.
Joseph:
En el nombre del cielo In the name of heaven
os pido posada, I ask you for shelter,
pues no puede andar for my beloved wife
mi esposa amada. can go no farther.
Innkeeper:
Aquí no es mesón This is not an inn
sigan adelante, Get on with you,
yo no puedo abrir, I cannot open the door,
no sea algún tunante. you might be a rogue.
Many people from the community follow behind, singing along with them. The neighbors participating in the posada open their doors, and each one purposefully sings their refusal to Mary and Joseph. Only at the very end of the route is there a designated household that finally allows Mary and Joseph to come in. There, too, is a party with Bible readings, food, and piñatas for the children. Now that the holy family has found their welcome, it is time to celebrate. …
It is also one that ministers and immigration advocates have begun to use to represent the lack of hospitality at the U.S.–Mexico border. Their version is called La Posada Sin Fronteras: Shelter without Borders.
La Posada Sin Fronteras uses the exact same songs as the traditional Posada liturgy. But rather than walking through a neighborhood and knocking on doors, immigration advocates, faith leaders, immigrants, and other supporters gather on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border. There they are watched carefully by the Border Patrol as they begin their reenactment of the journey of Mary and Joseph. The group on the Mexican side represents Mary and Joseph asking for shelter, while those on the U.S. side play the innkeeper, who repeatedly rejects their request for shelter. It’s a reenactment that “contextualizes the bitter drama” of displaced immigrants, writes Ched Myers in Our God Is Undocumented. And it brings participants inside the sacred story of God struggling to enter an inhospitable world.
Click through for the remainder of this fine article. Now I know that not everybody is Christian, but one does not need to be Christian to be filled with love and compassion at this time of year, indeed at any time. In the context of the Trump Republican régime, I think everyone can relate to this story, or should be able to relate in some fashion, even if they have not experienced such treatment first hand themselves. I know my Muslim friends can. Men, women and babes in arms are gassed by US Border Patrol agents lobbing teargas canisters across the border. When will the US live up to its words at the Statue of Liberty — The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus?
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Daily Kos — Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer went to the Oval Office Tuesday to serve notice to Donald Trump that the days of doing and saying whatever he damn well pleases with zero facts to back it up are done. Trump’s factless antics had worked fine with a complicit Republican party that did everything possible to keep their Dear Leader pampered and happy, but the pamper party is over.
The two Democrats went to the White House to “negotiate in good faith,” as Pelosi put it, over funding to keep the government open. Trump wants $5 billion for the border wall he originally pledged Mexico would pay for but is now demanding the American taxpayers fund. But pouring that much money into a border wall is a nonstarter for congressional Democrats, who will happily put more money into border security, but not a wall that experts say will accomplish very little, if anything.
Pelosi clearly went into the meeting hoping for decorum and, perhaps, even some progress in the negotiations. Schumer wanted to make it clear that Democrats hoped to avoid a shutdown, but not if the price tag was $5 billion for a wall. Trump planned to ambush them with all kinds of fantastically false statistics written on flash cards about how the border wall would solve nearly all of the nation’s immigration problems (the fact checks will be fun). That’s where the fun began. …
Trump continued, “You know what I’ll say: Yes, if we don’t get what we want, one way or the other—whether it’s through you, through military, through anything you want to call—I will shut down the government, absolutely.” Trump then added, puffing out his chest a little further, “And I’ll tell you what, I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. […] I will take the mantle, I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it. […] and I’m going to shut it down for border security. Okay.”
OMG!!! This would be hysterically funny if it were not so sad. Trump is an absolute idiot and worse than a petulant toddler in the midst of a tantrum! Trump: “Yes, if we don’t get what we want, … I will shut down the government, absolutely.” Remember those words because you are going to hear “I never said that.” And if the shut down happens, you know Trump will blame it on the Democrats as sure as it snows in January in Colorado. He had his ass whopped by the Dynamic Duo, “Chuck and Nancy”! Can the US population put up with this jackass for another 2 years!
YouTube — This is Part 2 of an ABC (Australian Broadcast Company) programme examining the Trump Russia relationship. Some of this is ‘old hat’ while other parts may be new information. Sarah Ferguson, the interviewer, talks with various people involved with Trump. Tomorrow Part 3.
It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old broad is snoring! Y-a-w-n! I just woke up, fed the kids and now it is time to eat some breakfast myself as I work on tomorrow’s OT. I won’t be posting it until mid afternoon between physio and teaching. Tomorrow is bound to be noisy as the landscapers will be here with their damn leaf blowers, the garbage collection is tomorrow, and the city recycling pick up is tomorrow. My unit is right by the garbage and recycling shed so it gets loud. Even the kids dive under the bed because of all the noise. Perhaps we’ll hear from TomCat sometime today.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:46 (average 8:06). To do it, click here. How did you do? This one is for Lona!
TC’s took me 5:39 (12:14 average ). To do it, click here. How did you do! We have done this one before and it is not as hard as the average time might seem to indicate.
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin said she doesn’t believe Trump can pardon himself, and if he tried he could face prosecution after leaving office in connection with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Rather than take a chance, he could make a last-minute move to protect himself if he is replaced by a Democrat after the next election.
“I would predict here on MSNBC that when Trump leaves office he will resign the presidency 10 minutes before Mike Pence leaves office, allowing Pence to pardon him if there is not a Republican president to follow him,” Rubin said on “AM Joy” on Sunday.
Please click through to view a 10 minute video of AM Joy with Jonathan Capeheart as he and his panel explore this question. (unfortunately I could not imbed) If impeachment is the Democrat strategy, this is one more reason why Pence must be impeached at the same time.
Vox — Americans are more civically engaged than they have been in more than 100 years.
The two years between President Donald Trump’s win in 2016 and the 2018 midterms ushered in a new era of political engagement in America, not seen since the early 1900s and the 1960s civil rights and anti-war movements.
That culminated in November’s midterm elections. While House Democrats picked up 40 seats in a wave election (they didn’t fare nearly as well in the Senate), an important number to focus on is the sheer number of people who voted in 2018, compared to past midterms.
50.1 percent of the voting-eligible population in the US turned out to cast their ballots in this year’s midterms, according to the United States Elections Project, a database about the United States electoral system run by University of Florida political science professor Michael McDonald. In raw numbers, that means 118,044,470 votes were cast. …
Voter turnout numbers are the easiest way to measure just how politically engaged Americans were in 2018. But all of the work that went into the final result is political engagement — political organizing, phone banking, canvassing, protesting, contacting elected officials, or donating money to a campaign.
Pew found that 67 percent of the people surveyed said they engaged with politics in at least one of these ways since 2013. And 46 percent reported political engagement in some form during the past year.
Click through for the rest of this interesting article. 2018 had the highest turnout rate in 100 years! What will the Congress look like if the turnout in 2020 is at 70% or higher? And how do we raise participation rates? One way of which I have heard is making voting day a national holiday. Our very own Freya was heavily involved in Georgia for the 2018 mid terms. She posted the following petition:
I am Canadian so I cannot vote in the US but I try to do my part here at PP. In Canada, there are early voting opportunities and each voter must be accorded 4 consecutive hours to vote by their employer. As a manager, I sent my staff home 4 hours prior to the polls closing.
YouTube — This is Part 1 of an ABC (Australian Broadcast Company) programme examining the Trump Russia relationship published in . Some of this is ‘old hat’ while other parts may be new information. Sarah Ferguson, the interviewer, talks with various people involved with Trump. Tomorrow Part 2.
A SOFT, A HARD OR NO BREXIT? THAT IS THE QUESTION, AGAIN.
Today, Tuesday 11/12/2018, should have been the day British Prime Minister Theresa May would have put the Brexit deal, which she has been negotiating for two years with the EU in Brussels, to the vote of the MP’s in parliament. However, at the last moment, the British government decided yesterday to postpone the House of Commons vote indefinitely. Mrs May had come to the same conclusion as everyone else: the current agreement would receive insufficient support in parliament. Dozens of Conservative MPs had been planning to join forces with Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and the DUP to vote down Mrs May’s deal. Especially the status of Northern Ireland and border with Ireland is a problem.
Mrs May announced that she still intended to put her deal to MPs, but she would first ask the EU for more “reassurances”. To get these “reassurances” she has started her round of talks with European leaders this morning at the Catshuis in The Hague, where she’s met with Dutch PM Rutte. The relations between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are very good despite the Brexit plans. Within the EU, the two countries often draw together.
After that, Mrs May is to meet with German PM Angela Merkel. It is unclear if Mrs May will meet with other European leaders in the coming days. Several of them have already said that there is little more to negotiate and EU-president, Donald Tusk has confirmed this on Twitter:
Tusk’s statement means that no letter will change to the agreement made between the British government and the EU last month. However, a passage may be added in the accompanying political statement to clarify certain points in the agreement.
At this point in time, the Irish border backstop proposal seems to be the largest bone of contention. It concerns the border between Northern Ireland, which will leave the EU as a part of Great Britain, and the Republic of Ireland, which will of course remain. After Brexit, it will become the only land border between the UK and the European Union. (Although Spain-Gibraltar is also a topic still under discussion)
The backstop proposal is intended to be a safety net, a way of avoiding (the return of) a hard border in Northern Ireland, if appropriate customs arrangements cannot be agreed by the EU and UK in time for the end of the transition period in December 2020. The EU believes the backstop should mean Northern Ireland to stay in the single market for goods and the customs union until the UK comes up with solution to the border issue. Mrs May wants a backstop that would see the whole of the UK staying in the customs union for a limited time after the transition period, something the EU has said is unacceptable.
Adding to the problem, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said it was not possible to renegotiate the Irish border backstop proposal without “opening up all aspects” of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. The British Tory rebels and the DUP do not like the Northern Ireland “backstop”, because it is a legally-binding proposal for a customs arrangement with the EU, which would come into force indefinitely if the two sides cannot agree a future relationship which avoids the return of customs checkpoints on the Irish border.
But to be frank, the backstop is only one problem the British can’t agree on; it is impossible to negotiate a deal with Brussels that will please everyone. So, for now there is a array of possible outcomes, ranging from a disorderly Brexit with no deal to another referendum on EU membership. Staying in the EU has now become an option again as the European Court of Justice ruled the UK can cancel Brexit if it wants
The question is of course if Mrs May will be the one to initiate the next step. Leading Conservative Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Moggis is trying to get enough Tory MPs to submit letters of no confidence in the PM to trigger a leadership contest. Crispin Blunt became the 26th MP to do so on Monday, but as 48 Conservative lawmakers must submit letters for any challenge to be initiated, it’ll take a while before they make the numbers, to the dismay of Boris Johnson who has been looking to fill Mrs May’s quirky shoes for a long time. Boris Johnson stated in interviews that he could make a much better deal, without a backstop, than Theresa May, but later on that the UK should withhold payments to Brussels and prepare to leave the EU without a deal Which led the former foreign secretary, Sir Alan Duncan to note that Mr Johnson was the “last person on Earth who would make any progress in negotiating with the EU at the moment.” Let’s hope that most Tories see the value of that remark and that Mrs May is safe for now, unless the Labour Party tables a vote of no confidence in the PM.
The fact that US President Trump is also stirring the pot, pushing for a hard Brexit with no deals, by taking back his promises of “great trade negotiations with Britain” because Mrs May’s deals are too soft to his liking, doesn’t give either Britons or Europeans much confidence in a good outcome either.
I was quite wrong. Theresa May wasn’t safe for long at all; in fact her leadership was challenged the next day. However The PM won the ballot on her leadership by 200 votes to 117 on Wednesday night. (GMT). She’s now heading to Brussels for an EU summit, less than 24 hours after surviving that vote of confidence. Again Mrs May is seeking legally binding pledges from EU leaders on the Irish backstop. It is understood the EU will not renegotiate the deal but may be willing to give greater assurances on the temporary nature of the backstop.
It is mid afternoon and as TC would say, OGIM!!! It has finally “stopped” raining but it is due to start up again tonight and last all week. For me, this is a busy week with getting the blog out as best as possible, physio, teaching, a visit to the vet’s for my Winnie for more blood tests, a hair cut (she’ll have to use a weed wacker as it looks and feels particularly long and bushy!) and assorted other smaller things. So, if I miss one day, I hope you’ll forgive me. With any luck, perhaps TC will back online this week. It must be terribly frustrating for him to hear news but not be able to publish and opinionate because he lacks the internet connection. Well, have a good week all!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 5:02 (average 5:38). To do it, click here. How did you do?
TC’s took me 4:31 (average 5:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes
AlterNet — So, now that we know that Donald Trump and Mike Pence reached the White House through at least two specific and separate criminal conspiracies, what do we do about it?
Can they be removed from office? Can the election be done over? Can the Trump/Pence administration’s actions over the past two years be reversed, particularly the appointments of Gorsuch and Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and all the damage to our federal agencies? …
But there is a constitutional route that can be taken by Congress, via impeachment.
In January, Nancy Pelosi will become the Speaker of the House. As such, should the nation lose its president and vice-president to impeachment, we’d have President Pelosi. It wouldn’t reverse the damage the GOP and Trump/Pence have done, but it would be a start.
The key is to illuminate Mike Pence’s role in Trump’s frauds, so both men succumb to impeachment in the House, and conviction and removal from office by the Senate.
Hmmm . . . President Pelosi! How does that strike you? I would love to see it if only to put this Trump/Pence nightmare to rest, or at least partially to rest. I say partially because as long as there is no prison time nor public accounting for Trump’s crimes, the nation will not rest. But there is one thing that the author did not account for — agreement by the Republican lead Senate. Right now, I do not see that happening because they are more worried about remaining in power than in doing right by the country.
New Yorker — Pushing back against criticism of her lack of diplomatic experience, Donald J. Trump’s choice to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Heather Nauert, said on Friday that a memorable visit to the “It’s a Small World” ride at Disney World made her eminently qualified for the U.N. post.
“When people look at me, they think Heather Nauert, former Fox News anchor,” Nauert told reporters at the State Department. “What they don’t realize is I’m also Heather Nauert, who went on ‘It’s a Small World’ three times when she was nine.”
Nauert said that, while career diplomats might spend twenty to thirty years learning about only one country, “I learned about twenty-five countries in fifteen minutes.”
Laying out her objectives for her tenure at the United Nations, the prospective Ambassador said, “Right now I’m just looking forward to seeing all of the other Ambassadors wearing their festive costumes and doing their dances. That’s going to be amazing, I think.”
Sounds like Andy is doing straight news again. I wish I could say otherwise, but she seems to be on par with the rest of Trump’s hires.
Artist Andy Thomas’ piece, titled “The Republican Club,” depicted Trump shooting the breeze with other GOP presidents. …
New York artist Michael D’Antuono, 62, has reimagined the work in accordance with how he believes the scene would really play out … titled “Party Pooper,” …
I find this painting so relatable, so spot on! . . . and look at those little hands! However, if I have trod on a copyright, I apologise and will remove it. The painting is in the article.
It is late Sunday afternoon and I am trying to get this out so I can start on Monday’s OT. It has been raining very hard all day but the previously predicted sleet/snow did not materialise. We have not yet heard from TC so I don’t think he has his internet up and working yet. My pot luck supper at my church went well and everyone, so I was told, was satiated by all the good food. I took a blueberry pie which was very well received. Personally, I had fresh fruit for dessert. I hope your weekend is going well.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:53 (average 6:44). To do it, click here. How did you do?
TC’s took me 4:26 (average 6:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes
Politico — The Senate is on the verge of an extraordinary rebuke of Donald Trump’s foreign policy, underscoring a bipartisan willingness to encroach on the president’s powers as commander in chief.
From forcing Trump to impose sanctions on Russia to raising questions about his nuclear trigger finger, lawmakers are repeatedly asserting themselves in an area long dominated by the executive branch.
And now the fury is so great on Capitol Hill over the Saudi murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi — and the Trump administration’s tepid response — that senators are deliberating over whether to pull U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. …
.
Trump has “forced members of the Senate to clarify that many of us continue to believe that we are a country that is safe and secure and prosperous when we put our values first and our interests second, not the other way around,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. …
.
Trump’s disdain for multilateralism, insults to U.S. allies and transactional approach to dealings with other countries have long alarmed top Republicans and Democrats alike. Trump’s attempts to gain favor with Russian President Vladimir Putin also upset many in both parties. …
The congressional reprimands of Trump also have taken other, often symbolic forms.
One example came when the GOP chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker of Tennessee, convened a hearing to examine the president’s authority to use nuclear weapons.
The hearing indicated that lawmakers did not trust Trump’s judgment, especially as he was exchanging heated rhetoric at the time with the nuclear-armed leader of North Korea. …
Senate Republicans, including Corker and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), pushed legislation earlier this year that would give Congress the authority to sign off on tariffs linked to national security, in a sign of their unease with Trump’s protectionist tendencies.
Click through for the rest of the details. I for one am very glad to see that the Senate is moving to contain this infantile resident of the WH. While members of the Senate agree “that we are a country that is safe and secure and prosperous when we put our values first and our interests second”, Trump does not. The Liar-in-Chief has no redeemable positive values or qualities. He is driven by money and his personal image. If you want to get a picture of some of that, read David Cay Johnston’s book “The Making of Donald Trump”. When I read about 4 chapters at lunch (they are short), Johnston filled in detail about things I already knew about.
Huffington Post — After a decisive vote the last week, the Senate is readying for debate on a bipartisan bill cutting off U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s horrific war in Yemen. Thus begins the fight to eviscerate President Donald Trump’s corrupt bargain with the vicious and volatile Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
“The world is a very dangerous place!” Trump proclaimed, before proceeding to lie about the CIA’s findings that MBS directed the murder; obfuscate the compelling evidence marshaled to support the findings; spout Saudi slanders against Khashoggi; grossly inflate the worth of a phantom Saudi arms purchase; falsely claim that the Saudis could easily arm their Air Force elsewhere; and concoct a counterfactual dependence on Saudi oil.
Effectively, Trump licensed the murder of journalists and human rights advocates while further subcontracting U.S. policy in a combustible region to an unstable autocrat devoid of psychological or external constraints. The danger of this devil’s pact is enhanced by MBS’s apparent ability to mesmerize Trump, who personalizes foreign policy and gorges on flattery, and the president’s equally incompetent, unqualified and ethically challenged son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Both compound their infinite geopolitical ignorance by conflating governance with venality, making them ripe for a ruthless autocrat whose country is awash in cash.
Click through to get a picture of just how compromised Trump is when it comes to the Middle East. One could say that Saudi Arabia and Russia are playing him like a violin. When Trump says “I have no financial interest in Saudi Arabia”, he is being deceptive. He may not have properties there, but the Saudi’s pump money into his other properties/businesses. His son-in-law, Kushner who is a senior and trusted adviser, is also compromised by the Saudi’s. Their venality has made them very gullible and exposes them to so much corruption, yet Trump thinks he is in control. This is only part of US foreign policy, but it demonstrates why the Congress, on a bipartisan basis, is willing to “encroach on the president’s powers as commander in chief” as noted in the previous article.
New Yorker — The outgoing chief of staff, John Kelly, departed the White House with the nation’s nuclear codes hidden in his pants, General Kelly has confirmed.
Kelly, whose illustrious military career spanned five decades, called his absconding with the nuclear codes “my greatest act of service to my country.”
Speaking to reporters from his home, Kelly said that he had planned the heist of the nation’s nuclear codes with the pinpoint timing of a clandestine military mission.
“I went into the Oval Office on Friday when I knew Trump would be distracted because ‘Fox & Friends’ was on,” he said. “Then, when he started tweeting something that one of the hosts told him to do, I slipped the codes into my pants, as quick as lightning.”
Now, when Trump realises that they are gone, if he realises, he’s not going to look there. Wrong gender!
I was cruising through YouTube trying to find a particular video when I came across this one. The title intrigued me so I listened in. It is a discussion about Trump which took place at Emmanuel Centre, London UK before a live audience who were given the opportunity to ask questions near the end. The panelists are American with the exception of the moderator. I enjoyed it . . . hearing their thoughts, all from different perspectives, so I thought you might too. Forgive me if it does not interest you. I am a bit of a political junkie, not that I would ever go into politics myself. It is about 1 hour 20 minutes in length.
YouTube — America has never seen anything like this. Time and again, Donald Trump has attacked the very fabric of US democracy. He has called the press ‘the enemy of the American people’. He says that claims that Russia interfered in the US election are a hoax. And that the FBI – currently investigating his campaign – should be personally loyal to the president. And it’s not just political institutions Trump is damaging, his opponents say: in America he has stoked racial tension, coddled Wall Street and given succour to the gun lobby. On the world stage, he’s alienated key allies, slapped $50 billion in tariffs on China that may spark off a trade war, and appointed the hawkish John Bolton, who has advocated regime change in Iran and North Korea, as national security adviser. If Trump is a new kind of threat, the big question is whether the damage he is doing to America will be permanent. Will the country that survived two world wars, the Cold War and the attacks of 9/11 really be put off its stride by a reality show host who could be gone in less than three years’ time? Or is Trump dismantling the robust system that has kept America united and irreparably damaging its standing as the most powerful nation on earth? But perhaps this is all liberal hand-wringing. Could Trump, in fact, be that rarest of things – a politician who delivers on his promises – and prove to be the reformer the American electorate voted for? To examine the political health and standing of the United States at this crucial moment, Intelligence Squared brought together Ronan Farrow, former US government adviser and journalist, who has just been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for breaking the Harvey Weinstein scandal; Mark Lilla, the American political scientist who hit the headlines last year with an article arguing that it is the left’s preoccupation with identity politics that opened the door to Trump’s victory; Lionel Shriver, award-winning novelist and commentator; and Brian Klaas, an expert on authoritarianism who claims that with every autocratic tweet Trump is edging America away from its democratic norms.
Published on Sep 20, 2018 Recorded at Emmanuel Centre, London UK in May 2018
While I don’t know all the panelists, earlier this year, I did read “The War on Peace” by Ronan Farrow which is excellent. Coming away from this discussion, I am determined to read Brian Klaas’ books later this year or early next year. While both of these two men mention their books, their purpose is not to flog the books.
A SOFT, A HARD OR NO BREXIT? THAT IS THE QUESTION, AGAIN.
