Yesterday, I slept in about an hour – again. I’ve been having a glitch or two getting to sleep, so that when the alarm goes, I’m not ready to get up. I do realize this is a self-sustaining thing … but it has happened before and usually resolve within a week. I refuse to fret about it – I only mention it in case anyone has noticed I’m running a little late on comment replies. It’s not to worry.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Just Security – Trump Associate’s Stated Plan to Publicly Release “Declassified” Documents
Quote – As this article was going to press, ABC News published a report that weeks before the Mar-a-Lago search, former President Donald Trump’s associate Kash Patel “vowed to retrieve classified documents from the National Archives and publish them on his website.” If that scheme involved Trump himself and the Mar-a-Lago documents, it could have significant legal implications for the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal investigation. Any plan to release the documents could potentially trigger specific elements of the Espionage Act and other criminal statutes designed with the core purpose of preventing unlawful dissemination of classified and other sensitive government documents. As I discuss below, credible evidence of such a plan also would likely factor into the Justice Department’s decision on whether to bring criminal charges.
Click through for details. “Just Security” you might say is a specialty news website. I’m linking to their mission statement. (I also bookmarked then, since they don’t call attention to themselves – they just quietly analyze.
Letters from an American – August 20,2022
Quote – When former president Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he left the participants to continue without the U.S., which they did as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). He also left open the way for a free trade deal in the region dominated by China, called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or RCEP, which went into effect on January 1, 2022. This left the Biden administration with two politically poor choices: try to reestablish U.S. participation in the region through the CPTPP, which would have been hotly contested at home and thus unlikely to get through Congress, or let China dominate the region, with damaging long-term effects. So the administration found a third way.
Click through for background. This is kind of a compliation of who has visited Taiwan from the United States recently, and when, and under what circumstances (not what you probably think from the press coverage.) Also, other recent history, including Trump**’s destructive actions (in my quote).
Food For Thought
