{"id":34688,"date":"2018-12-13T12:49:01","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T20:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=34688"},"modified":"2018-12-13T13:19:01","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T21:19:01","slug":"squatchs-open-thread-13-december-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/12\/13\/squatchs-open-thread-13-december-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatch’s Open Thread 13 December 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

So we are on the downside of the week whoosing into the weekend with less than 2 weeks until Christmas.\u00a0 The days will undoubtedly pass quickly for the next few weeks.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I am please to say that he is back to walking on his toes more often.\u00a0 He will back at the vet’s this afternoon for followup blood work.\u00a0 That won’t be an easy trip as it is pouring cats and dogs and he does not like “dogs”.\u00a0 I hope everyone is having a great day!<\/span><\/p>\n

Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s took me 6:03(average 6:19). To do it, click here<\/a>.<\/strong> How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\n

TC\u2019s took me 4:45 (average 5:48). To do it, click here<\/a>.<\/strong> How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

AlterNet<\/strong><\/span><\/a> — For over six hours on Friday, former FBI Director James Comey participated in a\u00a0voluntary, transcribed interview with the House Oversight and Judiciary committees<\/a>. Republicans are enjoying the last few weeks of their House majority, and seem determined to use every ounce of power they have left\u00a0before it goes away in January<\/a>. But if their goal was to use Friday\u2019s testimony to undermine Robert Mueller\u2019s probe, they surely left Capitol Hill disappointed.<\/p>\n

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As committee Republicans fixated on Hillary Clinton\u2019s emails, the Steele Dossier and text messages between\u00a0two FBI agents accused of expressing bias<\/a>\u00a0against Donald Trump, Comey turned the proceeding into a defense of the special counsel\u2019s investigation and the integrity of the Department of Justice. No wonder President Trump launched into yet another\u00a0Twitter tirade on Sunday morning<\/a>, labeling Comey\u2019s testimony \u201cso untruthful!\u201d while complaining that this \u201cwhole 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!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Leakin\u2019 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!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)\u00a0December 9, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

With all of the news happening this past week, reviewing a\u00a0235-page transcript<\/a>\u00a0was probably not at the top of a lot of people\u2019s to-do lists. With that in mind, here are 10 takeaways that are worth a second look.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 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. \u201cThe aim of the Russian effort in 2016 was to destabilize, undermine, damage our democracy,\u201d Comey told the committees. \u201cThat 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Cummings followed up by asking what would happen if the special counsel\u2019s investigation was impeded or ended prematurely. \u201cWell, 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,\u201d Comey responded. \u201cAnd second, it would send an absolutely appalling message about the rule of law in this country of ours. \u2026 The Russians\u2019 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are but 2 of the revelations from James Comey’s interview with t<\/span>he House Oversight and Judiciary committees behind closed doors on 07 December 2018.\u00a0 Click throu<\/span>gh for the others.\u00a0 If you want to peruse the transcript you can HERE<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail<\/span><\/strong><\/a> —\u00a0The context of the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou \u2013 a dangerous move by U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s administration in its intensifying conflict with China \u2013 matters enormously. The United States requested that Canada arrest Ms. Meng in the Vancouver airport en route\u00a0<\/i>to 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\u2019s business community. Nearly unprecedented, it puts American business people travelling abroad at much greater risk of such actions by other countries.\u00a0 …<\/p>\n

Quite transparently, the U.S. action against Ms. Meng really seems to be part of the Trump administration\u2019s broader attempt to undermine China\u2019s 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 \u2013 and a reckless one at that.<\/p>\n

Huawei is one of China\u2019s most important technology companies and therefore a prime target in the Trump administration\u2019s effort to slow or stop China\u2019s advance into several high-technology sectors. America\u2019s motivations in this economic war are partly commercial \u2013 to protect and favour laggard U.S. companies \u2013 and partly geopolitical. They certainly have nothing to do with upholding the international rule of law.<\/p>\n

The U.S. appears to be trying to target Huawei especially because of the company\u2019s 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. …<\/p>\n

…UN Security Council\u00a0Resolution 2231<\/u><\/a>\u00a0calls on all countries to drop sanctions on Iran as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. Yet the United States. \u2013 and only the United States \u2013 now rejects the Security Council\u2019s role in such matters. The Trump administration, not Huawei or China, is today\u2019s greatest threat to the international rule of law, and therefore to global peace.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span>[emphasis mine]<\/p>\n

Click through for further details.\u00a0 I don’t know how much coverage this is getting in the US, but in Canada it is getting a lot of coverage.\u00a0 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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIf I think it\u2019s good for the country, if I think it\u2019s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made \u2013 which is a very important thing \u2013 what\u2019s good for national security \u2013 I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary,\u201d …\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For Trump, his foreign relations is all transactional — what do I get out of this through what does the country get out of it.\u00a0 He wants the title of the great deal maker at somebody else’s expense, in this case Canada and two of her citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

I want to say to him, “Stay the hell out of Canadian affairs!”<\/span><\/p>\n