It sounds like Barr won't be happy with the Durham report either. I expect he and the other sycophants for King Donald will make a lot of noise about any mistakes individual agents made, but their main hope has been dashed. Then again, that should come as no surprise. This was a joke of a conspiracy theory in the first place and no one with a brain should have believed it.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/473107-report-barr-attorney-cant-provide-evidence-trump-was-set-up-by-dojQuote:
The attorney handpicked by Attorney General William Barr to investigate the origins of the probe into the Trump campaign and Russia's election interference has reportedly found no evidence to support claims from conservatives that the case was a setup by U.S. intelligence officials.
Sources told The Washington Post that John Durham, the U.S. attorney chosen by Barr to lead the investigation, told the Justice Department's inspector general (IG), who conducted his own probe, that he has found no evidence to support claims that a Maltese professor who spoke with former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos was secretly a U.S. intelligence asset.
Allies of the president have claimed for months that the professor, Joseph Mifsud, who spoke with Papadopoulos about the possibility of obtaining Hillary Clinton's stolen emails, was actually an asset of U.S. intelligence agencies seeking to set up the Trump campaign on criminal charges....
So Trump was going to get us out of the endless wars in the Middle East? As always, Iran is their perpetual boogeyman. I guess Bolton's departure didn't change that.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/473078-trump-mulls-sending-additional-14000-troops-to-middle-east-reportQuote:
The Trump administration is looking into sending as many as 14,000 more troops, as well as dozens more ships and other equipment, to the Middle East in the face of a growing threat from Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported....
The administration began increasing numbers of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf in May, when Trump said he would deploy roughly 1,500 troops, a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East to counter Iran's influence there.
A month later the Pentagon also announced that it would deploy 1,000 more troops to the same area to address “air, naval, and ground-based threats” in the region. ...
Then in September roughly 200 additional personnel as well as missile defense and radar equipment were sent to Saudi Arabia...
Meanwhile, Republicans have approved another unqualified judge to plague the courts for years to come. This one's a rabid partisan too from the sound of it. Susan Collins (Maine) couldn't stomach her. Unfortunately, all her Republican colleagues were loyal foot-soldiers for the evangelical cause of overturning the federal right to a safe medical abortion. Because, of course, that's all the anti-abortion crusaders can actually do. Their hopes of completely banning abortions are delusional, even in GOP-controlled states: there have always been back-alley abortions. And dead or infertile women as a result of that.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/473098-senate-confirms-trump-pick-labeled-not-qualified-by-american-bar-associationQuote:
Senators voted 49-44 to approve Sarah Pitlyk's nomination to be a judge for the Eastern District of Missouri. ...
"Ms. Pitlyk defended a state law banning abortion at six weeks. She opposed the Affordable Care Act's coverage for contraception. ... Ms. Pitlyk has also filed multiple legal briefs that contain misinformation," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said during a floor speech....
Pitlyk — who serves as the special counsel for the Thomas More Society, a conservative law firm — told the National Catholic Register that "surrogacy is harmful to mothers and children, so it’s a practice society should not be enforcing."
She also defended Iowa's six-week abortion ban, which was subsequently struck down by a state court. ...
... Collins, in a statement explaining her decision to oppose Pitlyk, questioned if Trump's pick would be able to separate her personal views from the rulings she will make as a judge.
"My concern is not based on Ms. Pitlyk’s personal views on abortion or various medical decisions, which she has every right to hold. I do question, however, given her pattern of strident advocacy, whether she could put aside her personal views on these matters," Collins added.
Pitlyk was rated "not qualified" by the American Bar Association, according to a memo sent to Judiciary Committee leadership. The outside group's standing committee said it "believes that Ms. Pitlyk does not have the requisite trial or litigation experience or its equivalent." ...
btw, "conservative law firm" is a euphemism for what the Thomas More Society does. In their own words:
https://www.thomasmoresociety.org/about/Quote:
Mission
The Thomas More Society is a not-for-profit, national public interest law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty. Based in Chicago, the Thomas More Society defends and fosters support for these causes by providing high quality pro bono legal services from local trial courts all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
About the Thomas More Society
The Thomas More Society was forged out of necessity in 1997 in order to continue defending the historic N.O.W. v. Scheidler case. This nationwide class action lawsuit brought by the National Organization for Women against prominent pro-life leader Joseph Scheidler (among others) was a transparent attempt to gag pro-life activism at abortion clinics nationally through the blatant misuse of federal antitrust and racketeering statutes. Having decisively prevailed in N.O.W. v. Scheidler in the U.S. Supreme Court, 8-1 (2003) and 8-0 (2006), the Thomas More Society continues to litigate cutting-edge cases including:
Protecting the First Amendment rights of those who pray and counsel outside our nation’s abortion facilities
Defending laws that protect human life from conception to natural death
Ensuring the free expression of religion in the public square
Respecting family values
And now the people of Missouri have one of this religious group's lawyers on their federal courts.
btw, if anyone wants to know what Trump's current wife and the Trump supporters are making such a big fuss about, regarding the "insult" to Trump's son, it's that an impeachment witness used his name in an analogy:
https://www.businessinsider.com/melania-trump-impeachment-witness-son-barron-trump-should-be-ashamed-2019-12Quote:
Pamela Karlan, a professor of public interest law at Stanford Law School, testified in a congressional hearing Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee, where she discussed the constitutional power of the president.
When asked by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to compare a king's conduct with President Donald Trump's, Karlan made a point to say that the president does not have the power to "do anything he wants" like a king does.
"So kings could do no wrong because the king's word was law," Karlan said during the hearing. "Contrary to what President Trump has said, Article 2 [of the Constitution] does not give him the power to do anything he wants.
"The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he can't make him a baron."
Melania's reaction:
Quote:
The First Lady reacted to Karlan's mention of her son's name via Twitter, saying the Stanford professor should be "ashamed" for her "very angry and obviously biased public pandering."
And Dr. Karlan actually made a point of apologizing for using that example. I believe it was even before Mrs. Trump had her little hissy fit.
And no, I don't feel the least bit ashamed of being snarky. I have sympathy for Melania Trump wanting to keep her son out of the limelight. But when she's this ridiculously overprotective and nasty herself, she reveals herself as a true Trump. It was just a damn example. Maybe not the best one to use, since it mocked Trump's autocratic tendencies. But it wasn't even directed at the kid, just a mild joke on his parents.
And given all Mrs. Trump's nude pictures in the media, she'd better grow a thicker skin. Because I'll bet Barron's classmates will have plenty to tease or torment him about on that front. Not to mention the things his dad does.
Of course, all this fuss could just be a deliberate distraction from what the impeachment witnesses actually said.* (Unbelievably, Trump's GOP defenders even entered Mrs. Trump's upset tweet into the official record of the impeachment hearings.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/live-blog/impeachment-hearing-live-updates-judiciary-committee-n1095001/ncrd1096196)
And the media aids and abets the Trump family's circus, as usual, even dignifying it with editorials in major news sources.
*For instance, this from Dr. Karlan:
Quote:
Everything I know about our Constitution and its values, and my review of the evidentiary record, tells me that when President Trump invited — indeed, demanded — foreign involvement in our upcoming election, he struck at the very heart of what makes this country the republic to which we pledge allegiance. That demand constituted an abuse of power …
Based on the evidentiary record, what has happened in the case before you is something that I do not think we have ever seen before: a president who has doubled down on violating his oath to “faithfully execute” the laws and to “protect and defend the Constitution.” The evidence reveals a President who used the powers of his office to demand that a foreign government participate in undermining a competing candidate for the presidency.
EDIT:
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/473152-pelosi-asks-nadler-to-proceed-with-drafting-articles-of-impeachment-againstQuote:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Thursday that the House will move forward with impeaching President Trump....
"The president's actions have seriously violated the Constitution," Pelosi said in a televised address against a backdrop of American flags. "Our democracy is at stake. The president leaves us no choice but to act."
Personally, I wish they'd first pursued their subpoenas against Trump's crooked associates instead of letting Dear Leader defy them. But we'll see how this goes.
A couple of unrelated bits of news:
I was glad to see this:
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/473187-trump-administration-sued-for-requiring-foreigners-to-disclose-social-mediaQuote:
The Trump administration was sued on Thursday over a controversial new policy requiring foreigners to share their social media accounts when they apply for U.S. visas.
The lawsuit, filed by civil liberties advocates representing two U.S.-based documentary filmmaking groups, alleges the administration is violating constitutional free speech rights and stripping away any semblance of online privacy in the name of vetting new entrants to the country, some of which already have strong ties to the U.S.
The plaintiffs are alleging the rule, which requires visa applicants to submit their social media handles across 20 online services to the U.S. government, has created a "far-reaching digital surveillance regime that enables the U.S. government to monitor visa applicants’ constitutionally protected speech and associations not just at the time they apply for visas, but even after they enter the United States." ...
And amused at this. I guess Trump and Kim are no longer best buddies? No wonder we don't hear much about North Korea from him, these days:
https://thehill.com/policy/international/asia-pacific/473207-north-korea-takes-shot-at-trump-senility-of-a-dotardQuote:
North Korea took a shot at President Trump after he announced at NATO meeting in London that the U.S. would use force against the regime if needed.
North Korea 1st Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hu said Thursday that her office could not “contain its displeasure” over the president’s comments, and added that if he continues, Trump “will again show the senility of a dotard,” USA Today reported....
I just hope Dear Leader doesn't turn this personal insult into an escalation of tensions with North Korea.