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You've been Trumped!

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 14 Jan , 2020 2:27 pm
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https://thehill.com/policy/national-sec ... probe-into
Quote:
Attorney General William Barr announced Monday that he would raise the threshold for opening counterintelligence probes into presidential campaigns after accusations that the investigation into President Trump’s 2016 campaign was flawed.

Now, investigations into presidential candidates will require the signature of the attorney general and the head of the FBI, Barr said in a news conference with FBI Director Christopher Wray.
I noticed that this is specifically for presidential campaigns, and the people who must sign off on it are political appointees, not career DOJ lawyers, who would presumably be less partisan and subject to political pressure from the incumbent. After all, Barr must protect Dear Leader, who has demonstrated he has zero ethics or morals to restrain him, in the upcoming election.


https://thehill.com/regulation/court-ba ... rations-at
Quote:
A U.S. judge ruled the Trump administration acted within its authority when it separated more than 900 children from their parents at the border after determining the parents to be unfit or dangerous.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw’s ruling rejected the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) claims that the administration was returning to the previously condemned policies of widespread child separation by using minor criminal history as criteria to separate families.

Sabraw indicated he was uncomfortable questioning the administration’s choices to separate children if the parents were designated as unfit or dangerous or based on other factors like criminal history, communicable diseases and doubts about parentage, The Associated Press reported...
The trouble with this decision, though it may be judicially sound, is that this administration is sleazy and will exploit every loophole they can, to continue to separate kids from their parents as a "deterrent" for asylum seekers. I happen to think that separating a child from its parent(s) because of a 10-year-old DUI or parent's HIV status is beyond sick. But, with a court case failed, the only way this will stop is if there's political pressure on the administration. Or on Congress to pass a law. Or by electing someone who is not corrupt and willing to do anything in pursuit of a political aim and/or to keep himself/herself in power.

And IMO the doubts about parentage stuff is crap, unless you have solid evidence there's something criminal going on. So a child is better off in an institution or tent city than with someone he/she loves, because of genetics? (See, for instance, the young girl separated from her loved ones when she was evacuated to the US after the hurricane in the Bahamas. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/ ... 33792.html And I'm quite sure there are others who don't have the contacts, etc. to make the news. ) Give me a break.

Trump is really demonstrating the limits of our checks and balances lately.



And it seems his rash and frankly scary decision to risk a major conflict in the Middle East resonates with some people. If Iran hadn't responded with surprising restraint (so far), it could be starting to get ugly instead.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... nship-game
Quote:
The president and first lady, smiling and waving, held hands as they traversed the field from the 15- to 40-yard line with the honor guard just after 7 p.m. local time. They were greeted by loud cheers and roaring chants of “USA! USA!” and “Four more years!”

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/13/pr ... ity-based/
Quote:
Praise for the Suleimani Strike Isn’t Based in Reality
The ideological architects of one of the United States’ most disastrous foreign-policy decisions—the 2003 invasion of Iraq—are spinning a tale to support Trump’s most dangerous move to date.
Quote:
As the Middle East convulses from the Trump administration’s killing of Iranian military leader Qassem Suleimani—and as U.S. military forces and their Iraqi partners endure Iran’s reprisals—a subset of foreign-policy veterans has cheered the decision. As the New York Times reported on Jan. 6, the strike even elicited praise from some of U.S. President Donald Trump’s consistent critics on the right, including leading Iraq War proponents who have otherwise found him too timid on the world stage....

The most prominent such argument relies on the idea that Iran and its proxies understand only the language of strength and military might. That’s why, in the parlance of some supporters, the hit against Suleimani was necessary to “restore deterrence.”

In truth, whatever the concept of restoring deterrence may promise in theory, it bears little resemblance to reality. Trump’s defenders, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, may claim that the strike has thrown Iran off balance. But in truth, the level of uncertainty and risk on both sides remains extremely high. ...

...After all, a supposed need to restore deterrence will always be available as justification for further military action. As if on cue, after the strikes on Iraqi bases, Trump’s defenders, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham and television commentator Sean Hannity, have already called for additional U.S. action to—once again—restore deterrence.

Some of Trump’s backers have also made the case that the Suleimani operation will weaken Iran—both at home and abroad. In their telling, the killing demonstrated to the Iranian people that their regime is not invincible and untouchable. Some have pointed to the protests currently roiling Iran to bolster this claim. In doing so, they ignore the backdrop of deep and persistent (and understandable) public anger at Tehran’s incompetence, corruption, and authoritarianism as drivers of the current unrest. In this case, Tehran’s initial dishonesty over the downing of the Ukrainian airliner was the trigger, much as a controversy over gas prices sparked anti-government protests late last year....

Japan's prime minister is in the Middle East, trying through diplomacy to reduce the tensions Dear Leader inflamed. (you know, something we used to do before we decided constantly flexing our military might was a better approach. )
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ ... 03286.html
Quote:
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on a visit to the Middle East hoping to calm ease tensions sparked by the killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, has warned that military confrontation with Iran will harm peace and stability across the world....
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/ ... -tensions/
Quote:
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe embarked on a five-day trip to the Middle East on Saturday as part of Tokyo’s efforts to help reduce tensions in a critical region for resource-poor Japan. The trip will take him to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, countries which Japan sees as important players in stabilizing the situation in the Middle East, according to Japanese officials.

The visit came ahead of Tokyo’s dispatch of Self-Defense Forces personnel and assets to the region to help secure the safe passage of shipping by enhancing intelligence-gathering capabilities.....
Macron is also working to decrease tensions.


Meanwhile, Trump says on Fox news...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... sh-936623/
Quote:
During President Donald Trump’s interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Friday, the president spoke about his positive relationship with Saudi Arabia, including how the country is paying to use American troops. Conservative Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.), who until recently was a Republican, responded to Trump’s remarks in a tweet, saying, “He sells troops.”

“Saudi Arabia is paying us for [our troops]. We have a very good relationship with Saudi Arabia,” Trump said. “I said, listen, you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you, but you’ve got to pay us. They’re paying us. They’ve already deposited $1 billion in the bank.”...
I thought those people were called mercenaries.


[This doesn't seem to have been reported by many sites, other than the original interview on Fox, and some of them are not reliable news sources. Rolling Stone seemed the best of the lot. I also linked to a second site earlier, with a warning that they're not reliable, just because they had a good political cartoon. Decided to delete that link.]


And $1 billion is, I'm sure, a drop in the bucket in all the money we've spent on wars in the Middle East in the last 20-odd years. It's funny how the media rarely talks honestly about the financial costs of all these military exercises and wars, when it reports the news. And it doesn't look like they've brought much in the way of benefits, to anyone involved. The more I read about Iraq, the more it looks like we made a mess of the place and its government is a disaster. Where Trump is probably not helping those factions friendly to the US by digging in his heels and loudly refusing to even consider leaving.


Related, a perspective on our foreign policy blunders. Agree with him or not on specific details/actions, he makes some good points. :
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/13/tr ... gn-policy/
Quote:
Why Is the United States So Bad at Foreign Policy?
It’s not just Trump. Washington hasn’t had a coherent strategy for decades.
Quote:
In my last column, I described the “brain-dead” qualities of the Trump administration’s approach to the Middle East and especially Iran. In particular, I stressed that the administration had no real strategy—if by that term one means a set of clear objectives, combined with a coherent plan of action to achieve them that takes the anticipated reactions of others into account.

What we have instead is brute force coercion, divorced from clear objectives and implemented by an ignorant president with poor impulse control. After nearly three years in office, President Donald Trump has managed to increase the risk of war, push Iran to gradually restart its nuclear program, provoke Iraq into asking the United States to prepare to leave, raise serious doubts about U.S. judgment and reliability, alarm allies in Europe, and make Russia and China look like fonts of wisdom and order....

Unfortunately, this strategic myopia goes well beyond the Middle East....

...In short, despite recognizing that the China challenge was the most important item on America’s foreign-policy agenda—with the possible exception of climate change itself—Trump and company have pursued a series of policies that almost seem tailor-made to give China as many advantages as possible.

But that’s not the bad news. Though the Trump administration may have taken the “no strategy” approach to a new level, this problem has been apparent for some time. ....
Quote:
What’s going on here? When did the United States get so bad at strategy? Foreign policy is a challenging enterprise where uncertainties are rife and mistakes are sometimes inevitable. But an inability to think strategically isn’t hard-wired into American DNA. The Truman administration faced enormous challenges in the aftermath of World War II, but it came up with containment, the Marshall Plan, NATO, a set of bilateral alliances in Asia, and a set of economic institutions that served the United States and its allies well for decades. Similarly, the first Bush administration (1989-1993) managed the collapse of the Soviet Union, the peaceful reunification of Germany, and the first Gulf War with considerable subtlety, expertise, and restraint. Neither administration was perfect, but their handling of complex and novel circumstances showed a sure grasp of what was most important and the ability to elicit the responses they wanted from both allies and adversaries. In other words, they were good at strategy.

Paradoxically, part of the problem today is the remarkable position of primacy that the United States has enjoyed ever since the Cold War ended. Because the United States is so powerful, wealthy, and secure, it is mostly insulated from the consequences of its own actions. When it makes mistakes, most of the costs are borne by others, and it hasn’t faced a peer competitor that might be quick to take advantage of mistakes. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars may ultimately cost more than $6 trillion and thousands of soldiers’ lives, but the lack of a draft limits public concerns about casualties, and the United States is paying for all of these wars by borrowing the money abroad, running up bigger deficits, and sticking future generations with the bill.

This situation helps explain why few Americans are interested in what is happening overseas or what the U.S. government is doing about it....

When most Americans can’t tell the difference between success and failure—at least in terms of immediate, tangible consequences—then policymakers will be under less pressure to come up with strategies that actually work and posturing will take precedence over actual performance....

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/10/ta ... suleimani/
Quote:
Assassination, Extrajudicial Execution, or Targeted Killing—What’s the Difference?
Successive presidents have tried to shape new terminology for political killings. But they’re still mostly illegal.
Quote:
...Perhaps no foreign-policy concept causes—indeed relies on—more confusion about the nature of international law than the practice of targeted killings, which is what the United States often calls its strikes against alleged terrorists abroad. That is because, in contrast to assassination and extrajudicial execution, there is no such concept in international law. The term was originally coined by a human rights organization to distinguish El Salvador death squads’ assassination of individuals from the squads’ wider indiscriminate killings of civilians. Both acts, Americas Watch correctly argued, violated human rights standards as well as the international laws surrounding war.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the United States agreed with Americas Watch’s assessment. It even condemned its ally Israel’s political targeting of Hamas leaders as illegal. But more recently, the term “targeted killings” has seeped into political and public discourse to legitimize the United States’ use of the very same tactic: the extrajudicial execution of nonstate political adversaries.

The rhetorical sleight of hand has been convenient; political assassination has long been seen as taboo in war and is explicitly prohibited by the 1907 Hague Convention, which set out the basic laws for the conduct of hostilities, and 1998 Rome Statute, which articulated which war crimes could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court. In peacetime, too, the extrajudicial execution of political opponents—or anyone else—is illegal. It is considered a violation of the human right to life enshrined in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The term “targeted killing,” though, implies that U.S. counterterrorism strikes are something different—something not covered by existing norms. The Suleimani killing, however, may put that idea to rest while also demonstrating precisely why political murder is simply a terrible idea....





[slightly OT: Are some of the Democratic candidates morons or trying to re-elect Trump? Apparently Elizabeth Warren just announced she would immediately bypass Congress to pass a controversial policy, if she's elected. What a wonderful way to help neutralize the criticism that Trump wants to act like a king and not a president. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4 ... -executive
More detailed report:
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/1 ... ers-098623
I've been losing more and more confidence in her judgement and ethics, and I really, really hope someone else gets the nomination. I'll vote for a ham sandwich over the disaster that's Trump, but I'll have to hold my nose if that ham sandwich is Warren.

[Deleted a gossipy controversy manufactured by the Warren campaign that was both easily shown implausible and promoted heavily by CNN. No point in giving that sort of nonsense more attention. Especially when many of the left-leaning news sites seemed to be ignoring this significant statement by Warren, at least yesterday.]


Also, a somewhat snarky guide to the Democratic and Republican candidates - especially amusing toward the end, with the little-known also-rans. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... de/582598/ ]




EDIT:
I won't hold my breath to see what the Party of Trump's justification is for this one.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478 ... w-backlash
Quote:
Reports of a planned crackdown on media access to the upcoming Senate impeachment trial of President Trump is drawing fierce criticism from members of the press.

Roll Call first reported on Tuesday that the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms and Capitol Police are adding restrictions on members of the press during the trial, including additional screening and new constraints on reporters' freedom of movement in the Capitol. ...

“Reporters will be kept in pens, meaning only senators seeking out press coverage will get covered,” Wire tweeted.

The restriction allows just one video camera and no still photography or audio recording in the trial...
I guess they're afraid we'll see too much and they might lose their jobs in the next election?



EDIT 2:
And the documents from Lev Parnas are released. It looks like they directly contradict some of the things Trump and his defenders have been saying. This does not look good for Dear Leader, though his GOP allies will no doubt close their eyes and ears and deny everything. There are links to the documents in this article.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/14/trump-i ... ident.html
Quote:
A trove of new evidence in the impeachment case against President Donald Trump will be delivered to the Senate by the House Judiciary Committee...

The evidence includes new text messages and phone records from Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian American business partner of Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer.

"In my capacity as personal counsel to President Trump and with his knowledge and consent, I request a meeting with you on this upcoming Monday, May 13th or Tuesday May 14th," Giuliani wrote in a letter passed to an aide to Ukraine's president....

As recently as last November, Trump was asked by former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly what Giuliani was doing in Ukraine on Trump's behalf. Trump replied that had no idea. "You have to ask that to Rudy, but Rudy, I don't, I don't even know. I know he was going to go to Ukraine and I think he canceled a trip. But, you know, Rudy has other clients other than me. I'm one person," Trump told O'Reilly. Giuliani has done "a lot of work in Ukraine over the years, and I think, I mean, that's what I heard, I might have even read that someplace," Trump said.

He also claimed not to know about Parnas and Fruma...

But an email between Dowd and Trump's personal attorney Jay Sekulow, released Tuesday as part of the cache of new evidence, suggests Trump knew the two Giuliani associates previously...

They were also having Ambassador Yovanovich followed. Some people are interpreting some of the information in the notes, etc. as implying actual threats against her. A few new details here: https://www.businessinsider.com/documen ... ign-2020-1
Quote:
In one exchange with Parnas, [former prosecutor general of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko] wrote, referring to Yovanovitch: “And here you can’t even get rid of one [female] fool.”
Parnas replied: “She’s not a simple fool, trust me. But she’s not getting away.”
Quote:
In another March 2019 text exchange, Parnas communicated with his associate, Robert F. Hyde, about tweets and videos accusing Yovanovitch of being anti-Trump.
Hyde wrote: “Wow. Can’t believe Trumo [sic] hasn’t fired this bitch. I’ll get right in that.”
Hyde later sent several texts suggesting he was surveilling Yovanovitch in Ukraine, adding, “They are willing to help if we/you would like a price.”
Afterward, Hyde wrote, “Guess you can do anything in the Ukraine with money.”
In another text message, Hyde told Parnas on March 27, 2019, “It’s confirmed we have a person inside.”
https://twitter.com/rfhyde1/status/1217291153982312449
Hyde sounds desperate on Twitter:
Quote:
"How low can liddle Adam Bull Schiff go? I was never in Kiev. For them to take some texts my buddy’s and I wrote back to some dweeb we were playing with that we met a few times while we had a few drinks is definitely laughable. Schiff is a desperate turd playing with this Lev guy."

Probably by tomorrow there will be more analysis of this but Trump's associates sound like a bunch of gangsters to me.

And I suppose there will probably be a blizzard of rabid tweets from our beloved president about treasonous Democrats and whatnot tonight.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 16 Jan , 2020 12:33 am
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Wow. Hyde seems to be fully as nasty as his tweet last night.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/who-is-ro ... ovanovitch
Quote:
Meet the Trump Donor Who Allegedly Stalked America’s Ambassador in Ukraine
Quote:
Before Tuesday, he was best known as a little-known, scandal-scarred Republican congressional candidate who tweeted an obscene joke at Kamala Harris. But new documents from the House Intelligence Committee have put a completely different kind of spotlight on Robert F. Hyde, the Trump donor who appears to have tracked U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s movements in Ukraine.

In WhatsApp messages exchanged in March 2019 with Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, who provided the committee with the files, Hyde and Parnas discussed Yovanovitch’s location. Hyde, a retired Marine, appeared to have associates in Ukraine monitoring her.

“They know she’s a political puppet,” Hyde wrote to Parnas. “They will let me know when she’s on the move… They are willing to help if you/we would like a price.”

“Guess you can do anything in Ukraine with money… what I was told,” Hyde wrote in another message. Parnas responded: “LOL.”...

Asked about his previously undisclosed involvement in Ukraine, Hyde texted The Daily Beast an insult about House Intel chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), writing “Bull Schiff is a giant b*tch.”...
(much more in the article, including a weird paranoia attack at Trump's Doral resort, when Hyde was taken into police custody and apparently admitted for mental evaluation.)

And it looks like the sentences Business Insider quoted are even worse than they looked at first, assuming this is an accurate exchange:
Quote:
"They are moving her tomorrow,” Hyde wrote to Parnas, who has since been indicted on campaign finance charges. “The guys over they (sic) asked me what I would like to do and what is in it for them. Wake up Yankees man. She's talked to three people. Her phone is off. Computer is off. She's next to the embassy. Not in the embassy. Private security. Been there since Thursday."
Says a lot about Trump, too, that he hires people like this.

According to the article, Hyde's "government relations" (whatever that is) business, Facebook and Twitter accounts are full of pictures of him with prominent Republicans like Trump, some of Trump's children, Pence, Ted Cruz, Kevin McCarthy, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn....

A veritable rogue's gallery, some of these people. And I'm starting to wonder about the ones who aren't known to be. They actually associated with this guy and took pictures?



Connecticut's GOP chairman clearly sees Hyde as a potential issue (now) for the party:
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4 ... evelations
Quote:
The chairman of Connecticut's Republican Party said Wednesday that he had asked a congressional candidate to step down after it was revealed that he had communicated with a close ally of Rudy Giuliani currently tied to the congressional impeachment hearings....

"I have asked Rob Hyde to end his bid for Congress. His campaign is a distraction for the Democrats to raise money and falsely label all Republicans with his antics. In my view he is not helping other Republican candidates or @realDonaldTrump win," Romano tweeted.

So far Hyde's only response seems to have been to call Romano a "RINO" and tell him to resign. Amazing, the candidates the GOP attracts these days. Also amazing that Romano is only concerned with Hyde being a "distraction" to Trump's reelection chances.


This is completely insane. It's also starting to remind me of Nixon's thugs and Martha Mitchell.



Another story about the Parnas documents.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ ... 12731.html
It has some of the same information from yesterday and today. Also this:
Quote:
The text messages show that Parnas consulted Giuliani in January 2019 after the US denied a visa for former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. Giuliani replied: "I can revive it."

The following day, Giuliani told Parnas: “It’s going to work I have no 1 in it.” Giuliani then predicted "he will get one" before giving Parnas the phone number for Jay Sekulow, the leader of the president's personal legal team.
More on Viktor Shokin, for those who don't know him (the last of the 3 articles is by far the best if you have time. ):
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/pol ... 785620002/
Quote:
...sources ranging from former Obama administration officials to an anti-corruption advocate in Ukraine say the official, Viktor Shokin, was ousted for the opposite reason Trump and his allies claim.

It wasn't because Shokin was investigating a natural gas company tied to Biden's son; it was because Shokin wasn't pursuing corruption among the country's politicians, according to a Ukrainian official and four former American officials who specialized in Ukraine and Europe.

Shokin's inaction prompted international calls for his ouster and ultimately resulted in his removal by Ukraine's parliament...
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opin ... tor-shokin
Quote:
...During his 2015-2016 tenure as chief prosecutor, Shokin did two things: He covered for the criminality of powerful figures close to then-President Petro Poroshenko, and he earned the ire of just about every anti-corruption group in Ukraine.

Don't take my word for it; take that of Shokin's immediate deputy, Vitaly Kasko. In 2016, Kasko resigned from his post, describing his boss' "hotbed of corruption."

The specifics of Shokin's corruption are most obvious in what he did not do. As Bloomberg documented in May, Shokin was particularly opposed to investigating high-wealth individuals suspected of corruption. Why those individuals? Presumably because a little of their high wealth would find its way into Shokin's hands if he was able to make their problems go away. This obviously infuriated civil society activists who noticed that Shokin was stonewalling obvious investigative needs....
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 47001.html
Quote:
Viktor Shokin: The inside story on Ukraine’s ‘very good’ prosecutor at centre of Trump scandal

Donald Trump said Ukraine’s former chief prosecutor was an honest, wronged man, fired after Joe Biden tried to shut down an investigation into his son’s gas company. In Kiev, Oliver Carroll speaks to people who know Viktor Shokin, and finds a different story
Quote:
David Sakvarelidze was five months into a new job as Ukraine’s reformist deputy chief prosecutor when a witness came forward with intelligence that would change the course of everything.

The witness, a sand producer in the Kiev region, complained of men extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars. It took a while to persuade the man to give evidence. But when he did, and the investigation began, the trail led to two of the country’s highest-placed prosecutors.

A search of the men’s apartments revealed a scene that looked like a comic heist: bags full of cash, diamonds and other precious stones. But that was not the only incriminating evidence. Documents seized at the time indicated the men appeared to have a connection to the top prosecutor in the land, Viktor Shokin....
Is it any wonder that the US denied him a visa? It doesn't seem that Giuliani was successful, in spite of saying he could do it and "no1" was in (on?) it.



https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... s-going-on
Quote:
Rudy Giuliani’s associate Lev Parnas told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow during an interview scheduled to air Wednesday that President Trump "knew exactly what was going on” with the efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former vice president and 2020 rival Joe Biden.

Parnas made the comments in response to Maddow’s question of what was the “main inaccuracy or the main lie being told that you feel like you can correct.”

The associate responded: “That the president didn’t know what was going on. President Trump knew exactly what was going on.

“He was aware of all of my movements,” he added. “I wouldn’t do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani or the president.”...
EDIT: Oh, wow. It seems that Parnas said much, much more on the air. I've heard that Barr was in on it, Pence was in on it, Devin Nunes...

No wonder the Republicans didn't want any of this to come out. Part II of the interview airs tomorrow, but here's a summary of part I. Parnas said he's sure Bolton knew about the scheme.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... y-giuliani

And Trump wasn't just threatening military aid to Ukraine:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... st-ukraine
Quote:
Parnas unleashed a slew of new accusations against the president, including that he, as a representative of Trump, gave Ukrainian officials a “very harsh message” that the U.S. would cut off all aid to the country if it did not announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.

“The message was it wasn’t just military aid. It was all aid,” he told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “Basically, the relationship would be sour. We would stop giving them any kind of aid.”



Susan Collins falling in line to protect Dear Leader?
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478 ... -documents
Quote:
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a potential swing vote in the Senate impeachment trial, on Wednesday questioned why House Democrats have waited until now to release documents from a key witness claiming that President Trump had “knowledge and consent” of efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden....

Collins on Wednesday did not appear moved by a note on Ritz-Carlton stationery stating Parnas’s chief objective was to ensure “the Biden case will be investigated.”...
When informed that Parnas only turned over the evidence last week, Collins said that mostly serves to show the House impeachment inquiry was rushed.

“Doesn’t that suggest that the House did an incomplete job, then?” she asked, adding that she will consider the question of witnesses at a later date
I've had my criticisms of the House's impeachment investigation, but if Susan Collins is using "procedure" to question the introduction of documents showing clear evidence of Trump's links to the scandal, I think she's as blindly partisan as the rest and has no real interest in the truth. And here I used to think she was a reasonably decent senator.

Interestingly, Lindsay Graham is demanding that the Senate trial be wrapped up before Trump's State of the Union address, hopes nobody will be called as a witness, and told his GOP colleagues not to believe that Democrats want to find out what happened. Graham seems curiously perturbed by the whole thing. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478 ... s-possible


It really amazes me. Iranians went into the streets to protest, at significant risk to their lives, when their military accidentally shot down a passenger airliner. But many Americans seem to shrug at the escalating evidence of Trump's corruption, and so do many of our elected representatives.





btw, it seems Trump has hired his spiritual adviser to be a member of our government, presumably on salary at taxpayer expense.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/02/us/p ... trump.html
Quote:
...For years he has called her his longtime friend and personal pastor. When he ran for president in 2016, he turned to her to drive his evangelical support. And on Thursday the White House confirmed that Ms. White had officially joined the administration to advise Mr. Trump’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative, which aims to give religious groups more of a voice in government programs devoted to issues like defending religious liberty and fighting poverty.

Her new role gives her a formal seat at the table as Mr. Trump tries to ensure that evangelicals — the foundation of his political base — remain united behind him in his bid to win a second term. As a liaison to Mr. Trump, Ms. White has regularly facilitated meetings for conservative pastors and White House officials, assuring the president’s core constituencies that he addresses their interests.

Among Christians, however, Ms. White is a divisive figure. Her association with the belief that God wants followers to find wealth and health — commonly called the prosperity gospel — is highly unorthodox in the faith and considered heretical by many. ...[

Ms. White led a pentecostal-leaning church, recently renamed City of Destiny, with thousands of members near Orlando, Fla. She stepped down as senior pastor in May and announced plans to start a university and 3,000 new churches. In 2007, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and the Senate Finance Committee had investigated her ministry’s tax-exempt status, but the investigation was eventually dropped....
Given the bolded sentences, I can see why Dear Leader likes her.

Drain that swamp...



(Also, I'm still waiting for Trump to tweet congratulations to Putin. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ ... 19971.html)


EDIT: The full Parnas interview, part I, is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RybF1rVa35Y

And people say Hannity was having a full meltdown on Fox news tonight. Can't say I'm surprised.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 16 Jan , 2020 2:35 pm
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Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
Well, Ukraine has launched that investigation....



...into Trump's cronies. :D
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ts-against
Quote:
Ukrainian officials announced on Thursday that a criminal investigation would be launched into the alleged threats against former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Twitter that Kyiv's policy is not to "interfere in the domestic affairs" of the U.S., but new evidence suggests Ukrainian or international law may have been broken, according to a translation from ABC News.

"However, the published records contain the fact of possible violation of the legislation of Ukraine and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which protects the rights of a diplomat in the territory of another country," it added...
Brave of them, considering Trump's penchant for revenge and Ukraine's precarious position, with Russian military in its eastern regions plus Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea.

Maybe Trump's Republicans sycophants in Congress will be inspired by these actual examples of courage, from Ukraine and from the Iranian protesters? And Iraqi protesters, for that matter (the students and others protesting government corruption and getting shot and killed, not the Iran-backed mob that attacked the embassy).

Nah, probably too much to hope for.
After all, they could - gasp! - lose an election.

Hard to know what to do, I guess, when you've chosen to ride the tiger.


And right on schedule -
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478 ... out-parnas
Quote:
...CNN’s Manu Raju asked [Sen. Martha] McSally if the Senate should consider the new material provided by Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas during Trump's impeachment trial.

“Manu you’re a liberal hack, I’m not talking to you,” the senator said, walking through the halls of the Senate.

McSally appeared to stand by her remarks, tweeting a video of the interaction. ...
There's always a Mark Twain quote appropriate for the occasion:
..I never can think of Judas Iscariot without losing my temper. To my mind Judas Iscariot was nothing but a low, mean, premature, Congressman.
- "Foster's Case," New York Tribune, 10 March 1873





https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... time-trump
Quote:
Lev Parnas said in an interview broadcast on Thursday [on CNN] that he would release a photograph with President Trump every time the president denies knowing him...

Trump denied knowing Parnas in October after Parnas and one of his associates were arrested. The president said at the time that it was possible he had a picture with him, but that it didn't mean anything since he takes pictures with "everybody."

"I welcome him it to say that even more. Every time he says that I’ll show him another picture," Parnas, an associate of Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said in the interview on CNN's "New Day." "He’s lying."...
That's the thing. This time, there are tons of documents, text messages, etc. to support the informant, all released to Congress. Including some we can't see because they contain classified material (that in itself should tell us something).


Another aspect of the Parnas interviews, in this story. The connection to Russia.
https://www.businessinsider.com/parnas- ... rch-2020-1
Quote:
... Parnas spelt [sic] out an attempt to broker a quid-pro-quo with oligarch Dmytro Firtash, in which he apparently requested that an extradition order for him to return to the US was quashed in return for information that would damage the Mueller probe – and Biden’s chances of being elected president in 2020.

“In order for us to be able to receive information from Firtash, we had to promise Firtash something. So for Firtash it was telling him his case was worthless here and that he’s being prosecuted for no reason and basically to get taken care of.”

He said that he had been informed that Firtash had information indicating that a Mueller investigator was involved in “illegal stuff,” and attempted to secure that information. The effort eventually came to nothing....



Firtash is one of Ukraine’s richest men, and made his fortune in the energy sector, brokering the transfer of Russian gas into Ukraine.

According to analysts, his role working closely with Russia’s Kremlin-controlled energy sector would only have been possible with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval.

A leaked diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks in 2010 quoted Firtash as claiming he got his start in business with the help of notorious Russian mafia kingpin Semion Mogilevich....


btw, I think all the pundits who were "explaining" why Nancy Pelosi delayed sending the impeachment to the Senate, and how she "lost" something to Mitch McConnell in the end, need to take a good look at their arguments again today. :) I have to tip my hat to her. This stuff, and the public way it was revealed, will make it much harder for Trump's clean-up crew to bury the evidence. Though I'm sure they'll do their best to discredit it with innuendo. I love the bots and Trump supporters trumpeting that Parnas is a crook. Of course he's a crook. That's how prosecutors often find out about crimes, a lower level crook decides to spill the beans. And Parnas has the receipts, which can be verified.

This "defense" is likely to be coming from Trump and our current Minister of Propaganda.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... nas-claims
Quote:
...press secretary Stephanie Grisham attacked Parnas's credibility, accused him of seeking attention on anti-Trump media outlets and pointed to Trump's denials that he knows the businessman despite the two appearing in photos together.

"This is a man who’s under indictment and who’s actually out on bail," Grisham said Thursday morning on Fox News. "This is a man who owns a company called Fraud Inc., so I think that’s something that people should be thinking about. We’re not too concerned about it."

"It’s unfortunate that he’s now making a media tour with a lot of the outlets that are, you know, against the president," she added. "I think that shows exactly what he’s doing."...


"I’ve got to say, just to say Rudy told me these things doesn’t mean that it has anything to do with the president, and it certainly doesn’t mean the president was directing him to do anything," Grisham said. "We stand by exactly what we’ve been saying," she added. "The president did nothing wrong."...
She's also on first name terms and consulting with Giuliani to see what the story should be? Interesting.



Just in:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... on-ukraine
Quote:
READ: GAO report finding Trump administration broke the law on Ukraine aid
Quote:
Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law," it continues. "OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA."
I wonder if they will find the same thing, regarding Trump stealing funds Congress appropriated for something else and funding his Wall instead.

I may be too hopeful, given the disinformation fed to people who exclusively watch Fox news, but...
the dam might be breaking.





btw, the sainted Donald is making another obvious play to appeal to his evangelical supporters. Will his "spiritual adviser" now officially guiding US policy, the woman who says Jesus wanted Christians to be rich (article posted yesterday), be at his side?
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ic-schools
Quote:
President Trump will hold an Oval Office event on Thursday to celebrate the release of updated guidance on religious prayer in public elementary and secondary schools.

White House Domestic Policy Council Director Joe Grogan told reporters Thursday morning that the guidance, which hasn’t been updated since 2003, “will remind school districts of the rights of students, parents and teachers, and will empower students in others to confidently know and exercise their rights.”

“President Trump is committed to making sure that people of faith, particularly children, are not subjected to illegal punishment or pressure for executing their constitutionally protected right,” Grogan added....



Somewhat OT : Yesterday, Virginia ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, which means that it's been ratified by 3/4 of the states and could enter the Constitution (provided lawsuits don't derail it - huh, seriously?). The Department of Justice is supposedly implying that Bill Barr is the one who gets to make that decision. Honestly, I can't think of any logical reason he wouldn't do it, but one editorial in The Atlantic seems to have its doubts.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... on/605047/

One curious thing I've noticed. The Atlantic has had nothing to say on the Parnas interviews or document releases yet, though even foreign newspapers have been covering it for days. And since their reorganization a few months ago, The Atlantic has become surprisingly muted in their criticisms of Trump. Previously, they were constantly running articles about him and were among the first to say he should be impeached. Also they used to warn frequently about "the drumbeats of war" with this administration, but didn't have much to say after Trump's assassination of Soleimani, or seemed mildly supportive of some of it, even repeating Pompeo's propaganda about people in Iraq celebrating widely (revealed to be greatly exaggerating events by the NY Times and some foreign news sources). It was actually ForeignPolicy.com, which tends to be more hawkish, that was pointing out the negatives. Just wonder whether The Atlantic was bought up by someone, or if they just decided to change their direction.

It could be that they're only waiting a bit. Still, it seems a little strange that they're mostly running pieces about movies, poets, anthropology ("How Did Humans Boil Water Before the Invention of Pots" ), prohibition, empty skyscrapers in Manhattan, yet another aspect of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex deciding to sort-of-quit the royal family in the UK, the Houston Astros and so forth, and pretty much ignoring both the impeachment and Parnas.

It reminds me of when The CS Monitor, which once ran stories critical of Trump all the time, changed its editor, went behind a paywall, started emphasizing stories about "positive news," and seemingly had little to say any more about Trump or our government.




EDIT: This is just funny. Like a bunch of 4th graders who got caught cheating on an exam whining jealously about the kid who got a gold star for their "A."
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4786 ... mpeachment
Quote:
Republicans are chastising Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for making gifts out of the pens she used to sign the two articles of impeachment against President Trump....

“The Speaker distributed souvenir pens, souvenir pens to her own colleagues emblazoned with her golden signature that literally came in on silver platters,” McConnell said on the Senate floor....

“She was so somber as she gave them away to people like prizes,” Grisham agreed....

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (La.) tweeted out the CNN footage of Pelosi handing the pens to fellow Democrats, saying, “So much for ‘somber’ and ‘solemn.’”...

They claim it's a somber, serious occasion they're heartbroken over... and then they pass out impeachment-signing pens with special cases. Folks. You can't make it up. https://t.co/jl9VKD8cUc
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) January 15, 2020

Souvenir pens served on silver platters just shows you how out of touch Democrats are. https://t.co/u4JFVa7baT
— Rep. Paul Gosar...
I've never been a huge fan of Pelosi, but these idiots need to grow up. Especially since we've all heard them crowing loudly whenever the Democrats have a setback.



EDIT: Finally an article in The Atlantic. Seems a very fair assessment.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... ms/605065/
Quote:
We Can’t Afford to Ignore Lev Parnas’s Explosive Claims

We can’t afford to accept them at face value either.
While pointing out that Parnas is not necessarily telling the truth, it also details where his testimony and notes fit with other evidence.
It concludes:
Quote:
The dilemma posed by Parnas’s claims recalls the one created by Michael Cohen’s testimony to the House last February. As Republicans eagerly noted then, Cohen was a convicted liar, preparing to go to prison on tax-fraud, campaign-finance, and other charges. His testimony was self-interested: He both had reasons to exact personal revenge on Trump, and hoped that his cooperation might induce authorities to lighten his sentence. All of this was true, but Cohen (like Parnas) brought documents to back up his claims, and his testimony has largely been substantiated since.

Parnas is like Cohen in another way: Each was once a part of the Trump circle, and the president and his defenders now dismiss him as a liar and scoundrel. And as with Cohen, the defense is troubling even if true. If Cohen and Parnas are such obvious villains, how is it that they came to be close to the president, putatively working as part of his legal teams? The same question applies to any number of other criminals, con men, and charlatans we’ve come to know over the past four years as Trump associates. The fact that he is surrounded by such people says a great deal about either his judgment or his probity. (Probably both.)

The investigations into Trump have often had to rely on questionable witnesses like Parnas because other, supposedly uncompromised people with direct knowledge have declined to speak. The Trump administration blocked testimony from Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, to name only a few, and Trump has declined to speak under oath. Former National Security Adviser John Bolton has conducted a bizarre public striptease, vacillating between hints he will and won’t testify, while saving his stories for a book; on the eve of the impeachment trial, he was spotted strolling around Qatar’s capital city.

In the absence of their testimony, the search for truth has had to depend on uncomfortable encounters with the likes of Lev Parnas. ...

The one point where I disagree with Graham is this:
Quote:
He also told Maddow that “Attorney General Barr was basically on the team,” but offers no evidence for the allegation, and no other evidence has emerged so far to support it. (A Department of Justice statement called that claim “100 percent false.”)
Trump himself told Zelenskyy to talk to (the exact words might have been "coordinate with" or similar) Barr and Giuliani in the readout of the phone call (the so-called "transcript," which actually isn't a literal transcript, but a summary of the call).

Also, Barr's many efforts to open investigations on behalf of Trump or shield Trump make me doubt he's not involved somehow. The arguments from the Dept of Justice that Trump is essentially above the law as president are just jaw-dropping nonsense, fit for a banana republic.
As a judge recently ruled:https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... ty/599536/
Quote:
A federal judge dismisses Trump’s “limitless assertion of presidential immunity.”
It wouldn't be the first time (John Mitchell, Nixon's AG).


And it looks like one hypocrite is about to be called out:
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478 ... en-collins
Quote:
A Democratic super PAC plans to use a mobile billboard to target Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) when the impeachment trial kicks off in earnest next week in the Senate.

The Party Majority PAC is raising money to have the billboard stationed near the Senate office buildings in Washington, D.C., starting Tuesday, with the truck broadcasting remarks that Collins made during President Clinton's impeachment trial in 1999....

Parkhomenko posted a video on Twitter of Collins calling for "more evidence" and "witnesses" during the Clinton trial, with the GOP senator saying it was needed to "get to the truth" and to answer the Senate's "duty to do impartial justice."...



https://thehill.com/policy/national-sec ... ntel-chief
Quote:
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has called on the acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to testify at a public hearing next month over security threats facing the U.S. and its allies.

The invitation seeking testimony from acting DNI Joseph Maguire comes amid reports that intelligence officials are trying to persuade Congress from dropping the public portion of the annual World Wide Threat Hearing after backlash from President Trump last year....

Schiff’s invitation comes amid reports that intelligence officials have asked the House and Senate Intelligence committees not to hold public hearings as part of this year’s Worldwide Threat Assessment over concerns that agency chiefs will publicly disagree with Trump on issues such as Iran, Russia or North Korea.
According to the article, it's not clear if Maguire will accept the invitation.
I suspect not, but maybe he'll surprise me .



https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ow-the-guy
Quote:
Vice President Pence on Thursday denied knowing Lev Parnas, describing as “completely false” the Rudy Giuliani associate’s allegations about his knowledge of a scheme at the center of the impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

“I don’t know the guy,” Pence told reporters in Tampa, Fla., when asked about Parnas.
I have no idea if this is true or not. But there were photos of Pence with Parnas's foul-mouthed associate Hyde, according to the article on Hyde yesterday. (nice company for such a supposedly religious person as Pence)


Speaking of which, Trump again denied knowing Parnas today at his "religious freedom" event (why the hell do we even need this? The last thing this country lacks is religious people pushing their beliefs on other people. Whatever happened to keeping your relationship with your God private and/or at church, like normal people?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-spea ... 020-01-16/
Quote:
Mr. Trump told reporters "I don't know him at all, don't know what he's about, don't know where he comes from."
Photos and videos of the two of them together, over the years, are now all over the internet.


Information on the new regulations to protect those poor, downtrodden Christian groups who are so terribly persecuted in the US:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/do ... eral-money

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 17 Jan , 2020 1:50 pm
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Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 31781.html
Quote:
Top anti-impeachment Republican was in contact with indicted Ukraine suspect, Giuliani phone logs reveal

Devin Nunes was in contact with Donald Trump's attorney and his associates as the president's Ukraine agenda took shape
Quote:
During Congressional hearings in Donald Trump's impeachment investigation, Devin Nunes chastised Democrats and promoted a conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that backed interference campaigns in US elections in 2016.

But phone logs obtained by Congress show that the Republican Congressman spoke regularly with Mr Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani, who is alleged to have coordinated a campaign within the Trump administration to pressure Ukraine to find supposedly damaging information on the president's political rivals ahead of 2020 elections.

The phone records appear in a report from the US House Intelligence Committee — on which Mr Nunes sits....
I haven't seen much on part II of the Lev Parnas interviews so far. They might not have been all that interesting. The Hill had a scattering of stories but the only one I looked at was Parnas complaining that, when his former lawyer, John Dowd - the one connected to Trump* - was representing him, he didn't seem very interested in acting in Parnas's behalf. Which should come as no surprise to anyone with a brain. No doubt why Parnas changed his lawyer to another one. Who presumably gave him better advice, since Parnas is now talking instead of staying silent for Trump's sake and hoping for a Trump pardon.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ked-him-to

*Which is also a curious thing that Trump supporters fail to explain. If Trump and Parnas are unconnected, isn't it a trifle odd that, of all the lawyers in the world, a Trump-connected lawyer decided to represent Parnas?


EDIT: This is the only significant thing I saw, and no surprise to anyone following the news. Though we've already heard rumors about Perry being in on the plot.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... push-biden
Quote:
...According to Parnas, Perry called Giuliani as he was on his way to attend Zelensky's inauguration in May and asked the former New York mayor what he should discuss with Zelensky.

Then after the inauguration, Parnas asserted, Perry called Giuliani again and told him that he got Zelensky to agree to announce the investigation.

While Zelensky did make an announcement about looking into corruption, the Ukrainian leader never mentioned Biden.

Parnas told Maddow that Giuliani "blew his lid" when this happened.

"It wasn't supposed to be a corruption announcement, it [had] to be about Joe Biden and Hunter Biden and Burisma," Parnas continued...
This is consistent with what some witnesses already told us, that Trump wanted an announcement of an investigation into Biden (for political damage) and didn't actually care whether or not the Ukrainians launched an investigation into corruption. It also fits with the stories of Zelenskyy trying to avoid getting mired in Trump's scheming, while not pissing him off too much.
And if Giuliani blew his lid, it's likely he knew or suspected there was no Biden-related corruption to be found in a real investigation.



Too lazy to look up a source (think it was The Hill) but Hyde and his businesses got a visit from the FBI, presumably to look into his role in following, spying on, and maybe threatening former ambassador Yovanovitch.




https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478 ... d-standoff
Quote:
Republicans are threatening to weaponize a fight on Senate impeachment witnesses amid growing concerns that moderates within their caucus could help Democrats call former national security adviser John Bolton to testify.

After weeks of pledging that they would hold a quick trial with no witnesses from either side, Republicans — from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on down — are sending public warning shots that if their GOP colleagues open the door to Democratic witnesses they’ll respond in kind, forcing votes on a slew of controversial individuals.

The pressure tactics are the latest shift in strategy as Republican leaders try to navigate the factions in their caucus, where moderates want to leave the potential for witnesses on the table and conservatives are anxious to quickly acquit President Trump. ...
Quote:
...Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is pitching his colleagues on the idea of “witness reciprocity.”

“If they are going to bring witnesses in, we’re not going to do what the House did of a one-sided show trial, and I think it should be at a bare minimum one-for-one,” Cruz told Fox News’s Sean Hannity. “So if the prosecution brings ... John Bolton, then President Trump can bring a witness. He can bring Hunter Biden.”

Cruz’s idea has garnered attention among conservative media figures including Hannity who told Cruz that he “loved your proposal” and that he hopes Democrats want four witnesses so “I get the four I want”: the Bidens, the whistleblower and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who is leading the team of House impeachment managers
.
What a stupid political show, a one-for-one witness proposal. So if there are 25 witnesses to a murder, should we require the courts to call 25 irrelevant witnesses for the defense? Call the people who have direct evidence on the subject at hand, and who gives a damn on the numbers.

Calling Adam Schiff is obviously just an attempt to muddy the truth with a political smear - not to mention a sign that they don't know of any real witnesses that could exonerate Trump. Now Devin Nunes might actually be a relevant witness...

Note also that Ted Cruz was among those politicians in pictures hanging on Hyde's wall (in article linked a couple of days ago https://www.thedailybeast.com/who-is-ro ... ovanovitch). As was Rand Paul, another one pushing for a quick trial designed to acquit Trump ASAP. I just find it interesting that they're working so hard not to have too many witnesses - including Hyde? - called in the impeachment trial.



Not that you can argue with the true believers whose only goal is to acquit Trump, but maybe some of those bamboozled by their arguments can be more open-minded. Here's an analysis by people who actually know the law and the Constitution:
https://www.lawfareblog.com/senate-impe ... cede-facts
Quote:
The Senate Impeachment Trial: Call the Witnesses or Concede the Facts
Quote:
Mitch McConnell has a problem with the facts. The Senate majority leader is taking the position that the evidence presented in the House impeachment inquiry is all the Senate needs to decide whether Trump should be removed from office, and that further testimony from witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial is unnecessary. He has announced that he is in “total coordination” with the White House on the matter and says he has the votes to launch proceedings in the Senate without the commitment to hear from any witnesses. Though senators like Susan Collins have indicated they want to hear witness testimony, McConnell argues that for Republicans to allow new evidence would be “mutually assured destruction” for GOP lawmakers in tight races this year.

There’s just one issue with McConnell’s preferred approach. Unless Republican senators want to accept the facts laid out by the House leadership and restrict themselves to the legal question of whether those facts demonstrate impeachable conduct, they’re going to need to call witnesses.

As many have explained, the House impeachment investigation was analogous to a grand jury investigation, with the resulting impeachment vote akin to a decision to indict. Republicans are now acting as if the House proceedings were a full trial—meaning that the Senate is now acting as an appellate court that can only consider the closed record developed below. Sen. Marco Rubio recently tweeted that the “testimony & evidence considered in a Senate impeachment trial should be the same testimony & evidence the House relied upon when they passed the Articles of Impeachment.”

But the text of the Constitution, the Senate’s own powers and the weight of history all demonstrate that this is wrong. ...





https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... -education
Quote:
Like going back 40 years': dismay as Bolsonaro backs abstinence-only sex ed

Brazilian president’s plan to cut teenage pregnancies inspired by a Christian pressure group and Trump’s approach in the US
Note to Bolsonaro: guess what - it didn't work in the U.S. either. And yet the Republicans cater to religious groups and keep reintroducing this nonsense. If there weren't actual consequences for real people, it would almost be a comedy. Like one of those cartoon characters that keeps hitting itself and expecting something different to happen.





EDIT: Part II of the Parnas interview on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4M7vVlpPD8
I have not watched it but apparently some other things Parnas said (relayed via other people) were:

- After the Democrats convened the mpeachment inquiry, Dowd (Trump's former lawyer), Sekulow, Giuliani, and Victoria Toensing (Fox legal analyst whose name has come up repeatedly in connection with this scandal) invented something to do with Parnas working for Giuliani and Toensing, and Giuliani working for Trump, which would provide them all with "privilege" (presumably attorney-client privilege) to protect themselves.

- "Everyone" knew about what was going on but didn't necessarily agree with it.
This fits with Bolton's comments on knowing things and also his explosion to a colleague about not wanting to be part of Trump's "drug deal." It also raises the possibility that Pence knew but didn't actively participate, except to do what was ordered by Trump. Hard to say. Jay Sekulow, Trump's lawyer, supposedly knew but didn't want to be involved, which is consistent with a lawyer trying to protect himself.


- Trump kept telling people (Bolton, Pompeo via Giuliani, even Trump's assistant Madeline Westerhout) to fire Yovanovitch but they wouldn't. Hence the smear campaign against Yovanovitch.
This seems to explain a lot that didn't make sense before - why the smear campaign and the firing? (Trump never hesitated to fire people in his administration before) It's also consistent with what's been going on, in general - Trump telling people in the government to do illegal, unethical or really stupid things and them trying to ignore it or circumvent it until (hopefully) he loses interest.
I find it interesting that Trump didn't want to be the one to fire her, suggesting that he wanted to keep his distance from the whole thing. It sounds like what he might have been doing in the 2016 campaign, with the Russian hackers - make sure to have plausible deniability.


What else is quite strange to me is that reporters from The Hill released a couple of less significant things about the interview earlier, then quit. They didn't say a word about any of this.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Sun 19 Jan , 2020 8:04 pm
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Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
I'm seriously starting to wonder if anything is beyond the pale for Trump or his supporters

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... eas-bribes
Quote:
President Donald Trump’s administration is weighing whether to seek changes to a 1977 law that makes it illegal for U.S. companies to bribe foreign officials....

“I would just say: We are aware of it, we are looking at it, and we’ve heard complaints from some of our companies,” Kudlow said. “I don’t want to say anything definitive policy-wise, but we are looking at it.”

A forthcoming book called “A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America,” by Washington Post reporters Philip Rucker and Carol D. Leonnig, reports that Trump has complained about existing rules, and that he clashed with former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in 2017 when Trump pushed to scrap the FCPA.

“It’s just so unfair that American companies aren’t allowed to pay bribes to get business overseas,” Trump said, according to an passage published by the Post. “We’re going to change that.”...
I originally rolled my eyes at that excerpt and figured this book is, at a minimum, exaggerating or twisting something. Then Kudlow actually confirms it without any sign of embarrassment?


Unbelievable.

It's like a low IQ version of the Mafia has taken over the White House.


So maybe this is true as well?
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... and-babies
Quote:
President Trump lashed out at top military brass in a contentious Pentagon meeting in 2017

... attendees at the meeting included the then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford, then-Defense Secretary James Mattis, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Vice President Pence and other military and Cabinet officials.

The meeting was intended as a “tailored tutorial” for Trump to help prime him on the United States's alliances and international strategies, the pair wrote. However, after berating the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal and the war in Afghanistan, the president reportedly lashed out at his top advisers.

“I want to win,” he said, according to the excerpt. “I wouldn’t go to war with you people.”

“You’re a bunch of dopes and babies.”...


https://thehill.com/news-by-subject/ene ... se-to-keep
Quote:
The Department of Treasury is allowing Chevron, along with four other U.S. service suppliers, to continue operating in Venezuela despite U.S. sanctions.

The Associated Press reported Saturday that the American companies were granted special licenses that extend the time they’ll be allowed to operate in Venezuela until April 22....



And instead of kicking Trump's corrupt ass out, the current Republican leadership and members of Congress are fine with him. Dutifully, they line up behind him and his lawyer's bizarre arguments.

https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-tal ... -on-sunday
Quote:
Attorney Alan Dershowitz, who will serve as counsel to President Trump in his impeachment trial, said Sunday that a president cannot be impeached and removed from office for abuse of power, arguing the position negates the need for additional witnesses.
Murkowski, a so-called "moderate," pretends she's totally uninformed about the case and puts herself on Trump's side.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478 ... eciding-on
Quote:
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Saturday that she wants to hear from House impeachment managers and attorneys for President Trump before deciding whether the Senate impeachment trial needs additional witnesses and documents.

The moderate senator told reporters that she came to this conclusion because she'd like to "really hear the case" before making a "determination as to, what more do we need," The Associated Press reported.

"I don’t know what more we need until I’ve been given the base case," Murkowski said, adding that she expected Senate Majority Leader (R-Ky.) to table any attempt from Democrats to add certain witnesses to an organizing resolution.

She indicated that she'd support tabling the Democrats' request...


https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478 ... e-are-just
Quote:
Republican Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.) on Sunday said President Trump’s requests for foreign nations to investigate 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son were “just statements” and that presidents were prone to "mistakes of judgement."

...Host George Stephanopoulos pressed Shelby on whether it was appropriate for Trump to solicit foreign interference, regardless of whether he felt it was impeachable or not.

"Well, I don’t know that has actually been proven. That’s all in dispute. I’ve never seen anything where Trump was actually involved in it," Shelby responded, prompting Stephanopoulos to note that Trump publicly urged China and Ukraine to investigate the Bidens in early October.

..."Well, those are just statements, political. They make them all the time," Shelby said.

"So it's OK?" Stephanopoulos asked. ...

Sen. Shelby: "I didn't say it was OK ..."

GS: This is the president of the U.S.

Shelby: He's "human" and is going to "make mistakes"
(OT: I was amused to see the term human put in scare quotes.)


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... li=BBnb7Kz
Quote:
Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general who is among the lawyers on the president's impeachment team... in an interview on NBC's "TODAY" on Saturday morning dismissed the photos [of Trump and his kids with Parnas].

“Clearly, Lev Parnas liked to take pictures with a lot of people,” she said. "He showed up at events pretty much everywhere where Republicans were.”

The Judiciary Committee's release also included information obtained by the FBI when they searched Parnas’ electronic devices. According to his electronic calendar, Parnas had a breakfast meeting scheduled with President Trump in September, just days before Parnas was arrested...
A small selection of photos and a thank you card from Trump and his wife Melania to Parnas.
https://www.businessinsider.com/giulian ... ?r=US&IR=T

As well as having Trump grinning for the camera with Parnas, and some of Trump's family with Parnas, this album has Parnas with Kellyanne Conway, Mike Huckabee, Kevin McCarthy, Pence, Steve Scalise. It looks like this guy got around and had some influential acquaintances. http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/01/ ... album.html
No one with any brains at all is going to believe Parnas just ran around asking public figures to take pictures with him because he liked Republicans.


https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478 ... ment-trial
Quote:
Senate Republicans are discussing speeding up the pace of President Trump's impeachment trial by using the trial rules to limit the number of days each side has to make opening arguments.

Republicans, according to senators, are discussing giving both Trump's legal team and House managers 24 hours to present their case, similar to the 1999 proceeding. But unlike the Clinton trial, each side would have to use their time within two days. ...

The discussion among Republicans underscores the growing anxiety in sections of the caucus to quickly acquit Trump...


https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4789 ... he-coverup
Quote:
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), one of the House impeachment managers in President Trump's Senate trial, said Sunday that Republicans looking to block or negotiate on witnesses are "part of the coverup."...
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-tal ... story-will
Quote:
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Sunday that he hopes enough Republican senators know that “history will find you” based on how the Senate holds President Trump's impeachment trial...

The Illinois Democrat said that a fair trial that the public expects would include evidence and witnesses, both of which the White House has refused to supply behind the partial transcript of the July 25 phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president.

Durbin also added that Senate leaders have not had full discussions on the rules of the Senate trial, as the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s memo on the rules has not been exchanged.

“We're, listen, a little over 48 hours away from the trial actually commencing, and there hasn't been the most basic negotiation or exchange of information,” he told Chuck Todd...
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing ... dy-a-total
Quote:
Jack Schlossberg, former President John F. Kennedy’s grandson, is blasting Vice President Pence for invoking Kennedy’s 1957 book “Profiles in Courage” in an op-ed encouraging Senate Democrats to vote to acquit President Trump in his impeachment trial.

In a Twitter thread Saturday, Schlossberg called the op-ed “a total perversion of JFK's legacy and the meaning of courage.”...
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4 ... d-of-trump
Quote:
Ron Reagan, the son of former President Ronald Reagan, says his father would have been “embarrassed and ashamed” of the current Republican president.

In an interview with The Daily Beast published Friday, Reagan said the 40th commander in chief would have thought President Trump was “a traitorous president who is betraying his country.”

“The Republican Party at this point, for a whole host of reasons to do with Donald Trump, is an entirely illegitimate political party just made up of a bunch of sycophantic traitors mouthing Kremlin propaganda to defend this squalid little man who is occupying the White House,” Reagan said. "This is a dying party. They either have to remake themselves entirely or they will disappear eventually. Within a decade the Republican Party will be a minor fringe group if it continues going this way.”...


https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... ry/605203/
Quote:
This week’s allegations by Lev Parnas—a federally indicted associate of Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani—render downright quaint the debate over whether the Senate should call live witnesses in the president’s impending impeachment trial. Of course the American public deserves to hear from witnesses at the trial, and not just the four whose testimony Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is requesting (thus far to no avail)....

In an ideal world, the entire impeachment trial would be put on hold pending a thorough investigation of the new claims. Americans need to know the full story before their representatives in the Senate decide what—if anything—to do about it. Instead, something disturbing is about to happen: The Senate is poised to make a monumental decision about the office of the presidency while knowing full well that much of the sordid tale has not even been told....

Parnas’s recent media interviews did two crucial things that deserve urgent attention. First, he directly linked President Trump to the delivery of an ultimatum to Sergey Shaffer, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. .. The other major thing Parnas has done is implicate figures beyond Trump and Giuliani in the Ukraine scandal....

What the rule of law would require now is a sharp investigative team to follow the evidence wherever it leads and develop a thorough and cohesive picture of what Trump and his allies did. ...

[but] No process is in place that could produce the needed investigation, because political forces preclude it. ...

Under Barr’s leadership.... the whistle-blower complaint flagging the Ukraine scandal itself was initially withheld from Congress, in violation of a federal statute requiring its disclosure to congressional intelligence committees. Barr is certainly not going to recuse himself (as he should) or appoint a special counsel to investigate his boss—even if upholding the rule of law cries out for it.

That leaves Congress as the sole would-be investigator. But Pelosi already spent her political capital on the truncated House investigation. ...

Alternatively, Senate impeachment rules would allow a majority to agree to impanel a committee of senators to do a mini investigation of the Parnas information in advance of trial. ... But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made no secret of his slavish dedication to protecting his party and Trump—never mind McConnell’s oath to uphold the Constitution and act impartially in the Senate trial. No Senate investigation is going to happen either....



https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ngs-before
Quote:
President Trump told Republican donors Friday evening that Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general who was killed in a drone strike this month, was “saying bad things” about the U.S. before his death.

Trump offered a minute-by-minute recounting of the strike in Baghdad at a fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago estate, CNN reported Saturday, citing audio it obtained of his remarks. He told the high-dollar donors that Soleimani’s invectives against America helped lead to his decision to authorize his killing.

"How much of this shit do we have to listen to?" Trump was quoted as saying. "How much are we going to listen to?" ...

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4 ... ng-reports
Quote:
President Trump lashed out at Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Thursday for not doing enough to help him win over voters on health care, according to multiple reports.

According to the reports, Trump phoned Azar after being presented with polling that showed voters trust Democrats more than Republicans on health care and drug pricing.

Trump has made lowering drug prices a top focus of his presidency, and has been searching for easy political wins, but has little to show for it. Key initiatives have been blocked by the courts, and others have been stalled amid opposition from fellow Republicans....
It might help if the Trump administration wasn't filing briefs arguing that the courts should eliminate protections for pre-existing health conditions. But maybe it's like Ukraine. No need for actual health benefits, just the appearance of them to help Dear Leader get re-elected.


https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... unfriendly
Quote:
President Trump on Saturday ripped the "sea wall" that was proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers to protect New York City from damaging natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy...

"A massive 200 Billion Dollar Sea Wall, built around New York to protect it from rare storms, is a costly, foolish & environmentally unfriendly idea that, when needed, probably won’t work anyway," the president tweeted.

"It will also look terrible. Sorry, you’ll just have to get your mops & buckets ready!" he added....
So a seawall recommended by the Army Corp of Engineers is stupid, according to the Stable Genius and Expert in Everything.
And his is precious Wall is, of course, totally sensible and effective and not environmentally unfriendly at all. The last I heard, they were building it in national wildlife refuges, so far, because they didn't have to fight court battles over eminent domain, and they were trying to design ways to keep the Wall from drowning a lot of animals when the Rio Grande floods. The article also suggests that Fish and Wildlife Service employees are afraid to speak out against the Wall, for fear of losing their jobs. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-envir ... to-protect




https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ost-report
Quote:
Andrew Peek, the head of European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council (NSC), has left his post three months after he started, people familiar with the situation told Bloomberg on Saturday evening.

Sources told the publication that Peek was escorted from the White House on Friday.

Earlier on Saturday, Axios reported that Peek had been placed on administrative leave pending a security-related investigation....

Peek's two predecessors, Tim Morrison and Fiona Hill, both testified during the House's impeachment proceedings against President Trump....



This isn't "keeping the focus on the records." It's censorship.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing ... to-to-blur
Quote:
The National Archives acknowledged this week that it altered a photograph of the Women’s March, which took place the day after President Trump’s inauguration in 2017, to blur some signs held by marchers that were critical of the president.

Among the alterations are the blotting out of the word “Trump” in a placard that reads “God Hates Trump” and the blurring of the same word in another sign that reads “Trump & GOP — Hands Off Women.” Words on other signs referencing female anatomy were also altered....

“As a non-partisan, non-political federal agency, we blurred references to the President’s name on some posters, so as not to engage in current political controversy,” Archives spokeswoman Miriam Kleiman said in a statement to The Washington Post. ... Modifying the image was an attempt on our part to keep the focus on the records,” Kleiman added.

Devin Nunes - who sued a parody cow, among others - seems to be trying to sue his way out of the reports that he's tied to Trump's thugs and their activities in Ukraine:
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4788 ... d-shove-it
Quote:
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) on Friday dismissed what he said was the threat of a lawsuit from fellow Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), telling a lawyer for Nunes to “shove it.”

The Democrat shared on Twitter the first page of a letter sent by Nunes’s counsel and dated Dec. 31 in which the lawyer cited the right to maintain an "unimpaired reputation."...

Lieu hinted in his response that the threat centered on his comments tying Nunes to Lev Parnas, a Soviet-born businessman and former associate of President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani who is at the heart of the impeachment proceedings.
Perhaps Nunes should have thought of his "unimpaired" reputation before he got involved with Trump? https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/ ... mpeachment
Quote:
Text messages point to Rep. Devin Nunes in Ukraine scheme at heart of Trump impeachment
As should the rest of the Republicans in Congress.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Mon 20 Jan , 2020 3:10 pm
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https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4 ... heir-sworn
Quote:
A political action committee founded by George Conway and other conservatives dedicated to helping make President Trump a one-term president has released an ad seeking to remind Republican senators of their “sworn oaths” to uphold the Constitution ahead of the president’s impeachment trial in the upper chamber.

In the ad, which the Lincoln Project dropped Friday, the group accuses Trump of thinking he’s “above the law” and believing “he’s untouchable” before it takes aim at some of the president’s Republican allies in the Senate....

The ad then urges viewers to sign on to a petition demanding that the GOP-led Senate conduct a fair impeachment trial while a 2008 clip of comments Vice President Pence made while serving in Congress plays in the background....

A webpage for the petition calls on the Senate to conduct a fair impeachment trial and uphold “their sworn oaths to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.’”
"Takes aim at" basically means that they play video of what Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham et al. said about protecting Trump, plus one of Pence demonstrating how he has completely changed his tune about impeachments since comments he made in 2008.

Lincoln project petition (it's a quick and easy one to sign and not obnoxious in fund-raising. A screen comes up after you sign, asking if you'll donate, and that's it.):
https://lincolnproject.us/landing/fair-trial/



https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... am-hard-to
Quote:
Attorney George Conway, husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway and a frequent critic of President Trump, knocked Trump in an op-ed on Sunday after it was recently revealed that Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz would be joining his legal defense team for his upcoming impeachment trial in the Senate....

... And he’s wont to make off-the-wall arguments,” Conway continued, adding: “Dershowitz’s recent assertion that the Supreme Court could order the Senate not to conduct an impeachment trial illustrates the point. Not only is that claim indefensible — it’s also ridiculous.”...

“As if that were not enough, in the Clinton case, Starr argued that Clinton had committed an impeachable offense by blocking witness testimony and documents. Oops,” he continued....

He also took further aim at Trump in the op-ed while breaking down how Trump’s “unimpressive” legal team – which includes Pam Bondi, Robert Ray and Jane Raskin, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and attorney Jay Sekulow – came to be assembled.

“President Trump, whose businesses and now campaign have left a long trail of unpaid bills behind them, has never discriminated when it comes to stiffing people who work for him. That includes lawyers — which is part of the reason he found the need to make some curious last-minute tweaks to his team,” he wrote....

... One major Manhattan firm I know had once been forced to eat bills for millions in bond work it once did for Trump. No doubt other members of the legal community knew of other examples.”

...“There was the fact that he would be an erratic client who’d never take reasonable direction — direction as in shut up and stop tweeting. Firms also understood that taking on Trump would kill their recruiting efforts: Top law students of varying political stripes who might be willing, even eager, to join a firm that provides pro bono representation to murderers on death row, want nothing to do with Trump.”...

A different view of Trump's "defense"
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... ns/605227/
Quote:
....the president isn’t fundamentally making a legal case here. His arguments are that his phone call was “perfect,” that there’s a “deep state” conspiracy against him, and that impeachment is an effort to overturn an election. You don’t need good lawyers to make such silly arguments. You need lawyers who will yell untruths loudly, lawyers whose very presence will argue the us-against-them nature of the president’s defense.

And this is a group of people who do just that. Just by being there, they will make the president feel good, feel validated. Their presence will give expression to his anger, in the same way that Brett Kavanaugh’s tirade against the Senate Judiciary Committee reportedly delighted Trump.

For this reason, the contradiction of choosing Starr to argue in favor of a hyper-aggressive vision of executive privilege and against conviction on the basis of obstruction of justice isn’t a problem, just like Dershowitz’s lazy argumentation and Cipollone’s hyperventilating outrage aren’t problems, either. They’re the whole point....
Quote:
...the flip side of Trump’s insistence on his own preeminence is his grasping need for other people to reaffirm him. And so the president’s defense, the argument and the team alike, has another purpose: it’s a message to Republican senators. It says to each of them that no, the White House will not make a factual argument on the merits of the case—not a real one, anyway. And no, it will not make a real legal argument either. It, rather, will announce that, per Orwell, two plus two equals five. And it will demand of the senators that they get in line to endorse that proposition, preferably on television where the president can see. It will be a failure of loyalty if they are not willing to do this. And they will be subject to retaliation....
So the question is : Will they be more afraid of Dear Leader? Or of what will happen to their Senate seats and future political careers if everyone gets to see them simultaneously kiss Trump's ass and kiss the truth good-bye? And the more evidence is introduced to the impeachment trial, the harder it will be for them to make excuses.






https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... cs/604978/
Quote:
On a debate stage during the 2016 Republican primary, Donald Trump explained why he’d given money to Democratic politicians: “I give to many people,” he said. “Before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me.”

Trump has embraced this style of quid pro quo politics throughout his business career, and from his perch in the White House, he now encourages it in others. Such a transaction—an investigation in exchange for military aid—lies at the heart of the impeachment trial.

Like oligarchs in the former Soviet Union, the Trump family accrued wealth by controlling a highly valuable national resource with the permission of the governing class: New York real estate. And they understood that maintaining and growing that wealth meant ingratiating themselves with successive generations of New York politicians. All New York real-estate developers do this. The Trumps did it to an extreme degree.

Although large corporations have long used donations to sway officials, what distinguished the Trumps was their unusually transactional understanding of contributions as a straight-up fee for service. Multiple high-level New York elected officials told me that they were on the receiving end of both large donations and heated phone calls from Trump, demanding to know why he hadn’t yet received a tax abatement, or a zoning change, or another favor....
And does this sound familiar?
Quote:
Even though the committee found that Fred and other developers had engaged in “outright misrepresentation,” the businessmen suffered no repercussions. This was the first investigation of many that condemned Trump-family business practices, but resulted in no consequences. ...

Fred was emboldened. He continued his financial chicanery, and passed his techniques along to his son. ..
Quote:
Trump appears to have passed the lessons he learned from his father along to his children. In the mid-aughts, Trump gave his eldest children, Ivanka and Don Jr., oversight of the Trump SoHo condo and hotel. Not long after they cut the ribbon on the 43-story project in Lower Manhattan, the two, along with their father, were accused in a federal civil suit of “an ongoing pattern of fraudulent misrepresentations and deceptive sales practices.” ...

When prosecutors found emails showing that Trump’s adult children knowingly defrauded potential buyers, Donald Trump’s team hired a set of well-connected lawyers to make the case that the younger Trumps’ statements were mere puffery—harmless exaggeration. Their argument didn’t work. Then Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Marc Kasowitz, who had been one of Vance’s most generous donors, met with the D.A. Three months later, Vance overruled his own prosecutors and closed the case. After that, Kasowitz gave even more money. Years later, when my colleagues and I at WNYC published a story along with ProPublica and The New Yorker about the case, Vance gave the money back....
The big difference, this time, is that Trump is seizing powers that don't belong to him, using those powers to threaten another country as a representative of the U.S. (not just himself) for his own personal benefit, and meddling with international affairs in a way that is not to our benefit, but very much to Putin's.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 23 Jan , 2020 2:05 pm
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See a problem, find a dumb solution:
https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... nant-women
Quote:
The State Department plans to impose travel restrictions on pregnant women visiting the U.S., the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

The move is an effort to curve “birth tourism,” in which foreign-born women visit the U.S. specifically to give birth. Sources within the State Department shared a draft of the new regulations with AP, which revealed that women who are pregnant and otherwise eligible for U.S. tourist visas will have to prove that they are visiting the U.S. for a reason other than to have their child....

btw, Trump ought to be quite familiar with this:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/russians- ... s-citizens
Quote:
Russians Flock to Trump Properties to Give Birth to U.S. Citizens

While the president rails against children of undocumented immigrants, wealthy Russians rent his condos—at huge costs—so they can have American kids



https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... e-of-power
Quote:
Barr wrote 2018 memo contradicting Trump's claim that abuse of power is not impeachable
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ouse-makes
Quote:
President Trump on Wednesday shattered his previous record for most tweets in a day since taking office, tweeting more than 130 times while House Democrats made their opening arguments in his impeachment trial....
And I think The Atlantic nailed it. Trump's lawyers don't even seem to be trying to argue the impeachment case on its merits, just spewing lies and rhetoric to bamboozle people. And, of course, give cover to the Republican senators so they can declare Trump did nothing wrong.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... l-plaudits
Quote:
'Emotion' from Trump's legal team wins presidential plaudits
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/479 ... -by-senate
Quote:
Slightly more than half of the adults surveyed, 51 percent, said that the upper chamber should remove Trump from office, while 46 percent said he should stay in the White House.
So far. I assume this includes people who have barely been paying attention to political news and don't know much detail.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 24 Jan , 2020 8:40 pm
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Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4797 ... d-evidence
Quote:
Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano on Thursday penned an op-ed arguing that the articles of impeachment and the House managers' case against President Trump provide “ample and uncontradicted” evidence to support the Senate removing him from office.

“What is required for removal of the president? A demonstration of presidential commission of high crimes and misdemeanors, of which in Trump's case the evidence is ample and uncontradicted,” he wrote....

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... hment-case
Quote:
The first week of President Trump’s impeachment trial has been met with regular assertions from GOP senators — as well as outside allies — that there is nothing to see here.

Whether their personal lack of excitement is real or confected, it seems to clearly have a tactical purpose: to encourage voters to pay little heed to what is going on. ...

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) tweeted Thursday that she was reading a couple of books during the trial, sharing the titles with her followers....

Even though the debate around impeachment had fallen primarily along very partisan lines, there have been some exceptions.

One Republican senator who bucked the Republican “boring” talking point Wednesday was Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). who suggested that he has, in fact, learned new things from the trial.

“I've learned a lot. Everybody has. Senators didn't know the case. They really didn't. We didn't stay glued to the television. We haven't read the transcripts,” Kennedy told reporters.“If you poll the United States Senate, 9 out of 10 senators will tell you they have not read a transcript of the proceedings in the House. And the 10th senator who says he has is lying,” the senator added.
So maybe they should actually do their jobs?
I do have some sympathy with the boredom. It sounds like the Democrats are being repetitious, in the hopes of getting through to people who tune in to the televised trial at different times of the day. But there's a cure for that boredom: subpoena the rest of the witnesses including those who Trump refused to let testify.


Nah, they'd rather just quit and make sure no one hears anything else that could be incriminating to Trump.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/479 ... -witnesses
Quote:
Senate Republican leaders feel confident they will have the votes to block the Democrats’ attempt to subpoena additional witnesses and documents in President Trump’s impeachment trial, which could allow the proceeding to wrap up by the end of next week.

While the House impeachment managers have one more day to lay out their case against the president, GOP leaders don’t think there are four Republican votes to subpoena additional evidence to extend the trial, according to multiple Senate GOP sources...

Oops. Too late for that. The Party of Trump may not let anyone introduce new evidence into the trial but we're hearing things anyway. If these people had the slightest bit of integrity, they'd be clamoring to hear more and not shutting their ears .
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... tch-ouster
Quote:
Newly surfaced audio appears to capture President Trump telling associates he wanted then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch fired during a private April 2018 dinner, ABC News reported Friday.

As described by ABC, the recording appears to capture Trump speaking about Yovanovitch to Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, former associates of the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. The actual audio has not been released.

"Get rid of her!" a voice that appears to be Trump's reportedly says. "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it."...
This just seems odd. Parnas and Fruman had no authority to fire her. And why would Trump say "Take her out" and not "get her fired"?

At a minimum, Trump sounds like a mob boss here.

Quote:
Asked about the report during a trip in Italy on Friday, Vice President Pence declined to comment on the recording, which he said he hadn’t heard, but emphasized that all U.S. ambassadors “serve at the pleasure of the president of the United States.”
So why didn't the president of the United States say "OK, I'll fire her"? instead of telling two thugs "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it."

btw, "the president can fire her any time" is the simple mantra being repeated by all the mindless Trump cultists in response to this news. It seems they can't even come up with a talking point any more.
None of them even seems to be trying to argue that Trump didn't know and wasn't directing these thugs in Ukriane.


EDIT:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/gop-s ... 2020-01-24
Quote:
The Trump administration is getting medieval in the impeachment trial, according to a CBS News report.

“Vote against the President and your head will be on a pike.”

As House Democrats continued to present their opening arguments in the impeachment trial accusing President Trump of abusing his power on Thursday, a Trump confidant told CBS News that Republican senators were warned about voting against the commander-in-chief....

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Sat 25 Jan , 2020 9:51 pm
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-adm ... nt-inquiry
Quote:
President Trump appeared to admit Wednesday that he is comfortable with how his impeachment trial is playing out in the Senate—because the White House is withholding evidence about his dealings with Ukraine. “Honestly, we have all the material. They don’t have the material,” the president told reporters in Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum, regarding the documents the White House has refused to turn over. “When we released that conversation, all hell broke out with the Democrats because they say, wait a minute, this is much different than shifty Schiff told us, so we’re doing very well. I got to watch enough, I thought our team did a very good job,”..

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Mon 27 Jan , 2020 5:34 pm
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Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ly-ukraine
Quote:
Newly released emails between the office of Mike Pompeo and NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly cast further doubt on the secretary of state’s extraordinary claim that the journalist lied to him before a contentious interview.

Pompeo, who reportedly subjected Kelly to an expletive-ridden rant in his private living room after an interview during which he was asked about his role in the Ukraine scandal, issued a statement in which he accused the reporter of violating “the basic rules of journalism and decency”....

...emails quoted by the Washington Post show Kelly clearly expressing that Ukraine would be discussed...

In a tweet on Sunday, Trump agreed with comments that labelled the station, which reaches 120 million monthly listeners, a “big-government, Democrat party propaganda operation” and asked: “Why does NPR still exist?”

“A very good question!” the president responded....

Pompeo was subjected to rigorous questioning on the administration’s handling of Iran and the Ukraine scandal last Friday by Kelly, a veteran foreign policy reporter. He grew audibly frustrated as the interview continued....
Can't let NPR exist if it doesn't go easy on one of Trump's favorite defenders?




I wouldn't care about the following, except that Trump has given this loon a prominent role as an advisor to the US government on its push to promote evangelical religious views in government affairs.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ter-sermon
Quote:
Televangelist Paula White, who also serves as President Trump's spiritual adviser, took to Twitter to clarify remarks she made in a sermon calling for “all satanic pregnancies to miscarry” after a portion of her address went viral and sparked backlash....


White sought to clarify her remarks after the liberal advocacy group Right Wing Watch resurfaced a clip of her sermon on Twitter that has racked up more than 8 million views in the past several days.

"We declare any strange winds — any strange winds that have been sent to hurt the church, sent to hurt this nation, sent against the president, sent against myself, sent against others — we break it by the superior blood of Jesus right now," she said in the sermon earlier this month.

"In the name of Jesus, we command all satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now,” she also prayed. “We declare that anything that has been conceived in satanic wombs will miscarry, it will not be able to carry forth any plan of destruction, any plan of harm."...


https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... to-testify
Quote:
The Democrat controlled House never even asked John Bolton to testify. It is up to them, not up to the Senate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2020

The president made the claim on Twitter hours after The New York Times reported that Bolton wrote in a draft copy of his new book that Trump told him in August that he wanted to suspend military assistance to Ukraine until the country helped with investigations into Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden....
Trump doesn't even remember the facts of his own impeachment?
Quote:
House investigators did ask Bolton to testify during the impeachment inquiry last fall, but he declined to testify on instructions from the White House and said he would only testify pursuant to a subpoena if a court weighed in on the issue. The House never subpoenaed Bolton, likely to avoid a drawn-out court battle.

The White House successfully blocked a handful of high-level current and former officials from testifying, many of whom were issued subpoenas, on the grounds that they are immune from compelled congressional testimony as top aides to Trump....
Yeah, the Democrats dropped the ball. But Trump is the one obstructing the testimony. And I doubt he's doing that because it will exonerate him.



https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... peace-plan
Quote:
The promised unveiling of a secret plan for peace in the Middle East is being overshadowed by charges of cheap politics and collusion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief political opponent Benny Gantz are expected to arrive in Washington this week to preview details of the Trump administration’s long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

The meeting will allow President Trump to shift the conversation away from his Senate impeachment trial and — depending on the details of the plan — play into his pitch as the American leader who has delivered the most for Israel....

“The timing is very suspect,” said David Makovsky, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who worked on the peace process as a State Department official in the Obama administration. “It’s the very day that Netanyahu is facing the start of a Knesset proceeding that will decide if he has immunity in the face of three corruption indictments. That cannot be coincidental.”...

"It’s a political stunt. I just don't see what they're going to be able to talk about because the Palestinians have already dismissed it,” said one former State Department official who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations. "It’s probably just going to be another effort to highlight and show how committed to Israeli security the administration is and how it’s going to shape its conception of a peace process that’s all about securing the state of Israel.”...
It doesn't sound like the Palestinians have been consulted at all on this "peace" plan, just Israel. Kushner had a major part in it.
Trump is going to release it tomorrow.


btw, our Minister of Propaganda is unhappy that the media is focused on the impeachment trial and not the "great things that are happening for the country."
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... t-wont-let
Quote:
.@PressSec Stephanie Grisham ripped media's "obsession" with impeachment; believe POTUS is "guilty of everything"; and says Trump is right that he doesn't know Lev Parnas & removing Marie Yovanovitch "is in line with everything he has a right to do" https://t.co/p955S23MoC
— #MediaBuzz (@MediaBuzzFNC) January 26, 2020
The best part of this is that the tape of Trump meeting Parnas and ranting "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it." was out before January 26. I suppose we're not supposed to believe our own eyes and ears any more, according to Ms. Grishman (who, as far as I know, has never even held an official press conference, so I'm not entirely sure why we're paying her salary.)

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 28 Jan , 2020 6:15 pm
Offline
 
Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/us/p ... -barr.html
Quote:
John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, privately told Attorney General William P. Barr last year that he had concerns that President Trump was effectively granting personal favors to the autocratic leaders of Turkey and China, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton.

Mr. Barr responded by pointing to a pair of Justice Department investigations of companies in those countries and said he was worried that Mr. Trump had created the appearance that he had undue influence over what would typically be independent inquiries, according to the manuscript. Backing up his point, Mr. Barr mentioned conversations Mr. Trump had with the leaders, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and President Xi Jinping of China....

Mr. Bolton recounted his discussion with Mr. Barr in a draft of an unpublished book manuscript that he submitted nearly a month ago to the White House for review. People familiar with the manuscript described its contents on the condition of anonymity....
Barr denies it. No surprise.



GOP senator says - let's hear from Bolton's book, but let's not let the public hear what we hear. At least, not until the book is published. I agree with Schiff. What a bunch of clowns:
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/480 ... classified
Quote:
...Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) on Monday night said the White House should give senators access to Bolton’s draft book, which claims President Trump linked security assistance for Ukraine with an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden. Lankford said the manuscript could be viewed in the Senate’s Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).

The highly secure room located in the basement level of the Capitol Visitors Center is usually used for classified briefings or to review sensitive intelligence and national security documents....

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... ter-101836
Quote:
At the end for Richard Nixon, after all the mounting evidence in the Watergate scandal, after both special prosecutors, after all the White House indictments, after the guilty pleas, after the obstruction efforts fell apart, after all the court fights, after all the damaging revelations in outlets like the Washington Post, Time and the Los Angeles Times, after all the impeachment hearings, it all came down to Barry Goldwater.

It’s easy, nearly 50 years after Watergate, to forget that Nixon’s ignominious departure from the White House was hardly a foregone conclusion. The Republican Party had stuck closely with Nixon even through the darkest days of the Watergate scandal; even as its lawmakers whispered behind closed doors about his guilt and even as public opinion polls showed Nixon dragging down their party, they had toughed it out—past the indictments of his top aides, past the courts batting back one attempt at obstruction after another, even after Nixon’s attacks on and ultimate firing of the special prosecutor targeting him.

It wasn’t until August 6, 1974, at the regular Senate Republican Conference lunch that Barry Goldwater fumed to his colleagues: “There are only so many lies you can take, and now there has been one too many. Nixon should get his ass out of the White House—today!”

Hours later, he ventured to the White House to tell Nixon to resign.

And, amazingly, Nixon did. For Nixon knew that when Goldwater threw in the towel, it really was over.

Examining this critical turning point in Nixon’s presidency and the arc of the larger Watergate scandal carries with it today important lessons about the impeachment trial President Donald Trump is now undergoing. It also raises the all-important question of whether there’s a Barry Goldwater moment ahead in Trump’s future. Is there even a figure in the GOP left today to carry such a message to a White House under siege? Is there even a figure in the GOP whom Trump respects enough to listen to?...
It's an interesting historical read - especially for those of either too young to remember Nixon's trial or not yet born - but I don't imagine anyone would be surprised their conclusion is "no."





https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... ompeo-trip
Quote:
The State Department has removed an NPR reporter from a group of journalists traveling this week to Europe and Central Asia with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, days after Pompeo publicly feuded with the news outlet following a tense interview.

An organization representing correspondents covering the State Department made the announcement in a statement on Monday. The group says it believes the removal of Michele Kelemen from the press pool was a response to the flare-up between Pompeo and her NPR colleague Mary Louise Kelly.

“We can only conclude that the State Department is retaliating against National Public Radio as a result of this exchange,” Shaun Tandon, president of the State Department Correspondents' Association, said in the statement....
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... r-reporter
Quote:
Donald Trump has praised Mike Pompeo for his treatment of a prominent radio journalist, who the secretary of state reportedly swore at and called a liar after she asked questions about Ukraine....

Mary Louise Kelly, the host of a news programme on National Public Radio...had asked Pompeo about his failure to defend the former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was abruptly ousted from her post on Trump’s order last May.

After the interview, Pompeo summoned Kelly to his private quarters in the state department and launched into a foul-mouthed tirade.... After Kelly went on air to talk about the encounter, Pompeo issued an extraordinary statement through the state department calling her a liar.

However, emails between Kelly and state department officials showed that she, not Pompeo, had told the truth when she said she had notified his office that she would raise the subject of Ukraine....


...At a White House appearance on Tuesday which was supposed to mark the launch of a US plan for the Middle East, Trump praised Pompeo ...

“That was very impressive, Mike. That reporter couldn’t have done too good a job on you yesterday [sic]. I think you did a good job on her, actually,” the president said, drawing laughter from officials in the room....
Personally, I'd like to know the names of those sycophantic officials too. Because they, Pompeo and Trump are all a disgrace to their offices.


https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -interview
Quote:
President Trump on Tuesday lashed out at Fox News for having Democrats on air, predicting it would mark "the beginning of the end" for the network.

The president bemoaned that Fox was "trying to be so politically correct" by having Democrats on air following an appearance on "America's Newsroom" from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

"So, what the hell has happened to @FoxNews. Only I know!" Trump tweeted, turning his scorn to two news anchors who have challenged favorable commentary on the president.

"Chris Wallace and others should be on Fake News CNN or MSDNC," he continued. "How’s Shep Smith doing? Watch, this will be the beginning of the end for Fox, just like the other two which are dying in the ratings. Social Media is great!"...
"Only I know"? And that reference to Shephard Smith seems like a threat to Chris Wallace. Don't forget that Smith left very shortly and abruptly, after Barr met with Murdoch. Which happened after Trump said Fox "doesn't deliver for America any more" and criticized Smith (and Andrew Napolitano). The official story from Fox is that Smith asked to be let out of his contract. What I've always wondered is: Even if that's technically true -why? Was he being told that the alternative to stop criticizing Trump?
https://apnews.com/6b9f26f305ba4846b35bd8aa165d9959
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/1 ... ews-044724



Shouldn't come as any surprise. Just reinforces everything we've heard so far.:
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4802 ... n-briefing
Quote:
Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said a classified briefing Tuesday on U.S. policy toward Iran revealed no new information to clarify the Trump administration’s justification for the drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Most of the criticism came from committee Democrats, but Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also said he didn't "think there was anything presented today that was new." Paul previously fumed that a full Senate briefing on Iran was “less than satisfying.”...



Trump and Netanyahu can commiserate and coordinate their strategies? (Though maybe Israel will actually put its crooked leader in prison? ) :
https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... g-immunity
Quote:
...Tuesday marks the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister has been indicted on criminal charges. Netanyahu is accused of accepting $264,000 worth of bribes, which reportedly came in the form of lavish gifts such as expensive bottles of champagne and cigars.

Netanyahu, a staunch Trump ally, has denied wrongdoing and said he would seek immunity from the charges. Netanyahu could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of bribery and a maximum three-year term for fraud and breach of trust.

This is dead on arrival, of course, even if it wasn't extremely one sided. As expected, it's just a gift to Netanyahu. It gives Israel the land it invaded and isn't entitled to, under international law.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ ... 35083.html
Quote:
US President Donald Trump unveiled the long-delayed US-Israeli plan on Tuesday amid repeated rejections by Palestinians. ...

The 50-page political outline recognises Israeli sovereignty over major illegal settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank, something to which the Palestinians will almost certainly object.

The plan calls for a four-year freeze in new Israeli settlement construction, during which time details of a comprehensive agreement would be negotiated....

The officials added that the plan calls for the creation of the State of Palestine. It was previously unclear whether the plan would abandon the two-state solution.

Trump said Jerusalem will remain Israel's "undivided capital". But he also said under the plan, "eastern Jerusalem" would serve as a capital of a State of Palestine. He did not elaborate on what he meant by eastern Jerusalem. ...
But none of this should come as any surprise. Trump already gave Netanyahu everything he wanted, in return for absolutely nothing in the way of concessions. What a negotiator. :roll:
Quote:
In addition to moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, the Trump administration has also slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians and recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Israel-occupied Golan Heights. ...

The Trump administration in November reversed decades of US policy when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington no longer regarded Israeli settlements on occupied West Bank land as inconsistent with international law.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/ ... 30043.html
Quote:
The architects behind the US plan for Middle East peace
Quote:
There are at least three things that Jared Kushner, David Friedman and Jason Greenblatt all have in common. One is that they are all Orthodox Jews, and another is that prior to their appointment as officials in the Trump administration, all three men had no prior political or diplomatic experience.

The third is that this triad has connections to Israel, or more specifically, to the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank....

The plan, which has been dubbed the "deal of the century", shies away from decades of US foreign policy in the Middle East, where previous administrations preferred a two-state solution as the most practical political settlement regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict....
Yeah, the next one is biased. But it's also pretty accurate - Israel gets all the good land and control, the Palestinians are offered a bit of desert and pseudo-autonomy in exchange - and contains some quotes from former American officials who think this "peace plan" is garbage.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... p-reaction
Quote:
...As the president glided through its highlights, the White House audience of American and Israeli officials could barely contain their delight until they rose as one in a standing ovation when Trump announced that the Jewish state will retain control over an undivided Jerusalem. That put paid to the longstanding acceptance that at least part of the east of the city would be a Palestinian capital.

And so it went on, with Israel to get sovereignty over the Jordan Valley – the intended breadbasket of a future Palestinian state – and the principal Jewish settlements, widely considered illegal under international law. In compensation for loss of West Bank territory, the Palestinians would get a large chunk of desert linked to Gaza near the Egyptian border.

What would remain under the plan, spearheaded by the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is a series of cantons linked by bridges and tunnels but entirely surrounded by Israeli sovereign territory – with the exception of a small strip of Gaza. Israel is also to retain “security control” over the entire area west of the West Bank border with Jordan which appeared to suggest it would have a military presence inside whatever is left of a future Palestine....




EDIT: Or maybe this plan was just an excuse for Israel to (formally) annex the parts of the West Bank that would be most valuable to them and their illegal "settlers" AKA occupiers. The ones who take over land, with the blessing of Israel's right wing government, then bulldoze nearby Palestinians' homes for a security zone. And put up long security walls that separate Palestinian farmers from their lands, making them travel for hours to get to fields that are right by their homes. Or take over the water that used to irrigate that land. We've been turning a blind eye to all that stuff for decades and vetoing any UN resolution condemning it, even if that resolution is supported by practically every other country including our European allies.
https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... exation-of
Quote:
Israel’s government will vote this weekend on annexing 30 percent of the West Bank...Jonathan Urich, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted that the vote is expected to take place Sunday.

The vote will consider formally exerting Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements in the territory and parts of the Jordan Valley...

Despite the upcoming vote, Netanyahu’s government signaled annexation may not need to be approved by the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and that only the cabinet needs to sign off on the plan....

The announcement of the vote came shortly after Trump’s unveiling of his peace[sic] plan, which would allow Israel to annex the settlements and the Jordan Valley, which sits at the border between Jordan and the West Bank....
And no doubt our government will simply roll over and say "Yes, sir" if they do. Basically, might is right.

Yeah, this will lead to peace.


The thing is, the Democratic party also gave Trump the opening for this. Nancy Pelosi and many American politicians just pander to Israel, no matter what. I expect Trump and the pro-settler architects of the so-called peace plan were expecting that. :
https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... peace-plan
Quote:
On one end, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the Trump administration’s proposed resolution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict provides some areas of “common ground” for Democrats to get behind and support.

“If there’s a possibility for peace, we want to give it a chance,” Pelosi said following the president’s unveiling of the plan at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu....

“On the first read of these two pages, there appears to be a basis for negotiations,” Pelosi said. “So let us be optimistic and hopeful, and let us pray for peace.”...

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said his initial viewing of the two-page summary “gives me some hope.”...

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and International Terrorism... was encouraged by key aspects of the plan.

“Certainly, it seems to preserve that possibility of a two-state solution,” Deutch said. “The president spoke openly about a Palestinian state. He also spoke at length about meeting Israel’s security needs. I believe and hope conversation can continue and lead to negotiations between the parties.”...
Though there are a few people, like Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) who saw this for what it is and condemned it. I'd be quite surprised if Bernie Sanders doesn't agree with Warren and Van Hollen despite being Jewish.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Wed 29 Jan , 2020 9:11 pm
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Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/2 ... ial-108698
Quote:
President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that his conversations with John Bolton are entirely classified, setting up a new line of defense against potentially devastating testimony from the former national security adviser should he be called as a witness in the ongoing Senate impeachment trial...

Bolton, Trump tweeted, was “fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now.” The president claimed his former aide had “‘begged’ me for a non-Senate approved job” and then “IMMEDIATELY [wrote] a nasty & untrue book.”

“All Classified National Security. Who would do this?” Trump concluded....

Bolton’s attorney said he turned over a hard copy of the draft to the National Security Council late last month to ensure it did not inadvertently share classified information. An NSC spokesperson said the book remains under “pre-publication review” and that “no White House personnel outside NSC have reviewed the manuscript.”...
https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-politics ... rrent-form
Quote:
The White House on Wednesday objected to the publication of a book written by former White House national security adviser John Bolton that depicts President Donald Trump as having played a central role in a pressure campaign on Ukraine.

A letter from the White House's National Security Council to Bolton's attorney said the manuscript appeared to contain "significant amounts of classified information" and could not be published in its current form. Some material was considered top secret, according to the letter, which was seen by Reuters.

"Under federal law and the nondisclosure agreements your client signed as a condition for gaining access to classified information, the manuscript may not be published or otherwise disclosed without the deletion of this classified information," the letter said. ...
Total and complete bullshit. They expect us to believe that Bolton wrote a book he wanted to have published, included a bunch of top secret material, then sent it for review?
I'd be willing to bet this process is ordinarily just rubber-stamp stuff and Bolton knew quite well what he could and couldn't include. In a normal administration.
(Bolton is not a novice at this. He's already published several books.)

No doubt it's top secret because it incriminates King Donald.



https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/480 ... -witnesses
Quote:
It was clear to Senate Republicans on Wednesday after a morning meeting between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that the question of having additional witnesses is settled, and the Senate will vote Friday to wrap up the impeachment trial of President Trump.

There was no discussion of witnesses at a Senate GOP lunch meeting Wednesday, which was held a couple hours after McConnell and Murkowski met for about 20 to 30 minutes.

That was seen as a sign by several senators that Democrats will fail to convince four Republicans to join them in calling for witnesses. Without a vote to hear from witnesses, the trial could end as soon as Friday....
https://coloradosun.com/2020/01/29/cory ... ald-trump/
Quote:
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner said Wednesday that he doesn’t think more witnesses and documents are needed in the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump, signaling that later this week he will oppose an effort to continue the proceedings and introduce new information and testimony, including from former national security adviser John Bolton....

Asked Wednesday about whether the revelations about Bolton’s book change his thinking at all, Gardner sidestepped the question.

“We’re being asked whether or not to remove the president of the United States for the first time in our country’s history,” Gardner said. “We’re going to continue the questions today, but it is a high burden to remove the duly elected president of the United States for the first time in our country’s history.”...
Gardner was one of the few senators the Democrats were hoping might agree to hear from additional witnesses.

But we all knew the Republicans have zero integrity and would acquit Trump. They told us so, from the start. This Senate will go down in history and not in a good way.



I've never been one to worship the founding fathers as wise in all things, but I suspect they would be appalled at how blind obedience to political party has nearly destroyed their great experiment.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ ... 180965083/
Quote:
Inside the Founding Fathers’ Debate Over What Constituted an Impeachable Offense
If not for three sparring Virginia delegates, Congress’s power to remove a president would be even more limited than it already is
Quote:
The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia was winding down, the draft of the United States’ supreme law almost finished, and George Mason, the author of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, was becoming alarmed. Over the course of the convention, the 61-year-old had come to fear the powerful new government his colleagues were creating. Mason thought the president could become a tyrant as oppressive as George III.

So on September 8, 1787, he rose to ask his fellow delegates a question of historic importance. Why, Mason asked, were treason and bribery the only grounds in the draft Constitution for impeaching the president? Treason, he warned, wouldn’t include “attempts to subvert the Constitution.”

After a sharp back-and-forth with fellow Virginian James Madison, Mason came up with another category of impeachable offenses: “other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Americans have debated the meaning of this decidedly open-ended phrase ever since. But its inclusion, as well as the guidance the Founders left regarding its interpretation, offers more protection against a dangerous executive power than many realize....

....their ultimate agreement—that a president should be impeached for abuses of power that subvert the Constitution, the integrity of government, or the rule of law—remains essential to the debates we’re having today, 230 years later.
.
It's pretty clear they were concerned about issues of justice and corruption, not the niceties of procedure or the law that many Republicans are arguing as a "defense":
Quote:
.“Shall any man be above justice?” Mason asked. “Shall that man be above it who can commit the most extensive injustice?” A presidential candidate might bribe the electors to gain the presidency, Mason suggested. “Shall the man who has practiced corruption, and by that means procured his appointment in the first instance, be suffered to escape punishment by repeating his guilt?”

Madison argued that the Constitution needed a provision “for defending the community against the incapacity, negligence, or perfidy of the Chief Magistrate.” Waiting to vote him out of office in a general election wasn’t good enough. “He might pervert his administration into a scheme of peculation”— embezzlement—“or oppression,” Madison warned. “He might betray his trust to foreign powers.”

Randolph agreed on both these fronts. “The Executive will have great opportunities of abusing his power,” he warned, “particularly in time of war, when the military force, and in some respects the public money, will be in his hands.” ...
Quote:
Historians debate whether the Founders got the balance on impeachment just right or settled for a vague standard that’s often too weak to stop an imperial president. ...
If the senate acquits Trump, with all his blatant abuses, clear incompetence, and open contempt for the norms and standards of the presidency, we might as well just admit that there are no longer any restraints on what a president can do. And that they've given Trump the green light to do whatever he chooses to influence the upcoming election.
To stop him at the elections, we need an informed electorate. Have we got one? I have my doubts.



No further explanation on this:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ ... 25505.html
Quote:
Donald Trump's Middle East plan is the last chance for the Palestinians to have a state, Jared Kushner, the US president's son-in-law and special adviser, has said.
Does that mean he knows Israel/Netanyahu will annex what they want in Sunday's vote, if the Palestinians don't agree to this "peace" plan that gives Israel everything they want and lets the Palestinians have a few leftovers?

From a news source in Israel:
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premiu ... -1.8467901
Quote:
Sorry, Jared, This Time It’s Not the Palestinians Who Have 'Screwed Up,' It’s You
The article is behind a paywall (together with plenty of other criticism of the plan) but ouch, that's got to sting.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 30 Jan , 2020 4:45 pm
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I posted an old essay (which I just saw) from a long-time, widely respected Republican staffer in another thread. One quote struck me as very relevant to the current Congressional GOP fiasco and I decided to post it here:
Quote:
It should have been evident to clear-eyed observers that the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe. This trend has several implications, none of them pleasant.
And this was from 2011.

Trump just took advantage of it.

https://truthout.org/articles/goodbye-t ... -the-cult/

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 31 Jan , 2020 2:35 pm
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This just amused me, so I decided to pass it on. It seems our taxes are paying for a vanity wall with big gates that will stand open for months on end.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -floods-in
Quote:
U.S. Border Patrol officials told the Post that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) engineers determined that storm gates would be required in rural areas of that portion of the border during monsoon season and would have to be left open for months at a time.

The gates would both prevent floods and stop the wall from collapsing under the pressure of rising waters. Unlike the electric-powered gates in some areas, the portions of the wall in rural areas will have to be moved manually and patrolled by Border Patrol officers while they’re open. ...
And I assume that, while they're patrolling the gates, people will slip over the wall at other points in these long stretches of empty land. Clever.

And totally appropriate for this administration. They consistently ignore the advice of experts and, guess what, it turns out to be a waste of money and a dumb idea. Who'd have thought that would happen?

Guess the companies building this thing are getting rich, though.


Another WTF moment:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51276323
Quote:
In response to a question on Fox Business News about whether the [coronavirus outbreak in China] outbreak is a risk to the US economy [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross said: "I don't want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease."

"The fact is, it does give business yet another thing to consider when they go through their review of their supply chain... So I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America,"
Does this guy know anything about economics, business or supply chains? Or is he just saying this to promote Trump's fantasy that manufacturing jobs are going to return to the US for no good reason and help Trump's reelection chances?

My personal prediction (admitting I know absolutely nothing about business besides what I hear in the news), is that the economy will take at least a temporary hit, between interruptions to supply chains and panic from investors, but if that doesn't feed into other economic things happening, the coronavirus outbreak will have no long-term effects at all on the economy or on China.

And the internet doomsayers predicting the end of the world from a respiratory virus are getting ridiculous. The estimated death rate in sick people has now dropped to 2%, if we can believe the news reports from China, and it mostly seems to be causing serious cases in the sick and elderly as you'd expect (again, if you can believe the preliminary reports). It will probably drop farther once more information comes out - it's always the most serious cases that get diagnosed first and later we find out about all those people who got infected but didn't even realize it. Sure, this virus is not something to take lightly right now. It's disturbing that there seem to be some serious cases in young, healthy people. And it could end up becoming a pandemic, especially if it starts spreading around in countries that aren't monitoring for it. But it's not the airborne version of ebola either. So far, it looks like a less nasty virus to get than SARS (overall death rate about 14-15%, increasing from 1% in young people to 15% in ages 45-64, and 50% in the elderly, from 2003 WHO data) and much less nasty than MERS.





https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4809 ... land-mines
Quote:
“The President has canceled the Obama Administration’s policy to prohibit United States military forces from employing anti-personnel landmines outside of the Korean Peninsula,” according to a Friday statement from the White House’s Office of the Press Secretary....

The move gets rid of President Obama’s 2014 directive to no longer produce or acquire the anti-personnel land mines outside the Korean Peninsula, where they are used to protect South Korea from any threats from the North.

Obama’s commitment largely followed the 1997 Ottawa Convention. The international agreement banned the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of the weapon, and 164 countries banned the land mines as they are likely to kill and wound civilians. ...




https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/worl ... ghdad.html
Quote:
Protesters Mass in Baghdad, Demanding U.S. Leave Iraq

A national march against the presence of United States forces, organized by a populist Shiite cleric and armed groups with ties to Iran, drew a crowd estimated at 200,000 to 250,000.
6 days later:
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4807 ... ect-troops
Quote:
The United States is working to get the Iraqi government's permission to put Patriot missile defense systems in the country to protect U.S. forces there from possible Iranian attacks, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday....


https://www.defenseone.com/politics/202 ... ys/162735/
Quote:
The watchdog for the federal government’s largest agency said on Tuesday that managers are increasingly retaliating against whistleblowers with impunity, while advocates for those employees told lawmakers individuals are now less likely to speak out against waste and wrongdoing due to President Trump’s reaction to his impeachment.

Officials at the Defense Department are not taking action when the inspector general validates allegations of whistleblower reprisal, Glenn Fine, who is currently performing the duties of the Pentagon’s IG, told a panel of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. ...

“Recently, we’ve seen a disturbing trend of the [Defense Department] disagreeing with the results of our investigation or not taking disciplinary action in whistleblower reprisal cases without adequate or persuasive explanations,” Fine said...
I very much doubt this is just happening in the Defense Department either.


btw, Trump's fawning GOP supporters are spreading the supposed Ukraine whistleblower's name everywhere they can, even repeating it over and over on messageboards faster than people can remove it. Rand Paul was apparently trying to get Justice Roberts to say the name in this mock impeachment trial. I don't have words for people who are this nasty, ugly and corrupt.

I have no idea whether they got it right or just picked a convenient target. And it doesn't matter. The law protects whistleblowers from retaliation and Trump has gotten his supporters to do an end run and find someone for right wingers to target. (this person and their family will have to live in fear of homicidal lunatics for a long time, not to mention just ordinary nastiness from some people.) The message is being sent to anyone who might want to reveal illegal things the Trump administration is doing in secret.

And does anyone besides me wonder what Trump might be doing with all the classified information he now has access to in government files? I imagine there's quite a bit there that could be used for blackmail or vindictive purposes.


EDIT: Despite the risks, someone at the White House seems to be a patriot. More information from Bolton's suppressed book:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/us/p ... raine.html
Quote:
More than two months before he asked Ukraine’s president to investigate his political opponents, President Trump directed John R. Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton.

Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president’s impeachment defense.

Mr. Trump told Mr. Bolton to call Volodymyr Zelensky, who had recently won election as president of Ukraine, to ensure Mr. Zelensky would meet with Mr. Giuliani, who was planning a trip to Ukraine to discuss the investigations that the president sought...
Bolton says he didn't call.
And, if Bolton is telling the truth about these events (very likely IMO), then Cipollone was a witness to the events but still took on the job of defending Trump in the trial. And Mulvaney knew, yet the Senate doesn't want to hear from him either.
It also backs up what Parnas said, that Cipollone (and "everyone") knew, suggesting that he was mostly or completely telling the truth.



The so-called "moderate" senators in the GOP: Trump did it and that's "inappropriate" but we're going to let him get away with it.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/480 ... ppropriate
Quote:
Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio), a prominent Republican moderate, criticized President Trump on Friday for actions “including asking a foreign country to investigate a potential political opponent” that he called “wrong and inappropriate.”

But Portman said in a statement that the conduct did not rise to the level of an impeachable offense and said he would vote against a motion to call for additional witnesses and documents at Trump’s impeachment trial.
Quote:
a similar argument made by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on Thursday, when he criticized Trump for “inappropriate” conduct but said the offense fell short of a high crime or misdemeanor, the constitutional standard for impeachment.
Quote:
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), emerging from a Senate GOP lunch meeting Friday, told reporters: “Lamar speaks for lots and lots of us.”
They had their chance to remove this crook and moron (and I'm sure they realize he is) but chose not to do it. And let him keep doing it. With their eyes open.

At least this impeachment trial has been good for one thing: letting us see that pretty much all of the remaining Republican senators have no ethics, morals or concern for anything but their own party. And no shame about letting us know this.
(I suppose they might let Susan Collins vote for witnesses to try to salvage her seat in Maine - her approval rating with her constituents has plummeted - knowing that everyone else will vote "no.")




EDIT: And another indication that the GOP leadership is now controlled entirely by Trump and his toadies. They've even adopted Trump's tactics - vindictiveness and ostracism if someone doesn't follow Dear Leader unconditionally. :
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4810 ... ing-over-a
Quote:
Leaders of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday night formally disinvited Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) from attending the event next month over his vote to approve additional witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial....

The conference, which is scheduled for the end of next month, is one of the largest conservative gatherings in the country that has emerged as a top meeting place for some of President Trump’s highest-profile supporters.

....The former Massachusetts governor addressed the conservative gathering in 2011 and when running for president in 2012. He returned the following year after his electoral defeat....
And they're openly embracing corruption and lunacy, as long as that person supports Trump.
Quote:
Among this year’s speakers are GOP personalities Diamond and Silk, Candace Owens and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who put up a strong defense of the president during the House’s impeachment investigation as the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee...

The Senate Republicans have now decided that they will acquit Trump on Wednesday. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/481 ... ment-drama Trump was apparently pushing for them to acquit him Friday/Saturday, so he could preen at the Superbowl and so he could claim to be vindicated when he gives his State of the Union address. But it seems that some of them want to speechify and try to gild their refusal to look corruption in the face and say "No, will not have this in the federal government."

Anyone want to bet that the Republican senators won't still break out in chants of USA! USA! after listening to their Dear Leader speak on Tuesday?
They are a disgrace to their country.


But all the rest of us can do now is hope the damage Trump does in the next year, now that he's essentially unleashed, isn't irreversible.



(btw, I just hope the Democratic party's influencers don't end up being complete idiots and improving Trump's reelection chances to be re-elected - like picking Hillary Clinton as VP. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house ... -president I can only assume this Republican is running a disinformation campaign and pretending that she'd be an asset. But I have seen the same signs, that Hillary and some of her media allies are angling for something. )







“I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing." - Daniel Webster

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 04 Feb , 2020 11:19 pm
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Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-envir ... blic-lands
Quote:
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is mulling a plan that would exempt the agency from considering environmental impacts when weighing how to use large swaths of public lands.

According to a powerpoint slide obtained by The Hill, the plan would “remove [National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)] requirements from the planning regulations." The document was first reported by Bloomberg.

BLM's land-use plans are updated about every 20 years, setting regional goals for what kind of development like grazing or oil and gas drilling might occur on public lands. NEPA helps ensure that those choices are discussed publicly....

BLM did not respond to request for comment from The Hill, but told Bloomberg the proposal has not yet been formally proposed as a rule.

“We don’t currently have a timeline to start the rulemaking process for this proposal,” BLM spokesman Jeff Krauss told the outlet. “If we move forward with a proposed rule, we will notify the public, as required by law.” ...
And then they will ignore public comments, as they've done so far.


And, in the new arms race with Russia...
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4813 ... yield-nuke
Quote:
The Trump administration has deployed its controversial submarine-launched low-yield nuclear warhead, the Pentagon confirmed Tuesday, marking the first new weapon added to the U.S. nuclear arsenal in decades....


It seems the US now supports Israel annexing parts of the Occupied Territories, though Kushner wants the Israeli government to wait a couple of months. It looks like it was real, the story suggesting that Israel was going to go ahead after the Palestinians said no to the lopsided "peace" plan. This was probably also what Kushner meant by his peace plan being the Palestinians' last chance. What a disgrace - put out a plan doomed (and designed?) to fail and be rejected, then use that as an excuse to support Israel formally grabbing whatever it wants.

It sound like the plan was revealed by a disgruntled leader of the Israeli settlers, who isn't happy they didn't get to go ahead 48 hours after Kushner released his peace plan.
https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... -knife-and
Quote:
An Israeli settler leader and supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused senior White House adviser Jared Kushner of betraying the prime minister by slowing down the annexation of the West Bank.

...“Kushner took a knife and put it in Netanyahu’s back,” he told The Washington Post. “Kushner misled the prime minister. He misled everybody. He knew for a long time that Netanyahu wanted to declare sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea — he said it many times over the last year. Gentlemen just don’t act this way.”...

The settler leader said a senior U.S. official told them that if the Palestinians didn’t agree to the plan within 48 hours, Israel would be permitted to annex more than 30 percent of the West Bank.

“But something happened after that; they changed their minds,” he said, according to the Post.

Kushner has told reporters, and allegedly Israeli officials, that the annexation should wait until after the election and a new government is formed, the Post reported. ...



And more news from the Trump Party senators who had pretended they'd consider all the evidence, when they already knew they would acquit Dear Leader. (Their colleagues, like Mitch McConnell, were obviously toadies too, but at least they were honest rats and admitted they didn't care what he did.)

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/481 ... e-of-trump
Quote:
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) — who in a statement last week called President Trump's conduct “inappropriate" — has shown no inclination to also endorse a resolution formally censuring Trump....
Susan Collins thinks we're all stupid. (either that or she's a complete idiot):
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/481 ... mpeachment
Quote:
Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) on Tuesday defended her newly announced decision to vote to acquit President Trump in his Senate impeachment trial, saying he has learned "a pretty big lesson" over his dealings with Ukraine.

Trump's acquittal on Wednesday looks all but certain, with Collins the latest possible swing vote to say she would come down against the two House-passed articles of impeachment.

"I believe that the president has learned from this case," she told Norah O'Donnell of CBS News. "The president has been impeached. That's a pretty big lesson."...
No, the lesson Trump has learned is that you, Susan Collins, and all the rest of your Republican party colleagues in Congress, will excuse everything he does. Not to mention that he can run around accusing the House of being traitors and staging an attempted "coup" by starting the formal impeachment process and you lot won't say a thing about it.



And Rand Paul is a slimy human being and an utter disgrace.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/481 ... nate-floor
Quote:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) read the name of the alleged whistleblower at the center of the House impeachment inquiry on the Senate floor Tuesday.

The public remarks marked the latest attempt by Paul to out the identity of the individual alleged to be the whistleblower. ....

Paul then read his question, while standing next to a sign that that reiterated the question. ...

The Hill is not naming the individual being targeted by Republicans. It is also typically the policy of The Associated Press and other major news outlets not to reveal the identity of whistleblowers, who enjoy federal protections against retribution.
I think I now understand why Robert Hyde, one of Trump's hired thugs, had pictures of himself with Paul https://www.thedailybeast.com/who-is-ro ... ovanovitch



So, let's see. Trump hired thugs to get rid of the US ambassador and squeezed the Ukrainian government for a damaging announcement about his political rival - an announcement, mind you, not even an investigation - while illegally withholding funds to pressure them into going along with it. Interestingly, Trump's big buddy Putin, the one he smirked and joked around with like a schoolboy in France (and revealed classified information to, the first time they met at the White House), was the person squeezing Ukraine and the reason Congress appropriated those funds to help Ukraine.

Then a whistleblower reveals Trump's plans, so he releases the funds because he got caught. And the whistleblower (or someone else the Republicans have chosen to target?) is the one who pays with a damaged life, in the end. And this is all OK by the Republicans?



No wonder Fox new's Russia expert (Ralph Peters) left Fox with that blistering letter about their blind support of Trump, a couple of years ago. https://www.businessinsider.com/ralph-p ... ump-2018-3


btw, I would be very surprised if Trump doesn't have other "drug deals" (as Bolton called them) going on. Drug deals that might have come out if someone in either the House or the Senate actually pursued these investigations to the end.


EDIT: I am amused by how Nancy Pelosi tearing up Trump's speech (https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4816 ... his-speech) has triggered a firestorm of fussing among Republican party leaders, who are spending much time loudly pontificating about how reprehensible she is. (See, for instance, Jonathan Turkey's long and hyperbolic diatribe on manners, where he argues that she should resign for doing this: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house ... uld-resign )
Especially after this bunch has unconditionally backed just about every nasty, ugly, divisive thing Dear Leader has done. So, silently tearing up your written copy of a speech is so much worse than being unable to mention the names of your political enemies without adding some ugly pejorative to their name? Or than calling them traitors? Or... (I could go on just about forever).
And have they even called out Rand Paul yet for what he did to the alleged whistleblower?

Pot, meet kettle.


I was also amused at Pelosi's explanation: It seems to have been spontaneous and “was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives."

I'm not sure I could think of a better response to bullshit than hers. I'm all for politeness. But not for being a doormat when faced with someone like Trump.



EDIT 2: Speaking of not being a doormat:
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/481 ... vict-trump
Quote:
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) became the first Republican to break ranks and announce he would vote to convict President Trump on a charge of abuse of power.

Speaking from the mostly empty Senate floor on Wednesday, Romney called Trump's attempt to freeze military assistance to Ukraine for political motives as “appalling” and “flagrant."

“The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a high crime and misdemeanor. Yes, he did,” Romney said...

I am impressed. A Republican senator with a backbone, ethics, and brains, who refuses to pretend to be blind, deaf, and dumb for the sake of the party.

I'm sure this was not easy. And I don't doubt that Republican leaders will try to get their revenge, blacken Romney's name, and mount a primary challenge against him. They had already disinvited him from one big conservative gathering because he dared speak out against King Donald.
I hope his constituents don't put up with that sort of bullying and tell the GOP operatives to go to hell. We need more representatives who are not sheep.

An interview with Romney, who seems to have a sense of humor as well as principles and guts. It was embargoed until after he made his announcement.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... mp/606127/


I should also mention Justin Amash, a former House Republican who got kicked out of the Party of Trump for actually reading the Mueller report, trying to get his colleagues to see how damning it was (but failing), and deciding that Trump should not be president. He voted with the Democrats in the House to impeach.

btw, Trump's scummy son Donald Trump Jr is already tweeting that Romney should be expelled from the Republican party.



Editorial by Sherrod Brown, Democratic senator from Ohio
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/opin ... hment.html
Quote:
Not guilty. Not guilty.

In the United States Senate, like in many spheres of life, fear does the business.... Senator Patty Murray, a thoughtful Democrat from Washington State, still remembers “the fear that dominated the Senate leading up to the Iraq war.”

“You could feel it then,” she told me, “and you can feel that fear now” — chiefly among Senate Republicans....

... In private, many of my colleagues agree that the president is reckless and unfit. They admit his lies. And they acknowledge what he did was wrong. They know this president has done things Richard Nixon never did. And they know that more damning evidence is likely to come out.

So watching the mental contortions they perform to justify their votes is painful to behold: They claim that calling witnesses would have meant a never-ending trial. They tell us they’ve made up their minds, so why would we need new evidence? They say to convict this president now would lead to the impeachment of every future president — as if every president will try to sell our national security to the highest bidder.

I have asked some of them, “If the Senate votes to acquit, what will you do to keep this president from getting worse?” Their responses have been shrugs and sheepish looks.....
It seems all the Democratic senators, including those who might have endangered their seats by doing so,* voted that Trump was guilty. Joined, of course, by Mitt Romney, the only principled Republican left in the Senate.

*We'll see. It seems likely that even more corruption will be revealed by November's elections. And voters may not look kindly on the Republican senators who decided to lick Trump's boots today. History sure as hell won't.


[edit to add a link]

Last edited by aninkling on Thu 06 Feb , 2020 4:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 06 Feb , 2020 2:54 pm
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Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
Just one of the many stories showing how Trump is jubilant about all the Republican senators who fell in line, and not in the least chastened by his impeachment. Of course, he and his supporters are already attacking Mitt Romney, the only Republican senator who showed principles and a backbone.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -breakfast
Quote:
President Trump boasted of his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial during an appearance at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, showing off newspaper headlines that blared the news.

As Trump entered the room at the Washington Hilton and went to take his seat, he smiled and held up copies of USA Today and The Washington Post, each bearing headlines about the Senate's verdict.

Members of the audience laughed and applauded.

President Trump holds up newspapers with "ACQUITTED" and "Trump Acquitted" headline at #NationalPrayerBreakfast.

Full video here: https://t.co/vu9O8zRwvo pic.twitter.com/WocOH644L6
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 6, 2020

...Attendees at the prayer breakfast included Vice President Mike Pence, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), members of Trump's Cabinet and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)....

Speaking of a lack of backbone, I haven't heard anything from Susan Collins today about her excuse for voting to acquit her Dear Leader even though she said the evidence had proven the articles of impeachment. Think she'll ever admit she lied?
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/481 ... mpeachment
Quote:
"I believe that the president has learned from this case," ... "The president has been impeached. That's a pretty big lesson."...
Pence the good "Christian" is also wholeheartedly celebrating (is this partly because any deeper investigation would have revealed his role?) and telling voters they should reelect Trump:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... er-america

It's interesting how they're making such a noise over something we already knew was a foregone conclusion unless a few Party of Trump supporters found a shred of ethics, which their previous behavior made very unlikely. One thing I can say about Trump - he does understand advertising, propaganda and hype and the brief attention span of many Americans. I guess maybe his copy of Hitler's speeches, "My New Order," does come in handy? https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/201 ... ie-brenner
Quote:
...Last April, perhaps in a surge of Czech nationalism, Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler’s collected speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed. Kennedy now guards a copy of My New Order in a closet at his office, as if it were a grenade. Hitler’s speeches, from his earliest days up through the Phony War of 1939, reveal his extraordinary ability as a master propagandist.

“Did your cousin John give you the Hitler speeches?” I asked Trump.

Trump hesitated. “Who told you that?”

“I don’t remember,” I said.

“Actually, it was my friend Marty Davis from Paramount who gave me a copy of Mein Kampf, and he’s a Jew.” (“I did give him a book about Hitler,” Marty Davis said. “But it was My New Order, Hitler’s speeches, not Mein Kampf. I thought he would find it interesting. I am his friend, but I’m not Jewish.”)

Later, Trump returned to this subject. “If I had these speeches, and I am not saying that I do, I would never read them.”...

btw, in retrospect there are some other interesting things in this rather gossipy 1990 article, when you consider his recent behavior as president. Including those fawning everyone-praise-Trump-sessions at the beginning of cabinet meetings :
Quote:
Donald and Ivana Trump were seated at opposite ends of their long Sheraton table in Mrs. Marjorie Merriweather Post’s former dining room. They were posed in imperial style, as if they were a king and queen. They were at the height of their ride, and it was plenty glorious. Trump was seen on the news shows offering his services to negotiate with the Russians. There was talk that he might make a run for president.
Quote:
When it was Ivana’s turn to introduce herself that night, she rose quickly. “I am married to the most wonderful husband. He is so generous and smart. We are so lucky to have this life.” She was desperately playing to him, but Donald said nothing in return. He seemed tired of hearing Ivana’s endless praise; her subservient quality appeared to be getting to him. Perhaps he was spoiling for something to excite him, like a fight.
Quote:
That April, Ivana began to tell her friends that she was worried about Donald’s state of mind.

She had been completely humiliated by Donald through his public association with Marla Maples. “How can you say you love us? You don’t love us! You don’t even love yourself. You just love your money,” twelve-year-old Donald junior told his father, according to friends of Ivana’s. “What kind of son have I created?” Trump’s mother, Mary, is said to have asked Ivana.



King Donald's congressional boot lickers and Fox news sycophants/liars are also doing what they can to smear and annoy his enemies. :
https://www.foxnews.com/media/nancy-pel ... cs-charges
Quote:
House Judiciary Committee member Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said Wednesday he will be filing ethics charges against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., over what he called her "temper tantrum" following President Trump's State of the Union address the previous evening.

Gaetz told Laura Ingraham on "The Ingraham Angle" that he will join two other Republicans and file the charges with the House Ethics Committee on Thursday. Reps. Lee Zeldin of New York and Kay Granger of Texas will join him, he said.

"[Pelosi] disgraced the House of Representatives, she embarrassed our country and she destroyed official records. The law does not allow the Speaker of the House to destroy the records of the House and the rules of the House do not permit some little temper tantrum just because you don't like what the president of the United States says," he said....
It's worth reading the whole spin from Fox because, as usual, nowhere do they mention two important things that make Matt Gaetz a liar and a hypocrite. 1) that Nancy Pelosi did NOT break any laws, any more than you would if you tear up the program after attending a concert (see below), and 2) Dear Leader actually does rip up true official records into little bits and they have people in the federal records office whose job is now to paste them back together (I posted the story long ago, link reposted below). Instead, they use up the space by obediently include the White House's misleading rhetoric: "Speaker Pelosi just ripped up: One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen. The survival of a child born at 21 weeks. The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller. A service member's reunion with his family. That's her legacy,"

This isn't a news organization, it's a propaganda channel. Not that we didn't already know that, in spite of the occasionally flashes of condemnation of Trump by a few reporters. And some people watch nothing but Fox. I can attest to that personally - my husband has a relative who watches it all day and it's sometimes shocking, the ignorant (and lately somewhat belligerent) things that come out of his mouth. Some of my friends also have Fox-watching relatives and are disturbed by their wildly distorted beliefs about news events, and anger. These folks can even get mad at Fox reporters who stray from the overall pro-Trump message. (To be fair, there are certain news sites and Twitter feeds that seem to have the same effect on the far left side.)

Fox probably isn't too toxic if you also watch other things and get a mix of news, but if watched exclusively it creates people with a very weird version of reality. And Fox is reinforced by the lies coming from Trump, his official White House spokespeople (who obediently lie for him and attack his enemies), and his sycophantic cabinet and vice president. All the honest people like Kelly, Mattis, Tillerson, Coats, etc. left long ago or were fired. What we have left now is very dangerous.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... e-law-rip/
Quote:
"Nancy Pelosi may have just committed a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2071, Section 2071 (a) when she ripped up President Trump’s State of the Union address," Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk wrote in a Feb. 4 tweet. "This violation is punishable by up to three years in prison."

...Kirk’s claim made the rounds on Twitter, with former congressional candidate Carl Higbie, North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop and Donald Trump Jr. all repeating or retweeting versions of it.

But when we asked a number of legal experts about what Kirk said, we found that their answer was unanimous: Kirk’s claim is wrong....


So when are Gaetz, Bishop, Kirk et al going to start agitating for that 3 years in prison for Trump?
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/ ... tem-635164
Quote:
Meet the guys who tape Trump's papers back together

Other old news (March 2018) worth remembering today:
https://www.businessinsider.com/ralph-p ... ump-2018-3
Quote:
[Ralph] Peters, a former Russia analyst, warned that the network’s hosts are advancing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s agenda “by making light of Russian penetration of our elections and the Trump campaign.”...

Four decades ago, I took an oath as a newly commissioned officer. I swore to “support and defend the Constitution,” and that oath did not expire when I took off my uniform. Today, I feel that Fox News is assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers. Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed.

In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts–who have never served our country in any capacity–dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller–all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of “deep-state” machinations– I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit....

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 20631.html
Quote:
...Following the acquittal on Wednesday, Mr Trump tweeted a video in which a voiceover condemns “slick, slippery, stealthy” Mr Romney for trying to “infiltrate” the Trump administration by “posing as a Republican”.

“Now his cover’s blown – exposed by news reports as a Democrat secret asset,” the voiceover falsely claims.




There are new tariffs too:
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/4817 ... -on-metals
Quote:
President Trump is scheduled to enact new tariffs on steel and aluminum this weekend, a politically risky move that threatens to revisit trade tensions in an election year....
btw, from what I've seen, his new "phase one" agreement with China is mostly nice words, with all the actual hard negotiations and important stuff punted to the phase 2 agreement and no word of any progress on it.


And more drilling, over the objections of both state officials and local BLM officials, because the White House decreed that it be done:
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-envir ... ocal-staff
Quote:
The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Washington office ignored the advice of its Colorado staff, deciding to expand oil and gas drilling in the southwest corner of the state because earlier plans were “not in line with the administration’s direction to decrease regulatory burden and increase access.”

BLM documents, obtained by environment watchdog Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), show tension between the agency’s regional staff and those who work in headquarters amid a push by the Trump administration to relocate almost all of BLM’s Washington-based staff out West so they will be closer to the lands that they manage.

Expanded oil and gas activity in Colorado was approved in July over objections from entities in the state, including from Gov. Jared Polis (D), who argued the plan would increase haze, interfere with protected wildlife and conflict with state laws on drilling. ...
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... i-decision
Quote:
Trump reportedly had a heated conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week after the United Kingdom allowed the Chinese tech manufacturer Huawei to have a role in the U.K.'s 5G cellphone networks.

Sources in both London and Washington described the phone call between the two world leaders as "apoplectic" to the Financial Times.

The Trump administration has long opposed Huawei having any stake in next-generation cellular networks because of national security concerns.

Still, British officials with knowledge of the call told the publication that they were surprised by the ferocity of Trump's language....
It seems King Donald thinks all the world is his vassal.




And remember how the Iowa caucus results came in so slowly?
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4 ... ays-report
Quote:
A hotline that was used by Iowa precinct chairs to report Democratic caucus results was reportedly flooded with calls on Monday from President Trump supporters after the number was posted online, elongating the delays in the vote tallying process, sources told Bloomberg.

Sources told the news outlet that Ken Sagar, a state Democratic central committee member, told other party officials on a Wednesday conference call that a high volume of people called in and expressed support for the president.

The hotline number was posted online after an app used by the party to count precinct votes, largely malfunctioned, forcing the precinct chairs to try to use the hotline to report results....
Original story. It seems they got the number from precinct paperwork that was posted online and included it.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ocrat-says

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/ ... 52595.html
Quote:
...The Iowa Democratic Party received an "unusually high volume of inbound calls" to its caucus hotline on Monday night from "callers who would hang up immediately after being connected, supporters of President Trump who called to express their displeasure with the Democratic Party, and Iowans looking to confirm details," a party official said on Thursday.

Party staff worked to flag and block repeat callers who appeared to be attempting to jam the lines and interfere with the reporting of caucus results, and the call volume was "highly irregular" compared with previous caucuses,...
Did someone encourage these scummy idiots to call the hotline? I can't imagine that this many people coincidentally had the same idea.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-51375880
Quote:
The debacle on the Democrat side, on the other hand, was "an unmitigated disaster," the president tweeted. "The only person that can claim a very big victory in Iowa last night is 'Trump'".

Speaking of elections, who is this most likely to benefit? The New York Times takes a very charitable interpretation of the reason for this edict. I do not. Barr has repeatedly shown that he will twist the truth to protect Trump (his interpretation of the Mueller report, which turned out to be a whitewash of its actual contents) and to investigate Trump's enemies:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/us/p ... tions.html
Quote:
Attorney General William P. Barr issued new restrictions on Wednesday over the opening of politically sensitive investigations, an effort meant to avoid upending the presidential election as the F.B.I. inadvertently did in 2016 when its campaign inquiries shaped the outcome of the race....

The memo, which said the Justice Department had a duty to ensure that elections are “free from improper activity or influences,” was issued on the same day that President Trump was acquitted on charges that he had abused his office to push a foreign power to publicly announce investigations into his political rivals. The memo said that the F.B.I. and all other divisions under the department’s purview must get Mr. Barr’s approval before investigating any of the 2020 presidential candidates....

No investigation into a presidential or vice-presidential candidate — or their senior campaign staff or advisers — can begin without written notification to the Justice Department and the written approval of Mr. Barr.

The F.B.I. must also notify and consult with the relevant leaders at the department — like the heads of the criminal division, the national security division or a United States attorney’s office — before investigating Senate or House candidates or their campaigns, or opening an inquiry related to “illegal contributions, donations or expenditures by foreign nationals to a presidential or congressional campaign.”...
OT: I also disagreed with the Democrats in their outrage over James Comey releasing reports on the Hillary Clinton investigations during the 2016 campaigns. We deserved to know what was going on. He made a decision, and maybe in retrospect it wasn't the right one, but how was he to know that at the time? I would have done the same thing. If it came out later that Clinton had done something illegal and was now elected president, that would have been worse. Or if the FBI was accused of a cover-up to favor the Democratic candidate. They hurried the investigation as much as possible and Comey announced that she was cleared shortly before voting began. I actually think that's the best he could do, given what he had to work with.


Meanwhile, Trump's lapdogs have come up with this little bit of vindictiveness, obviously designed to smear Biden:
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/481 ... -for-probe
Quote:
Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Ron Johnson (Wis.) are requesting details on the travel records for former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden as they turn their focus past the impeachment trial

..... [They] sent a letter to Secret Service Director James Murray saying they were requesting the documents as part of a probe into "potential conflicts of interest posed by the business activities of Hunter Biden and his associates during the Obama administration."

"We write to request information about whether Hunter Biden used government-sponsored travel to help conduct private business, to include his work for Rosemont Seneca and related entities in China and Ukraine," the two senators added.

As part of their request, the senators specifically want to know what sort of security detail Hunter Biden received while his father served as vice president, and a list of all dates and places Hunter Biden traveled with a protective detail....
Needless to say, they are completely uninterested in all the overseas business activities of the Trump clan's adult children while we pay for their security.

It's also noteworthy that the Treasury, which has been endlessly delaying requests for information from Democrats in Congress, sent this information over ASAP.






EDIT: Later in the day, America was treated to this spectacle and official White House event, courtesy of President Donald J. Trump and his Party of Trump lackeys:
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/0 ... tal-111495
Quote:
President Donald Trump on Thursday unloaded on his perceived political enemies, declaring that the investigations into him have been "all bullshit" in a sprawling and teleprompter-free address at the White House less than a day after senators acquitted him on two articles of impeachment. ...
Some details from the live coverage in The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/liv ... atest-news
Quote:
Trump has arrived in the East Room to deliver remarks on his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial and was greeted with a prolonged standing ovation from his allies sitting in the audience.
Quote:
The president’s legal team, who defended him during the Senate impeachment trial, was greeted with a standing ovation as they arrived to witness Trump’s remarks.
His first remarks, unloading on the Senate impeachment trial.
Quote:
“It was evil, it was corrupt, it was dirty cops, it was leakers, it was liars
Quote:
“This is really not a news conference, it’s not a speech,” ...It’s just we’re sort of ... it’s a celebration, because we have something that just worked out. I mean, it worked out. We went through hell unfairly, did nothing wrong.”
Quote:
“Mitch McConnell, I want to tell you, you did a fantastic job,” Trump said, prompting another standing ovation.
Quote:
“Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person,” Trump said. “Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person.”
Of Mitt Romney:
Quote:
. “Then you have some who used religion as a crutch,” Trump said at the White House. “They never used it before. Never heard him use it before. ... But you know it’s a failed presidential candidate, but things can happen when you fail so badly.”
Of Jim Jordan, one of Trump's top supporters (and IMO a total asshole):
Quote:
“I thought, huh, never wears a jacket. He’s obviously very proud of his body,” Trump said of Jordan, who often declines to wear a suit jacket in the House. “When he works out,” Trump added, “the machine starts burning.”

Trump also praised Jordan as a “champion top-top wrestler” and a “warrior.”

For some weird reason, Trump went on a bit about the shooting at the Congressional baseball game practice. His usual disjointed thought processes, I suppose:
Quote:
Trump offered a play-by-play account of the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice, complete with hand motions to immitate gunfire.
Of Steve Scalise's wife, when she found out he was shot (trump envies people who have wives who actually love them?):
Quote:
“A lot of wives wouldn’t give a damn,” Trump said. “She was a total mess.”
Quote:
He referred to former FBI director James Comey as a “sleazebag” and attacked “the top scum” at the FBI
Quote:
“I want to apologize to my family for having them have to go through a phony, rotten deal by some very sick, evil people,
Quote:
Trump then gave two of his closest House allies, congressmen Mark Meadows and Jim Jordon, a chance to make some comments.

Meadows said Trump’s reception today was a “strong reflection of the support you have all across the country.” “We’ve got your back
(as if we didn't realize they do)

At the end of Trump's rant, The Guardian's coverage concluded, dryly, "Well, that was an experience."

No doubt.


I wonder how many Republican senators fled from reporters afterward.

(If anyone wants to know how a real president handles the aftermath of acquittal in an impeachment trial, look up Bill Clinton's speech.)



And if anyone still had any doubt about Trump's supposed repentance. This is especially odd because the Trump administration has made a big deal of increasing arms sales to countries around the world and removing restraints on them. :
https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... rth-30m-to
Quote:
At least six commercial sales of guns and ammunition [to Ukraine] have faced delays of at least a year and continue to remain frozen, three current Ukrainian officials and one former senior U.S. official told BuzzFeed News. Now, Ukraine is requesting its money back....

The officials have said the Trump administration has not provided any reasoning about why the commercial orders are being delayed. U.S. sales between companies and foreign buyers need licensing approved by the State Department, which typically takes about two months, according to BuzzFeed News.

“It might be wise for the Ukrainians to look for other sources,” the U.S. official told BuzzFeed News, saying White House and State Department officials have told him the sales are still being “evaluated” even though Ukraine has already made payments on them....
The Trump administration blocking this particular arms sale looks rather like a gift to help Putin's soldiers who are covertly fighting the Ukrainian government in eastern Ukraine. Which, I assume, is part of Putin's attempts to control as much of the old Soviet Union as possible. So here Trump is, once again, benefiting Putin instead of working for US interests....





EDIT:
Impeachment witness Lt. Col. Vindman was already scheduled to go back to the Pentagon very soon (maybe a couple of weeks?), but that wouldn't have suited that petty little rat in the White House, now would it? Instead of just asking Vindman to leave early, King Donald made a big show and ordered people to escort Vindman out. I assume the fool thinks he actually humiliated Vindman, when it was his own pettiness and ugliness he revealed. :
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... hite-house
Quote:
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was escorted out of the White House on Friday and told to leave his position at the National Security Council (NSC), according to a statement released by his attorney.

Vindman was one of the key witnesses who testified in connection with the House impeachment inquiry about President Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president during which Trump raised investigations of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden's dealings in Ukraine....


https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4820 ... id-reports
Quote:
Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday said the Pentagon protects its service members from retribution, following reports that President Trump may oust the top White House expert on Ukraine after he testified during House impeachment hearings.

“We protect all of our persons, service members, from retribution or anything like that. We’ve already addressed that in policy and other means,” Esper told reporters at the Pentagon during a press conference with his Colombian counterpart.....
And how well did that show of independence work out when the Navy and Trump clashed over that war criminal, can't remember his name?

I wonder what Our Glorious and Omnipotent Leader and Pride of the Republicans has planned for the other impeachment witnesses who told the truth about him?

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 07 Feb , 2020 10:29 pm
Offline
 
Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
I put the news about Trump starting to getting his revenge on the participants in the impeachment trial in the previous post. The rest of this is unrelated.


https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ight-while
Quote:
Secret Service personnel traveling with President Trump to his private luxury properties in Palm Beach, Fla., and Bedminster, N.J., pay rates as high at $650 per night for lodging, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The Post investigation tallied the amount of taxpayer dollars spent in Trump's properties and found that the Secret Service spent $159,000 at Trump’s D.C. hotel in his first year alone. In the president's out-of-state properties, the Trump company is recorded as charging as much as $17,000 per month for rent.

The newspaper noted that after a thorough search of rentals in the area for comparable homes, the average cost for rent was $3,400....
The previous lies by Eric Trump, on behalf of the Trump dynasty, were:
Quote:
“If my father travels, they stay at our properties for free,” Trump said. “So everywhere that he goes, if he stays at one of his places, the government actually spends, meaning it saves a fortune because if they were to go to a hotel across the street, they’d be charging them $500 a night, whereas, you know we charge them, like $50.”



And this is just weird.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... of-primary
Quote:
Vice President Pence will travel to New Hampshire on Monday, the day before the state's primary election.

The White House announced Friday that Pence will be participating in a bus tour from Portsmouth and ending in Manchester, N.H.

In Portsmouth, he will attend a “Cops for Trump” event and he will then join President Trump at his Keep America Great Rally in Manchester....

It reminds me of a dog marking its territory when its rivals are around. I also find it a little suspicious after someone got the Trump junkies to interfere with the reporting from the Iowa primaries. Can't blame the Party of Trump for the app failing, at least not given what we've heard at this point, but they seem to be mostly responsible for the failure of the backup phone reporting.



Especially when the Republican crooks pulled this illegal stunt before, in New Hampshire in 2002:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote200 ... 097&page=1
Quote:
Jan. 6, 2008 — -- What does it take to win the New Hampshire primary — dirty tricks or retail politics?

Stick to good old-fashioned politicking, says disgraced former GOP consultant Allen Raymond. "Retail politics and authenticity," he tells ABCNEWS.com. "Up in New Hampshire, they have great expectations of what you need to do as a candidate and you have to do it."

Raymond should know. After all, he's the one who ran an illegal scheme to make hundreds of calls to jam the phone lines of the state's Democrats on Election Day in 2002. The former consultant, who served three months in jail last year, tells his story and reveals secrets of the trade in his new book, "How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative."

Raymond blames the Republican Party for making him the fall guy and claims that his scheme was approved by a top state GOP official and the Republican National Committee's northeast regional director....
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4 ... year-ahead
Quote:
On The Trail: Iowa disinformation hints at a challenging year ahead
Quote:
Taken together, the events of the last two weeks offer a preview of what is likely to happen for the rest of the year, when campaigns, media outlets and everyday voters will face an onslaught of misinformation and disinformation, driven by supporters and opponents of particular candidates and amplified by malign actors overseas....

The conspiracies started weeks before the vote actually took place. As Sanders and his fellow senators were bogged down in Washington, sitting through an impeachment trial for which their attendance was mandatory, Republicans saw a chance to reignite smoldering tensions between Sanders supporters and the rest of the Democratic Party....

In television interviews and on Twitter, Donald Trump Jr. repeatedly alleged that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) decision to hold back articles of impeachment for a month after the House voted was a crafty stunt designed to keep Sanders in Washington, instead of on the campaign trail.

President Trump accused Democrats of “rigging the election against Bernie Sanders, just like last time, only even more obviously.” Once-mainstream conservatives like Ari Fleischer have also jumped on the conspiracy bandwagon...

Then, two days before the Iowa caucuses, the pollster Ann Selzer and her media partners CNN and the Des Moines Register suddenly decided to scrap their final pre-caucus poll because of a technical error.

Again, the conspiracy theories flew...
And Trump supporting nitwits have apparently posted a fake video of Nancy Pelosi tearing up Trump's SOTU speech during his talk (or reality TV show or whatever the hell that spectacle was), and not afterward, as it really happened.

Beware of fake videos. These low-lifes will stoop to anything.




btw, there are rumors Trump is planning to kick out Mulvaney and install that nutter Mark Meadows as his Chief of Staff. Trump denied it today, which suggests it's likely to happen at some point. Maybe Mulvaney failed to worship Trump quite enough?




And the good news:
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4 ... -house-bid
Quote:
Former Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer announced on Friday that he was endorsing former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's bid for the White House.

In a release, Spencer, who was appointed by President Trump, said: "I have the utmost confidence that Mike will faithfully execute his duty as Commander in Chief."

Spencer also said that he believes that Bloomberg will restore the United States' global reputation while helping the country's veterans....
(Edit: btw, the important point isn't Bloomberg; it's that Spencer, a Trump appointee, is now endorsing a Democratic candidate and making pointed remarks about executing his duty as Commander in Chief.)


Vermont's Republican governor says Trump abused his powers and shouldn't be in office
https://wtop.com/government/2020/02/rep ... in-office/

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/481 ... sen-romney
Quote:
A Republican advocacy group released an ad Friday morning thanking Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) for following his conscience and voting to convict President Trump in the Senate impeachment trial that wrapped up on Wednesday.

The ad, made by Republicans for the Rule of Law, will air statewide in Utah on Fox News five times every weekday next week, according to the group's press release.
"This week, Sen. Mitt Romney stepped up to the challenge and into the history books. No one can watch his Senate speech without appreciating his integrity, his decency, and his sense of duty...

Last edited by aninkling on Tue 11 Feb , 2020 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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Profile Quote
aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Sat 08 Feb , 2020 5:11 pm
Offline
 
Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
Trump fired everyone he could. He also fired one impeachment witness's brother, who had nothing to do with anything.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/poli ... 688662002/
Quote:
Trump first ousted Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine expert, from the National Security Council, and just hours later, yanked Gordon Sondland, his ambassador to the European Union, from his post in Brussels.

“I was advised today that the president intends to recall me effective immediately as United States Ambassador to the European Union," Sondland said in a statement Friday evening. "I am grateful to President Trump for having given me the opportunity to serve."...

Trump also targeted Yevgeny Vindman, Alexander's twin brother and also a national security adviser, firing him from the White House on Friday even though he did not testify in the House hearings....
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ow-hes-out
Quote:
...President Trump on Saturday panned Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman after his high-profile dismissal from the White House the previous day while linking the former National Security Council official's ouster to his testimony in the House impeachment probe.

“Actually, I don’t know him, never spoke to him, or met him (I don’t believe!) but, he was very insubordinate, reported contents of my 'perfect' calls incorrectly, & was given a horrendous report by his superior, the man he reported to, who publicly stated that Vindman had problems with judgement, adhering to the chain of command and leaking information,” Trump tweeted. “In other words, ‘OUT’....
The article explains that Trump was, of course, lying when he said Vindman had a "horrendous" report from his "superior."

I don't have a huge amount of sympathy for Sondland. He's just a rich donor who knowingly and willingly worked with Trump - basically your average Trump ambassador. And it sounded like he tried to weasel out of telling the truth by pretending amnesia, until he discovered that he was going to be shown as a liar by the other witnesses.

But Vindman and the others were honest government employees, the kind we need more of.

All this retaliation is banana republic stuff, right here.


Speaking of banana republics, King Donald's oldest idiot son is sounding off:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... o-be-fired
Quote:
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., thanked Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) Friday evening for helping identify “who all needed to be fired.”...

“Allow me a moment to thank—and this may be a bit of a surprise—Adam Schiff,” Trump Jr. tweeted. “Were it not for his crack investigation skills, @realDonaldTrump might have had a tougher time unearthing who all needed to be fired. Thanks, Adam! #FullOfSchiff"...
btw, it seems Trump can't harm anyone else, at least in terms of firing them. They knew what he would do and already left, with jobs elsewhere. Vindman is apparently scheduled to go to the Army War College this summer. I have no doubt he'll have a respected career there. No idea what will happen to his brother.



https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... nt/606235/
Quote:
Three months ago, a group of obscure diplomatic professionals walked into a public spotlight that none of them ever sought. Called to testify in the congressional impeachment inquiry, they upheld their constitutional oath and told the truth, at considerable risk to themselves and their career. They displayed no signs of partisanship. They showed no prejudice as to the outcome of the inquiry. There was no daylight between their words and deeds and the declared policy of the White House. And there was no shortage of experience, expertise, and human decency. Their example of the ethos of public service and the power and purpose of American diplomacy provided a brief moment of light in a prolonged and dark saga.

After unceasing attacks on their character, service, and institutions by the administration and its partisan allies in Congress, after being thrown under the bus by their own bosses, and after the casual dismissal of their profound concerns about the dangerous precedent of a president putting political interest above the national interest, is that light now fading and forgotten? Has impunity triumphed over integrity?....
I'd say the answer to that question is yes. At this point, it seems the executive branch of our government bears a strong resemblance to that of Brazil or the Philippines, at best.

And the senate has become a rubber stamp for King Donald. Not just the impeachment, but everything they've done. They even confirmed a couple of obvious rabid partisan loonies as federal judges, and a few people whose dossiers the Bar Association stamped "unqualified," for instance because they had never actually judged anything before. (All of which suggests they're really scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with adequately partisan candidates here.)

What's especially damning to me about the impeachment trial is that they 1) refused to investigate Trump's wrongdoing properly or follow any leads - - which I don't excuse just because the House did only a limited investigation themselves ("But Billy didn't do a good job either!" is no excuse for doing a crappy job yourself), and 2) refused to even consider censure, which is just a slap on the wrist. Even after a few of them admitted the case was essentially proven with just the witnesses they had. If you can't even censure Donald Trump for obvious wrongdoing, after completely refusing to call witnesses who were obviously relevant to the case (probably because you fear what else they might reveal), then you might as well just get down on your knees and clean his boots with your tongue in public.

Again, a thank you to Mitt Romney, the only Republican senator who tried to stop it.



Other Trump-related new stories. Corruption seems to be a common theme.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/05/us ... ana-marks/
Quote:
At Embassies Abroad, Trump Envoys Are Quietly Pushing Out Career Diplomats
“There’s zero support or pushback from the department for the career people,” said one former U.S. official.
Quote:
Lana Marks is a successful fashion designer and member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Though she has no prior diplomatic experience, Marks is also Trump’s ambassador to South Africa, and last month she forced out her second in command, the veteran career foreign service officer David Young.

Multiple current and former officials familiar say issues at the embassy arose over disputed accounts of the ambassador pushing for her son to take on an elevated role with the embassy. A senior embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, vehemently denies these claims, calling them “totally inaccurate” and saying Young’s departure was a separate issue.

To some current officials, Young’s case illustrated a growing trend in the Trump administration. Already, several of Trump’s political allies-turned-ambassadors—he has appointed a higher percentage than most previous presidents—have sacked their deputies amid a culture of mistrust between politically appointed and career State Department officials....
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/07/st ... ana-marks/
Quote:
State Stonewalls Congress on Embassy Oversight
Allegations of mismanagement at the U.S. Embassy in South Africa go unaddressed

More information from January, related to that report on the Trump family ripping off taxpayers for lodging for the Secret Service (no wonder Trump flies off to his properties on so many - most? - weekends):
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/09/mnuchin ... ction.html
Quote:
Mnuchin seeks to delay proposed Secret Service report on Trump family travel costs until after the 2020 election
Quote:
Key points:
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is pushing to delay a proposed disclosure of Secret Service spending on presidential travel until after the 2020 election, a spokesperson for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Thursday.

- The Trump administration's maneuvering to put off providing cost figures related to the agency's protection of President Donald Trump was first reported by The Washington Post.

-The Government Accountability Office published a report in January 2019 finding that federal agencies incurred costs of $13.6 million in a period of just over a month in 2017 when Trump took four trips to his Florida club Mar-a-Lago...

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/07/tr ... ng-duties/
Quote:
Trump Opens a New Front in the Trade Wars
With a new currency rule, the U.S. president will try to fix the damage caused by the very tariffs he imposed. But he could end up wreaking more havoc.
Quote:
Along with using tariffs to wage trade wars, U.S. President Donald Trump has long been obsessed by the idea that foreign countries are cheating the United States by keeping their currencies artificially low. Now he has managed to unite those twin obsessions into a potentially dangerous new rule that could spark more trade tensions and potentially further roil relations with China, Japan, and the European Union.

This week, the U.S. Commerce Department finalized a new rule that will allow Washington to levy tariffs on countries that it believes are undervaluing their currency, which theoretically makes their exports cheaper and gives them an edge in competition with American-made goods. U.S. countervailing duties, normally reserved for use against certain imports that are proved to be dumped at below-market prices, could now be slapped on imports from any country that the Commerce Department decides has cheap money.

“This Currency Rule is an important step in ensuring that unfair trade practices are properly remedied,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.

Ironically, however, the new currency rule is just the latest effort by the Trump administration to remedy the negative fallout of its own trade policies....

Given the shady way that the Commerce Department handed out exclusions [from Trump's tariffs] to well-connected companies, as the inspector general determined, Ikenson fears giving the department even more discretion over a fresh wave of controversial tariffs will just mean “more smoke-filled backrooms with cronies … and underhanded dealings.”....

The Chinese state-run outlet Global Times warned that the new U.S. currency tariffs, if deployed against China, would put both the “phase one” trade package and any future trade talks at “grave risk.”...



btw, one thing news media don't seem to be good about pointing out, when they do their polls, is that Republicans now form only 27% of the electorate. (similar number for Democrats, 45% independent). When polls say 90% of Republicans approve of what Trump does, that means you're talking about 24% of the country, at most (assuming the poll is even reaching a representative cross-section of the Republicans.)

Party affiliation, according to Gallup:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/part ... ation.aspx

Party lean, including independents, is more evenly split. But, as far as I know, "lean Republican" just means is that you tend to be more conservative. That could mean you're a traditional fiscal conservative but the Republican party no longer suits you because they're too far right on some issues. Likewise, for the left-leaning independents and the Democrats. I expect some independents would still be Democrats or Republicans if they agreed with the party in most things, because many (most?) states don't let independents vote in the primaries. :
https://news.gallup.com/poll/274694/par ... p-era.aspx

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 11 Feb , 2020 2:44 am
Offline
 
Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ing-grants
Quote:
A Justice Department fund for providing grants to organizations that fight human trafficking has reportedly become the subject of a whistleblower complaint.

Two charities that previously received funding under the plan and were considered top-tier applicants — Chicanos Por La Causa in Phoenix and Catholic Charities in Palm Beach, Fla. — were denied grants in the latest round of applications, according to Reuters, despite their history of serving human trafficking victims.

Both groups have ties to political causes seen as opposed to the Trump administration...

In their place, two organizations viewed with skepticism by experts received funding. One group called Hookers for Jesus in Nevada, which critics say operates religious services it forces guests to attend, received funding, as did the Lincoln Tubman Foundation, which was reportedly founded by the daughter of a GOP convention delegate and supporter of President Trump....

Last week, the Trump administration banned New York state residents from programs like Global Entry, supposedly because New York state is no longer letting the federal government access information from driver's licenses. There was much discussion of whether there was a justifiable reason for this. It now looks like Trump just wanted to retaliate for a state law (many already suspected this).
https://thehill.com/latino/482422-dhs-c ... tes-report
Quote:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) considered a slew of options to retaliate against so-called "sanctuary" states before settling on limiting Global Entry and other Trusted Traveler Programs (TTPs) for New York residents, according to a Monday report by BuzzFeed News.

In a memo last month, the acting head of the DHS policy office, James McCament, reportedly wrote to Acting Secretary Chad Wolf detailing the pros and cons of different measures to retaliate against and mitigate the effects of local sanctuary policies....

The memo included slow-walking of automobile registrations as one of the last options to consider, listing "low impact/unlikely to effectuate change" as a con....

McCament also proposed de-prioritizing Transportation Safety Authority resources for Pre-Check lines in targeted airports, with potential blow-back from the travel industry and the general public....

The possibility of no longer accepting New York state identifications for any DHS business was also floated, but with the warning that it was likely to incite litigation and was "legally dubious."...
New York has, of course, already filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. This news seems likely to help their case.


Barr plans more retaliation against sanctuary cities:
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-ba ... ary-cities
Quote:
Attorney General William Barr announced Monday that there will be a “significant escalation” from the government against “sanctuary” cities, counties and states, including lawsuits against localities opposed to the Trump administration's hard-line immigration policies....

Once again, Trump nominates a person for the Fed whose primary philosophy is loyalty to him.
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/4824 ... of-hearing
Quote:
Judy Shelton, a former Trump campaign adviser, will face questions from the Senate Banking Committee during a Thursday hearing where lawmakers will look to decide if her unconventional views on a number of issues should disqualify her nomination to the board....

Like Trump, she blasted the Fed during the Obama administration for keeping low interest rates but reversed course soon after the 2016 election. But over the past year, she has echoed Trump’s calls for near-zero interest rates and questioned the central bank’s independence as the president wages an unprecedented pressure campaign to cut rates....

Trump’s previous efforts to put Fed critics on the bank faltered, but some Republicans now appear reluctant to reject yet another pick....

They argue that a sole dissenting voice on the consensus-driven Fed board doesn’t pose a threat to the bank’s independence...

If Shelton and Waller are both confirmed, Shelton’s influence would be constrained to just one of seven votes on regulatory issues and one of 12 on interest rates. But Shelton’s opponents warn that if Trump wins reelection in 2020, she will become the heir apparent to Powell when his term runs out in 2022.

... and she wants to fundamentally transform how we do monetary policy in a way that I think is anathema to most Republican senators, let alone most Americans,” said Sam Bell, policy director at Employ America, which advocates for Fed policy intended to maximize employment...

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 11 Feb , 2020 9:20 pm
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Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN2052E5
Quote:
In a dramatic reversal that could benefit a long-time adviser to President Donald Trump, the Justice Department will seek a shorter prison sentence for veteran Republican operative Roger Stone,...

The department overrode the sentencing recommendation made by federal prosecutors who secured Stone’s conviction in November on seven counts of lying to the U.S. Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.

The abrupt change of course came just hours after Trump criticized the proposed sentence of seven to nine years as a “miscarriage of justice.” ...

After the department’s action was disclosed, federal prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky, who helped prosecute Stone and worked on the Mueller investigation, told a federal court he is withdrawing from the case....
So now Dear Leader gets to choose the sentence for his criminal supporters, according to Barr and the Justice Department. Just unbelievable we've sunk this low. And not a peep of protest out of the Party of Trump/Republicans.

Apparently a second prosecutor has now rwithdrawn.

And a third.

And the 4th (last) one has quit

One (so far) resigned from the DOJ as well as the case.


(and still the online Trump toadies support Dear Leader and say this is OK, as the Justice Department crumbles. I swear, 80 or so years ago, they would have been the people supporting the little guy with the funny mustache because he was going to make Germany great again. Or maybe just because they're the kind of asshole who likes to watch things burn.)


Quite possibly more retaliation:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... asury-post
Quote:
President Trump is withdrawing his nomination for the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes, according to Axios.

Jessie Liu, a former U.S. attorney for D.C., ... oversaw various high-profile cases, including the case against former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone...

And more...
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ipline-for
Quote:
President Trump on Tuesday suggested the military should consider additional disciplinary action against Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who provided damaging testimony against Trump in the impeachment inquiry and was reassigned from his White House job last week....

Trump added that there were more departures to come, but it was unclear if he was referring specifically to impeachment witnesses....
Needless to say, Dear Leader did not explain why there should be "disciplinary" action for agreeing to testify and telling the truth. We all know it's because he's a crook and Vindman was "disloyal."


https://nypost.com/2020/02/11/white-hou ... e-fallout/
Quote:
The White House is expected to pull the nomination of Elaine McCusker to be the Pentagon’s comptroller and chief financial officer in the latest staffing fallout from President Trump’s impeachment, The Post has learned.

McCusker resisted the president’s directive to stall about $250 million in military aid to Ukraine and her emails protesting the delay were leaked in January to the blog Just Security ahead of Trump’s Senate trial.

“This administration needs people who are committed to implementing the president’s agenda, specifically on foreign policy, and not trying to thwart it,” a White House official told The Post...
In other words, this official wants people who don't care if Trump is breaking the law.
Quote:
...Budget official Michael Duffey wrote to McCusker: “If you are unable to obligate the funds, it will have been DoD’s decision that cause any impoundment of funds.”

McCusker responded in a leaked email: “You can’t be serious. I am speechless.”...

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/1 ... sma-113401
Quote:
Trump world’s latest attack on Romney: Tie him to Burisma

The president’s allies are looking to undermine the one GOP senator who turned against Trump on impeachment — by linking Romney to Ukraine.
Geez, don't they have more imagination than this?




Meanwhile, what is the Party of Trump doing? Hanging their heads in shame that they were so wrong about Trump learning his lesson?

No, they're assigning extremist Trump allies to important positions in the Senate.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/1 ... ees-113911
Quote:
The House GOP has selected two of President Donald Trump’s fiercest allies to serve as the top Republicans on a pair of key congressional committees, placing the lawmakers directly on the frontlines of beating back Democratic oversight efforts.

During a closed-door conference meeting on Tuesday, House Republicans unanimously approved Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio to be the ranking member on the powerful Judiciary Committee and retiring Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina to be the ranking member on the Oversight Committee, according to sources inside the room. The GOP Steering Committee, which includes top members of leadership, recommended the moves last week....

With Jordan and Meadows being elevated to their new roles, the White House will have some of their top attack dogs in key defender roles. The House Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over a wide range of hot-button issues, including impeachment, guns and immigration, while the influential Oversight panel has broad investigative authorities...
They're also trying to hide Trump's proposed Medicare cuts ahead of the election:
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/482 ... -land-mine
Quote:
Republicans are scrambling to avoid stepping on the political landmine of proposed cuts to Medicare and other popular safety-net programs after President Trump in a recent interview said they could one day be on the chopping block.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Tuesday that he does not plan to put a budget resolution on the Senate floor, which could subject vulnerable GOP colleagues up for reelection this year to tough votes on Medicare and other issues.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) announced Monday that he doesn’t plan to hold hearings on Trump’s budget, which proposed new cuts to Medicaid and other domestic spending programs.

The upshot is that the Republican Party, which once prided itself as the party of fiscal discipline and regularly blasted Democrats when they controlled the Senate for not passing budget resolutions, is looking for other issues to talk about....
If that former Republican staffer is correct, the long-term GOP plan is to spend freely and give out tax cuts until they can say "sorry, we have no choice except to cut Social Security and Medicare..." https://truthout.org/articles/goodbye-t ... -the-cult/
In 2011:
Quote:
If you think Paul Ryan and his Ayn Rand-worshipping colleagues aren't after your Social Security and Medicare, I am here to disabuse you of your naiveté.[5] They will move heaven and earth to force through tax cuts that will so starve the government of revenue that they will be “forced” to make “hard choices” – and that doesn't mean repealing those very same tax cuts, it means cutting the benefits for which you worked.

During the week that this piece was written, the debt ceiling fiasco reached its conclusion. The economy was already weak, but the GOP's disgraceful game of chicken roiled the markets even further. Foreigners could hardly believe it: Americans' own crazy political actions were destabilizing the safe-haven status of the dollar.Accordingly, during that same week, over one trillion dollars worth of assets evaporated on financial markets. Russia and China have stepped up their advocating that the dollar be replaced as the global reserve currency – a move as consequential and disastrous for US interests as any that can be imagined.





This is relatively trivial compared to everything else going on, but we have paid more than half a million dollars, so far, for Trump and those who accompany him to rent golf carts:
https://qz.com/1753518/trump-golf-cart- ... rs-550000/
Quote:
The president spends a lot of time on the links, almost exclusively at his own properties. At the end of October, Trump made his 224th visit to one of his 17 golf courses since assuming office three years ago. On each outing, the Secret Service must follow. And with those carts come a big bill for the American public....

The Secret Service has rented 84 golf carts for Trump’s planned visits to Florida between now and May 2020, costing US taxpayers more than $50,000, according to federal procurement filings. That brings the total cost of the agency’s cart rentals for Trump’s protection to more than $550,000....

In total, Trump’s golf games—which include paying the salaries and expenses of his Secret Service detail—have so far cost taxpayers an estimated $110,000,000, according to TrumpGolfCount.com....


https://thehill.com/policy/finance/4826 ... -trade-aid
Quote:
The top watchdog at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) took heat Tuesday from Democrats who are demanding an internal probe into trade-related aid payments to the subsidiary of a Brazilian corporation under criminal investigation.

Democrats on a House Appropriations subcommittee urged USDA Inspector General (IG) Phyllis Fong to investigate whether the department should continue funding meatpacking company JBS USA with aid designed to support farmers hindered by President Trump’s trade battles

Fong declined to say whether her office would probe JBS USA’s parent company while it is being investigated by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission, but noted that she is required to coordinate with federal law enforcement.....

The payments to JBS USA have provoked bipartisan backlash over the company’s foreign ownership and connections to a Brazilian bribery scandal....
Apparently this company got more money from the bailout than all of Wisconsin's farmers combined.

Maybe Bolsonaro, Trump's friend, asked nicely?




https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... ke/606421/
Quote:
This Is What an Unleashed Trump Looks Like

The president is bestowing favor on his loyal defenders, and visiting revenge on those he feels have betrayed him.
Quote:
The Senate’s acquittal of Donald Trump elicited predictions that the president would now be “unleashed,” freed to do as he pleased. His actions over the past few days offer a first glimpse of what that might look like. With the threat of accountability gone, or at least diminished, Trump is bestowing favor on his loyal defenders, and visiting revenge on those he feels have betrayed him.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, who testified in the impeachment hearings, was sacked from his post on the National Security Council, in what presidential aides made very clear was revenge. For good measure, so was his twin brother, a lawyer at the NSC and a fellow Army officer. Gordon Sondland.... Elaine McCusker...

And today, a day after prosecutors requested seven to nine years in prison for Roger Stone, the Justice Department suddenly intervened ....Stone was convicted in November on seven counts, including witness tampering and making false statements, in a case that grew out of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible collusion with Russia in the 2016 election. Trump also tweeted angrily about the proposed sentence. “This is a horrible and very unfair situation,” he wrote. “The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!” Later, at the White House, Trump asserted an “absolute right” to intervene with the Department of Justice and called the prosecution of Stone “an insult to our country,” before saying he “had not been involved with it at all.”....

So, what will we sink to, under Trump, Barr and the Republican party's refusal to hold Trump accountable for anything? Ukraine? Venezuela?
Though I'm not even sure why we're shocked, any more. After all, Trump is the guy who pardons war criminals and brings them to campaign events to show off. I can't imagine any leader of a civilized country doing that.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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