The latest group to condemn Trump's declaration of a "national emergency" to get the funds Congress won't give him:
https://thehill.com/policy/national-sec ... -emergency
A group of former national security officials issued a joint letter Monday condemning President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to divert funds to build his wall on the southern border.
In the 13-page document, the former officials — including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano — argue that the president’s declaration undermines the purpose of the national declaration and will ultimately damage the country's security.
“We are aware of no emergency that remotely justifies such a step. The President’s actions are at odds with the overwhelming evidence in the public record, including the administration’s own data and estimates,” the letter reads.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... roops-from
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) on Monday issued an executive order withdrawing the state's National Guard troops from the southern border.
..."There is simply not ample evidence to support the president’s contention of a national security crisis at our southwestern border. Therefore, there is no justification for the ongoing presence of Wisconsin National Guard personnel at the border," Evers said.
As the article says, the governors of New Mexico and California have also pulled Nation Guard troops from the border this month for the same reason. I read about other withdrawals from other states earlier, though they had a smaller presence at the border - I think, in one case, it was a helicopter crew the state pulled.
Meanwhile, there are THREE Republican senators who are saying they will support the bill rejecting Trump's pseudo-emergency. THREE people who are willing to put the country over their party - and in 2 cases, it may be as much politics as doing what's right. This is beyond disgusting.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/431 ... eclaration
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.) said on Monday that he will support a resolution to block President Trump's national emergency declaration on the U.S.-Mexico border.
...Tillis's decision comes a day before the House is expected to take up the resolution to block Trump's national emergency declaration. Because Democrats control that chamber, it's expected to pass and kick the fight to the Senate.
Tillis's decision puts Democrats on the brink of being able to block Trump's emergency declaration in the Senate. If the resolution of disapproval passes the Senate it will go to the president's desk, where he has said he will use his first veto.
...GOP Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are both viewed as likely yes votes, which would make Tillis the third Republican defector. Both Tillis and Collins are up for reelection in 2020 and viewed as targets as Democrats look for ways to pick up seats.
Interestingly, US allies are saying that the US has NOT given them actual evidence that Huwei products pose a risk and they're not going along with the US without that information. They're not saying the US is necessarily wrong; the US government just isn't trusted to tell the truth.
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4 ... -on-huawei
The Trump administration's push to get U.S. allies to block Chinese firm Huawei from their next-generation wireless networks is facing skepticism from political and industry leaders in Europe.
At a major global industry conference this week in Barcelona, many are pushing back on U.S. claims that Huawei poses a national security threat. Industry players instead argue that a blanket ban on the Chinese telecom's hardware would set 5G deployments back years and inject more uncertainty into the rollouts.
Nick Read, the CEO of the British telecom giant Vodafone, told reporters ...“We need to have a fact-based risk-assessed review,” ... “People are saying things at the moment that are not grounded, I’m not saying that is the case for the U.S. because I have not met them directly myself so I have not seen what evidence they have, but they clearly need to present that evidence to the right bodies throughout Europe.”
It's one thing to say whatever you fancy as a private citizen. Quite another to do so as the US president. A recent GOP bill that Congress just rejected was nothing but propaganda, a solution in search of a problem, which would have injected more government bureaucracy into the practice of medicine. I suppose its real purpose was to scare more doctors into not performing abortions for fear of lawsuits from anti-abortion groups. But Trump is spewing lies again. :
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... irth-after
"Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children," Trump claimed on Twitter on Monday. "The Democrat position on abortion is now so extreme that they don’t mind executing babies AFTER birth."
....This will be remembered as one of the most shocking votes in the history of Congress. If there is one thing we should all agree on, it’s protecting the lives of innocent babies.
Info on the bill:
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/431 ... -in-senate
Senate Democrats blocked legislation on Monday meant to respond to a political firestorm sparked in Virginia over "late-term abortion." Senators voted 53-44 on the legislation from Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), which needed 60 votes to advance.
... The legislation would penalize doctors who fail to "exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion."
...Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who is Catholic, released a statement after the vote saying he opposed the bill because GOP statements about it are "misleading." "Congress reaffirmed that fact with its passage of the bipartisan Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in 2002. I support that law, which is still in effect. There is no need for additional federal legislation on this topic," Kaine said.
btw, Trump says he'll veto any vote for universal background checks for gun buyers. I thought he claimed he was
for some gun control measures after one of the many mass shootings, but I could be wrong.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... heck-bills
The White House on Monday issued a statement warning that President Trump would veto proposed legislation to enhance background checks for gun purchases if it passes the House and Senate.
The legislation in question, H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112, would require universal background checks and close a so-called Charleston loophole that the shooter used in the 2015 massacre at a historic black church to buy a gun. One of the measures is a bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Pete King (R-N.Y.).
Both bills are expected to pass the House along party lines with limited support from Republicans when they vote on it this week. If the bills pass in the House, they would still need to be sent to the Republican-controlled Senate for approval before reaching Trump.
Edit to add:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... nam-summit
President Trump is slated to meet one-on-one Wednesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the first night of their two-day summit in Vietnam.
The White House released Trump’s schedule for Wednesday, which shows the president greeting Kim at 6:30 p.m. local time at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi. Trump and Kim are then set to meet one-on-one for 20 minutes, followed by a “social dinner,” according to the White House.
The dinner is scheduled to last roughly an hour-and-a-half and conclude around 8:35 p.m. local time. Hanoi is 12 hours ahead of Washington, D.C.
The White House had previously indicated the two leaders would meet one-on-one during the president’s trip to Vietnam, but had not released specific times or details.
This article from an Asian news source has an interesting last paragraph:
https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/02/artic ... el-summit/
Stage is set for Kim-Trump sequel summit
Vietnam has pulled all the commercial and repressive stops to stage the historic meeting
On an overcast and damp morning, North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un arrived today (February 26) in Hanoi ahead of his highly anticipated second summit meeting with US President Donald Trump.
Central Hanoi’s streets were eerily quiet around the Melia Hotel where Kim will stay. The hotel is opposite the Government Guesthouse where the two leaders will meet on Wednesday and talks will wrap up on Thursday...
...The US is keen to portray Vietnam, whose economy has been growing at one of the fastest rates in the world in recent years, as a model for North Korea to replicate. The message is that, just like Vietnam, North Korea could experience rapid economic growth while maintaining its rigid one-party system and tyrannical control over society if it drops its pariah status and integrates with the global order.
True to form, Vietnam has shown that it will brook no dissent during the summit, restrictions that would make North Korean leader Kim feel at home and perhaps also appeal to Trump.
Also from The Asia Times, how Japan has been sidelined in the talks between Kim and Trump.
https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/02/artic ... sidelines/
Japan’s prime minister won’t be on hand Wednesday when Trump and the North Korean dictator begin their second date. Trump did not include Abe in the proceedings. While Hanoi is a bilateral affair, Trump has totally disregarded Abe, who has made no secret of his desire to be at the summit with Kim.
This means Tokyo’s two biggest priorities are way out in left field: One is the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in recent decades, the other is Kim’s short-range missile capabilities.
Team Abe, of course, harbors the same overarching worry about Trump’s odd bromance with Kim as the rest of humankind. While Trump has trumpeted Kim’s ongoing missile and nuclear test moratorium – something Tokyo is most certainly grateful for – the worry is that this will turn into an all carrots, no sticks affair that front-loads goodies for Kim with little reciprocity.
Trump’s embattled administration, meantime, is so desperate for a win on the global stage – not to mention a Nobel – that there’s no telling what he might give away...
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/ ... eplay-kim/
After Singapore dud, expectations low as Trump looks for win in Hanoi summit replay with Kim
President Donald Trump will head into his second meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un having reframed what would make a successful summit, lowering expectations for Pyongyang’s denuclearization while eager to declare a flashy victory to offset the political turmoil he faces at home.
Trump was the driving force behind this week’s Vietnam summit, aiming to re-create the global spectacle of his first meeting with Kim, although that initial summit yielded few concrete results and the months that followed have produced little optimism about what will be achieved in the sequel.
...Kim, his world standing elevated after receiving an audience with a U.S. president, has yet to show a convincing sign that he is willing to deal away an arsenal that might provide a stronger guarantee of survival than whatever security assurance the United States could provide. The North Koreans have largely eschewed staff-level talks, pushing for discussions between Trump and Kim...
The Hanoi summit comes at a politically perilous time for Trump.... “Clearly, the president is looking for a win,” said Denmark. “The North Koreans know this and will likely expect President Trump to be looking to make an agreement with limited regard for its content.”
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/ ... im-summit/
Pyongyang’s state media on Sunday slammed U.S. critics of the planned meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un a day after the North Korean leader boarded an armored train en route to the summit venue in Vietnam.
...The lack of progress since the first summit has fueled skepticism in Washington over the North’s intentions, with Trump’s own intelligence chief saying Pyongyang was unlikely to completely give up its weapons program.
But in a sharply-worded commentary issued Sunday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency slammed U.S. critics and urged the Trump administration to seize “the rare historic opportunity.”
“The U.S. administration must not forget last year’s lesson when it plunged the bilateral negotiations into a stalemate, being swayed by the opponent forces,” it said. “If the upcoming DPRK-U.S. negotiations end without results as wished by the opponent forces, the U.S. people will never be cleared of the security threats,” it added.
North Korean state media is, of course, saying whatever Kim wants it to say.
Another Dept of the Interior deal comes to light:
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-envir ... d-pipeline
Conservationists are planning a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s decision to allow a company to build transmission lines and pipelines on federal lands in Utah.
...The Trump administration’s green-lit plan would let Enefit American Oil construct the U.S.’s first commercial-scale oil shale development if it were to become operational.
Part of the operations would include constructing three pipelines and two transmission lines across federal public lands to move processed oil from the shale facility to various utilities.
...The groups argue in their filing that the decision would violate the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and that BLM did not “adequately analyze how BLM’s approval of the rights-of-way — including indirect effects, the effects of interrelated or interdependent actions, and cumulative effects — would affect four endangered fish species, two rare plant species, and their critical habitat.”
The filing argues that the water pipeline approved by BLM would also “enable removal of up to 10,867 acre-feet per year of water from the Green River” for use at the oil shale facility.
Despite the name, Enefit American Oil is actually based in Estonia.
btw, one of Trump's staunch congressional allies just threatened Cohen, the day before his testimony to Congress:
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4316 ... -in-prison
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Tuesday [tweeted]...
“Hey @MichaelCohen212 - Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends?” The lawmaker tweeted. “Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot…”