I was impressed by Brett Stephens’ column in the New York Times today. I read this in conjunction with a news article that described the schizophrenia of the Trump administration about Russia. Trump is eager to be Putin’s friend. Trump admires Putin. Trump will do nothing to offend Putin. But the rest of his administration treats Putin and Russia as the greatest threat to American security. Trump treat the Mueller indictment, still, as a “rigged witch hunt,” but Dan Coats, the conservative Director of National Intelligence, and James Mattis, Secretary of Defense, take it seriously.
All of this confirms my sense that Trump is either a loose cannon, a fool, or Putin’s puppet. Whatever it is, it frightens me for the future of the world, the future of democracy, the future of our nation, and the world my grandchildren will live in. I’m sorry to devote so much space to this foul man who somehow became president, despite the fact that he did not win a majority of the vote. I’m worried. Education issues pale in comparison to the future of the world.
This is what Stephens wrote today.
“Some near-forgotten anniversaries are worth commemorating. One hundred years ago — Bastille Day, 1918 — Theodore Roosevelt’s youngest son, Quentin, was killed in aerial combat at the Second Battle of the Marne. Twenty-six years later, Quentin’s oldest brother, Ted, also died in France, after landing at Utah Beach on D-Day.
“Quentin and Ted are buried side-by-side at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer. It’s a moving sight for everyone who still believes in the cause for which they and their brothers in arms fought and died — above all, the idea, possibility and preservation of a free world, anchored and inspired by America but not subservient to it.
“In other words, the things that Donald Trump has spent his presidency trashing under the historically sordid banner of “America First.”
“That trashing reached some sort of climax this week with the president’s excruciating tantrum against Germany at the NATO summit in Brussels, followed by his gratuitous humiliation of British Prime Minister Theresa May via an interview in a Murdoch tabloid. Maybe next he’ll propose that Vladimir Putin rejoin the Group of 7 — except he already did that in Canada more than a month ago, right around the time he launched a trade war with Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
“What does all this achieve?
“No doubt just what Trump intends: the collapse of the liberal international order, both in its animating commitment to open societies as well as its defining international institutions — the G-7, NATO, the European Union, the World Trade Organization. Seen in this light, the president’s wretched behavior isn’t — or isn’t merely — the product of a defective personality. It’s the result of a willful ideology.
“So much should be clear by the president’s negotiating style, guaranteed as it is to elicit “no” for an answer.
“It’s fair to expect that other NATO members should spend more of their gross domestic product on defense; and fair to expect, too, that they should reach the 2 percent benchmark sometime sooner than 2024. It isn’t fair to demand, as Trump does, that they reach the 2 percent mark by January, and then increase it to 4 percent.
“It’s fair to say that the U.S. could use its leverage to negotiate more advantageous trade deals. It isn’t fair to insist on politically untenable trade concessions he knows other countries won’t make — a sunset clause for Nafta, for example — in order to destroy these agreements permanently while blaming the other side.
“It’s fair to say that it will be difficult for Britain to negotiate an independent trade agreement with the U.S. if it maintains E.U. rules on trade in goods. But Trump’s goal isn’t to help steer May through Brexit. It’s to bring her government down and replace her with Boris Johnson, because the former foreign secretary “obviously likes me and says very good things about me.”
“Above all, it’s fair to prod and cajole and quarrel with our core allies — in private. But Trump is out to embarrass them in public, putting them to the choice of becoming enemies or toadies, breaking up or sucking up. That’s no doubt fine with him: America First is America Feared. But it is also America hated, and hated with justification. Where’s the upside in that?
“For Trump, the upside is the substitution of a liberal order with an illiberal one, based on conceits about sovereignty, nationality, religion and ethnicity. These are the same conceits that Vladimir Putin has long made his own, which helps explain Trump’s affinity for his Russian counterpart and his distress that Robert Mueller’s investigation “really hurts our relationship with Russia,” as he remarked Friday.
“It also explains his undisguised contempt for contemporary European democracy and his efforts to replace it with something more Trumpian: xenophobic, protectionist and truculent. This is the Europe of Germany’s Alexander Gauland, France’s Marine Le Pen, Britain’s Nigel Farage, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Poland’s Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and Italy’s Matteo Salvini. Note that the last three are already in power.
“All this must be gratifying to Trump’s sense of his historical importance. For America, it’s a historical disaster. The United States can only lead a world that’s prepared to follow.
“But follow what? Not the rules of trade that America once set but now claims are rigged against it. Not the democratic ideals that America once embodied but now treats with disdain. Not the example of fighting bullies, after it has now become one.
“This will suit Americans for whom the idea of a free world always seemed like a distant abstraction. It will suit Europeans whose anti-Americanism predates Trump’s arrival by decades. And it will especially suit Putin, who knows that an America that stands for its own interests first also stands, and falls, alone. Surely the dead at Colleville-sur-Mer fought for something greater than that.”
Not sure the WTO is a liberal group. Seems to me free trade is part of a free market. Sounds neoliberal. But, I dunno, heroic Ralph Waldo Emerson thought free trade was progressive. What do I know?
The late Nobel-prize winning economist, Milton Friedman, was a strong advocate of free trade. Free trade across international borders, is vital part of a free market. Economists from all sides have advocated for free trade, and elimination of tariffs on trade.
Free trade lowers costs to consumers, increases employment, and lowers inflation.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was right.
The Smoot-Hawley tariff act of 1930, exacerbated the depression. See
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Smoot-Hawley-Tariff-Act
Charles,
Around these parts, Milton Friedman is not admired. He abetted Pinochet in Chile. Remember?
I am well-aware of the association (between the Pinochet regime, and the “Chicago boys”). Nevertheless, economists from all across the spectrum are virtually united in their opposition to protective tariffs. A trade war benefits no one.
I agree. Trade wars hurt producers and consumers.
I offered my advice that citing Friedman is a waste of time.
Friedman was a dangerous fool, and was given a Swedish National Bank Prize “in Memory of Alfred Nobel”, not a Nobel Prize established by the Nobel Foundation. The Economics Prize to which you refer is given by corporate libertarians to corporate libertarian economists who support low taxes for the rich. It’s not a Nobel Prize. Gee thanks, though, for the link to an encyclopedia article defining Smoot-Hawley. You did research! Extra points for effort.
The effects of the Smoot-Hawley tariff act are taught in Econ 101. Every person with even a passing knowledge of economics, has heard of it.
Hilarious.
It’s complicated. I am of two minds on the subject of tariffs. Slaveowners in South Carolina hated the “Tariff of Abominations” that protected manufacturing over slavery. I wouldn’t side with the plantations. On the one hand, tariffs are an extreme, but on the other hand, free trade deals like NAFTA are the other extreme, giving free reign to huge corporations to assemble their products using unprotected labor in foreign countries. Complicated.
Actually, organized labor in the US was able to improve working conditions on other countries via trade deals.
Agreed, but with the bar set very low. And the other side of increments those incremental improvements to labor conditions abroad is that U.S. labor has to compete, and suffers. There are trade offs. Fiscal policy needs to involve heavy corporate regulation, which in my opinion consists of neither all free trade nor all protectionism. Complicated.
Oops, neglected to edit.
The historical consensus, is that the Smoot-Hawley tariff act, worked to exacerbate the depression of the 1930s. A trade war now, would be a disaster. All indications are, is that the USA is heading into one. Sad.
Charles,
On this one, I agree with you. Trump may be leading us towards economic disaster. If history is a guide, we are in deep trouble.
This was posted in the South China Morning Post…Hong Kong. The world is watching Trump and it isn’t a pretty picture.
……….
America has lost our trust. We must speak up – and retaliate
Philip Bowring says under Donald Trump, the US has turned its back on the values and principles it has long stood for, including free trade and international cooperation. Now is the time to stand up to Trump’s assault
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 14 July, 2018, 3:48pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 14 July, 2018, 6:42pm
How should America’s friends respond to Donald Trump’s assault on so much that the nation has stood for over the past 70 years? Embarrassed silence? Wait for the storm to pass? I think not.
Speak up and retaliate. If the US no longer believes it needs friends and no longer believes in open trade, there must be some response to make it plain to our American friends, and representatives such as the American Chamber of Commerce, that specific trade grievances are no excuse for policies which may have originated from the US president but have not been checked by the balances supposedly provided by the Constitution.
If, too, the US chooses backwoods opposition to huge global issues like climate change, or lesser ones such as strong-arming small countries to oppose global breast-feeding initiatives, putting formula producers’ profits ahead of public health, then it deserves a response…
https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2155084/america-has-lost-our-trust-we-must-speak-and
When “strong-arming” could also be written simply as “arming.” Trump is now heavily pushing his use-weapons-control-citizens demand with a Buy American: We Sell War Better Than Anyone Else message.
Precisely what Chomsky warned about in the lesser evil piece. If and when we manage to rid ourselves of the Orange monster the media and corporate interests will double down on their Neo-Liberal agenda. Pushing progressive populist change off for decades and worsening inequality.
But as Lofgren said in a new piece none of the economic models explain Trump. No place in NYC has more union workers and Public Union workers than Staten Island and it is Trumplandia. The Farmers who stand to be really hurt are still overwhelmingly Trump. So people are certainly not voting self-interest. Suffolk County Long Island is not the battered Midwest.
But perhaps Lofgren is missing something. Perhaps the voter who didn’t vote are the ones we should be counting. But are they looking for what Bret Stephens is offering?
Nothing wrong with free trade. Are the benefits shared? We know the aggregate numbers say, consumer prices are down. Yet they also say worker wages are down.
Is Bret Stephens calling for the type of economic policy that will bring more voters to the polls?
Maybe there is a correlation between Socially Democratic society and voter turn out to protect those economic benefits. The elderly Trump voter turns out in mass to protect his or her benefits. Even if they could careless about anyone else.
I think he is calling for an alliance of nations with shared democratic values. Trump has individually insulted all of our democratic allies. He saves his earnest praise for human rights abusers like Kim and Putin and Duerte.
If it was only shared Democratic values he was calling for I would not be opposed. There is a constant refrain that Free trade agreements and bodies are somehow Democratic institutions. They neither represent Democracy for the people of these nations nor are they negotiated in the interest of the citizens of these Nations.
So we agree that Scarborough is a Center-Right host. Of course, MSNBC is a “Liberal ” Media outfit. If you believe that? We get daily doses of conflating trade with defense of Democracy; from Stephens, from James Stavridis former head of NATO. Take a count of how many
times and in what context you hear the words TPP. Not just on Joes show but through the day.
Trade is a matter of picking winners and losers it is neither good nor bad. It has nothing to do with Democracy. China is our largest trading partner hardly a Democracy. When the soft coups occurred in South America was there a concern for the corrosive effects on Democracy in Brazil or Argentina. Hell, there is no concern when it is an actual coup as long as it is right wing. Nobody has an objection to Democratic Nations aligning in the interest of Democracy. When the OAS was calling for actions against the Honduran Junta where was that concern for Democratic Institutions in DC.
Of course, it goes without saying it is a shame that they didn’t “lock him up” in England.
I was hoping the Queen would put something in his tea.
Everything that dump does shows how WRETCHED that dump truly is. He is an agent of Putin, who funds that dump in more ways than $$$$$.
I am not a fan of Bret Stephens nor his philosophy.
However, when Richard Nixon was corrupting the White House, good people from both parties came together to get him out. That needs to happen.
And then the next step is to elect more progressive politicians. But…
I’m not exactly sure if even the progressives agree on a progressive agenda. I mean, do they think Trump’s anti-free trade policies are good? Do they like Trump’s foreign policy (i.e. stay out) When should America use its power to affect the world? Never? If Putin starts moving into other countries, do we ignore? What about Israel? Do we cut off all funding immediately? Is the progressive agenda that Israel is illegitimate and if they are threatened and invaded, no big deal?
What about refugees? What about illegal immigrants? What exactly IS the progressive platform on that? Is it the one that Hillary Clinton ran on? Or more like Trump’s? There doesn’t even seem to be any agreement that “public” charters aren’t a fine idea. I’m still waiting for any real progressive statement that no charter that isn’t entirely owned and operated by the same public school board that runs public schools should be supported.
I am not sure what the progressive policy on Syria is! I think Obama started out as quite “progressive” (i.e. non-interventionist) on foreign policy (but he was never particularly progressive on economic issues). However, when faced with choices, it is not always clear which choice will do the least harm. Was it “progressive” for America to fight Germany in WW II? Was it “progressive” to support sanctions against Iraq to try to pressure Saddam Hussein’s government to be more democratic without armed intervention, or did sanctions cause too much harm to civilians and we should have just let Saddam do whatever he wanted and stayed out? Was it “progressive” to just pull out of Iraq and say “whatever happens, happens and if people with weapons who kill a lot of Iraqi civilians do a complete takeover of the country and turn it into a dictatorship, then that’s too bad.” What happens if Syria does use chemical weapons? Do we just say “tut tut” and then decide it’s not our problem as long as it isn’t against the US? What happens if Putin is encouraging Assad to use harsh methods against Syrian civilians who want to live in a democratic country? Does the US just ignore, or do we band together with other western countries to put pressure on Assad? And if saying “we don’t like it” doesn’t work, do we say “oh well, we tried”?
I think there are plenty of “progressives” Democratic politicians, but some of them are progressive on some issues and some of them are progressive on others. At some point, politics is about figuring out how to address competing needs. Bernie was less progressive on issues like gun control and “public” charters not because he was owned by corporate interests but because his constituents had more conservative opinions about those and he understood and represented those constituents. I think politics is very complicated. And when I hear a “progressive” politician acting as if they have some easy solution, I feel some of the same distrust I do when a right wing Republican tells me they have all the answers.
I prefer politicians who are willing to admit there are no easy choices but they promise to do their best to work for the good of the people and not for corporate interests. I’m not expecting miracles nor am I expecting any foreign policy decisions that will lead to worldwide peace. I just want a politician willing to tell the truth about the hard choices. To me, that IS progressive. Even if that politician ends up supporting a compromise policy that is not as progressive as I would like.
“I’m not exactly sure if even the progressives agree on a progressive agenda.”
There is no unified agenda. But the Parameters are there. Government is there to solve the problems. As that Government defines how the economy functions by creating the rules of the game.
The rules of the game should be made in the interest of the vast majority of Americans, not an increasingly powerful Oligarchy. The oligarchy earned its wealth because of the way rules were structured.
The rules have to be restructured to share that benefit. For instance and this is one of the 1000s of examples what is a leveraged buy out and why does it receive a preferential tax benefit. While workers pensions are allowed to be devastated.
Or what is Taft Hartley? Want to talk about first amendment rights.
Ask Truman and it was not just the exclusion of communists that he objected to.
Want to talk about free trade. Comparative advantage says nothing about who receives the benefit of trade. Progressive taxation that shared that wealth would go a long way. It did in the 50s and 60s ………………………
Joel,
Progressive taxation is the key to real change. We should be a more equal society. No billionaires. Not one. No poverty.
By the way, Larry Sanger (who identifies himself on Twitter as co-founder of Wikipedia) warned me the other day that I was in danger of becoming “a warrior for social justice.” I asked if that was a bad thing, and he responded yes, with a definition of “warrior for social justice” as a zealot who is essentially unhinged.
Diane, welcome to the ‘unhinged’ club. I have difficulty believing some of the comments that I get on some other sites.
It’s a sad state of affairs when a “warrior for social justice” is labeled zealot who is essentially unhinged. This is the Trump effect as it ripples throughout our society.
At first, I thought he meant it as a compliment. Then he explained he was warning me not to be “a warrior for social justice,”
Joel: you point out an important idea. Many if not most of the people who are in the Trump camp have much to lose from his economic policies. Teachers who are denied due process and are mistreated support him. Retired workers from both public and private sectors support him. People of sincere religious faith and good morals support him. What are they seeing?
I claim they are supporting him because they buy into the way he defines their fears for them. Surrounded as they are by troubles, they choose to accept that the problem is immigrants, queers, and liberals. The other people who did not vote see no reason to vote. Thus a minority in a large geographic area makes the decisions for the whole country.
Roy,
Of course, you and Joel are right. Trump wins by preying on fears, not hopes. In classic style of a demagogue, he always has an Other. The Other is taking your job, raping your women, destroying your culture. The Other threatens Us. If we can build a Wall, increase our military, we can repel the Other and MAGA. Remember those good old days when We ruled everything? MAGA. No government healthcare. Lots of Mom and Pop businesses. Main Street thriving.
As I thought about this, it seemed to me that fear is a basic human instinct. Robert Griffith wrote Politics of Fear years ago to try to define the career of Joe McCarthy. He traced fear appeals in the campaigns of Richard Nixon and other anti-communists of the post World War II era. Fox founder Ailes came from the Nixon era, armed with all th dirty tricks. Now we have this method on steroids, flames fanned by a medium that creates a second by second echo chamber for like minded fearful people. It comes from a group of people bent on undoing the ideals of the New Deal, which they see as an anathema.
The irony of this is that most of the really good people I know that have bought into the trump fear program can quote Psalm 23: yea though I walk through the valley of the show of death I will fear no evil…
If you are a good propagandist, you can even get good people to fear, as the NAZIS did in the frail republic that tried in vain to right the ship of state during the time between the wars. What we need is a politician who is not afraid to tell people that they should not be reduced to fear.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign slogan was “Stronger Together”. Maybe it’s not as politically correct (and I use the real definition of politically correct — meaning saying only what makes the right wing happy) as “Make America Great Again”.
But it was the truth. America is stronger when we aren’t governed by people who look for scapegoats and try to divide us.
I’m sick of supposed progressives whining that Democrats care too much about those “others” (LGBQT, African-Americans, Latinos, Muslims, etc.) and not about economic issues. It is possible to care about BOTH which is what most Democrats do care about.
Consider this perspective:
“It is clear that the intelligence and law enforcement communities of the United States — adhering to the principles of patriotism enumerated by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein yesterday — felt that a message needed to be sent to the Russians that we were on to them.”
“Typically, such a message would be delivered by the president in such a meeting but this president has proven to be the staunchest defender of Putin and the most active advocate of covering up or denying these attacks. He did it again this week even while knowing of the indictments.”
If the so-called proof is in the (Russian) pudding, then it’s clear that Trump (1) is and has been acting in the national interest of Putin and Russia rather than the United States, and (2) the conspiracy between Trump and Russia is very real, and dangerous, and (3) Trump has violated his oath of office to ” preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
All of the U.S. intelligence agencies, the intelligence agencies of several western European nations, independent cybersecurity and cyber warfare companies, independent hackers and journalists, national security academics – and even Fox news – confirmed and verified that Russia interceded in the 2016 US election against Hillary Clinton and on behalf of Trump. Russian-produced propaganda ads were powerful, prolific, and influential. Russian propaganda and hacked documents were cited – again and again – by Trump, the Trump campaign, Trump surrogates, and an array of mouthpieces at Fox. It’s likely that the Russians gained access to all of the voter analytics at the DNC…most likely, in the near future, we will learn more about how – and by whom – that data was used.
The perspective continues:
“This is an extraordinary moment. It is without equal not only in American history but in modern history. A hostile foreign power intervened in our election to help elect a man president who has since actively served their interests and has defended them at every turn.”
I’ve been saying this for while; to conspire with a foreign nation to undermine and rig an American presidential election through a covert cyberwarfare campaign is a violation of U.S. law(s) and a direct threat to the Constitution of the American Republic and “the People.”
Article III, Section 3, U.S. Constitution.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-way-trump-and-the-gop-deal-with-russian-attacks-is-textbook-treason?ref=home
democracy: “…this president has proven to be the staunchest defender of Putin and the most active advocate of covering up or denying these attacks. He did it again this week even while knowing of the indictments.”
Thank you for the link. I sent it to friends within the US and overseas. I’m sure they get the same type of news but I think it helps to come from me. This whole thing is beyond disgusting. My hope is that Mueller can get rid of Trump.
Now we have to worry about what Trump is planning to give away to Putin. Why are no reporters allowed? What is the purpose of this meeting? What evil will the Orange Monster do? He wants Putin to be his friend and he is easily manipulated.
It would be fantastic if Trump were found guilty of treason. Can he pardon himself and his children?
Carol,
Even worse than no reporters is that no other observers are allowed. Not even the Secretary of State. That is simply bizarre.
It would appear to me that this author is using the idea of liberalism in the classical sense. Classical liberalism included governmental forbearance in terms of economic activity, a belief in fundamental human rights, and the attainment of these goals through the vote. It depended on an involved and informed electorate. It was a process that was only, is only, at a stage of attainment. Who could argue that the United States lived is a state of classical liberalism while millions of its people (of African descent by law) lay in the bonds of slavery? Who could argue that this system had completed its goal of revolutionizing society when Europe dominated whole continents with violent exploitation of natural and human resources?
But we were closer in recent years than we had been. We had gotten to the point where overt reference to the lack of humanity of some ethnic groups was considered ridiculous by the mainstream. As we approached a better human understanding of each other, philosophical constructs regarding the natural supremacy of Europeans and economic beliefs that seemed to justify imperialism shifted slightly to appeal to those disenfranchised in various communities. People like Alexander Duggin in Russia formulated a reset of old ideas that suggested that classical liberalism was to blame for societal ills. Modern conservatism is predicated on many of the same protests of the fascist movement, just adjusted a bit for an audience in a different age.
The protests against human rights and social responsibilities have spawned a new threat to the idea that people can govern themselves, that well-regulated capitalism can function economically, and that there is something inherently moral in this process. Modern conservatism seems to believe in its moral superiority and dominant ability to decide by personal fiat who wins and looses in the game of life. This is not too far removed from the ages before classical liberalism came to us in the form of ideas from Locke to Rousseau, developed for a century in a turbulent Europe and America, and flowers in a century marred by three wars, two hot and one cold.
On GPS: Video: Trump and Eastern Europe’s anxieties
Fareed Zakaria, GPS
Russia scholar Anne Applebaum tells Fareed people in Poland and the Baltic states are frightened by President Trump’s ambiguous attitude towards Russia.Source: CNN
Check out this story on CNN: https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2018/07/13/exp-gps-0715-applebaum-on-fear-of-russia-in-e-europe.cnn
This is from a commenter on The Intercept who goes by “Benito Mussolini” and who is known as a rather biting, satirical commenter, so always be on the look out for sarcasm with him, but nonetheless, there’s always a lot of underlying truth in his posts:
“We live in an age when everything is fake and that is why we are all hare-brained conspiracy theorists (except, of course, those who can’t think).
“My theory is that Mr. Mueller (a Republican) is working for Mr. Trump. He is the pied piper, leading the Democrats on a wild goose chase while Mr. Trump implements new policies, virtually unopposed. Every indictment in the investigation leads further from Mr. Trump, towards the inevitable denouement that the DNC colluded in their own hacking. The present indictment already contains the hint; the DNC staffers voluntarily gave their passwords to the Russian hackers. That is only one small step away from full blown collusion. The DNC can plead stupidity, but stupidity is not a legal defense.
“You read it here first: John Podesta is the next person to be indicted.”
Again, yes, he’s being snide and satirical, but he’s absolutely right that people are delusional to rely on Mueller. He’s playing you all for fools.
If you want to defeat Trump, stop thinking he’s going to get impeached/indicted/removed from office. Focus on fighting his policies, and focus on finding some Democrats who have a chance of getting elected in 2018 and 2020.
Thinking Trump will be impeached is wishful thinking. I agree that the Democrats need to carve out a platform that counters Trump’s narrative. They would benefit by casting a large shadow on Trump and his relationship with Putin. Most of all they need to define how they are different and better for everyone in the long run. I would like to see them embrace strong public education, but this is dubious. I think we will see more individual Democrats supporting public schools and workers, but it will not be on the platform.
The more I think about this, the more I have to think Mueller is laughing so hard his belly must hurt. All he has to do is indict a bunch of Russians and have Tom Clancy’s grandson write the indictment to make it as convoluted as possible, and people lap it up. Meanwhile, he knows perfectly well that none of these people will every face trial so he never has to produce a shred of evidence.
Frankly, it reminds me of people who fell for James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces or Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea. Both books were so outrageous it’s a wonder people ever believed a word of them, but the very outrageousness of it is what people believed. It’s like if I tried to write a book about my life in the Italian mafia. If I tried to make it sound reasonable no one would believe me – it’s be abundantly clear I’ve never had the slightest contact with the Italian mafia. But if I made it ridiculously outrageous and threw in every popular stereotype about the Italian mafia, people might assume I must know what I’m talking about.
Anyway, Russiagate is a win-win-win for all the powers that be. It looks great for Mueller – he’s making progress and he’ll be bringing down Trump any day now! It’s great for Trump himself because it allows him to do anything he wants policy-wise while people are distracted. It’s great for the FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. because it justifies further eroding our civil rights and liberties all in the name of national security (it was an “act of war” after all!!!). And it’s great for Hillary and the Democrats because it gives them perfect cover never to have to do any self-reflection as to how it was they lost to an orange monster. Heck, it’s even great for PUTIN! because now he’s the great evil mastermind who controls the world – every bad thing that happens, he caused it.
The only ones who lose are the other 99% of us.
Dienne,
Bernie is not running until 2020. You are not helping his cause by attacking Mueller and Rosenstein. Do you think the investigation should be shut down, like Trump and Giuliani? I can’t figure out what your end point is.
Is the Orange IDIOT out of his league when he meets with Putin?
……………………….
Is Donald Trump a Traitor?…Intercept by James Risen
February 16 2018, 5:00 a.m.
…To anyone who has studied the history of the KGB, particularly during the Cold War, the attack on the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party during the 2016 U.S. election looks like the contemporary cyber-descendant of countless analog KGB propaganda efforts. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the KGB frequently engaged in ambitious disinformation campaigns that were designed to sow suspicion of the United States in the developing world. The KGB’s so-called “active measures” programs would use international front organizations, cutouts, and sometimes unwitting enablers in the press to disseminate their anti-American propaganda.
The most infamous and dangerously effective KGB disinformation campaign of the Cold War was known as Operation Infektion. It was a secret effort to convince people in developing countries that the United States had created the HIV/AIDS virus.
In 1983, a newspaper in India printed what purported to be a letter from an American scientist saying the virus had been developed by the Pentagon. The letter went on to suggest that the U.S. was moving its experiments to Pakistan, India’s archenemy. Meanwhile, the KGB got an East German scientist to spread misinformation supporting the Moscow-backed conspiracy theory that the U.S. was behind the virus.
While these lies never penetrated the U.S. mainstream, they nonetheless spread insidiously through much of the world.
Vladimir Putin was a KGB officer during the 1980s when the KGB was conducting this disinformation campaign. He was stationed in East Germany in the late 1980s, and there is a good chance he knew about the East German component of Operation Infektion…
https://interc.pt/2HjzI6Q
This is way off topic, but relates to one more horror that Trump is imposing on this country. The rights of religious people, or those who claim ‘religion’, can now not give medical care to people in need. They now have legal cover for their misogyny, racism and homophobia.These patients don’t even need to be told why they are not receiving any type of treatment. We have to depend upon the courts to now allow this to continue. [How about our newly appointed ultra-conservative court justices that will go along with this?]
Would all the Trump supporters on this blog please state how this is Making America Great Again? I think it stinks. One more step downward due to the hatred and ignorance of our Great Orange Monster.
…………
The Baltimore Health Commissioner on a world where doctors can refuse to treat you
The New York Times
Sunday, July 15, 2018
NYTimes.com/Kristof »
Today’s author is Dr. Leana S. Wen, the health commissioner of Baltimore, a hero in the war on opioids and a rising star in the health world.
By Dr. Leana S. Wen
A woman is bleeding from a miscarriage. She sits in her doctor’s office and waits for eight hours. Nobody tells her why she’s not being seen. When she finally goes to the E.R., she’s bleeding so profusely that she needs blood transfusions and an emergency hysterectomy.
In another hospital, a man is denied surgery for a broken arm because he’s transgender. A woman is told she can’t get birth control because she’s unmarried. A child won’t be given vaccinations because he has same-sex parents.
You might be wondering what barbaric society could allow laws that permit such blatant discrimination. That society is ours, and the laws are already in place. In January, the Trump administration created a Conscience and Religious Freedom division in the Department of Health and Human Services. The ostensible aim is to protect the right of health care workers to opt out of procedures that they have religions objections to. The government issued regulations to expand that right so that all of the above scenarios could be justified based on the provider’s religious beliefs. There is now no requirement to inform the patient of why care is denied or to offer a referral to someone who can provide it.
By giving legal cover for discrimination, providers can claim religion as a blanket protection for their own misogyny, racism and homophobia. This will worsen the problem of health care access for those who already face many barriers to care. Women, minorities and L.G.B.T. individuals, particularly those living in areas with few providers, will suffer the most. Many will be forced to forgo care altogether.
The new regulations will also change the nature of the healing professions. In medical school, I learned that a doctor’s primary duty is to the patient. When there is a conflict, the Association of American Medical Colleges instructs, “the health and rights of the patient, who is in the more vulnerable position, must be given precedence.” We doctors, nurses and other health care professionals chose our field. Our patients can’t choose when and how they are ill and, often, which doctor’s hands they might end up in. It is our job — and our privilege — to take care of patients. We don’t judge the people we serve. We don’t allow our beliefs to override their needs. And we certainly don’t deny lifesaving care.
The Trump administration claims that its goal is to protect the autonomy of providers, but it is censoring health professionals. In May, it added a “gag rule” to the Title X family planning program: Providers of clinics that receive federal funding can’t speak about abortion, even when patients ask about it. Providers are required to emphasize “fertility awareness” like the rhythm method rather than F.D.A.-approved contraception like condoms and IUDs. Health professionals are allowed to deny care on religious grounds, but those who provide patients with accurate, scientific information would be breaking the law.
In the coming months, these laws will be challenged in the courts. Now is the time to speak out against this regulation and its terrifying impacts. Health professionals must stand up and speak out for their patients. Everyone else should submit comments to the Trump administration and make your voices heard. It’s up to all of us to fight for the fundamental right to health.
Dr. Leana S. Wen (@DrLeanaWen) is the Health Commissioner of Baltimore City. She is an emergency physician and patient and community advocate.
Meanwhile, at The Intercept, James Risen is reporting that,
” The Russians really did do it…The indictment also adds heft to the longstanding intelligence community consensus that the target of the covert action was Clinton and her presidential campaign, and that Moscow’s objective was to damage her campaign and help Donald Trump win.”
There’s much more to come from Mr. Mueller.
Please read the comments to that article. The commenters are much better informed that Mr. Risen and they debunk pretty much every word of that article.
Hahahahahahahahahahah….wait, wait, let me catch my breath…hahahahahahahahahahaha…I can’t breathe…hahahahahahahahah!!!!
Dienne, you’ve gone full delusional….
So James Resin who was for a time public enemy # 1 of the Obama Administration is somehow a member of the deep state. By the way, there is no deep state. Not in a Governmental sense. Perhaps it does exist in extra-governmental organizations. As Resin points out these are a career civil servants who certainly have their personal biases have for better or worse ideological bias but are under the control of political appointees. If anything he worried about Pompeo constraining the investigation. As director of the CIA when he was at CIA.
But I am with Greg HA HA HA HA …………………………………………..
And, as FiveThirtyEight reports,
“So far, Mueller has filed charges against five American, one Dutch and 26 Russian nationals, along with three Russian businesses. Of all those indicted, five people have pleaded guilty — including one who has already served prison time — and Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, is awaiting trial…”
Yeah…it’s not only real, it’s seriously dangerously real.
Republican political consultant John Weaver put it this way:
“Russian interference & the probable conspiracy DID IMPACT the 2016 election. Anyone who says otherwise is ignorant or lying.”
Yep.
Dan Coats said the same. He is Trump’s Director of National Intelligence. He said that the Russian Attack on our election was real and dangerous. Whom should we believe?
Trump says all of this was the problem of the Obama administration. It’s the old blame someone else and do nothing. What does Putin have over Donald?
…..
Video: Trump deflects question over Russia indictments
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Helsinki, Finland, for a summit just days after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment of 12 Russians for their alleged attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
Check out this story on CNN: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/07/15/trump-putin-russia-indictments-new-day-vpx.cnn
I just found this interesting tidbit. Pence and his family have made millions off of a defunct gas station empire and taxpayers in Indiana are having to pay for the toxic cleanup.
This whole bunch in the Trump administration are leeches. Sick grifters. How can someone take money like this and then demean those who are struggling to survive? It takes a ‘special’ type of ‘Christian’ values. Pence has this ‘special Christian’ belief.
……..
Report: Pence family’s failed gas stations cost taxpayers $20 million..cbs news
The collapse of his family’s gas station empire has left Indiana and other states on the hook for environmental cleanup
…The fact that the company stuck taxpayers with the lion’s share of the cleanup bill rankles some observers, especially in light of the family’s reputation as budget hawks critical of government spending.
The Pence family, especially Greg Pence, has “some answering in public” to do, said A. James Barnes, an environmental law professor who served in high-ranking posts at the Environmental Protection Agency under President Ronald Reagan.
Mike Pence, then a third-year congressman, lost more than $600,000 when the company went under. He later became Indiana governor and now has assets worth between $532,000 and $1.13 million. Greg Pence, who is seeking the vice president’s old congressional seat, has total assets worth $5.7 to $26 million.
Nearly a decade after going under, Kiel Bros. sites still ranked among the top 10 recipients of state money for such cleanups in Indiana in 2013, the last year for which the petroleum industry has reliable spending data for the company. That was out of more than 230 companies seeking cleanup money that year, including major gas station chains with a substantially larger presence in the state.
Founded as an oil distributor by businessman Carl Kiel in 1960, the company expanded into the gas station business. Pence’s father, Edward, joined in the early years and, by the mid-1970s, rose to corporate vice president.
Mike Pence says he worked for the business — which mostly operated under the name Tobacco Road — starting at age 14. But it was his brother who took over after Edward Pence’s 1988 death and eventually became president…
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pence-familys-failed-gas-stations-cost-taxpayers-20-million/
The state’s payout limit was $2 million per site until Mike Pence signed a 2016 law as governor, increasing it to $2.5 million. In 2016, Indiana paid out nearly two-and-a-half times the national average per incident, according to records.
Here is some good news: The “Trump baby” blimp is now planning a world tour, starting in Australia.
How about a ticker tape parade in NYC?
Probably not on Wall Street, however.
First look as Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who Is America?” focusing on guns and schools. Now these are Americans worth hating:
And the NRA is laundering Russian money.
GregB: Why not give loaded guns to 4-11 year olds and let them shoot bad guys? Kids, exceptional ones, surely can distinguish the good ones from the bad? Right?
This video ranks as one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. We actually have Congress people who support this. Nobody should have access to killing/maiming anyone, especially our youngest members of society. I can see a child having a life long trauma from this type of thinking.
In Africa, young children are taken away from their parents and threatened to join rebel gangs and taught how to kill. Why not encourage this type of thinking instead of putting guns inside rabbits and making the killing cute? [Sarcasm]
No wonder Congress isn’t bold enough to go up against Trump. There isn’t a working brain cell in these idiots.
Once again, it takes a comedian to point out essential truths and expose what these kind of people they really are. Just when you thought they couldn’t possibly be more creepy.
This article will explain Putn’s interest in Trump.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/19/trump-first-moscow-trip-215842