May 17, 2019
Kuttner on TAP
Trump’s Itchy Trigger Finger. Earlier in the week, we were hearing from unnamed administration sources about small patrol boats of the Iranian Navy armed with missiles preparing to attack American warships.
Are you kidding? Why in the world would Iran pull such a stunt and bring the U.S. into a war? This Trumped-up provocation has all the credibility of the phony Gulf of Tonkin incident, which Trump is probably too illiterate to know anything about. For that matter, it has all the credibility of George W. Bush’s faked pretext for war with Iraq.
But wait, that was in the last news cycle, 48 hours ago—an eternity ago. In today’s news cycle, Trump is walking it all back. He doesn’t want war with Iran after all.
This is also reminiscent of Trump’s two-year folie a deux with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, who went from being Little Rocket Man to being a great statesman and back again without so much as a by-your-leave, and without any change in North Korea’s actual policies.
It’s bad enough that Trump is promoting lunatic and contradictory policies on everything else from immigration to infrastructure to tariffs. But on the foreign policy front, his ignorant trifling, short attention span, pirouettes, and double reverses could end with all of us getting blown to bits.
And if Trump imagines that he might lose the 2020 election, the risk of an entirely fake national security crisis only grows. But hey, let’s exhale and take it one day at a time. We’ve averted a war for this news cycle. Grateful for small favors. ~ ROBERT KUTTNER
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
How long does a news cycle last?
A news cycle is media reporting that generally covers 24 hours, but since news sources differ in nature, their news cycles also differ. A complete news cycle consists of the media reporting on some event, followed by the media reporting on public and other reactions to the earlier reports.
That isn’t much time before the next Trumpian controlled news cycle.
Trump: FBI Who Investigated My Campaign Guilty of ‘TREASON!’
Donald Trump claimed early Friday that his 2016 campaign was “conclusively spied on” and accused those responsible of all-caps “TREASON!” The president hasn’t produced any evidence for his much-repeated belief that his campaign was illegally monitored, but it has been backed by his attorney general, William Barr. “Nothing like this has ever happened in American Politics,” said Trump. “A really bad situation. TREASON means long jail sentences, and this was TREASON!” Trump’s outburst comes days after Barr announced the appointment of a U.S. attorney to review the origins of the Russia investigation. The Justice Department did investigate possible ties between Russia and Trump campaign officials, but it’s not been proven that it investigated the campaign itself.
Read it at Twitter
Carol,
He is a lunatic.
I totally agree. However, this is what Faux is putting out. They are proving to be Trump’s personal propaganda network.
……….
Is the media dismissing the Trump campaign spying scandal?
Media Malpractice…Fox ‘news’
Press largely dismisses deep state spying scandal
Video link:https://video.foxnews.com/v/6037387802001/
Trump is a lunatic surrounded by lunatics. John Bolton war mongering lunatic. Mike Pompeo is a lunatic Christian Nationalist. And, the US has no Secretary of Defense.
Don’t forget to put Pence on that list. He bows to Trump and is a religious fanatic. He was raised a Catholic and changed to be an Evangelical.
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While governor of Indiana, Pence signed the 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was meant to allow business owners to cite religious beliefs as reason to refuse service to members of the LGBTQ community.
Pence told the Hill in 2002 that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and he doesn’t attend events featuring alcohol without her.
In 2000, Pence wrote an op-ed in which he said “smoking doesn’t kill.”
Pence in 2006 cited a Harvard researcher in remarks where he declared same-sex marriage would bring about a “societal collapse.”
In 2011, Pence authored a bill to completely defund Planned Parenthood, and signaled he was willing to prompt a government shutdown over it.
While governor of Indiana, Pence was blamed for an HIV crisis in his state after he moved to slash funding for Planned Parenthood in 2011. A local Planned Parenthood facility had to close in 2013 because of the spending cut. That facility was the only HIV testing center in Scott County, which faced a deepening drug-use problem that was believed to have hastened HIV outbreaks.
Perhaps I am getting cynical. But a good war with Iran might just be what the nation needs to put an end to the all-volunteer army. After allTrump says the Army is with him. After a good war with Iran, the Army could put an end to him.
Okay, my wife made us both a cocktail and my Trump derangement syndrome feels better with a little alcohol. But don’t worry I only drink about once every 3 months.
Joel Herman: If people again were drafted into the army, like in the Vietnam era, I bet the ‘wars that never end’ would finally be over. People today have no vested interests in who in the military dies nor care about the civilians in these war zones who have been killed.
Personal involvement means knowing someone who has died and the voices to end the wars would begin.
My personal position is that all politicians who are wars supporters must always first send THEIR children. That would certainly cut down on the military excesses.
carolmalaysia
I wholly agree. I am with Charlie Rangel 100% on that one.
It is the poor and working class who pay the price of our endless wars.
In addition to sending their children, the politicians themselves should have to fight on the front lines, regardless of their age.
Imagine if Dick Cheney and George Bush had been forced to fight in Iraq. They would have run the other way quicker than you can say WMD.
Too bad the Orange Mussolini had bone spurs and has to use golf carts. He took a limo to get to McCain’s funeral. Guess he can’t walk very far.
Yeah. He needs to fight in ANY country where we have the military. Great idea.
[However, does the military really need a racist, hate-mongering, demented, xenophobic, narcissistic, misogynistic, pathological liar? If there is a test to get into the military, he’d flunk. He’d never make it past the physical training part. It would be fun to see him going through parts of the physical training.]
LOL
They wouldn’t be able to run after they shot themselves in the foot.
Cheney would undoubtedly manage to shoot Bush in the face like he did his hunting partner.
“What Congress is for”
What Congress is for
On subject of war
Is stamp for the Prez
Whatever he says
The Party is moot
They all love to root
For war and for bomb
With certain aplomb
“fascist leader of Hungary, Viktor Orbán”
This is a stronger attribution than warranted. I would not equate Trump with Orbán, even if the US and Western European media have decided to do so.
A few things to think about: One, Orbán was elected fair and square by the majority of the people. Two, Hungary is in a very different position than the US when it comes to immigration. Three, Soros have tried to use his billions (and his very small, not exactly quality university) to heavily influence politics in Hungary, such as trying to make Hungary borrow money from Western European banks to cover immigration related expenses.
Máté Wierdl:This is what i read about Orban. Looks like Hungary elected a Trump clone.
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Orban has taken near total control over Hungary’s news media. He has used financial pressure to silence independent outlets and has consolidated the rest to create a state media machine that is loyal to him.
Orban has also radically changed Hungary’s courts, relentlessly chipping away at judicial independence. In 2018, he created an alternative court system that gives his executive branch power over the judiciary, where Orban himself can pick and choose his own judges.
In another move that was bitterly criticized by proponents of free speech, Orban recently closed Central European University in Budapest because it received funding from its founder, the Hungarian-native billionaire philanthropist George Soros. Critics have pointed to Orban’s demonization campaign against Soros as being filled with anti-Semitic tropes and false accusations.
Just because it’s written down doesn’t make it all true.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-viktor-orban-hungary-prime-minister-trump-meeting-white-house-today-2019-05-13/
For example, let us look at
Orban’s rhetoric was described as “the hate campaign” by his political opponents in Jobbik, Hungary’s largest opposition party.
Jobbik means “better” in Hungarian, but it also hints at being “more to the right”. Jobbik is the extreme right, nationalist, Christian party in Hungary. which critisizes Orbán for, among other things, being too lenient with foreigners, such as immigrants and foreign workers. Many in Jobbik are also openly antisemitic—unlike Orbán’s party (despite what the Western media claims in connection with Soros).
So it’s quite telling that CBSNEWS echoes Jobbik’s party line.
I am not proud of Orbán, but he is no Trump. That Jobbik is the second largest party in Hungary is much more embarrassing and more worrisome than Orbán. Luckily, Jobbik got only 19% of the votes while Orbán’s party got 49% of the votes in 2018.
By the way, the 2nd largest opposition party in Hungary consists of the excommunists turned capitalists (they are supposed to be the left) and they got 10% of the votes in 2018. So there is not much to choose from in Hungary nowadays if you are not pleased with Orbán.
Why do people vote for Orbán? He gave raises to doctors, teachers, gave extra monthly income to outstanding artists for the rest of their lives, raised retirements, lowered utility bills, got rid of national debt. He just appears much more competent than the previous “leftist” regime which consisted of excommunists turned capitalists—who call themselves liberals, but in fact, we’d call them neoliberals here in the US. So you see, left and right are not the same in Hungary as here, and it’s a big mistake to try to make analogies using the words “left” and “right”.
The noose is getting tighter. All we need is decent judges, not another Trump sycophant.
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US: Flynn Described Efforts to Interfere with Cooperation
The judge in the case ordered that portions of the Mueller report that relate to Flynn be unredacted and made public.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED 16 MAY 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn told the special counsel’s office that people connected to the Trump administration and Congress sought to influence his cooperation with the Russia investigation, and he provided a voicemail recording of one such communication, prosecutors said in a court filing made public Thursday.
Meanwhile, the judge in the case ordered that portions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report that relate to Flynn be unredacted and made public by the end of the month.
Thursday’s order from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is the first time a judge is known to have directed the Justice Department to make public any portion of the report that the agency had kept secret. It could set up a conflict with Attorney General William Barr, whose team spent weeks blacking out from the report grand jury information, details of ongoing investigations and other sensitive information…
https://www.snopes.com/ap/2019/05/16/us-flynn-described-efforts-to-interfere-with-cooperation/
The House Now Has a Constitutional Duty to Impeach Trump
By Robert Reich, Robert Reich’s Blog
18 May 19
onald Trump is causing a constitutional crisis with his blanket refusal to respond to any subpoenas.
So what happens now? An impeachment inquiry in the House won’t send him packing before election day 2020 because Senate Republicans won’t convict him of impeachment.
So the practical political question is whether a House impeachment inquiry helps send him packing after election day. That seems unlikely.
Probably no more than a relative handful of Americans are still unsure of how they’ll vote on Nov. 3, 2020. An impeachment is unlikely to reveal so many more revolting details about Trump that these swing voters would be swayed to vote against him, and their votes wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway.
Besides, the inquiry probably wouldn’t reveal much that’s not already known, because House subpoenas will get tangled up in the courts for the remainder of Trump’s term (even though courts give more deference to subpoenas in an impeachment inquiry).
Worse yet is the chance that an impeachment inquiry plays into Trump’s hands by convincing some wavering voters that Democrats and the “deep state” are out to get Trump, thereby giving him more votes than he’d otherwise get.
Does this mean House Democrats should avoid taking the political risk of impeaching Trump? Not at all.
Another question needs to be considered — not just the practical political effect on the 2020 election, but something more important over the long run.
It is whether an action designed to enforce our Constitution is important for its own sake — even if it goes nowhere, even if it’s unpopular with many voters, even if it’s politically risky.
Every child in America is supposed to learn about the Constitution’s basic principles of separation of powers, and checks and balances.
But these days, every child and every adult in America is learning from Donald Trump that these principles are bunk.
By issuing a blanket refusal to respond to any congressional subpoena, Trump is saying Congress has no constitutional authority to oversee the executive branch. He’s telling America that Congress is a subordinate branch of government rather than a co-equal branch. Forget separation of powers.
By spending money on his “wall” that Congress explicitly refused to authorize, Trump is saying that Congress no longer has any constitutional authority over spending. Goodbye, checks and balances.
By unilaterally shuttering the government in order to get his way, Trump has said he has the constitutional right not to execute the laws whenever it suits him. Farewell, Congress.
By directing the attorney general, the Justice Department, the FBI and the Secretary of the Treasury to act in his own personal interest rather than in the interests of the American people, Trump is saying that a president can run the government on his own. Adios, Constitution.
By unilaterally threatening to cut off trade with the second-largest economy in the world, Trump is saying he has sole authority to endanger the entire American economy. (Make no mistake: If he goes through with his threat, the U.S. economy will go into a tailspin.)
By doing whatever he could to stop an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, including firing the head of the FBI, Trump has told America it’s OK for a president to obstruct justice. Goodbye, law.
The core purpose of the U.S. Constitution is to prevent tyranny. That’s why the framers of the Constitution distributed power among the president, Congress and the judiciary. That’s why each of the three branches was designed to limit the powers of the other two.
In other words, the framers anticipated the possibility of a Donald Trump.
The framers also put in mechanisms to enforce the Constitution against a president who tries to usurp the powers of the other branches of government. Article I, Section 2 gives the House of Representatives the “sole power of impeachment.” Article I, Section 3 gives the Senate the “sole power to try all impeachments.”
Trump surely appears to be usurping the powers of the other branches. Under these circumstances, the Constitution mandates that the House undertake an impeachment inquiry and present evidence to the Senate.
This may not be the practical political thing to do. But it is the right thing to do.
Q I know we should ignore Trump END Q Excuse me? Ignore the chief executive of the USA, the most powerful political office in the world? I believe you are wrong on this point. We should be like the Canadians in at least one respect. It is like sleeping with an elephant. You have to notice every twitch and turn.
(I spent 10 years in Iraq/Afghanistan as a contract engineer with the Defense Department on various military projects. I worked for the State Dept for 5 years. I was a civilian tech during the first gulf war in 1991)
The USA must not permit Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. The Islamo-Fascist regime already has missiles, and chemical/biological weapons, that can be dropped on Israel. It is only a matter of time, before the regime can obtain even longer delivery systems.
The Islamo-Fascists are hell bent on obtaining nuclear weapons. All steps including military force, must be used to prevent this murderous, insane regime from obtaining nuclear weapons.
The pres is using a combination of bluff and bluster, that may have some effect on the regime. The USA must not back down, and the regime in Iran, must be made aware that they will face prompt and utter destruction, if their insane march to obtain nuclear weapons is not halted immediately.
Military force, may have to be brought to bear. That is the “realpolitik” of this situation.
Charles,
Are you prepared to sacrifice the lives of 30,000 or more young men and women to let Trump wage an unnecessary war?
You do know that none of our European allies consider Iran to be a threat. Ifwegoto war, wewill have no allies.
As for Israel, that nation is well-equipped to take care of itself.
Millions of civilians will also end up being killed, wounded, displace and the hate Trump will cause by going to war with Iran will only send many more young Islamic men to fight for al Queda or one of the other extremist groups in the Middle East.
Since Trump moved into the White House, more civilians are being killed from missiles fired by American drones. The military calls this collateral damage.
For a preview of the death count in Iran if Trump attacks that country:
461,000 deaths in Iraq as direct or indirect result of the war including more than 60% of deaths directly attributable to violence. Overview: Iraqi death estimates by source Summary of casualties of the Iraq War.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24547256
By February 16, 2007, António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said that the external refugee number fleeing the Iraq war reached 2 million and that within Iraq there are an estimated 1.7 million internally displaced people.
And that is only Iraq. The same thing has happened in Afghanistan and Syria.
I don’t think Charles has ever been in combat in the military. Just like Trump, he has no idea how horrible war is and doesn’t care.
“You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace.” – General William Tecumseh Sherman
I am not the commander-in-chief. The decision to initiate military force is not mine to make. And where did you come up with the figure of 30,000? Military action involves death and destruction.
Whether or not using military force to de-nuclearize Iran, might be necessary.
Personally, I do not give one (EXPLETIVE) what the Europeans think. Our nation does not need their permission to solve the problem of a nuclear-armed Iran.
There was a multinational agreement to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Trump pulled out of that deal. Now he has created the mess that deal was designed to prevent and will use his own actions as a pretext to start another war. How many wars do you want, Charles?
Deaths in Iraq: hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, plus nearly 5,000 of our troops. I know that you don’t give a flying F—- about these deaths, but every one of them was someone’s son or daughter, father, mother, brother, or sister.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
Charles, your complete lack of empathy is why people call you names. I don’t know how you learn empathy. You just don’t have it.
Yup, who cares what the world thinks perhaps just a few miles away from Iran. The US knows better.
Iran is a whole lot closer to Iran than we are. Why is Europe not frightened by Iran and we are?
“Why is Europe not frightened by Iran and we are?”
Generating fear is the fuel that runs the military industrial complex responsible for too many wars and millions of deaths.
And a lot of money for those who live off of military contracts.
I wonder who those people are and how many.
Q I don’t think Charles has ever been in combat in the military. Just like Trump, he has no idea how horrible war is and doesn’t care. END Q
I served on active duty during the Vietnam conflict. (I did NOT serve in-country). I spent 10 (ten) years in Iraq/Afghanistan as a civilian tech on military projects. I have spent many nights in shelters. I have been in artillery barrages. I have been close enough to hear the firefights. Two of my co-workers were killed working in Iraq. Another lost a hand. I was in Afghanistan, and I saw an artillery shell explode, and kill a man. I worked in tracking the personal effects of killed soldiers/Marines.
I let most of your comments pass, but you are way off base here.
I have seen the effects of war and combat up close and personal.
I sincerely hope, that the Iranian situation can be solved by diplomatic means. If the Islamo-fascists can be brought into line, without the need for military force, that will definitely be the best scenario.
But military force has to be considered.
Why are none of our allies concerned about a military threat from Iran?
This is Trump wagging the dog, prepared to throw away the lives of our sons and daughters to salvage his election.
Let’s not forget the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which LBJ used as a pretext to expand military force in Vietnam, a war we lost, along with 50,000 American lives.
Let’s not forget that the war in Iraq (“Mission NOT Accomplished”) and Afghanistan is the longest war in our history, and will eventually be declared a disaster. We can’t win. Contrary to the hawks’ predictions, our soldiers were not greeted with flowers. When we eventually leave Afghanistan, as someday we must, the Taliban will take over.
Charles:”But military force has to be considered.”
That is all this country needs, one more war that never ends. Trillions of dollars have been spent and there is no end in sight.
This money could have done a lot of good if it had been used to help people. Now, it stands for more killings and more destruction of lives.
I say, “Bring back the draft” and let people know that lives are being destroyed. Nobody cares much if the dead are ones unknown and certainly nobody in power cares about the number of civilian lives that have been destroyed. The US can’t even tell accurately how many civilians have been killed. That type of news might rial up the populace so keep it hidden.
I want journalist with photos showing more of the destruction like what happened in Vietnam. Complacency isn’t working. If war is necessary, let the politicians who voted for this, and that includes Trump, put their family members first. I’d love to see Ivanka in a soldiers suit that isn’t custom made by some fashion designer. Let her carry a gun and learn about the destruction of wars.
Stop the Killing!!
Carol, I disagree. I want to see Ivanka and Jared sent to the front lines wearing custom tailored soldier couture. No bodyguards. Regular rations. Don Jr. and Eric too.
Diane: OKAY!! I give in. Your suggestion is SO much better than mine. They could pompously let the enemy know just how dedicated Trump is when he sends his own properly dressed children into war.
Like I said before, a REMF, who got too close but not close enough.
Military force must always be a last resort and the United States must never, never start a war.
In addition, the US must never arrange the assassination of another world leader, as we did in Iran after a socialist was elected back before the U.S. replaced him with a brutal monster known as the Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, someone I’m sure that Donald Trump would admire if he read enough history to know this man even existed.
The U.S. is responsible for the Iran of today.
The U.S. is responsible for the Taliban in Afghanistan and supported the birth of al Qaeda to get Russia out of Afghanistan.
The U.S. is responsible for starting the war in Vietnam and escalating it by faking the Tonkin Gulf incident.
The U.S. is responsible for the war in Ira1 when G. W. Bush lied about WMD and then attacked an Iraq that had nothing to do with 9/11.
This is the short list. And you still don’t know what you are talking about. All the United States needs to avoid war is to keep its military strong, well trained, and with modern weapons.
The U.S. does not need half of the aircraft carriers in the world.
The U.S. does not need several hundred military bases scattered across the world.
The U.S. does not need to send in Special Forces teams to conduct attacks and assassinations in about 130 countries annually.
The U.S. doesn’t need to have the largest private sector weapons industry in the world.
The U.S. doesn’t need to produce more pornography than any country in the world.
The U.S. is not the paradise some people seem to think it is but if a lie is repeated enough then people like Charles believe it is the truth
Lloyd Lofthouse: Well spoken!!!
“The USA must not permit Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. ”
Who is the USA to decide which countries are reliable to have nuclear weapons? Is the USA reliable enough to have nuclear weapons? Or perhaps the USA poses presently the greatest threat to global peace.
Trump, under the influence of John Bolton, is in danger of creating a war so that we’ll all forget about the Mueller report. Nothing like a war to make Trump more powerful. Trump is mentally unstable and that is worrisome.
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Trump, Europe increasingly at odds on Iran
May 19, 2019
But with the Iran tensions threatening to boil over into military action, critics warn that Trump’s go-it-alone approach could have serious consequences.
Escalating tensions with Iran have laid bare President Trump’s split with the United States’ traditional European allies.
Several times this past week, the United States appeared out-of-step with European countries on whether Iran is presenting enough of a new threat to justify a military buildup and the partial evacuation of U.S. diplomats from neighboring Iraq.
Trump and European leaders have had a number of spats since the early days of his presidency on everything from trade to defense spending to climate change.
But with the Iran tensions threatening to boil over into military action, critics warn that Trump’s go-it-alone approach could have serious consequences.
“We’ve isolated ourselves,” said Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed (D-R.I.). “There’s just a danger in terms of if something happens, we won’t have the ability to call upon them to come to our assistance and cooperate with us.”
U.S. tensions with Iran have skyrocketed in recent weeks following national security advisor John Bolton’s announcement that the Trump administration was deploying a carrier strike group and bomber task force to the Middle East over unspecified “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” from Iran.
U.S. lawmakers saw their own alarm spike after the State Department announced the ordered departure of non-emergency personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, with several noting that such a move was not even made when ISIS was bearing down on Baghdad in 2014…
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/444300-trump-europe-increasingly-at-odds-on-iran
It continues to amaze me that one unstable, ignorant person can cause so much destruction and still be admired by nearly 40% of the population…or 90% of the GOP. I’m sure Fox doesn’t tell about the destruction that Trump causes to the environment and our health. That type of reporting is done by FAKE news media such as the NYT.
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EPA ‘to Massage Death Projections’ for Trump Coal Policy
If your projections make a policy look dangerous, there’s two options—change the policy, or change the projections. The Environmental Protection Agency is reportedly planning to do the latter by adopting a new method for projecting the future health risks of air pollution. The new method has not been been peer-reviewed and is not scientifically sound, The New York Times reports, citing five people said to have knowledge of the plan. The change would drastically lower an estimate made last year by the Trump administration that as many as 1,400 more people could die prematurely each year under a proposed new rule on emissions from coal plants. Lowering the projections would make it much easier to defend the new regulation, known as the Affordable Clean Energy rule. “Particulate matter is extremely harmful and it leads to a large number of premature deaths,” said Richard L. Revesz, an expert in environmental law at New York University. He called the expected change a “monumental departure” from the approach used over the past several decades.
Read it at The New York Times
E.P.A. Could Make Thousands of Pollution Deaths Vanish by Changing Its Math
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to adopt a new method for projecting the future health risks of air pollution that experts have said is not scientifically sound.
China is sending out televised anti-US propaganda due to Trump’s trade war.
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From Inkstone in Hong Kong
China airs anti-American movies amid rising tensions
May 20, 2019
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV has dropped its regular programming to air four anti-American movies and documentaries amid an intensifying US-China trade war.
The sudden programming change since Thursday underscores Beijing’s turn to nationalism to rally public support for its refusal to cede to US demands as it digs in for a potentially protracted trade battle.
Google’s move on Monday to suspend key parts of its business relationship with Chinese telecoms giant Huawei could stir anti-American sentiment further still. While the American tech company said it was complying with US government requirements, effective on May 16, the suspension is widely perceived in China as an assault on a Chinese national champion.
Hu Xijin, the editor of the nationalistic tabloid Global Times, said that he stopped using an iPhone on Monday and switched to a Huawei to protest what he called the US government’s suppression of Huawei.
For four consecutive nights starting May 16, the film channel of China’s state broadcaster, CCTV6, scrapped its original prime-time programming to play films depicting Chinese troops’ fight against American troops in the Korean War in the early 1950s.
The three movies – Heroic Sons and Daughters, Battle of Triangle Hill, Surprise Attack – and one documentary – Battle of Chosin Reservoir – all depict Chinese soldiers as heroic figures who defeat well-equipped Americans in extreme cold weather conditions with little arms support.
https://inks.tn/yao?utm_source=email&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=share_button
Fox and Stephen Miller are the ‘brains’ behind airhead Trump. Using the pardon to free soldiers who purposely kill innocent civilians sounds like something racist Trump would support.
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Fox News Host Pete Hegseth Privately Lobbied Trump to Pardon Accused War Criminals
The president isn’t just watching the network, he’s taking policy advice from its morning hosts.
If the president pardons U.S. servicemen accused and convicted of war crimes, you can thank one of Donald Trump’s favorite cable-news hosts.
Over the weekend, news broke that President Trump is preparing to pardon several U.S. servicemen involved in high-profile cases of gunning down civilians or killing detainees, with the White House having already ordered that the necessary paperwork be drawn up ahead of the coming Memorial Day. The news came roughly two months after Trump publicly intervened in what he called “restrictive” confinement conditions of one of the alleged war criminals.
At the heart of both these moves has been a months-long lobbying campaign by Pete Hegseth, a Fox & Friends co-host and a buddy and informal adviser of the president’s.
Since as early as January, Hegseth has repeatedly pressed the president to support the accused and convicted servicemen. Among those Hegseth—himself an Iraq War veteran and formerly the head of the conservative group Concerned Veterans for America—has advocated for is Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL platoon leader set to stand trial on May 28 for allegedly shooting civilians, including a school-age girl, and knifing to death a captured ISIS fighter receiving medical treatment in Iraq in 2017.
Since as early as January, Hegseth has repeatedly pressed the president to support the accused and convicted servicemen…
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-and-friends-host-pete-hegseth-privately-lobbied-trump-to-pardon-accused-war-criminals?source=email&via=desktop
Polls are not always reliable but the wind is blowing in the right direction.
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President Trump faces a steep uphill climb to a second term, even if it’s far too early to count…
In four separate polls over the past month, more than 50 percent of respondents said they would not vote for him again or were unlikely to do so. The percentage who said they would vote for him never rose higher than 38.
The most recent of those polls, from Fox News, found 54 percent of respondents saying they would probably not or definitely not vote for Trump.
In a Quinnipiac University Poll, 52 percent of respondents said they would definitely not vote for the president, while 33 percent said they definitely would. Only 13 percent were in the middle ground, saying they would “consider” backing Trump.
It will be hard to overcome negative perceptions of the president that look to have become fixed. Some of the voters who backed Trump as an anti-establishment disruptor in 2016 appear to have peeled away.
Trump’s overall approval ratings remain mediocre at best. In the RealClearPolitics polling average Monday afternoon, Trump’s job performance gained the approval of 43 percent of voters and the disapproval of 53.6 percent.
But Trump’s salvation could lie in the idiosyncrasies of the Electoral College…
https://thehill.com/homenews/the-memo/444674-the-memo-trump-faces-steep-climb-to-reelection
“In a Quinnipiac University Poll, 52 percent of respondents said they would definitely not vote for the president, while 33 percent said they definitely would. Only 13 percent were in the middle ground, saying they would “consider” backing Trump.”
This would be good news if these numbers were for a group of people who voted for Trump in 2016.
Real Clear Politics updates political polls daily. Here is today for Trump’s job approval and the numbers I’m quoting are not for one specific poll but for an average of all of the current polls:
Approve 42.7%
Disapprove 53.9%
3.4 no opinion at this time
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html#polls
The 53% figure has been holding firm for months and it has ticked up a bit today.
Thanks, Lloyd. That 43% is extremely high, and if he goes to war, it may get higher.
I reserve the right to be wrong … but, if Trump gains any from starting another war, I think he will only gain from the undecideds.
Even if Trump gets all the undecideds, he only rises to 46.1 percent, and that gap will still be 7.8 percent.
What does that mean if it crosses over to votes?
138 million Americans voted in2016.
In 2018, more than 110 million voted – the midterm voter turnout HIT 50 year high.
What does that mean for 2020?
I think more than 140 million Americans will vote in 2020 and Trump’s total from 2016 will be about the same.
In 2016, Trump had 62,984,828 votes.
That means the Democrat that runs against Trump will probably end up with about 77 million votes and it could be higher — a 14 million-vote gap between Trump and the Democrat.
And one thing I haven’t mentioned is that 200 million people registered to vote in 2016, the highest number ever for the U.S. I think the reason many of those new voters didn’t turn out was because of the Russians, Comey and the polls saying Hillary had the election in the bag so the lazy voters thought, why waste my time. She’s going to win anyway.
From everything I’ve read, Trump’s support base is pretty much stuck with not much room for growth, but the Democrats have a lot of growth potential. All the registered Democrats have to do is turn out and vote and Trump’s deep-vomit factor for everyone who isn’t a Tea Party Republican is high and that one factor will probably be enough to drive lazy Democrats to vote.
The Dems in the House might as well impeach theTangerine Tyrant. He is defying the Constitution, shredding it, treats Congress with contempt. He deserves impeachment by the House, even if the Senatewont convict. Let him go down in history as impeached.
I want the House to impeach but I don’t want them to turn it over to the Senate to vote if he is guilty or not until after the 2020 election so Trump and the GOP get the same treatment that Comey dished out to Hillary Clinton regarding the e-mail thing that never found her guilty of anything, as usual.
That way, Congress can keep leaking reveals about Trump’s obstruction of justice, Russian money laundering, helping a drug dealer smuggle cocaine into the country, et al.
Are you suggesting, TT may even go to prison?
TT or DT?
I hope he (DT) goes to prision but if that happens it will be after he’s left the White House and will probably happen in a state court. I’ve read enough to know that New York state is lining up the court cases because many of his crimes took place in that state.
Diane called him Tangerine Tyrant, but Dumb Trump or whatever is also fine. Whichever makes us feel appropriately towards him.
Máté Wierdl: There are many good names for Trump. My current one is “orange-faced, yellow-haired pea brain”.
I think its very descriptive, especially the pea brain part. It is definitely ‘appropriate towards him’.
Tangerine Tyrant is also good. Orange IDIOT, Orange Buffoon, Orange Hair Monster. They’re still good but a little outdated.
Yea, LOL, whatever insult-to-truth about Dummmmmmboo works regarding Moscow’s (boated) Agent Governing America with a flabby wrecking ball.
Why doesn’t his base protest this waste of money? Remember when Fox went bat-shit over Obama’s wearing a tan suit?
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Trump’s Golf Costs: $102 Million And Counting, With Taxpayers Picking Up The Tab
05/22/2019
Trump promised never to golf. Instead, he’s spent more than twice as many days golfing as Obama at the same point, costing taxpayers over three times as much.
Donald Trump’s golf habit has already cost taxpayers at least $102 million in extra travel and security expenses, and next month will achieve a new milestone: a seven-figure presidential visit to another country so he can play at his own course.
U.S. taxpayers have spent $81 million for the president’s two dozen trips to Florida, according to a HuffPost analysis. They spent $17 million for his 15 trips to New Jersey, another $1 million so he could visit his resort in Los Angeles and at least $3 million for his two days in Scotland last summer ― $1.3 million of which went just for rental cars for the massive entourage that accompanies a president abroad.
And, notwithstanding Trump’s campaign promise that if elected he would not play golf at all, the White House has done preliminary work for Trump’s visit to his resort on the west coast of Ireland next month, according to Irish media and government sources, even though no official meeting with Irish leaders is planned in the capital, Dublin…
The $102 million total to date spent on Trump’s presidential golfing represents 255 times the annual presidential salary he volunteered not to take. It is more than three times the cost of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that Trump continually complains about. It would fund for six years the Special Olympics program that Trump’s proposed budget had originally cut to save money…
Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-golf-102-million-taxpayers_n_5ce46727e4b09b23e65a01bb
“Why doesn’t his base protest this waste of money?”
On Tuesday, May 21, when I was out shopping, I ran into an Always Trumper who told me “Thank God for Donald Trump” Then, without taking time to breathe, she started to bash Hillary Clinton for not divorcing Bill Clinton after the Lewinsky scandal and said that’s why she could never vote for Hillary, because Hillary defended Bill and supported him — an unpardonable sin.
No mention of Trump’s divorces, mistresses, cheating on his wives, cheating on his mistresses, porn star sex, beauty pageant sex, cheating on wife #3 when she was several months pregnant, and Trump’s alleged Locker Room Talk where he mentions snatching “p—y”.
When Trump does something that Bill Clinton did, it is okay. It’s only wrong when a Democrat does it. We didn’t bring up Biden in my brief attempt to talk to a stupid cement wall but if I had, she would have attacked him for hugging too much.
That is why his base will not protest anything he does, because most if not all of this “basket of deplorables” think God sent Donald Trump to save THEIR America. To them, the only Americans that count are the Always Trumpers. The rest of us do not count and should leave THEIR America and never come back.
Lloyd Lofthouse: Try answering this one if you think you’ve talked to a cement wall.
“So ya wanna fight, I kicked your ass and your to stupid to expect the truth. Not my job to fix stupid, that’s God’s job. I will never be a socialist or communist so give it up. Jesus is still Lord.”
An Always Trumper told you that? Jeezze! That one sounds like a civil war declaration. Whoever said that should be added to the top-ten most dangerous animal list.
Lloyd: My brother is a gentle person until you get him to talk about religion or politics. This was in reply to my sending him some news from fake’ WaPo or NYT.
Since I ran into that “God gave us Trump” Always Trumpist, I have been thinking a lot about how I should have replied.
I think I should have focused on the Bible and what it says about Greed, false prophets and what the real Jesus Christ taught when He added his thoughts to what already existed in the Bible.
A quick search of Open Bible comes up with 100 Bible Verses on greed. Once they had time to look over what the Bible says about Greed, I’d mention that Trump trademarked MAGA and sells those hats and other merch for a profit at $28 a pop. If more examples of Trump’s greed were needed, there is an endless supply to tap.
The top 3:
1 Timothy 6:10 ESV / 1,102 helpful votes
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”
Proverbs 28:25 ESV / 812 helpful votes
“A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched.”
Hebrews 13:5 ESV / 731 helpful votes
“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.'”
https://www.openbible.info/topics/greed
Top three for False Prophets:
Matthew 7:15 ESV / 1,136 helpful votes
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
1 John 4:1 ESV / 1,106 helpful votes
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Matthew 24:24 ESV / 1,005 helpful votes
“For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”
https://www.openbible.info/topics/false_prophets
To learn what Christ meant from his teaching is not as easy as using Open Bible. For Jesus Christ I’d have to turn to other sources like this one:
Jesus told this young rich man he must give up all of his wealth and follow Him (Mark 10:21). Jesus said this not because charity makes one righteous but because He knew the young man’s god was money. The young man only thought he was keeping the Law; greed was his undoing. He turned away from Jesus in sadness because “he had great possessions” (Mark 10:22). Christ taught that He alone is the source of eternal life. If someone wants to inherit eternal life, he must follow and worship Christ alone (John 6:45–51; 8:31; 10:27; 15:4, 14).
https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-teaching.html
As long as Trump refuses to give up his wealth and the greed that drives it, he is a false prophet.
Lloyd Lofthouse: My brother is currently on vacation. He gets his ideas from Fox and love Hannity and Rush L.
I really think that the ‘love of Trump’ comes from the distortions that Faux is ready to tell. [Trump gets his ‘news briefings’ from Fox. Doesn’t that say more than enough about how biased they are?] They leave out important news and facts mean nothing. Everything is distorted to make Trump look fantastic. They exist to make money off of lies.
During my run in with that “always Trump” voter, she asked me who I was going to vote for in the next election.
I said, “The Democrat.”
“Who would you like to run against Trump?”
“Someone like Bernie Sanders or AOC,” I replied.
Her face: “know it all smirk.”
Before she could reply, I said, I want the U.S. to have a socialist safety net like the Sandanvain countries. That is what Bernie and AOC support.”
Her eyes grew large like a predator ready to pounce and her mouth formed a look of disapproval and before she could speak, I went on:
“Just in case you are thinking that Bernie and AOC are Communists, I want you to know they are not. There is a big difference between Communism and Socialism and an even bigger difference between those two and a country with a healthy social safety net like the Scandinavian countries that are socialist democracies. A country with a social safety net like they have in Scandinavia does not nationalize businesses and take over all the property. People are still allowed to own their own businesses and houses, but the wealthy pay more tax.”
Her reply, “I’ll have to look that up.” SHE DIDN’T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE!
Then she launched into a tirade about the four-bedroom houses she was renting and how a group of ten immigrants wanted to rent the house but none of them had a credit report she’d rent the house to.
I thought and should have asked, Where is your house located, in the middle of a barrio dominated by street gangs?
From there she moved on to wanting to live in Kentucky where she wouldn’t have to pay property tax. She actually said that all the other states didn’t have property tax or income tax like California and that’s why she was thinking of leaving the state.
I should have said (but did not), “Yes, move. Sell your house and leave California.”
At that point, I decided to cut off the conversation and left. When I said I didn’t have time to keep talking to a cement wall, she got that smirk back like she had won a debate. I’m sure she went home and bragged about how she had showed some libtard how wrong he was.
Lloyd Lofthouse: I sent my brother an email telling about Trump’s proposed budget and how he wanted to cut funding to Medicare. My brother said he’d have to look it up.
Sometime later, I got an email stating that since it wasn’t reported on Fox, it wasn’t true.
[My brother lives in a different state from me.]
I maintain that Faux is the media that is causing so much division in this country. My brother said that more people watch Fox than MSNBC or CNN because it is the only media telling the truth.
I’ve temporarily stopped emailing him. Trumparian people don’t learn what is really happening to this country. There was a study done sometime in the past that found out that people who watch Fox know less about the news than people who don’t watch the news.
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[Wisconsin Gazette] Study: Fox News viewers less informed than people who watch no news
By Wisconsin Gazette Nov 22, 2011
Viewers of Fox News viewers are less informed overall than people who don’t watch any news, says a new poll from Farleigh Dickinson University.
Researchers asked New Jersey residents about the uprisings in Egypt and the Middle East and correlated their responses with their news sources. “People who watch Fox News are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government” and “6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government” compared to those who watch no news at all, the researchers concluded.
Overall, 53% of all respondents knew that Egyptians successfully overthrew Hosni Mubarak and 48% knew that Syrians have yet to overthrow their government.
The study controlled for demographic factors such as education and partisanship to ensure the results were not driven by those factors. “Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all,” concluded Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Farleigh Dickinson.
Last year, a study from the University of Maryland reached a similar conclusion. It looked into whether Fox News viewers were more likely to be misinformed about news events and found that they were…
https://www.wisconsingazette.com/news/study-fox-news-viewers-less-informed-than-people-who-watch/article_9d180b14-e524-5b2c-86ea-e64176ce6993.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share
Yes, the real fake news is Murdock’s FOX. Murdock is a known neoconservative, and that political group thinks it is okay to spread lies to win.
Media Bias/Fact Check:
“Overall, we rate Fox News strongly Right-Biased due to wording and story selection that favors the right and Mixed factually based on poor sourcing and the spreading of conspiracy theories that later must be retracted after being widely shared.”
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/fox-news/
There is a box on that page where we can vote how we rate Fox, and I voted so I could see the results.
46.14 percent of almost 60k votes rate Fox News Extreme right. Only 0.56 percent rated Fox Left-Center.
Anyone who thinks FOX is Left Center is either stupid, joking, or KKK.
Trump’s tariffs are causing problems for China and the US. They want our agricultural products that are now too expensive and farmers are suffering and losing their farms in the US. Great art of the deal by the Tangerine Tyrant. This news comes from Hong Kong.
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A crop-eating pest is threatening China’s food supply
A rapidly spreading pest is threatening to further ravage China’s domestic food security within the next two months.
The fall armyworm, which grows up to be a moth, has already affected farms in southern China, and could hit the country’s crop-growing heartlands in the north and northeast as temperatures rise.
It increases the risks to crop production, at a time when trade tariffs are restricting China’s ability to purchase American agriculture products as replacements.
To compound matters, China’s food supply was already under pressure after it was forced to slaughter millions of pigs with African swine fever affecting all 31 autonomous regions and provinces within just nine months, trimming 20% of the national supply and driving up prices.
The pest is munching its way through corn fields around the globe, including in Tha Muang, Thailand.Photo: AP Photo/Elaine Kurtenbach
https://inks.tn/bjk?utm_source=email&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=share_button
China partnered with Denmark to develop methods to grow vertical crops inside greenhouses, and China’s farms are quickly switching to greenhouses to increase crop yields.
This moth thread will speed up China’s efforts to build more greenhouses faster.
“Science – China is making its vegetables grow bigger, faster and stronger … using electricity
“Scientists hail breakthrough as results of the world’s largest experiment confirm fruit and vegetable output can soar without chemical pesticides and fertilisers.” …
“Across the country, from Xinjiang’s remote Gobi Desert to the developed coastal areas facing the Pacific Ocean, vegetable greenhouse farms with a combined area of more than 3,600 hectares (8,895 acres) have been taking part in an “electro culture” programme funded by the Chinese government.”
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2164365/electric-plants-powering-chinas-new-agricultural-revolution
Unlike the U.S. with its almost-frozen elected federal government, China’s one-party system can make decisions overnight and change direction on the spot. If the CCP decides it is in Chian’s interest to rethink agriculture and turn every farm in the country into these types of farms, it will happen really fast with subsidies to the farmers.
Trump is paying billions to farmers who have lost the China market. The GOP senators say they don’t like “welfare for farmers.” Which farmer will qualify as a “welfare queen?”
Farmers are worried that China will start planting soy beans and other products they used to import from the USA, and the financial pain will be long lasting.
Where is the US supposed to get $16 billion for the trade war that Trump started? The country is already trillions in debt due to the ‘wonderful tax cut’ for the wealthy and corporations. There is never money for Medicare for All nor money for an increase in Social Security payments.
Why is Trump given so much power? He seems to be running a one man circus.
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The Washington Post
Democracy Dies in Darkness
News Alert May 23, 3:46 PM
Trump announces $16 billion in farm aid at White House event, a second emergency package for U.S. farmers hit by trade war
The new package channels $14.5 billion directly to producers and sets aside $1.4 billion to purchase crops affected by the trade war and distribute them to food banks, schools and Native American tribes. It follows a $12 billion relief package provided for farmers last July.
Trump’s $16 billion dollar bribe to U.S. farmers will not be enough. In 2017, the US exported 23.8 billion U.S. dollars worth of agricultural products to China down from $25.2 billion in 2016, and yes, if Trump keeps this up to long, those farmers might lose the China market forever because farmers in other countries are already planting those crops for China to buy.
Click to access profilechina.pdf
The U.S. farmers are still going to be hurt. China wants a stable country to buy food from and if the U.S. is going to continue to be roiled by alt-right extremists, then China will shift to other more stable markets.
Then there is this question: Is it legal for Trump to shift money around like that when Congress is responsible for approving how the budget money is spent?
For instance:
16 States Sue to Stop Trump’s Use of Emergency Powers to Build …
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/us/…/national-emergency-lawsuits-trump.html
And Trump’s puppet Justice Department argues Congress Can’t Sue The Trump Admisntration At All
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/justice-department-house-cant-sue-trump-administration
Whenever Trump is evicted from the White House, he has a long list of court cases that will follow him and plague him for years.
That $16 billion for farmers is welfare. Shame on them for accepting handouts.
Reminds me of the New Deal paying farmers not to plant and not to bring their animals to market. Meanwhile Americans’ cost of living is going up because of Trump’s tariffs.
Your link to the NYT didn’t work. Maybe this one will???? WordPress gets tricky sometimes.
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16 States Sue to Stop Trump’s Use of Emergency Powers to Build Border Wall
Feb. 18, 2019
A coalition of 16 states, including California and New York, is challenging President’s Trump use of emergency powers to spend billions on a border wall.
WASHINGTON — A coalition of 16 states, including California and New York, on Monday challenged President Trump in court over his plan to use emergency powers to spend billions of dollars on his border wall.
The lawsuit is part of a constitutional confrontation that Mr. Trump set off on Friday when he declared that he would spend billions of dollars more on border barriers than Congress had granted him. The clash raises questions over congressional control of spending, the scope of emergency powers granted to the president, and how far the courts are willing to go to settle such a dispute.
The suit, filed in Federal District Court in San Francisco, argues that the president does not have the power to divert funds for constructing a wall along the Mexican border because it is Congress that controls spending.
Lloyd,
Another response by China to Trump tariffs. Replace AMERICAN imports by planting their own crops.
China has also threatened to stop selling rare earth minerals/metals to the U.S.
Since China produces most of the world’s rare earths, that might destroy any industry in the U.S. that makes high tech devices like smartphones and new cars. The smartphones made in China are made by U.S. companies that buy the rare earth metals. If China stops selling them that product, they can’t make anything that’s high tech.
This is Trump’s and the GOP’s type of judge. How many people will be hurt by this confirmation?
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Senate Confirms Judge Who Fought Marriage Equality, Defended Torture
May22, 2019
Only one Republican voted against making Howard Nielson a lifetime federal judge.
Nielson, a partner at the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Cooper & Kirk and a former deputy assistant attorney general under President George W. Bush, sparked controversy in 2010 during his defense of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage. At the time, the state’s governor and attorney general refused to defend Prop 8, so the official sponsors of the ballot initiative hired Nielson’s firm to do it. The matter went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 2013 effectively overturned the ban.
In that case, Nielson argued that sexual orientation is a choice and disputed the evidence that discrimination against LGBTQ people leads to higher rates of depression and suicide.
When a U.S. district court ruled that Prop 8 violated the Constitution, Nielson said the judge should have recused himself because he was gay and therefore unable to be fair. He filed a motion saying the judge “had a duty to disclose not only the facts concerning his [same-sex] relationship, but also his marriage intentions.” His motion was denied…
On a separate matter, when he worked for the Bush administration, Nielson wrote a 2005 memo that has been criticized as justifying torture. He has also defended a former Justice Department colleague who signed off on three controversial and now-rescinded memos authorizing the CIA’s use of torture.
More than 50 House Democrats wrote to Senate leaders urging them to oppose Nielson’s confirmation, and civil rights groups had lined up against him too.
By confirming Nielson, the Senate just pushed through another extreme lifetime nominee who will not be fair-minded or impartial, said Kristine Lucius of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national groups…
Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/howard-nielson-trump-judge-marriage-equality-torture_n_5ce5bc09e4b0547bd131e947
How sick can this country get? Trump should be held responsible for all 6 deaths. It is his rotten administration that has encouraged abuse in the name of ‘patriotism’ and white supremacy.
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Rep. Castro: Trump Admin ‘Covered Up’ Death of Migrant Girl
A Texas congressman has accused the Trump administration of covering up the death of a 10-year-old migrant girl from El Salvador. The child died in U.S. government care in September 2018, but that news didn’t become public knowledge until CBS News reported it Wednesday. “It’s outrageous that another child has died in government custody and that the Trump administration didn’t tell anybody,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, the Democratic chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, told the news network Wednesday night. “They covered up her death for eight months, even though we were actively asking the question about whether any child had died or been seriously injured.” Castro said he would make “immediate inquiries” to get more information on how the girl died and why it was kept quiet, and urged the Justice Department investigate what is now a total of six deaths of migrant children detained by U.S. authorities near the southwestern border.
Read it at CBS News
The net is getting closer. “Lock him up!” and throw away his iPhone.
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Trump’s Financial Secrets Move Closer to Disclosure
May22, 2019
A federal judge rejected President Trump’s efforts to block banks from complying with congressional subpoenas, and New York lawmakers voted to let Congress obtain his state tax returns.
For three years, Donald J. Trump has treated the details of his personal and business finances as a closely guarded secret.
On Wednesday, those secrets moved two steps closer to becoming public.
A federal judge in Manhattan ruled against a request from President Trump to block his longtime lender, Deutsche Bank, from complying with congressional subpoenas seeking his detailed financial records. In Albany, New York lawmakers approved a bill that would allow Congress to obtain Mr. Trump’s state tax returns.
Those actions came two days after a federal judge in Washington ruled against Mr. Trump’s bid to quash another congressional subpoena to get his accounting firm to hand over his tax returns and other financial documents….
Oh, that this were true. It’s satire from Borowitz. I LOVE Borowitz!
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Pelosi Takes Advantage of Trump’s Storming Out of Oval Office to Hide Nuclear Codes
By Andy Borowitz
Pelosi ransacked the Oval Office for the codes until Pelosi finally located them in a desk drawer under a pile of empty Quarter Pounder containers from McDonald’s…
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/pelosi-takes-advantage-of-trumps-storming-out-of-oval-office-to-hide-nuclear-codes
Trump says he’ll be Japan’s guest of honor at the biggest event they’ve had in 200 years.
Yesterday he boasted again that he is “an extremely stable genius.”
Howard Stern said that Trump ran for president as a “publicity stunt” and never expected to be taken seriously. He has a knack for demagoguery.
This the perfect Trump person. Why not give a government contract $$$ to a Fox ‘news’ speaker who donates to the GOP? The Orange Moron wants no competitive bidding when wasting money on his worthless ego wall.
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Trump Pushes for Border Wall Deal for Fox News Guest’s Firm
President Trump has been pushing for a border wall deal to be granted to the firm of a frequent Fox News guest and GOP donor, according to four administration officials speaking anonymously to The Washington Post. The president has reportedly brought up Fisher Industries, based in North Dakota, to Department of Homeland Security officials and the commanding general of the Army Corps in meetings about the border wall, most recently in the Oval Office on Thursday. Fisher Industries is run by CEO Tommy Fisher, a GOP donor who has been a frequent voice on conservative television and radio shows, where he claims he can build a border wall quickly and cheaply. (He has promised to erect more than 200 miles of barrier on the southern border in less than a year.)
But “the push for a specific company has alarmed military commanders and DHS officials,” the Post reports, noting that the president’s personal interest in the firm “risks the perception of improper influence on decades-old procurement rules that require government agencies to seek competitive bids, free of political interference.” Meanwhile, Fisher Industries is suing the U.S. government over the Army Corps’ previous rejection of its bid to install barriers along the border.
Read it at The Washington Post
Trump is freaking out and can’t stand criticism. He now has dozens of inquiries happening and many law suits against him. How low can this disgusting want-to-be-dictator stoop? He wants the death penalty for Comey, an FBI agent and an attorney.
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U-tube: Trump advocates for death penalty for his political opponents
Brian Tyler Cohen
Published on May 23, 2019
BREAKING: Trump just advocated for the death penalty for his political opponents in an unhinged press conference. It’s as bad as it sounds…
Republicans spend more than $4 million at Trump properties
05/24/19
Republican candidates and campaign committees have spent more than $4 million at hotel, golf and vineyard properties that bear President Trump’s name since he was inaugurated in 2017.
More than three dozen members of Congress have held fundraisers or spent the night at Trump properties, according to a review of filings made with the Federal Election Commission over the last two years.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/445307-republicans-spend-more-than-4-million-at-trump-properties
We are inching closer to war in Iran. I wish someone had the power to stop Trump. “Lock him up!” and throw away his iPhone.
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Trump to send 1,500 troops to Middle East to counter Iran
President Trump on Friday announced that the U.S. will send roughly 1,500 troops to the Middle East in order to counter Iran’s influence in the region.
Trump said the new deployment will provide force protection for existing troops in the region.
Trump is pure evil. Everything he does is to destroy. He hurts people and destroys the environment. I’ll never understand why any thinking person would support him. The only reason that I can figure out is that his worshipers listen to Fox.
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Trump and Pence Target Trans Healthcare—And Their LGBT Discrimination Plans Don’t End There
A massive new ‘religious exemption’ enables hospitals, insurance companies, doctors, pharmacists, and others to deny service to trans and gay people and their families.
5/24/19
The Trump-Pence administration today took another step toward creating two separate and unequal healthcare systems in America: one for straight people protected by law, and another in which transgender people, women, and gays can be refused service, discriminated against, and thrown out on the street, even if their lives are in danger.
The proposed new rule undoes an Obama-era policy that protected discrimination against gay and transgender people as part of the Affordable Care Act’s provisions against sex discrimination.
Under the new proposed rule, it would be perfectly legal for a doctor, hospital, insurance plan, or pharmacist to refuse to cover transgender people, to provide coverage for gender-confirmation hormones or surgery, to fill prescriptions, or to treat trans people in emergency rooms.
It would also be legal to discriminate against gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, because the same provision of the ACA, Section 1557 had been understood as prohibiting “sex stereotyping,” or discriminating against gays and lesbians. Already, there have been numerous cases of doctors refusing to treat the children of same-sex parents and pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for HIV medication once they learned the recipient was gay.
In addition, Axios reported that the Trump administration is considering a nationwide religious exemption to allow adoption and foster-care agencies to discriminate against LGBT people, rather than place children according to the best interests of the child…
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-and-pence-target-trans-healthcareand-their-lgbt-discrimination-plans-dont-end-there?source=email&via=desktop
How do you know that Trump’s “basket of deplorables” can think for themselves?
Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s I actually listened to Rush Limbaugh on the radio when I was driving to work. I do not know if he still does it, but he called his listeners “ditto heads” and often said he’d do our thinking for us.
He also issued repeated challenges to fact check him and that’s why I stopped listening to him, because I decided to take him up on that challenge and started to fact check his claims.
After I discovered what a HUGE liar he was, I stopped being one of his ditto heads and started to think for myself and fact check everything if I had the time. That happened before President Teflon Ray-Gun was elected president.
Trump is becoming more and more mentally unbalanced.
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When asked about his reelection chances, Trump tried to claim that his current poll numbers are “very good,” when in reality his average approval rating at the Real Clear Politics average of polls is just 43 percent, while his disapproval rating is stuck at 54 percent.
He then turned his ire toward the news media.
“If you people gave straight news, I’d be at 70!” Trump complained. “I’d be maybe at 75! But you don’t give straight news, you give fake news!”
Mark Thiessen is an opinion writer for WaPo. He is a far R zealot. Forget Huckabee-Sanders. She lost all credibility long ago.
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Resolute Reads
REAL NEWS PRESIDENT TRUMP DOESN’T WANT YOU TO MISS
Americans Don’t Want Impeachment, but Democrats Aren’t Listening
-Fox News
“The American people are sending a pretty clear message to Washington: They are sick and tired of the investigations into President Trump and don’t want Democrats in Congress to impeach him,” Marc Thiessen of the American Enterprise Institute writes. “A Harvard-Harris poll finds that 65 percent of Americans say Congress should not begin impeachment proceedings against Trump . . . And 58 percent believe that ‘Given the Mueller report … we should turn the page on investigations of President Trump.’”
🎬 Press Secretary Sarah Sanders: “At some point . . . it’s time to move on.”
“achomlishments. Intentially.”
Trump needs spellcheck on his handwritten notes. This is the President of the United States and he can’t talk in complete sentences nor spell common words. He is either suffering from dementia or never learned how to spell. I think it’s dementia or Alzheimer’s.
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On Thursday Donald Trump went to the White House Rose Garden and gave what can best be called an unhinged outburst of frustration at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A selection of photos captured by press photographers showed a couple of folded pages in Trump’s hand—a single page of typed speech, with Trump’s ALL_CAPS handwritten notes marked underneath. Trump wrote:
Nancy Pelosi just stated “We believe that the president of the U.S. is engaged in a coverup.” MOST TRANSPARENT
They want to impeach over acts that they did.
Dems have no achomlishments.
I’m going to keep working for the American people.
Intentially had a meeting before
Just a few hours later Trump would tweet out a doctored video attacking Speaker Pelosi for “slurred speech,”
Holder served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015 under President Barack Obama.
Eric Holder
✔
@EricHolder
AG Barr has deliberately misrepresented the Mueller report. He has started examinations of the conduct of Intell/FBI personnel without a predicate-for political reasons. He is protecting the President. He does not stand up for the good people he leads. He is not fit to lead DOJ.
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Trump’s Wrecking Ball Assaults American Government. Luckily, It Is Strongly Built
By Robert Reich, Guardian UK
26 May 19
The president swings wildly but the people will stay true: the way to beat him is to defend the institutions he would smash
mericans have sharply different views about what government should do, whether on abortion, guns, immigration or any number of hot-button issues. But we broadly agree about how government should go about resolving our differences.
This distinction – between what we disagree about and how we settle those disagreements – is crucial. As long as we continue to agree on the how, the processes and institutions of governance, we can accept what is decided even if we’re unhappy about it.
To state it another way, Americans don’t always like what government does but they overwhelmingly support the American system of government. They want to improve it, not destroy it.
Enter Donald Trump, who has turned this how-what distinction on its head. In order to get what he wants, Trump rides roughshod over how we decide. He is the great destroyer.
His directive to his lapdog attorney general, William Barr, to find evidence of “treason” against specific people who investigated him threatens the neutrality of our entire system of justice, as does Barr’s assertion of “no limit” on the president’s authority to direct law enforcement investigations, including those he’s personally interested in.
Trump’s blanket refusal to comply with House subpoenas and investigations flies in the face of how Congress is supposed to oversee the executive branch.
Trump’s 2016 campaign aides’ eagerness to get dirt on his opponent from Russia, and Trump’s efforts to suppress evidence about those dealings, undermine how the American electoral system is supposed to run.
Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to justify using funds to build his wall that Congress refused to appropriate, obliterates how spending decisions are supposed to be made.
Trump’s angry references to “Obama judges” who rule against him calls into question the independence and legitimacy of the judiciary.
Trump’s hints at violence if he doesn’t get his way – such as his March insinuation that “I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough – until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad” – threatens the democratic foundations of our society.
Taken as a whole, these attacks on our basic agreement about how to resolve our disagreements constitute the most profound challenge to our system of government since Richard Nixon went rogue.
Thankfully, most Americans oppose them. Even with record low unemployment, Trump’s approval ratings remain in the cellar. About 35%, Trump’s hardcore base, continue to stick by him, but independents and even some Republicans are deserting him in droves.
Although impeachment is the appropriate remedy for a president who assaults our system of government, most of the public opposes this move as well. I think that’s because in these especially perilous times, impeachment threatens to pull the system further apart, possibly to the breaking point.
Importantly, the courts are stepping up.
On Monday, Judge Amit Mehta ruled against Trump, saying “lawmakers should get documents they have subpoenaed”.
On Wednesday, Judge Edgardo Ramos refused to block subpoenas from the House financial services and intelligence committees for Trump records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One.
On Friday, Judge Haywood Gilliam granted a preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s use of $1bn from the Department of Defense for building his wall.
These decisions are significant not just because they are victories for House Democrats, but because they confirm that the American system of government is still working, Trump notwithstanding.
He may yet succeed in running out the clock – dragging out appeals through election day. But every court decision that adds legitimacy to the processes and institutions Trump has been attacking makes him look more like the dangerous wrecking ball he is.
Over the past several months I have heard some on the left talk about meeting fire with fire, if and when Democrats regain the White House and Senate.
To counteract Trump’s (and let’s not forget Mitch McConnell’s) malfeasance, they want to alter the system in ways that favor their side – expanding the number of supreme court justices, for example, or eliminating the Senate filibuster, or dividing California into three states, each with its own two senators. And so on.
This would be a mistake. Americans want to preserve our agreement over how to resolve our disagreements, and are witnessing the threat Trump and the Republicans present to it.
The Democratic party should dedicate itself to protecting that agreement. This is the hallmark of a true governing party. Trump and the Republicans, by contrast, are digging themselves ever more deeply into a hole from which they may never emerge.