I wanted to do a post on something
different and so I looked around and noticed a small
story that I think worth visiting. I know that I touched briefly on
this topic before with my Yellowstone post, but that was a narrow
focus on something that is truly global in nature. We have talked
about global climate change, but there is also a certain amount of
unpredictability in what lies beneath.
The interior of the Earth is molten and
there are times when it reminds us. This is what is happening
currently in Hawaii, in a spectacular show for those who visit the
area.
In Ethiopia a lake overflows:
In Italy, living in a volcano:
And volcano footprints:
The Earth can teach us a lesson in
humility. We are but a small part of its ecosystem.
151 comments:
I was gonna lay off the Trump stuff long enough to see if anybody wanted to weigh in on volcanoes. (The lava in that lava flood from Africa--think it's Africa--seemed sorta loose and fluid; I'm used to looking at Hawaiian lava flows which are usually rather more viscous.)
But, this one got my attention: Bill O'Reilly decided to have a Swedish ‘defense and national security adviser’ by the name of Nils Bildt come on his show and back up Donald Trump's fairly bizarre reference to that incident in Sweden last Friday night that didn't actually happen. Only problem is, Swedish government apparently never heard of Nils Bildt; got no clue who this guy might be. CNN, or so they say. Maybe Marcus knows of him?
Apparently that lava lake usually bubbles more gently. The overflowing was more unusual.
I wonder if anyone will complain about Fox News fake Swedish national security adviser? Somehow I think not.
I did find it noteworthy that FoxNews was eager enough to get cover and confirmation for an obvious Trump blunder that they apparently neglected to do even a basic vetting of their fake ‘expert’. They've taken sides.
Never heard of him Lee. For all I know he's previously completely unknown in Sweden. A big blunder by Fox to present him as some sort of official figure. Fake News I would go as far as calling it.
"Never heard of him Lee."
I'm not highly surprised.
"A big blunder by Fox to present him as some sort of official figure. "
Probably not as big a blunder as it looks like at first glance. I'm constantly amazed at the extent to which dedicated Trumpkins and the FoxNews audience (not exactly the same thing, but damn near) just do not care ‘bout unnecessarily strict adherence to the facts. Facts tend to get in their way, so they've learned to maintain a casual attitude ‘bout such things.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
On the subject of volcanoes… I was recalling last night that Minnesota was the site of a scientific experiment dedicated to finding the elusive ‘dark matter’ of the universe. Turns out there's a deep, hard shield of rock running through the area on account of it's the site of an ancient rift (something like the giant Rift Valley in Africa or the smaller one near the Dead Sea in the Middle East) So, there's some deep dense rock around there and they've got a bore hole down in what I recall to be an old salt mine somewhere up there, looking for what're called WIMPs, which are supposed to be the elusive dark matter of the universe (according to one theory). But, they've not found anything. (And, it maybe was Michigan where they had the old mine turned into a WIMP detector, but I think it was Minnesota.) Anyway, used to be a highly volcanic area, many eons ago. link
That was a very interesting link, Lee. I hadn't even realized about the rift here in Minnesota. I was actually just reading a bit about the rift near the Dead Sea the other day when I was looking around for volcano information.
I have been boating on the St. Croix. It is a beautiful river.
Fake News I would go as far as calling it.
Somehow I don't think our President will take note. Wrong channel.
I may actually watch tonight to see what our president has to say. Hopefully it will have a little more substance than "I will make America Great again".
So what's up with this?
Scary, alarming, disheartening, unprecedented.
Those are just a few of the adjectives used to describe the recent widespread spate of bomb threats that have targeted Jewish Community Centers and schools in 33 states in the United States and two provinces in Canada.
That's what ya get when the fascists get emboldened. It's not like they don't know that Trump's one of their guys. (Well, Bannon and Miller, the two Steves, them at least, maybe even Trump too. Trump's tolerant at a minimum even if he's not fully onboard.)
By the way, not all fascists are Jew-haters; it's not one of the requirements. It's more like a coincidental thing--Jew haters are more likely to be fascists. The Nazis were fascists for instance, but not all fascists are Nazis, only some of them.
And, I think Trump is almost certainly, fairly demonstrably, a fascist, probably also a racist, but not necessarily a Nazi to go along with it.
Looks like the Trump administration is gonna issue a new travel ‘ban’ that doesn't actually ban anybody. They'll simply put a halt to the issuance of new visas and call that a ban in spite of the fact that all existing visas will be honored. May come out tomorrow. (Probably be challenged in court anyway, and I'd not be surprised if they lost on this one also--however the real question is whether the dedicated Trumpkins will go along with the pretense that this is a ban on Muslims from the Seven Muslim Majority Nations.)
No doubt my response to Trump's speech was colored by the recognition that Trump is an unrestrained liar of historic proportions. (Politicians tend to be liars; nature of the beasts, but Trump is a liar of historic proportions.) That probably made me especially attentive for any hints that Trump had a plan for how he was going to implement any of those platitudes he spouted from the podium.
There was nothing, almost nothing anyway. I actually fell asleep sitting up at one point.
The single how contained in his speech was his promise to send over a draft budget that eliminated ‘the Sequester’ insofar as it applies to defense spending. That's how he's gonna do whatever that's supposed to do. He didn't actually have a solid goal he was gonna try to achieve with that.
I was singularly unimpressed.
I actually fell asleep sitting up at one point.
lol! So did I. I put a pillow behind my head, leaned back, and that was that. I don't think I'll bother to look for the speech on YouTube to watch what I missed. What I heard was enough not to be impressed. As you said, a lot of platitudes.
The single how contained in his speech was his promise to send over a draft budget that eliminated ‘the Sequester’ insofar as it applies to defense spending.
From what I've read it seems he wants to implement the Republican side of that argument. He will increase military spending and cut everything else. The perfect recipe for disaster.
It seems the US is playing a greater role than was expected in the fight for Mosul.
Post Script:
In spite of the counsel of Mattis and McMaster, Trump did work in the phrase ‘radial Islamic terrorism’. This delights the FoxNews audience, and amuses the jihadi.
"It seems the US is playing a greater role than was expected in the
fight for Mosul."
The Arabs weren't making much headway on their own, and the Kurds weren't showing much interest in pickin’ up the slack just to give Mosul away to Baghdad.
Overnight rumors developing regarding Trump's speech last night…
1. The Republicans think that Shorthands endorsed ‘their’ ObamaCare plans last night. Mitch McConnell is holding a manditory meeting today among Senate Republicans to get an agreement hammered out while Trump's endorsement is fresh in their minds. There are at least three different factions among the Republicans regarding what to do with ObamaCare and all three think Shorthands endorsed ‘their’ version of what to do about it. At least two of the three factions are wrong. McConnell's meeting may not go as smoothly as he's anticipating.
2. The newly revised not-quite-a-travel-ban-after-all-but-we're-gonna-pretend-it-is-anyway isn't going to be ready for release today after all. But, leaks indicate that it's now down to not actually banning travel after all from Six Majority Muslim Nations rather than the original seven.
CBS Morning News was showing vids of Mt Etna, in Sicily, erupting again. Started late on the 27th they say and got hot in last few hours. (That's not video in the link, but it is CBS.)
Lee: "Probably not as big a blunder as it looks like at first glance. I'm constantly amazed at the extent to which dedicated Trumpkins and the FoxNews audience (not exactly the same thing, but damn near) just do not care ‘bout unnecessarily strict adherence to the facts. Facts tend to get in their way, so they've learned to maintain a casual attitude ‘bout such things."
I am of the opinion that both Trump and the media favoring him (Fox in this case) took what could have been a solid argument and botched it by reckless statements and foolish sources.
Trump said that something had "happened in Sweden" on the Friday before the speech he made and he said it while he was talking about terror attacks in other Euro nations. Prompting people to ask themselves, was there a terror attack in Sweden last Friday? No? What incidents were he talking about then?
What HAD happened that Friday was Trump watching Tucker Carlson doing a piece on Sweden and interviewing a film maker/journalist who had less than good things to say about the situation in Sweden.
Trump clearly shot off his mouth and made a fool of himself in that case. He was also pretty ridiculed for it.
Then Fox tried to come to the rescue. Probably because they've (or at least O'Reilley) have as you said "picked sides", but also probably because it was their piece that was the start of it all, and they wanted to protect that as well. And they dug up, or rather maybe accepted someone, without checking his credentials. Made them look foolish too.
If they had wanted to make a case against mass immigration from the ME using Sweden as an example this could for sure have been done. They tried to but were too sloppy and had not planned their meme and it kinda backfired, or at least didn't have the impact it could have had. Opportunistic is the least negative I can call it - running with something without thinking it through because it looks like it fits your narrative.
That said, as Sweden will likely collapse economically and reach way worse levels of social strife before the next US election Trump might still come out ahead on this. 2-3 years from now as Sweden goes down the tubes lots of people are going to remember Trump warned against Sweden. The bickering about who presented what phony expert will be forgotten.
"2-3 years from now as Sweden goes down the tubes lots of
people are going to remember Trump warned against Sweden."
You will remember it because its Sweden. Over here it's gonna get lost in the steady flow of BS that comes out of his mouth and off of that android smart phone he tweets with from the shitter at 3:00 am. No doubt Glenn Hannibaugh will dredge it up and remind their listeners of it should it manage to be relevant in 2-3 years, but that's only gonna get coverage to the dedicated Trumpkins, and they don't need it.
The downside of it not being much of a problem for him that it's BS now is that it's also not gonna help him much should Sweden fall apart at some point down the line.
It's not actually "BS now" they just botched their delivery.
And it did prompt some investigations:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4269576/KATIE-HOPKINS-reports-Scandi-lib-paradise-Sweden.html
And:
https://mobile.twitter.com/timcast
War reporter from the US being escorted by police from Rinkeby Stockholm in the middle of the day. Check his recent videos.
"It's not actually "BS now" they just botched their delivery"
No. It was BS. The story about it being hung on Tucker Carlson's general ‘Sweden gone to Shit’ broadcast was an attempt at making an ex-post connection. That was the closest thing they could find to try to pretend was actually related. You should perhaps check out the non-existant Bowling Greene, Kentucky massacre which preceded the non-existant Swedish incident (they tried hard to make up an ex-post explanation on that one too.) Or, maybe we could remind you of the thousands of celebrating New Jersey Muslims after 9/11 who were never there, or the hundreds of Mr. Trump's friends who died in the 9/11 attacks--none of whom he's ever been able to put a name on.
And, the point remains, nobody outside of FoxNews and RadioRightWing is gonna resurrect this BS in Trump's defense (the concocted explanation that it was vaguely related to Tucker Carlson's report notwithstanding). It'll only get played for the already dedicated Trumpkins, and they don't need it, and won't need it. It'll not benefit him any more than it's hurt him now.
To clarify… "It'll not benefit him later any more than it's hurt him now." Which means… Not much, either time.
Maybe you're right Lee. But still, Sweden Will be an example to point at. Already is, but sadly will become more so. We have HUGE problems here and they, like Lynnettes volcanos, are just wating to erupt.
We have HUGE problems here and they, like Lynnettes volcanos, are just wating to erupt.
Maybe so, but they haven't yet. Trump was using Sweden, or Europe's situation in general, to scaremonger to justify increased military spending or the border wall. If he wanted to scaremonger he should have used the reaction of people when there is a disparity in income level. That is what creates unrest in native populations. And that, in the long run, is far more dangerous than the odds of a terrorist attack. Trump's cutting of areas of the budget that support the disadvantaged will only make things worse here in the long run.
From Lee's earlier link:
Knowing how fast the continent moved gives researchers important information to help them to reconstruct the motion of all of Earth's landmasses at the time the rift formed. Swanson-Hysell says it is possible that the extraordinary velocities recorded there reflect more than just Laurentia's movement. Some of the motion could have been caused by a phenomenon called true polar wander, in which the whole crust and mantle rotate together around the core. This would happen if an extra-dense blob of material in the mantle were migrating towards the equator, taking the crust and mantle with it.
If there was true polar wander, it would be a sign of “something big happening in the interior of Earth”, says Swanson-Hysell. Even if there was not, he adds, the high speed of Laurentia could provide insight into what was driving the motion of the tectonic plates at the time. The truth could be a combination of the two.
This is not something I had ever heard of before. Interesting phenomena.
Btw, it seems that a majority of Americans were reassured by Trump's speech. I don't know, I fell asleep, so I haven't experienced that reaction.
"… it seems that a majority of Americans were reassured by Trump's speech."
Expectations were pretty low going in. Low bars are easier to clear. ‘Not full-out crazy’ isn't exactly a ringing endorsement.
"This is not something I had ever heard of before."
I'm not sure if you're referencing ‘polar wander’ or ‘the blob’. I think the first phenomenon is rather more widely known than the second.
I just listened to Trump's honoring Chief Petty Officer William "Ryan" Owens, who was killed in the Yemen raid, in his speech last night. I must say that was a beautiful tribute. I will ignore the nasty thought that crossed my mind that it was political theater. He deserved the tribute.
" I will ignore the nasty thought that crossed my mind that it was political theater."
Yeah, probably a good idea to just let that one go by.
"We have HUGE problems here and they, like Lynnettes volcanos, are
just wating to erupt."
Not much doubt in my mind that you are just waiting for them to erupt (maybe even looking to help incite the eruptions earlier rather than later). However, I'm wondering if there aren't Swedes who're working on solving the problems your country has invited upon itself instead of just waiting, either more or less eagerly, for the bloodshed you anticipate. Any such efforts wouldn't be getting the play on FoxNews and RadioRightWing that they're currently devoting to trying to shore up Trump's original BS.
On another subject, topical if not exactly relevant to anything we've been discussing in this thread so far…
I'm thinking there's a fairly high probability that we're gonna see a Special Prosecutor appointed to investigate Shorthands' relationship with Vladimir Putin, and maybe before too long. WaPo
He deserved the tribute
A scumbag who died while killing children. Nah, he deserved getting blown into pieces as any other American scumbag setting foot in the ME.
It does seem as if this story is not going away too soon. I wonder if this has anything to do with Trump's seeming change of tone in his speech?
Hey, Z.
A scumbag who died while killing children.
Are they recruiting children now? Sad, very sad.
Hmm...I must have been reading too many Donald Trump tweets.
Zeyad's response does point up a problem we have developing. That mission started going south in the middle of it (they radioed home to ask if they should even continue on the mission before they ever hit the ground, but they couldn't find anybody with the authority to call it off). And, in the end, they did manage to get a bunch civilians killed, too many of them children (even if they didn't kill the civilians--may have been Zeyad's jihadi brothers who killed the civilians). But, we're gonna catch the rap for those civilian deaths, even if turns out it was the Arabs who killed them.
By the way, the preliminary approval figures for Trump's speech last night are beginning to look like the product of automated ‘bots’ sent out to the Twitterverse to generate approval numbers. (This is something the Russians have been practicing, just to make an unobvious connection.)
Lee: "Not much doubt in my mind that you are just waiting for them to erupt (maybe even looking to help incite the eruptions earlier rather than later). However, I'm wondering if there aren't Swedes who're working on solving the problems your country has invited upon itself instead of just waiting, either more or less eagerly, for the bloodshed you anticipate."
I would much rather be wrong about this than right, but I am feeling quite pessimistic right about now. And I don't exactly aticipate "bloodshed" to any great degree in the short to medium term. I anticipate the economy will tank, and that this will drive up unemployment and force cutbacks which will increase what I called social strife. When our ability to throw money at social problems is diminished I kinda expect those problems to grow.
In the longer term it will depend on the choices we make in the short to medium term, what lessons are learned and what those insights lead to.
"And I don't exactly aticipate "bloodshed" to any great degree in the short
to medium term."
Not exactly the impression I was getting from your more inebriated mussings, but I don't reckon I'm in a position to argue with you about what you do or don't anticipate.
The New York Times has designated the Trump persona who showed up for the speech Tuesday night as ‘Somewhat Normal Republican Trump’, or SNORT for short (in lieu of POTUS I suppose).
That mission started going south in the middle of it (they radioed home to ask if they should even continue on the mission before they ever hit the ground, but they couldn't find anybody with the authority to call it off). And, in the end, they did manage to get a bunch civilians killed, too many of them children...
I noticed today that we seem to be stepping up our activity in Yemen. The article says these airstrikes were long planned and not due to that raid, but I don't know if "long planned" means under Obama or under Trump. Trump seems to be more open to using military action as opposed to Obama. So Zeyad's warning, as in his reaction, and your observation, may be foretelling of problems ahead.
Frankly, I think the world has seen enough killing. But I doubt it will end anytime soon.
When our ability to throw money at social problems is diminished I kinda expect those problems to grow.
Sweden sounds a bit like KSA. You also echo my feelings when I see what Trump would like to cut in the US. I would also toss in the environment as well as a concern.
The New York Times has designated the Trump persona who showed up for the speech Tuesday night as ‘Somewhat Normal Republican Trump’, or SNORT for short (in lieu of POTUS I suppose).
lol! That article was spot on.
"I kinda expect those problems to grow."
Then, one might expect you to be recommending, or at least considering, solutions other than ‘just waiting’ for things to get worse.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has now said publicly that he will recuse himself from all DoJ investigations regarding contacts between the Trump administration and Putin's Russia during the recently concluded Presidential campaign. This almost certainly means that the Trump administration is getting really worried about that Special Prosecutor talk in Congress. This is an effort to head that one off.
Turns out Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, also met with the Russians whilst the Obama administration was ramping up sanctions against the Russians for their ruthlessness in Syria and beyond. Kushner even met with the Russians along side of now booted Michael Flynn. It'll be rather more difficult to get the resignation of the son-in-law is my guess.
But, the real question here is why didn't Veep Mike Pense know about any of this--obviously, Trump did know, but he kept his Veep in the dark.
Makes Pense look like a disposable to Trump (beginning to look that way for a lot of his official appointments--he's seemingly goin’ with a shadow government so far as he can get away with it).
The White House announced today (or maybe ‘quietly admitted’ is a better way to say it) that the Keystone XL pipeline will not be using American steel after all. Politico.com
The dedicated Trumpkins are sure to be quick to forgive and forget about this, but, if this turns into a pattern, as is likely, they may eventually reach a limit on their ability to pretend along with Trump.
Obama aides spread intel on Trump
Hmmm..for some reason there are some articles I link to that won't let me copy and paste a portion for viewing. Oh well, this article talks about what was done in the last days of the Obama administration to leave information for others to investigate in the future. It was done in an effort to warn and perhaps prevent meddling by Russia in other places as well as to give investigators a place to start looking. At least there are some people in this country who are really trying to look out for our security.
The dedicated Trumpkins are sure to be quick to forgive and forget about this, but, if this turns into a pattern, as is likely, they may eventually reach a limit on their ability to pretend along with Trump.
Trump trade paper
But in the Trump administration's paper:
"Of course, a rising trade deficit may be consistent with a stronger economy."
And regarding lost manufacturing jobs, weak job growth and sluggish economic growth:
"Many factors contribute to this, notably the financial crisis of 2008-2009 and the broad impact of automation."
Many studies on manufacturing show that automation -- robots, new technology -- has taken away far more jobs than trade has.
Apparently within another ill-conceived idea of Trump and his followers there was actually acknowledgement of some reality. Probably won't do much to head of more idiocy, though.
The coal miners were pretty specific about wanting the old coal mining jobs back. I don't think they'll be much into the forgive and forget thing, but, the rest of ‘em will be easier to bait and switch. The real question is how much will they take?
That's hard to know in advance.
"Probably won't do much to head of more idiocy, though."
Shorthands and his billionaires club are openly considering abandoning the World Trade Organization. I'd say your speculation is already proved, right there.
TrumpTweets: Shorthands had himself a Twitterstorm last night. He's all bent about Jeff Sessions getting caught lying to the Senators during his confirmation hearings. I don't think he's gonna be able to make it go away by tweeting about it.
But, he's sure as hell trying. Guess we'll havta wait and see if that works.
The Russians have weighed in and backed up Shorthands' claim that the investigation into his possible connections to the Kremlin's meddling in the last Presidential election is an unwarranted ‘witch hunt’ (Trump's words; theirs too). USAToday
I'm not sure just who they figured to reassure with that show of support for Trump. That one's a bit of a puzzle.
Well, ‘nother week gone and Shorthands still hasn't got himself another version of his Muslim travel ban ready to roll out. And, this was such an urgent need the first time that he couldn't tell his Customs and Border people about it in advance and give them even preliminary training on their new duties on account of the Evil Muslim Terrorists (‘radical Islamic terrorists’) would come pouring over the border soon as they got wind of it--so it had to be a surprise--that urgent.
‘Cept it's been four weeks now. Urgency seems to have dissipated.
Looks like our participation in the Paris Climate Agreement is up in the air too. Politico.com
I'm not sure just who they figured to reassure with that show of support for Trump. That one's a bit of a puzzle.
lol! Yes, even the news talking heads were talking about that. All it does is make it really look like there was some collusion involved at some point between Trump's people and the Russians. For what other reason would the Russians even care about our internal squabbles?
Looks like our participation in the Paris Climate Agreement is up in the air too. Politico.com
That link does actually support the observation made by some people that Ivanka Trump isn't stupid. If she can actually convince her father that Steve Bannon is wrong and the Paris agreement is a worthwhile thing she will be a miracle worker as well. Then she could maybe also work on preventing Trump from gutting the EPA and Medicaid, which is apparently part of his agenda, given the massive cuts he is talking about.
I see the EPA has already haulted the request for information on methane emissions by oil and gas well operators.
"I see the EPA has already haulted the request for information…"
And they do seem to be looking at substantial budget cuts.
It's inevitable, and unavoidable, that Shorthands and his administration will do some significant damage during their coming four years. There's nothing to be gained by getting overwhelmed by it all. Kinda wanna not get acclimated to his outrages, but do wanna make sure ya don't get overwhelmed by it.
This morning's TrumpTweets: Supposedly Obama was ‘wiretapping’ Trump's phone. The investigation into his connections to Putin seems to have him seriously spooked. Paranoia is recognized as a mental illness.
More TrumpTweets for the morning: Shorthands is ranting about Schwarzenegger. President of the United States and he's being hauled out by an actor on a Saturday morning. Doesn't exactly make me feel proud, nor confident.
Doesn't exactly make me feel proud, nor confident.
No, but I think we should remember that the US is not immune to the trends that seem to be taking place elsewhere. We would like to think we are, but we are human and will make errors in judgement based on emotional reactions to events. What we need to see is if we are strong enough in our governmental structure, that is the checks and balances built into the system, to whether this storm. If we are then that does say something to American exceptionalism. If not then we are just run of the mill like all other powerful countries that have been cut down to size by circumstances and human failings.
I am off to see a play today.
We are having that see sawing weather here again. Snow a couple days ago, and now they are predicting close to 60 for Sunday.
It's inevitable, and unavoidable, that Shorthands and his administration will do some significant damage during their coming four years.
Just one more before I have to go. Taking note of that damage will hopefully prevent another four years. If only the American people can be brought to understand.
Word is out that Trump's gonna issue his new Muslim Travel Ban on Monday. It may not be fully ready to roll out (word is also out that employees of Homeland Security have been advised to ‘work from home’ where they'll be safer from reporters camping on their stoops), but his aides are eager to change the subject from a series of really off-the-wall tweets this morning, including, of course, both the allegation that Obama was wiretapping him and the feud he's amped up with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Off the wall tweets is right!
I understand his diversionary tactics, but the conspiracy theory crap is ridiculous. A steady hand at the helm is not what we got in Trump's election.
"A steady hand at the helm is not what we got in Trump's election."
The Trumpkins voted for this guy knowing full well he was the leader of the ‘Birther’ movement (among a dozen other usually disqualifying characteristics he possesses, and that they knew about). A steady hand at the helm was not what they were looking for.
I gotta admit to being fairly curious to see how FoxNewsSunday handles Shorthands' screwball allegations tweeted out over the weekend. He's kinda put ‛em in a box.
FoxNewsSunday's marching orders were, apparently, to treat Shorthands' wiretap tweets as if they were possibly credible. (To Chris Wallace's credit, he was visibly having difficulty saluting to that one, but they assembled a panel that would mostly go along with it--Bob Woodward excepted, and they didn't push him on the subject.)
Shorthands has upped the ante again. He's demanded a Congressional Investigation into whether or not Obama ordered him (Trump) wiretapped. He seems to not understand that he has control of the standing federal investigative agencies (both covert and overt) and that one of the first things that'll come up in any such Congressional Investigation is, "What evidence did Trump have for those charges?" This ain't gonna end well for him. Sure as hell ain't where he wanted it to go. (But, he doesn't seem to understand how the federal government works.)
I understand what he wants; he wants a Congressional Committee to make a very public fuss hinting at evidence that does not exist and especially to release weekly reports hinting at this shit they don't actually have. He wants a PR job done on Obama to match what Trey Gowdy did on Hillary Clinton. But, there's no way he can get that. Not while he has control of the evidence.
I suspect Shorthands just took another step down the road to a Special Prosecutor, and that's certainly not what he had in mind, but I think he's made it more likely.
Two months into Trump's presidency and it seems like two years.
They really should have written something into the Constitution to deal with blatantly unfit elected officials.
"They really should have written something into the Constitution
to deal with blatantly unfit elected officials."
There's the Impeachment process, and the 25th Amendment. But, you're thinking of a recall election or something like that, ain't ya? Nope, ain't none of that gonna happen; recall election is not an option.
James Clapper (former Director of National Intelligence) just said on national TV that there was no wiretap of Donald Trump nor of Trump Tower. Didn't happen. Trump is full of it.
Quaere then: What does Trump do now? How does he explain making that charge?
And, remember, his Trumpkins are still loyal (don't think he'd pull off another of those black swan wins, but he's still got his solid 40% who ain't bothered that he's trashing the country--that's what they elected him to do; they're good with it so far).
However, I, being most definitely not a loyal Trumpkin, I can't help noticing that any inquiry into Trump's possibly being leveraged by Putin drives Trump into a frenzy--he just goes nuts. I think it scares the hell outta him that anybody's even asking that question. (Can't figure out how the loyal Trumpkins can draw any other conclusion, and suspect they don't draw an other conclusion; they just don't care.)
A class action lawsuit has been certified on behalf of 60,000 or so illegal aliens on the claim that they've been forced to work, slave labor, for private prisons under contract to the federal government. WaPo The use of private, for-profit prisons was ordered discontinued, phased-out, by Obama late in his second term. That was one of the first of the Obama orders reversed by the Trump administration.
However, I, being most definitely not a loyal Trumpkin, I can't help noticing that any inquiry into Trump's possibly being leveraged by Putin drives Trump into a frenzy--he just goes nuts. I think it scares the hell outta him that anybody's even asking that question.
I think others have noticed as well.
No new TrumpTweets: Perhaps they've managed to wrest his Android away from him. Perhaps he's being a little more reserved after having embarrassed himself and the country over the weekend. Either way, won't last.
Analysis claims that Trump is acquiescing in Erdoğan's insistence that the Kurds be brought to heel before Raqqah is cleared of Da‘esh forces. GeoPoliticalFutures I don't recognize the author.
Some folks have suggested that, in the wake of the new missile shots, the White House should denounce the North Koreans as ‘radical Islamic terrorists’. See if maybe that'll work better on them than it does on the jihadi.
Lee: "However, I, being most definitely not a loyal Trumpkin, I can't help noticing that any inquiry into Trump's possibly being leveraged by Putin drives Trump into a frenzy--he just goes nuts. I think it scares the hell outta him that anybody's even asking that question."
But do you seriously believe Trump is somehow indebted to or under the influence of Putin?
I am sure Putin very much wanted Trump to win. Based in part off Trumps less than hostile talk about both Putin and Russia. And based in part on them knowing very well that Clinton would treat Russia as an outright enemy. That much is pretty much certain, even if Lavrov made statemsnts saying they didn't really care and would work with any new US admin. Of course they hoped for Trump.
But that Trump is some sort of Russian tool I find highly unlikely myself.
So I'm not so sure such allegations "scares the hell outta him" and am thinking more along the lines that it "really pisses him off", and his fuse is admittedly a short one.
Lee: "Analysis claims that Trump is acquiescing in Erdoğan's insistence that the Kurds be brought to heel before Raqqah is cleared of Da‘esh forces. GeoPoliticalFutures I don't recognize the author."
I don't recognize the author either, but I think it's a pretty accurate assessment. Although I don't really think much has changed with Trump in office on the issue of Turkey vs. the kurds. I think the Obama admin too, or a Clinton admin for that matter, would also ultimately end up on the side of Ankara. That the US appreciates the kurdish efforts both in Iraq and in Syria is one thing, but actually working for a kurdish state (which has always been the #1 issue for the kurds) and alienate Turkey in the process - that was always unlikely.
"But do you seriously believe Trump is somehow indebted to or
under the influence of Putin?"
Occam's Razor.
I'd be less likely to lean that way if Trump would have released his taxes, or if the Trump family business hadn't been on record over the years as claiming substantial investments from Russian sources (before that became a toxic notion and they started denying same).
Shorthands has signed a new Pretend Travel Ban targeting Six (6) Muslim Majority Nations which now forbids travel from those countries except for people who have visas. Also, it does suspend the entire refugee admission program for 120 days (I'm not sure that's Constitutional considering that we have treaty obligations; maybe it is; maybe it's not; I've not looked into the treaty language).
It's also not clear whether or not this will satisfy the dedicated Trumpkins. It obviously targets Muslims, so they'll be good with that part, but they'll need to pretend that it's actually a travel ban (that ‘except for people who have visas’ part will need to be studiously ignored). We shall have to wait and see I guess.
CNN/ORC Poll 67% of Independents support appointment of a Special Prosecutor to get to the bottom of Trump's potential connections to the Russian meddling in the last Presidential election. A surprising 43% of Republicans support a Special Prosecutor. Democrats, unsurprisingly, are overwhelmingly in support.
"Last spring, Republicans were about twice as likely as Democrats to
consider Russia a deep threat (30% among Republicans, 15% among
Democrats). Now, that's reversed, with Democrats about twice as
likely to consider Russia a very serious threat (51% among
Democrats, 24% among Republicans)."
Same poll
I'd be less likely to lean that way if Trump would have released his taxes, or if the Trump family business hadn't been on record over the years as claiming substantial investments from Russian sources (before that became a toxic notion and they started denying same).
If Putin or his cronies had invested in some kind of deal with Trump that might be why Trump may be beholden, as Marcus said, to Putin. That certainly wouldn't look good, especially for a president that ran on a platform of eliminating foreign influence in Washington via monetary donations. I suppose there could be some kind of company set up where the investors include Trump and Putin et al, which could be dug up by researching any K-1's that were listed on Trump's return. Perhaps another way around that would be to look closely at what Putin is invested in. My guess is that our intelligence people have already got a good idea of what those investments are.
Huh! Maybe Trump should be more careful about accusing the FBI of illegally wiretapping his phones. You never know what they could dig up.
Some folks have suggested that, in the wake of the new missile shots, the White House should denounce the North Koreans as ‘radical Islamic terrorists’.
It strikes me that Trump and Kim Jong Un have similar personalities. Perhaps a better idea would be for Trump to make one of those phone calls of his and chat the man up. They both even have that big hair thing going on. Except, of course Kim's is black and Trump's is orange.
"If Putin or his cronies had invested in some kind of deal with Trump
that might be why Trump may be beholden…"
After Trump's investments in Atlantic City went sour he became fairly toxic to lenders from Wall Street (they had a special term for the risks associated with lending to The Donald). They'd let him get in over their heads.
"If you owe your banker £ 1000 you are at his mercy; if you owe your
banker £ 1,000,000 he is at your mercy."
John Maynard Keynes (various versions attributed--he probably said
it more than once)
They couldn't foreclose and had to suffer the ignominy of hiring Trump to manage the Atlantic City casinos while they spread their loses onto Trumps' other investors (between Trump and the bankers, his stockholders took a real beating). But, they could and did refuse to extend him major credit after that. It's widely assumed he's got his later loans out of Putin's extended circle of oligarch friends. That's why he can't release his taxes, those loan payments would show up prominently on the top pages. Back in the day this wouldn't have been a problem (back in the day when Trump was promising he'd release his taxes if he ever ran). But, Putin and his cronies aren't viewed so benignly these days. This, of course, would make Trump blackmailable.
It should be noted that Trump once very publicly (and ultimately unsuccessfully) attempted to woo Muammar Khaddafi to invest with him back when Trump was needing money and Khaddafi was needing to figure out how to get his own money beyond the reach of a potential Libyan revolution, just in case. It is possible that neither Trump nor Putin's oligarchs noticed how much good they could do one another, or that one side or the other had moral scruples about dealing with the other party. But the latter especially doesn't appear likely.
Lynnette:
"So what's up with this?
Scary, alarming, disheartening, unprecedented.
Those are just a few of the adjectives used to describe the recent widespread spate of bomb threats that have targeted Jewish Community Centers and schools in 33 states in the United States and two provinces in Canada."
Lee:
"That's what ya get when the fascists get emboldened. It's not like they don't know that Trump's one of their guys."
Ya think?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4283738/Bizarre-past-lies-bomb-hoaxer-Juan-Thompson.html
Not quite the fascist you had in mind right?
I'm sorry, I don't get your point.
You think because the guy's been a kook for a long time that gets him off the hook for being a fascist kook? Most fascists are kooks and most have a history, and the ones who don't have a history are probably making a history for themselves even as we write this stuff. You're something of a fan-boy for most of the fascists we both know of, so you may not have noticed that. But, it's true.
Noticed a quote in there:
"'He would lie for no reason,' said D'Emilia. 'Almost to the point of
there being something psychologically wrong with him.'"
Sounds suspiciously like Trump.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Brief analysis here of why it'll be hard to slide Muslim Travel Ban #2 past the federal courts. It's a succinct explanation in plain language.
TrumpTweets: Somebody let their guard down after breakfast and Trump got to his Android again without supervision. He's on a tear against Obama now. (Still, it's not nearly so incendiary as his ‘wiretap’ tweets.)
Post Script:
I suspect the above tweets are Trump's response to North Korea shooting missiles off across the Sea of Japan. He'd probably have been better off to just call the North Koreans ‘radical Islamic terrorists’ like I first suggested.
TrumpTweets: As of an hour ago Trump was still on the loose with an Android tweet phone. White House aides are said to be scouring Mar-A-Lago looking for his secret hideout.
I don't know if you saw this already, but I thought this was a fair analysis:
https://youtu.be/t2dct9ErA_g
Not very pro Tump but deidedly pro change. Take 20 minutes to watch it.
I'm a minute and a half in and Tucker Carlson says the Republicans hate Trump ‘cause he's gonna ‘drain the swamp’.
Have you bothered to notice that batch of billionaires and Goldman Sachs alumni who're on Trump's advisory panels and in his Cabinet? Have you not noticed that Trump has now adopted the old Republican budgetary faerie tales in toto? Tax cuts for the rich, spending for the Pentagon; budget deficits for all--unicorns promised to everybody some fine day on account of those tax cuts are supposed to magically pay for themselves. Are you for real here?
Tucker Carlson appears to be auditioning to be the next Sean Hannity when he grows up. Like Hannity, and Trump, he apparently has only the most tenuous grasp on the truth. He appears to live in a fact free zone.
Donald Trump has proudly announced that the Republicans' ‘wonderful’ new American Health Care Act is now out there for ‘review and negotiation’. This translates into English as, ‘Disaster is now fully upon us’. NewYorkPost
It's not for sure yet, but preliminary indications are that the Republicans aren't going to be able to even get this out of the House of Representatives, much less get it through the Senate.
On the other hand, Paul Ryan has guaranteed passage of the Republican's American Health Care Act, although he did not exactly guarantee when that might happen. link
White House aides are said to be scouring Mar-A-Lago looking for his secret hideout.
lol!
If it has a belfry they should try there. It's where all bats go to roost.
Oooooh the comedic fodder of the Trump presidency is endless.
Re: ObamaCare:
"…preliminary indications are that the Republicans aren't going to be
able to even get this out of the House of Representatives…"
Secondary indications are comin’ in and those suggest that Trump is preparing to sign whatever the hell the Republican legislature can manage to pass. He seems to think it more important that they produce something than that he worry overmuch about what they produce.
I'm not sure that he understands that he's gonna be the one on the hook for the results. Whether or not… Beginnin’ to look like he'll sign just about anything they put in front of him.
And, of course, we're talking about Trump here. Things could go off in an unpredictable new direction without any prior notice and without any apparent rationale for the change, and he could start having demands on content when they get closer to having something of their own. But, right now it's lookin’ likely he'll sign whatever they put in front of him. I figure that increases their odds of getting a repeal measure through the House; makes it about 50/50 maybe that they can actually get a repeal measure passed through the House (Senate is a ‘nother matter). I'm not givin’ odds on the chances of a replacement measure goin’ along with that; I don't know how to figure those odds other than as something less than 50/50. May be a slightly better chance they'll pass something they'll call a replacement but that isn't.
By the way…. It has occurred to me that Shorthands' current troubles with investigations and calls for a Special Prosecutor and the various shoot-himself-in-the-foot tweets from Shorthands himself have probably given a new lease on his office to Director James Comey over at the FBI. Everybody's gonna be lookin’ for bigger fish to fry, and a fuss over a tangential issue like Comey's replacement ain't gonna serve them well. And, working on a replacement for Comey would definitely be the occasion for having a fuss.
Making America Great Again:
"Trump's first full month in office brings massive employment boom as U.S. companies added whopping 298,000 new jobs in February
New job figures from ADP beat economists' estimates by more than 100,000"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4293622/Trump-s-month-brings-massive-employment-boom.html
Still ya'll sulk and moan and speculate about Russian links. While Trump is doing, or trying to do, precisely what he promised and got elected on. Ingrates.
The 800,000 jobs a month that the U.S. economy was shedding in Obama's first couple of months weren't Obama's fault. That was the Bush economic collapse. The jobs being added now are Obama's policies working. Trump hasn't had time to implement his policies. And our economy doesn't shift that quickly--big ship takes time to turn. (The jobs market was picking up speed that whole last year of Obama's administration; this is just the same trend continuing.)
If we're adding extra jobs in 8-9 months to a year from now--then we can figure to credit Trump with not killing off the Obama boom.
May be a slightly better chance they'll pass something they'll call a replacement but that isn't.
Looking at what they propose we will have cuts to Medicaid that will leave many people out in the cold, people who can ill afford the changes. Like the proposed gutting of the EPA, or various other federal agencies, we will have something that doesn't serve any of the American people, except perhaps those in the business community or the wealthy. The Republicans who support the policies of this administration should be removed from office for being incompetent.
I don't know that they are incompetent. It's just that their priorities are different than are yours. From their point of view, poor people are a self-renewing resource, to the extent they can be made into a resource at all. They do not have to be conserved--they breed back.
Senate Republican Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, when asked this morning if he actually believed Mexico would ever pay for The Great Wall of Trump, had a succinct response, ‘Uh, no’. Presumably this somewhat lowers the already very low odds of the Senate ever getting around to funding The Great Wall of Trump.
Get your head around reality here Marcus. No wall against refugees, just impediments to free trade.
Lee: "The 800,000 jobs a month that the U.S. economy was shedding in Obama's first couple of months weren't Obama's fault. That was the Bush economic collapse. The jobs being added now are Obama's policies working. Trump hasn't had time to implement his policies"
I know. I was just goofing. Let's see you remember that when the DOW takes a nosedive within a year though. It won't be on Trump, it's the economic cycle.
The Dow-Jones ready to nosedive because stocks are overvalued (for reasons I'll not go into here). That's irrespective of any ‘cycle’ you may be relying upon. The only question is whether it dives sooner rather than later, or vis-versa. The timing might well be Trump's fault, even if it comes within the year, or it might not. We'll have to wait and see what sets off the correction when it comes.
And, calling it the Obama ‘boom’ overstated the case. More like a plodding but steady recovery that's still plodding along.
Won't take much to set off a correction on the stock market. I note that Trump has yet to submit a proposed budget--rather overdue by now. And the Congress can't take up work on their budget, can't even start on it, until after they finish their attempts at eradicating ObamaCare (bit of a complication for them caused by a technicality in the ‘Reconcilation’ process they're relying upon). These sorts of delays getting our financial house in order could easily set off a market crash. And that would be Trump's fault.
No Great Wall for Trump.
"Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, chairman of the National Republican
Senatorial Committee, stated his opposition to a physical wall in fairly
explicit terms during a telephone town hall Wednesday night.
"‘As far as the wall goes, I believe we have to have border security,
but I do think billions of dollars on a wall is not the right way to
proceed…. I don't support a tariff to pay for any kind of wall.’"
Politico.com
The only question is whether it dives sooner rather than later, or vis-versa.
But where oh where to hide?
I don't know that they are incompetent. It's just that their priorities are different than are yours.
True, they might be very adept at robbing the American people blind of resources that could be shared. And some people were worried about Hillary.
I see the new EPA chief is questioning whether or not CO2 is the prime mover for climate change.
Of course, he might be right...it could be methane. That's if he actually believes in climate change. *sigh*
"I see the new EPA chief is questioning whether or not CO2 is the
prime mover for climate change."
Well, he's been confirmed now, so he can say different than he said when asked about it in his confirmation hearings. (There's actually noise being raised about impeaching him for lying in his confirmation hearings--that won't go anywhere, but it's been mentioned.)
FBI investigating odd computer link between Russian bank and Trump organization
What puzzled them was why a Russian bank was repeatedly looking up the contact information for mail1.trump-email.com.
Publicly available internet records show that address, which was registered to the Trump Organization, points to an IP address that lives on an otherwise dull machine operated by a company in the tiny rural town of Lititz, Pennsylvania.
From May 4 until September 23, the Russian bank looked up the address to this Trump corporate server 2,820 times -- more lookups than the Trump server received from any other source.
As noted, Alfa Bank alone represents 80% of the lookups, according to these leaked internet records.
Far back in second place, with 714 such lookups, was a company called Spectrum Health.
Spectrum is a medical facility chain led by Dick DeVos, the husband of Betsy DeVos, who was appointed by Trump as U.S. education secretary.
Together, Alfa and Spectrum accounted for 99% of the lookups.
Spelled ‘S-P-E-C-I-A-L P-R-O-S-E-C-U-T-E-R’.
We can only hope.
Lynnette: "But where oh where to hide?"
I am for sure no expert but Credit Swisse in their "letter to private banking customers" (of which I am of course not one) reportedly said that institutional investors have already started to short the US stock market while "private investors" (read average joes and pension funds) continue to buy in. The "smart money" is said to be relocating to mainly Japanese Yen and Gold for the time being.
How to actually do that is another question. But if you have the opportunity then maybe get out of stock-market based funds and into interest based funds could be an idea. Myself I have done just that with about 40% of my humble assets. I don't dare to make bets on Yen or Gold or any such adventures, because I acknowledge I'm no "master of the universe".
I've been thinking about the Special Prosecutor angle, and, I think we'd be better off with a Special Committee or Special Commission, or even a Congressional Select Committee with members drawn from both parties (last on my list there for a reason). I'd lean towards a Special Commission kinda like the 9/11 Commission, something with members with reputations of their own for honesty and integrity; reputations they'd like to keep.
I hate to have to say this, but I think that sort of thing will be necessary for the dedicated Trumpkins to even consider accepting its findings. (In the end, I think they will either reject the findings or reject the notion that they should give a damn about the findings, but I think it's gonna be important to make this as obviously non-partisan as possible. We may never get the dedicated Trumpkins back in the U.S.A. but it's important that we get back as many as possible of those semi-Trumpkins; get those who can be got.)
The "smart money" is said to be relocating to mainly Japanese Yen and Gold for the time being.
I have been considering putting a little into international bonds and cutting back on stock exposure. I know it may be a bad time for domestic (US) bonds, since they are considering raising interest rates again, but there are options out there that may be worth a look. I have thought about floating rate funds, but while those may be safer in an increasing interest rate environment, they may not do so well if we have another crash like in 2007. I have also been considering increasing international stock exposure. Choosing wisely is necessary when you don't have a lot to invest. You want to look for the best return on your money.
We may never get the dedicated Trumpkins back in the U.S.A. but it's important that we get back as many as possible of those semi-Trumpkins; get those who can be got.
I have been listening to various people interviewed on news programs, and have talked personally to people, who voted for Trump, not because they liked him, but because they felt the country needed some kind of change. They may be reachable if they were to realize that the kind of change planned by Trump and his followers may be more detrimental than helpful. We may be seeing some of that now with reactions to the proposed cuts to Medicaid funding. There are even GOP lawmakers in various states who are questioning that. If that goes through as planned it will make it far more difficult in the future for those with little or no financial means to afford healthcare or nursing home stays. So where does that leave those people? Who picks up the tab for their care?
I have also heard people start to question Trump's trade policies, especially those in agriculture. Where do Trump's policies leave them and the commodities they export? I can only hope they will be vocal enough with their representatives to give some in our Congress pause when they are considering some of the more extreme ideas of Trump and his cohorts.
"… because they felt the country needed some kind of change."
They're gettin’ that sure ‘nuff.
"They may be reachable if they were to realize that the kind of
change planned by Trump and his followers may be more detrimental
than helpful."
Well, that's the thinking behind my conclusion that I don't want Trump impeached (at least, not just yet). Like the Sunni Muslims of Zeyad's pined for Sunnistan (Rhamadi to Mosul to Tal Afar in real life) who needed to get a full taste of what their choice of Da‘esh really meant for them, the dedicated Trumpkins need a full dose of what they asked for so's they learn to not ask for it again.
Back to the subject of a Special Commission however…. The problem I see with that (potentially) is getting clear authority to investigate in the face of full-on obstruction from the Trump administration. The authority of a Congressional Oversight Committee (even a special ‘Select’ committee) is well established--Nixon made them take that one clear to the Supreme Court. But, we can almost guarantee that Trump will not admit that the jurisdiction exists to investigate him and most of the dedicated Trumpkins would be only too quick to support him in that. But, the jurisdiction and supremacy of a Congressional Select Committee has already been established during the Watergate years. We may, therefore, need to settle for a Congressional Committee, although the dedicated Trumpkins will be highly likely to try to resist that (violence is not out of the question just yet--Trump may eventually become tarnished enough that they'd not turn to violence to defend his rule, but he's not so tarnished with them just yet).
400 additional American troops to Syria for the upcoming battle for Raqqa. BBC They include Marines and Army Rangers as well as some less public special ops guys. The BBC article doesn't say so, but the word running around amongst reporters on the Pentagon beat is that these soldiers are mostly being deployed to keep one set of our ‘allies’, that being the Turks and their Arab mercenaries, from setting upon another set of our allies, that being the Kurds and their Arab mercenary units.
(The prior article from that fella I didn't know notwithstanding, rumor is that our guys are going in there to keep the Turks off of the Kurds.)
Fairly short piece in TheAtlantic ends with the conclusion that:
"Trump is not fated to face a recession…. But his actions might help
land America in one, and he might struggle to get the country out."
I would add that Trump is highly unlikely to get his trillion dollar infrastructure project funded by a Republican Congress, even with Democratic help (which Democratic help will be hard to come by on account of Trump's plan is to pay for the improvements with public money over the long haul, but to give title to the improvements to his buddies so they can charge the public for using said improvements--i.e. toll roads; toll bridges, etc. all owned when the dust clears by his billionaires club buddies)
And, he might even have trouble getting his tax cuts, although there's always more likelihood of that on account of deficits matter much more to Republicans when they're racked up by Democrats, usually not so troubling when they're racked up by Republicans.
So, Trump may very well be lookin’ at headwinds he is ill suited to handle.
... the dedicated Trumpkins need a full dose of what they asked for so's they learn to not ask for it again.
Funny you should say that. One of the people, I didn't catch who, was just saying basically the same thing just now on CNN. Trump has been taking credit for the increase in jobs reports. Maybe the business community is adjusting their plans, expecting the loosening of regulations, but some of those jobs were longer in the planning stage and started under the Obama administration. It will actually take more time for the Trump policies to start to affect our economy, and it will be then that people will be able to truly judge their positive or negative effects. In the meantime it will give Trump time to further his agenda. So unfortunately it will give him more time to do more damage.
So, Trump may very well be lookin’ at headwinds he is ill suited to handle.
No shit. Nor any of his minions either.
er..sorry Petes.
"…but some of those jobs were longer in the planning stage and started
under the Obama administration."
Virtually all of them to date (a few thousand jobs can be noted as exceptions, or maybe just a few hundred, and they're not solid either--no reason those corporate CEOs can't go ahead and move them anyway--none of that's in writing and it wouldn't be binding if it were).
However, it is best for any CEO, when given the opportunity, to allow the thin-skinned and self-admittedly vengeful Trump to claim the credit for whatever-the-hell he wants to claim credit for. It costs nothing, whereas crossing Trump might cost something.
Da‘esh is getting ready to move; Turkey is getting ready to move. And our generals are reacting on their own initiatives ‘cause Trump has no clue. WashingtonFreeBeacon
I found this OpEd piece about the firing of Preet Bharara rather interesting. This bit caught my attention:
The investigation of possible ties between members of the Trump campaign team and Russian officials, and the President's claim that he was wiretapped in Trump Tower on orders of President Obama, will all lead back to the Southern District of New York.
In the end, President Trump has undoubtedly decided that he wants his own pick rather than the choice of Senate adversary Chuck Schumer in place as the top federal prosecutor in New York.
I'd been looking for that. I noticed several pieces that commented on his firing in particular, but they all danced around the question of whether or not that would impact any investigation into Trump's connections (or Team Trump's connections) to Moscow.
I did notice a couple of articles which suggested that Bharara was popular at his office; his staff and associate attorneys were loyal. Firing him may not back them off.
Chickens coming home to roost?
A three-judge panel in a Texas redistricting case has ruled that the Texas Legislature's 2011 congressional redistricting plan discriminated against minority voters.
The judges in a San Antonio federal district court concluded in a 2-1 vote late Friday that the drawing of some of the state's congressional districts violated the federal Voting Rights Act or the US Constitution.
The plan carved up Latino areas, thus limiting Latino political strength in south and west Texas, the judges said. These voters' needs must be addressed, they said.
I did notice a couple of articles which suggested that Bharara was popular at his office; his staff and associate attorneys were loyal. Firing him may not back them off.
Good management, be it in the work itself or in ethics, will ultimately pay off in the end.
Of course, the opposite is also true. Bad management will ultimately hurt all in the end.
"Chickens coming home to roost?"
Don't know if ya could say that just yet. The District Court did not order an immediate correction; this leaves the current boundaries in place while the State of Texas appeals (presuming the appeal).
Odds on the Republicans getting their American Health Care Act (a/k/a ‘TrumpDon'tCare’) through the House appear to be dropping fast. I figured it as high as 50/50 goin’ in; droppin’ fast though. Odds in the Senate are much worse.
Probably should make correction here. Folks are noticing that nobody wants their name on the Republican health care bill. Dallas, Texas 14 September 2015, Trump told us it was gonna be called DonaldCare, not TrumpCare (at just about 1:04:45). The White House doesn't wanna go near that now, but that was then, and then it was ‘DonaldCare’. Now it'll be ‘DonaldDon'tCare’, "Just gimme somethin’ I can sign." But, I'm thinking they're not gonna be able to pull that one off.
Arnold Scharwazenegger is taking up the cause of federal redistricting reform. Conceivably, he could work with Obama on this; Obama's said he's interested in making it a project as well.
Hmmm… Link vanished there. My bad; try again. WaPo
Arnold Scharwazenegger is taking up the cause of federal redistricting reform...
At least that's something.
I see that McCain is telling Trump to basically put up or shut up. That is, provide proof about his wiertapping claim or retract. I've always liked McCain.
"At least that's something."
Second thing that needs to go along with it, campaign finance reform. I'm not looking to take the big money out of politics (that's probably a lost cause anyway). What I'm thinking is taking the dark money out of politics. There's no reason the fat-cats ought to be able to buy their politicians under-the-table. A few years ago the Republicans agreed with that proposition. It was the Republican position that disclosure was the proper response to the Democrats' efforts to impose maximums on political donations. As soon as the Republicans won that argument (via a 5/4 advantage in the Supreme Court), they backtracked on the idea that disclosure was a good thing, and now they're highly in favor of ‘dark’ money, the more the better.
I'm thinkin’ we've got a real shot at getting rid of it though (not tomorrow, but eventually), and we ought to be working on that right along with redistricting reforms.
I am starting to wonder if you maybe weren't right in your assessment of this being a make or break moment for the Republican party. Watching some of those town hall meetings where people are really trying to pin down their representatives you have to believe that eventually it will dawn on these elected officials that this may be dangerous to their future job security. At least I would hope so. Plus it is simply not right that they should ignore many of their constituents. It is their job to represent everyone to a fair degree.
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