The Trump administration recently
ordered the bombing of Syrian chemical weapons production facilities
in retaliation for the chemical attack on Syrian civilians. Sitting
behind our television sets or computers it is easy for us to forget
the real tragedy that has been unfolding in large portions of the
world. We have never experienced the violence or economic
destitution that has forced millions of people to flee their homes
for the promise of a better life in another land.
Frontline has aired a follow up to its
documentary “Exodus”, which aired in 2016. This second film
documents what has happened to refugees and asylum seekers after
Europe tightened its borders and immigration policies in general, and
after President Trump instituted his ban.
This is long, a full length documentary
of almost two hours. But it is a complex issue affecting real
people whose stories are still being written. If you want to try to
understand it from their perspective then it is their stories that
need to be seen.
So I will provide a link:
And a song for all those who are still wandering:
142 comments:
Russian resolution to the UN Security Council condemning the missile attack on Syria failed by a vote of eight to three (with four abstentions).
Trump tweeted about the McCabe report. The President of the United States just called either the FBI or the entire DOJ (not clear which) a "den of thieves and lowlifes".
Who were the abstentions?
The President of the United States just called either the FBI or the entire DOJ (not clear which) a "den of thieves and lowlifes".
lol!
It's so surreal it's starting to become amusing.
Comey's interview is being televised tomorrow night. Looking forward to it.
A blizzard. That's what we are having here. It's calmed down at the moment, but they have said we will get more snow overnight. I cleared the driveway before dinner and shoveled the deck after. There was 16 inches on the deck. It had blown down off the house. And I had thought I was done with the snowblower. *sigh*
Four abstentions; Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Peru.
TrumpTweets: Trump could not let it go. He managed to curb his instincts until this morning, but he's all over James Comey as of this morning.
And, just for good measure… Comey's gonna be on TV tonight. 7:00 pm on CBS and the full hour starting at 10:00 pm on ABC. Ya'll reckon Trump might watch?
Above times Eastern Daylight. ↑↑
Appears I was wrong about Comey being scheduled for CBS today. ABC is still on the schedule though.
I made sure I stayed awake to watch the Comey interview. Here are a few things I found interesting.
First of all Comey thinks Trump is highly intelligent. He doesn't really buy the mentally unstable or early stage dementia theories for Trump's behavior. Now this implies to me that Comey seems to think Trump's behavior is calculated. Although he didn't state that in the interview.
Second, when asked if Comey feels that Trump is unfit to be President, he said "yes", not from mental incapacity, but from a moral standpoint. Trump does not represent the values of America.
Third, when asked if he felt Trump should be impeached, Comey said "no", because that would be letting the American people off the hook, in effect. He felt that impeachment would derail what should be a process in which we make the decision as to who best represents our values.
Fourth, he does feel it possible that the Russians could have something on Trump. But, that doesn't really surprise me.
Fifth, his reason for announcing the reopening of the Clinton email investigation and then his follow up saying there was nothing new a few days later was an attempt to be open about what was happening with the American public. There was not deliberate attempt to either derail Clinton's campaign or to help Trump.
All in all I came away from watching the interview feeling that I like James Comey. He came across as an honest guy who tried to do the best job he could. I will still buy his book.
"Comey thinks Trump is highly intelligent."
You may want to look at that one again. He said that Trump was of ‛above average’ intelligence. Not quite the same thing as ‛highly intelligent’.
Not quite the same thing as ‛highly intelligent’.
Yes, you're right. Highly intelligent would imply something that probably wouldn't apply to Trump. I doubt he would understand say, quantum physics. But he would understand how to run a con.
It's a month for anniversaries. Martin Luther King who died fifty years ago on April 4th was, believe it or not, the inspiration for the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. The NICRA marches which began a couple of month after his death led to civil rights protesters being baton charged off the streets in N.I., leading directly to "the Troubles". Last week we had the twentieth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Although the occasion was marked by various public remembrances it was more muted than it should have been, due to various concerns about the ongoing peace process. But it's worth remembering that things used to be a whole lot worse.
Thomas Friedman, writing in the New York Times, examines the face-off between Israel and Iran in the territory formerly known as Syria.
It would appear that Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer/fixer from New York, had only three (3) legal clients last year. There was Trump; there was a Republican donor/collector, name of Elliot Brody, who had to pay off a Playboy bunny/mistress to the tune of $1.3 million; third one was none other than Sean Hannity.
Hannity has denied ever actually retaining Cohen.
(There were seven more clients who fell under the general heading of "business consultation" and for whom Cohen does not claim attorney/client privilege applies.)
Marcus, BBC Newsnight just ran a lengthy report on the left-right divide in Sweden, the prospects for the September elections, and the issues of migration, integration, and civil unrest. It looks at how Sweden has become a poster child for the right elsewhere in the world as to what can go wrong. It points out that you can buy a grenade in Stockholm for the price of a bunch of flowers, and that there have been an unprecedented fifty grenade attacks in two years. But, being the BBC, it still concludes that things aren't as bad as they are painted. They visit Rinkeby in Stockholm and other "no go zones" and don't get attacked. I can't really do the piece justice, there was loads more.
Maybe it can be found on YouTube?
Been busy the last couple of days, so haven't had a chance to read the links. I will have to catch up later...
Good call, Lynnette. Newsnight has a youtube channel. Here's the piece on Sweden.
But it's worth remembering that things used to be a whole lot worse.
Very sad.
Yet there are always those ready to start another conflict...
Thomas Friedman, writing in the New York Times, examines the face-off between Israel and Iran in the territory formerly known as Syria.
Speaking of Iran and Israel, I was kind of wondering if anyone was taking notice of the subplot they were engaged in under cover of the Syrian civil war.
Other than squaring off for an eventual open fight, what would that ‘subplot’ be?
I watched the BBC Special. There is no excuse for committing crimes. But it is up to lawmakers and authorities to deal with those people, whether they are native born or immigrant. It is unfair to tar all with that brush though.
When I look at the people in the documentary I linked to, I feel that there but for the grace of God go I. I have been fortunate to have been born in a country that is at peace, relatively speaking, now. Well, sort of. But we are more so than Syria or Afghanistan etc. What happens if someday we are looking for shelter in another country? How would we feel to be turned away? I am talking about those who are simply looking for safety and shelter, not those who make trouble.
Other than squaring off for an eventual open fight, what would that ‘subplot’ be?
That is what I was referring to. It just seems there has been little press, or even notice when you look at Washington, of any of the byplay going on between Iran and Israel.
Btw, speculation tonight on CNN is that Cohen may flip or already has.
[Lynnette]: "What happens if someday we are looking for shelter in another country? How would we feel to be turned away? I am talking about those who are simply looking for safety and shelter, not those who make trouble."
I don't disagree with the sentiment but I see two problems: 1) how do you distinguish between the two, 2) there are tens of millions of displaced people in the world today -- that is a bigger problem than any country can solve by granting asylum. And how do you balance a country's responsibility to its own citizens? Personally I think the world could do a lot more to de-escalate conflicts and save people from being displaced in the first instance. I'm thinking about arms sales to countries like Saudi Arabia, which is fueling violence by proxy throughout the M.E. Admittedly, an unopposed Iran wouldn't be so great either. And they're not the only bad actor either. But then maybe there's no solution.
The IMF is critical of Trump's tax cuts. Sees them as pro-cyclical in an economy that's doing pretty well, when it should be reducing deficits and debt. Ironic that the Republicans are supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility.
Some fella I do not know of, one Mark Perry, writes in TheAmericanConservative about how we're offending Turkey and driving Erdoğan into the hands of our enemies by our support of the Kurds.
Needless to say, I disagree with Mr. Perry pretty much across the board here, but I thought it well to recall there's other opinions out there (and perhaps also recall that our conservatives do tend to affiliate with foreign fascists).
I don't get the part where he brings in Rudy Giuliani to serve on his personal legal defense team. Giuliani hasn't practiced law in years, and he's never worked a high profile legal defense case.
Summer is here, even if the tree haven't realised it yet. Even better across the water -- England had it's warmest April day for seventy years yesterday and central London just missed its all time record at 29.1 degrees.
Now that I know about the Newsnight youtube channel ... here's Emily Maitlis interviewing James Comey yesterday.
Lynnette, here's something to help you make those stock picks ;-)
The Democrats' national party organization, the Democratic National Committee, (DNC) has filed suit against Russia, a whole bunch of named Russians, and a fistfull of names from the Trump campaign, including Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, but not Trump himself. Washington Post The allegations are that those named (and perhaps others not yet named) conspired to fix the 2016 election by illegal means, including computer hacking and illegal campaign contributions, to the injury of said DNC.
It seems they've decided the various congressional inquiries are going nowhere, and they're takin’ their own shot at it.
Pete: "Marcus, BBC Newsnight just ran a lengthy report on the left-right divide in Sweden, the prospects for the September elections, and the issues of migration, integration, and civil unrest. It looks at how Sweden has become a poster child for the right elsewhere in the world as to what can go wrong."
It's getting so obvious it's not just the right paying attention any longer. Here's a piece from Politico:
https://www.politico.eu/article/sweden-bombings-grenade-attacks-violent-reality-undoing-peaceful-self-image-law-and-order/
Pete: "But, being the BBC, it still concludes that things aren't as bad as they are painted. They visit Rinkeby in Stockholm and other "no go zones" and don't get attacked."
They could try going there in the evening and filming some of the gangsters there. It's been tried before and the journos had to scurry away and seek shelter behind police.
That said, if you want to go in with the agenda of proving things aren't bad, of course it's possible to get footage that seemingly support that claim. I should think they could get some footage from the Idlib province in Syria that looks peaceful if they tried. "See? No tewwowists here!"
The DNC has some neck suing for injury when they rigged their own primaries. Their biggest injuries were self-inflicted -- a) trying to foist Hillary Clinton on the nation, b) getting caught cheating at it.
Just a thought for the last day of tax season.
4. In 2014, Trump said this about his taxes: "If I decide to run for office, I'll produce my tax returns, absolutely. And I would love to do that."
Yeah, right.
1) how do you distinguish between the two,... (those who want shelter and those who would create trouble)
You can't, not really, not when they first arrive. But then you can't always tell the difference in those who are born and raised in a country either. It really is a gamble. But you can at least act when someone does create problems, such as commit crimes. I have no problem with deporting violent offenders. Those who commit minor offenses and have made restitution I would be more lenient with. But if we are to call ourselves human showing compassion is part of that, especially towards the obviously innocent, such as children.
2) there are tens of millions of displaced people in the world today -- that is a bigger problem than any country can solve by granting asylum.
This is very true. I would start with those whose cases we run across in our own countries.. Then, if possible, I would try to reach out and help other countries that are struggling with an influx of refugees/asylum seekers.
And how do you balance a country's responsibility to its own citizens?
Perhaps we should start with putting in place domestic policies that will actually benefit all of a country's citizens, not just its wealthier income levels. If we had smart government that led to a healthy economy we would not be so worried about sharing any of that wealth with others.
Personally I think the world could do a lot more to de-escalate conflicts and save people from being displaced in the first instance. I'm thinking about arms sales to countries like Saudi Arabia, which is fueling violence by proxy throughout the M.E.
I agree. The problem with that is that not too many other people do. That includes our manufacturers of military hardware or the Russians, who have their own pet clients for military hardware.
Admittedly, an unopposed Iran wouldn't be so great either. And they're not the only bad actor either.
No it wouldn't. It would be very unfortunate if we see what that means.
But then maybe there's no solution.
I know, it does seem that way. It would take a more altruistic approach than most people are willing to try.
Gotta get dinner...I'll be back later to read the rest of the comments...
The IMF is critical of Trump's tax cuts. Sees them as pro-cyclical in an economy that's doing pretty well, when it should be reducing deficits and debt.
I don't think it is only the IMF who is critical.
I don't get the part where he brings in Rudy Giuliani to serve on his personal legal defense team.
Perhaps he was tired of getting rejected and decided to take what he could get?
Another interesting angle on the IQ debate. Some stuff about ethnicity but actually more interestingly about the fact that 10% of the population are -- to put it unkindly -- too stupid for work. Sounds like Marcus's problems could be solved by administering an immigrant IQ test. Oh, and maybe deport the most stupid Swedes to make room for higher IQ migrants ;-)
One thing that isn't mentioned is male/female IQ differences. They average the same but the standard deviation is a good bit higher in men. Basically, there are far more stupid men than women :)
Standard deviation generally works both directions.
here's Emily Maitlis interviewing James Comey yesterday.
That was an interesting interview. The questions were good and the answers were to the point. It was refreshing after listening to politicians when they do interviews where they slide around avoiding real answers.
The point he made about Trump being a rather corrupting influence on American values has been made by others. We cannot become inured to Trump's lying and attacks on our justice system.
I just bought Comey's book today. I look forward to reading it.
I also bought Madeleine Albright's Fascism.
Lynnette, here's something to help you make those stock picks ;-)
lol! Probably as good as anything else they use.
It seems they've decided the various congressional inquiries are going nowhere, and they're takin’ their own shot at it.
Jumping the gun. They probably should have waited for the Mueller investigation to run its course.
Basically, there are far more stupid men than women :)
I'm not going to touch that with a ten foot pole. lol!
Re: Guiliani
I've about decided that Trump is looking for a PR edge, to hold his base. He's decided that his best defense is going to be political, ain't looking to defend on the facts nor the law; he's going for a trial by media on the theory that FoxNews and the rest of the right-winger propaganda machine can keep his ‘base’ loyal.
As long as he can hold his approval ratings above 35-33% then he can hold off impeachment, no matter what Mueller turns up, no matter if he fires Mueller and shuts down the investigation.
Guiliani can do media appearances to keep the base loyal.
Trump tweeted a complaint about oil prices yesterday. Oil prices dipped briefly but then resumed their upward trend. I remember checking both Trump's and Hillary's energy policies on their websites during the election campaign, and they were both ropy. Both of them aspired to US energy independence though, oddly, Hillary seemed to imagine it had already been achieved. Well now that prospect is actually within sight, and higher oil prices are what's making it happen. For that reason, they are actually a good thing for the US at the moment. And they're certainly good for Trump -- out of 25 oil states in the US, 21 of them voted for him.
Re: Guiliani
I've about decided that Trump is looking for a PR edge, to hold his base.
He's going to need all the help he can get once his policies start to bite.
In Minnesota he had a large amount of support in rural areas. One of the headlines in my paper today read: "20 ships bound for China diverted". They were carrying 1.2 million tons of sorghum, China is our biggest buyer. If China applies tariffs to other crops, such as corn, its not going to be pretty. Minnesota is a large agricultural exporter. As are other states.
Trump tweeted a complaint about oil prices yesterday...For that reason, they are actually a good thing for the US at the moment. And they're certainly good for Trump -- out of 25 oil states in the US, 21 of them voted for him.
You expect logic or in depth analysis from Donald Trump?
R.I.P.
Barbara Bush
An admirable first lady and person.
Pete: "One thing that isn't mentioned is male/female IQ differences. They average the same but the standard deviation is a good bit higher in men. Basically, there are far more stupid men than women"
And obvioulsy that means that scince the average is the same and there are far more stupid men than women there are also far more genious men than there are genious women (second on the ball I know, Lee kinda pinted that out in not as many words already). I can buy that. The way the world works kinda makes that credible.
It's pretty much the same story about how come east asians have combined IQ:s slightly higher than whites, and yet whites are behind almost all new innovations? Cause whites have higher standard deviations. We have more morons and idiots than do China, but we also have more super IQ folks (men) than do the Chineese. And it's these, the tip of the spear, that gives whitey an innovative edge.
You can really just observe where stuff is invented and where things work out, to see where you have a high IQ populace - or a populace ruled by high IQ people. It's all pretty obvious.
Now let's get back to Africa. What have they done for us lately? Outside of Wanandan Sci-Fi movies that is. Pete, you had a gene splicer of sorts to make an example of a while back, and Lynnette brought up a film about a bogus story that black women were behind the moon-landing, but I'm talking more in a general sense of great African leaps in the sciences here. Real stuff, not Hollywood prop. Where's all that?
Lynnette:
"I'm not going to touch that with a ten foot pole. lol!"
Why though? What are you afraid of? A truth that could maybe be hurtful? Feelz hurt?
[Marcus]: "You can really just observe where stuff is invented and where things work out, to see where you have a high IQ populace - or a populace ruled by high IQ people. It's all pretty obvious."
Yet if you bothered to watch that Jordan Peterson video he says that although high IQ definitely correlates with life success, the correlation is only a few per cent. Eighty or ninety percent (can't remember the precise number) is down to other factors. So sure, a higher IQ population should excel, but it doesn't mean nobody else can do well. As for those African inventors you were looking for, I'm sure you can Google just as well as I can.
You can really just observe where stuff is invented and where things work out, to see where you have a high IQ populace - or a populace ruled by high IQ people. It's all pretty obvious.
With that you are completely ignoring environment. There is something to be said for encouraging people to be creative via free thinking, which you may not find so much of in a controlled society such as China.
Lynnette: "I'm not going to touch that with a ten foot pole. lol!"
Marcus: Why though?
I didn't want to turn this conversation into a battle of the sexes.
I actually got to work out in the yard today. Maybe spring is really here...
Sean Hannity spent a lot of time criticising Obama over mortgage foreclosures on homes. Turns out he was buying lots of them himself, to add to his portfolio of nearly a thousand properties.
Students planning a walkout to protest school shootings had to walk out because of a school shooting! (WaPo). There's link at the bottom to another article: "NRA host taunts Parkland teens: ‘No one would know your names’ if classmates were still alive". Seems to me those NRA TV hosts must get paid a pretty penny to read out scripted propaganda ... or else they must have an IQ of about ten. In the video on that article the host says "students are protesting against killing machines but they won't give up their cars". I reckon there's very few things on planet Earth you couldn't kill a person with if you tried hard enough. Talk about false equivalences! In the same vid the host claims Parkland wouldn't have happened if a hero like Blaine Gaskill had been on the scene. This is the school resource officer who fired at a Maryland school shooter on March 20th, but actually the shooter shot himself first. Also, the Columbine massacre wasn't prevented even though there was a resource officer on the scene within a couple of minutes. I seriously can't fathom how the NRA thrives with such brain dead spokespeople. Is it that the target audience is equally brain dead?
The Parkland students and their ‛movement’ scares the hell out of the gun lobby. The kids are young enough and focused enough to make a it a cause célèbre for years to come. The gun lobby relies on its ability to outlast the most recent outrage, but these kids threaten that model of defense. They remind the gun lobby of the teenagers who took to the streets in Birmingham, Alabama, and just kept comin’ back at it.
They scare the hell out of the gun lobby.
"Is it that the target audience is equally brain dead?"
Yes. Not all pro-gun folks are brain dead, but their target audience is the more ‛brain dead’ segment.
I just checked -- the time from when the Columbine shooters entered the library where they killed most of their victims (10 of the 12 students who died) and when they fired their last fatal shot was six minutes. It was several hours before all the bodies were even found. The idea that some school resource officer is going to run in and save the day in most cases is nuts.
People believe what they want to believe. And they want to believe that if only there were a person on hand with a gun to stand up to a shooter everything would be all right. They only see the stories on the news where that worked out to the good. This makes them feel better about their choice to have guns on hand for protection.
Yet they don't seem to notice the stories, like the recent Waffle House shooting, where the person who stood up and fought back didn't have a gun. He just waited until the right moment when the shooter was out of ammunition and grabbed his gun.
Or they don't notice the stories where the person designated to protect a facility doesn't do so, like the guard at Parkland who didn't respond.
I think Lee is right that the NRA fears the activists that have arisen after the Parkland shooting. They are motivated, they are young, and every now and then there is another shooting story in the news to stoke the flames of their anger. When they are able to they will vote.
And I notice the Waffle House shooter was a nutcase well known to police who had already confiscated his weapons and banned him from holding them on mental health grounds. The guns were given back to the shooter's father who then gave them back to the shooter.
In a country awash with guns there's no way you can keep guns out of the hands of "bad" people, and you will never stop random killings even if the "good" people also have guns. The only solution is to have less guns all round, but I don't think you can convince the "good" people that it's best in the long run. (And of course, everyone's a "good" guy ... until they aren't). So I see no solution.
There is support for stricter gun control, but according to a recent poll there is more support for American's right to own guns than not.
Certainly I support people owning guns for hunting. I still think part of the solution is a ban on assault weapons. You don't need those kinds of guns for self defense or hunting.
Yeah, but then you'll have the gun know-it-alls telling you that an AR-15 is a sports gun, not an assault rifle. How about banning anything bigger than a 9mm handgun within any city limit.
Iran shipping more weapons to Syria.
US intelligence is monitoring a series of cargo flights from Iran into Syria that the US suspects may be carrying weapons systems into Syria for potential use by Bashar al-Assad's regime or Iranian forces, CNN has learned.
An administration official confirms to CNN that the flights took place and the US and Israel are both concerned the cargo could potentially include weapons that could eventually be used to threaten Israel.
How about banning anything bigger than a 9mm handgun within any city limit.
It's always nice to dream.
"…weapons that could eventually be used to threaten Israel."
I've read that Suleimani is effectively running his own foreign policy these days, and that a confrontation with Israel is on his agenda. His foreign policy doesn't seem to match up well with the civilian authorities in Iran, but it's not clear who's actually running that country. (May well be Suleimani and the Republican Guard.)
There are several claimants for sovereignty.
There are several claimants for sovereignty.
There seems to be a lot of that going around lately.
Hmmm...not too long after claiming that Cohen would never flip on him Trump is now saying that Cohen did only a little bit of work for him.
Interesting.
And I missed Comey's Town Hall with Anderson Cooper. I didn't know it was on. Maybe I'll have to see if it's on YouTube. But, I suppose he just went over what's in his book, which I will read.
As was expected, Mike Pompeo was approved by the Senate as our new Secretary of State.
David Ignatius isn't much given to hyperbole and breathless excess, but he's made a fairly strong case for continuing the investigating into the suspicion that Trump maybe has established a backdoor channel to Putin that our intelligence services aren't supposed to know about.
(I've been noticing an increase in ‛below the fold’ articles detailing connections between Team Trump and the Russians here of late. Ignatius isn't the first of these I've seen lately.)
A bipartisan bill to protect the Mueller investigation from being ‛fired’ by Trump has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee today. Mitch McConnell has vowed that it will never get a vote in the Senate, and it's certain it'd be vetoed by Trump if it ever were to pass. But, it is an indication that there are Republican Senators who're getting a little bit antsy about supporting Trump. (It doesn't help Trump that they've already passed a major tax-cut-for-the-rich bill. They needed him to sign that; now that's done, they don't really need him anymore.
They may still be afraid of him, but they've got little real use for him.)
David Ignatius isn't much given to hyperbole and breathless excess, but he's made a fairly strong case for continuing the investigating into the suspicion that Trump maybe has established a backdoor channel to Putin that our intelligence services aren't supposed to know about.
I have to wonder the same thing sometimes. If that is the case it has some rather horrible implications.
FoxNews is already pushing Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. (Little early I'd reckon it.)
If anyone might deserve a peace prize it's South Korea's leader Moon Jae-in. But I will wait to see what actually comes of all of this hoopla.
If it turns out to be a real deal where there is a real end to the stalemate on the Korean Peninsula then I will give Trump some credit. However, there have been some analysts out there who believe that the real reason Kim is willing to negotiate now is that he feels he has garnered nuclear parity with other nuclear powers. Fact or fiction.
If that is the case then I'm not sure what any past or present president has achieved.
I will still not be voting for Trump in the next presidential election.
It seems that the possible ties between the NRA and the Kremlin have made it to CNN. The are reporting that they are under scrutiny by someone. They did not say Mueller.
It looks like we are finally on tap for a beautiful weekend of sunny and warm weather. I will have to try to see if I can clean up the yard a little. Suck up a little of the snow mold out there...
"If anyone might deserve a peace prize it's South
Korea's leader Moon Jae-in."
I was thinking the same thing. With typical American concentration on what America's up to, our media folks have entirely forgotten that President Moon made the opening moves to North Korea to escape the confrontation that Trump had been setting up.
Then Kim checked in with the Chinese to make sure he knew where his backup was drawing their lines.
Trump had to agree to a meeting or get left out of the developing new alignment completely.
I fear that Kim has agreed to meet with Trump because he thinks he stands a fairly good chance of putting one over on Trump.
"…possible ties between the NRA and the Kremlin…"
"Possible ties?"
Did I not read that one of Putin's favorite Russian oligarchs, was, surprisingly, a lifetime member of the NRA and a heavy donor to the NRA for years now, and had been working on establishing a back channel between Team Trump and the Kremlin via the NRA?
The Russians are behind it all, and Putin himself especially, using the NRA as a tool to get muricans killed and to elect the Donald, who Putin has a hold on cause he's got vidya of Trump being pissed on by russian hookers. And the end game of it all is to give a free rein to Assad to gas babies just for funz.
That about covers up yall's world view atm?
Myself I was surprised to find out the other day is apparently not human but a russian bot. Everyone who does not think the NYT or WaPo is solid truth every time and on every issue is a russian bot. I thought I was a person, turns out I am a russian bot.
Marcus seems to get further offended every time another connection between Team Trump and the Kremlin gets uncovered.
He doesn't appear to be surprised, merely offended.
(Might be time to remind Marcus: I'm on record from several weeks ago… I'll not be at all surprised if Mueller turns in a report accusing Trump of espionage or something along those lines, in addition to money laundering on behalf of the Russian ruling oligarchy. I'm still there.)
But Marcus ya slimey Russian bot, what about all those "below the fold" articles about Trump's love-in with Putin? It must be true, and if it wasn't, it is now. Remember how "W" was too stupid to string a coherent sentence together, yet he planned the Machiavellian heist of Iraqi oil? Well that's how we know the Donald has been secretly scheming with the Russians, even though he lies in bed all day eating hamburgers and watching cable TV. And just wait and see how he's so stupid that even Little Rocket Man is going put one over on him. Let's just hope the Nobel Prize Committee doesn't cheapen itself by failing to see through him. They have standards to uphold, like giving the peace prize to Obama after eight months in office for "promotion of nuclear nonproliferation and a new climate in international relations, especially in reaching out to the Muslim world". Bless their little hearts.
‛Pears Marcus ain't the only one who gets offended by the ongoing revelations of connections between Team Trump and the Kremlin.
[Lynnette]: "It looks like we are finally on tap for a beautiful weekend of sunny and warm weather. I will have to try to see if I can clean up the yard a little. Suck up a little of the snow mold out there..."
Hah! Just as things turn cold for us again! Have had the heating back on again for the last week. Temperature's been struggling to get into low double digits (Celsius ;-) but we are going to back in single digits in the next couple of days, with the UK even forecast to have snow on high ground. They've already had the coldest April day for 20 years and the hottest one for 70 years, now it's time for more cold. The weather's doing an awful lot of flip-flopping lately. Seems to be due to a very kinked jet stream that we find ourselves on either side of from one week to the next. Jet stream to our north means we have the Azores High and potentially winds from the Sahara. Jet stream to the south means Arctic High and either cold continental air from the north east or cold Atlantic depressions from the north west. Then again, who am I kidding, we've always had crazy changeable weather ;-)
Trump's real base.
The big myth about the 2016 presidential election was that economic suffering drove most of Donald Trump's "base" directly into his hands in states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The story goes that while Democrats were tied in knots about identity politics, Trump's attacks on China, free trade and open-ended immigration appealed to struggling workers who believed he could bring back their jobs.
The problem with the narrative is that we keep learning it is not true.
Did I not read that one of Putin's favorite Russian oligarchs, was, surprisingly, a lifetime member of the NRA and a heavy donor to the NRA for years now, and had been working on establishing a back channel between Team Trump and the Kremlin via the NRA?
You know what some people would say about that?
FAKE NEWS!
The Republicans on the Congressional investigative committee have already exonerated Trump's campaign of any collusion with Russia.
The Russians are behind it all, and Putin himself especially, using the NRA as a tool to get muricans killed and to elect the Donald, who Putin has a hold on cause he's got vidya of Trump being pissed on by russian hookers.
That about covers up yall's world view atm?
Oh no, Marcus, with The Donald it's all about money. Women don't really rate a passing thought.
And the end game of it all is to give a free rein to Assad to gas babies just for funz.
For Putin I rather think the end game is all about him staying in power. Anything that may threaten that, or anything he thinks may threaten that, is fair game. That includes any country, or person, that calls him out on any of his behavior.
I'm still there.
Me too.
And just wait and see how he's so stupid that even Little Rocket Man is going put one over on him.
Kim probably wouldn't be negotiating if he thought he couldn't.
Hah! Just as things turn cold for us again! Have had the heating back on again for the last week. Temperature's been struggling to get into low double digits (Celsius ;-) but we are going to back in single digits in the next couple of days, with the UK even forecast to have snow on high ground.
Bwahahaha! What goes around, comes around. I vacuumed the whole yard today, picking up loose debris from last fall and sucking up dead thatch.
Tomorrow it's supposed to be even nicer, so I will try to uncover all the flower beds. This week we may finally get some precipitation in the form of rain, which is badly needed. :)
I notice that Trump's campaign crowd in Michigan were chanting for him to get the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday evening. I rather doubt they made enough noise to be heard in Oslo, not yet anyway.
I rather doubt they made enough noise to be heard in Oslo, not yet anyway.
Thank heavens for small miracles.
Lynnette: "Oh no, Marcus, with The Donald it's all about money. Women don't really rate a passing thought."
You mean the salary for being President is so huge that's why he went for it? He couldn't have made that money and more building some casinos somewhere and fleecing the investors out of their money instead?
Lynnette: "For Putin I rather think the end game is all about him staying in power. Anything that may threaten that, or anything he thinks may threaten that, is fair game. That includes any country, or person, that calls him out on any of his behavior."
So THATS why he got Trump elected. Thanks for explaining. We russian bots only ever get our talking points but are never really in on the background story. Hail Putin, hail Trump!
"Tomorrow it's supposed to be even nicer, so I will try to uncover all the flower beds."
Bah! Tomorrow it's going to get even colder! And later in the week -- which, I am not forgetting is in May it's gonna be two degrees overnight with grass frosts. Maybe there's something to that gulf stream shutdown thing after all. :-(
I had to mow down the daffodils because they were wilting and looking unruly, and the next door neighbour is trying to sell their house (for a 30% mark up after two years, grrr) so I didn't want to be the neighbour dragging the place down. But the daffs were far from finished, even though they'd normally be a distant memory at this time of year. Their cut stems are still bleeding which doesn't bode well for next year's crop. And the bluebells, which would also normally have been and gone, are only starting to appear. At least the fuchsia bush that I've been trying to kill for the last half decade hasn't sprung into action yet, so there's still time to get out the clippers and raze it to the ground ;-)
I haven't looked at Iraqi oil contracts in quite a while. If you remember, back in '08/'09 Shahristani introduced those service-only contracts instead of the previous production sharing agreements which traditionally gave oil companies a bigger share of the proceeds. Shahristani did this under pressure from the domestic oil execs who had revolted, saying that Iraqs economy was being plundered. They were supported by western Lefties who were still only interested in impugning Bush and Blair, and didn't have the slightest interest in the Iraqi economy.
Roll forward to today, and the service-only contracts are still the only game in town. And international oil companies aren't even bothering to bid on them. In fairness to Iraq, they have managed to get oil output up from 2.5 million barrels per day in '09 to 4.5 mbpd now, and are targeting 6m by 2020 -- though that's unlikely to happen for various reasons.
So, Iraq offered 11 blocks for development back in November, with the contracts being awarded this month. They were in Basra, Maysan, Muthanna, Wasit, and Diyala provinces, mostly on the borders with Iran and Kuwait and one offshore in the Persian Gulf. Italy's ENI was the only traditional multinational company that applied and their bid was rejected. Three licenses went to two Chinese companies. Three went to a privately owned company from the UAE. Five blocks had no bids at all.
"Trumps real base ... The story goes that while Democrats were tied in knots about identity politics, Trump's attacks on China, free trade and open-ended immigration appealed to struggling workers who believed he could bring back their jobs. The problem with the narrative is that we keep learning it is not true."
Trumps best bet for a second term is if CNN keep telling themselves that. "They do identity politics just as much as us" is not a winning formula, even if it were true. It might keep the Dem base seething with rage, but that's only gonna add to the ugliness.
The tree planted on the White House grounds by Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, jointly, to much fanfare last week, has disappeared from the White House grounds, just vanished (area has a new sod cover but no tree sapling). ABCNews The White House has no comment.
A spokesman for French President Emmanuel Macron has said that the sapling is "in quarantine" and that the French President knew that would happen; the planting supposedly was just "for show". No confirmation from the White House, not I know about anyway.
Pete: "If you remember, back in '08/'09 Shahristani introduced those service-only contracts instead of the previous production sharing agreements which traditionally gave oil companies a bigger share of the proceeds. Shahristani did this under pressure from the domestic oil execs who had revolted, saying that Iraqs economy was being plundered. They were supported by western Lefties who were still only interested in impugning Bush and Blair, and didn't have the slightest interest in the Iraqi economy.
Roll forward to today, and the service-only contracts are still the only game in town. And international oil companies aren't even bothering to bid on them."
That'd be because of the drop in oil prices. And a drop actually makes a PSA less likely to be profitable and a regular service contract actually a more secure deal - unless the PSA was insanely favouring the firm doing the extraction (which it was always meant to be, but never mind that).
So no, the reason Iraqi oil contracts aren't so hot right now are probably not cause of the service only contracts, but because of the slump in oil prices. There's just no urgent need to suck up more of Iraq's finite recources atm.
You mean the salary for being President is so huge that's why he went for it?
No, I mean that if the Russians have something on Trump it's not about a Russian hooker, it's about money.
He couldn't have made that money and more building some casinos somewhere and fleecing the investors out of their money instead?
Oh, he probably did that too. He's nothing if not diversified.
So THATS why he got Trump elected.
No, that's why he tried his best to get Hillary un-elected. He was probably just as amazed as everybody else that it worked.
Bah! Tomorrow it's going to get even colder!
Into the 80s here today for a high. It feels like July or August weather.
I managed to vacuum the yard and clear the flowers beds this past weekend.
At least the fuchsia bush that I've been trying to kill for the last half decade hasn't sprung into action yet, so there's still time to get out the clippers and raze it to the ground ;-)
Whatever did that poor little fuchsia bush do to you? Now Creeping Charlie I can understand. I've been trying to eliminate a patch of that for a couple years now, despite it's pretty little blue flowers. Sneaky, that's what it is, sneaky. Looking oh so innocently pretty even while it takes over your whole yard.
It might keep the Dem base seething with rage, but that's only gonna add to the ugliness.
Can't say I found her funny either. Not to mention the voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard. But after all of the crap we've had to listen to from Trump I'm not going to single her out. All she is is proof that there are people with poor taste everywhere.
Still not voting for Trump. And probably not too many Republicans either.
"It might keep the Dem base seething with rage…"
Highly unlikely to have any effect on ‛the Dem base’.
I see that Team Trump (maybe the lawyers) has leaked a set of opening questions that Mueller and his boys want to ask Trump come time for an interview.
This was followed up by a twitterburst from Trump denouncing the questions and Mueller's investigation in general.
It may well be that the point to leaking the questions was to set up the ground for Trump's twitterburst. This would suggest that they've decided that Trump's not going to sit for questioning by Mueller and his people, not without a fight anyway.
[Marcus]: "So no, the reason Iraqi oil contracts aren't so hot right now are probably not cause of the service only contracts, but because of the slump in oil prices. There's just no urgent need to suck up more of Iraq's finite recources atm."
Uh, I don't know how much of an eye you keep on oil prices. The depths of the slump was the start of last year, when WTI pretty much hit $30. It's been on the up since then -- hit $50 by mid year, been hovering close to $70 the last month or so. Nobody thinks it's going back to $30 any time soon. Some people think it'll hit $80 this year. I think that's unlikely -- even with demand increasing there's no danger of a vast mismatch in supply, and the OPEC+Russia agreement could weaken any time. But Iraqi onshore oil is cheap to extract and there's no doubt there's plenty of money to be made hauling it out of the ground right now.
[Lynnette]: "Not to mention the voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard. But after all of the crap we've had to listen to from Trump I'm not going to single her out."
Fair enough point. I thought she quite unfunny, but then so is Trump.
[Lynnette]: "Into the 80s here today for a high. It feels like July or August weather."
Yeah, rub it in why dontcha! Cold, drizzly, grey and dank here, thank you very much. But actually, that's just today. I know I complained about the cold but it's been crisp and clear mostly. There's been some spectacular skies -- evening before last was a lollipop orange sunset, blazing Venus (current magnitude -4), amazing full moonrise on the opposite horizon, with Jupiter rising a while after that. It's been close to opposition and very pretty at mag -2.5 for the last while.
"Whatever did that poor little fuchsia bush do to you?"
It ain't poor or little ;-) It's a monster. I've cut it down to within a foot of the ground but if untrimmed it gets to eight feet high each autumn. What's more, cutting it back just persuades it to branch below ground level so now there are a couple of dozen separate plants threatening to grow a fuchsia forest. It also happens to be growing near the cable and satellite TV feeds. Last two times I attacked it I accidentally cut one or both of those. Got it back down to a foot high just before winter, promising myself I'd finish it off this spring before it took off again.
Wired Magazine presents a different, but not radical, notion on where things stand with the Mueller investigation. They think it's gonna wrap up fairly soon.
"I'll not be at all surprised if Mueller turns in a report accusing Trump
of espionage or something along those lines…"
After looking over the dozens of questions Mueller's people had prepared for Trump I'm thinking that ‘something along those lines’ might be a charge of acting as an unregistered agent for a foreign power.
Yeah, rub it in why dontcha!
;)
Got it back down to a foot high just before winter, promising myself I'd finish it off this spring before it took off again.
Huh! Good luck with that. My Dad and I took down a raspberry patch a number of years ago and I notice that there is still a plant trying to come back. If they spread underground it's hard to actually kill them out totally.
They think it's gonna wrap up fairly soon.
Looking at their reasoning that may be so. They seem to be right that moving on Cohen would mess with Trump. So it would seem like it was a step as part of the end game.
They also are probably right that Mueller has some idea of how this will end. He's been pretty astute so far.
I think they're probably wrong about the investigation being over soon (as in, before the mid-term elections). I base this partly on the fact that Ty Cobb has left the defense team and Rudy Guiliani has joined up.
It's beginning to appear that Trump and Guiliani got their heads together and mapped out a band new legal strategy, all by themselves, for dealing with the Stormy Daniels story and even the firing of James Comey. Unfortunately for Trump, it's been a long time since Guiliani was a practicing lawyer, and it shows.
Typo there: ‘…brand new…’, not ‘band new’.
Apparently, the feds had a wiretap on Michael Cohen's phone (not Mueller, but the Federal prosecutors for the Southern Division in New York) and they have an intercept of at least one phone call between Cohen and an unnamed person ‛in the White House’. NBCNews
NBC overstated their story. There was no ‛wiretap’ it was only a ‛pen register’, which records the phone number connection and perhaps how long the conversation lasted, but does not pick up the substance of the call. And, we already knew that Trump had called Cohen after the search warrant was served on Cohen.
It seems there actually is a place where Republicans may consider impeaching one of their own.
Missouri House and Senate leaders announced Thursday night that they have gathered enough support from lawmakers to call the state legislature into a special session for impeachment proceedings against Gov. Eric Greitens.
The announcement follows a series of dire developments for Greitens, a former Republican rising star, including two felony charges: one stemming from a photo he allegedly took of a woman with whom he had an affair and another relating to his campaign's alleged procurement of a nonprofit donor list without the charity's knowledge.
Maybe there is hope?
Unfortunately for Trump, it's been a long time since Guiliani was a practicing lawyer, and it shows.
Possibly Mueller is rubbing his hands in glee?
"Possibly Mueller is rubbing his hands in glee?"
I rather doubt that. Mueller's office won't be handling either the impeachment nor prosecution of an indictment. He is, technically, not a prosecutor. (Change from the old days when Ken Starr hounded Bill Clinton.)
One of the major problems for the Republicans this election cycle is that Trump isn't on the ballot, and the rest of the Republicans aren't very popular with the Republican ‛base’.
Trump, however, has discovered a potential fix for that. He's simply going to put himself on the ballot. He's preparing to argue that he must maintain a Republican majority to avoid impeachment.
This will help turn out the dedicated Trumpkins for the less popular Republican congressmen. And it just might work.
It would seem that Trump has managed to absorb the notion that the Stormy Daniels story he and Guiliani most recently came up with is a loser, and so he's decided to submit a new version as soon as they can figure out what the new version should be. CBSNews
Huh!
I just saw a clip of Donald Trump saying that people should get their information correct before they speak. lol! Seriously. I kid you not.
Woohoo! First sunset after 9pm today. And the weather's heating up. Only problem is I'm stuck indoors doing projects and exams for 16 hrs/day and it's set to cool down again from Monday :-(
Well, we finally got some rain. Not much, but at least some. Things are starting to green up here, despite the lack of real moisture. I suspect that since we had a nice wet spring and summer last year we will be dry this time around. That means more sprinkling in my future.
I've been busy lately with work and then some personal family medical issues cropped up. The second tended to put me even further behind on the first. Just when I was starting some more home remodel projects again, too. Sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day.
Well, it looks like Trump is pushing back a little harder on the Mueller investigation, suggesting some kind of legal action against someone. He wasn't too specific on that, just that they were Democrats.
Living in a dictatorship was never my goal. It's hard to fathom why it is for my fellow citizens who voted for the man.
"It's hard to fathom why…"
A fair chunk of Trump's voters fear that they're losing their place at the top of the American social ‛pecking order’. They'd rather hold their imagined place at the top of the ladder than worry about what they (or especially the ‛others’) might have to surrender in order to roll back American society to the fabled, and quite imaginary, days of ‛Father Knows Best’ and ‛Leave it to Beaver’.
And, I don't think Team Trump is going to take legal action against anyone.
I think they're just gonna howl about the imaginary "Conflict of Interest", until the dedicated Trumpkins absorb the idea that there is a conflict out there that the Evil Deep State is covering up.
It's a political trial that they're preparing for, not a legal one.
There's an old saying: "If the law is against you, argue the facts and demand justice. If the facts are against you, argue that the law must be upheld though the heavens may fall. If both are against you, pound the table and attack the integrity of the prosecuting attorney."
Team Trump is going for the third option.
They'd rather hold their imagined place at the top of the ladder than worry about what they (or especially the ‛others’) might have to surrender...
"Imagined place" indeed. They really have no concept of what really did make America great.
Bruno is probably out there somewhere rolling on the floor laughing at our turn of events.
Rumors are circulating that Trump's already unhappy with Guiliani, who may not last long on Team Trump. Trump's supposedly already making noises about cutting Guiliani loose before Guiliani steps in it again.
The New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, has resigned. Apparently he has been accused by 4 women of abuse. Two are on the record and two are anonymous. Kind of reminds me of Al Franken in that sense. But he resigned very quickly after the story broke, three hours in fact. That kind of implies that he is guilty.
Rumors are circulating that Trump's already unhappy with Guiliani, who may not last long on Team Trump.
Not too many people last long on that team. The one common denominator being Trump. I would hesitate to join, myself.
The NewYorkTimes claims to have advance notice, via French President Emmanuel Macron, that Trump will be pulling the United States out of the Joint Party nuclear agreement with Iran.
Sometimes I wonder if we will survive Trump, or if he will leave office with everything too screwed up to be fixed. That is assuming he does leave office and doesn't finagle his way into a life time term.
"…or if he will leave office with everything too screwed up
to be fixed."
There will be extensive damage, but that's been clear for awhile now.
We first agreed to the Joint Plan because the Europeans were getting soft on support for the sanctions. The negotiated agreement was all that kept them onboard. If they had refused to support sanctions, then unilateral sanctions by the United States seemed unlikely to actually hurt anybody except the United States (marginal effect on Iran, some higher prices because of lack of access to American sources of supply, but nothing they couldn't live with).
It seems we're going right back to that. The Europeans won't support sanctions now. The Iranians will now simply do business with other sources.
There will be extensive damage, but that's been clear for awhile now.
Yes. It's so sad that what so many people have worked so hard to build can be overturned in such a short while by one... *sigh* I won't say it. But I'm starting to think impeaching wouldn't be good enough. Charges of treason come to mind.
I hope all of his corporate backers are happy now.
This was a known risk. Obama had zero chance of getting that agreement through a Republican dominated Senate. So, he structured it as an executive agreement rather than as a treaty, and that means a new executive can toss it. (I'm wondering how long sand holds on to fallout radiation?) Pretty much any other Republican running in the last election would have stuck it out (in spite of campaign promises otherwise), but we got what we got.
Israel has jacked security in the Golan Heights area, opening up civilian bomb shelters and putting military forces on alert.
CBS Evening News tells me that Israel has lobbed several missiles into Iranian positions in Syria this afternoon.
With the scrapping of the deal with Iran oil prices are going up, hurting American drivers, but benefiting oil produces like Russia.
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