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Will the Commandante be asked to give evidence to the Senate Intelligence Committee? Only three sitting Presidents have given evidence to Congress, Lincoln, Wilson and Ford, and of those three, only two actually went to Congress, Wilson received the Committee in the White House, where they were invited to stay for lunch, and apparently not asked to swear an oath of loyalty to Woody beforehand...
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory...eCommittee.htm
And the latest to give Sunday more interest than Nadal trashing Wawrinka's attempt to win a tennis match-
Donald Trump has told Theresa May in a phone call he does not want to go ahead with a state visit to Britain until the British public supports him coming.
The US president said he did not want to come if there were large-scale protests and his remarks in effect put the visit on hold for some time.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...in-put-on-hold
On that basis, put off for an eternity...
Today, I came across Amy Suskin's Weekly List, in an article in The Independent (linked below). It is a remarkable record, with compelling links to follow. And yet, it strikes me that the President and his team seem to have worked out to the nearest micro-millimetre the limits of the law, and may just be on the right side, however suspicious the stories are, such as the two here which I took from Weekly List links via the Independent article
-Most Trump real estate now sold to secretive buyers
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...02399558/?#_=_
-A company that owns buildings with Donald Trump and the family of Jared Kushner is a finalist for a $1.7 billion contract to build the FBI’s new headquarters.
https://apnews.com/0b8ee973efe047e4a...&utm_medium=AP
The Weekly List is here-
https://medium.com/@Amy_Siskind
Independent article is here-
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7808131.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.47e9abd7c18c
If people are remotely honest we're about done here. I recommend moving immediately to Donald Jr's email in the middle of the page. He posted it on his twitter about an hour ago. He must be releasing it before someone else.
All the way back in June, before the DNC's emails were released, Trump Jr. got an email saying that the Russian government had incriminating info on Hillary and that the information is part of "Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." He concludes by saying "I can send this to your father". What are the chances, if this man was already talking about sending information to Trump about Russia's efforts on behalf of Trump that Trump did not know the Russian's hacked the DNC on his behalf. Recall that Donald Trump continuously denied the Russians did this on his behalf during the entire campaign and the semi-denials continue to the present.
Edit: I'm sure there are other shoes to drop, but you don't need anything else. This is more than Trump in half jest asking for the Russians to find Hillary's remaining emails. This is insider info that the Russians were working on his behalf to interfere with the election very early on. Consider this in light of his feigned ignorance about it later on and you have obvious consciousness of guilt and obvious guilt. The second purpose of Donald Jr's meeting with this Russian attorney was about the Magnitsky Act, so the Russians were trying to gauge very early on what they would get in return.
My guess: They will subpoena Rhona Graff's emails. Rhona is Trump's secretary at Trump Towers and Goldstone said he can get in touch with Donald through Rhona. I bet if Mueller has not subpoena'ed them yet they will now and there is probably something incriminating in there.
Craig Unger , "Trump's Russian Laundromat" in the New Republic and Charlie Rose Show http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos...ig-unger-video
http://newrepublic.com/article/14358...rime-syndicate
If, as Harold Wilson once said, 'a week is a long time in politics', two weeks away in the fleshpots of the south could turn out to be an eternity, though it would appear that even the President of the United States of America has yet to exhaust his list of people and institutions to insult and abuse. A real American once presaged our present times and the present President:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.
Promises, Promises. On one day the instruction to Congress, with regard to the latest incarnation of American Health Care, was: Let it Fail.
I am not one to put words (or anything else, willingly or reluctantly) into President Obama's mouth, but just as he said nobody should want his successor to fail, one wonders if Let it Fail is not a dereliction of the duty of the incumbent President...? Maybe someone leaning on the nearest Ash tree suggested a different tack, hence : Holidays? Sort it first, guys, come on! Vamos! (Ok I made that one up).
I would repeat what the Senate Majority leader said if I could understand it. I am puzzled because I can understand Jennifer Lawrence when she speaks, but not Mitch, yet both are from Kentucky. Only an American can help with this conundrum, though I am biased and believe that whereas Mitch appears to be a waste of space, Ms Lawrence has yet to fill mine, even though an open-ended invitation nestles in her 'in-tray'...
Apparently the President just doesn't get it, after all, health insurance for the average working American is $12 a year, so what's the problem?
Then, interrupting my persistent visits to King's Cross- on the plaza of which at lunchtime you can buy, as street food, a delicious Polish snack which may be called Pierogi but don't quote me on that- was the news, Part One, that Skittles at an intriguing moment in the Presidential Campaign, 2016 had been invited to meet a Russian lawyer with links to the Kremlin, to share information damaging to Mrs Hillary Clinton, and replied he would love to hear it. We were told, in Part One, that the meeting took place in the Tower of Choice for corrupt Russian oligarchs, and indeed, involved a Russian as well as the Foreign Secretary, Jared Kushner, and the then campaign manager Paul 'Ukraine Millions are Mine'- Manafort. In Part Two, there was another Russian, there may yet be a Part Three with another Russian, who knows?
Russians were all over the place. Not least in Germany, where the President of the United States of America met the President of the Russian Federation -first a hearty handshake, then a formal meeting. And so it went. Only it later transpired there had been another meeting at which the President of the United States of America, who does not parlez-vous as they say in Luxembourg, spent nearly an hour with Vladimir but nobody (outside Moscow and Wikileaks) knows what they talked about -orphans? Perhaps. Money? Surely not! -?
On my return to Bardland, I now find that the President of the United States of America, having spent the last 18 months insulting and abusing the CIA, the FBI, the Supreme Court, Congress, the Democrat Party and its candidates, the Republican Party and its 'candidates'; POW's, the disabled, women, the Media, the Media and the Media, the Mexicans, the Mayor of London, Meryl Streep, China, the French, Iran- well, the list seemed to go on and on- is now denouncing the people he has appointed to conduct the business of government, even if that is merely the Attorney General.
With Skittles and the Foreign Secretary due to appear before a Congressional Committee next week, the opportunity now presents itself for the President of the United States of America to rake over his relatives if they don't polish his insatiable ego and kick the Russian ball into the grass.
Problem is the Dutch are producing a fascinating set of films- Zembla- the first of which underlines the extent to which, in the late 1990s, a failed businessman desperate for capital loans American banks would not agree to lend, sought and received financial assistance from Russia, and let's just say the kind of Russians who are pushy rather than Pushkin, more 'borrow to him' than Borodin, keen to live in Manhattan and Florida, and, in a manner of speaking, 'clean their laundry' in interesting American propositions...so while the Boss may not have any business in Russia, and no investments or loans there -the Russians got plenty on him...
But let's be fair and balanced. In a week when it emerged that the famous American entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch is alleged to have 'suggested' to Prime Minister May that Michael Gove should be part of her governing team (it is of course entirely coincidental that Mr Gove was one of the first European 'journalists' to interview the President of the United States of America after his inauguration and that Mr Murdoch was also in the room); the Leader of the House of Commons, responsible for the management of the government's agenda in Parliament, told the Mother of, that Jane Austen, is
'One of our greatest living authors'...
hmmm....the resurrection of dead American voters determined to vote Democrat, the resurrection of Emma's mum...and the President thinks he has problems...
Americans, your guv'nor thinks your health insurance cost $12 a year-
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7851611.html
Andrea Leadsom, Leader of the House of Commons, take a bow:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...-living-author
And for the aficionados, the Dutch films:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bEdMuKq30I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK3Wuqnxt-w
Great post Stavros , nice to see you back.:wiggle::party:
Trump declares "Made in America Week" yet Ivanka's line of products are made in Indonesian sweat shops and Donald hires foreign workers for his hotels . This guy has an absolute genius for shooting himself in the foot !
http://www.democracynow.org/2017/7/2...ade_in_america
The calls from Republican hacks to fire Sessions and Rosenstein so that they can be replaced by puppets who will fire Mueller almost makes one completely lose faith in the ability of people to be rational. Both Mueller and the man who appointed him, Rosenstein, could not have had more bipartisan respect until they decided to make principled decisions. Rosenstein, despite his complicity in the firing of Comey, acted appropriately when he appointed independent counsel and Mueller has done nothing but run a professional investigation.
Now we are beginning to hear from hacks that Mueller has conflicts, none of which were worth mentioning until he assembled a competent investigative team and that Rosenstein is really a Democrat dressed as a Republican because he's from Baltimore.
One can almost predict with certainty that every time incriminating information is discovered about Trump and his associates there will be a fabricated accusation against Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or Susan Rice. Mueller is a man who has done nothing but take his role as independent counsel seriously and for that there are fabricated charges that he's not really independent or that his team is leaking even though they've been incredibly opaque.
If you type "fire Mueller" into the search box on twitter, whether you have an account or not, you will be exposed to the most mind-numbingly dishonest and deranged comments you will ever see. There is literally no man or woman who could have been hired as independent counsel, taken the job seriously and not been subjected to a campaign of slander. The rule of law doesn't die simply because a small cabal decides it should, but because millions of people decide for reasons of their own that they will allow it. I have no doubt that hardcore supporters of Trump want Mueller gone not because he is acting improperly but because of the risk that he will be effective.
If Jared Kushner has nothing to hide why did he appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee in closed session, when he was not even under oath?
He has declared there was no collusion with Russia between him or the campaign, and that I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector.
Collusion in the sense of a deliberate and determined attempt to act with the Russian government to influence the US election is not yet proven, but the President, his family and campaign team's claims ring hollow when denials about any meetings with Russians later became confirmations, with a lack of clarity on what was said and when to whom. The mere fact that the President's campaign team had contact with Russians is in itself worthy of explanation. The President has business interests in India, and rich Indians might see opportunities to invest in the US, and the US might want to cultivate relations with India because of China, Afghanistan, Russia and so on and the Family Business has interests in Turkey and Scotland yet none of these countries were involved in the Presidential campaign, or attempted to become involved during the transition.
The Logan Act makes it clear the transition team should respect the authority of the existing President and not engage in foreign policy initiatives before Inauguration Day, on that there appears to be clear violations if Kushner discussed Syrian policy with Russian Ambassador Kislyak in December 2016, assuming he knew who Kislyak was, sometimes you wonder about Kushner's intelligence.
Kushner may not have received financial backing for his real estate business from the Russians, but he has had dealings with them, specifically the sale of the old New York Times building in Manhattan to Prevezon Holdings and a partner called Lev Leviev who is a billionaire from Russia who lives now in Israel where he keeps a photo of Vladimir Putin on his desk. The concern over the sale was based on the claims made some years ago by a Russian called Sergei Magnitsky who claimed in 2009 that Russian state money was being stolen by certain people and laundered in the US though property deals, of which it was believed the old New York Times deal was an example. The truth may not be known because the case, prosecuted by Preet Bhara (fired by the President earlier this year) was settled out of court, but Kushner also did other deals with the Russian Leviev and a company called Africa Israel Investments which are also or were under investigation over claims of money laundering.
Magnitsky after blowing the whistle on corruption in high places in Russia was arrested, charged and sent to prison where he died in mysterious circumstances. As a result the US imposed sanctions on Russia, the very sanctions that it is alleged the President's campaign/family have discussed lifting with Russians in those meetings they once said never happened but late said they did.
Whatever the truth of this, it is clear that Russian money became important to the President and his family, if not directly in Kushner's case. It became as important as Arab money because the President was a failed businessman on the verge of bankruptcy in the late 1990s and thus turned to Russian oligarchs and Arab billionaires to sell them property in New York and Florida, in the case of New York's residential sales, 'no questions asked' about who was taking ownership of the apartment or where the money came from. Thus no surprise the President has said he will not allow the Russia investigation to probe the family business.
There is also the other case of Kushner, desperate for funding for his gamble on 666 Fifth Avenue seeking financial backing from Qatar, and not getting it. Curious that Kushner and his friend, Yousef al-Otaiba, the Ambassador to the USA from the United Arab Emirates are believed by Rex Tillerson to have been instrumental in persuading daddy to support the Saudi Arabian led boycott of Qatar, surely Mr Kushner does bear a grudge against them? It is even believed Otaiba wrote some of the speech the President gave supporting the boycott of Qatar.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7834536.html
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/...-666-fifth-ave
There is also the curious case of Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater (the mercenary company famous for its Kill Arabs with Impunity campaign in Iraq after 2003) and supporter of the President meeting a buddy of Vladimir Putin in the Seychelles with the intention of creating a 'back channel' between DC and Moscow, the meeting allegedly arranged by someone in the United Arab Emirates...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.f2d33d9ff64b
And there is more on this to come, as it drips in day by day, and there is nothing the President can do at the moment.
Some background on Kushner and Lev Leviev here-
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...ney-laundering
Curious that 45 decided to turn the national Jambooree of the Boy Scouts of America into a political rally to glorify himself rather than celebrate the scouting movement and its values, and as if prepared, they all booed when Obama's name was mentioned and as 45 said:
By the way, just a question, did President Obama ever come to a jamboree? And we’ll be back. We’ll be back. The answer is no, but we’ll be back.
Maybe someone should tell 45 that President Obama addressed the centenary Jamboree of the Boy Scouts and was himself a scout in his youth, which 45 was not. However, we do know that the rich New Yorker did make a handsome contribution to the Boy Scouts in 1989 when his charitable foundation gave them $7. Seven dollars is a generous gift on any level, and worthy of praise...
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...mboree/534774/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...couts-jamboree
Today Trump said on twitter "Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!". Yesterday he called him our "beleaguered attorney general", something which someone obviously wrote for him.
The speculation is that this pressure campaign is designed to encourage Sessions to resign because he will not fire special prosecutor Mueller. Even if it means only what it says it does, it's hard to believe we have a President stating that the independent justice department should prosecute his former opponent for crimes which she has been exonerated for.
So why hasn't Trump fired Sessions when it is already obvious that if Sessions resigns, it will have been at the behest of Trump? My theory is that he's asked Sessions to fire Mueller (not sure if Sessions can since Mueller was appointed by Sessions' deputy after Sessions recused himself), Sessions said no, and now Trump is nervous about firing him. If he fires him then he may have a second Justice Department official accusing him of obstruction. Just a theory...but it's obvious now Trump is working to get Mueller fired, first through Sessions and then by a replacement A.G if he can push Sessions out without firing him.
My theory is apparently obvious as everyone else on twitter has the same "theory";). Oh well. Who here thinks the maneuvering by Trump this time definitely indicates underlying guilt? I was sort of on the fence the first time, but this is too strange. He's going way too far out on a limb just to avoid the hassle and dark cloud of being investigated.
Guilt by association, with the potential to be regarded as treason, or misprision of treason.Quote:
Originally Posted by broncofan
Consider:
-Russia attacked the US during the election campaign, it did so through non-military means such as 'cyber-warfare' including the hacking of the DNC email servers, the use of Cambridge Analytica to glean personal information on US voters with social media accounts flooding them and the mainstream media with 'bots' all designed to weaken the case for Hillary Clinton; and the possibility they hacked into election machines in polling stations.
-Why? Because Hillary Clinton represented a hostile coalition of states opposed to Russia's annexation of the Crimea, and Russia's attempt to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, opposing the invasion of the eastern borders and fomenting civil war, indeed there are now two self-proclaimed 'independent republics' in the East.
-Why was the Republican candidate so favourable to the Russians?
A) because he became the primary opponent of Hillary Clinton in the USA, and thus by default an ally of Russian preference in the election;
B) he made it known he disagreed with the position taken by the Obama administration on sanctions and to some extent on Russia's position regarding the Crimea and Ukraine, and because he believed Russia was taking a more aggressive stand on Daesh in Syria than Obama, again offering Russia more support than the Obama administration of which Hillary Clinton had been a major figure.
-How did the Republican candidate express his political preference?
-A) He asked Russia, in public, twice -once in a speech then later that day in a 'tweet'- to intervene directly in the US election to provide illegally obtained information to smear the reputation of a fellow American and 'enemy of the Russians', Hillary Clinton, knowing or not knowing that they were already involved.
B) There is now clear evidence that when the Russians offered 'dirt' on Hillary Clinton, the response of the President's campaign team was positive, even though this clearly showed them agreeing to meet with a representative of the Russian government intervening in the US election.
Does this amount to treason?
Had it happened in the Cold War, say, in the 1970s when Brezhnev was General Secretary of the Communist Party, how would Americans have reacted if one of the two main candidates for the Presidency had openly asked Brezhnev to help him smear his opponent?
-Is there more to this than dirty tricks in politics? Yes, because it is no secret that Russian money poured into the USA in the 1990s and the 2000s, that it was used to buy real estate, from Florida to New York, and that apartments in Manhattan and other real estates were sold to people who had been involved in criminal activities, Sergei Magnistsky claimed it was embezzled from the Russia treasury.
-Bear in mind that Vladimir Putin climbed the greasy pole of influence in Moscow when a middle ranking official of the KGB/FSB having realised that while Yeltsin had no control over the 'sale of the century' when a few ambitious men helped themselves to the most lucrative sectors of the Russian economy -to some extent Yeltsin encouraged it to enrich himself- the racket could not continue without damaging the state, society and economy. He positioned himself as a trusted adviser to Yeltsin, but in doing so acquired all the information he needed on who had benefited from the chaos of the 1990s. Once in Power, Putin moved first against the foreign companies that had entered the Russian economy, notably the three oil companies, Shell, BP and Exxon. On the one hand they were forced to sell many of their assets, but not so much to prejudice their investments, and in order to retain their capital investment and technological expertise.
-Putin also had access to information on Americans who made early moves in Russia to enrich themselves and while the current President at that time failed to establish hotels and other businesses in Russia, he did make enough contacts to acquire Russian money for his own investments in the USA which American banks would not lend to him at a time when he was considered a flop and a risk too far.
-If there is one thing this President wants to cover up and protect, it is the truth about his money, his assets, his tax returns, his loans and favours, and the two who he has benefited most from are the Russians and the Arabs.
-So, you have the money trail that links Manhattan to Moscow, and you have the treason trail that links Russian government intervention in a US election with one of the candidates for office. But, for any of this to produce the result that his opponents want, the President must lose the loyalty of his party in Congress and above all, the voters.
I'm conflicted over this whole thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by broncofan
One of the reasons why I voted against Trump was because I had a funny feeling that he was going to appoint Sessions as A.G. As a person who believes the war on drugs is failure, he was the last person that I wanted to see get that job So I wouldn't mind Sessions being fired or him resigning.
On the other hand, I don't like the fact that Sessions is being attacked for basically doing the right thing, by an individual who feels that he wasn't loyal to him. So I almost want to see Sessions tell Trump to go hell and say if you're going fire me, then do it already. Instead of acting like a teenage girl and gossiping about me behind my back and on Twitter.
If a candidate publicly asks a foreign state to intervene in a Federal election by hacking into his opponent’s servers and if subsequently seventeen U.S. security agencies (including the FBI, CIA and NSA) demonstrate to the satisfaction of the security community that that same foreign state complied with that request, then that request was a treasonous bid illegally gain power over the executive branch of government.
Certainly 45’s supporters (most of whom are old enough to remember the Cold War) are of a different opinion. But how about Donald himself? If he thought it was a treasonous act, would he have been so blatant about it?
Mostly through his real estate dealings here and abroad, but also through his association with the Miss Universe contest, Trump had developed close ties with many wealthy oligarchs. I think he envied them: the way they make money, wield influence and power. I think he wishes to emulate them and Putin. I wonder what they make of Donald. I imagine he’s something of a joke.
Even if Donald knowingly colluded, offering say to dropped certain sanctions against Russia for their assistance (via computer hacks into voting machine networks and Democratic email servers) in the election, I’m not sure Donald himself views that a treason. It’s just opposition research!
What scares Donald is that supporter’s will eventually come to see that he’s not all that. That he’s a little rich boy starving for love and attention. His life is nothing without an audience.
On some level Donald knows he’s failure. I believe he’s less concerned about treason than he is about people seeing him for what he is. Mueller’s investigation into his finances will uncover just how much he’s really worth, how much cheated and connived to accumulate his money, achieve his notoriety and gain the White House.
Attachment 1020069
Discuss.
So look at the costs:
-A Rand Corporation study commissioned by the military and published in 2016 concluded:
Considering the prevalence of transgender service members among the active duty military and the typical health-care costs for gender-transition-related medical treatment, the Rand study estimated that these treatments would cost the military between $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually.
-Cost of providing erectile dysfunction medicines to the military: $84 miilon a year.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.00797f5c569b
In 2011 it was estimated that the cost of air conditioning for US troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan was
$20 Billion a year...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ghanistan.html
Dwarfed by the billions wasted in failed procurement projects by the army and air force -
The Army's biggest budgetary mis-step was a family of networked air and ground vehicles collectively called the Future Combat System. Although prime contractor Boeing managed to keep the program on schedule and on budget through a series of restructures, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates decided in 2009 that the project wasn't ready for prime-time and canceled it after a staggering $19 billion had already been spent. Bloomberg Business News subsequently reported that the service had wasted $32 billion on doomed weapons projects since 1995.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenth.../#b555f311cb53
I think we can expect to see more of this kind of thing from Trump. It's pretty clear that he's planning to sack Mueller and try to shut down further investigations into Russian links - it only awaits manufacturing the right pretext. His strategy to discourage the Republicans in congress from taking any meaningful action is likely to be to double down on appealing to the prejudices of the Republican base. I'd like to think this won't work, but unfortunately I can't entirely dismiss to possibility that it will.
The Trump White House tests a nation's capacity for outrage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/us...bush-trump.htm
an army veteran who voted for the guy who says she shouldn't serve
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...low%3Afacebook
lesson: make stupid votes; win stupid leaders
trump just encouraged cops "not to be nice" with suspects
Quote:
“When you see these towns, and you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you see ‘em thrown in, rough. I said, ‘Please don’t be too nice,’” he said. “Like when you guys put somebody in the car, when you’re protecting their head—the way you put the hand over, like, don’t hit their head, and they’ve just killed somebody, don’t hit their head? I said, ‘You can take the hand away, okay.’” Just as chilling, his words were met with applause and cheers.
One of the basic engines of US government is the relationship between the President and Congress. One of the problems generated by the increasingly polarised House and Senate, is that the President is seen as an outsider. Budget proposals from the White House are these days ignored, while the failure to 'repeal and replace Obamacare' underlines the extent to which even the Republican Party is divided, unable to pass legislation in a chamber where it has a majority.
What makes the dismissal of Reince Priebus interesting in this context is that it means that the President has cut a direct link he had with Congress and the Republican Party, I believe now only Mike Pence can be that link, which he has used to break tied votes in the Senate. I am not sure what Paul Ryan's role is here, as he seems to be marginal to the Presidency and an ineffective leader in the House. Instead of being described as a 're-set' this looks like a retreat into the White House bunker, with the President appointing another military man to his senior staff. As tax reform is the next major issue he wants Congress to consider, presumably beginning in September or October, who is going to bridge the gap between the White House and Congress, not least when, as with health care the Republicans cannot agree among themselves what tax reform should include or exclude? This suggests that unless a tax reform bill can be put together than satisfies enough people it too could fail. Either way, the President seems to be more isolated in his first year than has been the case with most recent Presidents.
This may suit his claims that the 'System' is broken and enable him to continue attacking members of Congress and claim he intends to 'drain the swamp' but in practical terms the problem is that he has yet to 'win a deal' on his favoured policies, and with the Russia investigation expanding, this first year could be a year of failure -indeed he has stated more than once that existing health care should be allowed to fail, which is an astonishing position for a President to take on one of the most important policies that affects people every day. There is a view that Stephen Bannon wants the system to collapse because the long term aim is to create a new one, but in the meantime, the administration is not looking competent, and it remains to be seen if the new team in the White House can form a working partnership or be just as divided as the previous one.
In a curious way, because the two systems are different, there are deep divisions among the Tories in the UK over the exit from the EU in its emerging details, and divisions in Labour too. We seem to be living in an age when parties that were once solid representatives of a particular view offering voters a clear choice, are now incoherent, divided, and lacking in any imagination or policies that address the future needs of the people. Whether or not system reform would resolve these divisions I do not know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluesoul
Its truly amazing that even when he tries to deliver the right message, like one about going after violent gangs, Trump can't help himself and turn the whole thing into a stand up act.
the smoochi is already out? WTF?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/u...ite-house.html
Awe - so soon?
When it goes wrong, send in the military. Who's next?
it's come to that point where we "consider resigning" but take the job anyway to help the people we consider resigning over.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/politi...gry/index.html
I'm hoping its Steve Bannon. The guy really has no business having the position that he does in the White House.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
btw as fun as is it to watch this clusterfuck in the trump administration happen, i think the most important story is the us/russia sanctions.
1). us puts a stop on monies russia was supposed to get from the us. in the trillions (ouch)
2). diplomats sent back to mother russia thanks to congress.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/22/politi...ons/index.html
trump panics. how do we know this? he doesn't tweet
putin retaliates:
1). 755 diplomats kicked out of russia
2). no more use of a state of the art gym (fuck!!!!)
3). no more use of awesome warehouse (double fuck!!!)
vlad's is mad. in fact his exact words are "i've been let down" and there's even a sad picture of vlad to go with it.
what is trump gonna do? well, for one, he remains mum. and two, he does nothing. what's the worst that can happen? war? more sanctions?
https://www.theatlantic.com/internat...-putin/535413/
and this is all happening as trump's administration and staff unravel at the seams.
i like to use james woods as a barometer of what is happening to the right and even he seems to be unraveling at the seams lately:
https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/s...29609091502084
yup: it's that bad
okay. am i missing something? is this guy secretly trying to completely fuck up the right wing on purpose or could he seriously be this much of an ass?
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...47656319004672
The gossip this side of the pond is that Rex Tillerson is fed up and wants to go. He was furious when Jared Kushner persuaded Daddy No 2 to support Saudi Arabia's attack on Qatar without running this major foreign policy decision by him, and as the former CEO of Exxon, organised as a company along military lines, can't cope with the multiple layers of 'authority' in the White House which to him suggests there is none -unless, as has been discussed today Kelly can introduce the much needed discipline that will make it look like the Presidency is run by adults. The rogue factor is the President himself, who shortly goes on holiday (to pocket another $10 million courtesy of the tax payer). The Twitter feeds may become the barometer of change.Quote:
Originally Posted by blackchubby38
the mooch always had nice things to see about the don. remember 05 back when he had a wife?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZOeqL2ZSWA
A little levity , Saturday night Live...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbpUcfpbnrs
I assume this was John Kelly's doing. At least he's had the good sense to realise that the Mooch was going to be a disaster, whereas Trump clearly did not.Quote:
Originally Posted by bluesoul
i should've said: it's that goodQuote:
Originally Posted by bluesoul
https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.52ef668667a8