Category: Trump
Whistleblowers understand the conflict between the higher and lower path. It is a conflict of the conscience. Higher commitment requires the partisan to become impartial. The Senate trial required impartiality. Mitt Romney understood. Charles Grassley did not.
Listening to Senator Grassley, I heard what I have heard many times before. Grassley argued as opponents of whistleblowers argue. He diverted from the truth rather than commit to the truth.
Corruption inverts more than the truth. Grassley failed the Ukraine whistleblower. He failed the witnesses who supported the whistleblower. In his most important vote of all, he failed himself. He failed the test called whistleblowing.
via Senator Grassley reveals the extent of President Trump’s corruption
MAGA is what Trump claims the Reality
Officials who have been engaged in the management of the bilateral “special relationship” between the U.S. and Britain believe that the rift between the two countries, fueled solely by Trump’s taking personal affront whenever anyone disagrees with him, is wide and growing. If Trump is reelected it is quite likely that by 2024 the United States will have no friends left in Europe
Can we stop tiptoeing around the fact that Trump is behaving like a dictator?
We’re slipping further into fascism as Trump indulges all his worst instincts, with the help of his toadies
via Can we stop tiptoeing around the fact that Trump is behaving like a dictator? | Salon.com
The worst of the worst is here (ODT)
Not content merely to smite the poor, immigrants, his political enemies, constitutional checks and balances and the rule of law at home and abroad, the president seems dedicated to bringing forth the collapse of a decent and organized human existence — and indeed the downfall of life on Earth. It’s no wonder Chomsky calls Trump “the most dangerous criminal in human history.”
Hitler’s goal, Chomsky notes, “was to rid the German-run world of Jews, Roma, homosexuals and other ‘deviants,’ along with tens of millions of Slav ‘Untermenschen.’ But Hitler was not dedicated with fervor to destroying the prospects of organized human life on Earth in the not-distant future [along with millions of other species].”
The president seeks the total sublimation of the Justice Department and the whole US government to his will. THE MAKING OF THE SWAMP
By now, you know the basics: After the Justice Department requested a seven-to-nine years sentence for Roger Stone, a longtime Trump intimate who was convicted of lying to Congress and witness-tampering (to protect Trump in the Russia scandal), Trump tweet-whined that this sentence would be too harsh, and the DoJ dutifully rescinded it. Four federal prosecutors, apparently in protest, withdrew from the Stone case, with one quitting the department. Then Trump attacked the federal judge handling the case. Still on the rampage the next day, Trump—again in a tweet—threatened to withhold assistance for New York State if it did not smother investigations related to Trump.
He sacked impeachment witnesses Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Ambassador Gordon Sondland. Next he moved onto the Justice Department and the judiciary. At the same time, Barr set up a special “intake” channel at the department for Trump’s henchman Rudy Giuliani to feed rumors, dirt, and supposed leads about Trump’s rivals.
All this is crooked and horrific. Trump is rigging the justice system, trashing norms that have been in place for decades, and attacking the notion that the rule of law is essential for democratic governance. Early in his presidency, facing the Russia investigation being run by the FBI, Trump exclaimed, “Where is my Roy Cohn?” He was referring to the thuggish mob lawyer who had been red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy’s chief hatchet-man years before becoming a mentor and consigliere for the young Trump. Though Trump placed Barr, his own lapdog, in charge of the Justice Department last year, Trump has become his own Roy Cohn, consolidating power and seeking vengeance. And extracting revenge has long been one of Trump’s primary psychological motivations, as I first explained before he was elected president.
via Trump Unleashed: The Trump Presidency Enters Its Most Dangerous Phase – Mother Jones
What’s more, as unnervingly extremist as both Leaders were in their initial, democratic pursuit of power, both played down the ultimates of their extremism before the dupes of democracy, lest they frighten away even these blockheads. Once self-secured in power, however, measure by measure the full horror of their madness would come to light.
As one of the three world powers who vanquished Hitler and Hitlerism three-quarters of a century ago, we seem, by permitting our own poisonous snake in the grass to retain and enhance his power, to have learned nothing.
Trump’s Revenge John Bolton…. his unpublished book and what he might say between now and the election. (ODT
“U.S. farm bankruptcy rates jumped 20% in 2019 – to an eight-year high – as financial woes in the U.S. agricultural economy continued in spite of massive federal bail-out funding, according to federal court data.”
Of course they do after all you have to have the “Money to buy it” as the song goes. The left is never as coonsolidated as the right is when it comes to money. There’s a queue at GOP and Trump doors ready and waiting to sell them influence at all times. (ODT)
Republicans now say that soliciting or accepting help from foreign governments in U.S. elections is acceptable, after once pushing back on the notion when President Donald Trump floated it in an interview last year.
Democrats have been left “stunned” after Trump’s impeachment defense team suggested during the Q&A portion of the Senate impeachment trial that soliciting or accepting information from foreign governments about one’s political rivals is OK so long as the information is “credible.”
This supposes what Trump a 16,000 + count Fact Check liar since his inaugauration is now being pleaded by his defence for his unbridled honesty. If you believe that then you do believe their are fairies at the end of the garden. (ODT)
The day began with a question from moderate Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.
They asked Trump’s legal defence team whether they had any indication that Trump was concerned about the actions of Joe Biden in Ukraine before Biden became a candidate for president.
Trump’s lawyers could not cite any example of him doing so
“So I can’t point to something in the record that shows President Trump at an earlier time mentioning specifically something related to Joe or Hunter Biden.”
via Trump impeachment: US President’s lawyer Alan Dershowitz stuns with US election campaign defence
In stump speeches made in January, Trump mentioned Sanders’s name — or, as Trump refers to him, “Crazy Bernie” — eight times as often as Biden.
Trump, if he wants to get serious about Sanders, may need to come up with a more effective nickname for the unorthodox independent senator from Vermont. “Crazy Bernie,” like Trump’s “Crazy Nancy” for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is the name Trump resorts to for political rivals he doesn’t know how to handle.
A full, 80-minute video of President Donald Trump calling for the ambassador of Ukraine to be booted out of her post was released by PBS News on Saturday.
A portion of the recording shows Trump in frame of the video, which was filmed at a private dinner on April 30, 2018, PBS reported. The recording also picked up Trump telling his associates to “get rid” of then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, adding that they needed to “take her out.”
The release of the video recording confirms that Trump indeed called for Yovanovitch’s ouster, as suggested by reports from ABC News and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Friday.
Watch The Full Video Of Trump Ordering For Marie Yovanovitch’s Ouster | HuffPost Australia
Donald Trump Has Been A Strong Witness Against Himself
Trump the Hero of the Middle East (ODT)
via Tens of Thousands of Iraqis mass in Baghdad to Demand Expulsion of US Troops, Hang Trump in Effigy
Under the Trump regime, historical amnesia is used as a weapon of (mis)education, politics, and power. The notion that the past is a burden that must be forgotten is a centerpiece of authoritarian regimes, one that allows public memory to wither and the threads of fascism to become normalized. While some critics eschew the comparison of Trump with the Nazi era, it is crucial to recognize the alarming signs in this administration that echo a fascist politics of the past. As Jonathan Freedland points out, “the signs are there, if only we can bear to look.” Rejecting the Trump-Nazi comparison makes it easier to believe that we have nothing to learn from history and to take comfort in the assumption that it cannot happen once again. No democracy can survive without an informed and educated citizenry.
Trump ( Donny from Marketing) becomes LESS convincing the more he makes up the story of the Assassination of Gen Soleimani and some 7 others in his entourage who he can’t talk about because he doesn’t even know who they were. When he makes an attempt he’s WRONG (ODT)
Notably absent from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago speech was the rationale he and administration officials had previously used in the days after the killing: that Soleimani posed an “imminent threat” against the United States.
Trump backs his Saudi allies to do this (ODT)
via Saudi-Led Coalition, Houthis still Ravaging Yemen with War Crimes: Millions at Risk
Back at Trump but with a difference… the Truth (ODT)
There is no celebration in the act of 4 steps backwards which Trump initiated in the first place lying his tits off that tarriffs were an income producing policy. But then when the damage done was hurting moving 2 steps forward again to ease the pain and calling that a win.. That’s what Kim Jong un is an expert at. doing. Threatening, promising and then threatening again gaining regaining inches maybe but losing all respect the nation once had for being trusted. Republicans are doing it for themselves and not the country (ODT)
The US and China have declared an official truce in their two-year long trade war, signing a deal that will see the US reduce some tariffs and China purchase hundreds of billions of dollars worth of American goods and services.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed the “phase one” agreement at a ceremony at the White House on Wednesday morning (Thursday morning Australian time).
The Bullshit Trump Spins is beyond belief he is a puppet because he hasn’t the IQ to have constructed this. The man does not READ (ODT)
the Bethlehem Doctrine is the formal policy position on assassination of Israel, the US and UK governments. So that is lie one. under which “imminent” is a “concept” which means neither “soon” nor “definitely going to happen”. To twist a word that far from its normal English usage is to lie. To do so to justify killing people is obscene. Furthermore the Bethlehem Doctrine specifically applies to “non-state actors”
Soleimani was a high official in Iran who was present in Iraq as a guest of the Iraqi government, to which the US government is allied. This greatly exacerbates the illegality of his assassination even further.
Let us now move on to the next lie, which is being widely repeated, this time originated by Donald Trump, that Soleimani was responsible for the “deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans”. if you take every American killed including and since 9/11, in the resultant Middle East related wars, conflicts and terrorist acts, well over 90% of them have been killed by Sunni Muslims financed and supported out of Saudi Arabia and its gulf satellites, and less than 10% of those Americans have been killed by Shia Muslims tied to Iran.
Soleimani actually was involved in intelligence and logistical cooperation with the United States in Afghanistan post 9/11 (the Taliban were his enemies too, the shia Tajiks being a key part of the US aligned Northern Alliance). He was in Iraq to fight ISIL.
via Lies, the Bethlehem Doctrine, and the Illegal Murder of Soleimani, by Craig Murray – The Unz Review
The man with two faces continue to contradict himself in public (ODT)
America has a history of lying to create the opportunity to invade and occupy countries who frankly don’t want them there (ODT)
The fingerprints of Pompeo are all over this provocation to war. In a striking parallel to the deception that accompanied the Gulf of Tonkin crisis in 1964—in which the American public was told about an attack on a U.S. ship that never happened, precipitating the Vietnam War—Pompeo and his allies carried out a complex deception in regard to the Soleimani hit. They claimed they had to kill the second most popular leader of Iran with no advance notice to Congress because the Iranian general was planning a massive attack that put the country in “imminent” danger. Trump officials have so far not provided any evidence publicly to back up this version of events. In fact, when briefed by DoD officials Wednesday, Democrats complained about the lack of hard evidence presented, leaving them unconvinced there was an imminent threat. Republican Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY., said the briefing was “less than satisfying.”
Donald Trump occasionally utters unspeakable truths. In March 2018 he called Bush Jr.’s decision to invade Iraq “the worst single mistake in US history.” Earlier, Trump had said that Bush should have been impeached for launching that disastrous war.
Yet on January 2 2020 Trump made a much bigger mistake: He launched all-out war with Iran—a war that will be joined by millions of anti-US non-Iranians, including Iraqis—by murdering Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the legendary hero who defeated ISIS, alongside the popular Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Gen. Soleimani was by far the most popular figure in Iran, where he polled over 80% popularity, and throughout much of the Middle East. He was also adored by millions even outside that region, non-Muslims as well as Muslims. Many Christians throughout the world loved Gen. Soleimani, whose campaign against ISIS saved the lives of thousands of their co-religionists. Even Sunni Muslims (the people, not the billionaire playboy sheikhs) generally loved and admired the Shia Muslim Gen. Soleimani, a saintly warrior-monk who was uncommonly spiritual, morally impeccable, and the most accomplished military genius of this young century.
Trump’s Killing of Soleimani: New “Worst Mistake in US History”, by Kevin Barrett – The Unz Review
If you’re a lefty, or a marginally sane human being, you’re probably pretty weary by now, worn to a frazzle by the daily flood of crazy sewage draining from the White House, from Fox “News,” from Trump on Twitter, and from the spectrum of right wing news sources that have so successfully been making insanity seem routine. We’ve gotten used to words like “gaslighting” to describe the fog we have been walking around in for such a very long time. Up is down, evil is good, right is wrong.
T.S. Eliot, about a century ago, predicted the world would end with a whimper, not a bang. As a sometimes shouting, sometimes whimpering lefty, I’m sure it doesn’t matter much, but it sure seems like he may have been right. At this rate, it seems like we’re doomed.
In such darkness, it grows increasingly hard to stay awake.
But we must.
Whatever happened to Iraq? Is it not an independent country with a democratic government thanks to the 2003 US invasion? So says Washington.
The murder of senior Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani suddenly shone a strobe light on ‘independent’ Iraq, and what we saw was not pretty.
Welcome to the new Imperialism 101.
“We don’t know precisely when and we don’t know precisely where, but it was real,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News on Thursday, remarks many interpreted as an admission that Soleimani did not actually pose a grave and immediate threat to American lives.
Report: Trump Ordered Iran Strike Because of Impeachment Fears – Mother Jones
The plot and lies thicken. Propaganda is quick the truth takes longer to come out and Trump can’t stop it. (ODT)
Critics said the Post reporting undermines the Trump administration’s claim that it assassinated Soleimani due to an “imminent threat” to American interests—and indicates the general’s killing was part of what was meant to be a far more sweeping effort to damage the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“This suggests a mission with a longer planning horizon and a larger objective, and it really does call into question why there was an attempt to explain this publicly on the basis of an imminent threat,” Suzanne Maloney, an Iran scholar at the Brookings Institution think tank, told the Post.
This is the man who pulled the trigger on the death of 176 Passengers a global terrorist posing as a President needs to be sacked and tried. (ODT)
Trump Officials Had No Idea When Or Where ‘Imminent’ Iran Attacks Would Happen
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Friday that despite the lack of specifics, the attacks were really, really imminent.
via Trump Officials Had No Idea When Or Where ‘Imminent’ Iran Attacks Would Happen | HuffPost Australia
He is all yours America (ODT)
via Friday News Dump: Trump Lies His Ass Off At Ohio Rally, And Other News | Crooks and Liars
Trump turns Saudi religious hatred of Shiia into political propaganda against Iran and in doing so is creating the unity that never really existed (ODT)
Coalition forces stood aside as Saddam’s tanks, with helicopters overhead, smashed their way into Shia cities like Karbala, Najaf and Basra, and then began their mass executions.
Three decades later, the US and its allies are still making the same mistake, treating the millions of Shia in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and Afghanistan as if they were Iranian agents.
Down the centuries, the Shia have been one of the most savagely persecuted religious minorities; they fear today that in the wake of the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, they are once again being demonised, as Donald Trump denounces all who oppose the US in the Middle East as Iranian proxies.
How utterly despicable — a U.S. president blaming his presidential predecessor for a foreign foe’s reign of regional terror.
This sitting, cocksucking, motherfucking two-bit punk of a nonelected president doesn’t deserve mere removal from office; he also deserves, at the very least, a till-end-of-life federal prison term in which he gets repeatedly ass-slammed, just as he has done to Obama, an actual U.S. president, for three years.
Trump is a liar, a swindler, an obstructor of justice, a conscienceless abuser of power, a serial Constitution violator, a warmonger of an isolationist, a pissant of a coward whose inevitable removal from this earth — not through the front door of the White House, but the back door of some federal penitentiary’s mortuary — will be the most welcome event in the history of these United States.
I don’t customarily deploy the language of my second paragraph, but this sitting, cocksucking motherfucker has earned it. Fuck him.
Trump launched a reckless criminal act of state terror designed to provoke a war. Iran de-escalated the situation as of Wednesday — refusing to engage in a retaliatory cycle of violent escalation while demonstrating their military capability. Trump responded with a rambling, lifeless, incoherent slurred speech that promised to ratchet up economic sanctions without threatening further violence.
Pete Buttigieg@PeteButtigiegInnocent civilians are now dead because they were caught in the middle of an unnecessary and unwanted military tit for tat. My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all 176 souls lost aboard this flight.
The consequence of Trump’s recklessness
A total of 176 people were killed when a Ukrainian passenger plane came down soon after taking off from Tehran in the hours after the missile strike.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has revealed intelligence that suggests it was shot out of the sky by Iran. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Australians have the same intelligence.
“The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile,” Mr Trudeau said. “This may well have been unintentional.”
Iran was on a war footing in the hours after launching its ballistic missiles and would have been prepared for an American response from the air.
All indications point to a tragic mistake.
It won’t take long for critics to point the finger of blame at Mr Trump himself.
Even before Mr Trudeau’s press conference, Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, who served for the US military in Afghanistan, implied the President should carry responsibility.
“Innocent civilians are now dead because they were caught in the middle of an unnecessary and unwanted military tit for tat” he tweeted.
olddogthoughts 
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