Lesson’s taught by Abbott/Morrison/Dutton gifted to Trump (ODT)
Do you smell something? That’s the stench of freedom dying, and it’s coming from America’s southern border, where refugee children seeking U.S. asylum as they flee murder, rape and degrading conditions in Central America have instead been tossed into a growing gulag of squalid concentration camps, created by an administration desperate to cling to four more years of power.
Under these circumstances, there is no way Iran can make a bomb without everybody knowing it is trying. It would have to kick out the UN inspectors, build thousands more centrifuges under the gaze of US satellites, etc., etc.
So if what Trump wanted was no Iranian nuke, he had that when he was sworn into office in 2017. By breaching the treaty and refusing to reward Iran’s good behavior by ceasing sanctions, Trump put the US on a war footing with Iran.
He has stopped Iran from selling its oil, a form of blockade that probably amounts to an act of war. He is also stopping European concerns from investing in Iran.
It is frustrating that Trump is dancing on the brink of a war for a purpose that had already been attained. This is why it is bad to elect people to high office who have mental health problems.
The American Coup threat or reality? (ODT)
Trump’s ominous tweet about how his supporters might “demand” that he stay in office for more than two terms is the latest proof that his authoritarian ideology has little regard for the law. The tweet also reflects Trump’s strong desire to use threats of violence, if necessary, to reshape the political landscape and mode of governance.
via Let’s Shut Down the Authoritarian Machine | The Smirking Chimp
We’re there again. In some very real ways, in fact, we never got out of it.
Over the past five years, if there had not been a multitrillion-dollar increase in government, corporate, and individual borrowing, the U.S. economy would have contracted, rather than grown.
All of our national economy’s growth has been on borrowed money for all of Trump’s presidency: there’s quite literally no “there” there.
This is not how a healthy economy is supposed to work; instead, Trump is maintaining and inflating an economic Potemkin village, a pretend economy made out of cardboard, chicken wire and bubble gum that will collapse in the face of the first stiff economic wind.
If Trump and his collaborators can hold back the winds until November of next year, the GOP has a chance in the elections.
via Can Donald Trump Hold Off an Economic Crash Until the Election? | The Smirking Chimp
He is the most unpopular president in modern American history, with poll approval ratings consistently in the low-to-mid-40s.
Mr Trump has successfully trashed the institutions of accountability — especially Congress and the mainstream press — so that he can keep his balance and control of his narrative.
The Republican congressional leadership has collapsed into a spineless, subservient heap at Mr Trump’s feet, even as he alters the party’s DNA on balanced budgets, tax reform, American exceptionalism, free trade, immigration, the promotion of democracy and opposition to dictatorships.
When Trump said “there isn’t anything wrong with listening; if somebody called from a country, [Russia, China, Ukraine], [and said] ‘we have information on your opponent’ — oh, I think I’d want to hear it,” he was advertising more than his intention to collude in 2020. He was, effectively, confessing his impeachable malfeasances of 2016. It is beyond belief that Trump’s collusive sentiments are merely recent.
via This Week, Trump Confessed to (Past) Collusion | The Smirking Chimp
Just Lie like I do says Trump
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders over President Trump 51 – 42 percent;
California Sen. Kamala Harris ahead of Trump 49 – 41 percent;
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren tops Trump 49 – 42 percent;
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg edges Trump 47 – 42 percent;
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker by a nose over Trump 47 – 42 percent.
Trump Instructs Staff To Lie About Poll Numbers, Really! | Crooks and Liars
Trump is calling for free dirt. He’s openly inviting collusion and will help obstruct any investigation into the matter. His sons are online and ready to assist in any way the can. Failing that they can contact Trump allies Guilliani Conway Hannity etc (ODT)
via Trump Broadcasts Free Ad via Disney to Thuggish Regimes, requesting Hacked Dirt on Dems
Mussolini’s Dream is a step closer in America (ODT)
Trump admits to his view of Life, and Elections all’s Fair so that’s why there is no Collusion or Obstruction. Unless you get caught and even then you plead NOT GUILTY (ODT)
President Donald Trump said that he would accept information from a foreign government on his opponents in the 2020 presidential election and suggested during his interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he also wouldn’t need to alert the FBI.
Trump’s remarks to ABC are alarming considering the special counsel’s Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
Stephanopoulos reminded Trump that FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress during a hearing that the FBI would want to know if a foreign government was trying to influence a U.S. election.
However, Trump disagreed with Wray.
“The FBI director is wrong because, frankly, it doesn’t happen like that in life,” he said.
Trump Says He Would Accept Dirt On 2020 Opponent From Foreign Government | HuffPost Australia
So in fact, Trump’s (and Hewitt’s) much-ballyhooed “Great Tariff Avoidance” of last week was just another Trumpian scam.
It was Trump who surrendered, not Mexico.
He was laboring under tremendous pressure from “global leaders, business executives, Republican and Democratic lawmakers, and members of his own staff” to cancel his economically devastating tariff threats. And he finally caved — but first he had to magically convert what was indeed an embarrassing defeat into another Trumpian victory.
The swindling just never ends.
Trump made clear in an interview with CNBC his frustration with a system that provides political independence for America’s central bank – something most economists see as vital to its credibility. Trump noted that China’s president, by contrast, is essentially also head of the Chinese central bank.
via ‘They made a big mistake’: Trump growing frustrated with ‘destructive’ US Fed
Mexican authorities bear no responsibility for what’s going on. International law protects the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. So does the 1980 US Refugee Act, a statutory basis for granting them asylum.
Unwanted aliens of the wrong race and ethnicity, along with Muslims from the wrong countries, are unwelcome in Trump’s America.
His immigration policy blocks them from entering the US — notably individuals fleeing repressive US-supported regimes in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, three of the world’s most violent nations.
via Trump’s Mexico Deal: Hostage-Taking Over International Rules – Stephen Lendman
Domestic Politics comes first over any International event (ODT)
The ceremony that commemorates the 75th anniversary of D-Day was all set to go at 11 AM local time in France but was pushed back 15 minutes because Trump just had to give another fluff and negative interview to a Fox news host.
To Trump, his state-sponsored propaganda network (Fox News) is more important than honoring the sacrifices that were made by the men and women in World War II. The RNC chair has confirmed that the priority of this trip is to honor Donald J. Trump.
via Donald Delays Normandy Ceremony To Smear Americans On Fox News | Crooks and Liars
Another week, another couple of trade wars — one with India (“The Trump administration announced on Friday that it was stripping India of a special status that exempts billions of dollars of its products from American tariffs; The South Asian country could now move forward with its own tariffs”) and another with Mexico. Of the two, Trump’s muttonheaded decision to disrupt supply chains with our largest trading partner — Mexico — has rattled Wall Street and American companies either already doing business there or were on the precipice of moving their manufacturing from China to our southern “ally.”
Nonplussed Catherine Rampell sputters that “[Trump’s Mexico] decision is so mind-bogglingly stupid, it’s hard to keep track of all the reasons it’s dumb.” She manages to come up with 10 of them, however, from “Americans are paying these tariffs” to “It will also damage our ability to negotiate with China (and the E.U. and Japan) because it proves, once again, that Trump can’t be trusted to keep his word, including in the form of a signed international agreement [Nafta 1.1].”
Trump orchestrated the deaths of his mate Kims advisors and now he’s playing the same game Kim has played with the West all these years. The game of “you can’t trust me even when I do agree” It’s the same game he’s played with banks asking nations to finance him and up their risk not his in unsecured loans to the USA. He’s spending money on weaponising America both internationally and domestically and promoting insecurity of the planet.(ODT)
The Most Comprehensively Destructive President Ever | The Smirking Chimp
“Bottom line: Trump likes (tariffs) and will always look for an excuse to levy them,” Guajardo tweeted. “No country should delude itself thinking they can appease him to avoid them.”
How Trump treats ASYLUM SEEKERS
“This is insane. Not only can they not move, they can’t breathe, they can’t eat, they can’t do anything like this. Children have died and will continue to die if this is not stopped now.”
A not-yet released report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General, reported CNN on Friday, has found “dangerous overcrowding” and unsanitary conditions at an El Paso, Texas, Border Patrol processing facility following an unannounced inspection. (Photo: Department of Homeland Security/IG Office/via CNN)A federal immigrant detention facility in El Paso, Texas is so unsanitary and overcrowded that migrants held by the Trump administration were forced to wear “soiled clothing for days or weeks” at a time and stand on toilets to find breathing space in their cells.
A disgruntled US city employee “indiscriminately” opened fire at the municipal centre in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Friday afternoon, killing 11 people and wounding at least six others before he was killed himself, the city’s police chief has said.
A general outline would include the fact that a few men own half our wealth and a majority have nothing; that U.S. economic hegemony is based on killing people and the biosphere by weapons and debt; that our political system, the toy of financial criminals, is inaccessible to citizens.
This butcher’s list of engineered malignity should have crashed a polity so viciously corrupted but, since it hasn’t, the explanation must be in the nature of its victims. The appalling capability of Americans to live simultaneously as abject slaves and complicit criminals in our putrefying Empire is baldly clear in three stunning recent examples.
Veterans for Peace also drew attention to war’s devastation
“Our message for Memorial Day is to remember all who have died in war and to understand that no one wins,” said Michael McPhearson, the organization’s executive director.
“There are people who profit from war, mainly those who invest in the defense industry or possibly the oil sector. But the veterans and civilians who survive war suffer for the rest of their lives,” said McPhearson. “And the entire society is robbed of billions of tax dollars which could be spent on jobs, education, healthcare, infrastructure and sustainable energy.”
Hoping for or creating a False Flag (ODT)
The Trump War Party seems to be counting on cult-like Shiite militias in Iraq to do some small katyusha attack so they can blame Iran for it (not all Shiites are on the same team, folks).
So when you look at the geographical spread of US bases in the region, it is impossible to see any point where their security is enhanced by 1,500 troops. It is even hard to imagine how they could be practically deployed for force protection.
the real irony is that the US warmongers are depicting Iran as having an unfair advantage deriving from its geographical proximity to the Gulf and the Fertile Crescent. Iran has been in that area of the Middle East (and often ruled much of the Middle East) since the “Parsumash” people showed up in the 800s BC.
Quite unfairly, they put their country right next to where US bases are.
via No Fair! Iran Puts their Country Right next to US Military Bases in Gulf
Our obsession with money and susceptibility to charisma, over-confidence and surface gloss have propelled us into an age where sham, spin, trickery and twaddle have become the new norms.
The Communist State of the USA Weopnising International Trade (ODT)
It’s a process that has prompted fears from business that as Trump’s trade war grows into a broader technology-driven conflict with China, the US could end up damaging its own economic future.
That fits with the Trump administration’s mantra that economic security is national security. So far the administration has used that to justify tariffs on steel and aluminium and to threaten more import duties on cars and parts from the EU and Japan.
“It’s always tricky to get export controls right. Too lax and critical technologies end up in the hands of our adversaries. Too strict and we limit our high tech companies’ ability to grow and further innovate, and we encourage others to develop their own capabilities in critical sectors,” he said.
Trump eyes an even more powerful weapon than tariffs for his trade war
How language in MSM protects: They still call Trump’s behaviour as a President “Diplomacy” when it’s the antithesis of the very word.
They call a person who built a platform for transparency “WikiLeaks a “Spy” and make every effort to shut down “whistleblowers” on any government issue. They accept Facebook Twitter etc publishers because of their ‘size’ and they promote the division of the world by engineering the MSM. Today the MSM accept Donald Trump as a ‘diplomat ‘ however, want a life sentance for Julian Assange why?
He Allowed us to see the USA for what they are and for what they do and are about to do with his open post box platform. They denied any extra charges where pending for his extradition when the world already knew those extra charges were already prepared and ready for process. We wonder why Donald Trump behaves like he does an American. He simply is and can’t be believed. (ODT)
Reckless: How Donald Trump’s diplomacy is inflaming the world
The New York State Assembly passed a bill Wednesday that would allow Congress to get President Donald Trump’s state tax returns.
The Assembly voted 84-53 to require New York’s tax commissioner to release any state tax return requested by the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee for any “specified and legitimate legislative purpose.”
“Transparency is essential, especially when it comes to the conflicts or potential conflicts of those who craft public policy,” Assemblyman David Buchwald (D), the bill’s sponsor, said during the floor vote, according to Bloomberg.
The Assembly also voted Wednesday 85-49 on an amendment to the bill directing the New York Tax Department to give Congress state tax returns specifically for elected officials. The original bill would have let Congress request any New York resident’s state tax returns.
via New York Assembly Votes To Allow Release Of Trump’s State Tax Returns | HuffPost Australia
“Our democracy is built on an understanding that one branch of government won’t systematically obstruct another,” said Rep. Ro Khanna. “Mueller named McGahn as a critical witness: the American people need to hear his testimony.”
via ‘This Is the Cover-Up’: Trump DOJ Instructs McGahn to Disregard Subpoena by House Judiciary
The agreement reached is nothing has changed all is back to where it was before Trump imposed the tariffs. Translated into reality Trump wimped. His method of dealing is clear impose a threat. Go back to normal and have it called a victory. Art of the deal = Fake News, Kim Jong Un does way better than Trump he actually gains ground. (ODT)
via Trump cools trade war by lifting North American metal tariffs | US news | The Guardian
Why, it’s as if I’d fallen asleep and woke up back in 2002!
State Department orders non-essential staff to leave Iraq amid escalating tensions with Iran
U.S. Military Says It’s on ‘High Level of Alert’ with Iran, Contradicting Its Own Coalition
Skeptical U.S. Allies Resist Trump’s New Claims of Threats From Iran
British General Contradicts U.S. Claim of Increased Threat From Iran-Backed Militias
Pentagon disputes British general’s assessment on Iranian threat
Key Commander in ISIS Fight Sees No Increased Threat from Iran-Backed Troops
Remember when George Tenet, head of the CIA, did his National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, and Congress used it as the basis for supporting the war?
And then, after the war was underway, the Senate Intelligence Committee found the key findings were either exaggerated or unsupported by the actual evidence?
The only thing that will stop this is a massive public outcry. Pick up the phone today and call your elected officials. Tell their staffers you are absolutely opposed to a replay of the disastrous Iraq war and you will be certain to vote against anyone who accepts this flimsy rationale for another war.
(202) 224-3121
via It’s All So Familiar: U.S. Building Up To Armed Conflict With Iran | Crooks and Liars
The Trump administration’s sudden march toward an armed conflict with Iran has a number of top Democrats and even some Republicans attempting to rein in the president’s hawkish senior officials before potentially tens of thousands of U.S. troops are once again engaged in a bloody conflict in the Middle East.
Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have renewed a push for a 2018 bill that would prohibit the U.S. from using funds for a war against Iran without first getting congressional approval. On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined the bill as a co-sponsor.
“We cannot let the Trump Admin drag us into yet another war in the Middle East,” Warren tweeted.
via Can Congress Steer The U.S. Away From War With Iran? | HuffPost Australia
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