Sound The TRUMPets! A Thread for Presidential Pondering 2016-2020(?)

[Turner]

"Mueller drops bombshell: Rick Gates was knowingly in contact with Russian spy during 2016 campaign"
"... van der Zwaan acknowledged to special counsel investigators in an interview that Gates had told him of the associate's ties to a Russian military intelligence agency, the GRU ..."

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/380606-mueller-team-reveals-manafort-business-associates-connection-to


Trumps new VA-pick replacing Shulkin (who was just fired), has never run an agency, but was the doctor who gave Trump a superb health certifcate recently

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/28/veterans-affairs-jackson-trump-shulkin-448978

[Karl Henning]

As a courtesy to those inclined to dismiss the source as a "convenience": this is from vox.com.

A federal judge unexpectedly declined to dismiss a lawsuit Wednesday that argues [El Presidente Tupé's] continued stake in the [Tupé] Organization is unconstitutional. The litigation, which accuses [El Tupé] of violating a constitutional prohibition on accepting certain gifts or payments, can go forward.

[Karl Henning]

And another lawyer says, You ain't payin' me for that gig.

And here it is being pointed out that "business conflicts" as an excuse = Trump can eat my shorts.

Even [El Tupé] deserves a good lawyer

There are many reasons not to represent [El Presidente Tupé] in the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. But the most common reason offered by prominent defense lawyers — "business conflicts" — is not one of them.

The problem facing many of these highly regarded lawyers is palpable: Taking on [El Tupé] as a client may be bad for business. He is notorious for stiffing lawyers (as well as others who have done work for him), and large law firms with the most talented lawyers depend on business from corporate clients, who may dislike [El Tupé] or fear tainting their brand if "their" law firm were to defend the president.

But what is good for business may not be in the best interests of the legal profession — or the country.

[drogulus]

     Corey Lewandowski and Keith Schiller have been accused of threatening people Trump is motivated to threaten. Cohen issues threats as strategy to enhance his fearsomeness. Stormy has said she would recognize her threatener but hasn't identified anyone. One guy identified Schiller when he saw his threatener on the news standing next to Trump.

     So, is Stormy conserving ammo or does Cohen have a bunch of these guys on tap, what? Also, who is "Carmine"? He issued a threat against an attorney involved in a Trump casino bankruptcy dispute. The threat came from a phone booth across the street from the theater where Trump was appearing on the Letterman show.

[Karl Henning]

All those who voted for Trump were all in for the thugocracy.

I mean, what would the excuse be?—We didn't know! ...?

[Florestan]

All those who voted for Trump were all in for the thugocracy.

Fwiw, as a Romanian I have had my equivalent option between Trump and Hillary --- that is, between pest and cholera --- in the 2000 presidential elections, when the choice was indeed between a former Communist (whom I had sweared long before that I'd rather cut my right arm myself rather than vote for him) and a rabid nationalist and former adulator of Ceaușescu and his wife. I took the only option available: not voting at all.

[BasilValentine]

Testimony of Chritopher Wylie, the fuchsia-haired, nose ring wearing Cambridge Analytica (CA) whistle-blower, before Parliament in Great Britain suggests that the Trump campaign might have benefited from massive campaign finance fraud perpetrated by billionaire Robert Mercer through his ownership stake in CA. The way Wylie alleges it worked is that the services provided to the campaign by CA were grossly underbilled, with Mercer making up the difference through investment in the company. The discrepancies, allegedly amounting to close to $100,000,000, could be seen as illegal campaign contributions. And, of course, CA and those who employed it also benefited from the efforts of illegal foreign campaign workers dispatched to the US to work on various republican campaigns. Another major scandal in the offing.

[SimonNZ]

E.P.A. Prepares to Roll Back Rules Requiring Cars to Be Cleaner and More Efficient

EPA doesn't want California to 'dictate' the country's car pollution rules

[Christo]

Fwiw, as a Romanian I have had my equivalent option between Trump and Hillary --- that is, between pest and cholera --- in the 2000 presidential elections, when the choice was indeed between a former Communist (whom I had sweared long before that I'd rather cut my right arm myself rather than vote for him) and a rabid nationalist and former adulator of Ceaușescu and his wife. I took the only option available: not voting at all.

I recall the Iliescu-Tudor dilemma and can see what you mean (shortly after, I met the sterile liberal Emil Boc). The present political divide - in many European countries and also in the US - is not one between left and right or even extremists on both sides, but between autocrats and democrats. So-called 'populists' are nothing but autocrats making a rhetorical appeal to "democracy" (democracy in name only, not in substance; just like all modern autocrats did). History will place the ignorant Trump in the same box with the cunning Putin, Sisi and even Erdoğan, Orbán and Le Pen (though each of them very different of course).

[drogulus]

I recall the Iliescu-Tudor dilemma and can see what you mean (shortly after, I met the sterile liberal Emil Boc). The present political divide - in many European countries and also in the US - is not one between left and right or even extremists on both sides, but between autocrats and democrats. So-called 'populists' are nothing but autocrats making a rhetorical appeal to "democracy" (democracy in name only, not in substance; just like all modern autocrats did). History will place the ignorant Trump in the same box with the cunning Putin, Sisi and even Erdoğan, Orbán and Le Pen (though each of them very different of course).

     HRC is a fairly conventional liberal of the kind Dems and Repubs both produced during the Cold War. However close Trump may be to a Romanian thugocrat, Clinton is not anything like an ex-Communist. Such a comparison is ignorant. When people who are not very ignorant say things below their capabilities one is wise to consider the malign influence of self authorizing belief, which dumbs its hosts.

[Karl Henning]

(* munches popcorn *)

Why Robert Mueller could be considering bribery charges

[Christo]

HRC is a fairly conventional liberal of the kind Dems and Repubs both produced during the Cold War. However close Trump may be to a Romanian thugocrat, Clinton is not anything like an ex-Communist. Such a comparison is ignorant.

That's what I tried to point out, without being impolite. 

[drogulus]

That's what I tried to point out, without being impolite. 

     The thing about Trump is that the question about his autocrat/thuggish nature must devolve into a question about the state of our institutions designed to prevent someone of that type getting his hands on too many levers of power. The courts have done their part, Congress has not.

     So, what Trump says he wants to be should be taken literally as what he wants. Enough already with the excuses that he just doesn't understand the role of the President, that's a blind alley, what he wants the Presidency to be matters most, and it matters very much because the people who could stop him are cowards or....

     

     

[drogulus]

 
    Dept. of real Fake News

    In a stunning reversal, Trump names Dr. Channard to head VA

    https://www.youtube.com/v/3GJE8KtGFnE

     And to think, he hesitated.

[Turner]

US expelling 60 Russian diplomats due to the Skripal case, lots of European countries etc. doing the same. Acknowledged by Trump, there were rumours about it since yesterday.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-26/trump-is-said-to-expel-60-russian-diplomats-for-u-k-attack
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43545565

Hopefully the proofs are there. Probably also a general fatigue with Russian attitudes.

Actually, reports are now coming that at the same time, the Trump administration told the Russians that the expelled diplomats could just be replaced, so that there is no real staff reduction. And vice versa.
Maybe we'll hear more about this ...

[André]

The Great Pumpkin Summit will follow after these commercials. Featuring Pump, Kin and their Big Button. Surprises, incendiary declarations and explosions (of temper and maybe more!) - fun guaranteed !

Stay tuned.

[Daverz]

     HRC is a fairly conventional liberal of the kind Dems and Repubs both produced during the Cold War. However close Trump may be to a Romanian thugocrat, Clinton is not anything like an ex-Communist. Such a comparison is ignorant. When people who are not very ignorant say things below their capabilities one is wise to consider the malign influence of self authorizing belief, which dumbs its hosts.

[SimonNZ]

Trump's strange comparison of the Korean DMZ and Mexican border crosses a line

"In a wide-ranging speech ostensibly about his infrastructure agenda on Thursday, President Trump compared the U.S.-Mexico border unfavorably with the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that runs between North Korea and South Korea.

"Look at Korea. We have a border in Korea. We have a wall of soldiers," Trump told the audience in Ohio. "We don't get paid very much for this, do we? You look at that, nobody comes through. But our own border, we don't take care of it."

The president went on to speak of the "32,000 soldiers, their finest equipment, barbed wire all over the place," referring to the DMZ.
"We protect that whole thing. Nobody comes through," he added.

The remarks caused groans of frustration from experts — both those who study immigration to the United States along its border with Mexico and the military standoff on the Korean Peninsula. Robert Kelly, an American who teaches international relations at Pusan National University in South Korea, shared a clip on Twitter.

"Cancel the Trump-Kim summit," Kelly said. "Nobody should want a guy who talks like this to negotiate on behalf of democracy with [North] Korea."

....

At the most basic level, the difference between the two situations is enormous. The "border" between North Korea and South Korea isn't really a border at all: It is the 1953 armistice line between the two Koreas. Since no peace treaty was ever signed after the Korean War, both sides are technically still at war and only observing a cease-fire.

The DMZ is designed as a buffer zone between the two opposing sides; its name is a misnomer, as the area is heavily militarized. In technical terms, neither side views it as a border; each views itself as the future government of the entire Korean Peninsula.

Mexico and the United States are not at war: They are friends and partners. Neither the current border nor the expanded wall suggested by Trump are designed to stop a Mexican invasion of the United States or vice versa. Instead, America's concerns about its border are related to smuggling and illegal immigration."

[drogulus]

     Good one.

"Cancel the Trump-Kim summit," Kelly said. "Nobody should want a guy who talks like this to negotiate on behalf of democracy with [North] Korea."

     I'll come out and say it. I like Mexicans. I mean I'm not one to like "peoples" but as people go I like them. I try not to let judgments like that affect big picture disputations about the merits of the illegal people concept and who benefits most from spreading hate and fear, but to a minor degree it does, though not so much that I would accept falsehoods about the value of having them here.

[André]

I returned home today from a 10 day visit to my brother in Wake County near Raleigh, NC. I walked his dogs twice a day in a subdivision where new homes are being built. All the construction workers are Mexicans. I assume as much, as they are rather short, black haired, brownish and said Ola! when I passed by.

At 8am they were already hard at work, and at 7:30 pm when the sun set they were clearing up everything. I have no idea if they have the right papers. But they sure deserve their hard-earned wages building nice houses for the american misters and misses.