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Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse
- Thread starter CdnGuy
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On any particular policy, we can always hope President Trump will flip-flop. Expel the Dreamers; save the Dreamers. Maybe he’ll keep the US in the Paris climate accords after all. Threaten Kim Jong-un, but not really blow up the world. One thing we can know for sure: whatever Trump does, it won’t be on the basis of knowledge—not even, it would appear, knowledge of his own enduring values.
Trump is resolutely against knowledge. It’s not just that he doesn’t have much, or that too much of what he thinks is true is really false. The very idea of knowledge seems to make him uncomfortable. He takes the notion that he can’t make up whatever truth he wants as a personal affront, a limit to his autonomy, and an insult to his narcissistic ego. He believes in being smart—and brags frequently about his IQ. I’m sure he believes in information, preferably insider information about stock trades, real estate opportunities, or what his enemies are up to. He just doesn’t believe in knowledge.
Correct information is a first step in knowledge. But whether it is embodied in theories or practical reason, knowledge is more than just discrete and isolated facts. It is the ability to judge alleged statements of fact, the ability to put these together in meaningful ways—to “connect the dots,” and to understand the implications.
We know Trump is at ease with lying. He lies habitually; lies to himself; and believes his lies. His claim that more people attended his inauguration than Obama’s could be checked and proven false by photos, videos, and Park Service reports—but that didn’t seem to bother him (though contradiction on that basis did). He lied to get elected. He lied about his failure to marshal assistance for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. He lies about economic policy and about the risks of nuclear war. He lies about health care and the environment. He lies about whether Mexico is really going to pay for a wall on our mutual border. He lies about his own behavior. This is pervasive and extraordinarily damaging. But lying is not the whole issue.
COLLUSION WITH DUCKIES
https://claytoonz.com/2018/03/13/collusion-with-duckies/
The House Intelligence Committee wrapped up its Russia investigation last night saying they found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and that Russia didn’t even favor Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign.
Slight correction there: The Republicans on the committee found no collusion. The Democrats on the committee thought they were still investigating, and they weren’t consulted on the investigation ending or for input on the final report.
Over the years, the House Intelligence Committee was respected for it’s bipartisanship and the seriousness in which it took in protecting the nation. Now, it’s just a refuge for sycophants who put party and cult of personality over country. The committee has shrugged its responsibility for partisanship and a pursuit of conspiracy theories.
Representative Michael Conaway of Texas told reporters that the worst they found was “perhaps some bad judgment, inappropriate meetings, and inappropriate judgment at taking meetings.” That’s an interesting verdict from the people who never asked “what did the president know and when did he know it?”
Conaway took over the leadership of the committee after chairman Devin Nunes pretended to recuse himself. Nunes was on the Trump Transition Team, and was caught feeding the White House updates on the investigation and seeking their input on how to move forward or stall.
Later, the Republicans on the committee issued their memo attacking the FBI for legally acquiring a warrant to conduct a surveillance operation on a Russian spy working on the Trump campaign.
The entire agenda of the GOP on the committee was to obstruct, deflect, protect Trump, and protect Russia at the sake of national security.
Trump responded to the report with a tweet written in all caps, “THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HAS, AFTER A 14 MONTH LONG IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION, FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION OR COORDINATION BETWEEN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND RUSSIA TO INFLUENCE THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.”
There’s about as much credibility in the GOP’s report as a diploma from Trump University. I’m just kinda surprised they didn’t take Putin’s lead and blame Jews for the hacking.
The Republicans refused to interview several players from the Trump campaign, and chose not to recall witnesses such as Eric Prince, who is being investigated by the Special Counsel for a trip he took to the Seychelles to create a back channel to Russia.
The Republicans ignored leaders from our intelligence agencies who told them Russia was favoring Trump. It takes a special kind of stupid not to see that Russia clearly favored Donald Trump. Usually, that sort of stupidity is only found in the Trump family, or on his cabinet.
The Republicans ignoring facts and clear logic. They do, however, plan to keep investigating the FBI “abusing” FISA warrants, which is about as real as that pizza parlor child sex slave story Russia pushed to hurt Clinton.
Thankfully, Robert Mueller’s office of Special Counsel isn’t close to being done investigating Trump, collusion, obstruction, and several other matters. Maybe it’s a good thing the House has ended their investigation as they won’t be in the way anymore, interviewing the same witnesses as the Special Counsel, and leaking what they learn from them.
You don’t need to read a tweet in all caps to know that Donald Trump is the most self-serving individual to ever hold the office of president. He should not be there.
For that matter, Devin Nunes should not be a representative in the United States Congress. Either should Mike Conaway, Peter King, Frank LoBiondo, Tom Rooney, Michael Turner, Brad Wenstrup, Chris Stewart, Rick Crawford, Trey Gowdy, Elise Stefanik, and Will Hurd, the Republicans on the committee.
We should have representative who protect this nation instead of traitors, and thus becoming traitors themselves.
https://claytoonz.com/2018/03/13/collusion-with-duckies/
The House Intelligence Committee wrapped up its Russia investigation last night saying they found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and that Russia didn’t even favor Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign.
Slight correction there: The Republicans on the committee found no collusion. The Democrats on the committee thought they were still investigating, and they weren’t consulted on the investigation ending or for input on the final report.
Over the years, the House Intelligence Committee was respected for it’s bipartisanship and the seriousness in which it took in protecting the nation. Now, it’s just a refuge for sycophants who put party and cult of personality over country. The committee has shrugged its responsibility for partisanship and a pursuit of conspiracy theories.
Representative Michael Conaway of Texas told reporters that the worst they found was “perhaps some bad judgment, inappropriate meetings, and inappropriate judgment at taking meetings.” That’s an interesting verdict from the people who never asked “what did the president know and when did he know it?”
Conaway took over the leadership of the committee after chairman Devin Nunes pretended to recuse himself. Nunes was on the Trump Transition Team, and was caught feeding the White House updates on the investigation and seeking their input on how to move forward or stall.
Later, the Republicans on the committee issued their memo attacking the FBI for legally acquiring a warrant to conduct a surveillance operation on a Russian spy working on the Trump campaign.
The entire agenda of the GOP on the committee was to obstruct, deflect, protect Trump, and protect Russia at the sake of national security.
Trump responded to the report with a tweet written in all caps, “THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HAS, AFTER A 14 MONTH LONG IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION, FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION OR COORDINATION BETWEEN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND RUSSIA TO INFLUENCE THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.”
There’s about as much credibility in the GOP’s report as a diploma from Trump University. I’m just kinda surprised they didn’t take Putin’s lead and blame Jews for the hacking.
The Republicans refused to interview several players from the Trump campaign, and chose not to recall witnesses such as Eric Prince, who is being investigated by the Special Counsel for a trip he took to the Seychelles to create a back channel to Russia.
The Republicans ignored leaders from our intelligence agencies who told them Russia was favoring Trump. It takes a special kind of stupid not to see that Russia clearly favored Donald Trump. Usually, that sort of stupidity is only found in the Trump family, or on his cabinet.
The Republicans ignoring facts and clear logic. They do, however, plan to keep investigating the FBI “abusing” FISA warrants, which is about as real as that pizza parlor child sex slave story Russia pushed to hurt Clinton.
Thankfully, Robert Mueller’s office of Special Counsel isn’t close to being done investigating Trump, collusion, obstruction, and several other matters. Maybe it’s a good thing the House has ended their investigation as they won’t be in the way anymore, interviewing the same witnesses as the Special Counsel, and leaking what they learn from them.
You don’t need to read a tweet in all caps to know that Donald Trump is the most self-serving individual to ever hold the office of president. He should not be there.
For that matter, Devin Nunes should not be a representative in the United States Congress. Either should Mike Conaway, Peter King, Frank LoBiondo, Tom Rooney, Michael Turner, Brad Wenstrup, Chris Stewart, Rick Crawford, Trey Gowdy, Elise Stefanik, and Will Hurd, the Republicans on the committee.
We should have representative who protect this nation instead of traitors, and thus becoming traitors themselves.
ABOARD A U.S. GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cast the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain as part of a “certain unleashing of activity” by Russia that the United States is struggling to understand. He warned that the poisoning would “certainly trigger a response.”
Tillerson, echoing the British government’s finger-pointing toward Moscow, said he didn’t yet know whether Russia’s government knew of the attack with a military-grade nerve agent, but that one way or another, “it came from Russia.” He said it was “almost beyond comprehension” why a state actor would deploy such a dangerous substance in a public place in a foreign country where others could be exposed.
“I cannot understand why anyone would take such an action. But this is a substance that is known to us and does not exist widely,” Tillerson told reporters as he flew from Nigeria to Washington. “It is only in the hands of a very, very limited number of parties.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May said that Novichock, the nerve agent used against ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, was developed by the Soviet Union near the end of the Cold War. Skripal, 66, was a Russian military intelligence officer before flipping to the British side in the 1990s, going to jail in Russia in 2006 and being freed in an exchange of spies in 2010. Moscow has dismissed the suggestion it was involved in his March 4 poisoning as “a circus show.”
Tillerson, who spoke Monday by phone with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, said he’s grown “extremely concerned” about Russia, noting that he spent most of the first year of the Trump administration trying to solve problems and narrow differences with the Kremlin. He said after a year of trying, “we didn’t get very far.”
“Instead what we’ve seen is a pivot on their part to be more aggressive,” Tillerson said. “And this is very, very concerning to me and others that there seems to be a certain unleashing of activity that we don’t fully understand what the objective behind that is.”
He said if the poisoning turned out to be the work of Russia’s government, “this is a pretty serious action.”
WASHINGTON—In an effort to make the frequent festivities for departing staffers more efficient, White House officials announced Tuesday that the administration is now just holding one continuous going-away party.
“Instead of throwing a send-off celebration for Rob Porter and Rick Dearborn only to turn around and do it again a week later, we will now simply hold around-the-clock gatherings with light refreshments and cupcakes to honor whoever left the administration most recently,” said Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, adding that employees may now join their coworkers at any time of day in the permanently decorated White House kitchen where a never-ending stream of staffers will announce that this is their last day, perpetually deliver farewell speeches, and constantly pass around and sign goodbye cards for continuously departing coworkers.
“In order to avoid another situation like when we had three separate get-togethers in one week for Sean Spicer, Michael Short, and Reince Priebus, aides may now enjoy a cup of soda, don a party hat, reminisce over fond memories together, and say their farewells whenever it is convenient for them.”
Huckabee-Sanders added that she looks forward to seeing everyone in the kitchen, where she expects to be honored shortly.
He hoped that naming his son after a famous real estate developer and television star would, somehow, rub off on the child’s fortunes.
But the hoped-for good luck has yet to appear. If anything, the naming choice has only added to the family’s misfortune.
A Footnote Looms Large in the Second Amendment's Future
A Footnote Looms Large in the Second Amendment's Future
No one in American history is more responsible for elevating the Second Amendment to the status of holy writ than the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016. His impact is still being felt today in nearly every important gun-rights lawsuit pending from sea to shining sea.
The conservative firebrand’s 2008 majority opinion in the court’s 5-4 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller stood the prior judicial consensus on the Second Amendment on its head, holding for the first time that the amendment protects an individual right to bear arms. Prior to Heller, the great weight of scholarship and court opinions, including the Supreme Court’s 1939 decision in United States v. Miller, had construed the amendment, in keeping with the actual debates of the founding era, as protecting gun ownership only in connection with service in long-since antiquated state militias.
Two years later, in another 5-4 decision—McDonald v. Chicago—the Supreme Court extended Heller, ruling that the individual right to bear arms was incorporated by the 14th Amendment’s due process clause and hence was applicable to the states and local governments. The Second Amendment, as interpreted by Scalia, thus became the law of the land.
In the aftermath of Heller and McDonald, gun-rights advocates, from the National Rifle Association to the Second Amendment Foundation, rejoiced. Having funded and provided the lawyers for both cases, they were confident that many other gun-control measures across the country would soon be toppled, or at least severely curtailed, through subsequent litigation.
But they were wrong—ironically, as I will explain shortly, in no small measure because of a cryptic footnote Scalia added to his Heller opinion.
...
The reason courts have been able to hand down pro-gun control rulings is simple: Contrary to popular beliefs—fueled in large part by NRA propaganda mouthed by zealots like Wayne LaPierre, Rush Limbaugh, radio host Alex Jones and so many others—Heller by no means closed the door to constitutionally permissible gun control. In fact, and very much to the contrary, Scalia’s Heller opinion left the door quite ajar.
Toward the conclusion of his Heller opinion, Scalia wrote:
Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. … Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. 26
In footnote 26 of the opinion, placed at the end of the paragraph, he added:
“We identify these presumptively lawful regulatory measures only as examples; our list does not purport to be exhaustive.”
A Footnote Looms Large in the Second Amendment's Future
No one in American history is more responsible for elevating the Second Amendment to the status of holy writ than the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016. His impact is still being felt today in nearly every important gun-rights lawsuit pending from sea to shining sea.
The conservative firebrand’s 2008 majority opinion in the court’s 5-4 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller stood the prior judicial consensus on the Second Amendment on its head, holding for the first time that the amendment protects an individual right to bear arms. Prior to Heller, the great weight of scholarship and court opinions, including the Supreme Court’s 1939 decision in United States v. Miller, had construed the amendment, in keeping with the actual debates of the founding era, as protecting gun ownership only in connection with service in long-since antiquated state militias.
Two years later, in another 5-4 decision—McDonald v. Chicago—the Supreme Court extended Heller, ruling that the individual right to bear arms was incorporated by the 14th Amendment’s due process clause and hence was applicable to the states and local governments. The Second Amendment, as interpreted by Scalia, thus became the law of the land.
In the aftermath of Heller and McDonald, gun-rights advocates, from the National Rifle Association to the Second Amendment Foundation, rejoiced. Having funded and provided the lawyers for both cases, they were confident that many other gun-control measures across the country would soon be toppled, or at least severely curtailed, through subsequent litigation.
But they were wrong—ironically, as I will explain shortly, in no small measure because of a cryptic footnote Scalia added to his Heller opinion.
...
The reason courts have been able to hand down pro-gun control rulings is simple: Contrary to popular beliefs—fueled in large part by NRA propaganda mouthed by zealots like Wayne LaPierre, Rush Limbaugh, radio host Alex Jones and so many others—Heller by no means closed the door to constitutionally permissible gun control. In fact, and very much to the contrary, Scalia’s Heller opinion left the door quite ajar.
Toward the conclusion of his Heller opinion, Scalia wrote:
Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. … Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. 26
In footnote 26 of the opinion, placed at the end of the paragraph, he added:
“We identify these presumptively lawful regulatory measures only as examples; our list does not purport to be exhaustive.”
Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, runs a significant risk of spending the rest of his life in prison and the evidence against him by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office seems strong, a federal judge declared in an order made public on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, who is based in Alexandria, Virginia, and is assigned to a newly filed indictment against Manafort dealing with bank fraud and tax evasion, said the veteran lobbyist and political consultant posed “a substantial risk of flight” because of his assets and the gravity of his legal predicament.
“The defendant is a person of great wealth who has the financial means and international connections to flee and remain at large, as well as every incentive to do so,” Ellis wrote in an order setting the terms of what the judge called “home incarceration” for Manafort, 68, who lives in Alexandria but also has homes in Florida and on Long Island.
“Given the nature of the charges against the defendant and the apparent weight of the evidence against him, defendant faces the very real possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison,” wrote Ellis, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan.
The order, dated Friday, puts Manafort in a “24-hour-a-day lockdown” at his Alexandria condo, except for medical appointments or emergencies, court appearances and meeting with his defense attorneys. Ellis did not require Manafort to post any assets, but did order that he pay $10 million if he fails to appear in court.
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