Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified against the president in a congressional impeachment trial, retired from the Army after being passed over for promotion, likely due to pressure from the White House.
Roger Stone was convicted of lying to investigators about Russian interference in the 2016 election in an effort to protect the president, but his sentence was commuted by that same president a day before he was to start his prison term.
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Biden: My Time
"When other folks get dizzy, I keep busy, bidin' my time." -- George & Ira Gershwin, 1930
Corona virus fears have kept many Americans at home rather than attending crowded political rallies. And unlike the incumbent president, who is actively campaigning for re-election and seems to need massive rallies to stoke his ego, Democratic candidate Joe Biden stays home and only gives an occasional speech, most recently via computer to web sites and broadcasters.
In this time of crisis, economic as well as physical health issues have become key issues for American voters and their families. But to ignore one and misrepresent the other would be hazardous to any candidate's political health, yet that seems to be just what the incumbent is doing.
Biden, however, acknowledges the importance of both, wearing a face covering in public even as he offers a plan for economic recovery from the most serious recession to hit the nation since 2007 during the administration of Republican President George W. Bush.
Biden took office as vice president under President Barack Obama in January 2009, and the economic crisis was over some six months later, beginning the longest period of growth in American history.
And despite the current administration's claim of creating the prosperity, the reality is that Donald Trump inherited a healthy economy. "We created the best economy in 30 years," Trump supporter Steven Moore said in an interview on Fox news. His associate Hogan Gidley, the Trump campaign's national press secretary, said that "We don't need to guess what a Biden economy would look like, since Americans have been forced to live through it already. Biden's policies caused the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression" of the 1930s.
Fact check: Biden was not president during the recovery, which took only six months. He did, however, have some responsibility for economic policy during the Obama Administration, and this led to the long period of growth. The Trump administration did not "create" this "best economy," but rather inherited it. Recovery from the Great Depression was led by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, who inherited the crisis from Republican President Herbert Hoover.
Now the issue facing voters is who would be better qualified to lead the nation back to economic as well as physical health; the candidate with experience in dealing with an economic crisis, who acknowledges the reality of a virus pandemic and urges everyone to take precautions, or the candidate who claims credit for an economic recovery that began before he took office, who denies the existence of a widespread death toll from a virulent disease, and who refuses to obey a subpoena asking for details about his business dealings. He insisted that 99 percent of those affected by a covid 19 infection recover completely. Meanwhile, more than 130,000 Americans have died from the disease.
The choice is yours: A candidate with extensive experience in dealing with an economic crisis, or one who denies its existence and issues get-out-of-jail cards to his buddies who have confessed to a wide range of crimes.
Corona virus fears have kept many Americans at home rather than attending crowded political rallies. And unlike the incumbent president, who is actively campaigning for re-election and seems to need massive rallies to stoke his ego, Democratic candidate Joe Biden stays home and only gives an occasional speech, most recently via computer to web sites and broadcasters.
In this time of crisis, economic as well as physical health issues have become key issues for American voters and their families. But to ignore one and misrepresent the other would be hazardous to any candidate's political health, yet that seems to be just what the incumbent is doing.
Biden, however, acknowledges the importance of both, wearing a face covering in public even as he offers a plan for economic recovery from the most serious recession to hit the nation since 2007 during the administration of Republican President George W. Bush.
Biden took office as vice president under President Barack Obama in January 2009, and the economic crisis was over some six months later, beginning the longest period of growth in American history.
And despite the current administration's claim of creating the prosperity, the reality is that Donald Trump inherited a healthy economy. "We created the best economy in 30 years," Trump supporter Steven Moore said in an interview on Fox news. His associate Hogan Gidley, the Trump campaign's national press secretary, said that "We don't need to guess what a Biden economy would look like, since Americans have been forced to live through it already. Biden's policies caused the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression" of the 1930s.
Fact check: Biden was not president during the recovery, which took only six months. He did, however, have some responsibility for economic policy during the Obama Administration, and this led to the long period of growth. The Trump administration did not "create" this "best economy," but rather inherited it. Recovery from the Great Depression was led by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, who inherited the crisis from Republican President Herbert Hoover.
Now the issue facing voters is who would be better qualified to lead the nation back to economic as well as physical health; the candidate with experience in dealing with an economic crisis, who acknowledges the reality of a virus pandemic and urges everyone to take precautions, or the candidate who claims credit for an economic recovery that began before he took office, who denies the existence of a widespread death toll from a virulent disease, and who refuses to obey a subpoena asking for details about his business dealings. He insisted that 99 percent of those affected by a covid 19 infection recover completely. Meanwhile, more than 130,000 Americans have died from the disease.
The choice is yours: A candidate with extensive experience in dealing with an economic crisis, or one who denies its existence and issues get-out-of-jail cards to his buddies who have confessed to a wide range of crimes.
Thursday, July 9, 2020
Voice of Trumpland
The Voice of America, traditionally, an independent news broadcaster known for its neutrality, is on its way to becoming a propaganda machine for the Trump Administration.
Using the excuse that hiring foreign nationals takes away jobs from Americans, the new chief of the agency ordered the broadcaster not to renew visas for those experts in other languages and cultures who come from other nations.
This means these experts will have to return to their home countries, perhaps to retaliation and repercussions from governments hostile to the U.S.
Last month, we wrote as the shakeup started that top leadership at the Voice of America and senior journalists were replaced by avid Trump supporters, and we warned that the previously independent and reliable broadcaster will become a propaganda arm for conservative political followers of the current president.
The new leader, Michael Pack, showed up for work in mid-June and immediately fired the chiefs of four -- count 'em, four -- broadcast networks supervised by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. They included Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Radio Free Asia; Office of Cuban Broadcasting, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks. Earlier, two top officials at Voice of America resigned in anticipation of Pack's arrival.
Pack also dissolved advisory boards for each of the networks and placed his own aides above them, according to a report by NPR. Pack gave no reason for his actions, NPR noted, other than saying that he could.
The latest move, to deny visas to those who could supply reliable texts to the various broadcasters, means they would likely be replaced by Trump devotees, to be hired by the newly named presidential adherents.
Using the excuse that hiring foreign nationals takes away jobs from Americans, the new chief of the agency ordered the broadcaster not to renew visas for those experts in other languages and cultures who come from other nations.
This means these experts will have to return to their home countries, perhaps to retaliation and repercussions from governments hostile to the U.S.
Last month, we wrote as the shakeup started that top leadership at the Voice of America and senior journalists were replaced by avid Trump supporters, and we warned that the previously independent and reliable broadcaster will become a propaganda arm for conservative political followers of the current president.
The new leader, Michael Pack, showed up for work in mid-June and immediately fired the chiefs of four -- count 'em, four -- broadcast networks supervised by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. They included Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Radio Free Asia; Office of Cuban Broadcasting, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks. Earlier, two top officials at Voice of America resigned in anticipation of Pack's arrival.
Pack also dissolved advisory boards for each of the networks and placed his own aides above them, according to a report by NPR. Pack gave no reason for his actions, NPR noted, other than saying that he could.
The latest move, to deny visas to those who could supply reliable texts to the various broadcasters, means they would likely be replaced by Trump devotees, to be hired by the newly named presidential adherents.
SCOTUS Smackdown
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the president is not immune from prosecution, and must obey subpoenas sent by a state court and a congressional committee seeking his personal financial records.
The court punted, however, in that it sent the two cases -- one state and one federal -- back to lower courts for further consideration. Result: His personal financial records are not likely to become public until after election day.
Technically, the state case seeking his tax returns did not ask the president for them, but rather his accounting firm, and the records will have to be given to a New York grand jury investigating his activities before he was elected president. And since grand jury investigations are secret, whatever is in the documents won't be known until and unless charges are filed.
The president has tried to block any and all attempts to see his financial records, unlike other presidents, who have voluntarily released them. And this causes resident cynic Pug Mahoney to wonder, What's he hiding? If he has done nothing wrong or illegal, why not show the evidence?
Initially, he claimed his returns were "still under audit" by the Internal Revenue Service, that he is audited every year and therefore he cannot release them. But the IRS responded that while the agency cannot release the documents, any individual can do so at any time.
Congressional committees, however, can subpoena such documents from the agency for use in formulating legislation, but the president's attorneys argued that the current move is more political harassment than real legislative activity.
Both case now go back to lower courts to be resolved, and that's likely to take many months. The major part of today's decision, however, is that no one -- not even the president of the United States -- is above the law. And this follows precedents set in cases involved both Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat Bill Clinton.
The court punted, however, in that it sent the two cases -- one state and one federal -- back to lower courts for further consideration. Result: His personal financial records are not likely to become public until after election day.
Technically, the state case seeking his tax returns did not ask the president for them, but rather his accounting firm, and the records will have to be given to a New York grand jury investigating his activities before he was elected president. And since grand jury investigations are secret, whatever is in the documents won't be known until and unless charges are filed.
The president has tried to block any and all attempts to see his financial records, unlike other presidents, who have voluntarily released them. And this causes resident cynic Pug Mahoney to wonder, What's he hiding? If he has done nothing wrong or illegal, why not show the evidence?
Initially, he claimed his returns were "still under audit" by the Internal Revenue Service, that he is audited every year and therefore he cannot release them. But the IRS responded that while the agency cannot release the documents, any individual can do so at any time.
Congressional committees, however, can subpoena such documents from the agency for use in formulating legislation, but the president's attorneys argued that the current move is more political harassment than real legislative activity.
Both case now go back to lower courts to be resolved, and that's likely to take many months. The major part of today's decision, however, is that no one -- not even the president of the United States -- is above the law. And this follows precedents set in cases involved both Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat Bill Clinton.
Monday, July 6, 2020
Number Games
Figures don't lie, but liars do figure. -- Mark Twain
The president claims that for 99 percent of those who contract the corona virus, the results are "totally harmless." Assuming that's true, then for the remaining one percent, the results are not harmless, and people die.
Therefore, of the 3 million Americans who have contracted the virus, then according to the president's claim, only 30,000 (one percent of the total) are not harmless and could be potentially serious.
Reality check: The death toll from the corona virus in America is now 130,000, in just five months.
That's a lot more than one percent.
The president claims that for 99 percent of those who contract the corona virus, the results are "totally harmless." Assuming that's true, then for the remaining one percent, the results are not harmless, and people die.
Therefore, of the 3 million Americans who have contracted the virus, then according to the president's claim, only 30,000 (one percent of the total) are not harmless and could be potentially serious.
Reality check: The death toll from the corona virus in America is now 130,000, in just five months.
That's a lot more than one percent.
Saturday, July 4, 2020
Que Tonto El
Supporters of the president told Native American protestors at the Mount Rushmore rally to "Go home, back to where you came from." Which brought the response, "We are home, this is where we came from. You guys are the invaders."
Couple that with the president's defense of mask wearing that he did wear one, once, and that "It looked good. It made me look like the Lone Ranger."
Except that the Lone Ranger's mask covered only the eyes, not the nose and mouth, which is required to help control spread of the corona virus.
Meanwhile, the meaning of "Tonto" in Spanish is "fool," and usually refers to a stupid person. However, the origin of the word "fool" goes back to Medieval times, and referred to a court jester, whose duty it was to amuse the master by pointing to connotations that others would not say, sometimes for nefarious reasons.
In that context, the court jester, or fool, was neither stupid or ignorant, but a clever advisor.
Also, the Lone Ranger's "faithful companion" used the term "Kemosabe," which can be said to derive from the Spanish phrase "qui no sabe," which means "he who doesn't know."
So it can be said that the two were engaging in friendly insults, which close companions do.
Therefore, when the president says wearing a Lone Ranger-type mask in these days of soaring covid infections makes him look good, the nickname "Kemosabe" may well apply, since as the name implies, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Couple that with the president's defense of mask wearing that he did wear one, once, and that "It looked good. It made me look like the Lone Ranger."
Except that the Lone Ranger's mask covered only the eyes, not the nose and mouth, which is required to help control spread of the corona virus.
Meanwhile, the meaning of "Tonto" in Spanish is "fool," and usually refers to a stupid person. However, the origin of the word "fool" goes back to Medieval times, and referred to a court jester, whose duty it was to amuse the master by pointing to connotations that others would not say, sometimes for nefarious reasons.
In that context, the court jester, or fool, was neither stupid or ignorant, but a clever advisor.
Also, the Lone Ranger's "faithful companion" used the term "Kemosabe," which can be said to derive from the Spanish phrase "qui no sabe," which means "he who doesn't know."
So it can be said that the two were engaging in friendly insults, which close companions do.
Therefore, when the president says wearing a Lone Ranger-type mask in these days of soaring covid infections makes him look good, the nickname "Kemosabe" may well apply, since as the name implies, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Friday, July 3, 2020
Health and Politics
We report, you decide. -- Journalist Pug Mahoney
Quotes from the president:
"The crisis is being handled."
"We're putting out the flames."
"We have (the pandemic) very much under control."
Dr. Henry Fauci, leading epidemiologist in America, says the corona pandemic is getting worse, and the government Center for Disease Control predicts 148,000 deaths from the virus by the end of this month.
Republican supporters of the president insist Fauci should follow the president's lead and endorse his policies or face removal.
Quotes from the president:
"The crisis is being handled."
"We're putting out the flames."
"We have (the pandemic) very much under control."
Dr. Henry Fauci, leading epidemiologist in America, says the corona pandemic is getting worse, and the government Center for Disease Control predicts 148,000 deaths from the virus by the end of this month.
Republican supporters of the president insist Fauci should follow the president's lead and endorse his policies or face removal.
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