US Politics

[Gomig-21]

Someone took down his Twitter account for a little while last night loool. He probably had a panic attack.

https://twitter.com/x/status/926401530013642765

 

[RabzonKhan]

News through the eyes of cartoonists

 

[RabzonKhan]

There are reports that Trump’s another crony, Gen Flynn will soon be arrested. During the campaign Trump often used to brag that if he is elected he’ll hire the best, and of course, he’d “drain the swamp”.

Now, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that most of the people he hired are lying crooks, hopefully the American voters will drain the swamp in 2020.

Why the White House Dreads a Flynn Indictment

Unlike the Paul Manafort case, charges against the former national-security adviser would touch the White House itself and could ensnare the president.

The Atlantic
David A. Graham 11/6/2017

In the indictments sweepstakes ahead of last week’s first moves by special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, Paul Manafort was the odds-on favorite, but Michael Flynn, the former national-security adviser, was a good bet too.

Monday, and the rest of the week, came and went, bringing indictments for Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates and a guilty plea from George Papadopoulos, but nothing on Flynn. But NBC News reported over the weekend that federal investigators have enough evidence to charge Flynn, and that’s a prospect that should be particularly worrisome to the White House.

It’s worth noting that Flynn might already have been indicted. Papadopoulos’s guilty plea, for example, came on October 5 but wasn’t revealed until October 30; he was arrested months earlier. There’s speculation that Mueller’s grand jury may have already handed down new indictments that haven’t been unsealed yet.

Whether a Flynn indictment is sealed or still forthcoming, any charges would make the administration’s situation, already complex, even more headache-inducing. From any rational point of view, the Manafort indictment was bad news for President Trump: No one wants a former campaign chairman to be accused of moving around $75 million, and charged with money laundering and lying to the federal government. But the White House quickly adopted a positive spin, noting that the charges concerned behavior before Manafort joined the Trump campaign.

As I wrote last week, that reflects poorly on Trump as a judge of character and as an employer, but it also allowed the president to distance himself from the investigation and point out that none of the charges against Manafort indicated collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. (The Papadopoulos plea, though somewhat enigmatic, struck much closer to that matter.) As Trump made that point publicly, The Washington Post and Axios both reported that staffers inside the White House were relieved that Manafort had been charged, rather than Flynn.

The charges that Flynn seems most likely to face are similar to some that were brought against Manafort. Like Manafort, Flynn did not register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act at the time he did work for foreign governments, though like Manafort, he retroactively registered. Like Manafort, who is chargedwith making false statements, Flynn may have lied to the FBI. Flynn was pushed out of his job as national-security adviser on February 14, making him the shortest-tenured holder of that job in history, after the Post revealed that he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence and others about conversations he had with
then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. But the paper later reported that Flynn had also lied to the FBI about those conversations.

There are also other counts on which Flynn might be in trouble: His conversations with Kislyak could violate a law that prevents private citizens from conducting foreign policy, though it has never successfully been used to prosecute an American, and many analysts doubt it will be here. There is scrutiny of Flynn’s work for Turkey, for which he retroactively filed under FARA, including an alleged scheme to kick Fethullah Gulen, a cleric and enemy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan out of the country. Members of Congress have focused on trips he made overseas, including one to celebrate the anniversary of the Kremlin propaganda network RT. As a former top general, Flynn was required to seek permission to be paid for those trips, and he also stands accused of not disclosing them when seeking renewed security clearance. Flynn was also involved in a bizarre Middle Eastern civil-nuclear scheme.

Whatever the superficial similarities between the Manafort and Flynn situations, though, the key difference is that a Flynn indictment would put the Mueller probe in the White House. Manafort was pushed out of the campaign in August and never worked in the Trump administration (though he is said to have remained in contact with Trump for months). Flynn, however, worked in the White House for almost a month. That means he could have discussed many of the potential areas for charges—from conversations with Kislyak to Gulen to who knows what—with any number of White House staffers on any level. Mueller could call them in for questioning. Even if none of those staffers did anything illegal, and at this point there’s no indication they did, the threat of testimony will create new stress and distraction in a White House already riven with both. They’ll also all need lawyers, and good expensive ones; the Papadopoulos plea-deal is a vivid illustration of the dangers of talking to federal agents. (Trump has offered to contribute $430,000 to legal fees, but the more staffers involved, the faster that will be used up.)

Moreover, a Flynn investigation would move things much closer to Trump himself. The president distanced himself from Manafort—former Press Secretary Sean Spicer claimed he played a “very limited role” in the campaign—but not from Flynn. Trump allowed Flynn to stay in the administration even after it became clear he had lied to Pence, and also after a conversation between then-Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and White House Counsel Don McGahn. Yates would not divulge the contents of that late-January conversation when she testified to Congress in May, but if Flynn did lie to the FBI, it appears likely that Yates told McGahn then. Read more

 

[Gomig-21]

Now, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that most of the people he hired are lying crooks, hopefully the American voters will drain the swamp in 2020.

lol, that was good.

 

[RabzonKhan]

Two very important races, voters in Virginia and New Jersey are set to elect new Governors today. The stakes are quite high, the Democrats desperately need to win both races to build momentum for 2018 elections, on the other hand, it is also a sort of referendum on Trump’s nine-month-old government.


Virginia Governor - Ed Gillespie (R) vs. Ralph Northam (D)

On left, Ralph Northam And Ed Gillespie

In the real clear politics average Ralph Northam (Democrat) is leading Ed Gillespie (Republican) with a margin of 3.3% Link



New Jersey Governor - Kim Guadagno (R) vs. Phil Murphy (D)

On left, Kim Guadagno And Phil Murphy

In the real clear politics average Phil Murphy (Democrat) is leading Kim Guadagno with a margin of 14.4% Link

 

[Gomig-21]

Two very important races, voters in Virginia and New Jersey are set to elect new Governors today. The stakes are quite high, the Democrats desperately need to win both races to build momentum for 2018 elections, on the other hand, it is also a sort of referendum on Trump’s nine-month-old government.


Virginia Governor - Ed Gillespie (R) vs. Ralph Northam (D)
View attachment 435568
On left, Ralph Northam And Ed Gillespie

In the real clear politics average Ralph Northam (Democrat) is leading Ed Gillespie (Republican) with a margin of 3.3% Link



New Jersey Governor - Kim Guadagno (R) vs. Phil Murphy (D)
View attachment 435569
On left, Kim Guadagno And Phil Murphy

In the real clear politics average Phil Murphy (Democrat) is leading Kim Guadagno with a margin of 14.4% Link

Looks like it's a sweep for both of those Democrats as of 1/2 hour ago. The interesting part was one of Gillespie campaign people actually came out and told the media this is very much the result of the negative background of the Trump administration weighing on the Republican party.

And Trump has been Tweeting all week trying to support Gillespie but is silent so far tonight.

They claimed he didn't end up visiting the DMZ because of bad weather, but rumors that is was a safety issue.

Speaking of twitter...

 

[Gomig-21]

It seems thousands of Koreans showed up in the streets this week prior to Trump's visit and speech to the Korean National Assembly in protest of Trump and his aggressive tone with North Korea. Really amazing stuff but at the same time, it makes a lot of sense; why would these people want some crazy lunatic who's arguably been the worst president in US history after nearly a year in office to threaten their lives and their country? These people are speaking out and good for them. Let the people be heard!

Attendees used playful slogans to express their opinions. “I want President Trump to know we do not want a war,” said a 32-year-old activist to The Washington Post on Saturday.

A recent Pew poll found that South Korean attitudes toward Trump are generally negative, with three-quarters of respondents calling Trump “dangerous."

“War brings tragedy,” a 49-year-old protester told The Washington Post on Saturday.

“We hate Trump,” some of the protesters at the rally sang on Saturday. “We love peace. We love equality.”

Demonstrators say they hope their messages will inspire a more peaceful future.

“We oppose war! Negotiate peace!” protesters chanted on Sunday.

Nearby, a small number of South Koreans rallied in support for Trump. "I'm not very worried about Trump putting South Korea in danger,” a 60-year-old protester told The Washington Post on Saturday.

Protesters on Monday held signs saying: "We denounced the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system, THAAD."

Police in South Korea were on high alert for other demonstrations during Trump's visit to the country.

http://www.businessinsider.com/sout...-a-multi-day-event-called-a-no-trump-no-war-1

 

[Gomig-21]

Now, one must wonder, what’s wrong with the Republicans, they elected Roy Moore in an Alabama GOP Senate primary election, and guess what, even Trump thought the man was nuts, Trump was supporting his opponent Luther Strange.

Roy Moore is a dangerous extremist unfit to be a Senator, no surprise, he was supported by Steve Bannon, Sarah Palin and right-wing British scumbag Nigel Farage.

Poor Trump was so embarrassed after Luther Strange lost the election that he deleted all the tweets endorsing him and was quick to congratulate Roy Moore.


View attachment 428643


View attachment 428644
Roy Moore with a tiny gun. lol

Here is a small sample of Roy Moore beliefs:

God's wrath is felt on Earth

Moore has suggested that the 11 September 2001 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were a sign of God's divine anger. (America’s enemies think the same way) "Sounds a little bit like the Pentagon" he remarked after reading a Bible passage about "the great slaughter when the towers will fall".

Obama might not be US-born

Trump's predecessor was disqualified to be president, Moore claimed as far back as 2008. The so-called "birther" theory, alleging that Obama was born in Kenya, was heavily promoted by Donald Trump until very late in his campaign.


'Red and yellows' don't get along

He appeared to use pejorative racial terms for Asians and Native Americans at a rally this month."We have blacks and whites fighting, reds and yellows fighting, Democrats and Republicans fighting, men and women fighting. What's going to unite us? What's going to bring us back together? A president? A Congress? No. It's going to be God."


Islam is a 'false religion'

It is also a threat to US laws, Moore claims. Over the summer he falsely allegedthat Sharia law was already being enforced in parts of the states of Illinois and Indiana, offering no evidence.


Homosexuality should be illegal

He has likened it to bestiality, and called it "abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature and of nature's God upon which this nation and our laws are predicated".


A Ten Commandments sculpture is worth fighting for

He was dismissed from the Alabama Supreme Court after he refused a federal order to remove a massive stone statue of the Ten Commandments from inside his courthouse.


The law comes from God

"God is the only source of our law, liberty and government," he said from the debate stage last week. Link

Have you seen the latest on this guy? Innocent until proven guilty but with all the Hollywood sexual harassment that's now found it's way into the US Navy and even politics is pretty damming. Even if he's somehow not guilty, the court of public opinion will destroy any of these people trying to hold government positions. And Steve Bannon is protecting this guy. I think despite all the tweets you posted here of Trump supporting him, he will have no choice but to distance himself from anything associate with this judge.

 

[cloud4000]

economist.com
America’s global influence has dwindled under Donald Trump
Apr. 20th, 2017
A YEAR ago this week Donald Trump was elected president. Many people predicted that American foreign policy would take a disastrous turn. Mr Trump had suggested that he would scrap trade deals, ditch allies, put a figurative bomb under the rules-based global order and drop literal ones willy-nilly. NATO was “obsolete”, he said; NAFTA was “the worst trade deal maybe ever”; and America was far too nice to foreigners. “In the old days when you won a war, you won a war. You kept the country,” he opined, adding later that he would “bomb the shit out of” Islamic State (IS) and “take the oil”.

So far, Mr Trump’s foreign policy has been less awful than he promised. Granted, he has pulled America out of the Paris accord, making it harder to curb climate change, and abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a big trade deal. However, he has not retreated pell-mell into isolationism. He has not quit NATO; indeed, some of America’s eastern European allies prefer his tough-talk to the cool detachment of Barack Obama. He has not started any wars. He has stepped up America’s defence of Afghanistan’s beleaguered government, and helped Iraq recapture cities from IS. In the parts of the world to which he pays little attention, such as Africa, an understaffed version of the previous administration’s policy continues on autopilot. As Mr Trump makes a 12-day visit to Asia, it is hard to dismiss him as a man wholly disengaged from the world.

Many people find reassurance in the sober, capable military men who surround him (see article). His chief of staff, his defence secretary and his national security adviser all understand the horrors of war and will stop him from doing anything rash, the argument goes. Optimists even speculate that he might emulate Ronald Reagan, by shaking up the diplomatic establishment, restoring America’s military muscle and projecting such strength abroad that a frightened, overstretched North Korea will crumble like the Soviet Union. Others confidently predict that even if he causes short-term damage to America’s standing in the world, Mr Trump will be voted out in 2020 and things will return to normal.

Reagan, he ain’t

All this is wishful thinking. On security, Mr Trump has avoided some terrible mistakes. He has not started a needless row with China over Taiwan’s ambiguous status, as he once threatened to do. Congress and the election-hacking scandal prevented him from pursuing a grand bargain with Vladimir Putin that might have left Russia’s neighbours at the Kremlin’s mercy. And he has apparently coaxed China to exert a little more pressure on North Korea to stop expanding its nuclear arsenal.

However, he has made some serious errors, too, such as undermining the deal with Iran that curbs its ability to make nuclear bombs. And his instincts are atrocious. He imagines he has nothing to learn from history. He warms to strongmen, such as Mr Putin and Xi Jinping. His love of generals is matched by a disdain for diplomats—he has gutted the State Department, losing busloads of experienced ambassadors. His tweeting is no joke: he undermines and contradicts his officials without warning, and makes reckless threats against Kim Jong Un, whose paranoia needs no stoking. Furthermore, Mr Trump has yet to be tested by a crisis. Level-headed generals may advise him, but he is the commander-in-chief, with a temperament that alarms friend and foe alike.

On trade, he remains wedded to a zero-sum view of the world, in which exporters “win” and importers “lose”. (Are the buyers of Ivanka Trump-branded clothes and handbags, which are made in Asia, losers?) Mr Trump has made clear that he favours bilateral deals over multilateral ones, because that way a big country like America can bully small ones into making concessions. The trouble with this approach is twofold. First, it is deeply unappealing to small countries, which by the way also have protectionist lobbies to overcome. Second, it would reproduce the insanely complicated mishmash of rules that the multilateral trade system was created to simplify and trim. The Trump team probably will not make a big push to disrupt global trade until tax reform has passed through Congress. But when and if that happens, all bets are off—NAFTA is still in grave peril.

Ideas matter

Perhaps the greatest damage that Mr Trump has done is to American soft power. He openly scorns the notion that America should stand up for universal values such as democracy and human rights. Not only does he admire dictators; he explicitly praises thuggishness, such as the mass murder of criminal suspects in the Philippines. He does so not out of diplomatic tact, but apparently out of conviction. This is new. Previous American presidents supported despots for reasons of cold-war realpolitik. (“He’s a bastard, but he’s our bastard,” as Harry Truman is reputed to have said of an anti-communist tyrant in Nicaragua.) Mr Trump’s attitude seems more like: “He’s a bastard. Great!”

This repels America’s liberal allies, in Europe, East Asia and beyond. It emboldens autocrats to behave worse, as in Saudi Arabia this week, where the crown prince’s dramatic political purges met with Mr Trump’s blessing (see article). It makes it easier for China to declare American-style democracy passé, and more tempting for other countries to copy China’s autocratic model (see article).

The idea that things will return to normal after a single Trump term is too sanguine. The world is moving on. Asians are building new trade ties, often centred on China. Europeans are working out how to defend themselves if they cannot rely on Uncle Sam. And American politics are turning inward: both Republicans and Democrats are more protectionist now than they were before Mr Trump’s electoral triumph.

For all its flaws, America has long been the greatest force for good in the world, upholding the liberal order and offering an example of how democracy works. All that is imperilled by a president who believes that strong nations look out only for themselves. By putting “America First”, he makes it weaker, and the world worse off.

https://www.economist.com/news/lead...fact-america-has-turned-inward-hurting-itself

 

[Gomig-21]

he has gutted the State Department, losing busloads of experienced ambassadors.

This is just a small part of the chaos that is the current White House.

 

[Gomig-21]

loooool! This guy is a beauty!

https://twitter.com/x/status/929511061954297857

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

loooool! This guy is a beauty!

https://twitter.com/x/status/929511061954297857

I think hes retarded... and no i aint joking...

He says the dumbest shyt.... next on the list is the filipino maniac..

 

[RabzonKhan]

Looks like it's a sweep for both of those Democrats as of 1/2 hour ago. The interesting part was one of Gillespie campaign people actually came out and told the media this is very much the result of the negative background of the Trump administration weighing on the Republican party.

And Trump has been Tweeting all week trying to support Gillespie but is silent so far tonight.

They claimed he didn't end up visiting the DMZ because of bad weather, but rumors that is was a safety issue.

It was truly an amazing anti-Trump blue wave. The Democrats won big in Virginia, New Jersey, Maine, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Washington.

Democrat’s biggest victories were in Virginia, the voters overwhelmingly rejected, Trump, Steve Bannon and Ed Gillespie, the Republican candidate for governor’s divisive rhetoric. The Democrats won the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and flipped at least 15 seats in the Virginia House races.

In New Jersey, the Democrats won Governor and Lt Governor races.

Washington, in my evergreen state, the Democrats now have control of both state legislative bodies and Governor’s mansion, it was a sweet victory, I am loving it.

Speaking of twitter...

And talking of Twitter, I just noticed, former Pres Obama has 96.8 million followers and Trump has 42.6 million followers, oops, Pres Obama beats Trump again.

Have you seen the latest on this guy? Innocent until proven guilty but with all the Hollywood sexual harassment that's now found it's way into the US Navy and even politics is pretty damming. Even if he's somehow not guilty, the court of public opinion will destroy any of these people trying to hold government positions. And Steve Bannon is protecting this guy. I think despite all the tweets you posted here of Trump supporting him, he will have no choice but to distance himself from anything associate with this judge.

I think the religious bigot’s days are numbered, a fifth woman has accused him of sexual assault when she was 16-year-old, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he believes the women and that Roy Moore should leave the Senate race and the worst part is he’s now trailing his Democrat rival in the deep red Alabama.

 

[cloud4000]

loooool! This guy is a beauty!

https://twitter.com/x/status/929511061954297857

Thanks to Donald Trump, Kim Jung Un is more popular than ever; and for Kim there's no such thing as bad publicity. Good job, Donald!

I think hes retarded... and no i aint joking...

He says the dumbest shyt.... next on the list is the filipino maniac..

Trump is not retarded, the man is a genius. But those who voted for him, on the other hand...

 

[RabzonKhan]

Pres Trump at the Asian Summit.


Learning funny looking Asian handshake:

Trying to figure out what the heck is going on:

Okay, it looks like he figured it out and looks happy:

Wow, now look at that damn killer smile: