It is late Sunday afternoon and I am trying to get this out so I can start on Monday’s OT. It has been raining very hard all day but the previously predicted sleet/snow did not materialise. We have not yet heard from TC so I don’t think he has his internet up and working yet. My pot luck supper at my church went well and everyone, so I was told, was satiated by all the good food. I took a blueberry pie which was very well received. Personally, I had fresh fruit for dessert. I hope your weekend is going well.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:53 (average 6:44). To do it, click here. How did you do?
TC’s took me 4:26 (average 6:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes
Politico — The Senate is on the verge of an extraordinary rebuke of Donald Trump’s foreign policy, underscoring a bipartisan willingness to encroach on the president’s powers as commander in chief.
From forcing Trump to impose sanctions on Russia to raising questions about his nuclear trigger finger, lawmakers are repeatedly asserting themselves in an area long dominated by the executive branch.
The congressional reprimands of Trump also have taken other, often symbolic forms.
One example came when the GOP chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker of Tennessee, convened a hearing to examine the president’s authority to use nuclear weapons.
The hearing indicated that lawmakers did not trust Trump’s judgment, especially as he was exchanging heated rhetoric at the time with the nuclear-armed leader of North Korea. …
Senate Republicans, including Corker and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), pushed legislation earlier this year that would give Congress the authority to sign off on tariffs linked to national security, in a sign of their unease with Trump’s protectionist tendencies.
Click through for the rest of the details. I for one am very glad to see that the Senate is moving to contain this infantile resident of the WH. While members of the Senate agree “that we are a country that is safe and secure and prosperous when we put our values first and our interests second”, Trump does not. The Liar-in-Chief has no redeemable positive values or qualities. He is driven by money and his personal image. If you want to get a picture of some of that, read David Cay Johnston’s book “The Making of Donald Trump”. When I read about 4 chapters at lunch (they are short), Johnston filled in detail about things I already knew about.
Huffington Post — After a decisive vote the last week, the Senate is readying for debate on a bipartisan bill cutting off U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s horrific war in Yemen. Thus begins the fight to eviscerate President Donald Trump’s corrupt bargain with the vicious and volatile Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
The immediate impetus for the Senate action was the grisly murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi operatives at the direction of MBS ― and Trump’s mendacious and morally repulsive embrace of the crown prince in the killing’s aftermath.
“The world is a very dangerous place!” Trump proclaimed, before proceeding to lie about the CIA’s findings that MBS directed the murder; obfuscate the compelling evidence marshaled to support the findings; spout Saudi slanders against Khashoggi; grossly inflate the worth of a phantom Saudi arms purchase; falsely claim that the Saudis could easily arm their Air Force elsewhere; and concoct a counterfactual dependence on Saudi oil.
Effectively, Trump licensed the murder of journalists and human rights advocates while further subcontracting U.S. policy in a combustible region to an unstable autocrat devoid of psychological or external constraints. The danger of this devil’s pact is enhanced by MBS’s apparent ability to mesmerize Trump, who personalizes foreign policy and gorges on flattery, and the president’s equally incompetent, unqualified and ethically challenged son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Both compound their infinite geopolitical ignorance by conflating governance with venality, making them ripe for a ruthless autocrat whose country is awash in cash.
Click through to get a picture of just how compromised Trump is when it comes to the Middle East. One could say that Saudi Arabia and Russia are playing him like a violin. When Trump says “I have no financial interest in Saudi Arabia”, he is being deceptive. He may not have properties there, but the Saudi’s pump money into his other properties/businesses. His son-in-law, Kushner who is a senior and trusted adviser, is also compromised by the Saudi’s. Their venality has made them very gullible and exposes them to so much corruption, yet Trump thinks he is in control. This is only part of US foreign policy, but it demonstrates why the Congress, on a bipartisan basis, is willing to “encroach on the president’s powers as commander in chief” as noted in the previous article.
New Yorker — The outgoing chief of staff, John Kelly, departed the White House with the nation’s nuclear codes hidden in his pants, General Kelly has confirmed.
Kelly, whose illustrious military career spanned five decades, called his absconding with the nuclear codes “my greatest act of service to my country.”
Speaking to reporters from his home, Kelly said that he had planned the heist of the nation’s nuclear codes with the pinpoint timing of a clandestine military mission.
“I went into the Oval Office on Friday when I knew Trump would be distracted because ‘Fox & Friends’ was on,” he said. “Then, when he started tweeting something that one of the hosts told him to do, I slipped the codes into my pants, as quick as lightning.”
Now, when Trump realises that they are gone, if he realises, he’s not going to look there. Wrong gender!
My Universe
Posted to Care2 Here
16 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 09 December 2018”
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Dear Senate: Start doing your Constitutional duties and REBUKE AWAKE!
In addition to John Kelly “depart[ing] the White House with the nation’s nuclear codes hidden in his pants” – I wish he also packed Twitler … (and ejected him at ~ 35k feet).
[OK – I know I’m not supposed to wish surreptitious “death threats”. But when the nation I love is at risk, I say “SCREW IT!”]
Everyone needs someplace to let off steam and say thing more extreme than they really mean. If it isn’t here, where it it? (Asking for a friend.)
AMEN Nameless!
If we want to “put our values first”, then cutting off support for the Saudi war in Yemen is where we should start. Even before the war, Yemen was the poorest and most underdeveloped country in the Middle East. Because the the disruption caused by the war, tens of thousands of children are starving and the population at risk of famine is estimated at 14 million. The Saudi regime could not pursue this war without American-supplied weapons. Trump is facilitating a humanitarian disaster. The Senate needs to act and put a stop to this.
This humanitarian disaster reminds me of the Biafra disaster of the late 60s. We were stunned by the pictures then, and pictures of Yemeni children and adults dying at the hands of Saudi Arabia is equally horrifying! Obviously, we have learned nothing in the almost 60 years since 1960.
Flatter Trump and give him a piss pot full of money and one can literally get away with murder!
Politico: Finally starting to see some real action going against tRump. I’m praying it really gets juicy this week. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he will be impeached before Christmas or the New Year. Sure will make me happy.
HP:Regarding the killing of Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi , I feel that our senators should be pulling out/away the U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. tRump has soon nothing except that his business deals with the Saudis are more important than Khashoggi being killed.
NY: John Kelly leaves…. tRump is going to regret this.
I am certain you will not see impeachment before Christmas . . . that’s only 2 weeks away. But Dems could put forth a Bill of Impeachment once they assume control of the House. The question is ‘will they?’ See today’s AlterNet article in the OT.
Gorgeous wild horses 7:14 [6:44]
Driftwood 5:42 [6:02]
Quote of the day
You can tell a lot about a person by how they react to “A Few Good Men” …. The movie has a famous scene where Nicholson’s character, Col. Nathan Jessup, explodes in rage after being exposed for his part in the killing of a young Marine and subsequent cover-up. “You can’t handle the truth!” he barks…. I always thought that Jessup was clearly the villain. But no — apparently there are a lot of people who read Jessup as a hero….
Oh, goody /s. This is one American export I wish we hadn‘t.
Politico – I also am glad that at least some of them are talking this way. (I like Chris Coons very much.) Sure too bad that BBM McConnell holds the power of keeping legislation off the floor, even when it passes the Committee.
HuffPo – BBM still bothers me more than MBS. And they may be playing him like a violin, but he ain’t no Stradivarius. The sound is terrible. I’ll bet even they have to wear ear protection.
TNY – How I WISH Andy were reporting straight news here.
Universe – The Gospel in a nutshell.
I also thought that Jessup was the villain . . . and still do.
Universe — Isn’t it though.
Today’s: 3:47 (average 6:44)
TomCat’s: 4:48 (average 6:07)
Glad there was no sleet and the pot luck was a success, including your blueberry pie. Sounds delicious.
Politico: I believe that the Senate is bipartisan enough to encroach Drumpf’s powers as commander in chief when they do, not before. And it would be truly partisan if the senate took a good look at the dangerous power of declaring martial law with all of its trimmings and brought it under bipartisan Congressional power.
HP: Congress is now trying to make this into a Drumpf thing, but “Both the Obama and Trump administrations have supported the Saudi war in Yemen with a military partnership, arms sales, intelligence sharing and until recently air-to-air refueling. The United States is thus complicit in what some human rights experts believe are war crimes.” This according to Nicholas Kristof in his opinion piece Your Tax Dollars Help Starve Children:
Nicholas Kristof has been a columnist for The Times since 2001. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes, for his coverage of China and of the genocide in Darfur. After years of trying, he finally got into Yemen and his heart-breaking report on another genocide will surely win him another Pulitzer. A must-read even if it brings you to tears.
TNY: Sometimes we think Andy has reverted to straight journalism; at other times, we really wish he had.
MU: What, no cats? I doubt if these clowns ever comfort anyone, no matter how disturbed they are.
I am sure the pie was very good especially because it was made with real berries and I did NOT make it. I do not bake and I hate cooking at the best of times. The bakery ovens at Save-On Foods was responsible. Save-On is my favourite grocery store.
Even Canada has done some arms sales to SA and the government castigated for it. I believe the sales were for armoured vehicles. However, the PM is now reconsidering standing down on future shipments even if the Saudis try to sue us.
Stay tuned for more cats!
Politico: Thank God! It’s about time!!!
HP: dt cares nothing about the horrific sights & sounds of war, it’s all about the money. No more wars!!! period!
NYer: Hot potato, hot potato!!! Great reporting, Andy! lol
MU: Spot on!
Your pie sounds delicious, glad that the potluck went well. My guys lost yesterday, bummer. Score: Colts 24- Texans 21. Bummer. Thanks, Lynn for post.
*This just in: “I’ve paid more taxes than Donald Trump.” ~ Cindy CT ~
I am sure the pie was very good especially because it was made with real berries and I did NOT make it. I do not bake and I hate cooking at the best of times. The bakery ovens at Save-On Foods was responsible. Save-On is my favourite grocery store.
When Faux news [sic] reaches the point that Twitler’s mendacious claim of “no deals” with Saudi Arabia is too much even for them, you gotta figure we’re getting close to End Times.
AMEN! I read that Trump sold his yacht, Princess, because he was in dire financial trouble at the time.
Thanks all!
I am working on tomorrow’s OT to try and stay ahead of things.