Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Here's the secret to getting a Trump presidential pardon
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/18/politics/donald-trump-pardon-blagojevich-kerik-milken-debartolo/index.html
President Donald Trump runs his White House (and his life) by two simple principles:
1. Reward your friends
2. Punish your enemies
It's just not any more complicated than that.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
draining the swamp
https://time.com/5785970/trump-commutes-rod-blagojevich-clemency-blitz/
President Donald Trump has gone on a clemency blitz, commuting the
14-year prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and
pardoning former NYPD commissioner Bernie Kerik, among a long list of
others.
Trump also told reporters that he has pardoned
financier Michael Milken, who pleaded guilty for violating U.S.
securities laws and served two years in prison in the early 1990s. Trump
also pardoned Edward DeBartolo Jr., the former San Francisco 49ers
owner convicted in a gambling fraud scandal who built one of the most
successful NFL teams in the game’s history.
Blagojevich, who appeared on Trump’s reality TV show,
“Celebrity Apprentice,” was convicted of political corruption,
including seeking to sell an appointment to Barack Obama’s old Senate
seat and trying to shake down a children’s hospital. But Trump said he
had been subjected to a “ridiculous sentence” that didn’t fit his
crimes.
Kerik served just over three years for tax fraud and lying to the
White House while being interviewed to be Homeland Security secretary.
“We have Bernie Kerik, we have Mike Milken,
who’s gone around and done an incredible job,” Trump said, adding that
Milken had “paid a big price.”
Earlier, the White House announced that Trump had
pardoned DeBartolo Jr., who was involved in one of the biggest owners’
scandals in the sport’s history. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to failing
to report a felony when he paid $400,000 to former Louisiana Gov. Edwin
Edwards in exchange for a riverboat gambling license.
Boy Scouts File for Bankruptcy Following Sex Abuse Lawsuits
https://time.com/5785605/boy-scouts-bankruptcy/
Most of the newly surfacing cases date to the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s;
the organization says there were only five known abuse victims in 2018.
The Boy Scouts credit the change to an array of prevention policies
adopted since the mid-1980s, including mandatory criminal background
checks and abuse-prevention training for all staff and volunteers, and a
rule that two or more adult leaders be present during all activities.
Liberals and Conservatives React in Wildly Different Ways to Repulsive Pictures
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/the-yuck-factor/580465/
Why do we have the political opinions
we have? Why do we embrace one outlook toward the world and not another?
How and why do our stances change? The answers to questions such as
these are of course complex. Most people aren’t reading policy memos to
inform every decision. Differences of opinion are shaped by contrasting
life experiences: where you live; how you were raised; whether you’re
rich or poor, young or old. Emotion comes into the picture, and emotion
has a biological basis, at least in part. All of this and more combines
into a stew without a fixed recipe, even if many of the ingredients are
known.
How the Right Wing Convinces Itself That Liberals Are Evil
https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/july-august-2018/how-the-right-wing-convinces-itself-that-liberals-are-evil/
IIf
you spend any time consuming right-wing media in America, you quickly
learn the following: Liberals are responsible for racism, slavery, and
the Ku Klux Klan. They admire Mussolini and Hitler, and modern
liberalism is little different from fascism or, even worse, communism.
The mainstream media and academia cannot be trusted because of the
pervasive, totalitarian nature of liberal culture.
Joe Orlow's theory that Evil came to the world solely because of liberals
The liberals have already hijacked democracy and imposed their
mindset on the masses. Anything that rebalances society is for the
better. If it takes an autocratic President, so be it. At least the
autocratic President we have bends his will to that of the people who
elected him. And isn't that what democracy is all about?
Donald
Trump won the election! Get over it, already. In the past, a government
from one party could rule over both parties. But now the country is too
split. So the party out of favor feels like they have no say. Which is
true, somewhat.
When Bernie gets elected, I'll feel like that, too. So let me enjoy the presidency I brought about while I can.
Monday, February 17, 2020
which situation do you prefer?
Living in USA with Trump as King and his family inherits the job or a democracy based on the present constitution and laws?
Sunday, February 16, 2020
If William Barr Truly Believed in Rule of Law, He Would Resign
https://time.com/5784932/william-barr-resign-rule-of-law/
Barr’s commitment at his most recent confirmation hearing,
reaffirming that an Attorney General must prevent political influence
from corrupting the course of justice in criminal cases, was important
to legitimate his candidacy to lead the department, given the concerns that arose after his nomination. But he has proven himself unable or unwilling to live up to that commitment.
Since he joined the Administration just over a year ago, Barr has operated in a manner that has raised serious questions about whether he is working to benefit the President or the people. He misrepresented the conclusions of the Mueller report. On his watch, DOJ tried to protect the President from legitimate constitutional oversight by withholding the Ukraine whistleblower complaint
from Congress. DOJ then summarily declined to open an investigation
into the Ukraine complaint and defended Trump’s position that executive
branch emails related to Ukraine did not have to be turned over to a media organization
that sought unredacted versions, using the same privilege arguments
Trump asserted to withhold them from Congress. Although the Department
has responded to past questions about Barr’s personal involvement by
saying he was aware but did not participate in decision-making, we know from his takeover of Roger Stone’s sentencing that he is fully capable of usurping a case when he does not like how it is being handled. He has also assigned a handpicked U.S. Attorney appointed by Trump to review matters the President has shown interest in.
She said a Bethlehem church was in Palestine. But ‘Jeopardy!’ accepted Israel as the right answer.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/01/13/jeopardy-bethlehem-church/
The
Church of the Nativity, which many believe is the birthplace of Jesus,
sits by a white-stoned square in the heart of Bethlehem near the
controversial concrete barrier that encircles the West Bank. UNESCO,
which has selected the church as a World Heritage Site, lists it as one of three such locations in Palestine.
So
for many of those who slammed “Jeopardy!” over the weekend, the trivia
answer was, well, more than trivial. It was a commentary, implicit or
not, on a hotly contested and deeply emotional question in Middle East
geopolitics.
The
Oslo accords of 1995 give the Palestinian Authority control over
Bethlehem and the West Bank, though that is complicated by Israeli
settlements and military checkpoints. Under a historic “Status Quo” agreement, the church and other holy sites near it area must be jointly shared and protected by various Christian denominations.
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