Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Trump Is the Military Industrial Complex
https://nationalsecurityaction.org/newsroom/trump-military-industrial-complex
There’s only one problem with Trump’s latest defense: It’s pure fantasy. Trump has consistently prioritized the financial interests of America’s defense contractors -- and, in doing so, turned our values and long-term interests into collateral damage.
Donald Trump accuses US military leadership of seeking to start wars to profit defence contractors
But CNN national security reporter Ryan Brown called Mr Trump’s comments an “unprecedented public attack by a sitting US president on the leadership of the US military”, and said comparisons to Mr Eisenhower’s address were off the mark.
“Some folks really ought to read what President Eisenhower actually said,” he tweeted. “While they are both critical of the military industrial complex, nowhere does Eisenhower actually accuse military leaders of engaging in shooting wars to boost profits for firms
Speaking on CNN, retired army lieutenant general Mark Hertling said it was interesting that Mr Trump had attempted to deny accusations he had insulted the military “by insulting the military”.
“It was insulting to me as a former general,” he said. “As a former soldier, going into combat the military-industrial complex was not even a portion of my thought process. All I wanted was the equipment and the resources to fight the battles.”
Mr Hertling also pushed back on Mr Trump’s “endless wars” jab, which he took as a criticism of how US conflicts in the Middle East had been run by military leadership.
“We are told what to do by our elected officials, so if there’s bad strategy, bad involvement in foreign wars, it’s because the political masters have sent us there to do their bidding,” he said. “We attempt in every way possible to conduct the operations.”
Mr Hertling said Mr Trump was attempting to sow division. “This is kind of like fighting an insurgency – President Trump has already gone after the intelligence community by separating their leaders from those who are in the trenches,” he said.
“He has separated the FBI, claiming the leaders are terrible but everybody in the FBI is good, now he’s attempting to do the same thing with the military. ‘The generals are all bad, they’re all working for the military industrial complex, but all you soldiers still love me, right?’”
No, Trump Is Not Threatening the Military-Industrial Complex’s Profits
In short order, Mollie Hemingway, Glenn Greenwald (who was retweeted by Trump himself), and Russia Today — the holy trinity of pro-Trump trolling — scrambled to cast Trump’s remarks as merely echoing Dwight Eisenhower’s famous warning about the military-industrial complex.
One of the favorite gambits of Trump’s defenders is to insist that national security professionals only oppose him because he stands athwart the American empire. And it is certainly true that military leaders disagree with some of Trump’s policies: his opposition to NATO, his betrayal of the Kurds, admiration of Russia, and (in some cases) desire to accelerate removal of troops from Afghanistan. Some of the most intense military opposition has come from the conviction by military leaders that he threatens its culture by encouraging war crimes and using troops as a domestic propaganda weapon, including to attack peaceful protesters. (By the way, it’s not true that “the soldiers” are “in love” with Trump — a Military Times poll shows his approval rating underwater and him narrowly trailing Joe Biden among active-duty service members.)
Trump is not a threat to the Pentagon budget. He has lavished as much money on defense as he can get from Congress, and boasts constantly that he “rebuilt” it after Barack Obama supposedly exhausted its entire supply of ammunition. If Trump is concerned about the influence of defense lobbyists on the Pentagon’s decision-making, it’s odd that he picked a top corporate lobbyist for Raytheon to serve as his current Defense secretary.
Trump has frequently cited the profits from arms sales as the main reason for the United States to continue supporting Saudi Arabia. Asked in 2018 about cutting off sales to the kingdom after its brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, he replied, “Well, I think that would be hurting us. We have jobs, we have a lot of things happening in this country. We have a country that’s doing probably better economically than it’s ever done before. Part of that is what we’re doing with our defense systems, and everybody’s wanting ’em, and frankly I think that that would be a very, very tough pill to swallow for our country.”
Later that day he reiterated, “I don’t like stopping massive amounts of money that’s being poured into our country … they are spending $110 billion on military equipment and on things that create jobs for this country.”
Trump probably assumed that having bought off the military brass with lavish spending, he could count on them to stay discreet about his occasional sociopathic remark. It is very believable that he would be unable to imagine a motive for their unease with his leadership other than venality. But nobody else needs to cooperate with the preposterous ruse that Trump poses a threat to the income stream of American military leaders.
Trump is blasting the military-industrial complex. But he's one of its biggest boosters.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/08/trump-military-defense-industry-booster-410396
Since becoming president, Donald Trump has overseen historic increases in defense budgets, fawned over military equipment, installed a number of defense industry insiders in top Pentagon positions and made a major push to sell weapons overseas.
But on Monday, Trump said leaders at the Pentagon “want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.”
Yet Trump's record tells a different story. All three of his hand-picked defense secretaries had ties to the defense industry: Jim Mattis was a member of the General Dynamics board of directors, Pat Shanahan was an executive with Boeing, and Mark Esper was Raytheon's top lobbyist. Mattis also returned to his board position shortly after leaving the Pentagon, showing the revolving door between industry and the Defense Department.
The idea that Trump is taking on the defense industrial base is “pure fantasy,” National Security Action, a liberal advocacy group composed of former Obama administration staffers, said on Tuesday. "Trump has consistently prioritized the financial interests of America’s defense contractors — and, in doing so, turned our values and long-term interests into collateral damage."
Trump has also made an aggressive push to sell weapons overseas. In 2017, he took credit for a deal to sell arms worth $110 billion to the Saudis, although many of the deals were negotiated under Obama. Trump touted the jobs created by the deal, which will specifically benefit major primes such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, former White House spokesperson Sean Spicer said in a 2017 briefing.
Top General Pushes Back on Trump’s Claim of Defense Contractors’ Influence in War
The Army's most senior officer pushed back Tuesday on President Donald Trump's assertions that Defense Department leaders choose to continue fighting wars abroad in an attempt to keep private defense firms "happy."
"Senior leaders would only recommend sending troops to combat when it's required as a national security, or as a last resort," Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said Tuesday morning in a virtual event with media outlet Defense One. "I feel strongly about that."
Trump says Pentagon leaders are under defense industry’s influence
Throughout the Trump administration, the president has proudly supported the U.S. defense industry and the jobs it creates, both at home and through overseas deals. Trump, in December 2018, called U.S. defense spending levels “crazy,” but he’s also boasted that he’s responsible for $2.5 trillion in spending on military equipment. (The figure is reportedly much lower.)
Trump’s False Military Equipment Claim
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/07/trumps-false-military-equipment-claim/
President Donald Trump has falsely claimed his administration invested “$2.5 trillion in all of the greatest equipment in the world” for the military. That’s approximately the total for defense budgets from 2017 to 2020, but the cost of purchasing new military equipment was 20% of that.
Justice Department seeks to defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll lawsuit relating to rape allegation
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/justice-department-trump-e-jean-carroll-rape-allegation
The court papers aim to shift the New York case into federal court and to substitute the U.S. for Trump as the defendant. That means the federal government, rather than Trump himself, might have to pay damages if any are awarded.
Justice Department wants to defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/08/politics/e-jean-carroll-trump-lawsuit/index.html
The US Justice Department, in an extraordinary move on Tuesday, asked to take over the defense of President Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, a woman who has accused Trump of sexual assault.
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
The 37 most absurd lines from Donald Trump's Labor Day 'news conference'
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/08/politics/donald-trump-labor-day-press-conference/index.html
17. "I'm not saying the military is in love with me. The soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren't because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy."
Trump visibly distressed over Atlantic story fallout from claims he disparaged the military
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/08/politics/trump-military-fallout/index.html
It was a relatively quiet weekend at the White House until Trump decided he wanted to hold a Labor Day news conference. Just as aides believed the story was quieting down, Trump accused top Pentagon military leaders of being beholden to defense contractors, an astonishing comment from the President as he's trying to bolster support with those people. Trump had been privately upset that more of the top brass at the Pentagon had not defended him in the wake of The Atlantic's story and some saw this as a response to that.
Antisemitism in 21st-century France
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_in_21st-century_France#2015_to_present
At the beginning of the 21st century, antisemitism in France rose sharply during the unrest of the Second Intifada in Israel and the Palestinian territories, as it did in other European nations.[6] In addition, a significant proportion of the second-generation Muslim immigrant population in France began to identify with the Palestinian cause, with some also identifying with radical Islamism.[7][8][9] In the early 2000s, a critical debate on the nature of antisemitism in France accompanied denunciation of it in relation to the situation in the Middle East and to Islam. Divisions developed among anti-racist groups.[6][10][11]
Donald Trump set to fall back on xenophobia with re-election plan in tatters
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/26/donald-trump-xenophobia-re-election-campaign-2020
Donald Trump had been intending to run a re-election campaign based on a strong economy and a socialist opponent. Both have vanished in the past month. But the US president still has his ultimate weapon: xenophobia.
Ethnicity, Crime, and Immigration in France
France has the largest Muslim and Jewish populations in Europe and a long immigration tradition. Official data do not recognize race, ethnicity, or religion as fundamental characteristics of people. For a long time crime data ignored foreigners and non-French immigrants as distinct groups. They are significantly overrepresented among criminal suspects in custody and in prison, though this varies by offense and according to status; an important proportion have violated immigration laws and are not a threat to society. Their overrepresentation may result from lack of fixed residence and the possibility they will not turn up if summoned by a judge. Research on this issue is scant. It is unclear whether disparities represent invidious bias or result from socio-economic disadvantages or differences in records of past criminality. Xenophobia among the broad French public, after declining substantially, is on the rise again, in great part due to the recent economic crisis.
Homicide in England and Wales: year ending March 2019
There were 671 victims of homicide in the year ending March 2019, 33 fewer (5%) than the previous year, the first fall since the year ending March 2015.
- Just under three-quarters (475 or 71%) of all homicide victims in the year ending March 2019 were from the White ethnic group.3 This was a decrease of 33 victims (from 508) compared with the year ending March 2018.
There were 97 Black victims in the last year, accounting for 14% of all victims. This is an increase of four homicides compared with the previous year and the highest number of Black victims since 2001 to 2002 (106).
Race and crime in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_States
In the United States, the relationship between race and crime has been a topic of public controversy and scholarly debate for more than a century.[1] Crime rates vary significantly between racial groups. Most homicide victims in the United States are of the same race as the perpetrator.
Academic research indicates that the over-representation of some racial minorities in the criminal justice system can in part be explained by socioeconomic factors, such as poverty, exposure to poor neighborhoods, poor access to public education, poor access to early childhood education, and exposure to harmful chemicals (such as lead) and pollution.[2][3] Racial housing segregation has also been linked to racial disparities in crime rates, as blacks have historically and to the present been prevented from moving into prosperous low-crime areas through actions of the government (such as redlining) and private actors.[4][5][6] Various explanations within criminology have been proposed to excuse racial disparities in crime rates, including conflict theory, strain theory, general strain theory, social disorganization theory, macrostructural opportunity theory, social control theory, and subcultural theory.
Research also indicates that there is extensive racial and ethnic discrimination by police and the judicial system.[7][8][9][10] A substantial academic literature has compared police searches (showing that contraband is found at higher rates in whites who are stopped), bail decisions (showing that whites with the same bail decision as blacks commit more pre-trial violations), and sentencing (showing that blacks are more harshly sentenced by juries and judges than whites when the underlying facts and circumstances of the cases are similar), providing valid causal inferences of racial discrimination.[11][12][13][14] Studies have documented patterns of racial discrimination, as well as patterns of police brutality and disregard for the constitutional rights of African-Americans, by police departments in various American cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.[15][16][17][18][19]
Fact check: Misleading bar graph presents distorted interpretation of black and white murder rates
If you’re a white person in 2013, Nuzzo explained, your chances of being murdered by another white person are approximately 11 in a million, and your chances of being murdered by a black person are two in a million. Meanwhile, if you’re a black person in 2013, your chances of being murdered by another black person are 56 in a million, and your chances of being murdered by a white person are five in a million.
Trump says Pentagon chiefs are accommodating weapons makers
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/07/trump-disparages-pentagon-chiefs-409528
President Donald Trump on Monday accused the United States’ military leadership of being beholden to arms manufacturers, in an attack on his own administration only days after reports that he had mocked fallen soldiers.
Speaking at a combative White House news conference, Trump said leaders at the Pentagon probably weren’t “in love with me” because “they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.”
Pelosi Salon Scandal: Stylist Says It Was A Set Up
KEY FACTS
Soleiman, APC, the firm representing stylist Jonathan DeNardo, said in a statement that e Salon SF owner Erica Kious authorized him to go forward with the appointment even though it violated local health rules prohibiting salons from operating indoors.
During a phone conversation when the appointment was approved, Kious “made several vitriolic and incendiary comments about Speaker Pelosi and her purported responsibility for temporarily suspending operations of Ms. Kious’ business,” according to the statement.
The law firm representing DeNardo says it has photographs, video footage and witness statements alleging that Kious has herself been violating health orders by operating her business indoors while not wearing a mask since April 2020, despite her admonishment of the visit in an interview with Fox News.
Hair salon owner thanks supporters after more than $300G raised
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hair-salon-owner-thanks-supporters
San Francisco hair salon owner Erica Kious thanked supporters for their “outpouring” of “empathy and generosity” amid her feud with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after a crowdfunding effort raised several hundred thousand dollars for her.
During an exclusive interview with Fox News on Monday, Kious said that a GoFundMe page that was created for her amid the controversy reached its goal, which was $300,000.
France protests Israel’s deportation of terrorist who planned to kill chief rabbi
France has registered an official protest against Israel’s planned deportation of French-Palestinian terrorist Salah Hamouri, who planned to assassinate former chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef, along with other attacks.
Foreign Ministry deputy director-general for Europe Anna Azari told French Ambassador to Israel Eric Danon that Israel plans to revoke Hamouri’s residency in light of his continued, active membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).