Jun 14 2018

The American Gulag of Donald Trump

America was once a welcome refuge from the terror of wars, famine and poverty but no more. The changes started subtly under Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Under George W. Bush, the US was less welcoming to Muslims after 9/11 but less blatant under Barack Obama. With the election of Donald Trump, the nation is now openly xenophobic, misogynist and inhumane. The prime example is how we a treating the refugees approaching the Southern borders who are fleeing violence from political unrest and drug and gang in Latin American countries. The two of the cruelest policies are the removal of gang and domestic violence as a qualification for asylum and the separation of children from their families.

During the Obama administration the was an influx of unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, fleeing violence and turmoil in their home countries. Most of those children found homes with close relatives such as parents, siblings or aunts and uncles that live in the USA. Others were placed with sponsors who were not related. Under Trump there is now a “zero tolerance policy” for families crossing the border

“If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It’s that simple,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you as required by law. If you don’t like that, then don’t smuggle children over our border.”

The Trump administration is now treating all immigrants at the Southern border as criminals, even though they are not illegally entering the US. Even if they were being undocumented is a misdemeanor, not a felony. The result is more children, some as young as infants and toddlers, are being ripped from their families and put in detention centers. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein strongly criticized this inhumane policy in his report.

Recently Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) attempted to inspect one such center in Brownsville, Texas that houses nearly 1500 children. He was denied access and the police were called. Sen. Merkley was later given access to another facility where children were housed in cages, sleeping on concrete floors with only this mylar “space” blankets.

On Wednesday, a group of reporters were given access to the Brownsville facility which houses about 1500 boys between the ages of 10 and 17. One of those reporters was MSNBC’s Jacob Soborof. here is his report

Life inside the biggest licensed child care facility in the nation for children brought into the U.S. illegally looks more like incarceration than temporary shelter.

The children, a mix of those who crossed into the U.S. unaccompanied and those who were separated from their parents under Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ new zero-tolerance policy, spend 22 hours per day during the week (21 hours on weekends) locked inside a converted former Walmart, packing five into rooms built for four.

It currently houses nearly 1,500 boys ranging from 10 to 17 years old.

NBC News was among the first news organizations granted access to the overcrowded Casa Padre facility.

The average stay at the center in Brownsville, Texas, is 52 days. Minors are subsequently placed with a sponsor.

Shelter leaders said they were not notified in advance of the Department of Justice’s recently stated goal to prosecute 100 percent of immigrants crossing into the U.S. illegally. Children are automatically separated from parents referred for criminal prosecution.

The policy has led to a surge in children filling the center above its legal capacity, and has sent officials in Washington scrambling to open temporary tent cities around the country.

Dr. Juan Sanchez, the president of the nonprofit that operates the facility, South West Key, warned that the temporary locations might not have to be licensed or staffed by trained child welfare professionals if they are established on federal land, which the Trump administration has been considering. [..]

A shelter employee asked a small group of reporters allowed inside the facility to smile at the hundreds of detained migrant kids in line for a meal because “they feel like animals in a cage being looked at.”

There were no cages or fences — only dorm-style rooms that are supposed to sleep four. Because of the overcrowding, the shelter received a variance from the state of Texas to add an additional bed to each room.

Journalists were asked not to speak with the boys in the shelter, but many indicated that they were in good spirits, despite the circumstances.

Shelter officials said the boys are permitted to speak to people by phone outside the shelter, including incarcerated parents, if the penal institution housing the parents allows calls.

Casa Padre is the same facility Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., was turned away from this month after arriving unannounced and seeking entry to inspect conditions. In the reception area, a note to staff reads if media approaches “Immediately notify PD,” or the police department.

The shelter has operated in the converted Walmart since March 2017 and, until recently, has mostly served young migrants who arrive in the United States without an adult.

A DHS official put the number of prosecutions for entering the United States — an offense that requires parents and children to be separated — at 60 percent, nearly doubling what it was earlier this year.

The walls of Casa Padre are covered with American history-themed art and murals of various presidents appear throughout. A painting of President Donald Trump sits on the wall of a cafeteria area. The quote next to it reads: “Sometimes losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.”

Soborof also reported that there are no MS-13 members inside the facility.

As the number of separations increase the administration is running out of room to house these unfortunate children. They are now constructing tent cities to house the children.

These policies have dehumanized Latinos. This is not the law. This humanitarian crisis was created and exacerbated by the Trump administration and no one else. It is inhumane to separate children from their parents and causes irreparable psychological damage to the children.

Jun 14 2018

Nothingburger

No, not today’s Justice Department Inspector General report on Comey’s Hillary investigation nothingburger, this weekend’s Nuclear Apocalypse with the DPRK nothingburger.

Now back to more news about Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande

Did you want fries with that?

That’s why they call it acting

For you consideration

Jun 14 2018

Cartnoon

 

Jun 14 2018

Flag Day

Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. Our government does not copy our neighbors’, but is an example to them. It is true that we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. But while there exists equal justice to all and alike in their private disputes, the claim of excellence is also recognized; and when a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit. Neither is poverty an obstacle, but a man may benefit his country whatever the obscurity of his condition.

There is no exclusiveness in our public life, and in our private business we are not suspicious of one another, nor angry with our neighbor if he does what he likes; we do not put on sour looks at him which, though harmless, are not pleasant. While we are thus unconstrained in our private business, a spirit of reverence pervades our public acts; we are prevented from doing wrong by respect for the authorities and for the laws, having a particular regard to those which are ordained for the protection of the injured as well as those unwritten laws which bring upon the transgressor of them the reprobation of the general sentiment.

And we have not forgotten to provide for our weary spirits many relaxations from toil; we have regular games and sacrifices throughout the year; our homes are beautiful and elegant; and the delight which we daily feel in all these things helps to banish sorrow. Because of the greatness of our city the fruits of the whole earth flow in upon us; so that we enjoy the goods of other countries as freely as our own.

Then, again, our military training is in many respects superior to that of our adversaries. Our city is thrown open to the world, though and we never expel a foreigner and prevent him from seeing or learning anything of which the secret if revealed to an enemy might profit him. We rely not upon management or trickery, but upon our own hearts and hands. And in the matter of education, whereas they from early youth are always undergoing laborious exercises which are to make them brave, we live at ease, and yet are equally ready to face the perils which they face. And here is the proof: The Lacedaemonians come into Athenian territory not by themselves, but with their whole confederacy following; we go alone into a neighbor’s country; and although our opponents are fighting for their homes and we on a foreign soil, we have seldom any difficulty in overcoming them. Our enemies have never yet felt our united strength, the care of a navy divides our attention, and on land we are obliged to send our own citizens everywhere. But they, if they meet and defeat a part of our army, are as proud as if they had routed us all, and when defeated they pretend to have been vanquished by us all.

If then we prefer to meet danger with a light heart but without laborious training, and with a courage which is gained by habit and not enforced by law, are we not greatly the better for it? Since we do not anticipate the pain, although, when the hour comes, we can be as brave as those who never allow themselves to rest; thus our city is equally admirable in peace and in war. For we are lovers of the beautiful in our tastes and our strength lies, in our opinion, not in deliberation and discussion, but that knowledge which is gained by discussion preparatory to action. For we have a peculiar power of thinking before we act, and of acting, too, whereas other men are courageous from ignorance but hesitate upon reflection. And they are surely to be esteemed the bravest spirits who, having the clearest sense both of the pains and pleasures of life, do not on that account shrink from danger. In doing good, again, we are unlike others; we make our friends by conferring, not by receiving favors. Now he who confers a favor is the firmer friend, because he would rather by kindness keep alive the memory of an obligation; but the recipient is colder in his feelings, because he knows that in requiting another’s generosity he will not be winning gratitude but only paying a debt.

We alone do good to our neighbors not upon a calculation of interest, but in the confidence of freedom and in a frank and fearless spirit. To sum up: I say that Athens is the school of Hellas, and that the individual Athenian in his own person seems to have the power of adapting himself to the most varied forms of action with the utmost versatility and grace. This is no passing and idle word, but truth and fact; and the assertion is verified by the position to which these qualities have raised the state. For in the hour of trial Athens alone among her contemporaries is superior to the report of her. No enemy who comes against her is indignant at the reverses which he sustains at the hands of such a city; no subject complains that his masters are unworthy of him. And we shall assuredly not be without witnesses; there are mighty monuments of our power which will make us the wonder of this and of succeeding ages; we shall not need the praises of Homer or of any other panegyrist whose poetry may please for the moment, although his representation of the facts will not bear the light of day. For we have compelled every land and every sea to open a path for our valor, and have everywhere planted eternal memorials of our friendship and of our enmity. Such is the city for whose sake these men nobly fought and died; they could not bear the thought that she might be taken from them; and every one of us who survive should gladly toil on her behalf.

I have dwelt upon the greatness of Athens because I want to show you that we are contending for a higher prize than those who enjoy none of these privileges, and to establish by manifest proof the merit of these men whom I am now commemorating. Their loftiest praise has been already spoken. For in magnifying the city I have magnified them, and men like them whose virtues made her glorious. And of how few Hellenes 1 can it be said as of them, that their deeds when weighed in the balance have been found equal to their fame! I believe that a death such as theirs has been the true measure of a man’s worth; it may be the first revelation of his virtues, but is at any rate their final seal. For even those who come short in other ways may justly plead the valor with which they have fought for their country; they have blotted out the evil with the good, and have benefited the state more by their public services than they have injured her by their private actions.

None of these men were enervated by wealth or hesitated to resign the pleasures of life; none of them put off the evil day in the hope, natural to poverty, that a man, though poor, may one day become rich. But, deeming that the punishment of their enemies was sweeter than any of these things, and that they could fall in no nobler cause, they determined at the hazard of their lives to be honorably avenged, and to leave the rest. They resigned to hope their unknown chance of happiness; but in the face of death they resolved to rely upon themselves alone. And when the moment came they were minded to resist and suffer, rather than to fly and save their lives; they ran away from the word of dishonor, but on the battlefield their feet stood fast, and in an instant, at the height of their fortune, they passed away from the scene, not of their fear, but of their glory.

Such was the end of these men; they were worthy of Athens, and the living need not desire to have a more heroic spirit, although they may pray for a less fatal issue. The value of such a spirit is not to be expressed in words. Any one can discourse to you for ever about the advantages of a brave defense, which you know already. But instead of listening to him I would have you day by day fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens, until you become filled with the love of her; and when you are impressed by the spectacle of her glory, reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it, who in the hour of conflict had the fear of dishonor always present to them, and who, if ever they failed in an enterprise, would not allow their virtues to be lost to their country, but freely gave their lives to her as the fairest offering which they could present at her feast.

The sacrifice which they collectively made was individually repaid to them; for they received again each one for himself a praise which grows not old, and the noblest of all tombs, I speak not of that in which their remains are laid, but of that in which their glory survives, and is proclaimed always and on every fitting occasion both in word and deed. For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men. Make them your examples, and, esteeming courage to be freedom and freedom to be happiness, do not weigh too nicely the perils of war. The unfortunate who has no hope of a change for the better has less reason to throw away his life than the prosperous who, if he survive, is always liable to a change for the worse, and to whom any accidental fall makes the most serious difference. To a man of spirit, cowardice and disaster coming together are far more bitter than death striking him unperceived at a time when he is full of courage and animated by the general hope.

Part of Pericles’ Funeral Oration as recorded by Thucydides, roughly 431 before the Common Era.

I’ll point out it was the first year of a war of Imperial conquest which while ostensibly predicated on easily defeated sea raids on the Attic Peninsula by Sparta was in fact precipitated by the unwarranted and disastrous attack on Syracuse and led to the defeat of Athens in 404 B.C.E. by an alliance of virtually the entire population of Greece as well as Athens’ longstanding antagonists of the Persian Empire.

“A Republic, if you can keep it.”- Ben Franklin, who thought the the only “white” people were Anglo-Saxons and Danes.

Jun 14 2018

The Breakfast Club (Revolutionary)

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

photo stress free zone_zps7hlsflkj.jpg

This Day in History

Nazi Germany’s troops enter Paris during World War II; TWA Flight 847 hijacked; Stars and Stripes adopted as official U.S. flag; Leftist guerrilla Che Guevara and real estate mogul Donald Trump born.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

Above all, always be capable of feeling deeply any injustice committed against anyone, anywhere in the world. This is the most beautiful quality in a revolutionary.

Che Guevara

Continue reading

Jun 13 2018

516 Dead

Just saying. 312 in Combat. Not that I’m bitter, I’m not even Canadian. I find it both ironic and ignorant.

Sixty Six minutes if you can stand the strain and I only present the entirety so you can note the historical misconceptions.

If you desire a shorter and more humorous digest I suggest Trevor Noah.

Or Seth Meyers.

Jun 13 2018

Elevator Pitches Are Not Reality

Sigh.

If you’re not in the biz which is show you may not know that your elevator pitch is the five minute sales presentation you make to the mover and shaker who can greenlight the project to which you’ve devoted your life of Mary Sue fandom who happens to be momentarily trapped in a small locked room in your unwelcome company and desires nothing so desperately than the doors open on sweet release where they no longer have to pretend you’re a human being who shares the same planet or air with them.

Fourth Floor, Lady’s Lingerie…

Seven billion people inhabit planet Earth. Of those alive today, only a small number will leave a lasting impact. And only the very few will make decisions or take actions that renew their homeland and change the course of history.

History may appear to repeat itself for generations, cycles that never seem to end. There have been times of relative peace, and times of great tension. While this cycle repeats, the light of prosperity and innovation has burned bright for most of the world.

History is always evolving, and there comes a time when only a few are called upon to make a difference. But the question is, what difference will the few make? The past doesn’t have to be the future. Out of the darkness can come the light. And the light of hope can burn bright.

What if, a people that share a common and rich heritage, can find a common future? Their story is well known, but what will be their sequel?

Destiny Pictures presents a story of opportunity. A new story, a new beginning. One of peace. Two men, two leaders, one destiny. A story about a special moment in time, when a man is presented with one chance that may never be repeated. What will he choose? To show vision and leadership? Or not?

There can only be two results: one of moving back, or one of moving forward. A new world can begin today. One of friendship, respect, and goodwill. Be part of that world, where the doors of opportunity are ready to be opened, investment from around the world, where you can have medical breakthroughs, an abundance of resources, innovative technology, and new discoveries.

What if? Can history be changed? Will the world embrace this change? And when can this moment in history begin? It comes down to a choice. On this day. In this time. At this moment. The world will be watching, listening, anticipating, hoping.

Will this leader choose to advance his country and be part of a new world? Be the hero of his people? Will he shake the hand of peace and enjoy prosperity like he has never seen? A great life? Or more isolation? Which path will be chosen?

Featuring President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un, in a meeting to remake history. To shine in the sun. One moment, one choice, what if? The future remains to be written.

Jun 13 2018

Cartnoon

At the dawn of the Intertubz huge and fearsome kitties roamed free, the ground quivering at every step.

Or maybe that was lizards, I get confused. Anyway they lived then to make us happy today as Charlie Pierce would say.

Jun 13 2018

The Breakfast Club (No Planet B)

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

photo stress free zone_zps7hlsflkj.jpg

This Day in History

The Pentagon Papers hits newsstands amid the Vietnam War; Thurgood Marshall nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court; The ‘Miranda’ warning; Pioneer 10 leaves solar system; Swing legend Benny Goodman dies.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

We are using resources as if we had two planets, not one. There can be no ‘plan B’ because there is no ‘planet B.’

Ban Ki-moon

Continue reading

Jun 12 2018

2018 Elections: Primaries In Five States

There are primaries in five states today: Virginia, South Carolina, North Dakota, Maine and Nevada. Here is what to watch from FiveThirtyEight:

Virginia

Races to watch: U.S. Senate; 7th and 10th congressional districts
Polls close: 7 p.m. Eastern

In an alternate universe, Tim Kaine would have been elected vice president, and we’d have seen a special election in Virginia to determine his replacement in the U.S. Senate. In reality, Kaine is attempting to remain in the Senate, and he looks pretty safe even though Virginia is just 2 percentage points more Democratic than the nation, according to FiveThirtyEight’s partisan lean metric.1 Top-tier Republican challengers have given the race a pass. Of those who have entered the fray, the favorite is probably Prince William County Supervisor Corey Stewart, who nearly won the GOP nomination for governor in 2017 while railing against the removal of Confederate war memorials and whom Steve Bannon has called the “titular head of the Trump movement” in Virginia. The GOP establishment reportedly fears that Stewart’s harsh rhetoric against undocumented immigrants and ties to white nationalists would drag down all their Virginia candidates in November. Running against Stewart is the Rev. E.W. Jackson, who lost a 2013 campaign for lieutenant governor while defending comments he made likening homosexuality to pedophilia and Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan. And the closest thing this election has to an establishment pick is state Del. Nick Freitas. But he caused a stir in March when he linked the “abortion industry” to mass shootings in a speech on the floor of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Two of Virginia’s four swingy congressional districts sport spirited primaries.2 In the 7th District, former covert CIA operative Abigail Spanberger and retired Marine Dan Ward are competing for the Democratic nomination to face GOP Rep. Dave Brat in November. Each has raised nearly $900,000 and emphasizes his or her appeal to swing voters in this R+10 district. But there are subtle differences: Spanberger has more endorsements from state and national Democrats, while Ward has been more vocal in his opposition to President Trump.

But the primary that has gotten the most attention in Old Dominion is the one for the 10th District (D+5), where six Democrats want to be the one to take on Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock in a suburban area that is rapidly turning blue.

South Carolina

Races to watch: 1st and 5th congressional districts; governor
Polls close: 7 p.m. Eastern

Henry McMaster helped Donald Trump get elected president when, as South Carolina lieutenant governor, he became the highest-ranking elected official in the country to endorse Trump as of January 2016. Trump then helped McMaster get his current job as South Carolina’s governor by naming then-Gov. Nikki Haley his ambassador to the United Nations. McMaster is now running for his first full term, but Catherine Templeton is giving him a serious Republican primary challenge. Templeton is campaigning as the second coming of Haley, in whose administration she served, and dishing out plenty of conservative red meat along the way. McMaster led Templeton 37 percent to 25 percent in a late-May Target Insyght poll, suggesting that the race may be headed for a runoff. [..]

South Carolina is 16 points more Republican-leaning than the country as a whole, so the winner of the GOP primary should coast to victory in November. And there are three Democrats battling for the chance to be a part of that contest. Major figures from former Vice President Joe Biden to U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn have endorsed state Rep. James Smith, but he has yet to break away from a Democratic field that also includes businessman Phil Noble and attorney Marguerite Willis.

In the 1st Congressional District, the Republican incumbent, former Gov. Mark Sanford — you remember him, right? — is also fending off a primary challenge from the right. State Rep. Katie Arrington is telling Sanford to “take a hike” because of his public critiques of Trump and relatively low rate of voting in line with Trump’s positions — all with a generous helping of allusions to his infamous “Appalachian Trail” affair in 2009. As of May 23, Arrington’s campaign had outspent Sanford’s, and a last-minute poll by a local political consulting firm (with — grain of salt alert — unknown allegiances in the race) puts the two in a statistical tie. This is a bright crimson (R+17) district, but the Cook Political Report believes the race has the potential to develop into a competitive general election.

Finally, in the 5th District, it will be interesting to see whether Archie Parnell, who shot to national fame after he almost won the 2017 special election here,4 loses the Democratic primary to one of his no-name challengers (including a literal clown) after he admitted becoming violent with his ex-wife in the 1970s. It likely won’t matter for November, since this district is a whopping 19 points more Republican-leaning than the nation as a whole.

Maine

Races to watch: 2nd Congressional District; governor; Question 1
Polls close: 8 p.m. Eastern

Whom Mainers choose to run in two of the most competitive campaigns in the nation — for governor and the 2nd Congressional District — isn’t as interesting as how they will choose them. Thanks to a 2016 ballot measure, Tuesday will be the first time in U.S. history that a state has used ranked-choice voting5 in a statewide election. Thanks to a 2018 ballot measure, it might also be the last. We’ll have much more to say about this week’s elections in the Pine Tree State in its own separate preview article.

North Dakota

Races to watch: None
Polls close: Polls begin to close at 8 p.m. Eastern, but the last ones don’t close until 9 p.m.

In November, North Dakota will play host to one of the nation’s most closely watched U.S. Senate races; this week, though, it will hold the nation’s least interesting primaries.

Nevada

Races to watch: 3rd and 4th congressional districts; governor
Polls close: 10 p.m. Eastern

his much we know: Nevada’s U.S. Senate race is almost surely going to be between Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen and Republican Sen. Dean Heller. We have much less of an idea who will succeed Rosen in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District. The Republican primary here could have huge consequences for who is favored to carry this swing seat (R+3) in November. State Sen. Scott Hammond and former KLAS-TV reporter Michelle Mortensen were the big names in the Republican field … until businessman Danny Tarkanian jumped into the race with Trump’s endorsement in March. Tarkanian’s fame among grassroots conservatives (and Nevada basketball fans) makes him a force to be reckoned with in the primary, but his troubled personal finances and track record of losing elections make him a weak general-election candidate. (He was the GOP’s nominee here in 2016 and lost what many thought was a winnable race by 1 point.) Look for philanthropist Susie Lee, who has the support of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, ex-Sen. Harry Reid, Emily’s List and pretty much everybody else, to breeze to the Democratic nomination.

Two former representatives of the 4th District are the front-runners in their respective primaries for their old seat: Republican Cresent Hardy and Democrat Steven Horsford. Horsford has spent more than twice as much as any of his Democratic rivals and has the backing of the powerful Culinary Union and DCCC. Horsford’s name recognition in this Democratic-leaning (D+4) district makes him the favorite for November, but an upset primary win by Medicare-for-all activist Amy Vilela or progressive state Sen. Pat Spearman might make this race more more of a tossup.

n the 4th District, as in so many Democratic primaries around the country, progressive insurgents are targeting establishment favorites who are still fairly liberal on the issues. But the Democratic primary for governor is a rarity — a true ideological referendum. Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak is running an unabashedly centrist campaign: “I’m not real liberal, I’m not real conservative. Some people would like me to be more liberal than I am.” Because that’s a good way to win a general election in a D+1 state like Nevada, Sisolak locked down the support of Reid’s robust political machine and looked unstoppable early on. But Sisolak’s fellow county commissioner Chris Giunchigliani (better known as Chris G) wants to give voters a liberal alternative, and she is getting plenty of air and ground support from the state teachers’ union (which Giunchigliani used to lead) and Emily’s List.

Jun 12 2018

Permanent Interests

As Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, said in 1848- “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”

It is hard for me therefore to ethically condemn a nation for acting in those interests despite them being antithetical to the desires and policy of my country which seeks exactly the same thing unless it is in fact altruistically pursuing a “greater good” at the expense of short term losses and not mere parochial gains.

I think we can generally agree that the United States gave up any claim to “exceptional” moral leadership many years ago.

But there remains the question of stupidity, or in other words acting in contradiction to self interest for no advantage whatsoever.

While history teems with an overflowing abundance of examples like our disastrous and completely preventable involvement in the Vietnamese Civil War or our feckless and reckless meddling in the Middle East, today the subject is our engagement with the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea, especially as contrasted with the hostile treatment of our most powerful allies at the G7 Summit.

The PDRK interest is easily identified and perfectly rational. Without a credible nuclear deterrent against the U.S., whimsical “regime change” is a near certainty which, if you have an investment in the system that granted you power and privilege, is an existentially undesirable outcome. Having bankrupt their populace and denuded their land to achieve it they will not willingly surrender it to another nation that has shown itself to be historically and hysterically unreliable when it’s not being just flat outright mendacious.

It makes zero sense for North Korea to give up it’s nukes.

On the other hand a little butt grab/ass sniffing never hurt anyone so grant the petty tyrant his paper triumph and show him the door. There are no “deliverables” in the joint declaration that Barack Obama and Bill Clinton did not already extract. It’s barely in the same galaxy as our agreement with Iran, widely derided by some as insufficiently strict.

On the other hand our eternal allies, so mostly because their permanent interests conform to ours either naturally or because of coerced compliance, are disrespected and scorned because, one can only assume, their acquiescence and docility make them easily managed.

My advice to Canada? Get some nukes and point them at the U.S.. Clearly a holocaust of mass casualties and death is the only thing we understand and that but dimly with the comprehension of an idiot barely in control of its bodily functions.

Not that I mean to imply that I am not sympathetic to those who suffer mental impairment through no particular fault, just that I have little to spare for those who embrace it willingly and unapologetically despite all evidence to the contrary.

Could things get better and the United States re-establish its position of leadership? Removal of Trump and all things Republican is only the start. D.C. Democrats and Bureaucrats and the chattering pundits who promote them are equally culpable and likewise incapable of admitting that they were not just badly misguided but wrong.

Instead they will continue to cultivate their personal permanent interest in maintaining their primacy and influence until the pitchforks and torches convince them otherwise.

Jun 12 2018

The Assault on Freedom of the Press

The war with the press did not start with Donald Trump. It began under George W. Bush and expanded when Barack Obama went after New York Times reporter James Risen in that administration’s prosecution of Jeffrey Sterling, a former undercover CIA agent accused of espionage.

The Justice Department wanted Mr. Risen to testify at the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former C.I.A. officer charged with providing him details about a botched operation in Iran that was intended to disrupt that country’s nuclear program. Mr. Sterling had raised concerns inside the government about the program, and prosecutors suspect he took those concerns to Mr. Risen, who described the program in his 2006 book, “State of War.”

Mr. Risen, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, was the highest-profile journalist drawn into the Obama administration’s attempt to crack down on government officials who talk to reporters about national security. The Justice Department has brought more charges in leak cases than were brought in all previous administrations combined. The case became a rallying cry for journalism groups and civil rights advocates. Mr. Risen took his fight to the Supreme Court and lost, but Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. ultimately said prosecutors would not force him to reveal his sources.

Risen took that the position that under no circumstances would he reveal his confidential sources to anyone.

“We said from the very beginning that under no circumstances would Jim identify confidential sources to the government or anyone else,” Mr. Risen’s lawyer, Joel Kurtzberg, said. “The significance of this goes beyond Jim Risen. It affects journalists everywhere. Journalists need to be able to uphold that confidentiality in order to do their jobs.”

In 2015, Attorney General Eric Holder tightened Justice Department rules governing reporters’ notes, phone records and e-mails

 

Mr. Holder first began reviewing the news media guidelines in 2013 during heavy criticism after prosecutors seized some telephone records from The Associated Press and labeled a Fox News reporter, James Rosen, a potential criminal co-conspirator for asking about classified information. He announced revisions last February that made it significantly harder, though not impossible, to demand phone records, notes or emails from news organizations.

Last year, Mr. Holder prevented the F.B.I. from portraying a reporter as a co-conspirator as a way to get around a ban on getting search warrants for reporting materials. That rule would have prevented the subpoena in Mr. Rosen’s case. He also made it harder for prosecutors to seize records in secret, as he did in the A.P. case. And he expanded that protection beyond phone records to cover emails and reporting work product, protections that did not exist previously.

But those guidelines extended protections only to journalists engaged in “ordinary news gathering.” That phrase was not defined. [..]

The rule revisions mean that as Mr. Holder prepares to leave office, he will leave behind internal rules offering journalists more protection from government intrusion than ever before. They were released the same week that the Justice Department decided, after a seven-year battle, not to subpoena James Risen, a reporter for The New York Times, to testify at a leak trial.

Those rules were in place until now.

Trump’s Justice Dept escalates its disturbing crackdown on leaks by seizing New York Times reporter’s phone and email records

by Trevor Timm, Executive Director of Freedom of the Press Foundation

In an aggressive escalation of its already disturbing crackdown on leaks, Trump’s Justice Department secretly obtained a year’s worth of phone calls and email records of Ali Watkins, a New York Times reporter who previously covered national security issues for Buzzfeed.

As the New York Times reported on Thursday evening:

Investigators sought Ms. Watkins’s information as part of an inquiry into whether James A. Wolfe, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s former director of security, disclosed classified secrets to reporters. F.B.I. agents approached Ms. Watkins about a previous three-year romantic relationship she had with Mr. Wolfe, saying they were investigating unauthorized leaks.

The phone and email records seized by the government, which Watkins was notified about after the fact and was therefore unable to challenge in court, included “those associated with her university email address from her undergraduate years,” according to the Times. [..]

At virtually the same time the New York Times story broke, the Justice Department announced it has indicted Wolfe for allegedly lying to investigators about his contact with reporters, but at least so far, has not charged him with leaking any alleged classified information.

The indictment of Wolfe released by DOJ—which, as always, should be taken with a huge grain of salt—mentions at least three other unidentified reporters. The indictment contains the content of conversations Wolfe allegedly had with multiple reporters on Signal, an encrypted messaging application. It’s unclear at this time whether those unidentified reporters had their phone and email records directly surveilled as well. [..]

While this is the first publicly known instance of the Trump administration directly surveilling a reporter to attempt to root out their source, there are undoubtedly others. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has previously stated the Justice Department has tripled the number of leak investigations since President Obama was in office and has talked about “revisiting” the agency’s media guidelines. These rules are intended to prevent the seizure of journalists’ communications records in all but extreme cases. [..]

Regardless, it certainly seems like the Justice Department may have violated these internal guidelines as part of this case, which require the Justice Department “exhaust” all other means of investigating before considering directly going after a journalist. As reporter Barton Gellman pointed out, it appears that investigators already had access to Wolfe’s phone, and by subpoenaing Watkins’ personal records, they almost certainly would be able to uncover other confidential sources.

The Wolfe indictment marks the third alleged source of journalists prosecuted by the Trump administration. All leak investigations — whether they directly target reporters or not — are a grave threat to press freedom. Whistleblowers are the lifeblood of reporting, and the Trump administration is directly attacking journalists’ rights by bringing these cases.

It should be pointed out that the targeting of journalists and their sources is not unique to Trump. As the New York Times also noted, “The seizure…suggested that prosecutors under the Trump administration will continue the aggressive tactics employed under President Barack Obama.”

Sadly, as we detailed when Trump was elected, President Obama’s Justice Department laid the groundwork for the current crackdown on leaks and journalism we are currently seeing from Trump and Sessions. Led by former Attorney General Eric Holder, the previous administration prosecuted more leak cases than all other previous administration combined.

Several of those cases involved directly spying on reporters by subpoenaing their phone lines, accessing the content of a journalist’s email, and other disturbing tactics that exposed travel records, financial records and more. The Obama-era Justice Department also gutted reporter’s privilege in the Fourth Circuit, home to many of the country’s intelligence agencies.

This is a direct assault on the press and the First Amendment in which our most precious freedoms where codified by Our Founding Fathers. Congress needs to start exercising its oversight and control of the Executive branch, in particular this one. Vote November 6 if you value our rights.

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