Showing posts with label Ukraine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ukraine. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 08, 2020

Trump’s Boneheaded Moves?


A DEN comment on a previous blog post (Why?) outlined what is alleged to be President Trump’s boneheaded moves (surprisingly, DEN didn’t call him a RACIST!)  I reproduce them below with my rebuttals in bold type. Doing this under the comments section would have been impractical.

STAND UP FOR AMERICA!


-Unilaterally abandoned a treaty with Iran that they were complying with.
Again it is NOT a treaty and, even in 2017, Iran was NOT complying ... see:  Center for Security Policy and, more recently, Iran is 3.5 months from A-bomb

-Started a trade war with China and others which has cost jobs, ruined farms and raised prices for Americans.
In February, a year after tariffs were installed and before Covid, unemployment rate was 3.5%, the lowest in history, see: CNBC Report ... and inflation is still a tiny 1% compared to the Fed’s target of 2%  ... see: Inflation Rate Calculator.

- destroyed our prestige and trust with other nations that were allies, made a laughing stock out of America, but mainly himself. No one except Putin wants to deal with him.
Panhandlers (like much of the EU) always love a sucker  ... and they don’t like to be called freeloaders ... but the head of NATO praises Trump ... see: USA Today article ... and he is a hero in much of the Middle East, Japan, the Ukraine, South America, the U.K. and now, Serbia and Kosovo. The only reason Putin sucks up to Trump, despite all the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia, is because he is rightfully scared of China. Trump is putting a stop to our being the world’s police force. Is this not a good thing?

- Gave a phony tax cut that mainly benefited large corps and rich people. 
First, they were real, not phony ... and, specifically, the corporate cuts did boost the economy. If they benefitted the wealthy it was only away from high-tax states like California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, etc, ... see: Washington Times article. Why are so many plutocrats moving out of these states? (Even after Gov. Cuomo offers to cook them dinner?)

- Has fired anyone who disagrees with him, gutting the competence of government leaders.
Trump has lived through a lot of Deep State leaks and subterfuge. He obviously tolerated a lot of disagreement but when subordinates actively worked against his policies (and they were rife) then they are shown the door. If anything, he has been too slow in this housecleaning.

- Put up a phony wall that can be breached with a power saw.
Sour grapes. Cutting through the wall with a saw takes a lot more time than stepping over a line. And there are sensors in the wall that alert authorities to any breach so that they can counterdict. There have now been build 216 miles of real (not phony) wall ... see: FoxNews Story ... with 700 more to go.

- Failed to take the pandemic seriously, proffered snake oil solutions. Never assumed responsibility for anything.
 Were you watching any of the Covid press conferences? It WAS the Trump administration, namely Fauci et al, who screwed the pooch by being on both sides of every issue. Trump is a natural optimist ... not a scientist and he made the mistake of putting too much faith in these incompetent bureaucrats ... and often had to cover for them. The CDC and NIH performed badly before and during this pandemic ... but Trump marshaled private industry and the drug companies only like a real businessman could. If you believe Biden could have done any better, you are a DNC ventriloquist’s dummy.

- Pulled troops out of Syria and betrayed Kurdish allies.
Did pulling out 50 US military advisors in northern Syria allow Turkey to destroy the Kurds there? Absolutely not! Biden is not raising this issue because it doesn’t exist. You need to read and study more. See: NY Post article.

- ignored Putin's bounty on US servicemen.
More silly fake news like The Atlantic canard ... designed to peel away military votes. Why on earth would he do this? Because Russia loaned his company money back in 1992? 

- encouraged supporters to vote twice, hired a guy with no experience to reduce USPS capabilities.
Not true. He said if North Carolina voters voted well in advance by mail, they should check to see if the their votes had been tallied. He didn’t single out Republicans. And the new head of the USPS is a logistics expert (see: Wikipedia Entry) ... and the post office is primarily a logistics business ... which badly needs to innovate.

- Solicited foreign influence. Bribed the Ukranian leader to dig dirt on Biden (this was proven but would not vote to impeach) Has undermined confidence in elections.
If anyone bribed the Ukrainian leadership, it was Biden. The Democrat impeachment case against Trump didn’t even charge that he had colluded ... don’t you remember? If Trump was charged with colluding and proven guilty, would any discussions between foreign leaders ever be possible in the future?

- refuses to show his taxes which would reveal chummy relations with Russians
You are guessing again. If there is anything illegal in Trump’s tax returns, it is for the tax courts and maybe the NY DA and grand jury to decide ... not the corrupt American media.

- could not find a replacement for ACA but would have dumped millions of people off health care just to spite Obama.
So far Trump has only eliminated the unfair individual mandate and penalty in Obamacare ... a very popular move. His other reforms were scuttled by a spiteful John McCain. Can you honestly say that your health care has gotten better or cheaper after ACA was passed? I certainly can’t.

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Bombshell?


Here is a possible bombshell you won’t see on CNN, MSNBC ... or any alphabet network for that matter.


STAND UP FOR AMERICA!

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Headlines


Schiff: Supporters of rule of law ‘nauseated’ at Trump letting Roger Stone go free

Florida reports more than 15,000 new coronavirus cases, shattering record

Coronavirus expert predicts Americans will be wearing masks ‘for several years’

Mitt Romney on Trump commuting Stone’s sentence: ‘Historic corruption’

HHS testing chief: We do expect deaths to go up

Election officials fear voting changes will confuse voters in November

Trump, Pence both have higher favorability ratings than Congressional leaders

Rifle seized from St. Louis couple who defended home with guns

Iran blames errors for [Ukrainian] jet shoot down

Mueller speaks out on Stone clemency: ‘He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so’

Portland is a war zone: Driver shoots his way out of danger as rioters surrounded car

PA Democrat calls to remove Gettysburg‘s Confederate statues

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Headlines


Trump allies see a mounting threat: Biden’s rising evangelical support

U.S. reports 30,000 daily coronavirus cases, highest number since May 1

AOC brags that Trump’s Tulsa turnout was sabotaged by ‘teens on TIKTOK’

Black preacher to BLM: ‘Planned Parenthood #1 killer of blacks’

Schiff hopes ousted U.S. attorney testifies before Congress

Coronavirus cases spike in Alabama: ‘We are extremely concerned about these numbers’

Experts say that judge’s ruling opens the door for Bolton to be sued or prosecuted

Pollak: ‘The 2020 election is now about China’

Former Ukrainian president says Biden never pressed him on Burisma

The demise of American malls could deal a blow to the towns that depend on them

Trump tells Xi and Modi he would act as mediator in China-India border conflict if necessary

One dead, 11 injured in Minneapolis shooting

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Headlines


Poll: Majority says Biden’s son Ukrainian job was inappropriate

Coronavirus update’ China tries to get back to work, Beijing sets 14-day quarantine rule for new arrivals

CDC: [Coronavirus] Could last into next year ...

Coronavirus exposes China’s monopoly on medical supplies, drugs

Trump says he might stop letting others listen in on his calls with world leaders

Consumer spending rose modestly in January as clothing sales fell by the most since 2009

Barr and Trump spar ... Stop the tweets ... ‘Not going to be bullied!’

Gun-free Britain: Nearly 10,000 ‘gun crimes’ committed in one year

McConnell forces Senate votes on anti-abortion bills

Delta Airlines CEO announces the carrier will go ‘fully carbon neutral’ next month

Poll: Mike leads Dems in Florida ...

German economy slumps, exports fall, underlines Eurozone woes

Sunday, February 02, 2020

Headlines


Did Warren get her campaign wrong in Iowa?

Delta, American will suspend China flights as coronavirus outbreak spreads

Poll: Amy pops to third in Iowa

Rand Paul reveals impeachment question censored by John Roberts

Stacey Abrams says she will be president by 2040

Amazon joins trillion dollar club again after knockout earnings report

Starr: Beware the revenge impeachment ...

Brexit day: Sadiq Khan ‘heartbroken’ that Britain is finally leaving the EU

Pompeo, in Ukraine, denies charges central to Trump’s impeachment trial

Consumer sentiment ticks up as unemployment remains around 50-year lows

Dershowitz quits trial ...

Mike Pompeo: Communist China is ‘central threat of our time’

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Headlines


Schiff: Trump lawyers ‘definitely afraid’ of impeachment witnesses

How coronavirus is beginning to hit China’s economy

Virus strengthening ... Death toll rise ... 56 million quarantined

Confusion: Joe [Biden] contradicts Dem witnesses on Ukrainian scandal ...

Dershowitz: Democrats ‘completely failed’ to make case for Trump’s impeachment

Sanders leads New Hampshire Democrat primary less than three weeks out

Romney: ‘It’s very likely I’ll be in favor of witnesses’ ...

VA House committee passes gun control measures

Trump moves to gut Obama housing discrimination rules

The market’s valuation, momentum and speculative activity is nowhere near as extreme as in 1999

USA warns: Can’t evacuate all Americans from coronavirus epicenter ...

Macron begs USA to keep troops in Africa

Monday, January 27, 2020

Today’s Poser


Apparently the National Security Council has had a copy of John Bolton’s book for security review since the end of December. How come that Bolton’s comments about the Trump linkage between Ukrainian aid and its investigating of the Burisma/Biden scandal was leaked to the New York Times and not to Trump’s legal defense team? Is this a perfect validation of the Deep State?


Afterthought: And was this Deep State created when Obama made hundreds of his political appointments into protected civil servants right before he left office?

Thursday, January 23, 2020

The Defense


I here imagine myself the lead Trump defense lawyer, Jay Sekulow, and would lay out his defense in the Senate impeachment trial as follows:

First, I would set up what Biden had been up to after Obama put him in charge of the Ukraine portfolio. And then how his son, Hunter, was appointed to the Burisma board of directors at $83,000 per month. And then how the Ukraine attorney general was starting to look into this Burisma corruption.

Next I would play the above Joe Biden video where he brags about how he withheld $1 billion of US loan guarantees to the Ukraine unless and until this attorney general was fired ... which he, “son of a bitch,” promptly was.

Next, I would offer, on video, a professional actors’ re-enactment of the two phone calls between Trump and the Ukraine’s new president, Zelensky

Then, as a contrast, I would play Schiff’s reading of this famous July 25th call which was a blatant misrepresentation.

Then I would offer the videos from Schiff’s Intelligence Committee hearings ... in particular the embarrassing queries to the no-fact witnesses who were asked if they knew of any Trump crimes or impeachable offenses ... and no one replied in the affirmative. To be followed by the only fact-witness, Ambassador Sondland, relating Trump’s response when he was asked what he wanted, “I want nothing, no quid pro quo. Tell Zelensky to do what he promised to do to get elected.” And that the US aid was shortly forthcoming.

Then, I would show what the Constitution writers wanted impeachment to be ... using Dershowitz’s explanation why maladministration was not impeachable. Followed by excerpts of the Ken Starr interview on impeachment with Mark Levin. And then, Professor Jonathan Turley s House Judiciary Committee’s testimony pointing out that the Democrats’ impeachment process was the real abuse of power.

Finally, I would present 10 to 20 videos of the House managers calling for Trump’s impeachment ... all before his famous July 25th phone call with Zelensky.

All told, this defense could be wrapped up in just one 8-hour day.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Today’s Poser


If (maybe I should say when) Trump is re-elected in November, can he then finally put the squeeze on Zelensky to clean up the rampart corruption in the Ukraine by holding back on U.S. aid?

Friday, January 17, 2020

Dueling Conspiracies (Part 3)

Parnas and Giuliani

Stayed up last night to watch more Lev Parnas on the Rachael Maddow Show. Her interview only made this whole Ukrainian farce even murkier. Here are a few takeaways:

- Rudy Giuliani has lost a lot off of his fastball to have trusted this man who, at the drop of an indictment, switched sides. The motto of the Ukraine must be “duplicity” ... for everyone there seems infected. Rudy once knew how to handle the New York mafia. But they were pikers next to the Ukrainians.

- My guess was that Parnas was lying about every third utterance. But, like any good liar, he said enough credible things to be convincing. He clearly was playing to the prosecutors in the Southern District of New York for leniency in his money laundering and illegal political contributions charges,

- It is very doubtful that Ambassador Marie Yovanovich was ever in any physical jeopardy. Maddow neglected to mention that she was recalled the very night before Zelensky was inaugurated as the Ukraine’s new president. This obviously was significant.

- Parnas did say ... believably, and because of dirt supplied by him ... that Trump tried to fire Ambassador Yovanovich a number of times only to be thwarted by the Deep State at the State Department. How Trump has prevailed in all that he has accomplished ... against the entrenched bureaucracy, disinclined to even get him a cup of coffee ... tells me he is a remarkable manager.

- Last observation: If the Senate calls witnesses like Parnas and opens up this whole Ukraine corruption can of worms, Trump’s impeachment trial will last at least until June ... in order to sort through all this bleep.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Dueling Conspiracies


My liberal lunch buddies asked me today that, if Trump, or Giuliani as directed by Trump, wanted to have former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovich killed, would I be in favor of removing Trump from office? My answer, “Of course.”

Where did this newest Trump-derangement conspiracy theory come from? Apparently, all my lib friends have already totally swallowed this bait, hook, sinker, line, reel and rod. So I am forced to try to plumb the web to find any possible facts behind this newest mudball. (Has anyone noticed that the syncopated timing of these anti-Trump revelations from Adam Schiff ... drip, drip, drip ... to me, seems very suspicious and conspiratorial.)

I first went to the Snopes truth-tellers site ... see: Snopes Discussion ... nothing but a bland, biased AP  story. Next I emailed my lunch buddies for help and got back these three references: The HillThe Intercept and Palmer Report ... all of which I read (with difficulty). And, in order to follow this discourse, I’m afraid you should too.

The key player in this melodrama is an Ukrainian named Lev Parnas. Above is a snippet from his interview with Rachael Maddow. I didn’t know to watch the whole thing ... but a lunch buddy did and here are his comments:
Just saw Rachael Madow interview with Lev Parnas.  He implicates Giuliani, Trump, Pence and even Barr in the circle of conspirators who were trying to get Zelinski to open a Biden investigation.  No explanation for why Ukraine never made the desired announcement. 
As for the Ambassador, Parnas apologized  to Ambassador Yovanovich for his role in getting her fired for blocking the Biden probe. Important to note:  Parnas says the Hyde threats were never taken seriously, as Hyde was "constantly drunk."Thus he discredits the report that she was in danger.
His reason for singing now:  He is under indictment for improper campaign contributions.  Maybe he hopes cooperating in this affair will help him get an easier sentence.  He implies that the more info becomes known, the safer he will be.  (Think Epstein).
Except for suggesting that Trump would kill Parnnas, pretty fair minded. More in another post.



Headlines


Senate may pass new trade deal before impeachment trial starts

Boeing posts negative commercial airplane orders in 2019 for the first time in decades

Pelosi moves ... Senate doesn’t have votes to dismiss

Mike Lee co-sponsors Sander’s bill to limit unilateral Iran action

Warren promises to cancel student loan debt using executive powers

Tesla rally sends Wall Street analysts scrambling to catch up

Poll: Biden moves to top in Iowa ...

DHS chief admits will not build 450-mile border wall by November

European powers trigger mediation over Iranian violations of nuclear deal

Apple refuses government request to unlock Pensacola shooting suspect’s iPhone

USA budget deficit running 11.8% higher this year ...

Chinese media: ‘No excuse’ for Iran to shoot down Ukrainian airplane

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Headlines


Booker drops out of presidential race

Iran is closer ‘than ever before’ to regime collapse, says former Obama security advisor

Fight for Bolton testimony echoes Lewinsky ...

Report: Bernie Sanders told Warren that a woman can’t win in 2020

New poll shows Biden leading Dem field in Iowa

US will remove China from currency manipulator list ahead of trade deal signing

Queen agrees ‘period of transition’ [for Harry and Megham] ...

Dem group began investigating Trump-Ukraine long before whistleblower

Trump attacks Bloomberg on healthcare with misleading claim

Trump authorized Soleimani’s killing 7 months ago, with conditions

Will alleged CIA misbehavior set Assange free?

Trump taunts Cory Booker for ending campaign ...

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Headlines


Pelosi not budging on impeachment articles

Iran missile appears to have shot down Ukrainian-bound Boeing airliner

Impeachment trial next week?

Donald Trump blames Barack Obama for helping fund Iran missiles

Lawmakers approve Brexit bill, U.K. on course for January 31 exit

CEO confidence in the economy appears to have cratered, while consumers believe things are OK

Israel unveiled ‘laser sword’ to ward off threats ...

Court releases $3.6 billion for border wall

Trump says Soleimani was planning to blow up U.S. embassy

Jail video of Jeffery Epstein’s first suicide attempt was deleted, prosecutors reveal

Fed pumps $83 billion more ...

5 states craft measures to prevent transgender sports chaos


Friday, December 13, 2019

Interesting Timing


That famous phone call between President Trump and the new president of the Ukraine, Zelensky, took place on July 25th of this year. In this call Trump has been accused of trying to diminish his 2020 election opponent Joe Biden. However, Biden did not formally announce that he was running for the presidency until one month later, August 25th ... about the time that the whistleblower was blowing in the ear of Rep. Adam Schiff.

Interesting ...

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

The Senate Trial


President Donald J. Trump will shortly be impeached in the House ... and early next year he will be tried in the Senate. There are really only two plausible scenarios for this Senate trial’

1)  Open all the windows, call all the relevant witnesses and air all the attempted cabal dirty linen in front of the American people on live television. This is the type of trial that Trump is vehemently requesting.

2) Follow possible Mitch McConnell’s lead and short-circuit everything to keep things quick, terse and perfunctory ... with no real intention to deal with all the issues surrounding the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, the Mueller Report, the involvement of foreign intelligence agencies and the whole Ukraine brouhaha.

Now, both options will lead to Trump’s exoneration ... but my suspicion is that the second scenario will be what transpires. And the obvious question is why?

Kind reader, if this prediction does come true, it will likely be because of Ukraine and its history of corruption and payoffs. We now know that the prior Ukraine administrations were putrid to their eyeballs and did buy off Obama’s Ukraine point man, Joe Biden ... by slipping over $3 million of legal graft to his son Hunter.

The question then answers itself —- how many other US politicians benefited from Ukraine grease? And in particular, how many Senators (McConnell? Blumenthal? Feinstein? Graham? Schumer? Leahey? etc.) might be implicated if wide-ranging testimony is allowed in Trump’s Senate trial? (Not an original thought,)

This would be the most obvious reason for trial brevity. And it might also allow the Dems to claim GOP bias to negate the obvious Democrat show hearings in the House. You might even see some Dem Senators voting for quick acquittal for this very reason.

Curious!

Saturday, December 07, 2019

Headlines


‘No choice’: Pelosi proceeds with articles of impeachment

‘Don’t mess with me’: Nancy Pelosi rips reporter who asks if she hates Trump

Melania slams [Nadler]  witness who joked about Baron’s name ...

Biden sides with world leaders mocking Trump: ‘The world is laughing’

U.S. envoy to Iran says as many as 1,000 protesters killed in government crackdown

Elizabeth Warren is preparing a plan to ban mega mergers, allow gig workers to unionize

NKorea: ‘Very dangerous’ if Trump calls Kim ‘Rocket Man’ again ...

Hillary Clinton dismisses lesbian rumors on Howard Stern

John Kerry throws his support behind Biden

‘Damn liar’ — Joe Biden blasts Iowa voter, calls him ‘fat’ after Ukraine accusation

Iran secretly moving missiles into Iraq ...

U.S. factory orders rebound

Friday, December 06, 2019

Abuse of Power


For the sake of this discussion, let us assume that President Trump was seeking political advantage by asking the Ukraine to investigate its interference in the 2016  presidential election and Joe Biden’s possible quid pro quo in getting his son appointed to the Board of Directors of Burisma at $83K per month. This request,  according to the Democrats, is abuse of power ... in that Trump was trying to influence the results of the upcoming presidential election by demeaning a potential opponent.

Now, carry this charge forward to today ... are Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler also trying to influence the next election by investigating and accusing Trump of all sorts of wrongdoing ... using their impeachment process? Of course!

Ergo, the Democrats are engaged in exactly the same supposed malign process that they are trying to impeach Trump with ... from which it is pretty certain he will be acquitted. But this process is intended to leave a political stain ... obviously designed to damage Trump’s chances next November. Why would one be wrong and not the other? Should Pelosi, Schiff and Nadler also be impeached for their sinister abuse of power?

Headlines


Hillary Clinton on Lindsey Graham: ‘It’s like he had a brain snatch’

Next year will be hard on the housing market, especially in some big cities

Turley: ‘Even my dog seems mad’ ...

Jonathan Turley: ‘This is not the way you impeach an American president’

China denounces ‘political’ attack on Huawei by Pompeo

Trump lawyer Giuliani travels to Europe to meet ex-Ukrainian prosecutors, report says

Hillary had coughing fit on Howard Stern ...

Judiciary Democrats block motion to subpoena the ‘whistleblower’

Trump threatens to punish Germany over military spending

Trump abruptly cancels NATO news conference as summit turns sour

Now Trump caught on hot mic gossiping about Trudeau?

Turley warns Congress on impeachment for ‘obstruction’: ‘It’s your abuse of power’