The 155th Weak of Here we Go Again!

[JackLuis]

Dem House counsel alerts judges more Trump articles of impeachment could come: ‘There’s no doubt’

Doug Letter, the lead counsel representing the House in a pair of cases seeking to compel information and testimony relating to former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, told a federal appeals court on Friday that the House is seriously considering impeaching President Donald Trump again, according to Business Insider.

“That is on the table. There’s no doubt,” Letter reportedly told a three-judge appellate panel. He also added that his comments had been approved beforehand by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

According to Business Insider, one of the cases is seeking grand jury material from Mueller’s investigation, and the other is seeking a court order for former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions about whether Trump obstructed the Russia probe.

The House has already impeached Trump on one article of abuse of power, relating to his efforts to use military aid to extort Ukraine into announcing an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden’s family, and one article of obstruction of Congress, relating to his blanket order to his subordinates to refuse to cooperate with congressional subpoenas.

 

[JackLuis]

Attorney who sued Bush over Iraq war says US assassination of Suleimani was a ‘violation of human rights law’

An attorney who sued George W. Bush over the 2003 invasion of Iraq said Saturday that the U.S. assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani on orders from President Donald Trump constitutes an “act of aggression” and a violation of international law.

Comar argued the U.S. assassination of Soleimani fits two distinct International Criminal Court (ICC) definitions of “aggression.”

There are two important ICC definitions of aggression that are relevant here. First, an act of aggression can be, “an attack by the armed forces of a State on the land, sea or air forces, or marine and air fleets of another State”—in other words, attacking another state’s military. The killing of Soleimani would seem to fall under this definition, as he was a high-ranking military official in Iran…

The second important definition from the ICC identifies aggression as, “the use of armed forces of one State which are within the territory of another State with the agreement of the receiving State, in contravention of the conditions provided for in the agreement or any extension of their presence in such territory beyond the termination of the agreement.” In other words, armed forces lawfully in a third party’s country suddenly acting unlawfully and in breach of the agreement may constitute aggression.

Yes, Donnie has stepped in it now, just as BHO did in Yemen. While it is now traditional for CIC's to just blow the shit out of Shit Hole Countries on a whim, there is still the Law to contend with. BHO was charming enough to skate, but Donnie is... well, not as charming.

 

[JackLuis]

Expert warns: With the US and Iran on the brink of war, the dangers of Trump’s foreign policy become clear

President Donald Trump’s policy toward Iran is in deep crisis. The president’s approach has the support neither of America’s allies nor of its strategic rivals, China and Russia. And his policy — made even more confrontational by the shooting of a high-ranking Iranian official — has boxed him into a situation where, short of dramatic reversal, Washington and Tehran are edging close to war.

Has America become a Rouge State?

 

[JackLuis]

Trump allies conveniently change their minds about the ‘deep state’ now that they need it to justify Suleimani killing

One of the most abiding fixtures of President Donald Trump allies’ segments on TV was to blast the so-called “Deep State,” their imagined secret cabal of intelligence community officials loyal to the Democratic Party, who run a shadow government policy and work to bring down Trump’s presidency from within.

Blaming the Deep State for the Deep Shit Trumpikins is in now!

 

[JackLuis]

Trump won’t get a boost by wagging the dog — and that’s not just because of partisanship

But Trump, and a significant share of the conservative commentariat, are deluding themselves in their belief that assassinating Iranian commander Qassim Suleimani will benefit the president* politically next year. This can go one of two ways: Either it escalates into a broader conflict and young Americans once again begin coming home from the Middle East in body bags, or Iran finds ways to retaliate against us that allow cooler heads to prevail and averts a shooting war. In the first scenario, Trump betrays a key campaign promise and loses some of his less fervent supporters, and in the second, the strike is forgotten in the deluge of outrageous news that has marked the Trump era. Nobody remembered the airstrikes he ordered against Syria a month after the fact.

Has Trumpski put a target on our Sec Def? Or would Iran target our AG to obliterate the real strength of Trumpski's regime?

 

[JackLuis]

Nancy Pelosi Not Letting Mitch McConnell Get Away With That Sh*t

You know Mitch McConnell is about to lie his shell off when he gets on the Senate floor and starts talking about the "framers" and the noble institution of the Senate. McConnell rendered the Senate radioactive yet dares to feign horror over hyperpartisanship.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put a freeze on the articles of impeachment until McConnell agrees to an actual trial and not a rigged frat house initiation for Donald Trump. This hurts McConnell's feelings, and he decided to lecture us today about what the Constitution's noble slave-owning authors intended.

 

[JackLuis]

A Very Familiar Report: The Trump Administration Had Only 'Razor Thin' Evidence To Justify Soleimani Strike

Picture it: The United States, 2002. When we invaded Iraq, after some people from places that were not Iraq attacked the World Trade Center, based on the claim that they had "Weapons of Mass Destruction" that, it turned out, did not actually exist. Thousands of Americans killed or injured, tens of thousands of Iraqis — both military and civilian — killed, because the President had daddy issues and was suuuuuper excited to go to war, and no one wanted to tell him "no" because he just had his little heart set on it.

Once again, we have another spoiled rotten President with daddy issues and an unrelenting thirst for power possibly embarking on his own stupid war in the Middle East. And oh what luck! He's using the official Authorization for Use of Military Force from the previous stupid war to justify the drone assassination strike on Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani. And his Vice President is even trying to claim that this had something to do with the World Trade Center attack, hoping that screaming "9/11" will still have the magic power it once did to get people to let the executive branch do whatever the hell it wants.

Once again, it appears that we have attacked a country in the Middle East on almost no evidence.

Donnie don't need evidence, he KNOWS more than all the IC and DOD pukes!

 

[JackLuis]

MSNBC anchor goes scorched earth on Pence for ‘deliberate lie’ accusing Iran of 9/11 attack: ‘A low point in American politics’

An MSNBC segment on Vice President Mike Pence’s tweet trying to pin the blame on the 9/11 attack on Iran, saw Donald Trump’s second-in-command get burned to the ground by “First Look” host Ayman Mohyeldin who called it a “low point in American politics.”

Speaking with Joy Reid on Saturday morning’s “AM Joy,” Mohyeldin went on an extended attack on Pence for the tweet that he called demonstrably wrong.

Mike is scraping the bottom of the barrel for excuses.

 

[JackLuis]

Boris Johnson deploys the Royal Navy to the Persian Gulf after Trump’s assassination attack sparks fear of war

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced on Saturday that the United Kingdom was deploying two warships to the Persian Gulf to protect British-flagged ships.

“I have instructed preparations for HMS Montrose and HMS Defender to return to accompanying duties of Red Ensign Shipping,” Wallace said, according to CNN.

“The government will take all necessary steps to protect our ships and citizens at this time.”

Showing the Flag in the Gulf, proving that Briton's don't fuck around, even if they have no Aircraft Carriers.

Meanwhile I expect the US fleet is on or going on station SSW of Iran as we watch Donnie fumble through his weakend.

 

[JackLuis]

Trump chose ‘the most extreme’ action against Iran — after watching TV during Mar-a-Lago vacation: NYT

How President Donald Trump decided to assassinate Iranian General Qassim Suleimani in Iraq was the focus of a bombshell New York Times report published Saturday evening.

“In the chaotic days leading to the death of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Iran’s most powerful commander, top American military officials put the option of killing him — which they viewed as the most extreme response to recent Iranian-led violence in Iraq — on the menu they presented to President Trump,” the newspaper reported.

“They didn’t think he would take it. In the wars waged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Pentagon officials have often offered improbable options to presidents to make other possibilities appear more palatable,” the newspaper explained.

Trump, however, choose the option anyway after watching TV at Mar-a-Lago, where he’s been vacationing since January 20.

“After initially rejecting the Suleimani option on Dec. 28 and authorizing airstrikes on an Iranian-backed Shia militia group instead, a few days later Mr. Trump watched, fuming, as television reports showed Iranian-backed attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad, according to Defense Department and administration officials,” The Times reported. “By late Thursday, the president had gone for the extreme option. Top Pentagon officials were stunned.”

Suleimani pissed off Donnie one time too many. Now will the Iraqis still allow us the use of the bases in Iraq?

Trumpski has already pissed off the Sheia and the Kurds, and the Sunnis don't like him all that much anyway... so WTF?

 

[JackLuis]

Iraq parliament demands US troop ouster after Suleimani killing

Iraq’s parliament on Sunday urged the government to oust thousands of American troops from the country, stepping up pressure over the US killing of a top Iranian general in Baghdad.

US installations were also facing new military stresses, with missiles slamming into the Baghdad enclave where the US embassy is located and an airbase north of the capital housing American troops.

Iraq’s foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador, while caretaker premier Adel Abdel Mahdi attended an extraordinary parliamentary session to slam the strike as a “political assassination.”

“The parliament has voted to commit the Iraqi government to cancel its request to the international coalition for help to fight IS,” speaker Mohammed Halbusi announced.

The cabinet would have to approve any decision but the premier had earlier indicated support for an ouster.

"Go Home Yankee!" seems to be trending now. Thanks Donnie!

 

[JackLuis]

Trump’s threat to commit war crimes against Iran could push GOP lawmakers towards impeachment ouster: CNN analyst

Appearing on CNN’s “New Day” early Sunday morning, contributor Lynn Sweet explained that Donald Trump’s Saturday night threat to launch attacks on Iranian cultural sites and institutions is the very definition of a war crime and may push some reluctant GOP lawmakers to consider taking the president’s impeachment more seriously.

Speaking with host Victor Blackwell, Sweet said Trump’s threatening tweets and saber-rattling on Twitter likely will give some Republican senators pause.

Pentagon officials would revolt against ‘catastrophic’ Trump order to bomb Iran mosques: ISIS expert

Asked about the president’s tweet, Weiss began, ” I hope to god he didn’t mean cultural sites. That would constitute a grave war crime.”

“I frankly don’t see the Pentagon bombing mosques and cultural institutions,” he continued. “The minute they did that any semblance of an argument that this is an attack on the regime and not on the Iranian people would evaporate overnight. That would be catastrophic.”

Yep!

 

[KeithD]

All too subtle for Trump to comprehend.

 

[JackLuis]

Conservative columnist drops mic on Pompeo Iran lies: Mending ‘the president’s ego is not an imminent threat’

In a scorching piece for the Washington Post, conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin ripped the Trump administration for claiming the assassination of Iranian leader Qassem Suleimani was required because of the “imminent threat” of a possible attack on America was in the planning stages.

Noting a Washington Post report that cast doubt on the White House claims, Rubin asked, “Was the killing aimed at deterring attacks in the future? Stopping a plot about to kill Americans? It strains credulity to believe that this move will de-escalate tensions as administration officials say they intended. The behind-the-scenes details do not make it sound as if this was based on specific knowledge of an imminent attack. It sounds — no surprise — like an effort to assuage Trump’s frail ego.”

PeeResident Trumpski is just Dog Wagging us into a war, so what's new?

 

[JackLuis]

Twitter slammed for letting Trump threaten to commit war crimes: ‘He’s using your network to start a war’

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was harshly criticized for allowing President Donald Trump to threaten to commit war crimes in Iran.

Longtime political analyst Charles Johnson, the founder of the blog Little Green Footballs, blasted Dorsey after Trump threatened to attack 52 Iranian sites — including cultural targets.

“What better place to make hyper-aggressive war threats than Twitter?” Johnson wrote.

PeeResidnet Trumpski Twatted and Twitter is blamed for letting him? What about the PeeResident's 1st Amendment rights? Donnie has a right to be as War Crimey as he wants to be!

 

[JackLuis]

Donald Trump’s own White House website explains he can’t declare war

President Donald Trump essentially declared war via Twitter on Sunday afternoon. He told Congress he was under no legal obligation to inform Congress that he was going to strike Iran or any other military actions.

“These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!” Trump tweeted.

But Trump’s own White House website explains that declaring war is not something the president can do.

“Established by Article I of the Constitution, the Legislative Branch consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which together form the United States Congress. The Constitution grants Congress the sole authority to enact legislation and declare war, the right to confirm or reject many Presidential appointments, and substantial investigative powers,” WhiteHouse.gov says, describing the powers authorized by the Constitution.

However Congress will not respond because they do not accept their responsibility to control the PeeResidents usurpation of power.

 

[JackLuis]

Trump’s aides are scared of John Bolton’s secret notes: report

Bolton drums up interest in his book.

A question is, will the Iranians push their luck?

Donnie took the opportunity to snuff the head of the IRG and Quds in Iraq. It was a bold step, but if Iran does fuck around some more, where will he strike next?

Targets in Iran are a lot more iffy. Trumpski will need a target that is significant in his next strike, he can't just blow up some nobody.


Trump administration violates agreement by blocking Iranian foreign minister from addressing UN Security Council

However if the Iranian Foreign Ministers plane vanished over the Atlantic... well who's to say it wasn't poor maintenance?

 

[phrodeau]

https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...an-pm-assistance-in-fighting-widespread-fires

Trump offers assistance to Australia for battling their bush fires.

A boatload of rakes will arrive in early February.

 

[JackLuis]

Donald Trump just put himself ‘in the company of some repugnant characters’: Historian

In a threat delivered over Twitter on Jan. 4, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he is prepared to “HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD” culturally important targets in Iran should the country retaliate for the American killing of its top general.

As a historian who has written about the medieval Islamic roots of the Islamic State group, I can tell you that by threatening Iran’s cultural heritage, Trump puts himself in the company of some repugnant characters.

History’s club of barbarians includes Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu, who planned the destruction of hundreds of his country’s picturesque villages and churches before he was deposed and executed in 1989.

Just days after the outbreak of war in 1914, German soldiers burned down the centuries-old Leuven library in neutral Belgium, along with its unique collection of books and manuscripts. The Belgians, with American help, rebuilt the library – only for it to be burned down for a second time 26 years later by the Nazis.

Donald the Douch, shows his colours!

 

[JackLuis]

‘Absolutely shameless’: Nikki Haley blasted for ‘irresponsible’ lie against Democrats to defend Trump

Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley received harsh criticism along for an attack against Democrats running for president in 2020 during a Monday appearance on Fox News.

Haley, the former Republican governor of South Carolina, was interviewed by Sean Hannity.

“The only ones mourning the loss of Soleimani are our Democrat leadership and our Democrat Presidential candidates,” Haley argued.

More dog wagging. Trump better have a plan for unconventional warfare, unlike the last 15 years.

 

[JackLuis]

Trump thought Suleimani’s death would personally benefit him — but it’s backfiring instead

IT’S BECOMING CLEARER by the hour. There was no legitimate reason for Donald Trump to order the military assassination of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani.

This article was originally published at The Editorial Board

The allegation that Soleimani was planning an offensive against Americans is turning out to be malarkey. That he deserved death isn’t reason enough. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama chose not to target him. They feared what might happen.
Report Advertisement

With Soleimani dead, ISIS is set for a comeback. Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad will regain lost strength. Iran says it will restart nuclear weapons development. Iraqi politicians are pushing for US troops to exit, leaving Kurdish allies to face threats of genocide.

Was one man worth all this? No.

It’s becoming clearer by the hour. Trump had his own reasons for assassinating Iran’s second most important political figure. Those reasons had little if anything to do with satisfying his oath to defend and protect the US against all enemies. Those reasons appear to be similar to the reasons he involved Ukraine’s president in an international conspiracy to defraud the American people. He stood to gain from both personally.

But this president and these Republicans depend for their success on the Democrats “playing by the rules.” That rule in this case is you never impeach a president twice. Well, Trump is no ordinary president, and there is no double jeopardy when it comes to impeachment. Anyway, it seems a round two would merely be an extension of round one. Trump abused his power for political gain once. He’s abusing it a second time. And he’ll keep abusing it until his last day in office.

 

[JackLuis]

Trump decided to assassinate Iranian leader after learning his other plan flopped: report

President Donald Trump’s decision to assassinate Iranian general Qassim Suleimani reportedly came after his own administration had determined that his “maximum pressure” campaign of economic sanctions against the country had failed to curtail the country’s military operations.

The Daily Beast reports that the Trump White House “hoped it could gain enough leverage with sanctions to deter Tehran’s military aggression,” but that officials had now “determined that the maximum pressure campaign had not changed Tehran’s behavior, at least not militarily.”

Trumpski tossed in 100 tomahawks for Assad, how many will he send to Iran?

 

[JackLuis]

Trump threatens Afghan armageddon

On February 4, 2002, a Predator drone circled over Afghanistan’s Paktia province, near the city of Khost. Below was al-Qaeda’s founder Osama bin Laden — or at least someone in the CIA thought so — and he was marked for death. As Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld put it later, both awkwardly and passively: “A decision was made to fire the Hellfire missile. It was fired.” That air-to-ground, laser-guided missile — designed to obliterate tanks, bunkers, helicopters, and people — did exactly what it was meant to do.

As it happened, though (and not for the first time in its history either), the CIA got it wrong. It wasn’t Osama bin Laden on the receiving end of that strike, or a member of al-Qaeda, or even of the Taliban. The dead, local witnesses reported, were civilians out collecting scrap metal, ordinary people going about their daily work just as thousands of Americans had been doing at the World Trade Center only months earlier when terror struck from the skies.

In the 18-plus years since U.S. forces invaded that same country in October 2001, the death toll has been far lower. Around 7,300 U.S. military personnel, contractors, and allied foreign forces have died there, as have 64,000American-allied Afghans, 42,000 opposition fighters, and 43,000 civilians, according to the Costs of War Project. If President Trump is to be believed, however, this body count is low only due to American restraint.

“I have plans on Afghanistan that, if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the Earth. It would be gone,” the president remarked prior to a July 2019 meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. “If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week. I just don’t want to kill 10 million people.” In September, he ramped up the rhetoric — and the death toll — further. “We’ve been very effective in Afghanistan,” he said. “And if we wanted to do a certain method of war, we would win that very quickly, but many, many, really, tens of millions of people would be killed.”

But will he Nuke Teheran?

 

[JackLuis]

Trump is ‘incomprehensibly abnormal’ — and the media is failing to warn Americans about the real dangers: columnist

Americans have now put up with President Donald Trump’s erratic behavior and overt narcissism for so long that we risk losing track of just how dangerous he is, writes New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie.

“It feels, at times, that when it comes to Donald Trump, our political class is… struggling to understand an incomprehensibly abnormal president,” Bouie argues in his latest column. “The reality of Donald Trump — an amoral narcissist with no capacity for reflection or personal growth — is evident from his decades in public life. But rather than face this, too many people have rejected the facts in front of them, choosing an illusion instead of the disturbing truth.”

“He is self-involved, unethical and unstable — a dangerous combination to have for the commander-in-chief of the world’s most powerful military forces,” he writes. “I think most observers know this. But the implications are terrifying… Fear of what Trump would do with the power of the presidency was so acute that his defenders actually urged critics to ignore his actual words in favor of symbolic understanding, to take him ‘seriously’ but not ‘literally.’ You can even understand the constant drive to normalize Trump as an attempt to turn away from the reality of what he is for fear of what it means. Somehow, we’re still doing it.”

But other than that, he's an asshole!!!!

 

[KeithD]

Who in the hell thinks there isn't media that's warning the American people about Trump? What there is is a Republican Congress, led by Moscow Mitch, living in denial for purely selfish reasons.