Day: November 8, 2017

Closing Thought–08Nov17

Yesterday Americans went to the polls in several states….and some think that the Trump agenda was on the line in these votes…..well the Dems came out smelling good after the tally was made official…….

Voters today chose -2 new Democratic governors -2 black lieutenant governors -2 transgender officials -A Black Lives Matter lawyer as DA in Philly -A Sikh mayor in Hoboken -A socialist in Virginia -To oust GOP mayor in Atlantic City -And to expand Medicaid in Maine.

Immediately the head of the DNC went on all news channels to laud the victories…..my advice is not so fast …..it is not 2018 and this could have been a fluke…..do not count too many eggs before they are hatched.

Dems had a good show at the polls but will it last thru 2018?

That is yet to be seen…..that the Dems have the staying power to win big in 2018.

Day is done…..I must be off like a dirty shirt…..see you beautiful people tomorrow….chuq

The Cowards Emerge

I have been saying for years that the US Congress is staffed by cowards…..and 3 of the biggest have merges from the House…..the biggest the mouth of Louie Gohmert……these twats are trying to do Trump’s bidding for him…..in this Mueller probe…..

In a sign of just how frustrated some in the GOP are with special counsel Robert Mueller after “indictment week,” three House Republicans introduced a measure Friday that would pressure Mueller to step down. The nonbinding measure, introduced by Reps. Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, and Louie Gohmert, would put the House on record as believing Mueller should resign because he’s unfit to lead the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Politico reports. Why? Due to “obvious conflicts of interest,” including his relationship with James Comey, who succeeded him at the FBI and was later ousted from his post by President Trump; among other things, Mueller is investigating whether anyone in the Trump administration obstructed justice during that ouster.

Per Fox News, the measure also makes note of Mueller’s supervision of a bribery probe when he was FBI director that involved a Russian nuclear-energy company that got approval from US government agencies to buy a Canadian energy company that had mining operations in the US. “Evidence has emerged that the FBI withheld information from Congress and from the American people about Russian corruption of American uranium companies,” Gaetz said in a statement wondering how the deal got US approval despite the bribery probe. The representatives say that’s another reason Mueller should recuse himself as special counsel, as his “impartiality is hopelessly compromised.” But, as multiple outlets including Business Insider note, most Republicans so far support keeping Mueller in place, including those in leadership positions.

Time for these d/bags to be primaried by real conservatives….replace these worthless toads with people that want the government to work the way it is suppose to work.

These guys are playing the usual worthless game they always play.

Once an idiot always an idiot.

 

Saudi Game Of Thrones

Recently the king of Saudi Arabia shook up the royal court by dropping his next in line in favor of a younger prince who some think will be a reformer.

We just days ago he decided to arrest many Saudi businessmen and princes to consolidate his position.

Saudi Arabia’s leadership has pulled off its boldest move yet to consolidate power around its young crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, arresting 11 senior princes, one of the country’s richest men and scores of former ministers in what it billed as a corruption purge.

The move sidelined at least 20 senior figures, among them outspoken billionaire, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, sending shockwaves through the ranks of the kingdom’s elites, who had long viewed senior royals as immune.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/05/royal-purge-shockwaves-saudi-arabia-elites-mohammed-bin-salman

Now the question remains just who did this upstart have arrested…….

In the dead of night, Saudi forces surrounded the compounds of several prominent princes across the Gulf kingdom, in a move to clamp down on corruption.

Under the auspices of the newly formed anti-corruption committee, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, prominent Saudi princes and businessmen are now being held in the lavish Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/Who-did-Prince-Salman-just-round-up-for-corruption-in-Saudi-Arabia-775706444

But if you are too lazy to read the link……these are the arrested perps…..

 Look closely do you see a familiar name?  Let me help….Bakr bin Laden….older brother of Osama (remember him?)
He has arrested and froze bank accounts of some of the most influential people in Saudi Arabia.
Now my question is….was the prudent thing to do?

The Trump “Tax Reform” Bill

Tax reform……(pause here for raucous laughter…..) It is NOT tax reform it is tax cuts for the rich….selling it anyway you choose it is tax cuts for the rich….working people are just a slogan that will see NOTHING substantial out of these tax cuts.  And yet they buy the manure being spread by Ryan, McConnell and the rest of the ilk in the GOP…..

Republicans finally unveiled their tax reform legislation Thursday with a draft bill that would dramatically cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy.

GOP legislators generally stuck to their already released framework for the legislation: lowering individual and corporate tax rates while eliminating most individual deductions. But they also showed a willingness to jettison major aspects of their plan in order to get a bill through Congress.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republican-tax-bill_us_59fb289fe4b0b0c7fa387e8f

This GOP bill is repugnant because it is lying to the hard working people they are pretending to protect…….

It is once again “plug your nose week” on Capitol Hill as House Republicans have released their tax bill with sweeping odious overhauls that steal away benefits for the poor and middle-class to pay for massive tax cuts for the most wealthy and largest corporations.

It is once again plug your nose week on Capitol Hill as House Republicans have released their tax bill with sweeping odious overhauls that steal away benefits for the poor and middle-class to pay for massive tax cuts for the most wealthy and largest corporations.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) declared, “The bill’s like a dead fish: The more it hangs out in the sunlight, the stinkier it gets. The more people learn about this bill, the less they’re going to like it.” This was after learning of a quiet revision on Friday by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) that, “reduces the value of the tax cuts for ordinary Americans by $89 billion over 10 years compared with the legislation released with fanfare Thursday.”

In a press conference House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi blasted Republicans following the unveiling of their tax bill, “Get real. Don’t tell the middle class this is for them. You’ve set a banquet for the wealthy and corporate America and thrown a few crumbs to the middle class. It’s really making suckers of the American people.”

(politicususa,com)

You really want to know who this tax reform will benefit?

President Trump’s inner-circle may be among the biggest beneficiaries of his proposed tax bill that would allow multinational corporations to bring massive offshore holdings back to the mainland at a one-time low-rate.

Several Trump officials — including key writers of the proposed tax reform bill being sped through Congress — have their own investments or were involved in the decision to keep company profits sheltered overseas, according to a report from the Guardian, which was part of an international coalition of journalists who obtained leaked documents called the Paradise Papers.

Among the various advisors and cabinet members in Trump’s administration identified in the reporting are:

https://thinkprogress.org/gop-tax-reform-offshore-holdings-aae3b60f62ec/

Rich people benefit and hard working Americans get the shaft as always when the GOP has an idea on “Tax Reform”…..why do we allow this bullshit to happen ?

Update–After writing this draft word has come down that the tax bill has a compromise…..

Congressional Republicans released their proposal for tax reform on Nov. 2, and it included major provisions with implications for every American taxpayer.

Changes to individual and corporate tax rates, the boosting of the standard deduction, and the elimination of many popular itemized deductions have garnered a lot of attention from policymakers. Yet by the time most people read about these provisions, there’s a risk that they’ll be out of date, because lawmakers are making further revisions to the proposal at breakneck speed in order to keep proponents onboard and boost the chance of eventual passage.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2017/11/07/forget-the-original-republican-tax-plan-its-already-changed/107416020/

But wait…….ther’s more……

“In the world of conservative thought, few issues are as popular as tax reform. It’s an accepted truth, by nearly anyone on the right, that the tax code is too complicated for an average citizen to understand and too laden with loopholes to be fair. Beyond the structure of the code itself it’s a fairly standard conservative view that taxes themselves are unjust, that government should not be confiscating a large chunk of our hard-earned pay and they certainly shouldn’t then be helping themselves to additional taxes after that first take. In a perfect conservative world there would either be no taxes at all or a tax which would be simple to understand, a flat tax or the Fair Tax. But we don’t live in that perfect conservative world and so we recognize that tax policy, while still being burdensome, complicated and unfair, is used to achieve various societal objectives.” (11/07/17)

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/11/07/im-conservative-and-hate-republican-tax-plan.html

Note:  I apologize for posting the urls but since WP has eliminated the “Press This” it is the best I can do to get the info to my reader….sorry for the inconvenience……chuq

Our Man In South Korea

Trump has left Japan and now he enters into South Korea…..of course this whole trip is billed as some sort of journey to put forth his desire to end North Korea’s run up to nukes and a delivery system….but it looks like he will be met with some opposition…

A coalition of more than 200 South Korean civic groups have announced plans to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s escalation of nuclear tensions with North Korea during his scheduled visit to Seoul next week.

The protests are expected to draw thousands, and will kick off with a “No Trump, No War People’s Rally” outside the U.S. Embassy in South Korea’s capitol city on Saturday, Nov. 4, ahead of Trump’s arrival on Nov. 7 for a two-day visit. The coalition has also planned a candlelight vigil at Gwanghwamun Square for Nov. 7 and a protest outside the National Assembly building, during Trump’s address to parliament on Nov. 8.

In a statement announcing details about the president’s trip to Asia, the White House said, “The President’s engagements will strengthen the international resolve to confront the North Korean threat and ensure the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

(commondreams.org)

Not everybody is buying the manure Trump is spreading……

The protesters plan to “call on the U.S. to stop threatening to start a war, putting pressure on the North, and forcing the South to buy American-made weapons,” the Korea Herald reports, noting:

They also want the withdrawal of the US Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system, which they say caters only to U.S. interests while widening the divide between South Korea and China. China, which believes the system’s radar could be used to spy on its territory, has taken what appear to be retaliatory actions against Korea, such as restrictions on Korean firms’ businesses in China.

They also want the abolishment of the Korea-U.S. bilateral trade deal, which the two countries have recently begun to renegotiate at Trump’s urging, saying the trade deal only benefits the U.S. and disadvantages Korea, especially local farmers.

That is what I’m talking about….TAKING IT TO THE STREETS!

Good from them….it warms my heart to see that there are those that still know how to protest….we Americans should learn how to make our point through protest….a lost art form in the US.

Fearless Leader has moved on from Japan and is now in South Korea…..and in true from spouting crap that his mind thinks of when he walks in front of a mike……

President Trump is in South Korea—and he hasn’t repeated his rhetoric about bringing “fire and fury” down on its northern neighbor. In a joint press conference with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in, Trump said he’d seen a “lot of progress” in dealing with Pyongyang and urged the country to make a deal to end its nuclear weapons program, the AP reports. “It makes sense for North Korea to come to the table and make a deal that is good for the people of North Korea and for the world,” Trump said. “I do see certain movement.” Moon added that the two leaders had agreed to resolve the North Korea nuclear issue in a peaceful manner.

Trump arrived in South Korea, the second country on his five-nation Asia trip, at the Camp Humphreys military base 40 miles south of Seoul, the Washington Post reports. He had lunch with American troops in a mess hall on the base before speaking with military commanders, telling them: “Ultimately, it will all work out. It always works out.” Trump will address the South Korean National Assembly on Wednesday, and aides say he’s likely to denounce North Korea’s human rights abuses. Bloomberg reports that Moon’s administration has its differences with Trump over issues including trade and North Korea, though the South Korean leader praised Trump for making “America great again” at the start of their Tuesday meeting. (In a speech in Japan Monday, Trump refused to rule out military action against North Korea.)

Trump pushing Japan and South Korea to buy more military equipment…..and I would bet that behind closed doors he is trying to convince them in the necessity of nukes on their soil…..I say NO!  And with good reason…..

The North Korea crisis has led commentators to reassess the conventional wisdom that, when it comes to nuclear weapons, fewer is better. Unsurprisingly, South Korea and Japan are at the centre of this discussion. In a provocative piece in the Washington Post, Singapore’s Bilahari Kausikan recently made the case for nuclear proliferation (bar Taiwan) to stabilise the fractious region. At the other end of the spectrum, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons maintain that the spread of nuclear weapons undermines international security.

Both positions are missing something. Were Seoul or Tokyo to acquire nuclear-weapons capacity, abandoning their reliance on extended deterrence from the U.S., the region would not instantly become any more or less secure.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2017/11/07/why_south_korea_and_japan_should_not_go_nuclear_112597.html