Month: September 2018

Time To Step Aside

Trump’s nominee for SCOTUS has had a couple of bad weeks…..first one accusation of sexual misconduct….then a second….from the gossip around there maybe be a third.

During all this the nominee has said he is completely innocent of the charges (as one would expect him to do)…..but the Senate in its haste to confirm will ignore all sense of legality and push this person through the process….

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote Friday on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, the AP reports. The committee vote is being set for the day after Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford are to testify about her allegation he sexually assaulted her when they were teens. That public hearing is set for Thursday. The committee scheduled the vote as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday he was moving forward with Kavanaugh’s nomination. The committee will be voting on whether to recommend Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate. Senators were told to be prepared for a rare weekend session and McConnell said he was confident Kavanugh would be confirmed.

Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s claim and that of another woman who has come forward with an allegation from his time at Yale. That woman, Deborah Ramirez, offered on Tuesday to give a sworn statement to the FBI. Her attorney, John Clune, tweeted that he’s been “working hard to cooperate with the Senate Judiciary Committee,” but that “they have refused to meet all scheduled appointments.” He said an FBI investigation has been formally requested and concluded, “Ms. Ramirez is ready to swear to the FBI under penalty of perjury. Why won’t the Senate Judiciary Committee welcome that?” He says he will be on Anderson Cooper’s show Tuesday night to discuss the case.

You can tell that the position is NO longer the position that was intended….when there are political style ads for his confirmation…..the position is no longer about the rule of law but rather party politics….and the Founders are flipping in their graves.

My opinion?

I think that there needs to be an investigation and that this person should step out of the process and bring in fresh meat.

Why?

If the Dems are as successful as all seem to think then there will be hearings and a possible impeachment of the judge…..,can a judge be removed from the Supreme Court?

Damn right he/she can!

Although an appointment to the United States Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment, the U.S. Constitution includes language that allows a justice to be impeached and forcibly removed from office. Article 3, Section 1 of the Constitution states, “The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour…”

Constitutional Language

Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution states: “The president, vice president and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Because federal judges are considered civil officers, they are subject to this rule.

Article 3 mentions good behavior of judges, without defining it. According to the Congress.org website, produced by CQ-Roll Call Group, this is taken to mean that the reasons for impeachment of a federal judge aren’t limited to criminal acts.

Impeachment Process

The impeachment process begins in the House of Representatives, with passage of articles of impeachment by a majority vote. The articles of impeachment state specific allegations of wrongdoing. The second step in the process is a trial in the U.S. Senate on the allegations. To convict someone who has been impeached, a two-thirds majority vote is required by the Senate. If convicted by the Senate, the accused is immediately removed from office.

The Federal Judicial Center lists federal judges who have been impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives. No Supreme Court justice has been convicted and removed, and only one has been impeached. The House impeached Justice Samuel Chase in 1804. The impeachment accused him of basing court decisions on political bias and misconduct. The Senate acquitted Chase in 1805 and he returned to duty.

(legalbeagle.com)

The Dems will get even for the game played by the GOP on Obama’s choice of justice….all the whining in the world by the Repubs will not change the course of this event.

Kavanaugh is a liability he should step aside and let someone else take the heat.

His politics are god-awful and we need someone that will put the country and its laws first and party politics in the crapper where they belong.

His politics is god awful, but that is hardly news. It was a sure thing that Trump would nominate someone with god-awful politics. Because he knows little and cares less about the judicial system, except when it impinges on his financial shenanigans, and because, as part of his pact with “conservatives” Trump outsourced judicial appointments to the Federalist Society, anyone he would nominate was bound to come with god-awful politics.

At least, this particular god-awful jurist is well schooled, well spoken (in the way that lawyers are), and intelligent enough to talk like a lawyer or judge, while dissembling shamelessly and saying nothing of substance. That puts him leagues ahead of Trump. It also puts him head and shoulders above the average Republican.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/14/a-bulwark-against-the-idiocy-of-conservatives-like-brett-kavanaugh/

Those Grumpy Old Men

Now that was a cute movie back in the day starring some of th biggies from our cinematic past……like Jack Lemmon, Ann-Margret and Walter Matthau.  But sorry this post is not some retro review of that movie but rather a political post on the condition of the Senate.

Look at the Senate…..it is filled with grumpy old men and the female senators for the most part are part of that characterization…..including some of the Democrats.  Most of these tools are still living in the 1950’s when most came to Congress (not accurate just seems that way)…..

Call me a sentimental fool (pipe down out there) but I keep waiting for the big Frank Capra moment that rationally, I know may never come – you know, like the climax of Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington when the corrupt, patrician senator played by Claude Rains, finally undone by the truth told by Senator Jefferson Smith (earnestly played by Jimmy Stewart), tries to shoot himself.

“I’m not fit to be a senator! I’m not fit to live!” he cries. “Every word that boy said about… me and graft and the rotten political corruption of my state is true!”

Yeah, well, in real life you and I know that’s probably not going to happen – at least for now. All you have to do is take one look at the Republican senators bloviating on Capitol Hill to know that among the lot of them any chance of self-examination or repentance or especially truth-telling is about as likely as Justin Bieber being named to the College of Cardinals.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/09/21/grumpy-old-men-senate-time-movie-fade-black

The best description of these toads in the US Senate was….”male pattern blindness”…..

It is time for the voting population to consider just how paleolithic thinking these people hold….replace them as soon as possible with someone that realizes it is the 21st century.

Space, The Final Frontier (Again)

Our Dear Leader has proposed a new branch for our military, a space force.  I have written extensively on the subject…..

https://lobotero.com/2018/07/17/enter-starship-troopers/

https://lobotero.com/2018/08/01/to-the-stars-and-beyond/  (several reference posts included in this one post)

https://lobotero.com/2018/09/05/closing-thought-05sep18/

The Obama administration was also on-board with a space force……https://lobotero.com/2009/01/06/militarization-of-space/

Like I said I have written extensively on this idea……plus there are those officials in Congress that are pushing back on the idea of a separate “Space Force”……

A bipartisan group that includes generals and lawmakers fears that carving the new branch out of the Air Force would siphon resources from other programs and weaken the military.

Republican Reps. Steve Knight of California and Mike Coffman of Colorado would appear the ideal champions of a new military branch focused on space.

Three of Knight’s top five donors are aerospace giants Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Honeywell, which would be well-positioned to help build and outfit it. And Coffman’s district is an epicenter of the military’s current space operations.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/17/space-force-military-air-force-825757

But with all the criticism there is a necessity for a Space Force/Space Corps…..

Discussions in recent days with friends and family indicate that few have a clue as to why establishing a US Space Force might actually be a good idea.

Allow me to offer a few reasons:

(1) Good government and governance: currently, military space capability is diffused amongst the Air Force, Navy, Army, National Reconnaissance Office, Missile Defense Agency, and other agencies. The Defense Department periodically reorganizes its space authority. This results in a lack of unity of command, budget overlap, and confusion about “who is in charge”.

https://defense.info/dannys-corner/2018/09/why-the-space-force-is-a-strategic-necessity/

Back and forth….will we or won’t we?

Even the House Armed Forces Committee is not taking sides right now…..

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry said he is not yet ready to weigh in on how a Space Force should be organized or how much it should cost.

Thornberry’s committee has been a dynamic proponent of a reorganization of military space forces, and that push will continue into the next legislative season, he told reporters on Tuesday on Capitol Hill. But Thornberry suggested that the scope and pace of the reorganization is still up for discussion.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson set off a heated debate last week when she submitted to Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan a detailed proposal for how to organize a Space Force as an independent military service, which was the mandate from President Trump. She estimated the cost at about $13 billion over five years.

https://spacenews.com/house-armed-services-chairman-not-taking-sides-on-space-force-disputes/

I ask as I always ask….if we are to have this 5th special branch of our military……where will the money come from?

Now, Donald Trump is clearly, if I can coin a word, a nostalgiac. He longs for the 1950s and 1960s, the years of his youth, and since entering the Oval Office he’s been trying to take us all back – lock, stock, and barrel – to that highly fossil-fueled, deeply polluted age when you didn’t have to put “again” after “great” while mentioning this country. Having already done his best, in a globally warming world, to burn yet more fossil fuels, he’s now adding to his nostalgia for that ancient era of American preeminence by proposing that we all revisit Star Trek (with him, of course, as Captain Kirk). He’s ordered the creation of a sixth branch of the U.S. military, a Space Force, for which, in language redolent of that distant age, he invoked “our destiny beyond the Earth.” As TomDispatch regular and expert on Pentagon spending William Hartung points out today, that means one thing: money, money, money, and yet more money. I think it’s clear what his once-vaunted plan for funding the rebuilding of this country’s failing infrastructure will have meant on his departure from office: nothing built or rebuilt on this small planet of ours – not a mile of new high-speed rail, for instance – but plenty of new weaponry in outer space. Let Hartung fill you in on the future according to our own Captain Kirk.

https://original.antiwar.com/william-d-hartung/2018/09/25/to-boldly-go-nowhere/

Is this truly necessary?

A damn good question that has no answers being offered.

Closing Thought–26Sep18

We have a War on Poverty (long since defunct), a War on Drugs, a War on Terror and now we have a new “WAR”…..the War on Chocolate……

Is everyone confused now?

Well you would not be alone…..Our Dear Leader is also…..

Spelling and grammar matter, especially when it comes to international policy decision-making.

Yet, again, we find ourselves asking: does President Donald Trump want to rid the world of chocolate or cocaine?

Speaking at a drug policy event outside the 73rd meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, Trump lamented the “scourge of drug addiction” and said the organization will “commit to fighting the drug epidemic together.”

But when his speech turned to Colombia, whose newly elected president campaigned on stopping cocaine production in the country, Trump made a familiar error.

“We look forward to partnering with his new administration to eradicate cocoa production in his country,” he said. “All of us must work together to dismantle drug production and defeat drug addiction.” [Emphasis added].

Now, according to the White House transcript, the president was supposed to call for the eradication of coca, the base plant used to make cocaine.

But this isn’t the first time he’s mispronounced the name of the plant. Last year, he appeared at a joint press conference with Colombia’s former president, Juan Manuel Santos, and said “cocoa cultivation and cocaine production reached a record high” in the country. 

(massroots.com)

Is it cocoa or coca that will be eradicated under a Trump administration?  I have used both and much prefer the cocoa.

I never thought Trump was playing with a full deck…….but guess we could say that both are addictive substances after all he is gonna solve all our drug problems….so let’s begin with chocolate…..since he, Trump, likes simplistic solutions to complex problems.

The World Got A Chuckle

Yesterday was a great day for humorous news and the biggest laugh came with the speech of Our Dear Leader to the world at the UN.

President Trump was addressing the UN Tuesday morning, and he got an unexpected reaction from an early boast: laughter. “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country,” Trump told the General Assembly, which prompted some audible snickering in the audience, reports Politico. Trump made light of it as he paused his speech. “Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s OK,” he said with a laugh, and that led to more laughter and applause. See this video captured by PBS.

The entire world sees what a goddamn liar this person is……and his visions of grandeur are getting funnier if not scarier.

But the world learn that the only way a nation can get help from the US is to meet Trump with knee pads and service him…….

Now for the rest of his babbling mess…..

President Trump addressed the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, with his familiar “America First” theme taking prominence. “We reject the ideology of globalism,” the president told the world body. One of Trump’s early boasts drew unexpected laughter from the audience, though he laughed it off and went on to press his case. Here are some of Trump’s big lines, as rounded up by outlets including CNN, the Washington Post, USA Today, and NPR:

  • US independence: “The US will always choose independence and cooperation over global governance, control, and domination,” Trump said. “I honor the right of every nation in this room to pursue its own customs, beliefs, and traditions. The United States will not tell you how to live or work or worship. We only ask that you honor our sovereign rights in return.” Also: “We will not be governed by an international body that is unaccountable to our own citizens.”
  • Friends first: “Few give anything to us. That is why we are taking a hard look at US foreign assistance. … Moving forward we are only going to give foreign aid to those who respect us and frankly our—our friends. And we expect other countries to pay their fair share for the cost of their defense.”
  • Iran: “Iran’s leaders sow chaos, death and destruction,” he said. “Iran’s leaders plunder the nation’s resources to enrich themselves and to spread mayhem across the Middle East and far beyond.”
  • Familiar slogan: The only long-term solution on the global migration crisis is to “help people build brighter futures in their own countries—make their countries great again.”
  • Harsh words: “OPEC and OPEC nations are as usual ripping off the rest of the world, and I don’t like it. Nobody should like it,” he said. “We defend many of these nations for nothing, and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices. Not good.”
  • North Korea: “With support from many countries here today we have engaged with North Korea to replace the specter of conflict with a bold and new push for peace,” said Trump. “I would like to thank Chairman Kim for his courage and for the steps he has taken.”

His BS on OPEC is just that bovine fecal matter……the biggest nation in OPEC is Saudi Arabia and this nation of barbarous religious zealots spreads chaos around the Middle East….why should we befriend this group of murderers?  BTW….the US gets very little oil from OPEC any longer we, the US, is now a oil exporting country as opposed to an importing country.  But Dear Leader would know that if he had half a brain.

The Iran statement is nothing but prep work that the US does at the UN before it invades a country.  (keep that in mind and remember Iraq of 2002/3)

All in all an amazingly worthless speech that did nothing but rehash most of his campaign talking points.

I listen so you do not have to…..you are welcome.  chuq

Should US Troops Take Control Of The Mission?

A loyal reader of IST writes a good blog about East Africa, https://africommons.com/ …..recent he wrote he wrote a post that ask a question.

Since I write a lot about war and other conflicts I thought I would put his post on here and see if there were any answers from my readers…..

This is in the nature of a “thought experiment” rather than an actual suggestion at this point, but here goes rough sketch of the basic points:

1) We all recognize–whether we are willing to publicly admit it–that Somalia is in a “permanent” war state although progress has been made from the lowest ebbs over the years. Somalia is like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen in the sense that it is a place in which perpetual fighting appears indefinitely sustainable pending some major change.

https://africommons.com/2018/09/24/should-the-united-states-offer-to-replace-ugandan-and-burundian-troops-in-amisom/

My response was that the US was slowly doing just that……we keep adding troops to the fight against the insurgents in Somalia.  But my personal feeling is that we should NOT expand any further…..for we are fighting a “War” on a tactic….a war that cannot be won.

We have too many feet in a fire……we could use the money here in this coungtry.

Please let my friend know you opinion on his question.

Thanx for helping out……chuq

War Drums In The Morning

Iran is becoming more and more in the news….plus those warmongering toads in the White House are thumping their chests like crazed primates (my apologies to primates everywhere)…..just days ago an attack in Iran…..

An attack on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz on 22 September, which killed 29 people, dangerously raised tensions in an already volatile Gulf region. Iran accused a local insurgent group (which claimed responsibility), but also pointed to what it said were the group’s enablers in the Gulf and in Washington. The U.S. State Department issued a muted condemnation while proceeding with its otherwise openly hostile rhetoric toward Tehran. And key Arab Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, stayed mostly silent, failing to condemn the attack or express sorrow for its victims. A tragedy can create opportunities for diplomacy and eventually a new accommodation, but instead, after Ahvaz, all sides are feeding the risk of further escalation.

https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iran/irans-ahvaz-attack-worsens-gulf-tensions

Then there is typical he said/they said…..over the attack…..was it the US?

Gunmen opened fire during a military parade in Iran over the weekend, killing at least 25 people, including civilians. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack Saturday in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, which came a year after it claimed a high-profile attack in Tehran. The Ahvaz National Resistance, an Arab nationalist group that opposes the Shia regime, also claimed responsibility. The four gunmen involved were killed.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/09/iran-attack/571084/

With the attack brings out the loonies from right field and the biggest loonie is our boy Rudy…….

Speaking on Saturday Rudolph Giuliani, the former NYC mayor and current Trump lawyer, said he is confident that Trump-imposed sanctions on Iran would lead to a “successful revolution” overthrowing the Iranian government.

Giuliani told a crowd that the Iran regime change “could be in a few day, months, a couple of years. But it’s going to happen.” He made the comments the same day as a major terrorist attack in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, where gunmen attacked a parade, killing 29 people.

Giuliani is the latest person connected to the administration to suggest that the US is not only advancing toward imposing regime change in Iran, but that it could happen soon. This is directly contrary to official statements on US intentions toward Iran.

(antiwar.com)

At this point why would anyone listen to the ramblings of Rudy who is proven to have zero knowledge about anything remotely foreign.

The problem is the rhetoric would lead one to believe that the US was behind the attack……and that would sit poorly with the Iranians…..

Tensions between the US and Iran have been on the rise in the past several days, with Iran blaming US-backed groups for a Saturday terrorist attack, and Trump aide Rudolph Giuliani vowing an impending US-imposed regime change against Iran the same day.

With talk of Iran doing something in retaliation for the terror attack, Secretary of State Mike Po9mpeo is now leading US comments threatening war against Iran, if the Iranians target any sort of “American interests.”

(antiwar.com)

This my friends is how you start a real shooting war….something the Neocon cowards have been praying for for so many years…..

But for those that have a limited attention span…..

Closing Thought–25Sep18

Our Dear Leader has been waging his trade war for a little over 2 months…..some are happy with the events……while others are finding it difficult to earn a living with the tariffs and stuff…..

Farmers are needing help…..and another industry is finding these tariffs a bit hard to swallow……

The American lobster industry is starting to feel the pinch of China’s tariff on US seafood as exporters and dealers cope with sagging prices, new financial pressures, and difficulty sending lobsters overseas, the AP reports. China is a major buyer of lobsters, and it imposed a heavy tariff on exports from the US in early July amid trade hostilities between the two superpowers. Exporters in the US say their business in China has dried up since then. Wholesale prices for live lobsters have also dipped a bit as dealers have lost markets. Prices in July and August were both slightly less than the same month in the previous year, business publisher Urner Barry reported.

One exporter, The Lobster Co. of Arundel, Maine, resorted to laying off four people, which constituted 25% of its wholesale staff, says Stephanie Nadeau, the company’s owner. “I can cut my variable costs and tuck my head in and see if this storm passes,” she says. “What they’ve done is made it so everybody is fighting over the remaining customers. Price goes down, margins go down.” China applied the tariffs to a suite of American seafood products, including tuna and crab. It made the move at a time when many Chinese are acquiring a taste for American lobster. China’s American lobster imports grew from $108.3 million in 2016 to $142.4 million last year, and the country barely imported any American lobster a decade ago.

Lagging prices may help the consumer but does little for the struggling fisherman……

Keep that in mind when you make that trip to your local Red Lobster”….who I am kidding….Americans have NO social conscience any more…it is all me,me, me!

 

SCOTUS Famous Rulings

SCOTUS is in the news daily these days and the American people are getting healthy dose of legal mumbo jumbo……but let us go to the court….to most Americans there are two “famous” court rulings that they are aware of……Roe v. Wade or Brown v Board of Education……..beyond those two ask about others and the sound of crickets prevail.

Because I am a helluva guy I will help my readers get to know the history of the court……

The Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage instantly will enter the pantheon of landmark Supreme Court cases, and for good reason. It settles the major civil rights issue of the early 21st century.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/06/26/supreme-court-cases-history/29185891/

Your history lesson is  now complete…..you now have at your finger tips the knowledge you will need for Trivial Pursuit or some Pub Game on a Wednesday Nite……

Turn The Page!

And The Count Is…….

How many times have you heard someone compare Afghanistan to Vietnam?  Well there is no more thing to add to make the comparisons.

I read an article the other day that made me return to my days in combat in Vietnam…..but before I go any further I need to explain some things.

During the Vietnam we counted the dead after each confrontation and reported it to our HQ so they could include in the reports of the day’s action…..and thus be used in reporting to the families back home through their evening news…..

Maybe this will help explain the process……..

Large maps of the area of operations (AO) covered the walls of the battalion command bunker at Landing Zone Liz where my superiors hatched out their plans to defeat the enemy. Shelves along the walls held the many radios used to communicate with the companies in the field, the artillery units, the forward air controllers and other support units. Clipboards hung on the walls to keep a record of all the information that came into the battalion command post. Tables and benches ran down one of the walls where the colonel’s staff sat and coordinated all of the battalion’s activities. The most impressive thing about the bunker, however, wasn’t all the equipment and maps, but the briefing area for the frequent visitors who wore stars on their collars.

A miniature stage had been constructed on the side of the bunker for the briefings, and it was complete with podium and seating for the visiting VIPs. Behind the podium hung a large map of the AO and a large plastic chart with many rows and columns filled with grease pencil markings. Each of the four companies of the battalion had its allotted space on the chart. There was a column for Alpha Company, one for Bravo Company, one for Charlie Company, one for Delta Company and a smaller column for the Recon Platoon. One of the staff member’s special jobs was to keep the chart updated so the colonel could brief the visiting generals on the body count.

http://www.historynet.com/body-count-in-vietnam.htm

After each action a sweep of the area was taken and the dead were counted…..all dead which included chickens, monkeys, etc…all were reported to HQs enemy killed.

Now fast forward to today……I wrote that I read an article that made me think of some long suppressed memory…..

The Pentagon’s leadership has long opposed using body counts as war propaganda, particularly in Afghanistan, fearing that it would echo he failed strategy of Vietnam, and alienating people around the world.

But in recent months, efforts to sell President Trump on the Afghan War have changed that, with officials now eager to get gaudy death tolls out to the public to prove that the US and its allies will “remove all who oppose them at every turn,” and are making progress in killing people.

Yet these same officials have long admitted this isn’t an effective way to communicate how the war is going, and that fixation on body counts comes off as terribly morbid. Whether it is something to sell President Trump on the war is another matter.

President Trump has been seen as increasingly weary of the 17-year-long war, with mounting territory losses convincing him, and many others, that the war is not winnable. That Pentagon officials are gambling on raw death tolls to reverse that pessimism is a testament to how desperate officials are getting for talking points.

(antiwar.com)

https://theantimedia.com/pentagon-body-count-afghanistan/

A couple of looks at this subject, the body count…….

https://businessmirror.com.ph/the-vietnam-body-count-syndrome/

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-02-09/news/mn-675_1_vietnam-war