Day: June 13, 2019

Closing Thought–13Jun19

These days we hear a lot of back and forth in the media about the Constitution especially the “Emoluments Clause”…..

Are you aware of what the “Emoluments Clause” has to say?

The Constitutional Provisions The Constitution mentions emoluments in three provisions, each sometimes referred to as the “Emoluments Clause”:The Foreign Emoluments Clause(art. I, § 9, cl. 8):“[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”The Domestic Emoluments Clause(a.k.a.the Presidential Emoluments Clause) (art. II, § 1, cl.7): “The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.”The Ineligibility Clause(art. I, § 6, cl. 2): “No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments where of shall have been encreased during such time;and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Now what does the term “emolument” mean?

Black’s Law Dictionary defines an “emolument” as an “advantage, profit, or gain received as a result of one’s employment or one’s holding of office.” There is significant debate as to precisely what constitutes an “emolument” within the meaning of the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses, particularly as to whether it includes private, arm’s-length market transactions.The only two courts to decide this issue adopted a broad definition of “emolument” that includes profits from private transactions not arising from an office or employ.

Have you got all that?

Good!

I asked in an earlier post if we were having a Constitutional Crisis….and this goes along with that question in search of an answer.

Now the news that started this post…..as usual it was something the “Mouth on the Potomac” had to say…..

President Trump made what his opponents called a stunning admission during an ABC interview Wednesday: He said he would consider accepting damaging information on his 2020 rivals from foreign governments. “I think I’d take it,” the president told George Stephanopoulos. “I think you might want to listen, there isn’t anything wrong with listening,” Trump said. “If somebody called from a country, Norway, ‘We have information on your opponent’—oh, I think I’d want to hear it.” He rejected the suggestion that the information would be “interference” and said he would “maybe” go to the FBI if he thought there was “something wrong.” But “when you go and talk, honestly, to congressman, they all do it, they always have, and that’s the way it is,” Trump claimed. “It’s called oppo research.”

When Stephanopoulos told him that FBI Director Chris Wray had said the bureau should be contacted in such a case, Trump said: “The FBI director is wrong, because frankly it doesn’t happen like that in real life.” Trump’s remarks were swiftly condemned by potential 2020 rivals including Joe Biden, the BBC reports. Trump “is once again welcoming foreign interference in our elections,” he tweeted. “This isn’t about politics. It is a threat to our national security.” Former federal prosecutor David Weinstein tells Politico that Americans involved in elections have a “fundamental responsibility” to report contacts with foreign agents.

The FBI director is wrong? Seriously?

Now put any political affiliation aside…is this a violation of the Constitution?  Or should we just ignore the Constitution when it confronts our favorite politician?

Is This A Constitutional Crisis?

We hear a lot about the Congress and the president and the antics by each. My thought is there is a reason for a Committee called “oversight”…..and any time anyone interferes with the operation of that principle then they should be smacked down….matters not if it is a WH attorney, a child, the AG or the president himself…..we either live by the checks and balances or we start an imperial presidency.

I remember the calls for the impeachment of a president that got his wanker licked and those that called for such are now overlooking their “oversight” duties to massage the ego of a mental midget……

The conservative media is totally ignoring the crisis brewing and even are helping it destroy the democratic scheme we had before…..

As legal experts, historians, and Democratic lawmakers have sounded the alarm over President Donald Trump’s blanket obstruction of congressional oversight of his presidency — suggesting we have reached or are approaching a constitutional crisis — Trump’s conservative media allies are brazenly misrepresenting the arguments and suggesting everything boils down to a fight over the Mueller report, claiming Trump’s obstruction is normal, and ridiculing Democrats for speaking out.

https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2019/05/14/conservative-media-downplay-trump-administrations-unprecedented-stonewalling-congressional-oversight/223698

The media reports, if we may call it that, but it is sensationalism not anything but entertainment…..

So are we in a Constitutional crisis? Yes or No or what?

It is probably safe to say that this is not how we imagined America’s little fling with representative democracy would end. But on Wednesday morning, New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler described the battle unfolding between the Trump White House and Congress thusly: “The ongoing clash between congressional Democrats and President Trump over the Mueller report has turned into a full-blown constitutional crisis.” On Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used the same turn of phrase, warning that the nation is now in a “constitutional crisis.”

In the totality of Trump scandals, this week’s is rather boring and technical. The problem at hand: The House Judiciary Committee seeks to interview William Barr, the attorney general of the United States, on the subject of the Mueller report. When he refused to show up, they voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for doing so. Meanwhile, the president has opted to assert seemingly boundless executive privilege in an attempt to shield the unredacted Mueller report from congressional scrutiny. The question at hand is basically: What happens in this standoff between Congress and the president? The stalemate, and immovable positioning, is certainly making it feel as though we are hurtling at high speeds toward a new precipice.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/trump-barr-constitutional-crisis-yes-no-or-wrong-question.html

To help you with the question…..there a 4 types of Constitutional crises……

People have been talking about the possibility of a “constitutional crisis” since before President Trump’s election. And in the wake of Trump’s executive order restricting the ability of people from seven predominantly Muslim nations to travel to the U.S., we’re once again hearing that term a lot. Rep. Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, used the phrase to describe reports of Customs and Border Protection officials snubbing members of Congress and refusing to abide by a judge’s ruling delaying the enforcement of the order. And the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake investigated whether Trump’s disparaging remarks about a federal judge who ruled against the administration could be considered a constitutional crisis.

So what exactly is a constitutional crisis? We should be clear about what does — and, more importantly, does not — merit this description. It’s possible to have a major political crisis even if the Constitution is crystal clear on the remedy, or to have a constitutional crisis that doesn’t ruffle many feathers.

Political and legal observers generally divide constitutional crises into four categories:

The 4 Types Of Constitutional Crises

Are we in crisis?  Is the Constitution still the law of the land?

As it is today I am not so sure any more.

This simple cartoon can answer the question better than I can…..

And The Governed Lead

I wish it were so…..that the governed lead, that would be us the voter, but sadly it is a pipe dream with no footing in reality…..

What can we the governed have to look forward to between now and the 2020 election? An infrastructure plan? NO! Health care for Americans? NO! Equal pay perhaps? NO!

The truth is the we have NOTHING to look forward to for this country. NOTHING will get done…..NOTHING but theatrics, fantasy, obstruction and lies……all the things that we have come to look for from this president…..and the Congress.

2020….the Dems are as usual shooting themselves in the foot….23 candidates?  Seriously?

Do not believe the hype the politeness of the candidates there is NOTHING advantageous about 20+ candidates.

This is the first mistake.

The second is not having an adequate message, as usual…..their message is all over the place.

The older Dem Americans over 45 are all for Biden….they were the same for Hillary and look what that gave this country.  The media needs to STOP breaking it down to the minute numbers…I realize why they are doing this failed policy….they have lots of time per hour to fill and they will do so with all the speculation they can muster.

The MSM is pushing Biden hard and some are seeing him as the Bob Dole of the 21st century…….

The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate field seems to grow by the day, increasing the chances that someone unexpected could emerge from the pack.

But, at the moment, the most conventional candidate is ahead in the early polls. That would be former Vice President Joe Biden.

Historically speaking, though, there isn’t much recent precedent for someone like Biden to win the presidency, even if he does snag the party’s nomination, presidential biographer Jon Meacham Told NBC’s Chuck Todd on Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press. Meacham, who has written books about Franklin Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, and George H.W. Bush, said that when looking at Democrats who have been elected to the Oval Office in the post-World War II era, most of them have been younger, more innovative forces.

https://theweek.com/speedreads/844887/presidential-biographer-tells-nbcs-chuck-todd-that-biden-could-end-eras-bob-dole

Then there is the joke of party politics……the biggest voting group are independents….a cowards way out (my feeling only)…….

American Party politics would be a complete farce if the consequences weren’t so grave. Were either of the dominant Parties to achieve 100% consensus on any issue, it would represent the views of about 18%* of eligible voters. And while a diversity of views would represent social vitality in a functioning democracy, in the winner-take-all American system, it represents continued rule by the oligarchs.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/06/07/electoral-politics-versus-democracy/

Voters need to think back over the life of their voting……Biden is nothing about change…he will be the same as all other Dems in the past 50 years…..long on hot air and short on action and a warm embrace of corporate handlers.

Stop letting the media pick your candidate.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

Vote!

007 North Korean Style

As usual there is always something in the news about Kim and North Korea and this week is no different…..

First, Kim and his Gang are getting antsy about their diplomacy with the Trump Gang……

North Korean state media has issued a new statement on Tuesday, reiterating the call for the US to “withdraw its hostile policy” toward North Korea and come up with new negotiation efforts.

The media has been pushing this increasingly in the past few weeks, as the one-year anniversary of the first Kim-Trump summit approaches. That summit went exceedingly well, though a failed Hanoi Summit in February has stalled the process since then.

With no progress in months, North Korean state media are increasingly emphasizing the need for a new approach, and warn that the US can’t continue its “arrogant and unilateral” policies and expect to get anywhere.

(antiwar.com)

Sanctions on North Korea…..56 nations are violating the sanctions according to the UN…….

The United Nations Panel of Experts on North Korea (or Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)), established pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1874 (2009), reports annually its findings and recommendations on the implementation of Security Council resolutions on North Korea. These reports list in detail cases of proven or alleged sanctions violations of the ten UN resolutions on North Korea that have been passed by the Security Council since 2006. This year’s report, covering the period February 2018-February 2019, mentions over a hundred new, continuing, or unresolved proven or alleged violations involving 56 countries, territories, and entities.2 Thirty-one of the 56 states listed in this report were allegedly responsible for multiple sanctions violations. Using data and findings from another Institute study, the Peddling Peril Index for 2019 (PPI 2019), which ranks all 200 countries, territories, and entities according to the effectiveness of their strategic trade controls, we also consider these 56 countries in terms of 1) their overall score under the index, and 2) the comprehensiveness of their export control legislation, which allows for a clearer picture of the weaknesses of those involved in or caught up in alleged North Korean sanctions violations.

The 56 countries involved in alleged violations during the reporting period, listed in alphabetical order, were:

Algeria*, Belize, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, China, Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic of), Côte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, France, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand*, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore*, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Yemen (Houthi faction), and Zambia.

http://isis-online.org/isis-reports/detail/56-countries-involved-in-violating-unsc-resolutions-on-north-korea-during-t

Now the spy novel stuff……

It seems that Kim’s half brother was an CIA asset….

Assassinated in February 2017 at a Malaysian airport, Kim Jong Un’s half-brother Kim Jong Nam has been revealed in new reports to have been a CIA informant, and had flown to the airport to meet with his CIA contact.

Once considered the heir apparent for Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Nam fell out of favor decades ago, with controversies centered around him trying to use a fake passport to sneak into Japan and visit Tokyo Disneyland. He had been living mostly in China since then.

While he was definitely a CIA asset, it was believed he had ties to several other countries’ spy agencies, including China. China never confirmed this, nor as of yet has anyone else.

How useful of an informant he would have been is less clear, however, as he was many years removed from being in North Korea, ad no noteworthy power base there, and was considered unlikely to have much information on the country’s inner workings.

(antiwar.com)

Finally, it is being reported that Kim used flesh eating fish to kill a general that had fallen out of favor……

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un borrowed an execution technique from a James Bond movie to rid himself of a top general, according to British media.

In the James Bond film, ‘You Only Live Twice’, antagonist Ernst Stavro Blofeld famously removes any opposition by releasing a trapdoor over a piranha-filled pool, causing the unfortunate victim to fall to a gruesome end.

Several British media outlets, including the Sun and the Star on Sunday, reported over the weekend that one of North Korea’s top generals suffered such a fate after displeasing Kim Jong Un, being thrown into a piranha-filled pool after having his torso and arms slashed with knives.

The general, not named by media sources, was reported to have been punished for plotting a coup. 

https://www.jpost.com/OMG/Kim-executes-James-Bond-style-punishment-for-General-592016

This is NOT verified….and if we wait long enough the general may well show up later as did the ones said to be dead by the MSM……https://lobotero.com/2019/06/03/the-purge/

Plus there is little accurate in the JPost…they just assist the West in the propaganda machine…….

Then more news reports on the DPRK……

The name of the report is an ominous-sounding one: “Mapping the Fate of the Dead.” And the contents of the report issued Tuesday by the Transitional Justice Working Group, a South Korean NGO, don’t belie its morbid title, detailing research dedicated to human rights violations in North Korea, including killings and burials. Among the findings: the identification of nearly 320 sites used for public executions that were often witnessed by upward of a thousand people, sometimes including young children of the people put to death, the BBC reports. The identification of the sites—which included prisons and labor camps, as well as locations near schools, markets, and sports sites—was based on interviews with more than 600 defectors. The executions, which stretched back decades, were prompted by everything from murder and attempted murder to more minor infractions like stealing copper and cows.

And while one person interviewed described a cheerier atmosphere at an execution witnessed in the ’60s, complete with a “festival” vibe and upbeat music, more recent state-sanctioned killings have served as a “core method of inciting fear and deterring citizens from engaging in activities deemed undesirable by the regime,” per the report. Most of the executions happened by firing squads, with some of those interviewed noting that the executioners appeared to be intoxicated. “Public executions are to remind people of particular policy positions that the state has,” Sarah A. Son, TJWG’s research director, tells the Guardian and Reuters, which couldn’t independently verify the report’s accounts. “But the second and more powerful reason is it instills a culture of fear among ordinary people.”

How accurate is this?  Or is this just another unverified piece of gossip?  This is all so silly at this point….what does all this unverified BS actually accomplish?

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