Day: January 17, 2020

Closing Thought–17Jan20

I think most Americans agree that this Iranian general was a “bad guy”….and it is a matter opinion on whether he deserved assassination….my opinion is that he did not especially since he was carrying some peace offering to the Saudis.

There seems to be a disconnect between the officials and the American people…..a new poll shows the divide…..

A new poll from Politico-Morning Consult shows the American public substantially less on board with escalatory violence against Iran than media coverage of the situation would generally lead one to believe.

The poll showed the decision to assassinate top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was highly controversial. Despite weeks of vilifying Soleimani, only 44% support his killing, and 38% continue to disapprove.

There was a lot more unity on the response to Iran’s retaliation for the killing, with 71% approving of not responding militarily to that, and only 14% disapproving. It seems further escalating the conflict is something almost nobody wanted.

(antiwar.com)

That said….the president and his boyz have said that the US embassies were in danger is one reason he was taken out…..okay but so far their explanations have been far short of convincing…..and since their story has fallen apart the Pentagon has decided that Congress does not need that briefing they were promised…..

The State Department’s cancellation of two classified congressional briefings to address embassy security and Iran policy sparked lawmakers’ ire in Wednesday, according to Politico.

“This briefing is required by law every month, and today’s was the most important we’ve had scheduled in a long time,” a House aide told the publication. “The State Department has given us no explanation whatsoever.”

Several senior Foggy Bottom officials — including Brian Hook, special envoy for Iran, and David Schenker, assistant secretary of State for the Middle East — were scheduled to brief the Senate Foreign Relations Committee prior to the cancellation, Politico reported, citing a Senate aide.

Initially the embassy security briefing was to address conditions in the East African nation of Burundi, but the topic was broadened to general facility security amid U.S./Iran tensions following the U.S. killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike.

The White House initially claimed the strike was in response to an unspecified imminent threat posed by Soleimani, but President Trump later told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that Soleimani was plotting attacks on four U.S. embassies, which contradicted a briefing that administration officials gave lawmakers in the aftermath of the strike. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday conceded that he had not seen intelligence showing an imminent embassy attack.

(thehill.com)

Just thought you might like to know the rest of the story……

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Trial Of The Century

The House has impeached the president and now the drama moves to the Senate for the trial…….

The drama has been set into motion….the jurors have been sworn in and signed the oath….

The Senate got the formalities of President Trump’s impeachment trial started Thursday, though the real work of the trial is not expected to start until next week. At noon, House impeachment managers read the two articles of impeachment against Trump, formally beginning the third such trial in US history. Afterward, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was sworn in to preside over the trial, and he in turn swore in the senators as jurors. (Only 99, however: Republican James Inhofe was absent because of a family medical issue.) All this as related developments—including a government watchdog assessment critical of Trump’s withholding of Ukraine aid and allegations by a Rudy Giuliani associate—continue to emerge. Coverage:

  • The trial: Expect the Senate be in session six days a week once things get rolling. There’s no timetable on how long it will last, notes Rolling Stone, though White House adviser Kellyanne Conway predicted two weeks during an appearance on Fox News Thursday. “These two articles are very weak,” she said, per the Washington Post. “We don’t see the need to have a lengthy, protracted trial.”
  • McSally’s slam: GOP Sen. Martha McSally tweeted a video of herself shutting down CNN reporter Manu Raju when he asked her before the trial began whether the Senate should consider new evidence. “You’re a liberal hack. I’m not talking to you,” McSally said. “You’re not going to comment?” Raju asked. “You’re a liberal hack,” McSally responded. The senator is taking flak from those defending a journalist’s right to ask what seemed to be a straightforward question, notes Mediaite, which has examples.
  • That GOA report: Will the watchdog’s assessment that it was illegal to withhold Ukraine aid be consequential? Apparently not. “I think they misunderstand the law,” said Rand Paul, in comments similar to other skeptical GOP senators. “I think presidents withhold money all the time, move money around,” he said, per Politico. “I think there’s a great deal of latitude to what presidents do. So I think they’ve misinterpreted the law.”
  • The judge: The AP predicts that Roberts will play a modest role in the proceedings. He is expected to follow the model of William Rehnquist, who drew little attention when he presided over the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton. One legal distinction: Roberts has little experience running a trial, compared to the appellate proceedings at the Supreme Court.
  • The wildcard: Will there be witnesses? The Hill sees this as perhaps the biggest question yet to be answered, and it won’t be answered until after opening arguments by both sides. Democrats who want to hear from top White House officials need four Republicans to force the issue, though Republicans such as Rand Paul are pushing back. For the record, the Hill’s preview also notes that it’s all but guaranteed the trial will end in Trump’s acquittal.
  • Those pens: In remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Mitch McConnell faulted Nancy Pelosi for handing out commemorative pens after signing off on the impeachment articles Wednesday. “The speaker of the House apparently saw nothing strange about celebrating the third presidential impeachment in American history with souvenirs and posted photographs,” he said, calling it evidence of a partisanship. “That pretty well sums it up. That’s what the process has been thus far. But it’s not what this process will be going forward.”

Not to worry the GOP Senators have already decided the outcome so this should be a fairly short operation.

I will continue to update my readers during the impeachment process.

My personal observation is that this will be a political circus, a theater of the absurd, this outcome has been preordained by GOP Senators…so this will most likely be a waste of time and energy.

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

My How Biden Dances

Ever since Biden entered the 2020 race there have been shots at him for his war vote in 2001…..and ever since he has been trying to make it like he voted yes but started opposing the war after that.

It gets sillier every time he starts the backpedaling…..

But he continues the lies and the MSM lets him get away with it.

While Biden and his surrogates like John Kerry continue to falsely claim that he was not for the Iraq invasion, the Sanders camp has rightly highlighted more documentation, including video, of his support for the Iraq invasion after it happened, like his statement about Bush at the Brookings Institution in July 2003: ‘The president of the United States is a bold leader and he is popular.”

But it’s the tip of the iceberg. That address to Brookings (video) itself contains brazen pro-war falsehoods, with Biden claiming that Saddam Hussein ‘violated every commitment that he made. He played cat and mouse with the weapons inspectors. He failed to account for the huge gaps in weapons declarations that were documented by UN weapons inspectors and submitted by them to the UN Security Council in 1998, and every nation in that Council believed he possessed those weapons at that time. He refused to abide by any conditions.’

It’s a pack of lies. The Iraqi government released a massive amount of information in 2002, it agreed to allow the UN weapons inspectors in well before the Congressional vote that authorized war — a vote that Biden has claimed was justifiable to give Bush a stronger hand in getting inspectors into Iraq. Additionally, the prior weapons inspection regime, UNSCOM, was ended in 1998 not because Saddam Hussein kicked them out, but because Bill Clinton ordered them withdrawn on the eve of his scheduled impeachment vote to make way for the Desert Fox bombing campaign.

Biden’s Pack of Lies About the Iraq War

He continues to pile lie on top of lie…..he is a Neocon in liberal clothing…..Learn Stuff!

VOTE!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Wanna Talk With North Korea

We have had a back and forth with the two sillies that control NK and the US….Kim has made some deep statements of rebellion towards Trump……and yet Trump still looks for ways that they can come to terms for more talks….

The Trump administration has continued to seek contact with North Korea in an effort to reinstate working-level talks to discuss the country’s nuclear weapons program, a senior U.S. official has said.

Robert C. O’Brien, the assistant to the U.S. president on national security affairs (APNSA), told Axios in an interview that the United States has been actively making efforts to return to working-level talks with North Korea.

The administration has “reached out to the North Koreans,” O’Brien said. “We’ve been letting them know, through various channels, that we would like to get those [negotiations] back on track and to implement Chairman Kim’s commitment” to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” he added.

Working-level talks between the two sides have not resumed since an attempt in October 2019 when U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen E. Biegun met Kim Myong Gil, North Korea’s appointed negotiator, in Stockholm, Sweden.

https://thediplomat.com/2020/01/us-official-confirms-efforts-to-restore-working-level-talks-with-north-korea/

Seriously?

Wants to have talks with a country that has nukes already but will not have talks with a nation that is in search of nukes…..a reversed logic?

I do not know of what technique this is other than to use the Chaos Method….or maybe we should call it the “Pasta Method”

Look for further claims and further international situations….news will be needed to change the discourse in the very near future.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”