Tag: Ambassador

Dammit! I Had To Work!

While I was on a break yesterday, the 4th, I did read my Twitter account to be sure that we did not start a new war or something…..

It is a shame that some people had to work….but if it is their job…they just buck up and do it….that is almost everybody.

What I did read was a Tweet by the UN ambassador, Nikki Haley about the NK missile thing……Nikki Haley, the South Carolina governor (with no real experience in international relations) that Donald Trump appointed as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, decided that it would be a good idea to whine on Twitter that she was being forced to work on the Fourth of July thanks to North Korea.

Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley faced backlash today for a tweet saying she spent the Fourth of July in meetings about North Korea

“Spending my 4th in meetings all day. #ThanksNorthKorea,” Haley tweeted.

North Korea claimed Tuesday that they performed their first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

This isn’t the first time Haley has been critiqued for her social media presence. A tweet she posted last month about cutting funds for United Nations peacekeeping was met with confused reactions.

Gee poor thing had to work on the 4th……bummer!  What about the troops around the world that are fighting our many wars and they did not take to Twitter….

Sorry but this is almost unbelievable……what does she think her job is?  Maybe a 9-5 posting?  She is suppose to be a diplomat…maybe she should try and remember that before taking to Twitter and complaining about her job.  Or better yet resign and have all her holidays off.

Closing Thought–17May17

Ambassador Who?

Pres. Trump is lagging behind with his appointments of people to the various positions…..his latest appointment is the ambassador to the Vatican……

President Trump has settled on Callista Gingrich as the US ambassador to the Vatican, CNN reported first Sunday night, saying the choice has been made but the process has been hung up by the Office of Government Ethics, which needs to give its approval. The network reports a formal nomination of the wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich could come as soon as this week, with Trump wanting it to be made before his May 24 meeting with Pope Francis. That her name was being floated has been known since January—Newt himself told CNN as much shortly after Trump became president. Newt wouldn’t say much to the New York Times Sunday night beyond noting both he and his wife had been advised to “be very cautious” until an announcement was made.

The Times has more on Callista’s relationship with Catholicism: She helped Newt convert and sings in the Basilica of the National Shrine choir, but it points out she had a hand in the demise of Newt’s third marriage. An opinion piece at the National Catholic Reporter makes the case that “the Vatican cares less about the moral history of an ambassadorial nominee than it does about the nominee’s access to the decision-makers in the administration.” As for the administration, Axios contributes this to the rumor mill: “About six weeks ago … Trump told our source he was reluctant to send Callista to the Vatican because he likes seeing her husband Newt defending him on TV. Our source told the President they were sure satellite hook-ups could be arranged for Newt at the Holy See.”

Really?  He could not find anyone else?

But what can I expect?

Trump is hiring people that are not qualified for the positions that he puts them in…… so in that light I guess this is the perfect choice.

May you all have a great day and I will see you tomorrow for more stuff…..chuq

Closing Thought–16May17

The big story right now is the meeting between Trump and the Russians in the Oval office…..the media and Twitter are going batcrap crazy over this breach of protocol…..for one allowing the Russians into the Oval Office without any good guys but allowing Tass, Russian news agency, to bring in a camera crew…..and did Trump or did he not divulge some sort of intel or worse?

The Washington Post this afternoon published a stunning story reporting that President Trump disclosed highly-classified information to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during their visit to the Oval Office last week.

According to the Post,

In his meeting with Lavrov, Trump seemed to be boasting about his inside knowledge of the looming threat. “I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day,” Trump said, according to an official with knowledge of the exchange.

Trump went on to discuss aspects of the threat that the United States only learned through the espionage capabilities of a key partner. He did not reveal the specific intelligence gathering method, but described how the Islamic State was pursuing elements of a specific plot and how much harm such an attack could cause under varying circumstances. Most alarmingly, officials said, Trump revealed the city in the Islamic State’s territory where the U.S. intelligence partner detected the threat.

The Washington Post is withholding most plot details, including the name of the city, at the urging of officials who warned that revealing them would jeopardize important intelligence capabilities.

This needs to be investigated……I know his brainless followers think not but ignore them for most are brain dead…….

Ask….why would Trump do this thing?

Option # 1: Trump didn’t really know what he was doing

Trump is not someone who spends much time learning the intricacies of diplomacy and information sharing. He ran as a candidate who eschewed any sort of formal briefings, believing that his gut instincts were the best guide he could have.
Given that, it’s uniquely possible he didn’t know that what he was doing by apparently disclosing this sort of top secret information to a country that may well not have America’s best interests at heart.
Maybe he wanted to impress Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak with his knowledge — and what better way to do so than to tell them a tidbit of information they didn’t know?

Option #2: Trump knew what he was doing

Democrats have insisted for months that there are simply too many connections between Trumpworld and the Russians for moments like this to be coincidences. As in, where there’s smoke and smoke and smoke and smoke, there has to be fire.
“As Yogi Berra said, ‘It’s too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence,'” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told CNN’s Chris Cuomo in an interview in Washington Monday night. Later, she added: “Every day I ask the question: What do the Russians have on Donald Trump? He’s always catering to them.”
(cnn.com)

I would wait for a verdict but then McMasters came out and said he was in the meeting and nothing happened…..my problem is he was reading from notes as he spoke…..why would you need notes if you were there?

And then Trump threw McMasters under the bus with two tweets……

His two–tweet defense, when combined: “As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.”

He, Trump, just does not know when to shut the f*ck up!

Eventually the people around him will get tired of being f*cked over by this guy and will turn on him.

Closing Thought–09Mar17

Our Man In Moscow!

I have been waiting to see just who our presidente would choose as the ambassador to Russia….it would very telling…..

Now I do not need to fret any longer…he has made his choice….and it leaves me a bit scratching my head……

A White House official says former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is President Donald Trump’s choice to be the next US ambassador to Russia, the AP reports. Huntsman will be nominated for the diplomatic post as senior members of Trump’s administration face questions about their contacts with the Russian government. The White House official spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.

Huntsman served as the ambassador to China during the Obama administration and speaks Mandarin. He had been considering a Senate run in 2018, a decision that would depend on whether Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, runs again. Huntsman in October called on Trump to drop out of the presidential race after the release of a recording on which Trump bragged about groping women.

By all accounts he was a good ambassador under Obama to China and now he heads to Moscow…..how did this person get two plum assignments for the State Department…the US two international rivals in all things….especially since Huntsman was so nasty to Trump during the campaigns…..Trump holds a grudge to the extreme yet not when it comes to Huntsman…

This is a bit suspicious to me…..there is more going on here than the placement of diplomats…me thinks.

Benghazi–The Way It Was

Benghazi?  You remember that tragic death of the US ambassador to Libya……and with his death a tidal wave of outrage by the GOP in Congress….knowing that Clinton was the SecDef at the time it was the perfect time to build case against her and of course the president…..and so the game began.

The Congress set about having an investigation into the attacks and the deaths…..and the game was a foot…….the Repubs and the Dems at each others throat…day after day….and after years of hearings and recriminations what has the Congress and the nation learned?

It actually is something that the Repubs would like for you NOT to know the answer…….

Two years after a special House committee started investigating the 2012 attack on an American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, the committee has yet to produce a report on its findings. But the political infighting is still going strong.

On Sunday Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on Benghazi, sent a scathing letter to the committee’s Republican chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, complaining of “repeated, unnecessary, and ever-changing demands from the Department of Defense.” Cummings accused Republicans of ignoring statements from their own chief counsel, Lt. Gen. Dana Chipman, a retired 3-star general, who appears to think the U.S. military response on the night of the attack was appropriate.

Source: Benghazi Investigation Produces More Infighting and Few Results – ABC News

There is another way of looking at the event……

Source: Democrats: Republican lawyer backs White House on Benghazi | News , World | THE DAILY STAR

Since it is still a thing in DC and since it is still a waste of time and energy……let me leave you with another thought for your consideration….

The games our elected officials play…..and they waste your f*cking money.  Just what you elected them to do, right?

Here’s a thought….how about focusing on the bastards that may have had their fingers in the 9/11 attacks that killed more than the attack in Benghazi…..sorry….just a suggestion.

It’s Not Who You Know……….

I believe that most adults will know the rest of that saying……..

I have railed against the Obama way of governance…..he needs yes men and political buddies to do his work…..let’s be clear he is not the only one this is just how business is done in the world of American politics……

About now I would imagine that some are scratching their heads and wondering what the Hell I am talking about, right?

The Senate confirmed a producer of the soap opera “The Bold and The Beautiful” today to serve as ambassador to Hungary, and Sen. John McCain is not happy about it.

Prior to the vote, McCain, R-Ariz., went on a tirade about how Colleen Bradley Bell, a soap opera producer and bundler for President Obama’s campaigns, is “unqualified” to represent the United States as an ambassador to Hungary.

“We’re about to vote on a totally unqualified individual to be ambassador to a nation which is very important to our national security interest,” McCain said on the Senate floor. “Her qualifications are as a producer of the television soap opera ‘The Bold and The Beautiful,’ contributed 800,000 [dollars] to Obama in the last election and bundled more than $2.1 million for President Obama’s re-election effort.”

“I am not against political appointees … I understand how the game is played, but here we are, a nation [Hungary] that is on the verge of ceding its sovereignty to a neo-fascist dictator getting in bed with Vladimir Putin and we’re going to send the producer of ‘The Bold and The Beautiful’ as the ambassador,” McCain continued. “I urge my colleagues to put a stop to this foolishness. I urge a no vote.”

Regardless of McCain’s urging, the Senate confirmed Bell to the ambassador post with a vote of 52-42.

I have said many times that we need professional people to handle our foreign policy…….not a bunch of people that are paid off with postings….so as much as I hate to agree with McCain on anything I will have to make an exception this time and agree with him.

Not even the White House can explain why this person was nominated….need I say more?