joeybaker

[joeybaker]

Your Lucky Day https://ift.tt/1mYhl49

[joeybaker]

In a statement, Ms. Gorelick said that after learning of the error, Mr. Kushner told the F.B.I.: “During the presidential campaign and transition period, I served as a point-of-contact for foreign officials trying to reach the President-Elect. I had numerous contacts with foreign officials in this capacity. … I would be happy to provide additional information about these contacts.”

Kushner Omitted Meeting With Russians on Security Clearance Forms

The balls it takes to not admit lying to the FBI when you've been publicly caught.

[joeybaker]

In the last two months, Trump has ordered a commando raid in Yemen that has massacred children and dozens of innocent people, bombed Mosul and killed scores of civilians, and bombed a mosque near Aleppo that killed dozens. During the campaign, he vowed to murder the family members of alleged terrorists. He shut America’s doors to Syrian refugees, and is deporting people who have lived in the U.S. since childhood despite committing no crimes. Given all that, could American elites possibly believe him when he says that he is motivated by humanitarianism – deep-seated anger over seeing Syrian children harmed – in bombing Syria? Yes, they could, and they are. That’s because American elites always want to believe – or at least want others to believe – that the U.S. bombs countries over and over not out of aggression or dominance but out of love, freedom, democracy and humanitarian concern.

The Spoils of War Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria

[joeybaker]

New wars trigger the worst in people: their jingoism, their tribal loyalties, their instinct to submit to authority and leaders. The incentive scheme here is as obvious as it is frightening: great rewards await political leaders who start new wars. In Federalist 4, John Jay warned of all the personal benefits a leader obtains from starting a new war – which is the reason it was supposed to be difficult for U.S. Presidents to do it: It is too true, however disgraceful it may be to human nature, that nations in general will make war whenever they have a prospect of getting anything by it; nay, absolute monarchs will often make war when their nations are to get nothing by it, but for the purposes and objects merely personal, such as thirst for military glory, revenge for personal affronts, ambition, or private compacts to aggrandize or support their particular families or partisans. These and a variety of other motives, which affect only the mind of the sovereign, often lead him to engage in wars not sanctified by justice or the voice and interests of his people.

The Spoils of War Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria

[joeybaker]

"It crossed a lot of lines for me," Trump told reporters at the White House. "When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, babies, little babies, with a chemical gas that is so lethal, people were shocked to hear what gas it was, that crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line. Many, many lines."

The United States has officially attacked Syria

This reads like a man who had to be told that this was an atrocity and he should act upset to emote like a human.

[joeybaker]

If you think all of that sounds like the polar opposite of what you’ve been hearing from the Trump administration until just a few days ago, you’d be right. Take US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who said in March that “our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out.” Or take Tillerson himself, who said in late March that “the longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.”

The United States has officially attacked Syria

Basically, Trump Stasko what he wants until he believes the opposite is more convincing.

[joeybaker]

Trump supporters, far from being the “left behind” or the losers of globalization, “earn relatively high household incomes and are no less likely to be unemployed or exposed to competition through trade or immigration.” The “bottom line” for Gallup’s senior economist Jonathan Rothwell? “Trump’s popularity cannot be neatly linked to economic hardship.”

Top Democrats Are Wrong Trump Supporters Were More Motivated by Racism Than Economic Issues

racism

[joeybaker]

"The future is foreign markets, so the last thing you want to do if you are a coal company is to give up a U.S. seat in the international climate discussions and let the Europeans control the agenda," said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue. "They can’t afford for the most powerful advocate for fossil fuels to be away from the table," the official said.

U.S. coal companies ask Trump to stick with Paris climate deal

trumpIncompetence #climateChange #endOfTheGOP

[joeybaker]

as a Republican, I continue to be dismayed by the willingness of fellow Republicans and conservatives to overlook, rationalize and make excuses for this type of behavior. And each time I see conservatives defending, or looking away, in the face of other conservatives��� noxious behavior, I become less and less sure that liberals aren’t justified in taking the sometimes-condescending, always-disapproving “politically correct” approach that they do in these all-too-predictable episodes.

Perspective | Maybe liberals are so ‘P.C.’ because conservatives keep excusing bad behavior

racism #endOfTheGOP

[joeybaker]

The Inspector General took a random sample of 278 IRS forfeiture actions in cases where structuring was the primary basis for seizure. The report found that in 91 percent of those cases, the individuals and business had obtained their money legally.

The IRS took millions from innocent people because of how they managed their bank accounts, inspector general finds

governmentIncompetence #governmentOverreach

That's the definition of bad policy.

[joeybaker]

Paradoxes of probability and other statistical strangeness https://t.co/LQUJk5OcgL (https://t.co/p7LQ32M29n)

[joeybaker]

circumstances have changed in ways that should be reflected in the legal doctrines that lawyers use. Unlike twenty years ago, today surveillance is ubiquitous, and the need for encryption is no longer felt by a seldom few. Encryption has become necessary for even the most basic exchange of information given that most Americans share "nearly every aspect of their lives ­-- from the mundane to the intimate" over the Internet, as stated in a recent Supreme Court opinion. Given these developments, lawyers might consider a new justification under the Press Clause. In addition to the many doctrinal concerns that exist with protection under the Speech Clause, the Press Clause is normatively and descriptively more accurate at protecting encryption as a tool for secure communication without fear of government surveillance.

Encryption Policy and Freedom of the Press

fourthEstate #encryptionWars #surveillanceState

[joeybaker]

“Erik had no role on the transition team. This is a complete fabrication. The meeting had nothing to do with President Trump. Why is the so-called under-resourced intelligence community messing around with surveillance of American citizens when they should be hunting terrorists?”

Blackwater founder held secret Seychelles meeting to establish Trump-Putin back channel

That's a veiled threat to cut government budgets coming from a non-government owner of a private military who's sister is an advisor to the president. This sounds like something from a medieval court.

trumpAristocracy