November 17, 2019

What Trump learned that he was probably warned about and ignored (Bolton)

I know a few people who have met John Bolton personally, and one of them described the meeting as staring into the abyss and having the abyss stare back at you. Almost everyone who has met him for the first time over the past dozen years or so will wow you with a variety of unflattering and chilling adjectives; he is amoral, soulless, pitiless, driven, Machiavellian, etc. To John Bolton, the end is the only thing that matters, everything in between is the mess you look back upon that got it accomplished.
Words that you will never hear people say to describe Bolton include lazy, unprepared, forgiving, or weak. He is so driven, he is as prepared as possible for every meeting, he has analyzed every possible scenario in a plan and is prepared to go to the mat to defend his position. He is a long-term thinker; if he gives on an issue, it is likely because he sees a pay-off down the road by compromising. If you want to know how horrible a person he is, consider this, two of his closest supporters have been the Mercers.

Trump, is the exact opposite of Bolton. Trump is stupid, he is unprepared, he is lazy and he is unable to see the prize in the bottom of a box of cereal, much less the prize in a complicated foreign or military policy. Trump sees one answer and goes with it, and that answer is almost always the simplest one and the wrong one. Bolton pours through details, Trump thinks details are someone with an accent talking about the back appendages of animals.
It is likely that Bolton kept thorough records of everything that he saw in the Trump administration; a man of his paranoia and work ethic would not be trusting of someone who has a history of screwing over anyone and everyone because he thinks he's so damned smart. It is also likely that the circus elephant sweepers working in the maladministration are mulling what proof Bolton has about them, as well as their boss.

This is not about Bolton being a hero of liberals, as Politico seemed to get in their head in an article a few weeks back. Only a fool and the so-called political insiders of media would think that the left has fallen in love with John Bolton. The vast majority of liberals will tell you he is a neo-conservative, Reagan worshiping, war mongering, amoral, pitiless, self-centered jerk. But, he knows things and liberals want to know what he knows -- like any American who cares about good governance and rule-of-law should want.

To those who think they're clever with the "If he loves America and is so upset at what Trump is doing why hasn't he come forward?"
My reply is, "You don't understand Bolton." He is getting mileage out of this, both in terms of how much money his book will likely rake in, but more importantly, sweating people at the White House who are wondering what he'll say. He may also be sweating the Mercers as well. Unlike Bannon's exit from the White House, where the Rebekkah Mercer made it clear she and her father were backing trump, nothing from them on this that I have seen.
It's likely if you asked Bolton why he hasn't come forward, his answer would be, "Why?" As in, what do I owe you or anyone else?

Trump invited the vampire into his home. He kicked him to the curb and tried to gain machismo mileage out of Bolton being gone. But he's now learning what happens when you cross an ideologue, who is smart, ruthless, and believes in vengeance.

November 16, 2019

5 Stories from Europe You May Have Missed

1. Thousands expected at Prague protest against Czech PM Andrej Babis

Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to attend a mass rally in Prague against Czech prime minister Andrej Babis on Saturday — the 30th anniversary of the country’s Velvet Revolution.

Organisers of the protest hope to repeat the success of a similar event in June that was the largest of its kind since the fall of Communism in 1989.

snip

Babis, a Slovak-born billionaire, has been investigated over a €2 million EU subsidy paid to a farm and convention centre that is now part of his giant Agrofert business, one of the country's largest private employers. He insists the site was owned by family members at the time of the subsidy, making it eligible, and has dismissed complaints about him as "fake news".

Czech police recommended that Babis be charged, but the country’s justice minister resigned the next day and the case has been dropped.

https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/16/thousands-expected-at-prague-protest-against-czech-pm-andrej-babis


2. Serbian President Vucic Hospitalized With Heart Problems

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has been hospitalized after experiencing heart problems.

A statement issued on November 16 by his office said Vucic had been admitted to the military hospital in Belgrade, the capital, on November 15.

Vucic, 49, is a former extreme nationalist who now wishes to lead Serbia into the European Union.

Vucic's ruling Serbian Progressive Party ascended to power in 2012. Vucic has been Serbia's president since 2017.

https://www.rferl.org/a/serbian-president-vucic-hospitalized-with-heart-problems/30275114.html


3. Greenland airport becomes latest victim of climate change


Greenland's main airport is set to end civilian flights within five years due to climate change, as the melting of permafrost is cracking the runway.

Kangerlussuaq Airport, the country's main hub, had 11,000 planes landing or departing last year.

Permafrost, the layer of soil usually frozen solid, is shrinking as temperatures rise. For airport workers, ridding the runway of the snow and ice has become a constant struggle.

As a result, authorities will start building a new facility from scratch.

https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/15/greenland-airport-becomes-latest-victim-of-climate-change


4. Uzbekistan Urges Media Not To Politicize Suspicious Death Of Critical Journalist

Uzbek authorities told reporters not to politicize the death of a prominent journalist and outspoken government critic killed in a late-night road accident last week that many believe is suspicious.

Officials told reporters at a press conference in Tashkent on November 12 that Davlat Nazar’s death was simply a tragic traffic accident.

But the death of the 48-year-old journalist -- well-known for his critical reporting of the government -- has raised suspicions in Uzbekistan, where the government has little tolerance for dissent.

A correspondent for the private Jamiyat newspaper, Nazar (also known as Davlatnazar Ruzmetov) had been detained by authorities several times due to his critical reports and said he was being tailed by state agents in the time leading up to his death.

https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-urges-media-not-to-politicize-suspicious-death-of-critical-journalist/30269928.html


5. MEPs reject Hungary's pick for EU commissioner but approves those of France and Romania

MEPs have blocked Hungary's latest pick for EU commissioner but given the green light to those of France and Romania.

snip

MEPs rejected Hungary's Commissioner-designate in a first hearing, which means Oliver Varhelyi will have to answer additional written questions in the coming days before his candidacy can be approved.

Varhelyi, who has been put forward for the neighbourhood and enlargement portfolio, was quizzed by MEPs from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

snip

Some MEPs, the European Parliament said in a statement, "voiced serious concerns over how Mr Várhelyi will be capable of promoting the rule of law and fundamental rights in the enlargement countries, given that his own country, Hungary, has passed several laws in clear breach of the EU Treaties over the last few years. Others expressed their worry over whether the Commissioner-designate’s loyalty will lie with the Hungarian government or the EU as a whole

https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/14/eu-parliament-approves-france-s-commissioner-designate-thierry-breton

November 16, 2019

Michael Bennet speaks with Democrats Abroad - Nov 19

Tuesday, November 19, 10:00am DC time join a call with Senator Michael Bennet!

When: November 19, 2019 at 10:00am Eastern Time

Where: Zoom call

As this is an online call, you will need an internet connection in order to attend.

You must RSVP to be a part. This is the third Democratic Candidate that will have spoken to Dems Abroad

November 12, 2019

To Don Cherry and every other bigoted, big mouthed, blowhard

If you don't want to get fired on Remembrance Day, don't make bigoted comments on or around Remembrance Day

Just some advice

November 12, 2019

Into the abyss: How the MV Lyubov Orlova, a cruise ship named for a Soviet movie star, met its end a

How the MV Lyubov Orlova, a cruise ship named for a Soviet movie star, met its end as a ‘cannibal rat-infested ghost ship’ in the Atlantic

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Glenn Mackey boarded the MV Lyubov Orlova in St. John’s Harbour on July 2, 2010, expecting to conduct a routine ship inspection.
But the Transport Canada inspector's visit quickly became anything but routine. He noticed the crane for the lifeboats was broken and the fire doors were defective. His notes from that day describe the crew's emergency drills as a "fiasco."

snip

Mackey's visit proved to be the beginning of the end for the Lyubov Orlova, a 4,251-tonne Arctic and Antarctic expedition cruise ship with a capacity of 110 passengers and 70 crew. The 2010 Arctic summer cruise season would be its last. Within two months of Mackey's inspection, the Lyubov Orlova and its crew would be abandoned in the harbour by the vessel's owner, as lawsuits and liens piled up.

snip

The Lyubov Orlova was originally owned by the Far East Shipping Company, which used it to ferry passengers along the eastern coastline of the Soviet Union, mostly around the Vladivostok region.

snip

"[One owner] said it was going to scrap and [the other] said they were taking it to 'humanitarian' purposes as a hotel in Haiti."
Nobody planned for what actually happened next. Within a day at sea, the Charlene Hunt's towline broke, sending the Lyubov Orlova adrift.

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Very long read, but worth it (IMO)

https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/into-the-abyss

November 10, 2019

5 Stories from Europe You May Have Missed

1. Rite Turn: 'First Baptism' For Transgender Man In Montenegro's Serbian Orthodox Church

The Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro has given a quiet and seemingly grudging nod to change this week with the baptism of a 19-year-old transgender man.

It appears to be a landmark first for the dominant religious institution in the tiny, conservative Balkan nation of some 600,000 people.

"For me, religion is love," the man, who was christened under his adopted name of Vuk Adzic at the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Podgorica on November 3, told RFE/RL's Balkan Service.

Adzic said his "secret" covenant with the church followed years of faith that was tested most recently by a brutal late-night beating at the hands of intruders at his family's mountain cottage, hinting at the violent disdain that some Montenegrins show for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

https://www.rferl.org/a/montenegro-baptism-first-ransgender-man-lgbt-serbian-orthodox-church/30260221.html


2. Russia Frees Last Of 'Whale Jail' Animals Into Wild In Far East

Russian officials said on November 10 that they had released the last of dozens of beluga whales whose captivity alongside killer whales in a "whale jail" in the Far East prompted an international outcry and Kremlin intervention.

Images of some of the 97 belugas and orcas in the Srednyaya Bay pens shocked the Russian and international publics and drew complaints from as far afield as Hollywood actor and environmental advocate Leonardo DiCaprio.

A Russian federal research institute said the last 31 beluga whales -- the mostly white cetacean native to the Arctic and sub-Arctic and known for its canary-like "song" -- were freed into the wild in the Bay of Assumption off the southern coast of southern Primorsky Krai, on the Sea of Japan on November 10.

"This was the final release," Interfax quoted the press service of the Pacific branch of the Russian Federal Research Institute for Fisheries and Oceanography as saying. "No animals remain in the whale jail."

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-frees-last-of-whale-jail-animals-into-wild-in-far-east/30262551.html


3. Prague to honour little-known saviour of refugees fleeing Nazis

An aid worker who helped refugees flee the Nazis is to be honoured by Prague in a move historians hope will rescue her name and heroic deeds from obscurity.

Marie Schmolka will be awarded honorary citizenship of her native city by the local municipality in recognition of what experts describe as a central role in saving large numbers of Jews and opponents of Hitler before the second world war.

Campaigners hope Monday’s ceremony in Prague’s Archa theatre will pave the way to greater recognition in Britain, where Schmolka died of a heart attack in March 1940, aged 46.

A Jew and a Zionist, Schmolka extended aid to refugees – including communists – fleeing into Czechoslovakia from Germany after the Nazis took power in 1933. Later, as the Czechoslovak representative of the League of Nations commission for refugees, she helped relocate them, including to Palestine and the Dominican Republic, as Hitler’s territorial ambitions began to threaten neighbouring countries.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/10/prague-honour-little-known-saviour-refugees-fleeing-nazis-marie-schmolka

4. Young female climate activists face hateful abuse online

snip

NBC News has spoken to three young climate activists, all female, and their families who now find themselves in the center of a digital culture war and have to contend with hateful messages from skeptics, misogynists and far-right agitators.

Swedish teen Greta Thunberg, who founded the Fridays for Futureweekly school strikes and has become a figurehead of a climate change youth movement, has borne the brunt of the attacks, particularly on messaging platforms including Telegram and forums such as 8chan, security and technology experts say.

snip

"It's shocking to me that people go after anyone and everyone just to bring them down, and I don't understand what they get out of it," said Theresa Sebastian, 15, from Cork, in the Republic of Ireland. "They feel they have the right to degrade us."

Despite lacking an international profile as a climate change activist, Sebastian has endured abuse from accounts that appear to belong to teenage boys and grown men. Some messages criticize her campaigning, while others are hateful comments about her appearance.

Sebastian said she frequently receives racial slurs due to her Indian heritage — she is among the few climate strike organizers of color in Ireland.

https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/10/young-female-climate-activists-face-hateful-abuse-online-how-they-n1079376

5. Aid workers fear winter 'humanitarian catastrophe' at Bosnia migrant camp

snip

Bosnia has seen an increase in the number of migrants ever since Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia closed their borders against illegal immigration.

Since 2018, more than 40,000 migrants have been registered in Bosnia Herzegovina, according to IOM (International Organisation for Migration) data.

snip

"I would say that 99% of people in Bosnia Herzegovina are here because they want to cross into Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and either stay there or move onwards," said Peter Van der Auweraert, the Western Balkans Coordinator for the IOM.

snip

On top of the humanitarian crisis exacerbating in the Vucjak camp, officials in the northwest Bosnian town of Bihac have threatened to close down the Bira migrant centre, located in an old factory in the town, as early as next week.

https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/10/aid-workers-fear-humanitarian-catastrophe-as-winter-arrives-at-bosnian-migrant-camp?fromBreakingNews=1

November 10, 2019

Gov Steve Bullock to Speak to Democrats Abroad

Add November 14, 9:00am DC time to your calendar and join a call with Steve Bullock! He'll spend time with Democrats Abroad sharing his policy stance on Americans abroad issues (and other issues too, time permitting).

When: November 14, 2019 at 9:00am Eastern Daylight Time

Where: Zoom call
As this is an online call, you will need an internet connection in order to attend.

November 8, 2019

5 Stories from Europe You May Have Missed

1. Russian Authorities See 'Violent Sexual Assault' In Video Of Kids Chatting With Gay Man

It seemed like a good idea at the time: create a series of YouTube videos in which children sit down to talk to people who are often marginalized by society. For instance, the elderly, the disabled, people with eating disorders, or homosexuals.

"It was a purely social project," a source involved with the project told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity out of fear of harassment or persecution. "It was absolutely noncommercial."

But one video in the Real Talk series – in which children between the ages of 6 and 13 ask questions of a male homosexual -- caught the attention of a group of socially conservative Russian State Duma deputies. Under pressure from the lawmakers, the Investigative Committee announced on November 2 that it was opening a criminal probe on suspicion of "violent sexual assault on a minor under the age of 14."

snip

For several months, the video didn't attract any particular attention. But sometime in the summer, State Duma deputy speaker Pyotr Tolstoi, Duma Deputy Vitaly Milonov, and Public Chamber member Elina Zhgutova began filing complaints with law enforcement agencies, urging them to look into alleged violations of the rights of children.

https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-authorities-see-violent-sexual-assault-in-video-of-kids-chatting-with-gay-man/30258448.html


2. Italian Holocaust survivor given police escort after far-right threats

An Italian Holocaust survivor has been assigned a police escort after an escalation of threats from far-right extremists.

Liliana Segre, a senator for life, receives an average 200 online threats a day, many against her life. Earlier this year, a teacher from the Veneto region wrote on Facebook that Segre “would do well in a nice little incinerator”.

snip

Animosity towards Segre, 89, was amplified after the far-right parties, the League and Brothers of Italy, as well as Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, refused to back the proposal, sparking fury from the Vatican and Rome’s Jewish community.

Renato Saccone, the prefect of Milan, where Segre lives, was moved to act after Forza Nuova, a neo-fascist political party, hung up a banner criticising the anti-fascism movement close to a theatre where the 89-year-old was making a speech on Tuesday.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/07/italian-holocaust-survivor-given-police-escort-after-far-right-threats


3. Angela Merkel's CDU wins Gorlitz Mayor race, beating far-right AfD

The eastern German city of Gorlitz, nicknamed "Gorliwood" because of the dozens of movies filmed there, backed Chancellor Angela Merkel's party on Sunday, electing Christian Democrat (CDU) candidate Octavian Ursu as mayor and rejecting AfD candidate Sebastian Wippel.

Wippel would have been the country's first mayor from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. He won the first round of the election on May 26 with 36% of the vote but did not manage to defeat the CDU candidate in the second round.

Ursu won the runoff with just over 55% after other parties supported him.

https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/17/angela-merkel-s-cdu-wins-gorlitz-mayor-race-beating-far-right-afd


4. France's Macron Says NATO 'Brain-Dead,' Russia Says Comment 'Golden'

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned fellow European countries that NATO is dying because of Washington's lack of predictability under President Donald Trump, a view quickly rejected by Germany but hailed by Russia.

snip

"What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO," Macron told The Economist on November 7.

snip

"The French president has found rather drastic words to express his views. This is not how I see the state of cooperation at NATO," Merkel told a news conference in Berlin alongside alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg.

snip

However, Macron's assessment was hailed in Moscow, where Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called it "golden words...a precise definition of the current state of NATO."

https://www.rferl.org/a/france-macron-says-nato-brain-dead-russia-says-comment-golden-/30258729.html


5.Attempted Murder, Alleged Sodomy, Poison Pills: A Plague Of Scandals Consumes Georgia’s Orthodox Church

First there was the priest sentenced for allegedly plotting to poison a top church official. Then there was the other priest who alleged that Georgia’s prime minister and a billionaire businessman wanted to kill the church’s revered spiritual leader.

Oh, and don’t forget the priest who nearly got into a fight with clergymen and who, after being forcibly thrown out of an extraordinary meeting, accused the church’s leader on live TV of being “possessed by the sin of pederasty and sodomy.”

snip

“What is going on now is what I would call the biggest scandal in the history of the Georgian church,” Mirian Gamrekelashvili, a Munich-based academic, told RFE/RL.

snip

The political intrigue that has been simmering for several years has focused in part on longstanding accusations of corruption, and the vast wealth that the church has amassed with little transparency or oversight.

https://www.rferl.org/a/georgian-orthodox-church-scandal-sodomy-poison/30254591.html

November 7, 2019

Luz Escamilla concedes to Erin Mendenhall in Salt Lake City mayor's race

Luz Escamilla has conceded the race to Erin Mendenhall.
Both women are Democrats

A little disappointed because I thought it would be nice for SLC to have a Hispanic mayor
But, both women are progressive, are energetic and I think will be a credit to the city
Voting for Ms Mendenhall ended a 12 year run of the city voting for a state legislator to lead the city
Ms Mendenhall is a Councilwoman in Salt Lake City, and that was probably a key reason why people went with her

Congrats to Erin Mendenhall and good luck. To Luz Escamilla, good luck with your future plans.

November 6, 2019

In case you didn't know Nats catcher Kurt Suzuki is either a douche, vacuous or a trumpite

From the undefeated

But the most shocking moment for many Nationals fans came when Kurt Suzuki stepped to the mic, donning an actual MAGA hat, an undoubtedly political statement. There’s no way around what that means, no matter how you slice it. “Make America Great Again” was quite literally a campaign slogan. Period.

After the blowback, Suzuki offered up a retort that was beyond shortsighted. “It was amazing. That was the president. Just trying to have some fun,” the Hawaii-born catcher told USA Today. “Everybody makes everything political. It was about our team winning the World Series.” I mean, if that were the case, why not just wear an actual hat of the championship team you play on and contribute to?

https://theundefeated.com/features/like-it-or-not-the-nationals-knew-what-they-were-in-for-at-the-white-house/

So he wore a magat hat to help make it about the world series?