chocolatpi
chocolatpi's JournalReturn of the Chicken Hawks-Advocates of Torture
It comes as no surprise that the bellowing, ugly, unhinged voices promoting a war follow DT like the flies on a pile of you know what. Republicans see this as a way to maintain control of the White House and Congress. They are beating the drums both as a distraction and reason to bury Mueller’s findings by offering a no longer shiny old objective, war with Iran and the next war Republicans want. This is intended to use a war to prop up the squatter in the WH and influence the 2020 election.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-john-bolton-20180327-story.html
John Bolton: Another hawk who managed to avoid military service altogether
Mar 27, 2018
To the editor: President Trump just fired Gen. H.R. McMaster and will have hawkish John Bolton replace him as national security advisor. It’s bad enough that our president, our new secretary of the State, Mike Pompeo, and the new director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, have all advocated torture. Even worse is the threat of war symbolized by Bolton, who has advocated bombing Iran, North Korea and even Cuba. It’s been said sarcastically that Bolton has not met a country he didn’t want to bomb. (“John Bolton's appointment further weakens the 'axis of adults' around Trump,” March 23.) Roger Carasso, Santa Fe, N.M.
To the editor: Has anyone noticed that those national policy makers that have had the heavy burden of ordering our military men and women into harm’s way, such as Gens. James N. Mattis and McMaster, are less inclined to threaten military action against our adversaries that those who managed to avoid military service altogether, such as Trump and Bolton? Gary Vogt, Menifee, Calif.
The 20-year argument between Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren over bankruptcy, explained
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-20-year-argument-between-joe-biden-and-elizabeth-warren-over-bankruptcy-explained/ar-AAAYaN8Matthew Yglesias
5/6/19
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was the first Democratic 2020 hopeful to take a direct swing at former Vice President Joe Biden since he got into the race, accusing him of being “on the side of the credit companies” in a fight that launched her political career a decade ago.
Warren’s quarrel with Biden isn’t personal. It’s about a 2005 bankruptcy bill he supported as a senator. Warren opposed the bill so vehemently that its passage inspired her transition from a Harvard bankruptcy law professor, who studied middle-class economics, to a senator and now a presidential hopeful.
“I got in that fight because [families] just didn’t have anyone and Joe Biden was on the side of the credit card companies,” Warren said after an April rally in Iowa. “It’s all a matter of public record.”
Russian Efforts to Exploit Racial Divisions in 2016 Found Firm Ground in U.S., Report Says
Source: MSN News
Russian Efforts to Exploit Racial Divisions in 2016 Found Firm Ground in U.S., Report Says
Mihir Zaveri and Jacey Fortin
5/6/19
Russian disinformation operations to exploit racial tensions during the 2016 presidential election in the United States found firm ground in a country where legislators have long sought to suppress the black vote, according to a report released Monday.
The report, “State of Black America,” was released by the National Urban League, a civil rights organization based in New York. It underlined the Russian interference in particular. The report, “State of Black America,” was released by the National Urban League, a civil rights organization based in New York. It underlined the Russian interference in particular but said that black voting rights were under attack from a wide range of actors, including domestic politicians.
In about two dozen states, voting restrictions have gotten worse since 2010 because of changes including new voter identification laws and decisions to limit locations where voters can cast ballots, the report said.
More at link
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/russian-efforts-to-exploit-racial-divisions-in-2016-found-firm-ground-in-us-report-says/ar-AAAYF02
Buffett speaks on trade with China and economy
Buffett speaking on 5/4/19 at shareholder meeting.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-berkshire-buffett-cnbc-idUSKCN1SC100
MAY 6, 2019
Warren Buffett says U.S.-China trade war would be 'bad for the whole world'
Jonathan Stempel, Jennifer Ablan
Buffett spoke after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that he will raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent beginning on Friday
.
Trump also said he would soon slap a 25-percent tariff on $325 billion of Chinese goods that have not been taxed.
Major stock markets fell worldwide on Monday in response to the tweet, which preceded scheduled trade talks this week, and was a “rational” response, Buffett said on CNBC television.
Buffett’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc owns or invests in many companies that do business in China, including Apple Inc, in which it has a more than $50 billion stake, and Chinese electric car maker BYD Co.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/06/warren-buffett-rejects-socialism-calling-capitalism-a-miracle-for-us.html
Warren Buffett rejects socialism, calling capitalism ‘absolutely a miracle’ for the United States
PUBLISHED 27 MIN AGO
Matthew J. Belvedere
@MATT_BELVEDERE
Warren Buffett on Monday rejected the type of socialist ideas gaining favor on the far-left of the Democratic Party — delivering a full-throated endorsement of free market capitalism.
“If you look at what was here in 1776 and you look at what’s here now, this country has done an incredible job in terms of the deployment of resources and human ingenuity,” Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick, in an interview from Omaha, Nebraska — where Berkshire Hathaway held its annual shareholders meeting this weekend. “The idea of people unleashing their potential ... it’s absolutely a miracle.
Does that mean that every decision should be made by open market determinants? No, there’s need for regulation,” said Buffett, who supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. “Human ingenuity is incredible, and you want something that maximizes its use; and then curbs, on a few of the ideas that some of those people may have to sort of have it for all themselves.”
Sitting next to Buffett, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates told CNBC Monday, “Some people think when you defend capitalism you’re defending the tax rates.” He said that is not the case. Gates and Buffett for years have called for higher taxes on wealthy individuals, like themselves, to fund social safety nets and pay down the country’s debt. They have also maintained the rich are being undertaxed compared to working American
Biden Thinks Trump Is the Problem, Not All Republicans. Other Democrats Disagree.
Bolded text is the GOP 2020 Presidential Election argument. Our candidate needs an alternative message that stands up, tall and proud with a Democratic vision for moving forward. imo
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-thinks-trump-is-the-problem-not-all-republicans-other-democrats-disagree/ar-AAATspR
The New York Times
Biden Thinks Trump Is the Problem, Not All Republicans. Other Democrats Disagree.
Shane Goldmacher 5/4/19
Early polls show why Mr. Biden would want to elide any disagreements. Only 23 percent of Democrats said he had the “best policy ideas” in a recent poll by Quinnipiac University. But 56 percent of Democrats said he had the best chance of defeating Mr. Trump.
Some Democrats say the idea of trying to predict electability and casting Mr. Trump as an “aberration” was tried by Mrs. Clinton in 2016 — and it failed.
“I feel like the party went through this and the 2016 election showed that Trumpism isn’t just Donald Trump — it’s the entire Republican Congress, too,” said Rebecca Katz, a progressive Democratic strategist unaligned in the 2020 contest. “Until there is someone in the Republican Party who can stand up to Trump, then none of them are better than Trump.”
Republicans aligned with Mr. Trump say that, whatever the president’s failings, he has overseen a growing economy, the appointment of a vast array of conservative judges and a huge tax cut. They note that they offer dissent when they disagree with his policies; Mr. Trump recently suffered setbacks on his desired nominations to the Federal Reserve, for example, because of Republican opposition.
Harris challenges the thinking on the best way to challenge Trump
(If a discussion exists, please provide link for readers)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/harris-challenges-the-thinking-on-the-best-way-to-challenge-trump/ar-AAAQTGa
The Washington Post
Jennifer Rubin
5/3/19
It is not merely grizzled men in the Democratic Party who think they need a white guy to win. Democratic women, nearly all of whom voted for Hillary Clinton, will say without prompting that they cannot “risk” this election on another woman (as if Republicans would ever say after 2008, “We’d better not nominate any of those white old men again!”). My colleague Dave Weigel has heard it. I’ve heard it. Pollsters I have spoken to have heard it. Democratic operatives, veterans of the Clinton campaign, have heard it — and said it.
Frankly, who will be “electable” in 18 months is rarely apparent to so-called experts, let alone voters. Based on the false sense of security of a white candidate, Democrats in the 2008 cycle would have told you that Barack Obama was less “electable” than Clinton.
The search for a white man stems in large part from the fear of not winning back the white male vote in the Rust Belt, something that Democrats have agonized over since November 2016. But anyone paying attention in 2018 saw that throughout the Upper Midwest and in suburban districts across the country, moderate women racked up victories. The congressional freshman class of 2019 is the most diverse ever.
That’s not to say racism and sexism aren’t huge factors, but the same voters who are not going to vote for an African American were probably not going to vote for a Democrat under any circumstances. Voters who think we are being inundated by a horde of violent immigrants and feel that white men are victims are not persuadable voters.
Surely there are lots of ways to win states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio. Rallying African American voters, turning out young voters and pulling white women away from the GOP would work. It did work in 2018.
…snip
Warren Buffet on Bernie Sanders
I apologize for the age of this article. Pneumonia paid me a visit recently. I also realize this exceeds the recommended length for a quote. I do believe both MSN and Mr. Buffett would give me permission, if asked.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/buffett-wants-to-ask-2020-presidential-candidates-one-question/ar-BBVNN0F?li=BBnbfcL
Buffett wants to ask 2020 presidential candidates one question
Tom Huddleston Jr.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is once again wading into the topic of politics.
Buffett, who supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and has previously weighed in on whether or not executives like Michael Bloomberg or former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz would make good candidates, said in a recent interview that there is one question he would want to ask the field of candidates planning to run for the White House in 2020.
"I want to hear what they tell people who disagree with them," Buffett told Yahoo Finance on Monday. "I would like to ask a candidate: 'What are you for that the majority of your followers are against?'"
That's the best way to be sure that a candidate really believes in a particular issue, according to Buffett. "That's really the test," he says in the interview.
Those comments from Buffett came in response to a question about whether the billionaire would ever ask a candidate what they think about the economy or other issues. Buffett laughs and points out that any candidate would probably just "tell me what I want to hear" to win his support, which is not what the billionaire would want.
...snip
Meanwhile, Buffett identifies Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as one presidential candidate who would not be afraid to answer Buffett's question about unpopular views he holds. Buffett tells Yahoo Finance that Sanders' followers see him as "authentic," adding: "if you asked him you what he was for, that most people might be against, he would tell you."
...snip
Ilhan Omar has become the target of a dangerous hate campaign
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/14/ilhan-omar-republicans-silenceIlhan Omar has become the target of a dangerous hate campaign
Moustafa Bayoumi
Fox News, New York Post and Donald Trump are contributing to a climate of vigilantism that threatens every Muslim in America today.
…snip
But the attacks continue. That’s why you could be forgiven for thinking that Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim women ever elected to Congress, has said these – or even much worse – things. By now, she is accused so often of various speech and thought crimes that she almost seems like a figure in the Two Minutes Hate, the daily ritual used to whip party members into a frenzy in George Orwell’s novel 1984. In Orwell’s dystopia, the enemy of the people was the very Jewish-sounding Emmanuel Goldstein. If you believe some pundits, today’s enemy of the people is the very Muslim-looking Ilhan Omar.
Think I’m exaggerating? Consider how Ronna McDaniel, the head of the Republican National Committee, recently labeled Omar as “anti-American” on Twitter. Or then there’s Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade, who questioned Omar’s loyalty, saying “You have to wonder if she’s an American first.” (Kilmeade has since walked back his statement a tad.) A few weeks earlier and also on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, Jeanine Pirro questioned not just Omar’s loyalty to her country but really any hijab-observing woman’s allegiance to the United States. “Omar wears a hijab,” Pirro said, accusingly. “Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States constitution?”
The allegations are baseless, but the attacks continue. The latest manufactured outrage derives from a speech Omar gave last month to the Los Angeles branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. As the Washington Post noted, Omar’s 23 March speech was broadcast live (including on Fox News Online), but became controversial only days ago. In one phrase of her 20-minute talk, which was focused on Muslim Americans and civil rights, Omar says “some people did something” when referring to the September 11 attacks. It’s abundantly clear by the context of the talk that Omar was saying that the actions of a few have distressingly enabled the threat to the civil rights of so many. To allege that Omar was minimizing the horrors of September 11 is to deliberately misconstrue the point of her comments.
...snip
British climate group Extinction Rebellion heads to US
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/13/extinction-rebellion-heads-to-america-climate-change-protest'Shut the country down': British climate group Extinction Rebellion heads to US
…snip
“I told a 72-year-old volunteer that he will probably be targeted by police,” said Ruiz, who is based in Eureka, California and is helping organize the first US rollout of Extinction Rebellion, a group founded in the UK that has grabbed attention through disruptive protests leading to mass arrests.
Extinction Rebellion calls on protesters to block London streets
Read more
“He paused and then said: ‘OK, yes.’”
Following a foray into New York in January, several thousand protestors will aim to cause similar mischief in dozens of US cities next week.
“This is a coordinated rebellion that targets industry and government indefinitely, to shut the country down,” Ruiz said. “In my 30 years plus of activism I’ve never seen so many everyday people worried in such a visceral way, for themselves, their children, their grandchildren. It’s unprecedented.”
..snip
For the Honorable Mr. Mueller; if not now, when?
Will he play his cards, fold them or walk away? It's time for the showdown at the DC coral.
For the past few weeks, Mr. tRump appears less stressed and more confident that he is going to walk away without any consequences.
I accepted this as a possible outcome months ago. If the justice system fails to perform its' constitutional and legal duties, the Senate becomes a willing co-conspirator and US elections are threatened by foreign powers , we are on the precipice.
keep your powder dry
Profile Information
Member since: Sun Sep 16, 2012, 12:48 PMNumber of posts: 7,888
