The Commentariat -- January 5, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Top US national security officials continue to defend the Trump administration's claim that it killed Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani in response to an impending threat to American lives, but the lack of evidence provided to lawmakers and the public has fueled lingering skepticism about whether the strike was justified.... The administration has failed to connect the dots in a way that provides a clear picture of an imminent threat and that argument has been obscured by inconsistent messaging from US officials.... In an interview with CNN Friday, Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico said more than once that he does not believe an attack on the United States was imminent as President Donald Trump and other top administration officials have said.... A ... US official raised additional questions about the motive for the strike, telling CNN it had presidential authorization at this level and they opted for a preemptive option after the previous moves of maximum pressure didn't change the Iranian pattern of behavior."

Alissa Rubin, et al., of the New York Times: "Lawmakers in Iraq heeded the demands of angry citizens and voted on Sunday to expel United States troops from the country after the United States ordered the killing of the Iranian leader of the elite Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, on Iraqi soil. The decision came as hundreds of thousands of mourners poured into the streets of Iran to pay their respects to General Suleimani, the most powerful figure in the country after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The vote is not final until Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi of Iraq signs the draft bill. Earlier on Sunday, Mr. Mahdi indicated that he would do so.... American troops are in Iraq 'at the invitation' of the Iraqi government, according to the legal agreement between Baghdad and Washington. Presumably, if Baghdad withdrew that invitation, the United States would have to withdraw." A Deutsche Welle story is here. ~~~

~~~ Pompeo, Minutes Earlier. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday dismissed calls by Iraq's caretaker prime minister for a timetable for all foreign troops to exit the country.... 'He's under enormous threats from the very Iranian leadership that it is that we are pushing back against,' Pompeo said on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'We are confident that the Iraqi people want the United States to continue to be there to fight the counterterror campaign. And we'll continue to do all the things we need to do to keep America safe.' Pressed by host Chris Wallace on what the United States will do if the Iraqi parliament demands that American troops leave the country, Pompeo declined to say."

~~~~~~~~~~

Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "The White House delivered a formal notification of the drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani to Capitol Hill Saturday, as required under the War Powers Act, according to a senior Democratic aide and another official familiar with the matter. The War Powers Act of 1973 mandates that the president report to lawmakers within 48 hours of introducing military forces into armed conflict abroad. Such notifications generally detail an administration's justification for U.S. intervention, as well as the constitutional and legislative rationale used by the administration to send troops.... The formal notification received at the Capitol on Saturday is entirely classified, according to the senior Democratic aide, and it is unclear whether the administration will issue a non-classified version that can be publicized." ~~~

First Trump Decided to Kill Soleimani, Then the Administration Came up with Intelligence to Justify It. Jonathan Lemire & Matthew Lee of the AP: "At the midway point of his annual Christmas vacation..., Donald Trump huddled at his Florida club with his top national security advisers. Days earlier, a rocket attack by an Iranian-funded group struck a U.S.-Iraqi base, killing an American contractor and wounding several others. Trump's advisers presented him with an array of options for responding, including the most dramatic possible response: taking out Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force and the man responsible for hundreds of Americans deaths. Trump immediately wanted to target Soleimani.... Some advisers voiced concern about the legal justification for a strike without evidence of an imminent attack in the works against Americans." ~~~

     ~~~ Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times write a similar story with different details. "Mr. Trump made the decision [to assassinate Suleimani], senior officials said on Saturday, despite disputes in the administration about the significance of what some officials said was a new stream of intelligence that warned of threats to American embassies, consulates and military personnel in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.... According to one United States official, the new intelligence indicated 'a normal Monday in the Middle East' -- Dec. 30 -- and General Suleimani' travels amounted to 'business as usual.' That official described the intelligence as thin and said that General Suleimani's attack was not imminent.... On Capitol Hill, Democrats voiced growing suspicions about the intelligence that led to the killing.... In Palm Beach, Fla., Mr. Trump lashed back [at Iran's threats to retaliate], promising to strike 52 sites across Iran -- representing the number of American hostages taken by Iran in 1979 -- if Iran attacked Americans or American interests. On Saturday night, Mr. Trump warned on Twitter that some sites were 'at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie to the Men & Women Who Serve Us in Dangerous Places: I know some of you are jerks & some of you are clueless but most of you are honorable public servants and all of you deserve to have a commander-in-chief who DOES NOT TWEET-SHOUT threats at our adversaries. Just sayin'. May the Fates bless you, every one. Oh, and did I mention that what Trump is threatening are war crimes? ~~~

     ~~~ Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "Legal observers immediately noted that attacking such sites of cultural importance is a war crime.... [Under] the Geneva Conventions..., 'it is prohibited: (a) to commit any acts of hostility directed against the historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples; (b) to use such objects in support of the military effort; (c) to make such objects the object of reprisals.'... George Conway [in a tweet]: '@realDonaldTrump is too dumb to know it's a war crime, but also too demented to care.'" ~~~

~~~ Assassins Я Us. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "The US government is no stranger to the dark arts of political assassinations. Over the decades it has deployed elaborate techniques against its foes, from dispatching a chemist armed with lethal poison to try to take out Congo's Patrice Lumumba in the 1960s to planting poison pills (equally unsuccessfully) in the Cuban leader Fidel Castro's food. But the killing of Gen Qassem Suleimani, the leader of Iran's elite military Quds force, was in in a class its own. Its uniqueness lay not so much in its method ... but in the brazenness of its execution and the apparently total disregard for either legal niceties or human consequences.... Donald Trump's gloating tweets over the killing combined with a sparse effort to justify the action in either domestic or international law has led to the US being accused of the very crimes it normally pins on its enemies.... Most of the interventions in the modern era have been covert and conducted beneath the radar. Where they have been proclaimed publicly, they have tended to target non-state actors operating in militias or militant groups like Islamic State. By contrast, until Trump the US has tended to fight shy of conducting overt assassination attempts on state actors connected to sovereign regimes. Suleimani himself is a case in point." ~~~

~~~ The TV Presidunce* Summer Concepcion of TPM: "President Trump's dissatisfaction with media coverage when he halted an airstrike against Iran last year reportedly influenced his authorization of the strike that killed top Iranian military official Qasem Soleimani Thursday night.... Officials told the Post that Trump was also compelled to authorize the Soleimani strike due to what he viewed as negative coverage that ensued after his decision last year to call off the airstrike targeting Iran. Additionally, Trump held frustration over the details of his internal deliberations leaking out -- which he felt made him looked weak.... Lawmakers and aides who have spoken to Trump told the Post that the President's fixation on Benghazi and the Obama administration's response to it also played a role into his decision." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In addition, the Times story by Helene Cooper & others, linked above, centers on how surprised Trump's top aides were when he opted for the "most extreme option" they presented him: "After initially rejecting the Suleimani option on Dec. 28 and authorizing airstrikes on an Iranian-backed Shia militia group instead, a few days later Mr. Trump watched, fuming, as television reports showed Iranian-backed attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad, according to Defense Department and administration officials." That is, it was TV coverage that caused him to opt for assassination. Still, the most shocking -- but not surprising -- part of Concepcion's report is that Trump thinks "deliberations make him look weak." A big part of a president's job is making decisions based on "deliberations." Yet Trump seems to think that accepting expert -- and not necessarily consistent -- advice is a weakness. ~~~

~~~ Conor Finnegan & Adia Robinson of ABC News: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday on ABC's 'This Week,' that the world is a safer place as a result of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani's death.... In response to a New York Times report about officials who questioned the rationale behind the strike, the secretary of state said there was no skepticism among senior leaders with access to all of the intelligence.... 'We're having to clean up their mess,' Pompeo said of the Obama administration...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Anyone who can reason would question the notion that assassination of bad state actors makes the world "a safer place." And one certainly would think that anyone who held a powerful, high government position -- that is, someone who could be a target of assassins' plans -- would be able to reason this out. But no. ~~~

     ~~~ Robert Burns of the AP: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday the U.S. strategy in countering Iran is to target the country's 'actual decision-makers' rather than to focus on Iranian proxy forces in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East." Mrs. McC: Pompeo seems blissfully unaware that, say, he and Trump are "actual decision-makers." ~~~

~~~ "The World Is a Safer Place Today," Ctd. Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "The Trump administration has warned members of Congress that Iran is expected to retaliate against the US 'within weeks' for the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani even as they failed to convince some that the operation was merited due to an imminent threat against American lives.There are also intense discussions taking place inside US military and intelligence agencies to assess whether Iran might be preparing some type of retaliatory strikes in the next few days or wait for some time, according to a US official with direct knowledge of the situation. 'There are conflicting views' on whether Iran will quickly retaliate or wait, but US military defenses are ready, the official said.Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley publicly addressed the issue of potential retaliation from Iran Friday. When asked whether there is now a risk to US safety in the region, Milley bluntly said, 'Damn right there is risk.'" ~~~

~~~ Joe Heim of the Washington Post: "Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Lafayette Square across from the White House on Saturday afternoon to voice opposition to the deployment of additional U.S. troops to the Middle East, demand the removal of American forces from Iraq and warn against getting into a war with Iran.... Organized in Washington by Code Pink: Women for Peace and the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), the protest was one of dozens that took place Saturday in cities and towns across the country including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Memphis, Salt Lake City and Tucson." ~~~

~~~ Deutsche Welle: "Several rockets fell in and around Baghdad on Saturday evening, [linked fixed] including an attack targeting an air base housing US troops, the Iraqi military said. Several rockets fell in the city's Jadriya neighborhood as well as the heavily fortified Green Zone which houses government buildings and several foreign missions, including the US Embassy. Blasts also targeted the the Balad air base, located 80 kilomteters (50 miles) north of Baghdad, which is hosting US troops in Iraq. Security sources told news agency AFP that surveillance drones were sent out above the base to locate the source of the rockets. Iraqi military added in their statement that there was 'no loss of life.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Summer Concepcion of TPM: "During an appearance on Fox News host Sean Hannity's Friday night, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threw European allies under the bus for not coming around to President Trump's authorization of the strike that killed top Iranian military official Qasem Soleimani. When Hannity asked Pompeo what other countries have been telling him after the strike that killed Soleimani, the secretary of state said that he'd been 'talking to partners in the region' which has been 'fantastic.'... However, Pompeo added that 'talking to our partners in other places' such as European allies hasn't 'been quite as good.' 'Frankly, the Europeans haven't been as helpful as I wish that they could be,' Pompeo said. 'The Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did -- what the Americans did -- saved lives in Europe as well.'" --s ~~~

~~~ Maanvi Singh of the Guardian: "In defense of his administration's decision to assassinate Qassem Suleimani, Mike Pence has been promoting conspiracy theories that link September 11 terrorists to Iran. In a series of tweets, the US vice-president ... insisted that the general 'assisted in the clandestine travel to Afghanistan of 10 of the 12 terrorists who carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States', misstating the number of 9/11 hijackers -- there were 19 -- and insinuating Suleimani's involvement despite a lack of evidence. Foreign policy experts were quick to point out on social media that Pence's assertions were unsubstantiated. The official 9/11 commission report found there was 'no evidence that Iran or Hezbollah was aware of the planning for what later became the 9/11 attack', and that 15 out of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, and the remainder were from the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Egypt. Moreover, Suleimani's name is never mentioned in the nearly 600-page report. Experts have also pointed out that Suleimani, a Shia leader, would have been an unlikely ally to the Sunni militants that carried out the attacks." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If only the Senate would remove Trump from office, we would get a real stable genius sort of president. ~~~

~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Now that I've reread the Raw Story piece about Pompeo's calling Lavrov and have done some cursory research, I see I misread the story: Pompeo called Lavrov on Friday; that is, after the drone strike. By this time, someone at State had called Chuck Schumer, according to a teevee news report I heard. Schumer apparently said to the caller, "Thanks for telling me what I've already heard on the news." So my bad. I apologize. (See related stories linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Faith Hassan, et al., of the New York Times: "Even before the shock of the brazen killing wore off, Iraqi factions were weighing their responses. Militias with ties to Iran vowed bloody revenge. The prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, condemned the attack as 'an outrageous breach to Iraqi sovereignty' and said Parliament would meet to discuss the future of the United States presence in Iraq.... Throughout the country, there was the familiar feeling that Iraq was a mere bystander in the broader geopolitical conflict between the United States and Iran taking place on Iraqi soil. More broadly, the events raised a single, overarching question: can the United States maintain a cooperative security relationship with Iraq given the upheaval the assassination has provoked?" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "The powers of an American president to wage war have grown stronger for nearly two decades, ever since the Sept. 11 attacks led the United States into an era of perpetual conflict. Those powers are now in the hands of the most volatile president in recent memory. President Trump's decision to authorize the killing of a top Iranian military leader could be the match that sets off a regional conflagration, or it could have only marginal geopolitical impact like so many of the targeted killings ordered by Mr. Trump and his predecessors. But it is just the latest example of the capricious way in which the president, as commander in chief, has chosen to flex his lethal powers." ~~~

~~~ Susan Rice, in a New York Times op-ed: "Despite President Trump's oft-professed desire to avoid war with Iran and withdraw from military entanglements in the Middle East, his decision to order the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Iran's second most important official, as well as Iraqi leaders of an Iranian-backed militia, now locks our two countries in a dangerous escalatory cycle that will likely lead to wider warfare.... Given the demonstrably haphazard and shortsighted nature of the Trump administration's national security decision-making process (including calling off strikes against Iran 10 minutes before impact, inviting the Taliban to Camp David and abandoning the Kurds), it's doubtful the administration spent much time gaming out the second and third order consequences of their action or preparing to protect American military and diplomatic personnel in the region.... It's hard to envision how this ends short of war." ~~~

Matt Welch of Reason: "'Don't trust liars -- especially about matters of war and peace,' writes Vox's Matthew Yglesias. 'Today's a day,' The Atlantic's David Frum posits, 'when the most untruthful administration in US history will wish its statements could be believed.' It is appropriate, necessary, yet insufficient to remember that government lying is bad, that government lying about war is particularly bad, and that Donald Trump is one of the most bizarrely promiscuous liars ever seen in American political life. Insufficient, because laying the blame on one particular administration, or even one major political party, too often becomes a de facto credulousness about the war-related veracity of other administrations. The truth, which literally hurts, is that every administration lies about war, particularly (though not only) about its reasons for initiating deadly force. It was literally only last month that The Washington Post's 'Afghanistan Papers' project detailed how America's longest war has been a nearly two-decade festival of deadly bullshit." (Also linked yesterday.)

Peter Nicholas of the Atlantic on why Congressional Republicans have Trump's back: "No doubt congressional Republicans fear Trump because of his unshakable grip on the party's base.... But there's another reason they've shielded him from impeachment: He's wooed Republicans who can protect his interests, cultivating relationships with them in ways that are not always visible or understood.... Trump has built personal ties with key members of Congress that have cemented their loyalty.... Fundamentally, Trump's relationships with Congress are transactional. He works at them continually.... Since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched the impeachment proceedings in late September, Trump has dialed up the charm."

All Trump's Money Trails Lead to Russia. Scott Stedman, et al., of Forensic News: "Deutsche Bank's loans to Donald Trump were underwritten by Russian state-owned VTB Bank, according to the whistleblower whose collection of thousands of bank documents and internal communications have captured the recent attention of federal investigators.... Forensic News is not confirming the underlying claim that VTB underwrote Trump's loans from Deutsche Bank. Forensic News can, however, confirm that at least some of Trump's loans were issued by a bank subsidiary with business ties to VTB. That subsidiary owed more than $48 million to VTB in 2013 and documents suggest the subsidiary continued doing business with VTB even after the bank was sanctioned in 2014." Thanks to unwashed for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Golden Bull. Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: "They came to pray with their president, though in truth many came just to worship him.... An estimated 7,000 'supporters of faith' packed the King Jesus international ministry megachurch in Miami to hear the word of the president, and decided that it was good. The Maga hat-wearing faithful cheered Trump's comments on issues calculated to resonate with his churchgoing audience, including abortion, freedoms of speech and religion, and what he claimed was a 'crusade' from Democrats against religious tolerance.... Friday's rally, hastily organized in the wake of a stinging Christianity Today editorial last month, recognized Trump's need to retain the loyalty of the evangelical voting bloc that propelled him to victory in 2016. Four years ago, he won 80% backing from white evangelical voters nationwide." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Races 2016 & 2020

** Carole Cadwalladr of the Guardian: "An explosive leak of tens of thousands of documents from the defunct data firm Cambridge Analytica is set to expose the inner workings of the company that collapsed after the Observer revealed it had misappropriated 87 million Facebook profiles. More than 100,000 documents relating to work in 68 countries that will lay bare the global infrastructure of an operation used to manipulate voters on 'an industrial scale' is set to be released over the next months.... The documents were revealed to have come from Brittany Kaiser, an ex-Cambridge Analytica employee turned whistleblower, and to be the same ones subpoeaned by Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.... Emma Briant, an academic at Bard College, New York, who ... has had access to some of the documents for research, said that what had been revealed was 'the tip of the iceberg'. 'The documents reveal a much clearer idea of what actually happened in the 2016 US presidential election, which has a huge bearing on what will happen in 2020. It's the same people involved who we know are building on these same techniques,' she said." --s

Money Counts! Tess Bonn of the Hill: "Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg saw a 6-point bump in the latest Hill-HarrisX survey of the Democratic presidential primary. The nationwide poll, which was released Friday, shows Bloomberg up from 5 percent to 11 percent support for the nomination nationally. The former New York City mayor is now in a dead heat for third place with top-tier candidate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who also received 11 percent support. [Joe] Biden, meanwhile, continues to lead the Democratic field with 28 percent followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at 16 percent." (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Australia. Livia Albeck-Ripka, et al., of the New York Times: "Four days after a bush fire ravaged the remote coastal town of Mallacoota, forcing people to shelter on the beach under blood-red skies, more than 1,000 stranded residents and vacationers arrived on Saturday in Hastings, a town near Melbourne. The authorities said it was most likely the largest peacetime maritime rescue operation in Australia's history. It was also a symbol of a country in perpetual flight from danger during a catastrophic fire season -- and the challenge the government faces in getting the blazes under control. Searing heat and afternoon winds propelled fires over large swaths of Australia on Saturday, adding to the devastation of a deadly fire season that has now claimed 23 lives. Thousands of people have been evacuated, while many towns and cities under threat were still smoldering from ferocious blazes that ripped through the countryside earlier in the week. More than 12 million acres have burned so far, an area larger than Switzerland, and the damage is expected to only get worse in the extremely arid conditions that are allowing the fires to spread. The fires are also so hot and so large that they are creating their own weather patterns, which can worsen the conditions." (Also linked yesterday.)

Hong Kong/China. Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "The Chinese government abruptly replaced its top representative in Hong Kong on Saturday evening, installing a senior Communist Party official with a record of difficult assignments in inland provinces that involved working closely with the security services. The top representative, Wang Zhimin, was replaced as the head of the powerful Central Liaison Office in Hong Kong by Luo Huining, the official Xinhua news service said. The move came two months after the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee called for measures to 'safeguard national security' in Hong Kong, although few details have been released."

Comments

[PD Pepe]

After Trump trashed the Iran agreement he put the severest economic sanctions on Iran that has ever been applied to any country in peacetime. He pressured S.K., Japan, India and China not to buy Iran's oil. Consequently, Iran's economy has been strangled––its people can't even buy certain medicines. HATE for America surely follows I would think––bigly!

"I predicted when Trump started doing these things that it would lead to conflict between Iran and the United States in ways that Trump himself could not foresee (people like Trump with narcissism personality disorder cannot empathize with the pain of other people, so Iran is invisible to him). The economic strangulation of Iran was bound to lead to pushback, as with encouraging Iraqi Shiite militias to target Americans, and to an escalation between the two countries." Juan Cole

And then we still have some commentators mention the old "wag the Dog" concept––Fatty being so flustered over impeachment he starts a war–-all eyes on bombs instead of the Boob.

The mention above by Cole that Trump is unable to empathize with others is key here. He has shown that trait over and over and how terribly pitiful and again–-in a president–-terrifying.

Another Sunday, and more empty prayers.

[PD Pepe]

But–-a tiny ( pivotal word here since many say this not does go far enough) ray of sunshine: The Hartford Service Group Inc. citing rising worries about climate change, is limiting its insurance coverage of companies in the fossil fuel business. This insurer is halting coverage of companies that post 25% or more in revenue from thermal coal mining and more than 25% of energy production from coal. It also will not write policies or make investments in companies that generate more than 25% of revenue directly from extracting oil from tar sands or in the construction and operation of new coal- fired plants.
It's a start.

[Akhilleus]

PD,

One has only to scroll back 100 years, to the back breaking economic sanctions imposed by the allies on Germany in the aftermath of the War to End All Wars. The severe debilitation of the German economy became the Petri dish for the conflagration to come twenty years after the Versailles treaty. The countries most insistent on punishing Germany, France and England, became a prime targets for retribution.

Pushing another nation up against the wall then lashing out with bellicose threats of death and destruction place unnecessarily dangerous (and stupid) pressures on the afflicted population to respond in immoderate and deadly fashion. If one feels one has no choice and is in a life or death struggle, all reasonable options fall quickly off the table and open the door to extremists to take control.

But Trump, a perpetually colicky infant with no sense or understanding of history or humanity knows only the bombastic language of insult and parlous hyperbole and is totally ignorant of a way forward that does not involve irresponsible bullying. Solutions requiring deliberative and proportional action are anathema to the fat child who dreams only of looking tough for his minions on Fox state TV.

And while we’re recalling the galactically bad ideas that came out of Versailles, leave us not forget that threatening to destroy sites of cultural and historic importance to a nation and its culture by way of inflicting punishment, as Fatty has done, is a classic move by barbarous monsters down through history. One of the most chilling reminders from the conflict arising from the impossible economic sanctions imposed on Germany (mostly by France and Britain) is the destruction rained on London and Hitler’s demand that Paris be burned to the ground.

Fatty has certainly placed himself in rarified company. Aren’t we proud to have such an infantile cretin as president?

[PD Pepe]

@AK: Yes! thanks for that historical reminder re: Germany. You would think some military bloke would whisper that nugget in the ear of this dunce––not that it would matter.

Yup! Wees mighty proud!

[Ken Winkes]

Must be fun to work for the Pretender. Never a dull moment

What will be the consequences of the narcissist-in-chief's latest improvident statement or act?

Who knows?

Certainly not the Secretary of State, that guy who used to be so smart.

Probably some of those Deep State anti-trumpers now buried in Foggy Bottom's basement did, but these days who's listening to them?

[Akhilleus]

Wonder if Melanie is rethinking her beauty pageant response to the question of a New Year’s wish (“world peace”) in the wake of her fat adulterous, lying husband’s latest attempt to toss any notion of peace into the nearest urinal. Probably not. She’s likely thinking of what color shoes to wear to her next FLOTUS pity party. The Trump Crime Family’s primary concerns are 1.) how much can we steal, and 2.) how good can we look doing it.

[Ken Winkes]

Akhilleus,

Have to say the standard you set for the Pretender is too high. He's not looking at all good. Puffier, redder and more wrinkled by the day. Older, in short, and I'd predict his appearance will only degrade further as November approaches.

Have to confess I take some joy in it.

That said, stumbled this AM into some of the NYTimes retrospective obits it's been running and would recommed them to RC'ers who might not have discovered them and would appreciate distraction from the present.

Some are inspiring, many educational, and all I've read interesting. Start with one and follow links to others you'll find at the bottom.

This morning's took me to the lives of a Mexican-American who chose to share the fate of his Japanese-American friends interned during WWII at Manzanar in CA's Owen's Valley. This led me to the life of a woman who claimed to have bicycled around the world in the late 1800's...the list goes on...

Some have political content.

[Bobby Lee]

Iraq passes legislation calling for all foreign troops to leave the country. Calls for a short time frame, sort of a "don't let the door hit you on the way out" period. Not as if they can enforce this.

Pompeo has more or less said the Iraqis are being pressured by Iran and we aren't leaving.

Memories come back of the "Armies of Occupation" in Germany and Japan after WW2.

[unwashed]

At this point Pompeo, Esper, Mulvaney, et al are nothing more than presidential* fluffers.

[Ken Winkes]

We knew it wouldn't be a real trial.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/01/impeachment-lindsey-graham-change-rules-mcconnell-pelosi/

Brilliant move by counsel for the defense.

Make sure the "trial" happens before the prosecution has finished building its case and been allowed to call witnesses.

More sham is showing by the day.

Perhaps enough of the nation will notice to make a difference come Fall.

[Cowichan's Opinion]

See photos of the mob mourning Soliemani? Almost as many as attended trump's inauguration!
If indeed there is an immanent attack targeting Americans in the ME, the plans have already been drawn up and issued to the various Iranian directed terrorist groups and well known to Soliemani's 2nd in command. Stopping a terrorist attack is just another crock of repub BS.