Tag Archives: Donald Trump

legal news

POTUS fired his own acting AG?

There’s been some interesting reporting overnight about the political earthquake that the president of the United States created.

Donald Trump fired acting U.S. attorney general Sally Yates because of her refusal to defend the president’s order banning refugees entering the United States temporarily from certain countries … where Muslims comprise the majority of the population.

Yates is held over from the Obama administration.

Here’s the weird part: Trump and his team reportedly asked Yates to stay on the job until the president could have his own AG confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The president selected her to be the acting attorney general.

Yates is known to be a dedicated career federal prosecutor who has worked in the Justice Department under both Republican and Democratic presidents.

She said she believed the president’s order was unlawful — under her understanding of federal statutes and the U.S. Constitution. I believe it is the duty of the AG — acting or otherwise — to follow the law and not necessarily to do what he or she is told to do by the president.

Trump chose Yates, who then followed the law.

Then the president accused her of “betraying” the Justice Department. Hit the road, he told her.

And now we have our first potential constitutional crisis.

Just think: It’s Day 11 of the Trump administration.

legal news

Trump makes history by firing acting AG

I had not heard of Sally Yates until today.

Now she becomes something of political hero in the eyes of millions of Americans — thanks to Donald J. Trump’s decision tonight to fire her from her job as acting U.S. attorney general.

What did the former assistant AG do? She declined to argue on behalf of the president’s decision to ban refugees trying to enter this country from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Yates questioned whether the executive order was lawful. Oh, yes — she is a holdover from the Obama administration’s Department of Justice.

My head continues to spin. My eyes are bugging out. My heart is palpitating.

Ten days into his presidency and Donald Trump’s penchant for pandemonium has claimed its first victim.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-immigration-executive-order-234401

Yates was holding down the DOJ post until Jeff Sessions was to be approved by the U.S. Senate.

I’m not yet sure about the legality of the executive order. Perhaps the former assistant AG is right; perhaps she is wrong. Whatever the case, the president chose to fire her summarily without first trying to persuade her that she really ought to do the job she was supposed to do.

Some folks around Washington are bringing up some dark memories. Can you recall the Saturday Night Massacre, when President Nixon sought to remove a special prosecutor who was examining the Watergate caper? Do you recall he then fired — in succession — the attorney general and his assistant AG who refused to dismiss the independent counsel?

The task then fell to the U.S. solicitor general, a fellow named Robert Bork, who went on to earn his own place in our nation’s history.

Honeymoon for this president? It is officially over.

International news, national news, political news

Steve Bannon … national security expert? C’mon!

I’m still trying to catch my breath over the news of how Donald J. Trump has revamped his — I mean our — National Security Council.

He has rolled back the emphasis of two key players: the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence.

These two individuals no longer will take part in what is called the “principals committee,” the panel that meets regularly with the president to assess national security threats and to deliver critical advice on how to handle those threats.

Who, though, is going to sit in? Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart.com — the right-wing website that has for some time spewed white nationalist rhetoric.

Steve “Bleeping” Bannon! This guy has taken a job as senior adviser to the president. He became the chairman of the campaign that resulted in Trump’s election.

His national security chops? His expertise on how to fight the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram? What knowledge does this guy bring to developing a strategy to rein in Kim Jong Un, or the ayatollahs who run Iran?

As near as I can tell, Bannon is unqualified to sit on the principals committee. He is no more suited to have access to the nation’s top security secrets than, oh, I am.

I keep wondering whether Bannon is going to advise the president in purely political terms about national security strategy. Aren’t these issues above and beyond partisan political concerns?

Trump’s unconventional presidency keeps taking strange and bizarre turns. The very idea that he would kick the Joint Chiefs chairman and the DNI to the curb — to make room for the likes of a political hack — is, as former national security adviser Susan Rice described it, “stone cold crazy.”

national news

Protests too often become annoyances

One aspect of protests deserves a mention here.

It’s the element of disruption they cause to those of us who happen to get caught in the middle of them.

Donald J. Trump’s executive order banning refugees from certain Muslim-majority countries has prompted protests at airports and other transportation terminals around the nation.

I have just returned home from a five-day trip to the Pacific Northwest to wish my beloved uncle a happy 90th birthday.

While I was there the president issued that ridiculous, paranoid order banning refugees. What happened, then, at Portland International Airport? Protesters clogged the place. They carried signs. They yelled at security officials. They made nuisances of themselves!

Other protests broke out all across the country. People marched in the streets.

When I left PDX this morning en route to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, I didn’t encounter any protesters at my point of departure. I thought there might be a horde of ’em at DFW. There weren’t. Good deal.

I got to my next connection to Amarillo and arrived quietly at the terminal.

My point, though, is that protests are fine. We are a country founded by protesters, people who didn’t like taking orders from monarchs. Those good folks then set about to build a government in The New World that guarantees people the right to assemble peaceably to “see redress of grievances” from the government.

It didn’t necessarily suggest they could disrupt the flow of life’s activities for the rest of us who choose to keep our protesting to ourselves.

Just so you know, I detest what the president has done. It’s in-American. For all I know it might even be unconstitutional. I’ll let the legal scholars of the world decide that one.

As for marching at airports, train stations and ship terminals … well, I’ll leave that for others.

Just stay out of my way. Please.

International news

U.S. gives up title of ‘Beacon of Hope’

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Let’s ponder this for a moment.

This United States of America used to be seen around the world as the place where everyone wanted to go. To visit. Or … to live.

It didn’t matter from where you came. You saw the U.S. of A. as the international beacon of hope. We have that statue in New York harbor that welcomes the poor and dispossessed.

That’s all changed, according to the current president of the United States. Donald J. Trump says if you come from certain countries and perhaps adhere to a certain religion, you are no longer welcome. The welcome mat has been rolled up, the door has been slammed shut and we won’t answer the bell when you ring it.

How in the world does this happen?

International terrorists? They’re to blame? No. We’ve had them in our midst for decades, if not centuries. Terrorists reside here at home, too. The president and his team say they want to protect us from those who would do us harm.

Really? What about the crazed corn-fed American-born morons who open fire in movie theaters, or at night clubs, or — for God’s sake! — in elementary schools! Or, say, the anti-government sociopath who blew up that federal courthouse in Oklahoma City.

The Trump administration has pushed the panic button. It has elevated the fear factor to new levels by excluding refugees from several Muslim-majority nations. But the president insists he isn’t invoking an anti-Muslim policy.

Well, Mr. President, it doesn’t look that way to me.

What’s next? Will he now send crews into the NYC harbor to remove that inscription on the statue?

military news, Uncategorized

President demotes Joint Chiefs chairman … elevates Bannon

“I know more about ISIS than the generals. Believe me.”

Donald J. Trump on the 2016 presidential campaign trail

The president must actually believe what he said while campaigning for the office way back when.

How else does one explain his decision to scale back the role of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — his top military officer — while elevating the role of senior policy adviser Steve Bannon on the National Security Council?

This is yet another mind-boggling, head-scratching move from the president as he settles into the only public service job he’s ever sought, let alone occupied.

The NSC is the panel of experts on which the president relies to give him all the details on national security threats. The Islamic State, along with the myriad other foes around the world, comprise a potential and potent threat to our security.

What’s more, the director of national intelligence also has seen his role diminished under the Trump administration’s new way of doing things.

You might be wondering — as I have been wondering — what kind of unique expertise does Bannon bring to the discussion? Well, he served in the Navy once. That must count for something.

He earned his political spurs, though, while running the right-wing website Breitbart.com — the organization that has spewed some white nationalist rhetoric.

The NSC comprises something called the “Principals Committee.” It will include the following individuals, according to CNN:

“Regular members of the Principals Committee will include the secretary of state, the treasury secretary, the defense secretary, the attorney general, the secretary of Homeland Security, the assistant to the President and chief of staff, the assistant to the President and chief strategist, the national security adviser and the Homeland Security adviser.”

Sen. John McCain calls the Joint Chiefs chairman the individual who is supposedly “indispensable” to the president on these national security issues.

Yes, one would think. Not the president.

Then you have Susan Rice, national security adviser during the Obama administration, who calls Trump’s decision “stone cold crazy.”

Oh, brother!

national news, political news

Time to wonder about Trump’s mental state?

I am not going to diagnose Donald J. Trump’s mental capabilities here. I am going wonder out loud, though, as to whether he needs counseling, or some related professional help.

The man is embarking on a fool’s journey by continuing to insist that 3 million to 5 million votes got cast in the 2016 presidential election by “illegal immigrants.”

The president hasn’t yet produced a single shred of evidence to back up the claim. He has continued to insist through innuendo that “in my opinion” such illegal activity occurred … and that all those millions of illegal voters cast their ballots for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Now he has declared that a Texan is the source of the allegation.

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/01/27/trump-says-texan-source-unsupported-voter-fraud-cl/

My head is going to explode at any moment now.

Trump’s assertions is an assault on the democratic process. It insults the hard work being done by across the nation — by state elections officials — to ensure “free and fair elections.” It is an assault on their integrity, on their good faith and on their professional competence.

In Texas, these officials are elected by voters who live in the counties. They are county clerks who take an oath — just as the president, governors, county commissioners and district attorneys do — to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution and to obey all federal and state laws.

When is the president going to get off this innuendo-driven effort to insist on something happening without ever providing a scintilla of evidence to buttress what he is alleging?

One more quick point: You won, Mr. President! Get off this ridiculous ride to nowhere and concentrate fully on your effort to “Make America Great Again.”

business news, national news, political news

Finally, a Trump policy worth endorsing

I told you I would say something positive if Donald J. Trump ever did something worthy of an endorsement while he is president of the United States.

Here it comes.

I like the ban he has placed on those who leave federal employment, meaning they cannot work for at least five years as lobbyists after they leave public office.

Some of them would face lifetime bans.

There you go. I’ve just broken my lengthy string of critical comments against Trump.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-sets-5-year-and-lifetime-lobbying-ban-for-officials/ar-AAmm1nh?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

According to The Associated Press: “Most of the people standing behind me will not be able to go to work,” Trump joked, referring to an array of White House officials lined up behind him as he sat at his desk in the Oval Office. The officials included Vice President Mike Pence, chief of staff Reince Priebus, senior strategist Steve Bannon and counselor Kellyanne Conway. “So you have one last chance to get out.”

I’ve long lamented the revolving door that separates public service from private lobbying. In Texas, for instance, legislators can leave public office and step virtually immediately into lobbying positions. It allows these ex-lawmakers to use their intimate contacts and their influence on government agencies to the benefit of their new employers: the firms they represent as registered lobbyists.

Trump says that won’t happen with those who work within his administration. This, I submit, is a welcome reform in the relationship between government agencies and the lobbying firms that seek to benefit from government money.

International news, military news, national news

‘Smart Person’ defers to ‘Mad Dog’ on torture

Donald “Smart Person” Trump is becoming the master of mixed signals as he settles into his new job as president of the United States.

He said in one breath that he intends to bring back waterboarding as a form of “enhanced interrogation” — which is a euphemism for “torture.”

In the next breath he said he’ll defer to Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis on the matter. Mad Dog says waterboarding is torture and he won’t allow it.

So, which is it? Torture or no torture of enemy combatants who are captured on the battlefield in our nation’s ongoing war against international terrorism.

I’m thinking “Mad Dog’s” notion is more in line with American values. We don’t torture enemy combatants to extract information from them. Why? Such tactics don’t work.

None other than U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — who knows a thing or two about torture owing to his years as a Vietnam prisoner of war — calls waterboarding a form of torture. It doesn’t work. Those who are being subjected to such tactics will say anything to get their captors to stop the practice, McCain says.

Trump has told us that the bad guys are “cutting people’s heads off” and that it’s time we responded with our own torture tactics. What utter manure. We are better than our enemies and we stand firm behind the principle that we shall not resort to torture tactics.

Are there other forms of “enhanced interrogation” that do not rely on torture? Surely, yes. Let’s use them and avoid the tactic that Mad Dog Mattis said he won’t allow as long as he is calling the shots at the Pentagon.

business news

Yes, Mr. President, many of us do care about those returns

Donald “Smart Person” Trump and his senior White House aides say that “people don’t care” about his tax returns — which the president hasn’t yet released to the public.

Actually, Mr. President, I care. So do millions of other Americans. We care, sir, about how you’ve collected all those billions of dollars who you say you possess. We care about whether you’ve been involved in foreign government-sponsored business activity. We care about whether any of those foreign entities have put money in our pocket, which — I’m sure you’re aware — violates the “emoluments clause” in the U.S. Constitution.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/petition-demanding-donald-trump-release-his-tax-returns-breaks-white-house-record/ar-AAmhJtZ?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

A petition is circulating that reportedly is breaking some sort of White House record. It contains a lot of signatures from many concerned Americans wanting the president to release those returns.

He has said he would do so. Then his senior adviser, Kellyanne Conway, said he wouldn’t. Then the president — or perhaps it was Conway — said he’d do so when the IRS completed its “routine audit.”

There’s also this thing about the boasting the president did about the wealth he has accumulated. He bragged constantly on the campaign trail about how rich he is, which means he made it the public’s business. So, if he’s really that rich, I’d like to see it for myself.

I’m not nearly alone among Americans who are concerned about the release of those returns. Come clean, Mr. President. Those of us you purport to represent want to know.