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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[josh]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/07/us/north-korea-denuclearization-off-table/index.html

In a big surprise, North Korea's UN ambassador says that denuclearization is off the table in talks with the U.S.

OMG, who would ever have guessed such a thing!

Maybe Trump can threaten to take our troops out of South Korea to force Kim Jong Un to capitulate or to recapitulate his stance. Or unilaterally call off military joint exercises. Did such a great job last time.

In his dotage, he has gone back to calling the NK leader "little rocket man." I am sure that will make the dotard more successful!

Not.

[josh]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/06/politics/supreme-court-blocks-justice-department-executions/index.html

A series of federal executions that were set to begin on Monday will remain on hold, the Supreme Court said on Friday.

The court's order is a loss for the Trump administration, which announced last July that it would reinstate the federal death penalty after a nearly two-decade lapse.

The Supreme Court denied the government's request to wipe away a lower court opinion that held inmates were likely to succeed in their argument that the new protocol conflicted with federal law.

In Friday's brief order, the Supreme Court said it expects that the lower court will work with "appropriate dispatch" to issue a final opinion in the case.

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately to say they agreed with the court's decision but that they thought the lower court should be able to decide the case within the next 60 days.

[josh]

[Hairy Lime]

"Impeach Trump"!
"Run him out of office"!

And who'll be standing up to China, NK, Iran, ISIS etc then?   Pelosi, Warren, Sanders, Biden?
Oooooh! Heaven help us!

"I was elected to drain the swamp, and that's what I'm doing" - President Trump

Any of them, yes. You are stupid enough to take Trump at his own self appraisal.

[josh]

Draining the swamp.

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/07/medicare-chief-asked-taxpayers-to-cover-stolen-jewelry-077761?fbclid=IwAR1_JyOw49Xewy_Pyp73D89dnM3edaGcxlKM75f3prwPq-s0-QrKC54O98I

[josh]

Gov. Bill Weld on Twitter
“Poor @realDonaldTrump— can’t drain the swamp, can’t flush the toilet!”

[kiidcarter8]

And who'll be standing up to China, NK, Iran, ISIS etc then?   Pelosi, Warren, Sanders, Biden?


heh

Perish the thought.

Maybe they can HIRE some good folk and delegate.

[kiidcarter8]

Have to cut back on the luxuries.  Rough.

[josh]

Have to cut back on the luxuries.  Rough.
[/quote

Asshole troll.

[josh]

How much more standing up to North Korea can we take?

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/07/asia/north-korea-test-intl-hnk/index.html

Used to be that you could trust what the President of the United States said more than the President of North Korea. These days, it is about 50/50, leaning in Kim Jong Un's favor - he lies much of the time, but perhaps not most of the time, unlike Donald Trump.

North Korean state media are reporting that a "very important test took place at the Sohae Satellite launching Ground" on Saturday.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the test produced a "successful result" and was of "great significance" and that it will "change the strategic position of North Korea in the near the future."

It was not immediately clear what was tested.

Earlier this month, North Korea warned obliquely it would send the US a "Christmas gift," but what that present contains will depend on the outcome of ongoing talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

[bodiddley]

And who'll be standing up to China, NK, Iran, ISIS etc then?   Pelosi, Warren, Sanders, Biden?
Maybe they can HIRE some good folk and delegate.

Which is certainly a skill Trump doesn't have.

I'd say Trump has the right impulse on China but has gone about it horribly.  Last I heard under trump the trade deficit with China had increased.  US farmers have needed a prolonged bailout to save them form trump policies.  US manufacturing has dropped.  Trade war uncertainty has likely reduced business investment.  Etc.

Nothing has happened on NK except Kim got elevated to hanging with the US president as though he was important.  NK continues to do occasional missile tests.  And were never going to give up their nukes (which guarantees against a US or So. Korea attack, and gives NK some importance whereas otherwise they'd be completely ignored.  So at best it's the same old status quo with NK. 

ISIS was well on the way to being wrapped up by Obama.  So silly to think the Dems couldn't handle that.  Basically Biden already has.  Trump has created uncertainty with the hasty pullout of troops (who didn't return home), which makes an ISIS resurgence more likely, and imperiled our best allies in the region.  Shaky Trump performance at best.

Iran is where Trump has had a real effect.  Pulling out of the stabilizing nuke agreement, applying harsh sanctions and crumbling the Iranian economy.  This is a destabilizing path that could make Iran more hardline, could topple the gov't, or more likely like Saddam's Iraq merely punish regular people in their daily life while the gov't maintains repressive control.  One wild card is that tight restrictions on Iran's nuke program aren't in place anymore.  While Iran has less money to funnel to Hizbollah, they also are engaging in shenanigans that destabilize the Gulf.

Also, Trump's max pressure policy risks war, as Iran might lash out and give the US an excuse to attack/bomb.  Brinksmanship can go wrong ...
Obama and Europe had fashioned a stable situation with nuke limits and verification. 

So by my scorecard:
Trump continued the status quo on NK but raised Kim's profile.

Trump continued the Obama policy by wrapping up ISIS, then added uncertainty.

Trump scrapped the stable O /Euro policy on Iran for a more belligerent approach with great uncertainty.  A real difference, with short-term pain for Iran/Iranians and long-term uncertainty.

Trump decided a trade war with China was easily winnable and instead it's been a mess and failure on many levels.

[bodiddley]

3) both involved multiple instances and levels of obstruction of justice.  (Mueller shouldn't have let Trump brazen things out and not testify. And shouldn't have pretended a president can't be charged with crimes).

Mueller did not have the power to compel Trump to testify, just as he didn't have the power to enforce subpoenas of documents from one part of the Executive Branch to another.

And that, in turn, is why he legally had to accept the position that a sitting president can't be indicted by the DoJ --> Mueller was the DoJ's Special Counsel and was obligated to follow their rules. He may even accept them, personally/professionally, given his background.

 

It's hard switching my brain back to Mueller.

But he could have put more pressure on Trump to testify, which would have increased media and Dem pressure on Trump and made him look bad.  It went from Trump might testify and prepping to answer Q's.  To Trump willing to answer written questions.  To Trump just saying screw it I'm not answering a thing, and Mueller just shrugging.  I'm sure there was more Mueller could have done to get trump on record.

Mueller didn't have to internalize a DOJ internal memo.  I'm pretty sure he could have recced criminal charges if his investigation found them warranted and let the DOJ decide to bring them or if they were precluded or otherwise inadvisable.  Mueller had broad discretion and self-limited.

[oilcan]

Nazi dollars helped the Koch family get started in their business empire....

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/07/kochland-review-koch-brothers-pollution-congress-republicans

Reviews the new book out on the Koch bros.   Some interesting tidbits on dirty money and the ravaging of the moderate wing of the GOP.  Hadn't been aware that Fred Koch, the dad, was a co-founder of the John Birch Society.   

[bodiddley]

Nothing more American than racism ...

[josh]

3) both involved multiple instances and levels of obstruction of justice.  (Mueller shouldn't have let Trump brazen things out and not testify. And shouldn't have pretended a president can't be charged with crimes).

Mueller did not have the power to compel Trump to testify, just as he didn't have the power to enforce subpoenas of documents from one part of the Executive Branch to another.

And that, in turn, is why he legally had to accept the position that a sitting president can't be indicted by the DoJ --> Mueller was the DoJ's Special Counsel and was obligated to follow their rules. He may even accept them, personally/professionally, given his background.

 

It's hard switching my brain back to Mueller.

But he could have put more pressure on Trump to testify, which would have increased media and Dem pressure on Trump and made him look bad.  It went from Trump might testify and prepping to answer Q's.  To Trump willing to answer written questions.  To Trump just saying screw it I'm not answering a thing, and Mueller just shrugging.  I'm sure there was more Mueller could have done to get trump on record.

Mueller didn't have to internalize a DOJ internal memo.  I'm pretty sure he could have recced criminal charges if his investigation found them warranted and let the DOJ decide to bring them or if they were precluded or otherwise inadvisable.  Mueller had broad discretion and self-limited.

Lawyering up and refusing to testify are old news to a guy like Mueller. I also think pressuring Trump to testify might have boomeranged and made him look sympathetic, instead. I am not at all sure that there was anything Mueller could have done to get Trump on record saying much more than "I don't remember."

"didn't have to..." - I disagree. DoJ hire, DoJ rules. He pointed out instances of obstruction and left it to Congress. And we already know what this DoJ would have done with any charges against Trump.

However, I liked this:
https://gen.medium.com/the-house-should-consider-breaking-impeachment-into-three-parallel-tracks-505e74a17144