Category: The Regime

Trump claims the right of kings. Anyone surprised?

~ odd man out ~ 3 Comments

Who would have thought Donald Trump, not even half-way through his term, would claim he can pardon himself for crimes committed while running for and serving as president? (Not that he would do anything wrong, of course.)

I asked my friend Swamp Rabbit and he said, “Anyone who knows Trump’s history and isn’t a total dumb-ass would have thought it.”

Trump’s tweet was a wake-up call to all the peeps who think our much-lauded system of checks and balances is a guarantee that a dictator type like Trump will never defy the law in order to hold onto power.

And it was a warning to special counsel Robert Mueller and his posse as they strengthen their case regarding the Trump team’s possible collusion with Russian hackers who helped him win the 2016 presidential election. (Actually, he lost by about 2.9 million votes, but that’s another story.)

We’re likely to hear the word “self-pardon” fairly often as Mueller gets closer to nailing Trump.

Just the other day constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley wrote that Trump can indeed pardon himself, even though “a self-pardon would be [an] ignoble and self-defeating act.”

Some scholars disagree with Turley, but the fact that Trump has made the idea of self-pardon a point of debate is evidence of flaws in the laws governing the executive branch.

The flaws were always there. How ironic that it took a third-rate Mussolini to bring them to light.

Trump bodyguard raided his doctor’s office

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

https://youtu.be/Gq8gdThSFZ0

This is not normal. You’re entitled to copies of your medical records, but not the original records themselves:

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday insisted that President Donald Trump’s former bodyguard was following “standard operating procedure” when he reportedly raided the office of the president’s former doctor.

During Tuesday’s White House briefing, Sanders was asked why former White House staffer Keith Schiller forcibly took President Trump’s records from his former physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein.

“As is standard operating procedure, the White House medical unit took possession of the president’s medical records,” Sanders explained, disputing reports that characterized the incident as a “raid.” One reporter noted that some experts had compared the alleged raid to a “burglary.”

“Once again, it would be standard procedure for the president — a newly elected president’s medical records to be in possession of the White House’s medical unit,” Sanders insisted. “That’s what was taking place. Those records were being transferred over to the White House medical unit as requested by the president.”

Buncha weinies

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Seahawks questioned Kaepernick's National Anthem intentions

Of course, the word I want to use isn’t “weinies”:

NFL owners all but agreed they were blackballing Colin Kaepernick to appease President Donald Trump, according to newly released audio recordings.

About 30 owners, players and NFL executives met for nearly three hours in October to discuss the president’s public attacks on the league and its players over silent racism protests during the national anthem, reported the New York Times.
………………………..
According to the leaked audio, players wanted to know why Kaepernick remained unsigned, despite leading the San Francisco 49ers to the 2013 Super Bowl and 2014 NFC Championship game.

“If he was on a roster right now, all this negativeness and divisiveness could be turned into a positive,” said Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Chris Long at the meeting, adding that he wouldn’t “lecture” teams on which quarterback to sign. “We all agree in this room as players that he should be on a roster.”

“The problem we have is, we have a president who will use that as fodder to do his mission that I don’t feel is in the best interests of America,” Kraft said. “It’s divisive and it’s horrible.”

Whoopee! We’re all gonna die

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Paul Waldman at the Washington Post:

Because the Trump administration is such a finely tuned machine, today we learn that the national security and foreign policy team is set for an overhaul, a whole nine months into this presidency. The likely result is a more isolated position for the United States in the world and a more dangerous future.

Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker and Anne Gearan report:

The White House has readied a plan to oust embattled Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who has become one of the most personally loyal and politically savvy members of President Trump’s national security team, two administration officials confirmed Thursday.

The plan, hatched by White House chief of staff John F. Kelly, is expected to be set in motion over the next few weeks, and has broad support within Trump’s inner circle, the officials said. But it was unclear whether Trump had signed off on the plan yet, and the president has been known to change his mind about personnel and other matters before finalizing decisions with public announcements.

Under the plan, Pompeo would likely be replaced at the CIA by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), one of Trump’s most steadfast defenders and a confidant to some leading members of the foreign policy team, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the White House has not publicly announced the moves.

Remains of U.S. soldier found in Niger

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Myeshia Johnson Recalls Donald Trump Call: It Hurt That He Couldn’t Remember My Husband’s Name

His poor wife, who asked why they wouldn’t let her see her husband’s remains, is probably just beginning to function again. Now this:

Additional remains of a U.S. soldier killed in a mysterious Niger ambush were reportedly found in the African nation earlier this month — even though his funeral had already been held, with his widow questioning whether he was even in the casket. Continue reading “Remains of U.S. soldier found in Niger” →

U.S. military: Invasion of NK needed to stop nukes

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

North Korea could blow up NUCLEAR BOMB during Trump visit, triggering World War 3

A ground invasion by the U.S. military is the only way to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In late September, Rep. Ted Lieu and Rep. Ruben Gallego, both Democrats and veterans of the U.S. military, sent a letter to Defense Secretary James Mattis highlighting their concerns about the prospect of war with North Korea. Continue reading “U.S. military: Invasion of NK needed to stop nukes” →

Putin tells U.S. to stop making fun of Trump

~ susie ~ 6 Comments

Putin "Valdai forum" – the missiles, the media and Donald trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on U.S. citizens to stop disrespecting President Donald Trump, a trend that the Russian leader called a symptom of a poor political system in the U.S. Putin, who U.S. officials have accused of swaying the 2016 U.S. presidential race in Trump’s favor, broke a streak of hostile diplomatic exchanges between the two leading powers during a speech Thursday in order to defend his former political ally from what… Continue reading “Putin tells U.S. to stop making fun of Trump” →