Deserving Each Other

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you.

On December 6, 2017 President Grump announced the decision to move the USA's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Soon afterward, "in a stinging rebuke" of his radical move

128 countries, including some of the US’s most trusted and reliable allies, voted in favor of a United Nations resolution on Thursday calling for a reversal of his position. Only nine countries voted against it.

Though the resolution doesn’t explicitly refer to the US, it’s clearly directed at the White House. The measure declares that any changes to the status of Jerusalem “have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded.”

It also “calls upon all States to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem” — another shot at the administration, which announced plans to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

It's a non-binding resolution and hence will have little impact. The rebuke to Washington thus was largely symbolic, not unlike Trump's decision itself. But anyone who knows how to make a deal- let alone who invented the "art of the deal-" could forsee the response. But unlike Kenny Rogers, the President does not know when to hold and when to fold. In fact

There are even signs that the heavy-handed threats backfired. Barak Ravid, a correspondent for Israel’s Channel 10 news, reported that Canada switched from voting against the resolution to abstaining in order to avoid looking like a puppet of the US.

One newspaper columnist observes "Perhaps the most important change precipitated by Trump’s move is that it has provoked the Palestinians to (probably) exclude any U.S. role as mediator. Without Jerusalem, no peace talks can resume." She has noted also "Trump's unilateral move on Jerusalem gained nothing for Israel, whose captial is and will remiain in the Holy City. It served only to stir up religious tensions and disturb the Christians whom Pence claims he cares for."

But Trump is no more ridiculous, and probably less so, than many anti-Zionists.  The Jerusalem Post reported that New Zealand singer/songwriter Lorde "posted on Twitter that she was planning a tour, including a stop in Israel, writing: “MOSCOW * ST. PETERSBURG * TEL AVIV * LET’S DANCE ——->.” The JP added "Dozens of fans responded negatively to the news, with many predictably urging her to cancel the show in Tel Aviv and support the boycott of Israel." (The artist cancelled the show, much to the regret of the Israeli public relations firm which was promoting it.)

The opposition included a letter from two New Zealanders suggesting Israel practiced apartheid more brutal than that previously seen in South Africa.  In response but prior to cancellation, Jeffrey Singer of the Forward noted

The writers of the letter, one Jewish and one Palestinian, compared Palestinian treatment in the West Bank to South African apartheid and noted the historic effectiveness of boycotting as a tactic. “Today, millions of people stand opposed to the Israeli government’s policies of oppression, ethnic cleansing, human rights violations, occupation and apartheid,” they wrote.


These charges are heavy indeed, and Lorde has responded that she is “considering all options.” Whatever the singer decides to do, her fans can rest easy knowing that they can enjoy her talents in multiple cities in Russia, a country that would never oppress, participate in ethnic cleansing, commit human rights violations or occupy anything — certainly not Chechnya, Georgia or Crimea. For justice-seeking Lorde fans who don’t mind repressed freedom of expression and a dearth of civil rights, there will always be Russia.

Israel is not South Africa, is not practicing apartheid, and if it were involved in ethnic cleansing, Arab Palestinians would be an historic relic by now. Those who would be satisfied if Israel were to vanish as a Jewish state undoubtedly would resist comparison to President Trump. However, their Mideast viewpoints, fueled by falsehood and hatred, are similarly extremist and unwise.








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Facilitating A Sham

We must stop fronting for these frauds.

In February, Politico's Tim Alberta interviewed South Carolina senator Mark Sanford and gushed

then he does the strangest thing of all: He lays waste to the president of his own party.

Most Republicans in Washington are biting their tongues when it comes to Donald Trump, fearful that any candid criticisms of the new president could invite a backlash from their constituents or, potentially worse, provoke retribution from the commander in chief himself.

Mark Sanford is not like most Republicans in Washington.

His policy résumé is beyond reproach to those on the right: He was D.C.’s dashing fiscal hawk during his first stint in the House...

In May, the Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe remarked that Senator Jeff

Flake (R-Ariz.) isn’t afraid to buck President Trump — or to defy the Republican orthodoxy in Washington that the agenda is proceeding apace. He did it last year, refusing to support Trump for president, and he’s doing it again now by publicly doubting that the GOP can revamp the nation’s health-care system.

Last month, New York Magazine's Eric Levitz referred to

the tune that GOP leaders have been singing to their party’s few sincere deficit hawks. And those lonely fiscal scolds know they’re being lied to.

“The savings, the score, it just isn’t valid because you know that they’re not going to follow through,” Arizona senator Jeff Flake said recently. “You can’t assume that we’ll grow a backbone later. If we can’t do it now, then it’s tough to do it later.”

Flake isn’t the only Senate Republican who isn’t crazy about drastically expanding the debt that his party spent the past eight years decrying. 

Levitz then cited Flake's Arizona colleague, John McCain, as well as senators Bob Corker (Tennessee), Todd Young (Indiana), and James Lankford (Oklahoma) as among the GOP's "deficit hawks."  For real.  (Video below is from October, 2017.)





These five Republican senators- as well as Representative Sanford- have something in common. They all supported the Corporate Tax Scam of 2017.

John McCain, at home recuperating from surgery for a brain tumor, did not vote but already had made it known that he would support the legislation. The others actually voted in favor of  a bill expected to increase the debt by $1,440,000,000,000.

Corker and Flake, who already have announced their retirement, are probably merely cashing in, anxious to sell themselves to the highest-bidding conservative think tanks, which in turn may enjoy the honor of billing themselves "fiscal hawks" while being fiscally reckless.

Levitz at least acknowledged that only by voting against the tax scheme would GOP senators be putting "fiscal responsibility above upward redistribution."

Lankford, Young, Sanford, and other Republicans may be afraid of a primary challenge or of the tweets- or mere disapproval- of Donald J. Trump. Or they may be living the dream of Paul Davis Ryan, eager to run the deficit up so he may complain later that Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and other pillars of the social safety net must be sacrificed in the name of "fiscal responsibility."

Their motives are not fully known and may be varied. But we do know that they are not fiscally responsible, are not "fiscal conservatives" or "deficit hawks," and are carrying water for President Trump. They are getting are a major break from a media unwilling to acknowledge that GOP talk about debt and deficits was, is, and always shall be all talk and no action.


To Christians: Merry Christmas
     
                   To Jews: Belated Happy Chanukah
\                                 
                                     To Donald Trump:  Happy Holidays!

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Checking Their Manhood (Or Womanhood) At The Door

They come cheap.

Republicans, that is.  From Politico's Burgess Everett and Josh Dawsey, in late October:

Once upon a time, Lindsey Graham called Donald Trump a "jackass." Never to be outdone in the put-down department, Trump labeled the South Carolina senator a "lightweight" and an "idiot" who “seems to me not as bright as Rick Perry.”

Two years after that campaign smackdown, Trump and Graham act like longtime friends, hitting the links and plotting legislative strategy together. The two have formed a surprising kinship even as Graham's best friend, John McCain, is chilly toward a president who once mocked his capture in Vietnam.

In a sign of the dramatic turn in their relationship, during a flight back from South Carolina last week, the president turned to the South Carolina senator and asked if he’d like to take a helicopter back to the White House with him, offering Graham a guided tour.

“How can you not like that?” Graham said in a lengthy interview. “I mean I grew up in the back of a liquor store, first in my family to go to college. I never thought I’d be on Marine One with the president.”

Everett/Dawsey added

How long this will last is anyone's guess: Graham is known as one of the more blunt-spoken senators, and it might just be a matter of time before he whacks the president and Trump hits back.

It has lasted 61 days and counting, with Graham never giving a second's thought to voting against a tax bill set to make Donald Trump millions and his family billions.

One can only hope Sarah Kendzior is right when she hypothesizes that when Russians hacked the RNC email server, they uncovered something about the South Carolinian's sexuality, rumored to be the second or third letter in LGBT. Otherwise, there is no backbone, which goes a ways toward explaining the votes for Trump's judicial nominees and tax plan among members of Congress he has ridiculed and worse.





It's not only men, though. Talking Points Memo links to an item about Mitt Romney's niece, in which

WaPo notes a specific request from Trump earlier this year for McDaniel to stop using her maiden name publicly as she took over as RNC Chair. Advisers said the request happened when Trump told others that mention of the name Romney “often prompted boos at his events.”

A senior Trump administration official and adviser told WaPo the President was “pleased” when McDaniel mostly stopped using the Romney moniker.

McDaniel’s maiden name drop is just one piece of the puzzle in the strife between Trump and Mitt Romney. 

There is some reason that Ronna Romney McDaniel, daughter of a governor and niece of a governor, kept her maiden name (as her middle name) when she got married. Then all it took was a request from a dangerous, narcissistic, egomaniacal misogynist to get her to drop it.

Kendzior remarked “Trump has berated them, he has insulted them. He’s often gone after their wives and their family members, saying terrible things and yet they prostrate themselves to him. What kind of leader are you? What kind of man are you?” And as for Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Deb Fischer, Joni Ernst and Republican women of the House of Representatives: what kind of leader or woman are you?




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Dangerous Myth

In Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice Marshall warned

The Government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right.

Over the decades, we have self-righteously quoted the first half of Marshall's statement without the second half. The theory that ours is a government of laws and not of people has become a cliche in recent decades, assumed without proof. It was incorporated into the Massachusetts constitution in 1780 and asserted approvingly by the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court in 1803, its dominance evidently not to be questioned.

However, while quoting Marshall, Katrina vandenHeuvel in March 2013 wrote

First, the attorney general responded to Senator Rand Paul’s inquiry as to whether the president claimed the “power to authorize a lethal force, such as a drone strike, against a US citizen on US soil and without trial.” After noting that the United States has never done so and has no intention of doing so, Holder wrote that, speaking hypothetically, it is “possible to imagine” an extraordinary circumstance in which that power might become “necessary and appropriate.”

But the reassuring, self-satisfying idea that the USA has a government dominated by law is now being sorely tested, and will be increasingly the next few years. The results, so far, are less than persuasive. In a case (video from nine months ago) in which the Justice Department successfuly argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a pair of lawsuits claiming that President Donald Trump’s failure to divest himself of his real estate empire and other business holdings violated the Constitution’s provision banning receipt of foreign “emoluments” while in public office.

U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels ruled that the two suits were fatally flawed because the plaintiffs failed to show injury directly related to the use of Trump’s properties by foreign officials and governments....

“As the only political branch with the power to consent to violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause, Congress is the appropriate body to determine whether, and to what extent, Defendant’s conduct unlawfully infringes on that power,” the judge wrote. “If Congress determines that an infringement has occurred, it is up to Congress to decide whether to challenge or acquiesce to Defendant’s conduct. As such, this case presents a non-justiciable political question.”

One of the cases dismissed Thursday was filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, along with a group of employees and owners of hospitality businesses like restaurant and hotels. The other suit, brought as a class action on behalf of members of the public, was filed by an individual New York attorney, William Weinstein.

This is rich:

“It is wholly speculative whether the Hospitality Plaintiffs’ loss of business is fairly traceable to Defendant’s ‘incentives’ or instead results from government officials’ independent desire to patronize Defendant’s businesses,” the judge wrote. “Even before Defendant took office, he had amassed wealth and fame and was competing against the Hospitality Plaintiffs in the restaurant and hotel business. It is only natural that interest in his properties has generally increased since he became President.”

Excuse me for being impertinent but.... why is it "only natural that interest in his properties has generally increased?" It would be "only natural" if the plaintiffs' loss of business were in fact traceable to President Trump's 'incentives.'  Daniels' reasoning is self-contradictory.

This Judge who leaned over backwards to rule in favor of the President of the United States of America was appointed to a court in New York City by Democratic mayor Koch, reappointed by Democratic mayor Dinkins, elected to the NYS Supreme Court, and appointed a federal judge by President Clinton.

Judge Daniels appears to be a Democrat, and he has struck a blow on behalf Donald J. Trump. He has added to the appearance of a nation of men and not of laws, that a guy can sell his office and set his nation up to be bribed because he is President of the United States of America, (formerly) leader of the free world, and a guy who knows where the bodies are buried.

Stalling is a valuable tactic when ruling in a government of men and not of laws.  The Administration evidently still has not imposed the relatively stringent sanctions against Russia legislated by Congress, previously a "co-equal" branch of the federal government. Shortly before the regime gave to legislators a list which The New York Times observed "appeared to be an attempt to mollify critics," Florida Senator Rubio had remarked "We passed the law. They should execute it. They say they are struggling to identify the companies to sanction. My answer is, sanction the ones you already know and keep adding to the list.” 

This is only going to get worse as the Mueller investigation proceeds, and as a decision ultimately must be made whether to prosecute President Trump for crimes revealed. Expect Donald Trump, much more subtly but as a soulless creature, to respond with "You and whose army?"

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Hail The Incarnate Deity

".... because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!" (Romans 1:25, ESV)

Politico's Matthew Nussbaum reports that after passage of the Loot the Joint Act of 2017

“This has been a year of extraordinary accomplishment for the Trump administration,” declared McConnell, who led off the speeches. “We’ve cemented the Supreme Court to the right of center for a generation. Mr. President, thanks to your nominees we put 12 circuit court judges in place — the most since the circuit court system was established in 1891. You hold the record.”

Ryan followed: “Something this big, something this generational, something this profound could not have been done without exquisite presidential leadership. Mr. President, thank you for getting us over the finish line, thank you for getting us where we are.”

And Pence continued: “Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your leadership, thank you for your boundless faith in the American people and thank you for keeping your promise to see this Congress deliver the largest tax cut in American history before Christmas of this year.”

“You,” Pence gushed to the president, “will make America great again.”

Trump appeared to soak it all in, smiling and nodding along, playing the role of emcee as he summoned each speaker to deliver his or her thanks.

Nussbaum calls it the "role of emcee;" Trump imagined assuming a much larger role as

“I want to say thank you to Mr. President,” said Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee. “Thank you, President Trump, for allowing us to have you as our president and to make America great again.”

“You’re living up to everything I thought you would,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. “You’re one heck of a leader.”

“Look at all the things that he’s been able to get done, by sheer will in many ways,” he added. “I just hope that we all get behind him every way we can.” This presidency, he went on, could be “the greatest presidency we have seen not only in generations but maybe ever.”





Two theologians, examining the practice of idolatry recognized in Romans 1:25 (above), observed

Paul's indictment there is that by a wretched exchange human beings came to worship and serve "created things rather than the Creator." They have wholly rid themselves of God by substituting other objects in his place.

In this case, it's not an object but rather a man, of whom Republican members of Congress now have become the subjects.  And so Politico notices, it was a "love-fest, a scene unprecedented in any other presidency." Unprecedented in any presidency but not in history for

"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie." (lit. "the lie").  This is the lie above all others- the contention that something or someone is to be venerated in plac of the true God. According to Paul elsewhere, history will repeat itself in that when the man of lawlessness is revealed and demands to be worshiped, people will follow him and reap ruin ecause they have refused the truth and have believed the lie." There, too, God gives them over to strong delusion.

The GOP is now in the throes of an aggressive effort to undermine Robert Mueller, to lay the foundation upon which he can be fired or (more likely) upon which any truth he finds can be discredited. However, that's how it is when a lawless man demands to be worshiped.

“It is written," Jesus purportedly warned, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” Or as the leaders of today's Republican Party put it, "You shall worship the Lord your God and Donald Trump, and them only shall you serve."




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Lurking Danger

In what seems like months but was barely more than two weeks ago

House Democrats overwhelmingly joined Republicans on Wednesday to defeat an attempt to impeach President Donald Trump. But 58 Democrats supported the bid to consider impeachment over the objections of House Democratic leaders, who viewed the measure as a distraction in a Republican-controlled Congress.

The motion to sideline the measure — killing the effort — was approved 364-58, with four Democrats voting present.

The vote was forced by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who introduced articles of impeachment describing Trump as a bigot who incites hate and has demeaned the presidency.

"Donald John Trump, by causing such harm to the society of the United States is unfit to be president and warrants impeachment, trial and removal from office," Green said on the House floor as he introduced the articles.

Of course he does. And that is beside the point, as we learned yet again yesterday.

At Lord God Trump's cabinet meeting following final passage of the Corporate Tax Scam of 2017, there was "a short speech from the person next in line to be the most powerful man in the world" (Pence at 13:45). It included

And I just — I’m deeply humbled, as your Vice President, to be able to be here. Because of your leadership, Mr. President, and because of the strong support of the leadership in the Congress of the United States, you’re delivering on that middle-class miracle…But mostly, Mr. President, I’ll end where I began and just tell you, I want to thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank you for speaking on behalf of and fighting every day for the forgotten men and women of America. Because of your determination, because of your leadership, the forgotten men and women of America are forgotten no more. And we are making America great again.





It included also 14 separate items of praise in less than three minutes for Lord God Trump.

Mike Pence cannot be removed by Donald Trump, who is in trouble politically now and will be far more so if and when the Mueller report is released or, alternatively, after he fires the Special Counsel.

Consider, however, that the Administration now includes a General or Lieutenant General in three critical positions: National Security Advisor, Defense Secretary, and Chief of Staff.  Pence is obsequious to Donald Trump; imagine the danger posed by a President Pence who chooses to surround himself with members of the military.

Donald Trump believes he is the greatest.  A President Pence probably would not believe he himself to be a superior being but might surround himself with indviduals- perhaps adorned with a uniform and medals- whom he is even less willing to question than he is to question Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is sill unfit to be president and warrants impeachment, trial and removal from office.  But Mike Pence is a bootlicker, theocrat, lackey to the Kochs, and "inside man of the conservative money machine." So notwithstanding other substantive reasons, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer were right to caution "now is not the time to consider articles of impeachment."

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The Wells Fargo Candidate

As a candidate, in July 2006 Donald Trump declared "We must maintain law and order at the highest level or we will cease to have a country, 100 percent. We will cease to have a country. I am the law and order candidate."

Thirteen months later, President Trump tweeted "Phoenix crowd last night was amazing — a packed house. I love the Great State of Arizona. Not a fan of Jeff Flake, weak on crime & border!”  (That same Jeff Flake is voting to give Donald Trump a huge legislative victory on taxes.) Endorsing Roy Moore, on November 21, he told reporters that Doug Jones' record is "terrible on crime. It’s terrible on the border. It’s terrible on the military. I can tell you for a fact, we do not need somebody that’s going to be bad on crime." That was Doug Jones he was talking about.

Donald Trump has spoken out so often against crime and in favor of law and order you might think he actually is opposed to crime. "After crashing the world economy and costing millions of Americans their jobs," Bernie Sanders tweets, "Citigroup & Goldman Sachs took $3.7 trillion in taxpayer bailouts. Now, the GOP is giving them a $15.2 billion tax break."  And President Trump is exultant despite- no, probably because

Wells Fargo in 2016 was fined $185 million for issuing millions of fake credit card accounts. In 2017, it was caught overcharging clients on currency trades and improperly charging homebuyers to lock into low mortgage rates.

And in 2018, it could be about to get the best tax deal of all the big banks.

The Republican tax bill, which seeks to lower the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent, would lead to an average 14 percent in earnings growth for seven of America’s largest banks next year, according to a Monday note from Goldman Sachs analyzing the plan’s implications. (Goldman does not include itself in its analysis.) The biggest winner: Wells Fargo, which would see its earnings jump by 18 percent thanks to the GOP proposal.

Families poor enough to need the earned income tax credit, individuals wanting helath insurance, and the elderly are among the big losers in the GOP's Corporate Tax Scam of 2017. Now, Ryan & McConnell & Co., sticking it to needy Americans for the benefit of the likes of Wells Fargo,.is cheered on by the con artist who has masqueraded as the "law and order" candidate and President.



 

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