Never before in the history of this nation has there been a more chaotic government, one that had so little clue what they were doing or what the ramifications of their actions would be. It is truly as if 7-year-old children are the decision-makers in Washington today!
He wasn’t invited, but nonetheless, Mike Pompeo crashed the meeting. A group of European foreign ministers were meeting in Brussels yesterday morning to work on how to best handle the situation with Iran that has turned into a mess, thanks to none other than Donald Trump. The group did not grant Pompeo inclusion in their meeting, but several diplomats from the UK, France, Germany, and the EU’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, granted him private meetings.
The Europeans have all expressed fear not only about how Iran will behave, but equally about the aggression by the U.S. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said …
“We are very worried about the risk of a conflict happening by accident, with an escalation that is unintended really on either side. Most of all, we need to make sure we don’t end up putting Iran back on the path to re-nuclearization. Because if Iran becomes a nuclear power, its neighbors are likely to want to become nuclear powers. This is already the most unstable region in the world, and this would be a massive step in the wrong direction.”
Since Trump reneged on the Iran nuclear agreement a year ago, he has been taunting Iran, as well as our allies who are trying to hold the deal together without any assistance from the U.S. Iran finally said, “Enough”, and is threatening to cancel the agreement and return to building its nuclear program.
Apparently little, if anything, was gained by the private meetings with Pompeo, as each side dug in, with Pompeo saying that the nuclear deal should be scrapped. Apparently, he would like to have a reason to go to war with Iran? Pompeo has enough foreign policy experience to understand that a war in the Middle East will involve many more nations than only Iran and is a no-win proposition that can only make matters worse in the area than they already are. If, as I suspect, Trump is all too eager to try out his nuclear button … well, you know where I’m going with that.
Trump, Pompeo, and Bolton have put our allies in a tough spot and have increased tensions in the Middle East dramatically and dangerously. Way to go, Donnie … what else do you plan to destroy?
The trade negotiations between the U.S. and China were reportedly going well and expected to wrap up within a matter of days. But … sigh … Trump apparently never heard that old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. He prefers to break that which isn’t broken, and that is precisely what he did last week. He increased the tariffs on some $200 billion worth of goods the U.S. imports from China, causing China to retaliate and impose new tariffs on some $60 billion worth of goods they buy from us.
Remember how Trump has been bragging about that good economy (the one that was already doing very well when he inherited it)? Well, guess what folks? Based on the news of all these new tariffs being bandied about, the market took a bit of a nosedive. Does this ‘man’ understand nothing??? No, Donnie, tariffs are not good, China isn’t the one paying for the tariffs that YOU imposed … WE are! And NO, Donnie, trade wars are not easy to win!
Trump claimed his reason for increasing the tariffs was that China was reneging on certain concessions, but there is no evidence of that, and people who have long dealt with Trump in the world of real estate say that this is his modus operandi … he throws a fit over some imagined problem at the last minute, then attempts to bully his way into a better deal. Trouble is … this isn’t a real estate deal and … our economy and our livelihoods are at risk here. He is playing with the lives of real people.
I got through my first four years of college with the help of Pell Grants and by often working three jobs. Pell Grants, for those who may not be familiar with them, are subsidies the U.S. federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor’s degree. I could not have gone to college had it not been for those Pell Grants. Today, they are more important than ever, with the high cost of college. But guess what? Donald Trump has decided that playing with his space toys is more important than educating our youth.
Yesterday evening, Trump sent a budget amendment to Congress to take $1.9 billion from the Pell Grant program and give it, instead, to NASA “so that we can return to Space in a BIG WAY!”
Some spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) claims that it will not impact the Pell Grant program … I guess he must think we are all pretty damn stupid.
Trump has already proposed budget cuts for other student aid programs to the tune of $3.8 billion! It would seem that his ultimate goal is to ensure that only the children of the wealthy can afford to attend college. Picture the U.S. in 25 years. Your children and grandchildren will be digging ditches, working in dead-end factory jobs, clerking at a grocery store or McDonald’s, while Betsy DeVos’ and Donald Trump’s grandchildren will be the corporate CEOs and will be the people running our government … if, in fact, there is still a government to run.
And now, I believe I have spent most of my snark, so I shall leave you to find a cheerier blog than mine to read for the rest of the morning. But never fear, I shall return!
Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, said in a statement Sunday that Ms. Pelosi is “the most important woman in American political history.” Pelosi is being honored because of her efforts to pass former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law and for helping Democrats reclaim control of the U.S. House during last year’s elections. Kennedy said Pelosi “leads with strength, integrity and grace under pressure.”
But to the point. McEnany has pulled some dumber-than-dirt moments in the past year or so, but this one takes the cake. Yesterday, following the lead of Trump and Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, McEnany claimed that Trump should not be forced to release his tax returns to Congress. She said that Congress doesn’t have a legitimate reason to ask for them. (Forgive her, but she’s likely never heard of the word ‘ethics’ before). Her reasoning? Because Congress isn’t asking for the tax returns of other presidents. Let that one sink in just a minute, folks.
Imagine the look of utter incredulity on the faces of James Mattis, John Bolton and Mike Pompeo on seeing that tweet as they sit at their breakfast tables! We know Mattis’ take on it, for it gave him the reason he had probably been looking for to tender his resignation and get off the Trumptanic before it meets the iceberg. Bolton likely turned red in the face and nearly had apoplexy, moustaches twitching while his eyebrows went up and down. And Pompeo probably just popped yet another donut into his mouth.
Apparently, despite his bluster and his reputation as a warmonger, even Bolton has a problem with Trump’s decision, bred of ignorance, but he could hardly ignore his boss man, so he found a compromise this week … pull out the equipment and leave the troops! Brilliant … that way he can honestly say we are in the process of pulling out, yet not risk the lives of all Kurds and other innocent people in the area by leaving them unassisted with the threat of Turks attacking.
Only thing is … without equipment, without jeeps, tanks and the like … of what use are the soldiers? And how safe are they? Oh this was such a well-thought-out, brilliant move! CHAOS! ICEBERG AHEAD!!!
Interestingly, despite some equipment being moved out of Syria, the Department of Defense says that the number of U.S. troops in Syria may “increase slightly”. Trump, apparently after talking to Bolton, changed his ’30-day’ time frame to four months, but even that seems highly unachievable … and undesirable from a foreign policy point of view. I doubt that Bolton has had the nerve yet to tell him that he may increase the number of troops and that they may yet be there for years.
Meanwhile, Trump rides around in his ostentatious $1.5 million limo (we paid for that, too), takes Air Force One to Texas for a wasted trip that accomplished nothing at a cost of $200,000 per hour! And he obviously has not so much as missed a meal. He claims democrats are to blame for his ignominious shutdown for not being willing to negotiate, but in truth it is he who is not willing to negotiate. He has set a number he wants immediately for his wall at $5.7 billion, and that is the only outcome he will accept. He isn’t willing to settle for a portion of that amount … it’s all or nothing at all. So really, there is only one person to blame, and that person is definitely not a democrat! He will bankrupt this nation within the next six months at the current rate he is spending our money.
The policy of the United States has long been to grant visas to partners of foreign diplomats serving in the U.S., even when those relationships are not recognized by their home countries, such as is sometimes the case with LGBT couples. In July, the U.S. mission to the United Nations informed foreign delegations that beginning Oct. 1, the State Department would no longer issue G-4 visas to same-sex partners of foreign diplomats and U.N. officials who are not legally married.
There was a time I pitied Melania, felt sorry for her having to be married to a narcissist like Donald Trump, even though she deserves whatever anguish he puts her through, since she married him for money and citizenship. But all bets are off, and I now think that Melania is every bit as selfish, narcissistic and uncaring as her husband. Too bad she didn’t just stay in bed and watch t.v. all day, for her ’visit’ was further proof that humanitarian values do not exist in the White House today. No word on the actual visit. Nice job, Melania. I want Michelle Obama back!!!!!!!
Filosofa sends heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and co-workers of long-term Washington Post writer Charles Krauthammer who died yesterday from a year-long battle with cancer. He was a conservative, but one of the good guys and he will be missed.
Kim Dong-chul is a businessman and naturalized American citizen from the Virginia suburbs of Washington. Arrested in October 2015, he had been sentenced to 10 years’ hard labor in April 2016 after being convicted of spying and other offenses. He had confessed to committing crimes against the country and pleaded for mercy. In January 2016, he was allowed to do an interview with CNN, in which he said he used to run a trading and hotel services company in Rason, a special economic zone that North Korea operates near its borders with China and Russia. He also said he had begun spying on behalf of “South Korean conservative elements” in 2013, by bribing North Korean residents to collect data about the North’s military and its nuclear program. He said he was arrested in October while he was meeting one of his local sources, a former North Korean soldier.
Kim Sang-duk (also known as Tony Kim) had just finished spending a month teaching accounting at a Christian-funded school, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, when in April 2017 he was arrested as he boarded a plane for home. He was charged with “hostile criminal acts with an aim to subvert the country.”
Kim Hak-song was born in China near the North Korean border and emigrated to the United States in the 1990s. He later returned to China, and later settled in Pyongyang, North Korea. At the time of his arrest in May 2017, he had been volunteering at the agricultural research farm of the same school where Kim Sang-duk had taught.
Trump credits himself with the hostages’ release, but in truth, he had little to do with it. He also said he had succeeded in getting them released, where Obama had failed. But two of the three were taken hostage under Trump’s watch, in 2017. Trump has also said he believes he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for getting the hostages released. Here is a list of hostages released from North Korea under the Obama administration:
Kim Jong-un is a dictator and releasing the hostages was a means to an end. It was a display of good faith, if you wish to call it such, but on Kim’s part, not Trump’s or Pompeo’s. And it was not done out of kindness, but rather diplomatic negotiations.
MAX BOOT is a conservative Russian-American author, consultant, editorialist, lecturer, and military historian. He worked as a writer and editor for Christian Science Monitor and The Wall Street Journal in the 1990s.(Wikipedia) 
It is said that Kudlow has been wrong about almost everything for at least the 
And the AFP isn’t his only connection to the infamous Kochs. In 1998, Pompeo co-founded Thayer Aerospace and Private Security, funded in part by investments by the Koch brothers.