US Politics

[RabzonKhan]

Good, let Trump and his supporters taste their own medicine.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1188624080473337856

https://twitter.com/x/status/1188625647389859840

 

[cloud4000]

It's possible the country is reaching Trump fatigue. They are just sick of his shenanigans and want change. His hardcore supporters will follow him into hell, but the independents who voted for him the last time may not be around the second time. Remember he won three key states by a whisker.

 

[RabzonKhan]

The House approves Trump impeachment resolution. He is going to be the third president to face impeachment inquiry. He 100% deserves it! It’s time to put an end to his lawless behavior.


Live updates: House passes impeachment resolution

The House on Thursday passed a resolution to establish formal procedures for the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s alleged political interference in foreign aid to Ukraine.

The 232-196 vote fell almost exclusively along party lines, with former Republican and current independent Rep. Justin Amash voting yes, and two moderate Democrats voting no.
Read more.

 

[RabzonKhan]

Robert Reich: Trump's Emoluments Mess

 

[RabzonKhan]

Would the Founding Fathers Impeach Trump?

 

[RabzonKhan]

Virginia election.

Great victory, Democrats on Tuesday won majorities in both the State House and Senate. Democrats now hold all three branches of government in Virginia for the first time in decades. Trump has been a great help, since he was elected the Republicans have now lost all branches of government in the state, the suburbs which used to be a stronghold of Republicans once again played a crucial role in Democratic victories.

Democrats ran on a moderate agenda, beside the kitchen-table issues, they also pledged to support a higher minimum wage, equal rights Amendment and commonsense gun laws.

Virginia also elected Democrat Ghazala Hashmi who defeated Republican Sen. Glen Sturtevant to become the first Muslim woman elected to the state Senate.

In short, Virginia is now a Blue State!



And as usual, I did my civic duty, . Even though election in my state (Washington) was not that important, it was mostly Referendum measures, Initiative measures, Advisory vote and there was only one Councilor election. Since I became a US citizen in 2014 my voting record is almost 100%.

 

[RabzonKhan]

Judge orders Trump to pay $2 million for misusing his foundation

The money raised "was used for Mr. Trump’s political campaign and disbursed by Mr. Trump’s campaign staff," the judge noted.

Nov. 7, 2019, 11:03 AM PST
By Dareh Gregorian

President Donald Trump must pay a $2 million judgment for improperly using his Trump Foundation charity to further his 2016 presidential campaign, a New York state judge ruled Thursday.

The order appears to bring to an end the New York attorney general's lawsuit against the president and three of his oldest children over the now-shuttered foundation, which the attorney general said had engaged in repeated wrongdoing.


“Our petition detailed a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation — including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more," then-Attorney General Barbara Underwood alleged in a statement late last year.

In her seven-page ruling, New York Supreme Court Justice Salliann Scarpulla wrote, "Mr. Trump’s fiduciary duty breaches included allowing his campaign to orchestrate the Fundraiser, allowing his campaign, instead of the Foundation, to direct distribution of the Funds, and using the Fundraiser and distribution of the Funds to further Mr. Trump’s political campaign."

The judge was referring to a Jan. 28, 2016, event Trump held in Des Moines, Iowa, that he'd billed as a fundraiser for veterans. The event was counter-programming for a GOP presidential debate on Fox. Trump was feuding with the network at the time.

The event wound up raising $2.8 million, according to the judge, some of which Trump distributed in the form of giant checks at campaign rallies before the Iowa caucuses.

"The Attorney General has argued that I should award damages for waste of the entire $2,823,000 that was donated directly to the Foundation at the Fundraiser," Scarpulla noted. "In opposition, Mr. Trump notes that the Foundation ultimately disbursed all of the Funds to charitable organizations."

Taking "into consideration that the Funds did ultimately reach their intended destinations, i.e., charitable organizations supporting veterans, I award damages on the breach of fiduciary duty/waste claim against Mr. Trump in the amount of $2,000,000," she wrote.

The ruling noted that the money would go to eight nonprofit organizations, including the Children’s Aid Society, United Negro College Fund and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Read more

 

[VCheng]

View attachment 588195

And he will definitely get what he deserves - but only after due process of law afforded to every criminal. Of that I have no doubt.

 

[cloud4000]

Virginia election.

Great victory, Democrats on Tuesday won majorities in both the State House and Senate. Democrats now hold all three branches of government in Virginia for the first time in decades. Trump has been a great help, since he was elected the Republicans have now lost all branches of government in the state, the suburbs which used to be a stronghold of Republicans once again played a crucial role in Democratic victories.

Democrats ran on a moderate agenda, beside the kitchen-table issues, they also pledged to support a higher minimum wage, equal rights Amendment and commonsense gun laws.

Virginia also elected Democrat Ghazala Hashmi who defeated Republican Sen. Glen Sturtevant to become the first Muslim woman elected to the state Senate.

In short, Virginia is now a Blue State!



And as usual, I did my civic duty, View attachment 587995 . Even though election in my state (Washington) was not that important, it was mostly Referendum measures, Initiative measures, Advisory vote and there was only one Councilor election. Since I became a US citizen in 2014 my voting record is almost 100%.

How soon before Republicans throw Trump under the bus? In politics, it's always about self-preservation.

 

[Nilgiri]

And he will definitely get what he deserves - but only after due process of law afforded to every criminal. Of that I have no doubt.

Did the Obummer campaign finance violations ever get to that stage?

Only standards dem have are double standards.

How soon before Republicans throw Trump under the bus? In politics, it's always about self-preservation.

Probably after the 2nd term of trump. Only coz of term limit for president and they'll have another guy to beat up on the KKK-commie-crats next.

 

[VCheng]

Did the Obummer campaign finance violations ever get to that stage?

Only standards dem have are double standards.

Is that any different for the Republicans?

 

[Nilgiri]

Is that any different for the Republicans?

Nope. But Republicans (at root) seem to actually care about the country/nation. Dems (as the name implies if you know what absolute democracy means) are at root about control (though gathering and pandering to mobs of whichever flavour exist in a certain time). Post WW2, its very clear to me it was the Soviet threat that kept them contained and tolerably nation-oriented. After it ended, well thats the story ongoing right now.

They (GOP) have been "country club" softies long time though, no longer. No more nice taking it on the chin when someone (from the democrat party of all parties) accuses you of wanting to put black people "back in chains"....from blue-dog-KKK-crat fear of captive votes leaving the plantation.

How much longer democrats have to go by mobs-stronk and lose more and more through their tightening grip?:

Then again, I don't know why exactly they (GOP) went with uniparty vanilla Bush dynasty and similar for so long....but then again I was a kid that didn't know too much about it back then.

Their last best president started out as liberal-democrat too (given lot of idealist/change does churn there in positive way after all, which downstream bitter purist democrat elders still seem unable to harness in a moral/effective way)....till he saw what's up (with the whole grand deception alinsky style, throwing the country to dogs just to keep control) and turncoated. So ideally that kind of person (and Trump is just a new unique version of it) knows both the strengths and weaknesses of "liberals" (of the democrat flavour)...and what their whole schtick is essentially. Thus how best to beat them at their own game.

Democrats absolutely hate that....but its great for popcorn sales at least....and maybe, just maybe in the end of all this (whatever this is)....the bipartisan normie center re-establishes that its the message that matters, not the messenger....and what having a republic first before a democracy means constitutionally (and how that's reflected in the party names).

 

[RabzonKhan]

We are a nation of laws, not of men.

John Adams the second US President, put it best. “We are a nation of laws, not of men.”

"John Adams’ famous statement about the rule of law in his Constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, approved by the voters in 1780. “In the government of this commonwealth,” Adams wrote, “the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them: the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them: the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them: to the end it may be a government of laws and not of men.”

That is the main difference between the United States and the West from rest of the world. A nation of laws means that laws, not men, rule. No one is above the laws regardless, whether he’s the President, General, member of Congress, Senate or ordinary American.

Trump on the other hand thinks he is above the law, “he can shoot someone on fifth Avenue” and nothing will happen.

Hopefully the impeachment inquiry will put an end to his lawless behavior or at least be a strong warning that his lawless behavior will not go unchallenged.

Today the House Intelligence Committee will kick off the first public hearings of the impeachment probe, with two key diplomatic officials set to appear at 10 a.m. ET. All the major broadcast and cable news channels will stream live.

Bill Taylor, the top diplomat in the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, and George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, will appear before the House Intelligence Committee to face questions from lawmakers and committee staff.

Bill Taylor is Trump administration’s Charge d Affaires in the US embassy in Ukraine.
A West Point graduate who served for six years as an Army infantry officer, including with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam, Mr. Taylor is among the country’s most experienced diplomats, and has served in the administrations of Pres Reagan, Bush senior, Bill Clinton, Bush Jr, Obama and Trump.

A post at the United States Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels introduced him to a 30-year diplomatic career in Europe and the Middle East.

When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked William B. Taylor Jr., a highly respected former diplomat, to become America’s top diplomat in Ukraine in June, Mr. Taylor initially hesitated.

He had left government after decades of service and was serving as the executive vice president of the United States Institute of Peace in Washington. But he had remained involved in the affairs of Ukraine, a country that had particular meaning for him since spending three years there as the American ambassador more than a decade ago in the administration of President George W. Bush.

And he was concerned about the way President Trump’s ambassador to Ukraine had been pushed out of her job under suspicious circumstances. So was his wife, who urged him not to take the job, he said in his congressional testimony on Tuesday.

A conversation with a person he described as a trusted Republican mentor who had served in government changed his mind. “If your country asks you to do something, you do it — if you can be effective,” he recalled his mentor saying.


George Kent currently serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the European and Eurasian Bureau at the U.S. Department of State,

Overseeing policy towards Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Previously, he was Deputy Chief of Mission in Kyiv, Ukraine (2015-18). In 2014-15, George was the Senior Anti-Corruption Coordinator in the State Department’s European Bureau from 2014-15, leading development and advocacy of anti-corruption messages across Europe and Eurasia. From 2012-14, he oversaw $200 million in annual programming for the rule of law, law enforcement, and judicial system capacity building in Europe and Asia as Director in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL/EA). Since joining the foreign service in 1992, he has served in: Warsaw, Poland; Kyiv; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; and Bangkok, Thailand. Other State Department assignments include: Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; Operations Center Watch Officer; and Thai desk officer.

George holds an A.B. from Harvard in Russian History and Literature (1989), an M.A. from Johns Hopkins’ SAIS (1992), and M.S. from National Defense University’s Eisenhower School (2012). Mr. Kent speaks Ukrainian, Russian, Thai, and some Polish, German, and Italian. He is a Kirby Simon Fund Trustee and a proud member of Red Sox Nation.



Watch Impeachment inquiry live on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=impeachment+inquiry+live+

 

[VCheng]

And so the political theater begins.

 

[RabzonKhan]

And he will definitely get what he deserves - but only after due process of law afforded to every criminal. Of that I have no doubt.

I hope you’re right. And I also hope Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnel will stop their BS and behave more responsibly.

So far very revealing testimony from Mr Taylor. Are you watching it?

How soon before Republicans throw Trump under the bus? In politics, it's always about self-preservation.

Unfortunately, the chances are quite bleak, we have become too partisan. I don’t see any Rep. Lawrence Hogan’s.

I hope you are watching impeachment hearing?

And so the political theater begins.

It was inevitable.