Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Tweet bomb Nashville rally

TWEET AT #NASHVILLERALLY FOR CONGRESS TO CENSURE PRESIDENT TRUMP
[If you want to send a tweet before reading below, click HERE ]

Untold numbers of people are appalled by how President Trump has conducted himself as President, and Congress should adopt a formal resolution of censure of President Trump's conduct.

Complaints about how President Trump has conducted himself as President include these:

1. His refusal to separate adequately from his businesses will improperly affect untold aspects of the governance of the country in the Executive Branch of the Federal government and also in the Legislative Branch. The episode of President Donald Trump's tweeting about Ivanka and Nordstrom is one small example of Executive Branch governance of the country being improperly impacted. President Donald Trump has been adamant that he can and will do whatever he wants regarding his businesses. We do not believe this is true, and we believe that Congress needs to tell President Trump that.

2. President Trump has spoken to the American people with an immense lack of regard for "truth" and "facts." We do not understand why he does this, and it signifies that President Donald Trump does not understand or refuses to understand things that are needed to properly execute the office of President. Congress needs to tell President Donald Trump that.

3. President Donald Trump's insulting, gratuitous, hyperbolic assaults on those who express disagreement are excessive in the extreme and improperly exacerbate divisions in the country. Congress needs to tell President Donald Trump this is not "faithful" execution of the office of President.

4. [added 2/13] Various actions and statements of President Donald Trump and his subordinates are portending that President Donald Trump is going to violate constitutional separation of powers. Congress needs to warn President Donald Trump about this.

5. [added 2/15] Michael Flynn is out because he lost  President Donald Trump's trust. Developments are resulting in President Donald Trump losing the trust of the American people. Congress needs to tell him that.

6. [added 2/20] The House and the Senate need to pass a joint resolution to the effect that it is the sense of Congress that the press is not the enemy of the American people.

7. [added 2/21] The aforesaid resolution should also condemn the surge in anti-Semitic violence and threats.

8. [added 2/22] President Donald Trump's loose words about Sweden were unpresidential and may have caused unnecessary violence in Sweden. He should be censured by Congress for this.

9. [added 2/22] The second round of executive immigration orders are threatening heightened tension and turmoil, potentially disrupting important work Congress is trying to do. Congress ought to step in to provide a better solution for the country's immigration situation.

10. [added 2/23] President Donald Trump's loss of the trust of the American people gets worse related to Russia, his tax returns, the excessive taxpayer monies used to maintain his and his family's personal and business lives, and repeal and replacement of Obamacare.

11. [added 2/26] By not showing up at the White House correspondents dinner, President Donald Trump is hardening his intention for the country to have two "realities," one being the reality as pronounced by President Donald Trump and the other reality being any purported truth and facts that differ from President Donald Trump's reality. Congress needs to tell President Donald Trump that the two realities that he is trying to establish make for great problems in the country's governance of itself, and collective work must be undertaken to try to overcome the dual realities he seems bound and determined to create.

12. [added 2/28] Either President Donald Trump is alarmingly ignorant about health care, or else he has been lying to the American people for months. See Nobody knew.

13. [added 3/4] President Donald Trump's saying that Jeff Sessions should not recuse himself further shows President Donald Trump does not understand about "conflicts of interest," and Congress needs to educate President Donald Trump on this by censuring him. See Sessions recusal.

14. [added 3/4] The Wall Street Journal has reported that Donald Trump Jr. Was Likely Paid at Least $50,000 for Event Held by Hosts Allied With Russia on Syria. This seems like exactly the "pay to play" that President Donald Trump crucified the Clintons about during the election campaign, and Congress should tell President Donald Trump that he and his family do not have a blanket exemption from "conflicts of interest" and "pay to play."

TWEETING AT #NASHVILLERALLY TODAY
If you agree that Congress should censure President Trump, use today's Nashville rally to send a tweet which asks Congress to censure President Trump, which uses the hashtag #nashvillerally, and which has a link to this webpage http://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2017/03/nashville.html. The following is a suggested tweet to send:
Tweet at President Trump's #NashvilleRally today for Congress to censure him. http://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2017/03/nashville.html 
You can send such a tweet by copying and pasting the above and using your "Tweet" button in your Twitter account, or you can automatically generate the tweet by clicking HERE  If you automatically generate the tweet, it will not be sent until you click "send."

Feel free to compose your own tweet to send. If you compose your own tweet, please include the hashtag #nashvillerally, and also a link to this webpage http://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2017/03/nashville.html.

Next, after you send your tweet, share a link to this webpage in your standard way of sharing.

If you want to go beyond your standard way of sharing, use follower lists of Nashville  and other Tennessee follower lists, such as
https://twitter.com/Tennessean/followers
https://twitter.com/WSMV/followers
and send individual tweets to the followers on the list, which tweets say:
Join in tweeting at President Trump's Nashville rally for Congress to censure him. http://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2017/03/nashville.html
You can send tweets very efficiently, at least on a laptop computer. Get the tweet message on your mouse clipboard, go to the follower list  you are using for your tweeting, start with the first person on the list you want to tweet to, and do this:
1. Right click on person's Twitter name.
2. Choose "open in new tab"
3. Go to the new tab.
4. Click on the "Tweet to" button.
5. Paste the tweet message in the box.
6. Hit the "Tweet" button.
7. Close the tab, which takes you back to the list
8. Go on to next person, and repeat above steps.
You should be able to send 35 to 70 tweets in a half hour. Send as many tweets as you are willing to. Don't worry about any duplication that you think may arise.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Not phony

Who knows what to believe about anything Trump says?



I am asking my Alabama reps in Congress this. You should ask your reps in Congress the same.



Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Smartest colluders

The smartest way to collude is publicly, in which two very smart people know each other's minds perfectly, and they are able to collude publicly with no need of private meetings.

Now, how can the dumb ass public ever catch two smart colluders who are colluding like that?

Here is Donald Trump colluding in public with Vladimir Putin:



Also, the above proves a lesser charge of Donald Trump being an aider and abetter of Russian interference.

Tweet to Senate Intelligence Committee
Use the below links to send tweets to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Your tweets will be addressed to the indicated Senators, say, "Plz consider #PublicCollusion and #AidingandAbetting." and will contain a link to this blog entry. Your tweets will appear under the hashtags #PublicCollusion and #AidingandAbetting.

Tweet here to Senators Burr, Risch, Rubio and Collins
Tweet here to Senators Blunt, Lankford, Cotton and Cornyn
Tweet here to Senators Warner, Feinstein, Wyden and Heinrich
Tweet here to Senators King and Manchin

Edit 3/20
While he was not President at the time, Congress should consider whether President Trump should be censured at this time for asking the Russians to interfere in the election to help him in the election. See Tweet bomb Louisville rally for a list of other conduct of President Trump that Congress should consider as warranting censure.

Tweet to Chairman and Ranking Member of House Permanent Committee on Intelligence
Send a tweet to the Chairman and Ranking Member, which says, "@Rep_DevinNunes @RepAdamSchiff Isn't Trump's asking Russians to interfere in election #AidingAndAbetting? http:/http://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2017/03/smartest-colluders.html", by clicking on the below link (tweet will not be sent until you click "send")
Tweet here to Chairman Nunes and Ranking Member Schiff


Was President Trump involved in a crime?
The below July 25, 2016 Daily Beast article discusses that attempting to manipulate an election is not a crime but the hacking theft of information is a crime. Was President Trump criminally involved, such as as an "aider and abetter" or an "accessory," in criminal theft of information and using the fruits of the crime?



TARGET ACQUIRED

FBI Suspects Russia Hacked DNC; U.S. Officials Say It Was to Elect Donald Trump

Did the Russian government hack the DNC to bring down Hillary Clinton? That’s the view that’s quickly emerging inside American intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
The FBI suspects that Russian government hackers breached the networks of the Democratic National Committee and stole emails that were posted to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks on Friday. It’s an operation that several U.S. officials now suspect was a deliberate attempt to influence the presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, according to five individuals familiar with the investigation of the breach.
The theory that Moscow orchestrated the leaks to help Trump—who has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and practically called for the end of NATO—is fast gaining currency within the Obama administration because of the timing of the leaks and Trump’s own connections to the Russian government, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing and developing quickly.
About 20,000 internal DNC emails were disclosed just days before the beginning of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and several showed an effort by staffers to undermine Bernie Sanders’s campaign against Hillary Clinton. One email even discussed challenging Sanders’s religious faith. In response to the embarrassing revelations, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she would step down after the convention.
Current and former U.S. officials drew analogies to so-called active measures campaigns, or state-sponsored operations designed for political effects.
“The release of emails just as the Democratic National Convention is getting underway this week has the hallmarks of a Russian active measures campaign,” David Shedd, a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told The Daily Beast. Shedd said that additional leaks were likely, echoing an opinion expressed by U.S. officials and experts who said that the release of emails on Friday may just be an opening salvo.
Officials also noted Trump’s own connections to the Russian government. Putin has publicly praised the nominee, who said he was “honored” by the compliment. Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was a consultant for Viktor Yanukovych, the former president of Ukraine who was ousted for his pro-Moscow orientation (and now lives in Russia). One of Trump’s top national security advisers, retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, sat with Putin at a dinner celebrating the 10th anniversary of Kremlin-backed media network RT and was paid to give a speech at the event; Flynn later retweeted an anti-Semitic message that called into question any Kremlin-Trump link. Another Trump adviser, Carter Page, recently denounced America’s “often-hypocritical focus on democratization” while in Moscow. And last week, Trump said that he might not come to the aid of U.S. NATO allies in the face of Russian aggression unless they paid what he thinks they owe for Europe’s common defense.
Officials also thought it was telling that the emails were given to WikiLeaks, which is perceived as being hostile to the U.S. government. “This wasn’t surprising to us,” said one U.S. official familiar with the investigation. 
An FBI spokesperson said in a statement Monday that the bureau was investigating the breach but declined to comment on whether political motivation was part of the inquiry. “A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace,” the spokesperson said.
“I’m sure they will consider potential motives,” White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest told reporters on Monday.
Two U.S. officials told The Daily Beast that while hacking is a crime, and therefore falls under the FBI’s jurisdiction, trying to manipulate an election is not. That may limit what the FBI can investigate, the officials said.
“Manipulation is not a crime. Some would argue that Voice of America or Fox News try to manipulate elections,” one retired FBI agent told The Daily Beast.
That doesn’t mean the FBI has to remain silent if it finds evidence of Russia’s meddling. Should the bureau release a statement after an investigation tying the Russians to the hack and subsequent release to WikiLeaks, that would essentially be a public indictment, the officials said.
It also may be possible for the FBI to investigate the question of intent, including whether the email leak is an instance of an unregistered foreign agent illegally trying to influence the U.S. political system, another U.S. official said. But it’s easier for the FBI to investigate the breach and theft of information itself, which are clearly prohibited under U.S. law, the official added.
The FBI first notified the DNC in April that it had been breached, said two individuals who are familiar with the matter. U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials had been aware of two Russian hacker groups that have been linked to the intrusion and are also believed to have compromised networks in U.S. government agencies, including the Defense Department, the State Department, and the White House, as well as U.S. companies and universities.
The DNC hired a computer security firm, CrowdStrike, to investigate the breach. It has publicly attributed the operation to two known hacker groups connected to the Russian government that it dubs Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear.
The two groups, which compete with one another, got into the DNC networks last summer and this April, respectively, CrowdStrike told The Washington Post, which first reported the breaches last month.
Another cybersecurity firm, ThreatConnect, independently assessed the breach and concluded that the DNC operation was consistent with the hackers’ previous efforts to gather information on U.S. officials and operations.
The theft of information, which at the time reportedly consisted of opposition research and the DNC’s files on Trump, seemed to be part of a longer campaign of spying by the Russians in order to glean insights into the next president. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also said in May that there were indications both presidential campaigns had been targeted by foreign hackers.
But the provision of the DNC emails to WikiLeaks added a new dimension to the intrusion. (The group has pushed back against the idea that Russia supplied the emails.)
“If there is a concerted effort to undermine the campaign of the Democratic Party nominee, we can and should expect additional embarrassing emails to be released by WikiLeaks, including from candidate Hillary Clinton’s personal server,” Shedd, the former Defense Intelligence Agency chief, said.
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said lawmakers had been briefed on the intrusion and “will continue to seek further information from the [intelligence community] as to the origin of any attack and a potential connection to Russia or another state sponsor.”
“If the hack is linked to Russian actors, it would not be the first time cyber intrusions linked to the Kremlin and its supporters have sought to influence the political process in other countries,” Rep. Adam Schiff said in a statement. “Given Donald Trump’s well known admiration for Putin and his belittling of NATO, the Russians have both the means and the motive to engage in a hack of the DNC and the dump of its emails prior to the Democratic Convention. That foreign actors may be trying to influence our election—let alone a powerful adversary like Russia—should concern all Americans of any party.”
Within the email dump itself, there were further indications of foreign meddling in the campaign. 
On May 4, DNC opposition researcher Alexandra Chalupa told a colleague that ever since she began collecting information on Trump campaign director Paul Manafort, she had been receiving daily security warnings from Yahoothat her personal account may have “been the target of state-sponsored actors.” Such notifications are routine when an internet or email provider suspects that a user may have been hacked or is likely to be hacked.
Chalupa told DNC Communications Director Luis Miranda in an email that she continued to get the warnings from Yahoo “despite changing my password often.”
A few days prior to that message, a DNC staffer notified colleagues that the committee’s rapid-response blog, Factivists, had been “compromised.”
“We have been compromised! But it’s all ok,” Rachel Palermo said in a brief message to an unspecified number of recipients. Palermo said that to “prevent future issues,” the password to the blog would be changed “every few weeks. She also included a new password in the email, which the intruders may well have seen.
And in mid-May, two DNC staffers communicating about a donor said thather email account had been hacked and was no longer working. The donor was identified only as Agnes. Agnes Gund is a prominent philanthropist and Democratic donor. DNC officials told The Washington Post that their donor files weren’t accessed. It’s not clear if the donor’s email was hacked by the same Russian groups.
Attributing the source of a breach to a specific actor is difficult, but CrowdStrike, which has close ties to the FBI and U.S. intelligence community, provided some details on its findings in a recent blog post. The company based its attributions on characteristic tools and techniques that it has attributed to the hacker group in previous intrusions.
Cozy Bear prefers “a broadly targeted spearphish campaign,” or using emails that appear to come from a trusted sender but that actually include web links that will insert malicious software code onto a victim’s machine, CrowdStrike reported. The code uses sophisticated tools to remotely access the computer, as well as encryption to cover their tracks, both of which indicate “a well-resourced adversary.”
Fancy Bear likewise has developed a suite of hacking tools and techniques and has been linked to intrusions on U.S. government systems, CrowdStrike said. The group tends to favor establishing websites “that spoof the look and feel of the victim’s web-based email services in order to steal their credentials.”
It’s not clear precisely how the groups penetrated the DNC’s networks. But CrowdStrike said its analysts “immediately” recognized the hackers’ signatures. Separately, another computer security firm, ThreatConnect, has corroborated the findings and also found that a hacker group going by the moniker Guccifer2, which claims to have provided the emails to WikiLeaks, is likely a Russian-goverment operation.
Any FBI investigation likely would not be released until after the election, and any could be read as sending a political message. Should Trump win, for example, and the FBI announces it found a Russian connection to the hack, some might argue that the FBI is trying to taint Trump’s victory. That would also come on the heels of the FBI’s decision to not charge Clinton with having classified email on her private email server, a decision that outraged many Republicans. 
A public finding that the Russians interfered would also exacerbate already tense negotiations between the U.S. and Russia over an agreement to share intelligence and better coordinate strikes in Syria. The increased cooperation has divided much of the U.S. government, some of whom do not see the Russians as trustworthy.




Inquiry to criminal law professors
I have sent the below email to three professors of criminal law at the University of Alabama School of Law:

From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 10:26 AM
Subject: Possible Trump criminality re criminal theft of info
To: ppierson@law.ua.edu, srushin@law.ua.edu, jcarroll@law.ua.edu
Dear Professors Pierson, Rushin and Carroll,
I am trying to learn whether there is a feasible case that President Trump could have criminal liability for his public urging of the Russians and Wikileaks to release criminally obtained hacking information.
This first assumes that there was criminal hacking theft of information by the Russians, Wikileaks and/or others. For purposes of this email, assume that is true.
Then assume the Russians, Wikileaks and/or others had a purpose to use the fruits of the crime (i.e., the info) to influence voting in the election. My layperson's understanding is that merely trying to influence voting in an election is not a crime.
Let's put aside the matter of non-public communications between the Trump campaign and the Russians, Wikileaks or others.
Let's focus on Trump's state of mind, including awareness that there was criminal theft of information, and that the fruits of the crime (the info) were being used by the criminals to try to influence the election, and that the same could help Trump in his campaign. Next take Trump's overt act of publicly encouraging the Russians and/or Wikileaks to carry out their purpose of using the fruits of their crime to influence the election, which could help Trump in his campaign.
If you were a lawyer with the Justice Department or the FBI, would the foregoing present a genuine, serious possibility of Trump having criminal involvement in the criminal theft of information? Putting it differently if you were a lawyer for Trump, would you be concerned a case for criminal involvement could be made against him?
Obviously the investigation into communications between the Trump campaign and the Russians, Wikileaks, and others may yield facts and evidence that would be supportive of a case against Trump for criminal involvement in the criminal theft of information.
Informed persons are reporting that no evidence of collusion has been yet found by investigators (and keep in mind the FBI investigation started last July). I have been trying to raise whether there can be public collusion, without private meetings.
I am ultimately trying to get a sense of whether Trump and his lawyers should be seriously worrying.
For your information, I am posting about this in a blog. See Smartest colluders.
I guess what I would be most interested from any of the three of you is, if you think there is no possibility of a criminal case against Trump without evidence of "collusion" (of which there is reportedly no evidence yet), I would at a minimum post your view on my blog.
Thank you for your attention to this email.

Another article



Update 5/30/17
Trump's asking Russia to interfere in election may also constitute "substantial assistance" under the Federal election law prohibitions on foreign nationals making donations and expenditures in connection with U.S. elections. See FEC Reg. 110.20.

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Don Jr.

[President Donald Trump, during his campaign, crucified the Clintons for "conflicts of interest" and "pay to play." Now, President Donald Trump is acting as if he and his family have a blanket exemption from "conflicts of interest" and "pay to play." Congress needs to decide whether it agrees.]

The Wall Street Journal

Donald Trump Jr. Was Likely Paid at Least $50,000 for Event Held by Hosts Allied With Russia on Syria

October appearance by son of then-candidate is one of string of contacts between members of the president’s inner circle and individuals connected to Moscow


Donald Trump Jr. addressed a dinner on Oct. 11 at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, hosted by the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs. Its president, Fabien Baussart, and his Syrian-born wife, Randa Kassis, have cooperated with Russia in its drive to end the Syrian civil war, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.
In December, Mr. Baussart formally nominated Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mrs. Kassis is a leader of a political faction endorsed by Russia in negotiations to end the war in Syria. The couple said they don’t represent Russia and are solely focused on ending the Syrian conflict.
The meeting in October represents one in a string of contacts over the past year between members of the president’s inner circle and individuals connected to Moscow and to Russian interests. The Wall Street Journal in November reported Donald Trump Jr.’s appearance at the event.
A U.S. counterintelligence investigation has examined contacts with Russia involving several associates of President Trump, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to people familiar with the matter. The outcome of the Sessions inquiry, and whether it is ongoing, is unclear. There has been no indication that the president’s son is under similar scrutiny.
The existence of a financial connection between the younger Trump and an entity associated with the Kremlin would likely add to questions involving Mr. Trump’s administration and Russia, following a campaign in which he was loath to criticize Russia’s leader and repeatedly called for better ties to Moscow.
The younger Mr. Trump’s appearance and his work as a paid public speaker also are likely to raise questions about possible efforts by outside parties to gain influence with the Trump family. Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton drew criticism for speakers fees and contributions involving her family’s charitable foundation, a practice President Donald Trump criticized during his campaign as a “pay to play” scheme.
Donald Trump Jr. serves as the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, a real-estate company founded by his father, and was a top official in his father’s campaign.
The younger Trump was likely paid at least $50,000 for his Paris appearance by the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs. The Trump Organization didn’t dispute that amount when asked about it by The Wall Street Journal.
A U.S. counterintelligence investigation has examined contacts with Russia involving several associates of President Trump, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to people familiar with the matter. The outcome of the Sessions inquiry, and whether it is ongoing, is unclear. There has been no indication that the president’s son is under similar scrutiny.
The existence of a financial connection between the younger Trump and an entity associated with the Kremlin would likely add to questions involving Mr. Trump’s administration and Russia, following a campaign in which he was loath to criticize Russia’s leader and repeatedly called for better ties to Moscow.
The younger Mr. Trump’s appearance and his work as a paid public speaker also are likely to raise questions about possible efforts by outside parties to gain influence with the Trump family. Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton drew criticism for speakers fees and contributions involving her family’s charitable foundation, a practice President Donald Trump criticized during his campaign as a “pay to play” scheme.
Donald Trump Jr. serves as the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, a real-estate company founded by his father, and was a top official in his father’s campaign.
The younger Trump was likely paid at least $50,000 for his Paris appearance by the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs. The Trump Organization didn’t dispute that amount when asked about it by The Wall Street Journal.
“Donald Trump Jr. has been participating in business-related speaking engagements for over a decade—discussing a range of topics including sharing his entrepreneurial experiences and offering career specific advice,” said Amanda Miller, the company’s vice president for marketing.
A talent booking agency called All American Speakers lists Donald Trump Jr. on its website as a client who commands a minimum of $50,000 per appearance.
People who have participated in events at the French think tank say it often pays speakers 20% to 30% above their going rate.
At a different event in October, the Center hosted James Rubin, a former State Department spokesman who served in Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. He was paid nearly $40,000 to attend, according to people briefed on the event.
Mrs. Kassis heads a political party, the Movement for a Pluralistic Society, which is part of a faction endorsed by Russia in international negotiations aimed at ending the six-year Syrian conflict.
She regularly visits Moscow to coordinate policy with Russia’s Foreign Ministry, said Arab and European officials. She has appeared more than once in photographs with Russian officials in Russian state media.
In interviews, Mrs. Kassis said she stressed to Donald Trump Jr. in October the need for the U.S. and Russia to cooperate in ending the Syrian conflict. She said she passed on Mr. Trump’s views to Russian diplomats in subsequent trips she made to Moscow.
Mrs. Kassis said she is optimistic about U.S.-Russia cooperation after meeting Donald Trump Jr. The couple said his talk at the think tank was about general campaign issues and the senior Mr. Trump’s platform.
The couple said they believe an end to the Syrian conflict can only be achieved through a political agreement between Washington and Moscow.
Mr. Baussart said his focus has been on finding a Syria solution in which Russia and the U.S. have key roles. “There’s never going to be peace in Syria if Russia and the U.S. don’t cut a broader deal,” Mr. Baussart said.
Mr. Baussart told Russian state media that Mr. Putin should be recognized for his efforts to end the Syrian civil war and combat international terrorism. The Obama administration, in contrast, accused Russia of committing war crimes in Syria.
“I believe that President Putin has deserved it,” Mr. Baussart told RIA Novosti, referring to the Nobel Peace Prize. “He is the only one who is truly fighting terrorism.”
Mrs. Kassis said her faction supports the eventual removal of President Bashar al-Assad, but only through a gradual political transition, a position shared by the Kremlin. She said any quick removal of Mr. Assad would result in Islamic extremists seizing control of Syria.
“We can’t have a radical transition,” she said. “We need to have a secure transition.”
Current and former U.S. and French officials said they have approached Mrs. Kassis and Mr. Baussart with caution due to their close contacts with the Kremlin. U.S. diplomats have met with the couple as part of the diplomatic process on Syria, but said they assumed they were largely representing the Russian position.
“They are very close to the Russians, and the French government warned us about them,” said Robert Ford, a former State Department official who coordinated U.S. policy toward Syria during the Obama administration and met the couple during peace talks.
Mr. Ford said he found meetings with Mrs. Kassis useful because she is representative of Syria’s Christian minority and had family links to the top tiers of the Assad regime.
Her first husband is the son of retired Gen. Mohammed al-Khouli, the former head of a powerful Syrian intelligence branch and a top aide to Mr. Assad’s father, the late President Hafez al-Assad. Mrs. Kassis said she has no current links to the Assad regime, and describes herself as part of the Syrian opposition.
The Center of Political and Foreign Affairs regularly hosts foreign diplomats, government leaders and intelligence chiefs to dinner, lunch and breakfast events in Paris and other cities, according to its website.
The meeting with Donald Trump Jr. in October was attended by French businessmen, bankers and diplomats, according to attendees, and focused on geopolitical issues.
The younger Mr. Trump regularly travels internationally to pursue Trump Organization real-estate projects, and has emphasized the importance of Russian business. President Trump has said that his companies wouldn’t make new business deals overseas while he is president.
“In terms of high-end product influx into the U.S., Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” he said in a 2008 interview with a trade publication. “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”
Write to Jay Solomon at jay.solomon@wsj.com and Benoit Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com

Friday, March 3, 2017

Sessions recusal

[Update 6/7/17:  It is being reported that Trump has been furious at Jeff Sessions that Sessions recused himself from Russia investigation matters, and, as a consequence, Sessions offered to resign. All that, it seems to me, shows some spine by Jeff Sessions. Luther Strange, former Alabama state Attorney General, could show some spine by opining one way or the other whether he thinks Sessions was right to recuse himself.]

The information at this time is that President Trump does not think Jeff Sessions should recuse himself. See Boston Globe and Breitbart.

The question of recusal deals with conflicts of interest, how the law looks at conflicts of interest, and what government officials should do in situations of conflicts of interest.

Since November there has been pressed on President Trump that his businesses present serious conflicts of interest for him, and that what he says he is going to do with his businesses is not adequate in dealing with his conflicts of interest. President Trump says conflicts of interest are not applicable to him as President, and he is exempt from or above conflicts of interest standards that apply to other government officials. The position that President Trump is taking on his business interests is being contested and will continue to be tested in various ways in the coming months, and the ultimate outcome remains to be seen.

The mentality that President Trump has that conflicts of interest do not apply to him seems to be carrying over to Jeff Sessions, and is starting to evidence a pattern and a belief by President Trump that the law does not apply to him, and he is above the law, and further the law does not apply to anyone President Trump decides the law should not apply to, such as to Jeff Sessions.

President Trump's saying that Jeff Sessions should not recuse himself is further grounds for Congress to censure President Trump.

Edit: The Wall Street Journal is reporting today Donald Trump Jr. Was Likely Paid at Least $50,000 for Event Held by Hosts Allied With Russia on Syria. The subheadline says,
"October appearance by son of then-candidate is one of string of contacts between members of the president’s inner circle and individuals connected to Moscow". This seems like exactly the "pay to play" that Trump crucified the Clintons about during the campaign. We'll have to await to hear whether President Trump says "conflicts of interest" and "pay to play" do not apply to him and his family.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

President of all?

Being President of all the people
Donald Trump at least pretended in his address to Congress last night that he wants to be President of all the American people, and not just President of his supporters.

You never know about Donald Trump, and Donald Trump seems to prefer it that way.

Let's play it out that Donald Trump wants to be President of all the American people, and list things he could say or do that would help him unify the country.

One thing would be for Donald Trump to stop saying that the press is the enemy of the American people.

Along with that, it would help unify the country if Donald Trump stopped talking about The New York Times, CNN, et al, as purveyors of "fake news" and the apotheosis of dishonesty.

Another thing Donald Trump should do to be President of all the American people is to patch up his relations with the intelligence agencies and the FBI.

Pursuing comprehensive immigration reform could also help Donald Trump be President of all the American people.

His supporters
If Donald Trump does these things to be President of all the American people, his supporters will probably not be entirely pleased.

Take "fake news." Donald Trump has been stoking his supporters for months about fake news, and many of them have bought all in on Donald Trump's charges of "fake news." These supporters may have questions about what is going on if Donald Trump now tells them, "naw, not so, The New York Times, CNN, etc., don't really purvey 'fake news.' Those media may make mistakes at times, and they may have biases in the things they report, but they do have laudable journalistic standards in seeking to determine and report truth and facts, and it is not right to say they make up the news."

Saying things now that contradict things you said previously can be disconcerting, and result in Donald Trump's supporters wondering what they should believe, such as about fake news.

Another example is comprehensive immigration reform, which is reported to be under consideration by Donald Trump. If Donald Trump pursues that, it will likely be inconsistent with what Donald Trump said throughout his primary and general election campaigns. Donald Trump's supporters who were all in with what Donald Trump said during his campaigns may start to think they were sold a false bill of goods.

The above are possible contradictions that Donald Trump may exhibit to his supporters in the future, but that have not actually happened yet. Actual contradictions have now come about in other things Donald Trump has said or done..

Healthcare
Two days ago, Donald Trump said, "Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated."

It does not take much to know that, for more than 25 years, healthcare has been extremely complicated for the United States, and either Donald Trump is alarmingly ignorant about healthcare, or else he has been lying for months to the American people about healthcare.

Whichever it is, it was expedient for Donald Trump in his campaign to pound that Obamacare was a total disaster and that repeal and replacement was simple to achieve and would provide better and cheaper healthcare with the same amount of coverage for Americans as Obamacare.

Doubt is currently spreading around the country about whether Donald Trump will be able to achieve what he said regarding healthcare.

While millions in the country are getting very anxious about what is going to happen with their healthcare, Donald Trump seems unfazed that either he is alarmingly ignorant about healthcare or has lied to the American people for months about healthcare.

If Donald Trump is unfazed, it prompts question of what is the explanation for Donald Trump being unfazed that he may not be able to fulfill his promise about healthcare and that many American people have been misled by him.

One possibility is that he is unfazed because ultimately all that matters to Donald Trump is that he won the Presidency and he wants to keep being President, and whatever lies and contradictions from time to time are expedient for those purposes will be perpetrated, without any qualm on Donald Trump's part, so long as the lies and contradictions can be managed. Such can explain how Donald Trump is unfazed that he stands exposed as either appallingly ignorant about healthcare or as having lied to the American people for months. The American people may be very unhappy about what they are learning about healthcare and what Donald Trump told them about healthcare, but Donald Trump is safely ensconced in the Presidency and will have no problem managing the lies and contradictions he purveyed in gaining the Presidency and keeping it.

Draining the swamp; Hillary Clinton
Donald Trump made a lot of hay in his campaigns that there was a swamp and he would "drain the swamp." This was highly expedient for him in his campaign.

Now that Donald Trump is President, he may no longer care whether the swamp gets drained, and his only concern is whether he will stay President regardless of what happens with "draining the swamp" and regardless of whether his supporters conclude they were sold a false bill of goods by what Donald Trump told them during his campaign.

In his address to Congress, he said:
We have begun to drain the swamp of government corruption by imposing a 5 year ban on lobbying by executive branch officials --- and a lifetime ban on becoming lobbyists for a foreign government.
That is something for his supporters, but whether it will have any meaningful effect is far from certain.

Donald Trump's real thoughts are impossible to know. Donald Trump may think it is impossible to drain the swamp. Another possibility is that Donald Trump may consider the swamp useful to be more safely ensconced as President.

The hay Donald Trump made with "lock her up" may, however, be concretely revealing of the expediency for Donald Trump of using lies and contradiction for pursuing, and then being able to maintain, his Presidency.

The voters heard for more a year and a half about the rigged and corrupt political system, and candidate's Trump charges that Secretary Clinton was one of the most corrupt politicians in American political history, growing out of conflicts of interest and blurred lines between her State Department business and the Clintons' personal financial, charitable and political activities, which may have risen to criminality.

There is clearly a public interest that the voters obtain more information about exactly what is rigged and corrupt, and what should be done to fix the same. If Secretary Clinton is one of the most corrupt politicians in American political history, it is important for the American people to get to the bottom of exactly what Secretary Clinton's wrongdoing was in order to address what is wrong with the rigged and corrupt political system.

While Donald Trump's charges during the campaign made a lot of hay for him in his campaign, there is a problem for Donald Trump following up on them now that he is President.

Namely Donald Trump and his family and the Trump organization present conflicts of interest, in fact. Donald Trump is adamant that he is not going to give up his business interests, and it is increasingly clear that he wants the wealth and power of the Trump organization to grow while he is President, and, if that is exploitation of his being President for his and his family's benefit, so be it.

This being the case Donald Trump has an expedient interest there not be further investigation of Hillary Clinton

If there is further investigation about the Clintons' corruption, conflicts of interests and blurring of lines between their official governmental roles and the Clintons' personal financial, charitable and political interests, that can easily spill over to questions being raised about Donald Trump's conflicts of interest in fact and the blurring of lines between his Presidency and his business empire. The same goes for questions about "pay to play" going on with Donald Trump, and even digging into the past of whether Donald Trump did his own "pay to play" with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi or other past participation in "pay to play" by Donald Trump.

Trump supporters and others can draw their own conclusions about just how expedient Donald Trump is with his lies and contradictions, including making hay while campaigning with "lock her up" and, now that he is President, saying, "aw, not important anymore" and putting out a Hillary Clinton like lie to the effect of his being generous to help Hillary Clinton heal, whereas the real reason is he doesn't want his own conflicts of interest being the subject of more questions.

Sacrifice
Donald Trump lauds the sacrifices of others, particularly those  made by policemen and those in the military. His address last night included these two statements:
Police and sheriffs are members of our community. They are friends and neighbors, they are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters — and they leave behind loved ones every day who worry whether or not they'll come home safe and sound.
And
We are blessed to be joined tonight by Carryn Owens, the widow of a U.S. Navy Special Operator, Senior Chief William "Ryan" Owens. Ryan died as he lived: a warrior, and a hero — battling against terrorism and securing our Nation.
To laud sacrifices of others raises the question of how much sacrifice Donald Trump and his family are willing to make for the American people.

As stated above, it is becoming increasingly clear Donald Trump wants the wealth and power of the Trump organization to grow while he is President, and is not bothered that some or all of the wealth will be attributable to increased business because he is President. Also, he is ostensibly indifferent that there will be problems in the country's governance attributable to how Donald Trump and his family deal with their business interests.

The main point here is Donald Trump and his family could have made a sacrifice for the American people, but they have chosen not to.( For two suggestions about how Donald Trump and his family could have made a sacrifice, see A Trump speech -- Not.)

Trump supporters and others can consider the sacrifice that U.S. Navy Special Operator, Senior Chief William "Ryan" Owens made, compare that to Donald Trump's unwillingness to make any sacrifice for the American people related to the Trump organization, and reach conclusions about the extent to which the number one priority for Donald Trump was becoming President and now is staying President, and increasing his own wealth.