Tag Archives: Trump Administration

FTAC: The American President Who Could Care Less About America’s Foundational Ideals

13 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, North America, United States of America

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Who in support of our Democracy can afford to be neutral about a President who appears to be operating on an authoritarian basis using rules of his own? It has been one thing to “let the horse run”, see how he works, and watch what he does. It’s another to turn our back on a hard-won — fought for, died for, paid for — nation devoted to fair play and integrity right beside the principles and spirit that produced our foundational documents.

Admiral McRaven knew his business and his country and what he represented every day as a four-star admiral. That’s not an Obama thing or, particularly a Democratic or Republican thing. It’s an American thing unless the Nation has forgotten why it exists as a unique and now long-lived democracy.

This President shrugs off resignations by the most competitive and experienced professionals in their fields: diplomats, investigators, intelligence executives, military executives, prosecutors. He believes everything we do happens by way of political chicanery and force — or “clevers” — and not much has to do with anything worth believing in, much less dying for.

These pieces by Harbough and McRaven tell of a different America, one more admirable, more noble, more deserving of extraordinary leadership and sacrifice.

BackChannels. “United States of America — Basic Training”. February 2, 2017.

Choi, David. “Former top Navy SEAL who oversaw the Osama bin Laden raid says the US is ‘under attack from the president’.” Business Insider, October 17, 2019.

Harbaugh, Ken. “There Should Be a Veteran Running for President.” Time, March 18, 2015.

Harbaugh, Ken. “The U.S. Military Is Not Ready for a Constitutional Crisis.” The Atlantic, February 11, 2020.

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Trump: IG Report ‘A Disgrace’: Fact Checkers: IG Report Good!

13 Friday Dec 2019

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Political Psychology, United States of America

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The Bull has been gored and The Party is bellowing, which it does through denial, obfuscation, nitpicking, and ridicule — and for what it does to defend its Reality-Defying / Reality-Evading Highness — and does so badly and baldly — it has now made a habit of treating moderate, independently observant, and thinking Republican voters with contempt.

Fox 10 Phoenix, December 9, 2019.

BackChannels’ view: The IG report has been accepted on major observations while “irregularities” have been regarded by Trump’s opposition as minor “nits”. Nonetheless, the GOP’s bull has been gored, and The Party has been bellowing about what it may deny but cannot change.

I’ll go further here: The Republicans, who for fear of The Donald may well be referred to as “The Party (Sycophantic)” — they have earned that much — appear to have become the Party of Power (Now Matter What — and Absolute) while the Democrats have soldiered on to become the Party of the American People (Empathizing, Listening, Watching, Reasoning, Judging).

Notwithstanding the justified concern over aspects of the FBI’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to investigate onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, make no mistake: The dual headlines of Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report are: 1) the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia was adequately “predicated,” i.e., had a lawful factual basis, and 2) no agent acted out of animus toward President Trump or his campaign.

Those two findings should put to rest persistent allegations from Trump and his champions that the bureau’s scrutiny of the contacts with Russia was illegal or, worse, a plot of the “deep state” to derail his candidacy. And whatever valid beefs Page may have with the investigation, they have nothing to do with Trump.

Litman, Harry. “Barr allegedly wanted to avoid public confusion. But he caused more.” The Washington Post, December 13, 2019.

The grammar-school-civics-class version of our Revolution is that it was a rebellion against monarchical tyranny, and that in framing our Constitution, one of the preoccupations, the main preoccupation of the Founders, was to keep the executive weak,” Barr told the audience. “This is misguided.” Instead, Barr advocates for what is known as the “unitary executive theory,” which challenges the long-established doctrine that the president’s control over his branch of government is shared, to some degree, with Congress and the courts. “Whenever I see a court opinion that uses the word share,” Barr said, “I want to run in the other direction.” Critics say that in its maximalist form, the theory is a license for authoritarianism — a concern that Barr dismissed with ridicule.

Rice, Andrew. “Trump’s Other Lawyer: Much more powerful than Giuliani, William Barr is exercising the Justice Department’s full force to defend a president in crisis.” Intelligencer, New York Magazine, December 5, 2019.

If the observations were less than cogent, frank, honest, and prescient, I’d have to make them myself.

🙂

The Bull has been gored and The Party is bellowing, which it does through denial, obfuscation, nitpicking, and ridicule — and for what it does to defend its Reality-Defying / Reality-Evading Highness — and does so badly and baldly — it has now made a habit of treating moderate, independently observant, and thinking Republican voters with contempt.

Related Online

CNN. “Coons: I wish GOP colleagues would admit IG report shows there was no witch hunt.” December 11, 2019.

Hofstadter, Richard. “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.” Harper’s Magazine, November 1964.

Kiely, Eugene, Lori Robertson and Robert Farley. “How Old Claims Compare to IG Report.” FactCheck, December 10, 2019.

Rice, Andrew. “Trump’s Other Lawyer: Much more powerful than Giuliani, William Barr is exercising the Justice Department’s full force to defend a president in crisis.” Intelligencer, New York Magazine, December 5, 2019.

Moscow’s GOP?

” Trump’s ex-Russia advisor Fiona Hill blasts Ukraine election interference conspiracy theory”, Los Angeles Times, and posted to YouTube November 21, 2019.

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Marie Yovanovitch – The Kind of Person President Trump Fires From His Administration

17 Sunday Nov 2019

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Political Psychology, United States of America

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The military-based oath taken by America’s diplomats, military officers, and other officials may be found on BackChannels beneath the title, “United States of America — Basic Training” (specific reference in the law for the oath taken by the nation’s civil servants may be found here (PDF, Title 5, Section 3331 “Oath of Office”).

“She understood that corruption was the ‘Achilles heel,’ so to speak, of Ukraine,” a former State Department official who knows Yovanovitch told CNN Thursday prior to the release of the complaint. “And so Masha, by doubling down on corruption and making it kind of her leitmotif of her tenure as ambassador, was doing exactly what she should have been doing and what US policy has been in Ukraine for quite some time.”

Hansler, Jennifer. “Diplomats express alarm over Trump’s treatment of former Ukraine ambassador.” CNN, September 26, 2019.

Marie “Masha” Yovanovitch had been doing her job as prescribed by law, and yet President Trump chose to have her removed and out of his way.

Sworn in as ambassador to Kyiv in August 2016, Yovanovitch has been at the forefront of U.S. efforts to help stabilize Ukraine’s shaky economy and push reforms to root out endemic corruption.

She’s also been at the forefront of U.S. backing for Ukraine in its ongoing fight with Moscow over Russia-backed fighters battling Ukrainian government forces in eastern regions since 2014.

Yovanovitch drew attention in early March when, weeks before Ukraine’s March 31 presidential election, she called on Kyiv to fire the country’s special anti-corruption prosecutor. The speech was notable not only for its timing but also its bluntness.

Miller, Christopher. “U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Openly Criticized by Top Ukrainian Prosecutor, Departing Early.” Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, May 6, 2019.

Lutsenko alleged that she made a “do-not-prosecute” list and disseminated it in Ukraine, an accusation that she strenuously rejected and which Lutsenko himself retracted.

Lutsenko is himself deeply implicated in the Ukraine scandal and has been accused of colluding with Giuliani to launch investigations in Ukraine into Trump’s political enemies, specifically Joe Biden’s son Hunter.

Knight, Ben. “Who is former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch?” DW, September 15, 2019.

The Washington Post has a December 2018 piece on those who have been fired or positioned to resign from their posts in relation to President Trump’s decision-making or handling. Causes cited range from attempts to damage the Mueller Investigation to dismissal for abuse of Department funds for personal security and travel. Be that as it may, disruptions involving America’s Justice and Security systems may be most disturbing, from the firing of James Comey at the FBI to the resignation of General Jim Mattis as Secretary of Defense.

Perhaps President Trump listens to his inner voices and no one else’s — and now he has few educated, experienced, and powerful others of the first rank to whom to listen.

Over time and with energies dispersed by curiosity and a great range of interests — the editor cannot “track” the whole world and every dimension of it 🙂 — BackChannels has kept folders for others now absent from the Trump Administration: John Bolton, Dan Coats, Nikki Haley, and Sue Gordon (“the highest-ranking career intelligence official in the country” according to CNN’s Samantha Vinograd in her analysis, “Sue Gordon’s departure is bad news for Trump and country” [CNN, August 12, 2019]). Conclusion: Trump has been either abandoned by or removed quite a few of America’s best and brightest in the assessment of threats domestic and foreign.

With the dismissal for Marie Yovanovitch, President Trump has notably removed a most dedicated, experienced, patriotic, and well prepared and talented diplomat of note and, above and beyond those attributes, one possessed of great integrity and spine.

Related Online

AllGov. “U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine: Who is Marie Yovanovitch?” September 11, 2016.

Diehm, Jan, Sam Petulla, and Zachary B. Wolf. “Who has left Trump’s administration and orbit?” CNN Politics, October 21, 2019.

Ghitis, Frida. “Real hero takes down phony corruption fighter.” Op-ed. CNN, November 15, 2019.

Hansler, Jennifer. “Diplomats express alarm over Trump’s treatment of former Ukraine ambassador.” CNN, September 26, 2019.

Knight, Ben. “Who is former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch?” DW, September 15, 2019.

Mettler, Katie, Callum Borchers, and Nick Kirkpatrick. “‘You’re fired’: A timeline of Team Trump departures.” The Washington Post, December 20, 2018.

Miller, Christopher. “U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Openly Criticized by Top Ukrainian Prosecutor, Departing Early.” Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, May 6, 2019.

U.S. Department of State. “Marie L. Yovanovitch”. Archive.

Vinograd, Samantha. “Sue Gordon’s departure is bad news for Trump and country.” CNN Opinion, August 12, 2019.

Wikipedia. “Marie Yovanovitch”.

Posted to YouTube by The Washington Post, November 15, 2019.

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Recap Involving HIM with his hand ” . . . over the bras and under the Constitution . . . .” — A Look at Last Week’s Comic Superior Sub-Intelligence – No Shortage of Torpedoes

28 Saturday Sep 2019

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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America’s top comics are moving on him like a bitch — and with about the same results — but they’re doing it long and hard and with zesty humor, and they won’t stop until . . . .

Don’t think the world isn’t watching and laughing with them.

– Stephen Colbert, The Late Show, September 26, 2019 –
– Jimmy Kimmel Live, September 27, 2019 –

WASHINGTON — The White House concealed some reconstructed transcripts of delicate calls between President Trump and foreign officials, including President Vladimir V. Putin and the Saudi royal family, in a highly classified computer system after embarrassing leaks of his conversations, according to current and former officials.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/us/politics/nsc-ukraine-call.html – 9/28/2019

The unnamed whistleblower provided the complaint in August to Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who determined that the complaint was of an “urgent concern” and “appeared credible,” although acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire consulted with the Justice Department and determined the complaint fell outside the statutory requirements which would compel him to hand it over to Congress. Hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid that had been delayed by the Trump administration were released to Ukraine earlier in September.

The cast of characters in the Trump-Giuliani-Ukraine saga laid out in the whistleblower complaint is extensive, with more than 20 individuals named.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/the-24-names-in-the-ukraine-whistleblower-complaint-that-could-doom-trump – 9/28/2019

Related on BackChannels: “United States of America — Basic Training” – Timeless

President Trump’s woes may not ease Joe Biden’s issues with his son’s positioning on the world stage (China and Ukraine most noticeably), but the momentum has reached the point at which the President MAY become doubtful as the nation’s chief negotiator and representative in matters of trade and war. Between America’s engagement in WWII and this Trumpian Era, there never has been a shade of doubt regarding the nation’s commitment to civility, democracy, fair and free elections, fair trade, rule by consent, and rule of law worldwide. With that package has gone the revocation of the power of dictators and tyrants (and “Presidents for Life”). This President, his associates and cronies, starting with the rightly disgraced former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, appear to have believed in power sought for its own sake — for their own sake — and they, perhaps with a lift from Moscow — proved themselves right by winning an American election (by a slim Electoral College margin — some other engagements have been as thinly supported as well).

Not only “The Democrats” have roared back.

– Republican Jeff Flake quitting Republican Party politics in disgust, NBC News, October 24, 2017 –

Recent and Related Headlines

“‘3 Musketeers’ or ‘3 Stooges’? Republicans Running Against Trump May Fall in Between.” The New York Times – 9/19/2019 ->

The Republican Parties in Arizona, Kansas, Nevada and South Carolina, meanwhile, are planning to cancel the 2020 presidential primaries in their states to make it virtually impossible for Mr. Trump’s challengers to build support.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/us/politics/trump-republicans-challengers.html

“Two of Trump’s Republican challengers support impeachment effort” – Reuters – 9/24/2019 ->

Republicans Joe Walsh and Bill Weld made the comments as the U.S. House of Representatives planned to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump over reports he sought Ukrainian help to smear Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden.

“The Ukraine caper by the president is some combination of treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors,” said Weld, a former Massachusetts governor. “The one thing that’s absolutely clear is it is grounds for removal from office.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-republicans/two-of-trumps-republican-challengers-to-debate-without-him-idUSKBN1W9143

“Trump told Russian officials in 2017 he wasn’t concerned about Moscow’s interference in U.S. election” – The Washington Post – 9/27/2019 ->

President Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election because the United States did the same in other countries, an assertion that prompted alarmed White House officials to limit access to the remarks to an unusually small number of people, according to three former officials with knowledge of the matter.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-told-russian-officials-in-2017-he-wasnt-concerned-about-moscows-interference-in-us-election/2019/09/27/b20a8bc8-e159-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html

“Collusion After the Fact” – Lawfare – 9/28/2019 ->

Shortly after the story broke, I received a message from a person directly involved with the FBI’s decision to open a counterintelligence and obstruction investigation of President Trump in the immediate aftermath of the firing of FBI Director James Comey. To say this person, who had clearly learned about the matter for the first time from the Post, was angered by the story would be to understate the matter.

The message read in relevant part: “None of us had any idea. Multiple people had opportunity and patriotic reason to tell us. Instead, silence.”

https://www.lawfareblog.com/collusion-after-fact

Popular wisdom on this fellow: not a prayer!

But winning isn’t the only thing, is it?

(Sorry, Vince, the Presidency isn’t a football game).

BackChannels admires Bill Weld for standing up to an ignoble (remember, he “moved on her like a bitch” — and she was married) political amateur.

– Real Time with Bill Maher, September 28, 2019 –

Inspired by the above and passed along with this excerpt:

The State Department issued an export license for the missiles on Dec. 22, and on March 2 the Pentagon announced final approval for the sale of 210 Javelins and 35 launching units. The order to halt investigations into Mr. Manafort came in early April.

Volodymyr Ariev, a member of Parliament who is an ally of President Petro O. Poroshenko, readily acknowledged that the intention in Kiev was to put investigations into Mr. Manafort’s activities “in the long-term box.”

“In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials,” Mr. Ariev said in an interview. “We shouldn’t spoil relations with the administration.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/world/europe/ukraine-mueller-manafort-missiles.html – 5/2/2018.

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All Shook Up! A Comment on President Trump’s Foreign Policy and Not So ‘Musical Chairs’ with Washington’s Most Senior Executives in Intelligence and Security

11 Wednesday Sep 2019

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, United States of America

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To the Side, A Comment on Iran’s Presence in Iraq

After so many years of American investment in trying to build a stable Iraq, the United States has effectively enabled an Iranian takeover of the country. I know, because I was there and saw it with my own eyes. That the Obama administration is not opposing the rising influence of Iran, as the White House prepares a historic deal to leave Iran with nuclear weapons just beyond its fingertips, is especially alarming, and a recipe for increasing regional conflict.

Pregent, Michael.  “I Saw the U.S. Hand Iraq Over to the Iranians.  Is the Whole Region Next?”  The Tower, February 2015.

Across the country, Iranian-sponsored militias are hard at work establishing a corridor to move men and guns to proxy forces in Syria and Lebanon. And in the halls of power in Baghdad, even the most senior Iraqi cabinet officials have been blessed, or bounced out, by Iran’s leadership.

Arango, Tim.  “Iran Dominates in Iraq After U.S. ‘Handed the Country Over'”.  The New York Times, July 15, 2017.

An Aside More Front and Center as Regards President Trump’s Now Many “Shake-Ups”

On this day, perhaps especially this one day of the year, September 11, the outside-looking-in assessment of America’s place in the world and its strength becomes of singular interest in light of “East” (Authoritarian-Kleptocratic) v “West” (Democratic and Lawful) rivalry.  The departure yesterday of National Security Advisor John Bolton may highlight that issue by leaving in the White House a President surrounded (ah, but perhaps not) by more pliant personalities.  Today, the President has in Bolton’s stead yesterday’s “United States Deputy National Security Advisor” who has overnight become the “Acting National Security Advisor” in the figure of Charles Kupperman, a Bolton protege.

Will the political realities — international states of affairs — surrounding President Trump have changed with the exchange of experienced officials?

Probably not.

What may have changed is the gateway given the will of the President to act on his own instincts — coupled with his imagination — less tempered by either the discipline, experience, knowledge, or respect associated with yet another of the nation’s established senior intelligence and security community officials.

Last month —

One of America’s most seasoned intelligence officials is leaving the building. Sue Gordon, who spent more than 25 years in the CIA before becoming second-in-command at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), was confirmed to be departing on Thursday by President Trump.

Gordon was next in line to serve as acting director after current director Dan Coats announced his resignation effective Aug. 15.

Woodruff, Betsy.  “Deputy Intel Chief Sue Gordon Is Out After Trump Snub.”  Daily Beast, August 8, 2019.

Dan Coats, Sue Gordon, John Bolton — who else experienced in standing behind Presidents (in defense of the Constitution of the United States — see “Basic Training” on this blog) is missing from today’s action and diplomacy with Moscow and Tehran as America’s President appears to prefer standing on his own (elected but less experienced) authority?

BackChannels may here thank God for its not having to reinvent any wheels.  By title, publication, and date —

“List of Trump Administration dismissals and resignations”. Wikipedia.

“Who has left Trump’s administration and orbit?” CNN Politics, September 10, 2019.

“The Turnover at the Top of the Trump Administration.”  The New York Times, Updated September 10, 2019.

While perusing the above three web pages, BackChannels came across this gem of a Wikipedia entry: “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity“.  The Presidential Commission charged with investigating voter fraud, i.e., Trump’s claims that millions of illegal immigrants had voted in the 2016 election, opened shop on May 11, 2017 and closed without results on January 3, 2018.  The following quotation represents the results of a separate study as relayed by Wikipedia:

In an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law looked at 42 jurisdictions, focusing on ones with large population of noncitizens. Of 23.5 million votes surveyed, election officials referred an estimated 30 incidents of suspected noncitizen voting for further investigation, or about 0.0001% of votes cast. Douglas Keith, the counsel in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program and co-author of the analysis, said, “President Trump has said repeatedly that millions of people voted illegally in 2016, but our interviews with local election administrators made clear that rampant noncitizen voting simply did not occur. Any claims to the contrary make their job harder and distract from progress toward needed improvements like automatic voter registration.”

America could not and would not — would never — capitulate to Al Qaeda on September 11, 2001, nor would it “work with” their cousins in “Islamist” associated crime and mass murder worldwide.  Not eighteen years ago; not today; never.

However, here is a different question: would the United States today bend itself toward authoritarian and totalitarian regimes?

China?

Iran?

North Korea?

Russia?

Given one singular elected head of state or another, would the United States embark on the discouragement or encouragement of  authoritarianism, confusion, corruption, kleptocracy, and related totalitarian political control from within?

With an authoritarian, nationalist, and populist President in the White House and one moving the bodies and minds in, out, and all around (so we do the national “Hokey Pokey”), that question should become (after this Day of Remembrance) of greater general and public national interest.

–33–

 

A Comment on Kavanaugh and How He Has Handled the Accusation

27 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, Political Psychology, United States of America

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Ford claimed that, thirty-six years ago, Kavanaugh held her down on a bed against her will, groped her, and covered her mouth when she tried to scream. Ford made the allegation anonymously in a letter to her congresswoman, Anna Eshoo, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, who originally declined to share the letter and later referred the matter to the F.B.I. for investigation. Ford has since come forward publicly; her lawyer has stated that she and her family have received threats since her name became public. Kavanaugh has responded with a categorical denial, saying in a statement, “I have never done anything like what the accuser describes—to her or to anyone. . . . I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself.”

The New Yorker. “Live Stream: Watch the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing With Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford.” September 27, 2018.

Loyalty to President Trump and possible-to-probable interference in judicial processes have been thematic from the start of President Trump’s Administration.

While charges remain “alleged”, BackChannels believes Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford utterly authentic.

IF public and Senate opinion comes to the same conclusion, then what will matter most will not be whether as a 17-year-old boy Kavanaugh had assaulted Ford but how he handled the accusation.  He has by his blanket denial effective removed claim to the defense of juvenile behavior and will have been caught lying — and in a breathtaking abuse of power libeling his accuser — as a fully fledged adult.

What malign narcissism brought these politics to the once ever believing, confident, and idealistic United States of America?

Kavanaugh-SenateHearing-180927-1527

Screen capture from hearing, September 27, 2018.

While Kavanaugh brags about his carefully kept calendars / calendar-journals, his voice breaks.  Of course, had he committed an assault with great ambitions in mind, the calendar or the journal would have been the place to write the incident out of the record by not including it.

Also on the Web

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/651941113/read-christine-blasey-fords-opening-statement-for-senate-hearing

In one passage, beginning on Page 92, Judge describes his time working at a grocery store in the context of his drinking problem. Emphasis added.

It was the summer before senior year, and by now, even though I wasn’t drinking every day, I was completely hooked. Going a week without getting drunk was unthinkable. I was spending between four and seven nights with the gang, either at a party or at O’Rourke’s.

Elsewhere in the book, Judge describes one of his acquaintances at the time, someone named “Bart O’Kavanaugh,” who vomited in a car after a party.

Bump, Philip. “Mark Judge’s book validates Christine Blasey Ford’s timeline of the alleged Kavenaugh Assault.” The Washington Post, September 27, 2018. Inset: Judge, Mark Gauvreau. “Wasted: Tales of a Genx Drunk”. Hazelden, May 1, 1997.

Epigram by Maimonides

“Truth does not become more true if the whole world were to accept it; nor does it become less true if the whole world were to reject it.”

“The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.”

September 28, 2018 (and live at posting here).

“The basic principles that underscore the Senate’s constitutional duty of advice and consent on federal judicial nominees require nothing less than a careful examination of the accusations and facts by the FBI,” said Robert Carlson, president of the organization, in a Thursday night letter addressed to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

“Each appointment to our nation’s Highest Court (as with all others) is simply too important to rush to a vote,” Carlson wrote. “Deciding to proceed without conducting additional investigation would not only have a lasting impact on the Senate’s reputation, but it will also negatively affect the great trust necessary for the American people to have in the Supreme Court.”

Raju, Manu. “American Bar Association: Delay Kavanaugh until FBI investigates assault allegations.” CNN Politics, September 27, 2018.

Kav-Sen-Hearng-Sheldon-Whitehouise.jpg

Kav-Sen-Hearng-Klobuchar.jpg

Related Online

Khan, Shamus. “Kavanaugh is lying: His upbringing explains why.” Op-ed. The Washington Post, September 28, 2018.

Liptak, Adam. “A Bitter Nominee, Questions of Neutrality, and a Damaged Supreme Court.” The New York Times, September 28, 2018:

“The Supreme Court,” he said, “must never be viewed as a partisan institution.”

His performance on Thursday, responding to accusations of sexual misconduct at a hearing of the same Senate committee, sent a different message. Judge Kavanaugh was angry and emotional, embracing the language of slashing partisanship. His demeanor raised questions about his neutrality and temperament and whether the already fragile reputation of the Supreme Court as an institution devoted to law rather than politics would be threatened if he is confirmed.

Yourish, Karen and Troy Griggs. “Brett Kavanaugh Testimony: Three Inconsistencies the F.B.I. Investigation Could Address.” The New York Times, September 28, 2018.

Political independence may be America’s greatest prize for free thinkers.  BackChannels’ editor left the Democratic Party about nine years ago and has not registered with the Republican Party since then.

Regarding Shamus Khan’s piece, one may suggest the following, which has been copied from the editor’s portion of The Awesome Conversation online:

What would be tyrannous would be to allow the privileged to mask away crime and impose their will on others without criticism or notice and with impunity. The combination of humanism (all the way back to Cyrus and his cylinder), British empiricism, and American ideals beg for and rely on the thorough examination of criminal acts and, at times, libelous claims.

The FBI has now an additional week to explore the validity of both Kavanaugh’s and Blase Ford’s testimony, and we will see — or hear — how evidence acquired adds up.

It’s not enough to be angry or partisan in such a matter: it’s important to reject assumptions and beliefs in favor of examination taken with the highest integrity.

This morning saw a follow-up:

The survival of a democratic state depends on the confidence of its constituents. Toward that end, the Senate delayed its vote in favor of a one week extension for supplemental FBI investigation.

Finger pointing serves no democratic ends.

Most tyrannies know well “reflection in the mirror”, i.e., accusing targets of harboring the aggressive plans that are the speaker’s own.

Considering the term Supreme Court justices enjoy . . . what’s another week?

I think it’s good to see “checks and balances” in action.

–33–

Also in Media: “I am an Arctic researcher. Donald Trump is deleting my citations” | Victoria Herrmann | Opinion | The Guardian | March 28, 2017

29 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Also in Media, American Domestic Affairs, Epistemology, Philology, Philosophy, Political Psychology

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At first, the distress flare of lost data came as a surge of defunct links on 21 January. The US National Strategy for the Arctic, the Implementation Plan for the Strategy, and the report on our progress all gone within a matter of minutes. As I watched more and more links turned red, I frantically combed the internet for archived versions of our country’s most important polar policies.

I had no idea then that this disappearing act had just begun.

Since January, the surge has transformed into a slow, incessant march of deleting datasets, webpages and policies about the Arctic. I now come to expect a weekly email request to replace invalid citations, hoping that someone had the foresight to download statistics about Arctic permafrost thaw or renewable energy in advance of the purge.

Source: I am an Arctic researcher. Donald Trump is deleting my citations | Victoria Herrmann | Opinion | The Guardian – 3/27/2017

American Presidential Credibility, Integrity, Trust

04 Saturday Mar 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, Philology, Philosophy, Political Psychology, Political Spychology, Politics, United States of America

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pkiss-nash-524x

Opening scene, Putin’s Kiss, 2012 documentary.

Think back a little bit.

Hicks also asked other superiors why Susan Rice, US ambassador to the UN, had said the attack might have been a spontaneous reaction to an anti-Islamic video. That video was a “non-event” in Libya, Hicks said, adding that it seemed clear from the first that the assault was a terrorist attack.

“The sense I got was I needed to stop the line of questioning,” Hicks told the House panel.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Decoder/2013/0509/Benghazi-whistleblower-Has-diplomat-Gregory-Hicks-suffered-for-speaking-out-video – 5/9/2013.

Related more recently by former diplomat Gregory Hicks:

When asked about security at Benghazi on Sept. 11, Mrs. Clinton has repeatedly asserted her lack of responsibility. Initially, she said that she never read any of the reporting on security conditions or any of the requests for additional security, claiming that “she delegated security to the professionals.” More recently, she stated that “[I]t was not my ball to carry.” But the law says otherwise. Sound familiar?

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/09/11/what-benghazi-attack-taught-me-about-hillary-clinton.html – 9/11/2016.

The Benghazi attack and Hillary Clinton’s explanations — it was a video that did it, but no it wasn’t; security was left to the experts, she reportedly said, but the buck had been by law made to stop at her own desk . . . and she delegated downward and away from herself — became strong talking points for conservatives.

Now there comes a full suite of talking points for liberals questioning President Donald J. Trump’s (” . . . you grab ’em by the pussy”) character and the weight of complex business and political relationships involving “Moscow”, the metonym here for the “Russian State” as headed by Vladimir Putin.

Posted by mtvnations February 13, 2017.

Putin’s Kiss is available for viewing via Amazon by purchase or by subscription to Amazon Prime.

BackChannels assumes, or presumes, that readers wish not to live in President (Forever) Putin’s “Nashti” proto-fascist state (for further reference, enjoy in the World Affairs Journal  Malik Kalyan’s “Mysterious Circumstances Surrounding Russian Murders, Deaths” (March 3, 2017).

Well then . . . .

Are you making the allegation that President Obama conducted electronic surveillance of Trump Tower in your capacity as President of the United States based on intelligence or law enforcement information available to you in that capacity?

If so—that is, if you have executive branch information validating that either a FISA wiretap or a Title III wiretap took place—have you reviewed the applications for the surveillance and have you or your lawyers concluded that they lack merit?

https://www.lawfareblog.com/ten-questions-president-trump – 3/4/2017.

In Benjamin Wittes’ piece, eight additional question follow for President Trump as regards alleged wiretapping by former President Obama.

Let’s move on with moving back in memory.

There’s the Steele report —

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2017/01/17/address-christopher-steeles-2016-report-involving-president-elect-donald-j-trump/ – 1/17/2017 & https://conflict-backchannels.com/2017/01/14/trump-vs-steele-an-emerging-credibility-gap/ – 1/14/2017

Add to the above, the continuing FBI investigation of Trump-associated relationships with “Moscow” (3/4/2017).

Add: The Flynn resignation.

Add: The Sessions recusal.

Worst of all: Rachel Maddow’s connecting the dots between a Russian mogul and a Trump real estate sale, which would not be so bad were Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross not at the center of (the art of) the deal (Feb. 27, 2017).

Trust me?

When an obscure blogger asks that question, it’s time to roll out the ROTFLMAO!

However, please do note this blog’s — this blogger’s — providing ample reference to many (most) of the most reliable sources in journalism and the think-tanks.

When an American President asks / demands trust, that’s something else.

Posted by The Guardian, March 3, 2017.

David Remnick’s most powerful bona fide: the Pulitzer Prize winning Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire (1993).

Posted by CNN, February 28, 2017.

The complete quotation having to do with absolute power and corruption: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”

Published February 8, 2017 in The Chicago Tribune (by Steve Chapman):

Asked about Melissa McCarthy’s portrayal of him on “Saturday Night Live,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer had some advice for the actress: “Dial it back.” May I suggest the president adopt that phrase as his administration motto?

So far, Donald Trump has made it a practice to obliterate every known limit and pump up every grievance. Harvard law professor and former Reagan administration official Charles Fried, marveling at the president’s Twitter volleys at federal judges, said, “There are no lines for him. There is no notion of, this is inappropriate, this is indecent, this is unpresidential.”

Perhaps the word order in this post’s title needs to be changed from the alphabetical “credibility, integrity, trust” to what comes first and last:

Integrity –> Credibility –> Trust

Although this piece would seem to end with Trump, it may be thought to go back some decades to Carter and Reagan (remember “Iran-Contra”?), to Mr. Clinton (how would you define what is and what is not sex) and forward to Obama and Clinton and the New Guy, but it’s that last with whose grandiose posturing and promises and tweets the nation awakes or falls to sleep.

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