Trump's latest call with Putin raises more questions than it answers

By Kevin Liptak, CNN
December 30, 2019

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida(CNN) When news arrived early Sunday that President Donald Trump had spoken to his Russian counterpart, it didn't come from the White House.

Instead, word came from Moscow, where the Kremlin issued a brief statement saying Vladimir Putin had initiated a call to thank Trump for information provided by the United States that helped foil a terrorist attack in St. Petersburg.

It would be more than 24 hours before the White House officially confirmed the conversation in its own statement. The 63-word American description of the call largely echoed the Russian version, with the addition that the men discussed arms control.

“The Presidents also discussed the state of relations between the United States and Russia,” the statement read.

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https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/12/30/politics/trump-call-putin-readout-terror-attack/index.html

The picture up top shows Donald J Trump signaling Vladimir Putin during dinner at the 2017 G20.

Sad news for those who care about truth. Greider was the one who exposed Reaganomics for the scam it is in 1981.

'A Stark Loss for American Journalism': Reporter and Author William Greider Dies at Age 83

He was an old school journalist from the pre-internet era when journalists actually sat down and took time to talk to regular people."

by Jessica Corbett
Common Dreams, Dec. 27, 2019

William "Bill" Greider, a veteran journalist and author who spent decades reporting on politics and economics for national media outlets, died Wednesday at his home in Washington, D.C. at the age of 83.

Born on Aug. 6, 1936 to Harold and Gladys, Greider was raised in Wyoming, Ohio and graduated from Princeton in 1958. He died from complications of congestive heart failure, according to his son Cameron. In addition to Cameron, Greider is survived by his wife Linda, his daughter Katharine, his sister Nancy, and four grandchildren.

A longtime national affairs correspondent for The Nation, Greider also spent 17 years at Rolling Stone and 15 years at The Washington Post. He was a correspondent for six Frontline documentaries on PBS and authored several books. During his tenure at The Nation, Greider was a frequently featured writer on Common Dreams.

Greider's editors, fellow reporters, and readers have turned to social media since his death on Christmas Day to recognize his contributions to journalism and highlight some of his most celebrated pieces of writing.

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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/27/stark-loss-american-journalism-reporter-and-author-william-greider-dies-age-83

MITCH MCCONNELL, RUSSIA SANCTIONS, AND RUSAL’S INVESTMENT IN KENTUCKY

The Moscow Project
July 31, 2019

Excerpt...

A bipartisan majority in the Senate tried to block Trump from weakening the sanctions, but McConnell protected Deripaska and Russia and torpedoed the bipartisan effort.

* In a rare bipartisan moment, Democrats were joined by eleven Republicans in an effort to block the deal and to enforce sanctions against Deripaska’s companies.

* However, McConnell came out forcefully for lifting the sanctions, making a floor speech “accusing Democrats of politicizing the sanctions.”

* McConnell and the remaining Senate Republicans prevented the bipartisan group from reaching the 60 vote threshold. The Trump administration officially lifted the sanctions in January 2019.

McConnell soon reaped his reward. Shortly after the sanctions were lifted, Rusal announced a massive investment in Kentucky, giving McConnell a political boost in a re-election year.

* Merely three months after the sanctions were lifted (April 2019), Rusal announced it would be investing $200 million into a Kentucky aluminum mill run by Braidy Industries, becoming a 40% stakeholder in the project.

* According to The Wall Street Journal, this mill would be “the largest new aluminum plant built in the U.S. in nearly four decades.”

* The deal was hardly a coincidence – the investment was made possible because former top McConnell staffers lobbied on behalf of Braidy Industries for the project.

* McConnell, it seems, had his eye on this project for a while. In August 2018, just months after Rusal was first sanctioned, McConnell spoke on the Senate floor about Braidy Industries, highlighting the jobs that the new aluminum mill would be bringing to Kentucky.

* The state of Kentucky invested $15 million in the project, which is expected to bring 550 jobs to the area.

Just last week, Robert Mueller told the American people that Russia is still interfering in the democratic process. In response to recent criticism of his continued efforts to block election security bills, McConnell complained about being “accused of ‘aiding and abetting’ the very man I’ve singled out as our adversary and opposed for nearly 20 years: Vladimir Putin.” But McConnell’s long pattern of protecting Trump and Russia speaks louder than his complaints.

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https://themoscowproject.org/dispatch/mitch-mcconnell-russia-sanctions-and-rusals-investment-in-kentucky/

And his fiends...

Source: USAToday

NEW YORK – An attorney for indicted Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas asked to withdraw from the defendant's campaign finance conspiracy case.

Defense lawyer Edward MacMahon filed a withdrawal request on Christmas Eve in Manhattan federal court that said Parnas' "apparent ability to fund his defense has diminished."

"It thus would constitute a significant hardship for Mr. Parnas to continue being represented by two attorneys in this matter," MacMahon wrote.

New York City defense lawyer Joseph Bondy will continue to represent Parnas in the case if U.S. District Court Judge Paul Oetken approves the withdrawal request. Similar motions are routinely granted.

Parnas and his associate Igor Fruman were indicted in October on charges they conspired to surreptitiously funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign money to U.S. political candidates and campaign committees. Evidence in the case includes $325,000 allegedly contributed under a false donor name to a super political action committee for Donald Trump, whose personal attorney is Giuliani.



Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/26/lawyer-for-rudy-giuliani-ally-lev-parnas-asks-to-withdraw/2748346001/

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Smart lawyers like to get paid up front, so Lev — and Rudy and Igor, too — may be in need of more cash real soon. A lot more cash.

“Soviet justice” is how Neal Katyal just put the GOP approach to trying IMPOTUS on The Beat (MSNBC Dec. 23, 2019 at about 6:30 p.m. ET mark).



Ha!

Rembrandt’s depiction of Aristotle contemplating upon a bust of Homer



Contrast with the record of America’s best known bust.



The highest virtue, according to Aristotle, was Intellectual Contemplation (Fabric Swatches).

In addition, the following 12 virtues also can be attributed to Aristotle and the sad reality.

1) Courage – bravery and valor vs Bone Spurs

2) Temperance – self-control and restraint vs Stormy Daniels

3) Liberality – bigheartness, charity and generosity vs Tax Jamboree for Billionaires

4) Magnificence – radiance, joie de vivre vs Mocking the Disabled

5) Pride – self-satisfaction vs Bragging about Bankrupting a Casino

6) Honor – respect, reverence, admiration vs Inviting Our Nation’s Enemies to Settle Elections

7) Good Temper – equanimity, level headedness vs Calling for Violence and Incarceration toward Journalists

8) Friendliness – conviviality and sociability vs No One Volunteered to Mention Pee-resident Had Toilet Paper Stuck to Shoe as He Climbed Stairs to Air Force One

9) Truthfulness – straightforwardness, frankness and candor vs LOLOL

10) Wit – sense of humor – meaninglessness and absurdity vs Military School of the Catskills Swirliemaster 2nd Class

11) Friendship – camaraderie and companionship vs Putin, Muhammad Bin Salman, Netanyahu, Kim, Duterte, Bolsonaro, etc etc etc.

12) Justice – impartiality, evenhandedness and fairness vs Witch Hunting with Barr and Rudy

No wonder comparisons are odious, thy name is Trump.

IMPOTUS Donald J Trump demanded a foreign leader — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky— join a criminal conspiracy to frame innocent American citizens for Trump’s political advantage.



“Corruption in public office is treason.” — Amb. Adlai Stevenson, Jr.

The Bundle of Sticks

A certain Father had a family of Sons, who were forever quarreling among themselves. No words he could say did the least good, so he cast about in his mind for some very striking example that should make them see that discord would lead them to misfortune.

One day when the quarreling had been much more violent than usual and each of the Sons was moping in a surly manner, he asked one of them to bring him a bundle of sticks. Then handing the bundle to each of his Sons in turn he told them to try to break it. But although each one tried his best, none was able to do so.

The Father then untied the bundle and gave the sticks to his Sons to break one by one. This they did very easily.

"My Sons," said the Father, "do you not see how certain it is that if you agree with each other and help each other, it will be impossible for your enemies to injure you? But if you are divided among yourselves, you will be no stronger than a single stick in that bundle."

In unity is strength.

— Aesop

Source: http://read.gov/aesop/040.html

PS: Thank you for the heads-up, CousinIT! Interesting times, ours. Democratic times, since 1776.

William Barr’s War on Reality, Truth, and the Law

Trump’s AG is brazenly assailing the IG report with lies.

David Corn
Mother Jones, Dec. 10, 2019

This is how it works. The big lie. The endless spin. The outright denial of facts. Again and again and again. The complete destruction and devaluation of truth for political gain. Overwhelm reality with fiction, concoctions, and false narratives. Embrace deceit and duplicity.

For rogues, scoundrels, tyrants, princes and princesses of corruption—and their henchmen—the truth is a threat. It must be crushed. It must be vanquished. Abuse of power cannot exist alongside accountability. Malefactors cannot survive within an atmosphere of truth. It is a suffocating poison for them. So they must deceive, and they must dissemble. That is what the United States’ top law enforcement officer demonstrated this week.

Following the release of the Justice Department inspector general’s report on the origins and management of the Trump-Russia investigation, Attorney General William Barr went into full Oceania war-is-peace mode to erase truth in order to protect and soothe his dear leader, Donald Trump. Moments after the report appeared—it concludes the FBI had been right to open an investigation of interactions between Trump associates and Russia in 2016, as Moscow was attacking the US election to help Trump win the White House—Barr challenged the findings. He declared that he knew better than the IG and that the FBI had launched the probe “on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken.” Barr noted that his own hand-picked federal prosecutor, John Durham, would be conducting a separate review and have the final word. And the next day, Barr continued his brazen campaign of disinformation. In an interview with NBC News, he called the FBI investigation “completely baseless.” Barr depicted the probe as a “danger” to civil liberties and the American political system. He was twisting up into down.

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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/12/william-barrs-war-on-reality-truth-and-the-law/