Category Archives: Politics
Stand Up Guy
In 2009 President Obama tried a “reset” with Russia.
During a 2012 campaign debate, Mitt Romney called Russia the “biggest threat” to The United States. To which Obama cracked wise, “the 1980s are calling, they want their foreign policy back“. He tutored Romney that the cold war was over.
Stand Up
Also in 2012, Obama whispered to Russian President Medvedev that he could be more flexible after the election. Medvedev promised to transmit the message to Vladimir.
Now, after the 2016 election, he’s lecturing the world that Trump needs to “stand up to Putin.”
“I don’t expect that the President-elect will follow exactly our approach,” Mr Obama said.
“But my hope is he does not simply take a realpolitik approach and suggest that … if we just cut some deals with Russia, even if it hurts people or even if it violates international norms or even if it leaves smaller countries vulnerable, or creates long-term problems in regions like Syria, that we just do whatever’s convenient at the time.”
Not My President, Didn’t Vote
I came across this item last week. Seventy percent of protesters arrested in a Portland, Oregon riot didn’t vote.
But they can keep their parents’ health plan.
Obama Turns Over National Security Apparatus Keys
The Daily Beast is alarmed by the massive national security apparatus The President is turning over to The Donald. It kills by drone and fights wars without congressional approval.
Whenever George W. Bush started a war he made sure to to pack a Congressional resolution. President Obama, not so much.
Obama ended “torture” of enemy combatants. Instead he blows them up by drone. Even American citizens make the hit list.
He also engineered a nuke treaty with Iran without Senate approval. He simply deemed it not a treaty.
Now all that power is in the tiny hands of President-elect Trump.
National Security Apparatus
Here’s Jameel Jaffer, the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University:
“Many Americans were willing to invest broad power in the presidency because they trusted the president. But obviously the powers that we invest outlast any particular president, and now those powers are available to Trump.”
Oh.
MainStream Media Bias Goes Onion
Mark Halperin thinks The New York Times has turned into The Onion.
To make his point he held up the front page from that morning’s edition. The headline read Democrats, Students, Foreign Allies Face Reality Of Trump Presidency:
“Their headline is not ‘Disaffected Americans Have A Champion Going To The White House’ or ‘The Country Votes For Fundamental Change.’ The headline is about how disappointed the friends of the people who run The New York Times are about what happened,” Halperin said.
“It’s amazing.” “It’s The Onion.”
Media Bias
Back in August NYT media columnist Jim Rutenberg sort of defended media bias saying, “Trump is testing the norms of objectivity in journalism.”
So, they seem to know what they’re doing.
For example, here’s a column by Will Rahn at CBS News titled The Unbearable Smugness of the Press.
World Ends Tomorrow
Kind of reminds me of the joke headline: World to End Tomorrow: Women, Minorities Hardest Hit.
Trump Binding Wounds
Donald Trump was gracious in his acceptance speech. He called on the country to bind it’s wounds.
Binding Wounds
So, the president-elect got busy binding wounds of his own party by inviting Reince Priebus to join him onstage.
Until last night plenty of people thought he would kill his adopted party. On October 9 Ezra Kline at Vox wrote, “Trump doesn’t give a damn about what the Republican Party needs.” And that he’s willing to destroy the party for a chance to win.
Yet, as of early this morning, Republicans control the House, the Senate, the majority of states, and the White House.
