Amerika du hast es besser

[Peiresc]

[editiert]

Was erwartest du

Ich bin nicht enttäuscht (das würde bedeuten, ich hatte ein falsches Bild der Wirklichkeit). Aber traurig bin ich natürlich trotzdem.
#4213.

Um ehrlich zu sein: doch. Ich bin schon ein bisschen enttäuscht.

[Peiresc]

Trump calls for tightening restrictions on asylum-seekers in new memo

President Trump on Monday called for a slew of changes to how the United States handles asylum cases, including, among other things, a fee to file an asylum application.

Warum sollen es nur die Schleuserbanden sein, die vom Menschenhandel profitieren.

[Peiresc]

Neues Bankett für Sportler im Weißen Haus



Aus den Kommentaren:

Teams are going to have to start declining for health reasons. Some of these women have to suit up for WNBA games next month.
---
Actually, they probably don't eat fast food on the reg. 1) they probably don't spend the little money they have on fast food because they get fed as part of the program 2) elite athletes don't eat crap food. They really don't. But someone with more knowledge of sit chime in.
---
This is his snub to Michelle Obama and promoting healthy food. His advisors told him athletes don't eat food like that but he will always do the opposite of what the Obama administration would have done. Childish behaviour award goes to the @POTUS

Und wenn die Verpackungen nicht angerührt werden, kann man das Essen sicher für das nächste Bankett wieder verwenden.

[Peiresc]

Nachrichten aus dem besten Gesundheitswesen der Welt. Wie erwähnt, kümmert sich Sarah Kliff um Rechungen aus den Notaufnahmen der Krankenhäuser (um die sich sonst niemand kümmert):

One of the most heartbreaking things I've read in our ER bill database:

A 2-year-old eats a dangerous drug. Poison control tells her mom to take the toddler to the ER immediately.
But the family is already in debt from another ER bill. They can't afford another one.
Here's what the mom does:
She drives to the ER. But she doesn't go inside.
Instead, she and her toddler sit in the parking lot for hours. They watch the Little Mermaid on loop.
The mom thinks: I can go inside if she has a seizure. Otherwise, I can't afford it.
Luckily, the toddler was fine. They never went into the emergency room, and eventually went home.

I think about this particular family a lot. Their story shows how high prices don't just mean big medical bills. They also make Americans wary of using our health system.
https://twitter.com/sarahkliff/status/1123249461810094082

Was die nur haben. Es ist doch gut gegangen.

Aus den Kommentaren:

There's a story in @TheMoth about a kid who noticed he had a testicular lump, but didn't get it checked out because he was afraid that interacting with the healthcare system could expose his undocumented parents.  The cancer hit his bloodstream and spread everywhere.  He died.

Alles, was unternommen werden kann, das zu ändern, ist Pol-Pot-Sozialismus.

[Peiresc]

The chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence revealed on Tuesday that the Department of Justice has not briefed his committee in almost two years on the counterintelligence investigation into President Donald Trump.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was interviewed by MSNBC's Chris Hayes.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/the-justice-department-is-breaking-the-law-not-briefing-congress-on-counterintelligence-probe-into-trump-intel-chair/

Counterintelligence ist der Teil der Mueller-Untersuchung, der die Frage beantwortet, ob Trump ein Spion ist.

Dieweil:

GOP sets up firewall for Trump on Mueller
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Monday set the tone for his caucus's rank and file, signaling the GOP will join the White House in casting Democratic attacks emanating from the Mueller report as being all about the 2020 campaign.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/441269-gop-sets-up-firewall-for-trump-on-mueller?amp#click=https://t.co/2iF0im9lW6

Die GOP hat sich festgelegt. Die Untersuchung ist abgeschlossen: Vergessen Sie alles.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said Tuesday that special counsel Robert Mueller expressed "frustration" to Attorney General William Barr in late March over the lack of context in the attorney general's four-page memo describing his investigation's findings.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/441489-mueller-told-barr-his-summary-didnt-capture-context-nature-and

Das bedeutet: Barr hat vor dem Kongress gelogen. Es ging nicht um eine ,,Jugendsünde", an die er sich ,,nicht erinnern" konnte, sondern um die zentralen Frage in seiner Anhörung.

Und das Ministerium für Justiz verhindert aktiv, dass Mueller vor dem Kongress gehört wird. (Aus dem Gedächtnis, deshalb ohne Link).

Die Dems reden derweil übers Wetter.

Sen. Chuck Schumer: "We agreed on a number that was very, very good -- $2 trillion for infrastructure. Originally we had started a little lower. Even the President was eager to push it up to $2 trillion."

Dear Dems: Seriously? You've got a president who won't comply with subpoenas, who instructs his administration to not abide by Congressional oversight, and you want to trust him with an extra $2t? Maybe focus on defending democracy and stop believing the liar-in-chief? #impeach
https://twitter.com/altUSEPA/status/1123405112934670341

[Peiresc]

My mother recieved a "Congressional Census" in the mail that was pro Trump from the @RNC @GOP. When I called the number listed below they told me that my mother had to fill this out and send it in with a $15 processing fee.

Es sieht hochkomplex und hochoffiziell aus und entfaltet einen erheblichen Druck.

I told the lady at the RNC that if she continued to send the stuff to my mother that we would sue them for harassment. She stated that this was an order by Donald Trump to send out to people and they must comply with this.
https://twitter.com/JustSumGuy176/status/1123302427325689856

Und wieviele Menschen werden das eingeschüchtert bezahlen. Wenn man falsch wählt, und sei es aus Versehen, wird man (als Schwarzer) schon mal für 5 Jahre hinter Gitter gebracht.

[Peiresc]

Die Barr-Anhörung war horrend. Er hat an einigen Stellen nicht einmal mehr den Versuch gemacht, Ausreden zu erfinden. Er ist da inzwischen wie sein Herr und Meister: in aller Seelenruhe das genaue Gegenteil von dem behaupten, was aller Welt offensichtlich ist.

Asha Rangappa
According to Barr if you feel like you are being investigated unfairly you can obstruct an investigation, and the fact that investigators are prevented from obtaining evidence because of your obstruction and don't ultimately charge you is evidence that you were right to obstruct.

We are descending to a place where nothing matters. And that's the place where autocrats thrive and democracies die.
https://twitter.com/maxbergmann/status/1123604674270121985

Es ist völlig verfehlt, mit diesen Menschen reden zu wollen, um eine gemeinsame Basis zu finden. Die Demokraten (und die Demokratie) haben nur eine Chance: bei den nächsten Wahlen eine so erdrückende Übermacht zu mobilisieren, dass alles Gerrymandering, alle voter suppression, alle Machtinstinkte der GOP und aller russischer Einfluss neutralisiert werden können.

Noch zu #4367, #4368, #4370.

Graham and Barr are perfect avatars of the Republican Party writ large. Traveled the same road from partisan, but respectable, figures to total intellectual corruption and moral bankruptcy.

James Comey, gewesener FBI-Chef, sagt dazu:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/opinion/william-barr-testimony.html
(Vollzitat):

People have been asking me hard questions. What happened to the leaders in the Trump administration, especially the attorney general, Bill Barr, who I have said was due the benefit of the doubt?

How could Mr. Barr, a bright and accomplished lawyer, start channeling the president in using words like "no collusion" and F.B.I. "spying"? And downplaying acts of obstruction of justice as products of the president's being "frustrated and angry," something he would never say to justify the thousands of crimes prosecuted every day that are the product of frustration and anger?

How could he write and say things about the report by Robert Mueller, the special counsel, that were apparently so misleading that they prompted written protest from the special counsel himself?

How could Mr. Barr go before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and downplay President Trump's attempt to fire Mr. Mueller before he completed his work?

And how could Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, after the release of Mr. Mueller's report that detailed Mr. Trump's determined efforts to obstruct justice, give a speech quoting the president on the importance of the rule of law? Or on resigning, thank a president who relentlessly attacked both him and the Department of Justice he led for "the courtesy and humor you often display in our personal conversations"?

What happened to these people?

I don't know for sure. People are complicated, so the answer is most likely complicated. But I have some idea from four months of working close to Mr. Trump and many more months of watching him shape others.
Amoral leaders have a way of revealing the character of those around them. Sometimes what they reveal is inspiring. For example, James Mattis, the former secretary of defense, resigned over principle, a concept so alien to Mr. Trump that it took days for the president to realize what had happened, before he could start lying about the man.

An dieser Stelle habe ich eine Abbitte zu leisten. Mein erster Eindruck von Mattis (#30), oberflächlich gestützt auf ein paar WP-Zitate, war falsch (aber ich hatte das später schon revidiert). Weiter mit Comey:

But more often, proximity to an amoral leader reveals something depressing. I think that's at least part of what we've seen with Bill Barr and Rod Rosenstein. Accomplished people lacking inner strength can't resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from. It takes character like Mr. Mattis's to avoid the damage, because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites.

It starts with your sitting silent while he lies, both in public and private, making you complicit by your silence. In meetings with him, his assertions about what "everyone thinks" and what is "obviously true" wash over you, unchallenged, as they did at our private dinner on Jan. 27, 2017, because he's the president and he rarely stops talking. As a result, Mr. Trump pulls all of those present into a silent circle of assent.

Speaking rapid-fire with no spot for others to jump into the conversation, Mr. Trump makes everyone a co-conspirator to his preferred set of facts, or delusions. I have felt it — this president building with his words a web of alternative reality and busily wrapping it around all of us in the room.

I must have agreed that he had the largest inauguration crowd in history because I didn't challenge that. Everyone must agree that he has been treated very unfairly. The web building never stops.

From the private circle of assent, it moves to public displays of personal fealty at places like cabinet meetings. While the entire world is watching, you do what everyone else around the table does — you talk about how amazing the leader is and what an honor it is to be associated with him.

Sure, you notice that Mr. Mattis never actually praises the president, always speaking instead of the honor of representing the men and women of our military. But he's a special case, right? Former Marine general and all. No way the rest of us could get away with that. So you praise, while the world watches, and the web gets tighter.

Next comes Mr. Trump attacking institutions and values you hold dear — things you have always said must be protected and which you criticized past leaders for not supporting strongly enough. Yet you are silent. Because, after all, what are you supposed to say? He's the president of the United States.

You feel this happening. It bothers you, at least to some extent. But his outrageous conduct convinces you that you simply must stay, to preserve and protect the people and institutions and values you hold dear. Along with Republican members of Congress, you tell yourself you are too important for this nation to lose, especially now.

You can't say this out loud — maybe not even to your family — but in a time of emergency, with the nation led by a deeply unethical person, this will be your contribution, your personal sacrifice for America. You are smarter than Donald Trump, and you are playing a long game for your country, so you can pull it off where lesser leaders have failed and gotten fired by tweet.

Of course, to stay, you must be seen as on his team, so you make further compromises. You use his language, praise his leadership, tout his commitment to values.

And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul.

Obwohl: bei Barr war so viel an Seele nicht zu fressen.

[Scipio]

Es ist völlig verfehlt, mit diesen Menschen reden zu wollen, um eine gemeinsame Basis zu finden. Die Demokraten (und die Demokratie) haben nur eine Chance: bei den nächsten Wahlen eine so erdrückende Übermacht zu mobilisieren, dass alles Gerrymandering, alle voter suppression, alle Machtinstinkte der GOP und aller russischer Einfluss neutralisiert werden können

Was nahezu ausgeschlossen werden kann.

[sailor]

Nein, sie müssen nur ihren Arsch mit den eigenen Händen finden. Anscheinend leben etliche Dem-Veteranen noch in der "alten Welt" vor der Teaparty, als es noch ungeschriebene Regeln zwischen den Parteien gab... die übrigens auch nur durch solche Dinge wie Watergate erst möglich wurden. Die Dems müssen in die Offensive gehen, das Impeachment anstoßen, egal wie die Aussichten sind. Sie müssen die Teaparty-Strategie der totalen Obstruktion übernehmen und sich nicht auf Deals einlassen, auch wenn es Staatsstillstand bedeutet. Trump muss 24/7 auf twitter kochen und vor allem müssen die GOP-Kongressmitglieder in ihren Wahlbezirken "angegriffen" werden: Aufzeigen, dass GOP-Senatoren für Trump arbeiten und nicht für ihre Bundesstaaten, massiv darstellen, wie sehr Trumps Politik diesen Staaten schadet und dass die Senatoren und Repräsentanten mitmachen GEGEN das Mandat. Dazu einen Caucus, der möglichst früh Geschlossenheit und Einigkeit zeigt, keine Schlammschlacht untereinander, am besten weder Sanders noch Hillary, sondern Biden (als "Elder Statesman" für die WASP) und jemand jüngeres, weibliches, gern "Minderheit" für die Progressiven. Sanders sollte sein (linkes) Gewicht für eine "Demokratische Einheitsfront" bereits jetzt in die Schale werfen... Wenn eine Spaltung des Domkratenlagers vermieden werden kann ist die Chance groß, dass die GOP (welche gespalten ist, dies aber um jeden Preis zu verbergen sucht) geschlagen wird.

[Peiresc]

Das ist nur eine kleine, nichtrepräsentative Auswahl aus den Meldungen von heute. Auf der Alarm-Skala von 0 bis 10 ist auch die Mehrzahl der übrigen bei 11.

Brad Parscale
Loved watching the crowd fill up for the 547th Rally in Green Bay. There has never been and probably never will be a movement like this again. Only God could deliver such a savior to our nation and only God could allow me to help. God bless America!

------

At least seven foreign governments were allowed by the U.S. State Department to rent luxury condominiums at Trump World Tower in 2017 without congressional approval — which could violate the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/05/foreign-governments-rented-trump-world-tower-luxury-condos-in-deals-that-could-violate-constitutional-law-report/

------

A senior GOP lawmaker  gave an impassioned (and conspiratorial) speech in Congress defending U.S. support for the war in Yemen — documents show he was actually reading a script handed to him by a Saudi lobbyist
https://theintercept.com/2019/05/02/yemen-war-powers-resolution-saudi-lobbyists/

------

.@GOPLeader: "I do not believe Attorney General Barr lied. I believe he's been very transparent in all of this. I think if people are looking at who has lied in the process, simply look at Chairman Nadler."

------

Klobuchar says White House made calls to stop bipartisan legislation to secure elections from foreign interference, incl. paper ballots

------

Rudy Giuliani
?Verifizierter Account
Biden conflicts are too apparent to be ignored and should be investigated quickly and expeditiously. But the more important question is how deep and how high did the alleged Ukraine conspiracy go?

Jeffrey Toobin:
I called this. @realDonaldTrump will call for criminal investigation of all potential opponents in 2020. Next up for @JoeBiden : "lock him up" chants.

Und was tun die Dems?

House Democrat brings Kentucky Fried Chicken to hearing after Barr refused to testify

Man möchte sie schütteln: "Aufwachen!!"

CODE RED

[Peiresc]

President Trump: "People say how do you get through that stuff? How do you go through those witch hunts and everything else? And you know what we do, Mike? We just do it. Right? And we think about God. It's true."

Dankgottesdienst, aus Anlass der Befreiung vom Mueller-Fluch. Überhaupt, sie sind grad dabei, die Potenzen einer Theokratie für sich zu entdecken.

The White House:
"President Trump has taken steps to ensure that the Federal Government will never, ever penalize anyone for their religious beliefs ever again."
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1123998663141990403

Welcher Evangelikale ist je für seinen religiösen Glauben bestraft worden? Meinen die Roy Moore?

Here's what I found when I looked for a time in American history where Christians were the oppressed group and not the oppressor

-----

Alt US Press Sec fasst zusammen, was ich über das Impeachment denke:

Christopher Elliott:
Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were impeached but they didn't get removed. Failure for the Senate to remove from office isn't a valid excuse for the House to abrogate its responsibility.
----
William LeGate:
If Democrats don't impeach, they'll go down in history as completely spineless - the history books won't remember all the money they've raised from empty promises

"At the dawn of the third decade, Social Democrats were a tired, defeatist party, dominated by old, well-meaning but mostly mediocre men. Loyal to the Republic they were to the last, but in the end too confused, too timid to take the great risks which alone could have saved it."

-Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 185.

Don't make the same mistake. @SpeakerPelosi @TeamPelosi

[Peiresc]

Noch einmal zur Barr-Anhörung.

The Catastrophic Performance of Bill Barr
The attorney general misled the public in seven key ways.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/05/bill-barrs-performance-was-catastrophic/588574/

Das ist nicht von einem Antifa-Linken, sondern von einem angesehenen konservativen Juristen.

When Barr was nominated, I wrote a cautious piece for this magazine declining to give him "a character reference" and acknowledging "legitimate reasons to be concerned about [his] nomination," but nonetheless concluding that "I suspect that he is likely as good as we're going to get.

Auch 3 Demokraten hatten für ihn gestimmt.

Die Bedeutung besteht IMHO darin: Die Barr-Anhörung macht glasklar, dass die Republikaner Regeln nicht allein ausnutzen, sondern offen beugen, um ihren Präsidenten zu schützen. Die Verfassung ist nicht das Schwarze unterm Fingernagel wert. Nicht allein der Propagandaflügel, die full-MAGA-Trumpansen (Nunes & Co.), sondern die GOP insgesamt, in Haupt und Gliedern. Graham kündigt öffentlich an, er werde beim Obersten Richter anrufen, um den Supreme Court gegen die wildgewordenen Dems ingangzusetzen. Die ,,Pelosi-Bedingung" für ein Impeachment (ein Verbrechen aufdecken, das die Republikaner zum Handeln zwinge) ist als Illusion entlarvt.

----

Zurück in die Gewöhnlichkeit, das Tagesgeschäft.

Trump erases offshore drilling rules enacted after BP oil spill
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/02/offshore-drilling-rules-1404098

Will sagen: zurück in die 70er Jahre des letzten Jahrhunderts.

[Peiresc]

Kim hat Kurzstreckenraketen abgefeuert.

April April, es waren gar keine Raketen, sondern nur Geschosse, sagt TheHill:

The South Korean military had said earlier that the North fired multiple short-range "missiles" before saying that they fired "projectiles."
https://thehill.com/policy/international/asia-pacific/442101-north-korea-tests-short-range-missile-reports

Moon ist bloß ein Schisser.

Reichweite 125 Meilen. Wie kann man die amerikanischen Soldaten schützen? Das ist doch ganz einfach: abziehen ... nee jetze. Im Ernst:

Someone familiar w/ White House scene post North Korea missile briefing to me:
- "Trump is pissed off, like Kim fucked him over."
- WH staff "urging him not to tweet anything, to talk to [ROK President] Moon first before he does anything."
- ROK staff calling WH urging restraint
https://twitter.com/AlexWardVox/status/1124496845676396544

MAGA! Endlich wieder geachtet von der ganzen Welt:

Donald J. Trump
Verifizierter Account
@realDonaldTrump

We can all agree that AMERICA is now #1. We are the ENVY of the WORLD — and the best is yet to come!
09:22 - 3. Mai 2019

und Mattis ist nicht mehr Verteidigungsminister. Seit > 4 Monaten gibt es nur noch einen stellvertretenden (ein neuer ist noch nicht mal in den Startlöchern). Verkürzt die Befehlskette, vermindert die Reibungswiderstände.

[sailor]

Jeder in den armed forces, der sein Hirn nicht nur dazu hat "The riflemans creed" vor sich hin zu murmeln weiss, was er/sie/es vom derzeitigen CiC zu halten hat. Die Nominierung von Mattis und den anderen ex-Generälen hat für gute Stimmung gesorgt, jetzt wissen aber alle, dass Trump nicht nur keine Ahnung von Strategie und Taktik hat, sondern zudem auch nicht auf Profis hört. Sein Verhalten ggü. NK (Poltern aber Nichtstun) und China (Ausbau der künstlichen Inseln im Südchinesischen Meer geräuschlos hinnehmen) ist eine Feigheit sondersgleichen. Auf den Kleinen prügelt man nur verbal ein, den wirklichen Konkurrenten lässt man gewähren. Da hatte selbst Obama mehr Ansehen unter den Uniformierten.

[Peiresc]

Ein Thread von AltScalesOfJustice, es geht nochmal um Barr.
https://twitter.com/AltScalesOfJust/status/1124299974903255040
Dringende Leseempfehlung. Dringendst. Sehr persönlich.

Alt US Press Sec fasst zusammen, was ich über das Impeachment denke:

"At the dawn of the third decade, Social Democrats were a tired, defeatist party, dominated by old, well-meaning but mostly mediocre men. Loyal to the Republic they were to the last, but in the end too confused, too timid to take the great risks which alone could have saved it."

-Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 185.

Don't make the same mistake. @SpeakerPelosi @TeamPelosi

Diese Schwäche wird von den Republikanern natürlich ausgenutzt. Die sind nicht alle so dumm wie ihr vernebeltes Superhirn.

Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler previously issued a subpoena with a deadline of this past Wednesday for all of those materials. That deadline has come and gone. [...]
The Democrats' discomfort [mit dem Impeachment] is so evident that one is tempted to speculate that Barr is consciously trying to force Nadler and the House to assume a legally correct, but politically hazardous posture.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/william-barr-jerry-nadler-subpoena-mueller-report-congress-impeachment.html

Politisch ,,hazardous" wird es, indem sie es zu vermeiden suchen.

----

Eine zufällige Meldung, das Inland betreffend:

You hear this administration say how domestic terrorism is a clear priority. But you can't say that and then all of a sudden get rid of the unit that's there to detect threats. You can't have it both ways."
— Former DHS official Nate Snyder
https://www.thedailybeast.com/homeland-security-disbands-domestic-terror-intelligence-unit