[AMV] Amerikaanse politiek #487 Cohen under the bus.....

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 13:33 schreef Ludachrist het volgende:
'Als er positieve gevolgen uit voort komen is een handelsoorlog op de lange termijn wel positief'.

Gewaagd standpunt.

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The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is past the ocean is flat again.

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 15:40 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:
Resumerend:

• Trump denied knowing about the $130,000 payment his lawyer made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to buy her silence. (USA Today / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post)
• Trump considered replacing Jeff Sessions with Scott Pruitt as recently as this week. (CNN)
• The EPA's top ethics official said he lacked key facts when he concluded that Scott Pruitt's lease with a lobbyist last year didn't violate federal gift rules. (Washington Post / New York Times)
• At least five EPA officials were reassigned, demoted, or requested new jobs after raising concerns about Scott Pruitt's spending and management of the agency. (New York Times)
• John Kelly to Scott Pruitt: The negative stories need to stop. (The Daily Beast)
• A White House spokesman: "I can't speak to the future of Scott Pruitt." (Politico)
• A cooperating witness in Robert Mueller's investigation may have information linking the United Arab Emirates to Russia. (New York Times)
• Robert Mercer spent $2 million to back a far-right organization that purchased anti-Muslim ads on Facebook and Google (OpenSecrets)
• Trump: Women are being "raped at levels that nobody's ever seen before" (NBC News / Axios)
• Trump dropped his "boring" prepared remarks about the Republican tax bill. Instead, he repeated his claim that "millions" of people are voting illegally. (Politico / The Guardian)
• The National Guard troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border will not have physical contact with immigrants (NBC News / Associated Press)

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 15:38 schreef zakjapannertje het volgende:

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Nogal, ja:

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It was the kind of story destined to take a dark turn through the conservative news media and grab President Trump’s attention: A vast horde of migrants was making its way through Mexico toward the United States, and no one was stopping them.

“Mysterious group deploys ‘caravan’ of illegal aliens headed for U.S. border,” warned Frontpage Mag, a site run by David Horowitz, a conservative commentator.

The Gateway Pundit, a website that was most recently in the news for spreading conspiracies about the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., suggested the real reason the migrants were trying to enter the United States was to collect social welfare benefits.

And as the president often does when immigration is at issue, he saw a reason for Americans to be afraid. “Getting more dangerous. ‘Caravans’ coming,” a Twitter post from Mr. Trump read.

The story of “the caravan” followed an arc similar to many events — whether real, embellished or entirely imagined — involving refugees and migrants that have roused intense suspicion and outrage on the right. The coverage tends to play on the fears that hiding among mass groups of immigrants are many criminals, vectors of disease and agents of terror. And often the president, who announced his candidacy by blaming Mexico for sending rapists and drug dealers into the United States, acts as an accelerant to the hysteria.

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 15:41 schreef klappernootopreis het volgende:

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een soepel werkende organisatie met een helder denkende president ..

twitter:

NatashaBertrand twitterde op vrijdag 06-04-2018 om 14:38:01 Oligarchs sanctioned: Oleg Deripaska, Viktor Vekselberg, Andrei Skoch, Igor Rotenberg, Kirill Shamalov, Suleiman Kerimov, and Vladimir Bogdanov. https://t.co/9jxazvs2iB reageer retweet

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The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on seven of Russia's richest men and 17 top government officials on Friday in the latest effort to punish President Vladimir V. Putin's inner circle for interference in the 2016 election and other Russian aggressions.

The sanctions are designed to penalize some of Russia's richest industrialists, who are seen in the West as enriching themselves from Mr. Putin's increasingly authoritarian administration.

They grow out of an oddly disjointed policy toward Russia on the part of the Trump administration: While President Trump continues to call for good relations with Mr. Putin, Congress and much of the rest of the administration are pushing through increasingly punitive efforts that are sinking relations with Moscow to lows not seen in years.

"The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. "Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government's destabilizing activities."

Among those sanctioned are Oleg V. Deripaska, an oligarch who once had close ties to Mr. Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

Also sanctioned was Suleiman Kerimov -- a financier close to Mr. Putin; Vladimir Bogdanov, a top executive of Surgutneftegaz, a Russian oil company; Igor Rotenberg, another oil executive; Kirill Shamalov, an energy executive who married Mr. Putin's daughter, Katerina Tikhonova; Andrei Skoch, a deputy of the Russian Federation's State Duma; and Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of the Renova Group, a Russian investment firm.

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China’s government vowed Friday to “counterattack with great strength” if President Donald Trump goes ahead with plans to raise U.S. tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of Chinese goods and said negotiations were impossible under current conditions.

Trump’s surprise move Thursday to instruct the U.S. trade representative to consider the additional tariffs came a day after Beijing announced plans to tax $50 billion in American products, including soybeans and small aircraft, in response to a U.S. move this week to slap tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports.

In Beijing, a Commerce Ministry spokesman said China doesn’t want a trade war — but isn’t afraid to fight one.

“If the U.S. side announces the list of products for $100 billion in tariffs, the Chinese side has fully prepared and will without hesitation counterattack with great strength,” spokesman Gao Feng said.

He gave no details of what measures Beijing might take.

Trump’s proposal intensified what was already shaping up to be the biggest trade battle since World War II. Global financial markets had fallen sharply as the world’s two biggest economies squared off over Beijing’s aggressive trade tactics. They calmed down Wednesday and Thursday on hopes the U.S. and China would find a diplomatic solution but slid Friday after Beijing said it would fight the Trump administration’s latest threats.

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 16:56 schreef Knipoogje het volgende:
Denkt de MSM uberhaupt dat Pruitt Sesssions gaat vervangen of is dit een soort stroman?

twitter:

thehill twitterde op vrijdag 06-04-2018 om 17:19:03 Evangelical leaders planning to meet with Trump about Stormy Daniels https://t.co/UMfMe4cJqT https://t.co/PbXWzV3X9H reageer retweet

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 17:43 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:

twitter:

thehill twitterde op vrijdag 06-04-2018 om 17:19:03 Evangelical leaders planning to meet with Trump about Stormy Daniels https://t.co/UMfMe4cJqT https://t.co/PbXWzV3X9H reageer retweet

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It’s a principle that has been a hallmark of our legal culture: The president shouldn’t be able to tell judges what to do.

No longer. The Trump administration is intent on imposing a quota system on federal immigration judges, tying their evaluations to the number of cases they decide in a year. This is an affront to judicial independence and the due process of law.

As a judge, I swore to follow the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees that “no person” (not “no citizen”) is deprived of due process of law. Accordingly, I was obliged to conduct hearings that guaranteed respondents a full and reasonable opportunity on all issues raised against them.

Although my colleagues on the bench and I valued efficiency, the most critical considerations were fairness, thoroughness and adherence to the Fifth Amendment.

If our nativist president and his lapdog of an attorney general, Jeff Sessions, have their way, those most critical considerations will become a relic of justice.

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Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, oversaw the hiring of two senior aides with salaries topping $230,000 ― a major boost from their previous government jobs ― as he criticized the agency for overspending.

Kirsten Sutton, the CFPB chief of staff as of January, makes $259,500 per year, documents obtained by the newspaper show. Her predecessor earned $212,324. Sutton’s new salary is a raise of more than 50 percent from her previous job working for Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas). And Brian Johnson, hired as a CFPB senior adviser, makes $239,595. He was sent an offer letter on Dec. 1 with a starting salary of $220,000, but his pay was increased by more than $19,000 by the end of the month.

Disclosure of the fat paychecks comes after President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers have repeatedly advocated reshaping the agency, arguing it has imposed too many regulations on the financial industry, and have tried to cut the amount it pays employees. The latest White House budget proposal recommended a $150 million funding cut.

Mulvaney himself, who was White House budget director before Trump installed him at the CFPB in November, submitted a report to Congress on Monday encouraging lawmakers to curb the agency’s powers. “The bureau is far too powerful, and with precious little oversight of its activities,” he said in the report.

Mulvaney requested a CFPB budget for the quarter of $0, and said he would fund operations with reserves.

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 16:41 schreef Ulx het volgende:

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op vrijdag 06-04-2018 om 16:32:43 China, which is a great economic power, is considered a Developing Nation within the World Trade Organization. They therefore get tremendous perks and advantages, especially over the U.S. Does anybody think this is fair. We were badly represented. The WTO is unfair to U.S. reageer retweet

Hij gaat full-calimero

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 18:08 schreef brokjespoes het volgende:
"Rechters moeten meer raffelen," vindt Gollum

Jeff "I Can't Recall" Sessions wants to bribe judges to do his bidding (WaPo Oponion)
by Bruce J. Einhorn, U.S. immigration judge (1990 -2007)

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 18:50 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:

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Hier heeft hij een punt hoor. Die classificatie is ook hopeloos achterhaald.

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 17:02 schreef Ulx het volgende:

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Gewoon een stroman. Wat ik zo lees raadt men het hem ten zeerste af.

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 16:49 schreef Ulx het volgende:

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op vrijdag 06-04-2018 om 16:46:10 Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt! reageer retweet

Want de fake-media zijn groot en ik is klein en dat is niet eerlijk!

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 18:08 schreef brokjespoes het volgende:
"Rechters moeten meer raffelen," vindt Gollum

Jeff "I Can't Recall" Sessions wants to bribe judges to do his bidding (WaPo Oponion)
by Bruce J. Einhorn, U.S. immigration judge (1990 -2007)

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[...]
The AR-15 and its analogs, along with large capacity magazines, are simply not weapons within the original meaning of the individual constitutional right to "bear Arms."

Both their general acceptance and their regulation, if any, are policy matters not for courts, but left to the people directly through their elected representatives. In the absense of federal legislation, Massachusetts is free ot ban these weapons and large capacity magazines. Other states are equally free to leave them unregulated and avaiulable to their law-abiding citizens. These policy matters are simply not of constitutional moment. Americans are not afraid of bumptious, raucous, and robust debate about these matters. We call it democracy.

Justice Scalia would be proud.

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 20:09 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:

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De rechter zegt gewoon dat de rechterlijke macht er genoeg van heeft dat het Congress zijn verantwoordelijkheid niet neemt.

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 20:12 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:

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Heh, ja, maar dat was dan ook een enorme hypocriet die alleen een absolutist was als het hem politiek uit kwam.

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 20:22 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Ben zelf geen jurist en ik vind het altijd wel vreemd dat een mening over wat iets kan betekenen consequent zo ver elkaar kan liggen. Dat moet haast wel opportunisme en politiek zijn, zou ik denken. Althans, als je kijkt naar bv. de supreme court zijn de meeste stemmen 9-0, maar dat is gevolgd door 5-4... bij meer dan de helft van de zaken zijn er minimaal 2 het oneens met de rest.

Uit 2015:
[ afbeelding ]

Is het hier bv. ook zo is dat rechters een volstrekt andere lezing geven van hoe de wet geïnterpreteerd zou moeten worden?

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 20:32 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:

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Sowieso hebben we in Nederland niet het systeem van politieke benoemingen zoals in de VS. Daar komt bij dat de Hoge Raad in Nederland niet aan de grondwet mag toetsen, dus een zaak zoals deze zou ze niet bereiken. En rechters in Nederland hebben een andere, veel minder het beleid sturende rol.

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 20:39 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Dat klopt, de procedure van benoeming hier wijkt ook af, waar de leden van de Hoge Raad samen met de procureur generaal eerst 6 personen voordraagt vanwaaruit de regering er 1 kiest. Een stuk minder politiek alleen daardoor al, al weet ik niet of de regering verplicht is om er een van de voorgedragen kandidaten te kiezen.

Nu ik het zo uittiep is het hierdoor wel extreem onwaarschijnlijk dat er een flinke splitsing zal zijn bij de Nederlandse Hoge Raad.

Misschien moet ik mijn vraag anders formuleren: In de VS zie je bij de Supreme Court, maar ook in lagere rechtbanken dat rechters onderling een duidelijk ander idee hebben van hoe de wet gelezen moet worden. Is dat door het proces van benoemingen, waarbij je dan dus zou verwachten dat de advocatuur en universiteiten een meer eenduidige blik erop hebben of is het zo dat beide kanten van de medaille wel echt (ongeveer) evengoed verdedigbaar zijn?

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 21:35 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:

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Heb je het dan alleen over federale rechters?

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One U.S. official noted that the delay in initiating sanctions against the oligarchs responsible for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election has muted their effect. He said that the oligarchs have had a year to restructure their U.S. holdings. "They had to know these were coming," he said.
Bron

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Scott Pruitt was only supposed to be living in the Capitol Hill condominium that has become a focal point of his latest ethics controversy for six weeks last year while he got settled in Washington – but the new Environmental Protection Agency administrator didn’t leave when his lease ended.

Instead, he asked the lobbyist couple who became his disgruntled landlords to revise his lease several times, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

The couple, Vicki and Steve Hart, became so frustrated by their lingering tenant that they eventually pushed him out and changed their locks. After trying to nudge Pruitt out of their home over the course of several months, the Harts finally told Pruitt in July that they had plans to rent his room to another tenant.

“The original arrangement was that he would be there living out of a suitcase … and it just kept going and going,” said one of the people with knowledge of the arrangement.

(...)

Both people familiar with the condo arrangement described Pruitt as a difficult tenant who, intoxicated by his newfound power, paid little attention to the headaches he was causing others.

(...)


The Harts eventually told Pruitt, who had to be reminded repeatedly to pay his rent, that they had plans to rent the room to somebody else — and that he needed to find another place to live, according to the people familiar with events. They also informed him in early August that they were changing the locks on their door.

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Op vrijdag 6 april 2018 23:43 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:
Pruitt is niet alleen door en door corrupt, hij is ook nog inhalig:
https://www.politico.com/(...)-capitol-hill-505658

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Hoe lang nog voordat Trump hem laat vallen? Pruitt wordt op deze manier in rap tempo de personificatie van de welig tierende corruptie in deze regering.

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Op zaterdag 7 april 2018 09:43 schreef Ulx het volgende:

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De corruptie die in de regels erboven beschreven wordt.

Bijna gratis huren van lobbyisten die toevallig dan gunsten krijgen. Dat soort dingen. Het gedoe van Jared Kushner. Noem maar op.

Dat Trump daar geen korte metten mee maakt is raar voor een anti-corruptie strijder.

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Pruitt met with fossil fuel reps 25 times more than environmentalists in first seven months (The Hill)

Scott Pruitt, the embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency who has touted his ability to roll back Obama-era regulations, met with industry representatives 25 times more than environmentalists during his first 7 months in office.

According to records of Pruitt's public schedule between Feb. 22 and Aug. 10, 2017, about 77 percent of Pruitt's total meetings during that period were with industries the agency regulates.

Reuters first reported the findings Friday. They were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Environmental Integrity Project.

Nearly half of those industry meetings were with representatives of oil, gas, mining and coal industries. Prominent names included BP, Valero Energy Corp and Murray Energy, Reuters found.

Pruitt only met with four environmental groups during the same time period. The groups were Trout Unlimited, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, the Environmental Council of the States and the Alliance to Restore Our Waterways, records showed.

The meetings fall in line with Pruitt's regulatory reform approach to the agency, where he's strived to make major cutbacks to environmental protections in the name of cost saving and economic support.

Pruitt has been under heavy fire recently for his personal housing arrangement — he rented a condo from the wife of an energy lobbyist — and other decisions he's made at the agency.

The EPA chief has continued to tout his reform efforts as his most important accomplishments at the agency. Those achievements have equally been hailed by Republican policymakers who see his regulatory reform as a necessary check against too-burdensome Obama-era environmental protections.

President Trump on Thursday voiced confidence in Pruitt, saying "he’s done a fantastic job."

"I think he’s done an incredible job. He’s been very courageous,” the president told reporters. “It hasn’t been easy, but I think he’s done a fantastic job.”

Trump added: “You know, I just left coal and energy country. They love Scott Pruitt. They feel very strongly about Scott Pruitt."

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Op zaterdag 7 april 2018 09:57 schreef DeParo het volgende:
Als lobby corruptie is, soort van geinstutionaliseerd corruptie, dan zijn zowel Washington als Brussel al jarenlang ontiegelijk corrupt.

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Op zaterdag 7 april 2018 10:17 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

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Probleem was vooral dat hij voor een prikkie in een appartement van een lobbyist woonde. Dat neigt naar corruptie.

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Op zaterdag 7 april 2018 10:20 schreef DeParo het volgende:

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Dat zou inderdaad corruptie kunnen zijn, voor een vergelijkbaar vergrijp wordt Lula in Brazilie nu vervolgd, maar dat is nog altijd wat anders dan de "welig tierende corruptie die in deze regering" zoals hierboven gesteld.

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Op zaterdag 7 april 2018 10:22 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

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Als dat de aantijgingen aan het adres van Kushner op waarheid berusten, dan begint het toch wel kwalijke vormen aan te nemen.