[AMV] Amerikaanse politiek #580: Still flipping house seats

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Op woensdag 21 november 2018 12:56 schreef Oostwoud het volgende:

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Nog steeds vallen over Watergate in een wereld waar van iedereen informatie verzameld wordt. Watergate is vooral nog een media-dingetje van butthurt-journalisten.

Richard Nixon was een briljante man en een geweldige president, zeer onderschat. Omdat hij op bepaalde tenen stond, het politieke spel beter begreep dan de meesten en een introverte hork was met weinig charisma wordt hij vooral langs de meetlat gelegd van het ik-mag-je-niet-gehalte.

Kijken we naar zijn daden: op buitenlandbeleid gemakkelijk een van de top-5 presidenten van de VS, als het niet top-3 is. Op binnenlandbeleid de laatste progressieve Republikein: equal pay-equal employment, legalisering abortus, oprichting EPA, Clean Water Act, afschaffing van dienstplicht, verlagen leeftijd voor stemrecht, 70% van de staatsschuld afbetaald, National Cancer Act, ik kan nog wel even door gaan. Zijn plan voor een basisinkomen en toegang tot gezondheidszorg voor alle Amerikanen (later overgenomen door Mitt Romney die 'Romneycare' als gouverneur invoerde, waarvan Obama het op zijn beurt weer van afkeek) zijn helaas nooit van de grond gekomen.

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 13:49:51 Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy! $54, was just $82. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let’s go lower! reageer retweet

twitter:

SethAbramson twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 14:53:08 What better day to issue a big THANK YOU to Saudi Arabia than the day after the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was confirmed by U.S. intelligence as the architect of the assassination and dismemberment of a Washington Post journalist https://t.co/aHmi5IS93b reageer retweet

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) released Matthew Whitaker’s personal financial disclosures today, which revealed that the forms had been edited five times in the two weeks since his appointment as Acting Attorney General.

CREW filed a FOIA request with the DOJ today asking for all versions of Whitaker’s OGE form 278e, a list of staff who reviewed and approved the form, and any correspondence by DOJ staff about the form and delays in its certification.

On November 7, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned at the request of the President. President Trump then named Whitaker, Sessions’ chief of staff, as acting Attorney General rather than Deputy Assistant Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who was next in the line of succession.

Whitaker was not Senate-confirmed, and therefore never faced questions about potential conflicts of interest. This elevates the importance of Whitaker’s Public Financial Disclosure Report and OGE Form 278e because they are the only public window into his business ties and potential conflicts. The requested documents will shed light on the extent of any conflicts of interest Whitaker may have and the extent to which he has fully and accurately advised DOJ of those conflicts since his initial appointment as Chief of Staff to the Attorney General.

While DOJ has made the most recent certified version of Whitaker’s form publicly available, it has not yet disclosed all prior versions, which CREW requested at the time of his appointed and should have been made immediately available.

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Op woensdag 21 november 2018 12:56 schreef Oostwoud het volgende:

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Nog steeds vallen over Watergate in een wereld waar van iedereen informatie verzameld wordt. Watergate is vooral nog een media-dingetje van butthurt-journalisten.

Richard Nixon was een briljante man en een geweldige president, zeer onderschat. Omdat hij op bepaalde tenen stond, het politieke spel beter begreep dan de meesten en een introverte hork was met weinig charisma wordt hij vooral langs de meetlat gelegd van het ik-mag-je-niet-gehalte.

Kijken we naar zijn daden: op buitenlandbeleid gemakkelijk een van de top-5 presidenten van de VS, als het niet top-3 is. Op binnenlandbeleid de laatste progressieve Republikein: equal pay-equal employment, legalisering abortus, oprichting EPA, Clean Water Act, afschaffing van dienstplicht, verlagen leeftijd voor stemrecht, 70% van de staatsschuld afbetaald, National Cancer Act, ik kan nog wel even door gaan. Zijn plan voor een basisinkomen en toegang tot gezondheidszorg voor alle Amerikanen (later overgenomen door Mitt Romney die 'Romneycare' als gouverneur invoerde, waarvan Obama het op zijn beurt weer van afkeek) zijn helaas nooit van de grond gekomen.

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Op woensdag 21 november 2018 15:51 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:

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Butthurt jornalisten?

En je mist de hele essentie van het artikel: het misbruik maken van de uitvoerende macht door de president om een jouw onwelgevallig onderzoek te dwarsbomen.

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"This is where America stands. It's not time for finger-pointing. We know the problem: it's been years of neglect, and in many cases, it's been these radical environmentalists that want nature to take its course," Zinke said in the Sunday interview. "We have dead and dying timber. We can manage it using best science, best practices. But to let this devastation go on year after year after year is unacceptable."

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"I will lay this on the foot of those environmental radicals that have prevented us from managing the forests for years. And you know what? This is on them," Zinke said on Brietbart News Sunday. But he also said "it's not the time for finger-pointing" on the causes of the fires.

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Harvesting in a trade war: U.S. crops rot as storage costs soar

(Reuters) - U.S. farmers finishing their harvests are facing a big problem - where to put the mountain of grain they cannot sell to Chinese buyers.

For Louisiana farmer Richard Fontenot and his neighbors, the solution was a costly one: Let the crops rot.

Fontenot plowed under 1,000 of his 1,700 soybean acres this fall, chopping plants into the dirt instead of harvesting more than $300,000 worth of beans.

His beans were damaged by bad weather, made worse by a wet harvest. Normally, he could sell them anyway to a local elevator - giant silos usually run by international grains merchants that store grain.

But this year they aren’t buying as much damaged grain. The elevators are already chock full.

“No one wants them,” Fontenot said in a telephone interview. As he spoke, he drove his tractor across a soybean field, tilling under his crop. “I don’t know what else to do.”

Across the United States, grain farmers are plowing under crops, leaving them to rot or piling them on the ground, in hopes of better prices next year, according to interviews with more than two dozen farmers, academic researchers and farm lenders. It’s one of the results, they say, of a U.S. trade war with China that has sharply hurt export demand and swamped storage facilities with excess grain.

In Louisiana, up to 15 percent of the oilseed crop is being plowed under or is too damaged to market, according to data analyzed by Louisiana State University staff. Crops are going to waste in parts of Mississippi and Arkansas. Grain piles, dusted by snow, sit on the ground in North and South Dakota. And in Illinois and Indiana, some farmers are struggling to protect silo bags stuffed with crops from animals.

U.S. farmers planted 89.1 million acres of soybeans this year, the second most ever, expecting China’s rising demand to give them better returns than other bulk crops.

But Beijing slapped a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans in retaliation for duties imposed by Washington on Chinese exports. That effectively shut down U.S. soybean exports to China, worth around $12 billion last year. China typically takes around 60 percent of U.S. supplies.

The U.S. government rolled out an aid program of around the same size - $12 billion - to help farmers absorb the cost of the trade war. As of mid-November, $837.8 million had been paid out.

Some of that money will pass from farmers to grain merchants such as Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM.N) and Bunge Ltd (BG.N), who are charging farmers more to store crops at elevators where there is limited space. Bunge and ADM did not respond to requests for comment on storage fees.

The storage crunch and higher fees have boosted revenues at grain elevator Andersons [ANDE.O], Chief Executive Officer Pat Bowe said in an interview.

“It’s paying a grain handler to store - it’s the old-fashioned way to make money,” Bowe said.

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China keeps defying predictions that it would run out of soybeans

When the U.S.-China trade dispute escalated earlier this year, most market participants assumed China could never completely cut U.S. soybeans out of its import program due to the sheer volume it consumes.

However, the U.S. soybean season has reached its typical peak export week and Chinese buyers are still nowhere in sight, worrying analysts that China may have pulled off the impossible.

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Op woensdag 21 november 2018 16:18 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

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In de ogen van Oostwoud moeten de media de zittende macht niet zo dwarszitten, oftewel niet zo butthurt lopen doen. Who cares als de president zijn concurrent illegaal afluistert? Daar ga je toch geen aandacht aan besteden als journaille?

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Op woensdag 21 november 2018 15:55 schreef zarGon het volgende:
https://www.whitehouse.go(...)anding-saudi-arabia/

Deze statement. .

twitter:

Cirincione twitterde op dinsdag 20-11-2018 om 19:39:53 This is, without a doubt, the most uninformed, imbecilic, toady, poorly-written, categorically untrue statement I have ever seen from a president of the United States. A complete disgrace. https://t.co/9eqoWFeroX reageer retweet

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Op woensdag 21 november 2018 16:02 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 13:49:51 Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy! $54, was just $82. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let’s go lower! reageer retweet

twitter:

SethAbramson twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 14:53:08 What better day to issue a big THANK YOU to Saudi Arabia than the day after the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was confirmed by U.S. intelligence as the architect of the assassination and dismemberment of a Washington Post journalist https://t.co/aHmi5IS93b reageer retweet

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Op woensdag 21 november 2018 16:59 schreef crystal_meth het volgende:

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Het was 45$ toen hij verkozen werd (WTI crude), de prijs ging omhoog door zijn sancties tegen Iran... En waar hij die 82$ vandaan haalt? De prijs piekte op 9 Oktober: 74.96$.

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Op woensdag 21 november 2018 16:59 schreef crystal_meth het volgende:

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Het was 45$ toen hij verkozen werd (WTI crude), de prijs ging omhoog door zijn sancties tegen Iran... En waar hij die 82$ vandaan haalt? De prijs piekte op 9 Oktober: 74.96$.

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A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday struck down a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks, ruling that it “unequivocally” violates women’s constitutional rights.

The law, considered one of the most restrictive in the country, was passed in March. It had already been put on hold by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves after the state’s lone abortion clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, immediately sued.

Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, states may not ban abortions before a fetus is viable, and the medical consensus is that viability typically begins between 23 and 24 weeks, Reeves wrote on Tuesday.

The judge acknowledged feeling “frustration” that Mississippi lawmakers passed the statute even though similar bans in other states have also been thrown out by federal courts.

“The real reason we are here is simple. The state chose to pass a law it knew was unconstitutional to endorse a decades-long campaign, fueled by national interest groups, to ask the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Reeves wrote, referring to the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that established a legal framework for abortion.

“This court follows the commands of the Supreme Court and the dictates of the United States Constitution, rather than the disingenuous calculations of the Mississippi Legislature,” he added.

Governor Phil Bryant was traveling and was not immediately available to comment, according to his office. The state attorney general’s office, which defended the law in court, did not immediately comment on the ruling.

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twitter:

SethAbramson twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 16:39:34 One of the major news weeklies in the Netherlands, De Groene Amsterdammer, writes that—along with a couple other Trump-Russia books like RUSSIAN ROULETTE by Corn/Isikoff—PROOF OF COLLUSION is part of a "golden age of journalism" in America. Link (English): https://t.co/cLl17HdGmE https://t.co/3ZaicsduS2 reageer retweet

twitter:

awprokop twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 16:46:41 New Mueller filing contrasts Papadopoulos's pre-sentencing "remorse" with his post-sentencing protests that he did nothing wrong. https://t.co/0wokXnZ8Gq reageer retweet

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twitter:

awprokop twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 16:49:45 Full filing: https://t.co/Z1LYqAdrUwMain gist is that Mueller says there's no good reason to delay Papadopoulos starting to serve his jail sentence on Monday. reageer retweet

twitter:

awprokop twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 16:50:49 Mueller footnote re: Papadopoulos https://t.co/yA9eEoZQw0 reageer retweet

twitter:

AP twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 18:25:02 BREAKING: In rare rebuttal, Chief Justice Roberts rejects Trump criticism of federal judges, praises independent judiciary. reageer retweet

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Chief Justice John Roberts is pushing back against President Donald Trump’s description of a judge who ruled against Trump’s new migrant asylum policy as an “Obama judge.”

It’s the first time that the leader of the federal judiciary has offered even a hint of criticism of Trump, who has previously blasted federal judges who ruled against him.

Roberts said Wednesday the U.S. doesn’t have “Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.” He commented in a statement released by the Supreme Court after a query by The Associated Press.

Roberts said on the day before Thanksgiving that an “independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”

Last year, the president used the term a “so-called judge” after the first federal ruling against his travel ban.

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Op woensdag 21 november 2018 18:09 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:
Judge strikes down Mississippi ban on abortions after 15 weeks

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Op woensdag 21 november 2018 18:59 schreef nostra het volgende:

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Zijn dat niet gewoon wetten die bewust worden ingevoerd om federaal te worden verworpen, zodat ze ermee naar het SC kunnen?

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“The real reason we are here is simple. The state chose to pass a law it knew was unconstitutional to endorse a decades-long campaign, fueled by national interest groups, to ask the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Reeves wrote, referring to the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that established a legal framework for abortion.

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Sen. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was “really astounded” by President Donald Trump’s apparent dismissal of U.S. intelligence assessments that Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi last month.

“I never thought I’d see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia,” Corker said in statement on Twitter Tuesday, in response to a statement put out by the White House casting doubt on the Saudi government’s involvement in the journalist’s slaying.

Corker and Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on his committee, sent a letter to Trump on Tuesday to determine within 120 days whether bin Salman “is responsible for Mr. Khashoggi’s murder.”

The White House statement Tuesday, attributed to Trump, was roundly criticized after the president claimed “we may never know all of the facts” surrounding the slain journalists murder by Saudi government officials at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

“Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Trump said in the statement.

“That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi,” Trump said. “The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region.”

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twitter:

MSNBC twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 17:30:05 "This was as cold-blooded a statement as I can ever remember being issued by a president ... it began by saying 'America First!,' and the subtext, for me throughout, was 'values last.'" - Richard Haass https://t.co/9SjUQ7WlbW reageer retweet

Justice: What's The Right Thing To Do? Episode 02: "PUTTING A PRICE TAG ON LIFE"

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PUTTING A PRICE TAG ON LIFE
Sandel presents some contemporary cases in which cost-benefit analysis was used to put a dollar value on human life. The cases give rise to several objections to the utilitarian logic of seeking “the greatest good for the greatest number.” Is it possible to sum up and compare all values using a common measure like money?

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Op woensdag 21 november 2018 18:19 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:

twitter:

SethAbramson twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 16:39:34 One of the major news weeklies in the Netherlands, De Groene Amsterdammer, writes that—along with a couple other Trump-Russia books like RUSSIAN ROULETTE by Corn/Isikoff—PROOF OF COLLUSION is part of a "golden age of journalism" in America. Link (English): https://t.co/cLl17HdGmE https://t.co/3ZaicsduS2 reageer retweet

twitter:

kylegriffin1 twitterde op woensdag 21-11-2018 om 21:00:00 The W.H. has signed a memo allowing troops stationed at the border to engage in some law enforcement roles and use lethal force, if necessary — a move legal experts have cautioned may run afoul of the Posse Comitatus Act, Military Times reports.https://t.co/Mag7p4npiY reageer retweet

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The White House late Tuesday signed a memo allowing troops stationed at the border to engage in some law enforcement roles and use lethal force, if necessary — a move that legal experts have cautioned may run afoul of the Posse Comitatus Act.

The new “Cabinet order” was signed by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, not President Donald Trump. It allows “Department of Defense military personnel” to “perform those military protective activities that the Secretary of Defense determines are reasonably necessary” to protect border agents, including “a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary), crowd control, temporary detention. and cursory search.”

There are approximately 5,900 active-duty troops and 2,100 National Guard forces deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Some of those activities, including crowd control and detention, may run into potential conflict with the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act. If crossed, the erosion of the act’s limitations could represent a fundamental shift in the way the U.S. military is used, legal experts said.

The Congressional Research Service, the non-partisan research agency for Congress, has found that “case law indicates that ‘execution of the law’ in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act occurs (a) when the Armed Forces perform tasks assigned to an organ of civil government, or (b) when the Armed Forces perform tasks assigned to them solely for purposes of civilian government.” However, the law also allows the president “to use military force to suppress insurrection or to enforce federal authority,” CRS has found.

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