May 18, 2017
by Lawrence Delevingne and Svea Herbst-Bayliss
Las Vegas - Anthony Scaramucci (click here) was soaking up plenty of love this week at his high-profile hedge fund conference even as his political ambitions remained in limbo.
The outspoken Wall Street figure in January agreed to sell his SkyBridge Capital LLC on the expectation of a public liaison job with U.S. President Donald Trump, whom he aggressively supported as a fundraiser and media commentator. But that role has not materialized.
The uncertainty over a White House position allowed Scaramucci to return to Las Vegas for SkyBridge’s ninth annual SALT event, which he founded after the 2008 financial crisis to boost his ailing business by promoting its brand and the broader industry.
“I was disappointed I didn’t get the (Trump) job, but living well is the best revenge,” Scaramucci told Reuters on the sidelines of the event at the Bellagio hotel....
Additionally, he has donated a great deal of money to Trump's presidential run.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been investigating President Trump for years (then someone has the tax returns, right?) —and the newest White House communications director helped fund his campaigns.
July 21, 2017
By Lachlan Markay
President Donald Trump (click here) says he doesn’t want his finances investigated, but he just appointed a top White House staffer who has given tens of thousands of dollars to an official doing just that.
Trump appointed Anthony Scaramucci as the White House’s new communications director on Friday, capping a tumultuous six months among the president’s press team. In the first on-camera press briefing in nearly a month on Friday afternoon, the New York financier and media personality extolled the success of the president’s agenda, and said his job would be to communicate how great Trump is doing....
So Trump is placing a loyalist in charge of the White House Press and Scaramucci may have an agenda of his own as well. I find it interesting he wanted this job at the time he was donating large amounts of money to Trump for his campaign.
But, that isn't all, is it?
July 22, 2017
By Ashley Parker and David Nakamura
...The president's defense (click here) of his pardoning authority came days after The Post reported that he and his legal team have discussed his power to pardon those close to him, including himself....
Trump's public decree about his pardoning powers is to let everyone, even Michael Flynn, he has his "Pardoning Pen" at the ready. What does that public decree mean? It is to intimidate any investigation by Mueller or otherwise. In other words, "DO NOT COOPERATE, if there are charges filed I will let you off."
The power to pardon (click here) is one of the least limited powers granted to the President in the Constitution. The only limits mentioned in the Constitution are that pardons are limited to offenses against the United States (i.e., not civil or state cases), and that they cannot affect an impeachment process. A reprieve is the commutation or lessening of a sentence already imposed; it does not affect the legal guilt of a person. A pardon, however, completely wipes out the legal effects of a conviction. A pardon can be issued from the time an offense is committed, and can even be issued after the full sentence has been served. It cannot, however, be granted before an offense has been committed, which would give the President the power to waive the laws....
Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution
...and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment....
I find that statement by Heritage, "...A pardon can be issued from the time an offense is committed..." more than interesting.
Simply answer this question, "When considering the expedience of the secretive meetings, especially the one in China for HB5 Visas, the idea of 'committed' comes into play. Is committed mean to the beginning of the planning to USE the presidency for Trump and family business included in the pardon? I don't think a pardon reaches back to the conspiracy to commit such acts before the President is elected.
Additionally, a Presidential Pardon does not erase the fact the act was committed in the first place, it only erases the legal implications. Is the act is a permanent scar, unless expungement can be invoked successfully. The pardon powers also does not include any actions by the states or other legal bodies.
I have never witnessed such a corrupt White House in modern history. The Kennedy White House was sainthood compared to Trump. Trump hasn't declared war. There is a reason for that. With Secretary of State Tillerson promising every country around the globe riches and wealth beyond their imagination; it is counter productive to have war with any power if that will inhibit the exploitation of their natural resources. Profits are vital to "The Trump Peace Process." I am certain Trump is giving free rein to Tillerson to encircle the globe with petroleum leases in the name of peace.
I believe that is the plan of the Trump White House. His entire administration is made up of petroleum executives, cronies and politicians that have sold their souls long ago and are invested in petroleum profits. Petroleum has always been the financial sector's safe haven for LIQUIDITY. It is time to change that reality. The return of a Bear (click here) is far better an idea to return traditional, rather than "Bust and Bubble" finances.
The USA legislature is acting to instill peace in a different way. Rather than buying so-called peace with petroleum wealth and power they act to reduce the opportunity for war. The problem with the Iranian sanctions return by the USA is it's counter productivity in being a partner to the Iranian people. It sends the wrong message. Russia and North Korea are behaving badly, but, Iran is making strides to becoming a stronger economy. The Iranian people have the best friends they can be to The West and they deserve recognition of their power as well.
The Republican Politics made the mistake of creating victims of the Iranian people. Hatred. It is far better to embrace the people and their election of men that can lead them to a better quality of life without nuclear threats to other countries. The Iranian people are interested in nuclear electric power, not bombs. It is the warped priorities of the radicals in the Iranian political establishment that creates the "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb The West" as their battle cry. The Iranian people aren't interested in such war machines.
For Republicans, leaving the Obama Administration accomplishments with Iran in place is to risk re-election. In the eyes of the Republicans, perhaps the Democrats as well, Iran is still a rouge country that arms extremist regimes that threaten Israel, such as Hezbollah. The USA hasn't updated it's Arab map to include the Shia Crescent as the place where minority Arabs live and seek a future. They don't recognize the relationship between Iran and the Shia spread throughout the crescent. I wish it would not take a generation or more to bring about BETTER international policy regarding Iran and the Shia diaspora.
July 22, 2017
..."Those who threaten America (click here) and our interests should take notice — your actions have consequences," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a tweet as news of the agreement emerged on Saturday.
The sanctions bill "will hold Russia and Iran accountable for their destabilizing actions around the world," Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland said. "The legislation ensures that both the majority and minority are able to exercise our oversight role over the administration's implementation of sanctions."
I think that is real progress.
Lawmakers are looking to approve the sanctions before leaving Washington for the August recess.
Suggesting strong support for the new bill, McCarthy and House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce issued a joint statement in which they noted that in May, the House voted 419-1 to impose sanctions on North Korea.
I hope the sanctions also focus on humanitarian aid to the North Korean people.
The two California Republicans say the revised bill has a range of targets, including North Korea's ballistic missile system. They also said the sanctions have been modified to prevent side effects that would have benefited what they called Russia's "energy oligarchy," while also addressing concerns of European countries that have said sanctions could threaten their access to energy resources....
It would benefit Russia if they continued reasonable trade with Europe and Ukraine, because, the USA is already planning exporting LNG to Europe and other countries. If the USA finds a foothold in other countries normally customers of Russia, there will be lasting changes to it's economy.
...Short said the legislation would set "an unusual precedent of delegating foreign policy to 535 members of Congress by not including certain national security waivers that have always been consistently part of sanctions bills in the past."
The White House's Short is short sighted, because, the legislature has precedent in its War Powers Act. Controlling the outcome of the Executive Branch Commander and Chief roll is not new, this is simply an extension of what already exists.
The U.S. has a long history of imposing sanctions on Russia — including the seizure by the Obama administration of two diplomatic compounds in the U.S. But as NPR's Greg Myre recently reported, "Critics say the two countries should be focused on matters like the war in Syria and the turmoil in Ukraine."
I am sure the Executive Branch will fight them into the Supreme Court.
I have never witnessed such a corrupt White House in modern history. The Kennedy White House was sainthood compared to Trump. Trump hasn't declared war. There is a reason for that. With Secretary of State Tillerson promising every country around the globe riches and wealth beyond their imagination; it is counter productive to have war with any power if that will inhibit the exploitation of their natural resources. Profits are vital to "The Trump Peace Process." I am certain Trump is giving free rein to Tillerson to encircle the globe with petroleum leases in the name of peace.
The USA legislature is acting to instill peace in a different way. Rather than buying so-called peace with petroleum wealth and power they act to reduce the opportunity for war. The problem with the Iranian sanctions return by the USA is it's counter productivity in being a partner to the Iranian people. It sends the wrong message. Russia and North Korea are behaving badly, but, Iran is making strides to becoming a stronger economy. The Iranian people have the best friends they can be to The West and they deserve recognition of their power as well.
The Republican Politics made the mistake of creating victims of the Iranian people. Hatred. It is far better to embrace the people and their election of men that can lead them to a better quality of life without nuclear threats to other countries. The Iranian people are interested in nuclear electric power, not bombs. It is the warped priorities of the radicals in the Iranian political establishment that creates the "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb The West" as their battle cry. The Iranian people aren't interested in such war machines.
For Republicans, leaving the Obama Administration accomplishments with Iran in place is to risk re-election. In the eyes of the Republicans, perhaps the Democrats as well, Iran is still a rouge country that arms extremist regimes that threaten Israel, such as Hezbollah. The USA hasn't updated it's Arab map to include the Shia Crescent as the place where minority Arabs live and seek a future. They don't recognize the relationship between Iran and the Shia spread throughout the crescent. I wish it would not take a generation or more to bring about BETTER international policy regarding Iran and the Shia diaspora.
July 22, 2017
..."Those who threaten America (click here) and our interests should take notice — your actions have consequences," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a tweet as news of the agreement emerged on Saturday.
The sanctions bill "will hold Russia and Iran accountable for their destabilizing actions around the world," Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland said. "The legislation ensures that both the majority and minority are able to exercise our oversight role over the administration's implementation of sanctions."
I think that is real progress.
Lawmakers are looking to approve the sanctions before leaving Washington for the August recess.
Suggesting strong support for the new bill, McCarthy and House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce issued a joint statement in which they noted that in May, the House voted 419-1 to impose sanctions on North Korea.
I hope the sanctions also focus on humanitarian aid to the North Korean people.
The two California Republicans say the revised bill has a range of targets, including North Korea's ballistic missile system. They also said the sanctions have been modified to prevent side effects that would have benefited what they called Russia's "energy oligarchy," while also addressing concerns of European countries that have said sanctions could threaten their access to energy resources....
It would benefit Russia if they continued reasonable trade with Europe and Ukraine, because, the USA is already planning exporting LNG to Europe and other countries. If the USA finds a foothold in other countries normally customers of Russia, there will be lasting changes to it's economy.
...Short said the legislation would set "an unusual precedent of delegating foreign policy to 535 members of Congress by not including certain national security waivers that have always been consistently part of sanctions bills in the past."
The White House's Short is short sighted, because, the legislature has precedent in its War Powers Act. Controlling the outcome of the Executive Branch Commander and Chief roll is not new, this is simply an extension of what already exists.
The U.S. has a long history of imposing sanctions on Russia — including the seizure by the Obama administration of two diplomatic compounds in the U.S. But as NPR's Greg Myre recently reported, "Critics say the two countries should be focused on matters like the war in Syria and the turmoil in Ukraine."
I am sure the Executive Branch will fight them into the Supreme Court.
