monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

In the late 1940s, Red hysteria swept the nation. A young congressman from California named Richard M. Nixon was determined to expose Alger Hiss, a State Department official, as a communist.

Fearful that a grand jury might not indict Hiss, Nixon, a member of the Red-hunting House Committee on Un-American Activities, boldly requested to testify himself.

Historians who have read the testimony say he did it with masterful oratory, not blatant manipulation of the grand jury. "This was Nixon's crowning achievement as an orator before his Checkers speech," Craig said.

"I am here solely as a messenger for the House," Nixon told the grand jury. "I have the microfilm in my physical custody."

The grand jurors wanted the "pumpkin papers." Nixon refused, citing House rules. "Regardless of a ruling of the court, I will not part with the films," Nixon said. "If the films go into evidence, I go with them."

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Acosta: This whole notion, they have to learn English before they get to the United States—are we just going to bring in people from Great Britain and Australia?

Miller: Jim, actually, I have to honestly say: I am shocked at your statement, that you think only people from Great Britain and Australia would know English. It reveals your cosmopolitan bias to a shocking degree, that in your mind—this is an amazing moment—that you think only people from Great Britain and Australia would speak English is so insulting to millions of hard-working immigrants from all over the world.

Miller here was redirecting the conversation from the obvious and inevitable racial consequences of the proposed policy through attacking the questioner, suggesting he (Acosta) was the real racist.

Conversation? Questioner? Ha! He was interrupting Acosta's diatribe. You should be honest enough to admit that if a white conservative had said what Acosta said, he would have been labeled a racist. Too bad Acosta isn't as quick on his feet as Miller. He walked right into it.

What do you take to be the meaning of "cosmopolitan" or "cosmopolitan bias" as Miller uses it? Does it mean something like "less American" or "anti patriotic" or "false loyalty" or what? It's clearly a derogation.

I do not know the exact context of this photo. But it doesn't really matter, does it.

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

The Death Throes of Organized Labor. (In the private sector)

Speaking of Unions and Union Bosses (another word for mobsters, really)...

Chicago Teamster Boss John Coli Indicted for Extortion

Among union officials on the corruption radar screen, John T. Coli Sr. long has ranked among the most prominent. On July 12, Coli, now 57, was indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts of extortion and one count of attempted extortion. Coli received cash payments from the firm totaling $100,000, threatening economic retaliation if money was not forthcoming. This should be seen in the larger context of corruption at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Back in March 1989 the IBT settled a civil RICO suit with the Justice Department. The feds had charged that the IBT for decades under a succession of general presidents operated as a racketeering enterprise, shot through with embezzlement, fraud, assault and murder, and with the eager help of mobsters.

Sometime in late 2004 the FBI initiated an investigation of Teamsters Local 727. the audit concluded that the local benefit plans had racked up grossly excessive administrative costs and diverted dental reimbursement funds to racketeering suspects. The FBI probe indirectly led to a private civil RICO suit in November 2011 against Coli, certain family members and the local itself.

He was accusing Acosta of living in the rarefied world of the Urban elite who rarely come into contact with immigrants from Nigeria, Cameroon, Singapore, Bangladesh, etc.

I do not know the exact context of this photo. But it doesn't really matter, does it.

Secrecy and Suspicion Surround Trump’s Deregulation Teams

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When President Trump ordered federal agencies to form teams to dismantle government regulations, the Transportation Department turned to people with deep industry ties.

One appointee had previously lobbied the department on behalf of American Airlines. Another held executive roles for several electric and hybrid car companies regulated by the department. A third was a lawyer who represented United Airlines in regulatory matters.

The three appointees have been identified by The New York Times and ProPublica in a continuing effort to track members of the deregulation teams. The appointments, previously unreported, follow a pattern identified by the two news organizations: By and large, the Trump administration has stacked the teams with political appointees, some of whom may be reviewing rules their former employers sought to weaken or kill.

A full vetting of industry connections has been difficult because some agencies have declined to provide information about the appointees — not even their names.
[... ... ...]

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Source: NYT The Business Links of Those Leading Trump’s Rollbacks

Two US congressional staffers who travelled to London in July and tried to contact former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, were sent by a longstanding aide to Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House intelligence committee and a close ally of the White House.

The trip has brought back to the surface a continuing struggle for control of the committee’s investigation into Moscow’s role in the 2016 US election. The reliability of a dossier compiled by Steele, containing explosive allegations of extensive secret collusion between Trump and the Kremlin, is a key part of that investigation.

The two staffers turned up unannounced at Steele’s lawyers’ offices while the former MI6 officer was in the building, according to a report by Politico on Friday. But the committee’s leading Democrat, Adam Schiff, said on Sunday neither he nor his Republican counterpart had been informed about the staffers’ London trip.

A congressional official insisted, however, that the staffers were in London on official committee business. He said they had been told to make contact with Steele’s lawyers, rather than Steele himself.

LA County Admits Number Of Registered Voters At 144% Of Resident Citizens Of Voting Age

The Election Integrity Project California, Inc. has joined Judicial Watch, Inc., a non-partisan organization in Washington, D.C., in sending a National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”) Section 8 notice of violation letter to California Secretary of State, Alex Padilla.

letter to Padilla wrote:

Dear Secretary Padilla:

1. Eleven (11) counties in California have more total registered voters than citizen voting age population (CVAP) calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011-2015 American Community Survey. This is strong circumstantial evidence that California municipalities are not conducting reasonable voter registration list maintenance as mandated under the NVRA.

Our own research shows that the situation in these counties is, if anything, worse than the foregoing data suggest. For example, we contacted Los Angeles County directly this past June. At that time, county officials informed us that the total number of registered voters now stands at a number that is a whopping 144% of the total number of resident citizens of voting age.

This letter serves as statutory notice that Election Integrity Project California, Inc., a registered non-profit corporation in California, and Judicial Watch, Inc., will bring a lawsuit against you and, if appropriate, against the counties named in this letter, if you do not take specific actions to correct these violations of Section 8 within 90 days.

2. The NVR Requires You to Undertake Reasonable Efforts to Maintain Accurate Lists of Eligible Registered Voters

3. Failure to Comply with NVRA Subjects You to Lawsuits and Financial Costs

In passing the NVRA, Congress authorized a private right of action to enforce the provisions of the NVRA, including Section 8. Accordingly, private persons may bring a lawsuit under the NVRA if the violations identified herein are not corrected within 90 days of receipt of this letter.

Putin aint no commie. He's a gangsta, that's all.

He speaks without cue cards, and has an opinion he's willing to speak on extensively.

Conversation? Questioner? Ha! He was interrupting Acosta's diatribe.

You should be honest enough to admit that if a white conservative had said what Acosta said, he would have been labeled a racist.

He was accusing Acosta of living in the rarefied world of the Urban elite who rarely come into contact with immigrants from Nigeria, Cameroon, Singapore, Bangladesh, etc.

Crazier than an outhouse rat.

Quote:

Conversation? Questioner? Ha! He was interrupting Acosta's diatribe.

Interrupted? So what? He's a public servant, not a prince.

And neither is Acosta. He should be an objective journalist, but he's not that either.

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You should be honest enough to admit that if a white conservative had said what Acosta said, he would have been labeled a racist.

False.

True.

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He was accusing Acosta of living in the rarefied world of the Urban elite who rarely come into contact with immigrants from Nigeria, Cameroon, Singapore, Bangladesh, etc.

Given Miller's own life and his residence in a one million dollar townhouse in a tony area of DC (do you think a reporter like Acosta lives that grand? That isolated? That privileged?) the charge is empty. Worse than empty, actually. Miller isn't speaking with integrity to the truth of things. He's wielding a derogation designed to appeal to bigots. Further, it is in large metropolitan areas where one is far more likely to interact with individuals from those countries you list, not living on a farm in Indiana.

What difference does it make where Miller lives? He didn't make the comment.

"Cosmopolitan" "Elitist" and similar words are not designed to appeal to bigots, but you just have to throw that charge in don't you?

How many Nigerian immigrants do you think Trump came into contact with when he lived in New York?

Since a makeshift bomb tore through a Minnesota mosque early Saturday morning, President Trump has used Twitter, his preferred platform for communicating with the American people, to rail about “fake news,” attack a Democratic senator from Connecticut and insist that he’s working hard while vacationing in New Jersey.

One topic Trump has yet to address: the mosque attack at the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington, where several people were gathering for prayer. Nobody was injured, authorities said, but the attack has left the Muslim community feeling unsettled.

And Minnesotans and others are still waiting for the president to condemn the attack.

Criticizing the practice of anonymous sourcing, then sharing a story that cites anonymous sources soon after, has become something of a monthly pattern for the president.