monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

[Trump] tweeted Friday, at 5:50 a.m. no less, that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.” Only a simpleton with no true comprehension of global trade systems would say such a thing. And he did.

When the current administration finally reaches the end of the line, we will need some serious rethinking about how to grapple with the asymmetry in the behavior of our two parties. Republicans — and particularly the party’s dominant right wing in the House of Representatives — have kicked away a lot of credibility in a very short time.

Reports that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee leaked private text messages between Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and a Russia-connected lawyer to Fox News offered a prime example of their partisanship-above-everything attitude. Let’s not have amnesia a few months or a few years from now about how political warfare took priority over the nation’s security or how double standards became the rule for a large part of the GOP.

An Illinois gun show bans AR-15 sales, landing it at the center of a national gun-control debate

Yet as legislators in Washington and across the country debate the best way to deal with the AR-15 and similar weapons — high-powered rifles that have been used in numerous mass killings in recent years — the weapon was noticeably absent from the early-morning gun show here Sunday. It looked like many other small weekend shows across America: folding tables covered with handguns, rifles, parts, ammunition and war mementos, including helmets, patches, pistols and even vintage Nazi memorabilia.

But no AR-15s.

Let’s back up for a minute. As regular readers know, the Obama White House, swayed by the evidence compiled by U.S. intelligence agencies, wanted bipartisan support to push back against Russian intrusion, and in mid-September 2016, the then-president dispatched counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco, then-FBI Director James Comey, and then-Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to brief top members of Congress.

Obama didn’t want to be seen as using intelligence for partisan or electoral ends, so he sought a “show of solidarity and bipartisan unity” against foreign manipulation of our democracy.

That didn’t happen – because McConnel refused.

Christopher Steele, the Man Behind the Trump Dossier
How the ex-spy tried to warn the world about Trump’s ties to Russia.
By Jane Mayer

State Dept. Was Granted $120 Million to Fight Russian Meddling. It Has Spent $0.
As Russia’s virtual war against the United States continues unabated with the midterm elections approaching, the State Department has yet to spend any of the $120 million it has been allocated since late 2016 to counter foreign efforts to meddle in elections or sow distrust in democracy.

As a result, not one of the 23 analysts working in the department’s Global Engagement Center — which has been tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaign — speaks Russian, and a department hiring freeze has hindered efforts to recruit the computer experts needed to track the Russian efforts.

The delay is just one symptom of the largely passive response to the Russian interference by President Trump

Rick Hasen
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@rickhasen
Rep Devin Nunes told Fox News that Colbert’s jokes about him are a “danger” to the nation."The left controls not only the universities in this country, but they also control Hollywood in this country, and the mainstream media, so conservatives in this country are under attack..."

To suggest that banning assault weapons makes no sense or is logically improper when another sort of weapon kills more is the tu quoque.

Oh I think you just don't like having the inconsistent nature of your reasoning exposed when it comes to guns used in mass shootings.