A News Aggregator That Covers The World's Major Wars And Conflicts. Military, Political, And Intelligence News Are Also Covered. Occasionally We Will Have Our Own Opinions Or Observations To Make.
Showing posts with label washington politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label washington politics. Show all posts
Update: Glen Greenwald's comment is spot on (see below).
The top leadership of the US Government is extremely old -- they stay around forever, clinging to power as tightly as they can, petrified to give it up -- and so we have more and more upsetting scenes like this.
Cable news’s on-screen graphics — known as chyrons — were originally designed to highlight the latest news to viewers in a concise way. But on Tuesday night, Fox News viewers got one that was unusually politically charged.
Just before 9 p.m., the network split the screen to present comments from President Biden at the White House simultaneously with Donald Trump’s combative remarks after pleading not guilty to federal charges of illegally retaining classified documents.
WNU Editor: The fun part of this story is that the Biden administration's Justice Department DID arrest and charge their main political rival. Isn't that what authoritarian governments around the world do to their political opponents?
* All Democrats voted for Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries while anti-McCarthy Republicans seem united behind Florida Rep. Byron Donalds
* Twenty Republicans have voted for Donalds, one Republican, Rep. Victoria Spartz, switched her vote from McCarthy to 'present'
The House failed to make GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy its speaker in a fourth round of ballots Wednesday, with 21 Republicans voting against the California Republican.
All Democrats voted for Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries while anti-McCarthy Republicans were mostly united behind Florida Rep. Byron Donalds.
Twenty Republicans have voted for Donalds, including the Florida Republican himself. One Republican, Rep. Victoria Spartz, switched her vote from McCarthy to 'present.'
WNU Editor: The support for McCarthy to be the next Speaker of the House is not there. The question that remains to be answered is who in the Republican leadership will be given the uncomfortable job of telling McCarthy that his dream of becoming the next House Speaker is not going to happen.
Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy Fails To Win Fourth Vote For House Speaker
* The new House of Representatives gaveled into its first session on Tuesday
* Nearly two dozen of Kevin McCarthy's fellow Republicans voted against his bid to be House Speaker in the first and second rounds
* Voting is expected to continue until a Speaker candidate wins a majority
Nineteen Republican rebels have derailed House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy's second vote to become Speaker, throwing the party into chaos on their first day in the majority.
The group of dissenters are refusing to back McCarthy and instead threw their weight behind GOP Rep. Jim Jordan in the second ballot of the process that is leaving the start of Congress in limbo.
It is the first time in 100 years a Speaker has not been chosen in the first ballot. Now McCarthy, who can only afford to lose four votes out of the 222 Republican members, is facing an uphill battle to take over the gavel from Nancy Pelosi.
If the 19 Republicans stand firm in their opposition of McCarthy, the GOP will have to find another candidate or the leader will have to find another way to gain their support.
WNU editor: Nineteen Republicans want new leadership and they are not budging. If nineteen are this firm, it tells me that there are many more who are not happy with House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, and are only supporting him for the good of the party and/or do not want to upset the status quo.
Congressional Republicans Disagree On Who Is To Be The Next Speaker Of The House
Voters are not in a very Christmas-y mood when it comes to Washington’s punishment politics.
In fact, they’d like to see some payback.
While a majority of voters are OK with House Ways and Means Committee Democrats releasing former President Donald Trump’s federal income taxes, they also feel that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
WNU Editor: What is "good for the goose is also good for the gander". But it is not going to happen. The Republican leadership is incredibly weak, and I doubt they have the courage to push such a demand.
* Schiff is the House Intelligence Committee chairman and a Jan. 6 panel member
* He declined to go into what referrals the committee will make on Monday
* The Jan. 6 committee is widely expected to refer Trump for criminal charges
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said on Sunday that he believes the 'evidence is there' for the Justice Department to charge Donald Trump with 'multiple' crimes linked to attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
He spoke with CNN's State of the Union a day before the likely final public meeting of the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Lawmakers on the panel are reportedly going to vote on referring criminal charges against Trump to the Justice Department.
WNU Editor: When this heavily stacked committee against former President Trump was first convened this blog predicted the result would be a criminal referral for the former President. So there will be no surprises when this Committee votes to make a criminal referral.
The real key question that still remains unanswered is when will the US Justice Department move forward in formally charging the former President.
My gut tells me that it will happen when the Republican controlled Congress starts to investigate President Biden and his business relationship with his son Hunter Biden, and the media will focus more on the former President rather than on the current occupant of the White House.
US House Committee To Vote On A Criminal Referral For Former President Donald Trump
The Biden administration said that they asked the cut to be delayed to the next OPEC meeting
Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., has asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to launch hearings into the Biden administration's request that Saudi Arabia delay a cut in oil production until after the midterm elections.
Announcing a planned oil cut to production by two million barrels a day, which could send gas prices spiking in the weeks before the U.S. midterms in November, the Saudi government said that the U.S. had requested the cut be delayed a month.
Update: The Saudis are not the ones responsible for handing the midterms to the Republicans .... Did Saudi Arabia Just Hand the Midterms to the GOP? (Jonah Shepp, NYMag). There are other factors at play. Inflation, broken borders, crime, and rising interest rates to name a few.
Donald Trump stepped out of Trump Tower in Manhattan on Wednesday after spending two days in the Big Apple, photos exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com show
WASHINGTON — Democrats and liberal groups, determined to find a way to bar former President Donald J. Trump from returning to office, are preparing a variety of ways to disqualify him, including drafting new legislation and readying a flurry of lawsuits seeking to use an obscure clause in the Constitution to brand him an insurrectionist.
The plans amount to an extraordinarily long-shot effort to accomplish what multiple investigations of Mr. Trump have failed to do: foreclose any chance that the former president could regain power, whether voters want him to or not.
They reflect the growing concern among Democrats and liberal activists seeking to find a way to end the political careers of the former president and the officials who helped him try to cling to the presidency, including through several new and in some cases arcane strategies.
WNU Editor: It looks like the Democrats and other liberal groups have made the decision that he is running for President in 2024 and this is one way to "paint him" as an extremist before the campaign begins.
* Bobby Engel, the lead agent on Trump's detail, and the presidential driver at the time are prepared to testify under oath to the committee that Hutchinson's testimony is incorrect, according to multiple news outlets
* 'I'm the effing president, take me to the Capitol now,' Cassidy Hutchinson, Mark Meadows' top aide, said Trump ordered
* 'Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We're going back to the West Wing, we're not going to the Capitol,' Hutchinson was told Secret Service agent Robert Engel said
* 'Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel,' Hutchinson recalled
* Hutchinson was revealed to be the surprise witness for Tuesday's last-minute January 6 hearing
* Hutchinson also testified that Trump was 'furious' that his armed supporters were not allowed into the official grounds for his Stop The Steal rally on Jan. 6
* 'Who cares if they have weapons, they're not here to hurt me,' the former president allegedly said
* Follow along with DailyMail.com's rolling live blog for minute-to-minute coverage of the hearing
Secret Services is reportedly prepared to push back against claims that President Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of his presidential vehicle and lunged at Secret Service when agents refused to take him to the Capitol.
Such allegations were made by Cassidy Hutchinson, a former assistant to Mark Meadows, who said she had heard the tale second hand.
Bobby Engel, the lead agent on Trump's detail, and the presidential driver at the time are prepared to testify under oath to the committee that Hutchinson's testimony is incorrect, according to multiple news outlets.
WNU Editor: I watched most of yesterday's testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' top aide, and was getting ready to post extensively on her claims. I did not, because my gut told me that she was not believable, especially on her testimony that President Trump grabbed the wheel of his Presidential limo.
Not surprising. Later in the evening the denials from those who were actually present with President Trump on that day came out, and just like that her testimony is now crumbling.
The response from the US Secret Service response to Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony about Jan. 6 is below:
🚨 A source close to the Secret Service tells me both Bobby Engel, the lead agent, and the presidential limousine/SUV driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.
Update #3: Cassidy Hutchinson’s lawyer is saying that his client is standing by her testimony on Trump and the Secret Service driver:
Ms. Hutchinson testified, under oath, and recounted what she was told. Those with knowledge of the episode also should testify under oath. https://t.co/F69nuMH5oy
We’ve known about tensions between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for some time now, but former President Bill Clinton strategist Dick Morris believes Biden’s aides are now leaking damaging stories on Harris out of concern that she will attempt to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Biden from office.
Morris cites a New York Times story that dismisses Harris as not ready for prime time because she antagonizes her staff and botched her trip to the border. Morris believes the leak “must have undoubtedly come from the Biden forces.”
Further, Morris says that he’s heard rumors close to the White House that Biden’s dementia is getting worse and has become harder to control and cover up.
“I believe there may be a move coming to invoke the 25th Amendment against Biden and replace him with Harris,” Morris writes. “Biden’s people are pushing back against it by shooting at Harris and saying that she’s not really ready to be president.”
WNU Editor: I must admit that I am surprised that President Biden is still in office. I always watch and listen to his speeches and announcements, and I predicted last year that if his loss of cognitive abilities continue, he would be replaced in 2022. Well ... his cognitive capabilities have declined noticeably since last year, but he is still in the Oval Office.
As to US Vice President Harris being the person who will initiate the moves necessary to have President Biden removed from office as the above PJ Media article suggests. I have my doubts that it will work that way..
My guess is that it will be the people who convinced candidate Biden and his staff to appoint Kamala Harris as his running mate in 2020 that will lay the groundwork for President Biden to leave, and it will be the people around President Biden as well as the leadership in the Democrat Party who will then finally tell him that his time is up.
(Bloomberg) -- Gina Haspel spent three decades at the Central Intelligence Agency, ultimately becoming its first permanent female director. Now she’s leading an effort by a U.S. law firm to advise family offices on risks to the world’s ultra-wealthy.
Haspel, along with one-time U.S. Department of Justice official Andrew Hruska, will oversee King & Spalding’s risk-advisory service, the Atlanta-based firm said Thursday in a statement. The group will work with major banks and other institutional firms to help clients assess risks to family wealth from such issues as countries of origin, regulations and cryptocurrencies.
King & Spalding partners Zack Harmon and Sally Yates, the former U.S. deputy attorney general, will also be on the team. Former Credit Suisse Group AG Chairman Urs Rohner, Peter Charrington, ex-global head of Citigroup Inc.’s private bank, and former Merrill Lynch banker Allen Vine will serve as advisers, according to a spokesman.
WNU Editor: In this law firm she will lead the effort to advise family offices on risks to the world’s ultra-wealthy. In short. She is going to give a heads-up to clients on where conflicts, political instability, and security threats will rise. And I am sure she will be paid handsomely for this effort.
Interestingly. This is exactly what this blog does (and more). And it is free.
But for those who want to give a gratuity to this blogger. The PayPal donate button is on the top left side of this blog. It will be appreciated. All proceeds go to support Bookyards (link here), an online library that is also free.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, met briefly with President Joe Biden in Michigan on Tuesday morning, telling him the U.S. must take steps to address violence and human rights abuses against Palestinians by Israelis.
"Palestinian human rights are not a bargaining chip and must be protected, not negotiated," Tlaib's office said the congresswoman told the president.
Tlaib, who met with Biden along with U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, at Detroit Metro Airport, made the comments following a spike in violence in the Middle East over the last week, with rocket attacks, beatings and other fighting leading to the deaths of more than 200 people.
* Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney was ousted from House Republican leadership on Wednesday
* In a closed-door meeting in the basement of the Capitol, Republicans voted her out
* It was a quick voice vote and over in less than 15 minutes
* The move cements Donald Trump's hold on Republican Party
* In comments after the vote, she said: ‘I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again, is anywhere near the Oval Office'
House Republicans planted themselves firmly in the camp of Donald Trump on Wednesday when they removed Rep. Liz Cheney from their leadership team after her criticism of the former president.
In a closed-door meeting in the basement of the Capitol, Republicans voted to oust Cheney after she repeatedly called out Trump's false claims he won the election and criticized his role in the January 6 insurrection.
The vote, done by voice vote, took less than 15 minutes.
WNU Editor: She is not getting the message .... Cheney on Trump: 'I will do everything I can' to keep him away from the White House (The Hill). The next step in Liz Cheney's career is that she is going to be removed in the next primary. As for the Republican Party itself. The hope among their supporters is that they will not shift to oppose President Biden's agenda.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is seen during a news conference that followed an impeachment inquiry resolution vote at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 31, 2019.Washington Post photo by Matt McClain
WASHINGTON - Rep. Liz Cheney had been arguing for months that Republicans had to face the truth about former president Donald Trump - that he had lied about the 2020 election result and bore responsibility for the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol - when the Wyoming Republican sat down at a party retreat in April to listen to a polling briefing.
The refusal to accept reality, she realized, went much deeper.
When staff from the National Republican Congressional Committee rose to explain the party's latest polling in core battleground districts, they left out a key finding about Trump's weakness, declining to divulge the information even when directly questioned about Trump's support by a member of Congress, according to two people familiar with what transpired.
WNU Editor: She still does not get it. Republican voters and their supporters want the Republican party and its leadership to focus on pushing their agenda while opposing Democrat policies and legislation.
They are not interested in supporting a senior Republican leader's anti-Trump agenda.
Her career is over.
The only ones who do not know it are Liz Cheney, her establishment friends, and the Washington Post who are giving her a platform.
* Liz Cheney organized op-ed by former Defense Secretaries, according to report
* In it, they warned that 'involving the military in election disputes would cross into dangerous territory'
* Op-ed ran in the Washington Post three days before the January 6 Capitol riot
* It said the time for questioning election results 'has passed'
* New Yorker reported on her role and quoted Eric Edelman, a friend of Cheney's
Rep. Liz Cheney secretly masterminded an extraordinary Washington Post op-ed authored by top military leaders just three days before the January 6 Capitol riot, it has been claimed.
The letter published in the Washington Post contained a stark warning from 10 Defense Secretaries from both parties – and came just three days before the January 6 Capitol riot.
Now, the Wyoming Republican could be within days of losing her elected leadership post amid a clash with Trump that came to a head with his claim that the 2020 election was a 'BIG LIE.'
WNU Editor: Republican voters and their supporters want the Republican party and its leadership to focus on pushing their agenda while opposing Democrat policies and legislation. They are not interested in supporting a senior Republican leader's anti-Trump agenda.
My prediction.
The above report (if true) will be the final straw that will end Rep. Liz Cheney's career in politics. If she should decide to run for re-election (which I doubt), she will be lucky to pull 20% in the primaries next year.
Andrew Yang says Democrats need to improve their appeal to the working class: "In there minds the Democratic party unfortunately has taken on this role of the coastal urban elites who are more concerned about policing various cultural issues than improving their way of life." pic.twitter.com/UljmEH0sEn
* The wealthy New York businessman voiced his concern while appearing on a CNN panel on Wednesday with Don Lemon
* Warning echoes similar sentiments made by Bernie Sanders (I-VT) last week
Yang said that the polirzation and divisiveness in the country would 'get worse if the party didn't work to connect with the group
* Comment came as crucial swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania started to lean heavily towards Biden as mail-in ballots began getting tallied
* The former presidential candidate was slammed on Twitter for the remarks as many noted that working class minorities helped secure the votes for Biden
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang warned that the Democratic Party was becoming the party of the 'coastal urban elites' in the eyes of the working class American, insisting the country would 'get worse' if it didn't work to represent more in the country.
The wealthy New York businessman voiced his concern while appearing on a CNN panel on Wednesday with Don Lemon, sharing an insight to some of the responses he received while on the campaign trail.
'I would say, "Hey! I'm running for president!" to a truck driver, retail worker, waitress in a diner,' Yang described. 'And they would say, "What party?" And I'd say "Democrat" and they would flinch like I said something really negative or I had just turned another color or something like that.'
WNU Editor: Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang is 100% correct. He sees the trend lines, and he knows that the base of voters that Democrats have always relied on are drifting away. The near loss of the House of Representatives to the Republicans this week confirms his observations. But I think it is too late. This is going to be a terrible two years to govern the U.S.. The pandemic is still raging. Many people are suffering. A number of American cities are facing insolvency because of their debt and pension obligations. A number of state governments are also in the same predicament. Business are closing at a record rate. The unrest that is out there is very real, and working people want results. But is President Biden the man who can deliver this? Andrew Yang certainly has his doubts. And he is deeply worried that if they do not do this right, it is going to be a disaster for the Democrat's electorally in two years, and the loss of the Presidency in four.
Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Monday that his time in the Trump administration has shown him that the great political struggle is no longer between Republicans and Democrats, but between the District of Columbia and the rest of the U.S.
In his first TV interview since leaving the administration, Grenell explained a tweet he posted Saturday in response to criticism of Trump from former Defense Secretary James Mattis.
I have been involved in numerous computer science projects since the 1980s, as well as developing numerous web projects since 1996.
These blogs are a summation of all the information that I read and catalog pertaining to the subjects that interest me.
