I generally avoid spending money on American publications, but The Atlantic remains indispensable. Today, staff writer David A. Graham describes a deeply dangerous individual whose towering arrogance convinces him he understands the world better than anyone alive.
Excerpts:
“Without us, right now you’d all be speaking German,” Donald Trump scolded European leaders at the World Economic Forum this morning. Perhaps the Germans have a word for the experience of watching your country’s leader embarrass himself and the country on the global stage.
Where does one start in summarizing such a speech? The straightforward racism? The economic illiteracy? The determination to alienate allies? The many moments where the president said things that were blatantly, provably false? And because he rambled through more than an hour, he covered a lot of ground. The most anticipated section was about Trump’s ongoing effort to acquire Greenland…
Trump delivered a classic mafioso threat to take Greenland by force, saying that U.S. military might was irresistible…
Trump seemed determined to alienate allies. He mockingly imitated French President Emmanuel Macron’s accent. He took a swipe at Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. He ridiculed the United Kingdom as too incompetent to extract oil from the North Sea. “Sitting on one of the greatest energy sources in the world, and they don’t use it,” he said. But he continued his administration’s outreach to Europe’s far right, blasting immigration to the continent…
Naturally, the president didn’t stay on message. Trump also announced (without offering details) that he would soon prosecute people for a supposedly “rigged” 2020 election. He reprised a racist riff from yesterday’s White House press conference about Somalis having low IQs, and he called Representative Ilhan Omar, a Somali immigrant and Minnesota Democrat, a “fake congressperson.”
Categories: International
in-sights.ca 
Millions of US, Americans support Trump!
He is not an aberration!
When Trump is gone there are many more to replace him ..
TB
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Unfortunately, about 130 million Americans support Trump according to major polling organizations. That’s particularly scary and reminds us of a time in New York in February, 1939, when twenty thousand American men, women, and children gathered at Madison Square Garden for a Nazi rally.
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It was a bizarre speech but really little different from many of the things Donald Trump has said recently. His lack of any real knowledge of basic history and the crudeness of his position is really nothing new. What is new is the fact that a US president (a species which has never been known for its intelligence and competence) who is clearly unhinged from reality is not being dealt with by competent authorities in the US.
A day or two ago I heard an elected Democrat suggesting that it was time for European leaders to push back and respond to Trump’s aggression – which, it seems to me Carney actually did yesterday.
It seemed to me a pretty lame excuse for an elected American politician to suggest that foreign countries need to take on the job of cleaning up America’s mess…surely more could be done.
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An obvious Conflict Of Interest?
Never in Trumptopia!
https://www.rawstory.com/top-trump-lawyer-accused-of-glaring-conflict-as-president-pardons-criminals/
Six senators accused Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche this week of having a conflict of interest when he shut down investigations into crypto companies, dealers and exchanges and eliminated an enforcement team dedicated to looking for crypto-related fraud and money-laundering schemes.
A letter written by Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin and Mazie Hirono and signed by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, Christopher Coons and Richard Blumenthal cited a ProPublica investigation that revealed Blanche owned at least $159,000 worth of crypto-related assets when he ordered an end to the work.
Durbin, Hirono, Whitehouse, Coons and Blumenthal serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Justice Department.
The same senators previously sent a letter to Blanche raising concerns that his actions would help President Donald Trump’s financial interests in cryptocurrency. In their letter sent on Wednesday, they said Blanche’s actions appeared to violate the federal conflict of interest law.
“Last year, we asked for the rationale behind your puzzling decision to scale back the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) cryptocurrency enforcement efforts and urged you to reconsider. We write now in light of recent reporting that you held substantial amounts of cryptocurrency at the time you made this decision,” the senators wrote. “At the very least, you had a glaring conflict of interest and should have recused yourself.”
Blanche, the second-highest-ranking official at the Justice Department, signed an ethics agreement in February promising to dump his cryptocurrency within 90 days of his confirmation and not to participate in any matter that could have a “direct and predictable effect on my financial interests in the virtual currency” until his bitcoin and other crypto-related products were sold.
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Hiring the right people comes first
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-doj-2675065596/
DOJ seeks social media users who ‘support Trump’ in desperate new hiring spree
The DOJ is seeking to hire specifically pro-Trump prosecutors, and is turning to social media to accomplish that controversial task.
Chad Mizelle, who previously served as the chief of staff to the Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi and general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security in the first Trump administration, was recently left tongue-tied by CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Days later, Saturday, he took to social media to encourage people to “DM” him to apply to become a pro-Trump prosecutor.
The ex-official said, “If you are a lawyer, are interested in being an AUSA, and support President Trump and anti-crime agenda, DM me.”
He added, “We need good prosecutors. And DOJ is hiring across the country. Now is your chance to join the mission and do good for our country.”
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Mass resignations at the DOJ? Small wonder.
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Oh Look! It’s another Trump scandal!
But its not as though anyone serious, reputable or reliable agrees.
Except maybe…
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-sheikh-scandal-corruption-report/
According to the Wall Street Journal, “Four days before Donald Trump’s inauguration last year, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed a deal with the Trump family to purchase a 49% stake in their fledgling cryptocurrency venture for half a billion dollars, according to company documents and people familiar with the matter.”
“The buyers would pay half up front, steering $187 million to Trump family entities. The deal with World Liberty Financial, which hasn’t previously been reported, was signed by Eric Trump, the president’s son. At least $31 million was also slated to flow to entities affiliated with the family of Steve Witkoff, a World Liberty co-founder who weeks earlier had been named U.S. envoy to the Middle East, the documents said.”
The report prompted outrage from political insiders and analysts.
Gregg Carlstrom of The Economist said, “To call this the most corrupt administration in American history doesn’t really do it justice, because no prior president, Republican or Democrat, would have even conceived of a grift on this scale.”
Ex-GOP lawmaker Barbara Comstock chimed in, “When the Trump corruption story is in the WSJ…are the leaks coming from inside the house?…..”
Political scientist Brendan Nyhan added Sunday, “Corruption at a level that is unimaginable in any previous admin. People were mad that Hunter Biden sold some mediocre paintings.”
The Tennessee Holler asked, “So… a bribe? Trump got $500 Million and U.A.E. got ‘tightly guarded’ A.I. chips. How is this not a bribe, exactly?”
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After WW2 while Russia was busy looting East Germany to create another Worker’s Paradise how did the state police (Stasi) retain control? How did Moscow retain control over millions of Russians?
How does Mr. Putin uncover and prosecute his opposition?
Denunciations. Neighbours accusing Neighbours.
https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/playing-god-in-putins-russia-7589/
Playing God in Putin’s Russia
In Russia, denunciations are on the rise. Society is stoically accepting the relapse into Stalinism
The rhetorical question ‘I wonder who wrote four million denunciations?’ posed by exiled writer Sergei Dovlatov (1941–1990) about Stalinist repression sounds frighteningly relevant in today’s Russia. Denunciations have always existed in every society. With the start of the so-called special military operation, however, a veritable boom in mutual reporting has developed in Russia,
described by Russian journalist Alexander Plyushchev as a ‘competition in denunciation’. Everyone denounces everyone else: State Duma deputies denounce journalists, teachers their students, parents their children’s teachers, believers their priests, students their professors, patients their doctors. Spectators denounce actors and vice versa, ‘vigilant citizens’ their fellow citizens.
Almost every day, Russian exile media report on new cases of denunciations ranging from the absurd to the horrific. A young woman was reported because her earrings were the colours of the Ukrainian flag, and another because she had herself photographed wearing a yellow jacket against a blue sky.
These cases would be almost amusing if they did not sometimes have serious criminal law consequences for those affected. For example, criminal proceedings were initiated against paediatrician Nadezhda Buyanova for spreading fake news about the Russian army. The doctor supposedly made inappropriate comments about a patient’s husband who had died in Ukraine, and the patient immediately reported her. The police then searched the 67-year-old doctor’s apartment, damaged her furniture and even removed wallpaper.
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Must be Hell to live under a violent Kleptocracy..
https://www.rawstory.com/dhs-2675065763/
The Department of Homeland Security made a pitch for inexpensive housing that was instantly ridiculed by political observers.
Homeland Security took to X ahead of the weekend, writing, “Want affordable housing? Help report illegal aliens in your area. Call 866-DHS-2-ICE.”
The post added, “If you are an illegal alien, you can take control of your departure using http://DHS.GOV/CBPHOME.”
The post caused a lot of outrage.
Immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick said, “‘Report your neighbors for purging and then take you can take their houses’ is an official government message of the Trump admin.”
Independent journalist Aaron Rupar called it “straight up Gestapo s–
Former ambassador Steven Pifer added, “Nazi Germany and Soviet Union worked hard to build nation of people who would inform on their neighbors.”
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Only well-informed patriots support Trump.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-supporter-detained-ice-agents-immigration-2112676
The man accused of squirting an unknown substance on Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar at a town hall in Minneapolis has a criminal history and has made online posts supportive of President Trump.
Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, was convicted of felony auto theft in 1989, has been arrested multiple times on suspicion of driving under the influence and has had numerous traffic citations, Minnesota court records show. There are also indications he has had significant financial problems, including two bankruptcy filings.
Kazmierczak hadn’t been formally charged or scheduled for an initial court appearance as of Wednesday morning. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has until Thursday to charge him but could seek an extension. A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office didn’t immediately return a call seeking further information.
It’s unclear whether Kazmierczak has a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. The county’s chief public defender, Michael Berger, said the case hasn’t been assigned to his office.
Trump, a Republican, “wants the US is stronger and more prosperous,” Kazmierczak wrote. “Stop other countries from stealing from us. Bring back the fear that enemies back away from and gain respect that If anyone threatens ourselves or friends we will [expletive] them up.”
In another post, Kazmierczak asked, “When will descendants of slaves pay restitution to Union soldiers families for freeing them/dying for them, and not sending them back to Africa?”
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Which Trump supporters have changed their minds?
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-christians-evangelicals-refugees-immigration-migrants-2021716
Christians, Evangelicals Take Stand Against Trump Over Refugees
Christian and Evangelical organizations are urging the Trump administration to reverse its executive order targeting refugees, telling Newsweek that the president is conflating illegal immigration with a decades-old U.S. policy he formerly endorsed.
The executive order “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP)” was signed January 20 just after Trump was inaugurated. It went into effect just after midnight on January 27, suspending the program for at least 90 days while top U.S. officials weigh “whether resumption of entry of refugees into the United States under the USRAP would be in the interests of the United States.”
The order correlates USRAP to the U.S. being “inundated with record levels of migration” over the past four years. It specifically mentions “significant influxes of migrants” in cities including Charleroi, Pennsylvania, and Springfield, Ohio—the latter of which drew widespread attention during the presidential campaign when Trump, during a debate against Kamala Harris, falsely claimed that illegal migrants were eating dogs and cats.
“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees,” reads the executive order.
In an interview Sunday morning on CBS’ Face the Nation, Vice President JD Vance, a practicing Catholic, suggested to Margaret Brennan that Catholic bishops concerned over Trump’s immigration plans just care about money.
“As a practicing Catholic, I was actually heartbroken by that statement and I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” Vance said.
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