Court Gives Trump License to Militarize U.S. Cities Against Protests
On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a lower court's order that California's National Guard be returned to Governor Gavin Newsom's control, ruling that President Trump was justified in federalizing the state's Guard without Newsom's concurrence.
The three-judge panel, two of them Trump appointees, ruled unanimously that the protests over ICE agents seizing brown-skinned people off the streets of Los Angeles had become overheated enough that "affording appropriate deference to the president’s determination" is warranted, "that he likely acted within his authority (italics ours)".
President Trump exulted in the decision, insulting the governor in the process, tweeting:
"The judges obviously realized that Gavin Newsom is incompetent and ill prepared, but this is much bigger than Gavin because all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done. This is a great decision for our Country..." (capitalization his).
This has been his dream, not to govern, but to rule. The doctrine of states' rights is not for him. Trump has long desired to use the United States military against the American people. Restrained by advisers who told him he needed to wait for governors to ask for federal help, he has regretted not taking direct action against the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. "The next time, I am not waiting” to send in the National Guard or the military, he said.
He lunged for the first opportunity to make good on that threat: the protest in Los Angeles.
The court decision pertained only to Los Angeles but Trump immediately extended it to "all over the United States". We can now… Read More »
Trump Returns from Money Tour, But He Won’t Get the Plane
“My goal is to keep foreign money out of American politics,” Trump said at the October 2016 debate for the presidency. “Hillary Clinton’s goal is to put the Oval Office up for sale to whatever country offers the highest price.”
What a difference a few years make, as Trump, in his first foreign trip since retaking the presidency, again 
goes first to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because that’s where the Trump family has megadollar deals in the works and where influence into the White House is up for sale. Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy is the most outspoken of the very few in Congress who have anything to say:
”Let's be clear what this trip is about. This is Trump's corruption tour of the Middle East. He is going to the Gulf in order to collect tribute. What's happening here is an extraordinary level of corruption. “
During Mr. Trump’s first term, the family agreed not to sign any new international deals while he was in office. This time, they issued an ethics statement that said only that they would have “no new 
transactions with foreign governments”. Just two weeks before papa’s trip, the Trump Organization signed onto a deal to develop in Qatar a $5.5 billion golf and resort. The deal is with a Qatari company called Qatari Diar which happens to be owned by the Qatari government. So…
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war
Putin Confronts a “Surprised” Trump with a Dilemma
"I don't like it, and it better stop" says our president May 30 2025
The Russian president “has gone absolutely CRAZY!”, President Trump tweeted last Sunday on his Truth Social site. Clearly bewildered, he bemoaned, "I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him”.
Might Trump be coming to the realization that he has been played all along? From the outset he was taken with Putin and made vulnerable thereby. In a Larry King interview in 2013 he said, “I think he's done a really great job of outsmarting our country". In 2015 he predicted, "I think I'd get along very well with Vladimir Putin”. That same year on the phone with “Morning Joe” he said, "He's running his country and at least he's a leader unlike what we have in this country." Putin saw his opportunity and won Trump over by flattery:
"He called me a genius. He said Donald Trump is a genius and he's gonna be the leader of the party and he's gonna be the leader of the world or something. He said some good stuff about me."
Trump took Putin’s word over his own intelligence agencies’ assessment of Russian election interference when he famously said in Helsinki in 2018,
”He just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be."
And Ukraine? When the Kremlin recognized the independence of two Russian separatist-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, Trump said the day before Russia invaded,
"So Putin is now saying it's independent, a large section of Ukraine. I said, how smart is that? And he's going to go in and be a peacekeeper. You've gotta say, that's pretty savvy."
Ukraine apartment building destroyed in Putin's campaign
against the civilian population.
Weeks ago he even called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a dictator” and said it was Ukraine that started the war. At the United…
Read More »
The Russian president “has gone absolutely CRAZY!”, President Trump tweeted last Sunday on his Truth Social site. Clearly bewildered, he bemoaned, "I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him”.
Might Trump be coming to the realization that he has been played all along? From the outset he was taken with Putin and made vulnerable thereby. In a Larry King interview in 2013 he said, “I think he's done a really great job of outsmarting our country". In 2015 he predicted, "I think I'd get along very well with Vladimir Putin”. That same year on the phone with “Morning Joe” he said, "He's running his country and at least he's a leader unlike what we have in this country." Putin saw his opportunity and won Trump over by flattery:
"He called me a genius. He said Donald Trump is a genius and he's gonna be the leader of the party and he's gonna be the leader of the world or something. He said some good stuff about me."
Trump took Putin’s word over his own intelligence agencies’ assessment of Russian election interference when he famously said in Helsinki in 2018,
”He just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be."
And Ukraine? When the Kremlin recognized the independence of two Russian separatist-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, Trump said the day before Russia invaded,
"So Putin is now saying it's independent, a large section of Ukraine. I said, how smart is that? And he's going to go in and be a peacekeeper. You've gotta say, that's pretty savvy."
Ukraine apartment building destroyed in Putin's campaign
against the civilian population.
Weeks ago he even called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a dictator” and said it was Ukraine that started the war. At the United…
Read More »
foreign policy
Tariff Turmoil: Agreements with 195 Countries in 90 Days Is Impossible
May 10 2025
On April 9th, President Trump rolled back the high tariff schedule he had announced on April 2nd, his “Liberation Day”, allowing 90 days for the world's 195 countries to come forward to offer concessions for his consideration. In the interim, tariffs worldwide are 10% in almost all cases, but 145% for China.
On May 8th, twenty-nine days into the pause, he announced the first agreement. Great Britain’s tariff would stay at 10%, in return for U.S. access to their markets, specifically mentioning beef, ethanol, and other farm products. It’s a framework; details to be worked out.
It’s hardly a triumph. The United Kingdom is one of the very few with which we have a trade surplus. They buy more from the U.S. than we buy from them. They didn’t need fixing. And it was immediately pointed out that the British market is already wide open to our products, including beef, ethanol,…
Read More »
On April 9th, President Trump rolled back the high tariff schedule he had announced on April 2nd, his “Liberation Day”, allowing 90 days for the world's 195 countries to come forward to offer concessions for his consideration. In the interim, tariffs worldwide are 10% in almost all cases, but 145% for China.
On May 8th, twenty-nine days into the pause, he announced the first agreement. Great Britain’s tariff would stay at 10%, in return for U.S. access to their markets, specifically mentioning beef, ethanol, and other farm products. It’s a framework; details to be worked out.
It’s hardly a triumph. The United Kingdom is one of the very few with which we have a trade surplus. They buy more from the U.S. than we buy from them. They didn’t need fixing. And it was immediately pointed out that the British market is already wide open to our products, including beef, ethanol,… Read More »
the presidency
Shouldn’t Our Presidents Know Our History? This One Doesn’t.
May 9 2025
On the last day of April, President Trump was giving ABC's Terry Moran a tour of the Oval Office.
“Over here you have the original of Abe Lincoln and George Washington and of course you have the Declaration of Independence"
He was pointing to a framed copy on a wall. Moran asked, "What does it mean to you?" Trump replied:
"Well it means exactly what it says. It’s a declaration, it’s a declaration of unity and love and respect and it means a lot, and it’s something very special to our country.”
Moran looked dumbstruck. Very special it is, but the antitheses of "unity and love and respect". Trump revealed he had no idea what the document was about.
Last Sunday on "Meet the Press", the president was interviewed by…
Read More »
On the last day of April, President Trump was giving ABC's Terry Moran a tour of the Oval Office.
“Over here you have the original of Abe Lincoln and George Washington and of course you have the Declaration of Independence"
He was pointing to a framed copy on a wall. Moran asked, "What does it mean to you?" Trump replied:
"Well it means exactly what it says. It’s a declaration, it’s a declaration of unity and love and respect and it means a lot, and it’s something very special to our country.”
Moran looked dumbstruck. Very special it is, but the antitheses of "unity and love and respect". Trump revealed he had no idea what the document was about.
Last Sunday on "Meet the Press", the president was interviewed by… Read More »