Saturday, November 23, 2024
Friday, November 22, 2024
Pete Hegseth wasn't honest with Trump about his past
Donald Trump’s transition team is said to be “upset” with Pete Hegseth because he “hasn’t been honest” about the sexual misconduct allegation from his past – prompting insiders to consider other options to lead the Pentagon.
Hegseth was tapped last week to become Trump’s defense secretary but now those in the president-elect’s inner circle are “quietly preparing a list of alternative” candidates, Vanity Fair reported.
“It’s becoming a real possibility,” a source told the outlet’s special correspondent Gabriel Sherman.
The source said that the Trump team was taken by surprise after a serious sexual assault allegation against Hegseth came to light, which led Trump’s incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles to question the former Fox News host on a call last week. Hegseth was never charged with a crime and denies the allegations.
“People are upset about the distraction. The general feeling is Pete hasn’t been honest,” a second source told Vanity Fair.
A “prominent Republican” close to the Trump transition team told the outlet that some are also unhappy with the president-elect’s choice due to Hegseth’s lack of qualifications to lead the nation’s defense. . . ..
What else would he fail to be honest about?
Matt Gaetz again says that he will not be in the 119th Congress
Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who withdrew from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general on Thursday, said Friday he will not be returning to Congress next year.
“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” he told Charlie Kirk in an interview.
More.
Jonathan Chait just glosses right over the fact that Pete Hegseth at the minimum cheated on his second wife AND on his eventual third wife, who had just had his baby, with a married woman
The baby was born in August 2017, which coincided with his divorce from his second wife, which means Hegseth cheated on the second wife in 2016.
The "consensual sexual encounter" with the married woman occurred in October 2017.
This is the guy the officer corps should look up to? He's an out of control sexual predator.
Pete Hegseth is a train wreck of a man.
Does he remind you of anyone?
I predict that the US Senate will not get an opportunity to inquire of Mr. Hegseth about his belief that America was founded in proto-Marxism because he will have to withdraw his nomination, just like Gaetz, long before that, preferably by this Friday afternoon's news dump.
Here:
Hegseth denies the allegation and says that the encounter, which took
place while he was transitioning between his second and third wives, was
consensual. He paid the alleged victim an undisclosed sum in return for
her signing a nondisclosure agreement.
Matt Gaetz pulled out for Attorney General after CNN confronted him with new threesome story, House Ethics Committee report still hangs like the sword of Damocles over his head
CNN here:
The woman who says she had sex when she was a minor with then-Rep. Matt Gaetz told the House Ethics Committee she had two sexual encounters with him at one party in 2017, sources familiar with her testimony tell CNN.
The woman, who was 17 years old at the time, testified that the second sexual encounter, which has not previously been reported, included another adult woman. She also testified to both sexual encounters in a civil deposition as part of a related lawsuit, sources said.
After being asked for comment for this story, Gaetz announced he was backing out as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee. ...
Members of the Republican-led House Ethics panel voted along party lines on Wednesday not to release the results of their investigation and instead decided to meet again on December 5 to vote on the final report.
And The Hill here:
Typically, the committee ends its investigations and does not release its findings on members who have departed the House.
Johnson has argued releasing the report would “open a Pandora’s box” and break a long-standing “rule” of the panel to not publish information on former members of Congress.
But there are some previous examples of Ethics investigators releasing information on former members.
In 1987, the panel released its report into former Rep. William Boner (D-Tenn.) after he resigned from the House. And in 2011, the Senate Ethics Committee released its preliminary report into former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) after he departed the upper chamber.
Thursday, November 21, 2024
Putin says medium range ballistic missile was used against Ukraine, not ICBM, but still nuclear capable
Quoted here:
“In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on Nov 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine.
“In combat conditions, one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested, among other things. In this case, with a ballistic missile in a nuclear-free hypersonic equipment.”
The whole point of stories like this is to make you think "crony capitalism" isn't a description of what's been going on and continues to go on right now
Ken Griffin just hates tariffs, which funded the (necessarily very small) federal government until the 20th century.
Meanwhile he's afraid the 12,000 lobbyists which already populate Washington procuring handouts like the Chips Act's billions of dollars for businesses will be replaced with 12,000 other ones lobbying for something else, ROFLMAO.
Citadel’s Ken Griffin says Trump’s tariffs could lead to crony capitalism
“I am gravely concerned that the rise of tariffs puts us on a
slippery slope towards crony capitalism,” the billionaire investor said
Thursday at the Economic Club of New York. ...
“Those same companies that enjoy that momentary sugar rush of having their competitors removed from the battlefield, soon become complacent, soon take for granted their newfound economic superiority, and frankly, they become less competitive on both the world stage and less competitive at meeting the needs of the American consumer,” Griffin said at the event. ...
“Now you’re going to find the halls of Washington really filled with the special interest groups and the lobbyists as people look for continued higher and higher tariffs to keep away foreign competition, and to protect inefficient American businesses have failed to meet the needs of the American consumer,” Griffin said.
Trump 2.0 is Amateur Hour 2.0
Yesterday Trump complained about senators missing votes, but J. D. Vance deleted his tweet admitting he missed the Embry Kidd vote on the 18th because he was meeting with Trump on a more important matter!
Same bs from Trump, different day.
He has learned nothing, and he's as full of it as ever.
Matt Gaetz withdraws as nominee for Attorney General lol
“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General,” he said.
More.
Putin uses ICBM for first time to attack Ukraine, signaling how the war could go nuclear
The attack comes two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine that formally lowers the threshold for the country’s use of nuclear weapons. Ukraine on Tuesday fired several American-supplied longer-range missiles and reportedly fired U.K.-made Storm Shadows on Wednesday into Russia. ...
The developments come as the war has taken on a growing international dimension with the arrival of North Korean troops to help Russia on the battlefield — a development that U.S. officials said prompted U.S. President Joe Biden’s policy shift on allowing Ukraine to fire longer-range U.S. missiles into Russia. The Kremlin responded with threats to escalate further.
The case for gold gets stronger in a world of global fiscal misbehavior led by the United States under Trump
“If every country is looking equally irresponsible, then the chances of [a US budget crisis] happening are slim, certainly on a sustainable basis. But when all the countries are experiencing high debt ratios and high deficits, then it′s less likely because in effect there is nowhere to run, with the possible exception of physical assets like gold.” ...
“It would take another country, another region like the euro area supplanting the U.S. with regard to fiscal responsibility. That’s tough to see happening,” he added.
More.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
J. D. Vance gets his sorry ass back in the US Senate after missing critical confirmation votes on Monday and Tuesday which confirmed at least one horrible Biden nomination to a lifetime judicial position
If all Republicans had shown up and Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) absence held, the GOP would have defeated the nomination [of Embry Kidd] temporarily.
If all senators had shown up, including Fetterman, it would likely have forced a tiebreaking vote by Vice President Harris.
Adding to the drama, Harris left Washington for Hawaii on Tuesday, depriving Democrats of a potential ability to break a 50-50 tie.
Despite the math, GOP members were incensed at the no-shows, which stretched into Tuesday as Vance did not show up for the morning vote.
Other senators, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), tagged along with Trump to the SpaceX Starship launch in Brownsville, Texas, further exacerbating the situation as Schumer prepared to hold another long night of nomination votes on Tuesday. ...
Vance, who missed all of Monday night’s votes in addition to the first one on Tuesday, received the lion’s share of criticism.
The outgoing Ohio senator initially defended his decision, saying that he was meeting with Trump as part of interviews for potential candidates to become FBI director and for other slots.
“I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,” he added.
However, he backtracked and deleted his post on X. He also showed up for the pair of Senate votes during Tuesday’s afternoon session.
Full story here.
Showing up is the easiest, most important thing senators can do, and they were too busy.
It's unforgivable.
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
All this realignment of the country to the GOP talk has been BS: Trump has now won only by a plurality, and the GOP House majority could well end up at a mere 220-215
It was no Red Wave, and that fool Trump just had to poach from what little he got.
Trump is officially below 50% at Real Clear Politics
Harris/Walz 48.3% (226) Trump/Vance 49.9% (312)
Ted Cruz predicted it would happen in August
Republicans float a quiet conspiracy theory that Biden won't be on the ballot
“So here’s the scenario that I think is perhaps the most likely and most dangerous,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on his podcast last month. “In August of 2024, the Democrat kingmakers jettison Joe Biden and parachute in Michelle Obama.”
“I view this as a very serious danger,” he said.
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