LIVE: The Final Presidential Debate of the 2020 Election

by Nomad

The final presidential debate between President Trump and former Vice-president Joe Biden be held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. This would have been the third in the series but is now only the second following the cancellation of the October 15 debate. Nevertheless, it will mark the last time the two candidates will appear on the same stage before the November 3 election.

Shame of the Nation: The Surge in New Cases of Covid-19 Surpasses Our Worst Fears

by Nomad

The news media is today reporting a third straight day of record-high numbers across the United States with increases in 29 states. With more than 40,000 cases in one day, Vice-President Mike Pence told reporters on Friday:

“We have made truly remarkable progress in moving our nation forward.” 

Pence added that the US had “slowed the spread” and “flattened the curve”. The country, he declared, can “take some comfort” in the declining numbers of COVID-19-related fatalities. 

With 100,000 Dead, The Cost of Trump's Dithering is Both Undeniable and Indefensible

by Nomad

As the death count from the Coronavirus pandemic in the US exceeds 100,000, we should never forget how President Trump, instead of taking action, attempted repeatedly and consistently to downplay the approaching crisis.

Covid-19: When the US Became Ground Zero

by Nomad

A grim milestone came and went at the end of this devastating week. On Friday, the coronavirus killed more New Yorkers than the terrorists who flew airplanes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. The September 11 attacks killed about 2,700 people in New York state. In contrast, the coronavirus has so far killed 2,935 state residents of all age groups.

Coronavirus Comes to Washington

by Nomad

Embed from Getty Images

US President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at the White House on March 22, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Eric BARADAT / AFP) (Photo by ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump's Acquittal: The Ultimate Triumph of the Imperial Presidency

by Nomad

In 1973, in the throes of the Nixon scandal, author Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. published a book entitled "The Imperial Presidency." in that book, he warned that the office of president of the United States had drifted far from the one envisioned by the Founding Fathers. Less of a servant of the people and into a king without the actual title. He argued that a presidency becomes imperial when it relies on powers well outside those allowed by the Constitution of the United States.

History Has Shown Us the Dangers of a Weak Congress and Where It Leads

by Nomad

When the Democratic-led House of Representatives was attempting to investigate the allegations against President Trump in drawing up articles of impeachment, there was no mistaking contempt the president's and his allies had for Congress.

When Congress called key witnesses to testify, the president ordered them to ignore subpoenas. It was, Trump claimed, a witch hunt. Congress quite rightly pointed out it was simply fulfilling its legitimate, constitutional oversight role.
The House could have issued criminal and civil fines, including jail time. Instead, it allowed the president to block the inquiry with impunity. Wasn't this an unequivocal act of obstruction? No, said the administration, it was an assertion of executive privilege.

LIVE: House Judiciary Committee Impeachment Inquiry Evidence Hearing

by Nomad

The House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing to hear evidence in the on-going impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Watch LIVE at 9am ET.

LIVE: House Judiciary Committee Impeachment Hearings - Day One

by Nomad

Today, the House Judiciary Committee will hold its first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. With proceedings set to begin at 10 am ET, the hearing will feature several legal scholars who will testify about "the constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment."

According to experts, Trump could be impeached on a number of charges based on his actions, including violating campaign-finance laws, bribery, extortion, obstruction, and misappropriation of taxpayer funds. In an ongoing effort to de-legitimatize the process, the White House has announced that neither President Trump nor his lawyers will participate.

Among Independents, Support for Trump Impeachment is Surging

by Nomad

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week, there's growing support among political independents for the impeachment for Donald Trump.  

To make matters worse for the president, overall support for impeachment has risen by three percentage points since just last week. Overall, 46% of Americans said they supported impeachment and 40% said they opposed it.

Support for impeachment was relatively steady among Republicans and Democrats over the past week but it surged among independents, a group that includes people who neither identify as Democrats nor Republicans and do not favor either party when they vote. Among independents, 45% said in the latest poll they supported impeachment and 32% said they opposed it, the strongest level of support recorded in more than a year.

For Republicans who have been shielding the president from oversight, the news could hardly be worse. The persuadable independent voter has been called the "difference maker" in the presidential election.
Even Trump campaign spokesman and Deputy Communications Director for the Republican National Committee, Rick Gorka has observed:

“It always comes down to who can convince the independent voter..That is how you win the election.”

The Joseph Maguire Testimony: A Trump Official Under the Spotlight

by Nomad

This morning, Joseph Maguire will be testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, regarding his decision not to release the whistleblower's complaint about questionable- and possibly impeachable- activities by the president and close advisors.

Maguire is the current Director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He retired from the United States Navy as a Vice Admiral in 2010 after 36 years of military service.

The committee is expected to ask Macquire why he refused to release to congressional intelligence committees the report of the independent inspector general, Michael Atkinson, who deemed it "credible and urgent."

Under mounting pressure from both parties, the Trump administration backed down on Wednesday and handed copies of the complaint to House and Senate intelligence committees.

Can the US Ever Recover from the Trump Era?

by Nomad

There's no question that Trump has left his mark on America. Nobody could argue with that.
As we steel ourselves for horror show election of 2020, it is not too early to reflect on what Trump has already done to America.

The Symptom and the Cause

In terms of US foreign policy alone, this administration has been an utter disaster. Take foreign policy, as Professor of Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Eliot A. Cohen, observes:

[The] surface-level calm of the last two years should not distract from a building crisis of U.S. foreign policy, of which Trump is both a symptom and a cause. The president has outlined a deeply misguided foreign policy vision that is distrustful of U.S. allies, scornful of international institutions, and indifferent, if not downright hostile, to the liberal international order that the United States has sustained for nearly eight decades.

It goes deeper than upending the world order.

LIVE: Mueller Testimony Before Congress

by Nomad

This Livestream kicks off at 7:40 a.m. EDT with a breakdown of the major findings and moments from Mueller's report.

PBS coverage of Mueller's testimony begins at 8:30 a.m. in a House Judiciary Committee hearing, and continues at noon with a House Intelligence Committee hearing.

Update:  The PBS livestream doesn't appear to be active. I will be switching to ABC News instead.

Populus vult decipi: How Another Trump Supporter Finally Sees the Light

by Nomad

During the 2016 election campaign, Kraig Moss followed Donald Trump all across the United States singing his praises- literally. Following the candidate from rally to rally, Moss strummed his guitar and belted out his pro-Trump ballads. He even recorded a CD with hits that included Save Our Nation, Build the Wall and Trump Train.

Lunatic President: Donald Trump, the Moon and Fox News

by Nomad

Trump's Gibberish about NASA

Last Friday,  President Trump sent a tweet about NASA that had a lot of people screaming into their pillows.  

For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!

Almost every news outlet focused on the Mars /Moon confusion- which was probably more of a problem with Trump hackneyed phrasing than anything else. Trump (probably) does not believe Mars is a part of the Moon but part of the "bigger things we are doing."
But that very generous interpretation opens a new can of worms for Trump.

Paying the Price: Why American Farmers Have Become Trump's Trade War Casualties

by Nomad

There are always casualties in war, even in trade wars. As tit-for-tat tariff hikes between Trump and China begin to spin out of control, US farmers are already starting to feel the pinch. And it is likely to get much much worse.

Where 2020 Candidates Stand on a Possible Trump Impeachment

by Nomad

Why the Trump Administration Threatened to Veto a UN Resolution on Wartime Rape

by Nomad

Ever since the human species climbed out of the jungle trees and began throwing rocks at one another, one of the recognized spoils of war was pillaging of the villages, the looting of the valuables and the raping of the women.
For those who subscribed to the adage that might makes right, it was only logical that the weakest should pay the price of the barbarian conquest. 

Throughout our history, women were always at particular risk of sexual victimization during conflict. "To the victor go the spoils" has long been a war cry, and female bodies generally have been classified as part of those spoils of war.

The Colorful Mr. Sater: A Few Notes on Trump's Former Business Partner

by Nomad

Donald Trump, Tevfik Arif and Felix Sater in 2007 / Getty

Postponed Times Two

Soon after the Michael Cohen hearings, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff publicly announced that a former Trump business partner would appear at a public hearing March 14 - later postponed to March 27. It was part of Congress' deeper inquiry into “Russian investment in Trump’s businesses and properties.”

Seeds of Republican Decline and the Myth of the Progressive Eisenhower

by Nomad

A quote from the Eisenhower era suggests, when it comes to social programs and taxes, the Republican party has drifted a long way toward the extreme right. That is, of course, true. However, a closer look at the source of that quote tells us that the problem with the GOP began early on.

Fast and Loose with the History of the Party

Republicans have always had an extremely selective memory when it comes to the historical facts of their party. You will hear, for example, that the GOP is the "Party of Lincoln" and the Democrats were the party of slavery, without much in the way of elaboration.