Sunday Topics: Impeachment poll, Trump is triggering a geopolitical realignment, Dems’ internal troubles

The Secular Jurist

By Robert A. Vella

Impeachment poll

A new CNN poll shows an increase in support for impeaching President Trump, but it also shows that Americans still resist impeachment even though they support the ongoing investigations of him by Democrats in the House of Representatives.

• President Trump’s approval rating remains steady at 43% approve, 52% disapprove.
• Support for impeachment increased over the last month to 41% predominantly among Democrats and college educated whites, while 54% oppose impeachment.
• The percentage of people who say Democrats are overreaching in their investigations of Trump decreased correspondingly to 40% over the same period, and 53% say that Trump isn’t doing enough to cooperate with those investigations.
• 47% agree that Democrats’ investigations of Trump are justified by the facts while 44% disagree.
• 67% want Robert Mueller to publicly testify before Congress.
• 66% believe that legislative cooperation between Congress and the White House is being negatively impacted…

View original post 988 more words

Trump shares letter from Putin: ‘His thoughts are so correct’ | TheHill

A piece of paper, is this equivalent to the piece of paper in the hands of Chamberlain before the start of World War II, lets hope not for Trump will not have the sense to provide the correct reactions.

——————————————————————————————-

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday praised Vladimir Putin and shared a Christmas letter the Russian president sent him.

“A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct,” Trump said in a statement. “I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path.”

In the attached letter, Putin emphasized the importance of cooperation between the two countries.

“I hope that after you assume the position of the President of the United States of America we will be able – by acting in a constructive and pragmatic manner – to take real steps to restore the framework of bilateral cooperation in different areas as well as bring our level of collaboration on the international scene to a qualitatively new level,” the Russian leader wrote.

The statement comes amid a new controversy over Trump’s nuclear plans and fears it could spark a new arms race with Russia.

 

Source: Trump shares letter from Putin: ‘His thoughts are so correct’ | TheHill

Vladimir Putin prepares Palmyra’s liberation

Russian President Vladimir Putin convened a meeting of Russia’s Security Council this morning, and on this occasion there is no doubt at all about what was the main topic of discussion. 

Here is the Kremlin’s summary:

“Participants in the meeting

Source: Vladimir Putin prepares Palmyra’s liberation

CIA report: Russia tried to help Trump win election – Business Insider

 

The CIA believes that Russia intentionally meddled in the US election specifically to help Donald Trump win.

That allegation was revealed in a secret CIA presentation that was given to lawmakers, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported on Friday night.

Intelligence officials believe they have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who allegedly gave WikiLeaks thousands of hacked emails and other documents, The Post wrote.

 

Source: CIA report: Russia tried to help Trump win election – Business Insider

More Military Tension between NATO and Russia; Pat Mills Right in ABC Warriors

Beastrabban\'s Weblog

Mike today put up a very chilling report about the escalation of military tensions between NATO and Russia. Russia has deployed Iskander missiles in its westernmost province of Kaliningrad. Formerly Koenigsberg, this is small Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania, was formerly part of Pommerania under the old Reich. The missiles are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and are presumed capable of reaching Berlin, or the various Baltic states.

Russia is believed to be deploying these missiles in response to NATO manoeuvres in eastern Europe, and the stationing of four more NATO battalions in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. These were in response to Russia sending troops into Ukraine.

Mike states that he recalls either Gorbachev or possibly Yeltsin receiving a promise from NATO that it would not expand into the Russian’s back garden. He is correct. That promise was given. And broken. NATO’s borders are now right up to…

View original post 1,125 more words

What Trump sees in Putin | TheHill

Donald Trump is not backing down from his praise of Vladimir Putin – even if his embrace of the Russian president is sparking media criticism and causing his GOP colleagues obvious unease.

Trump told NBC’s Matt Lauer that Putin “has very strong control over a country,” during a forum on national security and foreign affairs on Wednesday evening. He also praised Putin for having an “82 percent approval rating” among his own people.

During another interview this week with Larry King, the GOP nominee insisted that the idea of Russian interference in the U.S. election was “pretty unlikely.” The interview stirred more controversy because it was rebroadcast on RT, a Kremlin-backed TV network.

Source: What Trump sees in Putin | TheHill

Russia’s got a point: The U.S. broke a NATO promise

I believe in politics you should trust no one as you can not trust any of them to keep their word from one second to the next.

Stop Making Sense

Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson reports for the Los Angeles Times:

Mosscow solidified its hold on Crimea in April, outlawing the Tatar legislature that had opposed Russia’s annexation of the region since 2014. Together with Russian military provocations against NATO forces in and around the Baltic, this move seems to validate the observations of Western analysts who argue that under Vladimir Putin, an increasingly aggressive Russia is determined to dominate its neighbors and menace Europe.

Leaders in Moscow, however, tell a different story. For them, Russia is the aggrieved party. They claim the United States has failed to uphold a promise that NATO would not expand into Eastern Europe, a deal made during the 1990 negotiations between the West and the Soviet Union over German unification. In this view, Russia is being forced to forestall NATO’s eastward march as a matter of self-defense.

The West has vigorously protested that no such…

View original post 64 more words

Trump, Putin and political correctness

Phil Ebersole's Blog

A blogger named Jeffrey Feldman pointed out Donald Trump’s unique definition of political correctness.

Most people define “political correctness” as being overly concerned about saying offensive things.  Donald Trump’s idea of “political correctness” is being overly concerned about beating up people who disagree with you.

This is one of the things that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have in common.  No wonder they speak of each other with respect.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have often expressed their mutual esteem, and this is one of the things they have in common.

Putin is a strong nationalist whose aim is to make Russia great again.  He has no inhibition about the use of power and violence to crush opponents.  By Trump’s definition, he is politically incorrect.

LINKS

The One Key Phrase Trump Changed to Incite Violence Against the Left by Jeffrey Feldman for frameshop.  (Hat tip to Mike the Mad…

View original post 39 more words

Hitler, Mussolini, Trump and Rhetorical and Political Inconsistency

Beastrabban\'s Weblog

A number of media commenters have pointed out the inconsistencies and contradiction in Donald Trump’s speeches as he tries to drum up support for his presidential campaign. Kyle Kulinski over at Secular Talk, for example, has pointed out how Trump has argued for separate, and opposite positions on the Middle East, healthcare and the economy. For example, on the Middle East he has at one moment declared that America should go in much harder to carpet bomb whole cities, and torture and kill not just terrorists, but also their families. At other moments, sometimes just after he has argued passionately for the preceding policy, he has completely reversed his position. Instead of renewing America’s campaign in the Middle East, he has argued instead that America should not get involved, and instead leave Vladimir Putin to sort out ISIS.

His position on healthcare is similarly muddled. At one point he appeared…

View original post 627 more words

The Labour leadership dismisses Nato at everyone’s peril | Shashank Joshi | Opinion | The Guardian

Labour Nato Military Foreign policy Defence policy Russia Europe Vladimir Putin

Source: The Labour leadership dismisses Nato at everyone’s peril | Shashank Joshi | Opinion | The Guardian