Swamp Watch News

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Creeper Kevin, folks.

- Doc

[_Kevin Graham]

Kevin: Fox news is terrified of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Doc: You're stupid if you think they're terrified

Kevin: FOX has literally said they're terrified

Doc: I don't watch FOX news.

[_canpakes]

The top watchdog for the Department of Interior has opened up an investigation into newly confirmed Secretary David Bernhardt.

Deputy inspector general Mary L. Kendall wrote in a letter to lawmakers that the department's Office of Inspector General had received seven complaints alleging conflicts of interest or potential ethics violations by Bernhardt, who was at the time deputy secretary of the department.

"The Office of Inspector General for the Department of Interior has received seven complaints, including yours, from a wide assortment of complainants alleging various potential conflicts of interest and other violations," Kendall wrote in a letter to Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.).

"We are continuing to gather pertinent information about the complaints and have opened an investigation to address them. We will conduct our review as expeditiously and thoroughly as practicable," she added.

Kendall sent a similar letter on Monday to other lawmakers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who had previously raised concerns with the department's IG office about potential conflicts of interest and ethics violations.

The announcement of a probe comes less than a week after the Senate confirmed Bernhardt to be secretary of the Interior Department.

Democrats and environmentalists have taken issue with Bernhardt’s lobbying ties as well as policies he’s helped draft as Interior deputy secretary that appear to benefit some former clients.

[_canpakes]

Donald Trump said Friday he would remove the United States from a global arms treaty, the latest example of his administration’s disdain for international agreements and restrictions on weapons sales.

His pledge to abandon the “badly misguided” Arms Trade Treaty, which restricts the transfer of weapons to terrorists and other malicious actors outside of the country, drew a standing ovation at the annual National Rifle Association meeting in Indianapolis, where Trump was speaking.
“We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedoms,” he said. “I hope you’re happy.”

The Arms Trade Treaty was signed by Secretary of State John Kerry in 2013 with overwhelming support from the international community. Only three countries—Iran, North Korea, and Syria—opposed it.

[_subgenius]

Donald Trump said Friday he would remove the United States from a global arms treaty, the latest example of his administration’s disdain for international agreements and restrictions on weapons sales.

His pledge to abandon the “badly misguided” Arms Trade Treaty, which restricts the transfer of weapons to terrorists and other malicious actors outside of the country, drew a standing ovation at the annual National Rifle Association meeting in Indianapolis, where Trump was speaking.
“We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedoms,” he said. “I hope you’re happy.”

The Arms Trade Treaty was signed by Secretary of State John Kerry in 2013 with overwhelming support from the international community. Only three countries—Iran, North Korea, and Syria—opposed it.

and?

[_Chap]

The Arms Trade Treaty was signed by Secretary of State John Kerry in 2013 with overwhelming support from the international community. Only three countries—Iran, North Korea, and Syria—opposed it.

and?

Oh I dunno. Maybe canpakes might have felt that the US is getting into slightly strange territory when the only company it has on the international stage is Iran, North Korea, and Syria.

Of course there's the NRA too. I'm sure Kim Jong Un is a corresponding member of that.

An interesting question is how on earth Trump ever heard of this agreement in the first place. What's the betting one of his aides said to the NRA 'Is there some big political gesture the President could make that might energise your supporters? Something he can do on his own, with just a signature, and talk about at your meeting?'. And this is what they gave him.

[_canpakes]

An interesting question is how on earth Trump ever heard of this agreement in the first place. What's the betting one of his aides said to the NRA 'Is there some big political gesture the President could make that might energise your supporters? Something he can do on his own, with just a signature, and talk about at your meeting?'. And this is what they gave him.

Yes. The NRA has always adopted a hair-fire reaction to the treaty and claimed that it would somehow infringe upon second amendment rights stateside, which it cannot, of course. But why should Trump waste a perfectly good chance to whore himself out for a few domestic votes by pandering to their conspiratorial hysteria? Not that any of those folks would blink an eye to our standing with three of the planet’s worst actors simply because The Donald is insecure about 2020.

[_canpakes]

MeDotOrg just created a new thread about this, but it’s fun enough to get additional mention in this thread, too.

WASHINGTON — Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, is encouraging Ukraine to wade further into sensitive political issues in the United States, seeking to push the incoming government in Kiev to press ahead with investigations that he hopes will benefit Mr. Trump.

Mr. Giuliani said he plans to travel to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, in the coming days and wants to meet with the nation’s president-elect to urge him to pursue inquiries that allies of the White House contend could yield new information about two matters of intense interest to Mr. Trump.

One is the origin of the special counsel’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. The other is the involvement of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son in a gas company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch.

Mr. Giuliani’s plans create the remarkable scene of a lawyer for the president of the United States pressing a foreign government to pursue investigations that Mr. Trump’s allies hope could help him in his re-election campaign. And it comes after Mr. Trump spent more than half of his term facing questions about whether his 2016 campaign conspired with a foreign power.

“We’re not meddling in an election, we’re meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do,” Mr. Giuliani said in an interview on Thursday when asked about the parallel to the special counsel’s inquiry.

“There’s nothing illegal about it,” he said. “Somebody could say it’s improper. And this isn’t foreign policy — I’m asking them to do an investigation that they’re doing already and that other people are telling them to stop. And I’m going to give them reasons why they shouldn’t stop it because that information will be very, very helpful to my client, and may turn out to be helpful to my government.”

Mr. Giuliani’s planned trip, which has not been previously reported, is part of a monthslong effort by the former New York mayor and a small group of Trump allies working to build interest in the Ukrainian inquiries. Their motivation is to try to discredit the special counsel’s investigation; undermine the case against Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s imprisoned former campaign chairman; and potentially to damage Mr. Biden, the early front-runner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

I guess that the best way to legitimize obstruction and collusion is to do it so frequently as to make it commonplace.

[_moksha]

WASHINGTON — Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, is encouraging Ukraine to wade further into sensitive political issues in the United States, seeking to push the incoming government in Kiev to press ahead with investigations that he hopes will benefit Mr. Trump.

Giuliani was simply the willing henchman for this idea. It was so bad that it had Trump written all over it. General Kelly, if he was still Chief of Staff, would have redirected Guiliani's flight to North Dakota. Fortunately, this hairbrained plan has been scuttled for now and Trump will have to rely on Russian agents.

[_Gunnar]

Kevin 'the cock goblin' Graham

How is this kind of stuff interesting, amusing or even vaguely related to the thread topic?

Something bad seems to have happened to DrC since I first read his posts on this board, and I wish it hadn't.

Like you, I am shocked and dismayed by what DrC seems to have devolved into. Whatever respect I used to have for him has all but vanished. He sometimes sounds more like Trump than Trump himself. His new tactic of giving demeaning nicknames like "Creeper Kevin" and "'the cock goblin' Graham" to those who disagree with him or criticize him is pure Trump, not to mention extremely childish!