CORPUS CHRISTI (Reuters) – The eye of Hurricane Harvey began to push onto the Texas coast on Friday bringing with it winds of up to 156 miles per hour and 13-foot ocean surges as the most powerful storm in over a decade bore down on the mainland United States.
Meanwhile, under the radar …
Bloomberg: Trump Orders Military to Reject New Transgender Recruits — Our own Blue Bronc writes about Trump: “The man has to be a transsexual afraid of her body and herself.”
Daily Beast: Trump’s Pardon of Arpaio ‘Presidential Endorsement of Racism,’ ACLU Says
The Nuremberg Defense, Sheriff Joe, and Presidential Racism
By eProf2, a Trail Mix Contributor
Donald Trump last night pardoned Sheriff Joe of Arizona of all crimes against Latinos and others of color as determined by a federal court. The president says he pardoned the Sheriff because he was simply doing his duty. That is the exact defense used by those Nazis standing trial in the Nuremberg Trials in post WWII Germany.
Today, the President of the United States used the infamous Nuremberg Defense just a week after he defended Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville. Fascism is based on a white supremacy philosophy and a contempt for judicial laws and decisions. Trump is now more than ever committed to a Neo-Nazi philosophy with his pardon of Sheriff Joe.
More Posts by eProf2
National Hurricane Center:
At 1000 PM CDT (0300 UTC), the center of Hurricane Harvey was
located near latitude 28.0 North, longitude 97.0 West. Harvey has
just made landfall on the Texas coast over the northern end of San
Jose Island about 4 miles (6 km) east of Rockport. Harvey is
moving toward the northwest near 7 mph (11 km/h). The hurricane is
expected to slow its forward motion and move slowly over
southeastern Texas during the next couple of days.
Maximum sustained winds are near 130 mph (215 km/h) with higher
gusts. Harvey is a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson
Hurricane Wind Scale. Weakening is forecast during the next 48
hours while the center of Harvey is over southeastern Texas.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 40 miles (65 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles
(220 km).
National Hurricane Center Updates Here
At least Harvey is a natural disaster. What’s Trump’s excuse?
Looks like the coast of Texas is taking a beating. Expect a lot of damage, not just from the initial hit, but from days of a stalled monster. Hopefully a lot of new buildings meet new standards after hurricanes Rita and Ike.
trump is a supernatural disaster. Live-in generals to control his spin, wind and spewing.
I wonder if mrs. gorka was walked-out of the WH, too. trump and his ‘coupling’ hires…I read the gorkas have pillow talk about how much they hate Islam. Some aphrodisiac!
Back to the Mueller altar…the sooner this regressive jerk is out of our government and our systems? The better. trump was never the lesser or more evil…he is pure stupid evil…the worst kind. A vindictive and punishing man with tiny hands and a smaller mind.
Looks like all the eggs are ending up in Mueller’s basket.
“…all the eggs are ending up in Mueller’s basket”
sturge, don’t count on ’em until they hatch act ’em or worse.
*bid and other tm buddies in tx, please don’t drive thru watered roads for next few days. stay safe. hopes and prayers with you.
*also our other friends in la (‘specially in underpumped nola)
blueINdallas,
Take care. Thinking of you.
Yes, blue, do take care if Harvey drifts north.
Well Arpaio has accepted his guilt, whether he knows it or not. Hope it keeps that old asshole out of the Senate. What pisses me off is that there are thousands of wrongly convicted people sitting in jail as a result of prosecutorial and police misconduct, and one of the worst police offenders gets his racist sorry ass pardoned by SFB.
Was there any good news overnight other than the fact that the Hungarian prick Gorka is now out of the White House?
Last day of vacation. Shit. But it’s a beautiful day to enjoy NYC.
so what’s on the agenda for the finale, pogo?
hitting him where it hurts — in the ratings.
time to get the hook. bong the gong show gong. cancel the rest of the season.
ap via msn:
Donald Trump started as the most unpopular new president in the history of modern polling. After seven months, things have only gotten worse.
Plunging into undesirably uncharted territory, Trump is setting records with his dismally low approval ratings, including the lowest mark ever for a president in his first year. In fact, with four months left in the year, Trump has already spent more time under 40 percent than any other first-year president.
At 34 percent, his current approval rating is worse than President Barack Obama’s ever was.
[….]
Trump is now viewed positively by only 37 percent of Americans, according to Gallup’s most recent weekly estimate. (Obama’s lowest weekly average never fell below 40 percent.) It’s even lower — just 34 percent — in Gallup’s shorter, three-day average, which includes more recent interviews but can also involve more random variation.
the hill: McCain blasts Trump over Arpaio pardon
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted President Trump over his pardon of former Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Friday, arguing it “undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law.”
“Mr. Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt for continuing to illegally profile Latinos living in Arizona based on their perceived immigration status in violation of a judge’s orders,” McCain said in a statement.
“The President has the authority to make this pardon, but doing so at this time undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law as Mr. Arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions.”
[….]
McCain’s counterpart in the Senate, Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), also criticized Trump’s decision to pardon Arpaio on Friday.
“Regarding the Arpaio pardon, I would have preferred that the President honor the judicial process and let it take its course,” Flake wrote on Twitter.
bbronc, hope you got to see this during the pbs newshour last night:
JUDY WOODRUFF: — ….. Just tonight, the president has finally signed an order telling the Pentagon not to admit anyone, any individuals who are transgender, not to pay for the surgery that some of them choose to have. So, there are steps being taken to carry out the conservative agenda.
MARK SHEILDS: Conservative agenda, Judy, I don’t — you know, among issues I haven’t heard pollsters report or volunteered by those interviewed was statutes being removed which the president greatly moved after are transgender service members. I mean, the Navy SEAL who served 20 years did 13 overseas deployments, seven combat deployments and earned one Bronze Star and one Purple Heart and is transgender, is now a woman had more deployments and more days in uniform than Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Secretary Tillerson or Secretary Mnuchin, Secretary Price, Secretary Carson, go right through it. I mean, he proved his patriotism, she proved her patriotism, that they’re 100 percent American.
I don’t understand this. I commend chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joe Dunford, for as soon as it comes out today, came out originally in his tweet that those who serve honorably in this service will be respected and continue to be so.
from wapo’s “Sebastian Gorka, a fiery nationalist and Bannon ally, abruptly exits White House” story:
One White House official said that Gorka spoke with Kelly on Friday to discuss his exit and asked to visit Trump in person on Monday to hand him a departure letter, but was not granted that permission.
so there and be sure to let the door slap you in the rear on your way out, sebas-turd!
So… instead of having the balls to pardon Sheriff Joe at the rally in Phoenix.. SFB hides behind the news of a category 4 hurricane hitting Texas to do it…. stupid fucking cowardly bastard!
I pray for everyone in the path of Harvey. And yes some are on (and used to be) on this blog… Jax and Chloe in Houston, DaveV300 (I don’t remember which city), and Carol in Lake Charles LA. And yes, Blue in D… if it reaches you, please stay safe.
eProf, re: Your post above. I had laughed at Nazi comparisons until recently, but after that Phoenix rally the other night I’m getting spooked. He really whipped up that crowd to a frenzy. Nothing new I know. But this doubling down after Charlottesville, following through on transgender bigotry, this pardon — Makes it all the Scarier.
The groundless capriciousness of this pardon, without the usual Justice Department review, tells Mueller probe targets keep your mouth shut and you’ll be fine. Of course, the one thing he cannot do his pardon himself from impeachment.
To make things right for Sheriff Arpaio, President Trump will appoint Arpaio a United States Marshal. The US Marshals Service will be directed to provide lifetime around the clock protective services for Marshal Arpaio. God bless Joe and our fucking president.~~~
“A Republic- if you can keep it, mofos.”
You Trail Blazers out Texas way hang in there; the rest of our Country is ready to support you as soon as conditions permit. Meantime, check-in every once in a while for game scores and other important stuff. The coastal damage in Rockport is less than I would have expected for a storm of this magnitude–let’s hope that holds for other places. For goodness sake, seek high ground if you are near a land feature that is prone to flooding. Don’t squander your battery power. Save some booze to decontaminate water.
Hopefully all Ms.Blue in Dallas will experience is hurricane fatigue watching…if forecasters are correct, this is to last a week.
From the ACLU (4 days ago), five reasons not to pardon ole Joe A. trump coyly teased and cutely said he would pardon ole joe at the Phoenix rally in his cryptic way. It was during that meandering 77 minute speech. Only good news, his supporters can only last 60 minutes…many bored, asleep and quiet at the end of his tirade.
gorka’s wife? — from politico –
A second White House aide said Gorka’s departure was a continuation of new White House chief of staff John Kelly’s effort to shape president’s staff. “Questions remain,” the aide said, about whether Sebastian Gorka’s wife, Katie Gorka, an official at the Department of Homeland Security, would stay on after her husband’s White House departure.
From wikipedia —
Katharine Gorka has also been involved with the administration of President Donald Trump, first serving on his transition team for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).[94] She then became a policy advisor at DHS on April 7, 2017.[95][96] In the wake of the deadly white-supremacist rally and counterprotest in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, Katherine Gorka’s part at DHS in defunding Life After Hate, a group which facilitates deradicalization (particularly of white supremacists), received attention.
AZ’s brave Senator Jeff Flake: “Regarding the Arpaio pardon, I would have preferred that the President honor the judicial process and let it take its course.” Flake is all talk and no action. He would like for you to read his book about how he stands up to President Trump.
Senator McCain blasted Trump for his total disregard of the rule of law in pardoning Sheriff Joe.
Wow. “Hold the line until our country gets back to understanding & respecting each other…” Jim Mattis to US troops
Hold the line? WTF
KGC
Against attacks by their president on the military institution. It puts the burden on _us_ to force congress’s ouster of the miscreant. It would destroy the military if they were to rebel. Of course, they could stop asking deeply personal questions about sexuality.
Time to cut the *&%# grass. Won’t be many more times for this year–leaves are already starting to fall.
Here is one of my favorites from the Constitutional Convention, George Mason, on his opposition to the presidential pardoning power, could be exactly what happens with Mueller targets: “He may frequently pardon crimes that were advised by himself. If he has the power of granting pardons before indictment, or conviction, may he not stop inquiry and prevent detection?”
Published on Aug 25, 2017
Bill and his guests – Matt Welch, Nayyera Haq, and Paul Begala – react to President Trump’s pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio
some more maher from last night…a lot of which is very thought provoking
Published on Aug 25, 2017
In his editorial New Rule, Bill Maher argues that Trump can’t be trusted not to violate the unwritten rules of the Presidency.
craig, paul begala has the same idea according to ny times story “Democratic Fury, and Mostly G.O.P. Silence, Over Trump’s Pardon of Arpaio”
[….]
Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist who advised the main “super PAC” supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016, suggested that Mr. Trump was offering a different type of signal — one to people who might be approached by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as possible obstruction of justice by the president when he fired the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey.
“The Arpaio pardon was awful in and of itself, but I also think it was a signal to the targets of the Mueller investigation that ‘I got your back,’” Mr. Begala said on Bill Maher’s HBO program on Friday night.
from that same ny times piece linked above:
Ari Fleischer, who was a press secretary under President George W. Bush, said that pardoning Mr. Arpaio did not “break new ground” in a decades-long debate over immigration.
But, echoing Mr. Begala, he said the concern was the message it sent to others who might receive pardons.
He said Mr. Bush used to wonder why presidents had the pardon power to begin with. “It does strike me as a constitutional anachronism,” Mr. Fleischer said.
“One should not be able to break the law thinking they have a protector in chief,” he added. “If mischief is connected to the White House and the president can pardon those who engaged in that activity, it leads to unlimited power.”
also in forbes: The President Trump Who Pardons Arpaio May Use Pardons To Block Mueller
[….]
But the pardon also served another purpose. It introduced to the population and the media the notion that Trump has the right to use the pardon power however he wants, even irresponsibly. And yet, it did so in a context in which Trump was serving some kind of ideology, and not merely saving his own skin from Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation and its legal consequences.
Let us look first at what power Trump has now staked out, and then at how it may serve him in blocking Mueller. First, Trump thumbed his nose particularly at the courts. Arpaio’s conviction was not just a criminal conviction, it was that rare entity, the conviction for criminal contempt of court orders. So Trump has visibly asserted the power to frustrate and to undermine the courts. This will be the kind of action he will want to do as to the judicial apparatus involved with Mueller, that is, defeat the entire judicial system. This ranges from the courts that supervise grand juries and issue search warrants to the courts that try suspects and sentence the convicted.
Also, Trump acted in disregard of the lawful system for reviewing potential pardons. The heart of this is the office of Pardon Attorney in the Department of Justice. For very good reason, pardons normally go through that office. This is the only way that any kind of consistency can occur as to pardons. If the President, who is the politician-in-chief, just pardons on his own without at least running it through the Justice Department, there is nothing to keep him from irresponsibility, recklessness, or even thinly veiled – or even naked — corruption or self-protection.
And, Trump showed willingness to manipulate the pardon to reduce the public shock. Although Arpaio’s lawyers knew Friday afternoon, Trump’s White House waited until Friday night to release the information. This dropped the news into a blatant news hole, where the broadcast coverage would be late Friday night, which is one news hole. And, Saturday newspapers would not find it “fresh” as news and report it anyway on Saturday, in another news hole. The same tricks for reducing public shock will be tried and true when used for Mueller targets.
[…article continues…]
Gee SFB better pardon a person of color too or people might think you are a racist
SFB believes that profiling is a good tool. No doubt the judge who heard the trial is a Mexican
excerpt from usa v. arpaio et al the decision that the twit thumbed his nose at:
III. CONCLUSION The evidence at trial proves beyond a reasonable doubt and the Court finds that Judge Snow issued a clear and definite order enjoining Defendant from detaining persons for further investigation without reasonable suspicion that a crime has been or is being committed; that Defendant knew of the order; and that Defendant willfully violated the order by failing to do anything to ensure his subordinates’ compliance and by directing them to continue to detain persons for whom no criminal charges could be filed. Because the Court finds that Defendant willfully violated an order of the court, it finds Defendant guilty of criminal contempt.
IT IS ORDERED finding Defendant guilty of criminal contempt.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED setting Sentencing for October 5, 2017 at 10:00 a.m.
Patd. Went to a matinee of the Play That Goes Wrong. Absofuckinglutely hilarious. Gotta shuttle LP’s shit up to ccny. Dinner somewhere extravagant. Tomorrow, back to the real world. Damn.
Aspects of Libertarianism have always appealed to me, but I was always turned off by the part identified in this op ed.
How Libertarianism Nurtured the Alt-Right for Decades
Sadly the Arpio pardon is nothing but butt scratching between to ole’ birthers
The importance of SFB pardoning a criminal, felon, arpaio is that he has declared himself not caring about the Constitution separation of powers. He declared himself dictator. When the republicans get around to governing, if they can govern, if they are not Russian agents, they will impeach SFB. But do not count on it. More and more of the russian money is showing up in republican pockets.
Jace
Bit of an update. I’ve been following Sunrise, WY on Facebook. If you like western history, the discussions, pictures, and documents are really interesting. https://www.facebook.com/groups/SunriseMine/members/
BB, and pardoning the dick for a contempt of court conviction. A real FU to separation of powers. Shows no respect for the judicial branch. Hope he is taught respect for it sooner rather than later.
Paul Ryan distanced himself from the sheriff Joe decision. Will this be the turning point in PG’s presidency? Like Keith Olbermann, I keep thinking each fuck up will be his last but nothing seems to stick. What will it take for the country to rise up against PG and remove him from office? Hell if I know?
nyt Paul Ryan Becomes Highest Republican to Criticize Arpaio Pardon
The House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, on Saturday criticized President Trump’s pardon of the former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, making him the most prominent Republican to voice concern about the message the president had sent regarding his commitment to the rule of law.
“The speaker does not agree with this decision,” a spokesman for Mr. Ryan, Doug Andres, said in a statement. “Law enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the United States. We should not allow anyone to believe that responsibility is diminished by this pardon.”