All Things Trump: Is it over yet?

[Brian Peacock]

Pelosi just doesn't get it. 'Merit', being defined by those who operate and structure an economy which suits their inclinations and services their needs first, is determinable on the ability of an individual to contribute to the economic prosperity of their employer. Republicans don't care if a half-starved woman has had to flee her country and drag her kids across half a continent - they just see three more people to house and three more mouths to feed, and there's no immediate return in waiting for the kids to grow up and find work. In a Capitalist system your can't buck the imperatives of capitalism and maintain a credible claim to supporting capitalism. This is were the Democrats fail every time - they can't pin blame on the failure of Capitalist ethics on the Capitalism they basically endorse. It makes them look like idiots. They need a new paradigm....

... like that's ever going to happen.

[Tero]

We need a kinder and gentler Capitalism!

[L'Emmerdeur]

Pardoning convicted war criminals is just what a US president does on Memorial Day, isn't it?

'Trump plans to pardon war criminals: In a horrible way, it makes sense'

Nowhere is Donald Trump's imperial instinct more obvious than when it comes to the pardon power. This makes sense. The pardon power is a relic of the English monarchy, which most of the founders didn't think was necessary and didn't originally include in the Constitution. With some famous exceptions, pardons have mostly been used to show mercy. In recent years presidents have been parsimonious in handing them out, always following the rules set forth by the Department of Justice pardon office.

But the presidential pardon is a plenary power — meaning it is absolute, with no review and no limitation — which someone obviously explained to Trump early on. So he has not bothered with any guidelines or rules and has handed out pardons whenever it pleases him, mostly to friends and right-wing cause célèbre criminals. Like a mob boss he's used the pardon power as an enticement to prevent testimony against him, often in public (but as we've seen in the Mueller report, in private as well.)

But pardoning war criminals takes this imperial overreach to a new level. Early this month Trump pardoned a former Army lieutenant named Michael Behenna, who was convicted of the unpremeditated killing of an al-Qaida member in Iraq. Behenna's unit had lost two members from a roadside bomb and suspected the victim of being involved. They could find no evidence, and Behenna was charged with escorting the man back to his village. Instead, he stopped on the way, stripped the man naked, "interrogated" him and then executed him. He claimed self-defense but the court found him guilty and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, later reduced to 15. He was paroled in 2014.

Behenna's family cleverly got themselves on "Fox & Friends" to pitch for a pardon, and Trump obviously saw it. When that pardon was granted, Fox News reported that the president was also “taking a broad look at veterans jailed for battlefield crimes and considering granting more of them similar relief.”

...

Trump has previously called [Maj. Mathew L.] Golsteyn, who admitted to the summary execution of an unarmed Afghan, a "U.S. military hero" after seeing him on "Fox & Friends" as well. The Marine snipers, who were court-martialed for urinating on Taliban soldiers, were represented by former Trump attorney John Dowd and the former Blackwater contractor, Nick Slatten, is connected to Trump crony Erik Prince (the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos).

People who have been paying attention undoubtedly knew that these would be crimes for which Trump would be thrilled to issue a pardon. After all, he ran as a big fan of torture and war crimes in the 2016 campaign.

Trump repeatedly proclaimed that he loved waterboarding, and promised to do "a lot more than that" as president. He insisted that torture works, adding that "if it doesn't work they deserve it anyway for what they do to us.” He hinted broadly that he would even consider beheading, because his entire "strategy" to combat ISIS was to be even more brutal than they were.

Trump also promised to "go after" the wives and families of terrorist suspects saying, "I guess your definition of what I’d do, I’m going to leave that to your imagination."

...

War crimes were as fundamental to Trump's appeal as the degradation of Latino immigrants and Muslim refugees. Pardoning those who committed the crimes he explicitly endorsed on the campaign trail is just fulfilling one of his most important campaign promises. War criminals are his heroes. Now he wants to honor them on Memorial Day. I have to admit that as cynical as I am about Donald Trump, I didn't see that one coming.

[Brian Peacock]

I wonder what the Military have to say about it. Isn't Trump basically undermining Military discipline by pardoning those convicted under Military law and due process, as well as undermining the independence of the Judiciary of course. He's always had a strange relationship with the law, and any law that isn't his own, but then again I suppose it depends on whether one thinks that there's such a thing as righteous violence. I'm sure someone can put me straight on that...

[JimC]

Righteous violence is when white christian men attack nasty brown left wing gay muslims...

[Tero]

mexico pays impeachment.jpg (27.92 KiB) Viewed 2216 times

[Sean Hayden]

[L'Emmerdeur]

I wonder what the Military have to say about it. Isn't Trump basically undermining Military discipline by pardoning those convicted under Military law and due process, as well as undermining the independence of the Judiciary of course. He's always had a strange relationship with the law, and any law that isn't his own, but then again I suppose it depends on whether one thinks that there's such a thing as righteous violence. I'm sure someone can put me straight on that...

Active duty military generally don't weigh in on things like this. A few who've retired from the military have spoken out against it of course.

'Trump is wrong to pardon war criminals'

'Pardoning soldiers accused of war crimes would be immoral'

Not surprisingly, on a right wing discussion board that I visit people are supporting the idea and calling the thugs Trump is thinking of pardoning 'American heroes.'

[Sean Hayden]

That was an interesting read.

[Tero]

Garland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrick_G ... nomination
whom Mitch Turtle prevented from becoming SC justice under Obama is reviewing trump business documents and the WH appeal to block congress access

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-subpoena ... rt-1431543

[Seabass]

[L'Emmerdeur]

Garland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrick_G ... nomination
whom Mitch Turtle prevented from becoming SC justice under Obama is reviewing trump business documents and the WH appeal to block congress access

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-subpoena ... rt-1431543

Better than even money that the ruling goes against Trump--the US Constitution isn't on his side. Then it's almost guaranteed that he'll yell and stomp his feet about how 'unfair!!!' the decision was, and all because Garland is a 'Democrat.'

[Tero]

[Seabass]

Deutsche Bank Staff Saw Suspicious Activity in Trump and Kushner Accounts

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Anti-money-laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank recommended in 2016 and 2017 that multiple transactions involving legal entities controlled by Donald J. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, be reported to a federal financial-crimes watchdog.

The transactions, some of which involved Mr. Trump’s now-defunct foundation, set off alerts in a computer system designed to detect illicit activity, according to five current and former bank employees. Compliance staff members who then reviewed the transactions prepared so-called suspicious activity reports that they believed should be sent to a unit of the Treasury Department that polices financial crimes.

But executives at Deutsche Bank, which has lent billions of dollars to the Trump and Kushner companies, rejected their employees’ advice. The reports were never filed with the government.

The nature of the transactions was not clear. At least some of them involved money flowing back and forth with overseas entities or individuals, which bank employees considered suspicious.

Real estate developers like Mr. Trump and Mr. Kushner sometimes do large, all-cash deals, including with people outside the United States, any of which can prompt anti-money laundering reviews. The red flags raised by employees do not necessarily mean the transactions were improper. Banks sometimes opt not to file suspicious activity reports if they conclude their employees’ concerns are unwarranted.

But former Deutsche Bank employees said the decision not to report the Trump and Kushner transactions reflected the bank’s generally lax approach to money laundering laws. The employees — most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve their ability to work in the industry — said it was part of a pattern of the bank’s executives rejecting valid reports to protect relationships with lucrative clients.
“You present them with everything, and you give them a recommendation, and nothing happens,” said Tammy McFadden, a former Deutsche Bank anti-money laundering specialist who reviewed some of the transactions. “It’s the D.B. way. They are prone to discounting everything.”

Ms. McFadden said she was terminated last year after she raised concerns about the bank’s practices. Since then, she has filed complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators about the bank’s anti-money-laundering enforcement.

continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/19/busi ... shner.html

[Tero]

Hi boys and girls, are we ready?