COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

"No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. ARTICLE I, SECTION 9, CLAUSE 8




Emoluments Clause Does Not Ban Sales to Foreigners


The Constitution is not hostile to the free market or international trade. Indeed, many Constitutional provisions are designed to protect them, such as the Contracts Clause, the Takings Clause, and the Constitution’s ban on state taxes on exports and imports.

And early American presidents often owned businesses, which they kept operating even while in office. As Greg Jarrett notes, “The first five presidents were farmers and plantation owners who maintained their businesses while in office. Some of their crops, especially tobacco, were sold abroad to companies and foreign governments.”

So it is more than a little strange to see claims that President Trump has somehow violated the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause merely by owning hotels and other business interests that are patronized by foreigners. Yet, as law professor Eugene Kontorovich notes, “earlier this year a group of law professors and prominent attorneys filed a lawsuit [alleging that] the Trump Organization’s hotel rentals to a Chinese state-owned bank—along with royalties on ‘The Apprentice’ from state television in countries such as Vietnam—violate the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause.”

This odd reading of the Emoluments Clause is contrary to its historical understanding, notes Jarrett, since sales to foreigners by the Founding Fathers “were never regarded, even by their political opponents, as emoluments because they were unrelated to the holding of office.”

The framers of the Emoluments Clause were concerned about gifts to officials from foreign powers – such as the money France gave a British king to enter into a treaty ceding territory, and the pension it gave him that enabled him to avoid summoning parliament; and lavish gifts to diplomats by kings. There is little evidence that it was aimed at sales at market prices, even to foreign officials.
Indeed, as Prof. Kontorovich notes, President George Washington even asked a British official to help find renters for his land: “On Dec. 12, 1793, Washington wrote to Arthur Young, an officer of the U.K. Board of Agriculture…The president asked for Young’s help in renting out his Mount Vernon lands to secure an income for his retirement. Not finding customers in America, he wondered if Young, with his agricultural connections, could find and organize some would-be farmers in his home country and send them over.”

But left-leaning academics are suspicious of the free market, and have come up with an anti-market interpretation of the Emoluments Clause that essentially requires presidents to divest such business interests (presumably, at fire sale prices) before assuming office. In the Los Angeles Times, a May 14 op-ed claimed “the Constitution's emoluments clause” is based on “a dread of corruption” from “officeholders” tainted by “the scrum of the marketplace,” and that Trump’s continuing business holdings are “violating it.”

As National Review notes, these expansive, anti-market interpretations of the Emoluments Clause would snare not just Trump, but also other modern presidents such as Barack Obama, who obtained copyrights while in office from many foreign governments to sell his books overseas: The law professors and attorneys bringing the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) lawsuit “advocate a broad view of ‘emoluments’ to cover any sort of commerce between any foreign sovereign entity and the Trump Organization, a view so broad that it would hold President Obama to have violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause every time a foreign public library bought a copy of Dreams of My Father…By contrast, University of Iowa Law Professor Andy Grewal marshalled historical evidence (mainly from the 19th century) showing that the traditional understanding of ‘emoluments’ was limited to salary and other financial benefits attached to the holding of an office, and did not cover outside private business interests.” As Grewel observes, “market-rate transactions between the Trump Organization and foreign governments do not come within the clause.”

Grewel’s conclusions are echoed by University of Montana Law Professor Robert Natelson, author of The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant, who analyzed the legislative history of the Clause and its precursor in the Maryland Constitution. As Natelson notes, CREW’s interpretation of emoluments “would have eliminated Virginia tobacco planters like Thomas Jefferson or James Madison from ever being considered for the presidency.”

Some law professors say the Emoluments Clause may not even apply to Presidents, as opposed to appointed federal officials like diplomats.

91 comments:

  1. I encourage you to read the excellent legal and historical analysis of Andy S. Grewal at the University of Iowa College of Law who published a recent study entitled, The Foreign Emoluments Clause And The Chief Executive. His review of the issues is smart, insightful and comprehensive.

    But if you have neither the time nor inclination to wade through 43 pages and 187 annotations, here is the abridged version.




    Article I, section 9, clause 8 of the Constitution states:

    “…no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under (the United States) shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State”.

    The Framers were concerned that U.S. officials might be seduced by greed to use their office for personal profit, conferring benefits to foreign governments in a quid pro quo scheme for money. So they crafted the “emoluments clause” to prevent other countries from essentially bribing American officials, including the president. But our Founders did not define what is or is not an emolument.

    In search of a definition, a basic and prominent legal source, "Black’s Law Dictionary," is useful. It defines the term emolument as, “Any advantage, profit, or gain received as a result of one’s holding of office”. The original Webster’s Dictionary defines it as, “profit arising from office”. The Oxford English Dictionary offers a near identical definition.

    None of these interpretations apply to President Donald Trump nor the many businesses that pre-date his presidency. Any payments to his Trump Organization do not arise from his holding the office he just assumed days ago. To the contrary, any realized profit emanates from his businesses, not his presidency.

    Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court has visited this very subject not once, but three times. In each case, the high court has consistently adopted the same definition of emoluments. That is, ordinary business transactions are not emoluments. There must be a nexus between the payment and the office. An emolument arises “when a pecuniary profit is derived from a discharge of the duties of the office.” (Hoyt v. United States, 51 U.S. 109)

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
  2. The bidding for the rights to books written by former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama has skyrocketed to more than $60 million, according to a report from the Financial Times.

    THAT IS ONE BIG ASS EMOLUMENT

    ReplyDelete
  3. I want an emolument too.

    A shooter has attacked a practice session of the Congressional baseball game.

    One Republican, Steve Scalise, shot in hip. 50+ shots fires.

    Gunman is in custody, perhaps wounded.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Majority Whip for the US House of Representatives Steve Scalise has been shot at Baseball practice in Virginia, according to local media reports.

    ReplyDelete
  5. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a number of aides and two U.S. Capitol Police officers were shot while at a baseball practice Wednesday morning in Alexandria, Virginia, according to multiple reports.
    CBS News reported Mr. Scalise was shot in the hip.
    Fox NEws Channel reported the shooter opened fire with a long rifle.
    Alexandria police said the shooting occurred before 7:30 a.m. on East on East Monroe Street in neighborhood known as Del Ray.

    Members of Congress were practicing for the upcoming ball game pitting Republicans versus Democrats.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This was so predictable.

    Can you imagine what would be happening now in the press, in the media and on the streets if this were a black Democrat?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL! History down the memory hole in Wingnut World. The Kenyan born crack addict Barack HUSSEIN Obama aka Barry never existed. Meanwhile the conflicts that abound with King Trump are just hysteria over nothing.

      Delete
    2. Where did anyone, with any credidibility in the media, say he was a crack addict?

      Delete
    3. Creditable, well that is questionable, but our very own Deuce pumped that line pretty hard

      Delete
    4. Hey Ash, do you think the shooter was a Russian?

      Delete
    5. O'bozo himself, in his ghost written autobiography, said that in his youth he used coke/crack whenever he could afford/get it.

      Then he saw the light and gave it up.

      Delete
    6. Obama was a drug user, marijuana and cocaine. ( that is a matter of record)

      He never gave up cigarettes. No drug user ever does.

      He is skinny like a doper and his public speaking went from mellow to speed frantic.

      Delete
  7. When you have a lawless society, as when the losing Democrat candidate says "Resist" and no out cry over the mobs in the street, this is the outcome. The Left doesn't believe there is any other authority.

    What does #Resistance really mean? It means the overthrow of our government.

    In this century, Democrats rejected the outcomes of two presidential elections won by Republicans. After Bush won, they settled for accusing him of being a thief, an idiot, a liar, a draft dodger and a mass murderer. They fantasized about his assassination and there was talk of impeachment. But elected officials gritted their teeth and tried to get things done.

    This time around it’s “radically” different.

    The official position, from the Senate to the streets, is “Resistance.” Leftist media outlets are feeding the faithful a fantasy that President Trump will be brought down. There is fevered speculation about the 25th Amendment, a coup or impeachment due to whatever scandal has been manufactured last.

    This fantasy is part clickbait. Leftist media outlets are feeding the worst impulses of their readers. But there is a bigger and more disturbing radical endgame.

    The left can be roughly divided into moderates and radicals. The distinction doesn’t refer to outcome; both want very similar totalitarian societies with very little personal freedom and a great deal of government control. Instead it’s about the tactics that they use to get to that totalitarian system.

    The “moderates” believe in working from within the system to transform the country into a leftist tyranny. The “radicals” believe that the system is so bad that it cannot even be employed for progressive ends. Instead it needs to be discredited and overthrown by radicalizing a revolutionary base.


    ReplyDelete
  8. It is time to push back and push back hard, but do it legally and go after the low hanging fruit. start here:

    Hillary Clinton: “Resist, insist, persist, enlist.”

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Democrats are the party of Resist and ignore any violence directed at Trump and the Republican, cheered on by the Media.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) recounted an "odd" encounter he had as he was leaving the field just minutes before the shooting: "There was a guy that walked up to us that was asking whether it was Republicans or Democrats out there, and it was just a little odd," DeSantis told Fox News.

    ReplyDelete
  11. And don't make any feel good pact with the skunks that they will ignore the first time one of the media puts a microphone in their face.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Back when I boxed GG, the last thing the ref would say to us before the opening round was, "defend yourselves at all times."

    A mantra I live by.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it's been suggested that the shooter could be Russian and concerns have been raised he possibly was an assassin who could have been hired by the WAPO.....maybe.

      Delete
  13. At least five people shot.

    Most logical guesses are a resist dem, or a muzz as shooter.

    Very Ddubtful if it is a Hindu.

    Here's a Drudge headline I hadn't seen (had fallen off to sleep) that might give a little hint:

    GUNMAN: 'KILL AS MANY REPUBLICANS AS POSSIBLE'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One James Hodgkinson of Illinois has been identified as the shooter.

      Delete
    2. Sounds like another demented dem, to me, pushed over the edge by the Julius Caesar play, perhaps.

      Delete
    3. Senator Rand Paul was in the batting cage, escaped unwounded.

      Delete
    4. Gunman opens fire at congressional baseball practice...
      High-Powered Rifle; More than 50 shots fired...
      'Are Those Republicans or Democrats Out There?'
      Kept unloading and reloading...
      VIDEO...
      SHOOTER NAMED...
      'It's Time To Destroy Trump & Co'....DRUDGE


      Yep, it's looking like another demented Dem pushed over the edge by all the resist rhetoric and the Assassinate The President Play In The Park.

      Delete
  14. It is The Donald's birthday today.

    Happy Birthday, Donald Trump.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The shooter James Hodgkinson has died.

    ReplyDelete
  16. BernieBro


    MailOnline US - news, sport, celebrity, science and health stories

    Congress baseball gunman was a Trump-hating Bernie supporter: Hero cops kill white Illinois man, 66, who opened fire on Republican lawmakers with an assault rifle, leaving four injured

    James T. Hodgkinson from Belleville, Illinois, died in hospital after being shot at the baseball field by Capitol Police

    The 66-year-old was a staunch Democrat who threatened to 'destroy Trump & Co' on social media before Wednesday's shooting

    Hodkingson campaigned for Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic nomination in 2016 and regularly ranted against the president

    He opened fire on a group of GOP figures at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia, at 7am

    House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, congressional staffer Zachary Barth and two Capitol Police were shot

    The police officers were injured as they returned fire with their pistols while the congressmen dove for cover

    They were practicing ahead of an annual charity baseball game which is due to take place on Thursday


    By JENNIFER SMITH and DAVID MARTOSKO, U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
    PUBLISHED: 11:17 EDT, 14 June 2017 | UPDATED: 12:46 EDT, 14 June 2017

    The gunman who opened fire on a Republican congressional baseball practice session this morning before being killed by cops has been identified as a Trump-hating Bernie Sanders supporter.

    Sixty-six-year-old James T. Hodgkinson from Belleville, Illinois, was killed by Capitol Police after firing up to 100 rounds from an assault rifle at a baseball park in Alexandria, Virginia, leaving four injured including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

    Hodgkinson was a staunch Bernie Sanders supporter and campaigned for the left-wing senator to get the Democratic nomination for president last year. The union tradesman, threatened to 'destroy' the president and his administration on social media.....

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4604130/Steve-Scalise-baseball-gunman-James-T-Hodgkinson-pictured.html#ixzz4jzpgi8eM

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Bernie Sanders has made an excellent statement condemning all violence on the Senate floor just now.

      Delete
  17. Bernie should take his own advise and stop all the hate speech, anti Christian spew, and the condemning of anyone who disagrees with his bullshit agenda.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been hoping he moves to Venezuela.

      He wants to live in a socialist country.

      There's one, right there, not that far away.

      Bernie should become a Venezuelan.

      Delete
  18. I heard one fellow at the grocery store saying it was time to disarm moslems, and Democrats.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Quirk says he heard him shout: Allahu Akbar!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Someone said they heard Rand Paul cry out: 'Go easy on the man, it's not like he's robbing a Kentucky Liquor Store'
      before he ducked into a dugout.

      Delete
    2. 'Some liquor is 12 years old' Paul continued, 'and Congress needs term limits anyways.'

      Delete
    3. Rand has always had his priorities properly prioritized.

      Delete
    4. Quirk can't hear that far.

      That was some muzz shouting out near Ye Olde Mafia Barber Shoppe in Detroit, Michigan.

      Delete
    5. Or maybe shouting out in Hamtramck, Michigan.

      At any rate the fellow advocating disarming the muzz and the Democrats was onto something.

      Some Democrats have talked about blowing up the White House, for gosh's sakes.

      Acted out beheading the President, assassinated the President on stage.....

      Delete
  20. I find it all deeply troubling and problematic.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Meanwhile the English should learn not to reside a high rise building with flammable materials.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Especially if humans are gonna reside inside.

      Delete
  22. It figures the Pubs would be playing baseball.

    Baseball is the last remnant of White Privilege in sports.

    ReplyDelete
  23. The scumbags ( all Democrats ) nearly 200 Democratic members of Congress, agreed to file a lawsuit Wednesday against President Donald Trump alleging that by retaining interests in a global business empire he has violated constitutional restrictions on taking gifts and benefits from foreign leaders.

    The lead senator filing the complaint in federal district court, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday that the lawsuit has already drawn more congressional plaintiffs — 196 — than any legal action previously taken against a president. No Republicans have yet joined in the lawsuit, although they will be invited to do so, Blumenthal said.

    MICHAEL BLUMENTHAL

    LISTEN UP:

    “We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”

    There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.

    SCUMBAG OR NOT?

    The deferments allowed Mr. Blumenthal to complete his studies at Harvard; pursue a graduate fellowship in England; serve as a special assistant to The Washington Post’s publisher, Katharine Graham; and ultimately take a job in the Nixon White House.

    In 1970, with his last deferment in jeopardy, he landed a coveted spot in the Marine Reserve, which virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam. He joined a unit in Washington that conducted drills and other exercises and focused on local projects, like fixing a campground and organizing a Toys for Tots drive.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The spirit of Toys for Tots and Campground Rejuvenation seeps out of every pore of his body.

      I find the man irresistibly warm and attractive.

      Delete
    2. It's as if the Chicago 7 are now running Congress.

      Delete

  24. The opposition is ruthless and without principle, but it couldn’t get as far as it has without the president’s inadvertent help.

    I say that because of the one important fact that did emerge from the Senate hearing — that Sessions knew almost from day one that he would have to recuse himself from any investigation of the campaign because of Justice Department regulations.

    That fact alone should have persuaded Sessions to turn down the job, or persuaded Trump to name someone else. Either decision would have changed history.

    Consider that Sessions’ recusal meant that the White House effectively lost control of the Justice Department. Rod Rosenstein, the career prosecutor named as Sessions’ deputy, named Robert Mueller as special counsel after simply notifying Sessions and the White House.

    And even the act that led Rosenstein to go the special counsel route — the firing of FBI boss James Comey — was bungled. I believe Comey deserved to be removed, but after Trump and the White House gave conflicting explanations that led to a public outcry, Rosenstein sought to put the Russia probe outside the control of the Justice Department.

    The entire Trump presidency, then, now hangs in the balance of an unrestrained independent investigation, instigated by the president’s enemies, all because the president picked an AG who could have no role in the most important decision of the young administration.

    http://nypost.com/2017/06/13/trump-made-a-mistake-naming-sessions-as-attorney-general/

    ReplyDelete
  25. DC Shootout

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vSmc9ILFvI

    ReplyDelete
  26. Maybe The Donald should just fire Mueller and the secondary AG too and just take the heat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Could The Donald fire all Mueller's Democrat hires ?

      Delete
    2. It's like having a bunch of Trump hating Quirks working for Mueller.

      Delete
  27. Dude, Mayweather / McGregor.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Replies
    1. Sitting on a park bench overlooking Ocho Rios in Jamaica a few years back, Rupert Everett spots two women on the hill. One is like “a baby sparrow that has fallen from its nest”, he writes in his memoir. She appears a bit disorientated, wearing Uggs and a tracksuit.

      Everett describes her as “slightly chavvy”. The women are talking about prescription drugs. Everett starts to see that this little bird is beautiful, with her black eyes and unfiltered directness. She reminds him of someone.

      It as if he has known her in a past life. She is both lined and girlish, and she walks beside him, telling him the names of trees, of every plant.

      He has indeed known her, as so many of us do. Or the myth of her, anyway. This woman was Anita Pallenberg, who has died at the age of 73. Everett flashes back to when he was 14, masturbating over a 15ft-high image of Anita, on screen in Performance. This film is a portal for him and who he is to be. This film has it all: sex, androgyny, drugs, violence, gangsters, interior decoration. Nic Roeg’s movie remains as hallucinogenically strange and disturbing as ever and Pallenberg will be for ever remembered as Pherber: sexually omnivorous, dangerous, sweetly amoral. The movie came out in 1970, but it captures the psychosis of the end of the 60s, where art, crime and sex open up the gates of social mobility but identity becomes fragmented.

      https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/14/anita-pallenberg-first-rock-chick-no-easy-gig-being-muse-rolling-stones

      Delete
    2. I can't think I've ever heard of her.

      Delete
    3. https://www.google.com/search?q=marianne+faithfull&rlz=1CAACAO_enUS720US720&oq=mary+ann+fai&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l5.12961j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

      Delete
    4. We did not find results for: https://www.google.com/search?q=marianne+faithfull&rlz=1CAACAO_enUS720US720&oq=mary+ann+fai&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l5.12961j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.

      Delete
  29. The investigation into ties between President Trump’s campaign and the Russian government has now turned to investigating Trump himself for obstruction of justice, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

    ...

    Rosenstein told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday that he saw no cause for Mueller’s dismissal. “Director Mueller is going to have the full independence he needs to conduct that investigation,” Rosenstein said

    “I appointed him; I stand by that decision,’’ he said. “I will defend the integrity of that investigation.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "I have full confidence that Mueller and his band of Democrat Brothers will be completely impartial with regard to his best bud Comey, his beloved FBI, and The Evil Donald."

      Delete
  30. “I don’t think it’s for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct,” Comey said. “I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning, but that’s a conclusion I’m sure the special counsel will work towards, to try and understand what the intention was there, and whether that’s an offense.”

    Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, wrote a letter to Chairman Chuck Grassley calling for the judiciary committee to establish its own investigation into obstruction of justice.

    Grassley on Tuesday stopped short of ruling out establishing a congressional investigation into the question of whether Trump obstructed justice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If Comey can't say it was an effort to obstruct justice certainly no one can either.

      Delete
    2. Comey is the witness for goodness sakes and he can't say.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, but he was mildly nauseous.

      Diminished capacity.

      Delete
  31. Cosby's jury is taking too long a time.

    I don't think they are going to be able to make a guilty decision.

    So, probably I will soon read on Drudge "Cosby Guilty !"

    ReplyDelete
  32. John Goodman can play James T. Hodgkinson.

    A variation of Walter Sobchak in "The Big Lebowski

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Ghost of Phillip Seymour Hoffman can play Trump's personal assistant.

      http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0003523/bio

      Delete
    2. Mueller's refrain will be:

      "New Shit has come to light!"

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbIv7W7rhx4

      Delete
  33. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  34. ‘F*ck Steve Scalise’: HuffPost writer wishes ‘violent resistance’ were more ‘organized’
    Posted at 4:51 pm on June 14, 2017 by Sarah D.

    http://twitchy.com/sd-3133/2017/06/14/fck-steve-scalise-huffpost-writer-wishes-violent-resistance-were-more-organized/

    ReplyDelete
  35. "When no one wanted to host your troops after 9/11, we did. We protected them.

    Saudi Arabia asked you to leave," said Meshal bin Jamad al Thani, the Qatari ambassador to the U.S. Qataris believe that the blockade of their country is politically motivated by the Saudis in an effort to flex their muscle in the region.

    ...

    "None of our people attacked the U.S.," said al Thani, a nod to the Saudis who were involved in the Sept 11th terrorist attacks.

    ReplyDelete
  36. The previous post said,"There will be blood".

    We now have it by a Democratic activist who was out to kill as many Republican Congressmen as possible.

    I don't want to hear that this in an aberration. This is the logical consequence of resistance, called for by the leading figures in the Democratic Party.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If Scalise and his security detail hadn't been there, there would have been a whole bunch of dead Republicans.

      Delete
  37. I'm not so sure that Steve Scalise will make it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trump just left the hospital. Says he's in very tough shape.

      Delete
  38. Other lawmakers were stunned in the aftermath of the event, which raised questions about the security of members of Congress. While the top lawmakers, including Scalise, have security details, others do not and regularly appear in public without protection.

    The last time a lawmaker was shot was when Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords of Arizona was hit in the head and grievously injured while meeting with constituents at a supermarket parking lot in 2011.

    Following the Giffords shooting, lawmakers have held fewer open town halls and have been advised to increase security at such events.

    ReplyDelete
  39. "A woman walking her dog said she heard a female officer scream, “Drop your weapon,” before the gunman “shot her and she fell to the ground.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/multiple-people-injured-after-shooting-in-alexandria/2017/06/14/0289c768-50f6-11e7-be25-3a519335381c_story.html?utm_term=.be39a900c1b2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm confused:
      Why would she do anything other than try to kill the bastard?

      Drop your weapon ???

      Delete
  40. Turkey sent its foreign minister to Qatar on Wednesday as part of a drive to repair Qatar's rift with fellow Gulf Arab states.

    Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have broken off ties and imposed sanctions on Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and courting regional rival Iran - allegations Doha denies.

    ...

    Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters in Cairo that the conditions set for Qatar were necessary for the national security of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.

    ...

    Qatar said it had withdrawn troops from the frontier between the east African states of Djibouti and Eritrea, where it has been acting as mediator in a border dispute. It gave no reason, but Djibouti had earlier downgraded its diplomatic ties with Qatar.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Drone Warfare

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/06/14/isis-drones-are-attacking-u-s-troops-and-disrupting-airstrikes-in-raqqa-officials-say/?utm_term=.da57da8823d1

    ReplyDelete
  42. Canadian troops will be asked to do more to battle cyber threats and take a larger role in drone warfare as part of the country's new defence plan, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Wednesday.

    Flanked by a tank and an armoured vehicle, Sajjan unveiled details of Canada's new defence policy in a hangar at 3rd Canadian Division Support Base in Edmonton

    ...

    Sajjan's visit came one week after Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada needs "hard power" to achieve its foreign policy goals as the United States under President Donald Trump adopts an increasingly isolationist stance.


    ReplyDelete
  43. Most Experts Agree !!!

    Blaming political vitriol for men like James Hodgkinson? Not so fast, experts say

    "This could be the first political rhetorical terrorist act and that has to stop," said. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill. "I believe that there's such a hatefulness in what we see in American politics and policy discussions right now, and in social media and the 24-hour news cycle."

    Ann Coulter added late-night TV hosts among the guilty as well.

    "The explosion of violence against conservatives across the country is being intentionally ginned up by Democrats, reporters, TV hosts, late-night comedians and celebrities, who compete with one another to come up with the most vile epithets for Trump and his supporters," the conservative firebrand wrote on her website.

    But most experts agree that as contentious as American politics have become, psychological issues, not politics, are the primary reasons a troubled person would commit a violent act.

    "People who are prone to this kind of violence will find justification for acting out from religion, from politics, from whatever," said Peter Ditto, a professor of psychology at the University of California-Irvine. "I don't think that it's fair to say all this political conflict that we're going through is going to make a lot of people go out and shoot people."

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/06/15/steve-scalise-shooting-liberal-conservative-vitriol-blame/396731001/

    ReplyDelete
  44. FBI Under Mueller removes hundreds of training documents after probe on treatment of Islam

    The FBI has removed hundreds of counterterrorism training documents after a months-long review found inaccuracies and other problems in their description of Muslims.

    The review was triggered after a September blog in Wired magazine revealed training documents that reportedly called the Prophet Muhammad a "cult leader," claimed "devout" Muslims have been generally violent for hundreds of years and made other controversial statements.

    The FBI did not get into details about which documents were taken out, but a law enforcement source confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that hundreds were removed because they were deemed "not consistent with the highest professional standards and the FBI's core values."

    The results of the review were announced during a meeting earlier this month that included FBI Director Robert Mueller.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/21/fbi-purges-hundreds-training-documents-after-probe-on-treatment-islam.html

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  45. Nice Scalise video on CNN of all places:

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/14/politics/alexandria-virginia-shooting/index.html

    ReplyDelete