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."

Monday, March 26, 2018

Are we entering into a post-globalist world order?


Italian Populists Sideline Mainstream as They Vie for Premiership

By 
John Follain - Bloomberg

  • Di Maio, Salvini lead negotiations after parliament votes
  • President Mattarella due to start talks with parties April 3
After outmaneuvering establishment parties to emerge as lead negotiators in Italy’s search for a new government, the populist pair Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini seek to win enough support this week to justify their rival claims for the premiership.
Di Maio of the Five Star Movement and Salvini of the anti-migrant League, each short of a majority after the March 4 general elections, worked together to successfully sideline both Salvini’s center-right ally Silvio Berlusconi and the ruling Democratic Party in votes for parliamentary speakers.

Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg

With President Sergio Mattarella expected to start talks with party leaders on April 3, any aspiring premier has to persuade the head of state that he commands a parliamentary majority. The pact sealed by Di Maio and Salvini, which saw Five Star win the lower house job and the center-right take the Senate on Saturday, has fueled a possible but difficult scenario which could see them rule together -- a prospect which worries investors and Italy’s European partners.
Asked whether he might govern with Salvini, Di Maio didn’t rule out the prospect. “We’ve shown we are open to everyone for the good of the country as long as the dialog remains focused on the priorities of citizens and not of politicians,” he told newspaper Corriere della Sera in an interview published Sunday. Di Maio listed tax cuts, pension reform, welfare for families and fighting youth unemployment as the main issues needing agreement.

Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg

Di Maio’s Praise

Di Maio had only praise for his fellow negotiator. “Salvini has demonstrated that he is a person who knows how to keep his word,” said Di Maio, who added he’s ready to discuss measures with other parties, and signaled he could change the ministers he proposed before the elections, while he remains the candidate for premiership.
But Di Maio stuck to his refusal to meet Berlusconi, one of several obstacles to a pact between Five Star and the center-right. Five Star has long denounced Berlusconi, who is banned from holding public office until next year because of a 2013 tax-fraud conviction, as a symbol of a corrupt ruling class.
Salvini said on Twitter Sunday that it’s the center-right coalition which should indicate the next premier. The League leader has pledged that he would only join up with Five Star with the blessing of Berlusconi, who wants a tie-up with the center-left Democratic Party. What’s more, Five Star has its base in the depressed south of Italy and wants a universal basic income, while the League is rooted in the rich, industrial north and is pushing for a flat tax.

Reconciliation

In a display of reconciliation after a row which fractured their alliance, Berlusconi walked out of his Rome residence together with Salvini on Saturday. The vote for the speakers was “a very positive solution for preserving the alliance,” said Berlusconi. “There’s also an excellent personal relationship between us, so I believe I can look forward with serenity and confidence.”
Only the previous evening however, Berlusconi’s party had described as “an act of cold hostility” the League’s failure to vote for its candidate as Senate speaker, adding that it broke the coalition’s unity and revealed “a plan for a League-Five Star government.”
The quarrelsome bloc has yet to decide whether Berlusconi, Salvini and Giorgia Meloni of the far-right Brothers of Italy party will meet Mattarella together, or separately.

— With assistance by Marco Bertacche

74 comments:


  1. A Witness in the Mueller Probe Allegedly Sent Millions to a Trump Fundraiser to Push a UAE Agenda


    Selling US Foreign Policy.

    There ought to be a law ...
    Oh my!
    There is!

    While Washington is awash with political donations from all manner of interest groups and individuals, there are strict restrictions on foreign donations for political activity. Agents of foreign governments are also required to register before lobbying so that there is a public record of foreign influence.


    Promises Made - Promises Broken



    ReplyDelete

  2. Stormy Daniels says threats kept her quiet about alleged Trump affair until now

    Daniels’s former attorney, Keith Davidson, said he cannot speak publicly until Daniels waives attorney-client privilege, but he does not believe that her assertions on “60 Minutes” “represent a fair and accurate description of the situation.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-eve-of-60-minutes-interview-stormy-daniels-says-working-in-porn-helped-prepare-he

    Her new lawyer has talked her into committing perjury ?

    NO !

    Who could possibly believe that ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. a post-globalist world order ?

    The globalists will say we are entering into a post-globalist disorder.

    Europe ought to hang tough with NATO, is all I got to say.

    When that is settled we can go back to worrying about more mundane affairs of state. (see above)

    By the way, the English are overdue for a ripper of a sex scandal, are they not ?

    What is wrong with their government and upper classes these days ?

    All gone wimpy or gay ?

    At least no one here doubts The Donald can still get it up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And that is an ancient and proven requisite for effective leadership.

      Delete
    2. (regardless of what the amazon women say)

      Delete
    3. There's always hope for the Italians -

      The Berlusconi sex scandal explained - CNN.com
      www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/08/23/berlusconi.sex.scandal.../index.html
      Aug 25, 2011 - Rome (CNN) -- For the past eight months, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been engulfed in a sex scandal that has him accused of paying for sex with a minor. He is presently on trial in Milan for allegedly paying for sex with 17-year-old Moroccan belly dancer Karima El ...
      Berlusconi eyes political resurrection, unhindered by sex scandals
      https://www.reuters.com/...berlusconi-scandals/berlusconi-eyes-political-resurrection-u...

      Nov 7, 2017 - ROME (Reuters) - In a post-Harvey Weinstein world, logic would dictate that Silvio Berlusconi, who hosted wild parties with young women and brags about his sexual prowess, would not have a ghost of a chance at political resurrection.
      Missing: ber
      After tax fraud, sex scandals and heart surgery Silvio Berlusconi is back
      https://www.theguardian.com/.../silvio-berlusconi-after-tax-fraud-sex-scandals-heart-sur...

      Nov 11, 2017 - The outcome of regional elections in Sicily last Sunday confirmed his remarkable capacity for survival over a long political career tainted by sex scandals, countless allegations of corruption and a tax fraud conviction which many pundits predicted would kill him off. Berlusconi succeeded in forging a winning ...

      Delete
    4. I often day dream and night dream too of Quirkie leading a government and me, Me-Me, being talked about in the headlines....I wanna be quoted too....and get shut up money...

      Delete
    5. I wanna a movie made after me and Quirkie.

      Delete
  4. The irrepressible irreplaceable Donald -

    WSJ: China Playing Let’s Make A Deal After Trade-War Threats
    ED MORRISSEYPosted at 8:41 am on March 26, 2018


    Last week, China threatened a massive trade war after Donald Trump imposed $50 billion in tariffs on their exports. This week, Beijing’s top economic official has begun to do his best Monty Hall impersonation, according to the Wall Street Journal. After a notably mild first response, China has quietly begun to offer better access to its markets to the US:

    China and the U.S. have quietly started negotiating to improve U.S. access to Chinese markets, after a week filled with harsh words from both sides over Washington’s threat to use tariffs to address trade imbalances, people with knowledge of the matter said.

    The talks, which cover wide areas including financial services and manufacturing, are being led by Liu He, China’s economic czar in Beijing, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington.

    In a letter Messrs. Mnuchin and Lighthizer sent to Mr. Liu late last week, the Trump administration set out specific requests that include a reduction of Chinese tariffs on U.S. automobiles, more Chinese purchases of U.S. semiconductors and greater access to China’s financial sector by American companies, the people said. Mr. Mnuchin is weighing a trip to Beijing to pursue the negotiations, one of these people said.

    Rather than go big, the WSJ’s Lingling Wei and Bob Davis point out, China imposed only a nominal set of tariffs after Trump’s announcement. They only impacted $3 billion in imports, less than 10% of the scope of the US tariffs announced by Trump. Those moves signaled an openness to talks, at least in the short run, to resolve any outstanding issues.

    That, of course, plays right into Trump’s strategy of casting himself as a master dealmaker, a point which does not seem to bother China. How much can we expect out of a renegotiation, though? China certainly won’t give the farm away over $50 billion in tariffs, but then again, perhaps Trump doesn’t need a dramatically better deal. Even an incremental improvement would be a major win for his aggressive tactics, especially since his predecessors seemed mainly content to complain about China without taking any significant action.

    Perhaps we can see a hint of this in South Korea, where negotiators claim they have reached a deal in principle on a renegotiated free-trade agreement:

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The United States and South Korea have agreed to settle their differences on trade. The South Korean government said Monday that the two countries had struck a deal on a new version of the free trade agreement that has linked the two economies for the past six years.

      South Korea has also secured a partial exemption from President Donald Trump’s new steel tariffs.

      While South Korea is politically much closer to the US than China is, their trade practices had also given rise to many complaints. Trump targeted this trading relationship for his aggressive strategy, too, pointing out the annual $23 billion trade deficit with Seoul and their reluctance to open their markets to imports. But how much will we have won from the deal? Automakers will get to sell more cars, but the numbers may not dramatically rise in the near term:

      South Korea’s Trade Ministry said Monday it will double to 50,000 the quota for vehicles that meet US safety rules that can be imported into the country. Beyond that threshold, cars shipped from the US will have to comply with South Korean auto-safety regulations.

      US automakers have previously complained that having to comply with the South Korean rules puts them at disadvantage.

      The adjustments “will make little practical difference, at least in the short term,” said Tan of Capital Economics, noting that “no US automaker sold more than 11,000 vehicles in Korea last year.”

      Long term, however, it gives US automakers an opportunity to push sales up for cars made in the US, which will boost jobs for American workers. It may not be a dramatic or immediate change, but again, that’s not the point. Trump will argue that all it took was having someone seriously threatening to punish unfair trade practices to shake up our trading partners and push them into giving concessions.

      The flip side of this aggressive strategy is that it could land us in a trade war, of course, and that would be incredibly destructive. However, Trump seems to have the measure of his opponents, who thus far have demonstrated that they don’t want to get into an economic fight with the US and are willing to give some concessions. He appears to have succeeded in South Korea; if he can do that with China and again in a new NAFTA agreement, Trump can still make the argument that he did what other presidents could not or would not do. And … he’d be right. If he succeeds.

      https://hotair.com/archives/2018/03/26/wsj-china-playing-lets-make-deal-trade-war-threats/

      Delete
  5. Was Stormy Under The Weather ?

    Stormy Daniels’ ‘Super’ Dilated Pupils Spark Accusations She Was High On Meds For ‘60 Minutes’ Interview
    by Joshua Caplan March 25, 2018 687 Comments
    2.9KShare234TweetEmail

    Was washed up pornstar Stormy Daniels high on drugs for her highly anticipated ’60 Minutes’ interview? Twitter couldn’t help but notice Daniels’ dilated pupils. Later came the accusations of drug use.

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/03/stormy-daniels-super-dilated-pupils-spark-accusations-she-was-high-on-meds-for-60-minutes-interview/

    ReplyDelete
  6. .

    We do not care! Dammit.


    Deuce ☂Mon Mar 26, 04:11:00 AM EDT

    Five Takeaways from Stormy Daniels' 60 Minute Interview:

    Nobody - Gives - A - Flying - Fuck
    Reply
    Replies

    DougMon Mar 26, 04:36:00 AM EDT

    .

    It's a big fuckin deal to me!

    .

    DougMon Mar 26, 04:39:00 AM EDT

    .

    1. I'm
    2. a frustrated
    3. wannabe
    4. News
    5. man

    .


    DougMon Mar 26, 04:41:00 AM EDT

    .

    The Woodward and Bernstein of the New Millennium.

    .

    DougMon Mar 26, 04:42:00 AM EDT

    .

    WaPo
    WaPo
    WaPo
    WaPo
    WaPo

    .


    QuirkMon Mar 26, 10:10:00 AM EDT

    .

    :o)

    :o):O)

    :o):O):O)

    .



    Right, boys. It's so obvious.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      You boys obviously care. Luckily for Trump, the only people who don't care are his base, all those Christian evangelicals. Now, that is really funny.

      .

      Delete
    2. .

      DougMon Mar 26, 02:29:00 AM EDT

      I just got up from a nap and pictured her slapping his dick with the magazine.

      ...on second reading, I'm guessing she spanked his fat ass.

      Weiner on the brain.



      Face it, Doug, it's not the first time. Usually you just put it all behind you.

      .

      Delete
    3. .

      Nobody - Gives - A - Flying - Fuck


      Over 20 million viewers.

      Best ratings for '60 Minutes' in over a decade.

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      Don't worry boys.

      Sure it's funny as hell, but heck, it's simply a reality tv star doing what reality tv stars do.

      Well, funny as hell except to Melania and the kids, of course.

      As long as Trump keeps banning the 'Trans' from the military, his base will gladly give him a pass about boinking porn stars while his wife is pregnant.

      .

      Delete
    5. .

      DougMon Mar 26, 04:42:00 AM EDT

      .

      WaPo
      WaPo
      WaPo
      WaPo
      WaPo

      .



      :o)

      Gateway Pundit
      Gateway Pundit
      Gateway Pundit
      Gateway Pundit
      Gateway Pundit

      "Over time, The Gateway Pundit expanded from a one-person enterprise into a multi-employee operation that is supported primarily by advertising revenue.[11][12] During the 2016 presidential campaign, over a million unique visitors a day visited The Gateway Pundit.[13] The website is often linked to or cited by Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, as well as Drudge Report, Sarah Palin, and other well-known conservative people and media outlets.[14] The website is known for publishing falsehoods and spreading hoaxes.[15][16][17][18][6][2]"

      Wikipedia

      -for a few details-

      20 plus times The Gateway Pundit was Absurdly Wrong

      .

      Delete
    6. FLASHBACK: Media Deemed Clinton-Lewinsky Nothing More Than Consensual Sex...

      https://www.dailywire.com/news/28662/flashback-msm-deemed-clinton-lewinsky-affair-joseph-curl


      NYT THEN: 'Publicly humiliating anyone for consensual adultery is draconian, and wrong'...

      https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/19/opinion/the-adultery-wars.html

      Delete
  7. .

    At least no one here doubts The Donald can still get it up.

    :o)

    ...on second reading, I'm guessing she spanked his fat ass.


    Maybe, that's what it takes for him to get it up.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Erection projection by Quirk-0.

      (i remember what Me-Me told me once about you)

      Delete
  8. I'm here to step up and express some sympathy for Stormy.

    Granted she's made some choices but she hasn't had an easy life either.

    And, she has a daughter.

    She probably lacks the skills to do much else.

    She's in a tough spot.

    The Donald ought to give her a million and call it a good deed for the day.

    Make her put it in a good investment and make her live off the income.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think - this is an opinion - that 'Mad Dog' Mattis is the next to go.

    He doesn't like moustache man.

    He may resign before he gets canned.

    I hope he does it that way.

    He can feel, and say, truthfully he did his best in getting the money needed by the military but he doesn't want to be part of going after N. Korea and Iran.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Report: Mattis Tells Colleagues He’s Not Sure He Can Work With Bolton

      Some who know Mr. Bolton and his operating style predict titanic clashes.

      Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the retired general who has argued for keeping the Iran deal intact and warned that military confrontation with North Korea would result in “the worst kind of fighting in most people’s lifetimes,” told colleagues on Friday that he did not know if he could work with Mr. Bolton. The White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, another retired four-star general, was also unenthusiastic about Mr. Bolton’s hiring…

      But others who have worked for years with Mr. Bolton argue that Mr. Trump knows exactly what he is getting: leverage, not conflict.

      “I think this notion everybody talks about, that the risks of war have gone up, is wrong,” said Stephen J. Hadley, who was Mr. Bush’s national security adviser and a major architect of the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. “This is the peace-through-strength crowd who want to make clear to people that they’re tough and that no one should cross them. But the reason for that is to deter war.”

      https://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2018/03/report-mattis-tells-colleagues-hes-not-sure-can-work-bolton/

      Delete
  10. .

    The Trump Team Rolls On

    Egyptians Vote: President Sissi Certain Winner

    Polls open after all serious rivals are barred from running; authorities focus on efforts to legitimize elections by boosting turnout...

    Times of Israel

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What's Trump got to do with that ?

      Besides it beats the Moslem Brotherhood.

      Delete
  11. .

    The Fox Stars: Trump's minor league team.

    Has anyone noticed how Donald 'Chance the Gardener' Trump has been recruiting from FOX to fill his administration's vacancies?

    Fox News team's West Wing casting call.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chancy ?

      You've gone round the bend.

      Delete
    2. Judge Jeanine Pirro deserves a place in the West Wing too.

      Delete
    3. And me, too. I listen to Fox News constantly and feel I'm part of Team Fox.

      Ambassador at Large with Portfolio for Everything would be suitable.

      Delete
    4. Sandra Smith as my spokeswoman.

      Delete
  12. Kim Fatso III called on the carpet ?

    Report: Kim Jong Un Makes Surprise Visit To China

    Kim Jong Un has made a surprise visit to Beijing on his first known trip outside North Korea since taking power in 2011, three people with knowledge of the visit said.

    Further details of the visit, including how long Kim would stay and who he would meet, were not immediately available. The people asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the information.


    https://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2018/03/report-kim-jong-un-makes-surprise-visit-china/

    Maybe he won't come back....

    ReplyDelete
  13. HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE

    Is Stormy In The Clear ?

    Does She Have Pics Of Naked Donald ?

    Stormy Daniels’ Legal Strategy Strongly Suggests She Has Photos of Donald Trump
    JAY MICHAELSON
    03.26.18 11:12 AM ET

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/stormy-daniels-legal-strategy-strongly-suggests-she-has-photos-of-donald-trump?source=twitter&via=mobile

    ReplyDelete
  14. FLASHBACK: Media Deemed Clinton-Lewinsky Nothing More Than Consensual Sex...

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/28662/flashback-msm-deemed-clinton-lewinsky-affair-joseph-curl


    NYT THEN: 'Publicly humiliating anyone for consensual adultery is draconian, and wrong'...

    https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/19/opinion/the-adultery-wars.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. Replies
    1. There's a method to Trump's madness that Q can't fathom.

      He keeps mumbling about it all being chancy.

      Delete
  16. Holocaust survivor stabbed to death, set on fire in Paris...

    http://www.fox5ny.com/news/murder-in-paris-probed-as-anti-semitic

    ReplyDelete
  17. Trump is an adult male that likes women. Both engage in consensual sex. Why would that rattle another man?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Oh wait, you said why would it rattle another man.

      I forgot your the guy who's in favor of the good old days and the culture of the 50's, the days of the 'Mad Men' and keeping our women folk barefoot and pregnant.

      I might be able to buy your analogy if its a young, even a middle aged guy, engaging in consensual sex with a woman. Heck, that was one of the reasons for my divorce. However, the idea of a 65 year old fat, balding Trump boinking a porn star half his age shortly after his wife delivers his kid should make any normal person laugh their ass off or go 'Ick'.

      .

      Delete
    2. This may come as a shock too you. It is none of your business.

      Delete
  18. I just don't wanna see Stormy's picture of a naked Trump.

    I might think of myself and shoot myself.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Patience is a noble characteristic that Quirk lacks.

    Like Romeo, he wants everything right now.

    Just days ago he was crowing about how the stock market had dropped.

    Here's Drudge for today:

    STOCKS JUMP: BIGGEST GAIN SINCE '08

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quirk's a crotchety one-way ratchet.

      Delete
    2. .

      I wasn't crowing about the stock market drop. I have money in the market. What I complained about was unforced errors by Trump that caused the stock market drop.

      Remember, Trump said tariffs would be levied across the board starting last week. Today, there are more countries with exclusions than there are set to get them. I don't know if he's levied any of them yet.

      Also, the Dow is still down 2500 from its high.

      .

      Delete
    3. You were bellowing like a punctured pig.

      awhooghgahwooghawhhoogh..bellow bellow bellow

      I wish I had a recording.

      Delete
    4. 'Punctured pig recordings for sale !

      Be the first in your neighborhood to scare the neighbors !

      awhooghgahwooghawhhoogh....bellow bellow bellow !!'

      Delete
    5. .

      Go back and get the comments, dipshit.

      If I'm wrong, I apologize.

      If your wrong, don't bother. People expect it of you.

      .

      Delete
    6. Hey nothing to get grumpy about, old fella.

      I'm grumpy most of the time myself, like right now.

      And, I'm never wrong.

      Delete
    7. And, I've always liked the melody of stuck hogs bellowing in the morning.

      Wayne pointed it out to me one time, how musical and sweet it is !

      Delete
  20. Putin and Trump are men's men. Putin hunts, and fishes, even with his shirt off. Trump humps playmates and porn stars.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pooty poot doesn't actually stream fish.

      He is just posing.

      Sometimes he shows off his Cross that dangles down from around his neck.

      He's taken the Cross, you know.

      Pooty is an asshole that richly deserves a firing squad, and hellfire after.

      Delete
    2. Pooty's got Small Man Syndrome, my wife says, the dreaded SMS.

      Delete
    3. Wonder if Pussy Riot is still performing.

      Delete
  21. Hooking ought to be legalized, and licensed.

    STD checks frequently.

    Then all The Donald would need show is his receipt.

    ReplyDelete
  22. CONGRESSMAN: RUMOR PAUL RYAN READY TO RESIGN
    'NEXT 30 TO 60 DAYS'....DRUDGE


    https://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/26/hagar-rumor-paul-ryan-resign-u-s-house-speaker-scalise-replace-him-amodei-says/460544002/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kevin McCarthy would be a lot easier to take than Ryan, AND he's tight with Nunes, which will drive Quirkie even more insane.

      Delete
  23. AshMon Mar 26, 05:41:00 PM EDT
    Putin and Trump are men's men. Putin hunts, and fishes, even with his shirt off. Trump humps playmates and porn stars.


    There is a third choice for you Ash, you could accompany Obama to a bath house.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Choose Option #1, Ash.

    #1) Hunting and Fishing

    Don't go Larry Sinclair on us.

    ReplyDelete
  25. John 'Post Global' Bolton

    John Bolton Is No Warmonger'

    But the revulsion on the Left against John Bolton is occasioned by much more than his robust positions on Iran and North Korea. It includes, for example, his support of Brexit and his rejection of the demand that the West provide a home for Syrian refugees. At the end of the day, what Bolton’s enemies really hate is his insistence on the central importance of national sovereignty to the maintenance of that world order bequeathed to us by the peace of Westphalia in 1648. They hate John Bolton because he is a patriotic nationalist and they are utopian globalists. As he put it a few years ago in How Barack Obama is Endangering Our National Sovereignty, ‘advocates of ‘sharing’ or ‘pooling’ U.S. sovereignty with international organisations to address ‘global’ problems are really saying we should cede some of our sovereignty to institutions that other nations will also influence or even control. That is unquestionably a formula for reducing U.S. autonomy and reducing our control over government’. In Bolton’s view, nationalism is a good thing, a support, not a threat, to freedom. And sovereignty is an indispensable adjunct to nationalism.

    John Bolton is thus an appropriate counsellor for a President whose signature policy is ‘America First’—which does not mean, as he hastened to add, ‘America Alone’. Some news outlets have made heavy weather out of the fact that Bolton is Donald Trump’s third national security advisor in fourteen months. But that is laughable. A cabal in the CIA and FBI destroyed Trump’s first national security advisor, Michael Flynn after a few weeks. General McMaster was hurriedly slotted into the position. De dimissis nil nisi bonum dicendum est: about the sacked one should say nothing but good. H.R. McMaster is a great and noble warrior (the fact that that phrase sounds odd to our effete ears tells us a lot about ourselves). But apparently he never really meshed with his boss. Rumours of his departure have been rife for months. Last week, the President called Vladimir Putin after his election. He congratulated Putin on his victory even though his briefing memo admonished DO NOT CONGRATULATE, something we know because it was leaked to The Washington Post, to the fury of the President, McMaster, and all responsible actors in the White House. That seems to have been the proverbial straw that did in the dromedary.


    https://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2018/03/john-bolton-no-warmonger/

    ReplyDelete
  26. Does Mr. Bolton’s appointment mean the Trump administration is moving toward war with North Korea or Iran? Perhaps, but it won’t be the mustachioed national security adviser who makes that call.

    On the evidence of his presidency so far, nobody tells The Donald what to do: not lawyers, not generals, not cabinet officers, not diplomats, not congressional leaders, not relatives, not even talking heads on cable TV.

    Mr. Bolton didn’t plunge American WMD policy into its current state of crisis and uncertainty, and he won’t be the one who decides what to do about it. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump, whose ears are finely attuned to the sentiments of his base, knows that they like tough talk but hate long wars.


    No Bugaboo

    ReplyDelete
  27. Watch Venus set near Morro Rock shortly after sunset:

    http://805webcams.com/morro-bay-california-harbor/

    (you can scroll back in time if you missed it)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Former President Jimmy Carter said in an interview published Monday that John Bolton, the hawkish former U.N. ambassador President Donald Trump recently picked to be his next national security adviser, would be “a disaster for our country.”

    ...

    Carter separately told CBS’ Norah O’Donnell on Monday, in an interview set to air Tuesday, that Trump’s choice of Bolton as his top national security adviser “was very ill-advised.”

    “I think John Bolton has been the worst mistake he’s made,” he said.

    ReplyDelete