Thursday, May 24, 2018
Surprise: Congress Reacts to Summit Cancellation on Party Lines
Weekly Standard
. . . “ 'North Korea has a long history of demanding concessions merely to negotiate,” he said. “While past administrations of both parties have fallen for this ruse, I commend the president for seeing through Kim Jong-un’s fraud.”
"Nebraska senator Ben Sasse said much the same: “Kim Jong-un is a murderous despot and habitual liar. The president made the right call to cancel this summit. If North Korea wants diplomacy, it should know that half-measures and spin about its nuclear program won’t cut it.”
"Democrats, unsurprisingly, were not laudatory. Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations panel, said the cancellation appeared the result of a lack of understanding and preparation on the part of the administration." . . .
The North Korean Summit Should Stay Cancelled . . . "The North Koreans have been yanking our chain over the last week or so, presumably trying to establish their leverage and begin a negotiation over the negotiation. They seemed to make some progress, with Trump saying the other day that maybe we could settle for something short of complete, verifiable denuclearization, which is supposed to be our core demand. The president may have tempted the North Koreans into the gamesmanship by occasionally seeming over-eager to take credit for a stupendous diplomatic success (stripping North Korea of its nukes) that hadn’t happened yet and is unlikely to happen." . . .
Good Riddance to the North Korea Summit "It was a bad idea from the start, and Trump must hold firm to his decision to cancel it."
. . . "Second, in tangible ways North Korea was already using the summit to leverage concessions. It was an ominous sign when the U.S. canceled a training exercise involving B-52 bombers. South Korean officials had reportedly “expressed concerns” that the exercise could raise tensions before the summit. It’s routine for North Korea to demand the cancellation of joint military exercises with South Korea. It’s not routine for the U.S. and South Korea to acquiesce to those demands." . . .
. . . “ 'North Korea has a long history of demanding concessions merely to negotiate,” he said. “While past administrations of both parties have fallen for this ruse, I commend the president for seeing through Kim Jong-un’s fraud.”
"Nebraska senator Ben Sasse said much the same: “Kim Jong-un is a murderous despot and habitual liar. The president made the right call to cancel this summit. If North Korea wants diplomacy, it should know that half-measures and spin about its nuclear program won’t cut it.”
"Democrats, unsurprisingly, were not laudatory. Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations panel, said the cancellation appeared the result of a lack of understanding and preparation on the part of the administration." . . .
The North Korean Summit Should Stay Cancelled . . . "The North Koreans have been yanking our chain over the last week or so, presumably trying to establish their leverage and begin a negotiation over the negotiation. They seemed to make some progress, with Trump saying the other day that maybe we could settle for something short of complete, verifiable denuclearization, which is supposed to be our core demand. The president may have tempted the North Koreans into the gamesmanship by occasionally seeming over-eager to take credit for a stupendous diplomatic success (stripping North Korea of its nukes) that hadn’t happened yet and is unlikely to happen." . . .
Good Riddance to the North Korea Summit "It was a bad idea from the start, and Trump must hold firm to his decision to cancel it."
. . . "Second, in tangible ways North Korea was already using the summit to leverage concessions. It was an ominous sign when the U.S. canceled a training exercise involving B-52 bombers. South Korean officials had reportedly “expressed concerns” that the exercise could raise tensions before the summit. It’s routine for North Korea to demand the cancellation of joint military exercises with South Korea. It’s not routine for the U.S. and South Korea to acquiesce to those demands." . . .
What Trump is really saying in his letter to Kim Jong Un
Politico "President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled his planned summit with Kim Jong Un in a written letter. The cancellation of the meeting — scheduled for June 12 in Singapore — appears to be a major blow to Trump’s desire to land a legacy-making deal with North Korea to denuclearize.
"Below is the full text of the letter, annotated."
Wide open
Although some of Trump’s top advisers, including national security adviser John Bolton, believe there is almost no hope for cutting an amicable deal Kim, Trump is signaling that he’s not giving up hope for a potential Nobel Prize. It is unclear whether the possibility is still realistic. Much depends on how the North Koreans respond, presumably within the coming hours, and who wants a deal more.
So North Korea will continue to be a nation living in darkness
Trump cancels Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
"Mr. Trump must be ready to walk away, as Ronald Reagan did at Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1986." Nick Eberstadt, WSJ
CNBC "Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," Trump wrote in a letter to Kim, which was released Thursday morning.
. . .
"While much of the letter was written in conciliatory terms, including praise for North Korea's recent release of three America prisoners, the U.S. president also appeared to issue a threat that conjured memories of his war of words with Kim last year." . . .
CNBC "Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," Trump wrote in a letter to Kim, which was released Thursday morning.
. . .
"While much of the letter was written in conciliatory terms, including praise for North Korea's recent release of three America prisoners, the U.S. president also appeared to issue a threat that conjured memories of his war of words with Kim last year." . . .
Kim must have thought Trump would be like Obama and seek a meeting at any price. Expect ridicule from Democrats, calling Trump a failure.
In Foreign Policy, Donald Trump Is The Powerful Man Barack Obama Never Could Be
The Federalist
. . . Part of the journalistic angst that Trump is that guy comes from the fact their savior, Barack Obama, just could never be. There are two big reasons Obama’s foreign policy had all the staying power of raw shrimp in a hot car. His natural inclination to agree with foreign dictators that America is an evil place in need of “fundamental change,” as he put it, hurt him when dealing with them.
"But what hurt him the most was his rank amateur status at anything involving the real world. He never stood in a room of powerful men used to getting what they want and trying to assert their dominance. He moved seamlessly through a world of academia, liberal activism, then politics. It’s not even reasonable to expect a man to stroll off the cushy world of liberal academia into a room of wolves and expect him to perform. He got eaten alive. Conservatives joked about that video of Obama curling women’s yoga weights, but maybe the mullahs of Iran were laughing too.
"And those mullahs respect Trump. They hate his guts, but they respect him. They just recently recovered from the sore stomach muscles they got from laughing at Obama’s capitulation, just in time to have Trump take Obama’s crappy deal and rip it up in front of their faces. So, let them burn American flags and Trump posters. They do so with the knowledge they can no longer treat the American president like a piñata." . . .
Cartoons added by TD
Some men have been so consumed by jealousy that they hate ‘the man’ simply because he is what they want to be and cannot achieve.
"But what hurt him the most was his rank amateur status at anything involving the real world. He never stood in a room of powerful men used to getting what they want and trying to assert their dominance. He moved seamlessly through a world of academia, liberal activism, then politics. It’s not even reasonable to expect a man to stroll off the cushy world of liberal academia into a room of wolves and expect him to perform. He got eaten alive. Conservatives joked about that video of Obama curling women’s yoga weights, but maybe the mullahs of Iran were laughing too.
"And those mullahs respect Trump. They hate his guts, but they respect him. They just recently recovered from the sore stomach muscles they got from laughing at Obama’s capitulation, just in time to have Trump take Obama’s crappy deal and rip it up in front of their faces. So, let them burn American flags and Trump posters. They do so with the knowledge they can no longer treat the American president like a piñata." . . .
Cartoons added by TD
The Trump era has exposed the dark, vindictive, and oppressive side of liberalism, but that side has always existed.
Liberalism is not the "party of the people," as it has long claimed to be: it is, rather, a despotic philosophy that because of its intention of imposing "advanced" thinking on the masses can govern only through deceit and force.
Progressives on the Brink . . . "No American, regardless of party preference, should fail to see the seriousness of these events. The Watergate break-in and the cover-up that followed made for a serious crime, but it was nothing compared to what is now alleged on the part of members of the Obama administration or on the part of Obama himself. Disclosures are at last moving forward, with House committees pressing for FBI and Justice documents and Sen. Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, requesting communications among Bruce Ohr, Christopher Steele, and others relating to the anti-Trump dossier.
"If it is true that President Obama ordered Attorney General Lynch and Director Comey to avoid bringing charges against candidate Clinton and to spy on the Trump campaign with the intention of throwing the election to Clinton, and if high officials at the FBI knowingly requested a FISA warrant on the basis of evidence known to be false, these actions will represent the most serious political crimes in the history of the country.
. . .
"It's also possible, and more likely, that progressives will dismiss the seriousness of whatever crimes have been committed and engage in even more desperate measures. If that happens, only the political will of the American people will stand in their way. "
Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture including Heartland of the Imagination (2011).
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| Legalinsurrection |
UPDATED: Secret FBI Team That Coordinated Set-Up of Trump Was Pressured by CNN – Guess Who Was CNN DOJ Reporter at the Time?
The Gateway Pundit
"Guess who started working at CNN covering the DOJ around this time?
Valerie Jarrett’s daughter Laura!"
"Guess who started working at CNN covering the DOJ around this time?
Valerie Jarrett’s daughter Laura!"
". . . 5. January 8, 2017, 12:55 p.m. Mr. McCabe emailed then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and then-Principal Deputy Attorney General Matthew Axelrod with the subject line “News.” Mr. McCabe wrote, “Just an FYI, and as expected, it seems CNN is close to running a story about the sensitive reporting.”
"Two days later on January 10, 2017, CNN ran the story about the unverified and salacious allegations made in the anti-Trump dossier with BuzzFeed publishing the dossier within a couple hours of CNN’s report.
"So how do you suppose James Comey knew that CNN was about to run the salacious anti-Trump dossier back in January 2017?
"And who could have been pressuring leaker James Comey with the discredited dossier?
"Guess who started working at CNN covering the DOJ around this time?
"Two days later on January 10, 2017, CNN ran the story about the unverified and salacious allegations made in the anti-Trump dossier with BuzzFeed publishing the dossier within a couple hours of CNN’s report.
"So how do you suppose James Comey knew that CNN was about to run the salacious anti-Trump dossier back in January 2017?
"And who could have been pressuring leaker James Comey with the discredited dossier?
"Guess who started working at CNN covering the DOJ around this time?
Valerie Jarrett’s daughter Laura!
"Laura Jarrett was hired by CNN in the fall of 2016 to cover the Justice Department." . . .
UPDATE: 8 signs pointing to a counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump's campaign "It may be true that President Trump illegally conspired with Russia and was so good at covering it up he’s managed to outwit our best intel and media minds who've searched for irrefutable evidence for two years. (We still await special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings.)
"But there’s a growing appearance of alleged wrongdoing equally as insidious, if not more so, because it implies widespread misuse of America’s intelligence and law enforcement apparatus." . . .
UPDATE: 8 signs pointing to a counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump's campaign "It may be true that President Trump illegally conspired with Russia and was so good at covering it up he’s managed to outwit our best intel and media minds who've searched for irrefutable evidence for two years. (We still await special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings.)
"But there’s a growing appearance of alleged wrongdoing equally as insidious, if not more so, because it implies widespread misuse of America’s intelligence and law enforcement apparatus." . . .
When the hospital is covered, but the doctor isn’t
AXIOS
"Why it matters: Even the most responsible of patients — like this one, who made sure the hospital he was in was in-network before undergoing surgery — are getting stuck between insurers and providers who can't agree on rates, finding themselves on the hook for medical bills that the average person can't afford.
"Vox has another installment in its series on emergency room billing, and it's (once again) a doozy. This time, a patient went to an in-network hospital for emergency jaw surgery, but received treatment from an out-of-network surgeon and thus found himself responsible for a nearly $8,000 hospital bill.
"Why it matters: Even the most responsible of patients — like this one, who made sure the hospital he was in was in-network before undergoing surgery — are getting stuck between insurers and providers who can't agree on rates, finding themselves on the hook for medical bills that the average person can't afford.
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