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FOCUS: Lack of Candor |
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Saturday, 24 March 2018 11:39 |
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Franken writes: "That's one of the reasons that Attorney General Jeff Sessions used to justify his decision to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe last week, just two days before Mr. McCabe was set to retire from a distinguished 21-year career with the Bureau."
Al Franken. (photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Lack of Candor
By Al Franken, Al Franken's Facebook Page
24 March 18
 hat’s one of the reasons that Attorney General Jeff Sessions used to justify his decision to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe last week, just two days before Mr. McCabe was set to retire from a distinguished 21-year career with the Bureau. Ironic, because, as you may recall, Jeff Sessions has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of candor – under oath – about his own interactions with Russians.
During his confirmation hearing, I alerted then-Senator Sessions to a breaking report from CNN that there had been an ongoing exchange of information between the Trump campaign and the Russians. When I asked him what he would do as Attorney General if those reports were true, Mr. Sessions decided to answer a different question:
SESSIONS: “Senator Franken, I am not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn’t have – did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.”
That turned out to be false. Then-Senator Sessions had, in fact, met with Russian ambassador Kislyak at least three times during the 2016 campaign. I’d like to claim that I was three steps ahead of Sessions - that I knew Senator Sessions wouldn’t answer my question and would pivot to a lie that would ultimately lead to his recusal in the Russia investigation. I’d like to claim that but in all candor, I had no idea that was the moment that would lead to the Mueller investigation.
The Attorney General has a different version of this exchange. He said he was “taken aback” by my question and that in retrospect, he should have slowed down and been more forthcoming about his meetings. Now, I’m no lawyer, but it’s not a good sign if the man nominated to be our nation’s top prosecutor is so easily flummoxed by a straightforward question.
But in the weeks and months that followed, as Attorney General Sessions was called before congressional committees to explain himself, try as he might, he just couldn’t manage to set the record straight. His explanation of his own Russian contacts continued to shift – from “I did not have communications with the Russians” to “I did not meet with any Russians to discuss any political campaign” to the Justice Department asserting that Sessions “did not discuss interference in the campaign” with any Russians.
When I asked him in an October hearing whether he believed that other Trump campaign surrogates communicated with the Russians, Attorney General Sessions said no. “I’m not aware of anyone else that did, and I don’t believe it happened,” he said.
“And you don’t believe it now?” I asked, slightly slack-jawed.
“I don’t believe it happened,” he answered. Never mind that at that point in time, the public already knew about meetings between Russians and Michael Flynn, Russians and Paul Manafort, Russians and Jared Kushner, and Russians and Donald Trump, Jr. – all Trump campaign surrogates.
And never mind that Sessions attended a March 31, 2016 foreign policy meeting at which George Papadopoulos raised his connections with Russians and offered to set up a meeting between Trump and Putin. Sessions first said he didn’t recall the Papadopoulos meeting, then testified that he “pushed back” on the Papadopoulos suggestion of Trump meeting Putin and now three sources have said Sessions didn’t push back on this suggestion. More candor problems.
Fast forward to this week, when ABC News reported that nearly one year before Attorney General Sessions fired Andrew McCabe – allegedly for a “lack of candor” – Mr. McCabe oversaw an investigation into whether Attorney General Sessions himself lacked candor when he repeatedly misrepresented his contacts with Russians when testifying before Congress. That investigation was opened after my former colleague, Senator Pat Leahy, and I wrote to the FBI last year and requested that the Bureau examine the attorney general’s false statements.
That the attorney general would fire the man who was tasked with investigating him raises serious questions about whether retaliation or retribution motivated his decision. It also raises serious questions about his supposed recusal from all matters stemming from the 2016 campaign. But the fact that Attorney General Sessions would claim that a “lack of candor” justified Mr. McCabe’s termination is hypocrisy at its worst.
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FOCUS: Our Manifesto to Fix America's Gun Laws |
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Saturday, 24 March 2018 10:51 |
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Excerpt: "In the wake of the tragedy that occurred at our school on 14 February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, our lives have changed beyond what we ever imagined. We, along with our publication, have been transformed. We will remain so for the rest of our lives."
'We will be marching this Saturday, 24 March, for those that we loved and lost, and we write this in the hope that no other community or publication will ever have to do the same.' (photo: Ali Smith/Guardian UK)
Our Manifesto to Fix America's Gun Laws
By Parkland Students, Guardian UK
24 March 18
After the massacre at our high school, our lives have changed forever – so we’re proposing these changes to halt mass shootings
 s a student publication, the Eagle Eye works to tell the stories of those who do not have a voice. Today, we are the ones who feel our voice must be elevated.
In the wake of the tragedy that occurred at our school on 14 February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, our lives have changed beyond what we ever imagined. We, along with our publication, have been transformed. We will remain so for the rest of our lives.
We have a unique platform not only as student journalists, but also as survivors of a mass shooting. We are firsthand witnesses to the kind of devastation that gross incompetence and political inaction can produce. We cannot stand idly by as the country continues to be infected by a plague of gun violence that seeps into community after community, and does irreparable damage to the hearts and minds of the American people.
That’s why the Eagle Eye has come together and proposed these following changes to gun policy. We believe federal and state governments must put these in place to ensure that mass shootings and gun violence cease to be a staple of American culture.
We will be marching this Saturday, 24 March, for those that we loved and lost, and we write this in the hope that no other community or publication will ever have to do the same.
The changes we propose:
Ban semi-automatic weapons that fire high-velocity rounds
Civilians shouldn’t have access to the same weapons that soldiers do. That’s a gross misuse of the second amendment.
These weapons were designed for dealing death: not to animals or targets, but to other human beings. The fact that they can be bought by the public does not promote domestic tranquility. Rather, their availability puts us into the kind of danger faced by men and women trapped in war zones.
This situation reflects a failure of our government. It must be corrected to ensure the safety of those guaranteed the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Ban accessories that simulate automatic weapons
High-capacity magazines played a huge role in the shooting at our school. In only 10 minutes, 17 people were killed, and 17 others were injured. This is unacceptable.
That’s why we believe that bump stocks, high-capacity magazines and similar accessories that simulate the effect of military-grade automatic weapons should be banned.
In the 2017 shooting in Las Vegas, 58 people were killed and 851 others were injured. The gunman’s use of bump stocks enabled vast numbers of people to be hurt while gathered in one of the most iconic cities in America. If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere. That’s why action must be taken to take these accessories off the market.
Establish a database of gun sales and universal background checks
We believe that there should be a database recording which guns are sold in the United States, to whom, and of what caliber and capacity they are.
Just as the department of motor vehicles has a database of license plates and car owners, the Department of Defense should have a database of gun serial numbers and gun owners. This data should be paired with infractions of gun laws, past criminal offenses and the status of the gun owner’s mental health and physical capability.
Together with universal background checks, this system would help law enforcement stop a potentially dangerous person before they commit a gun crime.
Change privacy laws to allow mental healthcare providers to communicate with law enforcement
As seen in the tragedy at our school, poor communication between mental healthcare providers and law enforcement may have contributed to a disturbed person with murderous tendencies and intentions entering a school and gunning down 17 people in cold blood.
We must improve this channel of communication. To do so, privacy laws should be amended. That will allow us to prevent people who are a danger to themselves or to others from purchasing firearms. That could help prevent tragedies such as the Parkland massacre.
Close gun show and secondhand sales loopholes
Thanks to loopholes, people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to buy firearms are able to purchase them at gun shows and secondhand sales. The existence of these loopholes reflects the ineptitude of state and federal legislators.
If we are serious about preventing people from purchasing deadly weapons, we must monitor sales that take place at gun shows and on secondhand markets. This is especially urgent given the danger posed by mentally unstable and violent individuals armed with firearms.
Allow the CDC to make recommendations for gun reform
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be allowed to conduct research on the dangers of gun violence. The fact that they are currently prohibited from doing so undermines the first amendment. It also violates the rights of the American people.
It is hypocritical to rally people to protect the second amendment, while remaining silent on the ways that blocking research violates one of our most basic constitutional freedoms.
Raise the firearm purchase age to 21
In a few months from now, many of us will be turning 18. We will not be able to drink; we will not be able to rent a car. Most of us will still be living with our parents. We will not be able to purchase a handgun. And yet, we will be able to purchase an AR-15.
Why is it that we will be able to legally obtain a weapon that has the ability to fire over 150 rounds and kill 17 people in about six minutes? That is unacceptable. It makes no sense that to buy a handgun, you have to be 21, but a gun of mass destruction and devastation like the AR-15 can be purchased when one is just becoming an adult.
With the exception of those who are serving the United States in the military, the age to obtain any firearm must be raised to 21.
Dedicate more funds to mental health research and professionals
Federal and state government should earmark more funds specifically for mental health services. Those with mental health issues, especially those who express aggressive, violent, suicidal and/or homicidal thoughts should have the opportunity to receive the help they need regardless of their economic status.
Schools specifically should receive more funds in order to hire more psychologists and guidance counselors who can aid students suffering from PTSD, depression and other debilitating mental illnesses.
Many of those who commit mass shootings suffer from these kinds of illnesses. It is essential that more funds be dedicated to mental health research.
Increase funding for school security
We believe that schools should be given sufficient funds for school security and resource officers to protect and secure the entire campus. As a school of over 3,000 students, teachers and faculty, Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school was only supplied funds to hire one on-campus armed resource officer by the state.
Without backup, this officer’s hesitation proved to be disastrous and allowed for the senseless deaths of people who were killed on the third floor of the 1200 building.
Though this idea has been proposed in the past, these funds should not be appropriated from the already scarce funding for public education. Governments should find resources to secure the millions of children that attend public schools without taking away from the quality of education that is offered at these institutions.
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Noam Chomsky: The Next War in the Middle East Will Be the Worst One Yet |
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Saturday, 24 March 2018 08:44 |
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Excerpt: "Some observers, are predicting, with a degree of certainty, that a serious war could happen between Israel and Hezbollah. That is an ugly situation. And, of course in Yemen the U.S. and Israel with British backing are just destroying the country."
Professor Noam Chomsky. (photo: Flickr)
Noam Chomsky: The Next War in the Middle East Will Be the Worst One Yet
By Fariba Pajooh, Lobelog
24 March 18
 oam Chomsky is a linguist and an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy. This interview took place on February 28 in his office at the University of Arizona’s Department of Linguistics in Tucson, Arizona.
Fariba Pajooh: Your views on US foreign policy are well known. Even when President Obama was in office, you criticized components of his foreign policy. In terms of the current Trump administration, I’d like to know your thoughts on his foreign policy, especially concerning the Middle East.
Noam Chomsky: He’s lined up closely with Saudi Arabia and with Israel, which is basically an alliance, and he is bitterly opposed to Iran. [U.S. Ambassador] Nicky Haley spoke at the UN about Iranian violations of the accords. However, the US is violating them all the time. Nobody talks about this. The accord is explicit in terms of the requirement that the signatories do nothing with Iran’s commercial relations with the outside. The US is doing that constantly. Even under the Obama administration, there were radical violations of the agreements. Trump is trying everything that he can to destroy the accords. You probably saw this morning the Europeans trying to offer some conciliatory measures to keep Trump from pulling out entirely. This will probably fail.
I don’t think there is a coherent foreign policy. He’s been very critical of Pakistan. Pakistan is reacting by stepping up bombings by the Taliban in Afghanistan. There is a significant likelihood that real hostilities will break up between Israel and Hezbollah, which will probably mean the invasion of Lebanon by Israel. Israel will bombard Lebanon, which will mean the destruction of Lebanon. Israel is committed to their Dahiya doctrine, as they call it, which means they will go to war against any provocation. And it could just blow up the Iranian installations which are not too far from the Israeli border. Israel won’t allow anything near its borders. So, I think that is a very volatile and dangerous situation.
Some observers, such as the knowledgeable analyst Nicholas Noe, are predicting, with a degree of certainty, that a serious war could happen. That is an ugly situation. And, of course in Yemen the U.S. and Israel with British backing are just destroying the country. They are blaming Iran, but it’s basically U.S. and Saudi bombings. So that situation is extremely dangerous and vulnerable. On the other side, Turkey is attacking Syria in order to keep any Kurdish groups as far as they can from their borders.
You may have seen this morning that [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan told a six-year-old girl she would be honored if she was “martyred.” I can’t imagine what is going on in their minds. They are very unpredictable and dangerous people. Similarly, in Israel, [Israel Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is in serious trouble and it’s possible that he will try to salvage his situation by undertaking some violent act. All very dangerous! Lebanon will likely be a major victim.
Pajooh: Do you predict that we will have another violent war in the Middle-East?
Chomsky: If there is another war, it will be even worse than the last one. The reason is that Hezbollah by now, according to reports at least, has a very significant missile capacity which Israel won’t be able to stop. If they start hitting Israeli targets, Israel will just go “all out” without any restraint. They might go as far as bombing Iran.
Pajooh: I want to talk about the future of the Iran deal. President Trump has threatened to kill the Iran deal. He has imposed a travel ban, restrictions that affected me personally, and now they are pushing Europe to reconsider their relationship with Iran. How likely it is for Trump to undertake military action in the region of Iran? What do you think is the end game for the Iran deal?
Chomsky: The Europeans are trying almost desperately to save something. I doubt very much that Iran will accept the new proposals that they announced. It seems very unlikely. I am sure that the European negotiators know that Iran can’t reject them. If the U.S. also reject them, which is very possible, one conceivable outcome is that the U.S. would just withdraw, and the rest of the P5+1 will maintain some kind of relationship with Iran. They don’t want to break their relationship with the U.S. either. So, they are in a very difficult situation. They don’t want to abandon Iran and on the other hand, they are very frightened about the U.S. for good reason. Russia and China will maintain a relationship with Iran, but they can’t compensate for Western relations. And Iran, of course, has plenty of internal problems. Not just social and political, but also ecological and climatic concerns.
Pajooh: President Trump tasked Brad Pascale to run his political campaign for 2020. Do you think he has a chance to be re-elected in 2020?
Chomsky: I think has a very good chance. His popular base is fanatic. They are just dedicated to him. He could be God, as far as they are concerned. They are immobile no matter what happens. A lot of them are evangelical Christians. The secular state doesn’t mean anything to them. They are working for Jesus, and Jesus says support Trump. That’s probably 25% of the American population. The very rich support Trump. The Trump administration operates on two planes. On one plane, Trump’s role is to attract media attention to make sure he is in the headlines every day. He is the first thing to see on the television every day. That’s why he is doing one crazy thing after another. It’s not what it looks like. The media criticizes Trump, which fires up his base, because they regard themselves as under attack by the liberal media. So, he plays that game.
Underneath, the real villains Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are busy dismantling every aspect of the government that might be of benefit to the general population. They are serving their real constituency, the rich and the corporate sector, with abject dedication to sheer robbery. The tax bill was a massive gift to the super rich, with a few pennies to the others just to keep them quiet. Ryan and McConnell want to have a huge deficit so that gives the pretext to dismantling social security, Medicaid, Medicare, and food stamps—anything that benefits the general population. In the meantime, keep the base fired up with white nationalism, racism, religious extremism, and so on. It is a very dangerous situation.
Also, as you probably saw around the country, it is a very violent country. There are heavily armed militias all over the place. They are better armed than the state police. Angry people ready to go to war. If Trump hadn’t won the election, we might have had a civil war.
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It's Not Just Russia. Saudi Arabia and UAE Are Buying Influence in the Trump Administration. |
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Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=35143"><span class="small">Paul Gottinger, Reader Supported News</span></a>
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Friday, 23 March 2018 14:02 |
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Gottinger writes: "This week, Trump met with the Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman as part of the prince's tour of the US. Over the next two weeks, the prince, who is widely referred to as MBS, will meet US business leaders and politicians in an attempt to drum up investment in his country and deepen Saudi Arabian influence in the US."
President Trump meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office. (photo: Evan Vucci/AP)
It's Not Just Russia. Saudi Arabia and UAE Are Buying Influence in the Trump Administration.
By Paul Gottinger, Reader Supported News
23 March 18
here are the claims of a billion dollar bribe to President Trump and a boast about Jared Kushner being in “his pocket.” These are just two of the allegations swirling around the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and his attempts to buy influence in the Trump administration.
This week, Trump met with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman as part of the prince’s tour of the US. Over the next two weeks, the prince, who is widely referred to as MBS, will meet US business leaders and politicians in an attempt to drum up investment in his country and deepen Saudi Arabian influence in the US.
Since Trump came to office, he’s strongly backed Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf ally, United Arab Emirates (UAE), in their aggressive and reckless polices in the Middle East — often at the expense of US interests. The most illustrative examples of this are the disastrous war in Yemen, the economic blockade of US-ally Qatar, and Saudi Arabia’s detention and torture of prominent Saudi citizens at a luxury hotel, reportedly with the help of US security contractor Academi, formerly known as Blackwater.
Saudi Arabia and UAE both have repressive, dictatorial regimes with long histories of supporting terrorism. Legal documents unearthed as part of the lawsuit brought by victims of 9/11 show that the US Saudi Embassy funded a “dry run” of the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001.
The documents show “a pattern of both financial and operational support” from the Saudi government, which helped the 9/11 hijackers in the run-up to the attacks.
Yet despite this, it looks as though Trump is planning to continue to push policies favored by Saudi Arabia and UAE. Trump is widely thought to be preparing to pull the US out of the Iran nuclear deal while preparing to grant Saudi Arabia the ability begin its own nuclear weapons program.
All this makes one wonder: has Trump sold US foreign policy to the highest bidders, Saudi Arabia and UAE?
Much has been written about Russia’s influence over the Trump administration; however, far less has been published on the increasingly clear signs that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are attempting to buy influence in the Trump administration — in likely illegal ways.
In November, a very well known Saudi Arabian whistleblower, who’s sometimes called the “Julian Assange of Saudi Arabia,” wrote that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince had transferred 1 billion dollars to Donald Trump as a bribe during Trump’s May 2017 visit to Saudi Arabia.
According to the whistleblower, who goes by the name Mujtahidd, “A private yacht discreetly arrived at Jeddah Port; heavily guarded and identity hidden. Even the Port’s authorities were not allowed near it. Only a number of individuals reached it — delivering several boxes of cash ($1 billion USD). After loading the boxes, the yacht disappeared. The operation lasted hours & was kept secret as was the yacht’s identity, origin and destination.”
This enormous allegation of bribery hasn’t been independently confirmed by any other sources; however, it has been reported that Trump received an astonishing 83 gifts from Saudi Arabia during his trip there — some of them quite extravagant. The gifts included “artwork featuring pictures of President Trump, multiple swords, daggers, leather ammo holders and holsters, tiger and cheetah fur robes, and a dagger made of pure silver with a mother of pearl sheath.”
The Saudi crown prince has even bragged, in a conversation with the crown prince of UAE, that Jared Kushner was “in his pocket.”
Last year, Kushner, who has a close relationship with MBS, took an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia, where he is said to have discussed “the names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince.” Jared Kushner, who until recently had top security clearance, reportedly read the president’s classified daily briefings regularly.
A week after Kushner left Saudi Arabia, MBS ordered the detention of 200 wealthy Saudi citizens, some of whom were explicitly mentioned in the president’s daily briefing. Seventeen of the Saudis detained were tortured so badly they required hospitalization and one detainee even died.
If Kushner did indeed pass classified intelligence to a foreign country to be used to target dissidents for torture, it would be possibly illegal. The president has the legal authority to allow Kushner to pass classified information on, but handing over US intelligence information to be used to target critics of the Saudi crown prince, is — to say the least — concerning.
Yet, this would not be a first for the Trump administration. In May, Trump reportedly passed highly classified information to the Russians.
In January 2017, Qorvis MSLGroup, a lobbying firm working for the Saudi Arabian government, made the first ever payment of a foreign government to a Trump property since Trump was elected president. The payment was for $270,000 worth of rooms at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC.
Last year, this same lobbying firm tricked US veterans into coming to Washington to urge Congress to repeal the law letting 9/11 victims’ families sue Saudi Arabia. While the veterans were in Washington they stayed at Trump International Hotel.
The United Arab Emirates is also playing the Trump influence game.
In December of 2016, George Nader, a convicted pedophile and representative of UAE, set up a meeting at Trump Tower between Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon and the crown prince of UAE, Mohammed Bin Zayed.
Then, in January of 2017, George Nader set up meeting between Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian oligarch who is close to President Vladimir Putin. The meeting, which took place in Seychelles, was likely set up by Nader on behalf of the UAE. The effort is widely seen as an attempt to set up a backchannel of communication between the Trump administration and Russia.
Nader was close enough to the Trump administration to make regular visits to the White House to see former White House strategist Steve Bannon, whom he describes as his “best friend.” Nader even claims to be behind the successful effort to push Rex Tillerson out of the Trump administration.
Nader’s close proximity to the Trump administration has drawn the attention of Robert Mueller. Mr. Nader has been asked to testify (for a second time) about his yearlong effort to gain influence in the Trump administration on behalf of the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Mueller is also investigating the possibility that Mr. Nader funneled UAE money into the Trump campaign.
Nader provided a $2.7 million payment — possibly transferred from UAE — to top Trump fundraiser Elliot Broidy, who then used it help pay for conferences put on by the hawkish think tanks Hudson Institute — where Steve Bannon was a key speaker — and the anti-Iran think tank, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD).
FDD is thought to have considerable influence with Trump administration; at times White House statements have even used their exact talking points in statements on Iran.
But Nader’s cooperation with the Mueller investigation may be over. There are reports that George Nader has fled the US to return to the UAE, after UAE’s crown prince “pulled strings” with US officials to allow his travel.
UAE’s crown prince is likely anxious to know what Nader has told Robert Mueller.
Paul Gottinger is a staff reporter at RSN whose work focuses on the Middle East and the arms industry. He can be reached on Twitter @paulgottinger or via email.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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