So there was a fairly spontaneous demo in front of the WH and there will be another one tonight
Note of course that there are multiple agendas at work in any demo:
The Justice Department last week indicted 12 Russian intelligence agents in the hacking of Democratic e-mails. Putin offered to let US prosecutors question them in Russia – if Russians in turn could question the U.S. investigators.
Trump did not demand that Putin extradite those Russian agents for trial. Instead, he praised Putin’s “incredible offer.”
It was an incredible offer – for Trump. Russians share his interest in discrediting the FBI investigation.
It was not an incredible offer for the United States. By crediting it, Trump equated the American justice system with that of a lawless autocracy whose recent crimes, beyond the 2016 campaign, range from the seizure of Crimea to murder via nerve agent on British soil.
Ignoring those transgressions, Trump blamed his own country for the decline in US-Russia relations in a pre-summit tweet. Challenged about that at the news conference, Trump said only, “we’ve all been foolish.”
His performance alarmed officials in both parties who have spent careers defending American interests. Coats publicly rebutted his own boss, calling conclusions about Russian interference “clear” and pledging “unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.”
The context, at home and abroad, made his remarks even more alarming. While ripping law enforcement officials investigating him, Trump has relentlessly attacked allies who for decades have helped America defend freedom, democracy and capitalism.
www.cnbc.com/...
Tuesday, Jul 17, 2018 · 1:34:54 PM +00:00 · annieli
First Tweet of the Day for the *resident, recalling that Rand Paul was one of two votes against supporting the US & NATO:
Note also the continuing idiocy about “partisan” considering how many Republicans (Mueller, Rosenstein, Comey) have been involved
“We read in the first grade the story about the emperor not having any clothes,” said Scaramucci. “If the emperor has no clothes, you have to be the one person in the room that says, ‘I’m really sorry … you have to switch tactics it’s not working.’”
Trump's fawning press conference with Putin will unsettle many Europeans, in particular the people of Ukraine and those EU countries bordering Russia.
Disgracefully, Trump failed to condemn Russian meddling in the democratic processes of free countries.
There was no insistence that the Kremlin desist from its hacking of European infrastructure; no demands that Putin be held accountable for the murder of British citizens on European soil; no warning that further assassinations on European soil will be met with renewed US sanctions. There was no rebuke to Putin for his murderous foreign policy in Syria, which has exacerbated Europe's refugee crisis.