Summations Only

I can see Trump developing a renewed interest in this one. As long as somebody reminds him that

Today il Donaldo addressed the State Governors as reported in the NY Times.We’re doing a lot of things that are good including waste and fraud, Mr. Trump said Monday. Tremendous waste and tremendous fraud.

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The budget still makes major changes to health care programs, including several that would tend to lower federal spending in Medicaid, by reducing the share of medical bills the federal government will pay for the Obamacare expansion population and imposing new requirements on beneficiaries who wish to enroll. Altogether, it proposes combined cuts to spending in Medicaid and Affordable Care Act subsidies that come to a trillion dollars, cuts that would mean substantial program changes.

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I agree with everything you say but have a comment on this: I assume you mean that had Mulvaney, Pompeo, Giuliani and Perry testified that there would have been at least the possibility that twenty Republicans would vote for conviction. I'd like to think so, but congressional Republicans are solidly unswerving in their support for Trump. The justification most gave for their acquittal vote is transparently ludicrous, that any action the president believes is in the national interest is not impeachable. More thoughtful Republicans said they believed what Trump did wrong but not impeachable, perhaps deserving of censure, though no censure proposal has been put forward as yet.Perhaps the testimony of those individuals would have pried away a few more Republicans than just Romney, but twenty? I don't know.After more than a year McGahn's challenge to the subpoena to appear before the House is still wending its way through the courts. Subpoenas of Mulvaney, Pompeo, Giuliani and Perry would have suffered the same fate and continued the House impeachment hearings on into the summer and beyond the election.But I wish the House had subpoenaed them and just let the process drag out through the election summer. It would have kept this important issue before the public's attention.--Percy

The Rude Pundit: #Wattlegate: Is the President Digitally Touching Up His Neck? An Investigation

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Look, there are way, way more important things going on. And I don't think anyone is gonna be surprised if he does demand he's [sic] turkey skin be airbrushed out. But the man is incredibly vain, and going at his vanity is one way to screw with his deranged brain as we approach the general election.

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And if #Wattlegate gets under his digitally-tightened skin, so much the better.

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Edited by JonF, : No reason given.

He seems to be following in the footsteps of at least one of history's oh-so-illustrious leaders:Forbidden - Stack Exchange

I have never understood this view. Using public money to leverage attacks against your political opponent is a heinous act. How is that not impeachable? Using public money for personal gain is the very definition of corruption.There is also zero doubt that Trump did it. The cover up was done in broad day light through the denial of subpoenas.If Trump was a Democrat and there were 67 Republicans in the Senate, Trump would have been thrown out of office. The only reason he is still in office is because Republicans put their party before country.

And the excuse is that the President can just decide his re-election is in the national interest and that makes it alright. Need I point out the obvious conflict of interest ?

This is the significant point and absolutely renders the US Constitution null and void. If the President feels it is in the best interests of the Nation he can run for reelection a third time. Or simply remain in office if his Party controls the Senate and SCOTUS.

Well, you have to remember how the contemporary US conservatives interpret the Constitution:"We win every time, all the time. Those other people should just shut up and go away."

For all practical purposes the last 2 years has made the US Constitution null and void. donnie can do anything he wants and neither the Courts or the Congress are willing to stop him. The final bulwark against tyranny will be the states. The states that rise in opposition will in actuality be the Pro-Constitution side.
I fully expect the GOP and donnie to make some sort of call for a constitutional overhaul which they will market as a revival.
A dissolution of The Republic is on the horizon. The question is how violent.

This is what happens when you fire all the experts and appoint sycophants to positions of authority. We are so totally and utterly screwed.
Looks like this administration is intent in spreading the virus not containing it. Maybe it is just rank incompetence.

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Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services sent more than a dozen workers to receive the first Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, without proper training for infection control or appropriate protective gear, according to a whistleblower complaint.
The workers did not show symptoms of infection and were not tested for the virus, according to lawyers for the whistleblower, who is a senior HHS official based in Washington who oversees workers at the Administration for Children and Families, a unit within HHS.
The whistleblower is seeking federal protection because she alleges she was unfairly and improperly reassigned after raising concerns about the safety of these workers to HHS officials, including those within the office of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. She was told Feb. 19 that if she does not accept the new position in 15 days, which is March 5, she would be terminated.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/...ees-hhs-whistleblower-says

Dem Rep Skewers Betsy DeVos: 'Strike This Racist Research'

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REP. CLARK: Do YOU think that the disparity in discipline for pre-schoolers of Color COULD indicate a racial bias?
DEVOS: I suppose it certainly could, and, again, I think the bigger issue here is that we make sure that every opportunity to pursue an education that is going to unlock and unleash their personal and fullest potential.

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REP. CLARK: Okay. Isn't it, though, the official policy, now, of the Dept. of Education that the cause of the disparate rates of discipline that we see with students of Color is explained by the fact that these children are just inherently pre-disposed to misbehave and disrupt the classroom more than white children? Isn't that your policy?

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DEVOS: No.

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REP. CLARK: No, it's not. That is the conclusion of the research you cited in your school safety report of 2019. Congress specifically asked you to strike all references to this report, which, interestingly, appeared in the Journal of Criminal Justice. Your official response within this budget is that you stand by this report and its conclusions. Isn't that right?

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DEVOS: Congresswoman, do you have a question about the budget? Because we're here to talk about the budget.

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REP. CLARK: Yes. In your FY21 budget, you responded that, quote, the Department of Education stands by this report that says children of Color are just more inherently likely to misbehave, and that explains the disparate rates of discipline.

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DEVOS: I don't know where that would have fallen in our budget narrative...

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REP. CLARK: We will get you the EXACT SECTION. Because it's right in your budget.

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REP. CLARK: We certainly would like you to go ahead, undo what you put in your budget, STRIKE this racist research, make sure it's CRYSTAL clear that you do NOT buy into this theory that children of Color are disciplined because of who they are, and that they come to school with disruptive tendencies. THAT is what you put in your report. In your budget you say you stand by it.

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Ladies and gentlemen, our Secretary of Education,

Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

Of course, Cadet Bonespurs would never have had any training in nor any clue about leadership. And it shows. Every single day!The US military takes leadership very seriously for obvious reasons. Every level of Professional Military Education, Leadership School, PO and CPO Indoctrination, Senior Enlisted Academy, officers' schools at all levels, etc, directly address leadership, what it is, how it functions, and how to develop it. The US military takes leadership fucking seriously.Oversimplifying it for this discussion, there are two basic principles in leadership:

• Delegation of Authority. You must delegate authority. You must give the subordinates in the chain of command under you the authority to perform the duties that you have delegated to them. Without that authority, they are powerless.
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• Delegation of Responsibility. That must never happen! While all the subordinates under you in the chain of command are responsible to you, you yourself are still responsible to those to whom you must answer. In the case of the President of the United States of America, you are responsible to the nation, to the people, and to the other branches of the government.

To reduce it to a sound-bite: "You delegate authority, but never responsibility."The moment that Trump starts whining that he's not responsible for what his administration has done, he announces his complete and utter failure as a leader.

Today the Trump administration charged Venezuelan President Maduro with drug trafficking, putting a $15 million dollar bounty on his head.Can you say Noriega redux? Why is Trump adding to the history the US's misbehavior and misadventures in Central and South America? Doesn't he have enough to worry about at home? Or was this just all he could think of to grab the news cycle on a day when the US is going to pass China to take the world lead in number of coronavirus infections.--Percy