GOP: Terrorist Group? (Why Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal May Die)
Well, All That Was Fun, But Here’s Why “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Won’t Happen — Maybe For Years
What do you call a group that uses threats, condones repression, and takes hostages?
After a promise by the President to “work with Congress” to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” after an exhaustive $4.5 million study that was released just yesterday, after DADT was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge months ago, after dozens of high-ranking military leaders, along with dozens of Senators and Congressmen, put their careers on the line to support gay and lesbian soldier who put their lives on the line, here’s why “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will remain law into the next decade of the twenty-first century: the GOP.
Yes, that’s right, the GOP. Specifically, the Republican Senate, all forty-two members who signed a letter stating they will allow no legislation to pass until the Bush tax cuts are extended and the government is funded into the new year.
Via Politico:
“That could imperil a 9/11 first responders bill, an immigration measure known as the DREAM Act, the ratification of a nuclear arms treaty with Russia and a repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell†policy that prohibits gays from serving openly in the military.
“On the floor Wednesday morning, Reid called the GOP tactic “very cynical, but very obvious, [and] very transparent.â€
“With this letter, they have simply put in writing the political strategy that the Republicans pursued this entire Congress, namely, obstruct, delay; obstruct, delay action on critical matters and then blame the Democrats for not addressing the needs of the American people,†he said.”
Civil rights activist and Clinton advisor David Mixner calls it for what it is: pure and simple, plain old “extortion.”
Unsurprisingly, the gay Tea Party group, GOProud supports the Republicans on this. Asking, quite bluntly, “Do Democrats Want Tax Hikes More Than Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?,” GOProud Executive Director and Chief Ann Coulter Sycophant, Jimmy LaSalvia, wrote,
“Senate Republicans are absolutely right. It is time that Democrats in the Senate stop playing political games with our economy. If Democrats are truly interested in getting to other important lame-duck issues, like the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, then they should act immediately to prevent jobs-killing tax increases. The American people are watching, now is the time for Democrats to decide what they want more – tax increases or repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The choice is theirs.â€
So, the GOP is willing to scrap years of work on getting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repealed, countless thousands of hours from our military — including everyone from the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, to a boot camp private who participated in the Pentagon study, millions of dollars, so they can make their rich friends even richer, all while claiming to worry about borrowing for their children’s future?
Make no mistake. As SLDN’s Aubrey Sarvis said yesterday, “We need to get this done in December,†and, “it will be more difficult in the next Congress.†Try, impossible.
The GOP has now gone too far. They are holding America hostage, using the Bush tax cuts — that will cost $700 billion in borrowing, supposedly mortgaging our children’s future, as ransom.
The Washington Monthly adds, “note the context: President Obama hosted a meeting at the White House yesterday with congressional leaders of both parties, and afterwards, everyone was all smiles. There was a renewed commitment to try to work together, find common ground, with an emphasis on bipartisanship.
“A few hours later, the hostage letter was circulated by the GOP leadership, and less than a day after the bipartisan confab, literally every member of the Senate Republican caucus effectively told the world, “Screw bipartisanship; we’re playing hardball until we get what we want on tax cuts for the wealthy.”
What do you call a group that uses threats, condones repression, and takes hostages?
What do you think? Is the GOP is a terrorist group?
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The fate of the $250 million Manhattan fraud trial brought against Donald Trump and his Trump Organization by New York Attorney General Letitia James could be determined in two separate court rulings this week with one legal insider claiming Trump shouldn’t get his hopes up.
What is at stake is an expected Tuesday ruling from Judge Arthur F. Engoron on what charges he will accept against the former president for massively overstating the value of his properties, and a “Hail Mary” bid to the appeals court to delay the trial or dismiss it altogether with a deciosn expected on Thursday.
According to a report from the New York Times, Engoron is set to make his ruling after a contentious hearing last Friday where he repeatedly chastised the former president’s legal team and abruptly cut them off.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
That led former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner to suggest on Sunday that the future of the fraud case does not look good for Trump’s legal team.
Kirschner told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, “He [Engoron] called those arguments ‘borderline frivolous.’ He was considering sanctions against Donald Trump’s attorney,” and later added, “I don’t think that hearing went all that well for Trump.”
As for the appeals court, the Times is reporting, “Mr. Trump’s lawsuit — and in turn the fate of Ms. James’s case against him — hinges on a passage in the June appeals court ruling that has become a legal Rorschach test of sorts, in which each side sees what they want. Mr. Trump’s lawyers are convinced that the June ruling effectively tossed out the claims against him, while Ms. James’s team has argued that it had little effect on the accusation at the heart of her case — that Mr. Trump overstated his net worth by billions of dollars in his annual financial statements.”
After noting that, should the appeals court side with Trump, it would likely delay or “defang the case before the trial even begins,” the Times is reporting that some legal experts aren’t expecting Trump’s legal team to come out on top.
According to David B. Saxe, who previously served nearly on the same appeals court, “I think it won’t fare well.”
You can read more here.
During his Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out Donald Trump over reports he told military leaders he didn’t want wounded vets to be seen by the public while he was president.
In a recent Atlantic profile of General Mark Milley, the retiring military office recounted the former president telling him “no one wants to see” wounded soldiers, with Milley adding he found Trump’s attitude to those serving their country “superficial, callous, and, at the deepest human level, repugnant.”
Buttigieg, who served in Afghanistan during his 8 years while in the Naval Reserve, was asked by CNN host Dana Bash about the former president’s apparent distaste for service members.
“I want to ask you about a new Atlantic profile that says that then President Trump complained to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley after an Army veteran who lost a leg in combat sang at an event at the Pentagon,” Bash prompted her guest. “Trump reportedly told Milley, ‘Why do you bring people like that here, no one wants to see that, the wounded.'”
“After that article came out, Trump attacked Milley on social media, kind of a rambling post, but suggested that milley deserved the death penalty. You’re a veteran– what’s your response?” she asked.
“It’s just the latest in a pattern of outrageous attacks on the people who keep the country safe,” the Biden administration official replied.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
After pointing to fellow vets who suffered horrific injuries, he added, “These are the kind of people that deserve respect and a hell of a lot more than that from every American, and definitely from every American president.”
“And the idea that an American president, the person to whom service members look at as a commander in chief, and the person who sets the tone for this entire country could think that way or act that way or talk that way about anyone in uniform, and certainly about those who put their bodies on the line and sacrificed in ways that most Americans will never understand, and I guess wounded veterans make president Trump feel uncomfortable.”
Watch below or at the link.
Reacting to a report that Donald Trump has been quizzing his attorneys about what type of prison he likely will be sent to, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner stated that is not only an indication that he knows he’s going to be convicted but also an admission of guilt.
Speaking with MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart, the attorney was asked about a recent Rolling Stone report about Trump’s prison panic.
As Rolling Stone reported, Trump asked if he’s “be sent to a ‘club fed’ style prison — a place that’s relatively comfortable, as far these things go — or a ‘bad’ prison? Would he serve out a sentence in a plush home confinement? Would government officials try to strip him of his lifetime Secret Service protections? What would they make him wear, if his enemies actually did ever get him in a cell — an unprecedented set of consequences for a former leader of the free world.”
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
According to the attorney, Trump is revealing himself by asking for so many details.
“What does this tell you about Trump’s mindset?” host Capehart asked.
“It tells me he is scared to death” Kirschner quickly answered. “It tells me he has overwhelming consciousness of guilt because he knows what he did wrong and he knows he is about to be held accountable for his crimes. So it is not surprising that he is obsessing.”
“If he was confident that he would be completely exonerated, would he have to obsess about what his future time in prison might look like?” he suggested. “I think the last refuge for Donald Trump can be seen in a recent post where he urged the Republicans to defund essentially the prosecutions against him. which, to this prosecutor, Jonathan, smells a lot like an attempt to obstruct justice.”
Watch below or at the link.
Image via Shutterstock
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