What We Learned From Sally Yates' Testimony

Sally Yates was the acting Attorney General during the Trump transition.  She appeared before a Senate committee that was ostensibly investigating Russian efforts to influence the presidential election.  Republican senators were more interested in how information about Flynn was leaked to the Washington Post.  They also wanted to know why she refused to defend Trump's travel ban.  One Republican senator even changed to subject to Hillary Clinton's use of her private email server.  The Republicans seemed  uninterested in getting to the real issues about Russia's efforts to influence the election and how to prevent it from happening again.  Above all, the Republicans want to contain the damage done to the Trump administration to Flynn's mistake.  They don't want to know about other connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Yates did provide some new information about Flynn.  She met with the White House attorney and told him that Flynn was compromised when his discussions about government sanctions with the Russian ambassador was made public.  That made him subject to Russian blackmail.  Someone in Flynn's position should not be vulnerable to blackmail or other forms of influence.  Flynn remained in his top secret position for 18 days before he was removed from office.

Yates answered questions from Republicans about her refusal to defend Trump's travel ban very clearly.  She said that it was unlawful and in violation of the Constitution.  It was unlawful because Trump had made his intentions about a Muslim travel ban known by numerous statements he had made during his campaign.  She rejected Trump's claim that the ban was only about national security.  She also pointed out that several federal courts had made a similar conclusion about Trump's travel ban. 

It seems pretty clear that Republicans do not want to dig deeply into the connections between the Trump campaign and Russia efforts to influence the election.  They are more interested in defending Trump by deflecting attention to other issues.  That defense will work unless the investigation is turned over to an independent prosecutor.

John McCain Explains Why The US Should Defend Human Rights

Trump's Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a statement that  one our most senior Republican senators vigorously attacked:

   In a recent address to State Department employees, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said conditioning our foreign policy too heavily on values creates obstacles to advance our national interests. With those words, Secretary Tillerson sent a message to oppressed people everywhere: Don’t look to the United States for hope. Our values make us sympathetic to your plight, and, when it’s convenient, we might officially express that sympathy. But we make policy to serve our interests, which are not related to our values. So, if you happen to be in the way of our forging relationships with your oppressors that could serve our security and economic interests, good luck to you. You’re on your own.

 McCain then argues that Tillerson made a case for realism against idealism which may not serve our national interests.   He went on to explain why our idealism is also realistic.  We cannot achieve our goals by abandoning support for our values in oppressed nations.  McCain spent several years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.  His prisoners attempted to break their captives by telling them that they had been abandoned by their government.  McCain knew that his government had not abandoned him. He believes that this enabled him to survive under brutal conditions.  He believes that we should continue to support those who are fighting against oppressive regimes which do not share our values.  It is in our national interest to do so in the long run.  It is a mistake to sacrifice our long term interests in pursuit of some short term objective by an appeal to realism over idealism. 

Why Steve Bannon Is The Only Winner By Pulling Out Of Paris Accords

The Trump Administration is debating whether to pull out of the Paris Accords on climate change.
This article explains why Steve Bannon wins and the US loses if Trump pulls out.  Bannon is the major proponent of white nationalism in the Trump Administration.  He helped Trump win that voting block on his way to the White House.  If Trump stays in the Paris Accord, Bannon loses but Trump also may lose control of his base to the alt right forces of Bannon.  The interesting part of this debate is that the Paris agreement is based upon each nation meeting its own commitments.  It is a voluntary commitment that can be modified without penalty.  If the US exits the agreement Bannon wins and the US loses its leadership position in the global process to China.  It also loses face in Europe which remains committed to the Paris Accords.

Warren Buffet's Woodstock For Capitalism Meeting

Warren Buffet has made his investors very rich, along with himself, by managing their money.  His annual meeting with his investors is called the Woodstock Of Capitalism because it is love fest between Buffet and his happy investors.  It also gives Buffet a chance to sound off about his investment decisions, and other issues that concern him.  His comment on the Republican healthcare bill was short and to the point.  He called it an excuse to give rich people like him a tax cut.  Unlike most Americans he understands that ehe Republican plan is not about healthcare.  It eliminates a tax on wealthy Americans that provides $800 million over 10 years to fund Medicaid which provides healthcare for millions of our most needy citizens.  It was more important for Republicans to cut taxes for wealthy Americans than to provide healthcare to needy citizens.  Buffet said that rich people like him did not need a tax cut that harmed our most needy citizens.  Unfortunately, most Republicans do not share his opinion.  The Republican Party exists to make rich people richer.  They defend that position by telling their less wealthy supporters that it will make them richer too.  Even if that does not happen,  less wealthy Republicans seem to resent providing benefits to "less deserving people".  Denying them benefits,  is enough of a benefit for many Republicans.

Buffet claims that the real problem with our healthcare system is that healthcare costs grow much faster than GDP and much faster than inflation.  Republicans seem to be less interested in that problem than they are in forcing the healthcare system to behave more like the market for commodities that are not essential to health.  The pricing system should behave like a rationing system.  People should only buy what they can afford.  

Buffet is also a critic of CEO compensation packages that continue to grow much faster than the benefits received by shareholders.  He blamed compensation consultants, hired by compliant corporate boards, to justify the overly generous compensation packages.  Buffet sits on a number of corporate boards; he is very familiar with how the system works.  He also understands why he is never asked to serve on corporate compensation committees that hire the consultants.

Warren Buffet is one of the richest people in the world.  The world would be a much better place  if more of our most successful people shared his value system.

Kushner Family Real Estate Deal Promoted To Chinese Investors

Jared Kushner's sister is recruiting Chinese investors for a Kushner family real estate project in New Jersey. Chinese citizens who want to migrate to the US can take advantage of a special program that provides visa's to investors who put $500,00 into the Kushner project in New Jersey.  That is an attractive offer to wealthy Chinese citizens who would like to move some of their wealth to the US and/or become US citizens.  They are led to believe that the investment will be secure because of the special relationship between the Kushner family and the Trump administration.  It gives the appearance that the Kushner family is taking advantage of the special relationship that Jared Kushner and Trump's daughter Ivanka have to the president.

How Did Michael Flynn Lose HIs National Security Adviser Job?

The Trump administration claimed that Mike Flynn was fired because he lied to the Vice President about the discussions that he had with the Russian Ambassador during the Trump transition.  The story is more complicated than that.  Flynn was warned to avoid having contacts with the Russian Ambassador by the Trump transition team.  He was told that the FBI was undoubtedly monitoring the ambassador's phone calls.  That should not have surprised him because he had a top security job in the military before being appointed to his job in the Trump Administration.  Flynn ignored the advise he was given.  An intercepted phone message by the FBI found that Flynn was discussing the sanctions imposed on Russia by the Obama administration.  Obama ordered the sanctions after determining that Russia had been taking actions to influence the US election.  There was no way that Flynn could remain in his job after the content of his discussions with the Russian Ambassador were captured by FBI surveillance.

Donald Trump accused the Obama administration of taping his phones at the Trump Tower.  Flynn was at the Trump Tower with Trump's son-in-law during a phone conversation with the Russian Ambassador in which the Obama sanctions were discussed.  The Russian Ambassador's taped phone provided the information about Flynn's conversation.  There was also a lot of conflict in the Trump transition team that might have influenced Flynn's behavior.  Some were cautious about taking a soft position on Russia, and others wanted to make good on Trump's claim that he would improve our relationship with Russia. Flynn was obviously part of the soft on Russia team.

How Paul Ryan Designed The Healthcare Bill To Finance Tax Cuts For The Wealthy

This article explains how the healthcare bill, primarily designed by Paul Ryan, financed a tax cut for wealthy Americans.  Ryan's plan cuts federal spending on Medicaid which was built into Obamacare by around $800 billion over ten years.  That allows Ryan to eliminate the taxes in Obamacare which were put in the plan to fund Medicaid without adding to the federal budget deficit.  In other words, Ryan's plan is basically a way to finance the tax cut.  The CBO believes that 14 million Americans will lose healthcare benefits so that taxes on high income Americans can be reduced.  I doubt that Trump has any idea about how this works.  Ryan has built his career around reducing federal spending on entitlement programs in order to cut tax for wealthy Americans.