Amidst another school shooting, Trump wages war against Dems, Journalists, China, Iran, and Immigrants

By Robert A. Vella

Another mass shooting has struck an American school, this one near the site of an even worse mass shooting at a school.  Meanwhile America’s president is waging a multi-front war against all comers.  Donald Trump is waging a political war against the U.S. House of Representatives because the Democrats who control that legislative body are attempting to perform their constitutional duty to conduct oversight of his thoroughly corrupt administration.  He is waging a propaganda war against journalists in the news media who dare to investigate his shady past and behavior in the White House.  Trump is waging an ill-conceived economic war against China which threatens to undermine not only the U.S. economy but also the world economy.  He is on the verge of waging an incredibly dangerous military war against Iran simply because his despotic allies wish it.  And, Trump is waging an ethnic war against migrants and asylum-seekers who have committed no more serious offense than wanting to escape the destitution and violence of their native countries.

These ongoing shootings, the depravity of President Trump, and many other worrisome trends, are symptoms of the demise of a once-great nation.  America is at war with itself.  It has lost its moral compass, its appreciation of the importance between discerning right and wrong, and the ability to correct itself.  Its leaders have failed, and its people have fallen into primitiveness.

As long as Americans fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people, greedy, barbarous and cruel.

If I wasn’t a U.S. citizen whose life is dependent upon the health of my country, I might be inclined to wish for America’s end to come quickly.  The American people as a whole deserve neither admiration nor sympathy, for we have collectively abrogated our responsibility to uphold and defend the constitutional principles which our nation was founded on.

Breaking news:  Nadler: Contempt vote ‘not a step we take lightly’

From:  Colorado school shooting: ‘Mommy, there’s a gun … shot at my school’ near Columbine

Just a few miles from Columbine High School, gunfire echoed through the hallways of yet another Colorado school.

This time, it was the STEM School Highlands Ranch near Denver. Two suspects, believed to be students there, used a pair of handguns and opened fire in two classrooms Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

An 18-year-old student just days away from graduation was killed, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said Wednesday. Eight other students were shot but survived.

See also:  Devon Erickson, Colorado shooting suspect, to make court appearance

From:  Trump Asserts Executive Privilege Over Full Mueller Report

WASHINGTON — President Trump asserted executive privilege on Wednesday in an effort to shield hidden portions of Robert S. Mueller III’s unredacted report and the evidence he collected from Congress.

The assertion, Mr. Trump’s first use of the secrecy powers as president, came as the House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Wednesday morning to recommend the House of Representatives hold Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena for the same material.

From:  White House invokes executive privilege to bar former counsel from turning over documents to Congress

The White House on Tuesday invoked executive privilege to bar former White House counsel Donald McGahn from complying with a congressional subpoena to provide documents to Congress related to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation.

The move triggered an immediate showdown with House Democrats, who threatened to hold McGahn in contempt of Congress if he refused to testify before the committee this month.

From:  N.Y. Lawmakers Move Closer to Allowing Release of Trump’s State Tax Returns

ALBANY — As the standoff over President Trump’sfederal tax returns deepens in Washington, New York State lawmakers say they intend to advance a bill on Wednesday to allow congressional committees to see Mr. Trump’s New York State returns.

State Senator Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat, confirmed on Tuesday that the State Senate had enough votes to ensure passage of a bill allowing the commissioner of the New York Department of Taxation and Finance to release any state tax return requested by a leader of one of three congressional committees for any “specified and legitimate legislative purpose.”

A tax return from New York — the headquarters of the president’s business empire and his home state — could contain much of the same financial information as a federal return, which Mr. Trump has steadfastly refused to release. On Monday, the Treasury Department denied a request from House Democrats for six years of the president’s federal returns, setting up a likely court battle that could reach the Supreme Court.

From:  Trade war threatens to roil 2020 race as Republicans complain about the tariffs Trump loves

As Trump prepares to run on the economy, his threat to increase tariffs on imports from China has sent the stock market diving and undercut a stretch of positive economic news. U.S. farmers and exporters, already bearing the brunt of China’s retaliatory tariffs, now face the prospect of an escalated trade war in which states that Trump needs to win reelection will be in the crosshairs.

The trade war has also exposed a rift inside the White House and among the president’s allies — with some officials pushing for a quick resolution to calm the markets ahead of 2020, and others warning the president that a weak deal with China could leave him politically vulnerable.

See also yesterday’s new PBS FRONTLINE documentary:  Trump’s Trade War

From:  ‘Hit job’: Trump responds to report he lost more than $1 billion over decade

President Donald Trump is still fighting Congress over the release of his tax returns, but a new report on Tuesday analyzing his official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts, with the figures from his federal tax forms, shows he lost over $1 billion from 1985 to 1994.

The documents show Trump’s businesses lost $1.17 billion over the 10 years, including $46.1 million in 1985 and hundreds of millions by the time of his much-publicized early-1990s financial collapse, according to a report in The New York Times, which acquired the tax documents.

The president has often portrayed himself as having a “golden touch” in all businesses during the 1980s, before fighting back from serious financial debt — due to struggles with his casino business — in the 1990s. His infamous book, “The Art of the Deal,” was released in 1987, right in the middle of the years covered in the tax documents.

From:  Court says Trump can continue policy requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration can continue to enforce a policy requiring some asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are processed.

The ruling from the San Francisco-based appeals court places a stay on a preliminary injunction on the asylum policy issued by a lower court.

The panel of judges wrote in the opinion that the Department of Homeland Security had shown that it suffer irreparable harm if the policy was halted because it “takes off the table one of the few congressionally authorized measures available to process the approximately 2,000 migrants who are currently arriving at the Nation’s southern border on a daily basis.”

[…]

However, some of the judges were highly critical of DHS’s implementation of the policy in individual opinions authored on the decision, signaling that they could eventually oppose the policy in a later ruling.

Judge Paul Watford, an Obama nominee, wrote in his opinion that he believes the administration’s treatment of the asylum seekers is in violation of the U.S.’s obligation to not return those migrants to countries where they could face persecution.

From:  Iran threatens more uranium enrichment if no new nuke deal

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran threatened Wednesday to resume higher enrichment of uranium in 60 days if world powers fail to negotiate new terms for its 2015 nuclear deal a year after President Donald Trump withdrew from the accord, raising tensions as a U.S. aircraft carrier and a bomber wing were deployed to confront unspecified threats from Tehran.

In a televised address, President Hassan Rouhani also said that Iran would stop exporting excess uranium and heavy water from its nuclear program, two requirements of the deal. He did not elaborate on the degree to which Iran was prepared to enrich uranium, which at high levels of enrichment can be used in nuclear weapons.

Rouhani said Iran wanted to negotiate new terms with remaining partners in the deal, but acknowledged that the situation was dire.

See also:  Netanyahu: Israel will ‘not allow’ nuclear-armed Iran