Posts from — May 2017

A teaching moment:

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley defended President Trump’s firing of former FBI director James Comey, saying that he can “fire anyone he wants.”

“The president is the CEO of the country,” Haley told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” Sunday. “He can hire and fire anyone he wants.”

The United States is not a corporation and doesn’t have a Chief Executive Officer. The President, the job that Mr Trump actually fills, may hire at will lower level employees of the Executive branch for appointed positions. He may nominate individuals for upper level positions in the Executive branch and judges in the Judicial branch. To be hired those nominated must be confirmed by the Senate.

The President has no power to remove judges or members of the Legislative branch. He may fire any member of the Executive branch who has an appointed position.

The actual Constitution, even including the Amendments, doesn’t take that long to read. Members of the Federal government should take the time to read it once a year.

The Constitution talks about “High Crimes and Misdemeanors”. We still use the term “misdemeanor” in most states to indicate an offense that could result in a sentence of up to a year in jail, while “high crimes” are usually called “felonies” which can result in a prison sentence of more than a year to life.

An example of a high crime/felony would be discussing the contents of a Presidential briefing with a Russian foreign minister. This would probably result in a life term for anyone except the President who can declassify documents, even codeword documents, whenever he feels like it. It doesn’t matter that it could get someone killed, that it will cost us a source of information, that it assists the Islamic State, the President can do it. We know about this because some people believe that the President shouldn’t have done it. If I was still in the business, I would have done what I could to let people know.

People die gathering intel. It’s bad enough when the bad guys are trying to take you out; you don’t need your “Commander in Chief” helping them do it.

Update from the BBC:

“The story that came out tonight, as reported, is false,” National Security Advisor HR McMaster told reporters outside the White House.

“The president and foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries, including threats to civil aviation.

“At no time, at no time, were intelligence sources or methods discussed, and the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known.”

Parse this statement. Excellent work General McMasters using “as reported” to qualify what you were saying. I was hoping that the story wasn’t true, but you have convinced me it happened He didn’t identify things as sources and methods, but he revealed them during the discussion about threats to civil aviation. Thanks for clearing that up.

In case you haven’t heard approximately a 100,000 computers in nearly a 100 countries have been infected with the “Wannacrypt” ransomware worm. If you have Windows XP or other unsupported versions, you should check this Microsoft blog post for the download link to get a patch.

I have an XP box that I still use for certain software that won’t run on newer versions of Windows, but it isn’t normally connected to the ‘Net. I still have Eset on it and patched it, because rebuilding the system would be a real PITA.

You can always explain things with cats, but I wasn’t prepared for this unbelievably stupid move by Drumpf. What he did was obstruction and none of the lawyers he has surrounded himself with has the courage to tell him.

The law firm that is trying to tell people that Drumpf has no ties to Russia, with exceptions, failed to note that it was “Law Firm of the Year” in Russia in 2016. The credibility gap at the White House is measured in light years.

This is not amusing. I watched the Watergate hearings in a motel room in Dallas waiting to get a new head put on a Datsun 2000 to finish my transfer to the Presidio of Monterey. This time the magnificent voice of Barbara Jordan is missing and Harvard Law graduate Sam Ervin isn’t available to skewer witnesses with his Carolina drawl and ‘just an old country lawyer’ line. Drumpf has hinted at a ‘secret taping system’ in a not so veiled threat to James Comey, which is odd considering that the a recording would probably show that Comey has been truthful while “Drumpf is Trumpful.

This Saturday, May 13^th, is the 25^th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive of the Postal Workers. I participate every year by filling a bag with non-perishable food items and putting it on the mail box Friday night. The food pantries need the help, because they are serving an ever-increasing number of people.

If you don’t have a mail box, most post offices have a collection bin.

Wikipedia usually has to “lock” its Cinco de Mayo page. I suspect it may be related to the sudden appearance of sites opposing the celebration of this semi-holiday and others who have a hissy fit about any Mexican holiday being celebrated in the US. This year it is the rhetoric of Drumpf that has brought out the worse elements in American culture.

In Mexico Cinco de Mayo or Batalla de Puebla, is only a really big celebration in the state of Puebla, where the battle took place.

The Mexican army won the Batalla de Puebla on May the 5^th, 1862, but the French went on to Mexico City in 1863 after receiving reinforcements and installed Emperor Maximilian.

It has the status of St. Patrick’s Day in the US, an excuse to eat different food, and drink different booze, and be obnoxious show an interest in other cultures.

Margaritas, tacos, and the destruction of piñatas, that’s what it is really about.

I have house guests so things will be hit & miss for a while.

The May Day association with labor is all American, and just as controversial as everything of any consequence in history. The day is tied to a strike for the eight-hour day and the so-called “Haymarket Riot” of 1886. When it comes to “riots” and the Chicago police are involved, you are not going to find a single truth.

The dynamic duo that mucked up the Pledge of Allegiance, Dwight Eisenhower and his Republican Congress, made May 1^st both Law Day and Loyalty Day so those Commie working people wouldn’t get any ideas about having rights.