Tom Barrack, knee-deep in Trump's criminal shitToday, the House voted overwhelmingly, 248-177, to approve a resolution authored by Ro Khanna that direct the removal of US armed forces from hostilities in Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress. All the Democrats voted YES, along with 18 Republicans. Justin Amash (R-MI) voted "present" and 177 other Republicans voted to continue aiding the Saudi genocide in Yemen. Central Valley Blue Dog Jim Costa, who has been heavily pressured by Blue America to stop voting with the Republicans on this-- as he had done twice before-- finally did vote against the war.It was definitely time for a victory lap for Khanna. He issued a statement acknowledging the success of grassroots activism in the successful outcome on the floor, calling victory "historic. This is the culmination of several years of legislative efforts to end our involvement in the Saudi war in Yemen. I’m encouraged by the direction people are pushing our party to take on foreign policy, promoting restraint and human rights and with the sense they want Congress to play a much larger role."Ted Lieu, who got this out-of-Yemen ball rolling before Khanna-- or Trump-- was elected said e-mailed his constituents to say that he has been "gravely concerned about the catastrophe unfolding in Yemen since 2015, and have worked to stop U.S. military involvement in this bloody civil war. The Saudi-led coalition was dropping bombs on civilians and we were helping fuel those planes. Millions of people were becoming aid-dependent in what was turning into, and now is, the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The U.S., despite Democrats’ calls for answers and actions for change, continued to support the coalition’s efforts. Every step of the way, the Republican-controlled House obstructed debates on Yemen because it was uncomfortable to shame our partners and make tough choices about ending our support in order to protect civilians. After nearly four years of conflict, Congress finally took action on the House floor. I commend Congressman Ro Khanna for authoring this legislation. I’m proud that we’ve passed this bill, which I coauthored, to send a clear message to the Administration that we must end all U.S. military support in Yemen." The ball is now in Trump's court-- or Miss McConnell's. The Senate passed the bill 56-41 in December but-- thanks to Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy-- it was never voted on in the House. Noe that it passed the House, it has to pass the Senate again. It's unlikely McConnell will allow a vote and if he did it would be unlikely it would pass again. In any case, Trump already said he would veto it if it ever got to his desk.I'm going too take a little jump now-- but just a little one, despite how it's going to sound at first. You probably remember-- back before most of America was accustomed to hear Trump lie all day and all night every single day-- that he was spouting some bullshit about self-funding his own presidential campaign and that in any case he wouldn't accept any money from SuperPACs. That's always been a very conscious lie and one of his few friends, uber-crooked real estate mogul Tom Barrack, set up the Rebuilding America Now SuperPAC in June 2016. Leading up to the election, Rebuilding America Now reported raising $22,610,717 and spending $22,763,915 (leaving them-- in magic math-- with $841,772 "left over").This is a list of their 15 biggest contributors, many of whom have since been handsomely rewarded with public money doled out by Trump.
• Linda McMahon- $6,000,000• Geoffrey Palmer- $5,000,000• Bernard Marcus- $5,000,000• Ronald Cameron- $2,000,000• Stephen Feinberg- $1,475,000• Peter Zieve- $1,000,000• Walter Buckley- $500,000• Beverly Elliott- $450,000• Hamilton Company- $300,000• Geo Corrections- $275,000• Boyd Smith- $275,000• Murray Energy- $200,000• Llwyd Ecclestone- $200,000• Frank Caladra- $150,000• Anthony Scaramucci- $100,000
Those were the reported contributions. It is also widely suspected that Trump's campaign was soliciting highly illegal foreign contributions-- presumably from the Kremlin and the Saudis and Emiratis-- through the PAC, contributions that have no been accounted for. One of the big donors, Geoffrey Palmer-- another Trump-like real estate crook-- is suspected of laundering foreign money into the Trump campaign at the request of Paul Manafort. At least a million, and probably more, was put into the Barrack SuperPAC and made to disappear. It has now reappeared and Mueller is on the case in a big way. Money from the SuperPCA went into Trump's pockets and as kickbacks for his top aides, all completely illegal.I'm fairly certain that Trump's White House sojourn will eventually result in Barrack going to prison for a long time. Tuesday-- so a day before Khanna's Yemen resolution was voted on-- Barrack was in Dubai, speaking at the Milken Institute MENA Summit. He said that America is in no moral position to criticise Saudi Arabia (over the crown prince's brutal and premeditated murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. "Whatever happened in Saudi Arabia," he told CNN, "the atrocities in America are equal, or worse. He referred to the murderous and primitive crown prince-- and Kushner-in-law amigo as "a young man and regime that is trying to push themselves into 2030," and that lecturing them about a moral code (i.e., torture and murder) "is a mistake."
Barrack went on to launch a lengthy defence of Saudi Arabia, accusing Western countries of failing to understand the kingdom.“The problem that has happened with the Khashoggi incident,” he said, “is the same problem with the West misunderstanding the east that has existed since Sykes-Picot.”“So, the West is confused, it doesn’t understand the rule of law in the kingdom, it doesn’t understand what succession in the kingdom is, it doesn’t understand how there can be a dilemma with a population that has 60 per cent of people under the age of 20.”He later added that the West had always been confused about the Middle East.“The corrupt hand of the West has been the primary instigator in the kingdom, and in the resource curse across the region forever.”Barrack then praised the strong leadership across the Arabian Gulf in the face of this perceived Western ineffectiveness, especially in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.“The leadership in the UAE is brilliant,” he said, adding: “The English manipulated the region for decades.”The private equity investor also defended Saudi Arabia’s transformation, saying that “in a transition, bold action is required for bold places.”Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Riyadh represented some of the “most organised leadership regimes” in the world, he added.
Time to bring our truck home from Fresno-- mission accomplished
