Environmentalist in Chief

Rule 39:  Well it turns out that Leroy Gibbs is right, there is no such thing as a coincidence.  As suspected, the Ukraine passenger jet that crashed over Iran soon after takeoff from Tehran’s airport, just after Iran’s missile attack of two US bases in Iraq, was downed by a Iranian missile.  On high alert for a US counter attack, it appears that Iranian forces and/or an automated Russian anti-missile system targeted the plane, most likely mistaking it for an incoming US drone.  The downing of the Ukrainian jet is reminiscent of the Malaysian air plane that crashed in Ukraine, another plane that was collateral damage in a hostile region.  That plane was also taken down by Russian weaponry.  Despite the tragic crash and the deaths of all of the 176 aboard the plane, Trump is still saying that his Iranian escapade was not a bigly deal because no one, American or Iraqi, was killed during the Iranian counterattack of the US bases and, anyway, that Ukrainian “plane was flying in a really tough neighborhood.”   As to the Iranians, despite convincing evidence to the contrary, they are still try to hang the blame for the crash on an engine fire, failing to note that the fire was caused by a missile and oh by the way the fuselage was on fire too. A lot of members of Congress, mostly Democrats, who still aren’t convinced that the decision to kill General Soleimani, as evil has he was, was worth the trouble it will continue to cause, just want to stop Trump from making any more impulsive or self-serving actions so yesterday, by a vote of 224 to 194, the House passed a War Powers Resolution intended to limit Trump’s ability to take further military action against Iran without their consent.  The vote was largely along party lines although three Republicans and Justin Amash, the Republican-turned-independent endorsed the resolution while eight Democrats voted against it. Notably, Matt Gaetz, who generally supports everything Trump does, voted with the Democrats saying that his district has a lot of military personnel and that he doesn’t want to see any more of them die in Middle East wars.  The Senate is now expected to take up their version of the resolution, one sponsored by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine.   As of now only two Republicans, Utah’s Mike Lee and Kentucky’s Rand Paul are on board though Kaine reports that he is in discussion with Indiana’s Todd Young and, as usual, Maine’s Susan Collins, selectively changing the text with the hope of getting them on board. In any case, passage of the resolution would be largely symbolic since there wouldn’t be enough votes to overcome the Trump veto that would surely follow.  

Democrats:  It looks like spending millions of dollars on advertisement really works, and that comment refers to billionaire Tom Steyer rather than that other billionaire spending lots of money, Mike Bloomberg.  Two recent Fox polls show Steyer way up in Nevada and South Carolina at 12% and 15% of the vote respectively.  He’s still way behind Joe Biden who leads in both states but now appears to be in the running and has qualified for next week’s debate.  As to Mayor Mike, he hasn’t been at it as long as Steyer, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that he too will start to climb in the polls, or at least some of the polls, as he is already polling somewhere around 6% and money talks and is effective at improving name recognition, particularly among those who haven’t been closely following the election cycle.  To that end, Bloomberg will be running a $10 million, sixty second spot during the Super Bowl, one that is expected to focus more on Trump’s inadequacies than anything else.  The Trump campaign has responded by purchasing sixty seconds of their own, of course they will be dipping into RNC cash to pay because Trump doesn’t plan on funding any of the 2020 campaign himself, because “no one gives him credit for that.”  In endorsement news, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has endorsed Joe Biden’s candidacy and Pete Buttigieg landed his first endorsement from a Black member of Congress, Representative Anthony Brown of Maryland.

Et Cetera:  Speaker Pelosi still hasn’t agreed to send the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate.  The more moderate Democrats who had said it was time for her to do so have backed off their comments, saying that it’s up to her and who are they to question Nancy.  Senate Leader McConnell is now backing a resolution sponsored by Missouri’s Republican Senator newbie Josh Hawley and ten other Republican senators that calls for the impeachment to be dismissed if the Articles aren’t sent over ASAP.  That’s not going to happen and anyway, Pelosi says that she’ll be sending them over soon, whatever that means.  The Army, or at least Lt General Frances Beaudette, the Commander of US Special Forces, has denied a request by now retired Army Major Matthew Golsteyn to have his Special Forces tab reinstated.  Golsteyn, who publicly admitted to murdering a Taliban fighter under questionable circumstances, is another one of those officers that Trump pardoned. Beaudette’s decision still has to be reviewed by an administrative board, but it’s fair to assume that Trump will have something to say about it, he might even invite Golsteyn to join his campaign squad.  Yesterday Trump said that he would make fundamental changes to Nixon era environment regulations in an effort to speed up new mines, pipelines and other large projects even if those projects could potentially harm the environment and accelerate climate change or are opposed by local communities. At the same time he said that he is a “big believer” in climate change and that it is “not a hoax.” Specifically he said that “Nothing’s a hoax about that. It’s a very serious subject. I want clean air. I want clean water.” He then went on to claim that “The environment is very important to me. Somebody wrote a book that I’m an environmentalist called The Environmentalist… I’ll bring it to my next news conference, perhaps. I’m sure you’ll report all about it.” Yup.