Category: Uncategorized

  • Trump Sues to Destroy

    Trump Sues to Destroy

    Trump’s decision to sue the WSJ for $10 billion is typical Trump, all bluster and publicity, no substance.  No new information about Epstein, just a threat, “If you question me, I will destroy you!”  For Trump, the law is a weapon, not a means of doing justice.  That’s how he…

  • Trump Attacks Rule of Law in Brazil

    Trump Attacks Rule of Law in Brazil

    US Yanks Visa for Brazilian Judge Citing Bolsonaro ‘Witch Hunt’ – Bloomberg Bloomberg– US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he’s revoking the visa for Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes after the high court sent police to raid the home of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of his trial on charges he attempted a coup…

  • Ian Bremmer on Brazil & Trump

    Ian Bremmer on Brazil & Trump

    In an email, Ian Bremmer (https://us12.campaign-archive.com/?e=2919ec9296&u=7404e6dcdc8018f49c82e941d&id=120ba644e8) commented on Trump’s attack on Brazilian President Lula. US-Brazil relations have been heating up for a bit, but President Donald Trumpratcheted up the temperature on the Lula administration a week ago when he announced that the United States would slap a 50% tariff on…

  • Big, Beautiful Debt

    Big, Beautiful Debt

    Trump’s big beautiful bill is unlikely to raise the opposition that Democrats hope it will. The tax cuts will go into effect immediately, but the Medicaid cuts will not go into effect until after the midterm elections.  The tax cuts will not be very apparent because they just extend the…

  • The old nuc­lear rules won’t stop pro­lif­er­a­tion

    The old nuc­lear rules won’t stop pro­lif­er­a­tion

    From the Financial Times: The writer is exec­ut­ive dir­ector of the Non- pro­lif­er­a­tion Policy Edu­ca­tion Cen­ter and was the Pentagon’s deputy for non­pro­lif­er­a­tion from 1989-93 Henry Sokol­ski Of all the ques­tions Amer­ica’s bomb­ing of Iran has gen­er­ated, the one that’s received the least atten­tion is how we got here. The…

  • FT’s Martin Wolf on Trump

    FT’s Martin Wolf on Trump

    The Financial Times’ Martin Wolf has written an excellent column on the international and domestic dangers unleashed by Donald Trump’s administration. He says: Let us start with the domestic front. We are watch­ing an assault on the rule of law. Abbe Low­ell, erstwhile defender of Jared Kush­ner and Hunter Biden, warns that…

  • Brazil Defends Adherence to Law in Defiance of Trump’s Attacks on  Its Legal System

    Brazil Defends Adherence to Law in Defiance of Trump’s Attacks on Its Legal System

    American President Trump and Brazilian President Lula have been arguing at long distance since Lula hosted the BRICs meeting in Brazil.  According to Bloomberg, Lula told Trump to mind his own business after Trump defended former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro from criminal prosecution in Brazil for attempting a coup.  “This…

  • Cuts at State Department

    Cuts at State Department

    The Washington Post reports on concerns about layoffs at the State Department: The Trump administration’s plan for mass layoffs at the State Department has left much of the workforce exasperated and embittered, tanking morale as extra demands were made to assist U.S. citizens seeking to flee the Middle East amid…

  • My Posting in Italy

    My Posting in Italy

    When I arrived in Rome, my predecessor had been gone for some time.  His assistant, who would be my assistant, had been handling the science job until my arrival.  I had not had Italian language training, and the main issue for the office was fisheries, which was handled by the…

  • Human Rights Reports

    Human Rights Reports

    The Washington Post reports that as part of its attack on European countries for their democratic institutions, the State Department is revising its human rights reports to be more critical of leftist views. I think I wrote the first human rights report on Brazil while I was working on the…