Trump's Lease for his D.C. hotel forbids him from being "an elected official"

Thanks to Daring Fireball for bringing yet another example of corruption to our attention: TTrump's Lease for his D.C. hotel forbids him from being "an elected official"

The Post Office Lease differs from many of Mr. Trump’s other business arrangements. That’s because, in writing the contract, the federal and D.C. governments determined, in advance, that elected officials could play no role in this lease arrangement. The contract language is clear: “No ... elected official of the Government of the United States ... shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom...”

The language could not be any more specific or clear. Donald Trump will breach the contract on Jan. 20, when, while continuing to benefit from the lease, he will become an “elected official of the Government of the United States.”

President Obama Claims He Cannot Pardon Snowden; He's Wrong | Techdirt

President Obama Claims He Cannot Pardon Snowden; He's Wrong | Techdirt:

Obama pardoned three Iranian Americans who had not yet stood trial. That happened this year. So for him to say it's impossible to pardon someone who hasn't gone before the court is simply, factually, historically wrong.

There may be reasons why the President doesn't wish to grant a pardon to Snowden, but his stated reasons are completely bogus.

McCain warns Trump on torture, waterboarding - POLITICO

McCain warns Trump on torture, waterboarding - POLITICO:

"I don't give a damn what the president of the United States wants to do. We will not waterboard," McCain told an audience at the annual Halifax International Security Forum. "We will not torture people – It doesn't work."

On Saturday, McCain reminded the audience that torture remains illegal under the Geneva Conventions and was also banned by Congress last year.

That law, signed by President Barack Obama, restricts interrogation techniques to those outlined by the U.S. Army Field Manual — which does not permit waterboarding.

Good on you, Senator McCain. And thank you.

Trump's big infrastructure plan? It's a trap. - The Washington Post

Trump's big infrastructure plan? It's a trap. - The Washington Post:

Trump's plan is not really an infrastructure plan. [... It] doesn’t directly fund new roads, bridges, water systems or airports, as did Hillary Clinton’s 2016 infrastructure proposal [...] Trump’s plan provides tax breaks to private-sector investors [...]

[...] projects that are not attractive to private investors [...] get no help from Trump’s plan. [With the business tax break, it's] a stunning $85 billion after-tax profit for contractors — underwritten by the taxpayers.

[It] isn’t really a jobs plan, either. [...] it funds tax breaks, not bridges [...] simply no guarantee that the plan will produce any net new hiring.

Third, because there is no proposed funding mechanism for Trump’s tax breaks, they will add to the deficit — perhaps as much as $137 billion.

But when the plan is passed and those voters see that it fattens investors’ and contractors’ pockets (but not workers’)[... they will] turn against its backers.

The 'us and them' divide worked for Putin and it will work for Trump | World news | The Guardian

The 'us and them' divide worked for Putin and it will work for Trump | World news | The Guardian Another informative read.

I have the privilege of being able to convey messages from the future to my friends in the US and Europe.

For someone like Trump or the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, xenophobia is only a means of mobilisation, not an end in itself... Trump and Putin are ecumenical nationalists.

...they are not bound by logic or intellectual decency. Their constituencies have short attention spans, and don’t notice when their leader switches from hating to ... co-opting... That’s what Putin has done with former Chechen independence fighters, who are now playing a key role in his machine of terror.

The anti-Trump marches ... last weekend were all about minority rights... Trump’s spin doctors will have no problem breaking up this movement, pitting its diverse components against each other, the same way Putin did with the Bolotnaya Square protests in 2012.

To beat him, Trump’s opponents need to start everything anew and unite under more universal, and unifying, slogans.

I subscribe through the Guardian's iOS app, which seems to have a discounted rate. Maybe it's time to upgrade to full fare.

Stephen Bannon Has No Business In The White House | Southern Poverty Law Center

You can sign the Southern Poverty Law Center's petition here.

The Way to Stop Trump | by David Cole | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books

The Way to Stop Trump | by David Cole | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books:

The risks are almost certainly greater than those posed by any prior American president...

Whether Trump will actually try to implement these promises, and more importantly, whether he will succeed if he does try, lies as much in our hands as in his.

...if we now and for the next four years insist that he honor our most fundamental constitutional values, including equality, human dignity, fair process, privacy, and the rule of law, and if we organize and advocate in defense of those principles, he can and will be contained.

I worry about this point. If Trump learns the art of spy-ops as taught by Putin's Russia, we will have a hard time.

Americans did not sit back and accept that the executive [under G.W. Bush] was above the law... they protested, filed lawsuits, wrote human rights reports, lobbied foreign audiences and governments to bring pressure to bear on the United States, leaked classified documents, and broadly condemned the administration’s actions as violations of fundamental constitutional and human rights.

Bush did not introduce these reforms because he came to realize his wrongs... But Bush was nonetheless checked—by American civil society, international criticism, and, for the first time in history, the Court and Congress.

Obama’s troubling use of drones to engage in secret targeted killing far from any battlefield leaves Trump an extremely dangerous weapon.

I'll stop quoting. Please go read the entire article.

For the love of all that is holy and good, #StopBannon's appointment – Medium

Practical steps to deter institutionalized white supremacy: For the love of all that is holy and good, #StopBannon's appointment – Medium

President-elect Trump's coal con

Coal country can't catch a break. President-elect Trump's coal con:

"...all those politicians and industry officials and career campaign consultants who spent most of the campaign trying to convince the hard-working people of the coalfields that another boom would be just around the corner – Well, I guess we were supposed to take them seriously, but not literally."

A Trump administration thaw with Russia is "unacceptable," McCain says - The Washington Post

A Trump administration thaw with Russia is "unacceptable," McCain says - The Washington Post:

"...plunged his country into tyranny, murdered his political opponents, invaded his neighbors, threatened America's allies and attempted to undermine America's elections"

It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to see this as a prediction of the future of the U.S.