[NY Post] "Oops! Taken out of context!"
Australia’s US Ambassador Kevin Rudd is facing calls to resign after his slew of disparaging comments against President-elect Donald Trump resurfaced — causing concerns over whether he’ll be able to work with the incoming president.
Rudd called Trump "the most destructive president in history" and "a traitor to the West" in past tweets, as well as "a village idiot" and "incompetent" in a 2021 video interview uncovered by Sky News.
"The most destructive president in history. He drags America and democracy through the mud. He thrives on fomenting, not healing, division," Rudd wrote on X in June 2020. "He abuses Christianity, church and the Bible to justify violence."
Rudd hastily deleted his past tweets insulting Trump soon after it appeared likely that the Republican would cinch the election against Vice President Kamala Harris last week.
But Australian officials, who are particularly concerned over Trump’s 10% tariff proposal, worry that the damage is already done — Rudd’s insults could hurt Australia’s relationship with the US under a Trump presidency.
"Loose-lipped Rudd is so arrogant he actually thinks he can walk back every insult ever delivered about Trump and get away with it," The Nightly editor-in-chief Christopher Dore wrote in a Sunday opinion piece.
"It is ludicrous to even contemplate keeping Kevin Rudd in Washington as our ambassador to the US," Dore argued.
Michael Kroger, the former president of Australia’s Victorian Liberal Party and a frequent conservative commentator, said Rudd should do what’s best for the country and step down.
"Kevin Rudd knows Australia’s best interests are not served by a ferocious critic of Donald Trump as our Ambassador in Washington," he told the Herald Sun. "For Australia’s national interests, Mr Rudd needs to hand in his commission to the Prime Minister who should then appoint a more diplomatic ambassador."
Former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told the publication that Rudd has made his own job incredibly difficult by his criticism of the US president-elect.
"Kevin Rudd may find this hard to believe but he might find that Donald Trump has more on his mind than the future of Kevin Rudd," said Downer, who also served as Australia’s ambassador to the UK.
#2
Not sure why anyone above an intern would take his calls after Crossfire Hurricane.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/12/2024 12:21 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Rudd is a low grade intellect with a top shelf ego and an absolutely incendiary temper. Downer, of course, is IC. One is worthless, the other dangerous. IMO.
[NY Post] Juan Merchan is a corrupt Dem POS, but is he smart enough to toss this crap?
A New York judge will decide Tuesday whether to throw out Donald Trump’s conviction in his criminal “hush money” case based on the US Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity earlier this year.
The president-elect faces up to four years in prison after he was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up payments to porn star Stormy Daniels before Trump was elected president in 2016.
The US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in July that Trump enjoys absolute immunity from prosecution for “official acts” during his presidency. The nation’s top court left it up to lower courts to sort out what constitutes an “official act” by a sitting president.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan had delayed sentencing by more than four months until after the election.
If the conviction is upheld, Trump, 78, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 26 — less than two months before his inauguration.
Trump’s sweeping election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris will embolden his legal team to make sure that sentencing never happens, legal experts have said.
Prosecutors have argued that the case centers on “entirely personal” conduct with “no relationship whatsoever to any official duty of the presidency,” as the crimes were committed before he took office, ABC 7 reported.
The “evidence that he claims is affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling constitutes only a sliver of the mountains of testimony and documentary proof that the jury considered in finding him guilty of all 34 felony charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” prosecutors said.
Trump’s defense team has argued that certain evidence presented to the jury, including his conversation with former White House communications director Hope Hicks and his social media posts as president, muddled the jury’s understanding of the case.
If Merchan tosses the conviction, the judge could still order a new trial — which would be delayed for at least four years until Trump leaves office. He could also dismiss the indictment entirely.
Meanwhile, Justice Department officials are likely to drop the pair of cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith while he was out of office related to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the hoarding of classified documents.
The DOJ has a longstanding policy of not prosecuting a sitting president and officials there reportedly are aware it would be futile to continue pursuing charges before Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20.
“Many legal scholars, including myself, agree it’s almost certain he will never see the inside of a jail cell,” Quinnipiac University assistant professor of law Wayne Unger told The Post last week.
Former prosecutor Neama Rahmani agreed, saying, “Now that Trump has won, his criminal problems go away.”
The incoming commander-in-chief could simply pardon himself in the two federal cases once he’s in office or direct his new attorney general to fire Smith and order the Justice Department to drop both matters.
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] The Biden-Harris State Department organized an in-house therapy session for employees early Friday following Donald Trump’s election victory, four sources with knowledge of the meeting told the Washington Free Beacon.
"Managing stress during change," read an internal State Department email sent across the agency that encouraged employees to attend a one-hour session in which they could discuss their feelings about Tuesday’s election results. The department’s Employee Consultation Services in the Bureau of Medical Services hosted the session, according to a copy of the email notice described by sources to the Free Beacon.
"Change is a constant in our lives, but it can often bring about stress and uncertainty," the email said. "Join us for an insightful webinar where we delve into effective stress management techniques to help you navigate these challenging times. This session will provide tips and practical strategies for managing stress and maintaining your well being."
The session was led by a licensed clinical provider. A second one is scheduled for Nov. 13, according to the email notice.
The State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, which oversees American diplomacy in the war-torn Middle East, also held a group discussion Friday with assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs Barbara Leaf and acting undersecretary for political affairs John Bass, according to three sources briefed on the matter.
One source described the meeting as a "cry session" over Trump’s victory, which is likely to usher in wholesale change at Foggy Bottom. Officials in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs have been working for months to sanction the Jewish government and withhold critical arms shipments, alleging Israel is not doing enough to provide humanitarian aid in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. They are said to have discussed the difficulty of Trump’s victory and urged employees to share their feelings in private settings.
"For four years, within the rank and file, there has been an over emphasis on people's feelings, often with a college campus-like fervor, rather than the work of advancing America's interests," one U.S. official with knowledge of the meetings told the Free Beacon.
"This meeting was hopefully the last gasp of that," the source said, adding that there is "lots to unf—k" at the State Department after four years of the Biden-Harris administration.
A second source briefed on the private discussions said they suggest "the State Department is filled with partisan Democrats who are unwilling or unable to faithfully serve in the Trump administration."
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
[NY Post] President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly set to pick Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as his secretary of state – a decision that will make the Cuban American senator the first Latino to serve as the nation’s top diplomat.
Rubio – the son of Cuban exiles – has represented Florida in the US Senate since 2011. He serves as the vice chairman on the Senate Intelligence Committee and is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Are any President Trump insiders likely to tell a NYT reporter anything?
Rep. Mike Waltz Tapped To Be White House National Security Adviser
Lee Zeldin Tapped As EPA Administrator
Pompeo and Haley Not Invited Susie Wiles - White House Chief of Staff
#2
One it wasn't a puppy. Two it was disruptive to other farm animals. She took care of the issue herself it wasn't like she called in a SWAT team. It wasn't like P'Nut.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/12/2024 12:15 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The Rubio pick seems swampy, am not too hot on him after his UN Bill.
CNN was running clips of Rubio today when Rubio debated Trump in 2016 and he said you cant trust Trump because of Trump has small hands. How can you trust someone with such small hands /unquote.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
11/12/2024 8:37 Comments ||
Top||
#4
It hasn't exactly been a winning strategy. It's not compatible with the American way of life. Progressivism to these people means communism, extremism and tyranny.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[NY Post] 
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] The Biden-Harris 
