dagblog - Comments for "Saudi-funded lobbyist paid for 500 rooms at Trump’s hotel after 2016 election"

I used to get all weak in the

PeraclesPlease — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 13:45:57 +0000

In reply to Take note: USIC is monitoring

I used to get all weak in the thighs when i heard this stuff 2 years ago - at this point it's "okay, how many phone books of evidence do we need before we can charge anyone?" By the time we hopefully re-enter the White House in 2021, these fuckers will all be offshored in the Seychelles with Erik Prince, living it up.

Take note: USIC is monitoring

artappraiser — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 12:45:20 +0000

In reply to Saudi-funded lobbyist paid for 500 rooms at Trump’s hotel after 2016 election

Take note: USIC is monitoring, either directly or indirectly, Kushner’s conversations with MbS. Implications abound. https://t.co/p4pcqTG8xm
— Rick Petree (@RickPetree) March 13, 2019

doesn't always work, not all

artappraiser — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 12:08:24 +0000

In reply to Saudi-funded lobbyist paid for 500 rooms at Trump’s hotel after 2016 election

doesn't always work, not all bought and paid:

Dear @SaudiEmbassyUSA, @AdelAljubeir & @KSAmofaEN: Many US Senators & Representatives will still be here when @realDonaldTrump leaves.

Do you think we will forget that you committed war crimes in #Yemen, used a bone saw on Khashoggi & repeatedly lied to the American people? https://t.co/Nv9vfHaKZy
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 14, 2019

When I started talking about the humanitarian and security nightmare in Yemen 4 years ago, few noticed.

Thanks to @SenSanders @SenMikeLee and many others who joined the fight, Congress woke up.

And just now the Senate voted to end our war in Yemen 54-46.

Amazing.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 13, 2019

The Senate just voted to end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s disastrous war in Yemen. The only way to end this conflict is through diplomacy, not American military assistance.
— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) March 13, 2019

Today the Senate took back its constitutional responsibility to authorize war—an authority that belongs to Congress alone, not the president—by moving to end the catastrophic war in Yemen. This is an historic day. https://t.co/omfrciqIBY
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 13, 2019

I thought this obvious - the

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 04:27:10 +0000

In reply to Which reminds me, as to

I thought this obvious - the US pays billions to support Israel, so we expect some behavior that fits our values. We expect Saudis to be cash rich trying to persuade us.

Now I'm not sure we know how much Saudi money is coming in, and past a bit or an atrocity here and there, we start paying attention.

Bazzi is a great reporter, I

artappraiser — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 01:51:57 +0000

In reply to Saudi-funded lobbyist paid for 500 rooms at Trump’s hotel after 2016 election

Bazzi is a great reporter, I became a fan during the Iraq war, just found him again recently:

How Jared Kushner’s business conflicts play into campaign to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia — my latest @theguardian https://t.co/kstCPIqATf
— Mohamad Bazzi (@BazziNYU) March 11, 2019

Which reminds me, as to

artappraiser — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:26:03 +0000

In reply to Saudi-funded lobbyist paid for 500 rooms at Trump’s hotel after 2016 election

Which reminds me, as to legally registered lobbying of Congress ("it's all about the Benjamins"): Israel gives more to Dems, Saudis prefer GOP.

And Saudis seem to be spending much more recently than pro-Israel groups combined:

[....] Amid concerns that former president Barack Obama would be less supportive of Israel, donations by pro-Israel political-action committees jumped in 2008, his first year in office.

In 2018, these groups (including AIPAC) spent about $5 million on direct lobbying efforts beyond campaign contributions; pro-Saudi groups, for a rough contrast, spent $19 million from the beginning of 2017 until October 2018 [....]

But mysteriously (or not, if one has theories about why this is), domestic political coverage rarely gets into Saudi lobbying, seems like it's always all about Israel.... I.E., this "conspiracy theory" didn't play very well for very long among liberal media and the blogosphere, even though Michael Moore promoted it.

Edit to add: I've always surmised that this phenomenon might have to do with "it's the hypocrisy stupid" thing. Saudi Arabia makes no pretense of being a democracy, while Israel does. So the left gets more into bashing Israel, because their treatment of Palestinians is hypocritical. Both are responsible for atrocities of different types and both use tribal fear of "the other" to manipulate their populaces. The thing is, if one is into self-centered Amero-centric foreign policy, Israel has done little to directly hurt Americans, while it could easily argued that Saudi Arabia has done things that hurt Americans. I've always suspected that this is the simple reason that Joe Lunchpail types are often supportive of pro-Israel policy: Israelis are seen as friends of Americans and most Arabs are not. (Not coincidentally, I think Michael Moore has always gotten this instinctively about working class types.)