Outside the Beltway

Sunday Morning Tabs

Steven L. Taylor
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  • Speaking of Alabama (start it for the NIH talk, stay to the end for the Tuberville nonsense):

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32 responses to “Sunday Morning Tabs”

  1. Not the IT Dept. Avatar
    Not the IT Dept.

    Re the Gulf of Mexico issue: you say “[Trump] has the legal right” to change the name to Gulf of America.

    Does he? The Gulf of Mexico is international waters. At most Trump can rename a portion of it that falls within 12 nautical miles of our coasts. Looking at a map, it’s clear that more of Mexico’s coasts border on the waters than ours.

    6
  2. Scott Avatar
    Scott

    Here’s another long read from ProPublica on USAID concerning Peter Marocco, the Trump appointed head of USAID:

    Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met With Christian Nationalists Abroad in Defiance of U.S. Policy

    Before Peter Marocco was selected to dismantle America’s entire foreign aid sector on behalf of President Donald Trump, he was an official with the State Department on a diplomatic mission.

    In 2018, during Trump’s first term, Marocco was a senior political appointee tasked with promoting stability in areas with armed conflict. That summer, he made a two-week trip to the Balkans, visiting several Eastern European countries in what was advertised as an effort to “counter violent extremism” and “strengthen inter-religious dialogue.”

    On a 2018 visit to the Balkans, Marocco secretly met with officials whom the American government had determined were off-limits without the highest levels of approval: ethnonationalist Bosnian Serb separatist leaders. Those politicians had been working for years to defy their nation’s constitution and undermine the American-backed peace deal in an effort to promote a Christian Bosnian Serb state.
    ..
    Among those in attendance was Milorad Dodik, according to one of the officials. The leader of a political region within the broader nation, Dodik was at the time under U.S. sanctions by the Trump administration for actively obstructing American efforts to prevent more bloodshed.
    ….
    Dodik has since called himself “pro-Russian, anti-Western and anti-American” in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and is currently under new sanctions for corruption charges. He has also vowed to tear the country apart rather than allow the U.S. to unify it.

    Guarantee that Russ Vought, a radical Christian Nationalist is behind Marocco. And guarantee that the far right Christian Nationalists are collaborating with Russians and are engaged in borderline treason.

    9
  3. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    Hey, rename the Gulf yourself !

    https://gulfof.mapquest.com/?name=Ignoramus

    2
  4. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    I’m partial to this one:

    https://gulfof.mapquest.com/?name=They%27ll+Never+Know

  5. Michael Cain Avatar
    Michael Cain

    @Not the IT Dept.:
    IIRC, there are a large number of international border and navigation agreements that reference the Gulf of Mexico. It seems unlikely that those will get changed.

    3
  6. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Not the IT Dept.: He has the right to determine what the US calls it. The same way Obama renamed Mt. McKinley. Different countries often call different geographical features by different names. The linked piece spells it all out.

    2
  7. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Michael Cain: They won’t.

  8. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    Biggest jackass in the Senate: Tommy Tuberville.

    7
  9. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    @Scott: Dodik had additional sanctions placed on him this past December during the last days of Biden’s administration.

    Targeting Financial and Political Enablers of Milorad Dodik

    The United States is imposing sanctions today on three individuals and four entities that form part of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik’s patronage network and enable the Dodik family’s continued attempts to evade U.S. sanctions. This action also includes the designation of Stasa Kosarac, a Bosnia and Herzegovina politician who serves as a key enabler of Dodik’s corruption and destabilizing political agenda. [..]

    Today’s action further exposes the Dodik family’s blatant and corrupt attempts to enrich themselves and to circumvent U.S. sanctions. The United States will continue to target and promote accountability for those who facilitate Dodik’s corruption and enable his efforts to pursue destabilizing activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    Back in 2012:

    According to the news outlet, it has officially been confirmed that Dodik and his son are under the investigation of the German prosecution for their connections with a corruption affair in Hypo Alpe Adria Bank in Banja Luka.

    Igor Dodik is also investigated for a secret account in the bank. According to a property card from July 2012, he had about EUR 5.4mn deposited in the account.

    According to SEEbiz.eu, the German judiciary took over the case from the RS after it refused to investigate it.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20131203045210/http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=11&dd=15&nav_id=83171

    More recently in 2024:

    [Dodik] added that his desire is to see the establishment of a “greater Russia.” He said that Bosnia and Herzegovina is not his country and he will never swear allegiance to it, and accused the West of turning it into a state that would only suit Bosniaks.

    https://n1info.hr/regija/dodik-ponovno-velicao-karadzica-i-mladica-napadao-schmidta-i-zapad/

    There are legions of ultra-nationalists woven into the social fabric of Europe, especially in the territorially conflicted areas to the east. Apparently the impetus has now jumped “the Pond.” And criminality seems to go hand-in-hand, here as there.

    2
  10. Not the IT Dept. Avatar
    Not the IT Dept.

    @Steven L. Taylor: The same way Obama renamed Mt. McKinley.

    Actually, not at all the way Obama did it. He did it at the request of the state of Alaska, which had wanted it done for several years. Trump did it on a whim.

    7
  11. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @CSK: he may well the dumbest member of Congress ever.

    3
  12. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Not the IT Dept.: Read the piece. The legal authority is the same. I am not sure why you want to argue over this.

    I am obviously not defending the move. But I also have to accept reality.

    1
  13. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Not the IT Dept.:

    A federal law passed in 1890 and updated in 1947 empowers the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to “standardize” how the federal government refers to places. The board answers to the secretary of the interior, who answers to the president. That’s the same legal authority under which the Obama administration changed the name “Mt. McKinley” to “Denali.”

  14. Not the IT Dept. Avatar
    Not the IT Dept.

    @Steven L. Taylor: The legal authority is the same. I am not sure why you want to argue over this.

    Because I’m not sure why you can’t just acknowledge that there’s a difference between a well-thought out and locally supported change, and the whim of an authoritarian. In English, the name is the Gulf of Mexico. In Spanish, I’m sure it’s something else that doesn’t concern me. As an American, I’d like our President to stop doing dick things that embarrass the country.

    If Trump wakes up tomorrow and decides Montana should be renamed “Wild-Horsey-Giddy-Up-Land”, would that be acceptable to Americans, regardless of the legal authority?

    5
  15. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    I’m aghast at the things Tuberville says, starting with insisting on being addressed as “coach” rather than “senator.” It’s clear which he thinks is more important. What an embarrassment for Alabama.

    5
  16. Kingdaddy Avatar
    Kingdaddy

    @Not the IT Dept.: I think we’d all agree that there’s a big difference between Obama and Trump’s use of that power. The problem with Our Awful Age is how easily abused this and other powers are.

    6
  17. Kurtz Avatar
    Kurtz

    @Not the IT Dept.:

    Personally, I think obsessing over this is exactly why he did it. Yes, it’s petty. But that works both ways, no? In the grand scheme of things, it’s an annoyance that can be reversed. In the short-term, those who are less engaged just see two sides being petty. They see two children claiming the other started it.

    Hammer them on things that have real effects and will be harder to fix.

    3
  18. Kurtz Avatar
    Kurtz

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    Senate–probably.

    The House has a couple members who beg to differ. But I’ll admit that even the dimmer Dem members are a step up from coach.

    1
  19. gVOR10 Avatar
    gVOR10

    @CSK:

    What an embarrassment for Alabama.

    Our estimable host aside, I don’t think Alabama feels particularly embarrassed by Tuberville.

    3
  20. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Not the IT Dept.:

    Because I’m not sure why you can’t just acknowledge that there’s a difference between a well-thought out and locally supported change, and the whim of an authoritarian.

    You can be really prickly sometimes for reasons I do not understand.

    I get it: you are with Trump over this (so am I!).

    But you are both ignoring what I wrote, do not appear to have read the article, and are using me as proxy for the people you are really annoyed with.

    Do I deserve this? No. Could you afford me a bit of grace and try to see what I am saying? That would be nice.

    Even my annotation in the OP did not defend anything. It was noting the Feds can do what they did while acknowledging on the one hand the legality of it all but also noting there has to be a line at which people won’t comply.

    For Heaven’s sake, I have called Trump a fascist and an authoritarian repeatedly. Can you not read what I write in this broader context?

    5
  21. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Kurtz: It is a real contest. I find MTG, for example, to be execrable, but have no doubt she is smarter than Tuberville. I think even Boebert is smarter.

    @gVOR10: I suspect that somewhere between 35%-40%+ are embarrassed.

    3
  22. Kurtz Avatar
    Kurtz

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    I think even Boebert is smarter.

    This was the person I had in mind.

    I will admit, most of what I see about Tuberville is highlighted here at OTB. You live in that state. So, I’ll defer.

    2
  23. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    I agree with Steven on the Gulf of Mexico/America. It’s dumb and petty and will likely be reversed when the next Democrat takes office (also true of most other Trump executive actions, BTW). But ultimately it’s of no consequence compared to what else is going on. The WH retaliating against the AP for not calling it the “Gulf Of America” is a much bigger deal than the name change itself which was done legally.

    But in terms of the bigger picture, it’s part and parcel of a belief among idealogues that language is a weapon and that forcing people to (or trying to) say certain things or use certain terms and names is good, necessary, and even righteous. Most of it is just dumb virtue signaling and ought to be ignored with a condescending eye-roll. Activists, the government, or any group can’t actually control language despite their attempts to do so, and Trump’s dumb “Gulf of America” is no different.

    4
  24. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    I suspect that somewhere between 35%-40%+ are embarrassed.

    So, not enough to correct the problem. That’s too bad. 🙁

    1
  25. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @just nutha: Nope! There are rumblings he may run for Governor.

    1
  26. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Steven L. Taylor: Oh. How lucky for all y’all. Just what the state needs.

    1
  27. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Andy:

    The WH retaliating against the AP for not calling it the “Gulf Of America” is a much bigger deal than the name change itself which was done legally.

    Agreed.

    And to be clear: I think that the name change itself is dumb.

    10
  28. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @just nutha: Indeed.

  29. Not the IT Dept. Avatar
    Not the IT Dept.

    @Steven L. Taylor: Could you afford me a bit of grace and try to see what I am saying? That would be nice.

    You first.

    2
  30. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    All because he’s a goddam football coach. This makes him some kind of genius statesman?

    I remember one of Nick Saban’s fans saying that Saban wasn’t God, but almost. This is just nuts. Grow the hell up. Not you, Dean Taylor, obviously.

  31. Mr. Prosser Avatar
    Mr. Prosser

    The official presidential photo is almost identical to the Georgia mug shot. I go to my local VAMC fairly often but I haven’t been in since he took over. In the past I noticed a lot of patients/clients would walk in and flip off the portraits of Obama and Biden. I wonder how long before our medical benefits get curtailed and they start flipping off the mug shot/portrait on the wall now.

    1
  32. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Not the IT Dept.: I understand that it was a whim on Trump’s part. And the piece that I linked noted why Obama did what he did.

    To be clear: I didn’t ever say they were morally equivalent, just legally so. But it should be clear that I am not approving, to include the OP.

    Hopefully that is sufficient.

    I honestly do not understand why you are being so recalcitrant about all of this.

    3

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