Author: Lone Candle

‘A Sword and a Shield’: How the Supreme Court Supercharged Trump’s Power

Posted on by Lone Candle

The Supreme Court has been significantly changing presidential and executive power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fDQg28O1EM

Britain’s bold new world … as a Pacific trading nation

Posted on by Lone Candle

“the U.K. became the first new member to join the tongue-twisting Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) since it was formed in 2018.
It’s also the first country that doesn’t at least have a coast fronting the region.”

https://www.politico.eu/article/britains-bold-new-world-as-a-pacific-trading-nation/

For the first time in 8 years, a US Navy ship makes a port call in Cambodia, a top Chinese ally

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The U.S. and others suggest China’s navy is establishing a permanent base at Ream, which would give it easier access to the Malacca Strait, a critical shipping route between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Controversy over the Chinese activity at Ream initially arose in 2019 when The Wall Street Journal reported that an early draft of an agreement seen by U.S. officials would allow China 30-year use of the base, where it would be able to post military personnel, store weapons and berth warships.

Cambodia’s government has denied such an agreement or any intention to grant China special privileges at the base, though Beijing has funded its expansion.

In September, Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said that China is giving its navy two warships of the type it has had docked there for months. China is set to hand over two newly built Type 56 corvettes — smaller vessels typically used for coastal patrols — next year at the earliest, after Cambodia requested China’s support.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/first-time-8-years-us-074249979.html

Syria & the Fall of Bashar al-Assad – Why Assad’s military folded and what’s next

Posted on by Lone Candle

By 2024 Assad’s army was significantly weakened by multiple causes, and so were Assad’s allies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOzXlat-TcE

FBI informant accused of lying about Bidens agrees to plead guilty

Posted on by Lone Candle

“A former FBI informant charged with fabricating corruption allegations about President Joe Biden and his son has agreed to plead guilty to four felony charges to resolve two pending federal criminal cases against him, according to a court filing.
Alexander Smirnov, 44, admitted to lying when he told the FBI that he took part in meetings with executives from Ukrainian energy company Burisma in 2015 or 2016 about a scheme to pay $10 million to Joe and Hunter Biden. Joe Biden was the vice president at the time of the fabricated meetings, and Smirnov claimed the purported payments were bribes to “protect us … from all kinds of problems,” according to a plea agreement filed Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/12/smirnov-bidens-plea-agreement-00194004

4 Presidential Pardons From History That Were Way More Controversial Than Biden’s

Posted on by Lone Candle

“as a historical matter, the critics are dead wrong when they insist that the Hunter Biden pardon is a unique and uniquely polarizing use of the pardon power. Presidents since George Washington have wielded that power, often in extraordinarily controversial ways.
The question isn’t whether Biden’s action was somehow singular in its offensiveness — history shows us that it is not. It’s whether the pardon power, a constitutional holdover from the divine rights of kings, is a power worth removing altogether from the Constitution.

Here are four earlier examples of controversial uses of the pardon power, from Washington to Bill Clinton. Together, they make Biden’s pardon look almost quaint.”

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/12/04/biden-presidential-pardon-controversy-00192404