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Former US national security adviser John Bolton is the latest ex-government official to rebuke the misconduct, ignorance and self-serving behaviour of the president, Donald Trump, in the form of a tell-all book. The Room Where It Happened details Trumps idiosyncrasies, offers of favours to authoritarian leaders, lack of basic knowledge, and obstruction of justice as a way of life.

Promoting the book in a series of interviews, Bolton told one reporter that hehopes it will be a one-term presidency: Two terms, Im more troubled about, he said.

Yet the battle around the publication is more than another Trumpian political scandal. It centres on the disclosure of US national security information, particularly the concept of prior restraint that allows the government to censor speech or expression before it has occurred.

The issues originate in whistleblowing in the 1970s when former officials spoke out against government wrongdoing. Bolton is certainly no whistleblower although the legacy of that era informs an ongoing struggle today around first amendment freedom of speech rights and state secrecy.

Beyond politics

In many respects, the case is emblematic of Trumps White House. Bolton was in post from April 2018 to September 2019, the longest-serving national security adviser under Trump, but now asserts the president lacks the competence to carry out the job and is not fit for office. When the first excerpts from the book emerged, Trump characteristically lashed out with a tweet full of insults and accusations.

The politics are certainly messy. Bolton, a hawkish Republican, is an opportunistic political operative. With the publication of the book, he has angered Trumps supporters. At the same time, his revelations have not won him friends among the presidents numerous opponents.

Boltonsrefusal to testifyduring the impeachment hearings at the beginning of the year, preferring to save his material for his book, has led to accusations that he was puttingpersonal interest before national interestas well as profiteering, andtrying to save his legacy.

Prior restraint

The crux of the matter is not individual politics but whether Bolton was authorised to publish the memoir. On June 20, Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia denied a last-ditch Justice Department motion to block its release. Noting that excerpts were already printed and the book widely in circulation, he stated that: the the damage is done. There is no restoring the status quo.

The author nonetheless remains in trouble. Thejudge concluded that: Bolton has gambled with the national security of the United States by potentially exposing secrets. The government could still sue Bolton for not following the prepublication review process that applies to everyone who signs a secrecy agreement.

The prepublication review system was created following awave of whistleblowingthat exposed government abuse in the 1970s. The most famous example was Daniel Ellsbergs revelation of thePentagon Papers, a top secret military report on US involvement in the Vietnam War. Other whistleblowers includingFrank Snepp, Philip Agee, and Victor Marchettiwrote books detailing their experiences working for the Central Intelligence Agency. Not all of them revealed secrets but the fact they were speaking publicly raised concerns.

In response, the US government created a process requiring all current and former national security officials to submit material intended for a public audience before it could be published. This vetting process was intended to protect classified information.

John Bolton. Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

The system has beenriddled with problems from the beginning, including lengthy review processes and arbitrary decision-making around what can and cannot be published. The issues have afflicted both works that criticise and support US foreign relations. In 2019 the Knight First Amendment Institute and the American Civil Liberties Unionfiled a lawsuitchallenging the system as dysfunctional and placing too much power in the hands of reviewers.

Authors who refuse to submit work for prepublication review are liable to be prosecuted. After publishing a 1977 book without approval, Snepp wasordered by the Supreme Courtto forfeit all royalties to his former employer, the CIA. The court ruled that the book had caused irreparable harm to national security.

Boltonslegal team claimshe did not violate the secrecy agreement because he had satisfied all issues raised by the National Security Councils senior director for prepublication review.

But the nature of the secrecy system and the review process is nebulous and allows the executive branch significant room for manoeuvre. WhileTrumps assertionthat every conversation with me [is] highly classified is a stretch, the suggestion that Bolton broke the law and must pay a very big price for this, as others have before him is consistent with the broad authority afforded to presidents on national security matters.

The White House recently opened asecond prepublication review processof Boltons book. The outcome of this latest review, which will be overseen by Judge Lambert, will determine his fate. If the courts follow historical precedent and rule in favour of the government, like Snepp before him, Bolton stands to forfeit his reported $2 million advance, and could face criminal liability that includes the possibility of a jail sentence.

Speech rights

While the author remains in legal peril, Boltons revelations continue to receive widespread attention. That the press can report national security secrets is rooted in another seminal whistleblowing case, Ellsbergs release of the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times and other outlets. TheSupreme Court ruledthat prior restraint of the press was unconstitutional.

Daniel Ellsberg. Photo: Reuters

The First Amendment of the US constitution protects freedom of speech and freedom of the press from government interference. But when it comes to discussing national security information, thepress enjoys greater protection than government employees.

In hyper-partisan times, it can be hard to look beyond the immediate political stakes. Yet the issues raised by this episode predate Bolton and Trump and are likely to persist long after them.

This article first appeared onThe Conversation.Read the original here.

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Bolton's Book the Latest in White House Disclosures to Test US First Amendment - The Wire

(CNN) You'll remember the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when American revolutionaries famously trolled the British by throwing chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

A new spat over the correct way to brew a "cuppa" has boiled over into a similar international incident, with both the UK and US ambassadors sticking their spoon in.

It all began in early May when an American TikTok user named Michelle, from North Carolina, sparked howls of rage across social media platforms with her controversial guide to making "hot tea."

It involved a microwave and an unholy mix of milk, powdered lemonade, cinnamon, the soft drink Tang, industrial amounts of sugar, and one innocent teabag, which surely deserved better things in life.

It was all too much for British users, who take great pride in their homespun national drink, with its leaves imported primarily from Kenya, India and Malawi. The twin themes in the furious outpouring of comments were "war crime" and "diabetes."

The fifth columnist of TikTok has already amassed more than five million Likes for her efforts, but she has also incited righteous anger in a nation close to boiling point, and with a lot of time on its hands.

So Dame Karen Pierce, British Ambassador to the United States in Washington, called in the military.

Yes, that's right, on a video posted Monday she got the boys from the British Army, Navy and Air Force to demonstrate how to prepare tea in a manner both patriotic and pukka. There was even a nod to how to conduct high tea at high altitude.

Pierce had got the armed forces behind her, but when Woody Johnson, the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom got involved on Wednesday, he made like Dirty Harry and went in solo.

His strategy was a smart one. He went after Britain's weakness: coffee. With the UK famously weak at continental-style caffeine consumption, how could he possibly go wrong?

The problem for this Clint Eastwood of cappuccinos is that he makes what appears to be an absolutely terrible cup of coffee.

He commits the cardinal sin of using instant coffee, raising the hackles of any connoisseur faster than hot water dissolves a freeze-dried granule.

As people around the world have been upping their gourmet antics during lockdown, with their sourdough starters and their AeroPress cold brews, there can be just one message for Johnson. Do better.

There have no been no video responses yet from Raffaele Trombetta, Ambassador of Italy to the UK since 2018, and Armando Varricchio, Ambassador of Italy to the US for the past four years.

Nor have there been comments on TikTok tea from Liu Xiaoming, China's Ambassador to the UK, or Josephat Karanja and Gaitri I. Kumar, respectively Kenya and India's High Commissioners to the UK.

Is the time for silence over?

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Military called in after TikTok 'tea war' goes global - CNN

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the most popular T20 leagues in the world. But before the action goes to the cricket pitch, plenty of drama happens in a hotel auditorium where the franchises spend big money to buy their favourite players. The IPL auctions are given as much importance as the tournament itself and believe it or not they attract or almost as much eyeballs as a cricket match.

All over the world, the cricketers who have put their names in the auction pool, remain glued to the television or online streaming to see if they are being picked up a franchise and if yes, for how much. In a recent interview, former Indian Premier League (IPL) Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sundar Raman gave an insight into how the IPL players auction came into existence before the inaugural season in 2008.

Also Read |A Pakistan fan started abusing us: India all-rounder recalls absurd scene ahead of World Cup match

The player auction almost came as a part of an evening tea conversation while we were doing a thousand other things. We had sold the franchises, we had the venues confirmed, now it was left to on how do we get the players rostered into different teams, Raman said during the show 22 Yarns with Gaurav Kapur on Oaktree Sports YouTube channel.

The only thing sure was the marquee players, who were assigned to a set of franchises. There was Sachin Tendulkar for Mumbai, Virender Sehwag for Delhi, Yuvraj Singh for Punjab, Sourav Ganguly for Kolkata. But MS Dhoni was without a home, Raman said.

The challenge was one of those conversations where the question was how do we make the franchises take on the players? One of the franchises, I dont remember who it was, said why dont we auction them?

After two minutes of deliberation I said good idea, it will generate a lot of consumer interest. And that decided that he explained.

The 13th edition of Indian Premier League which was set to take place this year between March and May has been indefinitely postponed due to Covid-19 outbreak.

Original post:
An evening tea party, a random suggestion: The story behind IPL auction - Hindustan Times

Ive heard people say that they dont care much for native plants because they lack color. Some dont have that beautiful color, but many do have color and feed many of our pollinators. I am going to discuss five that I have in my garden.

One of the first to bloom is False Blue Indigo, Baptisia australis, with australis meaning southern. In Southside it blooms late April, early May with a beautiful blue bloom, and anything with small early blooms is good for pollinators. The plant has bluish foliage giving it a special look even when not blooming. The seedpods are black and can be used in floral arrangements. The Wild Indigo Duskywing butterfly uses False Blue Indigo and its sister plant Yellow Wild Indigo, B. tinctoria, as its larval plant meaning that it lays eggs on either of these Baptisia so the caterpillars will have an appropriate food source after emerging. It is native to the Eastern U.S. so these plants are fine with our soils and climate and have minimal to no pest problems, including deer. They like full sun and may get floppy in shade. One trick to know, it has a taproot so hates to be transplanted. Buy small plants and place in the final destination when planting. As its common name suggests False Blue Indigo was used as a blue dye in earlier times.

Coming next into bloom is Blue Star, Amsonia tabernaemontana. As its name suggests, the flowers are blue star shaped. Here it blooms in May. I want to note that another common name is Dogbane, and indeed the milky sap is poisonous if ingested. If you have a dog that likes to chew plants, this wont be a good choice for you. It is a nectar favorite for butterflies, bees, hummingbird moths and early arriving hummingbirds. It likes full sun but can handle some shade. Once again, it has no serious pest problems, and deer dont like it. An added plus, the leaves turn golden in the fall.

There are people who hate this next plant, Bee Balm Monarda. Admittedly it has powdery mildew issues, and it is in the mint family so can spread out. To me, that is a plus. Ive found covering all the soil with plants will cut down on weeds where mulch doesnt cut it. M. didyma, also known as Oswego Tea, has a red bloom and is a favorite of hummingbirds.

According to Allan Armitage in Herbaceous Perennial Plants, The American botanist John Bartram first collected bee balm near Oswego, New York and used the leaves to make tea. Bee Balm was grown in colonial gardens for the herbal properties. Legend has it that the Oswego Tribe showed the colonists how to make tea from the leaves during the time of the Boston Tea Party. There are many cultivars that offer different colors, but Armitage warns that they all have powdery mildew issues. M. fistulosa, known as Wild Bergamot, has a rose, purplish bloom and is more mildew resistant.

My all time favorite perennial is False Sunflower, Heliopsis helianthoides Summer Sun, quite a mouthful but just a wonderful perennial. It sports bright yellow flowers and blooms from June to frost. I am not normally a fan of cultivars or nativars, a term credited to Armitage. But the length and quality of bloom make this one worthy. We have an area around an old outhouse that we call The Jungle because frankly that is what it looks like. But every summer I look over there among the variety of weeds, and there is Summer Sun smiling away. We used to enjoy one right in front of where we sit and talk most evenings. We saw it visited by bees and butterflies and sometimes a goldfinch would alight to eat some of the seeds. It wants full sun but isnt picky about soil. Deadheading on a weekly or biweekly basis will encourage more blooming. But I dont dare venture into the jungle to deadhead and still that one blooms its head off.

For fall blooms, you cant beat asters. Their botanical names were so easy but now it is Symphyotrichum, but there is a real chance that it might still be labeled as Aster in catalogs and nurseries. A good one to try is S. novi-angliae, New England Aster. You might have trouble finding the straight species as there are many cultivars. My husband and I watched many monarchs feeding on the nectar last fall. Again, it is a full sun plant and not picky about soil. The bloom is purplish, and it will be blooming end of August until the first hard frost. As with all these plants, they are not deer favorites.

While we are all still practicing social distancing due to COVID-19, and all county buildings are closed to the public, so if you have gardening questions, you can best reach an extension master gardener or extension staff member by sending an email to wmccaleb@vt.edu or ask@ssmga.org. Keep washing your hands and wearing your mask when you go to nurseries to find these wonderful native plants.

Cornell is a Southside Master Gardener with the Virginia Cooperative Extension

Originally posted here:
Native perennials add color from spring to fall - YourGV.com

Will the Republican Party survive Republican lawmakers abandoning their keystone principles of free trade and cutting federal debt and deficit spending? Will it survive opposing, or appearing to oppose, millennials cherished issues of climate change, income inequality and racial and social justice? Will it survive Donald J. Trump?

In the 1950s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower not only believed but adhered to Republican core values of limited government, balanced budgets, a robust foreign policy, a strong military (governed by elected civilian leaders), resisting Communist Russias expansionism, sharing power with states, American exceptionalism, judges restrained by the Constitution and free markets. Most Americans agreed with him.

A generation later, the rise of the Tea Party grew out of frustration with federal Republican officeholders who failed to stop the growth of the federal budget and deficit financing and the inexorable encroachment of the federal government into almost every facet of society. While much of that intrusion was driven by federal judges who seemed to see the need for a sweeping federal solution for every perceived wrong, Republican officials since President Ronald Reagan have done little to trim the U.S. governments thirst for power and money.

One can track the rise of Donald Trump to the same simmering dissatisfaction that fueled the advent of the Tea Party. In 2016, even rock-ribbed Republican voters joined their Tea Party fellows and independent blue collar males in a crazy-quilt coalition to elect President Trump. Tired of lip service from Republicans in Washington, D.C., they stunningly embraced the light-on-policy-but-heavy-on-visceral-detestation-of-progressives Trump. One by one, Republican heavyweights have either embraced or been cudgeled to fall in line behind President Trump.

His first term easily placing among the top five most policy incoherent presidential terms in history, Mr. Trump now asks us for a second. His record is a chain of fired or resigned aides and officials, Watergate-style prosecution of his former associates and then firing the prosecutors, a government run by acting secretaries, outright war on the press, an isolationist foreign policy, tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations but no meaningful tax cuts for the middle class, a tardy and bungled initial response to COVID-19 and now pure denial of the pandemics devastating power and reach, first-strike imposition of broad tariffs, even against friendly and strategic trading partners, cozying up to dictators, and deficit spending like an entire shipful of drunken sailors. By the savvy wielding of his powerful Tweets, he has hectored congressional Republicans and the institutional Republican Party into a fearful compliance with his self-indulgent wishes. Trump has become the Republican Party.

History will show that Republicans gravest political mistake was alienating a whole generation of young people, who are woke and motivated. (Well see to what extent they actually vote.) They are especially concerned about climate change, income inequality and racial and social equity.

They are horrified by Trumps unconcern for the environment and climate change which, to them, poses an existential threat to mankind. They are outraged over his complete insensitivity and dismissal of race and social justice issues. To them, President Trump enables white supremacists and is deaf to institutionalized racial oppression and discrimination, most dramatically demonstrated in the last few years in the train of blacks who have been tragically slain by police. Congressional Republicans are scrambling to bring forward meaningful legislation to limit the violent effects of racially-based policing, but the shadow of Trumps perceived intransigence on this issue overshadows any Republican effort, however sincere.

Even if Trump should win a second term over another unimpressive Democratic nominee, the young will remember that Donald Trump and his Republican allies denied climate change and fought measures to address it, they refused to address income equality but instead gave generous tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy, and worst of all, they were AWOL or, at best, lukewarm in calling out and righting racial injustice as the great wrong of our day.

The Republican Party under Trump has rejected in practice almost all of its political principles which have prevailed since Eisenhower. Will the Grand Old Party survive Trump? Will it be able to re-attract the Never Trumpers it has lost and win over the millennials it never had? Will it survive being out of step with the great issues of the day? History will tell.

Greg Bell is the former lieutenant governor of Utah and the current president and CEO of the Utah Hospital Association.

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Greg Bell: Will the Republican Party survive? - Deseret News