Joe, defender of democracy, long may he reign: On Nov. 30, Guatemala’s Congress — dominated by the governing party — stripped the immunity of four of the nation’s top electoral judges, prompting them to flee the country. The move was seen as an effort to install judges hostile to Arévalo’s election, culminating in a legal “coup.” The next day, the U.S. Treasury Department slapped stiff penalties on Miguel Martínez, a Giammattei confidant and former official, accusing him of “widespread bribery schemes.” (Martínez called the charges “spurious.”) Treasury applied the Magnitsky Act, which freezes the target’s U.S. assets and makes it difficult to deal with banks. Guatemalans were dumbfounded; Martínez is seen as practically a member of the president’s family. In a Dec. 8 meeting, the U.S. lawmakers pressed members of Giammattei’s cabinet to guarantee a democratic transfer of power. The Guatemalans agreed. But an hour later, a prosecutor declared the results of the August election “null and void.” “We really felt like we were there trying to interrupt a train wreck,” Kaine said. The State Department came out swinging, announcing it was canceling visas for nearly 300 Guatemalans. They included around two-thirds of the members of Congress and some hard-line business executives. The measures were a game changer, said Estuardo Porras-Zadik, a progressive Guatemalan businessman. “The people who have their visas revoked are put into a box marked ‘corruption’ — of acting against democracy,” he said. “Their kids are being affected.” “It was a signal that the gloves were off regarding Giammattei,” McFarland said. “The U.S. had never acted this way before,” said Quique Godoy, an analyst. Indeed, Guatemala had developed close ties to the administration of Donald Trump, which remained largely silent as Guatemalan authorities shuttered a high-profile anti-corruption commission that had received millions of dollars in U.S. funding.
Someone hand that man a blond woman. We must improve the stock of these low-t, slack-jawed, beta maggats.
A president that doesn't take himself too seriously? That's the kind of goofball you ride or die with.
Are those guys from the United Auto Workers union (aka UAW) that recently gave Biden a huge endorsement ??? https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/24/politics/biden-uaw-endorsement/index.html wrbtrader