Tag: Marco Rubio

  • Rubio Boots South African Ambassdor

    Rubio Boots South African Ambassdor

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared the Ambassador to the US from South Africa, Embrahim Rasool, persona non grata.

    Rasool, 62, a South African muslim of mixed English-Javanese-Dutch-Indian heritage, called President Donald Trump a white supremacist and made disparaging comments about the US at a conference in Johannesburg last week.

    He made the comments in a speech about the current SA plans to expropriate land, farms and businesses from white Boer and Afrikaaner families to give to blacks. The ruling ANC recently changed the laws in South Africa to allow the lands to be taken without recompense.

    Rasool had been Ambassador to the US from 2010-2015. He was re-nominated by SA president Cyril Ramaphosa near the end of Bidens term and was accepted by Biden on 13 January of this year.

    For those unfamiliar with the term in diplomatic circles, declaring someone persona non grata – Latin for a person not wanted or an unwelcome person – is tantamount to expelling that person from the country.  A host country may declare any member of a diplomatic staff persona non grata at any time without any explanation.

  • Marco Rubio Confirmed as Secretary of State

    Marco Rubio Confirmed as Secretary of State

    Earlier this evening, the Senate confirmed Marco Rubio as SecState in a unanimous, 99-0, vote.

    Rubio was previously the senior senator from Florida, having been first elected in 2011.

    Rubio started his political career as a city commissioner for West Miami in the 1990s, he was elected to represent the 111th district in the Florida House of Representatives in 2000. He served as speaker of the Florida House for two years, being elected to that position in 2006.

    Rubio is married to Janette and has 4 children.

    He is the first SecState of Cuban descent. His parents fled Cuba after the fall of Batista and the rise of Castro.

  • Schumer has a Tantrum

    Schumer has a Tantrum

    Bill Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center for the Office of the DNI, was scheduled to brief the Senate Intelligence Committee about election-related interference after democrats complained about the end of in person election security briefings.

    Chuck Schumer objected saying “Reserving the right to object because the Senate Republicans have no respect for the institution, we won’t have business as usual here in the Senate. I object,” after Marco Rubio, acting chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, asked for consent during a floor speech.

    Rubio issued a statement after the kerfuffle. It reads in part:

    “Just a short time ago, Democratic leaders demanded more briefings on election interference,” Acting Chairman Rubio said. “The Senate Intelligence Committee was scheduled to have a briefing today with Director Evanina, who leads our nation’s election security efforts. However, Senator Schumer had a temper tantrum over the Supreme Court and used a procedural move to cancel the Committee’s briefing.”



    It seems Chuck only cares about politics and grandstanding. His little tantrum comes despite his continued and vociferous calls to maintain the “norms” in the Senate.