Beloved Leader Takes Two More Steps In Dismantling Our Democracy

Day 204. 

As you are being distracted by the Russia Investigation, beloved leader is moving closer to the dismantling of our democracy.  He has taken two steps in that direction while no one has been watching.  And, in the process, he is betraying the very people who voted him into office.

In order to establish an autocracy, you need to end democracy.  One step he took was to issue an executive order, and then ignore it.  The other step was taken to stifle congressional oversight.

When beloved leader took office, he made a big show of signing an executive order to establish what he called “strict ethics standards”.  Then, he promptly ignored that very executive order.  Last week, he issued 17 exemptions to 14 members of his staff.  In doing so, the gave who some are calling the de facto president steve bannon the power to establish a propaganda machine from inside the White House.

Bannon was head of Brietbart News and now he can associate with them, or any other media outlet he wants, which is a clear violation of ethics rules that were already established before beloved leader took office, and clearly violates his own executive order.

The worst part of these exemptions is that some of them were not dated.  Meaning they were retroactive.  The problem is that you are not allowed by law to issue retroactive exemptions to ethics rules.  Having to make an exemption retroactive means you have already broken the ethics laws.  As one ethics exepert said, “retroactive exemptions are nothing more than a pardon”.

We have also learned that trump plans on releasing information on an additional two dozen exemptions soon.  According to records, our beloved leader has already issued more exemptions to the ethics rules in four months than President Obama issued in eight years in office.  And more are on the way.

I say he is betraying the very people who voted him into office because these exemptions allow his staff to work with and allow their former clients to have a seat at the tale to set policies.  These “former clients” are not the working slobs in the middle of the country.  They are Wall Street elites that trump claimed he was going to drain from the swamp.  These people are not interested in the welfare of the middle of the country people, they are only interested in their own pockets.

This is just another sign of just how unethical trump and his White House team really are.  They are in it for the money they can make for themselves.  Otherwise, these exemptions wouldn’t be necessary or granted.  The corruption just keeps growing and growing.  That is a necessary step in dismantling our democracy and establishing your autocratic government.

The most disturbing step he has taken concerns Congressional oversight.  Our Constitution allows Congressional Oversight as part of the separation of powers defined in the Constitution.  He is taking steps to degrade and/or stop oversight.

It turns out that the White House is telling federal agencies to blow off Democratic lawmakers’ oversight requests.  For no other reason than their fear the information could be weaponized against President Donald Trump.

At meetings with top officials for various government departments this spring, Uttam Dhillon, a White House lawyer, told agencies not to cooperate with such requests from Democrats, according to Republican sources inside and outside the administration.

Democrats have been complaining for months that their requests for oversight information from various agencies have been ignored.  We already know of one instance where a Democratic Member was told in writing that her request of this oversight information would not be honored unless a Republican has to co-sign the request.

There has never been a policy that said a member of both parties had to sign-off on a request for information by a congressional oversight member.  And, it is true that requests from minority members have been delayed and in some instances ignored for a long time by every administration in our history.

However, this is the first instance that an administration has told their agencies to “blow off” requests from the minority party.  This is nothing more that a partisan attack on the Congress’ responsibilities of oversight.

To give you a few examples:

One month ago, Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats sent a letter to the Office of Personnel Management asking for cybersecurity information after it was revealed that millions of people had their identities compromised. The letter asked questions about how cybersecurity officials were hired, and in Rice’s view, it “was not a political letter at all.”

“The answer we got back is, ‘We only speak to the chair people of committees.’ We said, ‘That’s absurd, what are you talking about?’” Rice said in an interview. “I was dumbfounded at their response. I had never gotten anything like that … The administration has installed loyalists at every agency to keep tabs on what information people can get.”

At a House Appropriations hearing in May, Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) asked acting General Services Administrator Tim Horne about a briefing House Oversight Committee staffers had received from the GSA, in which they were informed that the “GSA has a new policy only to respond to Republican committee chairmen.”

“The administration has instituted a new policy that matters of oversight need to be requested by the committee chair,” Horne responded.

As you can see from these few examples, this blatant refusal to cooperate is rampant towards Democrats from just about every committee.  But, that is not unusual for this administration.  They won’t even answer simple questions from the podium in Press Briefings like “does the president still believe climate change is a hoax?”

The danger is to have proper oversight, Congress needs answers to these questions.  Ignoring the other party just because they are the minority is troubling.  However, ordering agencies to blatantly ignore requests from the minority party is a complete disregard of the Constitution.

Then again, if you desire to dismantle a democracy you need to ignore the “opposition” party.  You need to ignore any request dealing with oversight that comes from that “opposition” party.  You actually set policy telling your agencies to ignore their requests.

In effect, what you are doing is trying to establish a one-party system where your party is the only party that counts in governing or in conducting “oversight”.  That is not democracy, that is authoritarianism.

In the four months of being in office, our beloved leader has taken steps to totally dismantle our democracy, and Republicans are all in favor of him doing so.  That way, they keep their phony baloney jobs as trump’s rubber stamp and keep their limited power.

Not one Congressional Committee Chair, all Republicans, have spoken out against this power grab by the administration.  Not one.  That shows they are complicit in helping to dismantle our democracy.

The investigations going on are very important to our society and our democracy.  However, we cannot ignore the things that are going on behind the scenes.  Yes, trump has been under pressure because of the investigations.  Yes, he has failed to get a single bill passed through both Houses of Congress.

But, very quietly behind the scenes and in dark closets, he has heaped lots of damage on our country and our democracy.  These last two acts are nothing more than additional steps being taken to dismantle our democracy.

The person that the middle of America chose to be their savior from the oligarchs has betrayed them.  He promised to “drain the swamp” but has filled it with more sharks than ever before.  He promised to create jobs for them, but has done nothing to create a single job.

These are the people who felt left behind when we recovered from the last economic crisis in 2008.  They are right too.,  The very rich have done extremely well since then, but the rest of us have not kept up.  They believed this clown when he said he would be their savior.

Since taking office, beloved leader has ignored their plight.  He has betrayed them “big time” as he would say.  And, he is now trying to destroy the democracy these people want, fought to protect, and love.

He has weakened the EPA that protects their water and air.  He has weakened worker safety that protects them in the workplace.  He is trying to take away their health coverage.  Everything he has done has betrayed his supporters and helped the oligarchs establish their feudalism society on us.

It is very simple, beloved leader cannot be trusted because he has no integrity.  He is a serial liar only out to benefit himself.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

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Beloved Leader’s Real Motto: America Last

Day 203. 

We have seen it coming ever since trump took office, but his goal and battle cry of “America First” is a lie.  He is really trying very hard to make “America Last”.  That was completely solidified yesterday when our stupid beloved leader announced that he was pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.  According to our beloved leader the accord was a conspiracy by over 200 countries around the world to “screw America”.

The other odd thing about his decision is that practically no one, except some Republicans, wanted us to pull out of the accord.  Even the fossil fuel companies, except that wonderful brand Koch Industries, wanted us to stay in the accord.  Why?  Because even fossil fuel companies know that their future profits will decline and they want to be in on the new renewable energies that are becoming less expensive.

In short, they want certainty in their business models and decisions.  Beloved leader’s actions yesterday threw that “certainty” into complete chaos.  But what is new with the so-called president.  Everything he touches turns into chaos.  Furthermore, the Paris Accord was intended, and was successful, in getting countries like India and China to participate and hold them accountable for reducing their carbon emissions.

We already know that the U.S. was taking the lead in cutting emissions until trump took office.  Now, that lead is being forfeited to other countries.  Meaning that the new energy technologies will be developed in places like China and in Europe.  Instead of creating millions of new clean energy jobs in the U.S. and selling our products overseas, we will now be forced to purchase those new technologies from abroad.  Another “smart move” by our pea brained president.

Beloved leader says this move will “create millions of jobs for Americans”.  He is lying.  It will not create new jobs in America, rather it will ensure those new jobs are created overseas.  Additionally, he said that he wants to “renegotiate” the accord to be more favorable to the U.S.  Why in the hell would the entire rest of the world want to renegotiate with a country that is basically standing on its own in denying climate change?  What can he possibly offer the world to entice them to even talk to him much less negotiate?  The answer is simple.  Nothing!  And, guess what?  The accord included a provision for everyone to sit down every five years and renegotiate the accord according to how things were progressing.  Since we are no longer part of the accord, we lost our seat at the table.

This isn’t just beloved leader making all of this happen either.  Republican so-called leaders like Ryan and McConnell praised the move.  Ryan showed just how much he favors party over the country and the world.  McConnell can almost be forgiven because he represents a coal state.  However, everyone with an ounce of a brain knows that coal isn’t being left behind simply because it is dirty.  It is being left behind because natural gas is cheaper.

So, the fantasy that McConnell and beloved leader keep telling coal miners that they will be returning to work in massive numbers because we pulled out of the Paris Accord is just that a fantasy.  They are lying to their constitutes just to justify this terrible move.

One only need look at human history to figure out that coal and other fossil fuels futures are limited.  We began burning wood for our energy.  Then we moved to coal.  Then we moved to oil.  Then we moved to natural gas.  The next natural progression is to move to clean, renewable, cheaper energy.  Pulling out of the Paris Accord is not going to stop this natural progression.

The idea was to make sure that our country was leading the pack in these new energy sources.  It was to make sure that our workers were employed in creating and manufacturing these new sources of energy.  Beloved leader killed that idea yesterday with his typical stupid decision.  He cannot give a good reason for his decision so he went back to his “persecution complex” that he wants to place on the rest of us.

It was also intended to ensure our grandchildren have a planet to live on.  Without the measures proposed in the accord, illnesses, especially things like asthma, will increase causing massive increases in health care coverage.  The oceans will continue to rise to the point places like Florida will lose about one-third of its land to the oceans.  Denying all of this is not going to stop it from happening.  Only acting will stop it, or at leas reduce the effects.  Pea brain doesn’t seem to understand that.

The White House even refused to answer a simple question about beloved leader.  They refused to say whether our nut-job even believes that climate change is real.  If he believes it is not real, one can almost understand his decision.  But, if he does believe it is real, then there is no explanation for why he would pull out of the accord.

This move has the markings of Steve Bannon and Miller all over it.  The speech he gave trying to justify it was just like his morbid inauguration speech which Miller wrote.  His dark view of the world and beloved leader’s persecution complex is making our country the laughing-stock of the world.

Beloved leader asked yesterday when “will the world start laughing at  us?”  The answer is simple.  They already are and you, beloved leader is the reason they are laughing at us.  China is lapping up on your dumb and irresponsible decisions about trade and the climate.  While you were making a fool of yourself on national TV with your Jazz Band nearby by pulling out of the Paris Accord, China was in Europe trying to work out trade deals with them.  The one thing Europe can be sure of is that China is not in love with Russia like you are, and they see Russia as the main problem for them.  So, since you wouldn’t even assure them in your NATO speech that we are behind them, they are now looking to China.

We have seen other leaders use this fake persecution complex before.  Every dictator who ever took power convinced enough of their own people that the world was out to get them.  Beloved leader is using the same tactic to establish his own dictatorship in this country.

He has taken every step he can to pull back from the world.  He has taken every step to justify his cowardice by saying the world is out to get us.  That speech he gave yesterday was a perfect example of that tactic.  Only, beloved leader isn’t smart enough to pull it off by himself, he needs Bannon and Miller to put the words into his mouth.

In short, beloved leader is killing our country from the inside.  He is doing everything he can in order to convince his base that we need a “strong leader” to “save our country from the barbarians”.  The problem is that all of the barbarians are sitting in the West Wing right now.  Stupid couldn’t even pick a proper city to use as an analogy.  He said: “I represent the citizens of Pittsburg not Paris”.

Pittsburg has been on the cutting edge of renewable energy for some time now.  They have cleaned up their environment better than most other cities and diversified their economy to compete in a globalized world.  Plus, 80 percent of the citizens of Pittsburg voted for Hillary Clinton.  If you are going to use an analogy, at least pick a city that supported you.

Under the guidance of beloved leader and his surrogate president bannon, America is going to fall further and further behind the rest of the world.  If these two morons want to make America a third-rate country, they are well on their way to accomplishing that goal.

Just remember the real motto of these morons:  AMERICA LAST!

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

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In Four Months – Beloved Leader Has Made America Inconsequential In The World

Day 202. 

That flushing sound you keep hearing coming from the Eastern Seaboard is trump flushing American ethics, integrity, and leadership right down the toilet.  This so-called president is the worst president in our nation’s history.  That may be a harsh statement in just four months, but there is no other way to describe this nut-job sitting in the West Wing.

In the four months in office, he has done nothing to keep any of his campaign promises to the voters.  He has kept all of his promises to the very rich, but that is about all.  He has weakened America’s influence in the world.  He has opened the door for China to become more of a leader on the world stage than us.  And, he has pissed off our closest allies.

He promised to pull out of the TPP which he did.  But, at what cost.  Without America being involved in the TPP, and at the table negotiating a better deal if possible, trump, the great negotiator, ran and hid in the closet.  He simply said he doesn’t like it, and won’t do anything to make it better.  As a result, China has stepped into the void and trump has mostly ceded the Asian Pacific to them.

He keeps griping about trade deficits with Europe and declares Europe isn’t doing their share.  But, instead of using his great negotiating skills he claims to have, he runs away and hides in the closet.  He wouldn’t even say he would fully support the NATO treaty Article 5 defending member nations against aggression from countries like Russia.  As a result, China is looking to step in and fill the void especially with trade.

Today we are going to hear if trump stays in or pulls out of the Paris Climate Accord.  Even companies like Exxon/Mobile say we should stay in the accord.  But, trump promised his base that he would pull out and that is probably what he will do.  He will even disregard the advise of his two closest advisors his daughter and son-in-law who are pushing him to stay in the accord.

Why does Exxon/Mobile think we should stay in the accord?  Because even they understanding that pulling out means we won’t have any seat in future negotiations about energy use and development.  Meaning, again, China will step in and fill the void.  Instead of being the leader in developing clean renewable energy, as we currently are, trump is going to let China take the lead and become far richer than us.

The best way to make America Great Again is to reduce our energy costs.  The best way to reduce energy costs is to develop clean, cheap, and renewable energy.  Not to mention that if something isn’t done, trump’s own Mar A Lago will be under water in about 25 years.  But, he figures he will be dead by then so it doesn’t matter to him.

But his base loves the  idea of pulling out of the accord.  They really don’t know why we should pull out, but since it is a deal with every single country in the world except Syria and Nicaragua, it must be bad according to conservatives.  Even so-called Christian Conservatives think it is a good idea.  Take the moron Erik Erickson.  Yesterday he tweeted:

I worship Jesus, not Mother Earth. He calls us all to be good stewards of the planet, but doesn’t mean I have to care about global warming.

I know this just shows just how stupid and un-Christian he really is, but this is the type of people trump listens to.  This is the kind of person who doesn’t like anything except their own narrow stupidity.

However, trump being trump placed this all in an ironic mode again.  Yesterday he declared June to be both “Great Outdoors Month” and “National Ocean Month”.  How better to honor the Great Outdoors and the Oceans than to ruin both?  If trump pulls out of the Paris Accord, we will know exactly what covfefe means.  It means “Conservatives Offer Very False Evidence to Fuck the Environment”!

If you think that trump is really looking at “economics” as reasons to pull out, you are kidding yourself.  He is pulling out because he is an illiterate, ignorant, buffoon with no idea about anything except himself.  Since he is too stupid to realize that climate change is real, it can’t possibly be real.  Maybe a scientist should write a comic book complete with pictures so moron can actually read and understand it.

Then he showed us that he cannot be trusted for anything he says.  Remember he signed that great executive order that placed ethics standards on his staff?  Well, yesterday, he gave 17 people on his staff waivers to disregard those ethics standards.  His idea of “draining the swamp” is to let people work with former clients and companies they worked for to set policies.

He is openly defying his own executive order and allowing his staff to practice no ethics in the performance of their duties.  How the hell can we expect any other country or national leader in the world to trust a single thing this clown says?  We can’t which means we are going to be truly alone.  If we are attacked again like 9/11, why should NATO come to our aid like they did back then?  They know that trump cannot be trusted.

Violence against Gays, Blacks, Latinos, Muslims, Jews, and other groups are on the increase and trump is doing nothing to abate it.  As a matter of fact, he is ignoring it and giving silent approval to it.

While you have been watching the Russia scandal, he has quietly been wrecking our country from the inside.  He has quietly been making our integrity a laughing-stock around the world.  He has quietly been making our streets less safe for those bastard “others” in our own communities.  He has quietly been making America less safe from terrorist attacks.  He has been a disaster in every way.

His proposed budget is a gift to the rich and a burden on the rest of us.  His Americans Without Health Care Act is a gift to the rich and a death sentence to may other Americans who need health coverage just to stay alive.  He has not created a single job since being in office, but has quietly watched while his buddies shipped more jobs overseas.  He hasn’t even moved his own family’s business to America.  They still manufacture in other countries.

While trump destroys our country, the Republican Party seems to be sitting on the sidelines cheering him on.  In my lifetime, I have never seen so many Republicans who have a “favorable” opinion of Russia.  I know that Republicans and the Conservative Christian Cult hate the poor, but they were always united in their hate for Russia until trump took office.  Now they all love Russia.

Our country is in very dire straights right now.  We have a president who really believes that our country needs to be destroyed from the inside, and he is working diligently to make that happen.  All Americans are going to wake up one day very soon and realize just how much damage this clown has done.  I just hope they wake up before it is too late.

In just four months trump has made this country a laughing-stock in the world.  He has ruined our influence.  He has destroyed our integrity.  He has openly defied proper ethics.  All he has done in his four months in office is to make China a bigger player on the world stage.  Nice going pea brain!

And, the shirts keep marching along.

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Sorry, But Today’s Republican Party Is Destroying Our Country

Day 195. 

I know that headline is a bit harsh.  But, with everything going on today it is hard not to say it.  We have reached a new low in politics in our country, and it isn’t getting better.  As a matter of fact, things are not only getting worse they are being cheered on by trump supporters.

Politics always brings out some of the bad in some of us, but this is really getting out of hand.  Things are getting so bad it is almost like my youthful days on the South Side of Chicago watching gangs face off.

Yesterday was full of news, and none of it was good.  Yes, we had more information reported about the Russian Hacking probes and how Russian Officials were caught by our spy agencies strategizing how they could use trump staffers to influence trump in a positive way towards Russia.  But, as it turns out, that wasn’t the worst of the news.  Rather is was expected since this scandal is growing by leaps and bounds every day.

Let’s recap a few of the things that took place just yesterday.  It kind of started off somewhat innocuous with testimony by Betsy DeVos trying to show how trump’s budget cuts to the Department of Education were actually good for students in America.

She was asked if there was any case of discrimination that a private school could do where she would step in and say you cannot do that if you receive federal funding.  It first came up when it was pointed out that a private school in Indiana said it would not accept LGBTQ students even if they were using vouchers from the Federal Government.  DeVos refused to say she would step in and tell the school they couldn’t discriminate like that.

Then she was asked about private schools who were forcing parents of children with disabilities to waive their rights under IDEA.  She then praised Florida for their program.  Which of course does already allow private schools to force parents with disabled children to sign away their IDEA rights.

According to DeVos we should let states “decide” if they are going to discriminate against any students if that is their choice.  After her testimony I came away with the distinct opinion that she really does want to dismantle our entire public school system.  I do have a question for Republicans and their “school choice” mantra.  When I was young, I went to private schools.  My parents had to pay for that private education on their own and got no “vouchers” from the Federal government.

As a matter of fact, when I attended private schools, the vast majority of private schools were Catholic.  Republicans were extremely against any idea that people who sent their children to a Catholic school should get any “vouchers” to help pay for it or even consider the idea of a tax break for paying for a private education?  What changed that makes “vouchers” so important today?

Maybe it is because that after school desegregation took place a bunch of so-called “Evangelical Christian” schools popped up across the south to keep white students from having to attend school with children of color.  That is when the cry for “vouchers” began, and not a day before.

The second thing we learned yesterday is that the biggest threat to our national security is none other than our beloved leader.  We already heard about his giving highly classified information to the Russians.  We also learned that it was Americans who leaked the name of the attacker in Manchester before the British were ready to release it.  They are so mad right now that they care considering not sharing information with us anymore.

Then in a phone call to the Butcher of Manila, Duterte, praising him for his “wonderful war against drugs” in his country, trump just couldn’t help but try to one-up him.  He actually told this butcher where two of our nuclear submarines were located.  We learned this from a transcript of the call by the Philippines.  It was reported by the Philippine press who actually had a copy of the transcript.  And, no one in the trump administration has pushed back and said it wasn’t true.

Our beloved leader just can’t help himself giving away our classified information to foreign countries.  He seems to think that it shows how smart he is.  Actually it shows just how STUPID he is.  Furthermore, it shows he cannot be trusted with our classified information.

We also discovered that members of his White House are simple liars.  They lied on their forms when trying to get their security clearances.  The main culprits are Mike Flynn, Jeff Sessions and Jared Kushner.  I don’t remember the exact wording, but there is a question that asks if you have had any contact with a foreign government or foreign government official.  All three said no.

Yet, all three did have contact with a foreign government official.  In the case of Flynn he was not only an unregistered foreign agent, he talked to the Russian Ambassador more than once during the campaign and during the transition period.

Turns out that Jeff Sessions did have contact with the Russian Ambassador more than once during the transition when he was a member of the trump team.  And, of course, Jared Kushner also had contact with the Russian Ambassador and with members of a Russian owned bank during the campaign and the transition.

I don’t know, but maybe the law changed under trump, but when I had to fill out this form, it was a crime to lie on it or to omit any information that was asked by it.   At the very least all three, well the two left in the administration, should have their security clearance pulled for lying on an official government form.

The third thing was the CBO score for the Americans Without Health Care Act.  The CBO did say one thing in the Republicans favor.  They said the act would cut the deficit by 119 Billion Dollars.  Wow, I believe that comes to about .002 percent of the deficit.  And, it is less than the original bill that never made it to the House floor for a vote.

On the other hand, it estimates that in the first year of its implementation 14 million people will lose their health insurance.  It also says that in the next nine years up to 23 million people will lose their health insurance.  It even had some bad news for people with pre-existing conditions that Republicans claim the act will “protect”.

According to the CBO score card, older people with pre-existing conditions will see their premiums go up about 850 percent.  That is including the so-called protections that states will implement to “out” themselves from the ACA protections now in place.  The CBO says the high risk pools won’t work the way Republicans claim it will.

Furthermore, rural hospitals will be severely affected by the bill.  Many of our rural hospitals rely on Medicaid to help keep them open since most of their customers are Medicaid patients.  With the massive cuts to Medicaid, those funds will dry up and these hospitals will be forced to close.

Additionally, many patients in nursing homes are also Medicaid recipients.  They are not just “poor people” they are middle-class people who worked their whole lives.  However, they ran out of money and cannot afford most private nursing homes.  As a result, they are forced to use Medicaid to pay for their care.  When the Republicans cut Medicaid, these patients will also be hurt.  What are you going to do if you parent or grandparent is tossed from their nursing home because of this act?

Finally, it is estimated that by the year 2026 50 million people between the ages of 50 and 65 will be without health insurance as a result of this act.  As you can see, this bill was really something for Republicans to board their busses and head down to the White House for a celebratory Frat Party after they passed it through the House.  As I wrote before, Republicans have decided that one of the biggest problem this country faces is that too damn many people actually have health insurance.  This bill will definitely fix it.

The final episode came last night in Montana.  There a special election is being held today for the state’s lone House Seat.  The Republican Candidate was expected to win big, but the race is much closer than expected.  The major factor in this race turns out to be the Americans Without Health Care Act.

The Republican Candidate, Greg Gianforte has declined to answer any questions if he supports the act.  But, there is a recording that shows him approving of the bill’s passage to supporters.  So, a reporter from the Guardian, Ben Jacobs, wanted Gianforte’s reaction to the CBO report.

Gianforte was getting ready to have an interview with a local TV Station.  Jacobs entered the room, saw that Gianforte was just standing around chit-chatting and approached the candidate ask his question.  According to Jacobs, instead of getting an answer, Gianforte picked him up and body slammed him to the ground.

Jacobs was taken to the hospital for evaluation.  He said he landed on his elbow and x-rays were taken.  I don’t know the result of those x-rays at this time.  Later Gianforte’s campaign put out a statement about the incident and they said that Jacobs:

…entered the office without permission, aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg’s face, and began asking badgering questions.  Jacobs was asked to leave.  After asking Jacobs to lower the recorder, Jacobs declined. Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face.  Jacobs grabbed Greg’s wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground.  It’s unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ.

So, as usual, a Republican candidate blamed the reporter, especially one he considers a “liberal” reporter for the incident.  There are two problems with the statement issued by Gianforte’s campaign.  Evidence shows he is lying.  Big surprise.

Jacobs was recording the questioning.  I heard the tape and there was no “badgering” by Jacobs unless you consider trying to get a straight answer from a politician badgering.  At no time did Gianforte ask or demand that Jacobs “lower the recorder”.  Jacobs’ voice was calm and polite.

Then there is a second problem with Gianforte’s version of the event.  There were witnesses.  Particularly the very TV news people who were there to conduct the interview.  It was a local Fox Station.

Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna, field producer Faith Mangan and photographer Keith Railey witnessed the incident, according to an account published by foxnews.com.  Acuna wrote in her account”

Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him.

Faith, Keith and I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the man, as he moved on top the reporter and began yelling something to the effect of ‘I’m sick and tired of this!’ … To be clear, at no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte, who left the area after giving statements to local sheriff’s deputies.

So, it is clear to anyone that Gianforte physically assaulted Jacobs.  Both the audio tape and the written statement from Acuna prove Gianforte is nothing but a bully who thinks he can get away with whatever he wants, just like his beloved leader, trump.

Before you start to tell me this is another of those “one-off” isolated incidents, please don’t.  You would be lying.  This is not a one-off.  This is a continuation of incidents that began with trump’s campaign.  Remember all of the violence at his rallies while he was egging his supporter on?  Remember him telling supporters to “knock the crap out of him.  Don’t worry I will defend you”?

Remember he is being sued right now for one of those attacks against protesters at his rally in Louisville?  And, remember his main defense in this case is he can’t be sued because he is president.

Then we have the case in West Virginia when a reporter was arrested in the State Capital Building while trying to get Price to answer questions.  He was yelling questions to Price and Kellyanne Conway when he was arrested and charged with “interfering with government business”.  The “government business” he was interfering with was Price and Conway walking through.  And, he did not impede their progress.

We also have a report of a reporter being pinned to the wall in the Capital when trying to ask Paul Ryan questions.  According to that report, the reporter was yelling questions when a member of the Capital police stepped in front of the man and backed him up against the wall so he couldn’t get close to Ryan.

All of this begs the question of just where in the hell, and in what time period do we live?  We have never seen such behavior in our country before.  We have seen it in other countries where dictators live and rule.  We saw it big time in Germany in the 30’s.  We saw it in Italy during the 20s and 30s.  We saw it in Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein.  We see it in Russia under Vladimir Putin.  And we see it in the Philippines under the Butcher of Manila.

We are now seeing it right here in the United States of America under our beloved leader, donald trump.  I am not sure if this incident in Montana is going to keep this fascist out of office.  With early voting and absentee voting, it is difficult to say a last-minute incident will have any effect on the outcome of the election.

We can only hope that if this fascist does win the election we can have some justice.  That justice would be to watch him get sworn into office, and then have the Montana State Police take him immediately to jail.  To me, that would be justice, especially if was on national television.  It was just reported that Gianforte was charged with assault for this senseless attack.

What is going on?  We have a Republican Controlled Congress that believes it is a great thing to throw millions of people off of their health insurance.  We have a president who not only agrees with that, he wants to make it worse.  His budget includes an additional $650 billion in cuts to Medicaid.  It also slashes programs that are intended to help people get by and improve their lot.

His administration is under counter-espionage investigation by the FBI and two different committees in Congress.  He openly gives away classified information to foreign countries, even if those countries are considered as adversaries.

We have seen a big uptick in violence at “political rallies” across the country, including now, an incident where a candidate felt “justified” to body slam a reporter to the ground because he doesn’t like the media.

But, if you think back just seven years, you could have predicted this violence at political rallies.  It was the Tea Party, not liberals, who were showing up at political rallies openly carrying guns.  Fortunately, we haven’t seen gun violence at rallies, yet.  But, is that because we are lucky?  How long before we do see gun violence at political rallies?

This isn’t about “sour grapes” because trump won the election.  This is about civility.  It is about ethics.  It is about our country.  It is about our democracy.  I am sure we will see lots of posts on the internet and especially on Facebook about how all of this is just another hoax.  I am sure the trolls will crawl out of their sewers to defend everything with ludicrous excuses and fake news.

But the fact is our country is in far more trouble than it was during Watergate.  At least during Watergate, the Republican Party placed the country above their party.  I am not so certain enough of today’s Republicans have the same patriotism as those Republicans in the 70s had.

I am sure that if any Republican in the House were to actually vote for impeachment, they would face immediate primary challenges from the wacko right.  And, being afraid of losing their gig, they won’t dare take this to the natural conclusion IF it goes that far.

All of the incidents taking place inside and outside of Washington are not sideshows.  They are what is really happening to our country, and we need to pay attention to them.  If we are to survive this calamity, we need the “real Republicans” to wake up and take back their party.  We need two viable and working parties to govern our country.  Having only one party is called an authoritarian government.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

 

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Unfortunately For Beloved Leader – Russia Just Won’t Go Away

Day 194. 

As our beloved leader tramps around the globe trying very hard to look presidential, the Russia Investigation is not leaving him alone.  So far, there isn’t really a lot to talk about this trip.  He stopped over in Saudi Arabia where he signed some agreements over defense help and some economic things.  The total of these agreements is in the $360 Million range.

But, we also know that Saudi Arabia is not happy about the law that the Republican Congress passed allowing victims of the 9/11 attack to sue Saudi Arabia.  They want Congress and to repeal that law.  And, they want trump to help them get the repeal.  So, if that does happen, would that constitute quid pro quo?

In Israel, he stopped by the Holocaust Museum.  He signed the guest list with what seems more like a High School Yearbook signing.  I really hope and wish every day that if this clown uses the word “great”, or “outstanding”, or “bigly” again his orange dead tribble will catch fire on his head.  The child really needs to expand his vocabulary.

Even still, the Russia Investigation is taking its toll.  We found out that Bannon and Priebus were sent home early from the trip to keep tabs on that investigation and try to keep things under control until beloved leader returns.  We also learned that beloved leader has decided he better have a personal lawyer to help him navigate the problem.

Only, to my way of thinking, he is again showing just how dumb he is.  He has reportedly hired Marc Kasowitz as his lawyer.  He has used Kasowitz before and we will talk about that.  First, it must be pointed out that this is an unusual choice for one big reason.

The last “big” case Kasowitz worked was defending Sberbank, a Russian government-owned bank, in a case before the Southern New York District.  Think about that for just one minute.  Our beloved leader thinks that hiring the lawyer for the largest Russian owned bank is a good choice to help him navigate the Russia Investigation.

But, it gets even better.  Kasowitz was the lawyer who handled the Trump U case that cost trump $25 million.  He was also the lawyer who let trump sue a New York Times reporter who wrote a book on trump and claimed in the book that trump was not worth billions of dollars, but rather in the $250 million range.

As usual, trump was furious at the slight to his ego and sued the writer.  He sued for $5 billion for slander.  In court, he could not show proof that he was worth a billion dollars.  At one point, he even said that his worth was based on “his feelings” at the time.  The case was thrown out of court, and an appeals court later tossed it as well.

This is the man who reportedly will “help” trump in his side of the Russia Investigation.  You would think trump would have learned his lesson in the past, but obviously he doesn’t learn anything.

Then we have Mike Flynn deciding that he doesn’t have to follow the subpoena he was issued for his documents involving his ties with Russia.  His lawyer claims that these documents fall under the 5th Amendment, which is dubious.  So, the Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed his companies for the same documents.  As the two heads of the committee said, companies are not protected under the 5th Amendment since they are not people.

However, the biggest crash came when former CIA Chief John Brennan testified before the House Intelligence Committee.  During his testimony, he made no accusations and offered no “evidence’ as Republicans keep trying to say there is none.  But, he did say:

I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign.

He further told lawmakers that he could not say with certainty whether the president’s campaign associates colluded with Moscow.

But I know that there was a sufficient basis of information and intelligence that required further investigation by the FBI to determine whether or not U.S. persons were actively conspiring or colluding with Russian officials.

Republicans again tried to pin him down on whether or not he had “evidence’ of any collusion.  In very carefully worded responses he declared as CIA Chief he was interested in the intelligence and not evidence and the intelligence warranted further investigation.

Which brings us to another point.  This case of “evidence”.  It is my experience that evidence is gathered by investigation.  Investigations do not start only after hard evidence has already been found.  That is why they are called investigations and not just confirm the evidence things.

Republicans seem to think that if there is no outward “evidence” of a crime being committed, then there should be no investigation.  If that were true, then why were there so many “investigations” about Benghazi, even after other previous investigations showed no evidence?

We need to stop pretending that the Russians did not interfere with our last election.  And, we need to stop pretending that they won’t try again.  There is a lot of information that shows an investigation is warranted.  I am not saying that anyone is guilty of any crime.  But, there sure are a lot of circumstantial things that make it look bad for the trump campaign.  That is what the investigation should unveil.

I know I grew up and served during the Cold War, but I have never seen a campaign of either party so tied to the Russians as the trump campaign was.  That doesn’t mean they did anything criminal, but it does ask a lot of questions and those questions need to be answered regardless of what those answers are.

You especially need to have this investigation after our beloved leader’s behavior over this issue.  First, he claims that the Russians were not involved.  Then he says they might have been involved.  It turns out he lied about not knowing about Flynn’s connections with the Russians.  Even today, he tells associates that firing Flynn was a “mistake”.

Shortly after she informed the White House about Flynn’s lying about his contacts with the Russian Ambassador, Sally Yates was fired as the Acting Director of the Department of Justice.  Beloved leader used the excuse that she refused to defend Muslim Ban 1.0 in court.  That could be true, but the timing is very intriguing at best.

Then we have the firing of Comey.  Beloved leader had his surrogates run around telling everyone it was because of a memo written by the Deputy Head of the Justice Department about Comey’s handling of the Clinton email scandal.  Then less than 24 hours later he said it was because “I had that Russia thing on my mind and would have fired him regardless of the recommendation”.  Clear indication Comey was fired over Russia and not Clinton.

Yesterday there were more reports that trump asked the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the NSA to “push back” against all of the media reports about Russia and say they had no “evidence that the president was involved”.  Both reportedly declined.

Then Coats, the Head of the DNI was asked explicitly if the report was true.  He refused to say yes or no but simply said that he didn’t think it appropriate to discuss his conversations with the president.  Most observers think that means “yes”.  Otherwise, he could have simply said no and ended the whole thing.

Finally, since trump continues to support his “good buddy” Mike Flynn, we need to remember what he said over the Clinton Email Scandal.  He said:

Anyone who takes the Fifth Amendment must have something to hide.

I guess that means, according to his “good buddy” that Flynn has something to hide by taking the Fifth.

Beloved leader has been in office less than four months.  And already there are more ethical questions about his behavior than we have had since the Tea Pot Dome Scandal.  His administration is under a “counter intelligence” investigation over possible collusion with a foreign government to sway our election.

He has accomplished virtually nothing while in office.  Oh, he has made it harder to buy a home for the first time.  He supports a “health care” bill that will throw at least 24 million people off of their coverage and increase the premiums and deductibles for addition millions of people with pre-existing conditions.

He has proposed a budget that will all but destroy the social safety nets while giving the rich a huge tax cut.  He plans to cut about 1.4 Billion dollars from Medicaid, a program he promised not to cut.  He will also cut money from Medicare if the Americans Without Health Insurance Act passes the Senate.

His budget will also cut funding for SNAP, CHIP, Welfare, the State Department, and a bunch of other programs like college grants and student loans.  The cuts to the State Department also cuts the spending for security at our Embassies and Consulates around the world potentially placing our diplomats lives in jeopardy.  Even Lindsey Graham said this budget would result in many more Benghazi’s.

Yesterday, when asked if the cuts to the Social Security Disability Insurance program would result in lower payments to people already on the program, Mulvaney said: “I hope so” (emphasis mine).  He claims that there are lots and lots of people in the SSDI program that aren’t really disabled.  Does he know what it takes to receive SSDI?  I am not saying that there aren’t any “fakers” on the rolls, but it isn’t enough to justify the cuts they are making to the program.

The budget also cuts deeply areas like the U.S. Coast Guard, Scientific Research, the National Health Institute, the EPA, Public Education, and just about everything that is not under defense or immigration.

Beloved Leader’s budget proposal does nothing except break at least seven campaign promises.  And, the people he will hurt the most are the very people who put him in office.  Rural areas will be especially hard hit, but he obviously doesn’t care about those people.

He has compromised highly classified information by openly giving it to the Russians without proper protocol.  He also possibly compromised one of our allies who gave us the information.

It is up to us to remember all of this throughout next year.  Republicans are so far supporting their hero in the White House, and they need to be replaced in 2018.  That will be the only way to save our country from this madman and his corrupt associates.  The only question is will we last that long?

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

 

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Beloved Leader Heading Overseas – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Day 189. 

Later today our beloved leader is heading overseas on his first foreign trip.  He plans to visits places like Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Vatican, Belgium and Italy.  What could possible go wrong?

Just look at the wonderful week he has just completed.  He fired his FBI Director and had his surrogates lie about the reason.  He then told us why he fired him.  It was because of that “Russian thing”.

The next day he gave away highly classified information to the Russians.  Then he had McMasters go out and lie about that by saying it never happened.  Only the next day admitting that he did give them the information and McMasters then trying to say it was okay to do so.

He met with the Turkish strongman at the White House, then watched as the strongman’s body guards attacked protesters in front of the Turkish Ambassadors residence.  The action he took after this incident was his usual nothing.  Oh, he called the Ambassador to the State Department, but no one was thrown out of the country for the attack.

There is video showing the strongman talking to his body guards before the attack, and then him standing there watching with approval as they attacked the protesters.  Beloved leader must have approved of the attack since he didn’t do anything of consequence in response.

Now he is off on his first foreign trip.  He claims that he is going to try to bridge the differences between the “three great religions”.  Yeah, like that will happen.  He is even going to give a speech about Islam in Saudi Arabia.  And, that speech is being written by one of his advisors who said the Muslim Ban was the best accomplishment of trump’s administration.  He has also said that Islam is not a religion, but rather a disease.  And, he is the one writing the speech on Islam beloved leader is going to give in Saudi Arabia.  What could go wrong?

He is going to visit Israel right after he gave the Russians that highly classified information which NBC News is reporting came from, you guessed it, Israel.  Then, one of his top advisors claimed that the West Wall was not “in Israel it was in the West Bank”.  How’s that for greasing the skids before you visit the country that claims the West Wall as their holiest place on earth.

We also learned that beloved leader wanted to visit Masada.  However, he had to cancel the trip because it turns out that you cannot land his helicopter at the “historical heritage site”.  Why would anyone who knows anything about historical sites and religious sites even contemplate using a helicopter to get there?

While in Italy, beloved leader is going to meet with Pope Francis.  The very Pope that trump doesn’t like and the very Pope that has said some real unflattering things about trump.  What could possibly go wrong?

He is also going to meet with our NATO allies.  Yes, the very alliance that he claims is antiquated and thinks owes us lots and lots of money because he doesn’t understand the alliance agreement.  Additionally, they are going to hammer him on the Paris Accord that is set up to fight climate change.

Our European allies are not thrilled with trump’s plan to “pull out” of the agreement.  As a matter of fact, they are really pissed off at the suggestion of our pulling out.

I also wonder just how he tends to explain that little faux pas about giving the Russians that highly classified information.  How does he explain his willingness to share with the Russians information that we didn’t even share with all of our allies?  That one little thing could spell doom for beloved leader and his attempt to tell NATO how great America is at “leading” the free world.

Since he took office, beloved leader has pissed off our German allies.  He backed the Fascist candidate in the French election.  And, he even managed to piss off our Australian allies.  So, what could possibly go wrong?

It seems funny to me that about the only time I see trump really smiling and having a great time is when he is meeting with dictators.  He smiled broadly when he met with the Turkish strongman.  He really had a great time when he met with the Russians.

But, when he met with the Australians he didn’t smile.  When he met with Angela Merkel, he wouldn’t even shake her hand for the pictures.  And, he never smiled when he was with her.

So, we have a president about to leave on a nine-day, five country trip overseas whose campaign is under criminal and counter espionage investigation for possible collusion with the Russian Hacking.  He is damaged at home over these investigations and his poor handling of the Comey firing.  His lack of care with highly classified information.  And, a legislative record of absolutely no accomplishments.

We are about to be represented by a president who has accomplished nothing, knows nothing, and is totally incompetent.  He has heaped praise on our adversaries and pissed off our allies.

I ask again, what could possibly go wrong?  Maybe those huge cheering crowds when he leaves in the cartoon above are hoping he will never return.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

 

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We Are Screwed No Matter What Happens With The Special Counsel

Day 188. 

Yesterday the Department of Justice announced that they have ordered a Special Counsel to oversea the Russian Hacking and any possible collusion between them and any member of the trump campaign.  That announcement was met with hails of praise about the decision.

I agree that we do need a special counsel or special prosecutor because it is time we actually find out what happened, who may have been involved, and how we are going to make sure it doesn’t happen again.  And, quite frankly, the Congressional investigations are running at a snail’s pace with no sign they will pick up anytime soon.

We also had a report that Mike Flynn told the trump transition team that he was under investigation by the FBI before he took the position of National Security Advisor.  According to the report, Flynn told the now White House Counsel about the investigation on January 4.  Before the inauguration.

Which begs the question of how could trump still name him as National Security Advisor when he knew Flynn was under investigation for his time as an unregistered foreign agent for Turkey?

We also had a report that Kevin McCarthy, the second in command in the House Republican Caucus told a group of Republicans in 2016 that he thought trump was on Putin’s payroll.

On June 15, 2016 McCarthy said:  “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump.”   Some of the Republicans laughed but McCarthy quickly added “swear to God”.  These comments were actually taped by someone, and the tape was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.

When the story first broke both Ryan and McCarthy claimed the conversation “never happened”.  But, when the Post told them they had the tape, they changed their story.  Instead of it never happening, they said it was a “bad attempt at humor”.

This took place exactly one day after the news broke about the hacking of the DNC.  And, right after Ryan and McCarthy came out of a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who had described a Kremlin tactic of financing populist politicians to undercut Eastern European democratic institutions.

Getting back to yesterday, when the news of the special counsel was first announced, trump seemed to be happy and claimed it would end in total clearance for him and then he could move on with his agenda.  In a written statement he said “A thorough investigation will confirm what we already know — there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity.  I look forward to this matter concluding quickly.”

That story changed big time today.  In his usual Cowardly Lion manner, he tweeted this morning:  “it is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”  Then just to make sure he threw red meat to his base he tweeted:  “With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special councel (sic) appointed!”

Naturally he gave no indication of any of the so-called “illegal acts” by either Clinton or Obama.  The one thing you can say about the Obama administration is that they were not involved in anything “illegal”.  You may not like the man.  You may even hate his guts.  But, he was never at the center of any scandal nor did he get involved in any illegal acts.  Even Republicans called him “no drama Obama”.

But trump can’t stand the fact that his “team” appears to be neck-deep in Russian scandals.  His former Campaign Manager had dealings with “Russian backed Ukrainian government that was ousted by the people.  There are reports of his money laundering for Russians.  And then we learned that somehow he received a $3 Million mortgage that was mysteriously paid off for him.

Mike Flynn went to Moscow to sit next to Putin at a dinner for RT and was paid
$35,000 for his speech without reporting it.  He was a paid foreign agent for the Turkish government during the campaign and did not register as one.  He reportedly told trump team that he was under investigation before the inauguration.  Then he took the position of National Security Advisor and sat in on highly classified briefings that could have affected his client, and Russia.

As reported, there have been at least 18 undisclosed meeting between the trump transition team and Russian officials including ones involving Kushner, Sessions, and that infamous “phone call” about sanctions Flynn made.  Beloved leader call this a witch-hunt.  He calls this a hoax.  He calls this “fake news”.

To add insult to injury, beloved leader was as the Coast Guard Academy’s graduation ceremony yesterday.  During his speech he complained about how the media was out to get him.  He then bragged, again, about his victory.  He tried to tell the graduates to “fight, fight even when thing are against them”.

That is good advice since his administration wants to slash the Coast Guard’s budget.  They want to cut about $25 billion form the Coast Guard.  Including cutting all of the funding for new equipment the Coast Guard desperately needs.  Yet he had the audacity to claim that the Coast Guard was “necessary to help him fight to keep America Safe”.  Hard to do when you cannot afford the very operations that do that now.

And, all the while, we don’t hear anything of consequence from the Republicans.  Both Ryan and McConnell are fuming over the special counsel appointment because they didn’t want one named.  They both said so many times so they cannot be happy right now.  Still we hear the usual silence from them and their party.

Then we come to the final point.  Mike Pence.  As I wrote the other day, I believe Mike Pence is a co-conspirator in all of this.  I do not believe that Pence was lied to by Flynn but Pence was trying to cover for Flynn.  I believe he knew all along about Flynn’s actions and his not being registered as a foreign agent all the while working for trump and Pence’s campaign.

I further believe that in terms of domestic policy Mike Pence is far more dangerous than trump.  With the way trump behaves, we cannot be sure that he will rubber-stamp anything that Republicans in Congress put in front of him.  We know for certain that Pence will.

During his term as Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence was atrocious.  His poll numbers were at rock bottom which is why most people believe he even took the position as the running mate for trump.  He was the driving force behind the anti-LGBT laws passed in the state.  His track record of voter restriction, anti-LGBT laws and anti-civil rights are well-known.

He is a strong believer that rich people should pay less in taxes than you do.  He believes that health care is a privilege not a right and is in full support of the Americans Without Health Care Act.  If we wind up with a president pence after all of this, we can be sure that our country, domestically at least, will be far worse off than it is now.

As Grover Norquist once said, Mike Pence would be that President with “enough digits to hold a pen and sign everything Republicans put in front of him”.  Some are hoping that Pence will get caught up in all of this as well, and will be forced out.  But, that isn’t all that great either.  Remember the next one in line is none other than that unintelligent wank Paul Ryan.

When Richard Nixon was forced out over the Watergate Scandal, our country had one hope.  We had Gerald Ford sitting as the Vice President.  Ford was a moderate and there was hope that the nation would survive the scandal and get back to normal.  With Pence the sitting Vice President, I  don’t have that same hope for the country.

In the year 2017 we face a real problem.  We have an administration that has tried to “run things” like a dictatorship.  We have a political party, the Republicans, who want to dismantle our democracy.  We have another political party, the Democrats, that react to events rather than planning a real resistance that could put a stop to all of this.

What we really need is some people with cool heads and a plan to fight back.  What we need to have is people who love this country more than they love their party and power.  There are some Democrats who are remaining cool-headed and wanting to get to all of the facts no matter where they lead.  There are beginning to be cracks in the Republican side who want the same thing.

The problem is that there aren’t enough of them yet.  The leadership of the Republican Congress is still hiding their heads in the sand.  Or, should I say they have their heads up their asses.  As a result, we won’t know the extent of this problem for months if not years.

Only, it really doesn’t matter how this all plays out.  If trump is exonerated, he will remain in power and continue his authoritarian form of government.  He will be able to pass laws to “jail” journalists that write things against him, which is what he wants.  He will be able to destroy the country we all love.

If he is found to be involved in this mess, he will be forced out of office, if Republicans have the guts to impeach him and hold a trial in the Senate, and we will end up with president pence.  Which would be no better than having president trump.

Because the 2016 presidential election was a disgusting soap opera instead of a real campaign, we wound up with president trump and vice president mike pence.  As a result, we find ourselves in totally uncharted waters.  There is a major scandal hanging over the White House, and there are no heroes who will ride to our salvation.

To put it very bluntly, no matter what happens from here, we the American People are fucked.  We lose no matter how this plays out.  All of this played out in full during the campaign.  The very fact that trump refused to agree with out intelligence community that is was the Russians who hacked the DNC showed just where his loyalties lay.  His comment about hoping the “Russians would hack Clinton’s emails” showed that he liked the idea Russia was involved.  So, this was all foretold.

The best lesson to take from all of this is how important it is to actually participate in our election process.  Maybe if Americans took their responsibility to get out and vote seriously, we wouldn’t be where we are today.  If you didn’t vote last year and are looking for the real blame, look in the mirror.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

 

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Watching Republcans And Their Beloved Leader Is Like Watching A Reel Of Looney Tunes

Day 181. 

Am I the only one who sees this mess for what it is?  I watch what is going on with this administration and how Republicans are handling themselves, and I keep believing I am watching a reel of Looney Tunes cartoons.  The plots are so similar, that it cannot be overlooked.

Republicans are still trying to tell us how great their Americans Without Health Care Act is.  The brave ones, and there are few of them, even go through town hall meetings and really don’t listen to what their own constituents are telling them.  They simply stand there and repeat the party line.  The problem is that they don’t even listen to what they are saying.

They keep saying that it is okay to charge people with pre-existing conditions twice or three times as much for health care as long as “healthy” people pay less.  One bozo even said “I had my staff talk to an insurance company who is planning to raise premiums 53 percent next year under the ACA.  They told my staff that if the AHCA passes, they will reduce premiums by 10 percent”.  Think about that statement for just one minute.

This clown is trying to tell you that you will see a 10 percent DECREASE in your premiums if the AHCA becomes law.  Simple logic tells us that you can only decrease premiums if you decrease coverage.  That means that if the AHCA becomes law, you will see a decrease in premiums if you accept less coverage for your money.

Republicans are acting more like Wiley Coyote making his plans to catch the road runner.  Problem is, he never catches the road runner and usually winds up the victim of his own plans by having a boulder fall on him instead of the road runner.  Their so-called health care plan is so full of holes that it couldn’t hold water if the water was first placed in plastic bags.  The only real problem is that the bolder is about to land on Americans this time.

Then we have our beloved leader.  He reminds me too much of Elmer Fudd “huntin wabbits”.  This version of Elmer Fudd keeps looking down holes in the ground thinking he will find a wabbit to catch and put on display.  That is his idea of how to extricate himself from his horrible decisions, and his lies, and his connections with an enemy of our country.

If you keep chasing wabbits, and get the media to look down the holes with you, they won’t see what is really going on.  That became really apparent with the Comey firing.  The explanations that he has put forth for the reason for the firing are even worse than the Republicans plan to catch the road runner.

This version of Elmer Fudd has no idea of how to catch a wabbit than the original did.  He keeps plodding along throwing accusations around like candy at a children’s party and hoping one will actually stick.

From all reports, including one that had over 30 informants from the governmens say openly that Comey was fired because he was getting too close on the Russia investigation.  The reports say that Comey was fired simply because trump was furious that Comey would not defend the president and shield beloved leader from the investigation.

The hunting party that trump has surrounded himself with couldn’t give one complete reason for the firing.  I counted at least five different versions of why Comey was fired.  The firing was handled so ineptly, even his propaganda minister, Sean Spicer, had to huddle with his staff behind bushes to figure out what happened.  Then he held a brief “news conference” that wasn’t a news conference on the lawn to explain why Comey was fired.

He held his news conference in the dark without any cameras rolling because he didn’t want his boss see him on television.  The next morning, he was contradicted more than once by others in the administration.

I believe we finally heard the exact reason why Comey was fired.  That came from Foghorn Leghorn, Kellyanne Conway, who clearly stated that “the president expects people in his administration to be loyal to him”.  That sums up all of the bullshit that the administration has been pumping out.  Comey was fired because trump was furious that in trump’s warped mind, Comey was not being loyal to trump.  That is the only reason he was fired.

Finally we have Elmer Fudd meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister and with the very ambassador who is behind the Russian investigation in the Oval Office yesterday.  That in itself wasn’t something that bothered me.  However, when trump banned U.S. Journalists from the meeting but let Russian journalists in is something that is troublesome.

The only photos of the meeting are provided by TASS.  If you are not old enough to understand, TASS was the official news propaganda machine for the Old Soviet Union.  They were allowed into the meeting and our journalists were not.  What is wrong with that picture?  You can bet your ass that if the meeting was held in the Kremlin, there is no way trump’s hero Putin would allow American press into the meeting and not his own press.

Additionally, the Foreign Minister actually made a joke over the Comey firing.  When asked about it he said “He was fired?” then smiled as he and our empty suit Secretary of State walked away.  The photos also showed that the three of them, two Russians and trump were having a great time back slapping and laughing.  We can only guess what they were so happy about.

But, Elmer Fudd did it again.  He got the news media to look down another empty hole in the ground looking for that damn wabbit, and they fell for it, again.

We are going to be asked to look down more empty holes in an attempt to get Elmer Fudd to catch that waskily wabbit.  The next will be his commission he wants to name to look into the phantom “massive voter fraud” problem in our country, which doesn’t exist.

If we are going to have to watch old Looney Tunes cartoons with this administration, what we need is someone in the media and someone in Congress at least as smart as Bugs Bunny to foil Elmer’s attempts to catch him and shine the light on Elmer’s goofyness.

The biggest problem with having to watch this new version of Looney Tunes is that it isn’t funny.  It is downright scary and dangerous.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

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Conflicts Of Interest Comes In Many Forms – Even Selling Visas

Day 178. 

This administration is very good at exercising conflict of interest in order to line their own pockets.  We have seen instances of one advisor advertising Ivanka’s products on air.  And, we have seen a U.S. department advertising for Mar A Lago on its website.

However, Jared Kushner and his family have gone even further.  They are actively “selling visas” in China in order to get more money for their projects and line their own pockets.  There is something called the EB-5 visa program.  This program awards foreign investors the right to live in the United States for two years and a path to permanent residency, in exchange for investments of at least $500,000 in American development projects.

This program was instituted in order to finance projects in economically troubled neighborhoods.  It has instead turned into a form of cheap financing for luxury real estate developers.  Applicants are primarily seeking the visa, so they do not seek a significant return on their investment.

The United States Government Accountability Office, the investigative branch of Congress, has criticized the visa program for its lax safeguards against illicit sources of money.  It is informally known as the “Visas For Sale Program”.

The Kushner family has used this program in the past as well.  They raised about $50 million from Chinese investors in EB-5 funding for another project in Jersey City, a Trump-branded luxury apartment tower that opened in late 2016.

Now the company is at it again in China.  They held one “investor program” in Beijing, and one in Shanghai.  In both instances, there was a very clear mention of the EB-5 Visa program to lure in more investors.  The Kushner company claimed is was just an investor program and not political.

But, to Bi Ting, who attended the event, part of the appeal was political: Jared Kushner is the son-in-law of — and a powerful adviser to — President Trump. Virtually unheard-of in China just months ago, he is now known here as a deeply influential figure in American politics.

When they held the event in Beijing, reporters for the Washington Post and the New York Times were escorted out of the gathering.  In Shanghai, the press was kept out of the event and kept in an elevator lobby.  I guess the Kushners didn’t want the press to know what they were up to.

Still, leaks come out anyway.  Some who attended described an investor pitch similar to the one in Beijing, and Mr. Trump’s political power was palpable at the Shanghai event even if his name went unsaid. As on Saturday in Beijing, one slide presented to the Shanghai audience on Sunday showed a photograph of Mr. Trump when describing who will decide the future of the visa program for foreign investors, according to a snapshot taken by an audience member.

As you can see, this is not something that is totally unusual.  And, you will also note that Jared Kushner claims to have stepped away from the day-to-day control of the family’s businesses.  But, it still gives off a very dark optic at the very least.

While Kushner’s star keeps rising in the administration, his family is trying to sell visas to rich Chinese who want to come to the U.S. anyway.  This is also at a time when Kushner’s father-in-law is supposedly trying to close our borders to immigrants.

With all of the screaming about Latino immigration, what you are not hearing is that about three-quarters of the 10,000 investor visas were issued to Chinese.  So, it shows that if you have money to invest in this country, you can purchase your visa along with your investment.

If you are a family like the trumps or the Kushners, you simply need to go to China and sell U.S. visas in order to get money to build your projects.  If you are president, or a very powerful advisor to the president, it is much easier to get your money by selling visas.  And, then you claim that you aren’t personally involved in the day-to-day operations of the company.

That way you can claim, falsely in my opinion, that you are not involved in a conflict of interest.  Even though you are still receiving huge profits from the company into your personal pockets.  How convenient.

Of course Jared is not the only Kushner doing business with China from the White House.  His wife Ivanka has also done deals with China from the White House.  She was miraculously granted a shit-load of branding trade marks in China the very day she sat next to the Chinese President at dinner at Mar A Lago.

Jared’s power in the West Wing is growing each day.  One of the things that he is supposedly responsible for is matters dealing with China.  How convenient.  I wonder, if the fact that his daddy-in-law refused to name China a “currency manipulator” as he promised relentlessly on the campaign trail was really the result of Jared’s instance.  Especially in light of these “investor events” selling visas to Chinese for money to finance Kushner projects.

If anyone is wondering why there is a big hoopla over the conflicts of interest this administration has, this is a good example of why that hoopla is necessary.  How is it possible for us to believe that any decisions on China is in the best interest of the nation and not in the best interest of Kushner businesses?  Or, trump’s businesses for that matter.

These types of actions are becoming all too common for the president’s family and other members of his administration.  The head of the HHS has been shown to be guilty of insider trading when he was a Congressman.  No, he wasn’t convicted in court, but he was convicted in the court of public opinion.  Buying stock and then passing laws to benefit the company you just bought stock in is considered insider trading by any definition.

We are not even at the four-month mark of this administration.  And, yet, we seem to be saddled with the most corrupt administration in my living memory.  Yet, no one really seems to care and that is the real problem.

Beloved leader will tell you that he cannot be accused of conflict of interest because he is president.  The Republicans will tell you that people like the Kushners are just using they system and “doing nothing illegal”.  The Kushners will tell you that they are not doing anything that other businesses aren’t doing.

In technical terms they are all correct.  But, in the reality of politics and proper ethics, they are all wrong.  When I was teaching at a Community College in Security Management, I told my students that “integrity is all we have to ensure we do our jobs properly.  If we lose our integrity, we lose our ability to do our jobs correctly”.

The same can be said for politicians, especially the president.  If the president has no integrity, how can the American People trust him to make any decisions that are in their best interests.  How can we believe him if he says we need to attack another country because they have nuclear weapons?  How can we believe him when he says “believe me”?

The answer to all of those questions is that we cannot believe him.  We cannot believe that decisions are made in our interests and not his own financial interests.  We cannot believe him when he says he “cares about us” and wants to make our lives better.  Especially when his actions, and those of his administration, have been to use the office of the president to line their own pockets at our loss.

Beloved leader proved one of his statements correct.  He said “I am probably the only person who can run for president and make money off of the campaign”.  His companies raked in money from his own campaign, so he was right in that aspect.  Now, he is proving that he can also make lots of money off of being president.  And, he doesn’t care if you know it or not.  All that matter to this maniac is his bottom line, not your bottom line.

That is why we see things like the Americans Without Health Care Act pass the House with his blessings.  That is why we see agencies like the EPA being gutted both financially and personal matters so polluters can pollute our water, air and land even more than they already do.  That is why we see his draconian budget that tears apart every program that is intended to make your lives better.

As you can see, conflict of interest comes in many forms.  This administration is openly and blatantly using the office of the president to line their own pockets.  And, like all of the Goldman Sachs former employees who head up our all of finance agencies after causing the economic meltdown 11 years ago, no one will be held accountable.

Ethics and Integrity.  Two essential items necessary to properly govern a country are sorely lacking in this administration.  As a result, they keep getting richer and we keep getting poorer.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

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The First 100 Days Are Finally Over With Nothing To Show For Them

Day 171. 

The first 100 days of beloved leader’s presidency are finally over.  In those 100 days about the only thing we learned about beloved leader is that he is a total clown with no idea of what the hell he is doing.

The three main items about trump we have learned are Bluster, Incompetence, and Complete Ignorance.  If those are his three main traits, we are all in deep shit.  Included in those three traits is one more.  He is an absolute lousy negotiator.  He couldn’t negotiate his way out of a men’s room.

But, don’t just take my word for it, look at each trait individually.  The day after his inauguration, he complained that no one was giving him credit for “having the largest crowd in history at my inauguration”.  Photographs of his inauguration proved otherwise, but what the hell, he believed it so we should.

Just last night at a rally in Harrisburg, PA he bragged that the crowd set an “all-time record for the arena and that there are thousands of people standing outside who couldn’t get in”.  Only photographs showed the arena was not at capacity.  It holds about 7,000 people, and photographs from the event show about 15 percent of the seats were empty.

Look, there was a large crowd there.  They were even loud and supportive of beloved leader.  But, his bluster couldn’t allow that to come out, he had to openly lie to the people in the arena who could see it was not full.  Yet, they still cheered him and agreed with him.  I guess the arena was never full for any event in its history.  If that is true, then he was right when he said it was an all-time record setter.  If that is not true, then neither is his comment.

He loudly tells us that he is for the “little people”.  But, his first executive order was to increase the cost of mortgage insurance for first-time home buyers making it harder for them to get the mortgage they need.  I am sure all first-time home buyers are thanking him for his support every time they write their mortgage checks out costing them $500 per year more than if he had not signed that stupid order.

Then he allows his EPA chief to let Dow Chemical’s pesticide that affects the development of brains in children and fetus’ to be used on food crops.  This pesticide was banned from food crops under the last administration, but who cares if you child’s brain developes like it should.  Dow Chemical’s profits are far more important than your children’s development.

The EPA has also taken down all of the information about climate change from its website.  It thinks that there is no such thing as climate change so why bother with putting up all of that scientific information that shows they are wrong.

Then under his incompetence, we only need to look at all of the vacancies in the Federal Government.  Of the roughly 459 positions he is required to fill, less than 60 of them have been filled.  There aren’t even any nominations announced for the remaining vacancies.

Additionally, his empty suit Rex Tillerson said that he expects to lay off over 2,000 state department employees.  Beloved leader apparently doesn’t believe that an active state department with real professionals can stop wars.  Which is exactly what their job is.  As whimpering dog Mattis over at Defense actually said “if we don’t have an active State Department, I will need a lot more bullets”.  Even whimpering dog knows we need a State Department that engages with the world.

During his time in office, our beloved leader has managed to piss off our allies like Germany, England, France, Canada, and even Australia.  All the while he is praising the murderer Putin for being a “great leader” as trump likes to call him.

He and his administration told the American People that “we are sending a great armada to the South China sea to show North Korea we mean business”.  Only, that “great armada” was actually heading for exercises with the Australian Navy thousands of miles south of the South China Sea.  The Commander-in-Chief and his whimpering dog Mattis didn’t even know where his fleet was or what they were doing.

Mattis even told us that they made the announcement because the exercise was cancelled so they had to give a reason for cancelling it.  Only, it wasn’t cancelled, and the Vinson and her fleet didn’t head towards Korea until it was over.  How incompetent can you be?

In Syria, his administration said they didn’t mind that Bashaad was in power and that it was up to the Syrian people to decide if they should get rid of him.  Then, Bashaad used chemical weapons on his own people.  So, trump launched a handful of missiles at one of Bashaad’s air bases with very limited results and bragged about being “presidential” over the incident.  He claimed that he had to send the missiles because of the pictures of all of those “beautiful babies” he saw being gassed.  Yet, he won’t let any of those “beautiful babies” to come here to get away from the war.

Then we get to his total ignorance.  We have been staring down North Korea for about 70 years.  Beloved leader seems to want to draw another “red line” in the sand over North Korea.

North Korea has artillery aimed at and in range of Seoul where about half of South Korea’s population lives.  So, in order to show we mean business again, he ordered that a missile defense system be installed in South Korea.  Sounds reasonable especially considering we have over 30,000 troops stationed in South Korea.

Then, he fell back on his gangster mode and claimed that he told South Korea that they should really pay for the missile defense system.  He seems to have left out the part where he would pull it out if they didn’t pay, but the possibility remains loudly in the minds of the South Korean people.

Then, to make matters even worse, he said he would tear up the trade agreement we have with South Korea.  This ignoramus doesn’t understand just how bad he is making relations with one of our best allies.  Does he really think that the South Koreans will be so “strong” in supporting our moves against North Korea if he is going to “tear up” our trade agreements with the South?

Additionally, there are Presidential elections going on in South Korea since their last President was removed from office over corruption charges.  Does he really believe that the winner will be the one who calls out the name trump as a “great leader”?  Rather, it would appear that the winner will be the one who defies and distances themselves from trump the most.  Boy, isn’t that a smart way to win friends.

But, let’s be fair.  He has accomplished a lot in his first 100 days.  He failed to get his Americans Without Health Insurance Act passed because he is a lousy negotiator.  That is a positive for the country.

He was able to get his nomination to the Supreme Court approved.  Of course, his patsy Mitch McConnell had to change Senate rules to achieve that, so it really doesn’t count as a “victory” to me.

He has made “town hall meetings” for his party members almost unbearable.  As a matter of fact, many of his party’s members won’t even hold town halls anymore because they are afraid to face angry crowds.

He has placed a gag order on the employees at EPA so you can never find out about the real effects of climate change or the “sweetheart deals” that Pruitt is making with the fossil fuel companies.

He has removed worker protections from companies who do business with the government.  So if a contractor is guilty of sexual harassment, unequal pay for women, or has a horrible safety record, we won’t know about them and they will get to keep their contracts.

He hired, and then was forced to fire, an unregistered foreign agent to be his National Security Advisor.  Before he was fired, Flynn sat in on highly classified briefings even on briefings that were about the countries for which he was an unregistered foreign agent.

A total of 15 people of his administration have either been fired, resigned, or withdrew their names from consideration for high level posts.  That surely is a record for a president in his first 100 days.  And, we all know how much he loves records.

He has signed more executive orders in his first 100 days than any other president since World War II.  Remember when Republicans claimed that executive orders were nothing more than “a political overreach that flew against the Constitution”?  Funny, we don’t hear the same thing from them now that beloved leader is using executive orders instead of actual legislation.

Finally, he has managed to become the first president who is the subject of a counter espionage investigation concerning his campaign’s collusion with Russia in hacking our national elections.  He managed that in his first 100 days.

All of this shows that we probably have the biggest asshole sitting in the White House in our nation’s history.  The only thing he hasn’t done, yet, is follow his hero Andrew Jackson’s lead who tried make the east coast all white by shipping out all of the Native Americans who lived there.  Only, trump will ship out all Mexicans and Muslims instead of Native Americans.

He has named a fossil fuel company puppet as the head of the EPA.  He has named a public education hater to head up the Department of Education.  He has named an openly proud racist as our Attorney General.  He has placed former Goldman Sachs heads in positions to run our budgets and finances.  You know the company that was the lead in destroying the economy in 2008.

He named a person to head up the Department of Energy who doesn’t even know what the department does, and wants to “get rid of it” anyway.  He fired every District Attorney and has yet to fill one of those vacancies.

He gave a speech about not “tolerating anti-Semitism” in our country, but won’t name one White Supremacist or Neo-Nazi group as domestic terrorists.  Of course these groups all say they are acting as real Christians.  As he liked to say during the campaign, “our president won’t even say the term domestic Christian terrorist”.

The first 100 days of beloved leaders’ administration are finally over.  I won’t blame you if you think it has felt more like 100 years instead of days.  We are saddled with a do-nothing blusterous, incompetent, ignorant idiot in the White House.  Every time he gives a speech using his tele-prompter, I get the feeling I am listening to a first grader reading “see   spot   run”.

That is what we have learned about trump during the first 100 days.   The only question left is will we even have a country left by the 2018 elections?  Considering the first 100 days, that is a reasonable question to ask.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

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