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Previous posts and links Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg tries to show that he really is human. He eats a sandwich and virtually inspects the devastation in Puerto Rico.
london
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The Wall of Shame
The article by The Guardian written on the day Trump declares a bogus national emergency discusses the ramifications in play.
The now officially obese, bungling, lying fake president took a massive hit to his credibility after being effectively checkmated into backing down from a second government shutdown, but as the article suggests his attempt to salvage some face is unlikely to lead to a good outcome for anyone, himself included. As always, the hardest hit victims include the American taxpayers - the middle class - who are left to shell out to cover the egotistical stupidity of an incompetent and un-indicted co-conspirator, a child like pea brained idiot who's "running" [ruining] the United States by gross inefficiency and irresponsibility.
By announcing that he "didn't need to do this" the Washington Post points out he undermined his own case. Reader comment by Nooneasked seems to sum up the legal situation well:
"Notwithstanding Trump's moronic comments. the case will probably be decided on largely legal grounds involving the statutory intent and purpose of the national emergency act. The President's best argument is probably that when Congress passed the emergency act allowing a President to redirect appropriated funds to deal with an emergency, while also including a procedure where Congress could negate a President's emergency declaration by joint Senate-House resolution, Congress thereby obviated the constitutional separation of powers issue which otherwise would prevent the President from overriding the appropriation power of the Congress. Furthermore, when Congress provided the legislative process for overruling a Presidential declaration of emergency, it rendered the validity of an emergency declaration a purely political question not reviewable by the courts.
"The best argument for opponents of Trump's emergency declaration is that whatever the largely statutorily undefined "emergency" may mean, no reasonable interpretation thereof could encompass this situation, where on Thursday, February 14, 2019, Congress specifically appropriated $1.3 billion for the wall, and the very next day, President Trump declared an "emergency" so that he could divert other already appropriated funds and spend $8 billion for a much more extensive wall. Whatever Congress meant in the statute by the term "emergency", it did not include allowing a President to simply and immediately override a specific funding determination by Congress, and have this Presidential decision overrule the specific majority vote by Congress on the precise issue, unless both the Senate and the House could by a two-thirds majority, also override a Presidential veto of a Congressional joint resolution disapproving the President's emergency declaration. In the absence of the statutory "emergency" the statute was not applicable here and no emergency declaration was permissible. This argument will probably prevail."
Brexit banter with Rob Francis: Hold a second Brexit referendum. Brexit is damaging to the British national interest, says Roger Cohen, saving me a lot of time because he's a professional scribe and knows the score, writing earlier this year in a much mentioned New York Times opinion piece.
Will the USA soccer league, Major League Soccer, ever not be boring?: Whilst various martial arts sports leap frog professional soccer in popularity among new generations [who also watch European soccer by the way], the MLS and its tiny but zealous army of online trolls continues to resist anything that would make it meaningful in any way, including denying promotion and relegation.
As the league continues to sputter along, completely off the radar of the American public even in heavily Latino areas where there is massive interest in the Euro leagues, the MLS conservatives will at least be able to go to their grave proudly exclaiming, despite the US being unable to even qualify for the World Cup against weak opposition, and the league being mind-bendingly dull, "at least we don't have promotion and relegation. We can die happy and fulfilled," with the other sports responding: "Happy trails, boneheads. And by the way, make the goals bigger!"
Eric the Red (Hat)
This West Virginia lawmaker Republiscummer resembles a cross between a "Deliverance" movie character and a gormless Al Bundy impersonator, without Al's humor, while regaling the interviewer with his apparently reasonable view that he will drown his son or daughter if they turn out be gay. How the inbreds laughed in Redneckland. It's okay to murder your family for such matters if you're Republican.
Al Bundy meet Ted Bundy in one bundle of fascist fun. He's an American Christian evangelical pastor, blinded by hate. That said, the batshit Xtian bible does say that if your children drink or disobey you, you should stone them to death, or you yourself will join them in hell. So he's only trying to save his own ass by looking for an excuse.
Now he's in trouble.
Repugs horrified by Green New Deal Who's really afraid of socialism?
Trump/GOP's "dealmaking" lost them $23.7b
Donald Trump's "Art of the Deal", when tested in action, cost him and his party the loss of 23.7 billion dollars by using his obstructionist, ego driven technique in an obsessive quest for more "Wall".
In Feb 2018, Democrats offered $25b, Republiscummers held out. In Dec 2018 Democrats reduced the offer to $1.6b, the 'scummers, now wanting 5.7b, held out, and in doing so, devastated the US with a shutdown, with long term damaging consequences yet to be fully realized. In Feb 2019 the Dems reduced the offer again to $1.3b, and the 'scummers appear to have accepted. If dumb Don puts his ego into the mix yet again and forces another hold-out, well, any future print run of his toxic book should be renamed "The Art of Being Dumb".
No wonder desperate right-wing groupies who bought Trump's bad faith book over the years are now realizing why their careers, if they ever had any, failed dismally to ignite using dumb Don's diabolical deal-sinking disaster of a negotiating technique. They're probably Jordan Peterson's biggest fan boys right now, scraping together every penny to paw through his turgid, tedious tomes, and waste valuable hours watching his vacuous, long-winded, endlessly rambling videos. Be careful whom you idolize.
Meanwhile, Trump's face saving gambit is now to invoke "executive action" to get more for his wall, signaling massive use of taxpayer money for gargantuan legal fees involved in the ensuing battle.
The MAGgots are revolting -- up in arms over being tricked by Trump's used-car salesman tactics that promised that goobers would benefit from his tax cuts [albeit only temporary for them but permanent for corporations] when it turns out only the top wealthiest citizens and corporations will. Many of his blindly devoted, but now furious base appear to be in shock when they saw that their refund was a few dollars more, or the same, or even less, if they got one at all. Some wonder how they can pay the layaway installments on their overpriced MAGgot hats! #GOPTaxScam
Trump can't see a problem because he's doing fine out of the tax scam, along with his wealthy backers, ensuring that tax bill deductions for their private jets are more than generous. How kind of him. The inverse version of Robin Hood continues to ride through his merry glen, with his band of cynical but merry men.
"Still boggled that there was no 'crisis' from 2016 to 2018 when Trump decided to push for tax breaks for the wealthy instead of funding 'The Wall'." -- JamesFTInternet
Melanoma, Iwanka, meet RICO!? Barbara McQuade, law professor from Michigan, writes that the highly publicized subpoenas issued recently by the Southern District of New York could likely be linked to a possible RICO case they're building [RICO = Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act]. This is why it's the real bombshell of the new year so far - it suggests that one or more of Trump's businesses or groups, whether officially registered or even an association of people, could ultimately be prosecuted for being organized crime enterprises. This ranks as one of the most serious crimes and the punishments can be very heavy for the individuals involved and found guilty.
The fact that a sitting president and/or family members could be caught up in a RICO swoop would have been considered the stuff of unbelievable fiction prior to the Trump regime.
There's been no shortage of mob speak from those associated with the currently ruling regime, spoken with pride and menace, but the people of the U.S. could exact retribution if it turns out that it's not just talk but criminally accountable.
Politicians need to remember they represent the people of the United States, not themselves, their families, or their wealthy backers. If the system is broken through financial perversion of the political process, the heartening news is that the judicial arm seems still functional enough to potentially bring bad eggs to justice.
"My impression is that in this country this kind of corruption has always been tolerated to the extent you're discreet about it. Don't rip off the citizens, don't demand bribes for building permits and stuff, but if you want to cut corners as far as self-dealing and so forth go for it but just for Christ's sake don't let it be a scandal. Trump was part of that world. But because he's mentally ill he thought he could ratchet it up to international scale and get away with it as a president. That's how much the genius dealmaker misunderstood the fundamental terms of this particular deal." -- mattinpa, forum post on TPM.
Meanwhile.....
Medicare for who? Pelosi aide exposes Nancy as not being committed to Medicare for All.
Trump regime big wigs criminally implicated
Meanwhile, Donald Trump's "State of the nation" speech reinforces how his foreign policy is a garbage fire.
U.S. flounders in league table of Freedom
The U.S. has fallen below Greece, Latvia and Mauritius in Freedom House's annual survey of political and civil liberties. "The current overall U.S. score puts American democracy closer to struggling counterparts like Croatia than to traditional peers such as Germany or the United Kingdom," says the report. More at Michelle Goldberg's article in the New York Times sub-headed "Under Trump, America is no longer in the top tier of democratic countries."
Is Kamela Harris the one?
Senator Harris. She's wonderful, she's amazing, say the media. But there's always a but..... examining Kamela Harris' rightwing past, with Mehdi Hasan: "Her record as a district attorney and as attorney general in California stands in stark contrast to the progressive ideals she now claims to hold." The Intercept podcast discusses.
January 2019 Stone busted, timid Trump wimps out
It finally happened, mouthy groupie celeb wannabe hanger-on Roger Stone gets the pre-dawn handcuffs unceremoniously clinked around his weaselly wrists, while timid tawdry Trump, "the world's worst negotiator" [Jennifer Rubin, WaPo], collapses at the feet of Nancy Pelosi and agrees to reopen the government without getting his wacko wall demands.
The story that got missed because of everything else: Michael Bennett destroys 'scummer Ted Cruz.
Thanks to Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats standing up to the fake president our highly esteemed and respected government servants are going to get paid, no thanks to the Republiscum traitors.
Payola corner
Musical flashback in time. Two songs alleged to have been promoted into the charts [US, UK, or both] via "payola", paying DJs or radio stations to expose them via airplay [or even the chart-makers themselves]. Both releases were deserving of chart acclaim either way, and an online search showed no current evidence of these rumors being either true or prosecuted, and if anything has added to the songs' mystique.
Ram jam "Black betty" allegedly payola'd in the UK; Chilliwack "My girl" legendary and iconic 70s/80s era AM top40 giant KFRC San Francisco alleged to have dubiously assisted this Canadian act's hit success in the US.
Rightwing's goal is to shut down America The ultra rightwing Republican executive and legislative machine is not even bothering to hide its goal of permanently shutting down what it feels is unnecessary government institutions not just by appointing departmental leaders who are openly hostile to the goals of that government branch, which it has already mostly achieved, but by literally shutting down the whole thing, in which it has also - for now - mostly succeeded.
In a similar vein, reader fbraconi commented on an article by opinion columnist Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "One of the few positives of Trumpism is that it has stripped American conservatism of all of its ideological pretenses. Its core of racism, sexism, xenophobia, environmental exploitation and greed has been fully exposed. The reason Republican leaders sound like morons is that Trump has shown them they don't have to couch their aims in elaborate sophistry; in fact, their voter base responds more enthusiastically when the message is delivered raw than when it is wrapped in sophisticated political and economic theory.
"The president and the Republican leadership barely bothered to offer any policy rationale when they tried to repeal the ACA, passed massive tax cuts for the rich, pulled us out of the Paris Climate Agreement and set about dismantling environmental regulations. Why bother developing intricate policy arguments and memorizing arcane evidence when making things up on the spot works just as well?"
In Some More News: "The fake border crisis, Steve King, and our lying, racist president".
A Washington Post podcast discusses Trump's secrecy around Putin being part of a much broader pattern.
Cohen to spill the beans on Trump
CNBC was one of the first to break the news that rodent-like Michael Cohen will publicly deliver the goods on dastardly Donald, whom he now hates. Seemingly his cultish worship of the orange satan is finito. Make sure those home-cooked lentils are steamed and ready to serve, pop pickers.
February 7 was to have been the big day but got postponed, but his testimony may still occur before the Mueller report. However, will Cohen's testimony taint what he's told Robert Mueller's investigation? There are problematic issues.
Are friends electric
Green Car Reports: "In all, electric-car sales have taken off, and hit a milestone, reaching 1 million sales in the U.S. in November, with half of those in California." Just arrived to market [instead of just being theoretically available as before] is the much anticipated Hyundai Kona electric vehicle.
GCR reader rbbartho posted: "I own a Chevy Bolt and very happy with getting nearly 230 mile range, 120 MPGe, no gas stations, oil changes, or maintenance. Go EV's.....they're only going to get better." Pseud's Corner: Cringey right wingers cornered by even more cringey pseudo intellectual Jordan Peterson
Take a look at them, they're wide boys [and girl] who don't look like they generally stand around nibbling avocado and cucumber sandwiches while discussing the intricacies of quantum physics and string theory.
Being right-wing looks like a very awkward place to be. Cringe factor: 100%.
Looking back at 2018 one last time and, giving us a boost as we prepare for the new year is the delightful memory of last year's election that turned Orange County completely blue as the GOP got wiped out in the mid-terms. In the supposedly immortal words of Ronald Reagan: "Like I've always said, Orange County is where good Republicans go before they die." And die they did.
MSNBC beats Fox "News" in the ratings. One thing this article does is actually mention demographics. There are armies of American trolls and Russian bots continually trumpeting about how Fox News has generally been above MSNBC over the years. If they trot out any numbers at all they cite the generic totals not the "break-outs", the age brackets, which is what advertisers buy.
A TV or radio outlet can be winning overall numbers and, yes, still go out of business or change format if they can't deliver a strong age delineated target audience of "not old people". But since Fox "News" is not even regularly #1 even in the generics any more that means the trolls will move on to other topics to be fake or disinformative about. This is all the more impressive since Fox, like CNN, practically gives their "product" away. Many Americans have to go out of their way to proactively seek out and consume MSNBC.
The downside is that it's not viable to watch MSNBC in real time other than Rachel Maddow's first segment because you'll get brain damaged from the endless commercials, and life it too short to be wasted on attempts to sell you rubbish products. That said, Fox's products are even worse, and many aimed at geriatric people, a sign of their woes.
December 2018
Can a passenger land a plane?
"Why is anyone surprised that Trump's willing to shut down our government when it's clearly not the one he works for?" -- Stephen Colbert.
Just what the world needed, a new Fox news channel.
MSNBC's Chris Hayes reads a Twitter user's tweet: "It's hilarious that Trump hates being president but can't quit because then he'll go to jail."
Did you know: the average net worth of a Briton stands at around $280,000 including real estate according to a recent Guardian article: "the average Briton saw their wealth, including property, increase by 1% [over the year] to GBP213,000."
America in crisis Trump/Ryan/McConnell trifecta in numbers:
--> 4M working age Americans lost health care America just conceded defeat at the hands of anti-US Putin-led Russia as the collusionist Republican government stabbed another of our allies, the Kurds, in the back. Putin is pleased about beating the USA in Syria but ecstatic to see Mattis gone.
The unravelling of a impostor presidency is an ugly thing. It's gonna get worse before it gets better. The United States is in freefall.
"My President changed military policy to something Putin wanted without even consulting the military while simultaneously threatening shutdown over a racist ineffective wall the majority of American taxpayers oppose and all I got was this lousy 500-point stock drop." Says John Fugelsang, who also wrote "Any person who sincerely claims they follow both Jesus and Trump probably knows very little about either."
Donald Trump, Dec 20, 2011 tweet: "Iraq in political turmoil one day after we leave---I told you so."
The fake president is determined to use what he sees as his best and only weapon to survive the tsunami that's about to wash him [and possibly us] away, to take the US into a state of complete chaos, and, if he feels like he's going down, which he is, to take us all down with him.
Now for the real test of America's strength. How do we deal with a president who is acting solely in the best interests of a hostile, foreign power, backed by a political party that won't stand up to him? What mechanisms, if any, can come into play to get us out of the nations' worst crisis since the Bay of Pigs.
He's certainly bringing home the bacon for his hero and boss, Vlad Putin. At the price of the very survival of the democracy and security of the United States of America.
You Josh me - another possibly bent Repug?
"Most Republicans wait until they come to Washington to join the culture of corruption - but Missouri Senator-elect Josh Hawley decided to get a jumpstart by engaging in possibly illegal activities during his campaign for Senate. The attorney general of Missouri, Jay Ashcroft, is investigating Hawley for misusing public resources to help his Senate campaign after the American Democracy Legal Fund (ADLF) filed a complaint," writes DD Martin of the American Independent via Sourcepolitics.
Previously: It's rare to start the day without seeing endlessly depressing newsfeed story titles without a single shred of hope, never mind inspiration, to hold on to. But to get two consecutive pieces of positive tiding in a single day - unheard of, surely.
Even with the ultra right feralist, I mean federalist, cultists now sitting on the Supreme Court, that once hallowed body actually [in effect] defended Planned Parenthood in a ruling that protects the rights of citizens to sue states for cutting off public funding to that kind, caring organization. The fact that we now say "thank you" on those rare occasions when we don't get screwed over is itself pretty sad, but let's not turn negative quite yet. What was the other one? Can't remember now but trust me, it was heart warming. Oh yes, the EU high court saying Britain can reverse Brexit. It's one thing, however, to lead a horse to water..... without it prefering to drink from the nearby bucket of kool-aid offered by the alt-right US backed stable boy instead.
The story of Teresa May chickening out of her vote on her batshit Brexit plan doesn't quite classify as "dancing in the streets" material unless it ultimately leads to a proper [2nd] vote on Brexit now that the citizens of the UK know just how bad it's gonna be, without the wool pulled over their eyes by the blatantly dishonest propaganda that propelled the previous one. That said, poster SydenhamFox makes an incisive counterpoint in response to the linked article: "I think Polly Toynbee underestimates how right wing a very significant amount of our population is. Most of my family are seemingly impervious to logical debate. They want a hard Brexit come what may, even if it makes them worse off. I just don't get it myself. I think a People's Vote could very well be a disaster for those of us who would prefer Remain. This is not about the 'Leave' voters being misinformed last time. It's about a new kind of populism. We need Parliament to get a grip on this, possibly cross party, in the national interest. Not a new referendum." Unfortunately Syd is too vague with his solution, so second referendum it is, then.
Or..... take advantage of the EU court ruling and just say "Sorry, pretend none of this ever happened. Blame Steve Bannon, Tommy Robinson, and their UKipper buddies", even though it was the Tory party putting themselves above the country, as usual. Tell the EU: "We won't ever kid you about leaving again, nor will we seriously consider leaving unless we ever get our act together. Since that will never happen, we're in for the long haul mes amies."
Nick Ayers telling Trump to take a running jump with his offer of Chief of staff also looks like the Republirats are starting to abandon the sinking SS Trump ship and doggie paddling to the shore while they still can. Not, however, really unmitigated good news because the caliber of people who may ultimatelty fill those empty positions [if any do] will just get lower and lower than they already are, filled with even worse criminals, spies, swamp dogs, anti-democracy vote stuffers etc.
Finally, quick hey to the visionaries at the Phoenix police dept, they charged a blind man with assaulting one of them. It's a weird story, and apologies, this happened in June, not sure why it's being fed as a current story. Charges dismissed. Blinding result.
"America has to prove that it can indeed survive a criminal presidency"
Groovin' with Mr. Blow, New York Times article: "It is very possible that the president of the United States is a criminal. And it is very possible that his criminality aided and abetted his assumption of the position. Let that sink in. It is a profound revelation." The death throes of Trump's totalitarian tempest
What's just gone down is a very big deal as Frank Dale of Think Progress touches upon in the linked article. He writes that "these latest developments in the Russia probe - which are believed to be the first time in our lives that a President's own DOJ' is saying the commander-in-chief has 'directed a felony' - come a week after Cohen revealed Trump and his family apparently pursued a huge real estate deal in Moscow through the summer of the 2016 campaign.
"Amid the many details in Cohen's latest plea deal with Mueller was the disclosure that Donald Trump Jr., the president's oldest son, likely lied to Congress about his family's business in Russia."
None of Trump's usual defence mechanisms can save him from the gathering storm, or from Stormy and Karen for that matter.
"Republicans in Congress can't save Trump, his attorney general can't save him, and no amount of desperate tweets can save him. Accountability is on its way, and it's arriving very soon," opines Paul Waldman in the Washington Post.
Despite what one of Trump's lawyers famously said, Dana Millbank pointed out back in November that, sadly for the lying fake occupationist president: "the truth still is the truth". And, in a rare political story that should have a happy ending and restore faith that the American system of governance can withstand an oligarchic onslaught as damaging as Trumpism, the truth is finally catching up with [as yet] unindicted co-conspirator Donald Trump.
The Trump Organization and the Trump family empire are being legally battered as we speak.
All hail President Pelosi..... there is such a world [at least, until Bernie takes over]. "The United States presidential line of succession dictates that if the President and Vice President are found unfit for office, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives becomes President." [Sourcepolitics].
Mehdi Hasan of The Intercept asks if this is the Democrat who can beat Trump in the rust belt in 2020?
When it comes to helping residents reach their full potential, a recent report discussed in the Washington Post's Wonkblog ranks the USA as 25th for men and 32nd for women, as measured by World Bank's Human Capital Index. Even Slovenia and Italy rate above the US, as do many others. Oregon's a total trip
(CNN via KION-TV) - Oregon's Secretary of State has just approved language for a potential ballot initiative that would legalize psychedelic mushrooms.
Now organizers need to get 117,578 signatures to actually put their initiative on the ballot. If they get the requisite number of signatures, Oregonians could vote on the decriminalization of psilocybins, or magic mushrooms, in the 2020 general election.
If Oregonians were to approve the initiative, it would decriminalize psilocybins and allow for the licensed manufacturing and administration of the substances.
In recent years, some studies have shown that "magic mushrooms" can have positive effects, especially those undergoing cancer treatments and chemical depression.
Trump now firmly in Mueller's sites "Trump should be freaked out right about now," says the Washington Post as Michael Cohen strikes a plea deal regarding his lying about the Trump election campaign's Russia project.
Says the TPM website: "It puts Cohen in touch with Trump, Trump's family and high-level Russian government officials about efforts to develop a new project in Moscow just months before Election Day."
"We can expect even bigger bombshells - and White House threats against Mueller - in the coming weeks," says the New York Times: it "ratchets up the pressure on Congress to protect Mr. Mueller."
It is indeed..... Mueller time, as President Trump emerges as "individual 1" a person of interest in the Mueller probe.
Young whites are leaning more & more Democratic
The New York Times cited a study by Catalist that found that between 2014 and 2018 white voters aged 18 to 44 shifted sharply in favor of the Democrats. In 2014, whites 18-29 supported Dems by 1 percentage point; in 2018, these young white voters backed Dems by 26 points, a 25 pt swing.
Whites 30-44 went from voting Rep by 21 points in 2014 to backing Dems by 9 pts in 2018, an even larger 30 pt shift.
The Republican party depends on overwhelming white support to remain competitive.
Batshit Bannonites brokered "Britain breaking" Brexit balls-up For those of us who long ago left for brighter shores, we wagged our fingers and exhorted: "Don't **** things up more than they already are." Guess what happened? They ****** things up more than they already were. Bloody marvelous.
But of course the right-wing leaders who "masterminded" it in cahoots with American far-right zealots, alleged including cultist followers of former White House svengali Steve Bannon, duped the people, gots scads of $$$ from dodgy American right-wing sources [several hell-bent Brexiteer politicians including at least one UKipper already under scrutiny, probably more to come], made out like bandits, laughing all the way to the very banks whom, we are now assured, won't actually collapse with all their ill-gotten gains stashed inside.
Bannonites have no particular interest in the United Kingdom's wellbeing. Rather, Bannon's avowed goal is "to drive a stake through the heart of the EU." The American alt-righter is having a much tougher time of that elsewhere in Europe where mechanisms to thwart outside foreign influence are sturdier, but Britain was a pushover [apologies to Scotland, they're collectively as aghast at the suicidal death-wish of Englanders as most everyone else].
That said, the majority of Englanders now say, after the bus ad slogans were proven to be lies, they'd vote to remain in the EU, and not long ago almost half a million people marched on the streets in a massive show of pro-EU solidarity.
The Blue Wave happened after all For the first time ever, over 100 million voters turned out to vote in the mid-term elections. And the message was clear. Other than the 35% hardcore Republiscum Trumpanzee voters, who actually believed the scum's lies that they were going to protect preexisting conditions when they had actually voted in congress to get rid of it, the great majority of Americans are sick and tired of the Trumpist/1% owned GOP's wholesale self-benefiting rape of our nation.
The biggest story of the mid-terms surely has to be that, with the House results completely in, it was indeed a Blue Wave, with the Democrats [including a pro-Dem Independent] boasting a total of 235* [*corrected to include the Independent] of the 435 total seats, including a whopping 40* [updated] flipped seats, as indicated by Politico election results.
Blue is the new Orange The new Orange is Blue is perhaps the second biggest story of the post-election results. California's Orange County, long regarded as a GOP bastion, went completely Democratic.
Two new Dem winners: Golden, and Porter Yet more wins for the Dems, many of whom were trailing, including Maine Democrat Jared Golden beating Bruce Poliquin, with Katie Porter [D] over Mimi Walters [R] in previously hardcore Republican Orange county, Calif. Also, a fraction ahead in Orange County Calif is Gil Cisneros [D] leading Young Kim [R] by a whisker, Gilly having trailed and been almost written off a day or two ago. Now even disappointed me [about the Senate] is going "just wowza!" over the house.
Mail-ins and absentees often help the Dems, but in Maine the "ranked choice" state system [considered the most valuable for voters] swung the result in Golden's favor.
So, in the house, at the time of writing, Dems are up to 232, a significant jump from last time I looked [225], so now a big 33 seat advantage over the Repugs. That, and some more likely [D]'s predicted, moves the house into a true Blue Wave, with So Cal's Orange County's Repug house candidates completely wiped out, just as in New England. Both all blue and true.
Not so in the Senate, where the odds were stacked heavily against the Dems, where it's Dems [including 2 independents -- hello Bernie] totalling 47, four seats shy of the 'Pugs who, as expected, already clinched the Senate. Also, a note to Florida's anti-democracy Repugs: unlike the bent red states, in California every vote counts, including mail-ins.
A classic case in point is the stunning comeback of super Tony Thurmond, the Dem supported candidate for schools chief, who until recently trailed rightwing financed Republican lackey Marshall Tuck by a whopping 86,000 votes. As the mail-ins and provisionals continue to be aggregated, Super Tone has edged ahead by a few thousand. I was proud to have been a mail-in and this gives me reassurance that, yes, California counts every vote and is a beacon for true democracy in contrast to the rightwing fascistic outrages of the Rick Scotts of this world. We got sunshine AND democracy!
Also fantasmagorical is that Costa Mesa welcomes enthusiastically their new democratic congressman.... Harley Rouda [pictured]. As mentioned below, the Dem House win keeps growing.
It was a heck of battle to weed out the loathsome and smug Republican specimen, Dana Rohrabacher, but it happened. Seriously awesome. Dem House win keeps growing by Big Farmer
Got busy and was out of town for a while, so naturally delighted to see that the Dems victory count in the House grew by three more since I last checked in, up to 225 at the time of writing. Niiiice!
So, like everyone, mixed feelings about the results but the most basic goal was achieved: taking the House. The endangered fabric of American democracy is saved - for now. In his meltdown after reality set in, Trump glimpsed the delusion of his immortality and impermeability, but like Adolf Hitler, who never surrendered even when the avenging wolves were right on his doorstep, he quickly resumed building back up the walls of his ego. Runaway greed and and self-fabricated delusion, especially in psychopaths or people with psychotic tendencies, are supremely difficult to overcome, even if he wanted to do so based on expediency and the promise of better outcomes.
So the battle rages on and the question of American democracy's ability to survive and recover from the Trumpist onslaught will remain an unanswered one for at least another two years. And then, perhaps something more ominous still - the real danger of a right-wing totalitarian onslaught led by someone who actually knows how to avoid being ultimately sunk by their own psychological flaws, as was the case with Adolf, and probably will be with Herr Trump.
Also: The Guardian's Today in focus looks at what it takes to take on the EU and win or lose, as the case may be, plus a look at US women in the mid-terms.
Will Dems get a bone: the House? Will this election push back on the collective American psychosis? Even if the Democrats do take back the House, it's just a bone unfortunately [but vote anyway, of course!], and still leaves the nation in a long-term vice grip in which the right-wing is well on the way to permanent rule of the majority by the minority. Voter suppression, gerrymandering, the supreme court, "citizens united", absence of genuinely left major media to challenge the consumerist escapist illusion that keeps America in denial of its civilizational crisis born of its unbridled ultra pro-corporate capitalist consumerism. The right wing show goes on with or without Donald Trump. Like everything else in the utilitarian world of the right, he's expendable when he's no longer useful. Dem bones!
Alcohol's toll on a drunk driving cop
Flashing back to 2016 and a gripping arrest of a drunk driving sheriff's department lieutenant who doesn't get off the hook just because he's a ranking law enforcement officer. Compelling footage for so many reasons at so many levels. This multi-time drunk driving cop is still on the department payroll albeit pushing papers.
Peculiar fusion
Greg Sargent wrote in the Washington Post: "The public has seen Trump's fusion of ethno-nationalism and orthodox GOP plutocracy put into governing practice, and is rejecting it," citing studies by the Economic Innovation Group and CNN.
The GOP efforts to put, at vast advertising expense, the most palatable misrepresentation of this "peculiar fusion" as a last ditch effort to keep the entire Congress "probably won't be enough for Republicans to keep the House. But whatever is to be.... the need to lie so relentlessly about all these matters itself constitutes an admission of failure. The public has seen Trump's fusion of xenophobic ethno-nationalism and orthodox GOP regressive and plutocratic economic priorities, and is rejecting it."
October 2018
So much right wing terrorism, people forgot the Kroger shooting
With so much mayhem, horror, and death being perpetrated by proponents of the divisive Trumpist Republican right, much of the media forgot to mention, or gave only short shrift to, the shooting at the Kentucky Kroger grocery store. It couldn't possibly be that black Americans are less important, could it?
BBC News: "A 51-year-old white man tries to enter a predominantly black church in Jeffersontown, Kentucky. But when he can't get in, he goes to a nearby supermarket and shoots dead two elderly black people."
When confronted by another shopper, who was believed to have drawn a gun, the racist murderer chided him to hold his fire because "whites don't kill whites."
Gun slaughter continues as alt-right POS shoots 11 innocent people
"Trump sympathizers have beaten, shot, stabbed, run over, or bombed innocent people. The president is radicalizing a generation of angry men." -- The Intercept.
Words have long since failed to do justice to adequately describe the grief, despair and utter outrage that the United States powers-that-be will not protect their own citizens against the filthy rich lobbyists, gun nuts, and alt-righters who have free reign to shoot up anyone they don't like without even a whimper of response. Tragically, it'll be the same again even after another horrific tragedy this time at a synagogue in Pennsylvania.
This time "the crime" of those slaughtered in the eyes of the Republican loonie murderer, drunk on alt-right and indeed White House manufactured fascist hate propaganda, was to try to help downtrodden people no matter their ethnicity or religion. For the selflessness of this genuinely spiritual and loving community, they paid with mass death.
Utterly disgusting, and every American, myself included, should hang our heads in shame for not doing what even Australia finally could do -- stop the insane gun violence, the mayhem of slaughter and rivers of blood, and make our country a safe place free from right-wing terrorism. How is this a civilized society if the general public is imprisoned by marauding armed hate-fuelled bullies?
POS Republiscum male in 50's hauled in for domestic terrorism Middle aged racist male stripper and Florida pizza delivery man Cesar Sayoc, who slept either at his mother's house or in his "hate van", the archetypal Trump loser, hauled in for questioning along with his vehicle covered in pro-Trump and anti-left death-threat stickers. Top job by the security forces who showed they're still on the side of safety for the American people. This is the best thing to know right now.
The sick American right-wing, amid the stock market's drunken fluctuations, economic bubble warning signs flashing, their pet allies murdering journalists without strong response from the White House, Putin boasting he manipulated Trump to herald the end of America as a world power [and being invited by Trump to celebrate with him], GOP rigging the election, clearly the Republicans will stop at nothing to bring to an end America as we know it, and an end to American democracy, now with their latest weapon - out and out domestic terrorism stoked by a deeply dysfunctional "president" who has consistently urged violence against fellow Americans and cannot bring himself to confront "this bomb business" and accept his responsibility. We need a real leader. Desperately.
Most important mid-term election in recent history
For many it will be a referendum about the most petty, venal, misogynistic, wannabe dictatorial "president" ever. For others, it was the spineless manner in which the Republican Congress, supposedly representatives of the people, allowed [and indeed indulged themselves in] a wholsale looting of America for the benefit of themselves and the 1%.
Whatever happens, check back as The Quake builds up to the "Super Bowl of Politics: Fight to save America from Amerikkka". The enemy of democracy, the "new" soft fascist Trumpist version of the GOP [Geriatric Oligarchic Pedos], must be utterly destroyed. Let's put an end to the celebration of rank corruption that right-wing ruled Amerikkka has become.
The shite right are rushing to kill the left/liberal vote. US elections are run by partisan actors, some of those bent actors are themselves on the ballot, Florida, Georgia, and Kansas are just three examples [there are several others] where this is occurring. That shouldn't stop us from giving 100% to the cause. Voting is the most basic and important step we can take. Some our votes will be suppressed by the right. But vote anyway.
Unmasking bad guys The internet researchers unmasking Russian assassins. NPR radio link to audio file.
Donald Trump is, and always has been, a bad businessman, but luckily for him, daddy's unbelievable success and wealth has allowed the orange menace, to this day, to be a massive and destructive pest, ultimately infesting the entire global population's quality of life. Trump University and Trump Vodka are well known disasters of his, but here are many more of his biggest flops, including an airline.
Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington [CREW] are among the heroes who brought attention to former ambassador Haley's "personal relationship gifts" received while trogging around and annoying people abroad. Is there anyone on the Trump team that isn't bent? The hollowed out State Dept is spineless to act unless the Dems win Congress and have some clout to get justice for the taxpayers and a non-beholden political leadership.
"The man [Trump] is the arsonist and the fireman. When he's the fireman, he claims he's achieved something. He's put out the fire." -- Sidney Blumenthal.
Fight back!
Former Bush official Eliot Cohen wrote recently in the Washington Post that "perhaps the collapse of modern conservatism came out most clearly in Kavanaugh's own testimony - its self-pity, its hysteria, its conjuring up conspiracies, its vindictiveness. No one watching those proceedings could imagine that a Democrat standing before this judge's bench in the future would get a fair hearing. It was, rather, personalized grievance politics."
Tom Nichols: "To those conservatives who are willing to look away from Kavanaugh's bizarre, evasive, immature, intemperate, weaselly, disrespectful answers to the Senate, that's not conservative, that's just tribal loyalty over prudence and principal."
"Instead of acting like the minority and like victims, Dems need to go on the offensive and act like a majority. Investigate, interview, and use the power of the media loudly, with courage and fervor!" -- Allie Katz, as reported by Jon Queally, Common Dreams
Angela Calvillo, contributor to Crowdpac: "The 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote, now let's amend it to secure a woman's right to her reproductive health." Let's reward Dems who are progressive, and punish Republicans wherever and whenever possible. Senator Collins voted "yes" on Trump's Supreme Court nominee, the unhinged and blatantly agenda-drunk, booze crazed Brett Kavanaugh.
Support Collins' future challenger in Maine on Crowdpac. The enemy may have most of the billionaire's on their side and unlimited dark money from corporate donors, but ordinary American citizens can fight, and do whatever we can, to take back our nation from the right-wing greedsters and con[servative] artists who have rigged the US political system. Be a hero today.
Jennifer Rubin on Susan Collins: "It's one thing to cast a safe vote; it's another to embarrass oneself and sound gullible about a nominee who revealed his partisan stripes."
The KavanNO Debacle: The sham investigation.
Matthew Miller of Politico Magazine asks us to "consider who [was] in charge of the FBI's invesrtigation: Director Chris Wray, who attended Yale Law School with Kavanaugh...and, like Kavanaugh, joined the Federalist Society...Rosenstein's ties to Kavanaugh run even deeper -- they worked together on Ken Starr's investigation of Bill Clinton in the 1990s." Brett Kavanaugh is a willing pawn in the radical right's "stealth bid to reverse-engineer all of America, at both the state and national levels, back to the political economy and oligarchic governance of midcentury Virginia, minus the segregation" as historian Nancy MacLean puts it. The billionaire backed originalist libertarian cult's historical inspiration -- James Buchanan -- represents "the true origin story of today's well-heeled radical right."
Dumb gibberish from Dumbald Trump: "Hurricane Florence. One of the wettest we've ever seen, from the standpoint of water."
Trump firing up GOP misogynists
"By mocking Christine Blasey Ford at a campaign rally, Trump is simply following his calculations for his 2020 campaign. He either knows or doesn't care how the Kavanaugh appointment will turn out. Instead, he is simply firing up his misogynistic followers and those who enable them. He doesn't care, really.
Nothing matters to Trump. Not common decency. Not the fears women have of being targeted and assaulted by men like Trump. Nothing. He doesn't care. He knows that speech like what he said at the rally yesterday will get cheers from the people who are like Trump, want to be like him or, in some cases, are afraid of people like him but have to live with them.
Will his calculations work? Possibly. Things have changed. No longer is being a boor and a braggart a cause of failure. If you can reach enough people who are just like yourself, you can win in today's climate. So, Trump plays to his peers and ignores others' fears." -- Mineral Man, Dem Underground
September 2018
Privileged Rage & Lies of the "Right" Saturday night live hearing rendition.
Kavanaugh is lying. His upbringing explains why. [Washington Post article].
"A witness who is not credible lashes out at his accusers and assumes a more reasonable demeanor under neutral questioning. That is exactly what we saw with Kavanaugh. While a falsely accused man has every right to be angry, Kavanaugh's rage - whether he is innocent or not - played poorly in large part because it was infected with self-pity and devoid of insight." [Politico article].
Freak-out Friday
The nomination moved forward but with the bar association, Yale, and the general public calling for an FBI inquiry which we now are getting [one week, though? Surely this will take longer?]. It's hard to believe this completely inappropriate candidate can really get away with hanging in this long. Go. Step down. Never come back.
Cancel Kavanaugh. Brett Kavanaugh showed himself to be irrationally angry, immature, politically motivated, and blinded by self-interest and greed. He places his own self-aggrandizement and selfish agenda-laden career before the good of the country. Horrible, diabolical choice for Supreme Court. Shame on all Republicans.
Thursday or Friday, or one day next week, will likely live in infamy as a battered America looks at how the breakdown of its political mechanisms now leaves us with a nation "led" by people whose goals are the polar opposite of the wishes of the people. At the time of writing, loathsome Brett Kavanaugh is -10pts with registered voters [this from a highly right biased pollster: Fox], and the great majority of Americans want Rod Rosenstein to stay and for the Mueller investigation to keep going to its conclusion. But in the current US, the people's will counts for little and has almost no proper representation.
Vlad Putin will be watching, popcorn and vodka in hand, as the rest of the globe wonders, yet again, "what the **** just happened over there?". There is an explanation, but it won't fit into a sound byte, and there are also solutions, but they have no sufficient avenue of expression or actuation of executive and judicial remedies that could rectify the situation.
In November we have a chance to maybe save the legislative branch from complete capture, but even that's not guaranteed, with voter de-registration, fraud, and suppression being aggressively perpetrated by the corporate and 1% backed right-wing.
Even if the legislative third of the pie is rescued, it may not be enough. But it's crucial for any hope of saving the US from this tailspin into disaster.
US BIG BIZ still dictating the fate of Brexit: Their massive infusion of propaganda money duped sufficient numbers of gullible UK voters into leaving the EU, now they want to make sure it's a hard Brexit, and the greedy and grateful right-wing British politicians are compliantly taking their big bucks. UK = bought and paid for, a long time ago. Swampiest Swampman starts singing "New details revealed Friday show how far beyond the law Manafort went in pursuit of his goals" wrote the Washington Post, and those goals involved dastardly deeds by the truckload, and the Trump swamp is squirming: now that the world's currently most famous criminal is ready to spill all the beans. The serious swamp stuff that is emerging could, as a by-product, sink tawdry Trump's occupation of the presidency of the most globally important nation on Earth [still].
The roller coaster ride may be far from over but it's time to be proud of being American again as, so far, the national mechanisms to thwart rampant foul play and corruption seem still up to the task. Without them, corruption eventually brings down functioning democracy to leave a nation to drown in the cesspool of a mafia run totalitarianism propped up by "the 1%" who alone benefit.
The man who's always correct [part two]
Our first rolling entry of the year began with: "The man who's always correct -- Professor Allan Lichtman, and the case for impeachment."
At that time it was hard not to think, "yeah but the Republiscum ain't gonna impeach the crook, maybe the good professor has gotten too cocky by half. Well, OMG, he's on track to be right again. Too much being right. Actually, he talked about probabilities and did mention that the Republicans were wimping out at the time, and he did say it was a "case" for impeachment, not a guarantee, but, with mid-terms 'n all, he's uncannily on the ball with his always thorough predictability models. A beacon in a political world of chaos and confusion. Here's a more recent appearance of his, this time on the MSNBC morning show.
Russian trolls spent years tweeting about Obamacare.
Any good news? Any? Well, maybe, kinda...
In the face of all the disgusting actions of the Republiscum and the fake president Trump's Blight House, whether it be diverting money for cancer research to expanding concentration camps for asylum seekers, subverting the nation's health care options, rampant and unashamed corruption, and any number of outrages perpetrated on the American people, is there any actual good news? Occasionally, a positive story does sneak through. "We are about to drive a lot of dark money donors into the light - it's gonna look like the climax of a Harry Potter movie where the creatures shrivel in the sun," writes Jon Queally of Common Dreams in an article about more potential transparency regarding dark money and who's providing it.
Oh but wait there's a catch. As one poster responds: "People - rich or poor have the opportunity to support their political cause - mine or theirs, but when the dollars are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars - either through personal or corporate accounts, this should be revealed. Doesn't appear that this decision moves us much further in that direction." And there was us thinking the Supreme court had actually tried to do something to thwart the complete monetization of political power. Dream on.
The Kavanaugh Nomination: The Hard Right's push to rewrite the Constitution Adherents of the "originalist" hard-right movement appear to share a quest to, among other things, permanently quash progressivism and actually change the constitution to reflect a Messianic vision and execution of iron rightwing authoritarianism over the US. The Federalist Society, who pick the judicial nominations for the new era Trumpist Republicans, have focused on capturing the supreme court as soon as possible and for ever.
Their planned election of Brett Kavanaugh plays a crucial role in their master gameplan which right now includes garnering a majority of supreme court judges and make possible such drastic changes which will effectively impose an ultra right westernized version of Sharia law onto the US.
The weirdness and outrages perpterated recently by the right-wing and Federalist Society [like many hard right organizations the name is deceptive] is not haphazard madness, other than perhaps aspects of Trump's own declining faculties and mental illness. It's a concerted long term plan and it's coming towards fruition. The organized far right feel they must get control of the supreme court this time around before the post-election "real" [progressive and "non-bought"] Dems can do anything to stop this multi-pronged assault. For progressive and mainstream secular America this will mean giving ground that may not ever be recovered.
That's why defending what's left of our democracy, already unacceptably gerrymandered, is something every American of every generation must struggle to protect and restore on an ongoing basis. It never stops. An extremely organized and financially overwhelming multi-billionaires backed Federalist Society [like many hard right organizations the name is deceptive] onslaught will not voluntarily cease their goal to permanently impose their distorted and misguided vision onto the rest of us.
Fascism doesn't happen overnight in a sudden secretly concocted coup, though violent repression will be an ingredient at, and beyond, the endgame. It happens incrementally and then speeds up just as the majority are realizing something is very wrong. By then, it's often too late, as a previous generation of Germans, Italians, Spaniards, and Japanese, to name just four, discovered. The price, for them, was catastrophic.
On the bright side, millions of lost lives later, the darkside didn't hold sway forever. But the price to a nation that's been "fashed" will be colossal and it could include not just brutal repression of individual liberty but also your very life, and those of your kids and grandkids. Welcome to the battle.
Utterly lacking in compassion or empathy, Kavanaugh refuses to shake hand of father of slain daughter shot at Parkland.
Goons manhandle woman protesting rape by Mormon priest Mormonism is in crisis with plummeting attendance, as reported by one its journalistic members, who especially mentioned young males with their pesky propensity to look stuff up on the internet, yet this controversial fringe Xtian spin-off group appears to be repressing revelations by members outraged at sexual assault allegedly perpetrated by Mormon authority figures, as disturbing reportage and footage publicized by Raw Story spread to the Washington Post and beyond, reinforcing the horrific dangers of rampant abuse perpetrated by American pseudo and mainstream "Christianity" in all its various and usually bizarre guises. Aforementioned journalist Jana Riess also recently linked a 2012 document via Mormonleaks on the same general topic as this post. Jana writes: "This two-page document seems to chronicle only about two months in 2012, which of course begs the question: how many more such memos are out there, detailing the Church's attempts to hide, obfuscate, delay or otherwise deny justice to victims? So filing reports like this is a kind of quarterly thing, just business as usual?" Scary bunch. Keep your kids safe.
August 2018
Trump & Republicans eating it Another wacky week ends with an ABC/WaPo poll that says just 36% approving of tosspot Trump's job performance. Even Fox were in damage control as the poll they commissioned did not give them the fake pro-Tramp numbers they wanted and showed even rightwing nutcases are starting to smell a presidential rat.
Meanwhile, in fake news land: "There's two types of people. Those who watch porn and those who lie about watching porn," babbled pro-Trump Republican conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, inadvertently admitting to falling into both categories after his cell phone screen got caught showing trans porn by his "doc cam" peering down onto his desk from behind. This time he didn't have to fake being entertaining. I guess there's now a third group of which he is the leader: those that watch trans porn and don't manage to keep it a secret.
Republican candidate for Florida governor, Ron DeSanitise's first address following Andrew Gillum's Democratic primary victory to be Ron D's rival for the same job included a racial slur. A look at the 'Scummer's recent past catches him hanging out on a white nationalist group's Facebook site, suggesting his verbal monkey business was not accidentally uttered or just an unfortunate turn of phrase.
Going back a bit, Noam Chomsky on the amazing primary upset of recent times as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stunned the Democratic establishment.
Noose tightens as Pecker & Weisserberg roped in by R. Francis
Donald may be having a hard time keeping his pecker up these days. Publisher David Pecker has agreed to tell investigators how he turned his checkout-stand rag mag into a clearinghouse for payments for dodgy dealings. He joins Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Org finance boss, in an ever growing list of co-operators ready to expose the Commander in Thief, I mean, Chief. The list grows so fast that as soon as you upload one, it's out of date.
"The rats are leaving the ship. He [Trump] has lost Richard Gates, George Papadopoulos, Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, and now David Pecker," said a guest on the MSNBC morning show near the end of the week from hell for the Orange One [Aug 19-25], presciently adding: "He'll probably lose others from the Trump Organization." Badda boom: as if on song, money man Weissy said he's ready to chirpy chirpy cheep cheep!
By the way, I've always been suspicious of the National Enquirer, not just for its notoriously unbelievable tales [so I'm told], but because I've yet to witness, after decades of shopping, anyone actually buy it, not even before the internet destroyed such tabloids' supposed, ahem, "business models".
It's like the endlessly repeating mattress outlets at strip malls covering America, always deserted. One isn't necessarily suggesting they're mostly money laundering fronts, but how many mattresses do Americans really, allegedly, need? And where have all the people gone?
New subpoena for Cohen spells big trouble for Trump family
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow did a great job explaining the low-down on how this story emerged, but props that she credits the gum shoe reporters at the New York Times who, back in May, were at Albany state courthouse and realized something potentially explosive was about to ignite, which now looks set to inflame the tawdry Trumps' weaselly world.
Dozy Donald can't pardon his way out of this potential Excedrin sized headache which makes it the biggest threat that he and his family may have to face so far. It's being worked by the legal beagles of the New York state tax department, and so the bent fake president can't use his super power of the pardon to get himself or his family off the hook.
It involves the Trump's so-called, ahem, "charity" foundation. Nothing to do with money laundering or tax evasion, then.
"This week, it seems more likely that America is heading toward a gradual recovery from the trauma of the Trump presidency. For Republicans, there is a last chance over these next two months to finally show some guts and principle by separating themselves from Trump." -- David Ignatius, Aug 23, Washington Post
Weasel Wednesday: Wittes warning for Trump
Trump can't fire his way out of this one, writes Benjamin Wittes of The Atlantic. Cohen's Tuesday bombshell of fingering the deranged Orange orifice has the weaselly POTUS in a very serious pickle.
If Trump still thinks his ticket to ride is still to spout "no collusion" he's gonna soon wish it really still was only about collusion [if he has the mental capacity to take in what just happened on Tues Aug 22]. The pressure just got way more intense than that.
Gotta love Wittes' response to Trump's tweet. DJT: "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer. I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!" BW: "This is the first presidential tweet I can remember with which I wholeheartedly and unreservedly agree." "Treasonous" tawdry Trump's terrible Tuesday
August 21, 2018 is another milestone date in the tawdry, destructive, poisonous reign of a fake president beholden to foreign influence and deeply committed to the dismantling of the democracy and integrity of the United States.
Another two members of Team Trump's inner circle, deeply involved in his bent campaign and the emerging felonious violations being exposed, are going down in flames, hereafter branded as convicted criminals.
The noose tightens another notch around the meaty, weirdly orange colored neck of the occupationist fake president.
At any moment the disgusting fake leader could engage in further obstruction of justice by firing Mueller or pardoning his criminal fake "friends" like Paul Manafort [pictured], guilty on 8 counts of financial crimes, all the while as cowardly Republicans refuse to act towards impeachment of the clownish, disgusting reality TV show huckster.
Trump now has in effect become Michael Cohen's as yet un-indicted co-conspirator [get ready for that to be the catch phrase of September] in campaign and election related criminality.
It was possible again, as Robert Khuzami [Deputy US attorney, SD of New York] revealed Cohen's guilty plea, to be an American and refilled with pride and a strengthened belief that our nation has the possibility of saving itself from the darkness of the current Trumpian Republican corruption, dishonesty, and probably much much worse.
What could go more wrong, all on this mind-bending day? As if all of this wasn't enough, Omarosa then went on to MSNBC's grating Chris Mathews program where she revealed a tape of Michael Cohen getting on a plane. Huh? What if the Pope took a truth serum?
What if the Pope was given a truth serum for a day? Here's what the press might report under such a scenario: "The Roman Catholic Pontiff today announced the end of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide. Speaking from a balcony to a crowd of worshippers, he said: 'We have failed utterly to act as Jesus taught us. Our priests have committed sexual abuse crimes against children all over the world, and the Church itself has covered up those crimes for centuries. We cannot call ourselves Men of god, for we have long acted as representatives of Satan. The Roman Catholic Church is no more. It is hopelessly morally bankrupt and is now defunct. We encourage the faithful to abandon their faith, as I have done today." [Announcement inspired by Mineral Man].
That said, stories of non-Roman "Christian" child abuse and cruelty by pastors, officials, mega church hucksters, evangelical used-car salesmen, cult leaders, Witnesses, hit the global news in a constant stream, mostly [but not restricted to] often horrific accounts from the USA.
Why are Trump political hires so immoral?
As the Trump regime lurches from one scandal, dogfight, and lawsuit to another, the Washington Post asks why, oh why, oh why-oh? "We've certainly never had a president who was so eager to tell everyone that his administration is a wretched hive of scum and villainy." Indeed.
Sacha uses "pervert detector" on Roy Moore
Master of disguise Sacha Baron Cohen uses new techology, a "pervert detector", on unsuccessful Republican Congress candidate Roy Moore, who's bid was buffeted by sexual misconduct allegations, and who subsequently threatened fire and brimstone if the Sacha clip was ever aired. It ran on Showtime.
In "some more news": If you don't want to be called a fascist, stop supporting Donald Trump, a fascist. July 2018
Trump's last few months before becoming a lame-duck?
Amazing how rapidly the November elections are approaching. Will the destructive Trump agenda effectively become history if the Democrats win the mid-terms, or will lame Donald "duck" his defeat by imminently declaring war on Iran and martial law as the final avenue to retain and cement his hold on power, something unpopular right-wing politicians globally do [that is, invade a neighbor or start a war when they see their power and/or popularity slipping away]? Either way, the repercussions are gonna be gargantuan.
Trumpism = Fascism.... World Cup morphs into English football season
The World Cup 2018 is over, and among all the terrific stuff we also witnessed a clutch of world class goals. And now the English football season is already upon us, and the question everyone is asking is: will Spurs buy any star players? And should they? They've done amazingly well under Poch by gelling the existing talent. But that doesn't satiate the addiction to new shiny toys. Truth hurts Trump
Ex-White House stenographer says truth bothers Trump.
Meanwhile the anticipated mega-fine by the EU on Google has come to pass. Too little too late say the experts but if it's put to good use then it's a still a nice addition into the piggy bank of the last remaining global bloc that actually fights for its citizens' freedom. In tangent, Japan cements a comprehensive trade agreement with the EU as Trump's pro-Russia but anti-allies version of Amerika gets further marginalized.
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