Saturday, July 27, 2019

Why Mitch McConnell won't allow voting equipment update


July 27, 2019: BULLETIN...Mitch McConnell political kickback

Mitch McConnell-The puppet of $$$
Mitch McConnell takes payoff to block legislation

That's right! Mitch McConnell actually blocked to legislative bills calling them partisan and "not a serious effort to make a law." As if this lowlife would know what real legislation is. The real reason he did it...
The plans would likely burden the two largest electronic voting machine vendors in the United States, Election Systems & Software and Dominion Voting Systems, with new regulations and financial burdens.
Just before blocking the legislation, McConnell received donations from the voting companies' lobbyists. How blatant and unethical can he be? Is there any Senator with the balls and the integrity to call a Mitch McConnell what he is, a slimeball? I think not.

Friday, July 26, 2019

Moscow Mitch McConnell promotes 2020 election Russian meddling


July 26, 2019: BULLETIN...Moscow Mitch McConnell 

Moscow Mitch in full uniform
Mitch McConnell could also get hacking help from Russians

In my earlier post, "Mitch McConnell 'fixes' 2020 election," I failed to get into the aspects of how this selfish, loathsome individual is blocking election security in hopes that the Russians will help him beat Amy McGrath. She has all the credentials to beat McConnell, and wouldn't that be a sweet respite for the people of Kentucky and the country. Republicans likely won't agree, but the Senate minus Moscow Mitch would be the best thing that ever happened to this country.

Moscow Mitch welcomes Putin into 2020 election


July 26: QUICK NEWS BYTES 

Mitch McConnell wish-list for 2020 election
Mitch McConnell welcomes 2020 Russian election meddling

It is pretty much agreed from Congress to the American public, even the people of Kentucky where he is from, that Mitch McConnell is the lowest of lowlifes. With absolutely no qualms about what came out in the Mueller Report, and recent Robert Mueller testimony, this slimeball "blocked the advancement of legislation to secure the nation's election system." In other words, he laid out a welcome mat for Russian interference, and, any other foreign country interested.

This should be so obvious to the people of Kentucky, even Republicans, that they dump him from the Senate in 2020. Here's the scenario...
"McConnell declared the effort partisan and insisted the Trump administration has already done much to secure the nation's elections."
All pure BS, of course, but nothing can be done as long as this political tyrant is in office. He barely won in his last election, but this time think Amy McGrath will pull off a win, not an upset since all polls indicate that Mitch McConnell is despised almost as much as Donald Trump. And that's pretty bad. U.S. elections are far from being secure; experts have been warning of foreign meddling for years. 2020 could be a landmine for this epitome of democracy.

Donald Trump tries to "fix" U.S. Constitution


July 25, 2019: TODAY'S COMMENTARY  

Donald Trump lies to auditorium full of teens

Donald Trump regularly defiles the Constitution
A crowd of teenagers and young adults at the Turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit in Washington probably looked anxiously at the figure before them purported to be the President of the United States. It isn't known how many of them harbored opinions on the speech maker one way or another, but in most cases they would have been in awe of the top resident of the White House. We are talking about Donald Trump and as usual his cache of lies to be expected.

Trump whines to young people over Mueller investigation

He even whined over Robert Mueller's investigation of Trump's involvement in the Russian tampering with the 2016 election, but then became emphatic when he started on the Constitution...
“Then, I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president. But, I don’t even talk about that.”
Donald Trump waging war on Constitution


Forefathers would be ashamed 

I would imagine some of these teenagers, especially those steeped in political science, visualizing their ancestors, especially our forefathers, turning over in the graves. He has said this before, most recently to ABC News' host George Stephanopoulos when discussing the Robert Mueller investigation. The tragedy of this, other than poisoning these teens' minds that someone like this could actually be in the White House, is that this maniac believes it. It's very scary.

It was natural that...
"Political pundits flooded social media with [the above] clip, though most of the videos didn’t include the Mueller-probe context. Trump in his Tuesday speech also attacked 'the Squad' and falsely claimed Democrats saw wins in the 2018 elections because undocumented immigrants voted 'many times — not just twice.'”
How many at Summit of color?

I wonder how many of these teens were of color, and just how they reacted to Trump's continued disparaging of the four congresswomen who not only have his attention, but are clearly aggravating and enraging the Oval Office lunatic with their comments on his bizarre behavior. Here's what the upheaval is all about...
"Article II grants the president “executive power.” It does not indicate the president has total power. Article II is the same part of the Constitution that describes some of Congress’s oversight responsibilities, including over the office of the presidency. It also details how the president may be removed from office via impeachment."
Don't you think it is interesting that Trump repeatedly reflects on the portion of the Constitution that could remove him from office with impeachment? Maybe it's time to rethink this whole possibility.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Presidential Seal behind Trump as fake as he is


July 25, 2019:

NEWS BULLETIN on PROGRESSIVE STREET...Where Liberals Walk

Someone taunts dumified Donald  

Trump before fake presidential seal
During a speech to thousands of cheering young supporters at the Turning Point USA conference, no one seemed to notice the slightly difference in the presidential seal that was being shown on the screen behind him. That was...
"Instead of the bald eagle that features in the official seal of the president of the United States, the image featured a double headed eagle, which bears a striking resemblance to the one on the official coat of arms of the Russian Federation."
Donald dufus wasn't aware that someone was making him look like the fool he is, again tying him to the Russians and their help in getting him elected in 2016. Turning Point USA said it had no idea where the image came from nor how it got on the screen. The problem here is that someone thinks so little of the president that he or she would do this. Read more...

GOP Rep. Ken Buck buries Trump in Mueller testimony


July 25, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET...Where Liberals Walk  

Did Robert Mueller say the "I" word?
GOP Rep. Ken Buck trashes Trump

A Republican, Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), "asked Mueller if he could indict the president on obstruction charges."
"The former special counsel’s answer was simple: 'Yes.'"
This sent Republicans racing for cover since it was completely unexpected. This is why...
"Mueller’s position is that he didn’t consider indicting Trump solely because of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) ruling saying sitting presidents can’t be indicted. But Trump won’t be president forever, and Mueller’s view is that once Trump is out of office, prosecutors could charge him with obstruction if they believe the facts laid out in the report warrant it."
And that should send Trump's lawyer's running for cover, since the whole family is already overrun with litigation like the action of New York's southern district. Mueller's reply was completely unanticipated, that is if these people read the Mueller Report. But the former Special Counsel has been telling everyone so far that in his testimony, he would stick strictly to the report. Well, he didn't, and that will no doubt send shivers through Donald Trump's tweets.

Republicans did so before and continued throughout the morning questions of the hearing to expound "that Mueller’s report exonerated him [Donald Trump] (Mueller said at the outset that it did not) or that there was some kind of anti-Trump conspiracy involved in its production. It all came unraveled after that...
Congressman: "Could you charge the President with a crime after he left office?"
Mueller: "Yes."
 Read more...

GOP Rep. Ken Buck buries Trump...


And that wasn't the only shocker for Republicans

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) provided a similar surprise by asking Mueller...
"to confirm that the only reason Trump was not indicted was because that is prohibited by an opinion issued by the Office of Legal Counsel."
“That is correct,” Mueller agreed.
Raw Story has compiled a list of some reasons why Mueller's testimony was "devastating for Trump." Here are a couple...
"Trump has repeatedly claimed Mueller’s report found no evidence of obstruction of justice and completely exonerated him, but the former special counsel told committee chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) that was inaccurate."
"Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) asked Mueller whether the president tried to protect himself by ordering staff to falsify records, and the former special counsel agreed, and Mueller also agreed those actions were intended to hamper the investigation."
Mueller and his team were accused of political bias and the former Special Prosecutor's credibility was questioned, but the obvious GOP bias was easily explained. All in all, it seemed a good day for Democrats.

Read more...

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

NEWS BULLETIN: Robert Mueller testifies Trump can be indicted


July 24, 2019: NEWS BULLETIN

Robert Mueller testifies
Mueller "indicts" Trump

Cody Fenwick in AlterNet reports...
"In his report, Mueller laid out extensive evidence that President Donald Trump obstructed justice. But because the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel has determined that a sitting president cannot be indicted, Mueller said that his office didn’t make a prosecutorial judgment about whether to bring such a charge and that he would, in principle, refuse to say that he would have brought such charges under other circumstances."
Later...
"Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) asked Mueller point-blank: 'The reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of the OLC opinion stating that you cannot indict a sitting president, correct?'”
This is something he has steadfastly refused to acknowledge. And yet Mueller answered without hesitation: “That is correct.”

See live testimony re. the above...


Blue collar workers betrayed by Donald Trump


July 24, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler says no to DOJ

That was then...but not anymore
Robert Mueller is scheduled to testify before the House today and Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer is telling him just how he wants it done. Or rather, what it is he doesn't want Mueller to say. And that would be anything that hasn't already been said in the Mueller Report. In other words, keep your opinions to yourself. But Rep. Jerry Nadler, who heads up the hearing, tells Weinsheimer he can't tell Robert Mueller what to say.

It seems that...
"Weinsheimer wrote in a letter to Mueller on Monday that the former FBI director’s testimony must remain within the boundaries of the 448-page special counsel investigative report the department released in redacted form on April 18.
He added...
"that some matters covered by the inquiry were covered by “executive privilege,” a legal principle rarely invoked by U.S. presidents to keep other branches of government from getting access to certain internal executive branch information. It generally is used to keep private internal discussions between the president and his advisers."
Nadler said, not so, and that "Mueller did not need to follow the instructions contained in the letter." Nadler stated...
“He does not have to comply with that letter. He doesn’t work for them. And that letter asks things that are beyond the power of the agency to ask even if he still worked for them.”
By the time this is posted, the hearing should be in its third hour and Robert Mueller should have committed one way or the other by then. Be sure and tune in.

Trump has deserted blue-collar Americans

Donald Trump got where he is today by...
"his appeals to blue-collar white workers in the Midwest with promises that included rebuilding America’s manufacturing industry, invest money in the country’s crumbling infrastructure, and using Medicare’s negotiating power to lower the cost of prescription drugs."
However, in what Brad Reed of Raw Story calls a devastating New York Times report, it is a fact that...
"the president has 'accomplished little' for these Americans and is instead relying on fueling culture wars to win the 2020 election."
Just another case of T-rump using people who, for some reason or other, don't realize how pitifully they are being had. Reed quotes more from the report...
“Since he became president, Mr. Trump has largely operated as a conventional Republican, signing taxes that benefit high-end earners and companies, rolling back regulations on corporations and appointing administration officials and judges with deep roots in the conservative movement. His approach has delighted much of the political right.”
But hasn't done a damn thing for these Midwest blue-collar white workers. The question is how many voters are there on the political right compared to middle-America?

Blue collar workers betrayed by Donald Trump


Are we a nation today of feeble apathetics? My term for no one cares anymore

Paul Waldman of The American Prospect asks, "This is not who we are — or is it?" He refers, of course, to the Donald Trump administration and its blundering through over two years now. He comments...
"Candidates say it. Ex-candidates say it. Pundits say it. It’s as much a desperate plea as it is an assertion. This is not who we are…is it?"
Waldman thinks this is also a question for each presidential election when the referendum of an individual can tell us who we are. We elected Barack Obama in 2008 and thought that defined us as a nation of "multiethnic and multiracial, open and inclusive, forward-looking and forward-thinking." And then Donald Trump was elected and it was open house for white supremacy and a reversion to Southern type racism.

Right after Obama was elected...
"But right away, Republicans said, 'No. That is not who we are.' They expressed their loathing for Obama in a hundred ways, but at its center was the belief that he was not Us—not born here, not a Christian like he claimed, with a worldview 'so outside our comprehension,' in Newt Gingrich’s words, that he could only be some sort of alien."
"Then along came Donald Trump," Waldman says, followed by calling T-rump a number of names like loathsome and stupid, while praising how he won the 2016 election. He did and that's the reason for the question, "This is not who we are — or is it?" Well...is it?

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Trump polls high but Americans Not sold on Trump or Democrat


July 23, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

Donald Trump Jr. went unscathed in Robert Mueller investigation
Joe Scarborough of MSNBC would like to know why Donald Trump Jr. had not been questioned as part of the special counsel probe, a question, perhaps, that could arise in Robert Mueller's testimony tomorrow. Scarborough said...
“There are only three questions that most Americans want the answer to. Was there obstruction, was there collusion and would Donald Trump have been indicted had he not been the president of the United States?"
This, in addition to the mystery over why Mueller didn't subpoena Junior...
"Why was Donald Trump Jr. the only American attendee of the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 not questioned by investigators?"
Scarborough described Mueller's investigation as "incomplete," commenting...
“There’s a recurring theme here about all of these investigations going on and everybody pulling back before giving Americans the answers that they need.”
I hesitate to even say it but, is it possible, deep down, Robert Mueller was afraid of the wrath of Donald Trump's legal team and that may still be the case?

Michael Cohen on Donald Trump Jr. Trump Tower meeting...


The illiterate first family

Ivanka Trump is following in daddy's footsteps in keeping with stupid statements and an ignorance of the English language. She recently had to delete a tweet about Boris Johnson after repeated ridiculing of its misspelling. Boris Johnson was being named the next Prime Minister of the "United Kingston". The toofar site also came up with some T-rump goodies...
The POTUS is renowned for his Twitter gaffes, "Cheif Hostage Negotiator", "Hamberder", "Unpresidented", "Smocking" and the infamous "Covfefe" tweets among the more famous examples.
 In another situation...
"Ivanka Trump violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits government employees from engaging in political activity, when she tweeted about her dad’s campaign in a Father’s Day post, a watchdog group says.
And finally...
"The watchdog group argued that Ivanka’s Twitter account, which has over 6.5 million followers, has been used continuously for official government purposes, despite saying it is a “Personal Pg.” and that “views are [her] own” in the bio, which also includes her “Advisor to POTUS” job title. Thus, Ivanka's partisan Twitter activity can easily be read as that of a government employee, albeit an unpaid one, using her official position to promote political campaign issues."
They may be illiterate but all of this Trump clan knows how to use the U.S. government to further their own interests.

Trump polls high but Americans Not sold on Trump or Democrats

T-rump's latest tirade against the four congresswomen of color apparently juiced up his popularity rating, which clearly indicates to me a following of racists. If it did come from a "mainstream opinion poll," it would further signify a racist tendency now in the general population. Or is it that the four are all of the female sex and the bubbas out there can't stand the competition? All of a sudden their masculinity is threatened and they feel they must put them in their place.

The Marist Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College pollster says Independents would not reelect Donald Trump but at the same time are also unhappy with the course Democrats have taken. Even though Trump did his best ever in this poll, his approval rating is still just 44%. On the other side...
"52% of registered voters approve of his handling of the economy and two-thirds — 65% — of Americans think the economy is working well for them, including 62% of independents."
This would indicate to me that although Republicans got lucky on the economy, at the expense of the middle class, the voting public really doesn't want Donald Trump in the White House. 

Presidential administration of a racist


July 23, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

Robert Mueller between a rock and a hard place

4 Congresswomen who will bring down Donald Trump 
Robert Mueller requested guidance from the Dept. of Justice on his Wednesday testimony to Congress. Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer answered stating whatever he said must be within the boundaries of the now public report. Weinsheimer added...
"matters within the scope of your investigation were covered by executive privilege."
In case you are interested, the hearing is scheduled to start at 8:30 AM ET, Wednesday, and several TV networks will cover it. The Democrats plan...
"to push Mueller on several aspects of his investigation as well as the question if he would recommend charges against President Donald Trump were he not the President."
As an observer of Robert Mueller's actions from the beginning to the end of this whole frolic in Donald Trump stupidity and incompetence, but more significantly at the end, I got the feeling Mueller secretly wants to testify, and hopes Democrats will ask some very pointed questions he must answer under oath. If I am wrong, the hearing won't be worth wasting your time on. The testimony starts where I live at 5:30 AM and at this point I'm thinking I'd rather sleep.

Read more...

4 Congresswomen who could beat Donald Trump in 2020


Donald Trump is all about racism

The smug, pompous Oval office lunatic first defended those who chanted “send her back” to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Later, he even called Omar a "disgrace," then he attempted to renege on support for the crowd chants, next he returned to "a full-throated defense of the people who participated in it while talking with reporters in the Oval Office just one day later." Now this is the moron that was elected by his double-digit followers to run this country. Go figure.

He called these poor souls in No. Carolina "incredible people -incredible patriots.” Back to Trump attacking Omar...
“I’m unhappy when a congresswoman goes, ‘I’m going to be the president’s nightmare,'” Trump said, referring to remarks that Omar made during a town hall in Minnesota Thursday night. “She’s lucky to be where she is, let me tell you. And the things that she has said are a disgrace to our country.”
Well, not only has Ilhan Omar committed to making T-rump's life a nightmare, but so have her three colleagues, also racially violated by Trump. They are Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Talib of Michigan. It has been said by someone recently that the best way to bring down Donald Trump is to keep pushing his buttons until he finally breaks. Have a feeling these four women of color can do the job.

If only that could happen before the 2020 election. Proof that the White House moron doesn't learn, there is word that he will use racism as part of an election strategy to appeal to the same lowlifes that cheered him on in No. Carolina. But get this, by doing so...
"he is writing off 45.9 percent of the American population and implying that because they are not sufficiently white or native-born, they are not part of the “America” he represents."
Here's the breakdown...
"14.1 percent of Americans are either black or mixed race, including African-American, like Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar. 18.1 percent of Americans are of Hispanic descent like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. And 13.7 percent of Americans are foreign-born, like Ilhan Omar."
Either Donald Trump can't count, or his ego has grown so big that he believes he can regularly debase people of color and they will forgive all and still vote for him. I think it is a little of both. The No. Carolina rally consisted of mostly white, elderly people but T-rump thinks...
"he’s looking at the United States of America. He’s wrong. As apparently everyone but Trump knows, the population of this country is getting browner, blacker, younger, and more foreign, in the sense of being from recent immigrant stock."
 Here's a depressing statement by Lucian Truscott of Salon...
"The kind of racist hatred that used to be hidden away in backwaters like Mississippi and Alabama and Louisiana and practiced by the likes of David Duke is now part of our national conversation."
I moved away from that years ago when I left the South. Not in a million years did I ever think it would come back to haunt me right out of the White House. 

Monday, July 22, 2019

Donald Trump responsible for hate crimes


July 22, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

Hate crimes tied to a president unheard of  

Donald Trump-White Supremacist

Many in the media and groups like So. Poverty Law Center have warned of Donald Trump inciting violence with his racist targeting of women of color in Congress. Jim Cavanaugh, a retired ATF special agent-in-charge was interviewed by Anchor Joy Reid on Friday evening’s “The Last Word.” She asked...
“So those threats beginning about two years ago, increases in white nationalist activity. Have you ever heard of these kinds of increases in hate and potential hate crimes being tied to a president of the United States?”
Reid answered, “No,” he replied. “That’s very, very unusual, Joy, to have that happen.” Reid added...
“You know, when you get more power, your words carry more weight. When you get into this undercurrent of the Nazis and the white nationalists and the klansmen, they feed off of this. They feed off of public figures — on the regular media, in the government, congressmen, senators, the president — saying the things they always say,” he explained. “It bolsters them. It gives them strength and power.”
You can't get much more power than that of the President of the United States, so it is safe to say the white supremacists have the capacity of the greatest nation on earth. And that is very, very scary. The Oval Office lunatic has even primed these Nazis recently with his attacks on the four congresswomen, and there appears no abatement for Trump's racism. This country may be doomed to relive the race wars of the 1960s.

Read more...

White Supremacists love Donald Trump...


Stephen Miller-Donald Trump's scariest aide

Stephen Miller is a far-right political activist who serves as a senior advisor for policy for President Donald Trump. He took over as the chillingest member of Trump's team when Steve Bannon left. Although I don't consider Fox New generally credible, I do think Chris Wallace, because of his father Mike, to be honest and believable. Wallace adamantly shut down Miller as the latter repeatedly tried to defend T-rump's racism.

Here's an example from Think Progress...
"Wallace also pointed out that Trump has criticized the four lawmakers for comments he deemed critical of America, yet attacked the nation, and Obama, with comments that were far more negative. President Obama is ignorant, this country is killers, on and on.'”
"Miller attempted to spin a 'fundamental distinction' between 'people who think we need to lean into and strengthen American’s core values' and 'people who think we need to turn America into Venezuela.' But Wallace again responded with Trump’s own quotes that were explicit attacks on America."
Chris concluded the interview with...
“I’ve never called any of his tweets racist,” Wallace admonished Miller. “But there’s no question he is stoking racial divisions.”
Read more... 

The Hill says Trump has nothing to fear from Robert Mueller testimony

There are disagreements with this statement from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who is convinced that Robert Mueller's report "presents very substantial evidence" that President Donald Trump "is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors." There is no reason to ask who is right since there can be no real right or wrong until a court, probably eventually SCOTUS, interprets sections of the report.

Here's what Mueller said: “The report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress.”

Here's what House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said: "Democrats on the committees plan to get around this reluctance by having Mueller read from his report, and by asking him for commentary about what he’s read."

It may even be a strategy welcomed by Robert Mueller.

Read more...

“The girls were just so young,” the prey of Jeffrey Epstein


July 22, 2019 : TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

Royal Family can't protect Prince Andrew

Jeffrey Epstein with Little St. James island of underaged girls
It is a scenario that I am sure the Royal Family did not want to get involved with, but Jeffrey Epstein's tentacles have apparently crossed the pond and all of a sudden Buckingham Palace is right in the middle. This is how Maureen Callahan of the New York Post portrays Prince Andrew, the Duke of York...
"The Queen’s favorite son has always been useless at best, a liability at worst — boorish, piggish, entitled, greedy and often quite stupid, consorting with ­oligarchs and strongmen for ­personal profit."
And then he met the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein but was protected by the Queen. Now, "the Second Circuit has ruled that 2,000 pages from a 4-year-old defamation suit filed by one of Epstein’s and Andrew’s alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre (née Roberts), are to be unsealed." Callahan reports...
"It’s likely that names will be heavily redacted. After all, extremely rich and powerful people are contained within, including, said the court, 'prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister and other world leaders' — all now implicated in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking operation."
Apparently the Queen can't help her favorite this time, and who knows what else will eventually come out of the Jeffrey Epstein debacle.

“The girls were just so young,” the prey of Jeffrey Epstein

The rest of the above headline is, "The Horrors of Jeffrey Epstein's private island," in Holly Aguirre's Vanity Fair piece in an update on the pedophile's 70-acre private island in the Caribbean. This is Little St. James but on nearby St. Thomas...
"locals say Epstein continued to bring underage girls to the island as recently as this year—a decade after he was forced to register as a convicted sex offender—and that authorities did nothing to stop him."
In one case the girl(s) looked no more than 16 and were being flown in on one of Epstein's two Gulfstream jets. In 2018 and 2019 published flight records...
"the jets were airborne at least one out of every three days. They stopped all over the world, sometimes for only a few hours at a time: Paris, London, Slovakia, Mexico, Morocco. When they left St. Thomas, the employees say, they returned to airports near Epstein’s homes in Palm Beach and New York City."
So, we're talking a world-traveling pedophile that apparently takes advantage of weaker or non-existing laws against sex-trafficking in other countries. And there were repeated observations of Epstein's illicit activities, in one case by a former air traffic controller, which is yet another example of simply looking the other way when the wealthy are involved. Witnesses say the pedophile tipped heavily so apparently no one felt the honor of these girls was more important. Pathetic!

Read more...

Jeffrey Epstein's "Island of Sin"


Pushing Donald Trump's buttons could be the key to bringing him down

These are the ones who could supply the meltdowns that push Donald Trump off the cliff. Called "The Squad" by the Oval Office lunatic, they are the four congresswomen that have literally gotten under T-rump's skin. He rankles over anything they say and exclaimed, "I don't believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country," calling them "weak" and "insecure." These four ladies have not only shaken up the Democratic Party, they now have Trump in their sites. The four women are...
Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
The Washington Post picked up the story with this reaction from Trump...
"the Post story contained 'phony sources who do not exist and is Fake News."
The Post report, in fact, was based on interviews "with 26 White House aides, advisers, lawmakers and others involved in the response," who said...
"Trump had posted the tweets after watching an episode of "Fox & Friends." He wanted to elevate the four congresswomen, telling his advisers he thought they were good foils, the newspaper reported."
As I see it, if each of the four congresswomen take a shot at Donald Trump each day, by 2020 he will be babbling in the wind, harmless and mostly forgotten.

Read more...

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Meltdowns will send Donald Trump to the showers


July 21, 2019: WEEKEND NEWS BYTES  

Democrats may outsmart the GOP in 2020

Dr. Brandy Lee exposes Donald Trump
It is certainly woeful when an article asks the question, "Are Democrats too stupid to beat Donald Trump?" Is it really stupidity or simply a party that has miserably lost its way and needs an overall revamping? Perhaps some of the old hands like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are, shall we say, a bit out of touch with the party constituency. Like hanging so firm in the middle when a majority of voters are headed further left.

Bernie Sanders, God love him, started it and we should all be thankful there was someone with the integrity of this man to show us the way. I don't give a damn if you like Socialism or not. We've already got it and it will become even more prominent in the future. So, live with it! What we should be striving for is a country that caters to 100% of the population, not just 1%. Martin Longman of Washington Monthly says...
"the Democratic Party is not currently the default majority party in the country and it is not coming apart at the seams or circling the drain. If anything, the Democrats are about dead-even with the Republicans and have the wind at their backs, as demographic trends (in both youth and ethnicity) heavily favor them to make advances in the near future."
Like it or not, it looks like prosperity for the Democrats. And to confirm this Ted Cruz just commented that Democratic voters would come out in "staggering" numbers in 2020.

Read more... 

Are Democrats doing enough about Donald Trump's racism?



Meltdowns will send Donald Trump to the showers

Dr. Brandy Lee, the Yale psychiatrist who has said repeatedly that Donald Trump sitting in the White House is a national emergency, recently stated that T-rump is headed for ‘disgrace and downfall.’ Can't remember exactly where but recently heard that the way to get rid of the Oval Office maniac is to keep pushing his buttons until he goes over the edge. His recent meltdown from the Washington Post article about his racist tweets apparently sent him reeling.

"Echoing his standard smear of news stories that are unfavorable to him, Trump attacked the story as 'Fake News' with 'phony sources who do not exist,' despite its reliance on on-the-record quotes from key supporters."
Psychology also tells us that when a person begins to repeat a phrase, like "fake news" repeatedly, there is an uncertainty in their actions, which has now replaced confidence. Science is not clear on just how many meltdowns are necessary to blow a gasket, but it would appear that Donald Trump is on the verge.

Donald Trump as Julius Caesar


July 21, 2019: WEEKEND NEWS BYTES  


Donald Trump-Fascist in the White House
Could Donald Trump play Shakespeare?

Jim Hightower of Creators Syndicate relates back to the classics and wonders if Shakespeare "could do literary justice to the tortured madness of Donald Trump." Having participated in a little of the Bard's work in college, I say the playwright would have been totally disgusted with the subject. That would be unfortunate since one of his specialties was "tragedies" and we certainly have all of the material for that in the White House today. Hightower says...
"His brags are especially weird because they usually involve achievements he hasn’t made. It’s as though his saying something makes it true — even though everyone except his most naive devotees can clearly see that he’s either hallucinating or lying."
And finally the Oval Office lunatic recently declared "it’s intolerable to have such homelessness in our rich country, but not because so many poor people are suffering..."
"but because business people and shoppers face the indignity of having to walk past the homeless to get to their offices, banks, cafes, etc."
This is so, so pathetic!

Donald Trump/Julius Caesar NY production gets standing ovation...



The cult of "totalitarianism" that supports Donald Trump's lies

Matthew Chapman of AlterNet makes a statement that is so frightening it would make any contra-Trump person cringe with non-belief. He says...
"Trump’s base is a ‘cult’ that may never be deprogrammed."
Do you realize what that means? These poor uninformed, double-digit souls will walk around this earth until they die, spewing the same old crap about how wonderful this moron is. I know one and here are a couple of his comments on Facebook to my criticisms of T-rump...
"Trump does not have a spiteful bone in his body." 
"Why do [you] say that? I feel he [Donald Trump] is the most real person ever elected. He has done, or at least made an all out attempt to do everything he said he was going to do. And he calls things for what they really are."
In an analysis of Donald Trump’s base by The Daily Beast’s Kelly Weill, she says experts label them as totalitarians, based on recent behavior, adding this comment...
“Trump has long stoked bigoted grievances among his followers, but the Greenville rally saw him act as a more overt radicalizer than ever before. And with a portion of Trump’s fanbase now openly clamoring for the physical removal of several prominent Democrats of color, experts are questioning whether the country can repair the damage — even if Trump loses in 2020.”
If the curse of Donald Trump is destined to live on, the moon's population could explode by 2021.



Saturday, July 20, 2019

NRA's Wayne LaPierre on the way out


July 20, 2019: BULLETIN News Bytes 
Wayne LaPierre
Former NRA Ad Agy. Ackerman McQueen says Wayne LaPierre lies

Wayne LaPierre, head gun nut at the National Rifle Assn. (NRA), is almost as astute at lying as Donald Trump. Almost, but not quite. He has twisted facts and spewed propaganda over gun rights and for years and is responsible for the current apathy of the American public over gun violence. But he may now be caught up in a deception he can't get out of...
"At issue is multi-million-dollar litigation between the NRA and its ex-ad firm. In court filings of its own, the NRA has alleged that Oliver North, the groups's former president, was ousted in part because he withheld information from the NRA about payments he took from Ackerman McQueen, which had served as the gun rights group’s primary ad contractor until just months ago. The NRA claims North kept the nature of his deal with Ackerman McQueen a secret from LaPierre and the gun group’s leadership."
The Young Turks put the NRA in its place...


In The Daily Beast, "Ackerman McQueen alleges that LaPierre himself helped negotiate the deal between their firm and North. And they hint that they have documentation to prove it." The NRA, of course, denied everything, but, then, we know how much Wayne LaPierre lies.

TRUMP DOWN: A dictator's coming out



July 20, 2019: WEEKEND NEWS BYTES   

All news is bad news

It is hard to know where to start these days if you are trying to report on the political scene, especially in the U.S. Here are a few of the headlines from a Raw Story email...

  • Trump catapulted a baseless smear about Omar’s marriage from the online fringes into the political mainstream
  • Trump Twitter-rages over media’s coverage of the racist ‘send her back’ chant he incited​​​​​​​
  • ‘What the hell, Pete!’ Geraldo blows up on Fox & Friends host for saying ‘send her back’ chants weren’t racist​​​​​​​
  • New revelation in Trump’s involvement in Stormy Daniels hush money payoff is an impeachable offense: CNN panel​​​​​​​
  • Trump snaps at NYT columnist who called him a racist: ‘Really Nasty to me in his average I.Q. Columns’​​​​​​​
  • Trump official melts down on MSNBC after refusing to admit Trump lied to America
  • Bill Barr may have killed probe of Trump’s payoff to Stormy Daniels: Florida prosecutor​​​​​​​
To begin with, it is near-impossible to comprehend how this country has stooped so low that headlines like the above could be written. Yet, it is easy to explain in only five words: Donald Trump and his supporters. Do you realize that without either, we would not have to suffer those headings, above, nor would this country be the laughingstock of the world? One man and his double-digit followers have created the mass chaos we live in today.

And what is worse is the fact that today we have no idea just how long we will have to tolerate the despot in the White House. Any ideas???

Republicans want to banish people of color from U.S.

Time magazine's Carol Anderson says that, "Republicans Want a White Republic. They'll Destroy America to Get It." That's both heavy and tragic, but considering Donald Trump's latest Twitter rants and his performance at last Wednesday's rally, they have definitely set the course for 2020 from the top down. With the GOP's 90% white membership, they obviously don't favor a "rights-based, religious, racial and ideologically diverse America."

And then Anderson gives us a 2012 quote from the currently mentally troubled Lindsey Graham...
“We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term."
If Carol Anderson is correct, we can expect a welcome return of the Ku Klux Klan in the near future - that is assuming Donald Trump stays in the White House, the GOP holds on to the Senate and retakes the House. I can't imagine what people of color are thinking today. Is T-rump's next move to repeal the Civil Rights Act with an executive order? Will schools be segregated once more, a special room in restaurants for non-whites, and separate water fountains again for white and colored?

This is not what I signed on for, and I do believe most Americans would agree.

No one wants to work for Donald Trump


July 20, 2019: WEEKEND News Bytes 

Donald Trump's revolving door

AG Wm. Barr the dolting pawn of Donald Trump

Paul Rosenberg of Salon says Republican lies and hypocrisy have hit an all-time high, and uses Attorney General William Barr’s perpetual suck-up to Donald Trump to illustrate his point. "Barr is Trump’s enabler in undermining the rule of law — first in the census case, then in the challenge to the Affordable Care Act." From University of Michigan law professor Nicholas Bagley...
“In both, Barr directed his lawyers to make bad-faith arguments, just because Trump said so. That’s a blow to the integrity of the Justice Department and a threat to the rule of law.” 
Nothing new for Trump, and Republicans have been playing this game for years dating back to the Supreme Court decision re. Al Gore/Geo. W. Bush 2,000 election, and the "the long history of lying during Supreme Court confirmations, with Brett Kavanaugh’s example only the most recent." Donald Trump didn't start it, he simply perpetuated the GOP way with his inherent swindling talents.

Read more...

Donald Trump created biggest White House revolving door ever

"President Trump’s 'A Team' turnover is 74% as of July 15, 2019," reports Brookings Institute. That doesn't include the Cabinet, which is also high in dropouts. Any foreign power would look at this and say, with that kind of governing, the U.S. is a great target. They haven't, and they won't because there are enough level headed people in Washington--mostly Democrats--to prevent this. Let me urge you to look at this fascinating Brookings study.

And Fortune magazine asks, "Who’s Next to Go?" in speculation over the Trump administration's soaring turnover. The author of this article, Kathryn Dunn Tenpas says, “The pace is record-setting. It’s off the charts.” I doubt seriously if even T-rump's misinformed loyalists can keep up with the turnaround. Many of the exits are due to pressure, as was the Eric Acosta incident. Some of those who have left include...
"Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price, secretary of state Rex Tillerson, secretary of Veteran Affairs David Shulkin, attorney general Jeff Sessions, secretary of defense Jim Mattis, and secretary of the interior Ryan Zinke."
 There are also the acting Cabinet members, which Trump favors because he doesn't have get Congress' approval. Dunn Tenpas says this all has caused a lot of instability in Donald Trump's administration, which is certainly obvious to the world and the people of the United States who care about their country.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Donald Trump likes racism for 2020 campaign


July 19, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES

Donald Trump fears politics of 4 congresswomen 


Donald Trump is a racist
"Donald Trump is scared," says the Guardian, in an article that analyzes the Oval Office lunatic's psyche, concluding this is why he has viciously attacked these women with racist tweets. Continuing, "it appears he knows he is unpopular," and the firing of five of his pollsters who told him so adds to the unknown. Something which T-rump cannot tolerate. The problem...
"The Republicans know this, too. But they also have no substantive policy agenda to present to the American people, only white rage and resentment, racism and xenophobia, all of which have culminated in the Trump administration’s spectacle of wanton cruelty along the southern border."
The Guardian claims the Republicans...
"intend to foment hatred of “the other” among their predominantly white base, to weaponize false accusations of antisemitism against progressive politicians, to pour kerosene on the fires of the culture wars and fight – against women’s rights, LGBT rights, reproductive rights – with renewed vigor."
And the Democrats aren't ready for this, nor are they preparing for it.


Independent voters see Trump racist attacks as negative

There is data, according to CNN polling analyst Harry Enten...
"showing that Trump’s racist attacks on the four women are seen negatively by the independent voters whom he needs if he wants to win reelection in 2020."
Independent voters account for 28% of those registered to go to the polls, and political pundits say attention will shift to this group as we head for the 2020 elections. The key here will be for Democrats to focus on issues they favor, one of which is immigration. This would also correlate with their distaste for Trump's racist actions.


Donald Trump sees racism as a winner for 2020

Following the impact of Trump's racist attacks on the four congresswomen, the psychopath has actually decided to build his 2020 campaign strategy around his barrage of bigotry. At the same time, there has been a GOP backlash of select Republicans like...
"The chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) blasted the controversial 'send her back' chant that took place at President Donald Trump’s campaign rally on Wednesday."
CNN says that "Trump views his attacks on the four congresswomen of color as an unbridled political success people familiar with his thinking say, and plans to continue his efforts as he moves into a period of politicking." Is Karl Rove lurking around the White House somewhere? Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois had this to say about Donald Trump's Wednesday rally...
"when the crowd yelled 'send her back' as the President targeted Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota -- 'ugly' and 'wrong' and said it 'would send chills down the spines of our Founding Fathers.'"
Trump is a racist coward, according to Rex Huppke of the Chicago Tribune with his article headline, "There’s no difference between supporting a racist and being one." He was aghast, as most of us were, at the Wednesday rally chants, "Send her back! Send her back! Send her back!” Huppke said...
"It was chilling. An angry mob wanting an American citizen whose views they disagree with run out of the country. It’s the kind of thing that gets out of hand. It’s the kind of thing that gets people killed."
Then he added:  "Trump lit the racist fire that led to those chants." Pathetic!

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens: Repeal 2nd Amendment


July 19, 2029: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  


Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens: Repeal 2nd Amendment

Although deceased former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens made it his job to keep a check on American presidents (God, we need him now), he also made a push recently to repeal the 2nd Amendment, Following the Parkland, Florida shooting massacre...
"In 2008, the Supreme Court overturned Chief Justice Burger’s and others’ long-settled understanding of the Second Amendment’s limited reach by ruling, in District of Columbia v. Heller, that there was an individual right to bear arms. I was among the four dissenters. That decision — which I remain convinced was wrong and certainly was debatable — has provided the N.R.A. with a propaganda weapon of immense power. Overturning that decision via a constitutional amendment to get rid of the Second Amendment would be simple and would do more to weaken the N.R.A.’s ability to stymie legislative debate and block constructive gun control legislation than any other available option."
Of course, no one listened to him then but with the current demise of the National Rifle Assn. (NRA), perhaps the gun cowards in Congress, and there are many, will begin to take note.

Read more...

Others think it is time to repeal 2nd Amendment

"Why not try to amend the Second Amendment? "That's from Washington Post columnist, Henry Olsen,  I like the term "try" and completely understand its use in connection with a U. S. Congress loaded with gun nuts scared to death of Wayne LaPierre's NRA. Olsen apparently feels that the complete takeaway of all guns is a mistake, but also bemoans the possibility of Trump adding another conservative justice to SCOTUS, which would take at least ten years to undo.

The writer proposes the following...
"A revised Second Amendment could spell out the relationship between public safety and private rights in more detail. It could give clear safeguards for people with no history of legal trouble or mental instability to continue to own guns while giving more authority to the government to guarantee that only people unlikely to misuse guns would have them."
I might even be able to live with that as long as the right to carry weapons outside the home is banned, along with all assault rifles. At the same time, we would close the gun show loophole, add mandatory background checks and forbid straw purchases. Now that is definitely a neat package.

Read more...

Gun control saves childrens' lives

Stricter gun laws associated with lower death rates in children. Here's a fact from the new study...
"In states where laws requiring universal background checks for gun purchases had been in effect for at least five years, rates of fatal shootings involving young victims were 35% lower than in states without background checks."
 “Approximately seven U.S. children die from firearm-related injuries every day,” said Dr. Monika Goyal, lead author of the study and a researcher at Children’s National Health System and George Washington University in Washington, D.C. About 62% of the 21,241 deaths analyzed were assault-related, and nearly 69% occurred among 18- to 21-year-olds. About 87% of the deaths were in males.

The study warns, parents should think twice about bring guns into the home, and always inquire whether there are guns in the homes where their children go to play. “Take the risk that you may offend someone, rather than putting your child at risk of fatal or irreversible injury,” said Dr. Judy Schaechter, coauthor of an editorial accompanying the study and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Read more...


Thursday, July 18, 2019

Are congressional Republicans racist?


July 18, 2019: BULLETIN News Bytes
What American apartheid will look like

Do we have a racist Republican Congress?

Rolling Stones reports, "Only 4 Out of 197 House Republicans Voted to Condemn Trump’s Racist Tweets." The House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to condemn Donald Trump for his racist attacks on four congresswomen, with Republicans virtually deserting them with a reaction of classic bigotry. That is to basically support T-rump's American version of apartheid. Only four GOP joined the unanimous Democrats. Pathetic!

No. Carolina case could halt GOP gerrymandering


July 18, 2019: BULLETIN News Bytes  

Republican gerrymandering case in No. Carolina

No. Carolina gerrymandering case
It could go the wrong way but Democrats are counting on a court case that "has the potential to significantly alter how political maps are drawn in North Carolina and could serve as a blueprint for legal challenges in other states."

Further...
"If the voting rights groups that have challenged North Carolina's state legislative districts succeed, the maps could be ordered redrawn in time for the 2020 election in a state that is closely divided politically."

Mulvaney is quietly “building an empire for the right wing


July 18, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

The racism of Donald Trump
Donald Trump is good at something. He is one of the best at racism I have ever seen and I hail from the South. There are many Republicans "sickened by President Donald Trump’s racist attacks on four Democratic congresswomen — but they still won’t criticize him publicly. The House members are Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). T-rump actually said they should...
“go back to the crime-infested places from which they came.” All four congresswomen are American citizens.
But this is the most tragic part of his reaction, a source said Trump believes his racist attacks on the women are a winning political strategy that will help him win reelection in 2020. Does that tell you something about his core base estimated to be around 30 million? A majority must be racist, based on his remark. Even with my southern upbringing, it is near impossible to fathom that kind of thought in 2019. How could any person of color ever consider voting for this imbecile?

Read more...

House condemns Trump's racist tweets...


And this story is only an extension of the above. Another writer, Alex Henderson, writing for AlterNet says Trump's statement about...
"four congresswomen of color to go back to the countries they originally came from, it was obviously a rally-the-base strategy designed to appeal to the so-called 'patriotism' of his far-right supporters."
There's that Trump base again with Henderson reconfirming the fact that a large number of these followers are racist. And no one, including the moron in the White House who made the statement, seems to have any qualms about the fact that this is a tragic reflection of what this country is all about. According to presidential historian Jon Meacham...
“What the president has done here is yet again — I think he did it after Charlottesville, and I think he did it, frankly, when he was pushing the birther lie about President Obama — he has joined Andrew Johnson as the most racist president in American history.”
Read more...

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney looks sleazy and he has repeatedly fulfilled this likeness in both Congress and in his job with the number one sleaze, Donald Trump. But Jessica Corbett of Common Dreams muses that...
"Mulvaney is quietly building an empire for the right wing” and pushing Cabinet members to impose a radical and rapid deregulation agenda across the federal government."
A former So. Carolina congressman, deeply steeped in the Tea Party that eschews its racist values, he now works in the White House and is one...
"who has built what one senior administration official called 'his own fiefdom' centered on pushing conservative policies — while mostly steering clear of the Trump-related pitfalls that tripped up his predecessors by employing a 'Let Trump be Trump' ethos."
No control, just what the Oval Office lunatic craves. But Politico says the honeymoon is over, "snapping at his acting chief of staff with some frequency, and expressing greater frustration with him than usual," and as Trump’s third chief of staff in less than two-and-a-half years, the writing is on the wall. It will happen, hopefully, before Mulvaney can spread more Tea Party propaganda.

Donald Trump Says He Will Be Indicted On Tuesday

  THAT'S TODAY... Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has brought the case to this point, now looking at a possible indictment. Trum...