The Mueller "shadow" that Trump can't avoid

Donald Trump...Still denying Mueller Report

The Mueller Report is about to be released but Politico says...

"a pair of high-profile new cases surfacing in the past 24 hours signals that the arm of his Russia investigation is long indeed."

They are charges "against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the indictment of former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig." Although not actually connected, the two could add to and tie together many of Robert Mueller's findings. This includes...

"everything from Russian interference in the 2016 election to the hush-money payment scheme Donald Trump’s campaign designed to help sway the last White House race, from the fundraising for Trump’s 2017 inauguration to unregistered foreign lobbyists working in the U.S."

I will be doing a post on Assange's release later, but this shows how there is yet another player in the investigation that will eventually bring Donald Trump to his knees, or lower. Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor from Virginia, describes it as a part of Robert Mueller's tendons that have resulted from his investigation and which branch off into several directions. They include the Justice Department, Eastern District of Virginia, Southern District of New York and Washington D.C.

If the examination of Donald Trump's wrongdoing continues on for months, like National Public Radio reports, how can this country possibly move on ahead and do the job of governing? Congress is already stymied with the "anti-everything" Mitch McConnell heading up the Senate, while Nancy Pelosi does her best to keep the House moving forward. NPR refers to the following cases...

Prosecutors have charged GOP political consultant Roger Stone with obstruction, witness tampering and lying to Congress in connection with his work in 2016 on behalf of Trump's campaign...Attorney General William Barr has come under fire from Democrats for releasing top-line findings tied to Mueller’s work that Trump has used to claim “total EXONERATION” even though the special counsel’s report said no such thing...The case against the Russian company Concord Management and Consulting, which has been linked to Russia's social media disinformation campaign...

There's more you can read in the NPR article, but the gist of all this is that Donald Trump is sitting in the Oval Office just waiting for the shit to hit the fan.

Your Political Bullshit of the Day

TRICKLE DOWN BULLSHIT

The Fox network has talked about US congresswoman AlexandriaOcasio-Cortez for 42 consecutive days, at least 3,181 mentions...NEW YORK'SVACCINE ORDER SHOWS HOW HEALTH LAWS ARE FAILING US...Re. Barr's FBI spying claim, Comey says, he had no idea" what Attorney General William Barr meant when he testified that he believed the government spied on President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign...Donald Trump's sister, Maryanne Trump Barry's retirement connected to father Fred Trump when he illegally evaded taxes in transferring much of his wealth to his children — including both Donald and Maryanne...

Donald Trump just showed how low he'll go on immigration, dropping immigrant families off in sanctuary cities.

From measles to E. coli to a Superbug

Superbug

We've dealt with the backward-thinking anti-vaxxers into an E. coli outbreak and now along comes a superbug that threatens to kill all of us. The CDC says already over 600 are infected in the U.S. It first learned of Candida auris in 2016 with the number of cases now at 617 stretched over New York City, New Jersey and Chicago in the U.S. and another 20 countries worldwide. It appears that "Multiple factors have created the perfect storm" for Candida auris.

What is most scary is the fact that it is potentially a deadly multidrug-resistant fungus and even worse...

"can survive on cooler surfaces like skin, potentially remaining for a long time, enabling it to act more like bacteria than a fungus."

The difficulty in treating Candida auris is identifying the fungus. It requires "specific technology and a culture of blood or other bodily fluids." Because of the colonization of hosts over several months, "perhaps indefinitely," it can...

"spread between people and to various objects over the course of time before entering the bloodstream and spreading throughout the body, causing serious invasive infections such as bloodstream, wound, and ear infections."

“Healthy people typically don’t get infected," but should be very careful around those who are infected, practicing maximum personal hygiene. And here's the real shocker, the CDC reports that "30 to 60% of people who have gotten C. auris have died." In some cases "standard laboratories have trouble identifying the bug and it can sometimes even be misidentified," according to the CDC. But because it affects those in the health care community, there is a need to identify it quickly.

The CDC says the C. auris infection has been diagnosed in people of all ages affecting a wide range of areas and wounds. In other words, the public beware!

Major out break of E. coli in U.S. says CDC

E. coli

First there were the anti-vaxxers, who have spread measles, mumps and chickenpox all around the country with their uninformed and downright stupid opinions that vaccines will cause harm when, in fact, solid science has proven them wrong. There's also a mysterious fungus thriving in the U.S. that we'll address in another post. But today it's all about E. coli that is running amok in Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.

Federal health officials have not identified a food item, grocery store or restaurant chain as the source of these infections, claims CNN. It's being investigated by the CDC, state health departments, the US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service and the US Food and Drug Administration and the mystery of its source is even more troubling. E. coli likely has no connection to measles, but the coincidence of this all at once.

Since no source has been identified, CBS says, "the CDC is not recommending that consumers avoid any particular food item due to E. coli, while health officials continue to investigate the source of the illnesses." Here's what happened in the U.K. in 2015...

"A strain of E. coli became a potentially fatal infection in the UK around 30 years ago, when it acquired a powerful toxin, a gene study has revealed. ... E. coliO157 strains can produce molecules called shiga-toxins, which are linked to more serious human infections."

"Symptoms of HUS include fever, abdominal pain, pale skin tone, fatigue and irritability, unexplained bruises or bleeding from the nose and mouth, and decreased urination. These complications are more common in young children under 5, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems." And there lies my question, people with other diseases have weakened immune systems, thus, they are more prone to E. coli. It could be a vicious circle.

UPDATE: E. coli mystery solved: Ground beef is source of outbreak, CDC says

Racism! Racism! Racism! Will it ever end?

A Louisiana Sheriff Deputy's son, no less, Holden Matthews, 21, has torched three black churches, and says he was influenced by "black metal" music. The three churches were in the heart of south central Louisiana's Cajun and Creole country and were burned in the span of 10 days. Apparently they don't know this wacko's motive but you might look to his upbringing, especially in this state. It also has a very high rate of gun violence.

And Matthews isn't the brightest, leaving a 2-gallon gas can at the scene and was witnessed leaving the handiwork driving his truck. I guess the man doesn't like Baptists since all three churches were of that denomination. That, of course, plus the fact that he hates blacks. Matthews was active in social media...

"On a Facebook page that appears to belong to Matthews, he was active in black metal and pagan pages. Although both scenes are predominately apolitical, both have large neo-Nazi fanbases. Matthews commented on two memes about Varg Vikernes, a far-right (and self-described former neo-Nazi) metal musician who served 15 years in prison for burning churches in Norway and killing a fellow metal musician."

Which brings up the connection today between so much violence in the world and social media. This country is so engrossed with protecting 1st Amendment rights that one often wonders just where those limits should be set. In other words, is it time to evaluate the 1st Amendment and impose guidelines on when a person has gone too far? Like advocating hate and violence against others. Unfortunately, the current Congress doesn't have the balls to address this. 

Dimwitted celebrities just don't get it

Lori Loughlin freaked out

Lori Loughlin and her spacey daughter Jade are really not worth more attention in the media, but the fact that the well-to-do believe they are above the law is taking front and center. Only a person who thinks they are in this position would slough off an investigation into their illegal activities, saying publicly they thought the prosecutors were just bluffing. But now that jail time draws nearer, Loughlin is "freaking out" with the idea of spending time in the slammer.

The Root says...

"Lori Loughlin thought that her being a wealthy white woman legal defense would save her. Yeah…she thought. But reality comes at you fast."

And what about her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli? Did she tell him to keep his mouth shut and she, the big wealthy Hollywood celebrity, would handle this? A source says she has been in complete denial, ignoring...

Legal experts who have been offering repeated warnings in recent days about what would happen if Loughlin refused to play ball.

The fact that Felicity Huffman pled guilty and offered such a great statement of remorse and contrition is a very bad sign for Lori Loughlin, reported one legal expert. He believes by fighting her case she could even lengthen her stay in prison. And now Loughlin and her husband have been charged with new violations, including money laundering facing up to 40 years in prison, if convicted. All this to get an under-performing kid into the U. of Southern California.

Big Trump supporters--what else?--she and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, "were among 50 who were allegedly involved with bribing and colluding with college administrators and athletic coaches to guarantee acceptance for their kids." More from Root...

"Loughlin and Giannulli paid a combined $1 million to scam their daughters into University of Southern California. The fallout has shook the infrastructure of illegal factions within schools across the country."

It will be interesting now to see just how far prosecutors take this case, considering the fact that we have such a host of well-known celebrities and a prestigious university involved. Should there be preferential treatment involved, it will be yet another check mark in Bernie Sanders book on the issue of the 1% controlling this country.

Could dementia explain Donald Trump's bizarre behavior?

All of a sudden the Internet is buzzing over Donald Trump's cognitive health, and people who know him are talking...

"Joe Scarborough, who has known Trump for years, said in 2017 that Trump's mental confusion reminded him of his mother, who had Alzheimer's for 10 years."

Just reported in USA Today, the event occurred two years ago and you have to wonder, with Trump's recent antics, has he worsened? Yes, says Scarborough...

“It's getting worse, and not a single person who works for him doesn’t know he has early signs of dementia,"

 Do we need a person with his finger on the button whose cognitive health is going downhill? Donald Trump shouldn't be in the White House in this condition, he needs to be in a hospital receiving medical care. Psychologist John Gartner, writing in USA, says that President Donald Trump is undergoing significant cognitive decline and must be tested for dementia. Gartner is a clinical psychologist who taught at Johns Hopkins University Medical School for 28 years. 

Gartner's concerns have grown over the months "while following the continued decay of the president’s speech patterns." He cites Trump's "choosing the incorrect words," and "the substitution of a word with a nonword that preserves at least half of the segments and/or number of syllables of the intended word." Gartner says both of these are signs of Alzheimer’s, reported in Salon. And then Gartner recalls examples...

"the president demanding to know the 'oranges' of the Mueller probe, as well as references to 'midtowm' and 'midturn' elections.

But The Young Turks do the best job of expressing the real Donald Trump in this video in descriptions only this group could perform. But don't get me wrong, this is serious and needs the immediate attention of Congress.

 

New Zealand makes U.S. look like the idiots we are

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

The United States is controlled and powered by a gang of double-digit gun nuts, both in the American public and in the U.S Congress. New Zealand, on the other hand, sees the problems and source of gun violence and does something about it. Their parliament votes 119-1 to ban assault weapons. Don't know who the single hold-out was but you can probably bet he is a follower of the American NRA's Wayne LaPierre. Vox says...

"The swift action comes after last month’s mass shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which a white supremacist killed 50 people."

And there you have the difference between a country (the USA) that values guns over the lives of innocent adults and children, and another country (New Zealand) that identifies their problem--guns--and does something about it. It is very hard to understand how this nation can stoop so low as to favor its weaponry over human lives, with the evidence of gun violence screaming at us daily. It is perhaps one of the sickest cultures of any country in the world.

The U.S. reaction to daily gun violence is a very tiring "thoughts and prayers" response which is regularly regurgitated from Washington and the National Rifle Assn. Both have come to realize what bullshit this is, and each is now at a loss of what to do. So, they do nothing. Here's how New Zealand handles guns...

"people first have to obtain a license to legally purchase, own, and possess a gun. That all typically takes months to get through. some types of firearms, like handguns and certain semiautomatic rifles, require “endorsements” from police and separate permits to purchase. The licenses have to be renewed every 10 years, and police can revoke a person’s license if that person is believed to no longer be fit for ownership and may pose a threat. Gun sellers are also licensed and regulated by police."

WOW! If the United States had this kind of control, how many lives would have been saved in the last several years? Homicides by firearm per 1 million people: New Zealand 1.6; United States 29.7. But on the other hand, Glock has just hired top gun nut Chuck Norris to promote its line of weaponry, which is certain to impress enough people to go out and buy even more guns. But, then, that is the American way, isn't it?

The hidden danger of anti-vaxxers-unknown exposure

Darla Shine-dumbest of anti-vaxxers

They're everywhere, but we don't know who they are. I am talking about anti-vaxxes in business healthcare and education. Here's the scenario. You walk into your favorite retail location, picking up items as you shop to look at. What you don't know is the fact that the sales clerk that just put several of these things on display has an unvaccinated kid at home with the measles, and mom has been touching her all morning. Bingo, you are exposed to the measles.

The same plot is carried out in a doctor's office or hospital, then at the university or in the library. My point is that you simply don't know when you have come in contact with one of these anti-vaxxer individuals that might be carrying all sorts of diseases. It happened to me, in a doctor's office. The receptionist was bragging that she didn't vaccinate her kids, in front of the rest of the staff, and I, of course, was telling her how wrong she was. We no longer go to this doc.

Like I said, these anti-vaxxers are everywhere and of course in the Donald Trump administration. The wife of former Trump White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, Bill Shine, is one of these dimwits. Wife, Darla Shine, came up with this absurd idea, and keep in mind it is during the period when new measles cases were breaking out daily...

"she said that not being vaccinated and actually contracting the measles or mumps was a huge advantage, a hardiness builder that could help a person fight off cancer down the line."

I have heard the statements of a lot of anti-vaxxers, but this one takes the cake for inherent stupidity. And this is what the world of these freak propagandists listen to and then go viral with it in social media. Facebook, at least, had the sense to curb what appeared to be complete damaging misinformation. But there is nothing like word of mouth and these morons are out there in force spreading their diseases both verbally and physically.

The terrible truth is these spreaders of calamity are here to stay, says Scientific American. So, the only thing we can do is shun them like the plague and BEWARE!

Trump has much more baggage than just Mueller Report

T-rump definitely in a squeeze

Aside from himself, there is his business, and his family is in jeopardy from many other investigations and lawsuits. This should be a classic example of 'when you do the deed, you do the time.' Unless the Donald Trump legal ensemble can pull this whole mess out of the fire. Many hope that he and his family get their just desserts from using the U.S. government to lie their way through scenario after scenario and connive their way to federal positions of power.

 But the big news is something uncovered in a lawsuit filed against Felix Sater, a Russian-born mobster and government informant who worked closely with Trump for years. Get that, a 'mobster" compounded by the fact he "worked closely with Trump for years." We've had questionable presidents over time , but there is no doubt in my mind that none of them can beat Donald Trump's corruption. Here's what Salon says...

"The bureau should have intimate knowledge of business dealings between the mobster and Trump, who despite being cut off by every major bank except one, was flush with cash after a few years of working with Sater. The one bank that kept loaning Trump money was Deutsche Bank, which has been fined more than $600 million for laundering money for Russians."

Vox mentions a few of Trump's continuing problems: The hush money investigation; The Trump inaugural committee investigations; New York state-based investigations (a biggie!); and miscellaneous Lawsuits. If Mueller can't bring T-rump down, political pundits feel like the above, particularly the New York action, will. Sater's testimony yielded...

"that between Trump, when he was a private citizen, and a host of Russian criminals and a North Korean nuclear weapons materials trafficker there is only one degree of separation: Sater."

I don't believe Al Capone and John Gotti combined had this much dirt in their corner and they didn't wiggle out. 

2nd Amendment 'Sanctuaries' sounding like anti-vaxxers

Here's the definition of a Second Amendment Sanctuary...

"also referred to as Second Amendment Preservation Ordinance or Second Amendment Protection Act, refers to resolutions adopted by some jurisdictions in the United States to not expend resources to enforce certain gun control measures perceived as violative of the Second Amendment."

In other words, gun sanctuary cities are those where gun nut law enforcement has chosen to break the law and not protect its citizens from gun violence. Kinda like anti-vaxxers who have decided to break social traditions that protect the health of this country. Salon reports...

"In some cases, county sheriffs have publicly said they will not enforce the new laws"

This has happened in at least six states: Nevada, New Mexico, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and Illinois. Sounds like sedition to me, an outright act of huge illegal proportions by law enforcement that is bound by the Constitution to uphold the laws of this country. And it's gaining momentum throughout the U.S. Although inspired by efforts to establish immigration and marijuana sanctuaries, it is the new Red Flag Laws that move these groups today...

"A red flag law is a gun violence prevention law that permits police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to others or themselves."

Now that seems reasonable enough to most people who prefer to keep their lives intact rather than die from gun violence. Monument, Colorado is one of those bastions of gun nuts who favor their weapons over the life of the innocent citizens they are supposed to protect. The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to proclaim Monument as a “Second Amendment Preservation Town. Police Chief Jacob Shirk doesn't like the red flag bill, probably won't enforce it.

Brookline, Mass. frowns on its firearm licensing policies, and is attempting to take its case all the way to the Supreme Court. These 2nd Amendment morons are going to go too far soon that the American public will tire of the gun violence and vote to repeal the 2nd Amendment. This all ties in with the spate of loose gun laws across the country that allow these cowboys and cowgirls to take their guns anywhere they want to. This sloppy gun control just puts more guns in the hands of the bad guys.

Measles has competition...A 'Super Bug'

Famous new 'Superbug'

There were 100 more cases of measles last week. Keep in mind this is a disease that was considered eradicated in the U.S. twenty years ago. The total number of cases reported is 465, all thanks to the stupidity of anti-vaxxer parents that refuse to vaccinate their children. The irony of all this is the fact that some of these parents probably had their vaccinations years ago from parents who were sane. Fortunately, those parents didn't have social media to lead them astray.

Measles is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable respiratory illness characterized by a rash of flat red spots. Symptoms may include fever, cough, runny nose and watery eyes, according to CNN. The disease is widespread throughout the U.S. as federal and state lawmakers stand by while this issue reaches epic proportions in...

The states of Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts and Nevada. Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

If your state isn't in there, it will be soon. But now the CDC has confirmed 144 cases of the 'superbug' in Illinois...

The cases of Candida auris, a serious and sometimes fatal fungal infection that has been called a "superbug," have been identified in Illinois and 11 other states across America, according to the CDC.

The sane majority of people in this country are going to want to know if this has anything to do with the idiot anti-vaxxers who have spread measles, mumps and chickenpox. New York has 309 cases and the bug so far seems confined to the big apple, New Jersey and Chicago. It has been reported that...

"Globally, Candida auris has been reported in eight other countries, including two with more than 30 patients each, the 2016 report added."

New York schools were ordered to prohibit unvaccinated children in December. It is time for lawmakers to step in and stop this issue from reaching an uncontrollable state.

West of Tombstone, the shootouts continue

You can't get much further west than Manhattan Beach. Calif., one of the state's premiere beach communities that attracts the moneyed young. Gunfire started in the Manhattan Gateway shopping center with one police officer down almost immediately. Several cops then opened fire on the suspect. No information yet on the injured officer. A bike rider commented...

“This is just a trip,” said Hawthorne resident Chavita Medrano, who was out for a bike ride. “You hear about all these things horrible happening in the world, but you don’t expect it right in your backyard.”

Precisely. We expected this sort of action in the old days of Tombstone, but not in an upscale community of Los Angeles. It started with a guy chasing a woman through the lobby of a hotel and then he took off running into a shopping center. The cop shot was hit in the leg and taken to a hospital. The suspect was eventually captured and a female, also chased by cops, was apparently OK, but her relationship to the suspect was unknown.

Sounds like a great day for a walk around the beach and then all hell breaks loose and there is a shooter on the loose. There are 393 million guns owned by Americans. There are 857 million firearms owned worldwide, meaning the U.S. gun nuts are in possession of almost 46% of total guns owned in the world. And one of these characters just happened to be in Manhattan Beach, Calif. on Sunday, deciding to shoot up the community.

Police announced "the gunman was armed with 'some sort of assault rifle or a TEC-9-type high-powered or high-capacity weapon.'" Assault rifles seem to be the weapon of choice when a deranged individual decides to go out and kill a few people. In this case the police officer should be fine, but the next time the guy could take out 10, 15, up to 20 or more victims in yet another mass killing.

And ladies and gentlemen, all thanks to Wayne LaPierre and his misguided National Rifle Assn. (NRA).