Thursday, June 7, 2018

Oval Office lunatic doesn't give a fuck about the people, says LeBron James


Yes, that's right, he is laughable
Lebron James' Cleveland Cavaliers and Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors have already said a resounding NO to any potential invite from Donald Trump to visit the White House, whoever wins the NBA finals. James said it was because of Donald Trump's uninviting the 2018 Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. I posted on this June 6, indicating the Eagles might as well go to Disneyland instead. James' comment on the White House visit was...
"I know no matter who wins this series, no one wants an invite anyway. It won't be Cleveland or Golden State going."
I am reading a little disgust into his statement for the Oval Office lunatic, but, then, that's me. However, to lend validity to my observation, here is a comment by Lebron James to ESPN...
"The number one job in America... is someone who doesn't understand the people, and really don't give a f--- about the people.”
And that pretty much establishes James'--and probably millions more Americans--opinion of Donald Trump. It is a tragic point in the history of this country when one of the top figures in sports says the President of the United States doesn't give a fuck about the people, some of which elected him. And if Trump's stupidity weren't enough, Fox News printed misleading pictures of Eagles players kneeling in prayer, indicating that the player was protesting the National Anthem. I alluded to this "news network" regularly skirting the facts in its reporting...
"Didn't know Fox needed anything to corroborate their 'facts,'"
But when you look at the people who populate Fox News, there's no doubt in your mind...You'll never get the truth.

Read more: LeBron James, Stephen Curry agree that next NBA champs won't visit White House
                    LeBron James Says Donald Trump 'Doesn't Give a F---' About the People
                    Fox News ripped for misleading photos of Philadelphia Eagles players kneeling

UPDATE: Democrats voting in November lead 50% to 40%

UPDATE: New NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll has Democratic leaning voters 10 points more than Republicans, 50% to 40%.

The economy is doing well, unemployment low, new jobs being added, average earnings up and domestic product growth at more than 4.5 percent. Gotta give the GOP credit for passing the tax bill that helped in this general improvement of things, but we mustn't lose sight of the fact that its primary purpose was to reward big business and the wealthy. There are actually three ways the tax plan does not live up to the promises that Trump made to the American people...
1. The cuts for the middle class are meager and temporary
2. There will be significant tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy
3. Individual income rates will not be simplified and are higher than promised
First, the answer to #1: "Middle-income Americans will benefit by around $1,000 initially, according to Tax Policy Center estimates. But by 2027, the majority of middle-class households would get no tax cut, and some would actually pay more." #2: The largest cuts as a share of income will go to taxpayers in the 95th to 99th percentiles of income distribution. #3: "In the final bill, the United States has the same number of tax brackets it had previously: seven." In other words, Trump's tax bill is a ruse for the average American.

But in its design to reward big business and the wealthy, the economy has improved, and the disguised drawbacks to average American benefits are simply left unsaid by Republicans. As one writer put it, "Congress upended the tax code, ladling out oodles to the rich, but also offering a sop to those in the heartland at the expense of the deep blue coasts." But even with all this good news...
"Democrat Conor Lamb pulled off the year’s biggest upset in March and snatched a congressional seat in western Pennsylvania last held by a Democrat more than 15 years earlier."
Added to this: "In the past eight special elections, Democrats have overperformed by an average of 9 points." The Dems have been chipping away at Republicans recently with a blueprint that seems to be working. It can only get better before November.

Read more: TRUMP’S BROKEN PROMISES: GOP TAX BILL FILLS WEALTHY PEOPLE’S POCKETS, TAKES MONEY FROM MIDDLE CLASS, POOR

Read more: Who has the edge for 2018: Republicans or Democrats?

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Mitch McConnell has built a Senate cesspool


CNN's Byron Wolf calls it devilish, brilliant politics. I call it typical Mitch McConnell and this is what I had to say about him in a post June 7, 2015...
Don't tell me U.S. Senators deserve respect when they are the low life of Congress. If there was a barrel, the downside would have to be bottomless to accommodate Mitch McConnell.
The post was my reaction to McConnell's perpetual demeaning of Barack Obama, and his insistence that nothing he did would ever get anywhere in his Senate. These were his words when Obama was inaugurated...
“When I first came into office my number one priority is making sure president Obama’s a one-term president."
That, of course, didn't happen, when Obama handily won his second term. McConnell has a deep-seated hatred for Barack Obama, primarily based on the lowlife Senator's racism, a known fact for years. But, this scumbag now leads the U.S. Senate. He's blaming the August recess cancellation on obstructionism by Democrats, the kind of excuse a jerk like McConnell would use. The idea, of course, is to prevent Democratic Senators who are running in November, but my gut tells me there will be provisions made for Republicans.

There are 26 Democrat-held Senate seats and only seven Republican-held seats on the ballot in November. The latest poll shows a tightening of voting preference with the Democrats holding just a 4-point lead. In the House, however, where Republicans are defending more seats, they haven't announced plans to cancel the August recess. This all may be called strategy and, perhaps, the Dems would do the same if they were in control. The bottom line here is that the Republicans are using their power to win the November election. What they don't know is, it won't work.

Read more: Mitch McConnell plays a little dirty to keep his majority

Philadelphia Eagles will probably go to Disneyland instead...


The fact of the matter is that the Philadelphia Eagles didn't even do what they are accused of by Donald Trump. Not one Eagle Player kneeled for the National Anthem last season, but the Oval Office lunatic in his long-running feud with the National Football League canceled their visit to the White House in honor of their winning the Super Bowl. This bad blood with the NFL exists since the league "stonewalled his effort to buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014." This is what Trump said in canceling the event...
"The Eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better."

The word was that only four Eagles had agreed to appear with T-rump, a statement in itself of the disdain felt for this man around the country. Although the Eagles didn't. players who kneel in protest have been called "sons of bitches" and it was suggested they shouldn't be in the country. This is purely an act to impress his "Make America Great Again" followers. But let's be clear about how this slogan came about; Trump stole it from Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign, "Let's Make America Great Again." And now he claims it's his own.

Fox News is struggling in its support of T-rump's decision but can't seem to find any photos or videos to substantiate the Eagle players were kneeling. Didn't know Fox needed anything to corroborate their "facts," and isn't it interesting that the "news network's" main thrust is to find something to support Donald Trump, even when there is obviously nothing there. The Eagles will survive; as a matter of fact, they had decided not to go to the White House long before the "Anthem" rule was passed. This kind of aversion to Trump must be turned into Democrat/Progressive votes in November.

Read more: Trump's Battle with the NFL Has Reached Critical Mass

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Trump's top enemy Mueller could hasten GOP demise


Brent Budowsky, writing for The Hill, believes that Donald Trump's use of enemy lists to set up his agenda of attacks on his enemies may very well backfire, bringing out multitudes of Democratic and [Progressive] voters in November. His words...
"For every voter in the Trump base who is motivated to vote by these attacks, even more voters who disapprove of Trump are motivated to vote."
If this is what it takes to bring out the left vote, bring on the enemies. Harking back to Richard Nixon who thought everyone was his enemy, the Oval Office lunatic has taken paranoia to a new level. He fires people under him at all levels with the ease of throwing out the evening trash. His tactics are like a bad deodorant when he is trying to hide the truth. This undermining of the investigation of Robert Mueller and his special counsel team is actually getting old with respect to its validity. T-rump's latest ploy is to threaten Mueller with the fact that he can pardon himself, which is laughable.

Working as hard as Trump, and with an equal level of madness, is Rudy Giuliani, who Budowsky reminds us...
"was cheered by New Yorkers after the terror attack in September 2001 and was recently loudly booed at a New York Yankees game, to execute a crude strategy in his name.
 and...
"Giuliani is an advertisement for obstruction of justice. He speaks relentlessly and aggressively to discredit and politically destroy the Mueller investigation."
And the author has a number of groups with reasoning to vote in November because they feel "something has gone terribly wrong with America under Trump." Two such are Independents and moderate Republicans from the suburbs and small towns who voted for Trump in 2016. They thought he would "drain the swamp" but found out in actuality that Donald Trump is the swamp.

Trump self pardon just confirms his narcissism


Donald Trump behind bars, where he should be
We have regularly seen exaggerated arrogance from Donald Trump to the extent that some even explored it to see if it was an impeachable offense. It isn't, but it just shows the length to which the Oval Office lunatic will go in making everything about himself. And now T-rump's lawyers have advised special counsel Robert Mueller...
"the president would not comply with requests for an interview, could end the special counsel's investigation and could use his executive powers to pardon if needed."
In other words, Trump would literally pardon himself. The letter was in response to a request from Mueller for an interview with Trump. The former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, who was fired by T-rump, said it would be a “self-executing impeachment” if President Trump were to pardon himself. His lawyers continually make the point that there is no substance in Mueller's investigation, while recounting all the material they have provided the special counsel, therefore, there is no reason for a personal interview.

Bharara's reaction was actually in response to Trump attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who "appearing on ABC's This Week Sunday morning, said Trump could pardon himself, though has no plans to do so." I doubt seriously if Giuliani has any legal source he can refer to that would substantiate that remark. It is, no doubt, off the top of his head, completely without thought, as 99% of what his boss spews regularly. This from former New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie...
"If the president were to pardon himself, he'll get impeached."
This can probably all be written off to just another stupid day in the saga of Donald Trump's presidency, something, perhaps, we should have expected. Will November never get here?

Read more: Trump's lawyers to Mueller in letter: President can end probe, use pardon power
                    Former US attorney: Trump pardoning himself would be 'self-executing impeachment'
                    Giuliani says Trump 'probably' has the power to pardon himself

Monday, June 4, 2018

Should James Comey run for President? Read his book


I had a hard time getting through the first part of James Comey's book, A Higher Loyalty-Truth, Lies, and Leadership. I thought he was wasting too much time on his past life and background until I realized the core of this man's meaning and purpose for wring his tome, to present the two sides of what a government can be. Sleazy, corrupt and unacceptable like the Donald Trump administration, or honest, loyal to the people and worthy of its leader like, say, Barack Obama. The latter may not have been effective enough for many, mostly because of a repressive Republican Congress, but he had principles James Comey admired and possessed himself. Primarily honesty and loyalty.

Comey's background is diversified legally, a U.S. Attorney in New York, U.S. Deputy Attorney General under GWB, and when Barack Obama appointed him Director of the FBI. Through these four positions, he says in his book that he has become extremely familiar with the workings of the U.S. government. He doesn't say this but under both Obama and Trump, a dysfunctional government, for the former, Republicans denying everything he tried and the latter, the man himself, Trump. James Comey doesn't really badmouth anyone but he does speak the truth.

Especially in the book's epilogue where he comments...
"this president [Donald Trump] is unethical and untethered to truth and institutional values. His leadership is transactional, ego driven, and about personal loyalty."
He goes on to commend those who have stayed with the administration, even with the adversity of this lunatic's constant tirades. Perhaps they have kept us out of a nuclear war, or at least calmed the nations of the world that believe the United States has lost its mind by electing a maniac for president. Donald Trump has said for years...
"I just feel that loyalty is a very, very important part of life, not only of business but of life."
To this Paul Waldman of The American Prospect commented on Afternet...
"The truth is that Trump demands loyalty from everyone but gives it to no one. As he prowls the darkened hallways of the White House at night, alone with his thoughts, his wife and young son 200 miles away, the staff having retired for the night, it wouldn't be surprising if Trump is becoming increasingly convinced that no one is loyal to him and there's no one he can trust."
Trump tried the loyalty ploy with James Comey and was rebuked just before he was fired as FBI Director. Most have seen Comey's move as laudable and in fact there is probably no person in the American government today that is more loyal to this country than James Comey. He is a Republican but even as a liberal Progressive, I would vote for the man. However, it is just possible that James Comey has had quite enough of the stinkin' dirty politics working for Donald Trump that he wants nothing to do with a Presidential election. Only time will tell.

Read more: Trump Demands Loyalty From Everyone, But Gives It to No One

When conservatives turn against their own

 I have followed Wm. Kristol for years and it wasn’t very long ago that I considered him an ultra conservative that would never chastise the...