TRUMP LATEST: Trump's COVID-19 results miserable compared to Xo in China

Nation's quote:  "China under Xi has suppressed the latest coronavirus at the human cost of three lives per million population, the United States under Trump is still struggling to overpower it, having already sacrificed 145 of every million Americans"...

Those are overpowering figures when you consider that Donald Trump is nowhere near getting a handle on coronavirus in this country. And what is even worse is that this idiot will not face up to the fact of how incompetent he is, leading the U.S. into more instability and peril on a daily basis. To emphasize the delay, here's a timeline...

"George Gao, director of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC), spoke with his American counterpart, Robert Redfield, on January 3, alerting him to the arrival of an as-yet-unidentified, pneumonia-inducing virus in the city of Wuhan (news of which the Chinese government would for crucial days withhold domestically). Redfield then briefed Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar on that conversation."

In China, Wuhan was identified as the source of the outbreak and...

"On January 3, the NHC centralized all testing related to the mysterious disease and, two days later, in conjunction with experts in infectious diseases caused by pathogens that jump from animals to humans, completed the sequencing of the genome of the virus."

Trump lies, lies, lies on COVID-19...PATHETIC!... 

This information was made available worldwide on January 7, and on January 14, WHO made a somewhat vague announcement to the world on this threat. China's national health Commission confirmed human to human transmission on January 19, with the U.S. moving slowly, mostly observing. On January 24, a complete lockdown of Wuhan was ordered of 760 million people. President Xi worked with WHO, keeping them posted regularly on what he was doing.

In the meantime, Donald Trump was just beginning to drag his feet, setting up a task force...

"led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to monitor, contain, and mitigate the spread of the coronavirus while also keeping Americans informed on the matter."

 Centers for Disease Control Prevention’s Robert Redfield had also been at work preparing for the disease in the U.S. when the...

"World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “global health emergency.” On February 11, it labeled the disease caused by the latest coronavirus, which can culminate in death-inducing pneumonia, Covid-19."

Trump disorientation on coronavirus testing...

It was right at this time that the Oval Office lunatic tweeted his first reaction to dangers of COVID-19 when the first lab-confirmed coronavirus case was reported in Olympia, Washington...

“It’s one person coming in from China and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

It wasn't "just fine" and as the threat continued to grow, T-rump called it a hoax, then blamed the whole thing on the Democrats, As it spread around the world, Trump placed Mike Pence in charge of response to the virus, and with his incompetence noted, put his moron son in law in charge, where, since then the handling of everything has deteriorated. While the rest of the world gears up for aggressive testing, Trump promises 2% of the U.S. population, grossly lacking.

With the threat of a full-blown pandemic, "all Trump did was ban the arrival of non-US citizens who had recently traveled to China. From then on, he repeatedly touted this as evidence that he had acted early." In the face of clear data this could turn into a worldwide pandemic from his own people, Trump tweeted...

“The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA,”

And yet more disinformation from Donald Trump COVID-19 under control...

He began tweeting that the U.S. would soon have a coronavirus vaccine, which was altogether false and, even today, it is thought to be at least a year before a safe vaccine can be ready for market. It was soon after around mid-March when the White House maniac finally came to his senses, and at about this time Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, came on the scene.

Since then it has been a tumultuous battle between the counterfeit doctor and scientist sitting in the White House and the expert from the CDC, who tries his best to balance the stupidity of Donald Trump with the truth from his office. The big question is...who will win the war, not just the battle?

My thanks to TheNation for this excellent article, which I recommend you read and support the publication.

Trump acquitted, giving even more power to extreme right

 

Donald Trump has been acquitted in the impeachment trial even with seven Republican Senators crossing the aisle and voting for conviction. Moscow Mitch releases a glaring put down of Trump, yet votes to acquit him. Lindsey Graham got his nose out of Trump's butt long enough to vote to acquit. Greg Sargent's prediction in the Washington Post was fulfilled...

"Mark it now: The vast majority of them will agree that the storming of the Capitol was an abomination and that the perpetrators must be held to account. But little by little, many will migrate to a place where Trump himself is absolutely and comprehensively exonerated from any culpability for inciting it in any way."

It is frightening for sane thinking people--yes, there are still some left--who have come to realize that Republicans have absolutely no honor left. This radical right would let a lunatic go in the face of overwhelming evidence that he committed terrible atrocities while in office. Donald Trump will go down as the most vile and corrupt president to ever serve this country, but also the world's most effective con man. But these morons in the Senate acquitted him. 

And if this isn't enough, there is a new proliferation of self-proclaimed "prophets"

who, according to Alex Henderson of AlterNet, "are known for making political predictions." Ruth Graham of the New York Times reports that "some of them have turned out to be way off in their predictions." Graham adds...

"Such 'prophets,' according to Graham, are likely to promote political conspiracy theories."

These heretics operate mostly online and are, according to Graham...

"are part of the rising appeal of conspiracies in Christian settings, echoed by the popularity of QAnon among many evangelicals and a resistance to mainstream sources of information."

But let me tell you, there is no bigger threat to this country--that is other than Donald Trump--than Fox News anchor, Tucker Carlson. I wish someone had done the same tally on him as they did on Donald Trump lies. However, there are a couple of PolitiFact sites here, and here. that will give you an idea just how deceitful and dishonest this lowlife is. Max Boot of the Washington Post says...

"When Donald Trump was in office, he posed the most dangerous threat to American democracy. With the former president now golfing full-time, the most dangerous threat may well emanate from the Fox 'News' Channel — and specifically from its top-rated host, Tucker Carlson. He seems to be on a mission to make America’s worst problems even worse."

One of Carlson's specialties is promoting vaccine conspiracies, which influences people in the wrong direction and a major threat to their health. He is the epitome of an anti-vaxxer, anti-masks, anti-distancing, all rolled into one pompous moron. Tucker Carlson is the go-to for far-right extremists who, according to AlterNet "have the potential to mount a coordinated, low-intensity campaign of political violence." From the Proud Boys to QAnon, these noodle-heads are dangerous.

AlterNet reports...

"Several U.S. security experts say they now consider domestic extremism a greater threat to the country than international terror. According to my [The Conversation] research on political violence, the U.S. has all the elements that, combined, can produce a low-intensity terrorist conflict: extreme polarization and armed factions willing to break the law, in a wealthy democracy with a strong government.

The article points out that during modern days, civil wars only break out in poor countries where leadership is weak or non-existent. Yet, Donald Trump, in his four years in office has driven the powerhouse United States to the point of all-out insurrection with a radical faction that only seems to get stronger. Joe Biden is busy with controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and there are other issues on his plate like immigration and minimum wage but we all must look out for the radical right.

Bill Barr's Ukraine connection, Whistleblower, Impeachment and Mitch McConnell

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 BEST OF THE NEWS

What's happenin?... 

Never been truer than Trump administration

Attorney General William Barr is one of the biggest failures of the Trump administration...READ MORE

Trump early response to the whistleblower complaint is incoherent...READ MORE

Trump will be hurt at least three ways by impeachment, even if the senate exonerates him...READ MORE

MSBC's Rachel Maddow on Trump impeachment...

Lowlife Mitch McConnell is with Trump all the way as he continues to undermine national security...READ MORE

Republicans look the other way, as usual, as Brett Kavanaugh lies under oath...READ MORE

John Bolton turning on Trump and apparently has info on whistleblower...READ MORE

In recent demonstrations over Climate Change, which brought out over 400,000 demonstrators, one sign commenting on Donald Trump's Cabinet read: "I've seen smarter cabinets at IKEA."...READ MORE

Climate change demonstrations...

Karen Pence turns to Twitter to lavish praise on Donald Trump; it was a failure like everything this family does. Something like a religious Cheney family...READ MORE

More indecipherable Trump over Ukraine allegations; call in the white coats...READ MORE

Donald Trump resorts to more lies when asked about impeachment; if T-rump didn't lie, he wouldn't say anything at all...READ MORE

Hard data show economic program Donald Trump said would help average Americans has "actually imposed substantial costs on about 70 percent of Americans."...READ MORE

READ THIS Goldman Sachs 34-page analysis of the impact of climate change. The results are reported as "terrifying."...READ MORE

Would Donald Trump throw Mike Pence under the bus to save himself? Hell yes!...READ MORE

TRUMP LATEST: Everyone but supporters think he is losing it

I have blogged on Donald Trump losing it in the past and these headlines seem to persist in the media, but the Oval Office lunatic still charges ahead. Blindly and stupidly, but still on the move.

Evidence of the frailty of Trump's reasoning...

My thoughts were to forge on with coverage that pushes T-rump to the edge, joining others out there doing the same, which has happened, but to no avail yet. Not sure what the prop is that keeps him going, but my best guess is that when you're the kind of idiot that doesn't realize the damage he is doing to his country, then you are beyond the normal breaking point and could skate along forever, Which is simply not acceptable.

Here is Alex Henderson's take in AlterNet: "The more journalists report that Trump is losing it, the more he loses it." Yeah, that's true, he loses it constantly, but somehow seems to get it back. At least enough to survive, which is what Trump is all about. Say and do those bizarre things on a daily basis, throw the USA into more chaos by the hour, but with his double-digit supporters as his cornerstone, he proceeds in numbing bliss.

Many mental health experts spoke out on Donald Trump mental instability two years ago...

Bess Levin in Vanity Fair says he is beginning to lose it over reports that he is losing it. Levin continues...

“Donald Trump has never been the picture of mental stability, but over the last few weeks, he’s appeared to crank up the crazy from about a 45 to a 337. From seemingly proposing intravenous Lysol as a coronavirus cure to claiming the United States is close to testing 5 million people a day for COVID-19 — a number so completely absurd that he might as well have said we’ll soon be running 8 billion tests a day — to reportedly threatening to sue his campaign manager over a dimming 2020 outlook, the president has well and truly lost whatever remaining shred of sanity he once had on reserve.”

These are all interesting observations, any one of which might have pushed the button to oblivious disconnection, but haven't. Are we doomed to suffer the wrath of the White House maniac through another four years of misery and ineptitude? If so, there are several of us who might want to leave this planet. Yes, I said the entire planet, because there is nowhere on this one to get away from this moron and it is necessary to go as far as possible.

You have to read Henderson's AlterNet piece so you can see two of Trump's most comical tweets re. media people and his campaign manager. And in another AlterNet article written by Nancy LeTourneau from the Washington Monthly, she reports: "The signs show Trump is growing increasingly disconnected from reality." But where is the break? Now, don't get me wrong, in most cases you don't want to see anyone have mental problems, but???...

CNN fact-checks Donald Trump's recent town hall for more lies...

LeTourneau's observation here focuses on Trump's lying, something which no other American president has ever been guilty of in the history of this country, and something which will become his legacy...

"Almost three and a half years into Trump’s presidency, it has become almost blasé to talk about his ubiquitous lies. According to the fact-checkers at the Washington Post, as of April 3rd, he has told 18,000 in 1,170 days, for an average of more than 15 per day. What is even more disturbing: He’s getting worse."

This is the guy who is supposed to be running this country, which, of course, he is not, lying to the American public fifteen times every day. Yet, there is still that demented crowd of followers out there who continue to worship at his feet. Her piece also a must read for the video she includes (scroll down) that illustrates how this schizoid can sit there with a sincere straight face and talk about the great way he has handled the coronavirus pandemic.

LeTourneau does a more recent count on the lies, five in less than two minutes. and lists them one-by-one. So we have someone at the helm of this country who is in a constant state of oblivion, probably not prone to fully go over the edge because there is absolutely no connection there with reality. Here's a quote on reality from Douglas H. Everett...

"There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other."

Enough said. 

Even the white nationalists are turning on Trump

Iowa has always been the come-to state for Presidents and 2016 was no different for Donald Trump. He took the state 51.1% to win against Hillary Clinton's 41.7, garnering the 6 electoral votes. Des Moines, where I spent several years, went for Clinton as did another major metro area, Cedar Rapids. Iowans are considered good, down to earth, stable people with common sense. That's pretty much true as I can attest to after spending several years in the capital city, but also having experienced a hard-line cliquishness there that forbids outsiders in until proven. I never made it.

I left in the late sixties, never sorry for my decision, and have never looked back. I tell you this to qualify the fact that I am a maverick, always have been, and always will be. Mavericks don't do well in the state, although there is a basketball team there by that name who are apparently winners. But it is people like Tom Godat, a union electrician from Clinton, Iowa, that represents a state that has been a combination of Democrat and Republican in the past, but recently has been attacked by the Tea Party. It elected Joni Ernst to the Senate, something many in the state still can't believe.

But back to Mr. Godat, who has always voted for Democrats, decided to cast his vote for Donald Trump in 2016, not that he particularly thought Trump was best, but because he thought Hillary Clinton was worse. An excellent case in point to shore up the fact that Bernie Sanders should have been the Democrats nominee, not Clinton. Tom now says he is "embarrassed" over his vote. I would suspect that a lot of good people out there are also coming to the same conclusion. What I don't understand is, after viewing Trump's campaign, why wasn't Tom Godat horrified with what he saw?

There were Donald John's comments about Mexican immigrants, about women, about veterans, the disarming of Clinton's bodyguards, saying Obama was the founder of ISIS, sicking the gun nuts on Hillary, encouraging Russia to hack Clinton's campaign, more racism calling for a ban on Muslims in the U.S., saying people in New Jersey were cheering on 9/11, suggesting one of his protesters should be roughed up, referring to his daughter in a sexual way, his bizarre comments about Megyn Kelly's menstrual period, I could go on forever but you get the idea. Why didn't Tom Godat?

Washington Post reporter, Jenna Johnson, and her photographer, Michael S. Williamson, ran into "...more than 100 Iowans [who]explained why so many of them are already disappointed in the new president." It only took four days which means they encountered 25 a day. That's an impressive number of people when you consider that Iowans aren't that open and easy to get to talk to by people they don't know. And then there's Lost Nation, Iowa, where the president received 66 percent of the vote. After Trump's election, the Iowa legislature voted to dramatically scale back the collective bargaining rights of the state’s public workers, distressing my Lost Nation residents.

The Huff Post reports that "thousands" of people across the country are unhappy with their vote for Donald John, and they are tweeting it in response to the "head tweeter's" barrage of lies and misinformation. Here's an example...

“I’m starting to feel like the biggest mistake of my young 23 years of life has been voting for [Trump],” Joseph Richardson tweeted on Nov. 21.

And that's less than two weeks after the November 8, election day. Richardson said it was a bitTrump’s Cabinet picks or the 'very childish' behavior he exhibited at a press conference last week. And he does regret his vote. Sort of." Even if he did it over, Richardson says he still couldn't vote for Clinton continuing with, “I still think Trump would be the better candidate. I’d still regret it. I’d vote for him again but I’d still regret it.” Go figure. But it is this exact kind of reasoning that political pundits were clamoring over during the 2016 election.
unsettling and added, "He doesn’t like

Now here's a guy you just have to shake your head over. Not sure if he is misinformed, full of indecision or just not too bright...

"Bill said he would like Trump to act more like President Barack Obama, who he voted against twice but considers 'an extremely honorable man who served the country fantastically.'”

I could understand a statement that said, served the country "well," or "fine," or even "right." But how can you call Obama "extremely honorable" and a man "who served the country fantastically" but still have voted against him twice? Makes no sense unless there is an ulterior motive. And that's what is wrong with our political system, people voting who haven't the slightest idea what they are doing. There were some that lashed out at Donald John for not following up on his promise to investigate Clinton’s handling of sensitive emails, a decision that also puzzles some of the pundits.

Others voiced their reason to vote for Trump was his promise for change, to drain the swamp. Many of this group think the swamp is fuller than ever, but others believe Trump is following through on his promises. Even the alt-right and its white nationalists are down on Donald Trump. Remember Richard Spencer? The guy "who stood at a podium shortly after Donald Trump's election and, in a video that went viral, shouted 'Hail Trump!' while several in the crowd celebrated the victory with a Nazi salute." He's not sure now his President will be racial enough.

From what I have read, a large number of Trump voters have combined to strongly object over the fact that Donald John did not investigate, subsequently prosecute Hillary Clinton over the email issue. This is a major campaign promise that he broke, and the fact that this is one of the primary annoyances of those who voted for the man, it is yet just one more instance that reflects the amount of animosity toward Hillary Clinton. This was clear from the early 2016 campaigning right through the November election. A leading reason Democrats are in the hole they are now in.

Donald Trump's top adviser and chief White House strategist, Steve Bannon, described Richard Spencer as one of the leading intellectuals of the alt-right movement. CNN reported that...

"Spencer is a white nationalist who believes that there should be a 'peaceful ethnic cleansing,' where people who are not of European descent voluntarily leave the United States."

Not that it is important since this deranged kind of thinking probably has no chance of ever being initiated in this country, but what if they don't leave voluntarily? But just maybe the thought of ethnic cleansing isn't so far out when you consider Trump has already provided the model in his latest Muslim ban of now six countries just announced in Monday's address to Congress. More from Slate on Bannon/Spencer connection...

"In August, [2016] Bannon proudly described his site as 'the platform for the alt-right,' a movement with Spencer as one of its intellectual leaders, again, according to Bannon’s own site."

It is said the Vice President is only a heartbeat away from the presidency. In the case of Steve Bannon, this is a heart beat that could change the direction of the greatest free nation of all time.

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.

How high can Trump lies soar?

How do you explain 81 Donald Trump lies in one week to your children? You can't.

By the CNN count last week's Donald Trump lies "tied for the fifth-highest total in the 27 weeks we have counted at CNN. He lied 81 times with the usual arrogance of someone who is completely comfortable as a narcissist buffoon. No one can blame Trudeau and company plus Putin and Assad for making fun of him behind his back. Trump's idiocy is universal and could be sold for a brand as equal to Holiday Inns or Proctor & Gamble. The whole world recognizes it.

CNN commented...

"It was an eclectic batch of dishonesty. Among other things, Trump took unearned credit for both the Ethiopia-Eritrea peace agreement and for the drop in the US cancer death rate, absurdly claimed that NATO "had no money" before his presidency, wrongly denied that his golf excursions cost taxpayers any money, and repeated his usual varied inaccuracies about impeachment, immigration and the nuclear agreement with Iran."

After the 81 record false claims last week, his average was around 61 per week, and shows no signs of slowing down. Trump is dying for a Nobel, something that would lower this award to something less than imaginable. At a recent rally, "he claimed that he was a more deserving recipient than Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed." Ahmed received the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his part making a peace deal with neighboring Eritrea.

It was for settling a border dispute with this neighboring country, something Donald Trump could learn from rather than criticizing Ahmed's award. Pathetic!
READ MORE...

YOUR DIGEST NEWS OF THE WEEK

Five of the world's biggest environmental problems...

With the facts from the article below, would you think anyone could deny the potential disaster to the planet that is expected? Yes, and I have experienced many of these ostrich types who blame it on greed by the scientific community to obtain research grants...

"Air pollution and climate change: Problem: Overloading of the atmosphere and of ocean waters with carbon. Atmospheric CO2 absorbs and re-emits infrared-wavelength radiation, leading to warmer. air, soils, and ocean surface waters - which is good: The planet would be frozen solid without this."   READ MORE...

Trump supporters believe these 10 utterly fake ‘facts’ about impeachment...

Pathetic Trump supporter

It is true that Donald Trump's supporters are under-educated and suffer from a number of psychotic problems but after the recent revelations in the Ukrainegate controversy, where T-rum actually admitted to pressuring Pres. Zelensky to dig up dirt against his 2020 opponent Joe Biden in return for over $400 million in aid to Ukraine. Here are some more of the fake "facts"...

• That Trump was concerned over corruption in Ukraine.
• That the $450+ million was given to Ukraine on time, not held by Trump.
• Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election.

There's more and you can read it all here.

Congressional deal could fund gun violence research for first time since 1990s...

It has been twenty years since the NRA was able to pressure Congress to pass the Dickey Amendment rule striking $2.6 million from the Centers for Disease (CDC) control budget, in effect eliminating their ability to collect and analyze gun violence statistics. Since then we have had an explosion in gun violence, much of which can be attributed to Wayne LaPierre and his NRA minions. 

Why would the NRA want to stop documenting gun violence if they didn't prove that guns are responsible for the increased bloodshed by innocent citizens? Here is a comment from Mark Rosenberg who was heading the CDC’s research on firearm violence in the 1990s when Congress abruptly cut off funding for the work...

“This is a deal of historic proportions. It ends the horrendous position we’re in, where we don’t even know what works.”

Here's another fact...

"While gun violence is one of the country’s leading causes of death, it receives little research funding. As many people die because of gun violence, for example, as of sepsis infection, yet funding for gun research is less than 1 percent of that for sepsis."   READ MORE...

Here's a concept from former President, Barack Obama: Women are better leaders than men...

I can hear all the bubbas out there, mostly Donald Trump supporters, who would disagree with this, if not only just because they a bubba, but also because to support T-rump, you must consider women simply a commodity for men's pleasure. Well, they aren't and here's Obama's reasoning...

"I'm absolutely confident that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything... living standards and outcomes."

I agree and would add, a definite improvement in the demeanor of the world. But I'm not sure just yet who that woman might be. It might even be a Republican and that is really blasphemous for me to say. If I had to take a shot at the current Democratic candidates, it would be Amy Klobuchar, primarily for her level headedness. In another comment, is the ex-President taking a shot at Congress?...

"If you look at the world and look at the problems it's usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way."   READ MORE...

There are 91 companies that paid no federal taxes in 2018...

They're supposed to be the finest but nearly 100 companies in the Fortune 500 the first year following passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by Donald Trump, which was signed into law in December 2017. "The new tax law lowered the statutory corporate tax rate to 21%, but the companies in the report paid an average rate of 11.3%."
had an effective federal tax rate of 0% or less in 2018, according to a new report. This is a study covering

This resulted in federal government bringing in about $74 billion less in corporate taxes than if all the companies had paid the statutory rate. Amazon made this statement...

“Amazon pays all the taxes we are required to pay in the U.S. and every country where we operate, including paying $2.6 billion in corporate tax and reporting $3.4 billion in tax expense over the last three years.”

Here are some of the biggest companies no taxes: IBM; CenturyLink; DowDuPont; Eli Lilly; Goodyear Tire & Rubber; FedEx; Delta Airlines; General Motors; Starbucks; McKesson and a host of others.   READ MORE...

The Atlantic has "The Remedy for Mitch McConnell"...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said to the "No News" network...

“Everything I do during this, [the impeachment Senate trial] I’m coordinating with White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this to the extent that we can.”

There's more of this crap...

“We have no choice but to take [the impeachment trial] up, but we will be working through this process, hopefully in a fairly short period of time, in total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president in the well of the Senate.”

Then we have the looney Lindsey Graham saying...

“This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly,” he said. “I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here.”

The Atlantic says...

The two senators appear to need a brief remedial course on their constitutional obligations. Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 of the Constitution declares that 'the Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.' And when the Senate is sitting 'for that Purpose, [senators] shall be on Oath or Affirmation.'”

What the hell do Republicans, especially these two lowlife Senators, care about the Constitution, or any laws they are governed by? Nothing!   READ MORE...

Trump writes deranged 6-page letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi...

Trump's unhinged letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi is full of his usual lies that have proven false repeatedly. Trump says whistleblower made false report completely contrary to phone call with Zelensky...

Whistleblower's report "has been proven highly accurate. In fact, the rough transcript released by Trump himself showed that the whistleblower's three primary allegations about the call were correct or very close to correct."

Other false claims by the Oval Office lunatic...

• No evidence the whistleblower has disappeared
• That there was no quid-pro-quo confirmed by Ambassador Sondland
• Trump's comment to Zelensky about doing "us" a favor could only be interpreted by this narcissist as referring to himself
• Trump statement "More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials," is, well, hilarious.   READ MORE...

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao as corrupt as hubby Moscow Mitch...

Keep it in the family is a term Elaine Chou has adhered to repeatedly since being appointed Transportation Secretary by Donald Trump. It seems that she has decided that Kentucky, Moscow Mitch's home territory as Senator, is where she wants to spend the Transportation Department's budget. The latest her part in delivering a "$67 million federal contract to her husband Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home state of Kentucky."

"Kyle Herrig, president of the anti-corruption group Accountable.US, said the contract—the largest of its kind delivered to Kentucky during the three years President Donald Trump has been in office—is just the latest example of Chao’s behavior that warrants a serious look."

Herrig has more...

“The unending stream of stories that detail the depth of Secretary Elaine Chao’s improper use of taxpayer dollars to boost her husband Mitch McConnell’s political career is alarming. This type of political corruption is a threat to our democracy and destroys Americans’ faith in government.”

Moscow Mitch has tough competition coming up in 2020 against opponent Amy McGrath, and many are wondering " if Chao is funneling federal projects to Kentucky to help her husband. Kentucky Democrats deputy executive director Marisa McNee told Politico that "in northern Kentucky is a willingness to walk away from that Republican label that we haven’t seen in a long time.” We can only hope that plays out to a defeat of Moscow Mitch in 2020.

Fox News Napolitano buries Donald Trump...again...

Fox's Napolitano roasts Trump

In a recent Washington times editorial, legal analyst Andrew Napolitano, from the normally no-news Fox network chides Donald Trump, “no person is beneath the laws’ protections. No person is above the laws’ requirements. And the laws apply equally to all people.” Napolitano continues...

"Attorney General Bill Barr used these claims as justification to “brush aside” the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller, 'who found enough evidence to charge President Donald Trump with obstruction of justice after Mr. Trump repeatedly attempted to interfere with Mr. Mueller’s investigation by ordering subordinates to lie to FBI investigators or to falsify government documents that investigators sought.'”

One might assume here that AG Barr should also be impeached and thrown in jail for his obstruction of justice. Can't help quoting because Napolitano's comments are so damning...

“High crimes and misdemeanors is a basis for impeachment, the constitutional remedy for presidential behavior that subverts our democratic institutions. In Mr. Trump’s case, we have undisputed evidence that he abused his power by inviting a foreign government to interfere in the 2020 presidential election and then compounded this by directing subordinates to refrain from giving congressionally commanded evidence of his behavior.”

Looks like the sane people at Fox News, Trump's former bastion of support, also including Chris Wallace, are getting smart

Moscow Mitch's Senate legislative graveyard reveals latest "stack" of ignored House bills...

Moscow Mitch

Senate leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to stonewall anything that is proposed by the Democratic House. In another area, Moscow Mitch is pushing through conservative federal judges faster than they can be seated. This is blatant cronyism at its worst and just another partisan act he will have answer for in 2020. Here's the latest on the "stack"...

"The stack, a symbolic replication of legislation McConnell refuses to bring to a vote, was reportedly the brainchild of Senator Debbie Stabenow. According to her office, it includes more than 300 bills about voter registration, background checks for firearm sales, domestic violence, climate change, minimum wage increases and other issues."

Here's McConnell's comment...

"Back in September, McConnell promised to be a "grim reaper" to any and all progressive legislation. But, as multiple Senators pointed out Wednesday, more than 275 of these "dead" bills cleared the House with bipartisan support."

You did get that these bills the lowlife is sitting on passed the House with bipartisan support? If I were given the opportunity to dream up the retribution that is deserved by Moscow Mitch--and his wife as well for her corruption feeding McConnell's district monied projects--I would gladly take on the project while reacquainting myself with all the recent torture tools available. Mongrel Mitch has proven that he cares nothing for this country, only himself. 
READ MORE...

Nancy Pelosi won't commit to sending articles of impeachment to Senate...

Moscow Mitch is fuming because Speaker Pelosi is giving back the kind of strategy McConnell has continually used against Democrats: Stonewalling. She is holding on to the Articles of Impeachment which were passed on Wednesday, not passing them on to the Senate for a vote, apparently to force the Senate head to agree to a fair trial. You wonder if anything "fair" is possible where Republicans are in involved but you have to agree, it's definitely appropriate.

Moscow Mitch needs it shoved in his face with the kind of class Democrats practice compared to the crude and abusive way the Republicans have approached impeachment. Here's Pelosi's Thursday morning comment...

"I don't think they [the Founding Fathers] suspected that we could have a rogue president and a rogue leader in the Senate at the same time."

Some conservatives say they see no reason to hold up the Articles, but in the same breath "argue there is no benefit in delaying something they don't want to spend time on anyway." This illustrates the mentality of a GOP that are in complete denial of their Constitutional responsibility, backing Donald Trump no matter what, and focusing solely on maintaining power. And then the poor soul Lindsey Graham has the audacity to say this...

"We cannot have a system where the House impeaches the president, tells the Senate how to conduct the trial, holds the articles of impeachment over the president's head at a time of their choosing to unleash them."

 Apparently, the South Carolina Senator just forgot about the Republican buffoons of the House impeachment inquiry, guys like Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz. Maybe Graham is getting too old to serve in Congress.

American public has right to know Donald Trump's condition

 

Let's see, this is what we know so far. Donald Trump announced late Thursday that he and Melania Trump have tested positive for COVID-19. There are reports he knew he had been exposed when Hope Hicks reported she had the virus earlier, but Trump still attended a fundraiser in New Jersey, potentially exposing several Republican donors. T-rump, of course, rarely wears a mask. Then he was mysteriously whisked away to Walter Reed Hospital. 

The White House doctor Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley reported that things were going well, although "a source familiar with the President's health," said

"The President's vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We are still not on a clear path to a full recovery."

As usual, it is hard to believe those closest to Donald Trump because of all the misinformation and lies that have come from him in the last four years. Conley stated flatly Trump is not receiving oxygen, yet, again...

"a source close to the White House said Trump has received supplemental oxygen since his illness began. Trump 'definitely has had oxygen,' the source said, adding that it was on Friday."

Conley couldn't even get the reported date of the announcement correct and commented, "that the President had a fever at one point, but refused to say what it was." Although Trump proclaims that he feels fine, "the treatments administered to the President in the past 24 hours have raised concerns about his condition." While still in the White House, he was given...

"the experimental Regeneron polyclonal antibody cocktail, a promising treatment that has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration."

Then after arriving at Walter Reed, he was administered the antiviral drug remdesivir. In the case of both of these drugs, experts have said that they are normally given to the more serious coronavirus patients. And then a rash of notices of the virus from former aide Kellyanne Conway and Trump campaign manager, Bill Stepian, both in close contact with T-rump. Add to that a third Republican Senator plus former New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. 

But Donald Trump is still in charge, not yet turning control of the White House over to his second in command, Mike Pence. And this probably wouldn't happen unless he suffers the ultimate. Like the earlier source said, "the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care." The world is watching and one can only hope that the White House gang will put misinformation aside just this once and give us the truth on Donald Trump's condition.

Read more here.

Have we been conditioned to accept T-rump's stupidity?

Without even having read Radley Balko's opinion in the Washington Post, I have hinted at the fact in my blog posts that the American public has become accustomed to the rantings of a psychopathic liar that has somehow taken over the White House. Here's what Balko had to say...

"...Tuesday night’s fit of demagoguery masquerading as a presidential address is a frightening demonstration of how his first month in office has left those of who are supposed to hold him accountable timid and shell-shocked."

Demagoguery, let's examine it historically along with the prevailing example. Salon was profiling Donald Trump as a modern-day demagogue back in June of 2016, five months before the election that made history and put America on a track to a sure eventual collapse. In an elaborate use of adjectives and adverbs, the website talked of the "virus infecting our politics," which had its contemporary kickoff during the George W. Bush/Karl Rove era. There are other bad actors and the whole conglomeration worked tediously together to give us what's known today as President Donald Trump.

Here's how Salon describes it...

"There have been stretches of history when this virus lay dormant. Sometimes it would flare up here and there, then fade away after a brief but fierce burst of fever. At other moments, it has spread with the speed of a firestorm, a pandemic consuming everything in its path, sucking away the oxygen of democracy and freedom."

 There were others early-on who developed a formula and format for those to use in later years. Men like ...

“'Pitchfork Ben' Tillman, the South Carolina governor and senator who led vigilante terror attacks with a gang called the Red Shirts and praised the efficiency of lynch mobs."

"Mississippi’s Theodore Bilbo, a member of the Ku Klux Klan who vilified ethnic minorities and deplored the 'mongrelization' of the white race."

"Louisiana’s corrupt and dictatorial Huey Long, who promised to make 'Every Man a King.'"

"George Wallace, the governor of Alabama and four-time presidential candidate who vowed, 'Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.'"

The demagogue that stands out in U.S. history is Joseph McCarthy, US senator from Wisconsin, that Salon describes, "...until now perhaps our most destructive demagogue." Until now. McCarthyism was another psychopathic lunatic's way of drawing attention to himself by terrorizing the country into believing there was a Communist under every rock. There weren't, and several lives were ruined in the process. I had a close friend in Los Angeles who was a movie screenwriter who knew a few fellow writers whose lives were affected. And tailgunner Joe didn't even have a bully pulpit.

Remember Roy Cohn, he was chief counsel to McCarthy’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee and wouldn't you know it, the bad seed is back. As Salon put it, "Cohn was McCarthy’s henchman, a master of dark deeds and dirty tricks. "Cohn didn't go down with McCarthy when Edward R. Murrow exposed him on his CBS show, "See it Now." But not Cohn, who continued his operations in New York where he ended up working for mob bosses and, yes, Donald Trump's father, Fred, until later years when he made his McCarthy-like methods of strong-arm manipulation available to Donald.

Bernie Sanders on what Donald Trump did not say in his speech to Congress:

Cohn also introduced Trump to the man who was his campaign chair, Paul Manafort, someone who made a fortune representing dictators. Salon has an interesting analogy between Joseph McCarthy and Donald Trump...

"So the ghost of Joseph McCarthy lives on in Donald Trump as he accuses President Obama of treason, slanders women, mocks people with disabilities and impugns every politician or journalist who dares call him out for the liar and bamboozler he is. The ghosts of all the past American demagogues live on in him as well, although none of them have ever been so dangerous."

Returning to the present and Balko's charge that Donald John has conditioned us to just accept him the way he is and go on with our business, letting him run the country in the ground. Balko says, "We need to be better than that." And we should. The writer comments...

"We’ve been conditioned to accept behavior from the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth that we’d never have accepted from his predecessors (and I have pretty low expectations of presidents) — that we’d never accept from a friend, relative, pastor or community leader — as long as he spares us and our group from his attacks."

Trump's speech to Congress included the same lies that we have heard over and over, except that this time he delivered them in a toned-down rhetoric that is as much like the normal Trump as Scotch is like bourbon. Where it came from I do not know, but I suspect it is another of his underhanded tactics to appease a few concerned Republicans along the way who get their skivvies in a dither when he's too much the bad boy. Balko is really up in arms over the bi-partisan praise when this wasn't the man talking who has been ranting and raving such absurdities for his first month in office.

Balko disparages Trump's speech grammar, saying it was "terribly written," and "full of his typical doom-and-gloom pronouncements about America," quoting one of his most egregious passages...

"Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms."

Just hours before the speech Donald John had indicated that some of the attacks, above, had been perpetrated by Jews themselves. More extreme exaggeration almost to the point of lying...

"We’ve defended the borders of other nations, while leaving our own borders wide open, for anyone to cross — and for drugs to pour in at a now unprecedented rate."

At best, this statement is borderline bogus. More on drugs...

"I have further ordered the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, along with the Department of State and the Director of National Intelligence, to coordinate an aggressive strategy to dismantle the criminal cartels that have spread across our nation."

Balko documents that when George W. Bush attempted the same thing, by coercing the Mexican

Mexican drug casualties

government into militarizing its drug war, the country’s homicide rate jumped by nearly 250 percent. Regarding Trump's "banned" list...

"It is not compassionate, but reckless, to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur. Those given the high honor of admission to the United States should support this country and love its people and its values. We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America — we cannot allow our nation to become a sanctuary for extremists."

Now here's a refuting fact, "The odds of your average American being killed by a terrorist attack committed by a refugee are astronomical, about one in 3.6 billion."

There is more and Radley Balko's opinion is chock full of solid facts and a good reasoning where the United States stands after only a month of the reign of Donald Trump you can read here. It's up to us where we go from there.

Just How Unamerican is the Republican Party?

 

Juan Williams, who is an opinion contributor to The Hill believes it is pretty extensive. I did a post recently, "Are You Ready for America's Civil War II," which depicts a country in conflict, clearly defined by the fact that the radical right mounted an attack on the U.S. Capitol this last Jan. 6, in an act of insurrection. I think it is safe to say that this combination of sedition and treason was initiated and then choreographed by Donald Trump.

Williams is a fair-minded person, a Democrat, with two Republican sons, but still unable to "stomach" what has happened to the GOP. There are many out there with that opinion, but, unfortunately, many do not speak up like Williams. Here's a couple of his grievances...

"How can anyone dismiss a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol as just 'one day in January,' to quote former Vice President Mike Pence.

"Doesn’t it infuriate you to see so many Republicans make lying about the winner of the 2020 election a test of party loyalty?"

Well, the right certainly has its mentor to try and prove the 2020 Presidential election was a fraud. As of the first of this year there were well over 30,000 lies attributed to Donald Trump, leading his movement of misinformation. The poor souls who follow him have a cookie cutter image of how to spread his deception, and they have been very effective. But there is evidence Trump's popularity is waning with the failure of his History Tour to draw crowds.

Here's a take on Republicans from a Texas Democrat...

"another strong conservative member of the GOP, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (Texas), offers a similar assessment. Crenshaw, speaking at a public event this month, described unnamed far-right GOP members of Congress as “grifters” and 'performance artists.'”

My gut tells me he is talking about the five simpletons: Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorne and Paul Gosar. Combined, their IQs would be in the double digits. But what is most compelling about this gang is the morons who elected them in the states of California, Georgia, Colorado, No. Carolina and right here in Arizona. Lord knows, the people have the right to vote but do they have the right to deliver the country certifiable idiots.

It's hard to say when the GOP last made an attempt at governing. Mostly it's vision is to block anything the Democrats want to do, with some help from lowlife Dems like Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema. Williams mentions a host of books written about Donald Trump and I have read most of them. One of them by a close family member, his niece Mary Trump. Most of the others are written by acclaimed journalists like Bob Woodward. The books basically describe a monster.

 Mary Trump: Donald Trump Had The Power To Stop Jan. 6 Riot...

And here is a statement that should be chilling to all Americans who value our democracy...

In the last year, every congressional Republican voted against a bill to help the country recover from the economic damage caused by COVID-19.

In closing, there is still Covid-19 raging across the United States, in large part due to Donald Trump and his Republican cronies. As of this writing, there have been 51,075,976 coronavirus cases in the U.S. and 820,194 deaths. Think about that folks, over 800,000 people, many of which could still be alive...if not for Republicans, led by Donald Trump.

Kari Lake, You Lost...Now Please Go Away

 

Kari Lake didn't run a good campaign and Katie Hobbs ran a lousy campaign but she won because the people of Arizona realized Lake is a lunatic with a maniacal agenda. She is a Donald Trump avid supporter and most important an election denier who ranted through her campaign with a string of lies that would make Trump proud. Here is Salon's scenario...

"Lake, a former news anchor who was backed by former President Donald Trump, became one of the most prominent election deniers in the country but ultimately lost like so many other election deniers that the former president backed in key battleground states. Fellow Arizona election deniers Blake Masters and Mark Finchem also lost the U.S. Senate and secretary of state races, respectively."

Last Monday, Kari Lake tweeted, "Arizonans know BS when they see it." And they did by electing Democrat Katie Hobbs and sending Lake to the showers, or worse. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., agreed, tweeting, "As it turns out, yes, yes they did," in response to the beaten candidate's comment. Another, "Totally true, as the vote shows," jabbed Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo...

shared a letter Lake sent to her in October thanking her for an "in-kind contribution" to her campaign by campaigning against her. "You're welcome," Cheney wrote. 

Do you believe this?...

"Kari Lake told a legion of John McCain supporters across Arizona that they could go to hell. Tonight, [election nite] they returned the favor," an anonymous GOP strategist told CNN.

Even the dumbest of Arizona Republicans knows that you do not attack John McCain in this state. And, Arizona gun nuts came out in force...

Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the Maricopa County Election Center over the [past] weekend after dozens of GOP supporters, including some that were armed and wearing ballistic vests, staged a protest and carried signs claiming "Kari Lake Won" and "Hobbs is a Cheat." But there was no repeat of the aggressive 2020 election protests at the vote-counting center, said Sheriff Paul Penzone, and the protest cleared out after about an hour.

"Former Republican strategist Tim Miller said Lake's tweet that 'Arizonans know BS when they see it' was 'unintentionally' right." Miller wonders now just how far Kari Lake might go, since she is so Trump-indoctrinated; could she continue this battle about the Arizona governor's race into the future? The state is full of MAGA Republicans capable of a statehouse insurrection and with some of the loosest gun laws in the country, it could be a bloodbath.

 Katie Hobbs Defeats Kari Lake To Win Arizona Governor’s Race...

The HuffPost came up with a long line of tweets mocking Kari Lake's tweet, "Arizonans know BS when they see it." One of my favorites is Rick Wilson, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, a Republican who has established himself as anti-Trump, who said, "Clearly. That's why they rejected you." While Trump cries election fraud, we have this from the New York Post...

"She [Kari Lake] is the latest Trump-endorsed MAGA candidate to be rejected by voters in the midterm elections, which failed to unleash the “red wave” of GOP victories that Republicans had predicted.

"From Pennsylvania to Nevada, a parade of Trump’s handpicked candidates vying to become senators or governors faltered, among them Dr. Mehmet Oz, Blake Masters and Doug Mastriano.

"Likewise, all the Trump-backed hopefuls running for secretaries of state in key battleground states met the same fate."

Trump's purpose in winning Sec. State offices is because they control elections, thus, would be under his thumb. You might remember that in the 2020 election, Trump demanded the Georgia secretary of state 'find' enough votes to hand him win. Here's the scenario...

"In an hour-long phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday, [Jan. 2, 2021]President Donald Trump falsely claimed it was "not possible" for him to have lost in The Peach State, and asked the secretary to "find" the exact number of votes he would need -- just one vote over the margin that he trailed President-elect Joe Biden by -- so he could be declared the winner of an election that three separate counts confirmed he lost."

And...

Raffensperger, a Republican who supported the president's reelection but has maintained Georgia's election was legitimate and accurate, rebuffed the president's allegations, saying the data the president is citing to claim tens of thousands of illegal votes, "is wrong."

You may also remember the Georgia's AG investigation of Trump's interference covered in Newsweek...

"It wouldn't surprise me for Georgia to become the first jurisdiction to indict a former president on felony charges. I doubt it'll be the last. And I think the charges will stick," Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard University.

Tribe's remarks came as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ramps up her investigation into Trump's alleged efforts to overturn Georgia's vote in the 2020 presidential election. Trump lost the state by a narrow margin of 0.23 points.

So, it's over for Kari Lake and Donald Trump. Now, if we can only get rid of Moscow Mitch and Kevin McCarthy. Any ideas? 

Trump followers are gullible and cynical

Gullible and cynical Trump supporters

AlterNet says, "Trump’s lies can be understood as expressing his view of the world — how he would like things to be, for whatever purposes he may have, some quite enduring (as seen in his “bottomless Pinocchios”), others perhaps spur-of-the-moment." My post of May 1, "Fact Checker: Trump continues lies at "unbelievable pace," pretty much tells the story of a maniac in the Oval Office who spouts off lies by the hour, which the whole world makes fun of.

Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of rhetoric, whose book, “Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump,” [table of contents here] will be published next year, in AlterNet says...

"the Mueller report can be read as further confirmation of Trump’s authoritarian orientation in word and deed, in sharp contrast to the “total exoneration” he falsely claims it to be. This is entirely typical. Demagogues and tyrants have always used lies this way. But they cannot and do not act in a vacuum."

Mercieca thinks Trump doesn't act alone but has an "expert" propaganda team. His propaganda "seeks to shape understanding by subverting rational thinking." His objective is to make everyone accomplices in his lies making himself out as a truth-teller. She says, “Trump’s lies are popular with his base,” suggesting this passage from Hannah Arendt’s “Origins of Totalitarianism”...

"A mixture of gullibility and cynicism had been an outstanding characteristic of mob mentality before it became an everyday phenomenon of the masses. In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true … Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow."

“I think gullibility and cynicism are a good explanation for Trump voters,” Mercieca said. “They think everything is a lie anyway, so why not cheer for their guy who lies better than the rest of them?” So pathetic especially since we are talking about the most powerful man in the world.