American public should be itching for Donald Trump impeachment?

800 prosecutors, on paper, would prosecute Trump

Yesterday I posted, "Donald Trump impeachment gets closer and closer,' with the knowledge that public support had risen 5 points just since mid-April to 45%. Although the American public has found impeachment unpopular in the past, the new poll, above, suggests opinion on impeachment may be malleable. According to the Washington Post, "far from exonerating Trump, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III found substantial evidence of obstruction of justice."

It's over 800 ex-prosecutors now who have signed on to the fact that they would have prosecuted Trump for obstruction of justice. And a recent development that hasn't received much attention in the media, is that Donald Trump is mentally challenged. Don't forget that "Attorney General William P. Barr has performed dreadfully at a pair of hearings, evading and double-talking his way around the actual findings in the report." Now he was held in Contempt of Congress.

The latter may not go anywhere legally, but in the eyes of many Americans, those who genuinely care about their country, this is a black eye on the Donald Trump administration. WP proposes a 'what if?"...

"Now imagine if Mueller and then former White House counsel Donald McGahn testify, reaffirming the mountain of evidence that Trump tried to influence witnesses, sought to fire Mueller and tried to curtail the investigation."

The last I heard neither Robert Mueller nor Donald McGhan will be allowed to testify by the White House. Now is the time for all Donald Trump's double-digit followers to take notice of the facts and marshal all the few digits of intelligence they still might have to understand that this maniac is ruining the country and you are his co-conspirators. And hopefully, some day you will be held accountable. This next week in Congress should be very interesting.

Just politics from left field

BRIEF ENCOUNTERS FROM THE LEFT






Michael Cohen goes to jail with secrets he might still reveal?...Republicans pulling for Bernie Sanders and why?...Joe Biden leads Bernie Sanders by 21 points in Primary...Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, should be punished...1000 guns found in high class Holmby Hills Los Angeles neighborhood...Instagram, owned by Facebook, still publishing anti-vaxxer propaganda

The impeachment of Trump draws near

Public support for impeaching Donald Trump has risen 5 percentage points, just since mid-April, to 45%. Although 57% say all these probes are interfering with government business, it wasn't clear from the poll if Americans wanted the Democrats to back off Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said...

“This is very methodical, it’s very Constitution-based. We won’t go any faster than the facts take us, or any slower than the facts take us.”

Reuters says that Trump is "stonewalling" several inquiries relating to the Mueller Report...

"refusing to disclose his tax returns, invoking executive privilege to keep the unredacted Mueller report under wraps and filing unprecedented lawsuits to block House investigators."

Does all this sound like a man who is not guilty? James Comey said, "it sure looks like" Trump had criminal intent to commit obstruction of justice during special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, on a CNN Town Hall with Anderson Cooper. One incidence in particular was the firing of former White House counsel, Don McGahn. Comey exclaimed further...

"The President is not above the law, and I don't accept the notion that because the President is the head of the executive branch he can't ever obstruct justice in connection with executive branch activities."

Another ex-insider [Comey] who clearly believes that the Oval Office lunatic obstructed justice. It was just last Wednesday that "Trump invoked blanket executive privilege over Mueller's full report, escalating a looming constitutional confrontation over the report between his administration and congressional Democrats." The big question still looms, could this backfire on Democrats for 2020? Or, is it finally time to just do the right thing?

The Atlantic says that Democrats could arrest William Barr to force his hand resulting in the following...

"Courts have recognized that the House and Senate each have the authority to enforce their orders by imprisoning those who violate them—literally. They can direct their respective sergeant at arms to arrest officials they’ve found to be in contempt and bring them to the Capitol for trial and, potentially, jail."

The contempt resolution now goes to the full House, where it will likely be approved, with the following possibilities...

"They could refer the matter to the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., who would decide whether to launch a criminal prosecution of his own boss, the attorney general. Democrats could turn to the courts to enforce the subpoena. Or they could take matters into their own hands and call their sergeant at arms."

To impeach or not impeach. Perhaps the American public will finally answer this question.

Please let me have your comments on this issue.

Trump going to penalize those on poverty line even more

The "great humanitarian" is "considering changing the way the government measures poverty." According to anti-poverty groups it could "push many low-income individuals off assistance programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and Head Start." That starts the report by NPR and it only gets worse. Arloc Sherman of the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says...

"this change would mean that millions of people eventually could see their benefits either reduced or eliminated because they wouldn't be considered as poor as they were under the old measure."

Sherman continued...

"'They [the Trump administration] have a goal, and the goal is to cut people of low or moderate income off of government assistance.' He noted that the idea is being floated at the same time that the White House is proposing work requirements and steep budget cuts for safety net programs."

A notice of the possibility of changing the poverty calculation appeared in the Federal Register seeking public comment. NPR reports: "The current poverty line for a family of four is about $26,000. Each year, the government adjusts the line for inflation based on the consumer price index." An alternative being considered...

"is whether to use a version called the 'chained CPI,' which is lower than the rate currently used. The chained CPI assumes that as the prices of goods go up, individuals substitute less expensive items, thereby reducing their overall expenses."

Although both George W. Bush and Barack Obama tried to sell this approach, which economist do think is "a more accurate way to measure inflation," apparently they were never able to get it passed. And even though the bill is very controversial among anti-poverty forces, some say it is imperative to measure inflation correctly. On the other hand, homelessness, which is often caused by those at the poverty level losing what little help they get, goes up.

In Arizona's Maricopa county where I live, Phoenix residents have reported 1,500 homeless encampments, revealing that there are 6,614 people homeless, up 316 from last year. The local paper says...

"Unsheltered homelessness used to be a small percentage of the overall homeless population. In 2014, it made up 22 percent of the population. This year, it's nearly 50 percent."

One might ask, is this increase due to the effects of the policies of the Donald Trump administration? And now he wants to take away more from this group? 

Anti-vaxxer family gets what it deserves

Jerome/Bill Kunkel

THE CHICKENPOX. Kentucky teen, Jerome Kunkel, was banned from his school, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Assumption Academy, for refusing a chickenpox vaccination due to religious beliefs. Well, his religion has just resulted in a case of the chickenpox. This proves that school officials were right in keeping him out of school, and just another example of the stupidity of these anti-vaxxers. He could have passed around the disease all over his school.

But Bill Kunkel, the kid's father, "says it’s the 'best thing to do' to become immune." Sure, and during the "becoming immune" phase, usually an unknown period, other children in school catch the chickenpox. These people are dangerous and that is why I feel they should all be corralled together and catch whatever they want from each other. The Washington Post piece shows a picture of father, son with the Christ statue in the background.

They filed a lawsuit through their attorney, Chris Wiest, with some 24 other students who joined in the lawsuit since it was filed, many of whom now infected with chickenpox in the past two months and have religious exemptions against vaccinations. And apparently Jerome caught the measles from his unvaccinated cousins, which clearly shows their friends and the whole family is nuts. Attorney Wiest commented...

“This is a stupid ban that’s never going to work, and absolutely ridiculous in this context where they go to church upstairs every day together,” Wiest said. “We are not at all surprised. This is exactly what we told the court would happen. Over half my clients contracted chickenpox and had no complications, and now they have a lifetime immunity.”

Sounds like the church should be investigated by the health department. Here's what the Northern Kentucky Health Department had to say...

"In a Wednesday statement, the Northern Kentucky Health Department said Wiest’s encouragement for his clients to 'actively' contract the disease to achieve immunity is 'deeply concerning' and bad medical advice."

This kind of fight is probably raging all around the country and it is time for someone to establish parameters. If it is determined that vaccinations outweigh the individual's right to deny them, then laws should be passed. We are currently experiencing an epidemic of the measles and we certainly don't want a pandemic. 

Renown Yale psychiatrist: Muller Report proves Trump is mentally challenged

Dr. Lee and her study

A recent report by Yale psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee, a renowned expert on violence and forensic psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, was sent to Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. She is also president of the World Mental Health Coalition and editor of the New York Times bestseller, “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.”

It is a mental health analysis of the Mueller report "replete with information for a mental health interpretation." Lee says to Raw Story...

"Seldom do we have such voluminous information on a person’s behavior, verified at the level of sworn testimony. Hence, my colleagues and I saw this as a part of our ongoing, primary professional responsibility to protect society and to warn against potential harm to public health, as our ethics and the law require. The report is an attempt to continue educating the public."

Pretty clear we're are talking about the Donald Trump White House and his administration and already this is very scary. Lee says that the voluminous special counsel’s report "could not be more informative about mental capacity, which is what the report addresses. Mental capacity is the ability to make sound, rational, reality-based decisions free of impulsivity, recklessness, paranoia, and false beliefs." It gets scarier. Lee says further...

"A person can have a severe mental illness, for example, but be receiving proper treatment and function perfectly well—the presence of mental illness really says nothing about job performance. On the other hand, someone may not have a mental illness but still be incompetent and lacking in the basic capacities to do a job."

And for those who question no one-on-one between Lee and Trump...

"For a functional exam, a personal interview is not as important as observations by the person’s coworkers and colleagues of one’s actual performance, and this is why the special counsel’s report is so valuable." 

Raw story wanted to know what the report said...

"Our report is quite damning. What the special counsel’s report revealed, through consistent and abundant data, was a pervasive and profound pattern of lack of capacity."

 Folks, Dr. Lee is talking about the man who sits in the Oval Office, in control of the most powerful country in the world. Just scarier and scarier. More snippets of her findings...

lack of basic comprehension--faulty information processing--lack of sound decision making--behavior that places oneself or others in danger

Lee adds: "These are crucial failures in the basic components of mental capacity test, which in his [Donald Trump] position constitute a medical emergency that requires a response." There's much more in the Raw Story report and I recommend that you read it. What is clear here is the fact that Donald Trump may not be competent to serve as President of the United States and should be required to have a complete psychiatric examination at once.

Dreaded anti-vaxxers still resist the truth

They did and social media lied

Robert Reich doesn't didn't think it was much fun. Oh sure, we got to stay home from school and mom gave you pretty much anything you wanted, within reason. But it was a disease that none of your friends wanted so they stayed away from you like the plague; as they should have. And then along came measles vaccinations in 1963 and soon after the same for mumps (1967) and rubella (1969). By 2000, all were basically eradicated.

Anti-vaxxers should be required to read the history of measles (a short version here) and then decide if they want to go through the pain of having to expunge the disease again. There was a resurgence of measles in the United States between 1989 and 1991, then it quietly went away in the early 1990s. At that point we worked hard on ridding the country of the illness, which became official in 2,000.

But wait, along came the dreaded anti-vaxxers, resisting vaccinations for their children, when many of these same parents had been vaccinated as a child, and turned the infected kids loose on society. Others came down with the disease and passed it around the country to over 23 states with the outbreak now totaling at least 764. There is also an outbreak in Europe where they have 34,000 cases. All because a gang of mentally depraved parents made some very bad decisions.

With New York's new law they have cited 84 individuals for not getting their kids vaccinated, resulting in a fine of $1,000. The NIH says Anti-vaxxers threaten U.S. workplace, economy, The UK's health secretary Matt Hancock claims anti-vaxxers have blood on their hands. And one of my latest posts, Vaccine exemption bills on rise despite measles outbreak. Popular Science says
"This is already the worst year for measles since 1994."

Based on the unvaccinated given us by anti-vaxxers, PS provides the following stats...

"we're still accumulating new outbreaks, some of them in places that researchers predicted were at risk due to low vaccination rates. Portland, Houston, and Kansas City all had small outbreaks and were identified as risky areas in a 2018 PLoS Medicine study. The outbreak in Clark County, Washington, just across the state border from Portland, Oregon, has been the most widely covered. Now the Detroit area is also experiencing a substantial one in precisely the county the paper predicted.

Predicted because these are the areas in which the dreaded anti-vaxxers work their madness. 

Wanna know why Donald Trump won't release his taxes?

Show of disgust for Donald Trump

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has told Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, that he won't be getting President Donald Trump's tax returns. CNN says this will result in the form of a subpoena, a contempt vote or a lawsuit. Because of the Oval Office lunatic, the Democrats are spending most of their time lately with threats and subpoenas. The question, of course, is will this all result in exposing the deceit of T-rump's administration?

On the other hand, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Monday filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and IRS because the Trump organization hasn't responded to her request for tax information. T-rump loves lawsuits, but he prefers being on the complainant side rather than the receiving side. With recent loses in the Trump businesses of $1 billion over the past 10-years, you'd think he'd be running out of money. Hell, he'll just borrow more.

Mnuchin's actual statement...

"In reliance on the advice of the Department of Justice, I have determined that the Committee's request lacks a legitimate legislative purpose, and ... the Department is therefore not authorized to disclose the requested returns and return information."

Another typical Donald Trump move, but CNN's Chris Cillizza thinks he knows why the Oval Office lunatic won't release his taxes...

1) Trump is not as rich as he says; 2) He has Russia ties; 3) He didn't pay many (or any) taxes; 4) He donates no (or very little) money to charity

Each of these could be embarrassing to all but the loyal Trump supporters who are ill-informed and mentally challenged. Trump actually said during the 2016 campaign that he would release his tax returns, but this, along with most things he says, turned out to be a lie. And the 'I'm under audit' excuse isn't valid since "there is no law that forbids a president -- or any citizen -- from releasing their taxes while under audit."

We just have to assume that Donald Trump has so much to hide as far as his taxes are concerned, that it could ruin his reputation and shame him for life. But not sure he has the mental capacity to actually understand that.

The disgraceful Mitch McConnell lies to Congress

Who the hell does Mitch McConnell think he is by assuming that he has the right to close the Mueller probe with a quick statement and a wave of the hand? This arrogant and obnoxious oaf is described in an Esquire article by Charles P. Pierce as a person who...

So he thinks

"Will Not Act in Good Faith, Even When the Security of the Country Is at Stake."

That's heavy but not unexpected. The Senate dictator has performed feats of unbelievable proportions solely for the sake of his ego and the Republican Party in the past, while completely ignoring the good of the country. But getting back to the headline and the fact that McConnell lied on the Senate floor, ThinkProgress says...

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke from the floor Tuesday and lied about several aspects of special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report on Russian interference in the 2016 election."

He stated emphatically that the investigation (Mueller probe) was finally over so the Democrats should accept that fact and move on. He then rambled on...

“What we’ve seen is a meltdown, an absolute meltdown. An absolute inability to accept the bottom-line conclusion from the special counsel’s report, which said the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities. That’s the conclusion.”

A bare-faced lie since Robert Mueller's report did not draw any conclusions, and over 450 ex-prosecutors have stated "special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s findings would have produced obstruction charges against President Trump — if not for the office he holds." The maniac continues...

“Two years of exhaustive investigation and nothing to establish the fanciful conspiracy theory that Democratic politicians and TV talking heads had treated like a foregone conclusion. They told everyone there had been a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. Yet … the special counsel’s finding is clear. Case closed.”

Well, it isn't, and nothing this moron can say will change the fact that it is pretty much universal that Donald Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice, protected only by the chair he sits in. Now "the Democratic controlled-House Judiciary Committee has requested Mueller testify as early as next week to discuss the report and investigation," according to CNN. Schumer rebuked McConnell...

"Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded to McConnell, saying 'it's not done' and accused the majority leader of 'whitewashing' Trump's conduct and attempting to protect the President from accountability." 

"The leader says, 'Let's move on. It's sort of like Richard Nixon saying let's move on at the height of the investigation of his wrongdoing."

The comparison with Nixon is highly appropriate, but just wish Chuck Schumer had been more critical of his mentally challenged colleague.

Vaccine exemption bills on rise despite measles outbreak

It is hard to believe the number of lawmakers, federal, state and local, that have the mentality of a goose egg. In spite of the fact that we now have 764 cases of measles in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, legislation to exempt is on the rise. However, bills that fine people who fail to vaccinate are gaining attention

It is hard to comprehend this stupid reasoning of exemptions when these people should be working together to pass bills that would require parents to vaccinate their children. This is not a matter of free choice when parents send their unvaccinated kid to school to infect fellow students and teachers, who then go out and infect the rest of the population. The actual "rights" that exist here are those of the individuals who do not want to be exposed to the disease.

The Business Insider reports...

"On Sunday, Germany's health minister proposed fining parents of school-age children who haven't received a measles inoculation up to $2,790."

"On the heels of a historic outbreak of measles in New York City last month, officials ordered people in four affected zip codes to get vaccines, with anyone failing to do so facing fines of up to $1,000."

I would think fines actually imposed and not just promised would be an excellent means of telling these halfwit anti-vaxxers that a sane public means business. 72% of the public says that parents should be required to vaccinate their children. The NBC/WSJ poll also found that, "There is also variation between different age groups, with Americans ages 35-49 least likely to support required vaccinations." This is interesting in that this is the group most likely to have children.

The Washington Post has actually mapped out measles cases showing where the current outbreaks are with comparisons of years in the past. The report also includes documentation of exemptions...

"Parents in 17 states can opt out of vaccinating their children if they cite personal or philosophical objections. All states have medical exemption laws since some people cannot be vaccinated because of health issues, such as weakened immune systems. Almost all states grant religious exemptions for people who have religious beliefs against immunization."

An epidemic is defined as a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time. Not only is the measles outbreak widespread within communities (like New York state) it is widespread across the country, as illustrated on the Washington Post map. I know the Mueller Report is important but at least people aren't dying from it, at least not yet and as far as I know. 

BREAKING: Trump uses executive privilege to block Mueller Report

More Trump obstruction daily

Well, it happened, the Oval Office lunatic has exerted executive privilege to block the Mueller Report from being released to the public. Nancy Pelosi said...

“Every single day the president is making a case — he's becoming self-impeachable, in terms of some of the things he's doing.”

The Hill reported House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), said...

“This decision represents a clear escalation in the Trump administration’s blanket defiance of Congress’s constitutionally mandated duties. I hope that the department will think better of this last minute outburst and return to negotiations.”

The grueling question is, will all this flak the Democrats are giving Donald Trump come back to haunt them in an increase in his favorability rating, and will it prove helpful to the GOP in 2020? T-rump also continues to refuse to turn over his tax records from past years and there is a fight to obtain these by the Dems. Nadler accused the Trump administration of...

“unprecedented obstruction” in his opening remarks and argued that Trump had already waived executive privilege “long ago” in the course of the Mueller investigation.

There seems no end to what this maniac will do to protect the information that over 450 ex-prosecutors have said clearly stated in writing that he has obstructed justice. There can't really be a winner in all this.

Trump would be in jail if he wasn't president?

This is a huge question that looms in Washington and around the country today, 'Would Trump be in jail if he wasn't president?' If more than 450 former prosecutors are correct, he would be. These legal professionals...

"have signed on to a statement asserting special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s findings would have produced obstruction charges against President Trump — if not for the office he holds."

No doubt a precedent for a sitting president but certainly a disgrace for most of the American people, and certainly around the world. Matt Zapotosky of The Washington Post says that statement...

"offers a rebuttal to Attorney General William P. Barr’s determination that the evidence Mueller uncovered was “not sufficient” to establish that Trump committed a crime."

Although Mueller didn't commit on whether Donald Trump should be charged, "citing a Justice Department legal opinion that sitting presidents cannot be indicted, as well as concerns about the fairness of accusing someone for whom there can be no court proceeding," he pretty much left it up to Congress to decide. But the cowards they are, led by the lowlife Senate head, Mitch McConnell, have done nothing.

Rudy Giulani's ex-assistant was even among the former prosecutors protesting, signing a statement Monday that Trump would have been charged with obstruction saying...

“Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.”

Jeffrey Harris was deputy associate to the attorney general and an assistant to Giulani as Donald Trump's lawyer. The statement in question "seeks to refute Attorney General William Barr’s decision that special counsel Robert Mueller presented evidence that was insufficient to conclude that Trump committed a crime," according to Jessica Kwong of Newsweek. The group also made the following statement...

“There are potential defenses or arguments that could be raised in response to an indictment of the nature we describe here. But, to look at these facts and say that a prosecutor could not probably sustain a conviction for obstruction of justice—the standard set out in Principles of Federal Prosecution—runs counter to logic and our experience.”

BINGO!

But Trump hasn't given up. On Tuesday, "the White House ordered former counsel Donald McGahn not to hand over documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe that House Democrats are demanding to examine." This all boils down to the fact that the magnitude of what Donald Trump must hide from is so magnanimous that he will go to any length to keep it from becoming public. And that folks, is the 45th president of the United States.

Amid all the gun violence we're shown how to build an AR-15

Most AR-15s come with blood stains

I could not believe it when I read the headline: "EXPLAINED: How to Build an AR-15 Assault Rifle," courtesy of the Gun [nut] News daily from The National Interest. The sub-head is: "Yes, this can be done. We will explain." Keep this thought while we look at some of the deadliest gun violence events in history...

58 killed - October 1, 2017 - In Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort and  Casino by Stephen Paddock from his hotel room lasting 10 to 15 minutes; 49 killed June 12, 2016 by Omar Saddiqui Mateen, 29, at the Pulse, a gay nightclub, in Orlando; 25 and an unborn child killed November 5, 2017 when a gunman opens fire on a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas; 17 killed February 14, 2018 when a former student unleashes a hail of gunfire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida

There are many more you can see at the above site, but the most important factor to be considered is the fact that in most all cases an assault rifle was used, some of which were AR-15s, the very one this nut case magazine above is literally showing us how to make. So some off-the-spool gun nut can go out and buy the parts, come home and secretly put the weapon together, then go out and shoot all his friends and relatives or his fellow students.

The article even tells readers that if they are on a limited budget, "I’ve got you covered." And then it exclaims just how simple it is "to build a dependable AR-15 at home for hundreds less than what you would spend on a pre-built model." I cannot believe the specifics this piece goes into in the detailed explanation of constructing one's own AR-15 killing machine. And finally, the writer boasts of being able "to create a ready-to-shoot AR-15 in just under 90 minutes."

But, if you don't want to build your own gun, the same people have a list of five guns they claim are better than the Glock. Since I have no idea how good a Glock is and really don't care, I just focused on the fact that this clearly illustrates the fact that the United States has one of the sickest gun cultures in the world. This country has 120.5 firearms per 100 persons, a monstrous imbalance.

And there are more than 393 million civilian-owned firearms in the United States, or enough for every man, woman and child to own one and still have 67 million guns left over. I don't understand why anyone would want to take the time to make their own gun...just go out on the street and you'll find them everywhere.

Please give me your comments on this issue.

Trump hate spawns Poway synagogue style attacks

Southern California has had its share of hate groups like the one that attacked the Poway synagogue in San Diego, where one died and three were wounded. The Guardian labels it "a sunny, liberal enclave" and "an incubator of far-right politics, and it’s far from the first time its Jewish communities have faced violent threats." This is how Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center describes it...

“Hate groups and hate activity run pretty deep in Southern California, and have for a very long time. This activity is deeply rooted in Orange county and northern San Diego.”

 The KKK committed several acts of violence in the state during the 1920s, and a Klan member was elected to the Los Angeles city council in 1923. The Guardian reports...

"In San Diego, violence, harassment and organized discrimination against Mexican immigrants, alongside Jews and Catholics, was a major focus of the Klan in the 1920s and 1930s."

 That is then; Donald Trump is now. Here's a map that documents where President-elect Trump, his supporters, or his staff harassed or attacked Latinos, immigrants, Muslim-American, African-Americans, and other minority and marginalized groups.

NOTE: You can view individual incidents on the map by clicking directly on the Trump head “markers,” or you can click on the box-shaped symbol at the top left corner of the map to see a pull-down list of the incidents. I have posted on T-rump's hate campaigns before with this post, "Donald Trump has reinvigorated racism and hate." You can see more by going to my blog and searching, "Donald Trump Hate."

Never in the history of this country has there been a president who stoops so low as to do the things that Donald Trump has done. Nor have any placed their ego above the country they serve. Trump will go down in history as...I'll let you fill that in.

Please give me your comments on this issue.

Here's the latest you MUST KNOW about measles outbreak

ANTI-VAXXERS TOP NRA IN THEIR STUPIDITY

Measles fly into LAX and infect...Anti-vaxxers objections so ill-advised compounded by a senseless Congress...Brit did, now German minister proposes steep fines for anti-vaxxers...electronic medical records being used to identify unvaccinated patients and potentially infected individuals...Robert Reich says Getting a measles vaccination isn't a personal choice – it's a social responsibility...Here's an updated report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the measles outbreak

Get your politics now from left field

BRIEF ENCOUNTERS FROM THE LEFT

The NRA's self-dealing and non-profit status are two recent moves that will hopefully bring this organization of thugs down.

Keep the Electoral College? Here's how one person sees a way to compromise.

Donald Trump complains about the finish of the Kentucky Derby, a senseless statement that clearly shows his mind is not on the running of the country. Just another reason pundits are calling for Democrats to impeach or shut up.

12-year-old shoots and kills his 10-year-old brother in Texas; he is charged with murder. Where the hell did a 12-year-old get his hand on a gun? Irresponsible gun nut parents, perhaps?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi worried Donald Trump will not leave office willingly when he loses the election in 2020. Send in Alec Baldwin.

Please give me your comments on these issues.

Trump is now officially CLOWN for 2020 campaign

Just in from the circus

I have been calling Donald Trump a clown (here and here) for some time, as have several in the media. Now Joe Biden, the leading contender in the Democratic presidential primary has given T-rump his official campaign name...CLOWN. Biden, who has said recently he doesn't want to get into a "mud wrestlising (sp) match," then commented...

"There's so many nicknames I'm inclined to give this guy. You can just start with clown."

Should Biden be nominated by the Dems in the Primary, he no doubt wants to keep the campaign on the issues rather than the trashing strategy that Trump regularly uses on his opponents. Here's how Biden expressed his feelings...

"On every single issue and on every demeaning thing he says about other people, I have no problem responding directly. What I'm not going to do is get into what he wants me to do. He wants this to be a mud wrestling match."

Donald Trump graciously welcomed Joe Biden to the 2020 presidential race with this most "eloquent" comment...

"Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty — you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate!"

Biden has recently exclaimed that he thinks Trump is the problem, not Republicans, but many Democrats disagree. So do I! And if Biden continues to sidle up to the right (citing his relationships with “my Republican friends in the House and Senate.”) voters may interpret this as a weakness that could lose to Trump, resulting in Bernie Sanders surging in the polls. Here's how the New York Times views the situation...

"There is no disagreement among Democrats about the urgency of defeating Mr. Trump. But Mr. Biden’s singular focus on the president as the source of the nation’s ills, while extending an olive branch to Republicans, has exposed a significant fault line in the Democratic primary."

That (the Oval Office lunatic) is the reason this is perhaps the most important Democratic Primary in the history of voting. Never before has it been so necessary to remove a despotic dictator from office.

Please let me have your comments.

Brit convinced anti-vaxxers have blood on their hands

Rather harsh but pointed

"The UK's health secretary Matt Hancock said anti-vaccination campaigners were 'morally reprehensible, deeply irresponsible' and had 'blood on their hands,'" according to CNN. His comments are based on a UNICEF study that amplifies the measles outbreak issue...

"It takes two doses of measles vaccine to protect children from the disease. A troubling new report from UNICEF finds that 2.5 million children in the United States and 169 million children worldwide missed out on their first dose between 2010 and 2017. That's roughly 20 million children a year, on average."

And it has become sufficiently confirmed now that the measles epidemic that is sweeping the U.S. is solely the fault of parents so stupid they believe the only way to become immune from the disease is to let your children catch it and build immunity. As an example, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, exposed his children to chickenpox so they would get the disease and become immune. Different disease, same stupidity.

But here's the shocker, UNICEF also found...

"that measles deaths were up globally by 22% in 2017, and complacency and fear of vaccines were among the factors leading to less vaccinations."

Many of the uninformed have been influenced by fraudulent social media that has aggressively promoted the anti-vaxxer movement, much of which has been removed by these sites. And here's another excellent point by Hancock...

"If you don't vaccinate your child, it's not only your child that is at risk. It's also other children, including those children who, for medical reasons, can't be vaccinated."

Some have even suggested that anti-vaxxers should be prosecuted for this very reason. Why not? They have intentionally not taken advantage of something that is guaranteed to protect their child's health, and then have sent them off to school to infect other children. So here's something for you anti-vaxxers to think about and act on today...

"Vaccination is good for you, good for your child, and good for your neighbor and your community, said Matt Hancock."

Please give me your comments on this issue. 

Trump still the ugly white supremacist

"Two men accused of being members of a white supremacist group and arrested after the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, pleaded guilty to federal charges Friday," reported NBC. Joe Biden in his recent announcement for running in 2020, quoted Trump as saying, “very fine people on both sides” about the 2017 white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville. T-rump tried to spin it another way but his support of this hate group is obvious.

Well, the Oval Office lunatic has made his latest move in backing the white supremacists movement by tweeting his defense for far-right figures banned by Facebook, Louis Farrakhan, Paul Nehlen, and Alex Jones. Farrakhan is notorious for using anti-Semitic language, Nehlen is anti-Semite and ran for Congress in 2016 and Alex Jones is a far-right conspiracy theorist. No matter what else you think of Trump, he is clearly a rabid racist.

On the banning of the above, which Trump was reacting to, Facebook said...

"We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology."

Facebook claims their move is for purposes of safety, and they have also banned others in the past like fringe right-wing media personalities Paul Joseph Watson, Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer. What bothers me most is that if the Oval Office lunatic is blatantly supporting a host of white supremacists, doesn't that mean that the loyal gang who aggressively backs him is also white supremacists? Now this is scary since T-rump's base is supposedly in the 30 percent range.

Republican strategist Ryan Williams said...

"The president’s handling of Charlottesville was not one of the finer moments of his time in office. He shouldn’t take Joe Biden’s bait and re-litigate this controversy.”

But we know that Donald Trump can't stand criticism, especially now from his potential competition in the 2020 election. "Trump advisers maintain that the president’s comments about Charlottesville were — in the words of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Sunday — 'darn near perfection.'” With no constraints on this White House, it is obvious this moron will run amok and what is even more frightening is the fact that his followers love it.

Please give me your comments on this issue.

GOP gerrymandering going down the tube

"A federal court has ruled that Ohio's congressional map is an 'unconstitutional partisan gerrymander' and must be redrawn by the 2020 election, reports National Public Radio. The Republican unethical ploy for keeping Democrats out of the voting booth is being axed all around the country. It is a result of the Dems allowing the GOP to establish strongholds on local and state levels while the dimwit Debbie Wasserman Schultz ran the Democratic National Committee.

States continuing the action are Texas as the fifth-most gerrymandered state, behind North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New York. As I recall, this all started during George W. Bush's administration with Karl Rove as the head perpetrator. Now Ohio judges...

"agree with voting rights groups in their argument that Ohio's districts were 'intended to burden Plaintiffs' constitutional rights, had that effect, and the effect is not explained by other legitimate justifications.'"

In other words, Republicans were caught with their hands in the voting box. Which means that the Grand Old Party will stoop to just about anything to get its way. And we can thank this gerrymandering for many of the Republicans now in Congress. That is the reason to get all these cases through the courts as soon as possible so Democrats will have a fair shot in 2020. Of course that won't prevent Donald Trump with coming up with more bogus voting fraud.

Every ten years following a census the "boundaries of congressional and state legislative districts are redrawn, in what’s known as the redistricting process," according to Vox. The process explained...

"In most states, the new maps are drawn by the state legislature and then approved by the governor. So partisan control of each of those three political entities is crucial. If a single party controls all three, that party can usually draw whichever maps they want without giving the opposition party any say. If control is split, a compromise will usually result."

Based on the above, you can understand how the Democrats fell behind and are now playing catch up. Can't say the Dems are the brightest bunch yet but trust they won't let this happen again.

More news from left field

LATE BREAKING NEWS ITEMS

Southern Poverty Law Center troubles continue...Excellent example of greed and arrogance of the wealthy on college admissions...How can we stop robocalls?...So many guns in America, now they are going to Mexico...Bernie must come on strong for gun control to coincide with latest interest in this issue...First example conservative SCOTUS will turn against gun control

Have we just witnessed the Trump laugh of the century?

Here's the headline: "Trump urges Republicans, Democrats to ‘come together for the good of the American people.'" And it is the source of 99% of Washington bedlam that is speaking those words. Just look at the recent turnovers in the administration, described by CNN as constant chaos. The conservative Washington Examiner is mentioning none of the above as it quotes the absurd tweets of T-rump in trying to play down the results of the Mueller Report.

The WE did mention that "no Americans participated in collusion with Russia, but did not clear Trump of obstruction of justice." What it didn't say was that Mueller laid the groundwork that basically showed Trump's obstruction of justice, some that could be addressed by the U.S. Congress, and is being pursued by the New York Attorney General. Wm. Barr's blockade on the Mueller Report can be thanked for Trump's recent aggression on the issue.

Politifact published a scorecard on the Oval Office lunatic recently showing that Trump's statements are true only 5% of the time and are false 34% of the time, mostly false 21% of the time. That's a total of 55% and a disgrace when it is the person who runs our country. In all fairness, the Washington Post published an article recently of the 10 best things Trump did in 2018, some of which are questionable. But none of this would constitute a peace offering.

I'll believe this man really wants accord between parties when he hands in his resignation. Until then...just more chaos.

News to use

LATE BREAKING NEWS ITEMS

Why does Amazon pay no taxes?...More states are passing "Red Flag Laws"...Trump's "Anti-Woman" attacks blocked again...Health insurance deductibles soar-are employers to blame?...Democrats are obsessed with electability...Franklin Graham is a schmuck-certainly not like his dad

Even GOP says Trump not exonerated by Mueller Report

What can I say...and I didn't

It was Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse who best explained why the Mueller Report does not exonerate Donald Trump's antics. During the Barr hearing in the Senate, and following a long haul of frustration with Trump's bizarre behavior, Sasse made his point using Paul Manafort...

"Paul Manafort is hired by Deripaska for things related to the Ukraine. … He is on the payroll of a Russian oligarch that has interests completely disaligned with the American people. He is on his payroll. Is it permissible for [an American campaign official] to be paid by someone who is basically an enemy of the United States?"

Manafort was Donald Trump's campaign manager after Trump fired Corey Lewandowski in the 2016 election. The former will serve 47 months in prison "for financial fraud convictions obtained by special counsel Robert Mueller as he investigated Manafort's alleged collusion with the Russian government in 2016." Manafort is reported to have given up plenty in Robert Mueller's investigation that clearly points to obstruction of justice by Donald Trump.

Then Delaware's Democratic Sen. Chris Coons chimed in...

"he targeted Barr with a question based on the June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting attended by three top Trump advisers and several Russians. The Russians had high-level government and intelligence connections and had conveyed through an intermediary that they were interested in providing the Trump campaign incriminating material about Clinton in the context of 'Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.'”

Mueller didn't pursue this due to the fact it would be difficult to prove, which Barr has picked up on in his all-out defense of Donald Trump. This has apparently given T-rump the will to defy Democrats at every turn in their investigation of the Oval Office lunatic, primarily in the release of his personal taxes. Apparently, Barr has found more confidence through his boss and has completely refused to appear before Democrats in the House.

Trump ran as the CEO president. But any corporate board would have fired him without ceremony or hesitation, reported The Hill. It also said...

"A corporate board would never tolerate even a fraction of Trump’s 1,400 conflicts of interests; A corporate CEO wouldn’t survive even one serious investigation of wrongdoing; A board would not keep a CEO who publicly lied as much as Trump; Any corporate board would be alarmed by the turnover in Trump’s administration, the number of unfilled leadership positions and temporary/acting replacements."

And if it weren't for the lowlife Senate head, Mitch McConnell, a "federal board of directors" could have done away with Donald Trump a long time ago. 

World asking why so many U.S. mass shootings?

The U.S. has 4.4 percent of the global population but owns 42 percent of the world’s guns. According to a 2015 study by Adam Lankford, professor at the University of Alabama...

Dianne Feinstein-Here's the culprit

"Worldwide, a country’s rate of gun ownership correlated with the odds it would experience a mass shooting. This relationship held even when he excluded the United States, indicating that it could not be explained by some other factor particular to his home country."

In another Lankford study of the same year, "only 4 percent of American gun deaths could be attributed to mental health issues." And re. suicides...

"countries with high suicide rates tended to have low rates of mass shootings — the opposite of what you would expect if mental health problems correlated with mass shootings."

That pretty much puts a damper on the NRA's perpetual and tiring comment that mass shootings are a mental health issue. The Washington Post Editorial Board said "there have been more than 100 mass shootings, more than 4,500 gun deaths (not counting suicides) and more than 8,400 gun injuries. Here's a comparison with down under...

"Australian physician. Nikki Stamp, a heart and lung surgeon in Perth, Australia, said in a Wednesday Post op-ed that in more than 16 years of practice, she has had to deal with only two instances of gunshot wounds. One was a man who had accidentally shot himself and the other an attempted suicide."

And if you look at the Aussie's gun laws you can understand Stamp's comment. This is "because of the gun-control measures the country put in place after a mass shooting in 1996, in which 35 people were killed." Sheer common sense which neither the U.S. Congress nor the American public has. Australia wonders why we haven't tried the same thing here. So do American gun advocates. And speaking of the U.S. Congress...

"Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California is introducing legislation to increase the minimum age to buy assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in the wake of a shooting in that state."

This is sheer nonsense considering the magnitude of the gun violence issue, especially since it was Feinstein who proposed banning assault weapons entirely just a few years ago. It is dumb moves like this the rest of the world will look at and marvel that the U.S. population hasn't self-destructed using its 393-million guns. Come to think of it, it is a wonder we haven't.