Repeal of the 2nd Amendment is imminent

August 14, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET...Where liberals Walk

Let's get rid of the 2nd Amendment...NOW  

Time to dump the 2nd Amendment

Joel Mathis of The Week says it has in his commentary that starts simply, "Enough. No more. Stop." He refers, of course, to the Garlic Festival, El Paso and the Dayton gun massacres. And all those collective incidents in the past where innocent people have died because there are too damn many guns on the street in the U.S. 393 million guns for 326 million people. Absolutely preposterous for a nation with the best military and police forces in the world.

And don't give me the bullshit about protecting yourself from a tyrannical government. That doesn't fly anymore. After 87 years on this earth, I have never had the need to use a gun, except on Shore Patrol in the Navy. Mathis relates to the killings at the Garlic Festival and El Paso, each carried out by a white supremacist with rhetoric much too familiar with that we have heard from Donald Trump before and since his election.

El Paso shooter's anti-immigrant manifesto...

Just before T-rump took off for El Paso after the shooting, in the press pool he "did not repudiate the shooter's manifesto of anti-immigration hatred and instead agreed with it." A reporter asked, “You and the shooter in El Paso used that same language. Do you regret that?” Here is the reporter's reaction to Trump...

"Instead of denying there was any connection with the mass murderer's views or repudiate the reporter for asking that question in particular, Trump instead agreed with parts of the killer's crazed manifesto."

Completely amazed, the reporter commented further...

"This is crazy. We have a mass murderer who name dropped Trump in his manifesto and used Donald's vile rhetoric and views as a linchpin for his insane manifesto and what does Trump do? 

Trump cosigns it."

Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan was a favorite of the NRA, an "A" rating, until he realized from the Las Vegas massacre that the group would never change, and would continue putting as many guns on the street as possible. To reiterate, there are 393 million guns in the U.S. for 326 million people. These two figures themselves illustrate a gun culture completely out of control, with a further realization that nothing may ever be done about it.

NBC reports...

"The entire 2020 Democratic presidential field now supports basic gun safety policies such as universal background checks, “red flag” laws that allow law enforcement to temporarily confiscate guns from people deemed a threat, and banning assault weapons. On the stump, they all preach strident and urgent opposition to the NRA."

Wayne LaPierre causes NRA turmoil...

The NRA. It is and always has been the problem. With the turmoil it is currently going through, one can only hope that in a short period of time the head gun nut, Wayne LaPierre, and his minions will be a forgotten part of America's gun culture. Unfortunately, we will never be able to put the gun violence the NRA has given us out of our minds.

Guns don't kill, people do outdated and boring

August 14, 2019: Commentary on gun violence

393 million guns for 326 million people - Why guns kill  

Is this what gun rights people mean?
Makes as much sense, duh!

The time has come to look at America's gun culture and realize that we are a country of gun violence simply because of our gun laws which stem primarily from the Republican Party with the regular incitement of Wayne LaPierre and his National Rifle Assn. (NRA). We are a nation of gun nuts, defined as follows...

You are a gun nut if... 

You think assault weapons should be legal...
You object to universal background checks...
If you favor weapons straw purchases...
You oppose red flag gun laws
You think you should be able to carry your gun anywhere...
You are afraid of a national gun registry

There's more, but this is the essence of the gun rights movement that has been instilled in the minds of gun owners since Wayne LaPierre took over the NRA. The years outdated 2nd Amendment is sacrosanct, and no one must question its meaning or validity, according to these gun nuts. But 70% to 80% of NRA members want universal background checks, plus other changes, meaning the gun nuts are in the minority. They're just the ones with the loudest mouths.

NRA in turmoil...

Elie Mystal from The Nation says, "It’s Time to Repeal—and Replace—the Second Amendment," an article that no doubt makes LaPierre shudder to think anyone would attack his fabricated piece of outdated ideology. She says...

"The meaning of the amendment has been so badly mangled that our only choice is to start over with something that allows for real gun control."

Yes, and the mangled interpretations of the 2nd Amendment clearly come from the propaganda spewing of the National Rifle Assn. and its minions promoting gun violence. But lately NRA board members are dropping like flies with Julie Golob, a professional sport shooter and a strong public advocate for gun rights resigning before her tenure was up. The fourth member in the past two weeks to desert the sinking ship.

Three other board members, Esther Schneider of Texas, Sean Maloney of Ohio and Timothy Knight of Tennessee left when...

"they were stripped of their committee assignments after they asked questions about allegations of lavish spending by NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other financial excesses."

Former SCOTUS Justice Stevens wanted to repeal 2nd Amendment...



Newsweek reports that the NRA's tax-exempt status is in danger as donors revolt with the most recent development the New York State Department of Financial Services investigation of "the NRA's now-defunct Carry Guard insurance product, which purported to insure gun owners when they kill another individual." The inquiry reportedly involves...

"kickbacks that the NRA is alleged to have received for facilitating the purchase of insurance policies. The NRA is not licensed to provide or market insurance policies and their involvement in the development of insurance services could run afoul of state law."

The NRA is in a shambles and most of it can likely be traced back to head gun nut, Wayne LaPierre. In a former post, I blogged former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens made a push recently to repeal the 2nd Amendment, following the Parkland, Florida shooting massacre. Another recent post, Big time NRA donor, David Dell’Aquila, wants Wayne LaPierre dumped, calling him radioactive. Just now realizing Wayne LaPierre has been threatening for years.

Pathetic!

Ken Cuccinelli's an idiot like all Trump appointees

August 13, 2019: TODAY'S BREAKING NEWS

This Donald Trump rant shows even more volatility  

Get this. Today...

Donald Trump coming off the spool

"US Citizenship and Immigration Services director Ken Cuccinelli revised the iconic poem adorning the Statue of Liberty. The poem, written by Emma Lazarus, welcomes the world’s 'tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.'”

Cuccinelli's version...

“Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge.”

T-rump, of course, fully approved spouting off...

“I don’t think it’s fair to have the American tax payer … you know, it’s about America first,” the president said. “I don’t think it’s fair to have the American taxpayer pay for people to come into the United States,” he added. “I am tired of seeing our taxpayer pay for people to come into the country that immediately go onto welfare and various other things.”

Here's an example of the White House mental case going berserk...

There's more, like an Epstein conspiracy tweet, calls Chris Cuomo an animal and wants to know if Bill Clinton went to Jeffrey Epstein’s island. He did this all today at a natural gas plant in Pennsylvania. Is there any correlation between this and the Oval Office lunatic's gasbag rhetoric? Back in April Vox said Trump's tweets are becoming more unhinged. Several psychologists have said that keeping pressure on Donald Trump will make him eventually break.

But when?

Why did Bill Barr visit Jeffrey Epstein

August 13, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES on PROGRESSIVE STREET...Where Liberals Walk

And did Bill Barr make a secret visit to the jail just before Jeffrey Epstein's death?  

Why did Trump's AG visit Jeffrey Epstein in jail?

The time has come to nail down some facts on the Jeffrey Epstein suicide, but the folks at the New York Metropolitan Correctional Center don't seem to have any answers. The only thing we are sure about is that the infamous pedophile is dead, and he took a treasure trove of information with him about the underage girls he provided for some very important people. Or maybe now that he is dead, his mansions, penthouses, even planes and boats will provide the final exposé.

Jeffrey Epstein taken off suicide watch...

And why did Donald Trump's AG, Bill Barr, make a suspicious trip to the New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center two weeks before Epstein's death? Here's the scenario...

Lewis Kasman, a former mobster and top associate of John Gotti Sr., told the New York Post that Barr made a secret visit to Metropolitan Correctional Center two weeks ago “about the time Epstein was found in his cell with bruises around his neck.”

 “When does that happen?” Kasman asked. “The attorney general never visits jails. Something’s not right there.”

Bill Barr visits Jeffrey Epstein in jail-WHY

There was also conjecture by Kasman that Jeffrey Epstein had received help from jail employees just like other wealthy inmates had in the past...

“There are cameras going 24/7 and they’re watching 24/7. Someone had to give [Epstein] the equipment to kill himself and he had to pay for it dearly,” Kasman claimed. “That facility for years had issues of corruption, with correction officers bringing in food or cellphones for wealthy people.”

But the glaring question is why Epstein's lawyers requested that their client be taken off suicide watch? If the psychiatric doctors gave the go-ahead, that would have made more sense...

"A new report form the Wall Street Journal claims that attorneys for billionaire accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein asked that their client be taken off suicide watch.

The Journal’s sources did not explain the reason for the attorneys’ request, which was reportedly made less than a week after Epstein was placed on suicide watch after he was found unconscious in his cell with marks around his neck."

Just two weeks after this, Jeffrey Epstein was dead. It isn't yet known how many of his well-known buddies this will affect, and just how high it will go in the pecking order. But the American public should be enraged over any attempt to hide the fact that grown men--no matter how important they are--were having sex with underage girls.

10 reasons Donald Trump won't be reelected in 2020

August 13, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES on PROGRESSIVE STREET...Where Liberals Walk

Donald Trump won't repeat and here's why  

If you are looking for some sound reasons why Donald Trump will likely be back in his Trump Tower after 2020, look no more. Quinnipiac University reminds us that his approval rating is at 40 percent while his disapproval is at 54 percent and here is some of the logic thanks to AlterNet...

Donald Trump - The Washington bigot

1. Most Americans think Trump is racist.
2. Large majorities of both black and Latinos think Trump is racist.
3. Unlike Trump, 78 percent of Americans think it is never “acceptable for a presidential campaign to obtain information on a political opponent from a hostile foreign power.”
4. A huge majority of people (87 percent) believe campaigns should be forced to report receiving information from foreign governments.
5. 54 percent say they will “definitely not vote” for Trump.
6. Only 32 say they will “definitely” vote for Trump.
7. Voters aren’t buying Trump’s spin on the horrific conditions his administration forces upon immigrants.
8. Trump’s hope to make 2020 about the supposed dangers of immigration will probably fail.
9. 88 percent of people say “lack of civility in politics today is a serious problem.”
10. Indeed, more voters blame Trump for lack of civility than Democrats.

A vote whether Donald Trump should be reelected...

The 32%, above, who say they will definitely vote for Trump are the same double-digits you see standing behind him at rallies, and those who gloat over his online tweets. The 54 percent who say they will “definitely not vote” for Trump, and if they, in fact, come out to vote, will hopefully save this country from  another four years of a raving ego-maniac that is driving the U.S. into the ground.

Assuming the democrats are not dumb enough to let the Electoral College beat them again, there is a good chance this country will return to normal after the 2020 elections.

Jeffrey Epstein's final gesture: Suicide for for his buddies

August 12, 2019: TODAY'S COMMENTARY

Jeffrey Epstein may live on for another day with his "pals"  

Donald Trump-Jeffrey Epstein and "friends"

Think about it. Jeffrey Epstein had been on suicide watch for eleven days then taken off. Here's a man that is literally at the end of his rope. He's sure to spend the rest of his life in prison. Not likely the court would ever trust him on bail. It's a known fact that prison inmates hate child molesters, and if they didn't get him, well, his pals who stand to be exposed, the ones Epstein provided with underage girls, would certainly put out a hit on him. Here's how it was...

"Mr. Epstein’s social circle had included dozens of well-known politicians, business executives, scientists, academics and other notables, including President Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew of Britain and Leslie H. Wexner, the retail billionaire behind Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works."

MSNBC on Jeffrey Epstein investigations...

No one knows how he managed the suicide when a guard is supposed to do a checkup every half hour. They didn't and Jeffrey Epstein hung himself, according to the chief medical examiner, Dr. Barbara Sampson, from New York city's Metropolitan Correctional Center. There was talk that Epstein tried to commit suicide three weeks earlier, but like everything else connected to his death, prison officials are not sure what happened. Conspiracy theories are rampant...

"Mr. Epstein’s death has also unleashed a torrent of unfounded conspiracy theories online, with people suggesting, without evidence, that Mr. Epstein was killed to keep him from incriminating others."

Jeffrey Epstein demands for justice...

Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein, but "Business Insider reports, newly unsealed flight logs reveal that Trump flew on Epstein’s private plane — dubbed 'Lolita Express' — at least once in 1997." T-rump has also tried to connect Bill Clinton with the pedophile's death, a move, it might seem, designed to take the attention away from Trump's close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. My question is did Epstein have help with the suicide?...

“From the moment you walk onto that property, you are under camera surveillance,” Mr. Young said, adding that there should be video evidence of when the last checks were made and of anyone who approached Mr. Epstein’s cell. 

 Eric Young is president of the national council of union locals that represents guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. So, might one expect that surveillance tapes will reveal if anyone was complicit in Jeffrey Einstein's suicide? And, since the main figure in this controversy is dead, there is no one to stop authorities from thoroughly probing every nook and cranny of Epstein's mansions and penthouses. Here's Raw Story's version of what they might find and the outcome...

"videotapes of young girls and documents that may mention the names of people who were at his properties on specific dates. Had Epstein lived, and made it to trial, his attorneys could have filed motions to throw out that evidence. Now, however, no one has standing to put the brakes on the investigation."

If a whitewash is in the works with this likely applying to Donald Trump on down, it will no doubt show, or perhaps not show the strength of the state of New York in solving this issue along with the taxes of Donald Trump. Unfortunately, I don't have much hope for success in either incident. I hope I am wrong!

Republicans do like the N-word more and more

August 12, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES on PROGRESSIVE STREET...Where Liberals Walk

Trump and his Republican minions loving N-word more each day  

Trump and cronies espouse the N-word

That headline is racism at its best considering the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, and Dr. Martin Luther King died for the cause in April of 1968. Having come from a South of Ku Klux Klan and other assorted racists, and the years in between where we thought we had at least made a little progress, it is tragic to see racism surging ahead in 2019. The Washington Post‘s Michael Tesler says, "Republicans don’t think Trump’s tweets are racist."

El Paso carnage...

Any balanced and fair-minded person knows he is, and the right takes their position to protect an out-of-control maniac that is destroying our country on many fronts. Racism is just one of them. But right now that is important since it fits in with T-rump's white supremacy beliefs that he has verbalized repeatedly, producing three gun violence carnages in a period of just three weeks. The Garlic Festival in California, then El Paso and Dayton one day apart.

Dayton carnage...

You can draw a straight line from these events to the Trump white nationalist tweet rants that began with the 2016 election, condemning Mexicans as rapists and murders just to please his base. The Oval Office lunatic says he's not a racist but white supremacists prove otherwise as they embrace T-rump's and other Republicans' use of the words "nationalist" and "invasion," each of which carries the implication of hate.

Here's an example...

"The Post reports that just one-third (33%) of Trump voters now consider it racist to use the n-word. By comparison, 86% of Hillary Clinton voters believe it is racist to use the n-word."

Here's another...

"Most recently, Trump tweeted that several black and brown members of Congress are “from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe” and that they should “go back” to those countries. The tweets, aimed at Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)."

On the campaign trail for Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Trump was quoted as saying, "I'm a nationalist, OK? I'm a nationalist." Keegan Hankes, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project comments...

"When they hear the President say things like, 'I'm not a racist,' they [his supporters] turn around amongst themselves and say, 'He just has to say that for practical reasons,' 'he just has to say that basically to get himself cover, to do the things that we want him to do,'" Hankes says.

The question is, just what is it that these poor lost souls really want him to do?

Donald Trump still inspires hate/white supremacy

August 9, 2019: Today's Commentary

Donald Trump responsible for El Paso/Dayton 


The shooter, Patrick Wood Crusius, age 21, with a legally purchased version of the AK-47, travels from Allen, Texas to El Paso and shoots 46 innocent people, killing 22 of them. He was targeting Mexicans because he felt they were invading America, the same rhetoric Donald Trump has used repeatedly to rouse his lowlife gang of followers. As if taking a page from T-rump's white supremacist book, he published a white nationalist, anti-immigrant manifesto on social media immediately before the attack. That was August 3.

El Paso shooting video...

Then we move on to Dayton, Ohio, just one day later, where another gunman shot 24 innocent people, killing 10, including his sister and a friend. He used a pistol configuration with a shortened barrel, chambered in .223 caliber ammunition and equipped with a 100-round drum magazine, a semi-automatic AM-15, based on the AR-15. The shooter was Connor Stephen Betts, a 24-year-old from Bellbrook, Ohio, wearing body armor. Apparently no political agenda, just hate and he liked killing people.

Dayton shooting video...

The El Paso shooter's mother called police with information that she was worried about her son's obsession with the AK-47 style weapon; they said it was legal and nothing they could do. Neither pursued the situation so it stopped there when the police should have asked more questions and the mother should have pushed on. Likewise, although the Dayton killer wasn't that political, he had retweeted posts that supported the Antifa movement and opposed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and police officers. He was obviously violent.

And then after all the violent gun carnage, Senate head, the bottom-feeding Mitch McConnell, refuses to reconvene Congress to consider gun control measures that would have prevented this mayhem. Donald Trump expresses some support for gun control legislation but then gets a call from his buddy, Wayne LaPierre, at the National Rifle Assn. (NRA). Nothing happens, as it has been all the way back to Columbine, then Sandy Hook, to El Paso/Dayton and the numerous gun homicides and mass shootings in between.

McConnell says he will take action in September, but now that the Oval Office lunatic has been warned by the NRA, it is unlikely that we will see any real action. Until the people of this country finally come to their senses and rebel against the gun lobby, specifically the NRA, innocent children and adults will continue to die on a daily basis on the streets and in mass murders like those recently. The blame clearly goes on the Republican Party and its partner, the NRA.

Why Mitch McConnell won't allow voting equipment update

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

Mitch McConnell-The puppet of $$$

Mitch McConnell takes payoff to block legislation

That's right! Mitch McConnell actually blocked to legislative bills calling them partisan and "not a serious effort to make a law." As if this lowlife would know what real legislation is. The real reason he did it...

The plans would likely burden the two largest electronic voting machine vendors in the United States, Election Systems & Software and Dominion Voting Systems, with new regulations and financial burdens.

Just before blocking the legislation, McConnell received donations from the voting companies' lobbyists. How blatant and unethical can he be? Is there any Senator with the balls and the integrity to call a Mitch McConnell what he is, a slimeball? I think not.

Moscow Mitch McConnell promotes 2020 election Russian meddling

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

Moscow Mitch in full uniform

Mitch McConnell could also get hacking help from Russians

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

Moscow Mitch welcomes Putin into 2020 election

July 26: QUICK NEWS BYTES 

Mitch McConnell wish-list for 2020 election

Mitch McConnell welcomes 2020 Russian election meddling

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

This should be so obvious to the people of Kentucky, even Republicans, that they dump him from the Senate in 2020. Here's the scenario...

"McConnell declared the effort partisan and insisted the Trump administration has already done much to secure the nation's elections."

All pure BS, of course, but nothing can be done as long as this political tyrant is in office. He barely won in his last election, but this time think Amy McGrath will pull off a win, not an upset since all polls indicate that Mitch McConnell is despised almost as much as Donald Trump. And that's pretty bad. U.S. elections are far from being secure; experts have been warning of foreign meddling for years. 2020 could be a landmine for this epitome of democracy.

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

July 25, 2019: TODAY'S COMMENTARY  

Donald Trump lies to auditorium full of teens

Donald Trump regularly defiles the Constitution

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

Trump whines to young people over Mueller investigation

He even whined over Robert Mueller's investigation of Trump's involvement in the Russian tampering with the 2016 election, but then became emphatic when he started on the Constitution...

“Then, I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president. But, I don’t even talk about that.”

Donald Trump waging war on Constitution

Forefathers would be ashamed 

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

It was natural that...

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

How many at Summit of color?

I wonder how many of these teens were of color, and just how they reacted to Trump's continued disparaging of the four congresswomen who not only have his attention, but are clearly aggravating and enraging the Oval Office lunatic with their comments on his bizarre behavior. Here's what the upheaval is all about...

"Article II grants the president “executive power.” It does not indicate the president has total power. Article II is the same part of the Constitution that describes some of Congress’s oversight responsibilities, including over the office of the presidency. It also details how the president may be removed from office via impeachment."

Don't you think it is interesting that Trump repeatedly reflects on the portion of the Constitution that could remove him from office with impeachment? Maybe it's time to rethink this whole possibility.

Presidential Seal behind Trump as fake as he is

July 25, 2019:

NEWS BULLETIN on PROGRESSIVE STREET...Where Liberals Walk

Someone taunts dumified Donald  

Trump before fake presidential seal

During a speech to thousands of cheering young supporters at the Turning Point USA conference, no one seemed to notice the slightly difference in the presidential seal that was being shown on the screen behind him. That was...

"Instead of the bald eagle that features in the official seal of the president of the United States, the image featured a double headed eagle, which bears a striking resemblance to the one on the official coat of arms of the Russian Federation."

Donald dufus wasn't aware that someone was making him look like the fool he is, again tying him to the Russians and their help in getting him elected in 2016. Turning Point USA said it had no idea where the image came from nor how it got on the screen. The problem here is that someone thinks so little of the president that he or she would do this. Read more...

GOP Rep. Ken Buck buries Trump in Mueller testimony

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

Did Robert Mueller say the "I" word?

GOP Rep. Ken Buck trashes Trump

A Republican, Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), "asked Mueller if he could indict the president on obstruction charges."

"The former special counsel’s answer was simple: 'Yes.'"

This sent Republicans racing for cover since it was completely unexpected. This is why...

"Mueller’s position is that he didn’t consider indicting Trump solely because of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) ruling saying sitting presidents can’t be indicted. But Trump won’t be president forever, and Mueller’s view is that once Trump is out of office, prosecutors could charge him with obstruction if they believe the facts laid out in the report warrant it."

And that should send Trump's lawyer's running for cover, since the whole family is already overrun with litigation like the action of New York's southern district. Mueller's reply was completely unanticipated, that is if these people read the Mueller Report. But the former Special Counsel has been telling everyone so far that in his testimony, he would stick strictly to the report. Well, he didn't, and that will no doubt send shivers through Donald Trump's tweets.

Republicans did so before and continued throughout the morning questions of the hearing to expound "that Mueller’s report exonerated him [Donald Trump] (Mueller said at the outset that it did not) or that there was some kind of anti-Trump conspiracy involved in its production. It all came unraveled after that...

Congressman: "Could you charge the President with a crime after he left office?"
Mueller: "Yes."

 Read more...

GOP Rep. Ken Buck buries Trump...

And that wasn't the only shocker for Republicans

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) provided a similar surprise by asking Mueller...

"to confirm that the only reason Trump was not indicted was because that is prohibited by an opinion issued by the Office of Legal Counsel."
“That is correct,” Mueller agreed.

Raw Story has compiled a list of some reasons why Mueller's testimony was "devastating for Trump." Here are a couple...

"Trump has repeatedly claimed Mueller’s report found no evidence of obstruction of justice and completely exonerated him, but the former special counsel told committee chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) that was inaccurate."

"Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) asked Mueller whether the president tried to protect himself by ordering staff to falsify records, and the former special counsel agreed, and Mueller also agreed those actions were intended to hamper the investigation."

Mueller and his team were accused of political bias and the former Special Prosecutor's credibility was questioned, but the obvious GOP bias was easily explained. All in all, it seemed a good day for Democrats.

Read more...

NEWS BULLETIN: Robert Mueller testifies Trump can be indicted

July 24, 2019: NEWS BULLETIN

Robert Mueller testifies

Mueller "indicts" Trump

Cody Fenwick in AlterNet reports...

"In his report, Mueller laid out extensive evidence that President Donald Trump obstructed justice. But because the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel has determined that a sitting president cannot be indicted, Mueller said that his office didn’t make a prosecutorial judgment about whether to bring such a charge and that he would, in principle, refuse to say that he would have brought such charges under other circumstances."

Later...

"Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) asked Mueller point-blank: 'The reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of the OLC opinion stating that you cannot indict a sitting president, correct?'”

This is something he has steadfastly refused to acknowledge. And yet Mueller answered without hesitation: “That is correct.”

See live testimony re. the above...

Blue collar workers betrayed by Donald Trump

July 24, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler says no to DOJ

That was then...but not anymore

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

It seems that...

"Weinsheimer wrote in a letter to Mueller on Monday that the former FBI director’s testimony must remain within the boundaries of the 448-page special counsel investigative report the department released in redacted form on April 18.

He added...

"that some matters covered by the inquiry were covered by “executive privilege,” a legal principle rarely invoked by U.S. presidents to keep other branches of government from getting access to certain internal executive branch information. It generally is used to keep private internal discussions between the president and his advisers."

Nadler said, not so, and that "Mueller did not need to follow the instructions contained in the letter." Nadler stated...

“He does not have to comply with that letter. He doesn’t work for them. And that letter asks things that are beyond the power of the agency to ask even if he still worked for them.”

By the time this is posted, the hearing should be in its third hour and Robert Mueller should have committed one way or the other by then. Be sure and tune in.

Trump has deserted blue-collar Americans

Donald Trump got where he is today by...

"his appeals to blue-collar white workers in the Midwest with promises that included rebuilding America’s manufacturing industry, invest money in the country’s crumbling infrastructure, and using Medicare’s negotiating power to lower the cost of prescription drugs."

However, in what Brad Reed of Raw Story calls a devastating New York Times report, it is a fact that...

"the president has 'accomplished little' for these Americans and is instead relying on fueling culture wars to win the 2020 election."

Just another case of T-rump using people who, for some reason or other, don't realize how pitifully they are being had. Reed quotes more from the report...

“Since he became president, Mr. Trump has largely operated as a conventional Republican, signing taxes that benefit high-end earners and companies, rolling back regulations on corporations and appointing administration officials and judges with deep roots in the conservative movement. His approach has delighted much of the political right.”

But hasn't done a damn thing for these Midwest blue-collar white workers. The question is how many voters are there on the political right compared to middle-America?

Blue collar workers betrayed by Donald Trump

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

Paul Waldman of The American Prospect asks, "This is not who we are — or is it?" He refers, of course, to the Donald Trump administration and its blundering through over two years now. He comments...

"Candidates say it. Ex-candidates say it. Pundits say it. It’s as much a desperate plea as it is an assertion. This is not who we are…is it?"

Waldman thinks this is also a question for each presidential election when the referendum of an individual can tell us who we are. We elected Barack Obama in 2008 and thought that defined us as a nation of "multiethnic and multiracial, open and inclusive, forward-looking and forward-thinking." And then Donald Trump was elected and it was open house for white supremacy and a reversion to Southern type racism.

Right after Obama was elected...

"But right away, Republicans said, 'No. That is not who we are.' They expressed their loathing for Obama in a hundred ways, but at its center was the belief that he was not Us—not born here, not a Christian like he claimed, with a worldview 'so outside our comprehension,' in Newt Gingrich’s words, that he could only be some sort of alien."

"Then along came Donald Trump," Waldman says, followed by calling T-rump a number of names like loathsome and stupid, while praising how he won the 2016 election. He did and that's the reason for the question, "This is not who we are — or is it?" Well...is it?

Trump polls high but Americans Not sold on Trump or Democrat

July 23, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

Donald Trump Jr. went unscathed in Robert Mueller investigation

Joe Scarborough of MSNBC would like to know why Donald Trump Jr. had not been questioned as part of the special counsel probe, a question, perhaps, that could arise in Robert Mueller's testimony tomorrow. Scarborough said...

“There are only three questions that most Americans want the answer to. Was there obstruction, was there collusion and would Donald Trump have been indicted had he not been the president of the United States?"

This, in addition to the mystery over why Mueller didn't subpoena Junior...

"Why was Donald Trump Jr. the only American attendee of the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 not questioned by investigators?"

Scarborough described Mueller's investigation as "incomplete," commenting...

“There’s a recurring theme here about all of these investigations going on and everybody pulling back before giving Americans the answers that they need.”

I hesitate to even say it but, is it possible, deep down, Robert Mueller was afraid of the wrath of Donald Trump's legal team and that may still be the case?

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

The illiterate first family

Ivanka Trump is following in daddy's footsteps in keeping with stupid statements and an ignorance of the English language. She recently had to delete a tweet about Boris Johnson after repeated ridiculing of its misspelling. Boris Johnson was being named the next Prime Minister of the "United Kingston". The toofar site also came up with some T-rump goodies...

The POTUS is renowned for his Twitter gaffes, "Cheif Hostage Negotiator", "Hamberder", "Unpresidented", "Smocking" and the infamous "Covfefe" tweets among the more famous examples.

 In another situation...

"Ivanka Trump violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits government employees from engaging in political activity, when she tweeted about her dad’s campaign in a Father’s Day post, a watchdog group says.

And finally...

"The watchdog group argued that Ivanka’s Twitter account, which has over 6.5 million followers, has been used continuously for official government purposes, despite saying it is a “Personal Pg.” and that “views are [her] own” in the bio, which also includes her “Advisor to POTUS” job title. Thus, Ivanka's partisan Twitter activity can easily be read as that of a government employee, albeit an unpaid one, using her official position to promote political campaign issues."

They may be illiterate but all of this Trump clan knows how to use the U.S. government to further their own interests.

Trump polls high but Americans Not sold on Trump or Democrats

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

The Marist Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College pollster says Independents would not reelect Donald Trump but at the same time are also unhappy with the course Democrats have taken. Even though Trump did his best ever in this poll, his approval rating is still just 44%. On the other side...

"52% of registered voters approve of his handling of the economy and two-thirds — 65% — of Americans think the economy is working well for them, including 62% of independents."

This would indicate to me that although Republicans got lucky on the economy, at the expense of the middle class, the voting public really doesn't want Donald Trump in the White House. 

Presidential administration of a racist

July 23, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

Robert Mueller between a rock and a hard place

4 Congresswomen who will bring down Donald Trump 

Robert Mueller requested guidance from the Dept. of Justice on his Wednesday testimony to Congress. Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer answered stating whatever he said must be within the boundaries of the now public report. Weinsheimer added...

"matters within the scope of your investigation were covered by executive privilege."

In case you are interested, the hearing is scheduled to start at 8:30 AM ET, Wednesday, and several TV networks will cover it. The Democrats plan...

"to push Mueller on several aspects of his investigation as well as the question if he would recommend charges against President Donald Trump were he not the President."

As an observer of Robert Mueller's actions from the beginning to the end of this whole frolic in Donald Trump stupidity and incompetence, but more significantly at the end, I got the feeling Mueller secretly wants to testify, and hopes Democrats will ask some very pointed questions he must answer under oath. If I am wrong, the hearing won't be worth wasting your time on. The testimony starts where I live at 5:30 AM and at this point I'm thinking I'd rather sleep.

Read more...

4 Congresswomen who could beat Donald Trump in 2020

Donald Trump is all about racism

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

He called these poor souls in No. Carolina "incredible people -incredible patriots.” Back to Trump attacking Omar...

“I’m unhappy when a congresswoman goes, ‘I’m going to be the president’s nightmare,'” Trump said, referring to remarks that Omar made during a town hall in Minnesota Thursday night. “She’s lucky to be where she is, let me tell you. And the things that she has said are a disgrace to our country.”

Well, not only has Ilhan Omar committed to making T-rump's life a nightmare, but so have her three colleagues, also racially violated by Trump. They are Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Talib of Michigan. It has been said by someone recently that the best way to bring down Donald Trump is to keep pushing his buttons until he finally breaks. Have a feeling these four women of color can do the job.

If only that could happen before the 2020 election. Proof that the White House moron doesn't learn, there is word that he will use racism as part of an election strategy to appeal to the same lowlifes that cheered him on in No. Carolina. But get this, by doing so...

"he is writing off 45.9 percent of the American population and implying that because they are not sufficiently white or native-born, they are not part of the “America” he represents."

Here's the breakdown...

"14.1 percent of Americans are either black or mixed race, including African-American, like Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar. 18.1 percent of Americans are of Hispanic descent like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. And 13.7 percent of Americans are foreign-born, like Ilhan Omar."

Either Donald Trump can't count, or his ego has grown so big that he believes he can regularly debase people of color and they will forgive all and still vote for him. I think it is a little of both. The No. Carolina rally consisted of mostly white, elderly people but T-rump thinks...

"he’s looking at the United States of America. He’s wrong. As apparently everyone but Trump knows, the population of this country is getting browner, blacker, younger, and more foreign, in the sense of being from recent immigrant stock."

 Here's a depressing statement by Lucian Truscott of Salon...

"The kind of racist hatred that used to be hidden away in backwaters like Mississippi and Alabama and Louisiana and practiced by the likes of David Duke is now part of our national conversation."

I moved away from that years ago when I left the South. Not in a million years did I ever think it would come back to haunt me right out of the White House. 

Donald Trump responsible for hate crimes

July 22, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

Hate crimes tied to a president unheard of  

Donald Trump-White Supremacist

Many in the media and groups like So. Poverty Law Center have warned of Donald Trump inciting violence with his racist targeting of women of color in Congress. Jim Cavanaugh, a retired ATF special agent-in-charge was interviewed by Anchor Joy Reid on Friday evening’s “The Last Word.” She asked...

“So those threats beginning about two years ago, increases in white nationalist activity. Have you ever heard of these kinds of increases in hate and potential hate crimes being tied to a president of the United States?”

Reid answered, “No,” he replied. “That’s very, very unusual, Joy, to have that happen.” Reid added...

“You know, when you get more power, your words carry more weight. When you get into this undercurrent of the Nazis and the white nationalists and the klansmen, they feed off of this. They feed off of public figures — on the regular media, in the government, congressmen, senators, the president — saying the things they always say,” he explained. “It bolsters them. It gives them strength and power.”

You can't get much more power than that of the President of the United States, so it is safe to say the white supremacists have the capacity of the greatest nation on earth. And that is very, very scary. The Oval Office lunatic has even primed these Nazis recently with his attacks on the four congresswomen, and there appears no abatement for Trump's racism. This country may be doomed to relive the race wars of the 1960s.

Read more...

White Supremacists love Donald Trump...

Stephen Miller-Donald Trump's scariest aide

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

Here's an example from Think Progress...

"Wallace also pointed out that Trump has criticized the four lawmakers for comments he deemed critical of America, yet attacked the nation, and Obama, with comments that were far more negative. President Obama is ignorant, this country is killers, on and on.'”

"Miller attempted to spin a 'fundamental distinction' between 'people who think we need to lean into and strengthen American’s core values' and 'people who think we need to turn America into Venezuela.' But Wallace again responded with Trump’s own quotes that were explicit attacks on America."

Chris concluded the interview with...

“I’ve never called any of his tweets racist,” Wallace admonished Miller. “But there’s no question he is stoking racial divisions.”

Read more... 

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

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

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

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

It may even be a strategy welcomed by Robert Mueller.

Read more...

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

July 22, 2019 : TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

Royal Family can't protect Prince Andrew

Jeffrey Epstein with Little St. James island of underaged girls

It is a scenario that I am sure the Royal Family did not want to get involved with, but Jeffrey Epstein's tentacles have apparently crossed the pond and all of a sudden Buckingham Palace is right in the middle. This is how Maureen Callahan of the New York Post portrays Prince Andrew, the Duke of York...

"The Queen’s favorite son has always been useless at best, a liability at worst — boorish, piggish, entitled, greedy and often quite stupid, consorting with ­oligarchs and strongmen for ­personal profit."

And then he met the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein but was protected by the Queen. Now, "the Second Circuit has ruled that 2,000 pages from a 4-year-old defamation suit filed by one of Epstein’s and Andrew’s alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre (née Roberts), are to be unsealed." Callahan reports...

"It’s likely that names will be heavily redacted. After all, extremely rich and powerful people are contained within, including, said the court, 'prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister and other world leaders' — all now implicated in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking operation."

Apparently the Queen can't help her favorite this time, and who knows what else will eventually come out of the Jeffrey Epstein debacle.

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

The rest of the above headline is, "The Horrors of Jeffrey Epstein's private island," in Holly Aguirre's Vanity Fair piece in an update on the pedophile's 70-acre private island in the Caribbean. This is Little St. James but on nearby St. Thomas...

"locals say Epstein continued to bring underage girls to the island as recently as this year—a decade after he was forced to register as a convicted sex offender—and that authorities did nothing to stop him."

In one case the girl(s) looked no more than 16 and were being flown in on one of Epstein's two Gulfstream jets. In 2018 and 2019 published flight records...

"the jets were airborne at least one out of every three days. They stopped all over the world, sometimes for only a few hours at a time: Paris, London, Slovakia, Mexico, Morocco. When they left St. Thomas, the employees say, they returned to airports near Epstein’s homes in Palm Beach and New York City."

So, we're talking a world-traveling pedophile that apparently takes advantage of weaker or non-existing laws against sex-trafficking in other countries. And there were repeated observations of Epstein's illicit activities, in one case by a former air traffic controller, which is yet another example of simply looking the other way when the wealthy are involved. Witnesses say the pedophile tipped heavily so apparently no one felt the honor of these girls was more important. Pathetic!

Read more...

Jeffrey Epstein's "Island of Sin"

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

These are the ones who could supply the meltdowns that push Donald Trump off the cliff. Called "The Squad" by the Oval Office lunatic, they are the four congresswomen that have literally gotten under T-rump's skin. He rankles over anything they say and exclaimed, "I don't believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country," calling them "weak" and "insecure." These four ladies have not only shaken up the Democratic Party, they now have Trump in their sites. The four women are...

Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

The Washington Post picked up the story with this reaction from Trump...

"the Post story contained 'phony sources who do not exist and is Fake News."

The Post report, in fact, was based on interviews "with 26 White House aides, advisers, lawmakers and others involved in the response," who said...

"Trump had posted the tweets after watching an episode of "Fox & Friends." He wanted to elevate the four congresswomen, telling his advisers he thought they were good foils, the newspaper reported."

As I see it, if each of the four congresswomen take a shot at Donald Trump each day, by 2020 he will be babbling in the wind, harmless and mostly forgotten.

Read more...

Meltdowns will send Donald Trump to the showers

July 21, 2019: WEEKEND NEWS BYTES  

Democrats may outsmart the GOP in 2020

Dr. Brandy Lee exposes Donald Trump

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

Bernie Sanders, God love him, started it and we should all be thankful there was someone with the integrity of this man to show us the way. I don't give a damn if you like Socialism or not. We've already got it and it will become even more prominent in the future. So, live with it! What we should be striving for is a country that caters to 100% of the population, not just 1%. Martin Longman of Washington Monthly says...

"the Democratic Party is not currently the default majority party in the country and it is not coming apart at the seams or circling the drain. If anything, the Democrats are about dead-even with the Republicans and have the wind at their backs, as demographic trends (in both youth and ethnicity) heavily favor them to make advances in the near future."

Like it or not, it looks like prosperity for the Democrats. And to confirm this Ted Cruz just commented that Democratic voters would come out in "staggering" numbers in 2020.

Read more... 

Are Democrats doing enough about Donald Trump's racism?

Meltdowns will send Donald Trump to the showers

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

Josh Israel talked about Trump...

"Echoing his standard smear of news stories that are unfavorable to him, Trump attacked the story as 'Fake News' with 'phony sources who do not exist,' despite its reliance on on-the-record quotes from key supporters."

Psychology also tells us that when a person begins to repeat a phrase, like "fake news" repeatedly, there is an uncertainty in their actions, which has now replaced confidence. Science is not clear on just how many meltdowns are necessary to blow a gasket, but it would appear that Donald Trump is on the verge.