Trump's mentor Roy Cohn was 'evil"

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2019 NEWS BYTES

Donald Trump's mentor dark man Roy Cohn  

Donald Trump-Roy Cohn

Donald Trump went so far during the Robert Mueller investigation by demanding that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions act more like [Roy] Cohn in assertively defending him. When you scrape the bottom of the barrel, you come up with loathsome individuals like Cohn. So why the admiration? "For decades he got away with remorselessly breaking the law." A key word here is "remorselessly," something that is emphasized in T-rump's playbook.

Politico senior staff writer Michael Kruse has written up a review of the documentary, “Where’s My Roy Cohn?” Here's the scenario...

“What Cohn could, and did, get away with was the very engine of his existence,” Kruse writes. “Cohn was indicted four times from the mid-’60s to the early ’70s—for stock-swindling and obstructing justice and perjury and bribery and conspiracy and extortion and blackmail and filing false reports. And three times he was acquitted — the fourth ended in a mistrial — giving him a kind of sneering, sinister sheen of invulnerability.”

 It's like the Oval Office lunatic looking in a mirror. You might remember Roy Cohn as Joe McCarthy's go-to man in the 1950s anti-communist conspiracy investigation. Lives were ruined and McCarthy was eventually disgraced and sent home to mow the lawn. Roy Cohn was there for McCarthy, and as Vanity Fair reports Donald Trump...

"With the ruthless attorney as a guide, Trump propelled himself into the city’s power circles and learned many of the tactics that would inexplicably lead him to the White House years later."

Roy Cohn was evil...

There are close similarities between Donald Trump and Joe McCarthy in the strategy tactics of intimidation. Beat down the opponent until they almost think you are right then close the deal. Vanity Fair writer Marie Brenner reports...

"Donald calls me 15 to 20 times a day,” Roy Cohn told me on the day we met. “He is always asking, ‘What is the status of this . . . and that?’”

Brenner had been assigned to write a story on the up-and-comer Donald Trump and decided that Roy Cohn was the man to talk to. At the time Trump was married to Ivana so Brenner also approached her for input to her story. She said...

"The tabloids couldn’t get enough of the Trumps’ theatrics. And as Donald Trump’s Hyatt [Trump's NY Grand Hyatt Hotel] rose, so too did the hidden hand of his attorney Roy Cohn, always there to help with the shady tax abatements, the zoning variances, the sweetheart deals, and the threats to those who might stand in the project’s way."

Donald Trump Roy Cohn association...

Brenner quotes attorney Victor A. Kovner who had known Cohn for years, “You knew when you were in Cohn’s presence you were in the presence of pure evil.” Are we beginning to draw distinct parallels between the mentor and Donald Trump? And if that's not enough, here's another example of Donald Trump's treatment of women...

"In 1991, Donald Trump poured a glass of wine down her [Marie Brenner] back during a dinner gala, after she’d written an unflattering piece about him and his then-wife Ivana."

Not clear if he learned this from Roy Cohn, but wherever T-rump picked it up, he has certainly refined and developed it over the years. It is beyond me how any woman could vote for Donald Trump but there are those out there in double-digit land that are, well, pathetic. Politico's Michael Kruse says, “Cohn did not, in the end, elude the consequences of his actions. He could not, it turned out, get away with everything forever.”

Roy Cohn died of Aids in 1986. Donald Trump's finale has yet to be decided.

Trump giving away or asking for info from foreign diplomat ?

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019 NEWS BYTES

Another Trump mishandling of classified information...  

A security risk in the Oval Office

Not only is Donald Trump sabotaging the U.S. economy, but now has "made a 'promise' to an unidentified world leader that prompted an official in the U.S. intelligence community to file a formal whistleblower complaint with the inspector general for the intelligence community,” according to CNN's John Avlon. These are the five foreign leaders Trump spoke to recently...

Russia's Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al Thani.

John Avlon "noted that the whistleblower is a Trump appointee which makes formal complaint all that much more alarming," explaining it this way...

“A Trump appointee thinks this is of such concern that Congress needs to know,” Berman began. “The question is: what was the promise, to whom, and what does it say about the president’s notion of intelligence?”

“What it says about the president is that the president of the United States appears to be a security risk and the intelligence community is concerned that the president can’t be trusted with classified information.”

Now that is unbelievably pathetic when you are talking about the supposed leader of the leading country in the world. Although many foreign nations might question that position these days. Remember when the Oval Office lunatic disclosed classified information to the Russian foreign minister sending everyone ballistic over whether this idiot could be trusted with any secrets. What're you going to do when the Dir. of Nat'l Intelligence covers up the whistleblower?

Whistleblower outs big mouth Trump...

California Democrat Rep. Jackie Speier hints that it is a "violation of Law" citing...

"In a five-hour closed-door hearing on Thursday, the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community reportedly refused to hand over information about a whistleblower, who allegedly felt a duty to report on President Donald Trump’s connections with a foreign leader."

But it was "The Office of Legal Counsel advised the acting director of national intelligence [Joseph Maguire] not to share a whistleblower complaint with Congress, according to a new report." Have you ever noticed how many Trump appointees are "acting?" That's because Donald dufus fires them so fast, they never have the chance to become permanent. And we don't know yet whether Attorney General William Barr was directly involved in the Maguire decision.

DNI protecting T-rump...

There is no precedent for this, said national security attorney Bradley Moss commenting...

"he was amazed that not only would an intelligence official file a whistleblower complaint against the president but that Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson would deem it credible."

There's more...

“We’re in uncharted territory here,” he [Moss] said. “As far as I’m concerned and aware, there has never been a whistleblower complaint brought to the inspector general of the IC that was verified as credible and urgent concern that the [director of national intelligence] has refused to forward on to the relevant intelligence committees and certainly… this is the first time it’s involved the president.”

Moss finishes with, “This is something related to a serious, flagrant violation of law concerning an operation of an intelligence activity. This whistleblower did everything right. They went through the process properly.” So, what happened? Most everyone will agree it is more White House cover up to protect the blithering idiot that sits in the oval Office.

Do you think Bernie Sanders could win in 2020?

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 NEWS BYTES

YES! Bernie can win...  

Bernie, the man for the White House

The above is a Slate headline and it's not from two months ago, it is from last Thursday, September 12. In the Ben Mathis-Lilley piece, there is a sub-headline, "It’s time to start focusing on serious candidates—like the socialist." We are, of course, talking about "Bernard “Bernie” Sanders, the Brooklyn-Vermont 'democratic socialist,'” who is still one of the leading candidates in the crowded Democratic Primary. Here's Mathis-Lilley's comments on the debates...

"Given that debate performances are scrutinized for how they shape the primary “narrative,” Sanders is at a disadvantage. He’s not the Establishment Favorite—that would be Joe Biden—and he’s not the Surging Insurgent, Elizabeth Warren. He’s not An Inspiring Resistance Leader Who Might Appeal to Centrists (Kamala Harris), and he is certainly not An Uncannily Articulate 14-Year-Old Mayor Who Likes Radiohead (that would be Pete Buttigieg)."

Okay, before going any further with Slate, here's my take on Bernie. There would be no Democratic Primary without Bernie Sanders, no ideas, no substantive issues, no meaningful direction for the left. Sanders is a Progressive and a Democratic Socialist, which makes him the candidate of the people. I am having trouble understanding why a voting public cannot see this clearly. The other Democratic aspirants would have nothing to say if not for the Bern paving the way.

Bernie compares 2020 with 2016'''

Have been wanting to get that off my chest for some time; if anything needed to be said right now, that did. Here's more from Slate...

"He [Bernie Sanders] is, instead, The Exact Same Guy He Was Last Time—a fiery leftist who has a substantial, if not primary-majority-size, base of committed supporters who believe in his ambitious plans to bring justice to a “rigged” society by sticking it to the damn fat cats. A Sanders presidency would, guaranteed, involve an attempt to raise taxes on top earners in order to institute single-payer universal health coverage and make college free."

Although Elizabeth Warren has made strides in the polls, and being in the same ideological ballpark as Sanders, the latter seems to still be hanging around his standing from last May. Granted, Biden leads the race but I am not convinced he really wants to run. Maybe his number one position has made him too secure and he needs some polling competition to wake him up. Bernie has always been a charging contender with a philosophy that dates back to his early days in politics.

Bernie in Denver recently...

But there are additions to his traditional issues, notably "changing his rhetoric and his platform since 2016 to acknowledge and decry the role that race plays in economic disparities, he’s done so in a way that fills out, rather than erases and redraws, his public meaning." Bernie Sanders as a candidate...

"He hasn’t done anything, since the last time he ran for, and did not win, the nomination, to radically change the public’s established impression of who he is, what he believes, and how he would behave as president. If you liked him in 2016, you probably still do; if not, you still don’t."

In other words, the Bern is consistent with substantive issues, has been and most likely always will. It all starts with the first four states to hold primaries or caucuses which are Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. From Nate Silver's 538, Sanders is second to Joe Biden in the area of electability to beat Trump: Biden 68%, Sanders 56%, Warren 51%. Bernie is also well off financially with $27 million in cash on hand and a "deep e-Rolodex of small donors."

I believe many of Bernie Sanders supporters have faltered over time, especially with Joe Biden's lead and Elizabeth Warren's recent surge, myself included, but Slate has some excellent points which could rally the Bern's base. On to the White House.

Read more of my Bernie Sanders posts.

Donald Trump must go...NOW!

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 NEWS BYTES

Trouble in Trump's primaries...  

Joe Walsh-Donald Trump

Impeachment would be a great stain on Donald Trump's political record, one that would send him into a flurry of tweets like we have never seen before. With his mental instability clock clicking faster than ever, it may well push him over the edge with the guys in the white coats taking him away. But the best chance we are likely to get is the 2020 election where we can officially elect him out of office. Since there's evidence he won't leave, bring in the men in the white coats.

And there may be trouble for the Oval Office lunatic from the get-go with former Illinois representative Joe Walsh declaring his candidacy. Walsh said...

“I’m running because he’s [Donald Trump] unfit; somebody needs to step up and there needs to be an alternative. The country is sick of this guy’s tantrum—he’s a child.”

That kind of rhetoric gives you an idea what kind of campaign Walsh has planned. His opinion on 2020...

He "called the GOP a "cult" and the president a "would-be dictator" as he denounced the decision to scrap primaries in some states."

“I’ve given up on the Republican Party, the Republican Party is a cult, right. They no longer stand for ideals. The Republican Party right now is all about washing their leaders' feet every day, that’s what they do.”

Joe Walsh feels responsible for Donald Trump?...

Hopefully T-rump won't interpret that as if Walsh is comparing him with Christ. We've already been through that one. Here are the candidate's plans...

“We’re going to take our campaign directly to Republican voters — and I’ll add in all 50 states. We’re gonna campaign in all 50 states, we’re gonna campaign in South Carolina, Arizona, Nevada and Kansas, because I believe if we let these Republican voters know that the president of the United States just took away their right to vote they’ll march on the headquarters of their state parties to get that right to vote back.”

The Daily Beat found declining polls for Trump amid all his ranting over how much Republicans love him....

"a growing number of Republicans are finally starting to admit to themselves that Trump shouldn’t be running a Best Buy, let alone the country. A Monmouth poll last week found him at 84 percent among Republicans, and an AP-NORC survey put him at 79 percent."

All contenders in 2020 GOP Primary...

And Walsh says, "the canceled primaries are different this time 'because it's never been done when there's been primary challengers.'" Joe Walsh has company challenging Trump: South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld. Together the three published an op-ed in the Washington Post starting with...

“cowards run from fights.” “The saying 'may the best man win' is a quintessential value that the Republican Party must honor if we are to command the respect of the American people.”

My gut tells me that the Republican Party long ago last the respect of the American people. 

Millennials are fast moving to red states

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 NEWS BYTES

Millennials could win 2020 for the left  

There is new information that millennials are leaving the deep blue states and spreading out nationwide in Republican red states. As of 2017, 59 percent of millennial registered voters either were Democrats or leaned toward the Democratic Party, and only 32 percent were Republicans or Republican-leaners, according to the Pew Research Center in the Washington Post. This is how it looks...

“The five fastest-growing metros of the past few years — Dallas, Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta, and Orlando, Florida — are in states won by Trump,” he writes. “The other metro areas with a population of at least 1 million that grew by at least 1.5 percent last year were Las Vegas; Austin, Texas; Orlando, Florida; Raleigh, North Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; Charlotte, North Carolina; San Antonio; Tampa, Florida; and Nashville, Tennessee. All of those metros are in red or purple states.”

They are also moving into metro areas in key states such as Arizona, Georgia and Texas. And this is likely the reason that many political pundits feel that even Texas could go blue in 2020...

“Democrats’ advantage in the five counties representing Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Austin… grew from 130,000 in the 2012 presidential election to nearly 800,000 in the 2018 Senate election.”

"A similar story has played out, although not in such a dramatic fashion, in both the Atlanta and Phoenix metro areas," according to The Atlantic's Derek Thompson.

The left must encourage black millennials...

Obviously, the figures above have to take into consideration the party break of 59% Democrats/Progressives and 32% Republican. Pew Research has recent figures that Millennials will soon overtake Boomers growing to 73 million while the latter shrinks to 72 million. In 2016, the Millennial vote was Democrats 55%, Republicans 37%, other 8%. The conclusion, "Texas, Arizona, and Georgia could be toss-ups quite soon,”

The Millennial age group is 23 to 38 and it is clear that "The Democratic Party tends to be more in sync with the priorities of young voters than the GOP, and perhaps as a result, Democratic candidates tend to get more young people’s votes." This was apparent in Bernie Sanders surge in the 2016 election. Today...

"Democrats believe these young voters will eventually turn out to the polls at higher rates, replace the baby boomers and the Silent Generation, and give the blue team an unending string of victories."

What millennials are thinking...

On the other hand, Republicans continue to wait for the youngsters to mature into conservatism and move over to the right in their political philosophy. Not only is this not happening, but as recounted above, what established red territories they have are being invaded by Democrats/Progressives that continue to turn their backs on the radical right. However, this is the scenario...

"Both these Democratic hopes and Republican fears have a basis in reality. Democrats have won millennials and other young voters by wide margins in recent elections, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll drift right as they age. But many young voters are skeptical of the Democratic establishment, and this wouldn’t be the first prediction of a demographically guaranteed permanent Democratic majority that hasn’t come to pass."

This is the reason that Progressives must take the upper hand in the 2020 election and show Democrats how to do it. 

Moscow Mitch wife Elaine Chao investigated for corruption

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 NEWS BYTES

Elaine Chao cut from same pattern as Moscow Mitch and Donald Trump... 

Looks like the Mitch McConnell/Elaine Chao family have the same DNA as the Donald Trump family when it comes to corruption. They just can't resist taking advantage of their positions of power to fill their pockets and screw the American public...

"The House Oversight Committee is investigating whether Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao used her official position to benefit her family's shipping company."

"The committee sent Chao a letter today [Monday] asking her for all communications since President Donald Trump‘s inauguration between DOT and her family business, the Foremost Group, as well as related documentation."

Rachel Maddow report on Elaine Chao blatant corruption...

Politico reports Chao accepted the letter and later "disparaged" its intent exclaiming her shining service to her country in public office. So much bullshit like that spewed from her husband, Moscow Mitch McConnell, who is solely interested in the power his position in the Senate gives him to terrorize Democrats while lining his pockets. Chao's family company, Foremost Group, is in question as well as Chao's failure to divest from the Vulcan Materials Company.

Here's a paragraph from the congressional letter...

“Several reports indicate that you have used your official position to benefit Foremost Group, a shipping company owned by your father and sisters that is headquartered in New York and operates a fleet that transports materials to and from China."

And while the House goes after Elaine Chao, House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, is attacking Senate head, Moscow Mitch, just one factor in turning that chamber blue. Along with ridding the White House of the Oval Office maniac, a majority in the Senate must be accomplished for the left to get anything done. Here's the scenario...

"A Democratic aide, quoted anonymously, told Axios that vilifying McConnell 'is something even the more moderate Democrats can glom onto' because 'he’s seen as the face of obstruction and Trump’s enabler in the Senate. It’s easy to message against him.'”

New York Times says Elaine Chao did help family business... 

Pelosi's campaign is due to start in the fall with “refusal to pass meaningful legislation,” by Moscow Mitch a priority. And back to Chao...

"POLITICO has also reported on the amount of time she spent early in her tenure engaged in 'private meetings,' as well as the access she granted to Kentucky officials, including tasking one of her inner circle with being a special liaison between Chao and Kentucky issues."

It would seem that there is no end to the corruption associated with the Trump administration. My post yesterday spoke of former judge Maryanne Trump-Barry's benefiting financially from the family's tax schemes. And there is no doubt that Moscow Mitch has contributed to the furthering of T-rump's fraud while sitting as president of the United States. But it is absolutely clear that Both Donald Trump and a GOP Senate must go in 2020.  

Further confirmation: Corruption runs in Trump family

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 NEWS BYTES

Donald Trump's sister now the target of corruption...  

Maryanne Trump-Barry and her mentor

Like brother, like sister, and in the Trump family that includes T-rump's two sons and daughter, plus outsider Jared Kushner. It apparently is in the DNA because Trump's father was also corrupt. So it just comes natural, what you do in life is to prey on other folks to build your fortune. Donald Trump's older sister, Maryanne Trump-Barry apparently joined the family of thieves at least by the 1990s when she “benefited financially” from her family’s “tax schemes.”

Now 82, Trump-Barry then “was also in a position [ as a federal judge]  to influence the actions taken by her family.” Now, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has made Trump-Barry a target of her anti-corruption campaign, according to the Daily Beast. It is the first shot any Democratic candidate has taken that has serious implications for the accused. This is all a part of Warren's investigations into "ethics policy" concentrating on federal judges, lobbyists and members of Congress.

Maryanne Trump-Barry corruption charges a year ago...

The DB's Gideon Resnick says that Sen. Elizabeth Warren has made Trump-Barry a target of her anti-corruption campaign also proposing...

"banning lobbyists “from making political contributions” or “from bundling donations or hosting fundraisers for political candidates. Warren also proposes banning members of Congress from serving on for-profit boards."

Here's another example of Fred Trump's corruption...

"The most overt fraud was All County Building Supply & Maintenance, a company formed by the Trump family in 1992. All County’s ostensible purpose was to be the purchasing agent for Fred Trump’s buildings, buying everything from boilers to cleaning supplies. It did no such thing, records and interviews show. Instead All County siphoned millions of dollars from Fred Trump’s empire by simply marking up purchases already made by his employees. Those millions, effectively untaxed gifts, then flowed to All County’s owners — Donald Trump, his siblings and a cousin. Fred Trump then used the padded All County receipts to justify bigger rent increases for thousands of tenants."

Elizabeth Warren on Donald Trump corruption...

You would assume in the above, "Donald Trump, his siblings," that Judge Maryanne Trump-Barry is included. Matt Levine of Bloomberg says he is kind of impressed with the Trump family clever shenanigans...

"It is two scams at once: By transforming the gift into a business expense, you both avoid gift taxes and justify raising rents for rent-stabilized tenants. It really uses every part of the sham purchasing company. On the other hand, it’s not that clever. There is a bit of an unregulated-emerging-markets feel to it; interposing wealthy friends and family as middlemen, giving them large cuts of the business as unjustified markups, and then passing the costs on to the much less wealthy general public, is all out of a fairly standard playbook of corruption."

 If Elizabeth Warren plans to make Maryanne Trump-Barry the focus of her anti-corruption campaign, that is just one more avenue in which law enforcement can navigate to get at the fraudulent activities encompassed by the Trump brand. It is obvious why Donald Trump craves a second term, now even a third, because he knows that once he is out of office, he is fair game for a host of prosecutors. The 2020 election can't come soon enough for most of us, but particularly the law.