Trump Ukraine telephone call

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 NEWS FOR LEFTIES 

Will Donald trump answer up or walk?... 

Donald Trump blathering at the UN

"Trump says he has authorized release of transcript of call with the Ukrainian president" is the headline in The Washington Post where T-rump was also quoted as saying, “I am currently at the United Nations representing our Country." Earlier he had condemned globalism--at the UN no less--and commented further, nationalism is the only answer. Only Donald dunderhead could insult the whole world and come away thinking he had done a good thing.

He immediately backs up with assurances t5hat he did nothing wrong in the conversation where one week prior he had instructed his minion Mulvaney to hold $400 million in aide to Ukraine. His complaint was that "the United States was contributing more to Ukraine than were European countries." This is what Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama said...

Trump’s claim that he withheld the funds from Ukraine because Europe was not paying its fair share is “laughable. The U.S. has provided military aid, but so have many of the Europeans.”

"15 billion euros ($16.5 billion) in grants and loans to Ukraine, according to an E.U. fact sheet on relations with Ukraine.

Just another lie to cover up the Oval Office lunatic's meddling in the 2020 election, after getting caught colluding with the Russians in 2016. Apparently there is no end to what this maniac will do the appease his ego and have his way. Bur maybe there is another reason Donald Trump feels he can release the comment of the whistleblower. He has the AG Bill Barr as his second defense of cover up. This twerp sinks almost as low as T-rump.

Republican Kevin McCarthy's stupid reply to Speaker Pelosi...

Bob Cesca says in Salon...

"During normal times, Donald Trump’s attempted extortion of the Ukrainian government, aimed at forcing an investigation against one of his chief political opponents would almost immediately become the purview of the attorney general, who would — again, during normal times — appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations.

But these are not normal times and the people we are dealing with are far from normal. How many times have we heard, if the Ukraine incident doesn't justify impeachment, nothing does. Well, apparently Speaker Pelosi agrees, finally, plus 165 Democrats and one Republican, Justin Amash. There are 235 democrats in the House. It takes 218 votes to impeach, then it goes to the Senate. But wait, as they say in the TV commercials...

"Trump has literally confessed to the charges on several occasions, while staring directly into video cameras, daring the rest of us to finally cuff him."

Trump says did nothing wrong, "beautiful" Ukrainian conversation... 

RawStory says...

Bill Barr is "Trump’s personal fixer — Trump’s personal Tom Hagen (in the visage of Tom Bosley) whose barely four pages of hastily-authored misinformation last March effectively suffocated the Trump-Russia saga in the press, while cloaking Trump in layers and layers of government-issued bubble wrap.

The fact that a voting public along with the media let all of this occur right in front of them in the most blatant way with only a meager cry for Donald Trump's head is hard to comprehend. Apathetics I call them, the do-nothings who bitch and moan about what's wrong with our country, but never step up to the plate to voice their opinions and/or vote. Keep an eye on Barr. Once he's in the Ukraine situation, the next thing you know is Donald Trump is completely off the hook.

Speaker Pelosi now favors impeachment-Moving ahead

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 NEWS ALERT

Speaker Pelosi now says it's time to dump Trump...   

The time is NOW

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has now decided enough is enough, the Ukraine incident did it, and she is moving ahead with impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump in the House. My take, is T-rump looking for a confrontation, or is this just more of his warped mind in further degeneration?...

"Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is expected to announce a 'formal impeachment inquiry' into President Donald Trump 'this afternoon,' according to NBC and MSNBC news analyst Howard Fineman."

Pelosi demands whistleblower statement by Thursday...

Pelosi will meet with her chairmen, leadership and caucus at 4PM today. A vote on impeachment is expected “in weeks not months.”

Trump thinks he deserves the Nobel Peace prize-Cue the laughter

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 NEWS BYTES

'Be a clown...Be a clown...' Donald Trump takes this literally...

Clowns weren't meant to be corrupt

It happens daily, sometimes hourly. Donald Trump makes a fool out of himself and, because of where he sits in the White House, he makes a fool of America. It has been going on starting with his 2016 campaign and has been on a non-stop rampage since then. Senate leader Republicans and Mitch McConnell have chosen to do nothing, in fact have joined with T-rump in his corruption. The Democrats are in such disarray so is there hope there? And, the Oval Office clown continues to do his thing.

In the most recent stupid gesture, Trump finally admitted talking to the Ukraine President by phone to enlist his help in finding dirt on Joe Biden, namely on his son, Hunter. So proud of what he had done, he reinforces the move with another boastful announcement admitting guilt. It should be noted here that T-rump withheld $250 million in military aid to fight Russia from Ukraine. The whole thing screams impeachment. Read more...

Donald Trump admits corruption...

But can you believe, this idiot wonders why he has not received the Nobel Prize? While at the UN, "President Donald Trump asserted on Monday that the Nobel Peace Prize process is unfair because he should get one 'for a lot of things.'” Would that be for Stormy Daniels, or Jeffrey Epstein or his interview with Billy Bush? Now this statement on the Nobel Prize is clear indication that this man has lost complete touch with reality and is mentally unbalanced.
Read more...

Still at the UN, Trump veers away from the business at hand and heaps praises on the religious bigot, evangelical, Franklin Graham. Graham has made it clear how he feels about Muslims and the LGBTQ community. Graham regularly defends trump as if they are soul buddies, and maybe they are. His father, Billy Graham, must have kicked the dirt off his grave by now.
Read more...

NYT Opinion Columnist David Leonhardt says it is “Donald Trump vs. the United States of America,” documenting the Oval Office lunatic's "lawlessness, self-dealing, un-American behavior." Here are just a few...

“He launched his political career by falsely claiming that the first black president was not really American.”

“He publicly undermined American intelligence agents while standing next to a hostile foreign autocrat.”

“He is the president of the United States, and he is a threat to virtually everything that the United States should stand for.”

Read more... 

And what if this mentally disturbed despot refuses to leave the White house when he loses the 2020 election? Georgetown Law professor Josh Geltzer, who served as senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council and, prior to that, as deputy legal adviser to the NSC and counsel to the assistant attorney general for national security, thinks Donald Trump has thumbed his nose at the U.S. Constitution enough to be worried about him in 2020. Read more...

Congress may talk to Stormy Daniels...

Stormy Daniels offers to speak to Congress and The Daily Beast says, ‘Sh*t is about to hit the fan again.’ The adult film actress apparently needs the go ahead from congressional investigators who say they may not call the actress to speak. It was actually Daniels that said, “Things are in a lull, but shit is about to hit the fan again.” DB says this is fodder for Democrats after the Mueller investigation fizzled, but could be more harassment for Daniels and 8-year-old daughter.
Rad more...

Former Sec. of State Rex Tillerson said that "Netanyahu and the Israelis 'played' Trump." Trump and Netanyahu were good buddies, just like Trump and Putin and Kim Jong -un. It is associations like this that the U.S. intelligence community has always been worried about due to T-rump's big mouth and willingness to give away U.S. confidential information. Netanyahu may be gone now and it remains to be seen if his opponent, Benny Gantz, can get along with Trump.
Read more...

The Atlantic says the U.S. has now arrived in "the Hot Zone for Impeachment." What did it? "The fresh details about Trump’s apparent effort to strong-arm Ukraine into investigating his political rival Joe Biden may have irreversibly pushed the president into the impeachment hot zone." Speaker Pelosi is finally rethinking her position on the move leaving many wondering what the hell took so long. But Trump can't shock us anymore? Don't count on it.
Read more...

And finally to cap off a laughing stock's warped mindset, the ego-laden maniac says he "is immune from all criminal investigations in a new federal lawsuit seeking to block New York prosecutors from obtaining his tax returns." Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance on Thursday asked for eight years of T-rump’s personal and corporate tax returns. Based on the high level of corruption we have experienced so far, the tax returns should be a circus.

Read more...

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.