Moscow Mitch digs hole to defeat deeper

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2019 NEWS BYTES

Moscow Mitch courts more trouble for 2020... 

Pathetic to the end

Did you know that "The diversion of military funds to pay for President Trump’s border wall obsession is taking money away from more than 100 military projects around the country?" This also shows just how low Moscow Mitch has stooped to "enable Trump’s corruption." Here's the scenario...

"The Senate majority leader has not only assisted and protected Trump in doing great damage to our democracy, for naked partisan purposes, though that’s a major stain. But McConnell also has in effect now prioritized the mission of enabling and defending Trump’s corruption over the interests of his own state and its constituents."

One of projects losing funding, a planned middle school at the Fort Campbell army base in Kentucky.

Hopefully Amy McGrath is listening to this in her fight to unseat McConnell. But she is tough becoming "the first woman to fly in a F/A-18 fighter jet in combat and took on 89 missions in the Middle East, fighting Al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents." And there is flak coming from another direction, "Next to electing a Democratic president, the Democratic National Committee’s top goal for 2020 is achieving a majority in the U.S. Senate."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that one of her major strategies is to get rid of Senate head, Mitch McConnell, better known as Moscow Mitch. Dumping Trump isn't enough, according to Pelosi, McConnell is almost as dangerous and underhanded. The Speaker is...

"planning to kick her anti-McConnell campaign into high gear in the fall — and she will be aggressively focused on 'his refusal to pass meaningful legislation.' Doing so, according to a Democratic congressional aide, enables House Democrats to 'tout the good they’ve done and also, helps show the importance of Dems taking back the Senate.'”

Here's a quick analysis of McConnell...

"The Kentucky Republican has been unpopular in his home state for years, but this summer has seen his approval rating plunge to 18 percent after MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough tarred and feathered him with the nickname “Moscow Mitch,” and he’s increasingly seen as 'the man who sold America,'" according to Rolling Stone.

Bob Moser in a magazine profile said...

“For so many years, McConnell has seemed maddeningly invincible. But now, just a few years after achieving his lifelong goal of becoming Senate majority leader, it appears that every political sin the man has committed on his relentless march to power is coming back to haunt him at once.”

Kentuckians say, DITCH MITCH...

Here's more for Amy McGrath's campaign...

"Moser catalogs the Senate majority leader’s political sins, dating back to his swiftly broken campaign promises to back abortion and collective bargaining rights in a 1977 race for Jefferson County judge executive, up to the shady deal earlier this year to lift sanctions on a Russian oligarch whose company Rusal announced a $200 million investment in Kentucky."

There is much more in between, as an example his comment that his goal, when Barack Obama was elected, to make him a one-term president. He didn't, but it clearly labeled Moscow Mitch a raging racist. A 47-year old Paducah resident has said it best,,,

"eventually [after initially voting for him] it dawned on me, like a lot of people, this guy really doesn’t give a crap about us. He’s all about stockpiling his own squirrel-nut factory for his winter. Public records are public records, and you can see how his trajectory has gone toward wealth. Back home, I’m still making the same amount of money I was making! I think he’s got a real good chance of being booted this time.”

We can only hope so.

And, as if to make up with all the greed and corruption of his career, Moscow Mitch has now decided to turn the lions on Donald Trump in the impeachment controversy. This means that he will definitely bring a decision for impeachment from the House to the Senate for a vote. First of all, this will not exonerate him for what he has done, and second, he actually has no choice if Speaker Pelosi can come up with the votes. Here's Mitchell's statement...

"During an interview with CNBC on Monday, McConnell confirmed that he wouldn’t pull any stunts to obstruct a trial in the Senate — neither the Senate rules nor the partisan split would allow for such a thing.

“I would have no choice but to take it up,” McConnell said. “How long you are on it is a different matter, but I would have no choice but to take it up based on a Senate rule on impeachment.”

 Nancy Pelosi quotes Lincoln, "Public sentiment is everything"...

The one phrase here that bothers me is, "How long you are on it is a different matter..." It may be irrelevant but if there is one thing we know for sure, Moscow Mitch cannot be trusted! Here's MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell's take...

"McConnell is panicking about 2020. 'This is a very, very big deal,' O’Donnell wrote on Twitter. 'First, McConnell agrees with Schumer’s unanimous consent request for whistleblower documents and now this. McConnell is doing exactly what he should be doing if he thinks he might need a different nominee for president.'”

But then we get Pence, and although Salon's Bob Cesca feels Mikey would be more "compliant" I feel he is a complete idiot. Cesca also thinks Trump could resign saying, "it wouldn’t shock me if Trump decided he’d rather quit than have his tax returns and other documents exposed like dick-pics on TMZ." But McConnell still isn't done with bringing impeachment it to the Senate. With...

"Chief Justice John Roberts as the presiding judge in Trump’s trial, McConnell could call votes, requiring only 51 senators to approve, to overrule the chief justice’s decisions on, say, what evidence is admissible or not. The upshot: Senate Republicans can write and pass new trial rules according to McConnell’s whimsy."

Is this what the slimy lowlife McConnell has up his sleeve? We'll soon know by observing his handling of the impeachment in the Senate. If he exudes bold confidence in the procedure, you can expect the wheels to come off. But Cesca also brings up the prosecution of Donald Trump after leaving office...

"The only legal way Trump can guarantee he won’t be prosecuted after he leaves office is to resign with a Gerald Ford-style pardon from Pence. That’s it. Someone should tell him, because I’m sure he hasn’t yet considered the Sophie’s Choice he faces. Resignation and a presidential pardon, taken together, are Trump’s only path to avoiding prison shy of pulling off another improbable election victory, which is no sure thing, whatever he may say."

I would hope that prosecutors are vigorously pursuing how to overcome this pardon and put Donald Trump in jail where he has belonged for years.

LATEST: Gun violence/Gun control/Gun corruption

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019 NEWS BYTES

Gun violence must be stopped...   

NRA internal turmoil

Items have a tendency to pile up these days in the "to blog" file on Donald Trump's Ukraine call and subsequently the move to impeach him. You can't ignore it because of the intensity of the issue, and the importance of getting rid of the Oval Office lunatic. Just today Trump said, "I don't care," in reference to GOP concerns over protecting the whistleblower. There's more, Mike Pompeo is in a standoff with key House committees on trump Ukraine information.

But other news does go on and here's a wrap-up of what's happening in the Gun violence/Gun control/Gun corruption areas:

It's the 'If we could just get rid of them, gun violence would improve dramatically' organization, the National Rifle Assn. (NRA), along with its leader Wayne LaPierre. Here's the scenario...

"Its president was ousted. Its top lobbyist resigned over allegations that he engaged in an extortion scheme to kick out the chief executive, Wayne LaPierre. Its board members are resigning regularly, saying they’ve lost confidence in the group’s leadership. It’s spending more money than it’s taking in, and it’s in a brutal legal battle with its former ad agency. Oh, and its tax-exempt status is being investigated."

READ MORE...

Gabby Giffords on gun control...

And here in the wide open, 'if you are a warm body you can own and carry a gun' state of Arizona, the voting public has decided the gun laws aren't strict enough. But a gun nut legislature doesn't quite get it yet, so they plow ahead with the loosening of these gun laws that the public wants tightened. "Fifty-four percent of likely Arizona voters said the current laws in the state on the sale and ownership of guns are insufficiently strict, a 6-point rise from May."

Can you believe this?...

"Arizona is an open carry state, which means if you own a weapon you can carry it. You can also carry a concealed weapon with or without a permit.
Permits are issued by the state Department of Public Safety and involve a simple process.
You just go on our [state's] website and fill out an application. The concealed weapons unit will do a check of you and make sure you are not a prohibited. possessor."

By the way, assault weapons like the AK-47 are included in the above.

READ MORE...

Doctors are pissed-take on NRA...

And it would seem that the NRA spends more money in Texas because the gun nuts there really love their guns. But, Kim Olson, a Democrat running for a Republican seat, is trying to change that. Her passion for gun control reflects this quote, “weapons of war do not belong on the streets of America.” Here's what the author of the Washington Monthly piece said...

"One of the reasons I find Olson to be so impressive is that she reminds me of women from Texas that I have admired—like Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, and Molly Ivins. While they didn’t serve in the military, they were warriors too. No one would have ever accused Jordan, Richards, or Ivins of mincing words. Whether you agreed with them or not, they stood their ground unapologetically."

And this is what is so sorely needed in the fight against gun violence. When you see a gun nut, call it a gun nut and let them know just where we stand on taking guns off the streets. The writer, Nancy LeTourneau, finishes with, "But one thing is for certain, Kim Olson is exactly the kind of Democrat that should scare Republicans—and the NRA." Amen!

READ MORE...

Now the NRA is charged with harboring a toxic sexual harasser who is the former favorite and chief of staff for head gun nut, Wayne LaPierre.  Josh Powell was so bad that...

Ackerman McQueen [the NRA's ad agy.] refused to work with him. According to a report, Powell was the subject of two harassment settlements at the nonprofit; the amount of money spent to keep these stories hidden is not known.

It would appear that the NRA is rotten from the core.

READ MORE...

10 injured in shooting after high school football game in Alabama...

To fix our gun crisis, we should revert to ’60s gun laws...

More NRA corruption: 

NRA board member and former president Marion Hammer obtained low-interest loan from affiliate she leads...

BREAKING: Bernie Sanders suffers heart condition

BREAKING NEWS: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019

Bernie Sanders with heart condition...

The man: Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders just underwent a procedure to have two stents inserted to address an arterial blockage after experiencing chest discomfort during a campaign event on Tuesday, according to The Hill. To adviser Jeff weaver said the Bern will spend the next few days getting over the episode and the surgery, and that all campaign events are cancelled until further notice. With the severe pace this man is on, likely double any other candidate, it's not surprising.

Anyway, let's all wish Bernie a full recovery and back to what he loves doing ASAP.

NRA choking...going down

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019 NEWS BYTES

The latest attack on gun violence...   

Assault weapons ban did work

Apparently the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) made a trip to Moscow that is a no-no for their non-profit status. If it did break the law governing nonprofit spending, the gang of gun nuts could lose its tax-exempt status. That could put the NRA out of business. And that could spark parades and flag waving throughout the country. David Love on Aljazeera says, "The tide is turning for gun control in the US."...

"In what would have been inconceivable just a few years ago, the ground is shifting in the United States on the issue of gun control and halting the proliferation of firearms. The once omnipotent gun lobby is now weakened, if not dying, and the public support for gun restrictions is increasing beyond party lines."

That combined with the NRA's internal problems from Oliver North to Maria Butina has prompted the investigation in a report...

"compiled by Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee and released on Friday, investigates the relationship between NRA leadership and Russian nationals with Kremlin ties. Those nationals include Maria Butina, a 30-year-old Russian who was convicted last year of conspiring to act as a foreign agent."

We can't let this happen...

In a 2015 trip to Russia by NRA officials, Butina promised an introduction to "powerful officials" and "those executives were told they would be given opportunities to advance personal business interests." The catch here is, "aside from the fact that the NRA is accused of willingly establishing relationships with Russian nationals with close ties with the Kremlin — is that tax-exempt nonprofits aren’t allowed to use their funds for personal gain."

There's more...

"New York Attorney General Letitia James also opened an investigation into the organization’s nonprofit status back in April following reports of financial mismanagement. The District of Columbia’s attorney general said his office launched a similar inquiry in July, sending subpoenas to the NRA and its charitable arms to collect 'financial records, payments to vendors, and payments to officers and directors.'”

House Democrats are cowards on assault weapons ban...

Aljazeera comments on American business CEOs concerned over out-of-control gun violence in the U.S....

"Other businesses have followed suit, as the chief executive officers of 145 companies wrote a letter to the US Senate, proclaiming the country is experiencing a public health crisis, and saying it is "simply unacceptable" to take no action on gun violence and mass shootings. The CEOs added that new laws mandating background checks for gun purchases 'are a common-sense solution with overwhelming public support and are a critical step toward stemming the gun violence epidemic in this country.'"

And to support the general consensus that more gun control is needed, a recent study has determined the former assault weapons ban was, in fact, effective. Here are the findings...

"The research from Stanford Law professor John Donohue and student Theodora Boulouta found that from 1994 to 2004, the Clinton-era federal assault weapons ban was associated with a marked decrease in mass shootings and victims of those shootings."

Here are the facts...

"in the decade preceding the assault weapons ban, there were 33 percent additional mass shootings and 65 percent more associated fatalities. Ten years after the ban expired in 2004, the number of mass shootings more than tripled and the number of fatalities spiked more than fourfold."

BINGO! But, then, facts don't seem to affect the votes of a cowardly Congress that has feared the NRA's wrath since head gun nut Wayne Lapierre took over. But that may all be changing as the new wave to curb gun violence begins to take hold. And when Senate challenger Mark Kelly (Gabby Giffords astronaut husband) running against Republican Martha McSally as a gun control advocate wins that seat, we'll have even more support in the Senate.

The course is clear, more reasonable gun control laws in 2020 as we get the guns off the streets.

White house burns during Donald Trump fury

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019 NEWS BYTES

The White House may burn...again   

White House after Donald Trump implosion

The White House has been set on fire twice before: once when James Madison was president, second during Herbert Hoover's administration. The third burning is due soon but it won't necessarily be intentional like the other two. As Donald Trump begins to implode, which will include an excessive amount of friction with his staff, aides and the Cabinet, a fiery explosion from within is sure to happen. It's only a matter of time and here are the many reasons why...

As Brad Reed in RawStory puts it, "The dam starts to crack," referring to the Republicans who have been loyal to Donald Trump, but are now turning on him. In particular...

"Rep. James Comer (R-KY) has now told CNN’s Jim Sciutto that he believes Congress ought to investigate the White House’s use of a codeword-protected server to store President Donald Trump’s phone records."

The act of using these private servers to hide Trump material, in one instance, a NSC computer, have been deemed more impeachable than the information concealed. And remember what T-rump once said, he believes the Constitution lets him do “whatever I want as President.” Here's what Ralph Nader said in Common Dreams, published in AlterNet...

"In over two and a half years, Trump has been a serial violator of the Constitution, unmatched by any president in American history. Just about every day he is a constitutional outlaw."

There's more...

"Constitutional scholar Bruce Fein has documented twelve categories of major constitutional transgressions. Some are also statutory crimes. Many of these involve Trump overpowering the critical separation of powers that our founders rigorously established to assure that the president does not become a monarch like King George III."

Trump: The Constitution allows me to do anything I want to...

Among his other costitutional foibles, the Oval office lunatic "totally defies Congressional subpoenas for documents and witnesses. That grave overthrow of constitutional government is alone enough for eviction from office." And he lies, lies even more and then he lies again. If you can't believe anything the "supposed" president of the country you live in says, that alone should be grounds for impeachment.

Rory Cooper says in the Daily Beast, "We’ll Deserve What We Get if Republicans Can’t Say Trump’s Wrong." Some have come across now like Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who wants Congress to investigate Trump's use of a secret database to cover up his corruption. More will no doubt come forward when it becomes even more obvious that T-rump is going down. Here's Cooper's take...

"At best, President Trump used his office to seek personal and political gain and engage in 2016 conspiracy peddling with a strategic ally engaged in a war with Russia. At worse, Trump held back military aid to Ukraine in order to extract this personal and political gain. It’s a difference without a distinction when it comes to his fitness to serve."

And now there's a second whistleblower "who claims to have evidence of misconduct regarding the Internal revenue Service’s auditing of President Trump. According to this federal employee there were “inappropriate efforts to influence” the audit process. Trump has resisted releasing any tax returns since being elected and New York state investigators appear closest to breaking that wall of defense. What does he have to hide and just how bad is it?

David Cay Johnston on Trump perpetual tax corruption...

Here's the status...

"On August 8, Neal [House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA)] sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asking for communications between the IRS and Treasury employees who were involved in the agency’s audit of Trump and asked him to reply by August 13. It’s still not known if Mnuchin replied or not."

 And finally, the whistleblower's lawyers are saying that Trump has endangered their client as the president publicly threatens "big consequences." It is a call to action by this moron of his double-digit troops who follow his lead, no matter what he tells them to do. Pure and simple it is more inciting of violence like he has done so many times in the past, like Charlottesville. One death and several injuries.

It may well come down to 'burn, baby, burn.'

LATEST: Trump and Mueller hidden memo

TUESDAY OCTOBER 1, 2019 NEWS BYTES

Has Trump made the ultimate cover up?


Slate is reporting...The Washington Post calls it a "bombshell" memo that was possibly withheld from the Robert Mueller investigation. It's another of those which was supposed to be housed in unclassified White house computer files, but was rather bumped up to top secret status to keep it hidden from congress and the public. Here's the scenario...

"The Post goes on to note that 'it is not clear whether a memo documenting the May 10, 2017, meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak was placed into that system, but the three former officials said it was restricted to a very small number of people.' Here’s the problem: That May 10 White House meeting was the subject of intense scrutiny by the Mueller probe because it went directly to the question of why Comey was fired. Page 71 of the second volume of the Mueller report notes, “In the morning on May 10, 2017, President Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office.”

But here's the kicker...

"The footnote cites to a White House document entitled “Working Visit with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia” which is dated 5/9/17, the day before the meeting, and to an email (5/9/17 White House Document, 'Working Visit with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia'); SCR08_001274 (5/10/17 Email, Ciaramella to Kelly, et al.). That’s the only document that seems to have been produced in reference to the May 10 meeting. There is confirmation of Trump’s remarks about Comey’s firing being a relief from Sean Spicer and Hope Hicks."

The world laughs...Donald Trump the mosr transparent president ever...

The first question that comes to mind is, if it was a footnote to the Mueller Report, why didn't Robert Mueller pursue the memo? WP agrees...

"It’s awfully hard to believe that Mueller didn’t ask for any readout or memorandum from that meeting; a meeting at which the president explained that he fired Comey in part because he was being pressured by the Russia investigation."

Trump even tried to hide high school transcripts lying about academic background...

Mueller was accused of some ineptness in the production of the Mueller Report, and this would confirm that things were missed, perhaps as important as the above. Could this have resulted from pressure from the White House, considering the Ukrainian telephone call cover up? It is generally agreed that the masking of this phone call is more serious, and impeachable, than the substance of the call. It's hard these days to keep up with the WH cloak and dagger.

On the other hand, the memo's presence could have been there glaring at Robert Mueller, but he decided not to include it in the report. Why? Perhaps Mueller should face another House investigation to answer the question of why he ignored the report. If it is as crucial as it sounds, it would go to the conclusion of the Mueller Report to suggest Trump's definite collusion with Russia to win his 2016 election. Isn't that what we were trying to find out?

Another possibility is the fact that the memo included sensitive information about a confidential Israeli asset with another foreign power, something Trump was giving up in the meeting. But what is really proved, according to the WP, “This emphasizes the point that Mueller’s conclusions were based on imperfect information precisely because of White House and Trump misconduct.” Something we have come to expect, unfortunately.

This Slate article is worth reading.

BREAKING: McConnell has cracked on impeachment

BREAKING NEWS

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate would have no choice but to take up impeachment if the House votes to effectively charge President Donald Trump," according to MSNBC. Is the senate lowlife at a point where he believes Donald Trump must go? Because that's all it will take when the House charges him.