Mitt Romney did it - He voted to convict Donald Trump in impeachment trial

Sen. Mitt Romney

Here is a direct quote from Mitt Romney today...

"Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine."

This after his dramatic floor speech to the Senate...

"The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a 'high crime and misdemeanor.'"

Bingo! A major Senate Republican who has crossed both Donald Trump and the GOP, namely Moscow Mitch McConnell, and done the right thing. Maybe Romney would have made a good President after all. His decision...

"denies Trump the unanimous Republican support he had sought and is sure to invite an avalanche of attacks from the president and his allies."

Romney has been T-rump's biggest GOP critic in Congress, while still voting with Trump 80 percent of the time in the Senate. Remember the oath that all Senators had to take leading up to the impeachment trial, the one all Republicans turned up their nose at, refusing the impartiality demanded? Here's Mike Romney's new answer...

"But my promise before God to apply impartial justice required that I put my personal feelings and political biases aside. Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented and disregard what I believe my oath and the Constitution demands of me for the sake of a partisan end, it would, I fear, expose my character to history's rebuke and the censure of my own conscience."

We may not get a conviction at 4PM ET today, but this rebuke from an honored politician is certainly guaranteed to drive the Oval Office lunatic right off the rails, sending him blubbering with self-pity. Mission accomplished! 
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According to Bernie Sanders' campaign, Michael Bloomberg is an "oligarch"

Nina Turner - Bernie Sanders

The mud slinging between Bernie Sanders' campaign and Michael Bloomberg had to start sometime with the former New York Mayor crashing the Primary with everything he can muster. Bloomberg's focus has been on Donald Trump with a minimum of attention directed against Democratic opponents. But Sanders' co-chair, Nina Turner, decided to start the action going by labeling Bloomberg an oligarch. 

Her concern was about, "'the oligarchs' being able to buy their way into elections." Bernie, of course, believe there is a huge inequity between the rich, like Michael Bloomberg, and the poor and middle class, and he would be right. But you have to consider what Bloomberg has done with his billions, from fighting gun violence to attacking the climate change issue. Besides, Turner's real problem is letting the billionaire into future debates. Here's the scenario...

"The Democratic National Committee is drastically revising its criteria to participate in primary debates after New Hampshire, doubling the polling threshold and eliminating the individual donor requirement, which could pave the way for former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg to make the stage beginning in mid-February."

Here are the new qualifications...

"Candidates will need to earn at least 10 percent in four polls released from Jan. 15 to Feb. 18, or 12 percent in two polls conducted in Nevada or South Carolina, in order to participate in the Feb. 19 debate in Las Vegas. Any candidate who earns at least one delegate to the national convention in either the Iowa caucuses or New Hampshire primary will also qualify for the Nevada debate."

Those who haven't yet hit the polling threshold are: Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer. Those who are over are: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The new criteria eliminate the individual-donor threshold, allowing Bloomberg to participate after New Hampshire. It also makes the way for his participation with his philosophy of not accepting any donations, using his own money, to prevent any problems with donor influence.

This might very well be the new starting point for the Democratic Primary with replenished hope for a successful outcome that will beat Donald Trump.
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Is Michael Bloomberg good for Progressives?

After reading Mark Sommer's article in Medium, I say yes. Sommer, a lifelong progressive and climate activist, makes a stand for a moderate, but who still sounds an awful lot like a Progressive. Just look at what Mike Bloomberg has done on gun control with his organizations Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Everytown for Gun Safety. Not only have these groups fought the gun nuts like Wayne LaPierre's NRA, but they are also compiling valuable gun violence data.

Okay, I am very passionate over gun control, but this is only one of Bloomberg's Progressive issues. Sommer exclaims...

"On matters of policy I’m all in with Elizabeth and Bernie. Whatever happens to their candidacies, I will be eternally grateful to them for forcefully delineating agendas foreign and domestic that altogether affirm my own priorities. They’ve set the benchmarks by which we must measure whatever candidate the Democrats end up nominating to confront Donald Trump."

Bernie Sanders is the Godfather of Progressivism, but with Democrats fighting to dump his bid for the Primary, and some feeling he may not have the total oomph to beat Donald Trump, you have to have a Plan B. It would appear that Michael Bloomberg could be Plan B. Mark Sommer has his philosophy and it sounds mighty good to me...

"I’m neither a capitalist nor a communist, having witnessed the endemic injustices and irredeemable flaws in both systems. I believe that our tax systems need to be made radically more progressive than they are today. We urgently need to reduce the widening abyss between the richest and poorest in our society, a seismic shift that is undermining the very foundations of our democracy and social stability. I believe all political campaigns should be financed solely by public funds."

We might as well get to the one mistake Bloomberg made when it comes to social and economic justice, he...

"pursued a policy of “stop and frisk” that specifically targeted hundreds of thousands of poor young men of color. His policy triggered credible accusations of racial bias from minorities and white progressives alike. He has since apologized for the policy but many feel it has come twenty years too late."

But by comparison, Donald Trump has been labeled an outright racist, which doesn't forgive the former New York Mayor, but in the case of the apology, something which T-rump has never done, you have to look on the positive side. Also, Bloomberg is a billionaire, something Bernie rails against constantly, but this billionaire "has also promised to provide ample resources ($1 billion or more) to whomever the Democrats ultimately nominate, even if it turns out not to be him."

And the candidate does have empathy for the black community...

"In a January 19, 2020 speech in a black community church in Tulsa near the site of the notorious 1921 Black Wall Street Massacre (https://www.mikebloomberg.com/news/the-greenwood-initiative-economic-justice-for-black-america), Bloomberg admitted that had he been an African American he wouldn’t have been nearly as successful as he is today."

But he still must work a lot harder to gain the trust of the blacks, and I think he will. With his moderate appeal, he can also take back some of those Independents who just sent Donald Trump's approval rating up, the 49ers.  And there is no doubt of his commitment to the environment...

"as demonstrated by his philanthropy, marshaling of climate action coalitions, and Bloomberg News coverage and advocacy..."

"Michael Bloomberg has done most not only among all the Democratic candidates but among climate activists worldwide to deploy substantial financial resources, supply reliable information to a corporate sector critical to the green transition, and build worldwide climate action coalitions."

Today, climate control may very well be the biggest problem we have in the world, and with this kind of activism from the U.S. President, it could very well begin to solve our problem...if it isn't too late. There's so much more to the man, Bloomberg, and I encourage you to read this article. Warning, it is long, but a second warning, you will be sorry if you don't. 

Lisa Murkowski illustrates the stupidity and mediocrity of the Republican Senate

Lisa Murkowski

Now here's a statement so dumb you might think it came from Donald Trump, but in this case it is about him, emanating from one of Alaska's GOP Senators: Lisa Murkowski said she, "cannot vote to convict" President Donald Trump in the Senate impeachment trial but nevertheless called his actions "shameful and wrong." If asked why, I am sure her answer would be equally inane. Here it is again...

"The President's behavior was shameful and wrong. His personal interests do not take precedence over those of this great nation."

Yet this wingnut voted against witnesses and will vote to acquit Trump in the Senate trial. And she wasn't even done yet...

"The President has the responsibility to uphold the integrity and the honor of the office, not just for himself, but for all future presidents. Degrading the office by actions or even name-calling weakens it for future presidents and it weakens our country."

How can you possibly say all of this and vote not to impeach the worst president we have ever experienced in the United States?"  But at least she said it. Most of the other Senate Republicans don't even have the guts to condemn the Oval Office lunatic for the maniac he is. This is my prediction, and call it a threat if you like, the left will defeat the right in November with the force of the most powerful hydrogen bomb imaginable. This could be the end of the GOP! 
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Independents boosting Trump's approval rating confusing and alarming

After his clear racist decisions on immigrants, sexual misconduct and harassment of women, fostering racial hatred, promoting white supremacy, over 15,000 confirmed lies to date, gave us the longest government shut down in history, immigrant children taken from their parents, and attempting to bribe the Ukrainian President with American aid to help his 2020 election, leading up to an impeachment by the House of Representatives.

And yet the American public has just raised his approval rating, according to Gallup, to its highest point, 49%. Has this country, or at least 49% of it, completely gone down the drain? Has the near majority of the U.S. lost all of its appreciation for common decency? I would like for someone to explain to me, after the consideration of the points above, what is the possible attraction for a person that not only has, but flaunts these qualities?

Here's the scenario...

"Trump was boosted by increased approval among independent as well as Republican voters, according to the survey released Tuesday. The poll of 1,033 adults was conducted from Jan. 16 to 29, during Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate."

"42% of independents approve of the job he is doing, up 3 points."

And that's tragic, since I am an independent, and totally ashamed of the 49ers.

Donald Trump has done absolutely nothing of real substance except pass a tax bill that benefits only the wealthy. It has been determined to be a complete failure, even in the corporate area. Okay, you 49ers might say Trump has the solid support of Republican colleagues and he has. But only because they are blithering cowards, afraid of him, and afraid of their political security. Just look at what the GOP really thinks of Trump talking behind his back in my recent post.

For the 51% of us who are still on this planet, it looks like a real fight come November, the sane ones against the 49ers. We do plan to win!   

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Projections on coronavirus in the U.S.

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield and task force

The coronavirus outbreak has killed a minimum of 362 people worldwide with another 17,300+ infected. The virus center is Wuhan province, China, where hundreds of Americans are still being evacuated. In the 2003 China SARS epidemic, 349 people died. CNN reports coronavirus has spread to more than 25 countries, with researchers doing their best to develop a vaccine. There are eleven coronavirus cases in the United States with no deaths so far.

U.S. cases are in the states of Washington, 1; California, 6; Arizona, 1; Illinois, 2; and Massachusetts, 1. Here's the scenario...

"The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has listed 260 'patients under investigation' for the novel coronavirus across 36 states as of February 3, according to an update posted on the agency's website Monday. That’s an increase of 19 from the last update, provided Friday.

 "Of the 260 patients under investigation, 11 have tested positive, 167 negative, and 82 are still pending.

"CDC is the only lab in the US that can conduct diagnostic testing for the virus, but it is developing coronavirus testing kits to share with "domestic and international partners," according to an earlier statement from the agency."

China is becoming more isolated each day as airlines cancel flights in and out of there. The country has built a hospital specifically for the coronavirus but is finding it is already not enough. The U.S. is no where near this stage but you have to wonder if we would be prepared at home to handle a pandemic, as is being predicted. CNN has a complete report you can read here.

The Donald Trump Senate impeachment trial makes a mockery of the justice system

Of course there is the big mouth Oval Office lunatic and then there is the lowest of life Moscow Mitch McConnell rejoicing over their win in the Senate with the close vote of 51 to 49 against calling any witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial against Donald Trump. All the legal and political experts confirmed that a trial is not a trial without witnesses. Yet, a partisan vote of Republicans voted no, knowing full well they were bastardizing their oath.

David Atkins of the Washington Monthly put it like this...

"The few GOP senators who pretended at a conscience toward the end have predictably decided to throw in their lot with the majority of their conservative colleagues cravenly engaging in a coverup for the president, while pretending to be deeply offended at the suggestion that that is exactly what they are doing."

Atkins continued...

"And why? Because they fear the wrath of Trump’s base and his twitter feed more than they fear the voters or the judgment of history. And because they simply don’t care."

That says it all but there is no doubt that historians will document this moment, plus when this GOP Senate votes to acquit Donald Trump as one of the most egregious acts in the antiquity of Washington politics. And you can also count on the fact that the American public will remember this come the November election. Those that count on the left will go to the polls in numbers never before seen and fulfill the dream of dumping Trump.   READ MORE...

Donald Trump has Conservative pundit Rick Wilson on his back...again

If conservative Rick Wilson's bite is as bad as his words, Donald Trump not only has the left to fear in November; having raised the ire of another Republican who has sworn to turn his Lincoln Project group loose on T-rump exclaiming he is...

"set to do everything thing they can to oust Donald Trump and his Congressional enablers out of office in 2020 with, in his words, a 'pretty frigging nasty' blitz of ads."

I just did a post on Davis Faris' book, "It's Time To Fight Dirty," which comes from a staunch Progressive, but pushes the same agenda as Wilson. Hey, we'll take all the help we can get, and this GOP strategist is right at the top of his Party when it comes to substance. Here's the scenario...

"Asked by [HBO “Real Time”] host Bill Maher if his group will be endorsing a Democrat or another Republican for president, the acerbic Wilson said that is not their plan and that they will instead focus on hammering Donald Trump and vulnerable Republican lawmakers who defend him."

Wilson continues, but here chides Democrats for their miserable recent actions against Republicans...

“As an outside force that can do things that the Democrats have demonstrably failed on doing a lot of the time, like actually getting in people’s sh*t, we’re sort of a pirate ship in that regard.”

There is absolutely no excuse for the way Dems have handled the "war" against the GOP, starting with Debbie Wasserman Schultz's running of the DNC in the 2016 election, up to the feeble attempts made by House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Chuck Schummer to move the Democratic Party forward. Like Davis Faris said, the left has been guilty of coddling the right with no real plan to put the Dems back on top. The Party is simmering in the juices of mediocrity.

If the Democrats don't come up with some "friggin nasty" tactics real soon, this November will go back in the books as just another Republican political nightmare.   READ MORE...

David Faris' book, "It's Time to Fight Dirty," is dynamite

David Faris' book, "It's Time To Fight Dirty" was recommended to me by Facebook pal, Neil Schneider, and it would be the understatement of the year to say, it is scary. Since I have followed the political scene with my blog for the last several years, I am aware what is going on in everyday politics. I knew the GOP was defrauding and deceiving the left at every turn, but Faris points out how the Republicans were able to set up such intricate strategy, right under the noses of Democrats. It is beyond pathetic.

He starts right off with the concept of "originalism." a belief that the Constitution must be interpreted just as it is, not veering to the left or right with its doctrine, but just what it says. Comparable to fundamentalists in their interpretation of the bible. The late SCOTUS justice Antonin Scalia was one of the most forceful modern advocates for originalism, and this is where gun nuts take their lead when it comes to the defense of the 2nd Amendment.

University of Chicago law professor William Baude comments that originalists believe "that the words in the Constitution have the same meaning over time, even if modern circumstances change, and even if we wish the words meant something else." If Scalia had had his way, same-sex marriage would have still been illegal, and we would not have certain portions of the Affordable Care Act, according to the New Yorker. 

Originalism crops up throughout the Republican ideology, which you will see as I continue to review this great book, "It's Time To Fight Dirty."

If Mike Pompeo is considered a "disgrace," why is he still in the cabinet?

Mike Pompeo railed against NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly in a "mean-spirited outburst" that has resulted in widespread criticism, especially among liberals. "Journalist Shay Khatiri calls Pompeo out in a blistering article for the conservative Never Trump website The Bulwark." Here is her opinion of one of T-rump's highest Cabinet members...

“Mike Pompeo is a disgrace to the office he holds and the department he leads, And he goes on to explain why Pompeo’s ranting against an NPR reporter speaks so poorly of him."

 Khatiri continued...

"the secretary of state 'began cursing' at Kelly when she brought up the “Ukraine scandal” — and on Saturday, Pompeo pulled a 'McSally maneuver' and “attacked the media.”

The “McSally maneuver” Khatiri is talking about is...

"Sen. Martha McSally’s recent attack on CNN’s Manu Raju, who she insulted as a “liberal hack” when he asked the Arizona Republican whether or not witnesses should be featured in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial — which was a perfectly reasonable question."

 Khatiri calls it a Trumpian political stunt, which, knowing McSally from Arizona, is another ploy to get attention. She is desperate since former astronaut Mark Kelly is beating her in the polls, 46.3% to 43.7%. It is all moot because it has become clear that Mike Pompeo has become another clone of Donald Trump and this is just in the DNA.   READ MORE...

Lindsey Graham in the loop for Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden

Lev Parnas - Lindsey Graham

It is well known that Lindsey graham has become one of Donald Trump's biggest flunkey suck-ups, but Giuliani associate Lev Parnas claims that he is also mixed up in the Ukraine incident as one of the perpetrators who tried to influence President Zelensky to find out what he could about Joe Biden to help Trump's election. Here's the scenario...

"Lev Parnas, a Ukraine-born businessman charged with campaign finance violations, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° that Graham has a personal interest in keeping witness testimony out of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial."

Parnas says Graham was definitely in the loop, a good relationship with Rudy Giuliani, maybe going back to 2018 or earlier. It is also known...

"he was the one Rudy Giuliani was supposed to bring Viktor Shokin [another Giuliani associate] to when the visa got denied, and I think he was even, if you check the records, involved in getting the request for the visa somehow.”

It was around a month later that Giuliani "tried to help Shokin, a former top prosecutor in Ukraine regarded as corrupt by the previous administration and U.S. allies, obtain a visa to meet with Graham in the U.S." Parnas said that Graham was definitely in the loop and must have known what was going on. But here's the clincher...

Parnas told CNN he was '1 million percent' sure that Graham was "aware of his and Giuliani’s efforts to press Ukraine to announce an investigation of Biden."

If Lindsey Graham doesn't lose the election in 2020, he is "statistically tied with Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison," he should be put in line for impeachment.   READ MORE...

Donald Trump went to the White House riding the backs of lowlife like Roy Cohn

It all started with Roy Cohn, once an associate of Sen. Joe McCarthy, whom the Oval Office lunatic befriended back in the 1970s. From then on, Donald Trump has made it a habit of surrounding himself with sleazy characters that, somehow, have managed to move his political career to where it is today. This apparently opened the door to his gang of sordid characters, many of which are still around. From advisers to Cabinet members, the seedy group pushes him forward.

Michael Rothfeld and Joe Palazzolo have a new book, “The Fixers: The Bottom-Feeders, Crooked Lawyers, Gossipmongers, and Porn Stars Who Created the 45th President.” I could end this post here with the book title saying almost everything, but there really is much more. Salon calls it, "a veritable encyclopedia of the unsavory characters that have made Trump who he is, alongside some new reporting.

Donald Trump and Roy Cohn

Cohn gave T-rump a boost in the beginning but once it was learned that he was gay and had AIDS, poor Roy was dumped, and can you believe this, "after Cohn died in 1986 of AIDS-related complications, Trump ordered the staff at Mar-a-Lago to fumigate the silverware." The book starts with the parade of pathetics...

"He will use people as long as the person can help him and then discard them or, worse, demean and demonize them. Look no further than Trump fixer Michael Cohen, who had been a loyal blunt instrument for Trump since the mid-2000’s. But when Cohen got into serious trouble — apparently for running sleazy errands for Trump — the president turned his back on his longtime friend, which ultimately led to Cohen working with the authorities in the hopes of lessening his prison sentence."

Then came Rudy Giuliani, Bill Barr, Karen McDougal, who was paid off for Trump by the publisher of the National Enquirer, and Stormy Daniels who was paid off by Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer. AlterNet asks the question, "How do you have a president who has one guy paying off a porn star and another guy paying off a Playboy model?" You have to look back decades to see a pattern of "how Trump had people surrounding him who were just kind of willing to do his dirty work for him."

This is how the authors explain their book...

"That’s how we came up with the idea of writing “The Fixers.” It’s the seamy underbelly of the Trump presidency. It’s a world that most people probably don’t know about, but where you have muckrakers, paparazzi, porn stars and all this, and they helped him refine the tactics that he took to The White House."

It may be a world that most people don't know directly, but it is a world that the world has come to know as Donald Trump' oligarchy. There is much more to this article which I highly suggest reading.

Just how involved is Bill Barr in the Ukraine investigation?

AG William Barr

It has apparently become impossible to separate Attorney General Bill Barr from the impeachment of Donald Trump, particularly the Ukraine incident. The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent reports a recent “damning new audio recording” has far-reaching effects...

"reportedly features Trump telling his associates that he wants then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch fired could be a significant development in Democrats."

 In the recording, Trump clearly says, “Get rid of her!” in reference to Yovanovitch. Then he says, “Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it.” 'Take her out?' This idiot sounds like a mafia boss, but. then, he has been compared with Don Corleone before. Well, Yovanovitch is out and the video confirms Lev Parnas' version of the firing. Parnas told Rachel Maddow...

“I do remember me telling the president the ambassador was bad-mouthing him and saying he was going to get impeached, something to that effect.”

The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent reports...

"the recording reveals “how involved Trump was in the campaign to oust Yovanovitch” in order to “clear the way for the corrupt scheme that Giuliani was preparing to orchestrate in an effort to extort Ukraine into announcing investigations that would help Trump politically.”

Then Sargent closes with this re. Barr...

“All of which is a reminder that we still have only the foggiest understanding of the role Attorney General William P. Barr is playing. Is Barr allowing this investigation — whatever it’s examining — to proceed wherever the facts lead?”

For some time now the suck-up Attorney General has directed all his energies protecting the White House maniac instead of the citizens of this country he swore to protect when taking office. Chalk up one more to dump.
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Our Founding Fathers would probably have impeached Trump...so what is the Senate waiting for?

Facebook friend, Neil Schneider, brought this article to my attention, something that all Americans, liberal or conservative, should consider. The answer to the above photo is a resounding YES! Robert Reich's video, below, gives a running timeline from the meeting of the Founding Fathers right up to the impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

The Fathers were pretty sure they had George Washington as a sure bet for president, and they were right. But at the time, Benjamin Franklin made this comment...

“The first man put at the helm will be a good one,” but “Nobody knows what sort may come afterwards.”

And then, of course we ended up in 2016 with the Oval Office lunatic, who has turned out to be the worst president the United states has ever known. The Founding Fathers decided quickly there must be a way to remove a president that was a disgrace to his office. James Madison and others argued they needed specific reasons to do this. They decided on “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

The delegates to the Constitutional Convent were "also concerned that a foreign power might influence the outcome of an election." This leads to...

During the Virginia ratifying convention, Edmund Randolph explicitly connected impeachment to foreign money, saying that a president “may be impeached” if discovered “receiving emoluments [help] from foreign powers.” George Washington, in his farewell address, warned of “the insidious wiles of foreign influence.”

Bingo! Donald Trump holds the offer of over $400 million in aid to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in abeyance until Zelensky comes up with dirt on Trump's political opponent, Joe3 Biden. With a number of cases where this has been confirmed, from former U.S. Ukraine Ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch. to Trump's former National Security adviser, John Bolton, there is no doubt T-rump violated the emoluments clause.

Yet a cowardly Republican Senate is so far refusing to convict Donald Trump in the Senate trial. I highly recommend watching the above Robert Reich video, and the article is a must read.

Looks like millennials could put Bernie Sanders over the top

There are 71 million millennials in the United States ages 24 to 39. 26 millennials voted in 2018. Bernie Sanders is ahead in the Iowa Caucuses and he leads in the New Hampshire Primary. So what does this say for the Bern...

"Democrats will need high turnout among young, left-leaning voters in November, and Bernie Sanders is overwhelmingly popular with such voters."

Joe Biden has been the front-runner on the left since he entered the race, with other candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg running up and down the rankings. Sanders has continually hovered around second position throughout the Primary competition, but lately has been surging...

"According to a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday, Bernie Sanders boasts the support of 53 percent of Democratic voters under 35 nationwide, while Joe Biden lays claim to just 3 percent. That poll’s margin of error is 3.4 percentage points — which means that the percentage of younger voters who support the Democratic Party’s current front-runner could, technically, round down to zero."

The fact of the matter is that Joe Biden just does not appeal to the younger generation even though he is younger than Bernie by two years. The Intelligencer reports...

"Although Sanders’s 2016 backers did not sit out (or defect) during the general election in aberrantly high numbers, the age gap between Biden and Bernie backers this year is even larger than the one that prevailed between Clinton and the Vermont senator four years ago."

And then you have Michael Bloomberg entering the race who seems to be syphoning off support from all the candidates but Bernie Sanders. As I have said earlier, I am not sure Bloomberg is running to win or just to make sure Donald Trump doesn't win. The next couple of months will certainly be interesting.
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Why don't GOP lawmakers who trash president behind his back come out in the open and do it?

Michael McFaul

Well, it is now established that Republican lawmakers detest Donald Trump as much as the American public. Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul told host Bill Maher on HBO’s “Real Time that the Congress trashes him behind his back. And it sounds like Bill Maher also dislikes T-rump prompting McFaul to say...

“What really bothers me about folks like this,” he began while speaking to the host who has just ripped into the president, “They don’t like Trump. They talk like you. I mean, they all talk like you.”

Maher countered  “The Republicans?” Then McFaul again...

“All those guys,” McFaul shot back. “When they’re talking in the family, that’s what they say among the family. And yet when they come out in the public, then they care about taxes and other issues and maybe power, but they just forget about all this other stuff — and that is what I can’t respect.”

Respect from the American public is exactly what Congress currently does not have today with their job approval rating at 23%. And the whole lot is simply too dumb to realize just how lousy a job they do. McFaul is a Democrat, but he is also an American academic and professor of political science who served as the United States Ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014. Although outside the circle of the Trump administration, apparently he is still a part of the "family." 
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Former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly says he believes former National Security Adviser John Bolton is telling the truth

There are not too many of Donald Trump's ex-White House staff I would believe, most are clones of the Oval Office lunatic, a born liar; but John Kelly I do believe. In a headline from AlterNet, this phrase is taken from a statement quoting Kelly...

"he finds Bolton’s assertions on Trump and Ukraine to be totally credible"

The Republicans are hell-bent on preventing any witnesses, in keeping with Trump's complete unwillingness to hear from people like Bolton or Lev Parnas. With Senators like Mitt Romney and Susan Collins seemingly in favor of witnesses, looks like Moscow Mitch will have no choice. Some of the media is reporting that if this happens, the impeachment trial could drag into months with only just short of ten months until the November election.

Here's the scenario...

"The New York Times reported over the weekend that in a leaked manuscript of his new book, “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir” (due out March 17), Bolton alleges that Trump tied military aid to Ukraine to an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. House Democrats have been asserting that Trump and his allies had a “quid pro quo” with Ukraine: a Bidens investigation in exchange for military aid — and Bolton, according to the Times, alleges in his book that this “quid pro quo” was a fact."

John Kelly "would clearly like to see Bolton testify." Again, he commented, “If John Bolton says that in the book, I believe John Bolton.” Kelly left the Trump administration at the end of 2018, having planned to stay on until the 2020 election. White House staffers reported...

"The two men had been in something of a stand-off in recent weeks. Trump was reluctant to directly fire Kelly and he was advised by some of his aides that pushing out a four-star general could result in political blowback, administration officials said. Meanwhile, Kelly made it clear that he had no plans to resign, leaving it up to the president to force him out."

 Most political pundits agree that John Kelly, "kept the government on the tracks," and it is my opinion he was most likely responsible for keeping Donald Trump from doing more stupid things than he is actually guilty of. General Kelly has been missed.   READ MORE...

Moscow Mitch and his Republican Senate received big donations from Trump defense team

We know Republicans are corrupt from the top down and there is no reason to believe this isn't true for the impeachment trial. Members of Trump's legal team made several contributions to key Senate Republicans last year just before joining the president's legal team. Here's the scenario...

"Former independent counsels Ken Starr and Robert Ray, who both investigated former President Bill Clinton ahead of his impeachment, contributed thousands of dollars to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last year before they joined the president’s team, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics (CFPR)."

This reflects on McConnell's statement he would be in, “total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president in the well of the Senate.” Moscow Mitch followed this with...

“Everything I do during this, I’m coordinating with the White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this.”

If that isn't a payoff, I don't know what is. Starr's $2,700 contribution to Lindsey Graham in 2017, apparently cinched up the fact...

"Graham has been one of the most ardent Trump defenders in the Senate and previously pushed for Republicans to dismiss the impeachment charges against Trump without a trial."

Conversely, "Sekulow, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin all also gave thousands to Sen. Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign," while Romney is one of the most outspoken Republicans to voice support for witnesses. Go figure. And Trump did do some fundraising for suck-up Republicans, but he did snub Susan Collins, R-Maine, who has said she may be open to witnesses.

The whole thing does come down to what I said in the beginning, 'We know Republicans are corrupt from the top down and there is no reason to believe this isn't true for the impeachment trial.' I know many are asking this same question, will this country ever be free of this kind of sordid GOP politics? At this point, I would question the possibilities.   READ MORE...

Lobbyist to government job aids NRA agenda

Benjamin Cassidy left the National Rifle Assn. for a job at the US interior department in the Donald Trump administration in 2017. It wasn't long before he called NRA head, Wayne LaPierre, and his minions to open the gates of the Interior to this organization. The Guardian has previously unreleased communications proving what...

"potent influence that industry lobbyists and conservative organizations enjoy at a government agency where many key leaders are former lobbyists and conservative activists themselves."

It's bad enough when it is just a Republican in Congress supporting the NRA, but when it is a government employee, from an agency like Interior, and who is a former NRA employee, there is no end to the damage that can be done. The Guardian reports...

"The NRA has made the most of this dynamic during the Trump presidency, leveraging its connections to shape policy outcomes and personnel decisions at the interior department."

And here is an excellent example...

"In 2017, for instance, Susan LaPierre, a prominent NRA member and the wife of NRA leader Wayne LaPierre, was appointed by the head of the interior department to the board of the National Parks Foundation, a congressionally chartered organization that supports park programs."

And the  interior secretary, David Bernhardt commented recently...

“Respecting our second amendment is fundamental to our constitutional republic. We’re expanding opportunities to enjoy hunting and recreational shooting on our wonderful public lands.”

There is nothing wrong with the Hunting and recreational shooting on public lands, but the narrative just illustrates how Bernhardt and the interior agency are dominated by the NRA. Like all government agencies under Donald Trump's administration. And here's something I have first-hand knowledge of...

"Target shooting in the Sonoran Desert national monument in Arizona is controversial – it has damaged archeological artifacts, destroyed saguaro cacti, and harmed other natural and cultural resources."

I cannot tell you how many once-beautiful, age-old saguaro cacti I have seen on the side of the road that are dying because some dim-witted gun nut used it for target practice. Pathetic!   READ MORE...

Can the group Fix Our Senate dump Moscow Mitch

Moscow Mitch McConnell has done everything possible to thwart the Democratic agenda, starting with Barack Obama's administration to the impeachment of Donald Trump. He is running against Amy McGrath in Kentucky for his Senate seat and so far it is a close race with McGrath closing in on McConnell in rankings and fundraising. Now she is getting some help from a new group named, Fix Our Senate, which aims to unseat Moscow Mitch.

The organization provides facts on McConnell...

"McConnell is both extremely powerful and highly unpopular, with a favorability rating of 29.8% in the latest average of polls tracked by Real Clear Politics." He has an unfavorable rank of 48.

"McConnell is already the least popular politician in America — now, we’re going to shine a light on McConnell and every ally who supports him," the group's director, Joshua Karp, a Democratic strategist and communications consultant, tells us.

FOS says it will contend that Moscow Mitch...

"is disproportionately responsible for wealth inequality, rising drug prices, conservative judicial confirmations, hyper-partisanship, legislative gridlock and the likely acquittal of President Trump in the Senate trial."

Fix Our Senate is connected to SEIU, Demand Justice, Indivisible, Protect Our Care and For Our Future.

But here's what McConnell adviser Josh Holmes told Axios...

the group is "welcome to take a number and get in line" in order "to fleece donors into underwriting yet another expedition in search the left’s white whale."

Obviously, the blatant arrogance does not stop with Moscow Mitch. The FOS attack promises to expose...

"McConnell and his record and leadership strategies to share with activists and surrogates and shape opinion."

Bon Voyage and the best of luck!   READ MORE...

Will the White House blind-siding Republicans over Bolton's book change votes?

Trump nothing but a bluff who folds when adversaries fight back

The White House had a copy of the John Bolton book draft but told no one about it. This obviously left Republican Senators hanging as well as the Democrats. But the Dems already know their goal, which is to convict Donald Trump in the impeachment trial. The question is, will the Bolton incident, plus other recent events, convince those GOPers on the edge to vote for a conviction? In a Salon commentary Bob Cesca poses the mystery of...

"why so many Republicans who are willing to bet their reputations on relentlessly defending Donald Trump, especially now."

One reason might be that the Republican machine is in the process of imploding and for some insane reason they believe T-rump is holding it together. Another, many of these Republicans owe the Oval Office lunatic for the gold mine he gave them when they were among the wealthy who shared generously in his tax cuts. It might fly if Trump was all the things of George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan in their election popularity, but as Cesca put it...

"Trump is a flop-sweating mess, and more of us should be asking why they don’t just cut bait and try their luck with conserva-droid Mike Pence."

But, please no, not Mike Pence because we will just have to go through impeachment proceedings all over again. And with great eloquence, although lengthy, Bob Cesca nails Donald Trump for the idiot he is...

"Among thousands of liabilities, Trump is busily faking his way through his presidency with such lumbering, self-satirical awkwardness that he has the very real potential of exploding the entire party through his viral obnoxiousness, his treachery, his proud dumbness and his 16,241 lies to date. Every national Republican has been repeatedly forced to pooper-scooper Trump’s tweets and his chopper-talk hollering, turning the phrase “the president tweets a lot of things” into the new party slogan. And unlike Bush or Reagan before him, Trump’s approval is permanently capped at an anemic 45 percent at best, and he clearly believes he’s only capable of winning re-election by extorting foreign governments into helping him cheat."

This article is really worth reading in it entirety.  

Republican Senate are collaborators and complicit

In the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, a sworn Senate of Republicans, who gave an oath to uphold objectivity in their decision making, have become mired in their own complicity and collaborative efforts to ignore the hard facts against the Oval Office lunatic. Charles Pierce nails it in this piece, long but so comprehensive...

"In this, no Republican was different from any other Republican. Lisa Murkowski and Tom Cotton were the same. Thom Tillis and Ted Cruz were the same. Cory Gardner and Jim Inhofe were the same. Mitt Romney and Ben Sasse were the same as Mike Rounds and Mike Enzi. And they were all the same as Mitch McConnell. There were no moderate Republicans in the Senate on Tuesday. There were no Never Trumpers. There were only collaborators. There was no independence in the Senate on Tuesday, only complicity. And it was a deadening, sad thing to watch."

The AlterNet headline of the article this was taken from says it all: "Why we are witnessing the death of reason among Republicans." The fact is that this actually poses a question that must be on the mind of millions of Americans which is simply terrifying since there doesn't seem to be an answer. Why would Donald Trump do what he is doing to this country? Why would Moscow Mitch McConnell do what he is doing to this country. The quick answer is greed and corruption.

The article cites "Fox News and the rest of the right-wing propaganda network" as supplying the filter through which all this right side of the political bullshit is delivered to those double digits that listen to this network. Pierce observes the House Managers on the Democratic side "providing facts and evidence," while on the other side...

"all the latter had to do was show up and count on their propaganda network to gin up fear and loathing for anyone who dares to challenge the president."

And then the piece concludes...

"That is why we are witnessing the death of reason on the Republican side."

What more is there to say?   READ MORE...

Donald Trump followers adore him for weird reasons

Dave Eggers is a combination screenwriter/nonfiction writer and his latest is a book, “The Captain and the Glory," which has the following passage in the opening pages...

 “Any imbecile might decide on a certain Monday to become a captain, and by Tuesday, with no qualifications whatsoever, that imbecile could take charge of a 300,000-ton vessel and the thousands of lives contained within.”

This tome is a satirical novel that captures the personality of the Donald Trump supporter...

"He writes of a petulant Captain — a man who is quick to toss his opposition overboard, makes nonsensical morning announcements about spiders that typically slip into observations about his penis, and steers the ship and its passengers further and further out to sea."

Eggers spent time on the T-rump 2016 campaign trail talking to followers about "people and families who have been struggling mightily due to his policies on immigration, asylum, and other related issues." Eggers conclusion...

"they don’t always get at the comical absurdity and the horror on a grand scale that I feel we’ve been going through."

The author looked for an even "larger story." What he came up with was...

"the cartoonish madness and the loss of all moral compass and sanity. I think plenty of essays and columnists and late-night TV hosts have been doing a good job of reflecting on that every day but I thought that there might be a spot for an allegory or some sort of parable that kind of put it in stark relief."

This line from the book begins to describe the typical Trump booster...

“Because he was unscripted when he told lies — he was the most honest captain they’d ever known.”

The sense here is that no matter how many lies the Oval Office lunatic tells his chosen people, they will not only believe them, they will also love him for it. There is more and I suggest you read this entire AlterNet article written by Ashlie D. Stevens for Salon.

Cult expert describes Donald Trump supporters

The Donald Trump cult

Steven Hassan, a former cult member and expert on cults says Trump uses a “very sophisticated mind-control techniques” through various media, he said, to push a “black-and-white, all-or-nothing, good-versus-evil, authoritarian view of reality that is mostly fear-based.” Hassan has just written a book, “The Cult of Trump,” described by Amazon as an...

"eye-opening analysis of Trump and the indoctrination tactics he uses to build a fanatical devotion in his supporters."

Hassan continues...

“[What] really made me think of Trump as a cult was the way the groups who supported him were behaving, especially religious groups who believed that God had chosen Trump or was using Trump."

Hassan believes that not all Trump followers are of the cult ilk, but my experience with those I know provides the fact that they certainly seem completely brain-washed to the extent that they cannot see that Donald Trump does any harm whatsoever. Like the religious folk above, T-rump is some kind of God and that he can do no wrong. And the fact is, I have known these people on Facebook since the Oval Office lunatic's inauguration and they have not changed.

Hassan uses Trump stooge, Lindsey Graham as an example of those who refuse to hear the Truth. After it has become perfectly clear that Trump did hold back aid to Ukraine for the Joe Biden dirt issue, Graham can only counter with yelling at Democrats about “exposing” their “hatred.” Other Republicans are ridiculed in the media over their ridiculous excuses for the White House maniac and a long line of lies that simply mirror T-rump. It is beyond pathetic!   READ MORE...

Mike Bloomberg intent on seeing Donald Trump defeated

Michael Bloomberg-Donald Trump

Michael Bloomberg is running for President and my headline is meant to emphasize the fact that he seems to be more concerned with how bad Donald Trump is than how good he is. Bloomberg's "long-standing policy of bankrolling his political ambitions puts him in conflict with the Democratic National Committee’s requirements for participating in presidential primary debates." Bloomberg is spending heavily in several key swing states...

"Since jumping in the race in November, Bloomberg has spent $24 million in Florida, and nearly $11 million in Pennsylvania. He's also about $8 million in Ohio and North Carolina, $7 million in Michigan, and more than $4 million each in Arizona and Wisconsin, all of which are states Mr. Trump won in 2016 and will likely need to win again in 2020."

The former New York Mayor's 1,000+ campaign team Axios describes as well-oiled and financed, is looking at Trump's 2016 drive, and concentrating its advertising on...

"Facebook which was a major factor in the 2016 election and getting Bloomberg’s face on TV in much the same way Trump built his brand as a reality TV show host."

Bloomberg may be missing the debates, but he does have a strategy that is designed to point out corruption while illustrating his acumen in governing and business expertise...

“Like Trump, Bloomberg promises ad nauseam to replicate his professional success in governance. Many of Bloomberg’s ads follow the rough arc of: 1) Hit Trump … 2) Why the problem matters … 3) What Mike did as New York mayor … 4) What Mike would do as president."

According to RealClearPolitics, Michael Bloomberg beats Donald Trump in November 46.5% to 43.3% and counting with the impeachment Senate trial bound to have more effect on those figures.