Saturday news catch-up...

Racism dominated the end of the New Hampshire debates last evening, initiated by a statement from presidential candidate, Tom Steyer, to the effect that no one had talked about racism. Then everyone did. Here's something to think about, from UK's Guardian, "How to fight racism using science," claiming, "prejudice that has a longstanding relationship with science."   READ MORE...

And then the Guardian reports again of the "Montana Republican rebuked for saying socialists should be 'jailed or shot.'" Being a Democratic Socialist, and having personally experienced this exact kind of behavior here in Arizona from another Republican, it is easy to see how the GOP is going down the tube with its supporters with it.   READ MORE...

RawStory exclaims, "Why Fox News viewers are so ignorant," because they listen to and believe the garbage spewed out by hosts like Sean Hannity. This idiot was still defending Trump after the impeachment by "accusing Democrats of supporting 'abortion after birth.'” There is no such thing as any non-conservative and sane individual knows.   READ MORE...

Still feeling sorry for Rush Limbaugh and his medical problems? Here are 9 things this maniac said about women in the article, "." Rush Limbaugh’s 9 most appalling comments about women." Here's an example...

"Rush imagining that women secretly want to be sexually harassed. 'The sexual harassment crowd. They’re out there protesting what they actually wish would happen to them.'”

This gives you an idea of the mentality of the listeners this fanatical bigot appeals to.   READ MORE... 

I've heard numerous comments in the media, and actually following last night's debate, of how Donald Trump hopes he is up against Bernie Sanders in the November election, since he will be so easy to beat. The Bern raised $25 million in the month of January alone. With an average $18.80 contribution, that is 1.4 million loyal voters as a solid base. Once he wins the Primary, he is certain to garner most of Elizabeth Warren's voters.

And I did a blog post recently, "Looks like millennials could put Bernie Sanders over the top," pointing out the 71 million millennial voters out there, of which 26 million voted in 2018, and my expectancy that this figure will increase significantly in November.   READ MORE...

Here's a grabber, "Trump’s acquittal is invalid because he was not mentally competent to stand trial," a RawStory headline prompted by a letter sent by the World Mental Health Coalition, urging Congress to "invalidate President Donald Trump’s acquittal in the Senate until his mental competency to stand trial is evaluated." I have done several posts on the Oval Office lunatic's mentality you can see here.   READ MORE...

About time anti-vaxxers put in their place

A mother from Colorado had four children with the flu, took them to the doctor, he prescribed Tamiflu, which she did not give them. Instead, she went to Facebook for an answer and the group, Stop Mandatory Vaccination, which advised her against using the medication, instead, recommending a bunch of snake oil preparations to use. One of her children, a four-year-old boy. died. Undaunted, she asked for more advice from the organization and this time they suggested...

"breastmilk, thyme and elderberry, none of which are medically recommended treatments for the flu."

I did a post on this earlier today, "Anti-vaxxers responsible for death of 4-year-old Colorado boy," but felt impelled to do this follow-up to illustrate what an imbecile this mother is, and apparently continues to be. Here's the scenario...

"A search by NBC News uncovered the mother’s engagement with an online group called Stop Mandatory Vaccination. The group of nearly 140,000 members, also called anti-vaxxers, is known for peddling false health information and discouraging parents from vaccinating their children."

"The boy’s mother, Geneva Montoya, admitted in a Facebook post that she refused to fill the doctor’s prescription for Tamiflu, the most common antiviral medication prescribed to treat the flu."

Maybe the Colorado authorities will look into this particular incident as a flagrant violation of law and prosecute this mother and the group, Stop Mandatory Vaccination, to help discourage future tragedies like this one. 
READ MORE... 

Marie Yovanovitch labels Donald Trump administration a dictatorship

Marie Yovanovitch

The former American ambassador to Ukraine was a career woman in the U.S. government, a member of the senior ranks of the United States Foreign Service. Unfortunately, her high standard of ethics and service to her country did not agree with those of Donald Trump, who fired her recently. "Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and his henchman Lev Parnas worked to spread false stories about her work to destroy her reputation."

Well, they didn't, and Ms. Yovanovitch has come out on top swinging at the Oval Office lunatic and his henchmen in "a scathing editorial for the Washington Post that raises fears about the future of American democracy." Here's some of what she says...

“I have seen dictatorships around the world, where blind obedience is the norm and truth-tellers are threatened with punishment or death,” she writes. “We must not allow the United States to become a country where standing up to our government is a dangerous act. It has been shocking to experience the storm of criticism, lies and malicious conspiracies that have preceded and followed my public testimony.”

The former ambassador warns how Trump is discouraging anyone in the foreign service, or who might be thinking about it by actions such as those toward her. She says, “Our public servants need responsible and ethical political leadership.” However...

“This administration, through acts of omission and commission, has undermined our democratic institutions, making the public question the truth and leaving public servants without the support and example of ethical behavior that they need to do their jobs and advance U.S. interests.”

How many people like this will it take to convince the American public in November that, since we were not able to impeach the White house maniac, we must vote him out of office. Can we count on you to help produce the landslide?  READ MORE...

Anti-vaxxers responsible for death of 4-year-old Colorado boy

The anti-vaxxer issue has been quiet of late, probably because they haven't killed anyone. They just did. Facebook has many anti-vaxxer groups it refuses to police for the truth, so the killings go on. “Stop Mandatory Vaccination” is one of those groups who spews propaganda to unknowing families who, for some very dumb reason, go to social networks for their very technical answers. People soak up this crap and respond back and forth with their problems...

"One recent post came from the mother of a 4-year-old Colorado boy who died from the flu this week. In it, she consulted group members while noting that she had declined to fill a prescription written by a doctor."

"She added that two of her four children had been diagnosed with the flu and that the doctor had prescribed the antiviral Tamiflu for everyone in the household."

 “The doc prescribed tamiflu I did not pick it up,” she wrote.

 Aside from the fact that this was just stupid. it was dangerous as hell and resulted in the death of an innocent child who had an idiot for a mother. Listen to this, it is frightening...

"A study by the American Academy of Family Physicians found that 59 percent of parents said their child had missed the flu shot at least once due to 'misinformation or misunderstanding.'”

Here's more confirming this mother's mentality, or lack thereof...

"The mother also wrote that the “natural cures” she was treating all four of her children with — including peppermint oil, Vitamin C and lavender — were not working and asked the group for more advice. The advice that came in the comments included breastmilk, thyme and elderberry, none of which are medically recommended treatments for the flu."

 “Perfect, I’ll try that,” the mother responded.

Any mother, or father, who refuses to vaccinate their child, especially when the flu season is as bad as it has been this year, should be arrested for child abuse, and that also includes objections for religious reasons. There is no justification for killing a child!   READ MORE...

Former judge, Andrew Napolitano, speaks: "Trump guilty as charged in impeachment trial"

Judge Andrew Napolitano

You have a combination of factors here starting with the fact that Napolitano is a respected retired jurist. He is a conservative. And he works for the news network known for skewing its reporting solidly to the right, telling a lot of lies, and always, always promoting Donald Trump. The judge may work for Fox, but he tells the truth, unlike another Fox personality, Sean Hannity, who accused Democrats of supporting "abortion after birth."

Andrew Napolitano really lowered the boom on Senate Republicans for closing the impeachment trial without witnesses. He commented...

"The former New Jersey Superior Court judge said a trial should be a search for truth, but the Fox News contributor wrote in his new column that GOP senators instead turned the impeachment into “a steamroller of political power” by blocking witness testimony."

He added one of my favorite quotes from George Orwell's 1984...

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

The jurist questioned Alan Dershowitz’s argument against impeachment, explaining how Republican Senators ate it up when almost no legal expert would confirm it. Napolitano says it almost looks like states have ceded power on the impeachment issue refining its language to...

"permit a president to engage in high crimes and misdemeanors so long as he believes that they are in the national interest and so long as his party has an iron-clad grip on the Senate.”

The judge went on to say...

"that House investigators had made their case that Trump had abused his power in office, committed bribery and broken campaign finance law — all of which could be defined as high crimes."

He said the evidence was "overwhelming and beyond a reasonable doubt," with numerous government officials confirming Trump's bribe, and the meter is still running. In a parting comment...

"Napolitano warned that Trump and his GOP allies had established a dangerous precedent and irreparably damaged the Constitution."

The latter is pretty much true of everything Donald Trump and his administration has done from the inauguration. Add to that a cowardly and clueless Congress backing him all the way, and you have the chaos we live with today. 
READ MORE... 

It's official: New York will prosecute NRA for violating insurance laws, deceiving members

Wayne LaPierre

New York state has been working on a case they have just filed against the National Rifle Assn. for "acting as an unlicensed insurance producer and deceiving its members with misleading marketing practices." NRA head, Wayne LaPierre and his gang of gun nuts have apparently screwed their membership by...

"having worked with insurance broker Lockton Companies to offer insurance products such as the NRA-branded “Carry Guard” to the group’s members without a license."

Lockton was fined $7 million by the New York regulator in May 2018 over its involvement with Carry Guard. The New York’s Department of Financial Services states...

"the NRA misrepresented to its members that the products were being sold at the lowest possible cost, when in
fact the group kept “substantial” royalties, sometimes exceeding 20% of premiums paid."

"The NRA sued the regulator and Governor Andrew Cuomo the same month, accusing them of illegally trying to pressure banks and insurers to stop doing business with it, in what it called 'blacklisting.'” And, a recent NRA lobbyist took a job at the US interior department in the Donald Trump administration in 2017, currying favor with LaPierre and the NRA. One can only hope this all puts Wayne LaPierre and the National Rifle Assn. where it belongs, out of business. 

READ MORE...

Trump State of the Union took a 21% drop in TV viewers from last year

It looks like Trump supporters are either getting tired of his bullshit or have just decided that, even though they love him beyond a sane person's realizations, they clearly grasp now that he is a pathological liar. Almost 16 thousand lies to date since entering office. They have a right to feel that way with his performance in the 2020 State of the Union speech. Here are seven lies from his SOTU...

• 1. “We will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions.” This is the way it is: "despite claiming credit for President Barack Obama’s achievement at passing into law protections for people with pre-existing health conditions, are in fact backing a lawsuit that seeks to dismantle those protections."
• 2. “Thanks to our bold regulatory reduction campaign, the United States has become the #1 producer of oil and natural gas in the world, by far.” Here's the truth: “The US became #1 in 2012, under Obama, though its advantage has grown under Trump.”
• 3. "Trump claimed credit for the low unemployment rate and ending the “failed policies” of the Obama administration." The truth: The unemployment rate was on its way down significantly in the Obama administration.
• 4. “We will always protect your Medicare, and we will always protect your Social Security.” Truth: "Trump recently suggested that cuts to entitlements will be on the table in his second term, though he tried to walk that back. And Trump’s previous budgets have already pushed for cuts to the programs."
• 5. “We will never let socialism destroy American health care.” Truth: "Right after promising to protect Medicare — which is a socialized health insurance system for the elderly — Trump had the audacity to suggest that socialism destroys health care."
• 6. "Trump claimed he has confirmed a record number of judges to the federal bench." Truth: "Trump has not confirmed a record number of judges; 187 is not a record.” 
• 7. “In America, we celebrate faith. We cherish religion. We lift our voices in prayer and we raise our sights to the Glory of God.” Truth: "Trump embraced the rhetoric of 'religious freedom' that Republicans like to use to protect Christian dominance in American society. But the idea that the Trump administration cherishes religion and celebrates faith in the abstract — rather than just Christianity in particular — is clearly nonsense in the wake of the expansion of the Muslim ban."

Thanks to AlterNet for the compilation of this information.

Sorry, but I say don't bleed for Rush Limbaugh

No, a cancer diagnosis is never something to celebrate, but AlterNet says at the same time...

"Limbaugh’s illness doesn’t mean he should be deified or put up on a pedestal, and President Donald Trump was clearly pandering to the extremists in his far-right MAGA base when he chose Limbaugh for the 2020 Presidential Freedom Award."

The far-right talk radio host has Stage 4 lung cancer. Never Trump conservative and GOP strategist Rick Wilson exclaimed...

"no one should be celebrating his illness no matter how much they despised his politics. Wilson tweeted, 'I’m going to show you how this should be done: I wish Rush a speedy and complete recovery from his cancer. Human being pro-tip: don’t wish cancer on *anyone*…even on your adversaries.'”

But AlterNet returns to Limbaugh, the man, and a not-so-decent characterization. "Limbaugh has an abysmal track record when it comes to health care. Here are some of the most appalling, idiotic things he has said about the health care and wellbeing of others."

• Number one: "Limbaugh mocked Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s symptoms." The radio show host's remark: “He’s either off his medication or acting. He is an actor, after all.”
• Number two: "Limbaugh championed mass incarceration for addicts." In the 1990s and 2000s he repeatedly insisted that addicts deserved to be thrown in prison. "It turned out that the hypocritical Limbaugh was seriously addicted to painkillers and was abusing OxyContin and hydrocodone in violation of the drug laws he had been applauding."
• Number three: "After being hospitalized in Hawaii for chest pains in 2010, Limbaugh showed his cluelessness about the state of health care in the U.S. when he declared, “I don’t think there’s one thing wrong with the United States’ health system.” And he was lambasted for overlooking the fact that while the health care system in the U.S. was working well for millionaires and billionaires, it wasn’t working well for all the Americans it left bankrupt and all the Americans who died because they couldn’t afford treatment."

I still hope for a full and speedy recovery, but at the moment cannot raise one ounce of sympathy.   READ MORE...

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! 
READ MORE... 

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.
READ MORE...

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! 
READ MORE...

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!   

READ MORE...

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...