Saturday, September 26, 2020

Hard to believe? No! Donald Trump has 3,400 conflicts of interest

 



Yes, Donald Trump has had 3,400 conflicts of interest, and, yes, all while he has been in the Oval Office. CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has labeled him the most corrupt president in history. My gut tells me that T-rump doesn't give a damn since multiple authors have books on the market that document his corruption over the years. If they were truly lies, like he is famous for, he would have quashed them with his legal team.

This is how CREW describes their study...

"Today’s report details some of the most glaring examples of presidential corruption and conflicts of interest ever raised by a president, all of which stem from his refusal to divest from his businesses."

You see, with Donald Trump it is all about money and power, and as he has indicated now, he won't give up his position in the White House because that is the doorway to his keeping that money coming in and holding on to the beloved power. Since Trump's election, CREW has...

"tracked interactions between the president, the Trump Organization, and those trying to influence government decisions and public policies, including members of Congress, industry groups, lobbyists and cabinet officials. These interactions have continued to blur the lines between where President Trump’s public responsibilities end and his private financial interests begin, and between his loyalty to the Trump Organization and his obligations to the American public."

There has been no separation, and quite the opposite, he has used his position to influence deals for the Trump brand in the United States and even throughout the world. This is how CREW characterizes it...

"The extraordinary numbers in this report paint a picture of a president who is fixated on the personal financial benefits he might derive from his public service—and a whole ecosystem of officials, special interests and governments that exploit that fixation in order to curry favor and advance their own interests,” said CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder."

Here are some of the report's focal points...

  • President Trump has made more than 500 visits to the properties he owns and profits from. The president’s frequent travel to and from his properties has cost American taxpayers well over $100 million.
  • 141 members of Congress have patronized Trump properties. These visits often coincide with events held by special interests or wealthy political donors that rake in millions of dollars for his properties. 
  • Special interest groups, many of which have business before the Trump administration, have hosted or sponsored 130 events at Trump properties since he took office. Political groups have held another 88 events at Trump properties. 
Remember, there 3,397 more conflicts you can see at the CREW report here. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page.  

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

200,000+ COVID-19 deaths should beat Donald Trump in November

 


Coronavirus deaths in the U.S. are the highest in the world. Add to that the over 7 million cases in this country, also the most worldwide. We are second in new cases and new deaths and number one in serious/critical cases. Faring better in cases per 1,000 population, number 11, deaths per 1,000 pop. at number 10, and number two, behind China, for total tests completed. You can see this all for yourself on Worldometer, which is updated regularly. 

And yet another ghastly figure reported by the New York Times, the 200,000+ figure is...

"nearly two and a half times the number of U.S. service members to die in battle in the Vietnam and Korean Wars"

There is no reason for this other than the ineptness of Donald Trump in the running of this country and his hassling of the CDC, which is contradicted regularly by T-rump. If Barack Obama had been this incompetent--and he never would have--the political system would have erupted against him. But that is total hindsight and what we have today is a maniac in the White House who has lied about the seriousness of coronavirus from the beginning.

With around 40,000 new cases a day...

"Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, said he worries about the country entering the cooler months without having a handle on the virus."

Fauci is Trump's favorite whipping guy because the doc tells the truth, something Donald Trump does not understand. Just consider that all this could at least be slowed down if the population would wear masks and practice social distancing. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, said "wearing face masks may be more effective at protecting against COVID-19 than a vaccine.

The second major problem--Donald Trump is, of course, the first--is the anti-everything group, vaccines, facemasks, the pandemic. An August study provides that only 65% of the U.S. population use face masks; that leaves 35% who are actively passing around potential COVID-19 contamination. Here's the scenario...

"Still, the persistently high death numbers in the United States stand in stark contrast to mortalities in other high-income countries. Italy, once the center of the pandemic, reported 17 deaths on Monday; Germany reported 10 deaths the same day. In the United States that day, 428 people were reported to have died of the virus."

In the annual UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump once again blamed China's Xi for the coronavirus in the United States. In Xi's reply he, "described China’s response as scientific, generous and responsible," adding..."

“Any attempt at politicizing or stigmatizing this issue must be rejected.”

Donald Trump agonizes over the fact that China has done a much better job of controlling the COVID-19 virus than he did. Much, much! As an example, with a much larger population, China is 43rd in total cases where the U.S is number one. In total deaths China is number 30, the U.S. number one. Once again available on Worldometer. Joe Biden might very well want to study all the numbers and consider whether this might be a leading point in November.  



Monday, September 21, 2020

Ruth Bader Ginsburg and who will take her place on the Court

 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was famous for her quotes. They ranged from men and women on the Court to abortion rights. Here are a few...
"When I'm sometimes asked 'When will there be enough (women on the Supreme Court)?' and my answer is: 'When there are nine.' People are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that."
"My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent."
"This [abortion rights] is something central to a woman's life, to her dignity. It's a decision that she must make for herself. And when government controls that decision for her, she's being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices."

This is an idea on how she voted on the issues over the years, while she always had the respect of Court members and the American public. Her body was no doubt still warm when Republicans began positioning to fill her chair with the Court, with hardly a mention of this woman's commendable career. The GOP is desperate and they have already mounted a campaign on behalf of Trump's choice, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. But Democrats are playing their cards and they are strong.

Nancy Pelosi says she will even consider impeachment, if necessary. From my September 19, post, "there are already three Republican Senators who have voiced opposition with filling Ginsburg's position prior to the election. They are: Lisa Murkowski (AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Susan Collins (R-ME). Another step would be Democrat Mark Kelly's win in Arizona (currently ahead 6.7 points). Here's the Kelly/McSally outcome...

“Two Republican and two Democratic election attorneys agree that state law and Senate practices would make Kelly eligible to take over the seat once held by Sen. John McCain as soon as Nov. 30, when the state election results are expected to be canvassed.”

The Daily Beast added...

"Tomasky had 3 ways McConnell could be stopped. One, to threaten expansion of the Court after the election; Two, Moscow Mitch may decide the polls are against it enough that proceeding could damage the GOP even more; and three, McConnell may just feel Democrats have the numbers to win and not want to rock the boat. This would be based on the three Republican Senators, above, and Mark Kelly's win in Arizona."

You can see where more Senators stand on the Ginsberg replacement in this New York Times article. It doesn't look good for Republicans but, then, we all know you cannot depend on Donald Trump nor Moscow Mitch to play fair. Dems beware!








Saturday, September 19, 2020

At least 3 ways to stop Trump/McConnell Ginsburg replacement

 Doesn't it look like a sinking ship?

DOES IT LOOK LIKE A SINKING SHIP, ABOVE? First of all, there are already three Republican Senators who have voiced opposition with filling Ginsburg's position prior to the election. They are: Lisa Murkowski (AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Susan Collins (R-ME). Another step would be Democrat Mark Kelly's win in Arizona (currently ahead 6.7 points). Here's the Kelly/McSally outcome...
“Two Republican and two Democratic election attorneys agree that state law and Senate practices would make Kelly eligible to take over the seat once held by Sen. John McCain as soon as Nov. 30, when the state election results are expected to be canvassed.”

Daily Beast columnist Michael Tomasky remarked...

“Place yourself in the White House private residence, or down in Louisville, at Chez Mitch, when the news about Ginsburg was conveyed Friday. Do you think either of them took even 30 seconds to reflect on her service to her nation?”
The answer to that, of course, is a resounding no! 

Tomasky had 3 ways McConnell could be stopped. One, to threaten expansion of the Court after the election; Two, Moscow Mitch may decide the polls are against it enough that proceeding could damage the GOP even more; and three, McConnell may just feel Democrats have the numbers to win and not want to rock the boat. This would be based on the three Republican Senators, above, and Mark Kelly's win in Arizona. 

Returning to the November election and the control of the Senate, there are more vulnerable candidates. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina (he is tied with Jaime Harrison); Cal Cunningham (D) leads incumbent Thom Tillis (R) by 3.6 pts; and in Georgia, David Perdue (R) v. Jon Ossoff (D) (Perdue ahead by 4.3 pts.) plus a runoff election. More you can see here. My point is there are several chances for the left to take the Senate, made more positive by the current state of affairs.

And now a GOP Governor, Charlie Baker (R-MA)...

"issued a statement on Twitter urging Senate Republicans to hold off on filling Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat until after the November election."

So it would appear the damn is breaking with Moscow Mitch's support, accompanied by the realization by many, on both sided of the aisle, that this corrupt, conniving, bogus head of the United States Senate is not to be trusted or listened to. He'll get even less attention after Joe Biden enters the White House. That is, if McConnell beats Amy McGrath. 


Friday, September 11, 2020

Joe Biden has support of young Hispanic voters

 


The ex-Vice President has the Latino age group 18-34 solidly behind him, but trails Donald Trump in older Hispanics. The younger ones number 14,588,994 and Biden's supporters of 60% total 8,753,396. But he still needs that almost 20 million Latinos who are 35+. And US Today reports he isn't doing as well with this profile as Hillary Clinton did in 2016. Here's the scenario...

"This year, a record 32 million Latinos across the country will be eligible to vote, making them the largest minority electorate for the 2020 election. According to the survey, nearly two-thirds (64%) of young Latinos say they definitely will vote in November, and another 22% say they probably will."

Still: " When asked who they expected to win the election, 53% of the young Latinos surveyed said Biden would while 52% said Trump would be re-elected," which is troubling because it shows a somewhat lack of confidence in Joe Biden. There are a lot of first-time-voters and the fear of being deported if outed appears to be lessening. I've said it before; it's time to bring in Kamala Harris and use her advocacy to win over the Hispanic vote.

Read more...

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Saturday, September 5, 2020

Donald Trump demeans U.S. troops, including former senator John McCain

 

James Mattis, Donald Trump's former Sec. of Defense denounced Trump saying

 

that he was "a threat to the Constitution." John Kelly, a retired four-star general and former White House chief of staff, was not on speaking terms with Donald Trump when he left the White House and is purported to be able to confirm the disparities against American troops. And Trump's obsession with John McCain produced comments like this re. his funeral...

“We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral,” and he became furious, according to witnesses, when he saw flags lowered to half-staff. “What the fuck are we doing that for? Guy was a fucking loser,” the president told aides.

Not exactly the kind of comment one might expect from the person sitting in the Oval Office. Knowing sources within the White House said...
"he seems to genuinely not understand why Americans treat former prisoners of war with respect. Nor does he understand why pilots who are shot down in combat are honored by the military."
That could be because he was a draft dodger who connived through his doctor an exemption from the draft over a bogus health problem. Once at Arlington Natl' Cemetery to celebrate the death of Kelly's son in Afghanistan, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” One of Kelly's friends added...
“He can’t fathom the idea of doing something for someone other than himself,” one of Kelly’s friends, a retired four-star general, told me. “He just thinks that anyone who does anything when there’s no direct personal gain to be had is a sucker. There’s no money in serving the nation.” Kelly’s friend went on to say, “Trump can’t imagine anyone else’s pain. That’s why he would say this to the father of a fallen marine on Memorial Day in the cemetery where he’s buried.”

Yes, this is, tragically, Donald Trump. And there is much more in the Atlantic article I recommend reading.

Read even more here.

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Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Are police cozy with far right?

Mark of the White Supremacist
A former FBI agent speaks, "Too many local police don’t take the far right seriously – or actively sympathize." The Brennan Center for Justice says there is, "Racism, White Supremacy, and Far-Right Militancy in Law Enforcement." A couple of observations from Brennan...
"many have concluded that a structural or institutional bias against people of color, shaped by long-standing racial, economic, and social inequities, infects the criminal justice system."
"These systemic inequities can also instill implicit biases — unconscious prejudices that favor in-groups and stigmatize out-groups — among individual law enforcement officials, influencing their day-to-day actions while interacting with the public."
Mike German, the former FBI agent has been warning of this enigma for years, but the problems have escalated in the last couple of years as Donald Trump spews racism and white supremacy from the Oval office. In an undercover assignment in California against neo-Nazi groups in Los Angeles, California, in 1992, there were routine warnings...
"A redacted version of a 2006 FBI intelligence assessment, White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement, alerted agents to 'both strategic infiltration by organized groups and self-initiated infiltration by law enforcement personnel sympathetic to white supremacist causes,'"
There's more from German...
"A leaked 2015 counter-terrorism policy guide made the case more directly, warning agents that FBI 'domestic terrorism investigations focused on militia extremists, white supremacist extremists, and sovereign citizen extremists often have identified active links to law enforcement officers.'"
The former agent says that "white supremacists have engaged in deadly rampages in Charleston, South Carolina, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and El Paso, Texas." It gets worse...
"More ominously, neo-Nazis obtained radiological materials to manufacture 'dirty' bombs in separate cases in Maine in 2009 and Florida in 2017, which were only avoided through chance."
The point is we have been lucky when it comes to the discovery of nuclear threats before they occur. What we don't need is law enforcement standing in the way or even aiding and abetting in these events. Police are basically honest and dedicated to their jobs to protect the public. The problem is identifying those who aren't. Mike German's article here.

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Donald Trump Says He Will Be Indicted On Tuesday

  THAT'S TODAY... Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has brought the case to this point, now looking at a possible indictment. Trum...