Liberty In Peril

                                                                                              formerly,

                                                                                       The Llano Ledger

5-25-18

Highly reminiscent of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors, Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.  It's appalling.  Runs against the grain of everything our formerly great country once stood for.  No longer.

The Fourth Reich. The Washington Post reports:

"A Montana woman said she plans to take legal action after a Border Patrol agent detained and questioned her and a friend — both U.S. citizens — when he overheard them speaking Spanish at a gas station.  The incident occurred early Wednesday morning at a convenience store in Havre, Mont., a town in the northern part of the state, near the border with Canada.  Ana Suda said she and her friend, Mimi Hernandez, were making a midnight run to the store to pick up eggs and milk. Both are Mexican American and speak fluent Spanish, and they had exchanged some words in Spanish while waiting in line to pay when a uniformed Border Patrol agent interrupted them, Suda said.  “We were just talking, and then I was going to pay,” Suda told The Washington Post. “I looked up [and saw the agent], and then after that, he just requested my ID. I looked at him like, ‘Are you serious?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, very serious.’ ”

Even in what has become Nazi America, there is no requirement to carry an ID unless you're driving, that is, a drivers license must be in your possession while behind the wheel.  Although there is no requirement to routinely carry identification, if a jackbooted bastard asks you to identify yourself, you must provide the son of a bitch your real name.  -- Always ask him or hers for theirs.  Better yet, a business card.

"Suda said she felt uncomfortable and began recording the encounter with her cellphone after they had moved into the parking lot. In the video Suda recorded, she asks the agent why he is detaining them, and he says it is specifically because he heard them speaking Spanish."

Speaking a foreign language is not probable cause a crime has been committed.

“Ma’am, the reason I asked you for your ID is because I came in here, and I saw that you guys are speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here,” the agent can be heard saying in the video.  Suda asks whether they are being racially profiled; the agent says no.  “It has nothing to do with that,” the agent tells her. “It’s the fact that it has to do with you guys speaking Spanish in the store, in a state where it’s predominantly English-speaking.”

Classical definition of racial profiling.  LOL.  Either the jackbooted bastard is an idiot, -- or lying.  Both?  LOL.

"Suda, 37, was born in El Paso and raised across the border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, but has spent much of her adult life moving around the United States with her husband and young daughter. Hernandez is originally from central California, Suda said.  Despite explaining this to the agent and showing him their IDs, Suda said, he kept them in the parking lot for 35 to 40 minutes. Though no one raised their voices in the video, Suda said she and Hernandez were left shaken and upset by the encounter, which ended around 1 a.m.

The son of a bitch is a nazi storm trooper.  ... Right, Sheriff?

“I was so embarrassed … being outside in the gas station, and everybody’s looking at you like you’re doing something wrong. I don’t think speaking Spanish is something criminal, you know?” Suda said. “My friend, she started crying. She didn’t stop crying in the truck. And I told her, we are not doing anything wrong.”

Called terrorism in a fascist police-state.

"When she got home, Suda posted on Facebook about what had taken place at the gas station. She said her shock began to give way to sadness in the following days, after some local news outlets reported the incident, and her 7-year-old daughter asked whether the video meant they should no longer speak Spanish in public."

Trump's Fourth Reich.

“She speaks Spanish, and she speaks English,” Suda said. “When she saw the video, she was like, ‘Mom, we can’t speak Spanish anymore?’ I said ‘No. You be proud. You are smart. You speak two languages.’ This is more for her.”

F--k the Fourth Reich.

"A representative from U.S. Customs and Border Protection told The Post the agency is reviewing the incident to ensure all appropriate policies were followed. Border Patrol agents are trained to decide to question individuals based on a variety of factors, the agency added.  “U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and officers are committed to treating everyone with professionalism, dignity and respect while enforcing the laws of the United States,” the agency said. “Although most Border Patrol work is conducted in the immediate border area, agents have broad law enforcement authorities and are not limited to a specific geography within the United States. They have the authority to question individuals, make arrests, and take and consider evidence.”

Time to stand up to this shit.  You have the right to remain silent.  Right to legal counsel.  When finally released, sue the living shit out of the bastards:

"Havre is a rural town with a population of about 10,000, about 35 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border. Border Patrol agents have broad authority to operate within 100 miles of any U.S. border, though they cannot initiate stops without reasonable suspicion of an immigration violation or crime."

Doesn't stop them from doing it, egregiously abusing authority.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

Highly reminiscent of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors, Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.  It's appalling.  Runs against the grain of everything our formerly great country once stood for.  No longer.

In follow up to a recent edition, more of the same.  The public needs to stand up.  The Washington Post reports:

"Amazon has been essentially giving away facial recognition tools to law enforcement agencies in Oregon and Orlando, according to documents obtained by American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, paving the way for a rollout of technology that is causing concern among civil rights groups."

For damned good reason.  Direct threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.  A de facto fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.  These bastards at Amazon are traitors.  Willingly lining their pockets off forfeiture of civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

"Amazon is providing the technology, known as Rekognition, as well as consulting services, according to the documents, which the ACLU obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.  A coalition of civil rights groups, in a letter released Tuesday, called on Amazon to stop selling the program to law enforcement because it could lead to the expansion of surveillance of vulnerable communities."

Precisely, the intention.  To be followed with ubiquitous surveillance of all communities.   Orwell's 1984 comes to fruition.

“We demand that Amazon stop powering a government surveillance infrastructure that poses a grave threat to customers and communities across the country,” the groups wrote in the letter.  Amazon spokeswoman Nina Lindsey did not directly address the concerns of civil rights groups. “Amazon requires that customers comply with the law and be responsible when they use AWS services,” she said, referring to Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud software division that houses the facial recognition program. “When we find that AWS services are being abused by a customer, we suspend that customer’s right to use our services.”

Not good enough.  Nowhere near.  The fact this woman would not directly answer concerns speaks volumes.  Reinforces criticism by ACLU and others.

"She said that the technology has many useful purposes, and that customers have used it to find abducted people and amusement parks have used the program to find lost children. During the royal wedding this past weekend, clients used Rekognition to identify wedding attendees, she said. (Amazon founder Jeffrey P. Bezos is the owner of The Washington Post.)"

This woman cluelessly puts lipstick on a pig.  Expects the public to buy the bullshit.  Such surveillance is a prelude to loss of liberty.

"The details about Amazon’s program illustrate the proliferation of cutting-edge technologies deep into American society — often without public vetting or debate. Axon, the maker of Taser electroshock weapons and the wearable body cameras for police, has voiced interest in pursuing face recognition for its body-worn cameras, prompting a similar backlash from civil rights groups.  Hundreds of Google employees protested last month to demand that the company stop providing artificial intelligence to the Pentagon to help analyze drone footage."

Anything for a buck.  Up to and including forfeiture of privacy, then liberty.

"Amazon publicly introduced Rekognition in November 2016, with the promise that its clients could benefit from artificial intelligence technology developed by the company’s scientists to analyze billions of images and videos daily. Marketers could use the image recognition software to recognize celebrities in their videos, while owners of dating apps could use the program to identify unwanted suggestive or explicit content, according to the company’s website."

Time for Congress to get up off its useless, worthless collective ass.  This is a direct threat to liberty, no more than imposition of a surveillance state:

“Once powerful surveillance systems like these are built and deployed, the harm can’t be undone. We’re talking about a technology that will supercharge surveillance in our communities,” said Nicole Ozer, Technology and Civil Liberties Director for the ACLU of Northern California. She said the technology could be used “to track protesters, target immigrants, and spy on entire neighborhoods.”

Nazi America.  Orwell's 1984.  Orwell's mistake all those decades ago?  Falsely believing the surveillance state would be communist.  It's not.  It's national socialist, fascist, nazi.  Ironic, isn't it?

"The documents provide a detailed look at how Amazon is marketing Rekognition. It can identify up to 100 people in a crowd, the documents said."

Think law enforcement isn't already egregiously out of control?

"The sheriff’s office of Washington County, Ore., built a database of 300,000 mug shots of suspected criminals that officers could have Rekognition scan against footage of potential suspects in real-time. The footage could come from police body cameras and public and private cameras. The county pays Amazon between $6 and $12 a month for the service, a county spokesman said."

Blood money.  Loss of privacy.  Think these jackbooted sons of bitches won't add drivers license photos and others to the database?

"According to the documents, Amazon asked the county to tout its experience with Rekognition to other public sector customers, including a manufacturer of body cameras."

All the more reason to boycott Amazon.

"Deputy Jeff Talbot, public information officer for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, said the program was not operating in the shadows and had been the subject of several news local stories. He pointed out that jail booking photos are already public and that the software simply allows officers to scan them instantaneously and in real-time, and compare them against footage of actual suspects, which is a valuable contribution to public safety. “Our goal is to inform the public about the work we’re doing to solve crimes. It is not mass surveillance or untargeted surveillance.”

Booking photos should not be made public until conviction.  How many innocent people have been falsely accused by the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue only to be exonerated at trial, or have charges dropped for lack of evidence?  There is nothing to prevent these sons of bitches from adding drivers license photos and others to the database.  Think that won't happen? It is mass surveillance by definition.  For this jackbooted son of a bitch to claim otherwise is proof positive he is a congenital liar.

Raw nazism:

"He could not say how many crimes the program had helped solve and added that the software wasn’t always accurate. But he said officers were trained not to rely exclusively on the software to make decisions, and it was just an additional tool in the officer’s tool kit. For the cheap price Amazon was offering, he said it made sense to test out the service."

What it is remains out of control law enforcement egregiously abrogating its falsely sworn oath to uphold the United States Constitution.  Amazon?  Traitors.  Anything for a buck.  Think they won't eventually massively line corporate coffers as a result of this scourge?

"Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations San Francisco Bay area office, one of the groups that signed the letter, said many people who are booked into jail are not always charged with a crime or are proved innocent. She said that she worried that people’s civil rights are violated when law enforcement keeps their images in a database even after they are proved innocent or were never charged. She said Amazon was contributing to these violations by making it easier to scan people’s faces, repeatedly exposing them to surveillance.  In addition to the ACLU, the coalition of about 40 groups included Color of Change, Human Rights Watch, Muslim Advocates and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.  Amazon is one of many companies selling artificial intelligence tools such as facial recognition and image-scanning to business clients. Microsoft offers a rival service, called Facial Recognition API. A crop of start-ups market the ability to scan the emotions on people’s faces as they walk in and out of stores. Such technology has been touted as a way to prevent shoplifting."

Raw nazism.  Voodoo psycho babble.  An exigent threat to all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

The above quotes are courtesy of a most gifted insightful writer, Elizabeth Dwoskin.

NPR reports:

"Tech companies are trying to sell police real-time facial recognition systems, which can track and identify people as they walk down the street. As NPR reported two weeks ago, American police have generally held off, but there's new evidence that one police department — Orlando, Fla. — has decided to try it out.  What's more, Orlando ordered its facial recognition system from Amazon."

Time to boycott these goddamned traitors.

"This information was uncovered by the ACLU, which noticed that law enforcement customers were mentioned in the marketing of Amazon's "Rekognition" service. Until now, American police have used facial recognition primarily to compare still photos from crime scenes with mug shots. But now Amazon and Orlando are taking it further, by using facial recognition to spot people in real time."

Raw nazism.

"City of Orlando is a launch partner of ours," Amazon's Ranju Das recently told a developer conference in Seoul, South Korea. "They have cameras all over the city. The authorized cameras are then streaming the data ... we are a subscriber to the stream, we analyze the video in real time, search against the collection of faces they have."  In this video presentation, Das is seen saying the system can be set up to notify the city if cameras see a "person of interest," and it could be used to reconstruct a person's past movements. He showed the conference a demo of real-time facial recognition using video from a "traffic cam that was provided by the city of Orlando."

How many innocent people will be harassed by the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue as a result?  Time to boycott Amazon and others engaging in this.  If victimized, sue the living shit out of not only the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue, but these corporations as well.

"In a written statement, the Orlando Police Department called the Amazon facial recognition system a "pilot program" and said it "will be used in accordance with current and applicable law."

They're liars.  Do as they please.  Ubiquitous problem throughout all law enforcement.

"The statement also says the department "is not using the technology in an investigative capacity or in any public spaces at this time."

Believe it?  If not yet, when?

"It did not say whether the system has been used that way in the past, or will be in the future. NPR tried to follow up, but OPD said it wasn't doing interviews on the topic."

Disingenuous, lying jackbooted bastards.

"Amazon also wouldn't do an interview with NPR. In a written statement, it pointed out that its visual analytics tools have a wide range of applications beyond policing, and that "[o]ur quality of life would be much worse today if we outlawed new technology because some people could choose to abuse the technology. Imagine if customers couldn't buy a computer because it was possible to use that computer for illegal purposes?"

More disingenuous bullshit.  Safeguards could have indeed been built into all software and hardware to prevent this abuse of privacy.  Have not been.  Instead, these bastards line their pockets off the abuse.

"Amazon's statement added, "[W]e require our customers to comply with the law and be responsible when using Amazon Rekognition."

Jesus Christ.  Crock of shit.  Give me a break.  These sons of bitches have absolutely no regard, no respect for the intelligence of the public.

"There are no laws explicitly barring law enforcement from using real-time facial recognition, and the constitutionality has not been tested by higher courts.  Matt Cagle of the ACLU of Northern California says he's disturbed by what he sees as a lack of transparency and public engagement, as police and tech companies work together to bring this new tool to American streets.  "Amazon is handing governments a surveillance system primed for abuse," Cagle says. "And that's why we're blowing the whistle right now."

Not good enough.  Sue their asses.  Get them into court.

"The ACLU filed public records requests for Amazon's communications with Orlando and another Rekognition customer, the Washington County Sheriff's Office, near Portland, Ore. Cagle says the resulting documents show a company eager to push law enforcement customers toward real-time facial recognition and connect it to other devices, such as officer body cameras.  This is typical of companies that sell facial recognition. Most try to encourage customers to expand the applications and powers of the technology. What makes Amazon's offering different is the price.  "We pay literally a couple of dollars a month to do this service," says Washington County Sheriff's Office spokesman Deputy Jeff Talbot. His department uses Amazon's Rekognition to scan faces in photos of suspects taken by deputies in the field."

Again, time to boycott these sons of bitches and others who offer similar 'services.'

"The Washington County Sheriff's Office says it does not use Rekognition in real time and doesn't intend to.  Cagle says that could easily change. The marketing of Rekognition to law enforcement is still in its infancy, but he's worried it could quickly become dominant, given Amazon's market clout as the world's leading cloud services company.  "Activating a real-time facial recognition system, that can track people, if the technology is there, could be as simple as flipping a switch in some communities," Cagle says."

This is an exigent threat to liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.  A threat to life as well.  Forget?  The criminal jackbooted bastards in blue are already murdering innocent unarmed civilians.  Wake up.  Before too late.

The above quotes are courtesy of a most gifted insightful writer, Martin Kaste.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

Highly reminiscent of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors, Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.  It's appalling.  Runs against the grain of everything our formerly great country once stood for.  No longer.

How is it justice when the U.S. Attorney General controls the immigration court system?  NPR reports:

"Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered the nation's immigration judges to end their practice of temporarily removing cases from their dockets without issuing decisions.  Immigrant advocates say the move is part of a broader strategy to influence the immigration courts, which fall under the purview of the Department of Justice, in order to hasten the removal of some immigrants."

Nazi justice imposed by the racist AG Sessions nazi.

"The Attorney General's decision in one fell swoop is overturning decades of recognized authority and practice," said Judge Ashley Tabaddor, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, in an interview with NPR. That union had urged Sessions to preserve administrative closures.  "There has been no example of situations in which the court has somehow abused its authority or somehow this has demonstrated to be an ineffective way of handling situations that come before the court," added Tabaddor. "To eliminate administrative closure from the judge's toolkit for docket management is problematic."  "The decision is bad law, bad policy, and harmful to immigrants and their communities — consistent with Sessions' previous statements as both a senator and attorney general that demonstrated his anti-immigrant animus," said an attorney with the American Immigration Council, Trina Realmutto, in a statement."

Expect any better from a racist nazi?

The following is akin to Nazi Germany circa 1933 at the beginning of Hitler's Third Reich.  NBC reports:

"Facing dozens of migrants shackled at their waist and ankles, public defender Miguel "Andy" Nogueras asked a question he had rarely asked before last week: Have you been separated from your children?  Last Thursday, a Central American woman was among several in the courthouse here who said yes.  Nogueras asked how old her child is so that he could refer her to one of his attorneys, and the answer haunted him for the rest of the day.  "Five years old," Nogueras told NBC News. "What kind of scars are we creating? The child has to be asking, where's my mom? And that kid has to be scared. I can't even fathom."

Why is this goddamned nazi in the Oval Office authorizing his criminal jackbooted bastards at the border to shackle migrants at the waste and ankles?  It's not a felony arrest.  Why are they doing this?  Because they can?

"Earlier this month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a goal to criminally prosecute 100 percent of people crossing the border illegally — including families with children. Those who are charged with improper entry — a misdemeanor on the first infraction — are jailed and separated from their children."

Reincarnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini.  Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.  Unlike in Nazi Germany, those opposed will not remain gutlessly silent.

"Previously, most parents had been allowed to remain with their children in family shelters while awaiting asylum cases or deportation proceedings.  The Trump administration's willingness to take children from their parents has raised concerns about how far authorities should go to stem unauthorized border crossings and what human cost is acceptable in the name of border security and immigration control."

False issue.  This is no more than imposition of raw nazism.  Convenient excuse for the Trump nazi and his equally deluded henchmen.

"There is something terrible happening here that Americans would not support if they understood it," said F. Scott McCown, director of the Children’s Rights Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law."

The public understands it.  Trump's sick sycophants certainly do.  Insanely, cheer it on.  Yet, call themselves Christians.  What they truly are is hopelessly psychotic.  Like their fuhrer.  Those opposed to this growing unspeakable insanity will not remain gutlessly silent.  No matter the personal cost.  Nazism must be stood up to.  Certainly, wasn't eight decades ago at tremendous cost to the world community.

"From October 2017 to mid-April, before the new prosecution strategy officially went into effect, more than 700 children were reportedly separated from their parents at the border. The federal government has not released figures from May, but those who work on immigration cases have observed a large increase in the number of children affected. Nogueras said he previously saw only one or two such cases a week in the McAllen courtroom in the Southern District of Texas; last week, he saw about 33 cases.  Nogueras repeatedly used a single word when he described how those parents have responded: "anguish."  "Wouldn't you feel anguish if they took your kids? I'd be going crazy. It's inhumane," he said."

It's nazi.  Jackbooted nazi.  Repeat of history.

"Other attorneys and advocates have reported similar torment among immigrant parents.  “One of my lawyers came back from meeting his new client at the jail — and this is a very experienced criminal defense lawyer — who was shaken by the experience of talking to a parent whose child was literally ripped from their arms,” said Maureen Franco, a federal public defender for the Western District of Texas.  “The human cost of this will be great,” Franco said."

A repeat of history of the darkest days of the 20th Century.  Nazi America.

"When parents are held for prosecution, their children are turned over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. The children are then designated as "unaccompanied minors," and the government tries to connect them to family members who are already in the U.S. Until then, children wait in shelters or are sent to federally contracted foster homes, often without parents being told exactly where they are, immigration advocates said."

Raw nazism.  Courtesy of the racist Sessions nazi and his fuhrer, the Trump nazi.

"It may soon become even more difficult to place children with relatives. The Department of Homeland Security is proposing immigration checks be done on all people in a household who may take in these "unaccompanied" children, which means relatives who are undocumented may be less likely to come forward."

Papieren, Bitte!  Papers Please!  Nazi America.

"In the meantime, space in shelters and foster homes is limited; The Washington Post reported the administration plans to open facilities at military bases to house some of the separated children."

What's next?  Concentration camps?

"Advocates and attorneys said the administration is forcing migrants fleeing perilous situations into a "Sophie's choice" over what's best for their children.  “They are saying either you take your kid back and live in danger and don’t try to save your kid’s life by claiming your right to asylum, or insist on applying for asylum where we are going to separate you from your child and endanger your child,” said Michelle Brané, director of immigration policy at the Women’s Refugee Commission, a research and advocacy organization.  Franco, the public defender in west Texas, said the policy could encourage parents to plead guilty to improper entry just to get their children back.  “This has some constitutional ramifications. How voluntary could a plea be if someone feels they have to plead guilty to be reunited with their children?” Franco asked."

For all practical purposes, the Constitution no longer exists.  Has been concertedly, determinedly, intentionally bastardized over the decades to consolidate Executive power, create a fascist police-state.  Trump is apparently taking it to its pernicious conclusion.

"The American Civil Liberties Union has sued over the family separations and sought an injunction to stop them and is awaiting a ruling. The lawsuit doesn't challenge the prosecution of the parents, just the family separations."

That's the problem.  Need to challenge prosecution of the parents.  Many, if not most, of the parents are seeking asylum.  Sadly, the ACLU is a small shell of what it used to be decades ago.

"Gelernt has seen cases in which parents are separated from their children even if they cross into the U.S. through an official port of entry, which authorities have said should protect families from being split up."

Certainly, proof positive of the true intentions of the Trump nazi and his henchmen.

"A man identified as Mr. U from Kyrgyzstan said in an affidavit he and his 13-year old son were separated when they sought asylum at the San Ysidro Port of entry. Mr. U was held in California; his son was sent to Chicago.  “All I can remember is how much my son and I were both crying when they took him away,” Mr. U said.  Several immigrant rights groups and asylum seekers sued DHS and Customs and Border Protection for turning away asylum seekers at ports of entry last year. The suit is pending."

Raw nazism.

NPR reports:

"Attorney General Jeff Sessions is stirring panic in immigrant communities by moving to limit who can get asylum in the United States. Perhaps no one is more alarmed than one Salvadoran woman living in the Carolinas.  She is known only by her initials in immigration court papers, so her lawyers call her Ms. A.B. She fled to the U.S. four years ago, after enduring more than a decade of domestic abuse in her home country, and requested asylum here.  Now Sessions has personally intervened in her case, questioning whether she and other crime victims deserve protection and a path to American citizenship. The attorney general has been highly critical of the asylum system in recent months.  "I have no doubt that many of those crossing our border illegally are leaving behind difficult situations," Sessions said at a news conference in San Diego earlier this month. "But we cannot take everyone on this planet who is in a difficult situation."

This disingenuous, lying racist is clearly demonstrating who and what he is, -- a nazi.  As long as he and his get theirs, no problem.  Everyone else, in his view, can go to hell.  Yet, this fascist son of a bitch, and other nazis who think like him, consider themselves Christians.

"Immigration attorneys across the country are watching Ms. A.B.'s case closely. They worry that Sessions is trying to roll back years of case law that expanded who gets asylum in the U.S. — and that he's using her asylum petition to do it."

What bona fide nazi in the mold of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, wouldn't?

"Ms. A.B. is speaking out publicly for the first time, in an interview with NPR. She asked that we not use her full name or say exactly where she is living because she is still afraid her ex-husband might find her.  "In El Salvador," she said in Spanish through an interpreter, "there's no protection for women. Anyone who's been there knows this."

Doesn't matter to an ignorant racist nazi.  ... Right, Mr. Attorney General?  Mr. 'President?'

"The violence started around 1999," Ms. A.B. said. He hit her with beer bottles, she said, and held a gun to her head.  "I remember when I was pregnant with my second child, he beat me a lot," she said, fighting back tears. "He threatened to hang me from the roof. And I got down and covered my stomach, and he started kicking me in the back."  When her children were older, Ms. A.B. moved to another part of El Salvador. But her husband found her, she says, and raped her.  "El Salvador is a small place," she said. "I used to go to the police, but they didn't do anything."  Finally, Ms. A.B. traveled north, crossing the border illegally into Texas. She has been allowed to stay in the U.S. while her asylum case is pending."

Think she'll remain much longer?

"Ms. A.B.'s case wound up before immigration Judge V. Stuart Couch in North Carolina, who has become well-known for rejecting the vast majority of asylum claims he hears. Couch wrote that the abuse Ms. A.B. described seemed "criminal" but decided that wasn't enough to give her asylum."

Nazi 'judge.'

"She appealed, and won. Still, the North Carolina judge hasn't granted her asylum. And now Sessions is intervening.  It's not clear why Sessions picked Ms. A.B.'s case. The Justice Department declined to comment.  But critics say it's clear Sessions wants to curtail asylum as part of the Trump administration's broader immigration crackdown."

Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini reincarnated.

"It's a blind spot about women, and women's human rights," said Karen Musalo, Ms. A.B.'s lawyer, who directs the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. "And kind of a fundamental misunderstanding about what human rights means."

A nazi has no clue.  Couldn't care less.  Remain silent?  Won't stand up?  You're gutless.  Un-American.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

More of the same.  NBC reports:

"Israel carried out airstrikes on Hamas sites in Gaza early Thursday, hours after the militant organization said most of the protesters killed by Israeli fire this week were its members."

Think so?  All those men, women and children?  Believe it?  Indeed, convenient propaganda for both Hamas and the Israeli aggressor.  Certainly, suits both their agendas, doesn't it?  Worse?  Ignores reality the last seventy years in the region.

"Salah Bardawil, a senior Hamas official, told Palestinian news outlet Baladna TV that 50 out of the 60 who died on Monday were members of his organization, while the rest were civilians."

That the case?  Then, why were nearly all of them unarmed?

"Hamas won elections in 2006 and has run Gaza since the end of a violent power struggle the following year.  Israel has long argued that Hamas has used the protests, which began on March 30, as cover for terrorist attacks or attempts to infiltrate its border."

Convenient for the Israeli aggressor, isn't it?  Anything to divert attention to the ongoing atrocity perpetrated by the aggressor the last seventy years.  Forget?  These bastards invaded, stole Palestinian land seventy years ago.  With the blessing of the United States, the UN, and Europe.  Have been stealing additional land and killing Palestinians ever since.

"Human rights groups say an affiliation with a militant group is irrelevant if they were unarmed and did not pose an immediate threat to the lives of soldiers when they were shot."

That's right.  Netanyahu and his henchmen need to be hauled to The Hague and prosecuted.

"Bardawil did not elaborate on whether the 50 were fighters or associates, and his number could not be verified. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that his country's military had “similar figures” and would continue its action along the border."

Neither Hamas or the Israeli aggressor can or will be confused by the truth.

“They are not defending us from some civilian demonstrations,” he wrote. “This is a warlike move by Hamas. That is why Israel will continue to defend itself for as long as necessary and will not allow those who call for its destruction to storm its borders and threaten our communities.”

Wake up, Mr. Prime Minister.  You and your henchmen are no different than your German Nazi oppressors, circa 1933.  Certainly, no less evil than your Nazi oppressors at the beginning of Hitler's Third Reich.  Clearly, the worst is yet to come.

"Protesters are demanding that Israel allows the millions of Palestinians whose families left or were forcibly removed from Israel at its founding to return. Refugees and their descendants make up more than two-thirds of Gaza's population."

Sadly, the above is precisely why there will be no end to the violence any time soon.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

The homophobic bigotry of the Republican Nazi Right clearly knows no bounds.  NBC reports:

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appointed Family Research Council President Tony Perkins — a longtime opponent of LGBTQ rights — to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).  “From my post at USCIRF, I look forward to doing all that I can to ensure that our government is the single biggest defender of religious freedom internationally,” Perkins said in a statement released Tuesday. “It is my hope that through the work of USCIRF, the world will become one step closer to recognizing the vital role religious freedom and the defense of religious minorities play in peace, security and human flourishing.”

Raw nazism.  Egregious distortion of reality.  In the world of the fascist, day is night, night is day, and shit smells perversely sweet.  All ass backwards from reality.  Sen. Mitch "The Bitch" McConnell and his fellow Republican nazis determinedly, concertedly, intentionally abrogate their falsely sworn oaths of office to uphold the United States Constitution.

Particularly, the First Amendment Establishment Clause, church-state separation, that is, freedom from religion.  Democrats?  Out to lunch.  Absent without leave since November 22, 1963.  The nazi element seems to have conveniently forgotten ours is a country of many different religions, and in some cases, none.  Freedom?  Liberty?  Meaningless to a Republican nazi.

Precisely, why these bastards determinedly impose by statute their perverse religious views on all.  Dictate to a woman what she can and cannot do with HER uterus.  Engage in homophobic, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.  Desperately attempt to impose these views by law, denying the LGBTQ community same rights and privileges the rest of us take for granted.

"The appointment of Perkins, an ordained minister and former law enforcement officer and Louisiana state legislator, is the latest Republican appointment since Trump took office to attract swift condemnation from LGBTQ and civil rights advocates.  “Tony Perkins is the most recognizable anti-LGBTQ activist in America. He has espoused the most extreme views of LGBTQ people and other vulnerable communities,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD, said in a statement. “The idea that Perkins would be making policy recommendations to an administration that is already anti-LGBTQ is dangerous and puts LGBTQ people directly in harm’s way.”

Forget?  Raw nazism.  Question to be asked?  Who's next?

"GLAAD compiled a long list of examples on its website demonstrating Perkins’ and FRC’s opposition to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the U.S. and abroad.  Among the more than 30 examples listed are a comparison of same-sex marriage to a marriage between “a man and his horse”; the labeling of the “It Gets Better” project, a popular initiative designed to help LGBTQ young people cope with bullying and marginalization, “disgusting” and a “concerted effort” to recruit kids into the gay “lifestyle”; and claiming the “blood” of “young marines” would be on the hands of lawmakers who vote repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy."

Perkins and his ilk present an exigent threat to all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

"Heidi Beirich, the director of SPLC’s Intelligence Project, called Perkins appointment to the USCIRF “deeply disturbing.”  “Perkins specializes in spreading false propaganda that demonizes the LGBT community and Muslims,” Beirich said. “Perkins’ idea of ‘religious freedom’ is having the freedom to discriminate against entire groups of people he doesn’t like. His well-documented bigotry has no place in any government entity.”

Certainly does in the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"Like GLAAD, SPLC has kept a lengthy file on Perkins and the FRC. Perkins, according to the SPLC’s file, was quoted linking homosexuality to pedophilia on the FRC website in 2010.  “While activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two,” Perkins wrote at the time, according to the SPLC. “It is a homosexual problem.”

Perkins doesn't know what he's talking about.  Psychiatric and psychological communities strongly state otherwise.

"Currently on its website, FRC has a page dedicated to “Homosexuality,” where the organization is very explicit about its views toward gay people and their rights.  “Homosexual conduct is harmful to the persons who engage in it and to society at large, and can never be affirmed. It is by definition unnatural, and as such is associated with negative physical and psychological health effects,” the site’s “Homosexuality” page states. “We oppose the vigorous efforts of homosexual activists to demand that homosexuality be accepted as equivalent to heterosexuality in law, in the media, and in schools.”

Think the civil and constitutional rights and liberties of those of you in the LGBTQ community are not in serious jeopardy?

"On that same page, FRC appears to support the widely discredited practice of “gay conversion therapy”: “Sympathy must be extended to those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions, and every effort should be made to assist such persons to overcome those attractions, as many already have.”

Discredited by both the psychiatric and psychological communities.  No more than snake oil.

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5-25-18

At the one year anniversary of the Mueller investigation, think Trump isn't shitting?  NBC reports:

"Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized Trump Thursday for constantly characterizing Mueller's investigation as a "witch hunt."  "It's not a witch hunt when some of the most senior members of the Trump campaign have been indicted," Schumer said on the Senate floor. "It’s not a witch hunt when Democrats and Republicans agree with the intelligence community that Russia interfered in our election to aid President Trump."  On Wednesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the intention of helping Trump.  "Any fair minded citizen, even the most ardent partisan, should be able to look at the facts and say that this investigation is not a witch hunt," Schumer added. "We should all be aghast on this one-year anniversary of Mueller’s appointment at the smear campaign by the president and his allies."

The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump’s allies are waging an increasingly aggressive campaign to undercut the Russia investigation by exposing the role of a top-secret FBI source. The effort reached new heights Thursday as Trump alleged that an informant had improperly spied on his 2016 campaign and predicted that the ensuing scandal would be “bigger than Watergate!”

Think so?

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5-25-18

Discord among Republicans. The Washington Post reports:

"The Senate resoundingly rejected a balanced-budget plan Thursday offered by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The result was not a surprise. Not even Paul had expected the legislation to pass.  Instead, he said, his aim was to expose what he termed “hypocrisy” on the part of GOP colleagues he accused of forming an “unholy alliance” with Democrats to raise spending and balloon the debt.  “This vote is a litmus test for conservatives,” Paul argued on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, contending that if fellow Republicans didn’t support his resolution, “we are simply the same as the Democrats. We don’t care about the debt.”

That's right.  Both parties.  Last true conservative?  Barry Goldwater.

"But the legislation failed to advance on a vote of 21-76. Similar plans Paul has offered in the past have also failed by wide margins."

No real difference between both major political parties.  ... So what else is new?  LOL.

"With the federal budget deficit fast approaching $1 trillion a year, Paul claims his plan would balance the budget in five years by cutting 1 percent of spending annually — the so-called penny plan."

Think so?

"He argues he could do so without touching Social Security and by reducing discretionary spending  a mere $13 billion a year. But other analyses, including by The Washington Post’s Fact Checker, have disputed Paul’s assumptions and concluded that his approach would actually result in much larger cuts that would threaten entitlements like Medicare and tear into agencies from the Pentagon and CIA to the National Institutes of Health."

Voodoo economics.

"In any case, Paul’s arguments failed to persuade his colleagues. Whether he succeeded in exposing fellow Republicans as hypocrites was uncertain, especially since Paul himself is arguably guilty of exacerbating the $21 trillion debt himself given that he voted for the $1.5 trillion unpaid-for tax law. (He argues it will help produce 4 percent GDP growth, a very rosy prediction, and more than pay for itself.)"

Snake oil.

"Where Paul succeeded, as he frequently does, was in irritating fellow Republican lawmakers.  Arguing against the plan on the Senate floor, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said it would threaten the military just months after Congress succeeded in passing a significant increase in military spending that many Republicans viewed as crucial — even though it required agreeing to Democrats’ demands for a big boost in domestic spending as well.  “This budget throws our military in a ditch and I am tired of doing that,” Graham said. “It is a joke. Now is not the time to be funny, now is the time to be serious.”

Jesus Christ.  Take your head out of your ass, Senator.  Forget?  The United States spends more on the military than reportedly the next seven countries combined.  Will it ever be enough?

NPR reports:

"The House rejected a $867 billion farm bill on Friday — after spending days negotiating with key conservatives in an attempt to pass the bill without the support of Democrats.  The vote was 198 to 213. Every Democrat voted against the measure, as did 30 Republicans. Many of the GOP lawmakers are members of the House Freedom Caucus and voted no after failing to get concessions on spending and a future vote on immigration in exchange for their support.  The future of the bill is uncertain. Republican leaders are discussing ways to bring it up again. A revote could hinge on whether GOP leaders agree to a vote on a controversial immigration bill that many Republican moderates oppose. Those members, many running for re-election in competitive districts, are pressing, instead, for a vote on a measure that gives a path to citizenship for children of undocumented workers."

The Washington Post reports:

"A sweeping farm bill failed in the House on Friday in a blow to GOP leaders who were unable to placate conservative lawmakers demanding commitments on immigration.  The House leadership put the bill on the floor gambling it would pass despite unanimous Democratic opposition. They negotiated with members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus up to the last minutes.  But their gamble failed. The vote was 213 to 198, with 30 Republicans joining 183 Democrats in defeating the bill.  The outcome exposed what is becoming an all-out war within the House GOP over immigration, a divisive fight the Republicans did not want to have heading into midterm elections in November that will decide control of Congress."

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5-25-18

Noose figuratively tightens. The Washington Post reports:

"Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, solicited a payment of at least $1 million from the government of Qatar in late 2016, in exchange for access to and advice about the then-incoming administration, according to the recipient of the offer and several others with knowledge of the episode.  The offer, which Qatar declined, came on the margins of a Dec. 12 meeting that year at Trump Tower between the Persian Gulf state’s foreign minister and Michael Flynn, who became Trump’s first national security adviser. Stephen K. Bannon, who became White House chief strategist, also attended.

"But news of the Qatar solicitation marks the first time Cohen is believed to have pitched his influence directly to a foreign government."

Fascinating, isn't it?  At the very least?  Unbridled greed.

"Rumaihi said in a telephone interview Wednesday that Cohen first asked for the money, and Rumaihi refused, several days before the Trump Tower meeting, when the two saw each other at the Peninsula Hotel in New York. “He just threw it out there” as a cost of “doing business,” Rumaihi said.  Cohen spoke to him again at Trump Tower when the two men were outside the meeting between Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Thani and Flynn. Neither attended the closed-door session, and “I stood outside in the hall,” Rumaihi said, as the delegation went in. But “it was clear that the deal was not going to happen,” said Ruhaimi, who is no longer part of the Qatari government.  Rumaihi’s account of Cohen’s solicitation was first reported Wednesday by the Intercept. It was confirmed by several people knowledgeable about the episode, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomatic issue.

"The solicitation came during a period when Cohen was bragging to others that he could make millions from consulting on Trump and that foreign governments would be interested in having his expertise. At the time, Cohen was also angling, unsuccessfully, as it turned out, to enter the White House, telling associates that he might become counsel or chief of staff."

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5-25-18

Suit continues.  ABC News reports:

"An appellate court in New York on Thursday denied President Trump’s attempt to put a defamation lawsuit on hold as he continues to seek to have the case, brought by a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” dismissed.   It’s a victory for Summer Zervos, who appeared on The Apprentice in 2005. She has claimed Trump kissed her twice on the lips in 2007 in his New York office and groped her breast at a Beverly Hills Hotel.  Zervos filed the defamation suit at the start of 2017, three days before Donald Trump assumed the presidency, alleging that he made defamatory statements about her on the campaign trail where he repeatedly accused her and other women who made similar allegations of lying."

Expose the son of a bitch for precisely whom and what he is.

"Marc Kasowitz, the president's counsel, said in a statement that the case is what the U.S. Supreme "has called an 'important' and unresolved constitutional issue -- whether the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution bars a state court lawsuit against the President of the United States during his or her term in office.

"Meanwhile, Joseph Cammarata, the Washington D.C. attorney who represented former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones -- who sued President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment -- said the case would not be a "pleasant exercise for President Trump."  "This case is going forward," he said. "He will be questioned under oath about his encounter with Summer Zervos, about his encounters with other women that he may have had a relationship with, fleeting or otherwise.  "He's going to be asked about his denials," Cammarata continued. "Anything surrounding Summer Zervos, his denials, his relationships with other women, that's all going to be fair game.”

Surprised Trump is doing all he can to delay?  LOL.

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5-25-18

Think at least some of Trump's base isn't smartening up?  NBC reports:

"This community voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump. But now his immigration changes are killing its livelihood — legendary crabs that are a mainstay of the local economy and a regional delicacy.  For decades, Hoopers Island, known for its crabbing industry, has relied on a federal seasonal work program — known as H-2B visas — to keep its businesses humming. This has allowed employers to hire foreigners, mostly Mexican women, to come temporarily to pick crab meat."

No longer.

"Right now, we're shut down," said Morgan Tolley, manager of A.E. Phillips and Sons Seafood. "We're in self-preservation mode."  Just two miles away, in what should be the start of the peak season, Harry Phillips, owner of Russell Hall Seafood, stands in an empty picking room once filled with the women he's had working for him for over 25 years.  "We can't operate the way we're going," Phillips told NBC News. "I've had to let truck drivers go. I don't need truck drivers if I don't have the product. It's going to affect us to the point where we may have to totally close."  "(President Trump's) vow was to create American jobs, but this is not creating American jobs,” Phillips added."

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5-25-18

Day is night, night is day, and shit smells perversely sweet in the world of the Trump nazi. The Washington Post reports:

"For decades, the Agriculture Department has routinely conducted surprise inspections at zoos, breeding operations, research labs and other facilities to evaluate whether they are complying with federal animal welfare laws and to issue warnings or penalties if not.  Now the agency is testing another approach: “announced inspections.”  In a letter sent last month to entities regulated by the Animal Welfare Act, an agency official announced the launch of a pilot project to explore whether letting some facilities know inspectors are coming “improves the efficiency of our inspection program and improves the humane treatment of animals.”

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5-25-18

Gag rule revisited.  NPR reports:

"The White House will announce Friday that it is reviving a rule similar to one proposed during the Reagan administration barring groups that provide abortions or refer patients for the procedure from receiving federal funding, a Trump administration official speaking on background tells NPR.  The proposed regulation would apply to Title X, the federal program that provides at least $260 million annually for contraception, screenings for sexually transmitted diseases and other reproductive health services to millions of low-income people, according to the official, who asked not to be named."

Once again, the Republican Nazi Right is determined to force its perverse religious views on all.

"The new rule, expected to be announced by the Department of Health and Human Services, would also bar federal funds for any group that refers patients for abortions.  Abortion-rights supporters have described the proposal as a "gag rule" and say it would undermine reproductive health care for low-income patients."

Nazi Right couldn't care less.

"On NPR's Morning Edition on Friday, Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood, told Steve Inskeep: "I think, really, the chilling thing about what they're proposing now is it removes the guarantee that women in particular are getting full and accurate information about their health care from their doctor. This is absolutely extraordinary that we would now be gagging doctors and health care providers from giving women their legal information and even referring them for potentially livesaving health care."

The Republican way.  Raw nazism.  Where the hell are the Democrats?

"She said the rule change would mean that if a pregnant women with cancer came in, "her health care provider could refuse to tell her that abortion is legal, that it's even an option."  In a statement from Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the group said it would not "stand by while our basic health rights are stripped away."  "This is an attempt to take away women's basic rights, period. Under this rule, people will not get the health care they need. They won't get birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, or even general women's health exams," Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens said.  "Everyone has the right to information about their health care — including information about safe, legal abortion, and every woman deserves the best medical care and information, no matter how much money she makes or where she lives. No matter what. They won't get it under this rule," she said."

Not in Nazi America.  Trump's Fourth Reich.

"However, anti-abortion-rights groups praised the proposed change. Students for Life of America, which says it has members on more than 1,200 U.S. university and high school campuses, said in a statement: "These changes are long overdue as abortion is not healthcare or birth control and many women want natural healthcare choices rather than hormone-induced changes," the group's president, Kristan Hawkins, said. "The Trump Administration has every right to require that Title X programs focus on healthcare, not abortion, and to keep such programs aimed at helping women make a plan for a family outside of the facilities designed to making sure women don't have a family at all."

These bastards speak for you, ladies?  Know what's best for the "'lil' woman?"

"The rule, similar to one first proposed during the Reagan era, was hit by legal challenges from Planned Parenthood and other groups and never fully implemented. It was later rescinded by President Bill Clinton.  Abortion-rights groups are likely to take to the courts again in efforts to stop the latest change, if the proposal goes forward."

Sue the living shit out of these goddamned Aryan arrogant nazis.

"This 'gag rule' is not only unconscionable, but it undermines medical ethics by forcing health care professionals to withhold accurate and timely medical information from patients," Dr. Jenn Conti, a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, said in a statement Thursday."

The Republican Nazi Right element cannot, will not, be confused with the truth.  Too damned stupid.

CBS News reports:

"Abortion is a legal medical procedure. Doctors' groups and abortion rights supporters say a ban on counseling women trespasses on the doctor-patient relationship. They point out that federal family planning funds cannot be currently used to pay for abortion procedures."

Nazis can't, won't be confused with the truth.

"Abortion opponents say a taxpayer-funded family planning program should have no connection whatsoever to abortion."

Why not?  Forget?  A religious issue, not a medical one.  Who the hell are these bastards to force their perverse religious views on others?  Direct violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause, church-state separation, that is, freedom from religion.

"The notion that you would withhold information from a patient does not uphold or preserve their dignity," said Jessica Marcella of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, which represents family planning clinics. "I cannot imagine a scenario in which public health groups would allow this effort to go unchallenged."  She said requiring family planning clinics to be physically separate from facilities in which abortion is provided would disrupt services for women across the country."

No question.  Precisely, the intention of the Nazi Right.

NBC reports:

"The Trump administration moved forward with a proposal Friday that would effectively ban Planned Parenthood and similar organizations from providing abortion and related services under the same roof as operations funded by federal family-planning grants, according to an administration official.

"We thank President Trump for taking action to disentangle taxpayers from the abortion business," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a group that provides political support for candidates who oppose abortion. "This is a major victory which will energize the grass roots as we head into the critical midterm elections.The proposed rule change — which was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget by the Health and Human Services Department Friday morning — will drop a requirement that Title X grant recipients provide abortion counseling to patients. But it will stop short of giving abortion foes one provision they sought: a gag rule prohibiting recipients from discussing abortion with pregnant women.

"The proposed rule could hit many of the front-line health providers for the nation’s poorest. About two-thirds of people who visit family planning services are below the federal poverty level, according to the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association."

Forget?  The Republican way.  Again, where are the Democrats?  Neither party is worth a shit.

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5-25-18

Think lightning can't strike the same place twice?  CBS News reports:

"Starbucks' day of racial-bias training for its baristas can't come soon enough.  With less than two weeks to go before the coffee chain closes stores nationwide to educate its nearly 175,000 workers on how not to discriminate against others, Starbucks (SBUX) this week found itself apologizing for doing just that.

    "Thank you for letting us know, Priscilla. This is not the welcoming experience we aim to provide, and we have reached out to this customer to apologize and make this right. -Ryan
    — Starbucks Help (@starbuckshelp) May 16, 2018

"The apology on social media came after a customer at a Starbucks in La Cañada Flintridge, California, found the word "Beaner" -- a derogatory term for Mexicans -- printed on his coffee drink instead of "Pedro," his name."

... Who'd 'a 'thunk' it, no?

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5-25-18

The  Trump nazi has again shown his true colors.  CBS News reports:

"A West Wing aide's morbid remark about gravely ill Sen. John McCain has not yielded widespread White House soul-searching. Instead, it has led to a push to fire those responsible for leaking that story and others that have bedeviled President Trump's administration.  Nearly a week after Kelly Sadler dismissed McCain's opinion on Trump's CIA nominee during a closed-door meeting by saying "he's dying anyway," a torrent of criticism has rained down on the White House. The administration has repeatedly declined to publicly apologize, but the fallout has shaken the West Wing, where the focus remains on who leaked to the media.  Mr. Trump is demanding that whoever let the story go public be fired, according to a White House official and an outside Trump adviser. Neither was authorized to speak publicly about private conversations and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity."

Yet, this fascist lunatic claims to be a Christian.  Remarkable, isn't it?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

In follow up to the last edition, The Washington Post reports:

"Dangerous equipment has once again gone missing at the U.S. Air Force base in North Dakota that operates aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles that can deliver nuclear warheads."

Amazing, isn't it?

"Days after Minot Air Force Base reported that one of its squadrons protecting intercontinental ballistic missile silos had lost a 42-pound box of explosive grenade rounds while traveling on a gravel road, the same base said a machine gun turned up missing in a routine inventory of the facility’s weapons.  “During a standard weapons inventory at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota on 16 May, a M-240 7.62 caliber weapon was discovered missing,” the base said in a short statement on Thursday. “The 5th Bomb Wing and 91st Missile Wing immediately began a search of their weapons inventories and opened an investigation with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.”

"According to Military.com, the M240 is a general-purpose, gas-operated, open-bolt machine gun that can fire at a maximum rate of 950 rounds per minute at a maximum distance of more than two miles. It’s a common weapon used across the U.S. armed forces."

Again, how does this happen?

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5-25-18

Think Trump's not a dictator? The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump has personally pushed U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com and other firms to ship packages, according to three people familiar with their conversations, a dramatic move that probably would cost these companies billions of dollars.  Brennan has so far resisted Trump’s demand, explaining in multiple conversations occurring this year and last that these arrangements are bound by contracts and must be reviewed by a regulatory commission, the three people said. She has told the president that the Amazon relationship is beneficial for the Postal Service and gave him a set of slides that showed the variety of companies, in addition to Amazon, that also partner for deliveries.  Despite these presentations, Trump has continued to level criticism at Amazon. And last month, his critiques culminated in the signing of an executive order mandating a government review of the financially strapped Postal Service that could lead to major changes in the way it charges Amazon and others for package delivery."

Here's why:

"Few U.S. companies have drawn Trump’s ire as much as Amazon, which has rapidly grown to be the second-largest U.S. company in terms of market capitalization. For more than three years, Trump has fumed publicly and privately about the giant commerce and services company and its founder Jeffrey P. Bezos, who is also the owner of The Washington Post."

Readers are reminded The Washington Post, unlike The Washington Times and Fox, is not the Trump nazi's lap dog.  LOL.

"Trump alleges that Amazon is being subsidized by the Postal Service. He has also accused The Post as being Amazon’s “chief lobbyist” as well as a tax shelter — false charges. He says Amazon uses these advantages to push bricks-and-mortar companies out of business. Some administration officials say several of Trump’s attacks aimed at Amazon have come in response to articles in The Post that he didn’t like."

Doesn't your heart bleed?  LOL.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

Unrest in the Republican Party grows.  The Washington Post reports:

"Denham and nearly two dozen of his fellow Republican lawmakers have now joined together, spurred by pressure back home and frustrated by the GOP leadership’s lack of action on a heated issue that has long stymied the party. They could represent the best chance that dreamers — beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program — now have to secure legal protections under President Trump."

... An issue that just won't go away.  Interesting, isn't it?

"They are pitted against the conservatives who dominate the Republican rank-and-file and have campaigned against “amnesty” for people who are in the country illegally. The conservatives take their cues on the issue from a president who has angrily demanded a crackdown at the border but has also promised at times to solve the dreamers’ dilemma once and for all.  “We’ve had it,” said Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who has joined Denham and the others pressing for a bill. “We’re boiling over. It’s got to get done.”

Trouble in Republican paradise?

"By undertaking a rare maneuver to force consideration of legislation over the objections of the Republican leadership, this group has rekindled a sputtering immigration debate in Congress and raised the possibility that a bipartisan compromise could emerge from the deeply divided House, giving President Trump what could be his only opportunity to sign an immigration bill into law this year.  They have done so by defying House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and other top Republican leaders who fear that unleashing such an internally divisive issue in an election year could hurt the GOP’s chances in November’s midterms and potentially risk the party’s majority in the House."

Surprised?  Why?  Politics trumps principle.  Always.

Here's why GOP bigwigs are shitting:

"The Republican signers range in seniority from Upton, a 16-term incumbent and former chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to John Faso, a freshman representing a district in Upstate New York.  They represent districts that stretch from the heart of Miami to the sprawling suburbs of Denver to the rural Adirondack Mountains. Some, such as Florida Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, are veteran combatants in the immigration debate. Others, such as Michigan’s Dave Trott and New Jersey’s Leonard Lance, represent suburban districts that are home to relatively few dreamers.  Twelve of the 20 face competitive races in November, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report — including Curbelo, Denham and Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.), who are leading the discharge push.  Three, however, represent districts Trump won by double digits. Four more are retiring from Congress at the end of the year, and one — Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) — has already resigned altogether. (His signature still counts, according to House rules.)"

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5-25-18

As expected, we now have an unprosecuted war criminal leading the CIA.  NBC reports:

"On Thursday, the Senate voted 54 to 45 to confirm Gina Haspel as the next director of the CIA. Haspel’s nomination has been especially controversial because of her (still not entirely clear) role after 9/11 in both the torture and general mistreatment of terrorism suspects detained at secret CIA “black sites,” as well as the eventual destruction of videotapes of those abuses."

Nazi America.  Founders?  Spinning in their graves.

CBS News reports:

"Acting CIA Director Gina Haspel was formally sworn in as the next director of the nation's top spy agency at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia on Monday. Haspel, to a loud crowd of applause, said that she was "truly honored to have this opportunity to lead the best workforce in government."  On Thursday, the Senate voted, 54-45, to confirm Haspel, one day after the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a 10-5 vote, reported her nomination favorably. Overall, six Democrats voted in support of her candidacy. Two Republicans, Sens. Flake and Paul, opposed it."

A war criminal.

"It took courage for her to say 'yes' in the face of a lot of very negative politics and what was supposed to be a negative vote, but I'll tell you, when you testified before the committee, it was over," President Trump remarked at the ceremony."

A war criminal nominated by a lunatic nazi fuhrer, confirmed by a clueless Senate.

"I recommit that I will do everything in my power to justify the faith President Trump and the American people have placed in us," said Haspel telling staff at the CIA that "we cannot rest on our laurels." The agency must constantly learn, adjust and improve."

Wake up, Ms. Haspel.  You were confirmed by a clueless self-serving Senate.  Don't falsely make the assumption the public has faith in you.  Not all of us do.

"Mr. Trump meanwhile called Haspel a "very special person," saying there's "no one in this country better qualified for this extraordinary office than you." Mr. Trump noted the loud applause for Haspel throughout the ceremony, saying she has the "universal respect and admiration of her colleagues at CIA and throughout government."

Sickening, isn't it?  Appalling.  We've lost our country.

The Washington Post reports:

"Just hours before his planned attendance at the swearing in of a new CIA director, President Trump went on Twitter on Monday to castigate a former leader of the agency, posting that John Brennan “has disgraced the Country.”

Kettle calling the pot black.  LOL.

"In a series of three tweets, the president quoted Dan Bongino, a former U.S. Secret Service agent and frequent Fox News commentator, who earlier Monday morning accused Brennan of being “largely responsible for the destruction of America’s faith in the Intelligence Community,” according to Trump’s tweets.  The tweets came about two hours before he left the White House en route to CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., where Gina Haspel was installed as the next CIA director on Monday morning."

Get this:

"Brennan, who led the agency from 2013 to 2017 under President Barack Obama, has been highly critical of Trump in recent months.  On Sunday, he wrote on Twitter that Trump was on a “disastrous path” and that Republican congressional leaders would bear responsibility for the “harm done to our democracy” if they did not intervene.  Brennan’s comments were prompted by Trump’s tweet on Sunday in which he demanded that the Department of Justice investigate whether the FBI infiltrated or surveilled his 2016 campaign for political purposes"

Trump is clearly growing increasingly desperate.

“You do a great disservice to our Nation & the Republican Party if you continue to enable Mr. Trump’s self-serving actions,” Brennan wrote in a tweet addressed at House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)."

So what else is new?

Here are the tweets:

    “John Brennan is panicking. He has disgraced himself, he has disgraced the Country, he has disgraced the entire Intelligence Community. He is the one man who is largely responsible for the destruction of American’s faith in the Intelligence Community and in some people at the....
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2018

    ....top of the FBI. Brennan started this entire debacle about President Trump. We now know that Brennan had detailed knowledge of the (phony) Dossier...he knows about the Dossier, he denies knowledge of the Dossier, he briefs the Gang of 8 on the Hill about the Dossier, which....
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2018

    ...they then used to start an investigation about Trump. It is that simple. This guy is the genesis of this whole Debacle. This was a Political hit job, this was not an Intelligence Investigation. Brennan has disgraced himself, he’s worried about staying out of Jail.” Dan Bongino
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2018"

Who is Trump talking about?  Himself or Brennan?  LOL.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

Raging desperation of our nazi fuhrer in the Oval Office becomes ever more apparent.  The Washington Post reports:

"Under pressure from President Trump, the Justice Department on Sunday asked its inspector general to assess whether political motivation tainted the FBI investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign — a remarkable step officials hoped might avert a larger clash between the president and federal law enforcement officials.  Trump, who spent much of Sunday railing against the year-old special counsel probe, tweeted in the afternoon that “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

Desperation as the Mueller investigation zeroes in.

"Hours later, the Justice Department responded by saying it had asked its inspector general to expand an ongoing review of the applications to monitor a former Trump campaign adviser “to include determining whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election.”  The department noted that a U.S. attorney would be consulted if evidence of criminal conduct was found.  “If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action,” Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement."

To date, there is no evidence of, no probable cause of what the Trump nazi is alleging.

NPR reports:

"The Justice Department is broadening its internal investigation into the FBI's Russia inquiry after a top-level meeting at the White House on Monday with President Trump."

Clearly, Trump is chafing under enormous pressure increasingly brought to bear by the Mueller investigation.

"Inspector General Michael Horowitz will be asked to look into "any irregularities" with the "tactics concerning the Trump campaign," said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders."

'Can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.'

"Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats met Monday with Trump and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.  "It was also agreed that White House Chief of Staff Kelly will immediately set up a meeting with the FBI, DOJ, and DNI together with congressional leaders to review highly classified and other information they have requested," Sanders said."

Trump and his henchmen have been desperately blowing smoke for quite some time as the noose figuratively tightens:

"The president has been on offense against DoJ and the FBI following press reports that described the use of a confidential informant by investigators as they looked into Russian agents' overtures to Trump campaign aides in 2016.  According to the reports, the informant met with Trump campaign advisers to try to learn more about whether they had relationships with any foreign governments."

Desperation under enormous pressure leads to what appears to be an increasingly unhinged president grasping for straws:

"Trump and his supporters say the stories amount to suggestions that President Barack Obama's administration improperly spied on the Trump campaign."

To what end?  For what purpose?  What could Obama have possibly gained, -- other than tarnishing his legacy, or worse?  More importantly, Trump has provided no evidence, no support, nothing whatsoever other than speculation.  What makes this all the more doubtful, spurious?  Get this:

"The allegations also follow an earlier charge, which was later deflated, that Obama ordered a wiretap at Trump Tower, and that Obama-era officials may have improperly viewed intelligence that involved Trump campaign aides."

Fascinating, isn't it?

"Trump vowed on Twitter over the weekend that he would "officially" demand information from the Justice Department and the FBI about the early phases of the Russia investigation."

To what end?  For what purpose?  Interference with an ongoing criminal investigation?  Obstruction of justice?  At the very least, makes him look increasingly desperate.

Worse?  Far worse?  The following tweet makes him appear to be an increasingly unstable out of control lunatic:

    "I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2018"

Think Rosenstein may be placating his fuhrer?  Get this:

"The Justice Department is already examining aspects of its Russia investigation, including its use of surveillance of people in the Trump orbit, and it said on Sunday that it would incorporate the president's request into that work. Rosenstein said in a written statement that the department would find out if there had been any wrongdoing.  "If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action," he said."

Think GOP operatives aren't shitting?  Beyond engaging in hyperbolic bullshit in desperation?  Get this:

"Trump and Vice President Mike Pence's reelection campaign alluded to their pressure on the Justice Department in a fundraising email on Monday: "This could be the greatest political scandal in American history," the campaign wrote to supporters."

All the above despite the following:

"At the same time, some former Justice Department and intelligence officials say there's not only so far no evidence of a scandal but that Trump is overstepping the bounds that should constrain presidential interference in an ongoing investigation.  "I think at some point he made a decision that his case — whether that be the obstruction case or the conspiracy charges that involve Russia meddling in the election — that that's not going to be won in court," former U.S. Attorney Michael Moore told NPR on Monday. "And so he's made a decision to move the case now to the court of public opinion."

The Washington Post reports:

"Rod J. Rosenstein may have the second most difficult job in Washington, behind Robert S. Mueller III. The deputy attorney general is the public face and overseer of the extremely contentious Mueller investigation, all while dealing with the whims and apparent attempts to politicize it by his boss, President Trump, who also happens to be a central figure in the probe.  But is he indulging Trump's and his allies' conspiracy theories too much?"

Quite possibly, Rosenstein is deftly placating the Trump nazi.  Beating him at his very own game:

“If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action,” Rosenstein said in a statement.  The announcement was rather remarkable. Some saw it as deft maneuvering from Rosenstein. It's certainly a compromise, and it doesn't give Trump exactly what he wanted. It could effectively run out the clock by burying the matter in a lengthy inspector general's probe. And it could also avert a potential constitutional crisis that could arise out of Trump ordering DOJ to do something and DOJ declining."

The above may very well be the case.  Yet, in the present political climate with our formerly great country continuing to deteriorate, the outcome is anyone's best guess:

"But the concession does risk further politicization of Justice Department business and also unavoidably lends credence to Trump's allegations. Trump can now credibly say the Justice Department is looking into political bias in the Russia investigation, which risks furthering his goal of undermining the entire investigation. And Rosenstein basically handed him that PR win without much actual evidence."

Think so?  Think not?

"Some questioned the decision.

    "Rosenstein keeps surrendering important DOJ equities in an attempt to buy time for Mueller, and we won’t know until it’s over whether what he gave up was worth it or if it even will work.
    — Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) May 20, 2018

    "As directed by official tweet https://t.co/IoTpV9hUif
    — Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) May 21, 2018

"But this is merely the latest episode in which Rosenstein has apparently tried to mollify Trump and other critics of the investigation — at the risk of “surrendering important DOJ equities,” in the words of former Obama Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller."

Fascinating, isn't it?  As all wait for the Mueller investigation to conclude.

NPR reports:

"Key congressional leaders are set to meet Thursday with federal law enforcement and intelligence bosses amid a slow-motion standoff over secret documents in the Russia investigation, the White House said on Tuesday.  Press secretary Sarah Sanders said that the White House had brokered a meeting at which two key Republican chairmen would hear from the leaders of the Justice Department, FBI and the intelligence community following weeks' worth of requests for the classified material.  No one from the White House is scheduled to be present, Sanders said — nor, at this point, are any senators or any Democrats, in defiance of a request from the Senate minority leader."

Despite the fact our formerly great country is quickly transforming from a de facto fascist police-state to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich, aren't we at least in name only a democratic republic?  While the Democrats are no longer worth a crap, why have they been excluded from reviewing Republican-requested classified material?  Like Republican nazis, Democrats are duly elected officials.  Why aren't they treated as such by the Trump nazi, his henchmen, and the 'Justice' Department?

"The meeting has been scheduled amid a gathering storm for the Justice Department and FBI following months of attacks by the president and his allies.  Trump has attacked one flank by demanding an expanded investigation into the ongoing inquiry about Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether anyone in his campaign was involved.  Trump and his supporters in Congress are expected to attack again in short order along a different line of advance, when Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz releases his report about the FBI's 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton."

-- Anything to distract attention from the Mueller investigation, right, Mr. 'President?'  ... 'Can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit?'

"The White House and its supporters have been sandblasting the Justice Department and the FBI for months; the leaders of both law enforcement agencies have steadily been giving ground. Thursday's meeting is the latest example, although it wasn't clear precisely what documents Nunes and Gowdy are expecting and whether they will receive them then."

Clearly, a desperate 'president' is doing all he can to politicize the 'Justice' Department.  Why aren't gutless Democrats raising hell about this?  Can certainly walk out the House and Senate in protest when GOP nazis are engaging in such activity.

"The House intelligence committee, Nunes, and other lawmakers threatened Rosenstein with contempt of Congress or, potentially, impeachment.  For a while, Rosenstein took a tough line, vowing that DOJ wouldn't be "extorted," but the battlefield shifted after the reports about the confidential informant.  Then Trump weighed in more strongly than ever with a "demand" for more information from the Justice Department, and Rosenstein acceded to it Monday. He traveled to the White House for a meeting with Trump, White House chief of staff John Kelly and FBI Director Christopher Wray."

Rosenstein needs to grow a pair.  Should have stood his ground at the meeting.  If consequently fired, should have told the Trump nazi to go to hell.  All these gutless bastards take oaths of office to uphold the Constitution.  They're not doing so.  Politics trumps principle, literally.  They serve themselves, their fuhrer in the Oval Office, and their corporate masters.  Precisely, why our country is failing.

"Democrats say the pressure Trump is bringing to bear on federal law enforcement is an inappropriate overreach of his authority against a Justice Department that is supposed to be able to act independently."

Then why aren't you walking out both houses in protest?

"The fact that ... Trump is DEMANDING the DOJ reveal confidential information about an ongoing criminal investigation is more evidence of potential abuses of power by the President," wrote New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, on Twitter. "This is not only a threat to the rule of law, but a dangerous precedent for our democracy."

All you bastards do is talk.

"Another Democrat, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, said the legal and political complexities in Washington, D.C., missed the point: U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies must be able to protect their clandestine sources and operatives, he said."

That's right.  Ferociously to the point, however, why aren't you bastards changing the law en masse to prevent unauthorized mass sale of user online data by the corporate management suite?  Your goddamned hypocrisy?  Stunning.

NBC reports:

"President Donald Trump has long complained about what he calls a "witch hunt" investigation into his 2016 presidential campaign by "deep state" actors in the law enforcement and intelligence communities — a probe that he says was first designed to deny him the presidency and, after he won, to delegitimize or even remove him."

The president is a lunatic.  Losing ground.

"Now, with all the tools of that federal government at his disposal — including some of the very agencies he's cast as enemies of his presidency and the American public — he is weaponizing them to make his case that he is the victim of malfeasance at the highest levels of American law enforcement.  On Sunday, under pressure from Trump, his deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, and FBI Director Christopher Wray asked the Justice Department's inspector general to, as White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders put it, "expand its current investigation to include any irregularities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s or the Department of Justice’s tactics concerning the Trump campaign."

Trump believes he's above the law.  What nazi fuhrer wouldn't?

"In other words, Trump is using his powers, both formal and informal, to investigate the investigators.  "What goes around, comes around!" he tweeted Wednesday morning.

    "Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State. They go after Phony Collusion with Russia, a made up Scam, and end up getting caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before! What goes around, comes around!
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2018"

Obstruction.  ... If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, guess what?  It's a duck.

"While experts on the Constitution say his latest moves may be legal by themselves, they express concern that Trump is operating outside of normal behavior for a president in the post-Watergate era and that, taken together, his attacks on various institutions and players over the course of his presidency could amount to an effort to obstruct justice."

To date, certainly appears so.  Final word will come from Mueller.

"I don’t think the latest gambit is illegal, per se. It might depend on the motive. But the president is empowered to recommend such an investigation," Richard Ben-Veniste, who served as an assistant special prosecutor in charge of the Watergate Task Force, said of the request for an expansion of the DOJ's IG probe. "The problem is that things that are normally respected are disrespected in this administration, such as the distance the president should have from the Justice Department.”  Ben-Veniste said that Trump's actions "could later come back to haunt him" as special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation proceeds. "The violation of federal criminal law can be achieved by means that themselves are legal but because of a corrupt intent of the actor, in the context of other provable facts, become illegal," he said."

Trump ignores precedent he lived through approximately 45 years ago, the Nixon debacle:

"The articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon, which were approved by a House committee before he resigned, included findings that he had improperly interfered with justice and failed to live up to his oath of office. Since then, presidents have been wary of interfering in Justice Department probes into their administrations.  "Most presidents have not gotten themselves anywhere close to Nixon’s behavior," said John Dean, who was Nixon's White House counsel. "What we have (now) are a lot of echoes of Watergate behavior."

Publisher's note:

Subsequent to the above and too late for inclusion in this edition in detail, Republicans under intense political pressure announced there would be a second subsequent meeting vis a vis review of classified material demanded by the Trump nazi.  This time it would be the "Gang of Eight" where Democrats would receive access to top secret information along with their GOP counterparts.  Question to be asked, why weren't Democrats included in the first meeting? TC

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

If  LGBTQ business people are not willing to stand up for their rights, support those that are fighting for these rights, all advances to date will ultimately be lost.  NBC reports:

"Pope Francis’ reported comments to a gay man that “God made you like this” have been embraced by the LGBTQ community as another sign of Francis’ desire to make gay people feel welcomed and loved in the Catholic Church."

Remarkable, isn't it?  Under the Trump nazi and his henchmen, the clock is indeed being concertedly, determinedly turned back.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

There is one young remarkable American woman certainly making her mark in Britain.  The Washington Post reports:

"Meghan Markle does not appear to be reining in her feminist views since her traditional-yet-modern nuptials to Prince Harry.  On her new page on the British monarchy’s official website — in pulled out quotes — the woman now known as the Duchess of Sussex says, “I am proud to be a woman and a feminist,” referencing a line from a 2015 speech she gave at a United Nations event.  Her biography on the site emphasizes her early activism, including how, at age 11, she took on Procter & Gamble for a commercial claiming that “women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans.” After Meghan's intervention, the company changed the ad to “people all over America.”  “These early experiences helped to shape her lifelong commitment to causes such as social justice and women’s empowerment,” the website says.  The website also notes her volunteer work at soup kitchens in Los Angeles, her home town, and Toronto, where she filmed “Suits,” as well as her work as a women’s advocate for the United Nations and a global ambassador for World Vision Canada."

Like the late Princess Diana, think the Duchess isn't rattling the cage of the stuffy old Queen?  LOL.

CBS News reports:

"Duchess Meghan has offered a glimpse of how she sees her new role as the Duchess of Sussex in two new pages posted on the royal website hours after the former actress married Britain's Prince Harry. The pages paint Meghan as a feminist dedicated to social justice.  The newly minted duchess' pages highlight her focus on social issues and notes that she campaigned successfully at age 11 to have a company change the sexist language it used to sell dishwashing soap. The "About the Duchess of Sussex" page also pointed out that she volunteered at a soup kitchen in Los Angeles' Skid Row and at another kitchen in Canada while working as an actress in Toronto.  "I am proud to be a woman and a feminist," the page quotes her as saying."

Like Diana, a breath of fresh air.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

A Republican-dominated, bought and paid for, nazi U.S. Supreme Court has again stuck it to labor in favor of its corporate masters.  NPR reports:

"In a case involving the rights of tens of millions of private-sector employees, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote margin, delivered a major blow to workers, ruling for the first time that workers may not band together to challenge violations of federal labor laws.  Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said that the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act trumps the National Labor Relations Act and that employees who sign employment agreements to arbitrate claims must do so on an individual basis — and may not band together to enforce claims of wage and hour violations."

How much have you lined your pockets off your corporate masters, Mr. Gorsuch?

"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the four dissenters, called the majority opinion "egregiously wrong." She said the 1925 arbitration law came well before federal labor laws and should not cover these arm-twisted, "take-it-or-leave it" provisions that employers are no insisting on.  The inevitable result, she warned, is that there will be huge underenforcement of federal and state statutes designed to advance the well being of workers.  "[T]he edict that employees with wage and hours claims may seek relief only one-by-one does not come from Congress," Ginsburg writes. "It is the result of take-it-or-leave-it labor contracts harking back to the type called 'yellow dog,' and of the readiness of this Court to enforce those unbargained-for agreements. The FAA demands no such suppression of the right of workers to take concerted action for their 'mutual aid or protection.'"  She urged Congress to correct the court's elevation of the arbitration act over workers' rights."

... Hear the rumble?  An unwanted dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looming.  Forget?  The corporate management suite owns your ass.  Considers you no more than chattel.  Get what you deserve since you tolerate this bullshit.

"A study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute shows that 56 percent of nonunion private-sector employees are currently subject to mandatory individual arbitration procedures under the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act, which allows employers to bar collective legal actions by employees.  The court's decision means that tens of millions of private non-union employees will be barred from suing collectively over the terms of their employment."

Forget?  Corporate management suite and top of the food chain never get enough.

The Washington Post reports:

"The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 Monday that companies may require workers to accept individual arbitration for wage and other workplace disputes rather than banding together in collective actions.  The case was considered the most important business case of the term, and could affect as many as 25 million contracts.  The ruling extends the Supreme Court’s decisions that make room for corporations to require that wage disputes, and probably other actions such as job-discrimination claims, be handled through arbitration, rather than litigation."

Precisely, why strong unions are desperately needed to rein in the corporate management suite.

"Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, writing for the conservative majority, posed the question presented by the case: Should employers be allowed to insist that disputes be handled in one-on-one arbitration, or should employees always be permitted to bring their claims in class or collective actions?  “As a matter of policy these questions are surely debatable,” Gorsuch wrote. “But as a matter of law the answer is clear. In the Federal Arbitration Act, Congress has instructed federal courts to enforce arbitration agreements according to their terms — including terms providing for individualized proceedings.”  Gorsuch was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr."

Question remains how much have they had their pockets lined by their corporate masters?

"Workers had contended that another federal law, the National Labor Relations Act, makes illegal any contract that denies employees the right to engage in “concerted activities” for the purpose of “mutual aid and protection.” That means that some sort of collective action cannot be prohibited, the workers say.  That was the thrust of a forceful dissent from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who underlined her objections by reading part of her dissent from the bench.  “The court today holds enforceable this arm-twisted, take-it-or-leave-it contracts — including the provisions requiring employees to litigate wage and hours claims only one-by-one,” she said. “Federal labor law does not countenance such isolation of employees.”  Trying to arbitrate such claims individually would be too expensive to be worth it, she wrote, and “the risks of employer retaliation would likely dissuade most workers from seeking redress alone.”  She was joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan."

Consider the following:

"The advocacy in the case was changed by the political turnover in Washington. The National Labor Relations Board, an independent government agency, agreed with the workers. But after President Trump took office in 2017, the Justice Department switched sides, and filed a brief siding with the companies."

Delusionally believe the Trump nazi a populist?  Think this lunatic narcissist truly supports his deluded base?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

Think Republicans aren't dreading coming midterms?  NPR reports:

"Democrats may hold 49 votes in the Senate but for all practical purposes, they have been completely disarmed when it comes to opposing President Trump's judicial nominees.  Now Republican leaders, worried about possibly losing control of the Senate in the November elections, are racing against the clock to push through as many judicial nominations as they can. But even some of their own members are privately worried that abandoning longtime practices and understandings is undermining the Senate's constitutional power to provide its advice and consent on judicial nominations."

That's gone.  Quite some time now.

"For most of former President Obama's time in office, the filibuster still existed for judicial nominations, and Republicans used the threat or actuality of the filibuster aggressively to slow down or block Obama's nominations."

Did quite a good job of it.  Democrats sat on their hands.

"By late 2013, Democrats were so frustrated that they abolished the filibuster for all judicial nominations except the Supreme Court. Republicans, however, found other ways to block and stall the Democratic president's choices — through other rules and longtime unwritten understandings that the GOP is no longer honoring now that one of their own is president."

Imagine that.  Couldn't be, could it?  LOL.

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has made no secret of what he considers his greatest achievement: refusing to even consider Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court for nearly a year, and the subsequent confirmation of Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch within the first six months of the new administration. That, of course, included abolishing the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations too.  Since then, it's been on to the federal lower courts, where McConnell has made judicial confirmations a number one priority.  Tuesday, he ebulliently bragged to reporters that one-eighth of the federal appeals court seats are now occupied by Trump appointees."

McConnell should be careful what he wishes for.  Might just get it.  These nazis are indeed most aggressively imposing their national socialist ideology.  ... Hear the rumble?  An unwanted dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looming.

"Trump nominees, however, have been coached not to respond to questions about their personal beliefs, about concepts of law and about any specific Supreme Court decisions, no matter how historic.  "Good lord," exploded Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "I'll be darned if I'm going to have someone stand up and say 'I can't tell you if I agree with a Supreme Court decision which is the law of the land."  In a scathing tone, Leahy asked, "Is there anybody in this room who wants to repeal Brown v. the Board of Education?"

Why didn't you walk out of the hearing?  Especially, after the following by our two Texas nazi Senators:

"Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, objected, noting that all the nominees had said they would follow existing Supreme Court precedents. And Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, added that if a nominee were to answer one such question, that would create a "slippery slope," leading to more questions about other decisions."

But it is grating on some Republicans:

"But Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who has made no secret of his growing anger over the stonewalling by Trump judicial nominees, wasn't buying it.  "I do worry," he said, that "our nominees are so well coached and for whatever reasons are so timid, that they won't discuss the law." And he had a warning for the Trump administration, declaring, "I'm not going to vote for nominees anymore that won't answer my questions."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

The following comes as no surprise.  CBS News reports:

"CBS "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl has revealed a candid remark made to her by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016. Stahl told a group of fellow journalists at the Deadline Club Awards Dinner in New York City earlier this week that Mr. Trump had admitted his consistent attacks on the media were meant to "discredit" journalists so that negative stories about him would not be believed.  Stahl was the first television journalist to sit down with Mr. Trump for an interview following his election victory. Their wide-ranging on-camera interview did not delve into Mr. Trump's attitude toward the press, but Stahl said on Monday night that in a candid, off-camera meeting earlier that year, she pressed him to explain his barrage of insults aimed at journalists, and he gave her a clear explanation:

"I said, 'You know, that is getting tired. Why are you doing this? You're doing it over and over. It's boring and it's time to end that,'" Stahl said on stage alongside "PBS Newshour anchor Judy Woodruff.   "He said, 'You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.' He said that," Stahl told the audience, adding, "So, put that in your head for a minute."  The audience, and Stahl's fellow panelist Woodruff did take a moment to process the remarks.  "We're all absorbing what you just said," Woodruff said in reaction.  While the extended interview that "60 Minutes" aired did not discuss Mr. Trump's views on the press, Stahl did allude to them in a post interview discussion on CBSN, saying he appeared to be struggling with the challenge of keeping his base happy while also assuring the wider American public that he was going to work for them."

Sad, isn't it?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

Think the following isn't an example of sick religion?  The Washington Post reports:

"Prominent Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson has been removed from his job as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary amid an evangelical #MeToo moment: a massive backlash from women upset over comments he made in the past that are being newly perceived as sexist and demeaning.

"In recent weeks, Patterson, 75,  has come under fire for taped comments he made between 2000 and 2014 about women, including those remarking on a teenage girl’s figure and saying female seminarians need to work harder to look attractive. He also said women who are abused almost always should stay with their husbands. After thousands of Southern Baptist women signed a petition calling for the seminary’s board of trustees to oust him from his position, he apologized for making comments about the teenager, but he did not apologize for his comments about abused women. The comments had resurfaced on a blog this year."

Doesn't end there:

"The Washington Post also reported Tuesday that Patterson allegedly told a woman who said she had been raped while a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. in 2003 that she should not report her allegations to the police and encouraged her to forgive her alleged assailant. Patterson was that seminary’s president at the time. The story was published as the seminary’s board was meeting. Patterson did not respond to requests for comment on the alleged incident.

“The board also affirmed a motion stating evidence exists that Dr. Patterson has complied with reporting laws regarding assault and abuse,” Ueckert said in the board’s statement. It did not say more on that matter except a bullet point noting “The seminary stands against all forms of abuse.”

"Ueckert also addressed the seminary’s firing of a PhD student from his $40,000-a-year job as the catering kitchen manager and the revoking of his scholarship for tweeting about the Patterson debate, telling him that he was “indiscreet” and that his decision to speak publicly about the dispute “does not exhibit conduct becoming a follower of Jesus.” Patterson had told The Post that Nathan Montgomery had “a long history,” but Ueckert disputed this, saying that the board has found no evidence of misconduct in his employee file. He did not address whether the student’s job or scholarship would be reinstated."

Think this guy fit to remain on campus?  Get this:

"But some Southern Baptists voiced concerns that allowing Patterson to continue to live on campus might not send a strong enough message.  Southern Baptist leaders “would be concerned about their own appreciation for Paige Patterson: his legacy, history and contribution to the Southern Baptist Convention, even to the trustees individually,” said Thabiti Anyabwile, an author and pastor in Southeast Washington. “They’re comrades, friends. The question that’s left is whether that signals any change in direction and tenor at the institution. It would be incredibly difficult for a new president to lead, with Patterson literally living on campus and over his shoulder.”

Also?  Get this.  He's still being paid.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-25-18

Too late for posting in this edition in detail, Trump canceled the summit with the North Korean dictator.  More to come in the next edition.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Highly reminiscent of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors, Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.  It's appalling.  Runs against the grain of everything our formerly great country once stood for.  No longer.

Good news.  The Washington Times reports:

"A U.S. Border Patrol agent who was acquitted of second-degree murder while jurors deadlocked on lesser counts will be retried in the cross-border shooting of a rock-throwing teen, prosecutors announced Friday in Arizona.  Agent Lonnie Swartz will be retried on voluntary and involuntary manslaughter charges, said Cosme Lopez, a spokesman for the federal court.  The prosecution did not plan to issue a statement on the decision, he said.  Luis Parra, an attorney for the family of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, said he was with them in the courtroom in Tucson when the retrial decision was announced and they welcomed the news with joy.  Elena Rodriguez was shot in 2012 on a street just south of the border in Nogales.  “I’m relieved and very much appreciate the efforts” of the U.S. attorney’s office, the boy’s grandfather Jose Elena said."

Time for this jackbooted bastard to be held criminally accountable for the appalling gutless murder of this kid.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Highly reminiscent of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors, Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.  It's appalling.  Runs against the grain of everything our formerly great country once stood for.  No longer.

Think air marshals improve safety?  Wake up.   CBS News reports:

"The director of the Federal Air Marshal Service is responding to a scathing New York Times report that claims the organization has issues with alcohol abuse, harassment, and low morale in its ranks. The service was created in 1961 and expanded after the September 11 attacks. It has about 3,000 officers and an annual budget of $800 million and critics say it needs to be reformed – or possibly shut down."

Can law enforcement do anything right?  LOL.

"Their mission is to keep an airliner from being used as a weapon and doing that requires highly specialized training. But the agency has been faulted for not being able to show how effective a deterrent it is to terrorism, and lawmakers say this latest controversy begs the question: is this a layer of security worth paying for."

Good question.

"Last year an inspector general report found "limitations with…contributions to aviation security" and recommended shutting down some operations to better use resources.  Congressman John Duncan, a Tennessee Republican, wants to shut down the program.  "It's just money going down a rat hole and doing no good whatsoever," Duncan said. "If it was up to me we wouldn't still have them. Because I think it's the most needless, useless. wasteful organization in the federal government and that is saying a lot."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Highly reminiscent of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors, Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.  It's appalling.  Runs against the grain of everything our formerly great country once stood for.  No longer.

Think the following justice?  Honorable?  CBS News reports:

"A Florida sheriff's deputy who failed to confront a gunman during a Feb. 14 school massacre is receiving a monthly state pension of $8,702.35. The SunSentinel reports 55-year-old Scot Peterson, who resigned and retired after the shootings, began receiving payments in April.  Surveillance video showed Peterson outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as the gunman killed 17 people inside with an AR-15 assault-style rifle. Broward Sheriff Scott Israel said Peterson should have gone inside. President Donald Trump called Peterson a coward.  "He could've really saved everyone on that third floor that day," said Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was shot to death inside the school on Valentine's Day."

No one knows the end result had he gone in to confront the gunman.  Should, however, been willing to die trying.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Highly reminiscent of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors, Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.  It's appalling.  Runs against the grain of everything our formerly great country once stood for.  No longer.

The following is appalling.  The Border Patrol couldn't care less.  Not only do these bastards kick over water containers left for migrants in the desert, consistently fail to accurately report death counts.  CNN reports:

"For 20 years, as part of its mission, the Border Patrol has been tasked with tracking and trying to prevent border-crossing deaths. But an investigation by CNN has found that the agency has been, at best, haphazard about tracking and recording deaths. Despite telling Congress and the General Accounting Office it would provide comprehensive accounting of migrant deaths, it has failed to do so. It has excluded fatalities reported by other law-enforcement agencies, while claiming to include them, and neglected even to count some deaths directly witnessed by Border Patrol agents."

Clearly, these jackbooted f--kers aren't worth a shit.

"Over the 16 fiscal years ended last September, CNN has identified at least 564 deaths of people crossing illegally in the border region, above and beyond the Border Patrol's tally of 5,984.  Those uncounted deaths were identified through a review of federal, state and local records and databases, and interviews with medical examiners, pathologists, sheriffs and justices of the peace along the border. It is by no means a complete count, and there are strong indications that the actual toll could be thousands higher."

Competence?  What's that?  Professionalism?  Non-existent.

"More than half of the uncounted deaths identified by CNN happened in the past four years. Those figures mirror a recent investigation by the Arizona Republic, one of a set of pieces on border conditions that won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. That story documented a significant undercounting of migrant deaths from 2012 to 2016."

Why should they care?  Why would they care?  Forget?  They're worthless, criminal jackbooted bastards in uniform.  Not worth a crap.

Far worse than incompetence, there is great evil at work here:

"The effective erasure within federal statistics of Cabrera's death and so many others has helped minimize the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis associated with illegal crossings. Downplaying the death toll also makes it harder for the United States to assess the full impact of a border policy, in place since the mid-1990s, that uses barriers and other enforcement tools to push migrants to more remote, deadlier crossing points."

Taxpayers are looted to pay for this shit.  These bastards are not doing their jobs.  The people doing nearly all the dying are not gang members, drug traffickers, criminals ,etc..  Most are migrants looking to make a living, refugees seeking asylum.  You've been bamboozled by the Trump nazi and his henchmen.  Sold a bill of goods you've stupidly bought:

"That policy was designed to deter crossers, but, as officials realized nearly from the start, its primary impact has been to make the journey far more deadly. Today, experts who study the border fear that deportation and border enforcement strategies being pursued by the Trump admininstration may drive deaths even higher -- making it all the more important to accurately track fatalities."

Of absolutely no concern to the Republican nazi element in our formerly great country.  These hopelessly clueless, greedy bastards are only concerned with lining their pockets.  Where are the Democrats?  Out to lunch.  Absent without leave since November 22, 1963.

"But CNN found that the Border Patrol has made little effort to count deaths beyond the ones they encounter. Medical examiners and sheriffs agreed that the Border Patrol doesn't ask for their numbers. And 10 Border Patrol agents and supervisors across the southwestern border and in Washington told CNN that they account only for migrant deaths that Border Patrol agents are directly involved in handling. They don't include other deaths reported by landowners or others to local law enforcement."

No more than a concerted effort to perpetrate, perpetuate a ruse.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

At least one judge is willing to stand tall.  NBC reports:

"A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the government's authority to search personal electronics like cellphones at the U.S. border without warrants, saying the policies "substantially burden travelers' First Amendment rights."The order, issued last week in U.S. District Court in Boston but not made public until Thursday, rejects the government's argument that personal electronics can be searched without warrants under the same authority that allows the Department of Homeland Security to search luggage and other physical containers."

About time.  What took so long?

"Citing a 2014 Supreme Court ruling requiring police to get search warrants before they search criminal suspects' cellphones, Judge Denise Casper wrote in the 52-page order: "Electronic device searches are, categorically, more intrusive than searches of one's person or effects. The ability to review travelers' cellphones allows officers to view 'nearly every aspect of their lives — from the mundane to the intimate.'"

None of this goddamned government's business.  These bastards go on fishing expeditions. Get a warrant.

"The lawsuit was brought in September on behalf of 10 U.S. citizens and a legal green-card holder by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital privacy advocacy group.  It seeks to wipe out policies that give agents of two homeland security agencies — primarily Customs and Border Protection but also Immigration and Customs Enforcement — broad discretion to search cellphones, laptop computers and other personal devices of anyone entering the country without judicial approval."

No more than fishing expeditions by these goddamned jackbooted bastards.

"The department sought to have the suit dismissed because "the border is different," arguing that the government has "a paramount interest in protecting its territorial integrity" and that an individual's "expectation of privacy is less at the border than it is in the interior."  But Casper wrote that while the department "may be correct that the border is different, the Supreme Court and First Circuit have acknowledged that digital searches are different too since they 'implicate privacy concerns far beyond those implicated' in a typical container search."

Give the jackbooted bastards an inch, the nazis indeed take a mile.  Must be reined in.  Present an exigent, ongoing threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

"Casper, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, wrote that electronics searches can amount to "psychological intrusion," agreeing with the plaintiffs that electronic documents are equivalent to personal papers, the privacy of which is strongly protected because "the searcher is invading not only the subject's house but his or her thoughts as well."

-- Nazi jackbooted government in what is supposed to be a democratic republic.  Sadly, remains so in name only.

"Government documents introduced in the case reveal that Customs and Border Protection conducted more than 30,000 device searches at the border last year, about 50 percent more than in 2016 and more than three times the number in 2015. The agency declined to comment."

Bet it did.  What could it say?  How do you credibly justify the unjustifiable?

"Sophia Cope, a staff lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the ruling, which allows the suit to go forward, "a big win for the digital rights of all international travelers."  "As we've long argued, the border is not a Constitution-free zone," Cope said in a statement.  Esha Bhandari, the ACLU lawyer who argued the case, said in a statement that the plaintiffs "look forward to arguing this case on the merits and showing that these searches are unconstitutional."

No foreign power, no terrorist organization, not even the criminal element present a greater threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties than all levels and branches of nazi government.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

The Trump nazi concerns himself more with Chinese business interests than the cyber security of the United States.  The following is appalling.  The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump’s surprising promise Sunday to help bring Chinese telecom giant ZTE back from the brink of collapse undercuts top law enforcement and intelligence officials, who have warned for years that the company’s products could be used for cyberespionage in the United States.  ZTE has close ties with China’s government, and U.S. officials have raised concerns that its phones and other devices could be used as surveillance tools against Americans."

Clearly, Trump remains out to lunch.

"Lawmakers immediately pointed out the contradiction. “Our intelligence agencies have warned that ZTE technology and phones pose a major cyber security threat,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, tweeted at Trump yesterday. “You should care more about our national security than Chinese jobs.”  As Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) put it in a tweet this morning, the "problem with ZTE isn't jobs & trade, it's national security & espionage"

Wouldn't want to confuse our nazi fuhrer with the truth, would we?

"The head of the FBI and other intelligence chiefs in congressional testimony this year urged American citizens to steer clear of products from ZTE and its Chinese rival Huawei. And just two weeks ago, the Pentagon banned the companies’ phones from being sold on military bases, saying they “may pose an unacceptable risk to Department's personnel, information and mission.”

NBC reports:

"President Donald Trump said Sunday he has instructed his Commerce Department to help get a Chinese telecommunications company "back into business" after the U.S. government cut off access to its American suppliers.  At issue is that department's move last month to block the ZTE Corp., a major supplier of telecoms networks and smartphones based in southern China, from importing American components for seven years. The U.S. accused ZTE of misleading American regulators after it settled charges of violating sanctions against North Korea and Iran.

    "President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018"

Mark of a sane president?  A man who hasn't betrayed his oath of office?  Treasonously, traitorously, treacherously placed best interests of a foreign company that's compromised U.S. cyber security ahead of the best interests of the American public?

NBC reports:

"The nation's top counterintelligence official told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that penetration of the U.S. market by the Chinese telecom firm ZTE could pose a national security risk to the United States."

Imagine that.  Couldn't be, could it?  LOL.

"His comments come two days after President Donald Trump tweeted that he was working with the president of China to help ZTE, which has been sanctioned by the Treasury and Commerce departments for doing business with Iran and North Korea."

Think Trump's not an idiot, -- or lining his pockets?

"Bill Evanina, who is facing a confirmation vote to head the newly created National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said he was not up to speed on the sanctions against ZTE, and he declined to say whether lifting them would be a good idea."

Jesus Christ.  Isn't he allegedly "the nation's top counterintelligence official?"  LOL.  Give me a break.

"But under questioning by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Evanina said U.S. intelligence agencies are on record as assessing that Chinese telecommunication firms are used as a vehicle by the Chinese government to conduct espionage.  And, answering a question from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., he said he would never use a ZTE phone."

He wouldn't?  LOL.

"President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," Trump tweeted Sunday. "Too many jobs in China lost."

Imagine that.  LOL.  ... Did they line your pockets, Mr. 'President?'  -- Or, are you simply an idiot?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Cohen fiasco continues.  Plot thickens.   NBC reports:

"President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, contacted the drug giant Novartis after the 2016 election "promising access" to the new administration, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller later requested information from the company about the offer, a senior official inside Novartis told NBC News on Wednesday.  "He [Cohen] contacted us after the new administration was in place," the official said. "He was promising access to the new administration." Novartis then signed a one-year, $1.2 million contract with Cohen.  The disclosure came after an attorney representing the adult-film actress who says she had an affair with Trump released a summary of bank transactions that he says shows payments from various companies to a company controlled by Cohen."

Show us the proof.  Not just a summary.

"That lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said the transactions suggest that Cohen was "selling access to the president of the United States." Cohen, his attorney and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.  According to Avenatti, at least $4.4 million flowed through Essential Consultants, the company Cohen created in October 2016 and then used to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money."

Fascinating, isn't it?

Gets more convoluted.  CBS News reports:

"Novartis last year paid a firm controlled by Michael Cohen, President Trump's personal lawyer, $100,000 a month for what the Swiss drug maker said was advice on "health care policy matters."  The company said it ended its relationship with the firm, called Essential Consultants, following a single meeting with Cohen in March of 2017. But it continued paying the firm to comply with terms of the contract until it expired in February of this year, according to Novartis. That would mean Essential Consultants ultimately received payments of $1.2 million.  "Following this initial meeting, Novartis determined that Michael Cohen and Essential Consultants would be unable to provide the services that Novartis had anticipated related to U.S. health care policy matters and the decision was taken not to engage further," the company said in a statement."

More ominous?

"Novartis also said federal investigators working with special counsel Robert Mueller contacted the company in November regarding its connection to Essential Consultants and that it cooperated with the probe.   A source familiar with the situation said Cohen approached then-Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez shortly after Mr. Trump was elected president. Specifically, Cohen said he could offer advice on how to gain access to members of the incoming administration. Novartis agreed to retain the lawyer's firm in hopes of gleaning insights into the new regime, the source said."

Think Mueller isn't investigating the above?

"Novartis' relationship with Cohen emerged Tuesday after Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for adult film actress Stormy Daniels, claimed to have evidence of a series of payments made to a bank account in Cohen's name. Other companies that made financial payments to Essential Consulting include AT&T, Korea Aerospace Industries and an investment firm linked to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg."

NPR reports:

"The document released this week that described millions of dollars' worth of payments to Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen is rife with inaccuracies and may have depended upon leaked or stolen information, attorneys for Cohen charge."

Truth, certainly, remains a moving target as our formerly great country continues to fail.

"Cohen's lawyers wrote to a federal judge in New York City late Wednesday that at least two financial transactions listed in the document involved other men named Michael Cohen, not the Cohen who has long served as Trump's attorney.  Some of the information in the file is accurate, Cohen's attorneys said — which means the lawyer suing Cohen who released the memo, Michael Avenatti, somehow got his hands on nonpublic Treasury Department or other documents.  "We have no reason to believe that Mr. Avenatti is in lawful possession of these bank records," the lawyers wrote."

Jesus Christ.  -- Someone's lying.  LOL.

"Some substantive aspects of the Avenatti document are true. Cohen's attorneys conceded he did have business relationships with telecom giant AT&T, the Swiss pharma corporation Novartis and others. Cohen appears to have been selling himself to those kinds of clients with the promise of access to Trump."

If true, think that's not a problem?

"Novartis confirmed to NPR this week that it has given information to the office of Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller about its dealings with Cohen and AT&T later did the same on Wednesday evening.  The companies have sought to distance themselves from Cohen, the dust-up over his finances and the Russia imbroglio."

Can't imagine why, can you?  LOL.

In another article NPR reports:

"Telecom giant AT&T made a "big mistake" in paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to Donald Trump's personal lawyer to seek his help as the company pursued a merger that the administration opposed, the company said Friday.  CEO Randall Stephenson said in a message to employees that although he believes everything about the relationship with Michael Cohen was legal and "entirely legitimate," it represented a "serious misjudgment."  "In this instance, our Washington D.C. team's vetting process clearly failed, and I take responsibility for that," he wrote.  A copy of Stephenson's message was obtained by NPR."

Interesting, isn't it?

"AT&T is the second of Cohen's onetime clients to publicly regret paying him; Swiss pharma corporation Novartis also called the relationship a mistake on Thursday.  Cohen appears to have been selling himself based on access he said he could provide to Trump. He made millions of dollars from AT&T, Novartis, Korea Aerospace Industries and an investment management company, Columbus Nova."

Get this:

"Time Warner, with which AT&T wants to merge, owns CNN. Trump has sometimes singled out CNN as part of his criticisms of the news media. Antitrust officials within the Trump administration are trying to block the merger and AT&T leaders thought Cohen could help them."

What webs we weave.

NPR reports:

"The FBI warned four years ago that a foundation controlled by the Russian oligarch who allegedly reimbursed Donald Trump's personal lawyer might have been acting on behalf of Russia's intelligence services.  FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Lucia Ziobro wrote an unusual column in the Boston Business Journal in April of 2014 to warn that a foundation controlled by Russian energy baron Viktor Vekselberg might be part of a Moscow spying campaign that sought to siphon up American science and technology.  "The foundation may be a means for the Russian government to access our nation's sensitive or classified research, development facilities and dual-use technologies with military and commercial applications," Ziobro wrote. "This analysis is supported by reports coming out of Russia itself."

Amazing how this activity has been going on for years, isn't it?  Yet, the Trump nazi continues to defend the indefensible.

"Fast forward to this week: Vekselberg's name has been in U.S. headlines because of allegations about his involvement with payments to Trump's longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen.  A lawyer suing Trump and Cohen, Michael Avenatti, released a document on Tuesday charging that Vekselberg might have reimbursed Cohen for the payment he made to Avenatti's client, porn actress Stormy Daniels. Avenatti's document has not been fully verified but important aspects of it have been confirmed."

CNN reports:

"President Donald Trump's new attorney, Rudy Giuliani, told CNN on Thursday that Trump "wasn't aware" his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen pitched his access to the President to potential clients following the 2016 election and landed lucrative consulting deals as a result.  "I talked to the President only one time about this and that was the first day it came out and he wasn't aware of that situation that now, I guess, the facts are getting a little contorted," Giuliani said when asked about Cohen's pitch and if the President knew about it."

Believe it?  LOL.

"CNN reported on Wednesday that after Trump won the White House, Cohen highlighted his proximity to the President as a selling point to potential clients.  One Republican strategist described Cohen's pitch as follows: "I don't know who's been representing you, but you should fire them all. I'm the guy you should hire. I'm closest to the President. I'm his personal lawyer."  Giuliani also said Trump "wasn't aware of the situation in which he got money from any of that group that was mentioned originally. I doubt it. Yeah, I doubt it. He didn't know about any of the original stuff."

CBS News reports:

"President Trump's latest annual financial disclosure form released Wednesday reveals something undisclosed on Mr. Trump's previous financial disclosure form — Mr. Trump's reimbursement of his then-attorney Michael Cohen. The disclosure was made as a footnote in a section on Mr. Trump's liabilities.  The head of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) flagged that discrepancy to deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in case it is "relevant to any inquiry you may be pursuing."

Noose figuratively tightens.

"A note in the document says "OGE has concluded that the information related to the payment made by Mr. Cohen is required to be reported and that the information provided meets the disclosure requirement for a reportable liability." This means that the ethics office deemed that the payment to Cohen, made in 2016, should have been reported last year."

Why wasn't it?  Was Trump too busy denying the Stormy Daniels tryst and subsequent hush payment?

"David Apol, the acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Wednesday, saying that, "based on the information provided as a note ... the payment made by Mr. Cohen is required to be reported as a liability." Apol wrote to Rosenstein and provided him with those financial disclosure reports, "because you may find the disclosure relevant to any inquiry you may be pursuing regarding the president's prior report."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Must again be said not all Republicans are nazis.  NBC reports:

"Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday dismissed the effort launched by a group of House Republicans to circumvent the normal legislative process and force floor votes on a pack of immigration proposals.  “We never want to turn the floor over to the minority. What I don’t want to do is have a process that just ends up with a veto,” Ryan said at his weekly press conference, after being asked about the discharge petition — a maneuver which can be used to force votes on the House floor — filed a day earlier by a group of moderate House Republicans.  The Wisconsin Republican added that he doesn't want to have a "spectacle on the floor."

Why not?  Isn't that exactly what happens each and every day Congress is in session?  LOL.

"The petition, filed Wednesday by Reps. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., Jeff Denham, R-Calif., and Will Hurd, R-Texas, would force a vote on bipartisan legislation unveiled in March that would allow for consideration of four different proposals, including a conservative immigration bill proposed by Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., a bipartisan version of the Dream Act and a bipartisan bill to protect people covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program while enhancing border security. It would also allow Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis, the ability to offer an immigration bill of his choosing."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

The fight for net neutrality continues.  NPR reports:

"The Federal Communications Commission says that its order ending an era of "net neutrality" — the rules that restrict Internet service providers' ability to slow down or speed up users' access to specific websites and apps – will take effect on June 11.  The FCC named a date that is one day before the Senate's June 12 deadline to vote on a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that was filed by Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass. The resolution aims to overturn the FCC's repeal of the Obama administration's Open Internet Order of 2015, which officially established net neutrality.  Formally called a Resolution of Disapproval, the CRA has the support of every member of the Democratic caucus in the Senate, along with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. It also has the support of Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the web, and a number of businesses, from Reddit and Tumblr to Wikimedia.  To force action on Markey's CRA, Senate Democrats filed a discharge petition on Wednesday, setting up a vote that Markey says should take place next week."

NPR reports:

"The Senate approved a resolution Wednesday to nullify the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rollback, dealing a symbolic blow to the FCC's new rule that remains on track to take effect next month.  The final vote was 52-47. As expected, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me., joined Democrats in voting to overturn the FCC's controversial decision. But two other Republicans — Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — also voted in favor of the resolution of disapproval.  The outcome is unlikely to derail the FCC's repeal of Obama-era rules that restrict Internet service providers' ability to slow down or speed up users' access to specific websites and apps.  The legislative victory is fleeting because the House does not intend to take similar action, but Democrats are planning to carry the political fight over Internet access into the 2018 midterms."

So what?  The damage will have already been done.  Internet access already leaves much to be desired.  Will certainly get worse after implementation of this measure backed by Republicans to further line the pockets of their corporate masters, -- who in turn line theirs.

"Today is a monumental day," said Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., during debate over the resolution. "Today we show the American people who sides with them, and who sides with the powerful special interests and corporate donors who are thriving under this administration."

Too little, much too late.  Symbolism over substance.  Where have you bastards been all this time?  Almost forgot.  Lining your pockets off your corporate masters just like the Republican nazis you so hypocritically criticize.  Two sides of the same self-serving coin.

"Critics of the FCC rollback say they're worried about consumers being forced to pay more for less consistent or slower service. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, part of the Republican majority, has said the Obama rule was "heavy-handed" and isn't needed."

He's bought and paid for.  Lining his pockets off his corporate masters.  So what else is new?  ... Hear the rumble?  An unwanted dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looming.  Delusionally believe the status quo sustainable?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Have to give Arizona Sen. John McCain great credit for standing tall.  ABC News reports:

"Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain is calling on his Senate colleagues to reject President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA, Gina Haspel, saying her refusal to acknowledge “torture’s immorality” is disqualifying.  In a statement, McCain said he believes Haspel is a “patriot who loves our country and has devoted her professional life to its service and defense.”  “However,” McCain continued, “Ms. Haspel’s role in overseeing the use of torture by Americans is disturbing. Her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying.”  He added: “I believe the Senate should exercise its duty of advice and consent and reject this nomination.”

Republican nazis will likely ram it through.

"The powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee was held in captivity as a prisoner of war for five years in then-North Vietnam, and was tortured. He remains at his home in Arizona as he battles brain cancer, and is not expected to be in Washington for Haspel’s confirmation vote."

Incredibly sad.

"During a heated exchange with California Democrat Sen. Kamala Harris, Haspel declined to answer "yes" or "no" when the senator asked whether the use of interrogation tactics – that critics say amount to torture – was immoral.  "Please answer yes or no. Do you believe, in hindsight, that those techniques were immoral?" Harris asked of the nominee.  Haspel responded: "Senator, what I believe sitting here today is that I support the higher moral standard we have decided to hold ourselves..." before Harris cut her off, again pressing her to answer the question.  "I think I've answered the question," Haspel replied.  "No you've not. Do you believe the previous techniques now armed with hindsight, do you believe they were immoral yes or no?" Harris asked.  "Senator, I believe that we should hold ourselves to the moral standard outlined in the army field manual," Haspel replied, not directly answering Harris' question."

This woman is a war criminal.  Should not be confirmed.  Confirmation sends the message the United States cannot be trusted.

NPR reports:

"President Trump's nominee for the head of the CIA, Gina Haspel, was questioned this week by the Senate intelligence committee about her role in the agency's interrogation program after the Sept. 11 attacks.  "Under my leadership, on my watch, CIA will not restart a detention and interrogation program," she told the committee. But many senators believe she did not oppose torture strongly enough, and they pressed her on what her role was in the CIA's interrogation program."

Seatbelts on.  While the mastermind of 9/11 deserves no sympathy for his crimes, he has information regarding his torture by CIA goons that deserves to be heard by Senators, and more importantly, the American public.

"One person who says he has information the senators should know is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks. Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that Mohammed had asked a Guantánamo Bay military judge for permission to share six paragraphs of information with the committee."

Let's see it.

"Mohammed has been in U.S. custody for 15 years. As The Times explains, "In the weeks after his capture, an Intelligence Committee report said, Mr. Mohammed was subjected to the suffocation technique called waterboarding 183 times over 15 sessions, stripped naked, doused with water, slapped, slammed into a wall, given rectal rehydrations without medical need, shackled into painful stress positions and sleep-deprived for about a week by being forced to stand with his hands chained above his head."

If this is indeed true, think the Geneva Conventions were not abrogated by CIA 'interrogators?'

"David Nevin, Mohammed's lead defense attorney, told NPR's Scott Simon that his client believes he has information that is pertinent to Haspel's nomination. But Nevin can't disclose what Mohammed wants to tell the Senate committee, because the CIA has classified it."

Convenient, isn't it?  These bastards commit war crimes.  Then get to cover them up through the cloak of secrecy.

"Very uniquely in the history of classifications, his observations while he was involved in the torture program have been classified at the top secret level," Nevin says. "So there are distinct limitations on my ability to describe what it is he wants to say."  Nevin says it shouldn't be difficult to give senators access to the information, but that opportunity has not been made.  And, he says, during her nomination hearing this week, Haspel said she is the one who controls classification decisions — acting as the original classification authority for material related to her confirmation. "So it should be within her power to permit this to happen," Nevin says.  Or not make it happen."

Convenient, isn't it?  Forget?  This woman destroyed video tapes of the torture.  Covered up war crimes committed by her agency and its goons.  In the process, destroyed whatever credibility our formerly great country and government still has.

"My client has a right under the Convention against Torture to complain about his torture and to seek redress for it," Nevin says. "The United States is one of 155 signatories to that convention, and the Senate ratified it. So yes, he would like to be heard on the question of what he knows about this."

That's right.  He does have that right.  So do the American people to hear what he has to say.  The only way to prevent such torture from happening again in the future is to expose it to the light of day.  The torture issue is indeed separate and apart from the crimes this prisoner is accused of.

"While he recognizes that Mohammed, who is accused of orchestrating the attacks that killed 3,000 people, isn't a sympathetic figure, Nevin says that doesn't mean his experience isn't relevant."

That's right.  The American public is indeed entitled to know precisely what is and isn't done in our name by the people who run and own this government.  Sadly, this government remains a democratic republic in name only.  This torture fiasco is further proof positive.

"I guess the idea is that we're against torture unless it's something we really want to do, or it's a person we would really like to torture," Nevin says. "And you can see in articulating that, that that's not a rule of law at all. That's a government of men, not of laws."

Truer words were never spoken.  The above quote lies at the center of what our formerly great country used to stand for.  No longer does.  This needs to change.  If it does not, our country will no longer be the democratic republic the Founders intended.  Not only that, think American military service personnel and other government agents will not be subject to the same exact treatment Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others endured?  Wake up.

NPR reports:

"The Senate intelligence committee voted 10-5 Wednesday to recommend Gina Haspel as CIA director despite the controversy surrounding her role in the agency's waterboarding program.  The full Senate now appears all but certain to confirm Haspel within the next week or so, which would make her the first woman to lead the CIA."

A bona fide war criminal. Nazi America.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

The following is the epitome, height of callousness.  -- Even for a callous son of a bitch like this writer.  LOL.  NBC reports:

"Furor built Friday among members of Congress, family members and pundits following news that one of President Donald Trump's communications aides, Kelly Sadler, mockingly referred to Sen. John McCain’s brain cancer diagnosis during a White House meeting."

Jesus Christ.  This man is dying.  Love him or hate him, the Senator spent nearly six years at the 'Hanoi Hilton' after his fighter jet was shot down over North Vietnam.  Severely tortured.

“There are no words,” Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., tweeted on Friday, reacting to a report about her comments."

Indeed.

Here's the issue:

"During a White House meeting on Thursday, Sadler reacted to McCain's announcement that he opposes Gina Haspel’s nomination as CIA director because of her involvement in the agency’s enhanced interrogation program.

“He’s dying anyway,” Sadler said, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the meeting."

-- There is a double standard in this country.  ... Had a man said something like this, the reaction would have been off the charts.

"The White House hasn’t denied Sadler’s remarks and multiple spokespeople have not responded to questions from NBC News about Sadler's future in the administration.  McCain’s daughter, Meghan, questioned Friday why Sadler still has a job.  “I don’t understand what kind of environment you’re working in that that would be acceptable and then you can come to work the next day and still have a job,” she said on ABC’s “The View.” “My father’s legacy is going to be talked about for hundreds and hundreds of years. These people are nothing-burgers. Nobody’s going to remember you.”

Can you imagine how McCain's wife and daughter had to have felt?  What could this Trump aide possibly been thinking?

"Cindy McCain, the senator’s wife, tweeted at Sadler Thursday evening: “May I remind you my husband has a family, 7 children and 5 grandchildren.”

Hat's off, Mrs. McCain.  Uncommon valor.  Class act.  Both you and your husband represent the best this country has to offer.

"Former Vice President Joe Biden, on the presidential ticket that beat McCain in 2008, said Friday that the Arizona senator is a "genuine hero" whose "sacrifices for his country are immeasurable." Biden, who served in the Senate with McCain, lost his son Beau to brain cancer in 2015.  "People have wondered when decency would hit rock bottom with this administration. It happened yesterday," he said in a statement. “Given this White House’s trail of disrespect toward John and others, this staffer is not the exception to the rule; she is the epitome of it."

No question.  ... The Ice Princess.

"Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said Friday on Twitter, “Our nation should be grateful for the exemplary service and sacrifice of [McCain], and treat this war hero and his family with the civility and respect they deserve.”  In another tweet, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., called Sadler’s comments “outrageous and unacceptable.”  “It’s a sad day in this country when White House officials are mocking a man who was tortured as a prisoner of war,” Jones said. “He’s more than earned the right to speak out on these matters. A public apology should be issued immediately.”

Think we haven't lost our country?

"Democratic lawmakers sounded a similar note.  Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island tweeted shortly after the story broke that it was “unacceptable” for anyone in the Trump administration to “cruelly mock veterans” like McCain, no matter their political or policy differences: “He gave so much for our nation,” he said, referring to the torture McCain endured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam."

That's right.

"Reacting to Sadler’s comments, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., tweeted Friday, “Is part of being low and small that it’s irresistible to show just how low and small you are?”  “Our politics may be different but John McCain is an American hero,” tweeted Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., on Thursday. “The vile and repugnant attacks we've seen from POTUS, WH staff and the far right are disgusting and show how small they are next to this honorable man.”

Gets worse:

"The initial report of Sadler's comment came the same day retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney mocked McCain during a TV appearance on the Fox Business network, arguing that torture had worked on the Arizona senator.  "The fact is, is John McCain — it worked on John," McInerney said. "That's why they call him 'Songbird John.'”

The General has no honor.  Neither does Fox.

Coup de grace?  Get this:

"NBC News reported last weekend that people close to McCain have asked Vice President Mike Pence to participate in the senator's funeral, not President Trump. Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush are slated to be eulogists at the funeral service, which is to be held at the Washington National Cathedral, a source close to McCain said."

In follow up, NPR reports:

"The reported remark by Sadler, a former opinion writer for the conservative Washington Times, came on the same day that a retired three-star general told Fox Business Network that the torture McCain endured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam "worked."  "... [It] worked on John [McCain]," Ret. Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney told Charles Payne of Fox Business Network on Thursday.  "That's why they call him 'Songbird John,'" he said.  The claim that McCain — who was imprisoned in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" after his Navy A-4 was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 — had collaborated with his captors has received a "pants on fire" rating from PolitiFact.  PolitiFact, in a report from 2008, said there was "scant evidence to back up the claim and it is strongly contradicted by many other accounts ... [including] interviews with other POWs, an author who has written a McCain biography and the senator's own accounts."

Think Fox has any credibility?  Remains no more than an infomercial for the Trump nazi?  Get this:

"The comment by McInerney — who has been a proponent of the debunked claim that President Obama was born in Kenya and once suggested that Islamist sleeper agents might be embedded in the Obama White House – went unchallenged on-air by Payne.  The host later apologized for the oversight, saying he "had the control room in my ear telling me to wrap the segment, and did not hear the comment."  "As a proud military veteran and son of a Vietnam Vet these words neither reflect my or the network's feelings about Senator McCain, or his remarkable service and sacrifice to this country," Payne said."

    "I regret I did not catch this remark, as it should have been challenged. As a proud military veteran and son of a Vietnam Vet these words neither reflect my or the network’s feelings about Senator McCain, or his remarkable service and sacrifice to this country.”
    Charles V. Payne
    — Charles V Payne (@cvpayne) May 10, 2018"

Think this bastard has any credibility?  ... Or, the Trump nazi?

"During the presidential campaign in 2015, then-candidate Trump — who received multiple academic and medical deferments to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War — said McCain was only considered a war hero "because he was captured," adding "I like people who weren't captured."

How many deferments did Trump get during the Vietnam War?  Reportedly, wasn't it five?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

The following is appalling.  Raw nazism.  Unbecoming our formerly great country and its 'leadership.'  NPR reports:

"Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen defended the administration's "zero tolerance" policy that calls for separating families who cross the border illegally, saying the undocumented immigrants shouldn't get special treatment.  "That's no different than what we do every day in every part of the United States — when an adult of a family commits a crime," she told NPR. "If you as a parent break into a house, you will be incarcerated by police and thereby separated from your family."  "Illegal aliens should not get just different rights because they happen to be illegal aliens," she added."

The mentality of the Trump nazi and his henchmen remains stunningly inexplicable.  Amazing, isn't it, Ms. Nielsen equates someone crossing the border in search of asylum and/or a better life with a common criminal who kills, steals, rapes, assaults, etc.?  -- Trump's Fourth Reich.  Raw nazism.  Yet, not one Wells Fargo corporate officer has been prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned.  A goddamned double standard.

"In a wide-ranging interview with NPR's John Burnett airing on All Things Considered, Nielsen stood by the policy announced earlier this week as well as the administration's broader crackdown on illegal immigration, saying her department is merely following the law."

The hell it is.  This woman is a liar.  All levels of law enforcement enjoy discretion.  Ms. Nielsen and her fuhrer, the Trump nazi are quite aware of this.  Both pieces of human excrement, as well as the racist Sessions nazi, have disgraced themselves, their oaths of office, the Flag, and the public they clearly don't serve.  Why the double standard?  The bottom and middle class get their asses prosecuted.  The top of the food chain skates.  Nazi justice.

"She says if the public wants different immigration laws, then it is up to Congress to change them — and that the fierce criticism directed at her department is unwarranted."

This woman is determinedly out to lunch.  Not a clue.  Clearly, does not hear the rumble.  An unwanted dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looming.

"The pushback in terms of us enforcing the law is inappropriate and unacceptable. If somebody wants a different law, they should go to Congress and get a different law passed."

You and your nazi fuhrer have bastardized not only the law, but the United States Constitution you falsely swore to uphold.  The following quote is unadulterated, galling horse shit:

"But we took an oath and we will uphold the laws of this country," she said."

The hell you are.  You're bastardizing them to impose raw nazism.  ... While conveniently ignoring the crimes committed by Wells Fargo and others on the top of the food chain.  This is not sustainable.

Get this.  The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump berated Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in a dispiriting Cabinet meeting on immigration Wednesday, according to three administration officials, but her colleagues denied reports that she has threatened to quit.  Trump lashed out at his Cabinet, and Nielsen in particular, when told that the number of people arrested for illegally crossing the Mexico border topped 50,000 for the second consecutive month. The blowup lasted more than 30 minutes, according to a person with knowledge of what transpired, as Trump’s face reddened and he raised his voice, saying Nielsen needed to “close down” the border."

Think Trump isn't insane?

“Why don’t you have solutions? How is this still happening?” he said, adding later, “We need to shut it down. We’re closed.”  Administration officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide a candid account of the private meeting.  Trump’s tirade went on so long that many present began fidgeting in their seats and flashing grimaces, White House aides said. Eventually, the topic moved on to health care, bringing relief to many in the room."

Think Trump's fit for office?

"The president’s eruption was witnessed by Cabinet members plus a number of senior White House officials — including counselor Kellyanne Conway, advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, immigration adviser Stephen Miller and chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow.  Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, Nielsen’s top ally who recommended her to Trump for the Homeland Security job, also was present.  Nielsen battled back, one person said, telling Trump that laws limit some of what she could do to block the flow of undocumented immigrants. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended her, saying the administration was looking for new ways to deter illegal crossings.  Mostly, though, Nielsen struggled to get a word in, said one senior official."

If the above is indeed accurate, should have immediately, courageously told the jackass to go f--k himself.  -- What he could, in fact, do with her job.  Walked out, met the media off campus.  Informed the public precisely what went down, how, and why.

"The New York Times and Politico reported that Nielsen, who began the job in December, drafted a resignation letter. In a statement Thursday, a spokesman for the agency said that was false. Two senior White House officials described Nielsen as upset after the meeting, but said they were unaware of such a letter or threats to resign.  One White House official said Nielsen was in the building again Thursday. Hogan Gidley, a White House spokesman, did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment.  One person close to Nielsen said she is unlikely to resign. “She feels like she’s doing the best she can and doing a good job on immigration, but she also has to follow the law,” this person said. “It’s frustrating to have your boss unhappy about that.”

Her boss is a nazi fuhrer, disgrace to himself and the country he fails to serve.  Serves only himself and his corporate cronies.  Nielsen disgraced herself by not standing up to this piece of crap.

"Trump has never viewed Nielsen favorably, and complains to colleagues that she is “not tough enough,” according to a senior White House official. He reminds staff that she was a “George W. Bush person” because of her previous tenure as a White House Homeland Security adviser."

She swore an oath to uphold the United States Constitution, -- as did her nazi fuhrer.  Both have traitorously, treacherously abrogated that oath.

"In recent weeks, Nielsen has announced measures aimed at deterring illegal migration, including criminal prosecutions for parents who cross the border illegally with their children. Families are typically broken up in those circumstances, as federal immigration agents send children to government shelters while their mothers and fathers remain in custody awaiting court dates."

Then, these pieces of crap and their fellow Republicans disingenuously, falsely, hypocritically claim to be Christians, party of the family.  They're not.  They're nazis.

"Trump has asked for frequent updates about the number of people attempting to cross the border illegally and has grown increasingly irritated at the recent trends."

Tough shit.  He and his henchmen have no control over how many people try to cross the border illegally.  All he and his henchmen can do is apprehend them when they do.  To pressure Nielsen vis a vis the increase in the number of attempts made is pure insanity.  Unreasonable.  As long as there are people fleeing oppression, violence, drug gangs, poverty, etc., there will be attempts to cross the border.

Despite all the above bluster, get this.  -- Quite remarkable in that it comes from an Extreme Right publication in the pocket of the Republican Nazi Right.  The Washington Times reports:

"The Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” vow to pursue criminal charges against all illegal border crossers is already stumbling, with one judge cutting migrants loose without any bail payment and federal prosecutors telling Border Patrol agents that they are full up and can’t bring cases against everyone."

Tough, isn't it?

"There have been some prosecutions — two illegal immigrants who were part of the illegal immigrant caravan who jumped the border in Texas and were nabbed by agents from the Laredo region were quickly prosecuted, agreed to plea deals and slapped with five-day jail sentences last week.  But elsewhere, agents are finding that when they apprehend illegal immigrants and turn the cases over to prosecutors, the prosecutors are not interested."

Apparently, have far more pressing issues to concern themselves with.  LOL.  Imagine that.

"Thirteen illegal immigrants nabbed by agents in the Border Patrol’s Boulevard station in California were declined on Friday alone, said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, and an agent himself. He said his fellow agents were telling him that prosecutors were picking and choosing, constrained chiefly by resources, leaving “a good number of them … being turned down” for prosecution.  “It’s a far cry from zero tolerance,” Mr. Judd told The Washington Times."

If true, prosecutors are embracing common sense, displaying discretion, wisely using limited resources, prioritizing prosecutions on true threat to the community.  Instead of complying with the Trump nazi's determined effort to impose the Fourth Reich.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Think there won't be severe consequences due to immigration policy changes the Trump nazi and his henchmen are proposing?  -- Consequences requiring looted taxpayers to ultimately pick up the tab?  Wake up.  NPR reports:

"The Trump administration is considering a policy change that might discourage immigrants who are seeking permanent residency from using government-supported health care, a scenario that is alarming some doctors, hospitals and patient advocates."

Think taxpayers won't wind up footing the bill at far greater cost as immigrants present for care at far more advanced stages of disease?

"Under the proposed plan, a lawful immigrant holding a visa could be passed over for getting permanent residency — getting a green card — if they use Medicaid, a subsidized Obamacare plan, food stamps, tax credits or a list of other non-cash government benefits, according to a draft of the plan published by The Washington Post.  Even letting a child who is a U.S. citizen use such benefits could jeopardize a parent's chances of attaining lawful residency, according to the measure.  Health advocates say such a policy could frighten a far broader group of immigrants into avoiding government-supported health coverage, creating public health problems that could be dire in the long run — for those patients and for U.S. hospitals."

The Trump nazi and his henchmen cannot, will not, be confused with the truth.  -- Nazism blinds  ignorant assholes in government.  Strips them of vision.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Interestingly, the Russians have been courting the Republican Nazi Right for years.  Think not? Wake up.  NPR reports:

"Kremlin-linked Russian politician Alexander Torshin traveled frequently between Moscow and various destinations in the United States to build relationships with figures on the American right starting as early as 2009, beyond his previously known contacts with the National Rifle Association.  Documents newly obtained by NPR show how he traveled throughout the United States to cultivate ties in ways well beyond his formal role as a member of the Russian legislature and later as a top official at the Russian central bank. These are steps a former top CIA official believes Torshin took in order to advance Moscow's long-term objectives in the United States, in part by establishing common political interests with American conservatives."

Clearly, hoodwinked the GOP Right.  LOL.  Imagine that.

"[Vladimir] Putin and probably the Russian intelligence services saw [Torshin's connections] as something that they could leverage in the United States," said Steve Hall, a retired CIA chief of Russian operations. "They reach out to a guy like Torshin and say, 'Hey, can you make contact with the NRA and some other conservatives ... so that we can have connectivity from Moscow into those conservative parts of American politics should we need them?' And that's basically just wiring the United States for sound, if you will, in preparation for whatever they might need down the road."

This guy was certainly a busy little f--ker.  LOL.  Get this:

"Torshin's trips took him to Alaska, where he requested a visit with former Gov. Sarah Palin; to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.; to Nashville, where he was an election observer for the 2012 presidential race; and to every NRA convention, in various American cities, between 2012 and 2016.  But the jig is up. Last month, Torshin was designated for sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department."

Couldn't be, could it?  LOL.

"We can conclude that the administration thought he was acting to advance Putin's malign agenda, but what precisely [he did] they did not make clear," said Daniel Fried, a former State Department coordinator for sanctions policy who helped craft the sanctions that ultimately were employed against Torshin."

Could it be, -- Mueller is getting a little too close for comfort?  LOL.

ABC News reports:

"Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has questioned several witnesses about millions of dollars in donations to President Donald Trump’s inauguration committee last year, including questions about donors with connections to Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, sources with direct knowledge told ABC News.  Those interviewed included longtime Trump friend and confidant Thomas Barrack, who oversaw the fundraising effort, as well as individuals familiar with the massive inaugural fund, according to sources with direct knowledge.  Barrack, a real estate investor, has long been described as a Trump “whisperer” whose close friendship with the president landed him a prime appearance during the GOP convention the night Trump accepted his party’s nomination."

Forget?  One hand washes the other.  LOL.

"The billionaire runs a fund with hundreds of millions in real estate and private equity holdings in the Middle East. Barrack oversaw the largest inaugural fundraising effort in U.S. history, bringing in $107 million – more than double what President Barack Obama raised for his first swearing-in festivities.  According to a source who has sat with the Mueller team for interviews in recent weeks, the special counsel is examining donors who have either business or personal connections in Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Several donors with those ties contributed large sums to the non-profit fundraising entity – gifts that topped out at $1 million dollars, according to public records."

Think all these characters innocent wall flowers?  ... Not desperately trying to buy influence?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Think the LGBTQ community isn't under vicious attack by the Trump Regime?  NBC reports:

"Shortly after President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2017, LGBTQ resources were removed from a number of government websites, including that of the Small Business Administration. At the time, SBA officials said that its LGBT Outreach page was “under construction and review” and assured lawmakers it would be reactivated in the near future."

They lied.

"More than a year later, the page is still devoid of content, while other pages that were also under construction —like one for veteran-owned businesses and another for women-owned businesses —have been reactivated. This prompted two Democratic members of the House Small Business Committee to send SBA Administrator Linda McMahon, a Trump appointee, a letter Wednesday inquiring about the page's removal and prolonged absence.  “This is deeply troubling and renews our concern that this page’s removal may have been politically or ideologically motivated, rather than simply administrative,” Reps. Nydia M. Velazquez and Yvette D. Clarke, both New York Democrats, wrote in the letter.  The letter touted the “nearly $2 trillion in economic contributions” made by America’s estimated 1.4 million LGBT-owned businesses and noted these companies “are a critical segment of the nation’s small business community and a powerful force for the economy.”

Matters not to nazis determined to impose their religious and ideological views in direct violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause, church-state separation, that is, freedom from religion.

“Erasing these resources from SBA’s website shortchanges gay, lesbian and transgender Americans who happen to be among our nation’s most successful small business owners,” Velázquez, the ranking member of the House Small Business Committee, said in a statement to NBC News.  “The fact that this move took place shortly after Donald Trump came into office raises troubling concerns and, as the committee of jurisdiction, we intend to get to the bottom of how this happened and see the situation rectified, quickly,” she added."

Think the achingly homophobic bastards won't continue to drag their feet?

"Velazquez and Clarke listed six questions at the end of their letter to be answered by the SBA by May 22. The questions inquire about the agency’s motive in removing the contents from the SBA's LGBT Outreach page, whether the resources that were on the page will be replaced and whether the agency will commit to engaging with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender business owners."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

The Israeli aggressor is increasingly out of control.  CBS News reports:

"Thousands of Palestinians gathered Friday at Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, near the border fence that separates the Palestinian territory from Israel. CBS News correspondent Holly Williams said their anger and frustration was plain to see."

Indeed.  The region remains a powder keg.

"For six weeks they've held these demonstrations, charging at the fence that cuts the Palestinians of Gaza off from the outside world because of a more-than-10-year blockade which has exacerbated their poverty."

-- An Israeli boot heel on the throats of the Palestinians.

"The Israelis have responded to the protesters hurling rocks, Molotov cocktails and burning tires with bullets and tear gas. They've killed at least 41 and injured almost 2,000 since the protests began on March 30.   Gaza Health Ministry said one Palestinian was killed and 49 were wounded by Israeli army fire on Friday.   Many of the Palestinian protesters are peaceful, and Israel says it only targets protesters who threaten the border."

Like the Trump nazi, the Israeli aggressor remains a congenital liar.

"In a statement on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces said about 5,000 Palestinians were taking part in "riots" along the border.  "The rioters are violent, burning tires and hurling rocks at the security fence and at IDF soldiers and launching kites with burning items attached to them with the intention of igniting fires in Israeli territory. IDF troops are responding with riot dispersal means and are firing in accordance with the rules of engagement," the Israeli military said, vowing to defend the border "and ensure the security of the citizens of Israel and Israeli sovereignty, as necessary."

What the Israelis are doing is gutlessly murdering, deliberately maiming Palestinians.

"The Palestinians want the right to return to land they were forced to leave behind in 1948 when the state of Israeli was formed. There are about 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza, and two-thirds of them are refugees or decedents of refugees.  The protests will culminate next Tuesday, May 15, on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Israel -- a day the Palestinians refer to as "an-Nakba," or "the catastrophe."  The Hamas militant group's leader in the Gaza Strip said Thursday that protesters would be unarmed and peaceful next week, but he also compared them to a "starving tiger," and held out the possibility that tens of thousands of people could try to burst through the fence and swarm into Israel."

Should that happen, the Israeli aggressor will wholesale murder them.

"While Yehiyeh Sinwar repeatedly said he hoped to avoid bloodshed, he gave no indication that his group would try to hold back the expected large crowds -- a scenario that could trigger a potentially lethal Israeli response.  In his first meeting with foreign press since taking office last year, Sinwar said residents of blockaded Gaza are so desperate their actions are impossible to predict. He also claimed that Israel's borders are not internationally recognized and do not have to be respected."

If not, your people will be murdered by the Israelis.

"What's the problem if hundreds of thousands storm this fence which is not a border of a state? What's the problem with that?" he said."

Your people will be murdered by the Israeli aggressor.  Should that happen, think the Trump nazi won't be in full support of Netanyahu?

"Israel has said it will defend its border. It accuses Hamas of exploiting civilians and using the chaotic scenes to stage attacks.  Sinwar said the demonstrations were aimed at breaking the blockade, and also as a protest against Monday's planned move of the U.S. Embassy to contested Jerusalem."

Insult to injury?  NPR reports:

"Come Monday, Jerusalem will be the official home of the U.S. Embassy to Israel.

"By recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the seat of its government, we're recognizing reality," said new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a May meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."

What you and your fuhrer are doing is determinedly, concertedly distorting it.  Imposing a  de facto settlement on the Palestinians.

"When Trump declared last year that the U.S. Embassy would be relocated — "the beginning of a new approach to conflict between Israel and the Palestinians" — it triggered both euphoria and condemnation."

What it did is ensure there will be no peace.

"The United Nations General Assembly voted 128-9 to reject the Trump administration's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and approved a nonbinding resolution for countries to avoid moving their embassies to the city."

Remarkably, the UN stepped up.  Unlike the Israeli aggressor and the Trump nazi, demonstrated some semblance of sanity.

"In the Gaza Strip, protesters immediately took to the streets to denounce the move and burn Israeli and American flags. "This is a black day for peace in the Middle East," Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the U.S., told NPR."

What it does is exacerbate an untenable, unsustainable status quo.

"On Wednesday, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, said that protests on the Israeli border will be "decisive" and that Hamas leaders "are ready to die along with tens of thousands," reported The Times of Israel."

That would be a terrible mistake.  Horrific loss of life.  The U.S. will eventually come to its senses.  -- Despite the fact we've been out to lunch vis a vis this issue 70 years.  Eventually, we will smarten up.  Realize the horrible mistake made all these decades.  When that happens, there will be change.

"But U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman praised the move from the first day, taking to Twitter to say, "Today .@POTUS displayed the ultimate test of leadership and courage by standing up for what's just and true, even in the face of stiff opposition. Jerusalem is Israel's capital today as it was 3000 years ago. Congratulations to .@realDonaldTrump for this historic decision."

This isn't 3000 years ago.  Appalling, unadulterated horse shit.  What we have here is a fascist dictator in what used to be a democratic republic imposing de facto settlement terms on the Palestinians.  This stupidly ensures continuing violence.

Insult to injury? 1984 double-speak?  Get this:

"By taking the long-overdue step of moving our embassy, we are not taking a position on final status issues. We are not taking a position on the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, nor on the resolution of contested borders. Those questions are up to the parties involved. We remain committed to advancing an agreement between the parties that leads to a lasting and comprehensive peace," Edgar Vasquez, spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, told NPR."

Disingenuous bullshit.  This man is either delusional or a liar.  This is de facto imposition of a settlement by the Trump nazi and his henchmen that guaranties unending violence.

The slaughter continues.  NPR reports:

"Tens of thousands of Palestinians are protesting the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, and Israeli army forces have killed 43 protesters, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry also says some 2,200 people have been hurt in demonstrations and clashes.  More than 35,000 people are protesting along the Gaza border, the Israel Defense Forces say. The army says it killed three protesters who were trying to set a bomb next to the security fence in Rafah. It's the most deaths in one day the area has seen since the summer of 2014, when more than 2,000 Palestinians died.  The number of casualties rose steadily on Monday, as the opening of the American embassy at 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET) neared. The health ministry published a list of the dead, showing that their ages ranged from 14 to 39 years old."

Sadly, tragically, catastrophically, this is likely the beginning of far, far worse to come.

"As news of the violence spread, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres – who is slated to visit President Trump in Washington on Friday – said he is "particularly worried" about what he called "the high number of people killed," according to the AP.  The embassy's controversial opening comes as Israel marks its creation 70 years ago – an event that Palestinians refer to as Nakba – Catastrophe – because that development also turned more than 700,000 Palestinians into refugees.  "A great day for Israel!" President Trump tweeted on Monday. He also told his followers to watch Fox News for coverage of the embassy's opening."

Once again, the Trump nazi has disgraced himself and our formerly great country.

The following quote is highly representative of precisely how perverse, achingly psychotic the Israeli aggressor has become:

"Discussing the dozens of deaths today, Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said that the rising number "doesn't indicate anything – just as the number of Nazis who died in the World War doesn't make Nazism something you can explain or understand. There is one truth."

Jesus Christ.  Like Bebe Netanyahu, this man has lost his mind.  He's insane.  Quote is a non-sequitur.  The Israelis have become so deluded they fail to see they're quickly becoming to the Palestinians what their German Nazi oppressors were to them circa 1933 at the beginning of the Third Reich.

Insult to injury?  Height of delusion?  Get this:

"That quote comes from Haaretz, which says Erdan also blames Hamas for encouraging a "cynical and malicious use of bloodshed."

Pot calling the kettle black.

"Both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital. Trump announced last December that he would break with the consensus of America's allies and decades of tradition by recognizing Jerusalem as the official capital, and moving the embassy there from Tel Aviv."

Trump is directly responsible for this latest round of carnage.

"The rioters are hurling firebombs & explosive devices, burning tires, throwing rocks, & attempting to ignite fires in Israeli territory," the army said via Twitter. "IDF troops are responding with riot dispersal means and fire, and are operating according to standard operating procedures."

What your troops are doing is murdering Palestinians.  Have been murdering Palestinians since invading their land in 1948, killing them ever since.  Stealing ever more territory.  This land was lost generations ago due to excesses perpetrated by the Israelites.  You continue to re-write history.  Seem to think you're entitled to this land by divine right.  That's delusional.

"We are witnessing an abhorrent violation of international law & human rights in Gaza," Amnesty International said of Monday's violence. The organization says six of the dead are under 18 years old, and more than 500 people were wounded by live ammunition, adding, "This must end immediately."

Sadly, it will not.  This insanity will only end when the American public finally wakes up.  Fully understands it's been bamboozled.  Withdraws all aid and assistance to the Israeli aggressor.  Cuts off all trade with the aggressor.  Encourages the world to do the same.  Until that happens, nothing changes.

"As NPR's Camila Domonoske reported when Trump announced the change in December, the president said that "his announcement does not mean the U.S. is taking a position on any possible future peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians or on the 'final status' of Jerusalem after such talks."

Delusional horse shit.  Trump has, in effect, imposed a settlement.  To claim otherwise is to deny reality and intent.  ... Despite all lies to the contrary.  His following statement is proof positive:

"Today we finally acknowledge the obvious," Trump said. "This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality."

Read it a second time.  He's desperately attempting to impose a settlement on the Palestinians.  Has egregiously failed.  Precisely, why the Israelis are murdering them on the border en masse.

The Israeli aggressor clearly understands brown-nosing works on the Trump nazi:

"To thank Trump for his decision, Jerusalem's mayor, Nir Barkat, renamed a square near the new U.S. outpost. Secretary Mnuchin received a plaque today bearing its new name: "United States Square in honor of President Donald J. Trump."

Jesus Christ.  Give me a break.  LOL.  Shameless.

Great evil.  More of the same.  A Catch-22.  NPR reports:

"President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital has removed the Palestinians' "right of veto" on the move and allowed the parties to focus on more important issues, the U.S. ambassador to Israel tells NPR."

Consider his convoluted 'reasoning':

"David Friedman, in an interview with Morning Edition, says he believes, as does the president, that such a veto was for the Palestinians "an inappropriate card to play."

Think so?  Here comes the rabid insanity:

"I think the move is going to permit the parties to focus on the issues that are first of all important and second of all solvable," Friedman tells host Steve Inskeep.  "What the president did when he made this decision was to remove from the Palestinians the right to veto recognition by the United States and other countries of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel," he said."

He's delusional.  The Palestinians no longer are at the table.  Will not return in the near future, -- if at all.  Rightfully, claim the United States is not an honest broker of peace.  We're not.  Have not been since 1948.  Clearly, the Palestinians prefer to die fighting the Israeli aggressor at the fence.  Think the murder of these people by the Israeli aggressor is not doing great damage to Israel in the world community?

"Friedman says the Jerusalem question was standing in the way of "legitimate points" on the Palestinian side of negotiations.  "Palestinians have legitimate issues. They have," he said without elaborating on them. "They have arguments that they have advanced [and] they will continue to advance."  Arguing that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel is "just not ... a fair point for them to make," he said."

It's commandeered territory captured during the 1967 War.  To say nothing of that stolen in 1948 at the time of the invasion.  If at least part of it is not returned, there will be no peace.  Clearly, Friedman is too delusional to understand this.

CBS News reports:

"Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide, blasted the Trump administration Monday, saying Mr. Trump had violated a promise to hold off on moving the embassy to give peace talks a chance and that his administration is "based on lies."  Erekat said the Trump administration has "become part of the problem, not part of the solution." He suggested Mr. Trump's Mideast team was unqualified, saying "the world needs real leaders, and those (White House officials) are real estate dealers, not leaders."

"Protester Mohammed Hamami, 40, said the march was a "message to Israel and its allies that we will never give up on our land." Most Gaza residents are descendants of refugees from the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation.  Gaza's Hamas rulers said tens of thousands were expected to head to the border Monday and raised the possibility of large crowds breaking through the fence.  With Israel and Hamas digging in, there has been growing concern about large numbers of casualties.  Monday's march is part of a weekslong campaign, led by Hamas and fueled by despair among Gaza's 2 million people, to break the decade-old border blockade of the territory by Israel and Egypt."

We're on the wrong side of history.  Will wind up profoundly regretting it.  Horrendous injustice.

"Netanyahu praised Mr. Trump's "bold decision" in upending decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. "It's the right thing to do," a smiling Netanyahu told the jubilant crowd at a reception in Jerusalem late Sunday."

What it does is guaranty endless violence.

"Although Mr. Trump has said his declaration does not set the final borders of the city, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital has been perceived by both Israel and the Palestinians as taking Israel's side in the most sensitive issue in their conflict. Only two countries, Guatemala and Paraguay, have said they will follow suit. Most of the world maintains embassies in Tel Aviv, saying the Jerusalem issue must first be resolved.  In a reflection of the deep sensitivities, dozens of countries -- including Britain, France and Germany -- skipped a celebration Sunday night at the Israeli Foreign Ministry."

The Washington Post reports:

"At the barrier, young men threw stones and tried to launch kites carrying flames in hopes of burning crops on the other side. Most of the demonstrators, though, were peaceful, protesting the loss of their homes and villages and the embassy move.  Occasional sporadic gunfire could be heard over the noise of the crowd, and a constant stream of ambulances roared back and forth from the fence, ferrying away the wounded."

Uncommon Valor:

"Nirma Attalah, 29, said the deaths were just galvanizing Gaza residents to keep on demonstrating despite weeks of losses.  “My brother was shot in the head in this place,” she said, adding that it was two weeks earlier. She had come on Monday with her whole extended family to the protest.  “We are here for Jerusalem, for Palestinian land,” she said."

Height of folly?  Epitome of nazi Aryan arrogance?  Galling bullshit?  Get this:

"Israel dropped leaflets urging Palestinians to stay away from the fence.  “Save your lives and work on building your futures,” the leaflets said."

There is no future for the Palestinians.  You've stolen their land.  Continue to steal additional land.  Continue to murder and maim them.  You are no better than your German Nazi oppressors circa 1933 at the beginning of Hitler's Third Reich.  Clearly, far worse is yet to come.

“People have come out of the rubble to say we will not forget our rights,” said Yousef Abu Saleh, 25. “The American administration is adopting the Israeli story and stealing our right of return.”  While some said they would abide by official calls to keep the demonstrations peaceful, others talked about their enthusiasm to break into Israel and wreak havoc.  “We are excited to storm and get inside,” said 23-year-old Mohammed Mansoura. When asked what he would do inside Israel, he said, “Whatever is possible, to kill, throw stones.”

The Israelis will be dealing with this indefinitely.

"The Israel Defense Forces said at least 35,000 people were protesting in 12 different places along the fence — more than twice as many locations as in past weeks of protest. “Especially violent riots” took place near the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where three people were killed after trying to plant an explosive, the army added.  The military also said it would “act forcefully against any terrorist activity,” and it carried out an airstrike on Hamas military posts in northern Gaza after its troops came under fire."

The Israeli aggressor has itself become the epitome of terrorism:

"Before Monday, Israeli snipers had already killed nearly 50 Palestinians in the unrest at the fence, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and wounded 2,240 more."

Didn't end there:

"The embassy move has added extra friction to what was already a highly charged week. Scuffles broke out in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday as Israelis celebrated the “reunification” of the city, an annexation not recognized internationally. The opening of the embassy on Monday is followed by Nakba Day on Tuesday — when Palestinians mark the anniversary of mass expulsions and flight that displaced an estimated 700,000 people when Israel was founded 70 years ago.

"The result has been the incongruous juxtaposition of a star-studded gala, including first daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, in Jerusalem while Palestinians prepare for demonstrations not far away. As guests sipped wine in front of a stage with a backdrop of American and Israeli flags Sunday, the mosques in Gaza were urging people to attend protests."

Trump has done great damage internationally that will likely take generations to remedy.

"More than 70 percent of Palestinians living in Gaza are refugees or descendants of refugees from areas in Israel, and the demonstrations have rallied for their U.N.-endorsed right of return.  “Our people have the right to break the walls of this big prison,” Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, said in a briefing with foreign journalists on Sunday. “We went out to knock the wall of the prison and declare it clearly that we won’t accept to die slowly.”  Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza in 2005, though the United Nations still classifies it as occupied because of the level of control wielded by Israel, which restricts the movement of people and goods. Egypt has also only sporadically opened its border."

The Palestinians live under the boot heel of the Israeli aggressor.  Our formerly great country is complicit in this ongoing atrocity.  Without support of the United States, the Israeli aggressor would not have been able to do this, nor continue to do so.

NBC reports:

"The White House on Monday blamed Hamas for the deaths of dozens of Palestinians in clashes between protesters and the Israeli military."

Our nazi fuhrer is directly responsible for this latest clash.  Here's precisely why:

"The protests on the border between the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip and Israel, in which some participants burned tires and hurled rocks, came as the U.S. held a ceremony marking the opening of its new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, reflecting the Trump administration's recognition of that city as the capital of Israel."

The nazis in the White House would not, could not, be confused with reality:

"We believe that Hamas is responsible for what's going on," White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said when NBC's Peter Alexander asked whether the U.S. agreed with France's call for Israel to exercise "discretion" and "restraint" in its response to the Palestinian demonstrations in which tens of thousands took part.  Pressed on whether that means the U.S. advice to Israel is "kill at will," Shah replied, "We believe that Hamas as an organization is engaged in cynical action that is leading to these deaths."

This fascist bastard is defending, justifying murders perpetrated by the Israeli aggressor.

"He added, "The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response. And as the Secretary of State said, Israel has the right to defend itself."

More egregious distortion of reality to justify the unjustifiable.  The Trump nazi is directly responsible for this latest clash, not Hamas, the Trump nazi.

"Shah did not elaborate on why Hamas, an organization designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. and Israel, bears responsibility for the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, opening fire on the crowd. In addition to the deaths, nearly 2,000 Palestinians were wounded."

What could this achingly clueless, fascist son of a bitch say in defense of the indefensible?  That is, blatant murder and maiming of Palestinians by the Israeli aggressor?

Gets worse:

"Several high-ranking Trump administration officials, including Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and adviser, attended the embassy opening in Jerusalem Monday.  Her husband, Jared Kushner, spoke briefly about the protests at the event.  "As we have seen from the protests of the last month, and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution," he said."

Your father-in-law, the Trump nazi, is the problem.  ... To say nothing of the Israeli aggressor.

"Those remarks, which appear to dovetail with Shah's assessment of blame, were not included in an official White House transcript of Kushner's speech."

Remarkable, isn't it?

More appalling?  Consider the following:

"The White House also declined to explain why American ministers Robert Jeffress and John Hagee had been invited to participate in Monday's embassy event given past controversial statements, including a remark by Jeffress that "religions like Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism...lead people to an eternity of separation from God in Hell" and a comment by Hagee that seemed to suggest Hitler had been part of a divine plan to force Jews to move to the land of Israel.  Shah did distance Trump from that rhetoric. "Those aren't remarks that the president agrees with," he said."

They're not?  Then why were these two nazi bastards invited to the event?

The Washington Post reports:

"Gaza residents buried their dead Tuesday as the death toll for Palestinians killed by Israeli forces at the Gaza boundary fence climbed to at least 60 after several succumbed to injuries overnight, according to local health officials.   Monday’s demonstrations, which coincided with the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, drew a level of bloodshed not seen in Gaza since a 2014 war with Israel. Israel’s use of live ammunition has drawn widespread condemnation, notably from Turkey, which expelled the Israeli ambassador on Tuesday after recalling its envoys to Israel and the United States."

Time for the world community to rise to the occasion.  Isolate the Israeli aggressor.  Cut off trade, all relations.

"Further protests were planned as residents buried their dead and prepared to mark the anniversary of Israel’s founding, known to Palestinians as the “Nakba,” or “Catastrophe.” More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population is descended from refugees who were displaced at the time of Israel’s creation 70 years ago."

Precisely, why this conflict will not be resolved any time soon.

"The death toll on Monday more than doubled the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza during six weeks of demonstrations, dubbed the “March of Return.”  More than 2,700 people were injured Monday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, including 1,359 from live ammunition. The dead included at least six children under the age of 18, among them a 15-year-old girl, the ministry said. Her family said she was 14."

Unarmed people murdered by the Israeli aggressor.

"The U.N. human rights spokesman, Rupert Colville, said Tuesday that while Israel has a right to defend itself, lethal force should be a last resort and was not justified against people just approaching the fence. He condemned Monday’s “appalling deadly violence.”  Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also condemned the continuing “massacre” of the Palestinian people. South Africa joined Turkey in announcing it was recalling its ambassador from Israel.  Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called on Muslim countries to review their ties with Israel in the wake of the violence.  Netanyahu later attacked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Twitter, saying that he “is one of the great supporters of Hamas, and there is no doubt that he understands terror and the massacres well, and I suggest that he not preach morality to us.”

Wake up, Mr. Netanyahu.  You have no morality, sir.  None.  You and your forces murder innocent unarmed Palestinians who approach your fence.  Your forebears stole land from the Palestinians in 1948, have been stealing additional land and killing Palestinians ever since.  The Israeli aggressor is not immoral, it's amoral, that is, without any morals at all.

“Every country must protect its borders,” Netanyahu wrote in a tweet. “Hamas is a terrorist organization that states its intention to destroy Israel and it sends thousands of people to breach the border fence to realize this goal. We will continue to act firmly to protect our sovereignty and our citizens.”

Wake up, Mr. Netanyahu.  The Israeli aggressor isn't itself a terrorist organization?  Give me a break.  An American-supplied Israeli F-16 dropping a 2000 lb. bomb in a highly-populated Palestinian neighborhood in direct violation of U.S. export law requiring such weapons be used only for defensive purposes is not an egregious act of terror?  Murdering innocent unarmed Palestinians approaching your fence not an act of terror?  Your hypocrisy? Stunning.  You and your henchmen clearly demonstrate precisely who and what you are. Nazis.  Highly reminiscent of Hitler's early Third Reich circa 1933.

NPR reports:

"One day after Israeli forces fired on protesters and killed 60 Palestinians along the Gaza border, the U.N.'s human rights commissioner says that those who were shot included women, children, journalists, first responders and bystanders.  "We condemn the appalling, deadly violence in Gaza yesterday," said Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.  While acknowledging that some Palestinian demonstrators tried to damage the barbed wire fence that separates Gaza from Israel, Colville said that in the commissioner's view, attempts to cross or damage a fence "do not amount to a threat to life or serious injury and are not sufficient grounds for the use of live ammunition."  Lethal force, he said, should only be a measure of last resort."

Our formerly great country has clearly lost itself.  To support the Israeli aggressor as it murders innocent unarmed Palestinians en masse runs counter to everything this nation once stood for.  Have once again disgraced ourselves.

In the Trump Regime, day is night, night is day, and shit smells perversely sweet.  Think not?  Get this.  The Washington Post reports:

"The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday said Israel had reacted with restraint in its military response to protesters at the Gaza border and dismissed suggestions the violence was caused by the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem."

The Israeli aggressor murders sixty Palestinians, nearly all of them unarmed, peaceful, and approaching a fence, and you claim "Israel had reacted with restraint?"  Wake up, Madam Ambassador.  Aggressive stupidity remains, and is, unbecoming.

"Nikki Haley told the Security Council that Hamas, backed by Iran, had incited the violence by urging protesters over loudspeakers to burst through the fence separating the borders and flying kites into Israel with molotov cocktails attached."

Wake up, Madam Ambassador.  Hamas is not ultimately responsible for this latest savagery displayed by the Israeli aggressor.  Your nazi fuhrer in the Oval Office is.  Conveniently, forget?  The clueless narcissist moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem knowing full well carnage would result.

“I ask my colleagues here in the Security Council: Who among us would accept this type of activity on your border?” Haley said. “No one would. No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has.”

Have you conveniently forgotten, Madam Ambassador?  The Israeli aggressor invaded Palestine in 1948, stole land it rightfully lost generations ago due to its excesses.  Did so with the blessing of the United States, Europe, and the UN.  Continues to steal land and kill Palestinians doing their best to confront that aggressor.  -- Truly believe Texans would idly stand by and do nothing should Mexico attempt to reclaim Texas?

Wake up, Ms. Haley.  The aggressor you so haughtily protect and defend is becoming increasingly more and more like its Nazi Germany oppressor circa 1933 at the beginning of Hitler's Third Reich.  Would not be able to commit the atrocities it does against the Palestinians without aid from the United States.  Eventually, the American public will finally wake up and realize we have been, and are, on the wrong side of history.  When that day finally arrives, things will finally change.

"From U.S. allies to adversaries, most ambassadors added their opposition to the U.S. Embassy move to their remarks on the violence.  “The unilateral decision by the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem does nothing but inflame spirits,” said Sacha Llorenti, Bolivia’s envoy. “The United States, which supports the occupying power, has become an obstacle to peace. It has become part of the problem, not part of the solution.”  Karen Pierce, the British ambassador, expressed support for an investigation into Monday’s killings, then stated London’s position on the U.S. Embassy’s opening.  “Our position on the status of Jerusalem and moving the American embassy is well known,” she said. “The status of Jerusalem should be determined in a negotiated settlement between Israel and Palestinians, and Jerusalem should ultimately be the shared capital of the Israeli and Palestinian states.”

We're on the wrong side of history, Madam Ambassador.  No one should understand that better than you.  What's your problem, Ms. Haley?  -- Your nazi fuhrer right or wrong?

"Haley, speaking at the beginning of the session, said the location of the U.S. Embassy has no bearing on whatever Israelis and Palestinians might negotiate and described the opening of the facility as “a cause for celebration.”

You and your fuhrer have lost your minds, Madam Ambassador.

“It reflects the will of the American people,” she said."

The hell it does, Ms. Haley.  Reflects the will of your achingly clueless nazi fuhrer.

“It reflects our sovereign right to decide the location of our embassy."

Reflects profound aggressive stupidity, extreme shortsightedness.

"Importantly, moving our embassy to Jerusalem also reflects the reality that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel."

The hell it is.  By whose decree?  The United States?  Europe?  The UN?  The Bible?  Wake up, Madam Ambassador.

Coup de grace?  Epitome of insanity?

"Recognizing this reality makes real peace more achievable, not less.”

Like it did this past week, Madam Ambassador?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

In follow up to a case covered here and elsewhere, NPR reports:

"Fifteen protesters involved in a brawl outside of the Turkish ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C., in May 2017, filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Republic of Turkey as well two Americans and three Canadians who allegedly attacked them.  The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks unspecified damages for the protesters who suffered "repeated brutality" at the hands of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's security officials who they claim "pushed past U.S. law enforcement officers to attack the protesters," attorneys representing the victims said in a statement.  The Washington Post reported "five other victims filed suit May 3 seeking more than $100 million in damages from Turkey."

"There are very few instances in which a foreign government can be sued by private citizens but one exception includes cases "in which money damages are sought against a foreign state for personal injury or death" occurring in the U.S. and caused by "any official or employee of that foreign state while acting within the scope of his office or employment."

Here is the problem:

"In the days following the incident the Metropolitan Police Department arrested four people. They were charged on a combination of felony aggravated assault, threatened assault in a menacing manner or misdemeanor assault on a police officer.  Police also issued 14 warrants, including to two Canadians and 12 Turkish citizens, who were security officials for Erdogan.  Many of the charges have since been dropped."

No justice.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

The following is appalling.  NPR reports:

"A former U.S. Army sergeant has been found guilty for his role in a stunt that led to the intentional destruction of three Humvees dropped from a cargo plane during a training exercise. They hurtled to the ground after their parachute strings were severed.  Sgt. John T. Skipper was convicted in a general court-martial hearing Wednesday of three counts of "destroying military property with a value of more than $500" and providing a false official statement, Christian Marquardt, a spokesman for the 7th Army Training Command, told NPR in a statement."

What could this guy possibly been thinking?

"Part of Skipper's punishment included a demotion from sergeant to private. He could have received a dishonorable discharge, forfeited all pay and allowances and up to 10 years in prison, the maximum penalty for destruction of government property, according to Stars and Stripes.  The jury ruled that at some point during the airdrop preparation, Skipper intentionally cut the parachute straps on three High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicles. The 29-year-old was criminally charged a year ago."

Appalling, isn't it?  Certainly, no 18-year-old kid.

Worse?  Get this:

"The incident — captured on video — occurred in April 2016, during training in Germany. As can be seen in the clip, C-130 Hercules transport planes dropped a series of large supply bundles, including several military Humvees. Nearly all slowly see-sawed their way safely down once their parachutes opened up, but three can be seen careening straight toward the ground before pulverizing on impact.  Meanwhile, observers on the ground can be heard cackling and "woo-hoo"-ing as each vehicle explodes into a pile of rubble. It's unclear who is speaking in the two minute video, but several voices are heard exclaiming, "Holy f***!" "Yes, yes, yes!" and "It's on fire!"  Much to the dismay of the Army, the video became a YouTube sensation and has racked up nearly 1.5 million views.  According to Military.com, a Humvee can cost up to $220,000."

This guy is an idiot.  Unfit to be in the service.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Think shoot-from-the-hip diplomacy effective?  NPR reports:

"North Korea said it is canceling high-level talks with South Korea planned for Wednesday at their shared border area because of ongoing military exercises between the South and the United States.  The talks were scheduled for Seoul and Pyongyang to follow up on the agreement struck by the two Korean leaders at their historic summit last month.  The South Korean government says the decision is "regrettable" and calls on North Korea to resume the dialogue.  Later North Korea's first vice foreign minister, Kim Kye Gwan, went further, saying in another statement that Pyongyang has no interest in a summit with Washington "driving us into a corner and making a one-sided demand" for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons."

The problem with Trump and his fellow nazis vis a vis this fiasco is really quite simple.  A fascist views reality in black and white.  No shades of gray, worse, no brilliant hues of color.  These bastards seem to delusionally believe their will remains prime mover.  -- What the other side thinks, of no consequence.  ... 'My way or the highway.'

"A lengthy statement from North Korea's state-run KCNA said the Max Thunder Air Force drills, which started on Friday, are a "bid to take a pre-emptive strike" and a provocation during a time of warming inter-Korean ties.  It also included a not-so-veiled threat to call off the June 12 summit between Kim Jong Un and President Trump."

Must not be forgotten North Korean duplicity has indeed been an issue for decades.  Precisely, why no American president to date has been willing to sit down with the North Korean dictator.  ... Until now.  The ignorant narcissist in the Oval Office delusionally believes he can force the issue.  Impose his will.  Kim is craftily giving not-so-subtle indication, yet again, that will not be the case.  Think National 'Security' Adviser John Bolton doesn't have his shorts in a wad?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

Thousands of pages of testimony have been released by the Senate Judiciary Committee on the 2016 Trump Tower meeting.  The Washington Post reports:

“I appreciate the opportunity to have assisted the Judiciary Committee in its inquiry,” Trump Jr., said in a prepared statement. “The public can now see that for over five hours I answered every question asked and was candid and forthright with the Committee.”  Shortly after his election, President Trump’s spokeswoman had said that no campaign officials had dealings with Russians during the campaign. The newly released testimony shows that the president’s lawyers and associates were anxious about any reports on Trump Jr.’s meeting, which contradicted that claim.  “[Trump’s lawyers are] concerned because it links Don Jr. to officials from Russia, which he has always denied meeting,” Goldstone wrote in an email to Emin Agalarov on June 26, 2017, a few weeks before the New York Times first reported on the meeting.  Ultimately, lawyers working for the Trump Organization crafted statements they asked other participants in the meeting to distribute, a move that could draw scrutiny from Mueller if it involved communicating with witnesses or otherwise hiding the true purpose of the meeting from investigators.  Trump himself contributed to an initial statement about the meeting released by his son, Trump Jr. told the committee. It misleadingly stated said the meeting had been “primarily” about the adoption of Russian children by Americans. The Kremlin halted adoptions in retaliation for the Magnitsky Act, the policy issue that appeared to be at the heart of Veselnitskaya’s presentation."

The legal problem for the Trump regime is not collusion.  Could be obstruction.  Lying to investigators.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

How does the following happen?  The Washington Post reports:

"The Air Force is offering $5,000 for leads on the whereabouts of a box of explosive grenade rounds that its personnel accidentally dropped on a road in North Dakota while traveling between two intercontinental ballistic missile sites — the facilities scattered across the U.S. heartland that stand ready to launch nuclear warheads at a moment’s notice."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-18-18

What took so long?  NPR reports:

"Less than two weeks after Iowa adopted a law banning most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Iowa have filed suit, seeking to prevent the law from taking effect.  Scheduled to take effect on July 1, Iowa's law is one of the most restrictive abortion measures in the U.S. The measure was signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on May 4, days after it was approved by the state legislature.  As member station Iowa Public Radio has reported, the legislation imposes a ban on "most abortions after about six weeks into a pregnancy, with some exceptions for rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, and to save the life of the mother."  Critics say that the law would make abortions illegal in cases where women may not yet have realized that they're pregnant. Iowa's current law allows most abortions up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy."

Direct violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause, church-state separation, that is, freedom from religion.

"Not only is this law blatantly unconstitutional — it's extremely harmful to women," Planned Parenthood said in a statement about the lawsuit. The group says that Iowa's legislature ignored the legal rights guaranteed in the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, as well as Iowa's own constitution."

Nazi America.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Highly reminiscent of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors, Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.  It's appalling.  Runs against the grain of everything our formerly great country once stood for.  No longer.

The racist AG Sessions nazi again shows his true colors.  CBS News reports:

"A "zero-tolerance" policy toward people who enter the United States illegally may cause families to be separated while parents are prosecuted, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday.  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it would refer all arrests for illegal entry to federal prosecutors, throwing its weight behind Sessions' policy announced last month to vastly expand criminal prosecutions of people with few or no previous offenses. A conviction for illegal entry carries a maximum penalty of six months in custody for first-time crossers, though they usually do far less time, and two years for repeat offenses.

"If you cross the border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It's that simple," Sessions told reporters on a mesa overlooking the Pacific Ocean, where a border barrier separating San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico juts out into the ocean.  Nearly one of every four Border Patrol arrests on the Mexican border from October through April was someone who came in a family, meaning any large increase in prosecutions is likely to cause parents to be separated from their children while they face charges and do time in jail."

Called 'Christian' 'charity,' Jeff?  Consider yourself a 'Christian,' you racist, fascist, achingly clueless son of a bitch?  You're out of uniform, Jeff.  No swastika armband.

"US Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he's placed a "zero tolerance policy" for anyone who enters the country illegally on the Mexican border.  Children who are separated from their parents would be put under supervision of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, Sessions said.  "We don't want to separate families, but we don't want families to come to the border illegally and attempt to enter into this country improperly," Sessions said. "The parents are subject to prosecution while children may not be. So, if we do our duty and prosecute those cases, then children inevitably for a period of time might be in different conditions."

Spoken as the racist nazi you truly are, Counselor.  Disgrace to yourself and the country you certainly don't serve.

NPR reports:

"Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Monday that the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security will partner to prosecute anyone illegally crossing the southwest border and separate children from parents.  In two speeches before law enforcement officials in Arizona and California, Sessions expanded on the "zero tolerance" policy against illegal immigration he first announced last month.  "If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It's that simple," said Sessions. "If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law. If you don't like that, then don't smuggle children over our border."

Adolf and Benito?  Grinning ear-to-ear, 'high-fiving' on their fiery perches.

This racist nazi is truly evil.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Think the following helps?  Enlightens the hopelessly ignorant?  CBS News reports:

"Law enforcement officials across the country now acknowledge the link between black history and the current divide between police and community. A recent survey found 83 percent of people subjected to "stop and frisk" in Washington, D.C. are black, though African-Americans make up 47 percent of the population in the nation's capital."

Called racial profiling.

"And that is why D.C.'s police now mandate new training to address racial bias. It includes a tour of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. The tour compels officers to explore black history in America in order to help reduce the tension between police and the community.  Bernard Demczuk has led hundreds of police officers on tours through historically black neighborhoods in the center of D.C., known as Shaw and U Street. "What I want to do is introduce why Washington, D.C., is known as the 'black Mecca of America,'" he said. "Murals tell our history – we don't want to hide our history behind closed doors."

Hard to believe this isn't a colossal waste of time.  Police learned nothing the last sixty years?  Nothing from ongoing public reaction to this bullshit, -- not only from the black community all these decades, but also from enlightened whites?  To say nothing of other minorities?  Hard to believe.  Worse?  Black officers oppress their own.  Think touring a neighborhood will make a substantive difference in the police mentality?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Cohen saga continues.  NBC reports:

"Federal investigators have monitored the phone lines of Michael Cohen, the longtime personal lawyer for President Donald Trump who is under investigation for a payment he made to an adult film star who alleged she had an affair with Trump, according to multiple senior officials and individuals with knowledge of the legal proceedings involving Cohen.  It is not clear how long the monitoring of phone calls has been authorized, but NBC News has learned it was in place in the weeks leading up to the raids on Cohen's offices, hotel room, and home in early April, according to one person with direct knowledge."

Apparently, it was not a full wiretap.  Not clear why:

"The calls are logged by a machine called a pen register, which records the number of the phone that made the call and the number that received it, but does not record the contents of any conversation. NBC News initially reported that Cohen’s phone lines had been wiretapped, meaning a judge had given investigators approval to listen to phone calls. Three senior U.S. officials now dispute that, saying the monitoring of the calls was limited to a log of calls."

Fascinating, isn't it?

"At least one phone call between a phone line associated with Cohen and the White House was logged, the person said.  Previously, federal prosecutors in New York have said in court filings that they have conducted covert searches on multiple e-mail accounts maintained by Cohen.  Spokespeople for the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI in New York declined comment.  After the raid, members of Trump's legal team advised the president not to speak to Cohen, according to a person familiar with the discussion.  Two sources close to Trump's attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, say he learned that days after the raid the president had made a call to Cohen, and told Trump never to call again out of concern the call was being recorded by prosecutors."

Think anything of substance may have been discussed over a phone line?  Be aggressively stupid of both men had that occurred.

Readers are reminded:

"Giuliani told Fox News Wednesday night that Trump repaid Cohen the $130,000 he used to keep the adult film star, Stormy Daniels, from going public with allegations about her affair with Trump.  Giuliani is also described as having warned Trump that Cohen is likely to flip on him, something Trump pushed back on, telling Giuliani that he has known Cohen for years and expects him to be loyal, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the conversations."

If indeed true, Trump is hopelessly naive.  -- When and if the shit hits the fan, think Cohen won't do whatever it takes to save his own skin?

"It is unclear what incriminating information Cohen could give prosecutors on Trump, if he chose to cooperate. He represented Trump and the Trump Organization in its business dealings for nearly two decades before Trump became president. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is interested in any information that federal investigators in New York may pick up that would be relevant to his investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia."

... Think after a couple of decades, Cohen isn't aware of the Trump nazi's 'dirty laundry?'

"The Cohen investigation is being led by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan and the FBI. Investigators are looking into the $130,000 transaction between Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels, also known as Stephanie Clifford, who allegedly had an affair with Trump more than a decade ago, and a reported payment of $150,000 from American Media Inc., publishers of the National Enquirer, to a second woman who allegedly had an affair with Trump, Playboy model Karen McDougal.

"Investigators are also seeking information about the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape in which Donald Trump was heard making vulgar boasts about women.  The bureau's interest in the "Access Hollywood" tape, on which Trump bragged to host Billy Bush that he would grab women "by the p---y," was first reported by the New York Times. "Access Hollywood" is an NBC Universal television program.  Material seized from Cohen's office, hotel room and home included taped conversations, as well as cellphones and hard drives."

What webs we weave.

Saga continues. The Washington Post reports:

"Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's new attorney, said in an interview on Fox News that Mr. Trump fired Comey last year "because Comey would not, among other things, say that he wasn't a target" of the special counsel's Russia investigation. The explanation was at least the third offered by Mr. Trump and his advisers.  It also comes as the president's legal team is debating whether to allow Mr. Trump to be interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller's team. Mueller has shown an interest in questioning Trump about his motivation for firing Comey as his investigators probe possible obstruction of justice."

While certainly not proof of obstruction, Comey's firing certainly raises the issue.  Precisely, why Mueller wants to talk to Trump.

"Sources said the probability of a Trump-Mueller interview is now higher than it was in the immediate aftermath of the Michael Cohen raids. Those raids antagonized Mr. Trump and stalled interview talks. Giuliani was brought in with the hopes of rekindling those negotiations and that appears to have occurred.  Giuliani appears to be taking the lead role as potential closer on the interview and public face of the team."

Despite that, appears to be conflict between both men:

The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump’s new lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani sought Friday to clean up a series of comments made during a whirlwind media tour meant to bolster the president’s standing regarding a payment to a porn star but that instead created new problems for his client."

Certainly, irritated his fuhrer.  LOL.

"In a statement issued hours after Trump told reporters Giuliani was still getting up to speed on the facts, the former New York mayor said that a $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels by longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen would have happened regardless of whether Trump was on the presidential ballot the following month."

Think Giuliani wasn't himself taken aback?  LOL.  ... Unduly chastened?  LOL.

“The payment was made to resolve a personal and false allegation in order to protect the President’s family,” Giuliani said in the statement. “It would have been done in any event, whether he was a candidate or not.”

Give me a break.  LOL.  ... Think the son of a bitch isn't digging himself in deeper? LOL.

"On Wednesday, Giuliani revealed that the president had reimbursed Cohen for the settlement Cohen paid in October 2016 to keep Daniels from disclosing details of a sexual encounter she alleged she had with Trump a decade earlier."

So what else is new?  At least, someone finally admitted the truth.  LOL.

"Giuliani has said that the details of the reimbursement showed that Trump paid back Cohen because it was a personal, not a campaign expense. But campaign finance law experts said Giuliani’s remarks did not rule out violations of campaign finance laws, and some of his statements may have actually provided new evidence for investigators."

Quite a possibility, isn't it?  Doesn't your heart break?  Nothing quite like stupidly, figuratively shooting yourself in the ass, is there?  LOL.

"Appearing Thursday on the Fox News Channel, for instance, Giuliani asked viewers to imagine if Daniels had aired her allegations “on Oct. 15, 2016, in the middle of the last debate with Hillary Clinton.”  “Cohen didn’t even ask,” Giuliani told viewers. “Cohen made it go away. He did his job.”

Jesus Christ.  Amazing, isn't it?  Nothing quite like the light of day, is there?  LOL.

"In his statement, Giuliani also sought to make clear that he [is] speaking in television interviews about his understanding of events in which Trump had been involved and not about what the president knew at the time. The distinction is important because if Giuliani publicly described a private conversation with the president, he might have inadvertently waived attorney-client privilege on that conversation, potentially opening the door for prosecutors to probe further into what was said."

Think that's still not an issue?  Get this:

"One close Trump adviser said Giuliani had “waived the privilege big time” with his appearance on “Fox & Friends” and description of his conversations with his client, the president.  This adviser, who requested anonymity to speak more candidly, said Giuliani’s misstatement came because he relied on Trump’s description of what happened, without independently researching the nature of the payments."

Fascinating, isn't it?  Further indication the law has become too goddamned nuanced.  ... Think the Founders aren't spinning in their graves?  LOL.

“Rudy followed the client’s wishes without knowing all the facts,” the person said."

Think that won't wind up figuratively biting both hard on the ass?

"Giuliani also stated that it was “undisputed” that Trump had the constitutional power to fire former FBI director James B. Comey, which he did last year. Trump’s action is among those under scrutiny by special counsel Robert S. Muller III as part of his investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.  “Recent revelations about former Director Comey further confirm the wisdom of the President’s decision, which was plainly in the best interests of our nation,” Giuliani said."

That's insane.  Was in nobody's interest.  Particularly, not in the interest of the Trump nazi himself.  Opens him up to obstruction.

"In saying that Trump had the power to [fire] Comey, Giuliani appeared to be backing away from an assertion he made earlier this week that the president acted out of frustration that Comey wouldn’t publicly state that the president was not under investigation by the FBI.  That earlier statement raised concerns among some legal experts who said Giuliani seemed to say Comey was fired over the Russia investigation – and such an admission could further an obstruction of justice probe involving the president."

Truly believe the Founders wished the law this nuanced?  Certainly, one of the reasons investigations take as long as they do.  Additionally, why attorneys have the incentive to obfuscate, bamboozle, drag out litigation as long as they can.  Justice?  What's that?

"In early April, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he was unaware of the settlement that Cohen had paid to Daniels.  Since Giuliani began discussing these matters publicly two days ago, the White House has been besieged with questions about their past denials of the president’s knowledge, and on Friday morning, Trump suggested Giuliani had misspoken."

Think so?  ... Or, is the Trump nazi continuing to lie, bamboozle, obfuscate?

“Rudy is a great guy, but he just started a day ago, but he really has his heart into it, he’s working hard, he’s learning the subject matter,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to leave the White House."

Jesus Christ.  Give me a break.

“He knows it’s a witch hunt,” Trump continued. “He’ll get his facts straight.”

Trump remains a congenital liar.  Wouldn't know truth if it figuratively bit him hard on the ass.  Be interesting to see what both the Mueller investigation in Washington and the U.S. Attorney in New York finally come up with.  ... If anything.

"On Thursday morning, Trump issued a trio of carefully worded tweets, largely echoing the points Giuliani had made in his Wednesday night interview.  In a brief telephone interview later Friday, Giuliani said the episode has not hurt his standing with Trump.  “He says he loves me,” Giuliani said, calling the issue a matter of “interpretation.”

Pitiful, isn't it?  ... Can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.

Comey responded.  CBS News reports:

"It's been nearly one year exactly since former FBI Director James Comey discovered he was fired, by television, on May 9, 2017. On Friday, Comey told "CBS This Morning" he's proud of the work the FBI has done since, and hopes people will "speak out" when the nation's institutions are attacked.  "Whatever our vigorous policy disagreements, our values are all we have and if our leaders and the people they lead don't recognize that and stand up for those values, who are we as a country?" Comey said, in what is his final TV appearance to complete his tour for his new book, "A Higher Loyalty."  Comey's appearance came shortly after President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani claimed on Fox News Wednesday night that Mr. Trump fired Comey "because Comey would not, among other things, say that he wasn't a target" in the FBI's Russia investigation. Giuliani compared FBI investigators who raided the home and office of Trump attorney Michael Cohen to Nazi storm troopers. Comey addressed that claim Friday morning.   "The notion that the FBI is made up of Nazi storm troopers is just wrong and dangerous," Comey said."

Think so?  Think not?

"Giuliani also called for Comey to be prosecuted — as has Mr. Trump — for divulging memos he wrote last year about interactions with the president. Mr. Trump has slammed Comey as an "untruthful slime ball,"  calling Comey a "LEAKER & LIAR."  "We're lucky to live in a country where facts matter and that people aren't prosecuted by people tweeting about them," Comey said Friday."

There is a problem with the above.  The above may be true when it comes to a high profile figure like Comey.  Not true, however, for the bottom and middle class.  ... Sadly, class does make a difference.  Bottom and middle class don't have the financial wherewithal to fight like hell in court, -- unlike the top of the food chain.

"Comey said that, if he happened to be special counsel Robert Mueller, he would have a number of questions for Mr. Trump — specifically, related to discovering whether there was any obstruction of justice. Comey said it would be important to "understand what his state of mind was," referring to Mr. Trump. It remains unclear if or when Mr. Trump would be interviewed by Mueller."

State of mind does make a difference when it comes to obstruction.  Comey is certainly quite right about that.  Precisely, what Mueller is taking a close look at.  Exactly, why he wants to interview Trump.  Precisely, why it will be quite dangerous for a 'loose cannon' like Trump.

CBS News reports:

"Adult film star Stormy Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, told "CBS This Morning" he was "stunned" and "speechless" after he heard President Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, say the president reimbursed attorney and fixer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment he made to Daniels from personal funds as part of a non-disclosure agreement.. Daniels alleges she had sex with Mr. Trump in 2006, which Mr. Trump denies, and Cohen paid her to keep quiet 11 days before the election.  "It makes our case that much stronger and I think it makes our efforts to depose the president that much stronger," Avenatti said Thursday morning. He said this is a "clear example" of the president and Cohen "lying repeatedly to the American people."  "With each passing week, more information comes out. And much of it is very inconsistent. It's time that people are forced to raise their right hand and testify under oath exactly what happened. And by that I'm not talking about on 'Fox & Friends,'" Avenatti said."

Noose certainly figuratively tightens.

"Giuliani said the president did not know the details at the time.  "He didn't know about the specifics of it, as far as I know, but he did know about the general arrangement that Michael would take care of things like this," Giuliani told Fox News Wednesday evening.   Avenatti said he doesn't think Giuliani's statement is "accurate at all."  "These guys are making it up as they go along. They're not looking at the big picture, they're not telling the truth, and ultimately it's going to cost them dearly," he said.  Daniels "feels more and more vindicated," Avenatti said, "because the predictions that we've made in this case the last two months continue to come true."  "I hope they keep talking and I hope they keep tweeting because our case just keeps getting better," Avenatti said."

How is it Trump's clueless supporters continue to support this guy no matter how many times he changes his story, continues to lie?

NPR reports:

"Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, may have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments from both corporate clients and potentially a Russian billionaire, according to new allegations from an attorney suing them.  Michael Avenatti, who represents adult film actress Stormy Daniels, described what he called Cohen's suspicious financial relationships in a document released on Tuesday evening.  Avenatti did not release the primary source materials that he used to draft his "executive summary," but at least three companies confirmed to NPR independently that they had hired Cohen or the shell company he formed to make the payment to Daniels that he has acknowledged."

More interesting?  Get this:

"The claims in Avenatti's document would, among other things, undercut accounts that Trump, Cohen and attorney Rudy Giuliani have given about the payments made to Daniels.  The document — if substantiated — describes a previously unknown relationship between Cohen and interests associated with Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. It also depicts what amounted to an influence business in which Cohen may have essentially acted as a lobbyist based on his relationship with Trump."

Screws certainly are tightening.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Persistence 'pays.'  Think Jesuits aren't tough?  The Washington Post reports:

"The Rev. Patrick J. Conroy, the House chaplain who last month announced his resignation under pressure, informed Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday that he wanted to rescind his offer and remain in his position at least through the end of this year."

Go get 'em, Padre.  Stand tall.

"In a two-page letter, Conroy accused Ryan’s chief of staff of invoking his Catholicism in a confrontation that led to the priest submitting a resignation letter a few days later. Conroy says Jonathan Burks also brought up an opening prayer the priest delivered in November and an interview with National Journal in January."

Amazing how 'religious freedom' applies only to Republican national socialists, not progressives, liberals etc..  Not Right Wing and nazi?  No place in GOP politics for you.  Inclusiveness?  What's that?

"Conroy is just the second Catholic priest to serve as chaplain, but those two priests have held the position since 2000. He wrote Wednesday that he believed Ryan had the power to fire him when he had the clash with Burks, so he submitted his first resignation letter on April 15.  Conroy, who said he is now under the “advice of counsel,” is no longer sure Ryan has that power because his position is an office of the House, voted upon for a two-year term at the start of each Congress. The chaplain, who had intended to resign May 24, now believes there was no just cause for him to be ousted from the position."

You go, Padre.  Stick it to the nazi bastards.  LOL.

“I have never been disciplined, nor reprimanded, nor have I ever heard a complaint about my ministry during my time as House chaplain,” Conroy wrote Thursday."

What could these shameless nazi assholes possibly been thinking?  LOL.  -- Gave him the boot simply for not goose stepping with GOP nazi ideology?

"In previous statements, Ryan denied that the Jesuit priest’s political views played any role in the ouster and said he had heard numerous complaints about Conroy’s lack of interaction with lawmakers."

Like his fuhrer, the Trump nazi, Ryan is 'truth challenged.'  Apparently, believes in 'alternative facts.'

"This was not about politics or prayers, it was about pastoral services. And a number of our members felt like the pastoral services were not being adequately served, or offered,” Ryan said at an event in Milwaukee earlier this week."

Amazing how these bastards shamelessly lie for partisan purposes.  Both parties equally guilty.

CBS News reports:

"Father Patrick Conroy, the House chaplain who was controversially ousted from his position by House Speaker Paul Ryan has rescinded his resignation, CBS News' Ed O'Keefe and Rebecca Kaplan report.  Conroy's impending departure was controversial, and came with little explanation. But in a letter dated Thursday, Conroy told Ryan he is formally rescinding his resignation.   In the letter, Conroy claimed Ryan's chief of staff, Jonathan Burks, met with him on April 13 and asked for a letter of resignation. When Conroy asked if he was being fired for cause, Conroy says Burks "mentioned dismissively" that "maybe it's time that we had a chaplain that wasn't Catholic."

Jesus Christ.  That, now, the Republican approach to Christianity?

Ryan clearly, finally got the message.  LOL.  NPR reports:

"An ongoing Capitol drama over the fate of the House chaplain ended as quickly as it had escalated on Thursday, with the Rev. Patrick Conroy rescinding his resignation and Speaker Paul Ryan accepting his decision.  In a sharply worded letter, Conroy, a Jesuit priest, suggested bias against his Catholic faith in the speaker's request for his resignation last month. Conroy alleged Jonathan Burks, Ryan's chief of staff, had said "maybe it's time we had a chaplain that wasn't a Catholic" during an April 13 private meeting in which Burks informed Conroy that the speaker wanted him to step down."

The Speaker finally succumbed to enormous pressure:

"Ryan, who is Catholic, released a statement in response in which he said he accepted Conroy's letter and "decided that he will remain in his position." He added: "It is my job as speaker to do what is best for this body, and I know that this body is not well served by a protracted fight over such an important post." Ryan said he plans to meet with Conroy next week "so that we can move forward for the good of the whole House."

"In a separate statement, Burks pushed backed against the priest's account of their private meeting. "I strongly disagree with Father Conroy's recollection of our conversation. I am disappointed by the misunderstanding, but wish him the best as he continues to serve the House," he said."

Jesus Christ.  Give me a break.

"House Democrats seized on the firing last week and attempted to force an investigation into Conroy's ousting, but their procedural gambit was defeated on the House floor. Some Catholic Republicans, including Reps. Peter King of New York and Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, have joined with Democrats to raise questions about the speaker's decision to force out Conroy."

Clearly, not all Republicans are goddamned nazis.  Here's the problem:

"One conservative Republican, North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker, a former pastor, fueled speculation of anti-Catholic sentiment from the GOP's Southern evangelicals when he told reporters the next chaplain should be "somebody who has a little age, that has adult children, that kind of can connect with the bulk of the body here, Republicans or Democrats, as far as what we're going through back home — you've got the wife, the family, things you encounter — that has some counseling experience or has managed or worked with people, maybe a larger church size, being able to have that understanding or that experience."  Walker walked backed those comments but then over the weekend withdrew himself from the selection committee to find a new chaplain."

Imagine that.  Couldn't be, could it?  LOL.  ...Think the Head Honcho isn't pissed off as hell at all the disingenuous bullshit?

Here's an ancillary issue:

"The House chaplain is a constitutional officer of the U.S. House, a group of officials that includes the House clerk, the sergeant-at-arms, and the doorkeeper for the chamber. They all earn $172,500 annually and enjoy many of the privileges awarded to current and former lawmakers, including pensions and access to the chamber floor."

Jesus Christ.  Why are taxpayers looted to pay these salaries and perqs?  Readers are reminded Jesuits take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.  The padre is not lining his pockets.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Think the EPA director fit for office?  NPR reports:

"Scott Pruitt, the current head of the Environmental Protection Agency, first came to national prominence back when he was Oklahoma's attorney general. In that role, he sued the agency he now runs 14 times, in a series of court cases alleging overreach by the federal government.  Environmentalists in Pruitt's home state say Pruitt was much less aggressive when it came to enforcing Oklahoma's environmental laws and going after polluters. An examination of Pruitt's record on environmental issues in Oklahoma shows that Pruitt's positions were often more in line with business and industry than with environmentalists."

... So, what else is new?  What is surprising is the fact Republican nazis, masquerading as 'conservatives,' fail to hold him accountable for lining his pockets off the taxpayer dime.  -- Too busy lining theirs?

"As EPA administrator, Pruitt has aggressively pursued an agenda to roll back Obama-era regulations on vehicle emissions standards, water quality and the climate."

We're going backwards.  Think medical expenses won't increase as the public suffers the consequences?  All, to line the pockets of his corporate masters, -- who handsomely line his.

"Pruitt has also said that he believes the science behind climate change should be up for debate."

The hell it should.  Consensus in the scientific community remains strong.  ... Ferociously pointedly, does this clueless GOP nazi believe the earth to be flat?

"The agenda to rein in regulation has endeared Pruitt to conservatives. But Pruitt is also facing at least 10 investigations involving allegations of ethics violations, misuse of taxpayer money and improper contacts with industry lobbyists."

These bastards are not conservatives. They're nazis.  Conservatives believe in protecting the environment.  At one time, Republicans were indeed conservatives, wished to protect the environment.  No longer.  Lining the pockets of their corporate masters who in turn line theirs is now the modus operandi of the Republican Party.  Not to say Democrats are any better.  Certainly, greedily line theirs as well.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

As Mueller zeroes in, Trump grows increasingly desperate.  Panders to base, as well as the hypocritical worst on the Nazi Right.  CBS News reports:

"During the annual National Day of Prayer commemoration at the White House on Thursday, President Trump signed the latest executive order of his presidency, to establish a faith-based office, the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative. He said it would focus on protecting religious freedom and ensuring that "the faith-based and community organizations that form the bedrock of our society have strong advocates in the White House and throughout the federal government."

The Trump nazi and his rabid supporters have conveniently forgotten this is indeed a nation of many different religions, -- and in some cases, none.

"Prayer has always been at the center of the American life. America is a nation of believers, and together we are strengthened by the power of prayer," said Mr. Trump at the Rose Garden ceremony.  In addition to making recommendations to the administration, the office will also inform the administration of "any failures of the executive branch to comply with religious liberty protections under law."

Jesus Christ.  No more than direct violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause, church-state separation, that is, freedom from religion.

Worse and laughably, Trump's clueless supporters ignore the fact a nazi has no regard for religion.  Pays lip service for the sake of political expediency.  ... As did Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, -- although both these fascist bastards professed to be Christians.  Insult to injury?  Coup de grace?  Epitome of hypocrisy?  Get this:

"In a proclamation released before the event, Mr. Trump said on Thursday "we join together to offer gratitude for our many blessings and to acknowledge our need for divine wisdom, guidance, and protection."

Give me a break.  LOL.  He gets his, the rest get f--ked.  How about that?  LOL.

... Think this phony in the Oval Office is currently pushing 'religious liberty' for one reason and one reason only, -- to ameliorate his ongoing porn star fiasco?  LOL.

In another article, CBS News reports:

"Michael Avenatti, attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels, says the American people have seen the "rope-a-dope defense" being used by President Trump's legal team play out on the national stage, adding that they are "redefining what the word 'no' means" as members of the administration continues to flip on just when and what the president knew about payments made to Avenatti's client."

'Can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit,' seems to be the mantra of Trump and his henchmen.  LOL.  Think his base will buy it forever?  ... Or, finally wake up.  LOL.

"I think that over the last few months, we've proven to be very serious about this case -- in fact far more serious than Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump, or now Mr. Giuliani," Avenatti told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday."

Why not?  Trump seems incapable of telling the truth.  -- More importantly, certainly a bottomless money pit.  LOL.  ... So why not legally take him for all you can get?  Then again, the porn star and her attorney are doing the public a favor.  Certainly, clearly expose the president for whom and what he is.

"Now that the president's legal team has gone on the record saying that Mr. Trump repaid Michael Cohen personally for the $130,000 payment to Daniels, Avenatti said it's clear to the American people "what's going on and it's a cover up."

So what else is new?

"Avenatti pointed directly to Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway who told "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the president was not aware of payments to Daniels when they occurred.  "I have to tell you I would urge people to go back and take a look at the statement that Michael Cohen issued back in late February or early March where he denied basically that Mr. Trump had reimbursed the payment. And he claimed he had done it all on his own," he said. "I mean we now know that that was an absolute lie."

Amazing how Trump has turned out to be a congenital liar and yet his base continues to cluelessly believe his lies.  LOL.

"Avenatti suggested that with more statements being made by the administration and the president's legal team, the "likelihood of us being able to place this president under oath I think has gone up exponentially."

Think so?  May be wishful thinking.  -- Trump's attorneys could tie this up for years in court.  May do so even should Mueller choose to drag Trump in front of a grand jury.  With all the lies, deception, obfuscation, obstruction, etc., his attorneys are reluctant to have him testify under oath.  For damned good reason.

"Despite the president repeatedly denying the allegations of an affair with Daniels, Avenatti says there's "no question" a relationship occurred between the president and his client.  "They've tried to distance themselves from the agreement, distance themselves from the payment, distance themselves from the reimbursement. I mean ... all you have to do is look at how they now claim the reimbursement occurred to know that something doesn't smell right," said Avenatti.  He added, "The more they talk the better our case gets and here's why -- because they can't keep their stories straight. They can't keep their lies straight. They keep providing further explanations upon explanations because they don't want to tell the American people the truth about what happened here."

Fascinating, isn't it?  No question, always easier to tell the truth.  Needn't worry about what was said to whom and why.  LOL.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Trump's new lawyer continues to damage his client.  The Washington Post reports:

"Rudolph W. Giuliani’s media blitz to convince the public that neither Donald Trump nor his lawyer had violated the law by paying a porn star to keep quiet about an alleged affair might have backfired, giving investigators new leads to chase and new evidence of potential crimes, legal analysts said.  Giuliani made statements that speak to Trump and lawyer Michael Cohen’s intent — an important aspect of some crimes — and he made assertions that investigators can now check against what they have already learned from documents and witnesses, legal analysts said. His comments to media outlets underscore a growing tension for the White House: The FBI investigation of Cohen presents a legal problem for the president that his own lawyer might have exacerbated."

Certainly, demonstrates increasing desperation.

“I’m sure his strategy was damage control,” said Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches at the University of Michigan, “but I’m not sure he controlled much.”  Starting with a Fox News appearance on Wednesday night, Giuliani, who joined Trump’s legal team just a few weeks ago, seemed to be trying to play down Cohen’s $130,000 payment in October 2016 to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and President Trump’s reimbursement of his longtime lawyer. He might have been trying to get ahead of investigators in making public facts they already know, though legal analysts said his statements could reinforce any case they might bring."

What webs we weave:

"Giuliani first contradicted Trump’s assertion last month that he was unaware of the payment to Daniels, then offered details of which federal investigators are sure to take note. He mused on “Fox & Friends,” for example, about what might have happened to Trump’s campaign had Daniels made her allegation on the eve of the election.  “Imagine if that came out on Oct. 15, 2016, in the middle of the last debate with Hillary Clinton,” Giuliani said. “Cohen didn’t even ask. Cohen made it go away. He did his job.”  That comment is important because it suggests Cohen made the payment with the intention of protecting the Trump campaign. In that case, the payment would constitute a campaign contribution or loan — rather than a personal expense. Such a contribution would have to be reported publicly, and the amount would have far exceeded the legal limit of $2,700 that Cohen could have given.  Matthew Sanderson, who served as a campaign finance lawyer for the 2008 McCain-Palin campaign, said the timing of the payment “strongly suggests it was related to the election, and therefore is either a contribution, or at least a reportable expenditure by the campaign.”

To think all this could have been avoided had Trump kept it in his pants.  LOL.

"Giuliani also revealed what legal analysts say might be tantalizing leads for investigators, who already were exploring Cohen’s business practices and whether any crimes may have been committed as part of a pattern or strategy of paying hush money to keep damaging stories about Trump from appearing when he was a candidate, according to people familiar with the matter."

More to the point:

"In an interview with The Washington Post, Giuliani said that Trump paid Cohen $35,000 a month as a retainer and that “there probably were other things of a personal nature that Michael took care of, for which the president would have always trusted him as his lawyer, as my clients do with me. And that was paid back out of the rest of the money. And Michael earned a fee out of it.” He declined to specify what those things might be.  “I think they were all certainly much less significant than the $130,000,” Giuliani said. “I’d be surprised if they made up even an appreciable portion of the amount.”  In addition to discussing the payment to Daniels, Giuliani asserted that Trump fired James B. Comey as FBI director because Comey would not reveal publicly that the president was not under investigation. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is investigating whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey.  “I think even asking him to publicly exonerate him does interfere with the investigation and could constitute obstruction of justice,” McQuade said."

If Trump gets nailed, likely be for obstruction.  ... But, we'll see.

"Giuliani said the president paid Cohen $35,000 monthly for a period of time in 2017. Precisely when the payments started and stopped is unclear; at one point, Giuliani indicated there could have been payments in 2018. He also said the Daniels settlement was covered by those payments.  Investigators are likely to ask witnesses about the topic and compare what Giuliani said publicly about Trump’s arrangement with Cohen with what people have told them in the past, McQuade said. Lying to federal investigators is a crime, though lying on TV is not."

Think Trump capable of appreciating the difference?  LOL.

No question, Mueller in Washington and the U.S. Attorney in New York are pressuring Cohen:

"The growing legal questions around Cohen’s services for Trump come as the lawyer faces a grand jury investigation being led by federal prosecutors in New York City who are exploring bank fraud, wire fraud or campaign finance charges, according to people familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.  That case, according to officials, stems from a referral made by Mueller but has functioned as a stand-alone case in New York for months. Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election, as well as whether the president obstructed justice.  Trump’s and Cohen’s lawyers believe the New York investigation is largely aimed at pressuring Cohen to cooperate with the special counsel team, according to several people familiar with their discussions. They believe investigators want to push him to reveal his conversations with Trump amid Russian efforts to help his campaign."

Cohen certainly has the goods.  Reportedly, been Trump's 'enforcer' for years. Think he won't 'flip' on the fuhrer?  Willingly 'fall on his sword, so to speak, to protect the Trump nazi?

"The Manhattan prosecutors’ search warrant for Cohen’s home and office — which FBI agents executed on April 9 — specifically sought communications between Cohen and Trump. The agents seized boxes of papers and more than a dozen digital devices. Those electronic and paper documents are now being reviewed by a court-appointed special master to determine what material is protected by attorney-client privilege and what is eligible to become part of the criminal investigation of Cohen. That process is expected to take weeks."

Think Trump isn't shitting?

"Two lead prosecutors handling the case — Thomas McKay and Nicolas Roos — are part of the public corruption unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and prosecute public officials and people engaged in conspiracy or fraud against the government. Trump advocates argue the corruption unit wouldn’t be involved unless their work was steering toward the president.  “This is about trying to get the president,” said one person familiar with the Trump lawyers’ discussions."

Why wouldn't they go after the 'top banana'?

"A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment."

Mueller has certainly run quite a tight ship, -- to date.

"Former federal prosecutor Jonathan Biran, who is now in private practice at Rifkin Weiner Livingston, said it is possible that investigators already know what Giuliani revealed publicly Wednesday and that his TV appearances were merely an attempt at “trying to get out in front of it.”

Quite likely.  Clearly, demonstrates increasing anxiety within the Trump camp.

"Giuliani and Stephen Ryan, who is Cohen’s lawyer, have known for weeks of Trump’s reimbursing Cohen, but even people who were close to Trump were stunned by the news that Giuliani divulged late Wednesday evening."

Couldn't be Trump's closest shills were deliberately kept out of the loop, could it?  LOL.

“I think there are two issues — there are the legal issues, and then the political side of it,” Biran said. “Reasonable minds can differ about whether politically it’s a good tactic to reveal this information in the way he did. ... I think that Mueller’s going to find out what the facts are, so that makes me think he was more worried about the political calculus.”

Trump knows things don't look good.  Could wind up losing the presidency, empire to boot.

"McQuade said Giuliani’s TV interviews might have been an effort to speak to Cohen and to reassure him that the White House still has his back. “Maybe the strategy there is to try to calm him down so he’s not tempted to cooperate,” she said.  After all, legal analysts said, charging Trump’s lawyer with a campaign finance or bank fraud violation seems far less weighty than Mueller’s pursuit of potential campaign coordination with Russia.  “I feel like a few months from now, campaign finance violations are going to be the least of these guys’ worries,” Eliason said."

That's right.  Certainly, appears so.  To Trump's chagrin, and despite the fact this is a democratic republic in name only, he has not quite yet successfully imposed his goddamned Fourth Reich.  Not yet.

The Washington Post reports:

"Former FBI director James B. Comey on Tuesday responded to Trump lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani’s recent broadsides against him, saying that his view of the former U.S. attorney whose work once inspired him had “changed over time,” and Giuliani seemed to feel the same way.  “I guess the love is gone,” Comey joked. “I used to be one of his star prosecutors. It appears I’m not anymore.”  Comey’s comments came during a wide-ranging conversation with reporter Carol D. Leonnig at a Washington Post Live event. He was responding to comments Giuliani had made on various television appearances, including the assertion that one reason President Trump might not agree to an interview with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is that the special counsel is more likely to believe Comey’s version of events than Trump’s."

Forget?  It's evidence, not who is or isn't believed.  Belief has nothing to do with it.

“People do things like lie,” Giuliani said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “People lie. Could Comey be lying? You’re damn right he could be lying. ... And we’re going to walk ourselves into a trap like that?”

Trump doesn't lie?  Isn't a congenital liar?  Isn't stupidly placing himself in legal jeopardy?

"Giuliani added that Mueller has to show he’s open to believing Trump. “The special counsel so far seems to think that Comey is Moses. And I happen to think Comey is Judas.”

You're out of your mind, Counselor.  Forget you're an attorney, Rudy?  It's the evidence, stupid, not belief or lack thereof.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Carefully, consider the following.  Think the judge out of line?  Or, spot on? The Washington Post reports:

"A federal judge in Virginia on Friday accused the office of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III of pursuing a fraud case against President Trump’s former campaign manager to pressure him to “sing” and provide evidence against the president."

Happens all the time.  At every level of government.  Includes having incarcerated felons testify against fellow criminals in court.  Any problem with any of this?  Any at all?  Certainly, as American as mom and apple pie.

"The comments from Judge T.S. Ellis III came during a hearing in Alexandria federal court, where attorneys for Paul Manafort argued that bank- and tax-fraud charges against him are outside the scope of the special counsel’s authority."

Think so?  ... Or, is the judge showing his bias?  Readers are reminded Mueller was granted wide latitude by the Justice Department.

“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud,” Ellis told prosecutors at the morning hearing. “You really care about getting information Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment.”

So what?  If it's good enough for the peasants on the bottom of the food chain, why isn't it good enough for those on top, -- including the Trump nazi?  Why should the son of a bitch receive special treatment?  Forget?  There are no kings, queens, or nazi dictators in what is supposed to be a democratic republic.

"Ellis said the government wanted Manafort, “the vernacular is, to sing.” The judge put it another way, saying the special counsel set out to “turn the screws and get the information you really want.”

So what else is new?  Equally protective in your court, Judge, when a peasant comes before you?

Here's the point:

"Michael Dreeben, a prosecutor with the special counsel’s office, did not respond specifically to the judge’s assertions. But he said the investigation fit naturally into a probe of Trump campaign ties to Russia: “In trying to understand the actions of Mr. Manafort in Ukraine and the association he had with Russian individuals and the depths of those financial relationships, we had to follow the money where it led.”

That's right.  What the hell is the judge's complaint?  Is he a Trump partisan?  That the problem?

"Manafort’s attorneys contend that their client’s alleged crimes in Virginia have nothing to do with the election or with Trump.  Ellis agreed, emphasizing that some of the charges involve purported conduct that occurred over a decade ago. But he made no immediate decision on the defense motion to dismiss. The judge said that even without such a connection, the special counsel, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, may well still have the authority to bring the charges.  “I’m not saying it’s illegitimate,” Ellis said."

That's right.  It's not.  Certainly, not legally.

"But the judge did question why an investigation into Trump attorney Michael Cohen was handed over to federal prosecutors in New York while the Manafort case was kept with the special counsel."

Easy to get lost in the legal weeds, but consider the following:

"Ellis suggested that if he ruled in Manafort’s favor, the case could simply be returned to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  It is precisely because the probe into Manafort’s financial dealings began years ago with federal prosecutors in that office, Manafort’s defense attorneys argued, that the special counsel should not be involved.  “This doesn’t make any sense,” defense attorney Kevin Downing said in court. “It’s so unrelated,” he said, “as to be in violation” of the special counsel’s mandate."

Think so?  Here's apparently why not:

"Dreeben responded in court that the Manafort investigation has expanded significantly since it was taken over by Mueller. “Our investigation has considerably advanced and deepened our understanding” of Manafort’s actions, he said.  The reason the specific parameters of the special counsel’s investigation have not been publicly revealed, Dreeben said, is that to do so would jeopardize ongoing probes and sensitive national security information.  “It would make no sense for the facts to be conveyed publicly,” he argued. Instead, he said, the scope has been defined in “ongoing discussions” with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the investigation."

Whether or not you buy the above argument, one thing for sure.  Too much information is classified.  Needlessly, so.  To protect and cover the sorry asses of the achingly self-serving, gutless pieces of shit who run and own this government.  Precisely, why it is indeed accurate to state this remains a democratic republic in name only.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Still not getting the true story vis a vis what went down and why.  Why not?  CBS News reports:

"Vice President Mike Pence's doctor Jennifer Peña is resigning, the vice president's office confirmed to CBS News.   The reason for the resignation is unclear. Earlier this week, CBS News and other outlets reported that the Pence's doctor had been critical of Ronny Jackson, Mr. Trump's former pick to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, last fall. Pence's press secretary, Alyssa Farah, said the White House Medical Unit informed Pence's office of the resignation.

"As CNN first reported and CBS News confirmed, Peña had expressed concerns about Jackson's behavior over a medical incident involving Karen Pence, the vice president's wife. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and his deputy Joe Hagin were aware of concerns that Jackson made Pence's doctor feel uncomfortable with his "accusatory" tone, "unprofessionalism," and "intimidating" and "aggressive" behavior stemming from a medical incident in September 2017 involving the second lady, according to memos reviewed by a source familiar."

Why aren't we getting the full story as to what went down and why regarding Jackson?

"The vice president's doctor, assigned by the U.S. military to the vice president, wrote the series of memos documenting concerns about Jackson's behavior. The medical situation required Mrs. Pence to be transported from Camp David to Walter Reed hospital.  Jackson had asked for reports on Mrs. Pence's condition from physicians who initially treated her at Camp David. While the vice president's physician wrote this was done "without malicious intent to circumvent their medical knowledge," the doctor also noted Jackson went on to share the information with senior medical providers and briefed members of President Trump's White House staff "without specific consultation from the physician to the vice president."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

More insight into Trump's business activity.  The Washington Post reports:

"In the nine years before he ran for president, Donald Trump’s company spent more than $400 million in cash on new properties — including 14 transactions paid for in full, without borrowing from banks — during a buying binge that defied real estate industry practices and Trump’s own history as the self-described “King of Debt.”

Interesting, isn't it?  Been some changes:

"Trump’s vast outlay of cash, tracked through public records and totaled publicly here for the first time, provides a new window into the president’s private company, which discloses few details about its finances."

Not surprising, is it?  Trump, indeed, holds his cards close to the vest, -- so to speak.

"It shows that Trump had access to far more cash than previously known, despite his string of commercial bankruptcies and the Great Recession’s hammering of the real estate industry."

Particularly fascinating, in light of how many contractors failed to get paid, how Trump University 'students' got screwed, the fact the Trump Foundation was under intense scrutiny for lining Trump's pockets, etc..

"Why did the “King of Debt,” as he has called himself in interviews, turn away from that strategy, defying the real estate wisdom that it’s unwise to risk so much of one’s own money in a few projects?  And how did Trump — who had money tied up in real estate and buildings — raise enough liquid assets to go on this cash buying spree?"

Good questions, aren't they?  Ever wonder why Trump is the only president in recent history who refused to disclose his tax returns?

"From the outside, it is difficult to assess how much cash the Trump Organization has on hand.  Eric Trump, a son of the president who helps manage the company, told The Washington Post that none of the cash used to purchase the 14 properties came from outside investors or from selling off major Trump Organization assets.  Instead, Eric Trump said, the firm’s existing businesses — commercial buildings in New York, licensing deals for Trump-branded hotels and clothes — produced so much cash that the Trumps could tap that flow for spending money.  “He had incredible cash flow and built incredible wealth,” Eric Trump said. “He didn’t need to think about borrowing for every transaction. We invested in ourselves.”  He added: “It’s a very nice luxury to have.”

Indeed.  Appears to be changing, however, as the Trump brand diminishes.  .. Possibly not only due to the ongoing fiasco in the Oval Office, but the ongoing emoluments lawsuits regarding Trump's Florida Shangri-La and other business dealings vis a vis lining his pockets off the presidency.

The above barely scratches the surface of the article.  More on this as the story develops.  Particularly, as the Mueller investigation in Washington and that of the U.S. Attorney in New York proceed.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

There are ongoing credibility problems with Trump's press secretary.  -- Despite the fact she is one tough, shameless defender of the Trump nazi.  LOL.  The Washington Post reports:

"The West Wing shouting match was so loud that more than a dozen staffers heard it.  White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders cursed and yelled at White House Counsel Donald McGahn during the February confrontation, according to two people familiar with the episode. Misleading statements about the domestic abuse scandal that felled staff secretary Rob Porter had dragged the administration into a maelstrom of chaos and contradictory public statements.  Exasperated, Sanders told McGahn she would not continue to speak for the administration unless she was provided more information about Porter’s situation.  The dispute, which erupted in a hallway outside Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin’s office, was resolved after Sanders received the clarity she sought, the people familiar with the argument said. Hours later, Sanders returned to her lectern to field queries from a skeptical press corps, though her answers left reporters with more questions."

Love her or hate her, Sanders is in an impossible situation.  As press secretary, how do you successfully manage all the lies, deceit, deception going on and maintain any level of credibility?

"The moment illustrates the precarious role Sanders has chosen to fill as the public face of the Trump administration — and the doubts about her credibility in representing a president who traffics in mistruths and obfuscations."

How do you credibly defend a congenital liar without losing yourself in the process?

"Sanders was thrust into an especially harsh limelight over the past week. She was the subject of an acerbic broadside about her “bunch of lies” by comedian Michelle Wolf at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Then she was forced to explain the inconsistent accounts from her, President Trump and his new personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, about the hush money paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. The week was punctuated by an onslaught of commentary about Sanders’s character."

At some point, if she indeed has any at all, Sanders will move on.  No way one can burn the candle at both ends, -- so to speak, on a sustainable basis.  Impossible task.

"By virtue of her position, Sanders is inextricably bound in the mistruths of the Trump administration. She is a willing warrior for Trump, and her critics say she should be held accountable for his utterances — from the untruthful to the racist to the sexist. Since taking office, Trump has made more than 3,000 false or misleading claims, according to an analysis by The Washington Post’s Fact Checker."

Reporters need to hold her accountable during briefings.  Ask the very same question over and over and over again, -- until she truthfully answers or walks out of the briefing.  To date, they let her and her predecessors continue to lie, bullshit, and obfuscate.  Needs to change.  Media needs to stand up.

"Before most briefings, she meets with Trump in the Oval Office to discuss how he would like her to answer news-of-the-day questions, White House officials said. The president sometimes dictates lines for her to read or orders her to use precise words on particularly sensitive matters."

Precisely, why she has no credibility.

"Sanders routinely dodges questions on hot topics by telling reporters she has not asked the president about it — a deliberate strategy to avoid having to wade into delicate issues, according to a Sanders confidante."

Called lying.

"She deflects nearly every question about the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the election unless she has a prepared statement from the president to read — a protective move against creating legal exposure for herself with extemporaneous answers."

If she has any honor, time to jump ship.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Think it appropriate to have an unprosecuted war criminal head the CIA?  ABC News reports:

"President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the CIA has told senators privately that she would stand firm against any effort to restart the brutal detention and interrogation program the spy agency ran after 9/11, administration officials said Friday.  In comments meant to soften the public profile of Gina Haspel before her confirmation hearing on Wednesday, two administration officials said she was not the "architect" of the program, but a "line officer" who never interrogated any terrorism suspects. The officials, who are familiar with her meetings on Capitol Hill, were not authorized to discuss her private conversations with the senators and spoke only on condition of anonymity."

This woman, her colleagues, and every one in the food chain right up to and including George "The Tush" Bush and "Slick Dick" Cheney should have their sorry asses hauled to The Hague, tried as war criminals.

NPR reports:

"The CIA is only selectively lifting the veil on Haspel's long career. Haspel, 61, joined the agency in 1985, a few years after graduating from the University of Louisville. She has held 20 separate jobs, including seven foreign postings.  The positions are only identified by region — Africa, Europe and Eurasia. Although, the languages she learned at the CIA — Russian and Turkish — offer additional clues about her assignments.  "Gina will bring to the table a personal and granular knowledge of what it's like to be an operator, to go down the dark alley and meet a source," said Frank Archibald, who was the CIA's director of clandestine services before he retired three years ago. Haspel was his deputy."

This woman and her colleagues engaged in war crimes.  Betrayed their oaths of office to uphold the United States Constitution.

"But personal testimonials aren't enough, says Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat.  "I'm very familiar with the classified material. I think the vast amount of this can be declassified," said Wyden, who is on the intelligence committee that will question Haspel on Wednesday.  "I think the agency is covering up her background, because if the American people knew what I knew, I think there would be many senators who would say, 'Look, there's no choice but to reject her confirmation,' " said Wyden."

The public has a right to this information.

"The Washington Post reported Sunday that Haspel was willing to step down Friday rather than go through a grilling by senators that could embarrass her and the agency.  But White House officials persuaded her to press ahead, and she remains on track for the Wednesday hearing."

This individual is unfit for office:

"She was at a black site prison in Thailand where al-Qaida suspects were waterboarded in 2002. And in 2005, she wrote a cable calling for the destruction of videotapes that showed that waterboarding.  Daniel Jones was a Senate intelligence committee staffer at the time. He said that revelation prompted senators to call for an expanded investigation. The result was the Senate's so-called torture report that he helped write. The full report, along with a declassified version, were released in 2014.  "The creation of that cable by Gina Haspel, and her advocacy for the destruction of the tapes, really led to the eventual 7,000-page [classified] report," said Jones."

If the above is true as appears to be the case, she is a criminal.

"Today the law is clear. Waterboarding is illegal. The CIA says it's out of the interrogation business, something Haspel has been telling senators in private meetings.  But her nomination has raised the issue anew, says Chris Anders of the American Civil Liberties Union.  "Gina Haspel is unique. She is the only one who has been nominated for office who had an operational role in the use of torture," Anders said."

As stated repeatedly in this publication, Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita was executed at the end of the Second World War for war crimes.  One of them, -- waterboarding perpetrated by his troops.  Supposedly, without his knowledge.

NBC News reports:

"Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump's nominee to be CIA director, broached the idea of withdrawing her nomination on Friday over concerns that reopening the debate over brutal interrogations could damage the spy agency, two U.S. officials told NBC News.  Haspel, who faces a confirmation hearing Wednesday, decided to go ahead after a weekend phone call with Trump and after White House officials went to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to reassure her that she had their support, the officials said."

The hopelessly ignorant nazi bastards in the White House and their fuhrer continue to support an American CIA war criminal and her colleagues.  For  war crimes Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita was executed at the end of the Second World War.  No problem with this?  None at all?

"Raj Shah, the White House's principal deputy press secretary, told NBC News: "Acting Director Haspel is a highly qualified nominee who has dedicated over three decades of service to her country. Her nomination will not be derailed by partisan critics who side with the ACLU over the CIA on how to keep the American people safe."

Mr. Shah has his head figuratively, securely lodged up his achingly ignorant ass.  Torture yields no useful or accurate information.  Does not make this country safer.  Quite the opposite.  Then again, the nazi element in our formerly great country cannot, will not, be confused with the truth.  Too goddamned aggressively stupid.  ... Right, Mr. 'President?'

NBC News reports:

"Gina Haspel, President Trump’s CIA director nominee, did not apologize Wednesday for her role using enhanced interrogation techniques after the 9/11 attacks, but told a Senate panel that she would not revive those practices."

Think not?  Believe she's telling the truth?

“I understand that what many people around the country that want to know about are my views on CIA’s former detention and interrogation program," Haspel said in opening remarks before the Senate Intelligence Committee."

No.  We know quite well what your views are.  You and your goddamned traitorous thugs engaged in waterboarding.  Considered a war crime.  Certainly, one of the reasons why Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita was executed at the end of the Second World War.  Why weren't you, and your thugs held to the very same standard?

"I have views on this issue, and I want to be clear. Having served in that tumultuous time, I can offer you my personal commitment, clearly and without reservation, that under my leadership CIA will not restart such a detention and interrogation program,” she added."

Jesus Christ.  Give me a break.  Rings hollow.  Where the hell was your goddamned conscience during the time your thugs were engaging in such practices?

More bullshit:

"But now, she also told the committee, "we should hold ourselves to a stricter moral standards, and I would never allow CIA to be involved in coercive interrogations."

You and your goddamned thugs knew what you were doing.  Your promises remain achingly, deceptively hollow.  The fact nearly all CIA activities remain classified protects you bastards, ensures you're not held criminally accountable for your crimes.  You are not patriots.  You're traitors.

Gets worse:

"Haspel also said, in written remarks released Wednesday as the hearing began, that she believed the agency had obtained “valuable intelligence” through enhanced interrogation techniques that had helped to prevent terrorist attacks.  “In my view, a view shared by all nine former directors and acting directors, the CIA was able to collect valuable intelligence that contributed to the prevention of further terrorist attacks. That said, it is impossible to know whether the CIA could have obtained the same information in another way,” Haspel said in response to a written question from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif."

You're a goddamned disingenuous liar, Ms. Haspel.  No better than your fuhrer, the Trump nazi.  Your thugs were told what their victims thought they wanted to hear.  To end the torture.  You continue to defend the indefensible making you unfit to direct this agency.

"At the hearing, Haspel faced tough questions concerning her role using enhanced interrogation techniques after the 9/11 attacks and her destruction of tapes depicting those practices, actions which have drawn criticism and scrutiny on Capitol Hill since her nomination two months ago."

This woman destroyed evidence of criminal activity perpetrated by her goons.  War crimes. Torture.

Republicans have no honor, no credibility, no principles:

“I believe your intellectual rigor, honorable service, and outstanding judgment make you a natural fit to lead the CIA,” said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman of the Intelligence Committee, in his opening statement Wednesday. “You are, without a doubt, the most qualified person the president could have chosen to lead the CIA and the most prepared nominee in its 70 year history.”

This piece of shit endorses a war criminal to head the CIA.  Excuses the inexcusable.  Does so for partisan reasons.  Has disgraced himself, the Flag, and abrogated the oath of office he falsely swore to uphold the United States Constitution and rule of law.  Where is the outrage of Democrats?  Why didn't they walk out of the Senate?

The Washington Post reports:

"Haspel told senators that she doubted the president would ever ask her to waterboard a suspect, stressing that experience had shown that the “CIA is not the right place to conduct interrogations” as it does not have the proper expertise.  Haspel took charge in 2002 of a secret CIA detention facility in Thailand where an al-Qaeda suspect was waterboarded, and in 2005 drafted a cable, ultimately issued by her boss, ordering the destruction of dozens of videotapes of the interrogation sessions. She told senators Wednesday that she had “absolutely” supported the destruction of 92 tapes, all depicting one detainee being interrogated, over concerns “about the security risk that was posed to our officers.” She noted that CIA lawyers at the time had determined there was no legal obligation to retain them, despite lawmakers and government officials having raised questions about the interrogations only days before their destruction was ordered."

What 'security' risk to CIA torturers?  The true risk posed to these war criminals by those tapes was prosecution, -- as war criminals.  Precisely, why that evidence was destroyed by this war criminal.  Think otherwise?  There's a bridge in Brooklyn and 'oceanfront' in Arizona you may be interested in.

"In 2005, Haspel drafted a cable, ultimately issued by her boss, ordering the destruction of nearly 100 videotapes of the interrogation sessions. Officials familiar with the episode have said that Haspel believed her boss, Jose Rodriquez, then the director of the National Clandestine Service, would obtain approval from the CIA director and general counsel before issuing the order. But Haspel was a strong advocate within the agency for destroying the tapes, believing that were they to become public and reveal the identity of CIA interrogators, they could face reprisals from terrorists."

Horse shit.  What they were gutlessly, deathly afraid of was prosecution.

NPR reports:

"The nominee also said she had not played a role in creating the CIA's detention and interrogation program, and didn't know of its existence until about a year after it had been started.  When asked about President Trump's previously stated idea that torture "absolutely works," Haspel said, "I don't believe that torture works."  She added that valuable information had been gained from debriefing senior al-Qaida operatives — and that it was impossible to determine if "interrogation techniques played a role in that."

Goddamned double talk.  Bullshit.

"That response came during questioning by Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. — who also pressed Haspel to say whether she now views the CIA's interrogation program as immoral."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Nazism remains alive and well in the not-so-great state of Iowa.  NPR reports:

"Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed one of the country's most restrictive abortion bills into law on Friday."

What nazi wouldn't?

"The so-called "heartbeat" legislation bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat has been detected, at about six weeks of pregnancy. Exceptions are made in cases of rape, incest or medical emergency."

'Generous' of these nazi's, isn't it?

"Republican state lawmakers worked late into the night this week to push the measure forward. During Tuesday's debate in the Statehouse, Rep. Sandy Salmon said, "A baby has become something we can throw away. This bill says it's time to change the way we think about unborn life."

Time for you goddamned nazis to stop imposing your outrageously perverse religious views on the rest of us by statute.

"I understand that not everyone will agree with this decision," Reynolds said in a written statement. "But if death is determined when a heart stops beating, then doesn't a beating heart indicate life? For me, it is immoral to stop an innocent beating heart."

What is immoral, Governor, is forcing your outrageously perverse religious views on all in direct violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause, church-state separation, that is, freedom from religion.

"No Democrats voted for the bill. "This unconstitutional bill is nothing but a thinly veiled attack on Iowa women's most basic rights and freedoms — every woman deserves the fundamental right to make decisions about her own body with her doctor," Democratic National Committee women's media director Elizabeth Renda said in a written statement."

Raw nazism.  Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini.  Think these bastards aren't wildly cheering on their fiery perches?  Delusionally believe abortion was legal in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy? Wake up.

"At a rally on Friday at the Iowa State Capitol, Suzanna de Baca, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, said the organization would file a lawsuit against the governor if she signed the bill. The organization tweeted, "We will fight like hell with everything we have."  The American Civil Liberties Union also announced plans to sue with the Planned Parenthood Action Fund."

Republican nazis remain an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

"Reynolds knew that her signature would be incendiary. "I understand and anticipate that this will likely be challenged in court and that courts may even put a hold on the law until it reaches the Supreme Court," she said in the statement. "However, this is bigger than just a law. This is about life. I am not going to back down from who I am or what I believe in."

This is about raw nazism.  Determined abrogation of liberty in the concerted effort to impose one's outrageously perverse religious views on all.  Sadly, this Governor and others who think like her are an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.  When she placed her hand on the Bible to take the oath of office to uphold the United States Constitution, she lied.

ABC News reports:

"America's abortion clinics experienced a major upsurge in trespassing, obstruction and blockades by anti-abortion activists in 2017, according to an annual survey by an industry group.  The National Abortion Federation report chronicled a litany of actions that ranged from coordinated trespassing efforts by abortion opponents, repeated brick-throwing at windows of a Cleveland clinic and an attempted bombing in Illinois.  The report found that there was an overall decrease in acts of vandalism against clinics but a significant increase in activities aimed at disrupting services and intimidating patients and providers. Acts of trespassing increased from 247 in 2016 to 823 in 2017, instances of obstruction tripled to 1,704 and threats of death or other harm nearly doubled to 62."

Don't these goddamned hypocritical assholes claim to be Christians?

"The protesters are feeling emboldened by the political environment and seeing what they could get away with," said the federation's president, Vicki Saporta. "They want to make it more difficult to provide care, without going to very extreme forms of violence."  The federation based its findings on monthly reports filed by its members who make up the vast majority of abortion clinics nationally.  Many clinics across the U.S. routinely are targeted by legal picketing near their premises. But in some cases, the protests escalated and led to intervention by federal and law enforcement agencies."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

More of the same.  ABC News reports:

"Wells Fargo said Friday it has agreed to pay $480 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit brought by shareholders who claim the bank misstated or failed to disclose details about its sales practices.  The San Francisco-based bank said that the agreement is in principle, and must be approved by the court before it's finalized.  Wells Fargo denies the claims and allegations in the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Northern California. It said is settling the complaint to avoid the cost and disruption of further litigation."

Ferociously pointedly:

"Even with the latest settlement, Wells Fargo isn't in the clear. Its wealth management business is reportedly under investigation for improprieties similar to those that impacted its consumer bank. And the Department of Justice is investigating the bank's currency trading business."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Think there isn't a serious problem in the Southern Baptist Christian community?  The Washington Post reports:

"More than 1,000 Southern Baptist women have signed an open letter to the trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary that says they are “grieved by the dangerous and unwise counsel” that the group’s president, Paige Patterson, has given by telling abused women not to divorce, and are shocked by his comments that “objectify a teenage girl.”  “These comments are damaging, sinful, and necessitate a decisive response,” the women wrote in a letter published Sunday afternoon."

Think not?  Then again, isn't this par for the course, -- especially in the Trump era?  LOL.

Here's the problem:

"These women, who include several influential writers and speakers, are not pushing theological boundaries within the Southern Baptist Convention. The letter says they affirm Southern Baptist views that only men are allowed to be pastors and that women are to submit themselves to their husbands."

Jesus Christ.  ... Then, these ladies expect this guy to temper his rhetoric?  -- After reinforcing his bullshit?  LOL.

"Patterson, whose comments from 2000 went viral last weekend, doubled down on his remarks after the seminary’s commencement ceremony Friday, telling The Washington Post that he has nothing for which to apologize. He could not be reached immediately Sunday night for comment about the letter."

Think this jackass capable of thinking otherwise?  LOL.

"The women highlighted comments he made in a sermon in which he described a 16-year-old girl walking by, saying that “she was nice.” One young man commented, “Man, is she built.” A woman scolded him, and Patterson said he responded to the woman, “Ma’am, leave him alone. He’s just being biblical.” The audience laughed. In their letter, the women especially highlight the “inappropriate nature of his own observations of her body.”

Don't Southern Baptists accept even worse in the Trump nazi?  How this piece of shit in the Oval Office treats women in his life?

"Patterson is revered within the Southern Baptist Convention for helping orchestrate a conservative takeover of the denomination decades ago, and he is scheduled to deliver a sermon at the convention’s annual meeting next month in Dallas. Some leaders are in panic mode about what that honor could communicate about how Southern Baptist women are treated."

Hypocrisy?  Stunning.  Is this guy determined to emulate his fuhrer?  The Trump nazi?  LOL.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Amazing how the Nazi Right so easily escapes justice the last forty years or so.  Certainly, since the days of Ronald Reagan.  The Washington Post reports:

"Retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, a central figure in the Iran-contra affair in the 1980s, has been named president of the National Rifle Association.  The NRA’s board of directors chose North to be the organization’s president Monday morning after NRA President Pete Brownell decided not to seek a second term.  “This is the most exciting news for our members since Charlton Heston became president of our Association,” NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre said. “Oliver North is a legendary warrior for American freedom, a gifted communicator and skilled leader. In these times, I can think of no one better suited to serve as our president.”

Think so?  Consider the following:

"North, 74, worked on the staff of the National Security Council in the Reagan White House when some within the administration arranged to sell U.S. arms to Iran in exchange for hostages and diverted part of the proceeds from those sales to help Nicaraguan contra forces. That type of aid was banned by Congress."

This son of a bitch clearly broke the law.  Did so knowingly.  Thought he knew best.  -- The mark of a fascist.  Wake up.

"North was convicted in 1989 of charges including obstructing Congress, unlawfully mutilating government documents and taking an illegal gratuity. He was fined $150,000 and was given a three-year suspended sentence and two years’ probation."

A goddamned criminal.  Failed to follow the law, to say nothing of the United States Constitution.  This man is a traitor.  Abrogated his oath of office to uphold the Constitution.  Did so despite his past military service, the fact he is a United States Marine.

Coup de grace?  Proof positive there is no justice?  Wake up:

"A federal judge dropped the criminal charges against North in 1991."

Here's some history:

"North was an active Marine for 22 years. He hosted “War Stories with Oliver North,” a series of military history documentaries, on Fox News, and worked as a contributor for the network before retiring Monday.  North ran for Senate in 1994 as a Republican in a bitter race against Democrat Charles S. Robb in Virginia. North and Robb were in a statistical tie fewer than two weeks before the election when former first lady Nancy Reagan blasted North, saying he lied about her husband’s role in Iran-contra.  “Ollie North has a great deal of trouble separating fact from fantasy,” Nancy Reagan said at the time, “and he lied to my husband and lied about my husband, kept things from him that he should not have kept from him.”  Robb won the race by three percentage points. North was one of the few Republicans to lose in the 1994 election, when the party took over Congress."

Wake up.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Consider the following.  NPR reports:

"An Israeli intelligence firm was hired last year to do "dirty ops" research on former Obama administration officials who worked on the Iran nuclear deal, according to reports in the U.K.'s Observer and The New Yorker.  The firm is Black Cube, according to The New Yorker: the same company reportedly hired by Harvey Weinstein in 2016 to investigate the women and journalists he thought might come forward with allegations against him. Black Cube touts that the company is run by "a select group of veterans from the Israeli elite intelligence units."

Fascinating, isn't it?

"The reports differ on who hired Black Cube.  The Observer reports that an Israeli intelligence firm was hired by aides to President Trump, "who contacted private investigators in May last year to 'get dirt' on Ben Rhodes, who had been one of Barack Obama's top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama, as part of an elaborate attempt to discredit the deal."  Sources told the Observer that Trump's team had contacted the firm just days after he visited Israel last May. "The idea was that people acting for Trump would discredit those who were pivotal in selling the deal, making it easier to pull out of it," a source told the newspaper."

Think Trump and his regime incapable of this?

"A Black Cube spokesman told NPR that the firm was never hired by anyone within the Trump administration, and said Black Cube's clients have business rather than political interests. But the company would neither confirm nor deny that a business client had hired the firm to do the work described in the New Yorker and Observer reports.  The White House did not respond to NPR's request for comment."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Trump grows increasingly delusional and enraged.  NBC reports:

"President Donald Trump on Monday railed against the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, accusing special counsel Robert Mueller's team of having "unrevealed conflicts of interest" and insisting that obstruction of justice is a "made-up phony crime."  "The Russia Witch Hunt is rapidly losing credibility. House Intelligence Committee found No Collusion, Coordination or anything else with Russia. So now the Probe says OK, what else is there? How about Obstruction for a made up, phony crime.There is no O, it’s called Fighting Back," Trump wrote in the first of two Monday morning tweets on the topic. Mueller's team is reportedly probing whether Trump committed obstruction of justice by firing James Comey as FBI director last year."

You're all talk, Mr. 'President.'  Where's your proof?  Engaged in wishful thinking?  Perpetually locked in your own fantasy world?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Think Trump isn't using 'religious liberty' to stick it to the LGBTQ community?  NBC News reports:

“This administration has continually promoted the troubling notion that religious freedom is a blank check to discriminate and harm others,” Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, told NBC News. “This new initiative creates a bureaucratic regime and adopts policy preferences that will worsen that disturbing trend.”Both Mach and Camilla B. Taylor, director of constitutional litigation at Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ advocacy group, citied concerns about the new order’s revocation of protections granted in prior executive orders that required service providers receiving government funds to refer beneficiaries to alternative service providers if the initial provider refused to perform certain services for religious reasons."

Called bigotry.

"Taylor noted even if a faith-based service provider is open to referring someone to an alternative provider, it can be difficult if the initial provider is the only one in the area. This was the case for a lesbian couple in Texas, who were denied the opportunity to foster a refugee child because they did not “mirror the holy family.” Taylor said “there is no other agency in that state that performs those services for refugee children.” Lambda Legal is currently suing the Health Department on behalf of the couple.  Taylor called Thursday’s executive order “worrying” and described it as “just the latest assault in a long-term battle that this administration is waging on the members of the LGBTQ community and women in need of reproductive health."

The Nazi Right is determinedly, concertedly, shamelessly bastardizing Christianity to impose its perverse agenda.

"She said the order constitutes an “invitation” for faith-based groups to apply for public funding, when they have no intention of serving all members of the public. It’s an “unmistakable signal to religious organizations who take government money that they can discriminate without any repercussions whatsoever. It’s open season,” she added."

NBC reports:

"State lawmakers in Oklahoma and Kansas have approved legislation to grant legal protections to faith-based adoption agencies that cite their religious beliefs for not placing children in LGBTQ homes."

What this is remains no more than legalization of homophobic bigotry.  In Nazi America.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

The following is appalling.  NPR reports:

"New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a vocal critic of President Trump who has championed many women's causes, has resigned following a New Yorker article that detailed allegations by four women that he physically abused them."

Nothing quite like hypocrisy, is there?

"In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me," he said in a statement. "While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office's work at this critical time."  Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement: "No one is above the law, including New York's top legal officer."

Trump delusionally believes he, himself, is.  Apparently, his clueless sick sycophants agree.

"I will be asking an appropriate New York District Attorney to commence an immediate investigation, and proceed as the facts merit," Cuomo said."

Indeed, the right thing to do, Governor.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

Think Rudy's not out to lunch?  CBS News reports:

"The Trump administration sought to distance itself from Rudy Giuliani's dramatic public statements about Iran and North Korea, saying that President Donald Trump's new lawyer does not speak for the president on matters of foreign policy.  Since joining Mr. Trump's legal team last month and becoming its public face, Giuliani has raised eyebrows for a series of startling assertions not only about his legal strategy and the special counsel investigation, but also about global affairs and Mr. Trump's policies. That spurred widespread confusion over whether the former New York mayor, now on Mr. Trump's payroll, was disclosing information he'd been told by the president, stating U.S. government policy or merely describing his own impression of events.  "He speaks for himself and not on behalf of the administration on foreign policy," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Monday."

Ouch.

Here's some more.  CBS News reports:

"Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is now on President Trump's legal team, told CBS News correspondent Paula Reid Monday that special counsel Robert Mueller's office has rejected proposals to allow Mr. Trump to answer questions from investigators in writing.  The president's legal team has signaled that this would be their preferred format for a possible interview, since it helps protect Mr. Trump from the possibility of lying or misleading investigators, which is a criminal offense."

Trump and his henchmen seek special treatment not afforded those on the bottom and middle class.  Good to see Mueller stand tall.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-11-18

More of the same.  The idiot strikes again.  LOL.  NPR reports:

"President Trump announced Tuesday that he has decided to exit a 2015 six-nation agreement in which Iran agreed to limit its production of nuclear weapons material.  "Trump's repudiation of the agreement was called "misguided" by former President Obama, whose administration negotiated it, and in a joint statement, the leaders of Great Britain, France and Germany expressed "regret and concern."

"In a statement, Obama, who rarely addresses actions of his successor, said the agreement is working, and "has significantly rolled back Iran's nuclear program."  Walking away from it "turns our back on America's closest allies," the former president also said.   Obama added that, "In a democracy, there will always be changes in policies and priorities from one Administration to the next. But the consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America's credibility, and puts us at odds with the world's major powers. Debates in our country should be informed by facts, especially debates that have proven to be divisive."

    "There are few issues more important to the security of the US than the potential spread of nuclear weapons or the potential for even more destructive war in the Middle East. Today’s decision to put the JCPOA at risk is a serious mistake. My full statement: https://t.co/4oTdXESbxe
    — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 8, 2018"

No question.  Trump's an idiot.  Presents an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.  Clearly, demonstrates to allies and foes alike he cannot be trusted.  His word means squat shit.  No credibility.  None at all.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Highly reminiscent of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors, Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.  It's appalling.  Runs against the grain of everything our formerly great country once stood for.  No longer.

In follow up to another case covered extensively here in this publication and elsewhere, NPR reports:

"An Arkansas man has been convicted of malicious wounding for beating a black man during a white nationalist rally last year in Charlottesville, Va.  Jacob Scott Goodwin, 23, will be sentenced in August. The jury is recommending 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, local TV station NBC 29 reports.  On Aug. 12, 2017, the day of the Unite the Right rally, Goodwin was one of several white men who attacked DeAndre Harris, 20, surrounding him, kicking him and hitting him with poles as he lay curled on the ground in a parking garage. Harris was left with multiple injuries."

Was savagely beaten by this goddamned nazi.

"Goodwin was wearing a helmet and goggles and carrying a shield. Photos and videos from that day show he was also wearing white nationalist and white supremacist symbols: the logo of a neo-Nazi group, as well as a numerical code for Heil Hitler."

Readers are reminded this is the very same rally the Trump nazi falsely opined both sides were to blame.

"The attack was captured on video, and in the weeks that followed, New York Daily News columnist Shaun King organized a crowd-sourced investigation to identify the attackers. Goodwin was one of the men identified through that effort.  Three other men are currently facing charges."

While King and the Internet community are to be commended for their effort, isn't such investigation something the police are commissioned to do?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

More trouble in Trump 'paradise.'  The Washington Post reports:

"Ronny L. Jackson, President Trump’s embattled nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, withdrew from consideration Thursday amid mushrooming allegations of professional misconduct that raised questions about the White House vetting process.  “The allegations against me are completely false and fabricated,” Jackson, the White House physician, said in a defiant statement. “If they had any merit, I would not have been selected, promoted and entrusted to serve in such a sensitive and important role as physician to three presidents over the past 12 years.”

Illustrative not only of the Trump Regime's egregious failure to properly vet this guy, -- but colossal systemic failure to properly police itself during his tenure as White House physician the last twelve years.  How does this happen?  Who the hell was out to lunch?  Willing to look the other way?  Who came forward to whom and was ignored?

Think this isn't a problem?  Consider the following:

"Jackson’s nomination had become imperiled even before Capitol Hill Democrats on Wednesday released new allegations of misconduct. The claims include that he had wrecked a government vehicle after getting drunk at a Secret Service going-away party."

Nothing was done at the time?  Covered up?  Ignored?  Had it been a staffer, think he or she would have received similar consideration?  Special treatment?

"The allegations were contained in a two-page document described by the Democratic staff of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee as a summary of interviews with 23 of Jackson’s current and former colleagues. The document also described Jackson’s “pattern” of handing out medication with no patient history, writing himself prescriptions and contributing to a hostile work environment where there was “a constant fear of reprisal.”

Hard to believe no one stepped forward, no one complained.  Simply, not credible.  Someone in higher authority had to have known.  Think this wasn't a serious security issue?  After all, he was, and is, White House physician.

"Jackson, 50, has consistently denied wrongdoing. He told colleagues Wednesday night that he had grown frustrated with the nomination process, according to two White House officials with knowledge of his deliberations. He was a surprise nominee to succeed David Shulkin, an Obama-era holdover once lauded by Trump, who was fired March 28."

Jackson has had no management experience anywhere near the level and complexity required to run a massive, behemoth operation such as the VA.  What could the Trump nazi possibly been thinking?

"The Washington Post has independently been told stories of misconduct by Jackson similar to those reported by Tester’s staff, including descriptions that he drank while on duty.  Two former White House officials told The Post of instances when Jackson drank while traveling with the president — a violation of the White House Medical Unit’s policy. On one such occasion, Jackson was preparing to board Air Force One to accompany then-President Barack Obama home from an overseas trip, according to one former White House official who purportedly witnessed Jackson’s behavior."

More incredible?  Get this:

"White House officials suggested that Jackson might remain in his current post despite the allegations about workplace misconduct.  “Admiral Jackson is a doctor in the United States Navy assigned to the White House and is here at work today,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders."

Reportedly, there were over twenty military service personnel who stepped forward with complaints against this guy.  Truly believe all were lying?  Would risk their careers falsely complaining to smear this guy?  To what end?

"On Twitter, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and a White House adviser, called Jackson “a man of exceptional integrity, character and intellect” and said she looks forward “to continuing to see his warm smile each day at the White House!”  Jackson planned to retire from the Navy to take the VA job. Trump has put him up for a promotion from one-star to two-star admiral. That nomination remains pending with the Senate Armed Services Committee."

Appears to be yet another example of reverse Darwinism, -- survival of the unfittest.

CBS News reports:

"In a phone call to Fox News' "Fox and Friends" Thursday morning, a freewheeling President Trump discussed everything from the news of the day to his frustrations with the Justice Department in a 29-minute long interview. According to CBS News' Mark Knoller, Thursday's extensive chat was Mr. Trump's 22nd interview with Fox News and his fifth time on Fox and Friends. "

Why wouldn't he?  Forget?  Fox has become a 24-hour infomercial for the Trump nazi.

"Following Jackson's announcement Thursday morning that he was withdrawing his nomination to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary, Mr. Trump lashed out at Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, for airing a number of serious allegations about Jackson's conduct. Tester had said Jackson freely handed out medication as White House doctor, earning him the nickname "the candy man." Mr. Trump warned that Tester going to have a "big price to pay for this" and was adamant there was no proof of the allegations against Jackson.  "For him to be doing this to this man and his family, I think Jon Tester has to have a big price to pay in Montana. Because I don't think people in Montana – the, the admiral is the kind of person that they respect and admire. And they don't like seeing what's happened to him," said Mr. Trump."

Jesus Christ.  You and your henchmen egregiously failed to vet this man.  All who stepped up to courageously complain are congenital liars like you, Mr. 'President?'  Give me a break.

The Washington Post reports:

"Allegations of misconduct against Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson, President Trump’s former nominee to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, threatened Thursday to derail his military career and promotion to two-star admiral, even after Jackson withdrew his name from consideration for the Cabinet post."

Imagine that.  Couldn't be, could it?

"Jackson, the White House’s top physician, removed himself from consideration for the position Thursday morning, calling the allegations “completely false and fabricated.” He has been accused of dispensing prescription medication too freely, including a store of the opioid Percocet that put the White House military officials “into a panic” when it went missing, according to a list of allegations released Wednesday by Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.)."

Think Tester is lying?  ... Everyone's a liar except the Trump nazi?

"Tester, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, also relayed allegations that there were “multiple incidents of drunkenness on duty,” including one in which Jackson could not be reached in his hotel room when needed and at a Secret Service going-away party in which Jackson “got drunk and wrecked a government vehicle.”

Needs to be an investigation.  Likely will be if Jackson's military promotion nomination is not withdrawn:

"The allegations “must be reviewed and addressed by the Department of Defense” before the Senate Armed Services Committee can consider his promotion nomination, said Chip Uhruh, a spokesman for Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the committee’s ranking Democrat. Trump nominated Jackson in March for advancement to two-star admiral, before unexpectedly also nominating him a few weeks later to replace David Shulkin, who was ousted as VA secretary.  Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that the committee will want answers, and an inspector general investigation should be launched.  “Certainly in considering his possible promotion, we need to know the facts addressing these profoundly serious allegations,” Blumenthal said. “And that’s why the inspector general report is necessary.”

Be interesting to see if Jackson fights on, -- or chooses to retire.

"He added: “I’ve spoken to colleagues on the Armed Services Committee on both sides of the aisle, and they feel some investigative work is necessary before any real consideration.”

You think?

"House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) also suggested to reporters that it would be “smart” to have an inspector general review the case.  “We should find out if there’s merit to these allegations, and, if there are, then … the proper oversight should be done,” Ryan said."

Think so?  ... Or, do you die hard Trump supporters believe otherwise?  Won't be confused with the facts resulting from such an investigation?

"Tester said the allegations were compiled in conversations with 23 colleagues and former colleagues, most of whom are still in the military. They raised doubts about his fitness to lead and his personal ethics.  None of the most egregious allegations have been substantiated, and Trump and other senior White House officials have indicated that they stand behind Jackson and plan to keep him at the White House. Some of the allegations date to Jackson’s time serving the Obama administration, a point that the White House has frostily noted."

If Jackson is truly innocent of all allegations, why did he ask his nomination to lead the VA be withdrawn by the Trump nazi?  Should have fought like hell to clear his name.  Did not.  Why not?  If innocent, would have been well worth the enormous stress placed on himself and family.  Would certainly have been indicative of uncommon valor.  The fact he did not raises additional questions.  Here's why:

"But the U.S. military has a long track record of malfeasance by senior officers festering outside of public view, only to erupt at some point in embarrassing fashion. The allegations released by Tester suggest that colleagues had previously raised some concerns with the Navy surgeon general’s office, the White House Military Office and the Defense Department inspector general."

Hard to believe that did not occur, -- especially, in light of the following:

"For days, the Pentagon has been silent about the allegations against Jackson, saying it would be inappropriate to comment while his Cabinet nomination was pending with the Senate. It no longer is, but defense officials on Thursday either declined to comment or said they were reviewing what they could say."

Apparently, have to get their stories straight.  In line.  LOL.  Think this entire fiasco won't unwittingly drag many of them in?  Precisely, why it's always better, far easier in the long run to deal with these allegations at the time they occur.  -- Than look the other way, hoping they'll magically disappear.

Plot thickens:

CBS News reports:

"The White House said Friday that internal records raise doubt about some of the most serious allegations leveled against White House doctor Ronny Jackson in his failed bid to become the next secretary of Veterans Affairs. Jackson withdrew his nomination Thursday after allegations by current and former colleagues raised questions about his prescribing practices and leadership ability, including accusations of drunkenness on the job.   Democratic Sen. Jon Tester's office collected the allegations, which included a claim that Jackson "got drunk and wrecked a government vehicle" at a Secret Service going-away party."

What we desperately need here is complete disclosure of all records by both the White House and Sen. Tester.  For public review.

"The records, including police reports, show Jackson was in three minor vehicle incidents in government vehicles during the last five years, but none involved the use of alcohol and he was not found to be at fault. In one case, a side-view mirror was clipped by a passing truck. In another incident an enraged driver in Montgomery County, Maryland, allegedly punched out Jackson's window during a morning drive to Camp David."

How does the public know any of that's true without full disclosure of all documents?

"The White House medical unit that Jackson ran successfully passed regular controlled substance audits, according to the records for the last three years. The reviews did recommend improvements to the medical unit's handling of controlled substances, but did not find misconduct."

Convenient, isn't it?  Disclose the records.  All of them.  Do so now.

"The Associated Press reviewed the documents Friday. They were the result of an internal White House review of allegations raised against Jackson during his brief confirmation process. The White House says the records, covering recent years, disprove the allegations."

We don't know that.  Disclose the records.  All of them.  Do so now.

"But Tester's office has not specified the time frame during which the alleged misconduct occurred. Tester spokeswoman Marnee Banks said the office would not comment until it knew more about the White House records."

Jesus Christ.  Disclose all records.  All of them.  Now.  Both sides need to do this immediately.  For public review.  Clearly, someone's lying.

"Separately, the Secret Service said it has no evidence to support an allegation that its personnel intervened to prevent Jackson from disturbing former President Obama during a foreign trip in 2015.  In a statement dated Thursday, the Secret Service said it had conducted a "thorough review" of internal documents related to Mr. Obama's foreign trips in 2015 and interviewed people who were present. The agency said it has found "no information that would indicate the allegation is accurate" and no record of any incident involving Jackson."

We don't know any of the above is true.  May be lying to do their fuhrer's bidding, cover their asses.  Somebody's lying.  Think this entire fiasco not worthy of a criminal investigation to determine the truth?

The Washington Post reports:

"Ronny L. Jackson, the Navy rear admiral whom President Trump unsuccessfully nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, will not return to his previous role as the president’s personal physician, a White House official said Sunday.  Jackson, who withdrew as Trump’s VA pick last week, will remain on the staff of the White House medical unit, the official added. Sean Conley, a Navy veteran who took over Jackson’s responsibilities after his nomination, will remain in the role as Trump’s personal doctor."

What's the problem, Mr. 'President?'  Don't trust him as personal physician?

Politico reports:

"White House physician Ronny Jackson will not return to his role as the president’s personal physician, according to two senior administration officials, after a string of allegations caused the Navy rear admiral to withdraw his nomination last week to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Sean Conley, a Navy officer who took over Jackson’s role as the president’s personal doctor last month, will continue in the role, the officials said."

Narcissism remains a continuing problem for the Trump nazi.  The Washington Post reports:

"Credentialed candidates have had to prove loyalty to the president, with many still being blocked for previous anti-Trump statements. Hundreds of national security officials, for example, were nixed from consideration because they spoke out against Trump during the campaign. But for longtime Trump loyalists, their fidelity to the president is often sufficient, obscuring what in a more traditional administration would be red flags.  The failed nomination of Ronny L. Jackson, the president’s physician, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs was the latest example of the sometimes haphazard way Trump unilaterally elevates people with whom he has a personal rapport."

Here's the issue:

"Trump’s operating principle is “ready, shoot, aim, as opposed to ready, aim, shoot,” said one White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment candidly,  A Republican strategist who works closely with the West Wing was even more blunt: “The Trump White House vetting machine is an oxymoron. There’s only one answer — Trump decides who he wants and tells people. That’s the vetting process.”  The result, as was the case with Jackson, is that many candidates who may not be considered qualified for their positions were thrust forward by the president before a thorough vetting of their professional and personal backgrounds could be completed — and without the necessary political support to help them weather challenges."

Certainly, one of the reasons the Trump Regime remains an unmitigated, colossal failure to date.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Consider the following.  Think it appropriate in a democratic republic?  More to the point, could it be someone's lying?  LOL.  NBC News reports:

"In February 2017, a top White House aide who was Trump's longtime personal bodyguard, along with the top lawyer at the Trump Organization and a third man, showed up at the office of Trump's New York doctor without notice and took all the president's medical records.  The incident, which Dr. Harold Bornstein described as a "raid," took place two days after Bornstein told a newspaper that he had prescribed a hair growth medicine for the president for years.  In an exclusive interview in his Park Avenue office, Bornstein told NBC News that he felt "raped, frightened and sad" when Keith Schiller and another "large man" came to his office to collect the president's records on the morning of Feb. 3, 2017. At the time, Schiller, who had long worked as Trump's bodyguard, was serving as director of Oval Office operations at the White House.

How does this supposedly happen in a democratic republic?  No search warrant.  No court order.  Someone lying?  Truth, somewhere in the middle?  Total bullshit?  You decide.

"They must have been here for 25 or 30 minutes. It created a lot of chaos," Bornstein said, who described the incident as frightening.  A framed 8x10 photo of Bornstein and Trump that had been hanging on the wall in the waiting room now lies flat under a stack of papers on the top shelf of Bornstein's bookshelf. Bornstein said the men asked him to take it off the wall.  Bornstein said he was not given a form authorizing the release of the records and signed by the president —known as a HIPAA release — which is a violation of patient privacy law. A person familiar with the matter said there was a letter to Bornstein from then-White House doctor Ronny Jackson, but didn't know if there was a release form attached.  Donald Trump and his personal physician Harold Bornstein in a photo that used to hang on his office wall. Bornstein said he was asked to take the photo down.  Bornstein said the original and only copy of Trump's charts, including lab reports under Trump's name as well as under the pseudonyms his office used for Trump, were taken."

Why didn't you call police?  What were you so afraid of?  A nazi dictator?  Why take this long to report the incident?  ... Or, are you simply full of shit?

"Another man, Trump Organization Chief Legal Officer Alan Garten, joined Schiller's team at Bornstein's office, and Bornstein's wife Melissa photocopied his business card. Garten declined to comment on this story."

Tale grows stranger.  Get this.  NPR reports:

"In December 2015, Donald Trump's personal physician released a letter describing his patient's health in language that sounded more like it was written by the patient himself than the doctor — and it turns out that might be exactly what happened."

Had suspected at the time Trump might indeed have written it.  Hard to believe a doctor would have been so damned stupid.  LOL.  ... Then again, truth's a moving target in a de facto fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency," Dr. Harold Bornstein, a gastroenterologist from Lenox Hospital in New York, wrote at the time.  The letter said that a recent medical exam showed "only positive results" for the then-candidate and that "his physical strength and stamina are extraordinary."

Gets 'better':

"As NPR's Jessica Taylor reported at the time: "The full letter is written in true Trumpian fashion, full of hyperbole and boasting of greatness. Bornstein calls Trump's blood pressure 'astonishingly excellent.' "  However, Bornstein now tells CNN that Trump was the one who wrote it after all.  "He dictated that whole letter. I didn't write that letter," Bornstein told CNN on Tuesday. "I just made it up as I went along."

Say what?  ... Who's more insane?  Trump or the doctor?  LOL.

"Bornstein's admission comes as he also tells NBC that a longtime personal bodyguard for Trump, along with a top lawyer at the Trump Organization and a third man, conducted a "raid" on his office on Feb. 3, 2017, in which they seized the president's medical records.

"That incident in 2017 occurred just days after The New York Times published a story based on interviews with Bornstein, who told the newspaper that the president takes a prostate-related drug to treat baldness, known as Propecia, as well as other "antibiotics to control rosacea, a common skin problem, and a statin for elevated blood cholesterol and lipids."  The administration on Tuesday denied that the visit to Bornstein's office last year was anything out of the ordinary.  Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, called it "standard operating procedure" to obtain a newly elected president's medical records.  "That was what was taking place, is those records were being transferred over to the White House medical unit, as requested," she said."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Israeli aggressor shows its murderous true colors.  CBS News reports:

"Hundreds of Palestinians converged on the Gaza Strip's border fence with Israel on Friday, trying to rip through it before drawing heavy Israeli fire in one of the most violent incidents yet in five weeks of protests. Three Palestinians were killed and dozens were reported wounded.  The violence came shortly after a top U.N. official urged Israel to refrain from using excessive force against the protesters.  At least 38 protesters have been killed by Israeli live fire and more than 1,600 wounded in the weekly protests since they began March 30. Israel has rejected the international criticism, saying it is defending its sovereign border and accusing Gaza's Hamas leaders, who are organizing the protests, of using the crowds as cover to carry out attacks."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

As expected, Pompeo has been confirmed.  The Washington Post reports:

"The Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as secretary of state Thursday despite lingering objections from Democrats who have questioned his record of hawkish policy positions and past controversial statements about minority groups.  The split vote — 57 to 42 — reflects the political scrutiny Pompeo is likely to encounter as he moves from the CIA to the State Department, where he will face the simultaneous challenges of reinvigorating an agency beset by flagging morale and answering for a president who is prone to impulsiveness on the global stage.  Only six of the 14 Democrats who backed Pompeo to be CIA director last year voted for him to become the nation’s top diplomat. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who joined the Senate earlier this year, also supported his confirmation."

Once again, Democrats clearly demonstrated they remain out to lunch, absent without leave, -- since November 22, 1963.  Pompeo is, and remains, egregiously unfit for office.  Democrats should have unflinchingly united, ferociously resisted this nomination, achingly egregious abomination.  Did not.

"Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and one of those who changed his vote on Pompeo since last year, said that he was “disappointed” Pompeo had not tried “to repudiate some of the extreme views he expressed during his time in Congress” — such as criticism of American Muslims and opposition to same-sex marriage."

Mealy-mouthed, equivocating bullshit.  Where is your outrage, Senator?  Time for you and your Democratic colleagues to get off your worthless, incompetent asses.

"Warner added that he hoped that as secretary of state, Pompeo would stand up for “American values ... like freedom, diversity, equality and tolerance” — and said that “if he does, he can count on my assistance and support.”

Jesus Christ.  That, the best you have to offer, Senator?  Then, you and your colleagues wonder why Democrats can't win elections?

ABC News reports:

"U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains a priority for the Trump administration, despite its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and its planned move of the U.S. Embassy to the holy city over Palestinian protests."

The hell it does. Above quote is an insane non-sequitur.  Proof positive Pompeo's head remains figuratively, securely lodged up his achingly clueless ass.  Pompeo and his fuhrer, the Trump nazi, don't want resolution, intend to impose their will and that of the Israeli aggressor on the Palestinians.  Movement of embassy remains a non-starter for the Palestinians.  Precisely, why they continue to boycott meetings.

"Pompeo also said the U.S. is "fully supportive" of Israel's right to defend itself and declined to criticize the Israeli military for its use of live fire against Palestinian protesters along the Gaza border."

What he's doing is effectively confirming the fact the United States is supporting the maiming and murder of innocent Palestinian protesters by the Israeli aggressor.

"Pompeo called on the Palestinians to return to long-stalled peace talks with Israel. He said the United States is open to a two-state solution to the conflict if both parties agree, calling it a "likely outcome."

Horse shit.  Like his fuhrer in the Oval Office, Pompeo is a liar.  A disingenuous liar.  A congenital liar.  The United States and the Israeli aggressor have already imposed a de facto solution on the Palestinians.  Proof positive is movement of the U.S. Embassy to contested territory.

"But he would not agree with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi's characterization of the conflict as "the main cause of instability" in the region."

Pompeo, like his fuhrer, won't be confused with the truth.  ... A truth they find most unpalatable.

"The parties will ultimately make the decision as to what the correct resolution is," Pompeo told reporters at a joint news conference with Safadi. "We are certainly open to a two-party solution as a likely outcome."

Pompeo has again demonstrated in the above quote he and his fuhrer remain severely, hopelessly detached from reality.  Are no more than congenital liars.  The United States and the Israeli aggressor are imposing a settlement, not negotiating one.

"But, he said, the Palestinians had to return to a political dialogue to get there."

More horse shit.  The 'settlement' has already been imposed.  Precisely, why the violence will end no time soon.  Here is why there'll be no resolution in the near future:

"The Palestinians have essentially boycotted contacts with the U.S. since Trump announced in December that the United States was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem — captured by Israel in 1967 and then annexed — as the capital of a future state."

Pompeo and the Trump nazi remain delusional, worse, indifferent to the ongoing maiming and murder of Palestinians by the Israeli aggressor:

"Over the past month, 39 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,600 wounded in weekly border protests along the Gaza border, prompting human rights groups to ask Israel's Supreme Court on Monday to restrict or ban the use of live ammunition. They say the military's use of lethal force against unarmed protesters is unlawful. Israel's military argues that the border protests are part of a long-running conflict with Gaza's ruling Hamas, which it considers a terror group, and that the rules of armed conflict apply."

Adolf Hitler couldn't have said it better.

"Asked about the situation, Pompeo demurred, referring to "activities in Gaza over the past days and weeks."  "We do believe the Israelis have the right to defend themselves and we are fully supportive of that," he said."

Pompeo is delusional, unfit for office, detached from reality.

"In addition to the Jerusalem decisions, the Trump administration has also angered the Palestinians in recent months by ordering their office in Washington closed, although it remains open for business related to negotiations, slashing funding for the U.N. agency that supports Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and elsewhere in the region, and putting on hold all bilateral assistance to the Palestinians."

Imposition of a 'settlement' by the Trump nazi and the Israeli aggressor.

"Although the White House sponsored a conference on aid to Gaza last month, the Palestinians did not attend. And, a peace plan devised by Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and his special envoy for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt appears to be on hold."

How can there be resolution to this conflict when a 'settlement' is being imposed?  Worse?  The United States has again proven it cannot be trusted.  Does not bode well for the region.

The Washington Post reports:

"Mohammad al-Ajouri is a lanky teenager who loves to run, a medal-winning track star with ambitions to compete abroad.  But last month, while participating in a protest along Gaza’s border, he was struck by a bullet fired by an Israeli soldier. It penetrated his calf, shattering his leg before exiting the shin. Doctors tried to save the limb, but an infection soon spread. The leg had to be amputated.  During the past month of demonstrations along the border between Gaza and Israel, at least 17 Palestinians have suffered gunshot wounds that ultimately cost them their legs, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.  In at least three of the cases, Israeli authorities rejected the transfer of wounded Gazans to the West Bank, where they could receive medical care that might have saved their limbs, according to lawyers and one of the patients’ families."

No problem with this?  None at all?  Think Israeli troops aren't committing war crimes?  Most of their victims are unarmed.  Wake up.

"Since the protests began, Israeli troops have killed 43 Palestinians and wounded more than 3,500 with live ammunition, rubber bullets or shrapnel, the Health Ministry said. Of those, about 2,200 have suffered injuries to the legs.  Israeli officials say the protests along the border fence are violent and provide cover for militant attacks."

The Israeli aggressor continues to boldface lie to 'justify' continuing war crimes.

"Israeli media report that troops have been ordered to initially fire warning shots at demonstrators, after which they should target protesters’ legs.  “IDF troops act according to clear rules of engagement that are tailored to the scenarios they are contending with,” a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said. The spokesman declined to detail those rules but said live fire is a last resort."

Again, these officials are liars.  They and their offending troops need to be hauled to The Hague and prosecuted for war crimes.

"The United Nations, however, says Israel is engaged in an “excessive use of force,” and human rights groups point to cases where soldiers have fired at unarmed protesters or at those who didn’t pose an immediate threat."

War crimes. Gutless barbarians.

“The deployment of snipers, careful planning and significant number of injuries to the lower limbs does reflect an apparent policy to target [those] limbs,” said Omar Shakir, Israel-Palestine director at Human Rights Watch in New York. But targeting protesters’ legs “does not make the policy any less illegal,” he said. “The use of live ammunition to any part of the body invariably causes serious injury and even death.”

Still don't get it?  Get this:

"Doctors in Gaza are often unable to deal with such traumatic injuries, medical groups say, because hospitals there are overwhelmed and understaffed.  “Even at the most advanced hospital in Gaza, it felt like the 1970s,” said Salah Haj Yahia, mobile clinic director for Physicians for Human Rights in Israel. He recently visited Gaza as part of a medical delegation. “If things remain this way, most gunshot casualties will have to undergo amputation,” he said in an email."

Yet, the Israeli aggressor suffers no consequences.  Continues to commit war crimes.  With impunity.

"Some of the amputations were carried out immediately after victims were shot because of the severity of the injuries, doctors said. In other cases, victims were stabilized but needed treatment outside Gaza if the limbs were to be saved.  Israeli authorities, which tightly restrict the movement of people in and out of the strip on security grounds, rejected the patients’ medical evacuation across Israeli territory to the West Bank."

The Israeli aggressor continues to occupy Palestinian territory stolen in 1948, but also additional land seized in the 1967 war, -- which clearly means there will be no end to this conflict any time soon.

“It was decided that any request for medical treatment by a terrorist or a rioter who took part in violent events would be denied,” a spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, an Israeli Defense Ministry agency that oversees policy involving Gaza, said in an emailed statement.  “However, exceptional humanitarian cases are examined on the basis of an assessment of the security situation and at the discretion of the commander of the area,” the statement added."

Just like the Trump nazi, Israeli officials in charge of their government have become congenital liars.

"According to rights groups and health experts, the damage to protesters’ limbs has been unusually severe. Doctors Without Borders, based in Paris, has recorded “an extreme level of destruction to bones and soft tissue, and large exit wounds that can be the size of a fist.”  Human Rights Watch says it is reviewing evidence that bullets fired by Israeli forces have caused “significant bodily injury,” including “the shattering of bones. . . and severing of veins and arteries.”  Asked about the type of ammunition used, an Israeli military spokesman said, “In the context of the violent riots in Gaza, the IDF employs only standard weapons and ammunition that are lawful under international law.”

Non-sequitur by a war criminal Israeli military spokesman.  Large exit wounds are usually caused by hollow point rounds.

"Israel says its armed response has been appropriate for the threat posed by Palestinians. Israeli officials accuse the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, of using civilian demonstrators as cover to “terrorize Israel.”

Unadulterated horse shit by a congenital lying Israeli aggressor.

"Hamas are “cowardly leaders who are hiding behind women and children and sending them forward as human shields,” Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman wrote on Twitter. “So that they can continue to ... carry out terrorist actions against the State of Israel.”  Protesters have burned tires, thrown rocks and flown kites carrying molotov cocktails over the fence."

Have to admire their tenacity and great courage fighting back as best they can an Israeli aggressor who stole their land in 1948, has continued to kill and steal additional territory ever since, right, Mr. 'Defense' Minister?  How do you and your henchmen sleep nights, Mr. Liberman?

"Amputees in Gaza have few rehabilitation options. There are no doctors who can perform surgery to modify amputees’ stumps to accommodate artificial limbs, according to Physicians for Human Rights in Israel.  And at the Artificial Limbs and Polio Center in Gaza City, the only facility in Gaza that manufactures prostheses, technicians say they face crippling shortages of raw materials. An inadequate power supply also hampers production, leaving many who need limbs without them."

The above is the side of life in the region Israelis and their clueless benefactors in the United States determinedly ignore.  At some point, our formerly great country will finally wake up to this.  When that happens, support will be withdrawn.  At that time, things will drastically change in the region, -- and not for the good.  To think all this could have been avoided.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Cohen's problems continue.  So do Trump's.  CBS News reports:

"A New York federal judge says she is appointing Barbara Jones, a former Manhattan federal judge, to help determine what materials seized in raids on the home and office of President Donald Trump's private attorney are protected by attorney-client privilege.  Judge Kimba Wood said Thursday at a hearing that Barbara Jones has the right amount of experience to handle the study of materials seized in the April 9 raids that targeted attorney Michael Cohen. As special master, Jones will have access to all the discovery, to the search warrant and its application, and she will discern the question of privilege."

Cohen's problems compound Trump's.  Here's why:

"Wood said she hoped that installing Jones as special master would help keep the privileged review process on schedule. She also reserves the right to speak with the special master at any time.  Judge Wood noted that the government and Cohen's lawyers agreed that a so-called "special master" was the best way to determine which materials should be off-limits to federal investigators. Prosecutors have said the raids resulted from an investigation into possible fraud.  Prosecutors say probably not much is protected by attorney-client privilege, given public comments made by President Trump and Fox News personality Sean Hannity, two of Cohen's three clients. They note that Hannity said Cohen never represented him, and the president said Cohen did "a tiny, tiny little fraction" of his legal work."

CBS News reports:

"President Trump's personal lawyer says he'll use his Fifth Amendment rights in the lawsuit filed by adult film star Stephanie Clifford against him and Mr. Trump, citing the FBI's ongoing criminal investigation into him. A person testifying can invoke the Fifth Amendment to protect against self-incrimination."

Amusingly, in the past the Trump nazi has remarkably, repeatedly opined why would anyone innocent invoke the Fifth Amendment, that is, the right to remain silent?  LOL.

"Cohen, in a court declaration made to a California federal court Wednesday, cited the ongoing federal criminal investigation into him and FBI raids of his home, office and hotel room as the reason for his decision to plead the fifth. Cohen claimed that FBI officials "seized various electronic devices and documents in my possession, which contain information relating to the $130,000 payment to plaintiff Stephanie Clifford at the center of this case, and my communications with counsel, Brent Blakely, relating to this action." Cohen said he made the decision at the advice of his counsel."

Bet he did.  For damned good reason.  Whether or not guilty.

"Clifford, who also goes by the stage name Stormy Daniels, alleges she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006. She is suing over a nondisclosure agreement she signed in 2016, claiming it is invalid because Mr. Trump never signed it. Cohen has acknowledged paying Clifford $130,000 through a shell corporation, but Cohen said he paid out of his own pocket and Mr. Trump has claimed he was unaware of the payment."

Trump has again reversed himself.  More on that, shortly.  LOL.

"Based upon the advice of counsel, I will assert my Fifth Amendment rights in connection with all proceedings in this case due to the ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York," Cohen said in a declaration executed on Wednesday. "On April 10, 2018, I first realized that my Fifth Amendment rights would be implicated in this case, after I considered the events of April 9, 2018, described in the above paragraph two."

How about that?  More importantly, think Cohen won't 'flip' on the president should the shit hit the fan vis a vis not only the U.S. Attorney investigation conducted in New York, but the Mueller investigation as well?

"Michael Avenatti, Clifford's lawyer, called Cohen's decision to plead the Fifth a "stunning development."

    "This is a stunning development. Never before in our nation’s history has the attorney for the sitting President invoked the 5th Amend in connection with issues surrounding the President. It is esp. stunning seeing as MC served as the “fixer” for Mr. Trump for over 10 yrs. #basta
    "— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 25, 2018"

Has a point.

NPR reports:

"President Trump acknowledged on Thursday that his longtime attorney Michael Cohen had "represented" him in what he called the "crazy" deal in which Cohen paid $130,000 to buy the silence of a porn actress just before the 2016 election.  Trump's comments in an interview with Fox & Friends were the first time he has conceded his connection to Cohen's deal with Stormy Daniels, who says she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, after Trump's marriage and the birth of his youngest son.  Previously, Trump denied any relationship with Daniels and told reporters he wasn't aware that Cohen paid Daniels."

Jesus Christ.  LOL.  Gets worse.  LOL.  Get this:

"Trump's interview complicates legal matters for Cohen, who is dealing with a criminal investigation into his business practices in federal court in New York City. Cohen and lawyers for Trump asked a judge to restrict how much evidence prosecutors can review from an earlier FBI raid of Cohen's home and office, citing the importance of attorney-client privilege.  But Trump on Thursday downplayed his relationship with Cohen, saying the attorney barely represented him. Cohen, Trump said, is mostly a businessman and federal investigators are looking at that aspect of his life, not his legal work that might be connected to Trump."

Wishful thinking.  Especially, considering the following:

"Cohen has worked for Trump for years and served as not only a counselor but also as a gatekeeper for outsiders and, in Cohen's words, a "pit bull" when necessary."  "The president's comments on Thursday undercut Cohen's case about privileged communications in the evidence seized by the FBI. That was the reason Cohen's legal team gave for asking a federal judge to appoint a "special master" to review the material — rather than permitting a Justice Department "filter team" to go through it.

"Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York wrote to federal Judge Kimba Wood on Thursday that they were prepared to withdraw their objection to a "special master."  One reason, they wrote, was that it has become clear how few legal clients Cohen has. Prosecutors cited the comments by Trump on TV on Thursday and earlier statements by another putative client, Fox News host Sean Hannity, minimizing their relationships with Cohen.  That must mean there isn't much protected material, as the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote, and Wood can authorize the lawyers involved to work efficiently.  "These statements by two of Cohen's three identified clients suggest that the seized materials are unlikely to contain voluminous privileged documents, further supporting the importance of efficiency here," they wrote to the judge.

Apparently, Cohen's lawyers haven't sufficiently communicated with Trump's.  To ensure neither group did damage to the other.  Apparently, prosecutors will likely get access to most of Cohen's seized materials.

What webs we weave.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Noose figuratively tightens.  CBS News reports:

"An organization established by an exiled Russian tycoon says it has obtained emails showing collaboration between Russian government officials and the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. in 2016. The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, also admitted she's an informant to the Russian attorney general, during an NBC News interview that's slated to air Friday, according to the New York Times.   "I am a lawyer, and I am an informant," she reportedly told NBC. "Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general."  This contradicts her earlier contention that she had no connections with the Russian government. Last year, when asked point blank by NBC if she had any connections to the Russian government or had previously worked for the Kremlin, Veselnitskaya replied, "No."

Think Trump Jr. isn't shitting in his pants?  To say nothing of the old man.  Here's why:

"Veselnitskaya has denied having connections to the Kremlin since her meeting with then-candidate Donald Trump's son, son-in-law and campaign chairman. The encounter took place after Donald Trump Jr. was told she had potentially incriminating information about Trump's election opponent, Hillary Clinton."

Couldn't be, could it?  Forget?  The Trump nazi repeatedly claims there was no collusion.  ... Wouldn't lie, would he?

"Trump Jr., along with the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort met with Veselnitskaya in June 2016 after Trump Jr. was told in emails that the lawyer could provide damaging information about Hillary Clinton.  An email written to Trump Jr. by Rob Goldstone, a British public relations executive who came into contact with the Trump family during the planning of the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013, said that the Russian prosecutor had such information.  "The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father," Goldstone wrote in early June 2016.  Senate Intelligence Committee investigators, who are looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign interviewed Veselnitskaya in Berlin recently, according to the AP."

Gets worse.  Consider the following.  ABC News reports:

"The Trump campaign has spent nearly $228,000 to cover some of the legal expenses for President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, sources familiar with the payments tell ABC News, raising questions about whether the Trump campaign may have violated campaign finance laws.  Federal Election Commission records show three payments made from the Trump campaign to a firm representing Cohen. The “legal consulting” payments were made to McDermott Will and Emery — a law firm where Cohen's attorney Stephen Ryan is a partner — between October 2017 and January 2018.  Cohen has said that he did not have a formal role in the Trump campaign, and it is illegal to spend campaign funds for personal use – defined by the FEC as payments for expenses “that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s campaign or responsibilities as a federal officeholder.”  "They're on shaky legal ground," said Stephen Spaulding, chief of strategy at the nonprofit watchdog group Common Cause. "It sounds like they are really pushing the envelope … If the campaign were to say they are campaign-related payments, then maybe it's okay to use campaign funds. But he can't have it both ways."

Think prosecutors aren't investigating this?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Pressure on Trump ratchets up.  The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump lashed out Tuesday at the publication of questions that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III was said to be interested in asking him as part of the Russia probe and possible attempts to obstruct the inquiry."

The public has a right to know.  Media did the right thing publishing this information.  A great threat to liberty is suppression of information.  The people ultimately rule this country.  Moreover, in a democratic republic, the government is beholden to the people.  Not the other way around.

"In a morning tweet, Trump said it was “disgraceful” that the 49 questions were provided to the New York Times, which published them Monday night."

What is disgraceful is an unbridled, narcissistic, mentally-challenged, achingly incompetent, fascist fuhrer who seems to have conveniently forgotten he is president, not a nazi dictator.

“So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were ‘leaked’ to the media,” he wrote on Twitter.

    "So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were “leaked” to the media. No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see...you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice!
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2018"

This man is delusional.

"It appears that the leak did not come from Mueller’s office. The Times reported that the questions were relayed to Trump’s attorneys as part of negotiations over the terms of a potential interview with the president. The list was then provided to the Times by a person outside Trump’s legal team, the paper said."

Apparently, the leak was engineered by Trump's own people.  LOL.  Hard to believe the leak happened on the Mueller side of the equation anyway.  Mueller has been extremely careful to hold his cards close to the vest.  Trump is clearly becoming increasingly agitated as the noose figuratively tightens.  The achingly phony bastard continues to shamelessly lie:

"In his tweet, Trump also falsely asserts that there are no questions about “Collusion.”  While the questions published by the Times are wide-ranging — and include more related to possible obstruction of justice — the list includes 13 related to possible cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia.  Among those is a query about Trump’s knowledge of any outreach by his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort to Russia “about potential assistance to the campaign.” A court filing this month revealed that Mueller had sought authorization to expand his probe into allegations that Manafort “committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials.”

Trump remains increasingly detached from reality as Mueller apparently zeroes in.

"Another question asks about Trump’s knowledge of a June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower between his aides and a Russian lawyer who offered politically damaging information on Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.  And another asks what Trump knew about “Russian hacking, use of social media or other acts aimed at the campaign?”

Think Mueller hasn't, in effect, conveniently given Trump and his lawyers a heads up?  They know what's coming.  If Trump refuses to answer and cooperate, Mueller could certainly subpoena the president in front of a grand jury.  If Trump and his attorneys legally challenge such action, would speak volumes politically.  Take quite some time to resolve in court.  Be extremely costly politically to the Trump nazi.

Be highly damaging.  So would invoking the Fifth to avoid answering Mueller's questions in front of a grand jury.  This is a no-win for Trump no matter his guilt or innocence.  Then again, has only himself to blame.  Has behaved like an incompetent jackass since running for office.  No sympathy other than from his achingly clueless base.

The following is quite interesting.  Certainly, illustrates Trump's achingly desperate, highly convoluted 'reasoning':

"In his tweet, Trump calls collusion “a phony crime” and repeats his claim that none existed. The president also derides Mueller’s investigation as having “begun with illegally leaked classified information,” adding: “Nice!”  That is a reference to notes that former FBI director James B. Comey provided to a friend documenting his interactions with Trump. The president has said that action, which prompted the appointment of a special counsel, amounted to illegally leaking classified information and that Comey should be imprisoned.  Comey, whom Trump fired last year, has said repeatedly that the information was not classified. He and Trump have been sparring over the issue as Comey continues a publicity tour to promote his new book, “A Higher Loyalty,” which portrays Trump as an ego-driven and congenital liar."

Here's what's so fascinating about this:

"In a later tweet Tuesday morning, Trump wrote that it “would seem very hard to obstruct justice for a crime that never happened!”  But that, legal experts, say is a misunderstanding of the law.  “This is flat wrong,” said Randall D. Eliason, a former assistant U.S. attorney who teaches white-collar criminal law at George Washington University Law School.  “The purpose of the investigation is to determine whether a crime was committed, and, regardless of the ultimate answer to that question, it is a separate crime to attempt to obstruct that inquiry,” Eliason said. “It’s also true, of course, that we don’t yet know that the underlying crime ‘never happened.’ ”

    "It would seem very hard to obstruct justice for a crime that never happened! Witch Hunt!
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2018"

Hard to believe his lawyers haven't attempted to set him straight.  That's the function of legal counsel, what they're paid to do.  Then again, when you're dealing with a delusional narcissist not based on planet Earth, has to be an impossible situation for his legal team.

NPR reports:

"Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller may have developed evidence not yet public about contacts between Donald Trump's campaign and the Russian government as it attacked the 2016 election, based on questions published Monday by The New York Times.  The Times obtained more than 40 questions evidently submitted by Mueller's office to Trump's legal team. Someone "outside" the legal team then gave the document to The Times, which described its contents, although not verbatim."

Imagine having to deal with a client who determinedly lives in his own convoluted reality.

"If, according to one common theory about Mueller's investigation, the presidential interview is the last one in the process, the questions for Trump are suggestive about evidence the special counsel already has — which investigators might wish to test with Trump in person."

Certainly, a well-known technique prosecutors employ to nail a defendant.  LOL.  Certainly, a good thing if prosecutors are determined to get at the truth, convict the guilty.  Not just nail someone, anyone.  Mueller is, and remains, a straight shooter.

"The questions allude to Trump's discussions about sanctions on Russia during the campaign, Trump's awareness during 2016 about Russia's active measures and "any outreach by your campaign, including by Paul Manafort, to Russia about potential assistance to the campaign."  Prosecutors have connected Trump's former campaign chairman, Manafort, to at least one person they say has ties to Russia's intelligence services, but Manafort has not been charged with conspiring with the Russian attack.  The reference to "outreach" suggests the Justice Department may have more evidence it has not yet revealed. Manafort is facing federal charges that focus on alleged money laundering and has pleaded not guilty."

To think Trump could have avoided all this.  Spared the country all the ongoing drama.

"So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were 'leaked' to the media," Trump wrote. "No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see ... you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice!"  Trump's tweet is not correct because there are questions about collusion, but it is correct in that "collusion" is not a crime, nor a legal term that prosecutors formally might invoke in an indictment.  Mueller has, however, described overtures from Russian agents to Trump campaign aides in past court documents — just some of the contacts known to have taken place — and also charged a number of Russian cyber-operatives with "conspiracy to defraud the United States" in the context of the election.  Trump's reference to "illegally leaked classified information" is an allusion to the memos Comey kept about his interaction with the president. Trump and his supporters say those documents included official secrets and so the descriptions about them in the press after his firing, and since then by Comey, amount to an improper breach."

Comey argues otherwise.  Equally important, the people have a right to know.

"Trump has said in the past that he wanted to talk with Mueller but that he would follow the advice of his attorneys. Outside lawyers have said they'd counsel Trump against talking with Mueller. The dangers are too great, in this view, that if the president exaggerated or prevaricated, he'd fall into a "perjury trap."

Then again, Mueller could wind up subpoenaing him in front of a grand jury, -- opening up a whole new can of legal worms.

CBS News reports:

"President Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that he eventually "will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the presidency and get involved" in the "rigged system." Mr. Trump's rather vague comments seemed to be directed at the Justice Department, and how it hasn't met every demand from conservative Republicans to hand over documents.  "They don't want to turn over Documents to Congress. What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal 'justice?'" Mr. Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.   The president's comments follow remarks he made on "Fox and Friends" last week, about whether he would get involved in the Justice Department. "So I'm very disappointed in my Justice Department but because of the fact that it's going under, and I think you'll understand this, I have decided that I won't be involved," Mr. Trump told the hosts of one of his favorite television shows last week. "I may change my mind at some point because what's going on is a disgrace."

Trump is clearly becoming more erratic as pressure increases.  Extremists on the far right of the Republican Party are taking things a step further.  Get this:

"On Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, speaking to a group at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., said he has long faced private and public threats because of his job. Recently, a leaked document from conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus listed reasons for Rosenstein's impeachment. Rosenstein said he and the DOJ would not be intimidated."

Made himself quite clear:

"I just don't have anything to say about documents like that that nobody has the courage to put their name on and that they leak in that way," Rosenstein said Tuesday. "But I can tell you, there have been people who have been making threats privately and publicly against me for quite some time. And I think they should understand by now, the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted. We're going to do what's required by the rule of law, and any kind of threats that anybody makes are not going to affect the way we do our job."

None of this bodes well for our formerly great country.  ... A country that's coming apart at the seems.

Circling the wagons. The Washington Post reports:

"White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who served as the administration’s point person in dealing with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, is stepping down and will be replaced by veteran white-collar defense attorney Emmet Flood, according to senior administration officials.  Flood, a partner at Williams & Connolly, was interviewed by President Trump in March. He served as special counsel in the George W. Bush administration and represented President Bill Clinton during House proceedings to impeach him."

The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump said Thursday that his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen was reimbursed through a monthly retainer for a $130,000 payment made to porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 to stop what Trump called “false and extortionist accusations” about a decade-old affair.  In morning tweets, the president confirmed that Cohen entered into a nondisclosure agreement with Daniels, something Trump called “very common among celebrities and people of wealth.”  Trump stressed that no campaign money was used to reimburse Cohen, calling it a “private agreement.”  “Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll [sic] in this transaction,” he wrote."

Can only lie so long until the truth catches up.

"Trump’s explanation on Twitter came the morning after former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a recent addition to Trump’s legal team, acknowledged for the first time that Trump had repaid Cohen — despite Trump’s assertion last month that he was unaware of the payment. Giuliani made the comments Wednesday night to Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel."

Nothing quite like getting caught in a lie.

"In his tweets Thursday, Trump did not say whether he knew about the payments to Cohen when they were made.

    Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are.....
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018

    ...very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,......
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018

    ...despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction.
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018"

Got to be painful for the First Lady and their young son.

"Trump “didn’t know about the specifics of it, as far as I know,” Giuliani told Hannity. “But he did know the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this, like I take care of things like this with my clients. I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along. These are busy people.’’

"Later, Giuliani said in an interview with The Washington Post that when Cohen paid the settlement to Daniels, he knew that Trump eventually would pay him back, as he was reimbursed for other expenses."

Much more on all this in the next edition as the story breaks.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

What to think of the following?  Certainly, seems to show true partisan colors of the Republican Speaker of the House.  NPR reports:

"House Speaker Paul Ryan fired the House chaplain two weeks ago, sparking a slow-motion series of events that erupted on the floor Friday and now threatens a bitter religious-freedom debate in Congress in the weeks ahead.  House Democrats led by Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., forced a vote Friday to try to establish an investigative panel to look into Ryan's decision to fire the Rev. Patrick Conroy, a Jesuit priest who has served as House chaplain since 2011. Republicans successfully tabled the motion, but the floor fight was an indication that the circumstances surrounding the firing are a growing matter of concern on Capitol Hill."

For damned good reason.

"The speaker made the decision he believes to be in the best interest of the House, and he remains grateful for Father Conroy's many years of service," Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in a Friday statement."

Unadulterated horse shit, not-so-cleverly designed to cover the sorry ass of the Speaker.

"House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi blasted the speaker in an unusually harsh statement. "His abrupt, unjust dismissal is hard to understand and impossible to support," she said. "I have expressed my forceful disagreement with this decision to the speaker."  Ryan, Pelosi and Crowley are all Catholic. Both the House and the Senate have full-time chaplains who preside over the opening sessions of each chamber and offer daily prayers when Congress is in session. The chaplain also provides counsel to the House community, and the post is confirmed at the start of each two-year Congress."

The chaplain got the boot for partisan reasons.  Wouldn't tow the nazi line of bullshit the Speaker required of him.

"Ryan's office first announced Conroy would "step down" in an April 16 statement that received little notice at the time. "As chaplain, Father Conroy has been a great source of strength and support to our community," Ryan said on April 16. "He is deeply admired by members and staff. Father Conroy's ministry here has made a difference, and we are all very grateful to him."  The speaker said he would consult with Pelosi "in the coming weeks" on Conroy's successor.  However, in his resignation letter, Conroy noted that he was stepping down "as you have requested" and has since made clear that he had no interest in leaving Capitol Hill."

How about that?  Good for the padre.  Stood up to the nazi bastard.  Not surprising considering the fact Conroy is a Jesuit.

"Conroy and his assistant declined to comment to NPR on his firing, but Conroy told The New York Times on Thursday that he was "unclear" as to the reasoning behind his dismissal. His comments fueled Democrats' speculation on Capitol Hill that it was over the political tone in his prayers. Conroy told the Times that Ryan said to him, "Padre, you just got to stay out of politics."

Jesus Christ.  The chaplain made the 'mistake' of not goose stepping in line with the Speaker and his fellow Republican nazis.

"The speaker's office has not offered a detailed explanation of his decision to fire Conroy, but at a meeting with House Republicans on Friday morning, he disputed allegations that it was politically motivated. His explanation didn't assure all Republicans, either.  "To me it was an unsatisfactory answer," Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told CNN. "It is such an unprecedented action to only be taken for very, very serious issues. And the speaker said it was just because certain people said he was not complying with their request or was not giving good counsel. I never heard that from anyone. Anyone who I know who deals with him has the highest regard for him."

Not surprising for two reasons.  First, Jesuits are the intellectuals of the Catholic Church.  Second, they are straight shooters.  Don't lie.  Don't bullshit.

"The murkiness has led to allegations from Democrats, which Ryan has further denied, that the decision involved in part a November prayer on the House floor in which Conroy appeared to criticize the GOP's tax cut legislation and included the line: "May their efforts these days guarantee that there are not winners and losers under new tax laws, but benefits balanced and shared by all Americans."

Readers are reminded Jesuits don't even own the clothes on their backs.  Take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

"There are also reports that some lawmakers were dissatisfied with his service, but no one has stepped forward to criticize Conroy. Pelosi disputed that members on her side of the aisle ever voiced opposition to the chaplain. "During Father Conroy's entire service, I've never received a complaint from our members about him pastoring to the needs of the House," she said Friday."

"Congress adjourned Friday for a weeklong recess. There is no firm timetable on finding Conroy's replacement. He will remain in the job until late May and continues to offer the opening prayer each day when the House goes into session. "As the members of this people's House deliberate these days, give them the wisdom and magnanimity to lay aside what might divide us as a people to forge a secure future for our country," he prayed Friday morning."

Snowball's chance, Father.  Certainly, not as our formerly great country transitions from the goddamned de facto fascist police-state we already live in to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Trump's immigration woes expand.  NPR reports:

"A group of roughly 200 people traveling from Central America, arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border Sunday seeking political asylum and were greeted by supporters across a border fence in the U.S. holding welcome signs. But upon the group's arrival, U.S. immigration officials announced that the port of entry in San Diego County had reached capacity.  Officials had warned that the crossing might fill up as its capacity is just around 300 people, according to the Associated Press.  "At this time, we have reached capacity at the San Ysidro port of entry for CBP officers to be able to bring additional persons traveling without appropriate entry documentation into the port of entry for processing," Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said in a statement. "Those individuals may need to wait in Mexico as CBP officers work to process those already within our facilities."

Certainly, do appear determined:

"Despite the news that the crossing was full NPR's Carrie Khan reports that members of the caravan were not immediately deterred — still forming lines and hoping to march toward the crossing.  If migrants approach the crossing and are turned away they would have to stay in Mexico — a decision that others had already made.  The migrants are facing an uncertain future wherever they land. Many have decided not to seek to asylum in the U.S. after speaking with volunteer immigration lawyers, who have advised the migrants to be prepared for separation."

Don't Republicans claim to be the party of the family?  Profess to be Christians?

"The weeks-long trek by this so-called caravan is an annual, organized trip. Most of the people are from Honduras and are fleeing the violence that erupted after the highly contested presidential elections in November. Many people are also from Guatemala and El Salvador, where gang violence is prolific."

Wouldn't want to confuse our nazi fuhrer and his equally fascist henchmen with the truth, would we?

"The Department of Homeland's Security says it is monitoring the situation, and encourages the migrants to seek shelter from violence in the first safe country they encounter, including Mexico. In a statement, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said:  "If members of the 'caravan' enter the country illegally, they will be referred for prosecution for illegal entry in accordance with existing law. For those seeking asylum, all individuals may be detained while their claims are adjudicated efficiently and expeditiously, and those found not to have a claim will be promptly removed from the United States."

Nothing quite like gutlessly passing the buck, is there?

"Among the people planning to apply for asylum Sunday are many women and children. The U.S. has been reportedly been separating children and families to deter illegal immigration practices."

Phony continued Republican claims to be the 'party of the family' remain blatant horse shit.  Worse?  These nazi pieces of human excrement remain determined to follow in the footsteps of their mentors in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy.  Are pointedly, caustically ferociously reminded our UNDOCUMENTED forebears came to this land centuries ago, shamelessly STOLE it from its native inhabitants, BROKE every goddamned treaty signed.  Time to request the French to promptly remove their most gracious gift, the Statue of Liberty from New York Harbor.  No longer appropriate in Nazi America.

Not all Americans are nazis, however, or approve of what the Nazi Right is currently doing in our formerly great country.  Think the following not an example of uncommon valor?  Get this:

"If members of the caravan are detained and released, some activists across the country are offering a place to stay while the migrants await a decision on their asylum. This includes Grace Aheron, with the network Showing Up For Racial Justice, which is organizing hosts. She shares a house with four other SURJ members in Charlottesville, Va., and they felt compelled to help.  "Many of us have connections to immigration," Aheron told NPR's Camila Domonoske. "It felt like the least we could do ... to give these people that are coming from such incredibly intense and violent situations a soft place to land in the U.S."

Hat's off.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

For the second year in a row, the cowardly, achingly narcissistic Trump nazi gutlessly refused to attend the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner.  Imagine that.  Couldn't, wouldn't take the heat.  LOL.  NPR reports:

"Chatter online among journalists and some in the administration's orbit after the event was full of criticism for comedian Michelle Wolf, who was the evening's headliner; criticism and soul-searching about the annual event itself; and an effort by former White House press secretary Sean Spicer to pressure the leadership of the White House Correspondents' Association into answering for Wolf's vulgar, personal jabs leveled primarily at the president and his inner circle."

Perfectly fits right in with the persona of the gutlessly absent Trump nazi.  LOL.  Karma's indeed a bitch, isn't it, Mr. 'President?'  What goes around, always comes around.  She brilliantly emulated you, sir.  What are you whining about, Donny Boy?

"The comedic routine laced with sexual innuendo and, at times, dominated by outright vulgarities was directed primarily at Republicans and conservatives — a fact not lost on those in the room who expressed their displeasure on Twitter afterward."

Why?  This woman perfectly emulated the persona of the Trump nazi.  Ferociously pointedly, you achingly clueless fascist bastards on the Nazi Right determinedly hold her accountable for her admittedly boorish behavior?  Yet grant your nazi fuhrer carte blanche to do the same?  Hypocrisy, double standard stunning.

"White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was the particular target of harsh treatment by Wolf — as Sanders sat on the dais not far from the lectern where Wolf was speaking. Afterward, some of the journalists from outlets known to spar with the White House or to be on the receiving end of pointed attacks directly from the president spoke out on Sanders' behalf.  One example from Wolf's performance: "And I'm never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders, you know? Is it Sarah Sanders, is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is it Cousin Huckabee, is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? What's Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women? Oh, I know. Aunt Coulter."

Ouch.  Outrageous, isn't it?  What, however, did they expect from a liberal comedienne tired of all the narcissism, xenophobia, misogyny, patronizing, condescending bullshit coming from the Trump nazi?  Remember, this came from a woman.  Imagine the reaction had it been a man?

"That @PressSec sat and absorbed intense criticism of her physical appearance, her job performance, and so forth, instead of walking out, on national television, was impressive," tweeted Maggie Haberman of The New York Times. (Haberman said on Twitter that she did not attend the event in person but had watched it on TV.)"

Physical appearance is certainly off limits.  Goes beyond the pale.  There was plenty, plenty more to legitimately lampoon.  To her great credit, Sanders did not walk out.  Stood her ground.  Certainly, an example of uncommon valor.

"The spirit of the event had always been jokes that singe but don't burn," said Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News, "Reporters who work with her daily appreciate that @presssec was there." Like Dawsey, O'Donnell included Haberman's tweet praising Sanders' composure under fire."

Indeed.  While Sanders has been rightfully and repeatedly criticized in this publication for her defense of the Trump nazi, she has always done so professionally, extremely competently.  Certainly, admirably, takes no prisoners.  Moreover, no one's done a better job defending the indefensible for the Trump nazi than Sanders.  LOL.

ABC News reports:

""Daily Show" correspondent Michelle Wolf has drawn criticism for comments she made while hosting this year's White House Correspondents Dinner. But fellow comedians have been coming to her defense.   Wolf's routine took aim at all of Washington, including the White House press corps, Democrats, Republicans, Trump and his administration. But the sharpest criticism Wolf drew came after jokes she made about press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.  "Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited because I’m not sure what we’re going to get: A press briefing, a bunch of lies or divided into softball teams," the comedian said Saturday.   Wolf continued, "I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. But she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies."  And while many cried foul, thinking Wolf was making fun of Sanders' looks, Wolf clarified her joke later on Twitter.  "Why are you guys making this about Sarah’s looks? I said she burns facts and uses the ash to create a *perfect* smoky eye," she tweeted Sunday. "I complimented her eye makeup and her ingenuity of materials."

Yeah, right.  One thing for damned sure.  Had a man made this comment, -- would have been crucified.  LOL.

"One person who got the joke was comedian Andy Richter, who wrote on Twitter Sunday, "NO ONE MADE FUN OF HER LOOKS."

 "Billy Eichner didn't believe Wolf went too far, either.  "Sarah Huckabee Sanders lies to the American people almost every day and defends the lies, incompetence and cruel behavior of the most unqualified and embarrassing President in modern times," he wrote on Twitter. "You think the jokes last night were harsh? Wait until history has its way with her."

Certainly, has a point.  Still admire Sanders' bull dog approach at defending the indefensible.  LOL.  Does it with such great flair and style.  LOL.

"Another comedian who praised Wolf's set was late night host Jimmy Kimmel. He took to Twitter Sunday, writing, "Dear 'the media' - @michelleisawolf was FUNNY. Hire a juggler next year."

"Another late night host, Seth Meyers, agreed, writing on Twitter, "Few people go to DC and accomplish what they set out to do while staying true to themselves. @michelleisawolf is one of those people."

Certainly, let it rip.  Have to admire her courage.  Had to have known criticism would be ferocious.  LOL.

Last but not least:

"Responding to someone on Twitter, who called Wolf's set "mean," comedian Kathy Griffin wrote, "Please point us to the tweets where you said something like this about the President of the United States when he was attacking people at rallies and his supporters were laughing...IT WAS A ROAST."

Indeed.  Wolf gave the gutlessly absent Trump nazi a bit of his very own medicine.  Hat's off.

Moreover, Wolf displayed great courage in what turned out to be a quite hostile atmosphere.

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.

5-4-18

While the top of the food chain enjoys economic growth, bottom and middle languish.  NPR reports:

"U.S. economic growth slowed in the first three months of the year to a 2.3 percent annual rate, down from 2.9 percent at the end of last year.  One reason is that consumers didn't keep up with the blistering pace of spending at the beginning of the year, which means slower economic growth overall, analysts say. But, if recent trends are any indication, the economy will pick up steam soon.  During the last couple of years, growth was slow in the first three months, only to pick up again later in the year. Despite the slowdown, this year's economic growth did come in stronger than what economists had expected. The economy also fared better than the sluggish beginnings to 2016 and 2017.  Still, the 2.3-percent showing in January through March falls short of the Trump administration's target growth rate of 3 percent or more. Analysts are predicting the second quarter economic growth could be in that 3 percent range."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

In line with the above, amusingly, there is at least one Republican willing to tell the truth vis a vis the Trump nazi's tax cuts.  The Washington Post reports:

"Democrats frequently claim Republicans' corporate tax cuts enriched big businesses while doing little for workers, but now that line of criticism is coming from a prominent Republican: Sen. Marco Rubio.  “There is still a lot of thinking on the right that if big corporations are happy, they’re going to take the money they’re saving and reinvest it in American workers,” the Florida senator told the Economist in a recent interview. “In fact they bought back shares, a few gave out bonuses; there’s no evidence whatsoever that the money’s been massively poured back into the American worker.”

Why would GOP national socialists think otherwise?  Has never happened in the past when tried.  Point of diminishing returns quickly reached.  Forget?  Greed rules.  Remains the bedrock of capitalism.  Line your pockets off the backs of the peasants, many of whom don't earn a livable wage.  These greedy bastards make money the old fashioned way, steal it.

Whether it's theft of wages, a non-livable wage, sale of shoddy products at inflated prices, taxing the living shit out of the bottom and middle class to line the pockets at the top of the food chain, etc..  ... As our nazi president recently did.  At a time of record corporate profits and cash reserves.  The masses were royally f--ked.  Worse, the tax cuts are permanent for corporations and the top of the food chain, temporary for the peasants.

"The GOP tax law dramatically reduced taxes on American businesses, cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. The White House said throughout the tax debate that the law's corporate cuts would increase wages for the average American worker by $4,000, a claim made by White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers."

Turned out to be horse shit.  A ruse.  ... While the national debt skyrocketed.

"Nonpartisan experts were skeptical about the claim, and independent analyses say the bulk of the law's tax cuts would go to the wealthy.  The remark was seized on by Senate Democrats, with the office of Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) broadcasting it on Monday.  “We couldn’t have said it any better ourselves,” wrote Schumer spokesman Matt House."

Get this:

"In the interview with the Economist, Rubio pitched a set of government programs and policies aimed at helping workers. He argued for a more generous benefit system and paid-family-leave program, as he also touted the more robust child tax credit he pushed during the GOP tax debate. He also advocated expanding training programs for new workers and workers who've lost their jobs.  “Government has an essential role to play in buffering this transition,” he said. “If we basically say everyone is on their own and the market’s going to take care of it, we will rip the country apart, because millions of good hard-working people lack the means to adapt.”

Sounds more like a Democrat than a Republican.  Then again, Rubio appears to be politically where Reagan and his fellow Republicans were nearly 38 years ago.  The GOP has radically moved ideologically, -- from conservatism to fascism.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez is not out of the woods.  Doesn't your heart bleed?  The Washington Post reports:

"The Senate Ethics Committee said Thursday that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who avoided conviction in a federal corruption trial last year, violated federal law and Senate rules in accepting unreported gifts from a friend and political ally whom Menendez used his office to assist.  In a four-page “letter of admonition,” the six members of the panel ordered Menendez to pay back the gifts he received from Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor, and said that he is “hereby severely admonished.”  “Your assistance to Dr. Melgen under these circumstances demonstrated poor judgment, and it risked undermining the public’s confidence in the Senate,” the letter reads. “As such, your actions reflected discredit upon the Senate.”

Why didn't the Senate vote to expel him?

"The Ethics Committee findings complete a winding, six-year saga that saw Menendez accused of corrupt dealings to benefit a political donor, Melgen, only to see his prosecution end in a mistrial last November after 10 weeks in court.  After the mistrial, most jurors told reporters that they believed Menendez had not committed the crimes that federal prosecutors alleged and a grand jury had charged him with. On Jan. 31, a judge dismissed all charges against Menendez after prosecutors decided not to pursue a second trial."

Fascinating, isn't it?

"Prosecutors, following media reports of Menendez’s actions to help Melgen settle business disputes with the federal government, secured indictments on 14 charges, including bribery. They alleged that Menendez used his office to help Melgen after the doctor gave gifts to Menendez, including private-jet flights and stays at Melgen’s luxury villa in the Dominican Republican. Melgen also gave large campaign donations that were ultimately funneled to Menendez’s 2012 campaign.  But in court, Menendez successfully argued that there was no illegal quid pro quo, that Melgen was a bona fide friend and that the gifts he received and the favors he did for him were unconnected."

Believe that?  ... May be a bridge in Brooklyn and oceanfront in Arizona you might be interested in.  LOL.

"After prosecutors decided to drop charges, the Senate Ethics Committee probe — which was put on ice for nearly five years while the Justice Department investigated — continued. The panel cannot revisit whether Menendez engaged in criminal wrongdoing, but it can determine whether senators or staff broke the chamber’s internal rules."

Had it been anyone other than a politician violating the law, his sorry ass would have quickly wound up in jail.  Why should it take five years to investigate this?  Anything wrong with this picture?  Anything at all?

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5-4-18

Here's another thieving son of a bitch who desperately needs prosecution.  NPR reports:

"EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt faced withering criticism from congressional Democrats on Thursday, with one lawmaker calling him "unfit to hold public office." But Republican members of Congress — especially those representing states with large fossil fuel industries — rallied to Pruitt's defense."

Why wouldn't they?  This piece of shit is bought and paid for.  His corporate masters line his pockets.  ... As well as those of all politicians.

"It's the first time Pruitt appeared before lawmakers since weeks of accusations prompted a string of investigations — by the EPA Inspector General's office, at the Government Accountability Office and in Congress.  Pruitt has drawn scrutiny for a sweetheart housing arrangement in a condo owned by the wife of a lobbyist, hefty pay raises granted to staffers over the objection of the White House, a $43,000 soundproof phone booth he installed in his office and the reassignment of staffers within the agency who criticized the administrator's moves."

A nazi dictator in the mold of his fuhrer, the Trump nazi.  ... Any questions?

"You have failed as a steward of American taxpayer dollars and our environment," said Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., at the hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Environment Subcommittee.  "Every indication we have is that you really should resign," added Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "You are unfit to hold public office and undeserving of the public trust."

This fascist bastard needs to be criminally investigated and prosecuted.

Consider the Aryan arrogance of this goddamned nazi:

"Pruitt dismissed the allegations of ethical misconduct as "half-truths" and suggested that he is the target of a partisan attack.  "Let's have no illusions about what is really going on here," he said. "Those who have attacked the EPA and attacked me are doing so because they want to attack and derail the president's agenda and undermine this administration's priorities. I'm simply not going to let that happen."

A raucous, boot clicking, goose stepping, treasonous, treacherous, traitorous Sieg Heil!, Mr. Pruitt.  You're out of uniform, you nazi son of a bitch.  No swastika armband.

"Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Penn., who represents suburban Philadelphia, questioned whether Pruitt's costly, 24-hour security details is necessary.  "I'm just going to be very honest with you," Costello said. "When folks read about trips to Disneyland, professional basketball games, Rose Bowl and the additional security detail related to that, that doesn't fit well with a lot of people."

This son of a bitch is securely planted on the taxpayer tit, -- milking it for all it's worth.  Aren't Republicans supposed to be 'conservative?'

"Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., also questioned why Pruitt needed an expensive, soundproof phone booth in his office when similar facilities are available elsewhere in the EPA building.  "I think it was a waste of funds," Lance said."

What it is remains no more than a concerted ass-f--king of the taxpayers.  Without the Vaseline or KY.

The Washington Post reports:

"A controversial trip to Morocco by Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt last December was partly arranged by a longtime friend and lobbyist, who accompanied Pruitt and his entourage at multiple stops and served as an informal liaison at both official and social events during the visit.  Richard Smotkin, a former Comcast lobbyist who has known the EPA administrator for years, worked for months with Pruitt’s aides to hammer out logistics, according to four individuals familiar with those preparations. In April, Smotkin won a $40,000-a-month contract, retroactive to Jan. 1, with the Moroccan government to promote the kingdom’s cultural and economic interests. He recently registered as a foreign agent representing that government.  The four-day journey has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers and the EPA inspector general, who is investigating its high costs and whether it adhered to the agency’s mission to “protect human health and the environment.”

Here's the problem:

"Information obtained by The Washington Post shows the visit’s cost exceeded $100,000, more than twice what has been previously reported — including $16,217 for Pruitt’s Delta airfare and $494 for him to spend one night at a luxury hotel in Paris. He was accompanied by eight staffers and his round-the-clock security detail.  Smotkin’s role in arranging the whirlwind visit was highly unusual, ethics experts say, and raises many questions. Federal laws prohibit public officials from using government resources to financially benefit friends, relatives or other people with whom they have personal connections."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Here's another achingly clueless nazi son of a bitch who needs to resign in disgrace.  NPR reports:

"Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson wants Americans living on housing assistance to put more of their income toward rent and he wants to give public housing authorities the ability to impose work requirements on tenants."

They already work.  Don't get paid a livable wage.  Republican nazis in Congress won't vote for a minimum wage that is livable.  Why would they?  How else could their corporate masters and the rest at the top of the food chain so easily line their pockets?  Called indentured servitude.  No more than legalized theft.

"Under current law, most tenants who get federal housing assistance pay 30 percent of their adjusted income toward rent, and the government kicks in the rest up to a certain amount.  According to the HUD plan unveiled Wednesday, the amount many renters would pay jumps to 35 percent of gross income.  In some cases, rental payments for some of the neediest families would triple, rising from a minimum of $50 per month to a minimum of $150, according to HUD officials. Some 712,000 households would see their rents jump to $150 per month under the proposal, the officials said."

What this Aryan arrogant piece of shit wants to do is f--k the bottom of the food chain.  Not once has this national socialist called for a livable wage.  -- A wage that would obviate the need for most assistance other than for the disabled.  As a former pediatric neurosurgeon, this piece of crap lined his pockets off the suffering of kids and their families.  Now, he's f--king the rest of the people at the bottom of the food chain.  ... While lavishly spending money on his Housing and Urban Development executive office digs as covered here in an earlier edition.

"The way we calculate the level of assistance to our families is convoluted and creates perverse consequences, such as discouraging these families from earning more income and becoming self-sufficient," Carson told reporters on a conference call with reporters."

They'll never be self-sufficient if determinedly, concertedly, deliberately not paid a livable wage.

"Tenants' rights advocates condemned the HUD proposal.  Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., who is also chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, criticized the rent overhaul.  "Secretary Carson's immoral, ill-advised proposal is the latest example of the Trump administration's war on poor people," Richmond said in a statement.  "Thankfully this proposal would require Congressional approval before it can become law, and the Congressional Black Caucus will work with our colleagues in Congress to oppose it and other related measures," he said.  The rent overhaul requires congressional approval. If passed, the changes in how rent is calculated could impact many of the 4.7 million families HUD helps to obtain affordable housing."

What Republicans are clearly doing is f--king the bottom of the food chain to further line their bottomless pockets.  Democrats?  Achingly, useless.  Out to lunch, absent without leave since November 22, 1963.

The problem is clearly top-down:

"Earlier this month President Trump issued an executive order directing the secretaries of labor, commerce, HUD and five other departments to "do everything within [their] authority to empower individuals by providing opportunities for work, including by investing in Federal programs that are effective at moving people into the workforce and out of poverty."

Not going to happen when people are not paid a livable wage.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Need a good laugh?  Amazing how the Nazi Right pointlessly screams bloody murder, then lies like hell, -- under oath.  CBS News reports:

"Vocal Trump supporters and social media personalities and sisters Diamond and Silk — whose real names are Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson — testified under oath before lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee Thursday, in a hearing about the alleged filtering practices of social media platforms that quickly descended into impassioned and inconsistent statements."

What else would one expect from a couple of clueless idiots?  LOL.

"Facebook censored our free speech!" Diamond declared loudly at one point."

Jesus Christ.  Give me a break.  LOL.

"Throughout most of the hearing, Republicans prompted Diamond and Silk to explain how they believe Facebook censored and victimized them, while Democrats pointed out inconsistencies in their testimony and wondered why they were even holding the hearing in the first place."

No more than a political charade.  Both major political parties, guilty of doing the same.

"This is a stupid and ridiculous hearing," Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said, noting that the First Amendment is about protecting free speech against government intervention, not ensuring individual free speech from businesses."

--  Think nearly all of what is going on in Congress currently is not a total waste of time, effort, and money?  LOL.

"Why are we having a hearing about regulating content?" Lieu said. "It's unconstitutional to begin with."

You think?

"The focus of the hearing was supposed to be what metrics social media platforms use to filter content, while the social media stars accuse Facebook and others of censoring their content and diminishing its reach. The duo have previously claimed unfair censorship after Facebook reportedly deemed their content to be "unsafe to the community" and blocked their page.  But the duo offered inaccurate testimony under oath Thursday, something that was pointed out far and wide on Twitter. In her testimony, Diamond claimed they have "never been paid by the Trump campaign."  Federal Election Commission records, however, say otherwise. A November 2016 receipt shows the Trump campaign paid them more than $1,200 for "field consulting."

Truth?  What's that?  Certainly, a moving target not only throughout our formerly great country, but right here in Nazi Llano County.  ... Right, Sheriff?

"Subtle and slowly Facebook used one mechanism at a time to diminish reach by restricting our page so that our 1.2 million followers would not see our content, thus silencing our conservative voices," Diamond and Silk said in their testimony. "When we reached out to Facebook for an explanation, they gave us the run around."

Think so?

"But Ari Waldman, director of the Innovation Center for Law and Technology at New York Law School, said Facebook's decision to change its algorithm so people see more posts from family and friends than news and other organizations affected far more than just Diamond and Silk, and gave examples of left-leaning groups and individuals having their posts censored.  "The result is that a lot of content gets filtered out, but no more so from the right than from the left," Waldman said."

Wouldn't want to confuse anyone with the truth, would we?  LOL.

"Rep. Jerry Nadler, the top ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called the hearing with the two social media stars is a "spectacle" that shouldn't be taking place when the committee should be investigating more important issues."

You think?  We have a country coming apart at the seams and Republicans engage in this?  Try to force the issue?  Give me a break.  ... Can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Trump's determined effort to force his outrageously perverse religious views vis a vis abortion are falling flat in Kenya.  NPR reports:

"On January 23, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that bans U.S. aid to any health organization in another country that provides abortions, advocates or makes referrals for the procedure.

"But health groups that aren't complying with the policy are already feeling the effects. The U.S. has pulled the plug on funds that had been previously allocated but not yet spent prior to the Trump order. "Marie Stopes can talk about its own sad stories of programs that have had to close," says Newman-Williams. Its outreach services, which were funded by USAID in countries like Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, Madagascar, Pakistan and Myanmar, have already stopped, she says.

"That's the case for Family Health Options Kenya (FHOK), Kenya's oldest provider of sexual and reproductive health services. FHOK disagreed with the terms of the "Mexico City" policy, which has been reinstated by every Republican president since Reagan first issued it.

Rather than comply with the Trump nazi, a Kenyan clinic is walking away from $2 million.  Think there are no dire consequences?

"Though abortion is legal under Kenyan law, some pregnant women and girls who now lack access to medical care because of the funding cuts are resorting to unsafe measures out of desperation. They visit "curtain clinics," she says — secret spaces run by people who aren't nurses or doctors — or use household items like crochet needles to terminate their pregnancies.  The loss of funding has also jeopardized essential services which are unrelated to abortion — like cancer screening of reproductive organs, treatment for HIV, post-natal care and vaccinations for diseases."

Think this isn't aggressive stupidity on the part of the Trump nazi and his fellow Republican national socialists who support this bullshit?  Get this:

"The funding policy — called the "global gag rule" by its critics — is meant to discourage abortion. But a Stanford University study makes the case that restricting family planning funds can lead to more abortions. Researchers analyzed survey data in 20 African countries between 1994 and 2008 and found that rates of induced abortions rose sharply in countries that were most affected by the rule. A report by Population Action International found that when the policy was in effect between 1984 to 1992, "there was no evidence that the policy reduced the incidence of abortion."

Why would it?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

More of the same.  Good to see lawsuits are being filed to fight the Trump nazi and his henchmen.  NPR reports:

"Three national reproductive rights groups are suing the Trump administration, arguing that changes to the federal Title X program will put the health of millions of low-income patients at risk by prioritizing practices such as the rhythm method over comprehensive sexual health services.  The two lawsuits being filed on Wednesday — one by Planned Parenthood and another by the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association and American Civil Liberties Union — focus on guidance issued in February by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Population Affairs."

We're returning to the cave.  Courtesy, of the Trump nazi and his fellow Republican national socialists.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Believe the vice president doesn't have his head ignorantly, figuratively, securely lodged up his ass?  The Washington Post reports:

"In “1984,” George Orwell spoke of the government’s ability to degrade the truth: “The past was alterable. The past never had been altered,” he wrote.  Tuesday afternoon, Vice President Pence yet again disgraced the White House by saying he was “honored” to be joined by former Maricopa County, Ariz., sheriff Joe Arpaio, because Arpaio is a “champion” of “the rule of law.” As in Orwell’s dystopia, it wasn’t just misleading, and it wasn’t just a lie. It was a complete inversion of the truth, turning reality upside down."

Par for the course in raw nazism.  ... As well as communism.  Both extremes progress and end in great evil.

"In late July 2017, Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt after a federal judge ruled that he had deliberately ignored a court order to cease and desist his racial profiling of people who appeared to be Latino. Arpaio’s brutality in abusing the rule of law is widely known: The sheriff himself often boasted that prisoners in his draconian “Tent City” jail would be exposed to temperatures of up to 142 degrees. He referred to his compound as “a concentration camp.”

Yet, our nazi vice president ignores all that.  Think Adolf and Benito aren't wildly cheering on their fiery perches?

"Lawsuits mounted against Arpaio – and, again and again, he lost in court. Judges ruled that his treatment of prisoners was abusive, inhumane or unconstitutional, or all of the above. Twice, a federal judge ruled that the lack of medical care in Tent City was so awful that it was an unconstitutional violation of prisoners’ basic rights. One-hundred fifty-seven deaths of prisoners occurred on his watch, some of them allegedly attributable to negligence, according to investigations by the Phoenix New Times."

Yet, the Pence nazi professes to be a Christian.

Above quotes are courtesy of a most gifted, insightful writer, Brian Klaas.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Think the following becoming of a United States president?  The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump hinted that he may get more deeply involved in the management of his Justice Department — which is overseeing a special counsel probe into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — in a freewheeling and defiant phone interview with Fox News on Wednesday morning."

Mark of a nazi dictator.

"Trump said that he tries to “stay away from” intervening in the Department of Justice, before adding, “But at some point I won’t.”

This man presents an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

"It was unclear to what exactly the president was referring — or threatening — in his comments, but Trump has repeatedly dismissed special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia probe as a “witch hunt” and expressed a desire to fire both Mueller and Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who is overseeing the investigation."

Should that happen?  Be the end of the Trump regime.

"The president’s comments Thursday brought a sharp rebuke from Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who called Trump’s interview “so unbecoming of a president, unbecoming of a democracy.”

Sadly, this is no longer a democratic republic.  In name only.

“It’s so abundantly clear from the president’s remarks this morning, and from so many other things he has said, that he has little regard for the rule of law,” Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor. “He seems to have this view that the purpose of the Justice Department is to protect his interests and persecute his enemies.”

The mark of an out of control nazi dictator, -- not the president of the United States.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

There is one hard-hitting Senator who determinedly takes no prisoners.  Figuratively, holds the feet of these nazi pieces of shit to the fire, -- so to speak.  NPR reports:

"Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to the Trump administration's top consumer protection official late Thursday asking him whether he's doing the bidding of the industries he's supposed to be policing."

No question.  Forget?  They line his pockets.

"The move was in response to remarks about lobbyists made earlier this week by the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Mick Mulvaney.  Earlier this week, Mulvaney told a group of bankers and lobbyists that when he was a Republican Congressman he'd only talk to lobbyists who gave money to his election campaign."

They line his pockets.

"Those remarks are drawing sharp criticism from Democrats who have also been critical of Mulvaney's efforts to pull back on regulation at the consumer protection bureau. Mulvaney has dropped a predatory lending lawsuit and has said that he's reconsidering a payday lending rule. He's also said he may shut down public access to a popular database customers use to file complaints against financial firms."

To protect his corporate masters.  Line their pockets, -- who then line his.

"Sen. Warren told Mulvaney in a letter:  "Almost every one of your major decisions at the CFPB has fulfilled a request of a lobbying organization that has donated tens of thousands of dollars to your political campaigns."

One hand washes the other.  Forget?  The American Way.

"Mulvaney's remarks came during a speech he gave at an American Bankers Association conference on Tuesday. In that speech, Mulvaney also said he always spoke with visitors to his office who came from his home district even if they didn't donate money. Here's what he said:  "We had a hierarchy in my office, in Congress. If you were a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn't talk to you. If you were a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you. If you came from back home and sat in my lobby, I talk to you without exception, regardless of the financial contributions."

Think this son of a bitch isn't bought and paid for?  Wake up.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

John Brennan takes no prisoners.  NPR reports:

"John Brennan's tenure as CIA director ended the same day that President Trump entered office last year, and since then, the former spy chief has been a relentless critic of the president.  "I think he is dishonest, he lacks integrity, he has very questionable ethics and morality, and he views the world through a prism of 'how it's going to help Donald Trump?,' " Brennan said in a wide-ranging interview with All Things Considered.  "I just think that he has not fulfilled the responsibilities of the president of the United States," Brennan added."

No question.  He hasn't.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

A rubber stamp. The Washington Post reports:

"House Intelligence Committee Republicans released a redacted version of their final report from a year-long probe into Russia’s “multifaceted” influence operation, generally clearing President Trump and his associates of wrongdoing while accusing the intelligence community and the FBI of failures in how they assessed and responded to the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 election.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Manafort stymied.  CBS News reports:

"A federal judge in Washington has thrown out a civil lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman that sought to challenge the authority of the special counsel in the Russia investigation.  The decision was a blow to Paul Manafort's defense against special counsel Robert Mueller. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued the ruling."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Another one bites the dust.  NPR reports:

"Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., is stepping down from Congress after a sexual harassment scandal earlier this year in which he called a former aide a "soul mate."  The Pennsylvania Republican had already announced he wouldn't seek re-election in 2018, but announced he would resign effective Friday, ending an Ethics Committee investigation into allegations made by a former staffer and triggering another special election this year."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

More trouble for Facebook. The Washington Post reports:

"The billionaire chief executive of WhatsApp, Jan Koum, is planning to leave the company after clashing with its parent, Facebook, over the popular messaging service’s strategy and Facebook’s attempts to use its personal data and weaken its encryption, according to people familiar with internal discussions."

Must not be forgotten Facebook makes its money marketing user data.

"Koum, who sold WhatsApp to Facebook for more than $19 billion in 2014, also plans to step down from Facebook’s board of directors, according to these people. The date of his departure isn’t known. He has been informing senior executives at Facebook and WhatsApp of his decision, and in recent months has been showing up less frequently to WhatsApp’s offices on Facebook’s campus in Silicon Valley, according to the people."

Fascinating, isn't it?

"The independence and protection of its users’ data is a core tenet of WhatsApp that Koum and his co-founder, Brian Acton, promised to preserve when they sold their tiny startup to Facebook. It doubled down on its pledge by adding encryption in 2016. The data clash took on additional significance in the wake of revelations in March that Facebook had allowed third parties to mishandle its users’ personal information."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Delusionally trust nazi government to safeguard DNA data?  NBC reports:

"Wanted: A million people willing to share their DNA and 10 years of health habits, big and small, for science.  On Sunday, the U.S. government will open nationwide enrollment for an ambitious experiment: If they can build a large enough database comparing the genetics, lifestyles and environments of people from all walks of life, researchers hope to learn why some escape illness and others don’t, and better customize ways to prevent and treat disease."

Psychotically believe this information won't become available to the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue on fishing expeditions?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

5-4-18

Think this justice?  CBS News reports:

"Cambridge Analytica, a U.K.-based political consulting firm at the center of the recent Facebook data scandal, is "immediately ceasing all operations," the company said in a statement on Wednesday."

Imagine that.

"The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company's customers and suppliers," the firm said. "As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business, which left Cambridge Analytica with no realistic alternative to placing the Company into administration."

Doesn't your heart bleed?

"The statement said the company will soon begin bankruptcy proceedings in the U.K. and the U.S. The company said it has "unwavering confidence that its employees have acted ethically and lawfully."

Needs to be a criminal investigation.  Think these bastards won't set up shop elsewhere under a different company name?  Continue to prosper off your personal data? Wake up.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk?  Get what you truly deserve.

4-27-18

Highly reminiscent of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors, Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.  It's appalling.  Runs against the grain of everything our formerly great country once stood for.  No longer.

The murder of any police officer is an outrageous criminal act.  Two Florida officers were recently ambushed and killed while dining in a Chinese restaurant. Intolerable in what is supposed to be a democratic republic.  So is the reaction of the local Sheriff.  Seatbelts on.

NBC reports:

"The official story about how two Florida sheriff's deputies were gunned down in a Chinese restaurant shifted slightly Friday when a deputy standing in for Gilchrist County Sheriff Bobby Schultz announced that they were shot inside the eatery — not through the window as officials first reported.  "We know now that the assailant went inside the building and assaulted and killed them," said Lt. Scott Tummond, who works for the Levy County Sheriff's Office."

Needless loss of life.  Horrendous tragedy.  Horrific.

"Tummond, who said he had a "work history" with one of the slain men, Sgt. Noel Ramirez of the Gilchrist County S.O., also confirmed that the suspected shooter, 59-year-old John Hubert Highnote, killed himself after fatally shooting the deputies.  "We have no information right now that our officers were able to return fire," said Tummond. "No officers engaged with the assailant."

Perpetrator gutlessly ambushed both officers.

"The Levy and Gilchrist departments patrol two neighboring counties just west of Gainesville, Florida. And Tummond addressed reporters in front of the Ace China restaurant in to the town of Trenton where Ramirez and Deputy Taylor Lindsey were killed Thursday afternoon.  The front windows of the restaurant did not appear to be blown out."

Not clear why the story was incorrectly reported initially and who is responsible for that failure.  Doesn't matter.

"When asked why he was presiding over the press conference, an emotional Tummond said Schultz was grieving with his family. He said they still don't have a motive.  "Gilchrist has no idea what drove this man to this cowardly act," Tummond said. "I don't believe the Gilchrist County Sheriff's Office has any history with this gentleman."