The Thugs Of November

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We are two days out from the formal election day. It is time for the truth to be told, at least as I see it. According to the CDC we have over 9.2 million people infected and over 230,000 dead from coronavirus. According to Worldometer we have over 9.4 million infected and over 236,000 dead.

We have seen a new report that claims that the trump rallies have caused 30,000 infections and over 700 deaths from coronavirus. Yet, trump continues to hold these super spreader events without any social distancing or safety precautions, except for him.

But, there is something even more nefarious going on today. I am a person who conducts research on just about everything I can think of doing. I have researched what communism in Russia, China, Cuba and North Korea really are. Those governments that call themselves “communist” are nothing of the sort. They are straight up dictatorships. They are intended to provide power and privilege to the few and the hell with the rest of the country.

Oh, they provided medical coverage to everyone and other “social” aspects, but they were merely things that kept the population in check. On the other hand, when anyone spoke out about the power abuses in the country, they suddenly and mysteriously “disappeared”. That is what dictatorships do and that is what these countries version of communism was all about.

The populations of communist countries gained nothing of any real value. The “free” education they received was far below norms of countries around the world. The “free” medical treatment was also far below normal standards expected around the world. They were offered to mollify the populace into thinking they were being taken care of. But, they were also isololated so they didn’t understand just how bad their “free” things really were.

The Berlin Wall fell and we saw the old Soviet Union break up. We saw China adopt a more “capitalist” economy. We saw Cuba loosen some of their restrictions, though not nearly enough. We see that North Korea is still running in the old Soviet Union style of dictatorship.

Our nation has stood firm against such dictatorships. We have held the line and tried everything we could to stem the spread of these dictatorships around the world. The Republican Party claimed to be the one party that stood up to communism, as we called it. At least we did until just four years ago.

The seeds for a transformation of the Republican Party began shortly after Barak Obama won the presidency. After that, the white supremacists started crawling out of the sewers we had locked them in. Then, after six years of total stagnation caused by the Republican Party, we got Donald Trump as our president.

From the very beginning we started hearing about the “hell hole” that he believed our country had become. We started hearing about how “only I can fix it”. We started hearing the drum beat of autocracy leading to our own dictatorship.

He started talking very nicely about white supremacists. He said “there a very fine people on both sides” after a tiki torch parade by these white supremacists yelling “the Jews will not replace us”. Yeah, really fine people there, huh don?

Under this nightmare, we have watched children being ripped from their parents arms, even children being breast fed, and placed in cages and left to sleep on a concrete floor. This was intentional by the administration as a tactic to “deter” others from trying to seek asylum in our country from violent places.

We have seen a pandemic be allowed to run rampant throughout our country killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens. We still have no plan and we still only get smear campaigns from the administration against anyone who dares to speak out against their “do nothing” response to the pandemic.

We saw a couple of dozen white supremacists charged with plotting to kidnap and murder the Governor of Michigan. All trump had to say was he thought “she was a lousy Governor”. He never once condemned the action or the people who plotted this action.

We have witnessed the largest tax give-a-way to the privileged. This is just another step in maintaining power by making sure the very wealthy keep their power and “donations” keep flowing to the Republican Party.

These are just a few examples of what trump called “draining the swamp”. What he has actually done is open the doors to the White House and allowed the swamp to enter hip deep. Everything is designed to keep him in power and to help make him more wealthy.

Now we come to what I am calling the “thugs of November”. We are near the end of our election season for 2020. The Republican Party, which has actually become a “soviet politburo” is in political trouble. They have failed our country miserably and are in a panic about this election because they could lose their grip on power.

So, they have reached deep into the old Soviet style handbook about how to steal an election and sow more divide among our people. We have seen this going on right in the open, and they just don’t even care that we know what they are doing.

There have been over 300 law suits, so far, about how this election is being held. And, about 98 percent of them have been filed by Republicans. They are very upset that during a pandemic the people actually want to vote, but don’t want to get sick or die because of the lack of safety precautions at too many Republican controlled polling places are actually being the chance to vote safely.

There are several Republican states that do not even require masks to be worn at their polling places. They want to “keep those afraid of the pandemic” from voting, so they are ignoring all public health safety precautions.

In Texas, Harris County decided to expand “drive through” voting. That means when someone wants to vote, they can stay in their cars. A poll worker “checks their ID” which is required in Texas, and then helps them cast their ballot. They expanded this “drive through” voting because of the pandemic.

But, that has caused a big panic among Republicans. It turns out that Texas ballots have already set new records for ballots cast, and we haven’t even gotten to Tuesday. As a result of their “fear” that they might actually lose Texas, a very firm “red state” for decades, they have gone to court and asked that 100,000 ballots already cast be made void. They want to take away those votes and those voters voice because they are afraid they are losing.

That is a tactic straight out of the old Soviet Union ‘how to make sure we win” campaign. We have Republicans in Pennsylvania filing suit after suit to void as many votes as they possibly can. Their latest tactic is to make “Democratic stronghold counties” match signatures on ballots. But, they want them to be an “exact” match with what is on file.

I dare anyone to quickly sign your name ten times in a row. I bet you will not find all ten of them are an exact match. That is just human nature. Besides, they want people who are NOT signature professionals to do the “matching” so more ballots can be tossed out. This is another example of the old Soviet Union voting tactics.

We are seeing all of this going on around the country. They are only “targeting” areas where there is a strong Democratic number of voters. We are not seeing them “demand” such tactics in Republican strongholds. It is an open and clear indication that they are trying to steal the election by any means possible.

In North Carolina yesterday, a group held what they call a “Souls to the Polls” march. These people held a church service and then began to march to the polling place. Yesterday was the last day of early voting in the state. On the way, they took a knee and held an eight minute “moment of silence” for George Floyd.

As soon as their “moment of silence” was over, county sheriff deputies and local police started pepper spraying them. They gave no warning, they just started shooting pepper spray at the marchers. There were children in the group. Some as young as 3 years old. These children started throwing up and some became violently sick.

These local thugs said they used the pepper spray because the marchers “did not have proper license to block a street for their “moment of silence”. REALLY??? Taking a knee and holding a moment of silence now apparently is a crime in that part of the state. It had more to do with the fact that they were on their way to vote, which the thugs didn’t want them to do.

Yesterday, a bus for Biden was heading down the highway in Texas. Suddenly a bunch of thugs surrounded the bus and nearly ran it off the road. All of these thugs were flying their trump flags and were deliberately trying to intimidate those on the bus. An event had to be cancelled because of thee thugs. They were deliberately trying to keep the people on the bus from exercising their right to free speech.

This was a very dangerous situation. The bus could have been forced into an accident. If anyone tried that with any other vehicle on the road, they would have been arrested for “dangerous driving”. But, since they were going after Democrats, I guess it was okay for Texas.

What did our great supreme leader have to say about this very dangerous action? He said “I love Texas”. I wonder what he would have said if those people were Biden supporters and they were harassing HIS bus. I bet he wouldn’t say “I love Texas”. We would have heard all kinds of ugly words coming out of his ugly mouth. This action was nothing less than “domestic terrorism”.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan won in a landslide election. At that time the Republican Party was actually colored “blue” on NBC. But, too many people said the “middle of the country looked like a giant swimming pool”. It was the next election when all of the TV Networks settled on Republican being Red and Democratic being Blue.

At the time there was nothing to say about it. But, in the last ten years or so, we have discovered that the coloring of the parties has taken on a more open meaning. In the last ten years we have discovered that the “red” for
Republicans is more appropriate since they are the party that has taken up the old Soviet Union form of dictatorship.

The only difference is that this new autocratic party doesn’t mind that you know they are only out for themselves. They aren’t even pretending to show any care for the people. They aren’t interested in giving us any “candy” in social safety nets like the old so-called communists did.

They are openly saying, you are on your own, just vote for us so we can stay in power and suck all of the privileges for ourselves and our big donors. They don’t want you to have health insurance, they don’t want you to have a safety net in case you lose your job, they don’t want you to have anything that makes you think you are important.

They want you to continue to swallow their “kool-ade” and pretend that they actually give a shit about you when we know they don’t. They are happy that their supreme leader is cozying up to people like Putin and Kim Jong Un. They want the type of dictatorship that the old Soviet Union enjoyed for so long.

They figure they can get away with it because the white supremacists and the wacko fringe militia types are in full support of this form of government as long as people of color are “kept in their place”.

I am sorry, but what we have seen in the last ten years or so. The old Soviet Union styled dictatorship supporters have taken over the Republican Party. They are cheaters and law breakers just like the old Soviet leadership. This is about pure and naked power over a country and their people. That is what our Republican Party has become.

That is why you are seeing so many tricks to suppress the vote. That is why they are trying so hard to invalidate so many ballots. That is why it is DIRE that you actually vote. It is why we must unite as a people, minus those white supremacists and wacko fringe groups, and take our country back from the old Soviet Union style supporters. They are in the REPUBLICAN party not the other one.

Two days are left to cast your vote. Please, make sure you do. The future of your country and the future of your children and grandchildren are at stake. A Republican win means a dictatorship like the old Soviet Union is on the horizon.

That is the opinion of one veteran who loves his country and doesn’t want to see it destroyed from the inside.

VOTE!

We must STOP the shirts from marching along.

I Hope You Have Your Hip Boots – The BS Is Going To Get Even Deeper Now

Nice things said:

“What a fine man.  It is a shame what they are doing to him”.

“That was an attack on America”.

“It is a shame what they did to him.  He is a fine man”.

“A great general – will make a tremendous Defense Secretary”.

“Will be the best Attorney General we have ever had”.

Not nice things said:

“What a hack.  Lousy third-rate lawyer”.

“He is the worst general in the history of the world”.

“He rolled over and did not do his job”.

“A never trumper trying to force an overthrow of the elections”.

“A dimwitted nut-job.  Never understood how he got so high in the military”.

“Has dual loyalties.  Not a true patriot.  Part of the deep state tryng to get rid of me”.

“Second rate diplomate who is part of the deep state to force me out”.

We have all heard these things being said.  Most of the so-called reorters at Trump TV have said them.  A lot of so-called Republican politicians have said them.  And, of course our dear leader has said them.

Some of those nice things said involved people who were either convicted of crimes, or pleaded guilty to crimes.  Like Flynn, Cohen, Manafort and others.  Some were said to justify his pick for cabinet members like McMasters and Sessions.

However, as soon as those two did not follow the “love trump and pledge true loyalty to him rather than the country” rule in the administration, they were suddenly something entirely different.

Then we have those who dare to actually go to the Capital to testify about what actually happened in this Ukraine scandal that has trump all atizzy.

That is the only defense trump and his crooked cronies have for this impeachment inquiry.  They have never said that trump didn’t do what has been reported.  They have never said that trump was innonecent.  No, they argue about “process” and the closed door hearings ongoing.  They argue that trump is being denied the opportunity to face his accuser, namely the whistleblower.  They even go so far as to say, “well even if he did do what they say, it isn’t impeachable”.

According to these staunch trump allies, the president cannot break the law and suffer any consequences.  He cannot tarnish the office of the presidency and not suffer any consquences.  No, since he is president, he can do whatever he wants even break the law.

Remember the famous words of Lindsey Graham when he was trying to impeach Bill Clinton.  He said:  “A crime does not have to have been committed to be impeached.  Impeachment is the process given to us by our founders to cleanse the presidency of someone who has not fulfilled his oath of office and placed a scourge on the presidency”.  What a different hymnal he is singing from now.  Not only were those words just for Clinton, they must have been made up because they mean nothing when it comes to trump.  Explain that Lindsey!

And, to make their point, members of the so-called Republican Party are screaming that the identity of the whistleblower must be made public and that he or she must appear before the hearings.  A clear violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act, which, by the way, Republicans were the ones that introduced and passed.

It has been reported that the FBI has already investigated threats against the whistleblower’s legal team.  Are Republicans really wanting the same thing to happen to the whistleblower as well?  Do they ever care if that person is hurt or killed because of the complaint filed?  What about his family?

None of that matters to the moronic players in the Republican Party like Jordan, Nunes, Kennedy or others.  All they want is a chance to rip apart the person’s anonymity and make sure trump supporters know whom to target with more threats.

Yesterday, they targeted another person willing to testify.  This time they decided that a decorated, wounded war veteran serving in our military and the NCS should be ripped apart and called “unpatriotic”.

This time they went after a serving career officer just because he is willing to tell the truth and not “serve” trump.  They have even gone so far as to accuse him of “dual loyalties” because his family immigrated here when he was a child.  Anyone who serves in our military, risks his life in defense of our nation, risks his life in defense of his oath and immigrated from another country is obviously a security risk according to our so-called Republican Party.

Of course all of this bullshit has a purpose.  They cannot defend the lawlessness of this president or his administration, so they attack those willing to come forward.  We heard all of that before too.  We heard it from Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Putin, Kim Jun-Ung and many more dictators, and in our own country, Richard Nixon.

We have reached a point where our very way of life is being threatened.  Only this time, it isn’t the Soviet Union or China or even North Korea that is the major threat.  It is our own president who is supposed to protect our nation and our way of life.

And, like those who made similar comments around the world throughout history, they all have something in common.  Most of these “attackers” never served a single day in the military and all of them hate immigrants wherever they come from.  Even these so-called people are descendants of immigrants, only their motto is:  “we got here first so screw the rest of you”.

With every witness the truth is coming out about the Ukraine “shakedown”.  Our dear leader cannot defend what he did because he knows it was illegal so he continuously attacks those who are willing to testify.  In the 1930’s Rudolph Hess famously said:  “Germany is Hitler and Hitler is Germany”.  That is exactly what trump thinks he is, the nation.  If you go against trump, you are going against America.

Yes, there has been a run on hip boots and hip-waders since this crook took office.  The bullshit has gotten so deep, we may not survive the possible drowning of America.  When he said he was going to “drain the swamp”, we didn’t actually know he meant that he was going to drain it INTO the White House.

Oh, it is going to get even deeper.  On Thursday there will be a vote on a plan to open up the hearings to the public.  This includes public testimony and releasing the transcripts of those who have already testified.  So much for their argument that it is all “secret” and therefore a “witchhunt”.

Except, you can also expect that when the so-called Republicans get to question the witnesses, there will be a lot of grandstanding, lots of accusations against the witness and nothing to help defend the undefendable.  In other words, so-called Republicans will do their best to make the hearings a farce because they don’t have a leg to stand on to defend their criminal president.

Get ready.  The clowns on the right are lining up to tell their jokes, their lies and spin their conspiracy theories.  And, if they must attack patriotic military men who have served this country honorably, so be it.  They can’t spell honorable much less act like it.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

Trump Tries To Take Next Step To Authoritarism

Day 948.  

Well, I told you that the Mueller Report would not be the end of things, but only the beginning of the real mess to come.  And, our dear leader is proving me right again.  While some may claim that he simply is an amature in politics as an excuse, I disagree.  The man has absolutely no concern for what is right nor for what is legal.  He is only interested in power for himself and bigger profits from raping our nation.

Yesterday, our lovely loser decided that he does not have to comply with any oversight from Congress.  He openly and so bravely announced that he would fight any subpoena issued for any documents or any people to testify before Congress.  This is merely another step to establish the authoritarian government he so dearly wants.  It is telling Congress that they have “no power over me because I am the president” so as far as he is concerned they can go pound sand.

Of course that is not just thumbing his nose at Congress.  It is thumbing his nose at the Constitution and at the American people.  He has given up all pretense about wanting to be president, and has issued an open warning that he intends to be president “for life” which he thinks is a great idea.  At least that is what he said after China made their president for life a couple of years ago.

The idea of stonewalling Congress is not a new one.  Nixon tired it.  Reagan tried it.  Clinton tried it.  And George W. Bush tried it.  They all failed.  In Nixon’s case it meant the end of his presidency.  In Reagan’s case it meant several of his team went to jail over the Iran/Contra mess.  Clinton was impeached but beat it in the trial.  Bush was hounded for eight years for his Iraq war mess.

Now, trump is trying to stonewall Congress except with very dubious excuses.  He claims that the Mueller Report was the end all to the investigations.  It wasn’t, it was just the beginning.  Especially when you consider the fact that only Congress can look into whether or not to impeach a sitting president.

Then we have the lame excuse of “executive privilege”.  That is also very dubious because he is trying to retroactively insert it into the conversation.  By that I mean, he allowed people like McGahn to testify before Mueller and now claims that he cannot tell a Congressional Committee the same things he told Mueller due to “executive privilege”.

Another dubious fact about that is a truth that McGahn no longer works for the government.  He is a private citizen.  Executive privilege no longer hangs over his head.  Imagine if any president can tell ex-employees they have no right to talk about anything they saw or heard in service to the country.  We would never see any of those “tell all books” that are rampant after people leave office.  And, that would also infringe on the citizen’s right of free speech.  Of course, anything that concerns national security and was classified under that rule cannot be discussed.  But private conversations with the president are not part of that classification.  Especially if they involved criminal activity.

Our dear leader is also showing he doesn’t care about the welfare of those he is telling to refuse to show up to a Committee and testify.  He is placing them in legal jeopardy.  They can be fined, they can even be put in jail.  Of course that would mean a real DOJ would have to investigate and bring the charges.  And, in this case it is extremely doubtful that Barr would even consider going against his boss on anything.

The Constitution is very explicit.  It is the DUTY of Congress to exercise Oversight of the Executive Branch of the government.  It isn’t a “choice” it is a duty.  Any president who tries to stop such an oversight duty is guilty of “obstruction of justice” and is violating the Constitution he swore to protect.  But, as you can see, this president doesn’t think he took any oath to protect the Constitution, but rather an oath to protect himself.

Now, you may ask where are the Republicans who claim to “love the Constitution” and “will fight to protect it against everyone”?  Why are they sitting back and letting trump get away with his behavior?  Why aren’t they screaming and calling Mr. Moron to express dissatisfaction over his comments and choice of action?

Well, they are sitting on their mouths for one simple reason.  They don’t really care about our Constitution any more than our so-called president does.  They think that they are the only party in the country and they should completely control our lives.

That can best be explained this way.  The House Oversight Committee sent requests for documents and information to the 12 biggest pharma companies in the country.  They want to know why the cost of insulin is skyrocketing.  They want to know why to cost of drugs to treat multiple sclerosis is rising faster than inflation.

And, they want an explanation why the pharma companies spend twice as much on advertising than they do on research, yet claim the high price of prescription drugs are the result of research not advertising.

All of this seems reasonable in today’s environment.  Pharma companies have been under pressure.  Even trump trots out how they are ripping us off when he needs a “good” headline.  But he has done nothing about it so far.

So, the idea that the Oversight Committee would look into this matter is all reasonable.  However, members of the Politburo don’t agree.  Two Politburo members of the committee sent letters to all 12 companies involved and told them “not to cooperate with the requests for information”.  They claimed that the information would be leaked and have an adverse affect on stock prices.

Those two members of the Politburo who sent those letters are Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows.  Both are ardent trump supporters and are very willing to help the Politburo drive the car off the cliff.  They obviously don’t give a shit about the cost of prescription drugs and what affects it has on the citizens of the country.  They are only concerned with “stock prices” of the companies who have been ripping off the American public for generations.

Now, if the Politburo won’t protect the average person from overpriced drug prices, what makes you think they are interested in protecting our Constitution?  What makes you think that standing up to trump’s lawlessness is anything they would even consider?

And, they are not alone.  The Freedom From Poor People Caucus they are both members of have a regular history of not caring about anything but profits for their donors.  And, they don’t car how lawless their president is, it is only important to keep him in power, even at the cost of our very democracy.

The only reason for trump stonewalling these Committees is to drag it all out until after the 2020 elections.  He thinks that if he is reelected then it will all go away.  And, if he is defeated, it will all go away.  But, I wouldn’t be so sure about that either.

We are facing a period in our lives when we are confronted with a critical choice.  We are either going to continue to be the leader of the free world, or we are going to succumb to the threat of autocracy.  This president and his Politburo are hell-bent on creating an autocracy.

He and they are cozying up to dictators like Putin and Kim.  They are making it very hard to maintain our alliances with our true friends.  They are only interested in power.  That is why the 2020 elections are so important.  We need to get rid of the fascist wing of the Republican Party once and for all.

Then, maybe, we can have a true two-party system again where both parties are interested in the rule of law and the protection of our Constitution and our people.  As long as trump and/or his Politburo maintain any semblance of power, we are all in trouble.

However, we cannot wait for the 2020 elections either.  We must be forceful in holding trump and his Politburo accountable for all of the illegal activities they so love.  Too much damage can be done to our country in the 18 months that are left before the next election.  We must stand up to them and stop the bullshit.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

Barr Reveals New Justice Department Policy For Investigations

Day 941.  

In 1989, President George H. W. Bush wanted to oust the dictator of Panama.  Unfortunately, part of the country’s army did try an ouster and failed.  We must understand that the dictator was also wanted by the U.S. for drug smuggling charges.

A few months later, it was discovered that someone had written a memo stating that the FBI could go into another country and arrest a suspect even without that country’s government approval.  That included the head of that country.

The author of that memo declined to show Congress the memo in its completeness.  He claimed it was “confidential”, but there was no security clearance requirements placed on the memo.  Instead, he said he would provide a “summary of the pertinent areas of the memo”.

Congress was not pleased.  But, the author refused to comply with their orders for the whole memo.  Then, a couple of years later, the memo did finally reach the public domain.  And, surprise, surprise, the “summary” provided to Congress was inaccurate and considered a lie.  The author of that memo was none other than William Barr, the current Attorney General.

Now we are awaiting the release of the Mueller Report.  And, it is the same William Barr that is making the decisions on what to “redact” from this report and telling us we should trust him.  Well, the country trusted him once before and he lied to us.  So, there is no reason to trust him now.

Additionally, he told a Congressional hearing that he had not had any discussions with the White House about the report.  But, yesterday, it came out that in fact he has had discussions with the White House about what is in the report.  Another lie.

Yesterday, out of the blue, trump announced that the Justice Department would hold a press conference today at 9:30 a.m.  That is at least 2 hours before the report is supposed to be handed over to Congress.  The Attorney General is going to hold a press conference about the Mueller Report before anyone outside of the White House has even seen it.

Whenever there is a special counsel to investigate something happening in Washington, the purported audience for that investigation and its outcome is Congress and the American People.  However, this administration, led by the party hack William Barr is saying that only they have a right to the full report.  That Congress and the American People do not have that same right.

This is being handled like a very bad prosecution of a mob boss.  Look at it this way.  According to Barr and what he has done so far, if there is an investigation into the activities of a mob boss, it will work like this.

The investigators will do the hard work and investigate the criminal activities of the mob boss.  Then they will turn over the final report of the investigation to a mob boss lackey.  That lackey will then “summarize” the full report in just four pages and say there is nothing in the report.

Then, the lackey will go to the mob boss and allow him to read the full report.  That will allow the mob boss to come up with excuses or alibis for anything negative in it.  The lackey will then lie to the prosecutors and tell them that he never told the mob boss what was in the report.  Then, the lackey will hold a press conference to reinforce that there really isn’t  anything in it to worry about.  Then, and only then, will the lackey give the report to the prosecutors who will be charged with handling the case.

Under our current Attorney General, I guess this is how all investigations will occur beginning right now.  Barr has extremely limited prosecutorial experience.  He has conducted very few prosecutions in his career.  He is basically a suit walking around pretending to be a serious legal expert.

That became evident as early as 1989 with the debacle under the George H. W. Bush administration where he worked.  It has become obvious to anyone with eyes that is still the case.  This has become a real scandal all by itself.

We still don’t know what is in the report.  We still don’t know how much of the information will be redacted from the report.  We still don’t know anything about the report, but the president, the person whose actions were being investigated, does.  How is that even possible?

Well, it is possible because when you hire a party hack to be your law enforcement head, he won’t care anymore about the law than you do.  I mean, no one was surprised when the Attorney General declared there was no obstruction of justice.  He was the one who wrote a memo stating very clearly that in his opinion, the president cannot be guilty of obstruction of justice.

Our dear leader has failed at everything he has tried.  His only accomplishments have been to hide under his bed covers and send out accusatory tweets.  His latest failure also came to light yesterday when North Korea announced they had tested another guided missile.  Don’t forget, trump told us his love affair with Kim would make sure that this would never happen again.  Except, it did.

The fiasco known as the Mueller Report release is just another step towards a full-blown Constitutional crisis.  There is going to be huge fights between Congress and the White House.  The House Judicial Committee is already armed with subpoenas to try to force Barr to release the full report to them.

There is no doubt in my mind that Nader will use those subpoenas.  That will open up a whole new can of worms and make this even uglier than it has been.  It is time to hang on, this is going to get worse.

Then we have the president who already knows what is in the report claiming that he is innocent but everyone else in the world is guilty of attacking him.  His hair is on fire and he doesn’t know how to use a fire extinguisher.

The only reason for this is because he knows there is something in the report that is damning to him.  We all know that as soon at he feels threatened he lashes out at his “enemies”.  And, that is exactly what is happening.

Then we have the weird press conference that will happen before anyone gets the report.  There can be only one reason for that.  The White House, led by their party hack needs to get their spin out before anyone can make up their own minds.  Again, that tells me there is something not very good for trump.

We have a failed president who wants to hold onto power at any cost,  We have a Politburo who is willing to give him cover.  And, we now have an Attorney General who is not on the side of law and order, but personally loyal to the president, no matter what he has done.

Keep this simple fact in mind.  Even if there was no “provable” crime committed by trump or his campaign, there is still the possibility that they were pawns of Putin and basically sold out their country.  To me, that is even more serious.  And, it would answer a lot of questions about trump’s fascination with Putin and HIS policies instead of OUR policies.

Today is really the beginning not the end.  Everything that happens beginning tomorrow will all be determined by what is released today.  Just how much of the report is redacted and whether or not Barr fights Congress over giving them the full report, will determine just how deeply we get dragged into the mire of the trump swamp.

Today we will witness the most corrupt administration in our history take another corrupt step to hold onto power.  I mean, the mob boss got all of the evidence before the prosecutor did.  What could possibly go wrong with that?  Isn’t that way our legal system is supposed to work?  According to Barr, it is.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

Another Week From Hell – Courtesy Of Our Dear Leader

Day 893.  

Today is Friday and we don’t know what is in store for us.  But we do know that this week has been another week from hell.  In all of my years watching politics, this administration has created more chaos than any  administration before it.  It even makes Watergate look like a simple break-in rather than a Constitutional Crisis.

There is so much shit flying around that it is hard to keep up.  This week we saw Michael Cohen testify before the House Oversight Committee.  Who is telling the truth is up to the American people to decide.  I have a tendency to believe Cohen right now because he had nothing to gain and everything to lose for lying.

The Politburo side did everything it could to ignore the information that Cohen provided.  Instead of questioning him on his statements, he continued to read from the SDNY sentencing brief.  We had about 15 of the 17 Politburo members not only read from the brief, they read from the exact same part of the brief.

But, as I said, it is not up to me to tell you who to believe and who not to believe.  I just find it odd that the Politburo did not bother to fight back against what Cohen said.  They totally ignored it and that is telling, at least to me.

Then we had our dear leader meet with the dear leader of North Korea, again.  And, this time, both sides left early in a hissy fit.  Trump claimed that he walked away because North Korea wanted us to remove all sanctions against the country in exchange for the dismantling of “one” nuclear site.

If that is true, trump actually did something right.  However, since trump does not actually prepare for these summits, he was blindsided by North Korea’s request.  That is the way North Korea behaves, and everyone except our dear leader seems to know that.

Then we had our dear leader tell us that Kim Jun-Un told him he did not know that American Student Warmbier was so mistreated while in his country’s custody.  And, in usual dictator wannabe language, our dear leader said “I take him at his word”.

That is completely and totally bullshit.  We are talking about a country where nothing is done without the leader’s permission.  Failing to get the leader’s permission is tantamount to suicide.  If you disagree with Kim or do something without his permission, you die.  Just ask his own uncle.  Oh that’s right, you can’t ask him, Kim had him blown away using anti-aircraft guns because he was considered a threat to Kim.

But, since our dear leader doesn’t take any time or make any effort to actually prepare for these kinds of summits, he “takes his word for it” at the drop of the hat.  And, by the way, in order to show Kim that he was just as tough as Kim is, he barred American Reporters from some events just because one dared ask him a question about Cohen in front of Kim.

I guess trump figured that he must show Kim that he was just as tough on his enemies as Kim is.  We also never heard our dear leader ask Kim why, just days before the summit, did he cut food rations for his people in half.  Well over one million people have been starved to death by this dictator and his family.  The reduction in food rations will make sure more die.  However, just by looking at the pig, you can tell his rations haven’t been cut.  Still, trump didn’t see any reason to bring that up to his “great friend”.

In the end our “great negotiator” failed once again.  I cannot think of a single negotiation where he proved his abilities in this matter.  Even the redo of NAFTA wasn’t a redo.  It was exactly the same agreement with a very few adjustments.  The man is a total failure when it comes to “negotiations”.

Then, yesterday, there was a report that trump ordered that Jared Kushner be granted a Top Secret Clearance even though the security agencies did not want to grant one to him.  There were too many potential conflicts between Kushner and his business ties to foreign governments.  But, trump didn’t care and ordered him to receive his clearance.

In fairness, ordering the clearance is within trump’s authority.  However, it sets a very bad precedent because Kushner is trump’s son-in-law and clearly shows favoritism and possible dereliction of duty.

This story troubles me very deeply.  I went through the process of a security clearance, and it is not easy.  The idea that all of the security agencies who have a say so in granting clearances said he should not receive a Top Secret clearance and the president overruling that decision is very troubling.

There are very specific reasons that people must go through a lengthy process when applying for such a high clearance.  That clearance allows Kushner to view documents that very few people can actually see.  And, since he has conflicting ties to foreign governments, like Saudi Arabia, like trying to get them to finance some of his real estate, that should disqualify him from such a clearance.

If this story is true, and there have been rumors and ramblings for months that it is, then trump was derelict in his duties by granting the clearance to Kushner.  He has potentially opened up our country to compromise of classified information to a foreign country.  And, that should worry everyone.

And, we must also remember that if this story is true trump lied to the American people, again.  He said that he had no input towards Kushner’s clearance.  He said it more than once on television.  And, his daughter, Ivanka, also said he had no influence in her husband, or herself, getting a clearance.  Another lie from the family that thinks it is the Romanovs.

As I said, this has just been another week from hell courtesy of our dear leader.  He was abetted by his Politburo who is not interested in truth, only defending their leader.  They are willing to stoop to any new low of decency in order to achieve that goal.

No one knows what today will bring.  But, you can be sure it will simply be more chaos and more lies and more bullshit from our dear leader and his Politburo.  Remember, his Politburo said we cannot believe a thing Cohen says because he is a known liar.  Yet, they want us to believe everything another known liar says.  That being our dear leader.

And, the shirts keep marching along,.

Time To Ask – Is Trump Planning To “Wag The Dog”?

Day 879.  

There is so much swirling around our dear leader, I believe he is looking for a very big distraction.  There is the upcoming summit with North Korea this week.  Most people are afraid that trump will “give away the store” to North Korea like the last time and get nothing in return.  That worry grew when it was announced by the Kremlin that trump asked Putin for advice on how to talk to the dictator.

The Mueller probe is still going on.  Many believe his report will be issued soon, but we don’t know because Mueller has run such a tight ship with his investigation that we don’t really know what he has or doesn’t have.  And, we don’t know if he is through handing out indictments.

The Manafort case is getting dirtier and dirtier.  The Stone case is just ramping up with all sorts of ugly comments from Stone himself.  So much that the judge gagged him about speaking or saying anything about the case in public in any manner.  Bet he eventually disobeys just because he is that kind of weirdo.

There is the fight over the emergency declaration.  Tomorrow, Democrats in the House will put forward a vote on a bill that will stop the declaration.  And, according to the law, McConnell cannot simply put it in a drawer and forget about it.  He must hold a vote on it.  That will allow the American people to know just who is a “constitutionalist” and who is a phony.

But, the biggest thing, that no one is really talking about, is Venezuela.  We need to start wondering if trump is trying to start a war there and is willing to send in our troops.  He promised during his campaign that we would not get into “stupid wars” while he was in office.  But, we are on the doorstep of another stupid war right in our own backyard.

Not long ago, Venezuela held an election.  The outcome was doubtful.  Maduro, the current president declared victory.  But his opponent Guaido also declared victory.  The trump administration decided to back Guaido.  I will also point out that 35 other countries have thrown their support behind Guaido.

But, as usual in a dictatorship like Venezuela, the leader isn’t going down without a fight.  He is hanging on and refusing to let go of power.  And, he has the support of the military, so far.  As a result, there is big time trouble in Venezuela.

The U.S. has sent aid to Columbia to cross the border into Venezuela.  But, the Maduro regime has closed the borders so the aid cannot get through to the people of the country.  Under the dictatorship rule for the last few decades, Venezuela’s economy has turned into a shambles.  That is typical of any dictatorship.

After the border was closed, protesters gathered against the regime.  Violence broke out, and at least two people were killed.  There has been more violence, but we just don’t get the coverage that it deserves because our dear leader keeps hogging the headlines with his garbage.

Yet, our dear leader has also said that we need to “support the new regime” and has said that “nothing is off the table”.  Usual tripe from our dear leader.  It was also reported that he has asked the Pentagon to make a plan in case he decides to go into Venezuela.

Yesterday on Fox News, his empty suite Secretary of State made the same announcement.  When asked if the U.S. is planning to use military action in Venezuela, he said “every option is on the table”.

The situation in Venezuela is getting critical.  We have a dictator who wants to keep power so he closed the border so his people cannot get the aid they need.  Aid like food, medicine and clothing.  He would rather his people suffer than give up power.

We have an opposition leader who has set up an “interim government” and is refusing to back down.  He says that he actually won the election.  He also has millions of supporters who agree with him.  The two are facing off, and who wins will determine the future of Venezuela.

The problem is, America is beginning to rattle its sabers again.  Under trump, we are beginning to look at the situation as a “regime change” again.  Something that trump said he would “never engage in” during his dishonest campaign.

There are questions that need to be asked.  If we continue to try to cross the border with aid, will that lead to a direct conflict between them and us?  And, is that what trump is trying to do?  Is trump talking about sending in troops to “help the Venezuelan people” or is he just after a regime change?

Then we need to know just what trump and his administration has in store if we do go in and change the regime.  Just what actions, if any, are we going to do after the war?  Will we have an actual plan for how to help the new government gets its footing and rule peacefully, or are we going to go in with the same stupid theme that the people “will greet us with open arms” like in Iraq?

What will be the short-term and long-term agenda of the trump administration when it comes to Venezuela?  Are we going to keep troops in the country if Maduro and his forces begin guerilla war against the new government?  Will we demand bases in Venezuela?  Will we demand “oil” from Venezuela at a reduced price?

Just what will be the goal and what will be the plan if troops are actually sent into Venezuela?  Will it be a short war, or one that drags on for years.  Remember, Venezuela has large mountainous areas where guerilla fighters can resist for a very long time.

But, the last question is would we be going into Venezuela to “help the people” or to distract the press from all of the garbage trump has foisted on us?  Is this another example of “wagging the dog”?  Is this just another example of someone wanting to look “presidential” by being a “war-time” president?  Is he planning this to upgrade his 2020 chances?

I know that may seem cynical to many people, but with our president, anything is possible.  He has declared a national emergency that doesn’t exist.  He has supported Russia over our allies.  He has started to give away the store to North Korea.  He is in real legal trouble right here at home.

He needs a distraction that everyone can talk about instead of his usual buffoon antics.  A stupid war in Venezuela is just the medicine for what ails him.  It will put his name in the headlines again.  And, he thinks it will make him look good.

The Congress and the American people need to start watching and questioning his moves and his rhetoric about Venezuela.  It is very possible that we could be sending our troops into another war that isn’t really necessary, except for political gain.  That is not how to use our military.

Supporting our troops is not sending them off to fight unnecessary wars.  Supporting our troops is not using them as pawns for political purposes.  Supporting our troops is not sending them off to die in some foreign country with no purpose and with no reason to be there.

The U.S. is still looked upon by Latin American countries as a “bully”.  Right now, the OAS supports our backing of the opposition leader.  But, if we go to war, and we don’t have a real plan for the war and the aftermath, that suspicion could grow again.  That could lead to more resistance in the area against us.

What is going on in Venezuela is horrendous.  But, do we really want a war there?  Do we really want to send our troops into another country without a real reason or real plan?  I say NO.  We cannot keep starting wars just to change regimes.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

For The First Time In Our History The President Of The U.S. Has Become Irrelevant

Day 867.  

Throughout our history, we have seen a host of presidents.  We have had some great presidents.  We have has some bad presidents.  We have had some average presidents.  But, I cannot think of one president who was totally irrelevant, until now.

Our current president has become so irrelevant that even his own intelligence community ignores him as much as possible.  He talks about a whole lot of things, but they go ahead and tell the truth to Congress.  Like North Korea IS a threat to us and that Russia is an adversary not a friend.

Those comments make trump fume and rant and rave.  Always using the same language to make his point.  He often resorts to lies, innuendos, and praise for the dictators in the world.  He refuses to even listen to his Daily Presidential Briefing.  He only has one about every other day.  And, they are short and filled with pictures and graphs because he can’t bother to read anything.

Yesterday, I wrote that the competing rallies in El Paso was a contrast that needed to be looked at not for crowd size, but content.  The O’Rourke rally was uplifting, the trump rally was the usual fear-mongering.

At the O’Rourke rally, he said:

“We, together, we are making a stand for the truth against lies and hate and ignorance and intolerance.  We are going to show the country who we are.  With the eyes of the country upon us, all of you together are going to make our stand in one of the safest cities in the United States of America.  Safe not because of walls but in spite of walls.”

At the trump rally we heard the usual rantings and that was all.  Trump, had to let the people know that he didn’t care about the Constitution and that only Congress can authorize money for projects when he screamed that he’d build the wall no matter what. He also went after Hillary Clinton and egged on the audience as it chanted “Lock her up,” more than two years after beating her  in the presidential race and while under scrutiny himself in a slew of investigations. It was more of the same — insults directed at O’Rourke (whom Trump said had only his first name going for him), lies that money from tariffs flowed into the U.S. Treasury, defensive meanderings to explain why he didn’t have a dog (I am still trying to figure out the importance of that), exaggerated crime figures and so on.

He continues to rant about the “invasion” by these immigrants.  He continues to cry that they are taking American jobs.  He relentlessly argues that these immigrants should all be locked up and deported.  All the while his resorts keep hiring undocumented immigrants, sometimes with the help of managers to get them illegal documents so they can be hired.

The problem is that all of this is old routine.  There is nothing new in any of what he tries to claim is “policy”.  He has no policy.  He has no ideas.  He has no plans, except to enrich himself by violating the emoluments clause.  It’s the same nonsensical, incoherent rambling that only his hard-line base appreciates.  To the rest of the country, he sounds unhinged and desperate.  

When the government was on the verge of shutting down, he had no sway in the negotiations.  He waited until the bill was finished, gave an indication he would sign it, then went on his “executive time” to watch Fox News and caved to them instead of upholding his oath to office.  As a result, we had the longest shutdown in our history.

Now, we have another compromise bill being readied for votes in Congress.  The Democrats said they supported the bill.  Most Republicans also said they support the bill.  Trump is wavering, as usual.  The odd part is we don’t know for sure which way he will waiver because even his favorite tv station, Fox News, is divided on whether or not he should sign the bill.

The odds are he will sign the bill and then a short time later declare his “national emergency” to build his Berlin Wall.  Only, he won’t get very far very quickly.  Not only would Democrats sue over his executive power overreach and those badly affected by transfer of money to DOD to build the wall.  There are reports that he wants to take money from the Disaster Relief Fund.  And, he will have to deal with thousands of land owners.

The border is not open country that doesn’t belong to anyone.  Thousands of people own the land where he wants to build his wall.  Most of them say they will sue, if necessary, to stop their land being taken away from them.  Many of these people will actually lose their homes if the wall is built.

But trump doesn’t care about them.  He even tries to say they all support him and they are willing to lose their homes to get his wall built.  Another lie.

But this is all just another chapter in his irrelevance.  When Republicans were trying to write their tax cut for the rich bill, trump had no say so.  As a matter of fact, he has not been involved in any bill that anyone in Congress has tried to get passed.  He has no interest in governing.

And, that is exactly why he still hasn’t gotten his wall.  He had control of the government for the first two years of his administration.  Yet, there was no talk about any money for his wall, and now he is whining because he can’t get it.  If he really wanted his wall, he should have gotten the money when his party controlled the entire government.

But, when you are irrelevant, no one listens to you.  When you are irrelevant, no one even asks you what you think.  That has been the legacy of this presidency.  No one talks to him, no one asks him what he wants and no one listens to him.  All because they know he is irrelevant.

He keeps trying to talk a good game.  He keeps talking about infrastructure, but has put forth nothing to make it happen.  He keeps talking about a lot of things, then goes under his bed covers to hide and send out stupid tweets attacking his “enemies”.

No network is interested in covering his rallies anymore, except Fox News.  That is because he never says anything new.  He never gives any hint of any ideas he may have to make the country better.  He only dusts off his old rally speeches and reuses them over and over.  He is not only irrelevant, he is utterly boring.

What has really happened in his years in office is that trump is left with his cult-like followers, vague threats to “finish” the wall, which has never been started, regardless of Congress, his mindless chants and his sycophantic right-wing media.  As for the rest of the county, most Americans have little reason to pay attention, and they rarely don’t, to his rants.  He is not setting policy or saying anything new.

On the bright side, trump has another first to brag about.  He is the first totally irrelevant president in our history.  What a great thing to brag about.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

We Are Facing A Threat To Our National Security – But The Problem Isn’t The Southern Border

Day 855.  

We keep hearing trump talking about national security, but only when it is about his Berlin Wall.  He says we have a “national security problem” at our southern border.  He wants to build his Berlin Wall in the name of national security.

However, in matters that really count, he sings from a different hymn book.  He tells us that Russia is our “friend”.  He tells us China is no threat.  He says that North Korea does not present a nuclear threat to our country.  He claims that ISIS is defeated and devastated.

It all sounds like the world is at peace, except for those damn Latin Americans trying to seek asylum in our country.  But the world is not at peace.  And, the problems and the geo-political situation is dangerous to us.  The major problem is that it has all been caused by trump, himself.

The other problem, for him, is that his own intelligence agencies disagree with trump on everything he says.  They dispute that Russia is our friend and even say that Russia and China are working together against us like they haven’t for over 60 years.

ISIS they say is not defeated.  They say that ISIS lost ground, but their terrorist organization is as strong as ever.  They say that ISIS is a real threat to our citizens around the world.  They are not “decimated” or even “defeated”.

Their assessment says that North Korea will not give up its nuclear weapons.  They say that the regime sees them as the only thing that will help keep them in power.  They say that if North Korea gives up their nukes, they are afraid their government will fall.  And, they say that North Korea is modernizing a military site in order to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles at the United States.

They say that Iran is abiding by the deal that the Obama Administration made with them over nuclear weapons even though trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal.  But they say, Iran has used our pullout to garner support in the region.  Iran is telling everyone that this is proof that the U.S. cannot be trusted to keep its word.  As a result, Iran feels free to do and behave however they wish in the area.  Which makes them stronger, especially to terrorists looking for help.

Furthermore, they say that we have seen allies “pull back” from dealing with us over our foreign policies and trade deals.  They say that our allies are less likely to trust us than at any time since the end of World War II.

They also said that Russia is already gearing up to interfere with our upcoming 2020 elections just like they did in 2016.  And, they say that the U.S. is not prepared to fight back against this interference.  They say that the government does not have a cohesive plan to defend against such interference because no one told them to get a plan ready.

All of this information came out during the public portion of the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the state of our national security.  There was also a report that came out which is used heavily in this yearly event that supports and backs up everything that was testified to by the administration’s top intelligence heads.

The one thing that was not discussed, at least in public, was just what all those “secret” meetings our dear leader had with Putin were about.  They were unable to even mention them in the report because trump would not allow anyone, including the interpreter to attend the meetings.

We know of at least 5 meetings between trump and Putin where no one was allowed to attend from the U.S. side.  Then yesterday, we learned that trump did in fact meet Putin at the G20 summit.  When he said he cancelled the meeting.

However, again, there was no one in the room except Putin, his interpreter and trump.  There was no one from our side to even take notes about what was said.  There have even been reports that trump ordered the interpreter who attended a couple of meetings with him to hand over the notes so trump could destroy them.

Some people in the past always asked why there needed to be two interpreters at meeting like this.  Well, the answer is very clear.  It was to make sure that what the interpreter was saying to their leader was exactly what the other leader said.  If trump did not have his own interpreter during these secret meetings, we don’t know if the Russia interpreter said what Putin said or changed things to make them seem more plausible.

The other sad fact about this is that Putin understands English.  Trump does not understand Russian.  So, he was at the mercy of the Russian interpreter’s words spoken to him or to Putin.

Of course we have to ask the pertinent questions.  Why were these meeting so secret that no one from the American side were allowed to attend?  Just what was being said and what secret deals between Putin and trump were made?  Do those secret deals affect our national security?  Has trump promised something he doesn’t even have the power to promise?

These meetings with Putin in secret are very disturbing to anyone who claims to be an American.  We don’t know what is going on behind those closed doors.  Even though the administration claims “transparency” is their goal, they won’t talk about these secret meetings.

The intelligence agencies do not know what was said in those meetings.  The administration officials don’t know what was said in those meetings.  The Congress does not know what was said in those meetings.  The American people don’t know what was said in those meetings.

We need to ask if trump is making promises that affect our national security or the security of our allies.  Is trump promising to allow Russia to keep Crimea?  Is trump promising not to interfere if Russia invades the rest of the Ukraine or Georgia?  Just what is trump promising Putin, and just what does trump expect to get in return?

I have come to the conclusion that there really is a “national emergency” that is involved with our national security.  However, the biggest threat to our national security from where I stand isn’t the southern border, it is trump.

His obsession, fascination or sexual fantasy about everything Russian is really out of control.  He has refused to place more sanctions on Russia that were passed by Congress over the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy in England.  He has simply ignored the law passed.

He recently lifted sanctions on three companies owned by a Russian Oligarch who is on the sanctions list.  The administration claims that he divested enough of his ownership to warrant the lifting of sanctions.  But, what they didn’t tell you was that the Oligarch also got hundreds of millions of dollars of debt “forgiven” in the deal.  They never said who that debt was owed to, either.

The trump supporters all claim that they are all patriots who love America.  Yet, their hero seems to be giving away the farm when it comes to Russia.  That is not what his supporters voted him into office to do.

The final problem with all of this is that the Politburo doesn’t seem to care about all these secret meetings either.  They are so quiet about them that you may not even know they were held.  The party that claims to be so patriotic and so concerned about our national security is allowing their president to have secret meetings with our biggest adversary and not say a thing about them or question what was said.

I hate to say this, but I will say it again.  The biggest threat to our national security is not the southern border.  The biggest threat to our national security is our own president.  In my 68 years of living, I never thought I would even dare to think that way.  But, the actions and the secrecy of this moron with anything concerning Russia is too disturbing to ignore.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

Trump Announces He Will Abandon Another Ally

Day 816.  

Our dear leader has shown the world once again that the U.S. cannot be trusted as long as he is our president.  He has attacked our NATO allies instead of attacking our adversaries like Russia.  Yesterday he announced that he is going to abandon another ally.

Except, this ally has shed its blood along with ours.  They have fought alongside our soldiers in order to secure a democratic system within their territory.  They have been successful, with our support, to the point where even schools are reopening.

But this ally is being abandoned because it is considered the “enemy” by trump’s buddy Putin.  This ally has fought against the dictator of Syria for years and Putin is supporting the dictator.  So, naturally, trump is ready to leave this ally all alone in its fight for democracy and freedom.  He is pulling out all U.S. troops from Syria.

When the U.S. started putting troops into Syria to fight ISIS, the Kurds and others in the anti-Bashar coalition fought alongside our troops.  They wanted ISIS out of the region as well.  They spilled their blood helping us.  In most cases, it was these soldiers that did the actual fighting with U.S. support.

They secured an area of Syria where they could live relatively in peace.  Except, the Syrian government forces along with Putin’s help kept bombing the area because they were considered “terrorists” by the regime.

This is one area where our help actually did good.  We are hearing reports that things have quieted down and schools are actually opening again to educate the children.  But, there is a big problem.  Putin doesn’t really want our troops in Syria at all.

That was obvious when Russian soldiers attacked one of our bases in Syria about a year ago.  Putin said it wasn’t Russian soldiers but a private Russian army who attacked our base.  Yet, we asked the Russians to tell them not to attack when our troops saw them massing nearby.  The Russians refused to call off the attack.

When trump announced the pullout, he said he was pulling out of Syria because he had “defeated ISIS”.  That claim didn’t last 24 hours.  This morning he tweeted that the nations in the middle east should be the ones fighting ISIS so he was pulling out.

There are other factors involved in all of this as well.  Russia and Iran have been helping Syria fight off the rebels in the civil war.  They want to preserve the dictator in Syria.  He even said that Syria, Russia and Iran are “not happy about the U.S. leaving.”  Putin took no time to quash that idea.

Then we have Turkey involved.  Turkey has been fighting a quasi war against the Kurds for centuries.  The Kurds want their own nation.  The area where the U.S. has been helping the rebels is along the Turkish border.  And, the majority of that region is populated by Kurds.

So, Turkey is not pleased that the Kurds may have secured a part of Syria near their border.  They also have the Kurds holding a large part of Northern Iraq also along the Turkish border.

His own Defense Department said that ISIS is not “defeated”.  They say that they need to stay in Syria longer to ensure the areas already secured stay that way.  But, our dear leader, as usual, is not listening to them.

Of course the neo-cons are all up in arms over the announcement.  They are saying all kinds of bad and nasty things about this pullout.  Lindsey Graham even said this pullout was “Obama-like” referring to the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.  Except, Obama pulled back after the mutual defense treaty broke down over who would prosecute American troops in cases inside Iraq.  Obama refused to allow our troops to be prosecuted by Iraq, and Iraq basically said go home.

I am very conflicted about whether or not we should be involved in the war in Syria.  However, I am not conflicted in the idea that if our country tells someone that we “have their back” we cannot just up and leave on a whim.  That tells everyone who looks to America for help that we cannot be trusted.  We will only support them as long as political winds blow in the right direction.  Or we have a sane person in the White House.

This move has also emboldened North Korea.  They quickly announced that they will not denuclearize as long as the U.S. is “threatening” them with nuclear war.  They basically want us to pull all of our troops out of South Korea as well.  Is he going to “cut and run” there too?

Trump is losing on all fronts of foreign policy.  He has been working diligently to undermine NATO.  He is abandoning our allies all around the world.  He is running and hiding behind his “America first” theme.

Or, is it something else?  Is he running and hiding to favor curry with Putin?  Is he running and hiding because he thinks that will force internal politics to allow him to set up his own dictatorship?  Or, is he thinking he may finally get his stupid trump tower in Moscow?

Whatever his warped idea for pulling out of Syria at this time is, it is baffling and totally unexpected.  Remember, it was trump that said openly many, many times that he would “never announce troop pullouts ahead of time”.  Yet, here he goes doing exactly that.

It is estimated that we have about 2,000 troops in Syria, mostly in support of our democratic rebel friends.  We are not talking about a massive war effort.  But, the efforts we have done so far have had positive results and gained the respect of our allies in Syria.

So, now, we are going to abandon those very allies because trump says so.  There is no logic in his decision.  There is no consensus in his decision.  It is another example of trump going alone simply because he can.

Under this president we have become the laughing stock of the world.  Instead of being the leader of the free world, we have become the cowards who run away and blame everyone else.  Instead of being respected for our commitments we have become a country whose word cannot be trusted, even by our allies.

This clown who sits in the White House said he would “wipe ISIS from the face of the planet”.  Instead, he is taking his ball and going home because he can’t be trusted.

There are definite winners in this decision.  Those winners are Russia, Syria and Iran.  They are being left alone to do whatever they want to the rebels.  They use the term ISIS to define everyone who is against the regime.  And, they have already shown how merciless they will be once our protection is gone from the area.

Chalk up another “win” for Putin and another “loss” for trump.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

For Our Dear Leader – Depravity Has No Limits

Day 789.  

Yesterday was one to remember.  During the last 24 hours or so, we have seen just how much our dear leader loves autocratic governments and hates our democracy.  He let it be known exactly what he wishes our country to look like.

In one example, it was discovered that Ivanka Trump used private email for government business.  You know, the same type of thing that trump claims Hillary Clinton should be “locked up” over.  Now in honesty, I am not overly concerned about private emails as long as there is no classified material knowingly included in it.

But, just like the Clinton case, if anyone from the Intelligence agencies looks at the emails after the fact and determines that there was actually classified material included in Ivanka’s emails, then what will daddy say?

Ivanka claims she “didn’t know the rules” about private email use.  Wasn’t she listening to her daddy all through the campaign?  Didn’t she think that the big fuss over Clinton’s emails just might mean something?  Or, is she trying to use the tired excuse of being a bubble headed blonde to excuse her poor behavior.  I don’t believe in the bubble headed blonde theory, so I believe she simply ignored the rules because like her daddy she doesn’t think they apply to her.

Furthermore, once trump took office, it was reported that several members of his staff used private emails for government business.  Those included people like Ivanka, Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon and even Reince Priebus.  Rules and laws apparently just don’t have anything to do with their behavior.

The odd thing is later in the day the New York Times reported that dear daddy tried to get the DOJ to “prosecute Hillary Clinton and James Comey”.  His then White House Attorney told him he couldn’t order such a prosecution.  If he now goes ahead with that decision, is he going to include his own daughter for doing the same thing?  Yeah, and they are throwing snowballs in hell right now.

We were also told that he is about to order the troops on the southern border to use “force” to protect the border patrol agents there.  Just exactly what that means isn’t clear.  If someone throws a rock are the troops supposed to shoot the rock thrower?  As usual, there are no boundaries being set, just more bluster from a very stupid man.

How will trump explain a blood bath if our troops open fire on migrants?  Is that what he wants?  If you look at recent pictures from the border, that “beautiful barbed wire” as he called it makes our southern border look more of a prison than a national border.  I am really beginning to believe that it isn’t there to keep anyone out, but rather to keep us in.

Then we have the most outrageous thing yet.  Our dear leader has sold America’s ideals and morality to the highest bidder.  The CIA handed in a report that categorically states that they believe with “high certainty” that the Crown Price of Saudi Arabia ordered the killing of Khashoggi in their embassy in Turkey.

But, in typical trump fashion, he rejected those findings and did virtually nothing to punish Saudi Arabia for this horrendous crime.  Our dear leader just told the world that if you are willing to do any business with America, you can kill with impunity.  People do not matter, only money.

But, he couldn’t let it stay there.  No, he had to use Saudi Arabia’s propaganda to “justify” the killing.  He said that the Crown Prince considered Khashoggi an “enemy”.  Therefore, it was perfectly fine for him to be killed and butchered.

The man was a legal resident of this country.  He has children who are U.S. Citizens.  He worked for the Washington Post.  His crime that made him such an “enemy” of the Crown Prince was his articles condemning Saudi Arabia’s horrific human rights abuses.

It goes even further than that.  By his actions yesterday, our dear leader declared open season against any journalist in the world who says anything nasty about an autocratic dictator.  And when you also consider the simple fact that our dear leader calls our free press “the enemy of the people” one has to wonder if any of our journalists are in danger from our own government.  If I were Jim Acosta, I would stay out of any U.S. Embassy anywhere in the world.

Unfortunately, this is what our country has become.  We have become abettors for dictators around the world to kill off anyone they consider an “enemy”.  In Russia, Putin has journalists killed very often.  He even orders the murder of his political opponent just a block from the Kremlin.  And, he orders the murder of a defector in England using chemical weapons that also affected some English citizens.  And, our dear leader does nothing.

The dictator in North Korea kills off his own family members who he considers a threat to his power.  He butchered his uncle by having him blasted into oblivion using anti-aircraft guns.  He ordered the killing of his half-brother in another country.  And our dear leader not only did nothing, he met with the clown and gave him a world stage to pretend he is something big.  And, our dear leader says he “loves” the murderer.

Just to make sure that we all know exactly where our dear leader stands, he got up this morning and “thanked” the Saudis for lower gas prices.  You can kill a legal resident of America who works for an American company.  Then you can butcher his body to easily remove it from your embassy, and our dear leader only cares about thanking them for lower gas prices.

Republicans love to keep repeating Reagan’s old saying about America being that “shining city on the hill the world wants to emulate”.  Under their rule along with this president, we have seen that shining city fall into a sink hole and then buried with sewage sludge.

Several White House officials have been forced to resign under scrutiny of scandal.  Including two Cabinet Members.  Another Cabinet member has been referred to the Justice Department for investigation into fraud while in office.  His first National Security Advisor has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.  His campaign manager has been found guilty of several fraud charges.  The assistant to that campaign manager has pleaded guilty to several fraud charges.  His own personal lawyer has pleaded guilty to several fraud charges including two campaign finance law violations that he says were ordered by trump himself.

He refused to acknowledge that Russia did in fact meddle in our elections in 2016 and has done nothing to make sure that can’t happen again.  He keeps calling on his political opponent to be “locked up” when members of his own family did the exact same thing as his opponent.  He wants to “prosecute” the former FBI Director who is also a witness to any possible obstruction of justice charges against trump.

He constantly turns a blind eye to the murder of Russian journalists and political opponents of Putin.  He turns a blind eye to the murder of political opponents of the dictator Kim Jung-Un in North Korea.  And, he now turns a blind eye to the murder of a legal U.S. resident by the Saudi Arabia Crown Prince.

The depravity of this administration is unbelievable.  We have never seen such depravity in our government in our over 200 years of existence.  People keep asking where is the bottom of this pit we have been drug into.  Apparently, there is no bottom.

The worst part in all of this is the very people who claim to be “god fearing good Christians” are all staying quiet about these issues.  They are allowing this creep to keep letting money be the only thing that matters, even over human life.

His own party that has tried to maintain the crown of “patriots” and “national security” and “morality” heroes are also staying quiet and allowing this depravity to continue.  Unfortunately, the Republican Party has signed on with the devil in the name of power.  They no longer care about American ideals or American morality.  They only care about power and money.

We have gone from a country that values freedom, human rights, morality and equality for all to a nation that says those things do not count as much as money.  We have gone from being the leader of the free world to another tin-horn dictatorship loving country where the leaders don’t believe the law pertains to them.

And imagine, all of this in just two short years.  Heaven help us in the coming two years.

And, the shirts keep marching along.