Showing posts with label Common Sense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Common Sense. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Rep. Maxine Waters On What Democrats Can Do About An ‘Out Of Control’ President
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA): "He is going to get revenge. He is going to show you that there are no limits to the residential power.”
‘The Law Is Going To Come After Him’: Obama Lawyer Warns ‘Lawless’ Trump After Pardons | MSNBC
In the latest installment of “Opening Arguments”, former Acting U.S. Solicitor General, Neal Katyal discusses Trump’s “lawless” and “unprecedented” pardon of his “friends” and “campaign contributors.”
Katyal argues while Trump has “gotten away with so much” the “law is going to come after him,” adding America’s “courts will bring him to justice.”
Katyal argues while Trump has “gotten away with so much” the “law is going to come after him,” adding America’s “courts will bring him to justice.”
Monday, February 17, 2020
2,003 Former DOJ Employees Call On Barr To Resign After Intervening In Stone Case
(CNN) More than 2,003 former Justice Department officials who served in Republican as well as Democratic administrations posted a statement Sunday calling on Attorney General Bill Barr to resign.
"Mr.
Barr's actions in doing the resident's personal bidding unfortunately
speak louder than his words. Those actions, and the damage they have
done to the Department of Justice's reputation for integrity and the
rule of law, require Mr. Barr to resign. But because we have little
expectation he will do so, it falls to the Department's career officials
to take appropriate action to uphold their oaths of office and defend
nonpartisan, apolitical justice," the officials wrote in a statement.
The rare statement from the officials -- mostly former career prosecutors,
but also some former political appointees -- came in the wake of an
extraordinary week at the Justice Department. In just one week, career
prosecutors withdrew from a case after Barr overruled their sentencing
recommendation, the attorney general pushed back against the resident
in an unusual interview and separately ordered an examination of politically charged cases involving those close to resident Donald Trump.
The
statement went on to say career attorneys should report any troubling
actions they see to the department's Inspector General.
The
Justice Department declined to comment when reached by CNN Sunday. Barr
has so far not given any indication that he is considering stepping
down from his current role.
The
upheaval at the Justice Department began when all four federal
prosecutors who took the case against Roger Stone to trial withdrew from
the case Tuesday afternoon after Barr overruled their sentencing
recommendation hours after the resident criticized it on Twitter.
Barr on Thursday claimed he couldn't do his job
with Trump publicly commenting on sensitive investigations, but
insisted the Justice Department had acted appropriately, and, without
explanation, suggested prosecutors' recommended sentence for Stone was
too harsh.
In an interview with ABC News, Barr defended the department's rank and file.
"I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me," the attorney general said.
In
an unusual move on Sunday, Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing
Stone's case, called for a "scheduling" conference call with attorneys
in the case on Tuesday, ahead of the sentencing hearing set for later
this week, according to court documents.
The
court did not provide additional details on what would be discussed on
the call, and Jackson has not yet formally acknowledged the withdrawals.
Barr zags and prosecutors worry
It was a notable zag for Barr after days of mounting scrutiny, and on Friday, the Justice Department informed former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe - a frequent target of Trump's ire - it was dropping charges against him.
At the time, Barr ordered a re-examination of several high-profile cases, including that of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, US officials briefed on the matter say. The move could bring fresh scrutiny of the political motives behind actions at the Justice Department.
Prosecutors across the country have been incensed and worried about what some perceive as growing political directives coming from Washington.
On the West Coast, one federal prosecutor said there was an overwhelming sense of "outrage" felt in his office.
A
prosecutor on the East Coast voiced concern about the potential impact
of political interference on juries and judges, who could perceive that
cases aren't being brought objectively.
And
a former prosecutor said his clients have expressed concern about
cooperating with investigations out of fear that the Justice Department
could interfere improperly in a case, putting them in jeopardy.
'That's just not normal'
Marc
Short, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, said Sunday that
Barr "does enjoy the support" of Trump, telling CNN's Dana Bash on
"State of the Union" that he doesn't think "it's impossible (for Barr)
to do his job."
"In fact, I think
that Attorney General Barr is doing a great job," he added. "I think he
has a lot of confidence inside the White House. I think that the resident's frustration is one that a lot of Americans have, which feels
like the scales of justice are not balancing."
But
several Democratic senators, including presidential candidates Bernie
Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, last week also called for Barr to resign.
Democratic
presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar echoed that call Sunday on "State
of the Union," but added she does not expect Barr to step down.
"Sure,
I'd be glad if he resigned. I just don't think that is realistic," the
Minnesota senator said, adding, "But what I think is realistic is that
he is now going to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
I'd also like him to come to the Senate. And, along with my colleagues, I
have asked him to do that, so we can probe him on the role of the resident in trying to influence decisions in the Department of Justice,
in particular the (Roger) Stone decision."
Klobuchar told Bash that Barr's involvement in the case is "just not normal."
"I
just think it's outrageous, knowing how hard these career prosecutors
work to do the right thing, how hard they worked on a case like Roger
Stone's, got him convicted, and then get undermined when it comes to the
sentencing," she said. "That's just not normal."
https://medium.com/@dojalumni/doj-alumni-statement-on-the-events-surrounding-the-sentencing-of-roger-stone-c2cb75ae4937
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Trump's Ultimate Goal: The Erasure Of Barack Obama
Posted by Rude One
We talk all the time about What Donald Trump Wants asresident because
it's plainly obvious that "improving life for all Americans" is not
really on his radar, and "keeping the nation safe" is pretty low down
the list. There is the obvious greed - from the access his children have
to overseas investors to the open graft of the government paying tax
money to his properties. There is the ego burnishing, which you'd expect
from someone whose grievances include not getting an Emmy for his
reality show and not being praised enough for being resident. There is
very likely the wholesale paying off debts owed to various Russians,
Saudis, Azerbaijanis, Iranians, and who knows who else. And much, much more.
But one of his primary goals has been simple: Donald Trump wants to erase Barack Obama from the recent history of the country. He has been insidiously resetting the clock and rewriting history since he first gaslit his way to the national political stage by embracing the whole birther lie. Most other Republicans want to wipe out the New Deal and the Great Society and other progressive accomplishments, and Trump is fine doing that as long as it achieves this central objective of eliminating the black president and all his black deeds.
Trump regularly brags about all the Obama-era regulations and initiatives that he's tossed in the garbage can, some that have even left the industries affected scratching their heads at why. Just look at the environmental regulations Trump has reversed or wiped out. In one case, Trump had his EPA roll back "limits on carbon emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants," which has led states from California to North Carolina to sue because it will lead to more air pollution in general. When Trump rolled back rules on auto emissions from the Obama administration, automakers were not overjoyed at the change because of the confusion it put into the marketplace.
In each case, Trump or some lackey from his administration crowed about how they were getting rid of "burdensome" regulations that Obama put in place that were preventing the economy from growing. Except here's the problem with that: Those regulations weren't preventing the economy from expanding. It was expanding just fine under Obama post-2010 while the nation was still doing at least something minimal to slow down climate change.
And that leads to the biggest lie that Trump tells constantly. Trump has essentially colonized Barack Obama's economy and claimed it as his own. It's oldest, whitest trick in the book. "Oh, hey," Christopher Columbus said, "I've discovered a New World" as he looked at all the people who had been there long before he ever bumbled his way to the Bahamas (and then he enslaved and tortured those people because Columbus was a monster).
Every chance he has, Trump decries Obama's presidency as a time of great economic tribulation that he alone came along to fix. In the State of the Union speech last week, he said, "The years of economic decay are over...Gone are the broken promises, jobless recoveries, tired platitudes, and constant excuses for the depletion of American wealth, power, and prestige. In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American decline, and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny....From the instant I took office, I moved rapidly to revive the U.S. economy."
That's absolutely false. Like factually false by nearly every measure. All that's mostly happened to the economy overall since Trump came to office has been a continuation of the trends that started several years before Trump ever rode his golden escalator to the nomination. He was handed a growing economy by Barack Obama and the only thing that he did was exploit it for his own gain while completely, willfully, cruelly erasing Obama from the narrative of why things are going pretty well. It's mind-blowing that anyone can hear Trump brag about the low unemployment rate as if he's responsible for more than a point or two of its decline, as if Obama's policies didn't take care of 80% or more of the improvement since 2010-11. Trump can say that the recent job numbers are incredible, but it's not better than many, many months under Obama.
In fact, Trump could have taken Obama's economy and said, "Yeah, that was all well and good, but we need to get people better jobs and better pay." He could have built on it and crowed about any improvements he made. But he couldn't because if he did, he'd have to admit that he's just the guy who didn't screw up Obama's achievements yet. He'd have to admit that Obama did something right. Instead, Trump has made it so that his voters believe as an article of absolute faith that Obama did nothing but damage the country and Trump came along to rescue us, the white savior riding in to save the nation from the savage Negro. And all those white people at Trump's rallies are eager to believe it's true.
Of course, these are the same people who believe that the Affordable Care Act is a "disaster," as Trump says repeatedly. Even if they have benefited from it, they act like they despise it because they themselves would have to admit Obama did something to help them. The Supreme Court, with its Trump-installed, McConnell-enabled conservative majority, could come close to finishing the erasure of Barack Obama if it overturns the ACA and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (you know, DACA). If those two unabashedly positive steps towards a saner nation are gone, Trump will have finally gotten back at Obama for insulting him at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2011 and for daring to president while black.
Some Democrats are defending Obama's legacy, like Nancy Pelosi did in her press conference after the State of the Union and, obviously, like Joe Biden is on the campaign trail. But it seems like Trump's lies about Obama ought to be front and center, at least as a reminder that a Democratic president didn't screw things up. In fact, the job of a Democratic president since Clinton has been to clean up the wreckage left by the Republicans.
Trump's making a hell of a mess. Let's not allow him to throw President Obama into the trash heap of history.
(Note 1: I know that Columbus never said the phrase "New World" as far as we know. That was Amerigo Vespucci, which is also a great porn name if you pronounce the last name a little differently.)
(Note 2: You're right. There's more Obama could have done. But considering he had a Congress that wouldn't work with him, well, we're lucky we got as far as we did.)
(Note 3: Yes, you're very smart to bring up drone missile murders and the expansion of fracking under Obama, but if you don't think an Obama presidency is better than a Trump presidency, you're an idiot.)
(Note 4: White supremacists are emboldened by this effort to erase the first black president's accomplishments. Debasing him justifies their existence. It's one way Trump enables those groups.)
We talk all the time about What Donald Trump Wants as
But one of his primary goals has been simple: Donald Trump wants to erase Barack Obama from the recent history of the country. He has been insidiously resetting the clock and rewriting history since he first gaslit his way to the national political stage by embracing the whole birther lie. Most other Republicans want to wipe out the New Deal and the Great Society and other progressive accomplishments, and Trump is fine doing that as long as it achieves this central objective of eliminating the black president and all his black deeds.
Trump regularly brags about all the Obama-era regulations and initiatives that he's tossed in the garbage can, some that have even left the industries affected scratching their heads at why. Just look at the environmental regulations Trump has reversed or wiped out. In one case, Trump had his EPA roll back "limits on carbon emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants," which has led states from California to North Carolina to sue because it will lead to more air pollution in general. When Trump rolled back rules on auto emissions from the Obama administration, automakers were not overjoyed at the change because of the confusion it put into the marketplace.
In each case, Trump or some lackey from his administration crowed about how they were getting rid of "burdensome" regulations that Obama put in place that were preventing the economy from growing. Except here's the problem with that: Those regulations weren't preventing the economy from expanding. It was expanding just fine under Obama post-2010 while the nation was still doing at least something minimal to slow down climate change.
And that leads to the biggest lie that Trump tells constantly. Trump has essentially colonized Barack Obama's economy and claimed it as his own. It's oldest, whitest trick in the book. "Oh, hey," Christopher Columbus said, "I've discovered a New World" as he looked at all the people who had been there long before he ever bumbled his way to the Bahamas (and then he enslaved and tortured those people because Columbus was a monster).
Every chance he has, Trump decries Obama's presidency as a time of great economic tribulation that he alone came along to fix. In the State of the Union speech last week, he said, "The years of economic decay are over...Gone are the broken promises, jobless recoveries, tired platitudes, and constant excuses for the depletion of American wealth, power, and prestige. In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American decline, and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny....From the instant I took office, I moved rapidly to revive the U.S. economy."
That's absolutely false. Like factually false by nearly every measure. All that's mostly happened to the economy overall since Trump came to office has been a continuation of the trends that started several years before Trump ever rode his golden escalator to the nomination. He was handed a growing economy by Barack Obama and the only thing that he did was exploit it for his own gain while completely, willfully, cruelly erasing Obama from the narrative of why things are going pretty well. It's mind-blowing that anyone can hear Trump brag about the low unemployment rate as if he's responsible for more than a point or two of its decline, as if Obama's policies didn't take care of 80% or more of the improvement since 2010-11. Trump can say that the recent job numbers are incredible, but it's not better than many, many months under Obama.
In fact, Trump could have taken Obama's economy and said, "Yeah, that was all well and good, but we need to get people better jobs and better pay." He could have built on it and crowed about any improvements he made. But he couldn't because if he did, he'd have to admit that he's just the guy who didn't screw up Obama's achievements yet. He'd have to admit that Obama did something right. Instead, Trump has made it so that his voters believe as an article of absolute faith that Obama did nothing but damage the country and Trump came along to rescue us, the white savior riding in to save the nation from the savage Negro. And all those white people at Trump's rallies are eager to believe it's true.
Of course, these are the same people who believe that the Affordable Care Act is a "disaster," as Trump says repeatedly. Even if they have benefited from it, they act like they despise it because they themselves would have to admit Obama did something to help them. The Supreme Court, with its Trump-installed, McConnell-enabled conservative majority, could come close to finishing the erasure of Barack Obama if it overturns the ACA and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (you know, DACA). If those two unabashedly positive steps towards a saner nation are gone, Trump will have finally gotten back at Obama for insulting him at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2011 and for daring to president while black.
Some Democrats are defending Obama's legacy, like Nancy Pelosi did in her press conference after the State of the Union and, obviously, like Joe Biden is on the campaign trail. But it seems like Trump's lies about Obama ought to be front and center, at least as a reminder that a Democratic president didn't screw things up. In fact, the job of a Democratic president since Clinton has been to clean up the wreckage left by the Republicans.
Trump's making a hell of a mess. Let's not allow him to throw President Obama into the trash heap of history.
(Note 1: I know that Columbus never said the phrase "New World" as far as we know. That was Amerigo Vespucci, which is also a great porn name if you pronounce the last name a little differently.)
(Note 2: You're right. There's more Obama could have done. But considering he had a Congress that wouldn't work with him, well, we're lucky we got as far as we did.)
(Note 3: Yes, you're very smart to bring up drone missile murders and the expansion of fracking under Obama, but if you don't think an Obama presidency is better than a Trump presidency, you're an idiot.)
(Note 4: White supremacists are emboldened by this effort to erase the first black president's accomplishments. Debasing him justifies their existence. It's one way Trump enables those groups.)
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Democrats running for Office in 2020.....PAY ATTENTION to the current events....
By ProudMNDemocrat
To win in 2020, EVERY Democrat running for office needs to be paying close attention to the events taking place in the Impeachment trial of Donald Trump..
1) Use the evidence against every Republican running for office that they ARE NOT in the service of the people, but LOYAL to Donald Trump.
2) That every Republican VIOLATED their oaths to do impartial justice, to seek additional evidence from key witnesses and documents.
3) That Republicans are interested in THEIR POWER than following the rule of law and defending the US Constitution.
4) EXPOSE their hypocrisy to the world.
5) Still talk about the issues...What kind of country do we want if Trump is acquitted?
6) MAKE this election a referendum on Trump. Do that by tying EVERY Republican to Trump.
Just my 2 cents worth on a Sunday. Pass this message on to your Democratic Candidates for the Senate and US House.
To win in 2020, EVERY Democrat running for office needs to be paying close attention to the events taking place in the Impeachment trial of Donald Trump..
1) Use the evidence against every Republican running for office that they ARE NOT in the service of the people, but LOYAL to Donald Trump.
2) That every Republican VIOLATED their oaths to do impartial justice, to seek additional evidence from key witnesses and documents.
3) That Republicans are interested in THEIR POWER than following the rule of law and defending the US Constitution.
4) EXPOSE their hypocrisy to the world.
5) Still talk about the issues...What kind of country do we want if Trump is acquitted?
6) MAKE this election a referendum on Trump. Do that by tying EVERY Republican to Trump.
Just my 2 cents worth on a Sunday. Pass this message on to your Democratic Candidates for the Senate and US House.
Friday, January 24, 2020
Jared Kushner Is A MASSIVE National Security Threat
Jared Kushner’s use of WhatsApp to allegedly message world leaders about policy issues has been well-documented. But with recent reports alleging that the Saudi Royal Family hacked into Jeff Bezos’ phone via his WhatsApp account, this raises very serious national security concerns about Kushner, who was also messaging members of the royal family.
If they can get into Bezos’ account, they can certainly get into Kushner’s, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-reportedly-used-whatsapp-mohammed-bin-salman-2020-1
If they can get into Bezos’ account, they can certainly get into Kushner’s, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-reportedly-used-whatsapp-mohammed-bin-salman-2020-1
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
HILLARY CLINTON NEEDS TO SHUT THE FUCK UP
Hillary Clinton did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter to promote
an upcoming documentary series about her that will premier on Hulu, and
she didn’t hold back her anger for Bernie Sanders.
In the interview, Clinton attacked Sanders personally, claiming that nobody likes him, and even went as far as to perpetuate the attacks on Sanders’ base.
Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins hits back at Clinton for her disgusting attacks.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/hillary-clinton-full-a-fiery-new-documentary-trump-regrets-harsh-words-bernie-1271551
In the interview, Clinton attacked Sanders personally, claiming that nobody likes him, and even went as far as to perpetuate the attacks on Sanders’ base.
Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins hits back at Clinton for her disgusting attacks.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/hillary-clinton-full-a-fiery-new-documentary-trump-regrets-harsh-words-bernie-1271551
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Elie Mystal: Trade Hunter Biden's Testimony For John Bolton's? DEAL
"The truth will out" says The Nation's
justice correspondent on Joy Reid's AM Joy show. The Bidens "did nothing
wrong." That's a trade worth making in the impeachment trial.
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Iran Strikes Back, Now What America?
More than a dozen missiles have been launched at U.S. sites in Iraq by Iran, according to a U.S. official.
Monday, December 23, 2019
Rudy Giuliani Wins “Scoundrel Of The Year” Honor
The Republicans might still be bitter about Greta Thunberg winning Time
Magazine’s Person of the Year award, but they still got one for
themselves: Rudy Giuliani has officially been named as The New
Republic’s “Scoundrel of the Year.” And that’s quite a good pick.
Giuliani has managed to be at the heart of all of Trump’s scandals, and has proven through his countless media appearances that he is grossly incompetent and more than a little unhinged. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses Giuliani’s new accolades.
America's Toady
Giuliani has managed to be at the heart of all of Trump’s scandals, and has proven through his countless media appearances that he is grossly incompetent and more than a little unhinged. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses Giuliani’s new accolades.
America's Toady
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Note To Democrats: Don’t Fuck Up The Post-Impeachment Process
Posted by Rude One
Every once in an increasingly regular while, I just feel like someone needs to sit Democratic leaders and members of Congress down and explain to them How the World Works Now. See, they are approaching the completed impeachment and the hopefully forthcoming trial of Donald Trump as a solemn and serious occasion for reflection on one’s Oath of Office and the Constitution, hoping that their solemnity and seriousness will be the gravity that brings Americans to earth with the understanding that, yes, obviously, Donald Trump has as much business beingresident as he does doing anything other than handing out
shopping carts at Home Depot and telling customers about great deals on
paint. Even then, he’d probably be a dick about it.
So, while one might think that seriousness is the proper response to the political turmoil and the potential removal of aresident for the
first time in our nation’s history, that’s not How the World Works Now.
Right now, Republicans are going full dickhole on opposing Trump's impeachment, trial, and removal. Since well before the vote yesterday, the GOP and allied groups have been running ads about how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is going to use a strap-on on Uncle Sam and the Do-Nothing Democrats are literally masturbating in the House chamber rather than passing everything that their Lord and Savior Trump wants. Democrats and their groups, meanwhile, are essentially buying into the Republican narrative by releasing ads touting all the shit they are doing on health care and other stuff, like little brothers insisting, "We're not do-nuttin'" to their noogying older siblings.
Messaging for Democrats has never been a strong suit. When we have swept into office in wave elections, like in 2006, 2008, and 2018, it's been because Republicans were finally so abjectly awful that most voters could no longer live with themselves voting for them. But the thing is that Republicans are masterful at disinformation, and they will lie and lie and lie some more in order to pound a lie into the brains of anyone paying even scant attention. "Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election" and "Joe Biden got the prosecutor fired to protect his son" will be crammed down the same throats who eagerly swallowed the load of whatever the fuck Hillary Clinton supposedly did in Benghazi, despite multiple hearings exonerating her, and, of course, now and forever, her emails.
Don't fuck this up, Democrats. That's the message here. We already fucked up on the Mueller Report, and now it's an article of faith among the faithless that Trump did nothing wrong in the "Russia hoax," despite the report very clearly and thoroughly explaining that he did a shit-ton wrong and that Congress needed to get off its ass and do something about it. Democrats let it go because it was too complicated and because the Mueller show wasn't entertaining enough.
I cannot begin to catalog all the ways Democrats have fucked up. The list of grievances here would be so long and so enraging that it'd make calm heads burst and spray viscera all over their nice Christmas trees or menorahs or cornucopias or whatever the fuck you have up. It would include the failure of the left to fund a liberal media message delivery system in the same way that the right has talk radio and Fox "news" and its devolved children, OAN and others. All that shit was and still is propped up by rich fucks like Sheldon Adelson and the Koch cocks. It would include the failure to force the country into an electoral reckoning over the 2000 election. It would include the failure to go to the barricades over Merrick fucking Garland.
Time and again, Democrats have played this game like there is honor in it instead of playing it to fucking destroy the opposition. Time and again, we have let Republicans set the terms of the contract and just signed along. Time and again, they dared Democrats to vary from a pre-ordained set of responses, going full force after any Democrat that dared to call "bullshit" on them.
The fact that Nancy Pelosi is holding back on sending the impeachment articles over to the Senate has enraged Republicans because it upset the script and showed that maybe, just maybe, this time Democrats weren't going to accept the Republican rules in this game. It's the smart play, and they have no idea how the hell to respond. Now, it's time to mobilize the public and market the shit out of the removal of Donald Trump from office.
Democrats need to be gearing up for the greatest battle of our recent lives. They need to go big, with everything from billboards on the highways to ads out the wazoo. I mean pounding the fucking message until it drowns out other shit. This is How the World Works Now. We are never out of campaign mode, and nothing is so serious or important that it can't be marketed to the hilt. To pretend otherwise is to cede the ground on convincing everyone to the Republicans. It would once again allow them to set the terms of the argument.
Fuck that. Create a new playing field, one where the dominant message is this: "You are only a good American if you support removing Donald Trump from office." It's that simple. We punish criminals, and Trump is a criminal; ergo, get him the fuck out of there. Hell, the column from Christianity Today that calls for Trump's removal from office is incredible support for that stance.
This will require a massive amount of spending, as well as Democrats sucking up their reticence to really get down in the shit pool with Republicans and slug it out. But if you don't get dirty, the GOP will take it as weakness and exploit that until there is nothing to impeachment and the whole thing will have been just to put an asterisk next to Trump's name.
Sure, it's something. But it's not enough. If you win this messaging war, you can shift the narrative, and that's the real game changer. It means that even if not a single GOP Senator changes their closed, Trump-owned minds, the voters will know what the deal is.
Barring a miracle, Trump won't be removed by the Senate. But if Democrats succeed only a bit at this war, they will finish the job in November.
Every once in an increasingly regular while, I just feel like someone needs to sit Democratic leaders and members of Congress down and explain to them How the World Works Now. See, they are approaching the completed impeachment and the hopefully forthcoming trial of Donald Trump as a solemn and serious occasion for reflection on one’s Oath of Office and the Constitution, hoping that their solemnity and seriousness will be the gravity that brings Americans to earth with the understanding that, yes, obviously, Donald Trump has as much business being
So, while one might think that seriousness is the proper response to the political turmoil and the potential removal of a
Right now, Republicans are going full dickhole on opposing Trump's impeachment, trial, and removal. Since well before the vote yesterday, the GOP and allied groups have been running ads about how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is going to use a strap-on on Uncle Sam and the Do-Nothing Democrats are literally masturbating in the House chamber rather than passing everything that their Lord and Savior Trump wants. Democrats and their groups, meanwhile, are essentially buying into the Republican narrative by releasing ads touting all the shit they are doing on health care and other stuff, like little brothers insisting, "We're not do-nuttin'" to their noogying older siblings.
Messaging for Democrats has never been a strong suit. When we have swept into office in wave elections, like in 2006, 2008, and 2018, it's been because Republicans were finally so abjectly awful that most voters could no longer live with themselves voting for them. But the thing is that Republicans are masterful at disinformation, and they will lie and lie and lie some more in order to pound a lie into the brains of anyone paying even scant attention. "Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election" and "Joe Biden got the prosecutor fired to protect his son" will be crammed down the same throats who eagerly swallowed the load of whatever the fuck Hillary Clinton supposedly did in Benghazi, despite multiple hearings exonerating her, and, of course, now and forever, her emails.
Don't fuck this up, Democrats. That's the message here. We already fucked up on the Mueller Report, and now it's an article of faith among the faithless that Trump did nothing wrong in the "Russia hoax," despite the report very clearly and thoroughly explaining that he did a shit-ton wrong and that Congress needed to get off its ass and do something about it. Democrats let it go because it was too complicated and because the Mueller show wasn't entertaining enough.
I cannot begin to catalog all the ways Democrats have fucked up. The list of grievances here would be so long and so enraging that it'd make calm heads burst and spray viscera all over their nice Christmas trees or menorahs or cornucopias or whatever the fuck you have up. It would include the failure of the left to fund a liberal media message delivery system in the same way that the right has talk radio and Fox "news" and its devolved children, OAN and others. All that shit was and still is propped up by rich fucks like Sheldon Adelson and the Koch cocks. It would include the failure to force the country into an electoral reckoning over the 2000 election. It would include the failure to go to the barricades over Merrick fucking Garland.
Time and again, Democrats have played this game like there is honor in it instead of playing it to fucking destroy the opposition. Time and again, we have let Republicans set the terms of the contract and just signed along. Time and again, they dared Democrats to vary from a pre-ordained set of responses, going full force after any Democrat that dared to call "bullshit" on them.
The fact that Nancy Pelosi is holding back on sending the impeachment articles over to the Senate has enraged Republicans because it upset the script and showed that maybe, just maybe, this time Democrats weren't going to accept the Republican rules in this game. It's the smart play, and they have no idea how the hell to respond. Now, it's time to mobilize the public and market the shit out of the removal of Donald Trump from office.
Democrats need to be gearing up for the greatest battle of our recent lives. They need to go big, with everything from billboards on the highways to ads out the wazoo. I mean pounding the fucking message until it drowns out other shit. This is How the World Works Now. We are never out of campaign mode, and nothing is so serious or important that it can't be marketed to the hilt. To pretend otherwise is to cede the ground on convincing everyone to the Republicans. It would once again allow them to set the terms of the argument.
Fuck that. Create a new playing field, one where the dominant message is this: "You are only a good American if you support removing Donald Trump from office." It's that simple. We punish criminals, and Trump is a criminal; ergo, get him the fuck out of there. Hell, the column from Christianity Today that calls for Trump's removal from office is incredible support for that stance.
This will require a massive amount of spending, as well as Democrats sucking up their reticence to really get down in the shit pool with Republicans and slug it out. But if you don't get dirty, the GOP will take it as weakness and exploit that until there is nothing to impeachment and the whole thing will have been just to put an asterisk next to Trump's name.
Sure, it's something. But it's not enough. If you win this messaging war, you can shift the narrative, and that's the real game changer. It means that even if not a single GOP Senator changes their closed, Trump-owned minds, the voters will know what the deal is.
Barring a miracle, Trump won't be removed by the Senate. But if Democrats succeed only a bit at this war, they will finish the job in November.
Friday, December 20, 2019
Why Can’t Democrats See That Joe Biden Is A Disaster Of A Candidate?
According to the latest round of polling, Joe Biden still holds a lead
over all of the other Democratic candidates. This is disappointing, to
say the least, as Biden has zero chance to beat Trump in 2020.
The Republicans have already painted him as a corrupt, senile old man, and that image is sticking with Republicans. It doesn’t matter that it is hypocritical, they got there first. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins lays out more reasons why Biden is a horrible candidate.
https://theweek.com/articles/884677/democrats-are-sleepwalking-into-biden-disaster
The Republicans have already painted him as a corrupt, senile old man, and that image is sticking with Republicans. It doesn’t matter that it is hypocritical, they got there first. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins lays out more reasons why Biden is a horrible candidate.
https://theweek.com/articles/884677/democrats-are-sleepwalking-into-biden-disaster
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
DONALD TRUMP IMPEACHED
House of Representatives charges the resident with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress
- The House of Representatives impeached
residentDonald Trump on Wednesday. He is the thirdresidentin history to be impeached. - The chamber is voting on two articles of impeachment against Trump. The first article, charging Trump with abuse of power, passed the House with a vote of 230-197.
- House lawmakers also voted to pass the second article of impeachment, which charges Trump with obstruction of Congress, with a vote of 229-198.
- Both articles relate to Trump's efforts to solicit Ukraine's interference in the 2020 election while withholding vital military aid and a White House meeting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky desperately sought.
- Next, the impeachment proceedings will go to the Republican controlled Senate, which is widely expected to acquit the
resident.
Monday, December 16, 2019
Laurence Tribe: Make Trump 'The O.J. Simpson Of Presidents'
Talking impeachment with Joy Reid, Laurence Tribe urges Democrats to
turn Donald Trump into "the O.J. Simpson of presidents" if Sen. Mitch
McConnell refuses to conduct a full and fair impeachment trial in the
Senate.
https://crooksandliars.com/2019/12/laurence-tribe-make-trump-oj-simpson-presidents
https://crooksandliars.com/2019/12/laurence-tribe-make-trump-oj-simpson-presidents
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Atty. General Barr Is Lying To America About Ukraine
Former FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi
reacts to Atty. General Barr's answers on who hacked the 2016 election.
Aired on 12/10/19.
Monday, December 9, 2019
Psychiatrists Warn Congress About Dangers Of Trump’s Declining Mental State
A group of several hundred psychiatrists and mental health professionals
have sent a letter to Congress urging them take Donald Trump’s
declining mental state seriously, and also warning of the consequences
of his cognitive decline.
Theresident is completely detached from
reality, the professionals warn, and if we don’t do something about this
matter now it could cost all of us in the long run.
Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
The
Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Trump Becomes Global Laughing Stock At NATO Summit
Donald Trump attended the first day of the NATO Summit yesterday, where
he promptly became the laughing stock of the entire world.
He was fact-checked by foreign leaders during press conferences, snubbed by a member of the British Royal Family, and even mocked behind his back by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
These people don’t take Trump seriously, and neither should American voters, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
https://www.businessinsider.com/nato-summit-recap-trump-embarrassing-nobody-taking-seriously-2019-12
Trump is a clown to the rest of the world. Cenk Uygur, Emma Vigeland, and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/472939-nato-leaders-appear-to-gossip-about-trump-in-viral-clip
He was fact-checked by foreign leaders during press conferences, snubbed by a member of the British Royal Family, and even mocked behind his back by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
These people don’t take Trump seriously, and neither should American voters, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
https://www.businessinsider.com/nato-summit-recap-trump-embarrassing-nobody-taking-seriously-2019-12
Trump is a clown to the rest of the world. Cenk Uygur, Emma Vigeland, and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/472939-nato-leaders-appear-to-gossip-about-trump-in-viral-clip
Chris Matthews On World Leaders Laughing At Trump: He’s A Joke Now
At a Buckingham Palace reception on Tuesday night, the leaders of
Canada, France and Britain could be heard talking informally among
themselves about the resident. Chris says, "He's a joke now ... he sort
of earned that role. Let's face it, he doesn't want to be a member of
NATO, he doesn't want to be an ally of anybody, the only friends he has
or world monsters." Aired on 12/4/19.
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Melania Trump Loudly Booed At Opioid Summit In Baltimore
At a youth summit for opioid awareness in Baltimore, Maryland, First
Lady Melania Trump took the stage to a chorus of some applause — but
mostly loud boos. Aired on 11/26/19.
Parkland Father Slams McConnell And Trump Over Inaction On Guns
It's been almost two years since the mass school shooting in Parkland
left 17 people dead.
Now, the father of one of the victims is calling outresident Trump and top Republicans - accusing them of doing nothing
about it.
Stephanie Ruhle speaks with that father, Fred Guttenberg and Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research Deputy Director Cassandra Crifasi about why House bills on guns are languishing in the Senate. Aired on 11/26/19.
Now, the father of one of the victims is calling out
Stephanie Ruhle speaks with that father, Fred Guttenberg and Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research Deputy Director Cassandra Crifasi about why House bills on guns are languishing in the Senate. Aired on 11/26/19.
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Note To Democrats: Call The GOP's Bluff
Posted by Rude One
Oh, it would be a shit show of open sewer proportions, for sure. It would be a scuzzy circus on top of a cheap zoo covered with crazy sauce. But House Democrats should call the bluff of the increasingly divorced-from-reality Republicans and hold hearings on all the fuckery they claim has been going on. Like fuckin' all of it. Like let's attempt to blow this shit up once and for all.
Just tell Republicans at different committees, "You wanna go? Let's go, motherfuckers. Call your witnesses. But everyone has to go under oath. Every fucking witness."
Start with one bullshit conspiracy and then move on to the next. You wanna prove that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, Republicans? Fine. Look at one of Devin Nunes's repetitive mad rants during the impeachment hearings and see who they might want to testify. Alexandra Chalupa? Groovy. How about all the Ukrainians that Republicans claim know shit about Hunter Biden or the 2016 election? Awesome. Bring 'em all in, Valeriy Chaly, Viktor Shokin (that'll make you shit blood, eh, Devin?), and more. And, sure, why not, let's get Hunter Biden. Do it up.
However, Democrats get to invite witnesses, too. Lev Parnas and Serhiy Leshchenko, perhaps. Hell, bring in Joe Biden.
Let's get it all out there. "Black book" and "Steele dossier" are still involved in this madness. So call back in Glenn Simpson, along with Peter Fritsch, two of the founders of Fusion GPS, who can explain one more goddamn time about the Republican origins of the Steele dossier and about how they have no connection to Ukraine and how deeply, deeply Trump is in with Russia.
You wanna see how divorced from reality things are now? Check out this moment from their New York Times editorial this past Sunday, when Simpson found himself on a plane with Rudy Giuliani.
"'I understand you think I spent a lot of time in Ukraine?' Mr. Simpson inquired.
"'You did spend some time in Ukraine,' Mr. Giuliani replied.
"'Did I?' Mr. Simpson asked as he waved his phone in front of Mr. Giuliani, signaling that he was recording the encounter. 'What if I told you I have never been to Ukraine in my life?'
"'Well,' Mr. Giuliani replied with equanimity, 'O.K. I will find out if that’s true or not.'"
Essentially, the GOP has become a machine to back up whatever insanity is coursing through Donald Trump's shrinking brain or whatever lie has been concocted to cover up the latest crimes. It's like if you're a Republican member of Congress, you must wake up and get a text message from your leadership that says something like, "Okay, we no longer trust the entire intelligence apparatus of the United States. We have to say no one knows anything about who might have the DNC server," and you might want to text back that there really isn't a "DNC server" that can be sent around and hidden like Napoleon's penis. But you know better because Trump has gotten in his head that some acid-washed black box is sitting in a room in Kyiv, and that's the GOP's belief now, even if it's bugnuts insane.
Why do this? Why give them the freak show that they so claim they want? It won't change many minds. People who don't live in reality tend not to give a flaming monkey fuck if you show them facts. So screw them. But so many elections these days, especially on the state and national level, are a matter of a percentage point or two. And if hearings can nudge that one or two percent by demonstrating that Republicans are full of shit, Democrats have to hold their noses and do it.
And it'll also solidify the narrative that so many of us know is true. That Donald Trump was the beneficiary of election interference from Russia, almost certainly knowingly, and that he openly sought election interference from Ukraine, warping U.S. foreign policy in order to assure his reelection. It's not that complicated. It's all about greed and power and madness.
We can't go on like this, as a country where there are two completely different versions of reality, one based in facts and one based in fantasy, especially when the fantasy side has built up a web of doubt against facts. If we had a functional news media (and no Fox "news"), it could do the job. But we don't, and we now have the party that controls the executive branch, most of the judiciary, and half the legislative branch actively seeking to replace facts with fantasy. The kick in the ass is that most of them know it's a fantasy and don't give a shit as long as they maintain power.
It's an odious fucking task for Democrats. But while they have the ability to tear at that web through hearings, they need to do it until the goddamn thing snaps enough to make a difference. Or we're all gonna get trapped in it.
Oh, it would be a shit show of open sewer proportions, for sure. It would be a scuzzy circus on top of a cheap zoo covered with crazy sauce. But House Democrats should call the bluff of the increasingly divorced-from-reality Republicans and hold hearings on all the fuckery they claim has been going on. Like fuckin' all of it. Like let's attempt to blow this shit up once and for all.
Just tell Republicans at different committees, "You wanna go? Let's go, motherfuckers. Call your witnesses. But everyone has to go under oath. Every fucking witness."
Start with one bullshit conspiracy and then move on to the next. You wanna prove that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, Republicans? Fine. Look at one of Devin Nunes's repetitive mad rants during the impeachment hearings and see who they might want to testify. Alexandra Chalupa? Groovy. How about all the Ukrainians that Republicans claim know shit about Hunter Biden or the 2016 election? Awesome. Bring 'em all in, Valeriy Chaly, Viktor Shokin (that'll make you shit blood, eh, Devin?), and more. And, sure, why not, let's get Hunter Biden. Do it up.
However, Democrats get to invite witnesses, too. Lev Parnas and Serhiy Leshchenko, perhaps. Hell, bring in Joe Biden.
Let's get it all out there. "Black book" and "Steele dossier" are still involved in this madness. So call back in Glenn Simpson, along with Peter Fritsch, two of the founders of Fusion GPS, who can explain one more goddamn time about the Republican origins of the Steele dossier and about how they have no connection to Ukraine and how deeply, deeply Trump is in with Russia.
You wanna see how divorced from reality things are now? Check out this moment from their New York Times editorial this past Sunday, when Simpson found himself on a plane with Rudy Giuliani.
"'I understand you think I spent a lot of time in Ukraine?' Mr. Simpson inquired.
"'You did spend some time in Ukraine,' Mr. Giuliani replied.
"'Did I?' Mr. Simpson asked as he waved his phone in front of Mr. Giuliani, signaling that he was recording the encounter. 'What if I told you I have never been to Ukraine in my life?'
"'Well,' Mr. Giuliani replied with equanimity, 'O.K. I will find out if that’s true or not.'"
Essentially, the GOP has become a machine to back up whatever insanity is coursing through Donald Trump's shrinking brain or whatever lie has been concocted to cover up the latest crimes. It's like if you're a Republican member of Congress, you must wake up and get a text message from your leadership that says something like, "Okay, we no longer trust the entire intelligence apparatus of the United States. We have to say no one knows anything about who might have the DNC server," and you might want to text back that there really isn't a "DNC server" that can be sent around and hidden like Napoleon's penis. But you know better because Trump has gotten in his head that some acid-washed black box is sitting in a room in Kyiv, and that's the GOP's belief now, even if it's bugnuts insane.
Why do this? Why give them the freak show that they so claim they want? It won't change many minds. People who don't live in reality tend not to give a flaming monkey fuck if you show them facts. So screw them. But so many elections these days, especially on the state and national level, are a matter of a percentage point or two. And if hearings can nudge that one or two percent by demonstrating that Republicans are full of shit, Democrats have to hold their noses and do it.
And it'll also solidify the narrative that so many of us know is true. That Donald Trump was the beneficiary of election interference from Russia, almost certainly knowingly, and that he openly sought election interference from Ukraine, warping U.S. foreign policy in order to assure his reelection. It's not that complicated. It's all about greed and power and madness.
We can't go on like this, as a country where there are two completely different versions of reality, one based in facts and one based in fantasy, especially when the fantasy side has built up a web of doubt against facts. If we had a functional news media (and no Fox "news"), it could do the job. But we don't, and we now have the party that controls the executive branch, most of the judiciary, and half the legislative branch actively seeking to replace facts with fantasy. The kick in the ass is that most of them know it's a fantasy and don't give a shit as long as they maintain power.
It's an odious fucking task for Democrats. But while they have the ability to tear at that web through hearings, they need to do it until the goddamn thing snaps enough to make a difference. Or we're all gonna get trapped in it.
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