Month: July 2017

Thank You ADAPT And All The Resistance Protesters

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Thank You ADAPT And All The Resistance Protesters

D. S. Mitchell

I haven’t written much about health care for awhile, not because I haven’t had plenty to say, but there have been a lot of other people speaking up and saying it probably better than I could, so I let them take the lead. But, now after the Republican attack on health care has been stymied for a short time at least, I think it is time that we thank all the individuals and groups that came together to stop the Repeal and Replace train.

Who could ever forget the images of disabled protesters being pulled from their wheelchairs and zip tied and carted off to jail. Absolutely riveting. Horrific images that labeled the Republican lawmakers as heartless and unresponsive to the needs of the American public.

The protests by the grassroots disability rights organization ADAPT I think were what turned the tide in favor of the protesters. The ADAPT protesters set the stage for the subsequent heroic votes cast by three Republican Senators, John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.

In 1974 a non-disabled former nursing home recreational director and several disabled associates formed the Atlantis Community. The mission of the group was to assist disabled persons to escape institutionalization and live in the community at large. On 7/5/1978 a historic protest for wheelchair access to public buses was initiated by the group. The protest took place at a Denver intersection where protesters stopped buses and disabled individuals placed themselves in front and behind the buses and then others would leave their wheelchairs and dramatically crawl up the bus steps to bring attention to their plight.

In 1984 after several years of bus protests, as the group struggled to obtain wheel chair access lifts to Denver city buses, the campaign went national. ADAPT became the designated  arm of the Atlantis group to form protests and civil disobedience. ADAPT became the militant wing of the disability rights movement and is well known for its non-violent direct action with a mission to bring public awareness to the civil rights violations of the disabled.

The group has successfully used Twitter and Facebook to dramatize their issues. ADAPT strategies used so effectively in the health care fight include using civil disobedience as a tool to gain public attention to direct change in laws, policies and services affecting the disabled and those strategies were used effectively to bring attention to the drastic Medicaid cuts proposed under the TrumpCare plan.

Also important to note were the hundreds of thousands of people who marched, went to town halls, visited lawmakers offices, wrote letters, sent emails and faxes and called their congressional representatives. It was each of these people as individuals and as organized groups that stopped the Republicans from erasing health care for a projected 20-30 million people over the next decade.

Thank you. For whatever you did, large or small, your participation in the resistance changed the direction of this callous legislation.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Moving Backwards With Trump

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Moving Backwards With Trump

D. S. Mitchell

As a Progressive liberal I have clung to the base expectation that we, as Americans were moving forward, arguably slowly, but always in a forward trajectory toward social justice.  A journey toward more respect and equality between the sexes, the races, and the various religions. To a more open and honest place, where conversation about racism, sexism and every other negative-ism which have for so long separated us could be discussed. In that perfect progressive dream, people of varied colors, sexual orientation and diverse faiths came together without distrust or hate and together worked for the betterment of their community and the country.

The election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States was a gigantic step backward for the country in so many ways.  From a historical perspective, there is usually no continuous imaginary “forward trajectory.” In fact, regression often comes after a period of steady social forward movement. This Trump Regression has caused many people that have never been active in politics to come out and join in a resistance movement against the hatred, bigotry and isolationism of this small, mean spirited man.

Trump attacks anybody and everybody. The man is not only a deranged narcissist, but a bigot, a racist a xenophobe , homophobe and probably two dozen other “phobics” that I don’t want to get sidetracked on,.  Trump is immoral.  And because of that immorality he is a danger to the morals, ethics and norms of propriety that guide our collective sense of civility.  His contempt for rules and his ignorance of policy is demoralizing and embarrassing.

Trump uses Twitter to attack his former opponent Hillary Clinton, his predecessor Barack Obama, his AG Jeff Sessions, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Rosie O’Donnell, Mexicans the transgender community, pipeline protesters and multiple other groups.  In fact, his attacks are nearly universal, except for Russia and Vladimir Putin.  He uses Twitter to inflame and agitate, to divide and aggravate, to humiliate and degradate.

Charles Blow in the NY Times described it this way, “multiple populations are being assaulted at once, across race, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual identity.” He further added, “we were unprepared for the daily reality of living in a nightmare.”

Blow finished his piece with a reprint of the famous Martin Niemoller’s poem, which is seen in many versions.  Moeller was an anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor who was quite outspoken against Hitler and the Nazi movement and was imprisoned by German authorities until the end of WWII.  Niemoller’s poem and the “bystander” speech by Elie Wiesel are threads of the same theme.  Do not allow yourself to stand back and do nothing, do not be complicit through silence to the subjugation, persecution, and murder of your fellow man, no matter what color, race or ethnicity.

In an earlier post I talked about Wiesel and his bystander speech, so  like Charles Blow, I will reprint Martin Niemoller’s famous and frightening reminder that we must always be alert to injustice and when seen, point it out and push back against its dangers.

“First they came for the Socialists and I did not speak out–because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out–because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out–because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Wow. That pretty much sums it up.  Doesn’t it ? I wish I could put such simple words together for such perfect impact.I pray this period of Trump Regression will be only temporary. And hopefully, this disgusting vision from the past will be short lived and in fact will be the catalyst for a new generation of Progressivism and tolerance. Don’t allow the targeting of individuals or groups to occur on your watch. Speak up, speak out. Do not be silenced. Join the Resistance.

Calamity Politics is here to be a voice for the Progressive community.  I try to present a relevant and engaging article on a near daily basis. I admit right now that I am pretty irritated with the activities in Washington, D.C. and am airing my anger and frustration through my somewhat snarky posts.  But, in the current irritable political climate it is understandable.  Have a great day. It is beautiful and the beach and Lily thinks it’s time for a walk.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Since When Do We Establish Policy Via Tweet?

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Since When Do We Establish Policy Via Tweet?

D. S. Mitchell

Trump gets an idea and decides to change carefully crafted government policy, and then throws it out via Twitter.  Since when should this be an okay thing? No plan, no developed policy, Trump just issues a “royal tweet,” as if it were a king’s decree.

Trump Tweets That Transgender Individuals Will Not Be Allowed To Serve In The U.S. Military

On Wednesday morning, apparently while he was in the can doing his morning dump, the President of the United States decided to announced his personal reversal of a carefully thought out Defense Department policy.  Trump assassinated the transgender military plan through a trio of early morning tweets.

“After consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the U.S. government will not accept or allow–transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military.  Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming–victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders in the military would entail. Thank You.”

The declaration blindsided his Defense Secretary, James “Mad Dog” Mattis, who is currently on vacation. Apparently, on Tuesday Trump notified Mattis and other key officials he was moving toward such a decision and left it at that.  So, during his 6:00 a.m. dump, Trump decided there was no reason to wait–on the announcement, so he fired away, in more ways than one.

Outrage from nearly every corner slammed back at Trump.  Many pointing out that the military spends more on Viagra than transgender medication.  Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war hero (D. IL.) called out Trump publicly about his questionable deferments during the Vietnam war, and indicated his lack of service put him in an awkward position when making Tweet policy for the military. Another pundit asked why the government was spending 3.6 M on every Trump trip to Mar-a-Lago and was now worried about the very minimal cost of transgender medications. Others were asking if the several million dollars for transgender care of military personnel was being done in an effort to find more money for the “Trump Wall”?

Questions hammered the White House Press Secretary at a news briefing later Wednesday.  Sara Sanders announced that the White House and the Defense Department would be working to figure out logistics of how “to lawfully deal with transgender troops who are already serving in the military.”  Huckabee Sanders admitted that to her knowledge no new policy had been initiated and further, that no conversations have taken place, and none are currently underway to insure a smooth transition of Trump’s new tweeted policy. Really, absolutely amazing, and not in a good way.

A statement from the Pentagon indicated there would be no change to military policy at this time. A 2016 Pentagon study estimated 1,500 to 7,000 service personnel were openly serving as transgender individuals.  A public group put the number of transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military closer to 16,000.  The Human Rights Campaign calls the military the “largest employer of transgender people in America.”

Calamity Politics offers opinions, analysis, and speculations, in a mostly critical examination of the U.S. national political scene.

Join the Resistance

Dar

What About A Recess Appointment To Replace Sessions?

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A Recess Appointment To Replace Sessions?

D. S. Mitchell

Recess appointments let a president install an appointee to a position that normally requires Senate approval thru the confirmation process.  Recess appointees avoid the questions and scrutiny of the Senate and the media.  When appointed during a Senate recess that appointee’s term can run thru the end of the next session of the Senate.  Which means anyone appointed during this August recess could conceivably serve through 2019.

Democratic senators intend to continue procedural moves to prevent the Senate from formally adjourning for recess in August, in order to prevent DJT from making any recess appointments, most particularly to the position of Attorney General.

Republicans control the Senate and the only way they could formally adjourn, which would set up a period when recess appointments are allowed–is to pass an adjournment resolution.  Democrats have vowed to filibuster such an effort, wanting to block any effort by President Trump to make any recess appointments.  Democrats plan to force the Senate to hold pro forma sessions–pro forma is a means that keeps the Senate officially in session, in effect never recessing, calling itself to order every three days.

The pro forma maneuver started by Harry Reid (D. NV) during the George W. Bush administration and was continued under the Obama administration.  President Obama attempted to challenge the maneuver by making a number of recess appointments despite the Senate being in pro forma session every three days.  The tactic to by pass the Senate confirmation by recess appointment under Obama was cut down by the Supreme Court which stated in their opinion that, “the Senate is not technically in recess unless it was away for 10 days or more.

I’ve been hearing a lot of fear in people’s discussions that Trump might make numerous recess appointments, basically making appointments when the Senate’s back was turned.  Hopefully this effort will be stopped solidly by the Democratic opposition.

Calamity Politics will be watching the antics of Trump and the Republican Senate an will continue to report.

Join the Resistance

Dar

80 Reasons To Smile

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80 Reasons To Smile

D. S. Mitchell

The last two days have been full of drama and emotion. Jared Kushner is on Capitol Hill and talking to members and staffers from the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, behind closed doors. @POTUS spent 35 minutes last night giving a rambling disgusting speech to 40,000 boy scouts at their annual Jamboree. New Tweets from the president attacking Sessions hit the internet today, which brought significant push back from the conservative branch of the Republican party, including Rush Limbaugh and Breitbart News. The Senate is voting to bring TrumpCare out of committee today and I worry for the possible 30 million people that will lose health care.

I am jumping up and down and I am about to self-combust. But, I know that will not help. I know I need to keep up my efforts to derail TrumpCare. I have made twelve calls to Senators this morning asking a certain few Republican Senators to resist the White House and do what is best for the American people.

Calamity Politics is a political blog with a progressive leaning agenda. Calamity Politics intends to present relevant and engaging political conversation on a daily basis. Usually once a week I try to find something to smile about and share those thoughts with my readers.
As agitated as I am, I thought the best thing for my attitude and my blood pressure was to think of a substantially large number of reasons to smile. So, here are 80 Reasons to Smile, even on a day as disturbing day as today.

1.) Being part of a team 2.) Sunrises 3.) Sunsets 4.) Watching the turntable as an old vinyl plays 5.) Dimples 6.) Warm Apple Fritters 7.) Night games 8.) A checklist 9.) Arched doorways 10.) Search lights 11.) A day at the museum 12.) Finding a 4 leaf clover 13.) A loft for the little ones 14.) Antique claw foot tubs 15.) Sprinklers 16.) Popping bubble wrap 17.) Seeing a dream come true 18.) Baked potato “loaded” 19.) A “free month” of anything 20.) The sweetness of fresh corn on the cob 21.) Flipping pancakes 22.) Paper Airplanes 23.) Tic Tac Toe games 24.) Nervous energy 25.) Homemade onion rings the size of bracelets 26.) Cutting my own bangs 27.) Old perfume bottles 28.) Last nights spaghetti reheated 29.) Shari Lewis’ Lambchop 30.) Old things re-used and re-purposed 31.) Mozart 32.) Holding hands 33.) Salt water aquariums 34.) The caverns and mesas of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico 35.) A reading corner 36.) A secret admirer 37.) A talking parakeet 38.) Lingering over coffee with the Crossword Puzzle 39.) Persistence 40.) Celery filled with crunchy peanut butter 41.) Knowing you are appreciated 42.) Yes or No answers 43.) Floor to ceiling views 44.) Marinas and harbors 45.) Beachcombing 46.) Honeysuckle 47.) Ancient ruins 48.) History 49.) Jazz 50.) A window box garden 51.) Barge homes 52.) Potluck with family and friends 53.) A winning basket scored at the buzzer 54.) A weekly play break 55.) Sunday afternoon poker 56.) A lake cabin 57.) Black licorice 58.) Cobbled streets and tiled roofs 59.) Cast iron skillets 60.) Six layer cakes 61.) Magnolia trees 62.) The buddy system 63.) Old dolls and Teddies 64.) Caramel apples 65.) The Fusion of Tex-Mex 66.)Bead board ceilings 67.) Watching my grand daughter play hop scotch 68.) Loving what you do 69.) Koala bears 70.) Corner cabinets 71.) Elvis music 72.) The ability to change 73.) Tongue twisters 74.) Garden benches 75.) Losing weight 76.) Molasses cookies 77.) Nasturtiums 78.) Afternoon Croquet at the beach house 79.) Clean countertops 80.) Essential oils

Well by the time I got to the number eighty John McCain strode in to the Senate chamber, and cast a deciding vote to bring the Repeal the ACA bill out of committee. Some Republican Senator that I didn’t recognize came on Hardball and said he thought Kushner had been “open and straight forward and appeared to answer all questions thoroughly and honestly.”

I’m not in the mood to add a couple more reasons to smile, cuz I’m really angry and I think I need to take the dog for a walk.

Join the Resistance

Darlene

Israelis and Palestinians Clash

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Israelis And Palestinians Clash

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics is a progressive blog which is most obviously a reflection of my own personal life view.  That vision is a forward looking view for the United States. A country where equality is the norm, not the oddity.  A place where religious freedom is never questioned.  A place where merit, not money is the basis of power.  A country fully open and fully inclusive.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Many would call it another Snowflake dream, however you don’t get to the moon if you are convinced no one will ever fly.  The election of Donald Trump to the presidency is like electing that guy who doesn’t believe anyone will ever  fly.  I think you need to think ‘a thing’ is possible before it will ever become possible.  I am convinced of that observation.

So, please join me as I do post-mortem examination of the political news of the day.

The bubble of American politics broke open for just a minute or two and more unrest in Israel between the Netanyahu government and Palestinian representatives and Palestinian protesters came into focus.

In the 1967 War, Israel captured East Jerusalem along with all its holy sites from Jordan.  Furthermore, Israel then annexed the area in a move that was condemned by most world leaders.  In fact, to this day the world community has declined to recognize the legality of the annexation, and that action has led to years of unresolved conflict between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.

Israel had allowed the Jordanians to maintain a special role in administering certain religions sites including the Aqsa Mosque.  The Aqsa Mosque is believed by Israeli’s to be the site of the destroyed Temple of the Mount, one of the most holy sites of ancient Israel.

Six people died Friday in a new outbreak of violence. At the entrance to the Aqsa Mosque, a sacred site to both Jews and Muslims.  Israeli authorities installed metal detectors and instituted a restriction on who could enter the Mosque and its grounds after the brutal killing of two Israeli guards by two Arabs who had been attending a service at the mosque.

The three Palestinian protesters were killed in separate events.  All three were fatally shot by Israeli police around the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding territory.  Israeli spokesman claimed the actions were necessary for police safety when rock throwing and firebombing became a serious endangerment.

Three Israeli’s were brutally stabbed and killed in their home, by a Muslim man in an apparent response to the previous killings of the three Palestinian protesters in clashes with Israeli security forces.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cut a trip to China short to address the spiraling crisis over the installation of the metal detectors.  Mahmoud announced he was, “freezing contacts with Israel at all levels until it cancels the new measures” around the holy site.

Clashes came as thousands of Palestinian Muslims prayed in front of police barricades in the streets around the “Old City” of Jerusalem as Israeli authorities clamped tougher restrictions on Palestinians. The metal detectors at Aqsa have increased friction between the parties and have emerged as a symbol for the protesters.

An Arab member of the Israeli Parliament argued that “the metal detectors are a political issue.  They have them all over the world, in supermarkets, shopping malls, everywhere.  But, they are there by consensus, not imposed by someone else.”

Netanyahu government “believes the decision to leave the metal detectors at the entrance of the Temple Mount is the right decision–in the national interest.”

Israeli police issued a statement, “according to the decision of the highest political echelon,  police “will decide how strict the security checks would be, based on assessments of the situation.”

The situation for many of the Middle Eastern countries is perilous. Whether it is Syria, Iraq, Yemen or Israel the centuries of fighting and distrust have torn the region apart.  I have no answers.  I do not have the education or diplomatic experience to do much more than observe and comment.  I freely admit those shortcomings.  that is why I am going to take a moment to slap Donald Trump around the ears.

It was just a month or two ago when the American people were advised that Jared Kushner could and would, solve the Middle East crisis.

I am waiting, but I think like nearly everything else Trump, he does not know what the hell he is talking about; and neither does that spoiled son in law of his, and I guarantee that Jared Kushner will not solve the Middle East problem, this year or ever.

Join the Resistance.  Don’t forget to call the Senators and demand they halt their attack on ACA and encourage them to do some quick fixes. Organize your neighbors.  Register to vote. Run for office. Donate your time. Donate your money. Vote Democratic.  Twitter your reaction to political events.

Let’s not let Trump stop our forward motion.  Hopefully Trump will be nothing more than an ugly blot on our country’s history.

Darlene

Trump Threatens Country’s Top Lawmen

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Trump Threatens Country’s Top Lawmen

D. S. Mitchell

The New York Times evening edition for 7/19/2017 bi-lined by Peter Baker, Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haherman published an angry, rambling, nonsensical interview with President Donald Trump.  The President does not seem to fully understand how serious the investigation in to the Russian activity during the 2016 election had become.

Trump told the interviewers that he would never have hired Sessions for the job of Attorney General if he had known that Sessions would recuse himself from the Russian investigation. Ignoring the fact that Sessions had a perceived conflict of interest and as such, was basically forced by law and tradition to recuse himself.

Sessions was deeply involved in the Trump campaign.  How could he not recuse himself when there was such obvious conflict of interest?  The rule of law?  Does the president even understand the role of his  appointees? Does he understand that these people are supposed to be working for the people of the United States, not Donald Trump personally.

I’m beginning to wonder if Trump has any concept of the law, or the restraint that the law imposes on government officials, not just disregard the law, but even understand it’s basic constraints.

The Russia inquiry has in Trump’s words,” cast a dark cloud” over his floundering administration, calling Session’s recusal “very unfair to the president”.  Oddly, Trump speaking of the Presidency in the third person.  “The president” feels it was Sessions decision to recuse himself that led directly to the appointment of a special counsel, “that never should have happened.”

Wow.

From then on the President sent volley after volley aimed at the top law enforcement officials in the country.  First it was his own chosen Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, then he attacked the Deputy AG, Rod Rosenstein.  Trump wasn’t finished however.  In a wandering interview he took potshots at the acting FBI Director, Andrew McCabe and then before moving on to other topics, Trump slammed Robert Mueller and warned that he would be stopped in his tracks if Trump felt the investigation was moving away from anything that wasn’t directly Russian related, telling the Times reporters there “was a red line.”

Apparently he blamed Rod Rosenstein for appointing Mueller as special counsel, furthermore he seemed to blame Rosenstein for recommending the dismissal of then FBI Director, James Comey, although Trump has  previously said the recommendation from Rosenstein was unimportant because he had already decided to fire Comey because of the ongoing Russian investigation.  And, in fact told then Russian Ambassabor Kisylak in an unprecedented Oval Office meeting , that he thought that firing Comey would shut down the investigation, or at least reduce the heat.

That is why, Mr. President they are looking at you for obstruction of justice.   Mr. President, we have audio and video of this stuff.  We can fact check you.  Jesus, man, not everyone is so in love with your ass that we ignore what you say.

I seriously wonder if this president has any memory of what he said 30 minutes ago.  The most recent press blurb indicated you have been documented making 836 separate public lies and misleading statements just since taking office.

On the subject of Comey, the President extended his complaints, insisting that Comey had perjured himself during the congressional hearings, stating again, “I never asked him for a loyalty oath.” Furthermore, Trump further claims he never asked Comey to end the investigation into former NSA, General Michael Flynn.

He further bullied the now private citizen, Comey, indicating he felt Comey had attempted to leverage FBI information detrimental to the President to hold on to his job.

Trump said that Comey had taken him aside and described a secret dossier containing multiple salacious allegations against the president, including sexual escapades in Moscow.  Trump called the dossier a bunch of “junk–a phony deal.”

Trump continued, stating he believes that Comey told him about the negative information and his intention, according to Trump, was to hold it over his head. Previously Comey has stated he told Trump of the dossier’s existence to warn him of the potential fall out if the information was published.

Reporters summarized Trump’s attack against Mueller  for, “running an office rife with conflicts of interest and warned investigators against delving into matters too far afield from Russia.”

Continue reading

Natalia and Associates

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Calamity Politics is a progressive political blog. Our intention at CP.com is to present relevant, thought provoking articles about serious political issues that are confronting our country.

More Trump Russian scandal news keeps leaking out. It appears that the GOP candidate and his inner circle are intricately enmeshed with various Russian oligarchs and the Russian government. One of the major characters in this building drama is former Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump campaign surrogate and Trump appointee to the position of the highest law official in the United States, the Attorney General.

Mr. Sessions appeared at his confirmation to have developed a sudden onset of amnesia, totally forgetting 2 separate visits he had with then Russian Ambassador, Kisylak. When those meetings were disclosed by the press, Sessions went back and changed his statements, protecting himself from possible perjury charges.

In May of 2017 the U.S. Department of Justice quietly and abruptly settled a case against Prevezon Holdings. Prevezon is a Russian firm accused of laundering an estimated $230,000,000 dollars through Manhattan real estate purchases and sales. The case was about to go to trial when DOJ made Prevezon an offer they couldn’t refuse. DOJ headed by Attorney General Jefferson Sessions felt a fine of 6,000,000 was appropriate. The six million is far less than the case was expected to settle for. Furthermore, the Russian firm was not required to make any admissions of guilt.

Way back in May, the lawyer representing the family of Pyotr Katsyv, the former Vice Governor of the Moscow region, whose son Denis owns Prevezon was an unknown Russian lady lawyer named Natalia Veselnitskaya.

In a statement at the time of the settlement announcement, Veselnitskaya said the offer by Trump’s lying Attorney General was almost “like an apology from the United States government”.

As of July 9, 2017 anyone with ears or eyes knows who Natalia Veselnitskaya is. She is the “Russian government lawyer” whose meeting at Trump Tower with Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort as well as a former Russian intel officer who is now a U.S. citizen and registered lobbyist, and numerous other people, including a translator and a mysterious and rumored money laundering Russian real estate figure named Kaveladze.

This June 2016 meeting is the biggest political bombshell revelation in the quest to uncover any evidence of Trump Russia collusion in the 2016 presidential election. Hair raising information. This story is starting to burn very hot and the fire is getting closer to the Oval Office.

A group of Democrats in Congress are interested in the dealings the Trump campaign has had with the Russian government and they further are seeking information to learn if Veselnitskaya, the female attorney who came to Trump Tower a year ago described as “a Russian government lawyer” peddling dirt on Hillary Clinton, had any unethical connection with Jeff Sessions and the Trump administration that led to his decision to settle the lawsuit on terms so seemingly friendly to Prevezon.

The Prevezon case was being brought by Preet Bharara, the U.S  attorney for the Southern District of New York.  Mr Bharara was fired by President Trump after initially being asked to stay on post-inauguration. Bharara similar, to fired FBI Director James Comey,  has  stated that he was uncomfortable with personal overtures made by Donald Trump and surrogates.

The day prior to Bharara’s firing, Trump attempted to reach Mr. Bharara by phone and the prosecutor refused to speak to him or call him back, citing discomfort with Trump’s desire to ingratiate himself with a U.S. attorney.

Seventeen Democrats came together and sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions stating in part:”We write with some concern that the two events may be connected and that the DOJ may have settled the case at a loss to the United States in order to obscure underlying facts”

The lawmakers want to know if Natalia Veselnitskaya had any role in the Prevezon settlement talks, whether Sessions–who had been a Trump campaign advisor–knew of the 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, whether any Trump administration officials had contacted the DOJ about the case, and the Democratic lawmakers also asked for documents explaining the decision to abruptly settle a very strong case for a ridiculously low fine.  A soft settlement that none believe the Bulldog prosecutor Bharara would ever have settled for.  Suspiciously, the settlement was arranged within several weeks of Bharara’s firing.

The public rarely gets excited over dirty business dealings involving money laundering and a complex tax fraud scheme, but this “matter seems to intersect with too many key signposts of the burgeoning Trump-Russia scandal to ignore,” said Will Bunch in an article for Philly.com, which was one source used by Calamity Politics in the research for this post.

The early dishonesty by Sessions, regarding issues Russian,  is a broader *”mosaic of lies” that have permeated the Trump campaign and the subsequent Trump administration regarding their contacts with Russians.  The mounting number of secret contacts by Trump officials coming to light are making it increasingly difficult to believe those past and current dealings between the Trump campaign and their administration with the Russian government are honest and above board.

Sessions had by his own statement, recused himself from the Russian investigation and all things Russian.  However, there is no reason to believe that the disgraced Sessions recused himself from the Prevezon settlement, and as such the Prevezon settlement and Natalia Veselnitskaya have fallen into the growing abyss of the Russian-Trump conspiracy scandal.

I’m more and more convinced that these activities with the Russians originated in dirty money transactions and probable purchases/sales at Trump properties that were designed to launder ill gotten money out of Russia.  It is possible that there are salacious dossiers and ugly sex transactions by Trump, I have no problem believing that such information exists, unless of course it is boy-on-boy.  That dirty scenario would put an end to Trump. But, I think it all started because of money and Trump’s need to feed his hyper-expensive life style.

Donald Trump had tried to market everything from ties, to vodka, to steaks, to his name, and most of the ventures were a failure, most notably Trump University which got him in hot water with multiple states.  Several state AGs filed suit against Trump and his “scam” university.  The real estate business however, was tailor made for laundering large sums of money, millions and hundreds of millions of dollars per transaction.

So, in my view this is how it went down.  On one side you have an eager, not so law abiding guy who owes everybody in the world, and on the other side you have a group of foreign oligarchs bent on hiding skimmed money stolen from Russian sources. Such a perfect arrangement.  An evil marriage that has after a three decade plus relationship culminated in the installation of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States.

The information is being hemorrhaged out almost hourly.  It will take time but I believe that the disgusting relationship between Russia and all things Trump will be revealed. I’m not sure, but I believe that the greatest scandal in US history, involving possibly hundreds of individuals, is nothing more than a conspiracy to make more money.  You can never have too much money. Right?  I call it sick.  When money is more important that your  country, the sacredness of the vote, the near holiness of the U.S. Constitution you should be banished to that f’ing country you sold out to.

Explain to me why every American soldier serving this country doesn’t throw his gun down and demand an air line ticket home?  When you don’t know who your President is working with it’s time to cut the ties that bind. I will keep writing about the Russia scandal. It’s gonna be a rough ride. Join the Resistance.

Dar

75 Things To Smile About

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75 Things To Smile About

D. S. Mitchell

It is Sunday afternoon and it is a perfect day on the North Oregon coast. The clouds are while cotton balls hanging over a blue ocean with cresting waves breaking gently against the sand.  Sundays are when I discard politics and look for reasons to smile.

So today this is what I came up with:

1.) Puppy love  2.) Wearing a man’s T-shirt  3.) Painted bead-board  4.) Skinny, crispy french fries 5.) Pale yellow and baby blue bedrooms  6.) Beach bonfires  7.) Misty mornings  8.) Good balance 9.) Day dreaming  10.) Sitting in the sun  11.) Having a canary in the house  12.) Remembering a locker combination  13.) Paper clips  14.) The cat sleeping in the fern plant  15.) Copper kettles 16.) Moonlight on water  17.) The crunchiness of French bread  18.) Mushroom hunting 19.) Picnic baskets loaded and ready  20.) Old Godzilla movies at midnight 21.) Finding the tool I need  22.) Turning off the faucet just as the water reaches the sink brim  23.) Achievement and set-back  24.) Tiny houses 25.) Wicker and lace  26.) Powdered doughnut holes with fresh perked coffee 27.) A secret journal  28.) A check at the mail box 29.) An old cabin in the woods  30.) Hide-an-Seek 31.) An approaching storm 32.) Sundance catalogue  33.) Childhood games  34.) Giving the peace sign, not the finger  35.) A new toothbrush 36.) Finishing a chore 37.) Filling a baked potato with butter, chives and sour cream 38.) Marx brother’s movies 39.) Chocolate fudge cake with chocolate and cherry cordial ice cream 40.) eBay 41.)Snowmobile rides 42.) Sweet dreams  43.) Stalagmites and stalagitates 44.) Ice fishing 45.) The smell of wood burning 46.) Back rubs and foot rubs 47.) A little self-love  48.) Fixing dinner with your partner 49.) New carpeting 50.) Old Sea Hunt episodes 51.) Arabian horses 52.) Finding a bird feather 53.) School plays 54.) The click of a spinning fan 55.) Remembering Mama 56.) A bike filled college campus 57.) Following a stone wall to its end 58.) Babies wearing boots and jeans 59.) Concerts in the park 60.) Machu Picchu 61.) Self confidence 62.) Wire baskets filled with vegetables 63.) The feel of corduroy 64.) Trains 65.) Cats 66.) Cartwheels, somersaults, and hand stands on the front lawn 67.) Historic places 68.) Tortoises 69.) Koi filled ponds 70.) Hot apple Empanadas 71.) Carte blanche 72.) Good posture 73.) A Denny’s breakfast of grease and goo 74.) Japanese lanterns floating on a breeze 75.) Touch football

No matter what is happening in Washington today, I will smile.

Join me mostly daily, as I autopsy the headline political news with an extra side of sarcasm and a double order of cynicism, but for dessert I dig into a big dish of hope, as I attempt to analyze and comment on the upside down world of U.S. politics.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Deeply Concerned

  By ,

Deeply Concerned

By D. S. Mitchell

I am generally considered pro-active. I  tend to handle problems when they initially present themselves, not wait until I have a full blown emergency.  I learned this lesson from my mother, and it is a lesson that has served me well for my last 71 years of life. The Trump Administration, headed by Donald Trump, has not learned that lesson. And as such, we have a major set of scandals threatening to blow up this White House and its corrupt, narcissistic, Mafioso occupant.

Calamity Politics is a political blog bringing news to my readers with an often biting and sarcastic commentary that I hope is at least mildly amusing.  I pray daily for the Impeachment of Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence. Please join me in that prayer.

The last two posts from Calamity Politics have been about 1.)President Trump’s Conflicts of Interest issues in at least 30 separate cases, and 2.)Donald Jr’s. meeting with a Russian attorney in June of 2016

Although both scandals at first seem separate, after about a minute and a half  of thought,  I decided, No. These are very much the same story. The story of a family that believes they are above the law.  Corruption and coverup seem to come naturally to the Trump team. It must be in the genes.

Paul Krugman, writing for the New York Times on July 10, 2016 indicted the entire GOP, saying, “It’s not just Donald Trump: The whole GOP has become a post-truth party. And I see no sign it will ever improve.” Krugman continued, “Political spin used to have limits: Politicians who wanted to be taken seriously wouldn’t go around claiming up is down and black is white.”

In that same story, Krugman further asserted that “conservatives keep scaling new heights of dishonesty in their attempt to sell their reverse Robin Hood agenda, of tax cuts for the rich and pain for the poor.”

On July 13, 2017 Ross Douthat published an article in the NY Times veering back directly to Trump, blaming him personally for most of the negative press, “a good rule of thumb for dealing with Donald Trump: Everyone who gives him the benefit of the doubt eventually regrets it.”

The argument that Trump is a political neophyte and that he is still hanging onto the 1980’s vision of the two great powers co-operating and working toward a world of greater understanding has been dashed by the revelations of the last week from Donald Trump, Jr.

It is no longer arguable that there is a normal explanation for Trump’s seeming love affair with all things Russian.  Donald, Jr. in an admitted effort by the Trump campaign to gather negative information on Hillary Clinton met with Russian nationals.  Those attendees’ have now been shown to have serious links to the Russian government.  Several high ranking Trump campaign and family members were at the meeting, including Jared Kushner, Donald Jr., and Paul Manafort.

Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort had a meeting with “identified representatives  of the Russian government” in which, “it was explicitly promised that damaging information on Hillary Clinton would be supplied as part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

So, we know that the Trump insiders were willing to meet with an adversarial government, a government that is actively working world wide to undermine the power and influence of the United States.  The Trump team had every reason to believe any information provided in that meeting was likely to have been hacked–more specifically, stolen–to have come into Russian hands, in the first place.

A direct quote from the emails between Rob Goldstone and Donald Jr., indicate that Junior was not skeptical, but rather eager, and in fact enthusiastically welcomed the encounter saying, “if it’s what you say, I love it.” Never seeming to question, why would a foreign government want to help a particular candidate? What will be the eventual cost for such support?

To make it look even worse, the emails and statements by Junior did not come out until the pending  release by a media outlet of the same emails forced his release of the emails.  His story, flipped and flopped and has to this day not settled on the whole story or the whole truth.

Everybody in that meeting lied, or conveniently forgot about their little get together.  Douthat’s article states, “So while this is not direct evidence that the president of the United States was complicit in a virtual burglary, perpetrated against the other party during an election season,  is strong evidence that we should drop the presumption that such collusion is an extreme or implausible scenario.”

Just imagine that the Watergate burglars had been foreign hackers.  Think about it, seriously, when viewed that way, there is an entirely new image. Why does it seem different when the burglar has a crowbar to jimmy a window, or a burglar attacking from behind the screen of a computer.  My private information is actually far more valuable to me than a television set, a stereo, or a gold bracelet.

Is America Going To Accept Russian Interference In U.S. Elections?

Douthat concludes his piece, “anyone presuming his (Trump) innocence at this point should have all the confidence of Chris Christie awaiting his cabinet appointment….”

Finally, the conservative writer, and political analyst Charles Krauthammer  wrote for the Washington Post a scathing article on 7/14/2017 lashing out at the Trump administration saying, “Bungled collusion is still collusion no matter how you spin it.”

Krauthammer recounted that the White House for six months has claimed the Russian scandal was a ‘hoax’, ‘fake news’, ‘democratic hysteria’, nothing more than ‘innuendo’. “Yes, there had been meetings with Russian officials, some only belatedly disclosed. But, that is circumstantial evidence at best.”

Krauthammer continues, ” The evidence is now shown. This is not hearsay, not fake news, not unsourced leaks. This is an email chain released by Donald Trump, Jr. himself.  The Kremlin  is willing to share troves of incriminating documents from the Crown Prosecutor (error: Britain has a CP. Russia has a State Prosecutor.)”

When Donald, Jr., emailed back his willingness to meet, “he was in.” Once you’ve said, “I’m in,” it makes no difference that the meeting was a bust, that the intermediary brought no such goods.  What matters is what Donald, Jr. thought going into that meeting, as well as Jared Kushner and then campaign manager Paul Manafort, who were copied on the correspondence, invited to the meeting, and attended.”

Donald, Jr.,  told Sean Hannity that the meeting was “just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame.”

Krauthammer’s article asks, “A shame? On the contrary, a stroke of luck. Had the lawyer had real stuff to deliver, Donald, Jr., and the others would be in far deeper legal trouble.  It turned out to be incompetent amateur collusion, this was keystone cops collusion,   comically failed collusion. That does not erase the fact that three top Trump campaign officials were ready to play.”

“It may turn out that they did later collaborate more fruitfully.  We don’t know.  But even if nothing else is found, the evidence is damning.’

Krauthammer goes on to attack the Trump apologists who are claiming such interaction between the Trump campaign and the Russian government is “no big deal.”  First, the Trumpites have been telling us for six months that no collusion ever happened, and now they say: Sure it happened.  So, what? Everyone does it.”

“What’s left of your credibility when you make such a casual about-face?, Krauthammer asks.

Secondly, he states, “No, not everyone does it. It’s one thing to be open to opposition research dug up in Indiana.  But not dirt from Russia, a hostile foreign power that has repeatedly invaded its neighbors, that buzzes our planes and ships in international waters, that opposes our every move and objective around the globe.  What Donald, Jr.–and Kushner and Manafort–did may not be criminal.  But it is not merely stupid–it is also deeply wrong, a fundamental violation of any code of civic honor.

I leave it to the lawyers to adjudicate the legalities  of  unconsummated collusion.  But you don’t need to be a lawyer to see that the Trump defense — collusion as a desperate Democratic fiction designed to explain away a lost election–is now officially dead.”

Trump Issued A Tweet Claiming Donald Jr Is A Good Young Man.

Their stories change daily and sometimes hourly.  Head spinning deceit and lies to an unheard of extent. In fact, there seems to be no limit to the extent of the deception. A surrogate lines up “the story” and then one of the Trumps runs their car over the surrogates foot with a tweet, a statement, or an interview.

Trump has sent a Tweet from Paris blamed Loretta Lynch and the Obama Administration for wrongly allowing the Russian lawyer, Natalia Vaselnitskaya into the country.  Krauthammer swung back at Trump Tweets, calling it a “red herring the size of a whale.”

Is it all pathological? Or, are the shifting stories just an attempt to cover up an ever growing ugly scenario, that could get uglier and uglier.  With the Trump group it is hard to know. In fact, the two could easily overlap.

I have lived through 13 presidencies. That makes me really old and I have seen a lot. Some presidents I could ignore, while others I could not. I have for the most part felt we could survive a bad president, out of the thirteen there were a couple really bad ones, but the country survived and kept moving jerkily forward.

The Russians Are Here

But now, I’m deeply concerned. Not once did I ever doubt the patriotism of any one of those presidents.  Never once, did I suspect that the sitting president had interacted with a foreign power to win election to the highest office in the United States.  But now, I’m deeply concerned.  Never once have I heard a President deny an allegation for months and then when the lie was exposed the President said, “It’s politics, it’s a dirty business and everyone does it, it’s called ‘opposition research’.  Anyone would have taken that meeting.”

How do months of denials from the Trump block pivot from “nothing Russian going on here”, to suddenly in one tweet, morph into “everybody does it.”

I’m deeply concerned and I hope you are to. Join the Resistance. Do your part, call your elected officials, email the same officials, call them again, make your voice heard. Neighborhood organizing, and protesting back up your words.  Don’t give in to exhaustion or disappointment. The road is long and the challenges great, but together we can remove this cancer from the White House, but it will take work and commitment and a hell of a lot of phone calls.

Even Fox News commentator Chris Wallace seemed to question the Trump campaign activities saying, “This should not be Pro-Trump vs Anti-Trump.  If you are a fair minded person you ought to be concerned about the fact that we were repeatedly misled about what this meeting concerned.”

Wallace didn’t stop with that but instead encouraged “anybody who has inside knowledge  should come forward with every single contact they ever had with a Russian. Come clean, tell it now, let the chips fall where they may.  And in fact, if there’s no crime you’ll survive it.  It will be embarrassing but it is better than this trickle, this daily drip” of new undisclosed Russian contacts.

Join the Resistance

DarleneC