Category: Government

Scratching My Head

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Scratching My Head

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity politics’ mission is to share political opinions and comments on the urgent news of the day.  Our goal is to empower and connect people with a forward looking progressive agenda. I admit I often use the blog to release my own pent up emotions. It isn’t a crime, but it should at least be acknowledged.  Furthermore, I want it understood that I am a fervent  anti-Trump voice  and supporter of the Resistance. That said, today I am going to disrespect DonaldJ. Trump Jr. What the hell? Is this guy so attention starved that he wanted to bring a bunch of Russian tricksters and propagandists into the 2016 Presidential campaign to smear Hillary Clinton and impress Daddy? Is he so greedy for power that he would sell out the most sacred element of our Democracy, our vote, to a foreign power? Is he so stupid he needs help because he can’t tie his own shoe laces? Is he so used to operating outside the law that calling the FBI to report the intent of a foreign government to interfere in the US election didn’t even occur to him or the other attendees at this recently uncovered meeting. This whole story that is emerging about Donald, jr, and the lady Russian lawyer has me and most of the world scratching our heads.

The confirmed 6/9/2016 meeting, was between Trump, jr, Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner and a Russian attorney at Trump Tower and is the first known meeting between members of the Trump inner circle, both family and campaign staffers. The emerging story is grim and depressing when viewed as a family joined together to betray the United States; and in effect, mount a successful coup of the government; aided and abetted by a foreign adversary.

I am not surprised, but as more information is being brought to light my anger keeps mounting. How the fuck off kilter do you have to be to sell your country out? Too fucking immoral  and fucking disgusting to be anywhere close to the White House and the role of President of the United States, in my opinion. Trump must be impeached immediately along with his Vice President, Mike Pence.  OMG my hair is on fire.

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Congress Doubts Trump Foreign Policy

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Congress Doubts Trump Foreign Policy

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics is a progressive leaning political blog where we attempt to offer relevant and engaging political analysis and commentary, sprinkled with a bit of sarcasm and cynicism.  So, if you are ready, please join me as I examine the good, the bad, the planned and the unplanned on the U.S. political scene.  Some call it Mud Wrestling, I call it Russian Roulette.

Mieke Eoyang, a National Security Analyst at the Third Way, said, “I think it is setting in, especially in the Republican members of Congress, that they are not getting the kind of adult leadership out of the White House that would allow them to give deference to the White House”. Continue reading

Proud to

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“Proud to Say I’m a Liberal,” JFK

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics is a progressive political blog where I address and comment on U.S. political  shenanigans and bullshit that happens everyday in Washington, D. C. Calamity Politics is coming to you today from hotter than hell Grants Pass, Oregon where it was a melting 107 degrees yesterday, and we are expecting more of the same for the next couple days.

Sadly, it seems to me, that “people” never vote for policy. Which is what effects their every day lives.  Instead, politicians have figured out that “people” vote for hot button issues, the candidate’s appearance and stage comfort being other factors.  There seems to be a total disconnect for many people.  The individual political party platforms state clearly the values and direction of that party.  Furthermore, the history of the individual parties actions when in power are a pretty reliable predictor of how they will govern.

Characters like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich are continually ginning  up the right wing base with attacks against any and all “liberals” “lefties” “progressives”; and the “Democrats” specifically.

I’m proud to be a liberal if that mean, in the words of JFK, ” Someone who looks ahead and not  behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people—their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties—someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad. If that is what it means to be a ‘Liberal’— then I’m proud to say I’m a liberal.”

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Another Beach Day

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Another Beach Day

D. S. Mitchell

I have been trying to stay calm.  Morning meditation, a 3 mile walk on a misty beach, background acoustic guitar played today while I worked on my *novel.  No cable news.  Just me, and steady controlled breathing.

There are two special elections in the South today.  The South, since the late 1960’s has been  Republican red.  When I was a kid, the Democrats owned the South.  But, strangely enough in reaction to Civil Rights Legislation backed by the Democrats the South moved lock, stock and barrel to the Republican party.

I donated to both Democratic candidates, Archie Parnell in South Carolina, and Jon Ossoff in Georgia. Not much money, because I’m a pensioner, but I felt I had to at least put something in the pot. Not that I expect the Dems to win, but I have hope.

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Trump On Tour

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Trump On Tour

D. S. Mitchell

I am screaming at the top of my lungs. It’s a damn good thing this is not a pod cast commentary, because someone would be ordering psych restraints for this old girl.

I started writing for Calamity Politics because I saw Trump as a demented, narcissistic, irrational, terrifying, irresponsible, backward thinking, corrupt and dangerous individual. I was concerned that the country had just elected a gross misogynist clown as President of the United States.

I wanted to speak out against what I expected to be an immediate attack on the environment, entitlement programs and Roe v Wade. I knew the Republicans, heavily financed by the Koch Brothers, and other right extremist Superpacs, would launch an all out attack against anything progressive as soon as the inaugural partying was over.

Because of my intense concern, I felt the pressure to get on line with Calamity Politics as soon as possible. If you as a reader, wonder who I am, and what I stand for, I suggest you take a few minutes and read ‘About Me’ and ‘Mission Statement’ which are located on buttons at the top of this page.

I thought I might be alone in my outrage. Had I “lost” my mind, as was suggested by two family members, or was I one of many?

I found out soon that I was just one of an army of individuals who were truly fearful that the election of Donald Trump was a step back in time. None of us wanted to take 21st century America back to the segregated, air polluted and garbage littered mid 20th century America romanticized by Donald Trump. So fearful in fact were we, that we began organically to call ourselves the “resistance”. I embraced the label as a personal commitment to fight trump, and everything he represents. I am a soldier in the fight against authoritarianism. I am one of the ‘resistance”.

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“Follow The Trail Of Russian Bodies”

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Follow The Trail Of Russian Bodies

D.S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics is a progressive political blog that attempts everyday to provide interesting and topical articles, focused primarily on the U.S. national political scene.  Topics of analysis and commentary are determined by me.  Sometimes I discuss the headlines of the day, sometimes I veer off and talk about things that make me smile and others that make me mad. Today, I am going to reach back in to recent history.  The news of the day, again involves the Russians and possible disclosure by President Trump of highly classified information.  So, I thought it might be good to have a refresher course on Russia’s war against our democratic institutions.  Sources for this article are Del Quentin Wilker, the LA Times, Melissa Ryan Extra Newsfeed, and AP correspondents, Deb Reichmann and Eileen Sullivan, and finally CtrlAltRightDelete.

On March 30, 2017 Clint Watts, terrorism and espionage expert, Robert A. Fox Fellow, Program on the Middle East and Senior Fellow, Program on National Security, appeared before the Senate Intel Committee to discuss the Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election.  Watts gave the committee and the American public a history lesson into the activities of the Russians, tracing the Kremlin’s efforts to influence our elections as a decades long effort using misinformation to undermine our democracy.

Wilker in his LA Times article declared, “Watts provided a road map to better understand” the shady practices by Moscow. To understand the activities, he urged the Senate and the U.S. government to “follow the money” to figure out “how misinformation websites and social media outlets are being funded.”

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Self Inflicted Crisis

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Self Inflicted Crisis

D. S. Mitchell

What a difference a day makes. Not only has it gone from sun and fun here at the Oregon coast but a big storm has blown in, sending us all here at Calamity Politics, running inside to escape the heavy rain and driving wind.

To top it off, I have managed to lose my eyeglasses. How? I do not know, but that bit of stupidity has proved expensive, and inconvenient. I went into Costco and my prescription is good until July, so they ordered me another pair of glasses. Two hundred nineteen dollars later and a delivery date sometime next week, caused me a bit of frustration and irritation.

In my case, the lost glasses are a bad thing. I’m currently wearing my prescription sunglasses, trying to get enough light to my retinas to see what I’m doing. Considering the change in weather, the sunglasses look really dumb.

So, enough of my personal nonsense. As Calamity Politics’ blogger-in-chief I am frothing at the mouth to comment on the craziness of this week in U.S. political headline news.

Stories are emerging, of a raging and screaming President Trump reacting to the growing Russian collusion reports on television. The televised testimony of Yates and Comey seems to be the true cause of Trump firing the FBI Director.

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Trump Slush Fund Scandal

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Trump Slush Fund Scandal

D. S. Mitchell

Inaugural Donors

After Trump’s election, the campaign asked for contributors to the Presidential Inauguration. Lo and behold, they collected the biggest Inaugural nest egg in history.  The total take, which was just disclosed by the Trump Administration in Federal Election Commission filings this week, totaled a staggering 106.7 million dollars. It was the largest haul in inaugural history. There were obviously some very happy Republicans.

Rachel Maddow Show

The Inaugural fund-raising was the lead story on The Rachel Maddow Show, the other night.  Rachel told her audience that there was an ongoing investigation. In fact, the investigatory group had tracked down a large number of suspicious donor names and phony addresses. According to the watchdogs, there were strange names, such as Katherine Johnson, NASA. Really? Not the Katherine Johnson made famous in Hidden Figures? NASA? I guess the recorder didn’t expect anyone to be checking those names and addresses. There were also several vacant lots listed as residences. Strange.

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It’s Just Politics

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It’s Just Politics

D. S. Mitchell

The Bloggisphere

Writing for Calamity News and Politics gives me a platform to discuss headline events and political policy. It also provides me a place to vent and fume. If somebody doesn’t like the drum I’m beating, they are fully able, and encouraged to move on; to a site that better satisfies their social view of the world.

My Son

“Don’t get so wound up, it’s just politics”, my son recently told me.  Well, whether I’m saying it to my son, or to a potential reader, or to a neighbor, that is the wrong attitude. In the end, politics is policy, and policy effects everything in our lives. The schools, the hospitals, the parks, the highways, the airports, the waterways, international trade, health care, military defense and social justice.  Nearly every part of our daily life is effected in someway by the policies that our elected officials enact in Washington, D.C., or our state capitols. Got it?

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Trump Pay-to-Play

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Trump Pay-to-Play

D. S. Mitchell

Story Lines

Sometimes, I don’t find a story that calls to me.  I may wander around after researching all day and still not have a firm story subject. But, Friday, Rachel Maddow reminded me of the Florida Attorney General scandal. And that  story’s lingering entanglement to President Donald Trump.

Campaign Clamor

This is the story of Pam Bondi. Bondi is a Florida Republican politician. In 2013 she accepted a $25,000 donation to one of her campaign support groups, by The Donald J. Trump Foundation.  That year Ms Bondi was running unopposed as incumbent Attorney General.  Then Governor Rick Scott and Bondi had both been clamoring for faster executions in their state.

Campaign Convenience

With that “faster execution policy” ringing in the ears of Floridians, Governor Rick Scott granted a request by Bondi to postpone an execution. The execution of convicted rapist/murderer, Marshall Gore, was postponed to accommodate Bondi’s “long-planned” re-election campaign kick-off. It seems to me and many other commentators, no matter what your stand on the death penalty, it is not okay to postpone executions to accommodate political fund-raising. The reason I bring this up as a preface to the Trump-Bondi story, is that it says something about the character of the people involved. Read on, and decide for yourself.

Trump Thinking

In September 2016, candidate Donald Trump paid an IRS fine of $2,500 for an illegal political donation. That fine was for his foundations donation Bondi’s re-election group. It is illegal for tax exempt charitable groups to make political contributions, thus the fine. Trump earlier in his career talked about political campaign contributions.  He said, “I’m a businessman, and a very substantial donor to very important people.  When you give, they do whatever you want them to do.”

Cynicism In Practice

Pretty cynical, but it fits into this whole scheme of getting your money’s worth. What you give to a candidate, and what you demand from that candidate in exchange for your donation money is  ‘Pay to Play’. Segue back to 2013. In her role as top Florida law enforcement officer, Pam Bondi was deciding whether Florida should join in a multi-state probe into Trump University. Trump University was a bogus program that con man Trump used to scam a bunch of folks out of their money.  It was a real estate seminar program with lots of lies, promises, and no benefit to the consumer.

Expectations

While Bondi’s Justice Department was considering jumping into the Trump University investigation, Pam Bondi called Donald Trump. She introduced herself and asked for Trump to appear at a fund-raising event. She then asked for a campaign donation. From this point I’m going to speculate. Trump, knew  Florida was considering joining the multi-state probe into the Trump University. The cynical Trump promptly turned the phone call to his advantage. Obviously, Bondi knew what Trump wanted in return for the donation.  The Miami Herald commented that “this was not the behavior of an ethical prosecutor.” And continued, “If Ms Bondi promised to back off  a Trump University suit, in exchange for a campaign donation, that could be a crime.”

All The Cases All The Time

Later, Bondi would claim she had “no idea” there was a case being reviewed by her office against Trump University.  Seems damn strange to me.  Before I was a rebel journalist, I was an RN.  I was a Charge Nurse, meaning I ran the unit.   As a  Charge Nurse, I needed to know the condition of ALL of the patients at ALL times. When you head a judicial agency, you should know about every potential case. Especially one involving a high-profile celebrity. So, if I had my Sherlock Holmes cap on, I’d suggest Ms Bondi and President Trump have lied to us, about their actions and their motives.

An Inquiry Long Past Due

The Miami Herald, pushed for an inquiry, which to the best of my knowledge has never happened.  The actions of the Florida Justice Department were vigorously defended by attorney Carlos Muniz, Bondi’s chief of staff. What brings this story back to the forefront is Carlos Muniz. Muniz has now been tapped by President Trump to become General Counsel for the Department of Education. The web of scandal and corruption entangling these people is mind-boggling. I’d say that $25,000 bought more than one politician.

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