Category: More Topics

Remembering 9/11-Sixteen Years Later

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Remembering 9/11, Sixteen Years Later

D. S. Mitchell

Thousands of victim relatives, survivors, rescuers and others gathered at the World Trade Center Memorial to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the terror attacks masterminded by Al Ouida and Osama Bin Laden that took the lives of 2,977 people and will be remembered as the worst terror attack on the U.S. homeland in history. Terrorists high jacked 4 commercial airliners, two of the planes crashed into the Twin Towers of The World Trade Center, New York City, N.Y., a third was directed at the Pentagon and the fourth was crashed into a rural field in Pennsylvania when passengers and crew fought the terrorists for control of the plane leading to it crashing before reaching its intended target, savings many lives.

100 Things To Make You Smile

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100 Things To Make You Smile

D. S. Mitchell

Sunday afternoon on the fabulous Oregon coast.  The sun is shining,  and Lilly the dog, is sprawled out on the back patio while I restlessly flip through the morning cable news shows. I am a regular Sunday viewer of Meet The Press, Fareed Zakaria’s GPS and AM Joy.  I wanted a nice peaceful weekend, a morning with coffee cup and the N.Y. Times, a game of golf in the afternoon, a movie with a friend to finish the day.

But, hell no. Not with Trump in office.  He is like a spoiled child demanding every moment of his mother’s attention. I do not intend to go off on a rant. I promise.  In fact I want to get your mind, and my mine, off the American Tragedy playing out in front of our eyes.  So, my favorite distraction of the week, my Sunday version of a day-off, is imaging simple things in life that will bring a quiet smile to the corners of your mouth.

1.) A Hummingbird at the garden feeder 2.)A day with no chores to do 3.) Left over spaghetti or cold pizza for breakfast  4.) A chocolate “fix”  5.) The Nite Owl, Helena, MT  6.) A bedroom with a window seat  7.) A scarecrow dressed in Daddy’s old coveralls and straw hat  8.) short lines  9.) Drive-in theaters  10.) Face painting 11.) Film Noir  12.) Watching young swallows learn the art of flight  13.) Painting the front door a vivid color  14.) Working a potter’s wheel  15.) Spontaneous hugs  16.) Forgetting the punch line of a joke  17.)  Libraries  18.) Using the dog to do left over clean up 19.) Fireworks  20.) Running boards on tall trucks  21.) The soft sound of a paddle cutting the water  22.) The patter of children’s feet  23.) Crater Lake, Oregon  24.) Clean as you go  25.) Gingerbread loaded with melted butter  26.) Forming a Foundation to help fund a cause  27.) Talking with intelligence instead of just blowing smoke  28.) River barges  29.) crisp apples  30.) Doing a good job  31.) Rich, delicate French pastry  32.) Floating lilies  33.) Listening to the sounds of the night  34.) A secret crush  35.) Spontaneous kisses  36.) Writing  37.) Homemade lemonade 39.) The aroma of Honeysuckle and Daphne  40.) Cloth napkins with napkin rings  41.) The American flag  42.) Lettuce fresh from the garden  43.) A new mattress  44.) Fessing up to an eff ‘up  45.) Honey Baked Ham  46.) A great painting found at a Thrift Store.  47.) Refreshing an old dresser with a coat of paint  48.) First ski run of the day  49.) Old English Sheepdogs  50.) Koala bears  51.) Rearranging the furniture for a party  52.) A banana split for two  53.) Travel magazines  54.) Swim meets  55.) Swans on Black Lake, Ilwaco, WA  56.) Wind across a field of wheat  57.) Twinkies  58.) My Time  59.) Echoes  60.) The Olympics  61.) Mt. Vernon  62.) Cheetahs in the wild 63.) Warm dry socks  64.) Mutts  65.) Sundance catalogues  66.) Buy one and get one free  67.) Making lists  68.)  Pinto ponies   69.) Sneakers without socks  70.) Unicorns and rainbows  71.) Picnic tables  72.) Owning and island  73.) Walking the railroad tracks  74.) Habitat For Humanity  75.) A team of horses  76.) Weeping Willow trees  77.) 3-D movies  78.) Political comics  79.) Lawn parties  80.) Laughing babies  81.) Getting a makeover  82.) Up with the dawn  83.) Weathered shutters on shingled beach cottages  84.) Hopscotch  85.) Night snowmobiling  86.) Hit that high note  87.) Frisbee with the dog  88.) Blanket tents in the backyard  89.) Club sandwiches  90.) Being on time  91.) Woodstock  92.) Snoopy  93.) Earth Day  94.) Catching a man’s eye  95.) Dream catchers  96.) Dog carriages  97.) Revolving doors  98.) Retirement  99.) Winning a race  100.) Puget Island, WA.

Keep smiling.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Civil De-construction, One Tweet At A Time

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Civil De-Construction, One Tweet At A Time

D. S. Mitchell

On July 26, 2017 President Trump tweeted: “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow……”
That was the president of the United States starting his morning with an ominous tweet. Then for the next nine minutes there was no follow-up tweet. His audience (the world) was left to wonder what would follow those six dots. The reporters at Buzzfeed confirmed that Pentagon staffers and officials alike believed Trump was about to announce a strike against North Korea or another Afghan military strike.

After a mind bending nine minute wait, the president finally continued his tweet, “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.”

My first thoughts, 1) the tweet is both too organized and clearly written to have been originally authored by Trump, and instead, I suspect was the work of Steve Bannon or Stephen Miller. 2)  the writer acts as if transgender military service was not already a fact of life.  If this thoughtless tweeted policy is implemented, which I assume they will attempt, it will negatively affect an estimated 15,000 service personnel who openly identify as transgender.

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Vice President Doomed

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Vice President Doomed

D. S. Mitchell

In today’s (8-8-2017) New York Times, writer Frank Bruni had an excellent piece on the Vice President. I can’t reprint it here, but I decided I would paraphrase Bruni’s opinion piece.

According to Bruni Mike Pence was furious over recent reports by NY Times reporters, Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, that indicated Pence might be readying himself for a presidential run in 2020.

Problem 1) Trump is only six months into a four-year term. 2) Trump is vicious in attacks on anyone that might be putting their agenda ahead of his.

Pence felt endangered by the reporting and pushed back quickly and vigorously, with a red-faced proclamation of “disgraceful” assertions, never detailing exactly why the assertions were disgraceful. According to Bruni, the Vice President’s anger “reflects the inconvenient truths, it is overarching. It’s existential. On some level he (Pence) must realize that he’s in a no-win situation.  Without Trump he’s nothing. With Trump he’s on a runaway train that he can’t steer or brake. If it doesn’t crash, Trump can scream down the tracks straight through 2020. If it does, Pence will be one of the casualties.”

The question is why has Pence formed a political action committee, the only sitting vice president in history to do so? It could be that he is generating contributions to a legal defense fund, which is permissible under election laws.  The Russian conspiracy probe is broadening and Mike Pence is not as financially well off as the President and attorneys in such circumstances charge big bucks.

However, all those donations and bridge building efforts could also be a quiet effort to make himself a viable 2020 presidential candidate.  It seems unimaginable, but according Bruni, “there could be some imaginable future in which Trump falls and Pence is left to soldier on. But, mostly he is in denial , and he’s living very dangerously.”

The various scenarios of the future are mere speculation.  But, it is within the realm of possibility that Trump will self destruct-be impeached and run out of town-or throw a tantrum and stomp off on his own. Who the hell knows? Anything now seems possible. Bruni theorized that, “Pence indeed needs an infrastructure and a network of his own.”  But there is a rub to this, “there is no way to assemble those without looking disloyal to Trump and courting the wrath of alt-right types who know how to go on a Twitter jihad.”

Other possible primary challengers include a Ohio Governor, John Kasich and Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse.  These adversaries don’t owe Trump what Pence does. They didn’t pledge complete allegiance. Kasich started his unofficial campaign before Trump’s inauguration. He is free to raise money, hold news conferences, become a fixture on cable news and attack Trump’s proposals and his failures. When Kasich and Sasse go after the President the Trump base will react but they will not be targeted like Pence would be.

Pence is being squeezed into a box of “compulsory worship”. And despite his behind the scenes machinations, he has done a masterful job of appearing perfectly content” looking devoted, and damn near infatuated.

Before being tapped by Paul Manafort as Trump’s running mate Pence was losing popularity in Nebraska based on his performance as their governor.  Before accepting the role of Trump running mate Pence blasted Trump’s “travel ban” calling it “offensive and unconstitutional”. Pence advocated free trade and Trump’s protectionism was alien to Pence’s earlier stated trade stance. Pence claims to stand for “Christian values” and refuses to be alone with a woman other than his wife, yet he stands beaming next to an admitted gropper and female abuser. Mike Pence has even admitted feeling guilt over his past political behavior as a “negative campaigner” while he collaborates with the most corrupt and dirtiest politician in U.S. history. Pence seems to have given up his core values to stand next to such great power.

Bruni finishes his piece as follows, “No wonder he (Pence) wants and expects a reward as lavish as the White House itself: He sold his soul. but I don’t think he studies the contract closely enough and thought the whole thing through.  There’s no political afterlife in this equation, just the loopy, mortifying limbo where he and so many of Trump’s other acolytes dwell.  Maybe the howling is cathartic, but it won’t change a thing.”

Mike Pence has protested loudly that there is no 2020 presidential election run in his future.  I think he is right, but not because he doesn’t want to be president, but because he can’t afford to enrage Trump.

Calamity Politics publishes nearly everyday.

Join the Resistance

Dar

82 Reasons To Smile

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82 Reasons To Smile

D. S. Mitchell

Another perfectly silver day at the Oregon coast. There must be a million tourists in my little North Oregon hamlet, which makes getting on our main roadway, Hwy #101 a near impossibility. Friends are here from Portland for the week. It was 103 the other day and running high nineties for the last couple weeks in the city of bridges. Oregonians aren’t used to such high temperatures and they all run to the beach, especially if they have friends that live surf side.  Summers are fun and I enjoy the company.

On Sunday Calamity Politics abandons it usual political posts and focuses on things that make me smile. Today I decided that I needed at least 82 Reasons to Smile.  So, here we go:

1.) Philly Sandwiches   2.) Hugs   3.) The comfort of old friends   4.) A forest hike   5.) Thick wood planks that squeak with age   6.) Brand new business cards  7.) A full piggy bank  8.) Watermelon hearts  9.) Neutron stars  10.) Uncle Norman’s boathouse  11.) High school basketball games  12.) 1980’s rock  13.) A whitewashed fireplace  14.) Two in the shower  15.) Antique scrimshaw  16). Street musicians  17.) Looking through old picture albums  18.) YouTube  19.) The song of a Western Meadowlark 20.) Using the Internet to correct my spelling 21.) Miniature golf  22.) A perfectly executed omelet  23.) Historic Places  24.) Painted rocks left for tourists to find  25.) Food trucks  26.) Farmer’s Markets  27.) A Yo-yo  28.) Hand knitted slippers  29.) A sky full of multi-colored hot air balloons  30.) Making homemade sausage  31.) Antique airplanes 32.) Going fishing with Daddy  33.) Pitching a tent in the back yard  34.) Long afternoon shadows  35.) Patsy Cline  36.) The calls of migrating geese  37.) 20 questions on long car rides  38.) kids art on refrigerator doors  39.) Saturday Market, Portland, Oregon 40.) Full moon  41.) Coffee mug with my name on it  42.) Using the dog to clean up left overs 43.) A surprise party  44.) Harry O. the old television series with David Jansen  45.) Old trunks in dusty attics  46.) Thunder and lightening 47.) Poetry readings  48.) Root beer floats  49.) Starting a collection  50.) Embroidery on old jeans  51.) Turning off the phone  52.) Karaoke night  53.) Bottles of champagne chilling in buckets of ice  54.) Tooth fairies and Easter bunnies  55.) A good horoscope or fortune cookie  56.) A barge tour down the Seine River  57.) French doors to massive bedrooms  58.) Brass fire poles  59.) Playing strip poker  60.) Flowers floating on a pond  61.) Ferris wheels  62.) Re-upholstering dining room chair seats  63.) Old movie posters  64.) Sundance catalogues  65.) White daisies  66.) Caller ID  67.) Letters to the Editor  68.) A flattering driver’s license picture  69.) Being in a party mood  70.) Oversize sweaters and skin-tight jeans  71.) Panning for gold  72.) Lady bugs  73.) Disney movies 74.) Beer gardens  75.) Summer whites  76.) Kentucky Rain by Elvis Presley 77.) Being alone to dream and scheme  78.) Track meets  79.) Crashing waves  80.) Sea breezes  81.) Electric pencil sharpeners  82.) Riding my bike on the Prom

That’s it folks. Stop smiling and go to bed.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Total Solar Eclipse

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Total Solar Eclipse

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics is a progressive political blog. Our aim is to offer earnest and honest opinions and speculations, and constructive arguments on the daily happenings in the U.S. political scene. Today however, I want to talk about the upcoming total solar eclipse. Mark your calendar for 8-21-2017, because on that date all of North America will experience a solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse is one of nature’s most inspiring and intimidating events. Calculations show it will take 1000 years for every geographic location in the lower 48 to view a total solar eclipse.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon covers the sun-an event where only the sun’s coronal atmosphere will be visible behind the moon. You must be “in the path” of the totality. If you are not, you will not see the total phase of the eclipse, and unfortunately, that is the show.

I live on the North Oregon Coast between Astoria and Seaside. The path of the August 2017 eclipse will be about an hour and a half south of me, coming across the continent just north of the small coastal community of Cloverdale, Oregon. I am quite familiar with the little town because one set of Aunts grew up in Cloverdale and nearby Neahkahnie. Amazing in my now aged mind that I will soon be headed back to a place of such fond childhood memories.

Reports from earlier total eclipse observers attest that about an hour to an hour and a half before totality you begin to notice the moon taking “bites” out of the sun. Over the next approximate hour the bites get bigger as the moon slowly covers the entire solar disk.

What we are actually witnessing is the movement of the moon in its orbit around the earth.  The next total solar eclipse is expected April 8, 2024. That eclipse will track from Texas to Maine. I like that the 2017 eclipse is so conveniently located. I’m getting pretty excited. I plan on getting up early that morning and heading south via #101. The eclipse is expected to start at 9:05 PDT and totality beginning at 10:17 (PDT)and will last two minutes. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed for at least a semi-clear day.

Thinking about the eclipse aroused my curiosity and I have done some reading and learned a few things that I thought were interesting facts and interesting enough to pass on.

The most important thing to know is NEVER look directly at the sun while any part of the bright disk is visible.  You must get filtered eyeglasses called “eclipse glasses” to be able to safely view the phenomenon. Once the eclipse becomes total you can look at it without the glasses because the moon is covering it and the sun will have a luminosity of a full moon. Be sure to remove the glasses once totality is achieved, otherwise you won’t see anything. Once the totality ends–immediately put the eclipse glasses back on.

A few other interesting facts I read:

The sky darkens in the last 2-3 minutes before the totality. The temperature will drop significantly, and the wind may pick up. Animals react as if the sun is setting and birds will roost and insects will chirp. At the very last instant before totality if you look to the West you will see a huge curtain of darkness spring up as the moon’s shadow rushes at the observer. Stars and planets will be visible.

So mark August 21,2017 on your calendar and throw politics aside and watch a sight that you will never forget. Be sure to set your camera up for breathtaking shots. Or you can just watch. Alone or in a group take it in.

Join the Resistance

Dar

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

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

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

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