Category: Donald J. Trump, President

Charitable Giving Stays ‘In House’ With Trump Family

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Charitable Giving Trump Style

D. S. Mitchell

About Calamity News

Calamity Politics is a progressive political blog published on the North Oregon coast.  Calamity News and Politics aims to present engaging political commentary and analysis, where we, in our own sarcastic and cynical  manner put a spotlight on interesting and topical news issues.  Since January 20th, 2017, Calamity Politics has focused its energies on keeping the media spotlight on the calamitous and outrageous scandals centering around the Trump Administration. The Trump family is a scandal factory.

Trump News

The headline news, and the back pages too, of  yesterday’s papers were full of juicy stories.  I know… I complain about it a lot. Too many absolutely incredible salacious stories for me to keep up with. Nobody can write fast enough. I keep struggling on, however. Trump’s Twitter Turds. Mar-a-lago advertisements on the White House website. Melania Trump advertising her jewelry on Pinterest.  Speaking of Melania; a whole crop of nude photos from the 1990’s have surfaced. Kellyanne Conway is hawking Ivanka Trump’s apparel in front of the Presidential Seal. It keeps me slack-jawed.

Arm Waving Outrage

Never in my lifetime could I have imagined such outrage. If you aren’t mad, I mean screaming, arm waving, foot stomping mad, you are not paying attention. Listen, ladies and gentlemen the ongoing scandals, brewing up from the sewer of corruption known as the Trump Administration, is beyond comparison. I am not even talking about the possible conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

The Eric Trump Foundation

The above three paragraphs were just me on a rant. Pardon me. The subject of today’s story is the manipulation and clear corruption of The Eric Trump Foundation by Donald Trump Sr. According to a Forbes story, in 2007 Eric Trump established the Eric Trump Foundation. The stated goal was to raise money for St. Jude’s Research Hospital. St. Jude’s is a hospital that specializes in cancer treatment of children. At that time, Eric chose several of his friends to sit on the board.

Initial Event

According to the promotional for the first event, The Eric Trump Foundation claimed costs would be minimal. Eric stated he could use the Trump National Golf Course, in Westchester County, New York for “free’. At the time Eric said, “We get to use our assets (the golf course) 100% free of charge.”

St. Jude’s Hospital

Information provided by several outlets including NBC, MSNBC, Forbes, and the Washington Post, show that Eric Trump delivered $11,000,000 between 2007 and 2015 to the St. Jude’s Research Hospital.  Sources further show that in addition to the $11 million Eric helped raise an extra $5,000,000 for St. Jude’s “through events hosted by other groups”.

Trump Sr Gets Involved

According to Eric Trump Foundation IRS filings the overhead cost of the golf course charity event was around $50,000, and although not “free” as claimed, certainly within reason for such an event. After 2010 apparently, Donald J. Trump, Sr caused expenses to more than double. A former employee, Ian Gillule, stated that Donald Sr. went on a terror when he learned that The Eric Trump Foundation wasn’t being “billed” for the club use. When the old guy flipped out according to Gillule he insisted that “EVERYONE” gets billed. From that point on, costs ballooned. In 2011 the costs were up to $142,000.  By 2015, the costs for the invitational golf event exceeded $322,000.

Excessive Fees

Forbes reported the increased costs for the tournaments coincided with two events. The first being Donald Trump, Sr deciding to “bill” the charity event.  Second, changes to The Eric Trump Foundation Board of Directors. Reports claim The Eric Trump Foundation began using its charitable status to “funnel” donations that donors believed were going to St. Jude’s Research Hospital, instead to The Trump Organization. This was done by charging excessive fees to use Trump properties during fundraisers, and then “re-donating” other funds to charities “friendly” to Trump interests.

Paying Daddy

Numerous news sources report The Eric Trump Foundation paid $1.2 million dollars to the Trump Organization between 2007 and 2015 despite Eric Trump’s claims they had “free” use of the links and buildings for the St. Jude’s event.  Based on filings from The Eric Trump Foundation and other charities, it becomes clear that the course was not free.

Watchdogs

Charity watchdogs told Forbes Magazine “the listed expenses defy any reasonable cost justification for a one-day golf tournament”. Dan Alexander writing for Forbes reported that they had uncovered that the Donald J. Trump Foundation, “apparently used Eric’s charity to funnel $100,000 into generating revenue for The Donald J. Trump Foundation.

Investigations

New York state is investigating The Donald J. Trump Foundation for its not so charitable activities. The president’s foundation had come under earlier scrutiny for “self dealing and advancing the interests of its namesake” rather than those of charity. Alexander wrote,”All of this seems to defy federal tax rules and state laws that ban self-dealing and misleading donors.  The Eric Trump Foundation suspended operations in December of 2016, after his father won the presidential election. Currently, Eric and Don Jr. are running the Trump Organization. That fact alone, raises larger questions about Trump family dynamics and whether Eric and Don Jr. are handling the Trump Org independent of their father

Hallucinating Mind

I think we all know there is no separation between the president and the affairs of the Trump Organization. The veil is obviously fake. It is clear old man remains involved in Trump Organization. Such activities should disqualify Trump from holding any public office, much less the presidency. Trump has not set up a blind trust by any stretch of the imagination. The Forbes story summation, “Altruism as a business development strategy isn’t necessarily illegal.  But, a situation in which outside donor money is redeployed away from the core mission in ways that seems to ultimately benefit the family that pays the majority of the Board is–at best–an appearance problem”.

Keeping It In House

Think about it. Just another example of the Trump family keeping the money ‘in house’. Remember, you can’t just sit around. These are challenging times. The president is head of a crime family. He must be replaced. Support the Resistance. Make a phone call, write a letter to the local newspaper, write a letter to your Senator, your representative. If you want to become more involved start a blog, march in a protest, run for office. Pick one small task each day, and do it.  It is the totality of action that moves mountains and societies.  Taking a phrase and reusing it in a whole new way, ‘just do it”.

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In My Opinion, Trump Is Delusional

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OPINION:

Trump Is Delusional

D. S. Mitchell

Twitter Turds

After two days of watching Trump Turds fly this way and that from his personal Twitter account, I believe that someone; his physician, a family member, the Senate Majority leader, SOMEBODY needs to step in and get this man a psychiatric evaluation. His deteriorating mental condition has been obvious since the inauguration. Trump’s behavior over the past 130 plus days reveals a man who is in uncertain control of his mental faculties.

Delusion And Reality Separated

Most professionals agree that Donald Trump suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The chaos and confusion of the move to Washington. The incredible responsibility of the Office.  His separation from the familiar. His isolation and incredible unpopularity are challenging Trump’s tenuous grasp on reality. I believe he is telling us through his aberrant behavior that he is losing contact with reality. It seems to have become more and more difficult for him, to separate delusion from reality.

The Last 48 Hours

The Trump craziness has been on full display for the world to see for the last 48 hours. His behavior is becoming increasingly dangerous, in my opinion. This is an appeal for someone in power to investigate the president’s capacity to head our government.  We have entered unexplored territory with this president. I know I have heard that phrase before, but I’m taking it very seriously. Our existence as a country could be in the hands of a madman and it is imperative that men of stature and patriotism intervene, while they are still able.

Appreciate You

Calamity Politics is a progressive blog that comments, analyzes and offers opinions on the headline news of the day. Feel free to comment on what you read on this site. I appreciate your comments. I do ask that you keep your comments decent and printable. If you curse and act like a fool I will not print your opinion. Otherwise, I will be happy to present your dissenting opinion.

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President Steven Bannon??

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President Steve Bannon??

D. S. Mitchell

Changing Situation

Two weeks ago, the political landscape around Steve Bannon was slipping away. Rumors had tapped Mr. Bannon as part of the garbage being tossed from the White House, in a pending White House shakeup. Bannon had come up against a real insider, Trump son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Bannon had emerged  wounded by the warfare. But, Bannon is a scoundrel and is believed to have  “leaked” information on Kushner’s pre and post-election Russian activities. By the time Kushner returned from The Trump Circus Tour, Kushner faced hostility from every media source in the United States.

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Sad And Stupid

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Sad And Stupid

D. S. Mitchell

Really Stupid

On Tuesday, comedienne Kathy Griffin posted a video of herself holding up a catsup covered fake head. The fake head represented Donald J. Trump, president of the United States. Why Ms Griffin thought that such a stunt would be funny is beyond me, but, she did. Satisfied with her work, she sent the video  out to the world. An angry Trump world slapped back. The slap back included job loss. She was fired from her regular New Year’s Eve gig with Anderson Cooper. There may have been some other show cancellations that I didn’t hear about.

Don’t Worry Kathy

My first reaction was to tell Kathy not to worry. I think she will be fine, these things blow over. For God sakes, Melania Trump is laying naked with other women in photo layouts spread all over the internet. Donald is on tape saying he grabs women by their pussy. Jared Kushner is meeting with Russian bankers and Russian government officials secretly. Steve Bannon wants to de-construct the government. And, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Kathy’s severed head stunt was ugly, dumb, stupid, and inappropriate. However, I believe Kathy, who apparently is socially clueless, is still entitled to her right of free speech. And, I would like to remind everyone that Kathy Griffin apologized. Which she should have done.

Keep Showing It

Keep in mind, Trump glorifies in his refusal to apologize, and his followers don’t apologize. Does that mean Kathy is being held to a different or unrealistic standard? I don’t know. I’m just talking, like a lot of us do. Quite honestly, I think it is amazing to watch the GOP scream about the horrible picture of Kathy Griffin holding Trump’s severed head, while choosing to show it repeatedly in a quickly assembled campaign ad directed against Democrat Jon Osloff. Osloff is in a tight special election race against Republican Karen Handel for Georgia’s vacant sixth district seat.

Tea Party Comedienne

Donald Trump is a bully who NEVER apologizes and thinks its ok to insult people, whole countries, and religions. So, why is it such a big deal to make fun of this bathtub bully? It doesn’t seem much different from what I saw after President Obama won election in 2008. Those Tea Party crazies had their freedom of speech. I thought their antics were horrendous and appalling, but I heard no apologies. Those rude, loud and offensive folks paraded all over the country with effigies of President Obama. I remember vividly seeing folks walking around with effigies of President Obama that had a lynch man’s rope wrapped around Mr. Obama’s neck. There were pictures on the internet showing President Obama hanging by his neck from a rope and being lighted on fire by some ‘comedienne’.

Recent History

The lynching of a black man in America is a very recent part of our history, and those Tea Party protest scenes, to me, were absolutely appalling. It would have been less offensive if they had held up a fake severed head of Barack Obama. The reference to lynching of a black man in America is about as ugly as it gets. So, what am I saying? I don’t know, exactly. Maybe that the Tea Party activities numbed my senses. Why should the sight Donald Trump’s severed head be any worse than the image of a lynched Barack Obama?

My Mission

My mission is to connect with the angry and the outraged liberals of our country who are fucking sick of the Republicans and their war on every vulnerable element of our society.

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Trump Silliness

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Trump Silliness

D. S. Mitchell

I know that yesterday, Calamity Politics veered off course when I did my ‘Sunday thing’. Today I should be settling down and writing my usual intuitive and imaginative political blog comment, but I am still reeling from mounting disclosures leaking from every government orifice, as the terrified bureaucracy, and White House staffers, spill their guts ‘off record’ in an effort to save our democracy and our cherished institutions.

Blogger Id

We need every leaker and whistle blower we can find to stop Trump and Pence. Usually I don’t mention Pence, however if we are going to push for impeachment of Trump we must also ensnare Pence. Pence has been ‘protected’ so far, but I’m sure that he is seriously involved in the collusion aspect of the campaign. We must never forget, he was brought on board by Manafort. He was there, in the inner circle, surrounded by Trump, Flynn, Sessions and all those Russians. The last thing we want in the White House is that smooth talking, MC looking troll of the right.

Because the media, the bureaucracy and the Democrats are running point for me I am going to, once again, in two days straight, try to use my political voice to lighten the mood for a moment. So, here’s a few comments overheard at the Fort George Brewery, Astoria, OR.

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Trump Scandal Report and More

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Trump Scandal Report and More

D. S. Mitchell

As Calamity Politics’ chief spokesperson, I want readers to know that I am a progressive that attempts to be relevant, topical and hopefully engaging in my coverage of the U.S. political scene. The television screen has erupted, like I have never seen, at least not since the last days of Nixon. I went to bed with the kerfuffle screaming from every channel except FoxNews, (Hannity) which was still talking about Comey. I couldn’t watch that show very long, before I said to myself, bedtime.

This morning, I woke up early, so at 0400 I hit the remote and flipped through a couple of channels, before joining Joe and Mika. Everyone was talking over one another and there was an obvious level of excitement.

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Trump Derangement Syndrome

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Trump Derangement Syndrome

D. S. Mitchell

The first place I ever saw the term ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ was in a December 2016 LA Times Op Ed, written by Justin Raimondo, the editorial director of Antiwar.com. Justin Raimondo, a Republican, is a self described “conservative-paleo-libertarian” whatever that is supposed to mean. Wikipedia calls it a philosophy that is “in opposition to social progressivism”. I give you this little tidbit to allow you to appropriately weigh his comments.

In his Op Ed, Raimondo states the Trump Derangement Syndrome disorder developes in stages. I will briefly outline those stages of development as Raimondo describes them:

In the early stages of his described ‘disease,’ the victims “lose all sense of proportion.” In Trump’s case, “every tweet arouses a firestorm” of reaction.

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Another OMG Day

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Another OMG Day

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics is the place for relevant, topical and engaging coverage of the U.S. political scene. Please join me today as I examine the good, the bad, the planned and the unplanned of today’s headline political conversation.

The news media has been churning out so much sludge since Monday that I have decided to just touch on each topic briefly.

Headline: Sally Talks. Sally Yates former acting Attorney General of the United States appeared in a high profile televised congressional hearing on May 8, 2017. She shared the witness table with former Director of National Intelligence now retired, James Clapper. The subcommittee has been designated to investigate the Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election.

Lt. General Michael Flynn is a central figure in the aforementioned investigation. Sally Yates came to Capital Hill to testify as to when the Justice Department warned the Trump White House of Flynn’s possible illegal contacts with the Russian government.

Ms. Yates, was fired by President Trump. Trump claimed that Yates was fired because she refused to defend Trump’s first travel ban. However, that may not be the real motive for the firing. When you look at the timeline of the events President Trump’s claims become questionable.

Yates said that on 1/26/2017 she had a meeting with White House Counsel Don McGahn for the purpose of alerting the White House that the sitting NSA could be a danger to the country. The DOJ led by Yates, believed Flynn, was “compromised with respect to the Russians.”

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Keep Smiling Sucker

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Keep Smiling Sucker

D. S. Mitchell

I started writing the Calamity Politics blog to present the urgent political news of the day. I take pride in presenting current and meaningful issues in the hope of connecting with people that have similar political leanings. There is also a bit of silliness, now and then.

I want to be a supportive voice of the “Resistance”. I, like so many others this political season have become unbelievably energized by the election of Donald Trump. He defines everything I don’t want in a man; much less a president. I have never previously been ashamed of a U.S. president, but knowing that Donald Trump is the “face of America,” truly sickens me.

I am sure we can defeat this megalomaniac and his science rejecting policies and his Fossil Fuel Agenda. None of us can do it alone. We need to bind together. It is together that we can keep the heat on these thugs and hoodlums; by our sheer numbers. Whether by impeachment, implementation of Amendment 25, or some other means Donald J. Trump will be removed from office before the end of his term. That conviction keeps me writing, talking and networking every day. I hope all my readers make that their mission also.

Donald Trump is one of the biggest phonies in U.S. history and he is now President of the United States and I’m worried that he will make as big a mess out of the United States government as he did his own personal finances.

Donald Trump began working for his father’s real estate company in 1972 after graduating from the Wharton School of Business with a degree in Economics. From the beginning Donald was better at self-promoting than actually making any money. It is estimated that when Fred Trump, Sr died in 1999 Donald Trump inherited something in the neighborhood of 100-200 million dollars.

According to the Associated Press, if Donald Trump had done nothing more than place his inheritance into index funds his net worth today would exceed 13 Billion dollars. Estimates project his current net worth is far from that dazzling amount. So, after all the ballyhoo and boasting he is rich because he was born rich. He could have been stratospherically wealthy if he had done nothing. Funny, in a peculiar way.

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50 Trump Adjectives

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50 Trump Adjectives

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics is happy to announce that I, Editor-in-Chief, the only Editor-in-Fact, am going to devote the entire first political blog post of the day to a really nasty game.

The ‘game’ will not distract from my usual in-depth political coverage; that will come later. LOL. My regular readers know that the ‘in-depth’ description is probably a bit misleading.

I’m decently polite and tend to shyness. Rarely do I attack. But today, as I was driving back home from the Acupuncturist this morning, I started thinking about Donald J.Trump, 45th President of the United States, con-man, self-promoter and started tossing adjectives around in my head as I made the drive from Cannon Beach to Surf Pines.

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