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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40 Reasons To Smile

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40 Reasons To Smile

D. S. Mitchell

Relish Routine

Here at Calamity Politics, a Monday is pretty much the same as a Wednesday, or a Sunday.  I’m not complaining. In fact, I relish it. I am an individual that loves routine. Up at 5:00, in the pool @5:45, walk the dog at 7:30, coffee @8:30. @9:00 I start to read the Washington Post, or the N.Y. Times, checking to see what’s breaking in the political news orbit. You get the idea, I love routine.

What Makes Me Smile

But, at least once a week, I need to consciously think about how blessed I am, and all the things that make me happy, and never fail to bring a smile to my face.  Here’s 40 Things To Make You Smile Today:

  •  Painting old wood furniture
  •  Danish Brie and California Chardonnay
  •  New shoes
  •  Nap time
  •  Planetarium
  •  Palladian style windows
  •  Flower baskets
  •  Irish tweeds
  •  My dog, Lily
  •  Whales and elephants
  •  Finding a box of old black and white photos
  •  Taking a Community College class
  •  Towel warmers
  •   Reading my daily horoscope
  •   Bobble-Head toys in the back window of a car
  •   Frost crystals
  •   Street musicians
  •   ‘Lauren’, perfume
  •   Glass bowl filled with sun bleached shells
  •   A three-day week-end
  •   My iPhone
  •   Antique mirrors
  •   Orchids
  •   Travel magazines
  •   Roller coasters
  •   Drawstring sweat pants
  •   Little boxes of Sunshine raisins
  •   Hummingbirds
  •   Listening to Patsy Cline
  •   Indian Madras
  •   Holding a baby in my arms
  •   Sharing a banana split with a calorie counting friend
  •   A child’s handmade card
  •   Author book signings
  •   Reading scandal magazines at the checkout stand
  •   Having help with a big job
  •   My kitchen junk drawer
  •   Wrist corsage
  •  Pagodas in the mist
  •  Fog horns in the night

I’m about to go fly a kite. It is just about a perfect day for kite flying, clear sky, great breeze and a lonely beach. Have a great week, and remember we always have time, to smile.

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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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Trump Attacks Environment

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Trump Attacks Environment

D. S. Mitchell

Turned Upside Down

Huge crowds turned out around the world for the Earth Day/Science March.  The politics of our environment has been turned upside down. The election of Donald Trump, has done what seemed impossible less than six months ago. Trump, supported by the anti-environment extremists in the House and Senate are about to rip the guts out of our environmental safeguards. The unimagined threat is now looming as a chilling possibility.

Chilling Headlines

Recent headlines include:  “U.S. Abandons Paris Climate Agreement”.  “Clean air and Water Protections Repealed”. “Trump Approves Keystone XL Pipeline”. “Congress Moves to Privatize Public Lands”.  David Goldston of the Natural Resources Defense Fund has been vocal in condemnation.”The next four years are likely to bring a more sustained barrage of attacks on our environment than we have ever seen.” His  dire predictions continue. “What we’re facing is an all-out assault on our bedrock environmental laws by a party in the grips of a radical ideology.  Not only do they want to undo the progress made during the eight years of the Obama presidency; they want to turn back the clock of a half-century or more of hard-won environmental protections.”

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BLACKWATER PRINCE

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Blackwater Prince

D. S. Mitchell

**Digby Parton for Salon, and Jeremy Scahill for Intercept, have provided most of the investigative information for this story.  Calamity Politics, does not have the ability to do investigative journalism, but instead relies on several reporting sources to bring a story to my readers. The comments and analysis are all D.S.M. 

Who Is Erik Prince?

Erik Prince, is the billionaire Navy Seal and one time owner of Blackwater USA, is in the crosshairs today.  Prince owned the renegade mercenary company when they worked in Iraq.  The private military company was plagued with reports of beatings and theft. In 2007 while guarding an allied convoy, Blackwater soldiers opened fire on unarmed Iraqi citizens, including women and children in Nisour Place, Bagdad.  The massacre killed 17 and wounded 20.

Family Ties

The guilty were prosecuted, after several stops and starts,  the Feds convicted one man of murder, he got 30 years.  Four other Blackwater defendants received lesser sentences. The disgraced billionaire sold Blackwater. Since then he has done financial consulting. A couple of interesting facts have emerged recently. First, Prince’s  sister is the newly appointed and controversial Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.  Second, he is the son of a billionaire far right-wing activist, who spent millions of dollars to push his beliefs legislatively, and as Betsy said, “We expect results, when we give money.”

Back Door

Erik Prince was with Trump on election night.  Prior to the election, Prince would sneak in the back door of Trump Tower, so as not to be seen by the gaggle of reporters in the lobby. When questioned on the Prince association with the Trump campaign, Sean Spicer, denied there was any involvement between the Blackwater founder and the White House. “If there had been an association,” Spicer said, “it was insignificant.” Despite denials of a close relationship between Prince and Trump it is clear that Prince is giving  intel and defense advice. Prince has been a close associate of Mike Pence. Both have an extreme right-wing “militant theocratic worldview,” Salon reported.

On Intel Radar

“Considering that Trump’s knowledge of world affairs can barely fill a shot glass, seeing Erik Prince among the inner circle of advisors is unnerving,” said an inside source, “he has gone off the rails and has exposed many U.S. citizens to criminal liability.” Prince currently lives in Abi Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  Prince a shadowy figure is known to be under investigation by the Dept of Justice and several other agencies for suspected money laundering, and attempts to broker military services of foreign governments. Erik Prince is aware and angry over the surveillance. He has complained loudly that his movements are constantly monitored.  Numerous associates have acknowledged that the government has warned them to, “cease doing business with him. He is on the radar of every Intel service in the world.”

Breitbart Interview

In July 2016, Erik Prince was on Steve Bannon’s Breitbart radio program.  At the time Prince pushed ” a kill/capture” program that the U.S. used in Vietnam.  Prince suggest the need for a “Phoenix program”  to deal with Islamic terrorists. He called it an “assassination ring”. More recently, Erik Prince met for two days in the Seychelles with officials from the Russian government as an  “emissary” from the Trump campaign.

Another Russian Connection

Another, Trump-Russian association. I can’t imagine this. I remember hiding under my desk because the Russians were going the kill me with an atomic bomb.  Now, I find out that the Russians are here running our government. I pray that the conspiracy/collusion stories are false, but I doubt it. If there was no collusion, why are all these meetings secret? I want to get to the bottom of the Russian election interference. The stonewalling at the legislative investigative committee level, gives me deep concerns. Partisanship appears to be guiding the congressional investigation. I truthfully believe this association between the Russian government and the Trump campaign could spell the death to our democracy.

Mission

I will continue to write about the headline news of the day, and the urgent political stories that are keeping Americans awake at night. The political drum beat is pounding irritably. I believe the Republic is in great danger and if there was ever a need to raise your voice, now is that time.

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Ethics, No Worries

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Ethics, No Worries

D. S. Mitchell

Dog Ownership

It was 10:00 in the morning before the rain stopped.  My dog, Lily, had become quite irritated with me by this time. I had refused to endure a downpour to take her for her ritual 7:30 am walk and instead had pushed her butt out the door to do her business in the yard.  These are the kind of things that start slowly, and before you know it, the dog is in charge. I should probably resume reruns of The Dog Whisperer.

Just The Headlines

Political news and world news are sharing a lot of media space today.  Please, humor me dear reader, as I write a couple of paragraphs for the Calamity Politics blog site for each breaking story, rather than focus on a specific topic of political investigation and analysis.

1.) Bill O’Reilly: Settlements payments totaling $13,000,000 paid over a decade were exposed this week. Those payments, disguised with some bookkeeping trickery kept the payments secret from the public, the FCC and Fox shareholders. The revelation cost Bill O’Reilly his job. A Murdock spokesman announced that Bill O’Reilly had been fired.

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“I’m A Smart Guy”

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I’m A Really Smart Guy

By D. S. Mitchell

Behind My Desk

Calamity Politics is a political news blog reacting to the world around us through analysis, and commentary. The topics change, but my passion for the news and political policy remains hot. I hope that never changes. The activities in Washington, D. C. affect our lives in a wide range of ways. When those results are harmful to the citizenry emotions run hot. Information is important to keep us informed and involved. If you do nothing else, stay tuned in and participate.

Donald Says

Donald Trump claims, “I’m a really smart guy”. Self evaluation by a diagnosed Narcissistic Personality Disordered person must be measured by the facts, not his bellicose statements.

Grow Into The Job

Today, I want to talk about Donald Trump’s “growth.”  A widespread pundit theory has it that Donald Trump is “learning and growing” into the job. Apparently, some people feel comfortable watching Trump learn on the job. I do not. He is the president of the United States, not an apprentice grocery checker.

Campaigning

On the campaign stump, Trump often said running the country was, “so  easy, folks.” The fast talking New York con artist told audiences that Washington wasn’t working because, all those people are “too stupid” and “too corrupt,” to make it work. Finishing with, “I can make it work”. Big claims for a guy who was a historic failure at most everything. He went through bankruptcy six times, married three times and avoided military service with doubtful claims of “bone spurs”. Even more important, he never served in government, and was never elected to office, not even in high school or college.

Lots Of Drama

Trump’s simplistic claims resonated with a lot of people. The speeches ginned up and excited the attendees. “Lock her up.” “Drain the swamp.” Heated rhetoric spun by a know-nothing television celebrity drew big crowds across the country. The violent overtones of the rallies were palpable. Drama, lots of drama. It never seemed real. But, it was. And Trump is now president. The hell with government policy. The hell with experience and knowledge.  Who cares that people are suffering  around this country.  These are vulnerable people who depend on good government to help them with housing, health care, education and food security.

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The Deepening Swamp

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The Deepening Swamp

D. S. Mitchell

Diggin’ For Dirt

As a political junkie, my ears perked up when I heard the White House Visitor Log will no longer be publicly available. Journalists and nosy neighbor’s are similar in some respects. We want to know what’s going on. It just drives us bird dogs, tail chasing crazy when there are secrets. It makes no sense to me. Why would an administration that is already embroiled in multiple scandals, on multiple fronts, decide to hide the visitor log information?

It Is Obvious

The answer is obvious. The White House does not want the public to know which corporate executives, lobbyists and other people of interest visit the West Wing of the White House. The more the President and his associates try to run a secret government, the more we will investigate. Us nasty, disgusting, journalists will dig around to uncover “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why” and “how”. And, that process all starts with the basic, “why”?

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55 Things To Smile About

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55 Things To Smile About

D. S. Mitchell

Neighborly Invitation

It’s Easter Sunday. So far, very quiet around here. My neighbor stopped by and invited me to come over for fresh caught BBQ’d Halibut steaks. I’m vegetarian, so not too excited about the prospect. After she invited me, she laughed and said, “I always forget you only eat plants. Come over anyway, I think we can find something for you to eat!”

“It’s okay, I feel like writing,” I volunteered, declining the invitation to mercury poisoning. Only, joking. I don’t want to be sued for causing a down turn in the fishing industry.

Activism

It’s Easter, so I think I will up the ante on my regular Sunday posting of Reasons to Smile. Sometimes, as I write my posts for Calamity Politics, I feel frustrated, and wonder if all my angst will translate into political benefit for a Progressive/Liberal agenda. As a political activist, I hope that my topics are interesting and are helpful in developing voter awareness, citizen participation, and policy implementation. I am confident that with a revved up base, it is possible to move the government to blue. In other wards, I am hoping that my little political blog will help shape a few ideas.

A Hardening Line

The U.S. political world has become radicalized. Right, versus Left. Left, versus right. There has ceased to be a middle ground. I am part of that division between policy systems. I have always considered myself a moderate with liberal leanings. Under the new nomenclature I have been forced severely to the left, mainly because the right has moved so far right, that I have no other choice. The severity of the right push, has caused a hardening of my ideology, and that of many other citizens, as well.

Trump Derangement Syndrome

Fareed Zakaria, warned viewers this morning to avoid developing, “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” I think he made an interesting point, and I will actually address “Trump Derangement Syndrome” in another blog post. Until then, here are

55 Things To Smile About:

1.) Muscle cars 2.) Identical twins 3.) Beach fires 4.) Secret language of kids 5.) The NBA 6.) House boating, Lake Shasta 7.) Digging Night Crawlers 8.) Easter egg hunts 9.) Bird houses 10.) Shelling peanuts 11.) Mom’s Lemon Meringue pie 12.) A quiet corner 13.) Pendleton plaid 14.) Short people 15.) Homemade onion rings 16.) Eric Clapton 17.) Glass blowing 18.) Auctions 19.) Gift cards 20.) Death Valley in the Spring 21.) Qi (Chi) 22.) Kids in sandboxes 23.) Frosty windows 24.) Steens Mountain 25.) Stereo earphones 26.) Off-season rates 27.) Soap bubbles 28.) Wind-up toys 29.) Roller rinks 30.) Bread pudding 31.) An extra sharp pencil 32.) Full length mirror 33.) Daffy Duck 34.) Aria’s parrot, Sky 35.) The Simpson’s 36.) Ice sculptures 37.) Astronomy 38.) Costco samples 39.) The World Series 40.) Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey, Ca 41.) Clearance sales 42.) Gummy bears 43.) Cummerbunds 44.) Country Stores 45.) Confetti 46.) Chandeliers 47.) Montana 48.) Food trucks 49.) Short skis 50.) Funny T-shirt comments 51.) Primroses 52.) Prom dresses 53.) Thrift stores 54.) Waterfront houses 55.) Bubble gum

Okay, friends keep smiling, I need to open the door again to let Lily in.

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Trump Claims Immunity

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Trump Claims Immunity

D. S. Mitchell

Lily

I’m still pounding out blog posts, between answering the Calamity Politics phone and letting the dog in and then out. It is a game Lily likes to play. But, her game is torture to me. If you have a dog you get it. If you have a cat, you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Turn It Off

I turned off the television, quieting the week-end political news shows. I am sick of hearing about North Korean military parades, and listening to the “what we will do next” scenarios. There are several old stories that don’t want to die. This Trump news story began several years ago. And as with most court cases I expect it to drag on a ridiculously long time.

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