Waxing specific: Donald Trump and his 'bunch of criminals' By Steve Benen

02/28/18 01:06PM 

  When Donald Trump's White House was originally pressed to explain some of the more scandalous people in the president's orbit, the original line was to pretend they were peripheral figures whom Trump barely knew. Paul Manafort? A volunteer who was only around for a few months. Carter Page? Never heard of him.

This week, however, a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders what it says about Trump's judgment that some of his campaign staffers "turned out to be criminals." She replied, "Look, I think that those are issues that took place long before they were involved with the president."

Strictly speaking, that's not even close to being true. Michael Flynn, for example, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia during the president's transition period. Rick Gates pleaded guilty to a crime he committed literally this month. We're not talking about misdeeds from these guys' college years; these are recent transgressions.
But Sanders' obviously deceptive argument notwithstanding, let's not miss the forest for the trees: the broader point is that during Donald Trump's brief political career, he's surrounded himself with a fair number of criminals.

The Atlantic's David Graham had a good piece this week on the scandal that's "already in plain sight."

Every administration ends up producing examples of corruption and lying, but most presidents take years, and often more than one term, to produce a ledger even half so extensive as what Trump has managed in barely a year in office.
It's an old trope to imagine how lonely the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who famously walked around with a lamp seeking an honest man, would feel visiting the American capital. In Trump's Washington, even the hard-bitten cynic might despair.

The first place to start is with the number of people from the president's political operation who've already pleaded guilty to a series of crimes: Flynn, Gates, George Papadopoulos, and others.

Then there's Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who hasn't pleaded guilty, but who's already been indicted on a lengthy list of charges.
Of course, Special Counsel Robert Mueller is hardly done, and we know others whose actions have drawn scrutiny -- including the president himself, who may have obstructed justice.

NBC News’ Benjy Sarlin noted the other day that pollsters and pundits often say that explaining the Trump-Russia scandal can be difficult, but “it’s still surprising to me Democrats haven’t found some simple message just around having a bunch of senior figures tied to the president indicted, full stop.”

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes had a recommendation: “The president hired a bunch of criminals to run and staff his campaign and put one in charge of national security.”

But there’s no need to stop there. An alarming number of members from Trump’s cabinet have faced a variety of other misdeeds, which may not be criminal, but which involve serious allegations of ethical lapses and possible misuse of public funds. One such cabinet member has already resigned In disgrace.

In many administrations, there’s something known as “the second-term curse.” The idea behind the phrase is that a White House team will cut corners and make avoidable mistakes in their first terms, and these misdeeds start to catch up with them in their second terms. For example, before Trump, only two American presidents have ever been the subject of federal criminal inquiries – Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton – and both ran into trouble in their second terms. One was impeached, the other resigned.
Trump appears to be on an expedited schedule.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/donald-trump-and-his-bunch-criminals

The Real-Life Black Panthers Liberated Concentration Camps and then click on the link to a poem "The Black Messiah" by Sonia Weiz, a Holocaust survivor

Susie DavidsonCommunity Contributor to the Forward

My FB friend: Susie Davidson is a Boston-based contributor to the Huffington Post, the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz and other media. She has authored books on the Holocaust and written two poetry collections. Her next book will examine the continuing social and political influences of punk rock.
read more

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward.

The Real-Life Black Panthers Liberated Concentration Camps

• February 27, 2018

National ArchivesNegro Marines, attached to the Third Ammunition Company, take time out from supplying ammunition to the front line on Saipan. Riding captured…bicycle is Pfc. Horace Boykin; and left to right, Cpl. Willis T. Anthony, Pfc. Emmitt Shackelford, and Pfc. Eugene Purdy.

The superhero film ‘Black Panther’ pulled in a record-breaking $192 million on its debut weekend. It was also the highest grossing opening weekend of any February, and one of the top 15 global debuts in history.
“Black Panther” will likely also break the box-office record for a movie directed by a black filmmaker, currently held by Sidney Poitier’s 1980 comedy Stir Crazy.

Clearly, Disney’s mythical King of the African nation Wakanda has charmed the public — The Black Panthers will surely once again serve as a major point of pride for people of African descent all over the world.

Once again?

The original Black Panther story is even more heroic than its fictional counterpart.

The original Black Panthers were the 761st Tank Battalion, the first all-Black armored battalion of World War II. Their logo depicting a black panther, as well as their nickname, was later adopted by the radical 1960s group.

The unit’s 36 officers included baseball star Jackie Robinson, although he did not see action in Europe because he was embroiled in a court battle stemming from his refusal to give up his seat on a military bus. Charges against his Rosa Parks-esque action were eventually dropped.
The unit’s 676 enlisted men, who endured racist taunting in the U.S. as well as from some fellow GIs and officers in Europe, only got to go overseas because of the pleading of Eleanor Roosevelt. Once there, and in spite of this shameful start, they battled superheroically — in the truest sense of the term.

The Black Panthers fought major battles in six European countries, and were part of four major Allied campaigns, despite nightmarish weather, impossibly challenging terrain for tanks, a consistently massive enemy presence, the loss of 71 tanks, and the general horrors of war.

Beginning on November 7, 1944, the Battalion served for over 183 consecutive days at the head of Patton’s Third Army. Most units served for one or two weeks only at the front line, but there they fought, suffering a 50 percent casualty rate, in the Battle of the Bulge in Tillet, France, the Battle of the Rhine, and many other major conflicts.
The unit bored a hole in the Siegfried Line, through which Patton’s 4th Armored Division advanced into Germany. The 761st fought in France, Belgium, and Germany, and at the River Steyr in Austria, they were one of the first American forces to join with the Soviet Army of Ukranians in Austria.

In May, 1945, they participated in the liberation of Gunskirchen, a subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp.
Sonia Weitz, who was liberated from Mauthausen, wrote about The Black Panthers’ role in her poem The Black Messiah.
The Black Panthers captured, decimated or helped to liberate over 30 towns, as well as four airfields and three ammunition supply sites, and took out 461 wheeled vehicles, 34 tanks, 113 large guns, and thousands of weapons.

The State of Israel officially recognized the Battalion, as did President Jimmy Carter, who issued a Presidential Unit Citation for Extraordinary Heroism to the 761st.

Unit members also received four campaign ribbons (for battle in Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe), 11 Silver Stars, 69 Bronze Stars, and approximately 300 Purple Hearts.
As for Patton, he told them that he did not care what color they were, as long as they “went out and killed the kraut sons of b******.”
“Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you,” he told them. “Most of all, your race is looking forward to your success. Don’t let them down, and, damn you, don’t let me down!” They most certainly did not.

Read more: https://forward.com/scribe/395196/the-real-life-black-panthers-liberated-concentration-camps/

A Beating Heart

There is so much that is so bad for a nation in the hands of the chief executive schemer Trump, the biggest conman ever sold.  Our nation is in a national security nightmare, compromised beyond reason by the know nothing in the oval office and his Republican enablers.  The king of bankruptcy president of the most powerful nation in the world no one can stop and worse many Republicans do not want to stop him. We are trapped and I see no way out except through the brilliant efforts of the Republican special prosecutor.  Mr. Mueller, you are in democracy's emergency room trying desperately to save a nation on the brink of flat-line.  Trump's offenses are too gargantuan to mention here but the stealing of the 2016 presidential election by Russian meddling is the arrow that pierced our nation's heart attempting to fatally wound it.  The president does nothing to stop the bleeding.

If Democrats were doing all that this know nothing president is doing with a majority in Congress making it possible Democrats would be existentially crushed.  If a Democratic president had the plethora of business conflicts around the globe and hired a team of self interested traitors to captain the ship, if Democrats allowed an adversarial Russia to attack the very heart of our democracy, they would be pilloried, impeached at the top and convicted in a heartbeat second.  Yet now we are stymied. How can a party whose anti Russian policy was the centrifugal force of who they were now simply fold like a wilting flower allowing Trump-sanctioned Russian illegalities to continue?  Has this president attained that much power that all the agencies responsible for our national security can do nothing? Does the minority in Congress have so little power that they, too, cannot put end to this treasonous madness?

I do not get it! My hopes are on Special Prosecutor Mueller but I worry.  Can he do it all and worst of all will the psychotic-in-chief fire him and pardon the treasonous? 

The most power in a democracy lies with the electorate. Even now Democrats are flipping once deep red seats in special elections all over the nation.  Even Texas could emphasis on could turn blue.  We must continue to thwart this menace to our democracy through the 2018 election and on to the 2020 presidential as our crackpot president is now unashamedly preparing for his reelection.  A horrific reelection possibility must NOT happen.  We will be, if not presently we are, a wholly owned subsidiary of Russia and even of other adversarial nations as blackmail by them is in the air. Our allies, too, do not trust us and are deserting this nation like rats on a sinking ship.  The Titanic America is going down and only YOU can prevent it from sinking into the abyss.

RESIST as you have never resisted before and pass this on to anyone in any state you wish! Vote Democrat in 2018 and 2020 to resuscitate the nation that once had a beating heart!

Neo-Nazi Chat Logs Reveal Chilling Praise For Slaying Of Gay Jewish Student My Comment: What Drumpf has wrought

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/atomwaffen-chat-logs-gay-j…

Neo-Nazi Chat Logs Reveal Chilling Praise For Slaying Of Gay Jewish Student

"Members of the hate group Atomwaffen have been linked to five killings in recent months."

huffingtonpost.com

My Comment:  What Drumpf has wrought. Once unthinkable, Neo Nazi murderers now have a place at the right wingnut table Drumpf has set! Drumpf may not say it in so many words but they know by the few words he has said about them after their Charlottesville,Virginia, Tiki Torch march and ensuing violence resulting in the death of Heather Heyer protesting against the extremist right that he thinks at least some of the marchers are "fine people!" Fine people my posterior!




RESIST!

In blow to Trump, Supreme Court won’t hear appeal of DACA ruling

THUMBS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/supreme-court-won-t-hear-daca-case-n851186

Suggestion

Since I do not have time this is a short suggestion to watch Rachel Maddow from last evening.  Her program was in two words amazing and brilliant.  The swamp

Gates and Manafort are in is the eighth wonder of the world.  Rachel explains the sickeningly corrupt nature of two of the biggest players

close to Drumpf--Gates and Manifort.  Gates plead guilty to a financial Disneyland of illegal, complex but understandable crimes if you listen to her.  If you listen to Rachel closely she defines the issues.

Let's put it this way if I were involved in any way in this administration (PERISH the thought) I could kiss goodbye to sleep.  Inever would.  Then again I have a moral compass as strong as a brick.  My mother would be sitting on my shoulder threatening to ruin my world. I do notknow how these guys end up doing such major crimes and ones against their country.  Many will end up jailed.  Money that's their world and that's all Republicans care about which is why they can vote against the poor, against health care, against people with disabilities and so much more.   Democrats do their own share of corrupt and greed but NOT in the same way and not as saturating their entire world.  That's the difference between Republicans and Democrats.  Turn Rachel on if you have taped her or go to her MSNBC web page if you want to know a more detailed but intelligible explanation.

When this is all over IF it ever is there will be libraries full of Trump and his merry men, how they got to where they did and how the corruptness was exposed.  There are indictments galore and guilty pleas of four including indictments of 16 Russians.  Rats will be jumping a sinking ship.

No time to go into detail but if you want to know the hell the Drumpf presidency has entered, simply watch Rachel.  She is amazing!  I thank god she is on the progressive side.

BIG NEWS!!!!!!! Rick Gates, Trump Campaign Aide, to Plead Guilty in Mueller Inquiry and Cooperate

The plot sickens!  Manifort now in a world of trouble. Now indicted in DC and Virginia.  He could spend the rest of his life in prison.  No one would want to walk in his shoes.  Given spending the rest of your life in prison or giving up Drumpf ... what would you choose?  

So Flynn, Pappandouplous, Van der Zwaan worked on Ukraine report coordinated by Manafort, and Gates,

Four of them have plead guilty!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/us/politics/rick-gates-guilty-plea-mueller-investigation.html

Trump announces sanctions against North Korea but not Russia?

What about the sanctions against Russia that Congress approved? Drumpf is not signing the bill for those sanctions. Why? It falls into the other categories of kissing Putin but not punishing him for ANYTHING. What is that all about? I think most know.

Oh let's not take advantage of the thaw between North and South Korea after over 50 years of an anxiety ridden hair trigger boundary stare off between the two. South Korea is right in the bullseye of a nuclear North attack. Unless Trump thinks that he himself is threatened he does not give a damn about anyone else. What Cretan did Drumpf's mother produce? He is evil in the flesh.  If I were a religious Christian I would say he is the devil incarnate but I'm not so I'll just stick to the fact that he rose from the primordial slime and is the very swamp he mendaciously promised he would drain. Can't drain it if your part OF it! UGLY!...


RESIST

Trump Promotes Arming Teachers

The president rarely if ever thinks things through. Larry O'Donnell had a segment on devoted to the realities of arming teachers with a gun. The first shot he said, with statistical evidence, often misses giving the shooter time to kill others and most probably the teacher him or herself. The teacher could easily shoot the wrong person missing the shooter but wounding or killing someone else including one of his own students.

Moreover, arming and training expertly teachers would be one of Herculean costs. Trump just cut money to education. In a day when some teachers are forced to purchase their own items for their class I suggest no one, least of all this Trump education slashing administration, would pony up that cost. Maybe Trump would pay out of his own pocket like, for example, the hush money he paid for the sexual dalliances with porn stars or Playboy bunnies. Or, perhaps, he would simply allow teachers to carry guns sans the training.  What could possibly go wrong?

I suspect he will ask for nothing and I aver nothing will get done at all including stricter background checks, prohibition of bump stocks much less the eradication of the sale of AR 15 military style assault rifles which no one needs in civilian life. This president needed crib notes to talk to high school students. Why should we ever suspect he reads up on the bills he, off the top of his thinning hair head, wants. Arming teachers should be verboten. This is not Nazi Germany or so I thought.  The only answer to the correct policy is to crush Republicans in 2018 and in 2020 to get the most prescient and humane policies we want.  I hope we are on our way to doing that!  

RESIST!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/22/us/politics/trump-guns-school-shootings.html?emc=edit_na_20180222&nl=breaking-news&nlid=75028030&ref=cta

There oughta be a law -- Therapy for the shooter

 I have mixed emotions about psycho therapy. On the one hand I wonder about it effectiveness but on the other hand it provides an outlet for feelings either submerged or talked about with friends/relatives who can offer little help. The professionalism and objective removal of the therapist from one's life makes talking, I believe, easier. One can simply "get it off one's chest." Those who go to therapy often feel a sense of relief and do feel better after the session. I wonder, though, about a permanent fix. Is there one? For some there may be. A lot, too, depends upon the therapist. There are many incompetent ones out there but occasionally there is one who helps at least a little or even a lot to relieve some of life's burden and find another way to cope.

There is no shame in asking for help. In fact it is a strength. If the shooter at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland had an effective therapist for an extended length of time one to whom he could vent his anger I cannot help but think it would have prevented the mayhem. We cannot know for sure but what we can know is it would not have hurt.

We also know the removal of access to the military weapon of the AK-15 from all hands is the real remedy to, as evidence shows, cut down the number of horrific shootings. It is a no brainer to me. Why is it not to so many Republicans who really could do something? One word answer to that: NRA money and barrels of it filling their overflowing campaign coffers with cash! There oughta be a law against that!

Billy Graham, ‘America’s Pastor’ And Noted Evangelist, Dead At 99--My Comment

I characterize Billy Graham as having some redeeming moral compass and not as bad as Falwell, Robertson or most especially his son Franklin who is a rightwing fanatical beast. Billy Graham was in fact and on tape an Anti-Semite as his words with Richard Nixon prove. (Nota bene link below.) Richard Nixon was as well.  Perhaps, Graham eventually apologized for it I do not know but scratch a right wing fanatical religious zealot and you will usually find an anti-Semite.

These so called religious leaders made fantastical sums of cash --  all millionaires many times over. Those who appeal to the duped millions know exactly what they are doing. Religion all religion through the ages has tapped man's fear of illness and death for the mega millions of cash they can get from it!

Nixon And Billy Graham
Anti-Semitism Caught On Tape
http://rense.com/general20/billy.htm

Whatever Trump Is Hiding Is Hurting All of Us Now by Thomas Friedman of NYT-- BRILLIANT OPINION PLEASE READ

Thomas L. Friedman

Whatever Trump Is Hiding Is Hurting All of Us Now

Image

President Trump in Washington on Friday.CreditTom Brenner/The New York Times

Image

By Thomas L. Friedman

Feb. 18, 2018

Our democracy is in serious danger.

President Trump is either totally compromised by the Russians or is a towering fool, or both, but either way he has shown himself unwilling or unable to defend America against a Russian campaign to divide and undermine our democracy.

That is, either Trump’s real estate empire has taken large amounts of money from shady oligarchs linked to the Kremlin — so much that they literally own him; or rumors are true that he engaged in sexual misbehavior while he was in Moscow running the Miss Universe contest, which Russian intelligence has on tape and he doesn’t want released; or Trump actually believes Russian President Vladimir Putin when he says he is innocent of intervening in our elections — over the explicit findings of Trump’s own C.I.A., N.S.A. and F.B.I. chiefs.

In sum, Trump is either hiding something so threatening to himself, or he’s criminally incompetent to be commander in chief. It is impossible yet to say which explanation for his behavior is true, but it seems highly likely that one of these scenarios explains Trump’s refusal to respond to Russia’s direct attack on our system — a quiescence that is simply unprecedented for any U.S. president in history. Russia is not our friend. It has acted in a hostile manner. And Trump keeps ignoring it all.

Up to now, Trump has been flouting the norms of the presidency. Now Trump’s behavior amounts to a refusal to carry out his oath of office — to protect and defend the Constitution. Here’s an imperfect but close analogy: It’s as if George W. Bush had said after 9/11: “No big deal. I am going golfing over the weekend in Florida and blogging about how it’s all the Democrats’ fault — no need to hold a National Security Council meeting.”

At a time when the special prosecutor Robert Mueller — leveraging several years of intelligence gathering by the F.B.I., C.I.A. and N.S.A. — has brought indictments against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups — all linked in some way to the Kremlin — for interfering with the 2016 U.S. elections, America needs a president who will lead our nation’s defense against this attack on the integrity of our electoral democracy.

What would that look like? He would educate the public on the scale of the problem; he would bring together all the stakeholders — state and local election authorities, the federal government, both parties and all the owners of social networks that the Russians used to carry out their interference — to mount an effective defense; and he would bring together our intelligence and military experts to mount an effective offense against Putin — the best defense of all.

What we have instead is a president vulgarly tweeting that the Russians are “laughing their asses off in Moscow” for how we’ve been investigating their interventions — and exploiting the terrible school shooting in Florida — and the failure of the F.B.I. to properly forward to its Miami field office a tip on the killer — to throw the entire F.B.I. under the bus and create a new excuse to shut down the Mueller investigation.

Think for a moment how demented was Trump’s Saturday night tweet: “Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign — there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!”

To the contrary. Our F.B.I., C.I.A. and N.S.A., working with the special counsel, have done us amazingly proud. They’ve uncovered a Russian program to divide Americans and tilt our last election toward Trump — i.e., to undermine the very core of our democracy — and Trump is telling them to get back to important things like tracking would-be school shooters. Yes, the F.B.I. made a mistake in Florida. But it acted heroically on Russia. What is more basic than protecting American democracy?

It is so obvious what Trump is up to: Again, he is either a total sucker for Putin or, more likely, he is hiding something that he knows the Russians have on him, and he knows that the longer Mueller’s investigation goes on, the more likely he will be to find and expose it.

Donald, if you are so innocent, why do you go to such extraordinary lengths to try to shut Mueller down? And if you are really the president — not still head of the Trump Organization, who moonlights as president, which is how you so often behave — why don’t you actually lead — lead not only a proper cyberdefense of our elections, but also an offense against Putin.

Putin used cyberwarfare to poison American politics, to spread fake news, to help elect a chaos candidate, all in order to weaken our democracy. We should be using our cyber-capabilities to spread the truth about Putin — just how much money he has stolen, just how many lies he has spread, just how many rivals he has jailed or made disappear — all to weaken his autocracy. That is what a real president would be doing right now.

My guess is what Trump is hiding has to do with money. It’s something about his financial ties to business elites tied to the Kremlin. They may own a big stake in him. Who can forget that quote from his son Donald Trump Jr. from back in 2008: “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets.” They may own our president.

But whatever it is, Trump is either trying so hard to hide it or is so naïve about Russia that he is ready to not only resist mounting a proper defense of our democracy, he’s actually ready to undermine some of our most important institutions, the F.B.I. and Justice Department, to keep his compromised status hidden.

That must not be tolerated. This is code red. The biggest threat to the integrity of our democracy today is in the Oval Office.

WANTED -- Suspects in Conspiracy to Aid & Abet Mass Murder of Children -- By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

WANTED -- Suspects in Conspiracy to Aid & Abet Mass Murder of Children

Rabbi Arthur Waskow | 2/18/2018

To Aid & Abet

Mass Murder of Children

(These suspects are defined by our understanding of religious and ethical morality, not yet by formal legal process. See below the Torah of selling weapons to people prone to violence and of conspiring to do so.

 

Suspect: Donald Trump
Known recent locations:
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,
Washington DC.

Mar a Lago Club
1100 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL 33480
 

Suspect: Mitchell McConnell
Known recent locations:
 United States Senate
317 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
Fax: 202-224-2499

601 W. Broadway, Room 630, Louisville, KY 40202
Phone: 502-582-6304
 

Suspect: Paul Ryan
Known recent locations:

United States House of Representatives
  H-232 The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-0600
Fax: (202) 225-20125
1233 Longworth House Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3031
Fax: (202) 225-3393
5031 7th Avenue
Kenosha, WI 53140
Phone:  (262) 654-1901
Fax:  (262) 654-2156
Anyone having information on the present whereabouts of these suspects should call the FBI.
Evidentiary elements:
A reported $9.6 million went from the National Rifle Association  during the presidential campaign of 2016 towards pro-Trump ads and promotional material, and another $12 million went on ads attacking Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Other sources put that figure even higher, closer to $30 million.
Trump speaking to NRA: Donald Trump marked his 99th day as US president (April 27, 2017) by making a pledge to the National Rifle Association: “You came through for me and I am going to come through for you.”

Other suspects: US Senator for Florida Marco Rubio  has received $3,303,355 from the NRA as a politician.
US Senator for Iowa Joni Ernst, has received $3,124,273 from the NRA over the course of her career.
For details on other NRA contributions to politicians, see
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recips.php?id=d000000082

TORAH OBLIGATION IN REGARD TO SALES OF WEAPONS:
 Maimonides (Mishneh Torah,  Laws of a Murderer 12:12, paraphrasing Babylonian Talmud Avodah Zarah 15b) declares: “It is forbidden to sell weapons of war to [those with an inclination to violence]. Nor is it permitted to sharpen their spears, or to sell them knives, manacles, iron chains, bears, lions, or any object which can endanger the public; but it is permitted to sell them shields which are only for defense.”
Maimonides explains that in selling arms to such a person,  “One strengthens the hands of an evil-doer and causes him to transgress” and “Anyone who causes one who is [morally] blind with regard to a matter to stumble–or one who strengthens the hand of a person who is [morally] blind and does not see the path of truth because of the desire of his heart -- violates a negative precept as Torah (Lev. 19:14)  states, ‘You shall not put a stumbling block before the blind.’”
Modern legislative efforts to carry out this precept have seen laws proposed to require stronger and broader universal background checks before sales of guns or ammunition to anyone, and proposals to ban entirely the sale of semi-automatic weapons.
But  --  Mr. Trump’s newly unveiled budget would cut millions of dollars from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which gun dealers use to verify if someone is banned from buying a gun before selling it to them.
Buried on Page 719 of his fiscal year 2019 budget, released last Monday, the president calls for cuts to the National Criminal Records History Improvement Program and the NICS Act Record Improvement Program. Both provide federal grants to states to help them improve their reporting of criminal records and protection orders to the national database for background checks, including domestic violence records. 
The two programs are currently budgeted at $73 million. Trump’s budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 would slash their funding to $61 million, which amounts to a 16 percent cut.

Charles Blow: Attacking the ‘Woke’ Black Vote -- My Comment

As usual Charles Blow makes pertinent points and he makes them so well. His summary of the black vote with respect to the 2016 Russian interference election is spot on and who could blame persons of color since they were used as Trumpian pawns for nefarious Trumpian purposes. I must though disagree with Killer Mike's statement "If you're voting for Trump or Hillary Clinton you're voting for the same thing." How completely untrue that was. Nearly every policy favored by the murderous Trump and most all of his so called "Executive Orders" never would have been issued by Hillary. She may not have been perfect but she never would have nominated a Justice Gorsuch, the darling of the extremist right, and most importantly would never have rescinded DACA. She also never would have had a cabinet comprised of solely the richest 2% advocating policies only for them or a tax bill that raised the debt by a trillion, gave massive permanent tax cuts to the uber wealthy and made the cuts not permanent for the middle class who will ultimately pay through the nose.  Wait until those middle class with children see what is in store for them during the 2018 tax season and you will see why you must resist Republican policy period.

The complexion of a Hillary Clinton presidency would not have been white supremacist pure racist white but would have been in favor of diversity inclusive of all colors as well as all other sexual orientations. I say with emphasis the two parties are absolutely not the same, in fact, they are polar opposites. 

RESIST and vote Democratic diverse!

 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/opinion/black-vote-russia.html?action=click&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=Article#commentsContainer

Students seize control of gun debate, plan walkouts and march

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/students-seize-control-gun-debate-plan-walkouts-march-n849226

Boston Globe: "State election officials across country returning to paper ballots" -- This is good.

This is what I have always wanted but thought in our age of tech it would never be done.  I was wrong. 

Russia has interfered, is interfering now and will interfere in our elections in the future.  Our free and fair elections are at the very heart of our democracy.  Switching to paper ballots is being done across the country naturally without help from Trump (I wonder why.)  There is hope!

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2018/02/18/state-election-officials-across-country-returning-paper-ballots/mVoVKD6SW41yNejR327y6H/story.html

Former Trump Aide Rick Gates Will Plead Guilty To Mueller Probe Charges: Report He’s willing to testify against Paul Manafort, his onetime associate, according to The Los Angeles Times.

The unstable moron: The house of cards is coming down.  In the end Donald Trump is a STUPID man.   He thought he could use the presidency as an authoritarian cash cow.  He thought he would get away with immense power so no one would challenge a thing as he did in his business schemes but this time milk the American taxpayer for all we are worth.  He did not count on one thing because he knows nothing about our system.  He never counted on a document being more powerful than he -- the Constitution and a balance of power. 

Putin must have some unbelievable kompromat on Trump to force him never to utter Russia's name in vain when he insults everyone else.  Why?  I can guess.  His Congressional Republican partners will be jumping like rats off a ship in an attempt to save their vile jobs and their own skin.  They made a losing bet.  May this charlatan con man never rest in peace and may he, his family, and all his cronies get the justice they so richly deserve.  Bless this nation that will be taking down the most powerful man on the planet but in truth he is simply a common criminal as he is alleged to be and an unstable stupid one at that!


https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rick-gates-plead-guilty_us_5a8a133ee4b004fc31937627

For more see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mueller Robert Mueller						Special Counsel for Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election and Related Matters		Incumbent																																																																								tion	Princeton University (BA) (Ivy League) New York University (MA) University of Virginia (JD)	Military service		Allegiance	United States	Service/branch	United States Marine Corps	Years of service	1968–1971[2]	Rank	Captain	Unit	H Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division	Commands	Platoon commander	Battles/wars	Vietnam War	Awards	Bronze Star (with valor) Purple Heart Medal Navy Commendation Medal (2) (with valor) Combat Action Ribbon South Vietnam Gallantry Cross

A thing of gender idenification

I just watched a very interesting documentary "Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric."  I got it through Netflix but you can view it if you choose by Googling it. 

All of it is interesting but of particular interest to me was the segment on non-western nations which incorporate different sexual identifications of their people without hostility and discord such as Samoa which, in fact, lauds sexual diversity, parts of India (the Hijra) and a part of Mexico (the highly revered Muxe.)  Some even conduct celebrations of that difference.


What surprised me the most, however, was Couric's discussion she had with Rabbi Elliot Kukla, an expert on gender issues, who talked about the Talmud and other classical Jewish texts dating back thousands of years that identified six genders: male, female, tumtum, androgynos, saris and ay'lonit.  He explained that "clearly other variations were there and that they had a system that was not binary."

Personally, I have eschewed faith not only for its irrationality but because I am hostile to what the important text of Leviticus has done that has created mayhem for those who were born with gender identity differences.  It created great unnecessary suffering, ruined lives and even prompted many to suicide.  Our nation obviously wants to return to that oppressive era by Trumpian crushing what little progression has been made on these issues debating the stupidity of who can use what bathroom, who cannot and who will be ostracized as well as bullied because nature dictated something different for them.

This documentary shines a light through expert analysis and through those who experience that gender difference.  Things, in fact, are changing here but for those who experienced a different brutally hostile time the blame of which I put squarely on a variety of Biblical text written by heterosexual men for other men makes me still angry.  The fact that attitudes in the west have changed does not prompt me to forgiveness.  Because of it and other dictates of faith I remained alienated from it.  As Bill Nye the science guy explained there are a host of human sexual differences that the Trumpian Republican right refuses to acknowledge.  No, they choose to add to their swamp more swamp making sure misery prevails for all but the fortunate 2% richest among us whose money allows them to evade national hostility or prosper because of it.

RESIST

Do you know?

Do you know the National Rifle Association contributions to campaigns

McCain 7 million  over several yrs
Republican Bill Cassidy Louisiana 2,800,000
Rubio 3,000,000
Portman OH 3,000,000
Iowa Joni Ernst 3,100,000
Colorado Cory Gardner 3,900,000

Trump 21,000,000 for the 2016 election

Do you know the NRA endorsed Rick Scott for Florida governor?

Do you know Trump signed a bill behind closed doors with no press present that allowed those diagnosed with mental illness to purchase guns?

Do you know that it is illegal for a minor in Florida to purchase a Glock pistol but legal for a minor to purchase an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle like the one used in the murder of 17 students in Parkland?

Do you know that Pence enacted law that guns could be kept in cars on school campus?

​

​​

Do you know that the Republican House under Trump repealed the Americans with Disability Act that H.W. Bush signed in 1990?  It has been one of the most popular and necessary bills to have ever been enacted for the disabled and yes, Republicans want to make it harder for the disabled to function in public.​

'Do SOMETHING!' Victim Mother SCREAMS at Trump on LIVE TV - Host In TEARS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fE-UHrGYoQ

Pass this on to anyone you choose and then

RESIST as you have never resisted before because your life, your children's lives, your grandchildren's lives depend upon it!

Rick Scott, governor of Florida MUST be electorally crushed. He never saw an NRA sponsored policy he did not like! He is a HYPOCRITE

Thoughts and prayers do exactly what? We have had 18 school shootings for this month alone

​ and ​

that does not take into account the other killings from Boston to LA that do not take place in schools but kill

​thousands of ​

people nonetheless.

Rick Scott and the President who the NRA gave a 100% approval rating will say blather that means nothing. Both could not care less

​about the victims of the shooting ​

but they do care about the contributions that the NRA gives those in the Republican Party 

​to​

place an obstacle to enacting sane gun legislation.

Trump speaking now

​but ​

his words are empty because he kisses the NRA's posterior. Who are Scott and Trump kidding? They offer

​no ​

remedies to the problem. They 

​are​

the problem! No one needs an AK 17 with unlimited gun clips unless they are going to war. Will 

​Trump and Scott​

advocate

​to eliminate these weapons​

? What do you think?

​ Trump overruled the Obama era regulation that prohibited those deemed mentally ill to not be able to purchase weapons.  How utterly insane is that?​

RESIST and over throw through the ballot the Republican Party in the Congress, the Presidency, in the state houses and in the governors

​'​

office

​s​

.

​ It is only then that the "conversation" they speak endlessly of ​can take place and the fruits of sane gun control can make a difference.

The Twelfth of Never -- the Parkland, Florida massacre of children

My first inclination is to throw my arms up and say I give up. The nation is 1/2 insane and unless we elect Democrats yes Democrats as they are the only party that can offer a smidgen of hope to undo all these horrific Trump era policies overturning all that has shaped this nation into something civilized. Why in god's name is he -- this know nothing nincompoop crackpot -- voted into the most powerful position on earth where he will put those others in positions of great power to undo all the progressive change that protects all of us even them?

Trump does not care nor do those who he entrusts with power. They care about themselves, their money and that they take it all -- ALL of it. That's it. Does the NRA now give one iota of empathy and tears for the thousands who have lost their lives -- many children -- to gun violence? No one but no one needs an assault rifle nor be allowed to purchase so many bullet clips for it they could take out a military platoon.

No, they are taking out children, teenagers and innocent Americans who left home with a backpack, books, and pencils to go to school but end up dead. Thoughts and prayers will do nothing as evidenced by the continuation of the shooting.  Those in bed with the NRA are a cancer on this nation. This will keep happening again and again of that one can be sure. How much longer will the people allow this to go on with no remedy? As the song says to the twelfth of never.

Our scourge of gun violence will never be addressed until those with humanitarian purposes grab power! Get these Republican beasts out of office. The answer may seem pedestrian but VOTE and RESIST!!

Young boy was singing “Hallelujah”, but pay attention when his friends join in

This was sent by a FB and personal friend.  It is just GORGEOUS -- each child a gift. 

 

There is goodness in this world one must just look for it

http://www.ofgreatinterest.com/hallelujah-by-ps22/

Trump and Republicans' new tax law--please listen

Even a "moderate" Republican senator from Maine, Susan Collins, voted for the Trump Republican tax bill with promises to her by Trump that health care would be dealt with at another time.  Instead the health care mandate of the Affordable Healthcare Act was axed hoping it would spell the death knell of Obamacare.  So far it hasn't done that and if the healthy young keep purchasing health care from it Republicans will have failed yet again for the 50th time to negate it.  People need affordable health care. Trump's promises, though, to Susan Collins as we now know and she surely should have known are excrement. 

Listen to the link below and know what your nation has become under the Mussolini-like Trump.  David Cay Johnson is a credentialed expert on tax law.  According to Wiki "He is an American investigative journalist and author, a specialist in economics and tax issues, and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting. He has taught the tax, property, and regulatory law at Syracuse University College of Law and the Whitman School of Management.  He was a columnist for Reuters, writing, and producing video commentaries, on worldwide issues of tax, accounting, economics, public finance and business. Johnston is the board president of Investigative Reporters and Editors."

Johnson explains the Trump tax con job he has perpetrated on the American people through this video.  He explains only one con job, the tax bill, this sad excuse for the leader of the most powerful nation on earth has perpetrated on the American people. His life before and his life after his election to the presidency is saturated with many more!  David Cay Johnston has known Donald Trump for thirty years, has interviewed, studied and been sued by Trump.  He has written the New York Times Best Seller "The Making of Donald Trump" which I can attest is an easy read.

Please listen to the link below then send this on to anyone you choose then .

RESIST

https://www.facebook.com/NowThisPolitics/videos/1890933744271440/?t=173

Chloe Kim Takes Gold For U.S. In Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe. The 17-year-old wins with a near-perfect 98.25 score -- My comment: Golden

17 year old American Chloe Kim from California takes the gold medal for US women's half pipe!  (See link below)

Did we hear any congratulatory statements to her from the Fuhrer Drumpf?  Of course not she would have to become the first to racially transition from Asian to Caucasian

to elucidate a presidential kudo for her excellence.  In the morning while Drumpf is fixing his "hair" he should think (to the extent he thinks at all) about getting a cerebral transition from moron to the "stable genius" he thinks he is.   He is sickening.

FABULOUS, MS. KIM. This is what makes this nation so spectacular. It is our ethnic diversity that does that. Thank you for making our nation proud again!

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chloe-kim-snowboarding-gold_us_5a8242e0e4b00ecc923d597f?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

Trump Effect: TV Producer to neighbor ‘Your son is dating a f*cking n**ger’ -- this from a TV producer? UGLY

EXACTLY WHY TRUMP AND HIS ADMINISTRATION ARE SO TOXIC!!! HER (A REPORTER'S) UGLY COMMENTS CAN BE HEARD AS WELL. IT IS SICKENING BEYOND BELIEF!

I hope this is exposed by Rachel, Larry and Joy Reid

Here is the link to the visual and audio below!

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/2/10/1740387/-Trump-Effect-TV-Producer-to-neighbor-Your-son-is-dating-a-f-cking-n-ger?detail=emaildkre

Below is an interview of Jon Finer found on YouTube.  We in his extended family are very proud of our cousin. His great grandfather was my grandfather's brother. Had they not immigrated to this country so many of us in the second and third generation would not have been born. His great grandfather and my grandfather would have died in the Holocaust as the village they came from 40,000 was wiped out. I am sure he shares my opinion that had it not been for immigration our family would have been killed and Jon to me is proof positive of the greatness of this nation.

Through academic excellence a member of our family ends up in the White House in the Obama administration when it was a branch of government of which one could be proud. Nevertheless, we are proud of Jon's excellence and contribution to our nation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glIWLeZcVU4&feature=share

What Trump's Nationalism has wrought

Click on the link below and you will see what Drumpf's Nationalism has wrought, what the essence of right wing extremist hate, lies and violence are and why the diversity of the left of center loathes the right!  The site complete with Holocaust deniers is chilling and why Democrats MUST win the House and the Senate in 2018 as well as governorships and state seats too.  In 2020 the quest is on for a Democratic candidate for president who is truly smart, humane, charismatic and cannot lose.  There is too much at stake. 

All The White Supremacists Running For Office In 2018

Plus candidates who’ve said white supremacist things, hung out with white supremacists, or talked to anti-Semitic publications.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/white-supremacists-running…

Trump’s Kentucky Campaign Chair Pleads Guilty to Child Sex Trafficking--My Comment: IMAGINE

One of my FB simpaticos wrote the quote below to which I beyond wholeheartedly agree!  I could not have said it any better than that.  I have been playing mental gymnastics as to what I could write
to encapsulate all the dung that is Trump and his "administration."  There is so much bad, there is so much illegal, there is so much unethical in this White House it is difficult to find the words strong
enough to describe its sewage.  This statement said it as well as I ever could.  I urge you to read the link posted below it and then weep for a nation -- our nation -- that could elect such excrement to
the most powerful prestigious nation on planet earth. 
The blogger said:

Donald Trump is a sewer.

Every form of filth flows toward him and through him.

Nolan deserves to die in prison. Nolan's attorney is an example of the 30 million women who voted for Trump, ignoring and rationalizing his sexual predation.

"Nolan threatened arrest and eviction to force women and girls to have sex with him. Nolan also apparently paid the women and juveniles with heroin and painkillers, and gave alcohol to a minor on more than one occasion."

"In a statement following the pleas, Nolan’s attorney, Margo Grubbs, argued that what Nolan did would have been seen as legally acceptable under the laws of a different day and age."

The eloquence of great leadership our nation once owned could not have imagined such a defense!

https://gritpost.com/trump-campaign-chair-trafficking/