The Useful Idiot

I thought Larry O'Donnell covered the Ukraine scandal very well vis a vie the three senior advisors to Trump -- Bolton, Pompeo and Mick Mulvaney -- standing around Trump's desk trying to dissuade Trump from withholding Ukraine aid. They must be called as witnesses in the Senate trial as this is not hearsay but direct evidence.  I kept thinking, though, one rationale not talked about enough was the Russian reason behind Trump's withholding aid. That aid composed of grenade launchers and Javelin missiles among other weaponry is lethal aid that could (1) help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression into it and (2) Could increase Russian casualties as well. 

As Nancy Pelosi said all roads lead to Putin. It is clear Putin has a self interest in withholding the Congressionally mandated US aid. Withholding this aid helps Russia while hurting Ukraine's fight against it. Perhaps Trump's rationale to work against the most formidable election opponent, Joe Biden, is a smoke screen or the icing on Trump's cake but the real winner is Putin whose position of aggression against Ukraine is advanced if US aid is withheld. The omnipresent question becomes as it has throughout the Trump so called "presidency": what does Putin have against Trump that compels Trump to do everything he can to ease US opposition to Putin?  Will we ever find out?
 
I believe Putin wants Ukraine back as it was in the old Soviet orbit, a Russian proxy. Is Trump Putin's useful idiot? Answer: YES! Vote Blue and tell all your family and friends to as well and save your nation from Russian influence if not dare I say near takeover. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my allies against Trump and even if there is one on my list who incredulously is not in the Democratic camp I wish you a happy new year too. I wish I could say I am looking forward to 2020. I'm not.  I am slowly looking for that window out of which I can jump if the Beast is god forbid elected again. I jest.  I promise I will not jump but may return to the fetal position and hide under the covers.

The holiday gift you can give all you love and/or about whom you care is to vote Democratic blue up and down the ticket!  Democrats may not be perfect but compared to the mendacious

con man thief and most Republicans who give him all their support Dems are infinitely better.  There is no comparison.

Wishing you health and of course happiness in the coming year.

"Donald Trump Is The Loneliest Man In America Those close to the president say he has no one close to him." + My Comment

He has only himself to blame and those around him who are cowards and don't know when it is time to end a disaster. Now we the American people are sucked into this morass of instability and threats from those tyrants whom he thinks are his friends but only want to do this nation and all democracies harm. We are in perilous times. This poor excuse for a president must resign and FAST!

This president is mentally ill but being a narcissist he does not know it and would never admit it. Those around him in his "acting cabinet" should do what is right for the nation and forget the demise of the Republican Party. If they do what is needed via the 25th Amendment to remove him perhaps breathing life into a near dead Party will help their own cause or they could convict on the impeachment.

Judge allows Georgia voter purge to go ahead

Republicans win only if they cheat.  Fight this action that will take place wherever there are Republicans in state offices to do this malevolent thing.  Who is the target of those purges?  If you

said Democrats you would be correct.  Write, smoke signal and protest any way you can to stop these democracy killing measures initiated by Republicans.

Wisconsin too has its Republican cronies enacting this anti democracy measure by purging and suppressing thousands of votes in an important electoral state of Wisconsin where Trump won by only 10,000 votes.  Say NO and say it loud!  Do not let Republicans steal another election!

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/16/1906009/-Judge-allows-Georgia-voter-purge-to-go-ahead?detail=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3jS5pjAJmtGd19aTOXKydL2-W6C_9oHwzteLavoBcFd18nYPM38b1qRBM

Uncovering lost music: written by prisoners in concentration camps during the Holocaust

My comment: In my life I took many years when I was younger to develop my political philosophy. I studied political philosophy from the left and from the right. I wanted to make sure I saw the truth and could chose the most humanitarian belief system. I am a liberal left of center Democrat because there is no other political group whose essence is to care, to empathize, and to identify with the other -- those rejected souls who want to breathe free but cannot.

The reality of the Holocaust, the six million of my brethren to have experienced the most extreme brutality in human history gave voice to my politics. I have never wavered. Progressives cared about the treatment of persons of color for centuries who were treated by those who owned them as sub human and so I cared too. I care about the brutalizing of Hispanics on our borders with children packed in cages and dying of the flu and other maladies one in captivity might experience. I care about them. I care about the poor who cannot get treatment for medical conditions because they do not have the money. I care when my government takes food away from children and refuses to give medical treatment to those who cannot afford it. I care because I am part of a political party that cares seemingly the only one Party in this nation that does care. I care that the Hitlerian politics we see in this nation when the white only few raise their arms and their voices to support the brutal pathologically narcissistic sadist of an uncaring mendacious misogynist President whose name I try not to utter when using the title of president. We MUST defeat this Trumpian scourge, we must never give in to it we must as Churchill once said never surrender!
 
I urge you to watch the Sixty Minutes segment "Uncovering lost music: written by prisoners in concentration camps during the Holocaust" linked above. Then work as hard as you can to wipe the political scourge of Trump from our midst and install normal humans with empathy and humanitarian spirit to lift up the least of these to a better life and truly say never again.

https://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/

People call for Hallmark Channel boycott after network drops ads that feature brides kissing

Glad the Anita Bryant side did not have the last word. The LGBT side has a say and is yelling loud on Facebook and Twitter to counteract the so called American Family Association's million mom petition which only showed 25,000 signatures. The ADL and SPLC voiced the LGBT position. I'd like to see the American Family Association be as vociferous about child hunger as they are about opposing two women in a marriage ceremony showing affection to each other by one measly kiss. Here is a bulletin: marriage is legal now between same sex couples. See Obergefell v. Hodges. 

I think now that the Hallmark Channel cow towed to hate the LGBT side should vigorously promote its own boycott of the Hallmark Channel and other entities owned by Hallmark and voice loud support for Zola which paid for the commercial. The gay community should organize big support for Zola and make their commercial rake in big bucks for them. Kudos Zola for celebrating all love and not hate. After all as a movie about a gay relationship once was entitled "It's a Question of Love!" Get used to it!

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/15/1905812/-People-call-for-Hallmark-Channel-boycott-after-network-drops-ads-that-feature-brides-kissing?detail=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0KYi8Bw--1erpPRryq3e4dle8UjxA_iO4FTecJUs7OQVVHvrReDZvt0QU

All that glitters: how Chump (Trump) exploited people--Beacon Free Press -- My Comment: Why I loathe, detest and despise Trump. Where is justice?

http://brooklinebeacon.com/2018/10/30/all-that-glitters-how-chump-exploited-people/?fbclid=IwAR3uWuL-bQu7FuTmml3AG4WKzlZCwm1IzJVv9zwN5k7Z1fz8tCRiusJwT60

False Romance of Russia

There was a fabulous discussion on A.M. Joe of The Atlantic article written by Anne Applebaum referenced above and linked below about the American right's intellectual support of once our greatest adversary, Russia.  It gave me much food for thought as well as ratcheting up my proclivity for worry!  After a stunning conservative party of Brexit victory in the UK and right wing tendencies showing up in Hungary, Poland  and elsewhere in Europe I keep wondering being a confirmed liberal Democrat where on earth do I move if populist nationalism takes over in Europe, the US and in other nation states.  This conservative so called intellectual phenomena are extraordinarily racist.  Even Johnson's win in the UK is very racist anti black so much so some blacks are are moving or thinking of moving out of the UK. 

Trump has fueled the fires of the acceptance and even love of Russia while he tolerates white supremacy putting forth a weak rejection of it.  He commits crimes against humanity by his incarceration of immigrants and children in cages recently desiring an unspeakable unlimited detention of them.

The kleptocracy of Russia must be seen for what it is representing a nation with a weak economy and an authoritarian leader who has a penchant for allegedly assassinating those forces which oppose him.  Russia has zero plans for the transitioning of power as well.  It will have no clue as to what it should do when and if Putin were not in power.  

We must as both conservative and liberal lovers of American democracy, acceptance of diversity and adoration of free thought mobilize our huge base and defeat this

cruel, rude, narcissistic, inhumane excuse for a president, Trump, before he helps destroy the fabric of freedom throughout the world. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/false-romance-russia/603433/

Trump’s Strongest Allies In Congress Don’t Care How History Will Remember Them--My Comment

No they do not care at all. They do not care about their legacy, they do not care how cruel the policies they support are, they do not care that the Beast wants indefinite detention of 60,000 human beings. They care only about two things: money and the power it brings. That's it. Just like the Nazis they will do the unthinkable simply to win and their followers in totally blind allegiance will support them, raise their arms and shout zeig heil! Sickening. 

The instant question at hand is how on god's earth do we get the albatross off our necks?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-allies-congress-history_n_5defdc34e4b0a59848d161dd?fbclid=IwAR3wY7YDZhrVFuDKUWuLuwftzq8TzreFyphdiB1crwjvILAc3wcEPJ-anLI

Jersey City Shooting: Suspect Published Anti-Semitic Posts, Official Says

Since the administration of Donald Trump hate crimes across the nation have occurred in great numbers targeting a number of groups. Hate crimes against Jews have also increased where most places where Jews pray have security cameras and other preventive measures to try to prevent such attacks which heretofore have been thought unthinkable.

The president sets a national example and it is imprinted in its milieu. It is no accident that they are occurring with greater frequency during the presidency of Donald Trump. Just the other day he spoke to a group of Jewish real estate brokers. He with antisemitic venom said "A lot of you are in the real estate business because I know you very well. You’re brutal killers. Not nice people at all." In an era when the president cannot censor the gross, hate filled, vituperative and ugly comments that come out of his mouth it is no wonder the statistics on hate crime are trending up.

Trump to sign order to interpret Judaism as a nationality--This won't fly

I do not think this will fly withstanding a court challenge as Trump wants to stop universities from allowing on their campuses boycott, divestment and sanction protests against Israel. He cannot limit political protests on universities it is a first amendment right and will only serve to ratchet up anti Israeli protests on universities and elsewhere.  If one is Russian can the state stop anti Russia sentiment on colleges, universities and elsewhere?

It is particularly egregious and the height of hypocrisy as Trump just gave a speech loaded with antisemitic sentiments. It was awful calling Jews real estate Jews who are horrible people but must vote for Trump as they have no choice. He is devoid of thoughtful analysis, does not read, and is ignorant. He probably will do this to recapture the Jewish vote he alienated during his speech also saying some Jews do not support Israel strongly enough. Who the hell is he to tell anyone who to support or how strongly to support it? There still is the freedom to advocate or not for political sentiment and policy in this country at least for the moment.

Death and Love in Auschwitz

This story linked below appeared in the New York Times and was written by Keren Blankfeld.  It is entitled "Lovers in Auschwitz Reunited."  The story is one for the ages guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye as it did mine. The tear fell when, as the narration related, the Allies were approaching Auschwitz and the liberation of it was at hand.  The prisoners in Auschwitz thought the Soviet army was at their doorstep but it was not the Soviet army it was the American army.  A feeling of pride washed over me as I remember an age before Trumpian fascist hate and madness when those imprisoned by authoritarian dictatorships breathed a sigh of relief that America, a democratic nation with a leader of abundant humane empathy, came to save those imprisoned in hell. 

I yearn for those feelings again as this nation continues to lock up children and many others in cages amid horrific unsanitary conditions resulting in disease and death.   This Trumpian nation has turned its back on the asylum seekers and some accept as good or are indifferent when a father drowns face down on the shores of the Rio Grande with his daughter's arm around him trying to make the arduous journey to freedom in America. Washington Post: "Oscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his 23-month old daughter, both Salvadoran migrants, were swept away in the river waters in a last-ditch attempt to reach Brownsville, Texas." We all should be ashamed.

Now we live in a Trump nation that could be charged with crimes against humanity because of the cruelty of the unfit-for-office president who shows zero care or concern for those who suffer the slings and arrows of tyranny.  Many innocents, including our allies who fought the terrorism of ISIS with us, have died because Trump turned his back on them and ran.  Can one imagine if  a Trump were in power as Hitler and the Nazi onslaught approached?  Who can say for certain that Trump at that time would not have supported Hitler?  Trump, a man who reads nothing allegedly has Hitler's Mein Kampf on his night table. That says it all.

VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET AND SAVE OUR NATIONAL HUMANITY!

The marvelous story, "Lovers in Auschwitz Reunited" is linked below.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/08/nyregion/auschwitz-love-story.html?fbclid=IwAR3zlN2B7co-fAhTtnfWpsD1yVo1v2FGVM9g7zA6nPH07a3HX5Fz4jzCNjs

More Than 500 Legal Scholars Say Trump Committed Impeachable Acts

Their open letter comes as House Democrats are drawing up articles of impeachment for a full floor vote.

 

 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/more-than-500-legal-scholars-say-trump-committed-impeachable-acts_n_5deab5a0e4b00149f74037f4

"Dirty John" a Netflix film based on a true story that will curl your hair. I see the con man Trump in all of i

There is a Netflix film that reminds me of Trump. It is stunningly frightening and based on a true story. Its title is "Dirty John."

 

One can see Trump in "Dirty John" and it is staggering the damage that can be done by the lies of one con man!

Times one million if he is president of the United States.

Said much better than I ever could. Boot's opinion is 100% spot on correct!! Cellphone madness

By
Max Boot
Columnist
Dec. 6, 2019 at 1:36 p.m. EST

If there were a global competition for insincerity, President Trump would have won the equivalent of an Oscar, a gold medal, a Ballon d’Or and a Vince Lombardi Trophy combined. You simply could not be more two-faced; it is not humanly possible. His picture belongs in the dictionary under the very word “hypocrisy.”
Trump, recall, spent much of 2016 leading chants of “Lock her up!” because Hillary Clinton made the mistake of employing a private server for some of her official emails as secretary of state. Trump still routinely refers to the former first lady and secretary of state as “Crooked Hillary” as if she had actually committed a crime. Never mind that the Justice Department decided not to prosecute and that a lengthy State Department investigation, completed during the Trump administration, found “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.”
And yet, while castigating Clinton for supposedly mishandling classified information, Trump has been engaging in far more egregious examples of the very same sin.

Trump began his presidency, in February 2017, by reviewing classified documents and having a highly sensitive discussion about North Korea with the Japanese prime minister not in a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) but in front of fellow diners on a packed terrace at Mar-a-Lago.
In May 2017, he revealed top-secret intelligence to the Russian foreign minister and Russian ambassador during a meeting in the Oval Office, thereby potentially blowing a source of information about the Islamic State. In 2018, he reportedly discussed with wealthy donors at a Manhattan fundraiser the classified details of a battle between U.S. forces and Russian mercenaries in Syria.
In October of this year, Trump revealed details about the raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that, as NBC News noted, “were either highly classified or tactically sensitive, and their disclosure by the president made intelligence and military officials cringe.” And, according to a White House whistleblower, Trump overruled the opposition of security officials to grant top-secret security clearances to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

But all these security breaches pale by comparison with Trump’s promiscuous use of a cellphone to conduct top-secret conversations. My Post colleagues Paul Sonne, Josh Dawsey, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller report that “Trump has routinely communicated with his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, and other individuals speaking on cellphones vulnerable to monitoring by Russian and other foreign intelligence services.”

This shocking security breach became clear from the cellphone records obtained by the House Intelligence Committee during its impeachment investigation. There are numerous calls between Giuliani and a blocked number listed as “-1” that is widely suspected to belong to Individual 1, i.e., the president of the United States. We also know, of course, that Ambassador Gordon Sondland talked with Trump on an unsecure cellphone from the middle of a restaurant in Kyiv.

The impeachment inquiry into President Trump has exposed troubling cracks in the political system. (Video: Joy Sharon Yi, Kate Woodsome/Photo: Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post)
The Post notes that Trump resisted the efforts of former White House chief of staff John F. Kelly to stop using a cellphone and to employ only White House landlines because he didn’t want his aides to have a log of his calls. It is hard to imagine why Trump would be so paranoid about being monitored by his own aides if he weren’t doing something very wrong — which, as we know from the impeachment proceedings, he clearly is.

Trump has now at least been persuaded to use a more secure government cellphone, but it doesn’t matter if he is routinely conversing with people like Giuliani or Sondland who are employing ordinary cellphones: The security of a call is only as good as its weakest link. It’s a sure bet that any halfway competent foreign intelligence service is monitoring the cellphones of people close to Trump such as Giuliani and Sondland — and the Russians are undoubtedly all over them with both physical and electronic surveillance when they visit Ukraine, which Giuliani is doing again this week.

According to The Post, John Sipher, former deputy chief of Russia operations at the CIA, and other sources said “that it is so likely that Russia tracked the calls of Giuliani and others that the Kremlin probably knows more now about those conversations than impeachment investigators.” This opens up the possibility that Trump, who may already be vulnerable to Russian kompromat because of his past business dealings and his campaign’s collusion with the Kremlin during the 2016 campaign, might be vulnerable to blackmail again because of his attempts to force Ukraine to intercede on his behalf in the U.S. campaign. This also gives Russia invaluable leverage it can use in its negotiations with Ukraine at a time when many Ukrainians are already worried that, as the New York Times put it, President Volodymyr Zelensky “may be too willing to make concessions to Moscow” because he has “no clear American diplomatic backing.”

The only thing more appalling than Trump’s cavalier disregard for the basic requirements of handling classified information is the complete lack of concern by his followers who were once so exercised by Clinton’s far more innocuous security lapses. They are championship hypocrites too. I never want to hear about Hillary’s emails again as long as I live.
###

Court Directs Banks To Provide Trump Financial Records To House Democrats

"Trump is expected to appeal the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court." 

 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-banks-financial-records-house-democrats_n_5de68ac1e4b0913e6f862663

A blogger wrote: I see the SC refusing to hear the case and let stand the lower court ruling. Even the rightists and Tumpists on the court know they are lifetime appointees and will be around after Trump. If they want to be respected and taken seriously and in one case avoid impeachment , they would have to rule with the constitution in mind, seeing they are strict originalists. Congressional oversight is a primary responsibility listed in the constitution. No lifetime judges at this level would want to be associated with being a Trump apologist ignoring black letter law. Trump should be careful what he wishes for when it comes to the Supreme Court.

My Comment:  I hope the blogger is right.  It remains that these "conservative" justices do not have to be conservative if they do not want to and since they travel in the circles they do and were put on the court by Trump they may not want to either incur his wrath, ruin the Republican Party and defeat Trump in an election because of all the illegalities that it is alleged his finances would show.

Republicans have shown time and time and time again that corruption is their middle name. They will do anything for power and money including kiss an adversary's behind. Trump is SO clearly guilty of all of the impeachment charges as stellar witnesses' testimonies have shown but the Republican Senate will twist themselves into a pretzel to somehow someway give excuses and rationales for their voting with Trump and not removing him as he SO mightily deserves. SCOTUS could do the same, destroying the balance of power our Founders so judiciously created. It would be the end of democracy as we know it.