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.

More worrying

Hoping when the Sup. Ct. says they will take up the case of the finding of the lower court that the law breaker-in-chief must produce his taxes that the Sup. Ct. will put an end to Trump's delaying tactic and find FINALLY that he must respond to Congress's request and produce his taxes that we have a system of checks and balances and he is not a king and above the law so he must produce them. I worry though that so many so called "conservatives" on the Sup. Ct. that Trump with his side kick McConnell who stopped O'Bama's superb pick of Merritt Garland that this will have a deleterious effect on decisions which should go a just way. That is I hope the Supremes will not reverse the lower court and say Trump has the executive power to stop a demand of Congress to submit his taxes to Congress. 

We shall have to wait to see. It would have been a just decision if the Sup. Ct. let the lower court's finding stand which would have meant he must submit his taxes so that the American people can see if Trump is a crook which everyone knows he is. His claim of executive power should ring hollow in view of so many other decisions that order him to obey Congress, the first branch of our government. I hope that decision comes down in the people's favor and fast putting an end to this breach of the public trust and enshrine the institutional nature of a checks and balances system in the same way Nixon had to produce the tapes that proved his guilt even though Nixon thought too that he was above the law. He wasn't and neither should Trump be above the law. This has profound influence on future presidencies.

Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Subpoena For Trump’s Tax Returns

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supreme-court-blocks-trump-tax-returns_n_5ddc6625e4b00149f72266cb

While this is not a ruling that Trump can get away with not showing what Congress, the first branch of government, it seems to me, should have the right to subpoena, it does give Trump until December 5 to file his brief. If they want his brief filed then it would mean, in my opinion, that they will want to read the briefs and take another 5, 6 or more months until the Sup. Ct. makes its decision which Trump, the master of court delay probably wants. Perhaps, the Supremes felt that this is a decision, much like the Nixon tapes, which carries such gravity that they must weigh in in detail.

It is hard to imagine that even court justices picked by Trump as extreme right wing justices would deny Congress its just powers that the first branch of government should have. Still, it may be that these justices will not foil a president who put them in office and face scorn in the so called "conservative" circles in which they associate.

This worries me that an opinion so obviously just and so important for future presidencies that Trump should, with haste, provide that which Congress has asked through proper subpoena on balance of power grounds. Trump is determined, though, to be seen as a unitary executive with dictatorial king-like powers who can do anything he wants casting aside into the dust bin of history the balance of power foundation upon which our form of government sits and his right wing justices may just let him do it. I worry.  Stay tuned.

How Russian intelligence officers interfered in the 2016 election--Why it could not be Ukraine

 60 Minutes had wonderful segments last night one being an explanation in some detail of the Russian hackers. It brought the issue into focus in particulars so one could see just who hacked the computers of the DNC and Democrats even on local levels. It showed the complexity of the Russian plan and how Russia was the only nation state with the understanding of espionage and ​had ​the huge institutional operation to do it. Russia after years of being a Communist state with a spy network already in place was the only state that could attempt such a feat. Russia had the means and the desire to throw an election to the best person to achieve their goals of re-establishing the Russian dominance over the US as well as take control again of its Eastern European empire after the fall of Communism in 1989.

Clearly there was NO way Ukraine was large enough nor did it have the huge ability and infrastructure it took as well as the historical reality of being an adversarial nation to the US to ever be able to perfect a presidential election hack nor would Ukraine want to nor could it perfect a takeover of the 2016 election as Russia did. Russia had institutions like the old KGB that they could call on and add to the ability to hack an entire election against the US. 60 Minutes showed the incontrovertible evidentiary truth of what happened in 2016.

Trump and his cronies including Giuliani with Nunes  we now know as a sidekick as well as others ​like the nefarious characters of Lev Panas and Igor Fruman indicted on violating campaign finance laws simply wanted to cast doubt on the upcoming 2020 Democratic leader Biden to win 2020 for Trump. Hear Democrats, too, as the ones who were hacked relate what happened from their angle. Is this Watergate II. Yes, it is except instead of a break into a building to steal secrets of the DNC it perpetrated it on modern computer systems with the ability to get vast piles of documents

and information. 

GO TO THE SIXTY MINUTES WEB PAGE TO VIEW IT OR CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR THE SEGMENT. THEN SEND THIS TO ANYONE YOU CHOOSE!

https://www.cbsnews.com/60-minutes/

Trump administration notifies owners it will survey land for border wall--eminent domain MY COMMENT

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/21/politics/eminent-domain-border-wall/index.html

There are legal challenges against eminent domain but you can bet if Obama did what Trump is doing he would be impeached and convicted post haste.  Trump simply gets away with everything especially of a racist nature.  There is nothing that 40% of this nation will not do to crush people with brown or black skin and Trump is the leader for them. It is ugly but has been the underbelly of this nation until now when a fascist like creature from the depths of the sea managed to get elected. 

The loss of Hillary Clinton has had the most profound negative consequences. I keep thinking why did she not go multiple times to Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, the rust belt states she lost?  She should have but was so sure of getting their vote she passed.  Now we the middle class, the poor, the elderly, the disabled, gays, women to name a few groups are paying a hefty price.  We will pay with a loss of civil liberties and with a loss of progressive judges who can overrule racist, sexist, homophobic, misogynist policy especially in the higher courts.  Most importantly, there is a constant worry about the complexion of the Supreme Court turning white supremacist too.  Trump has nominated over a hundred right wing judges some extremists and has had them confirmed by Republican Moscow Mitch McConnell rushing their confirmation through.

I wish I were not alive for this time in history as all the progress progressives have made for immigrants, women, gays, abortion rights, minority rights, health care and many more things have been and/or will be derailed if the Trump gets a second term.  Even the baton around the world is being turned over to authoritarian dictatorships since Trump has never seen a dictator he does not love and want to emulate. A second term of this plague Trump will, of course, mean more of a demise of this nation and Lady Liberty's light.  The light will be extinguished and this nation as we have always known it will cease to exist.  Climate change may save all of us the problem as the planet may die taking all of us with it before Trump can hair spray his sticky ugly fake blond hair.

Howard Zinn said to me it matters not how high the mountain is we must climb we must climb it nonetheless and never give in.  For now I will still climb it.  I will hope even when hope seems elusive that the 2020 election is a resounding defeat for Team Trump and we can take back the place of honor among nations we have relinquished to a criminal!

VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET, GET OTHERS WHO ARE LIKE MINDED OUT TO VOTE THEREBY SAVING ALL OF OUR LIVES AND THE PLANET'S LIFE TOO.

Jewish Groups Demand Stephen Miller Resign From White House+ My Comment

 I, a Jew, join those groups.

It is the height of incredulity that a man whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors and who owes his very existence to the defeat of the ethical horror of white nationalism in Nazi fascist regalia would be the cruel designer of the immigration nightmare of asylum seekers fleeing certain death in their country of origin and looking toward the US for help. They do not find help but they and their children too do find the malignity of imprisonment (and sometimes death) in the American version of concentration camp prison. 

Miller is like the Hitlerian beasts who were ultimately responsible for approximately 50 million killed in the theater of WWII. If I were to create a film about the rise of Nazism Stephen Miller could, right out of central casting, play Gobbles's or Himler's part!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jewish-groups-stephen-miller-resign-white-nationalist_n_5dd69935e4b0e29d72800575

A harsh historical judgment

Fiona Hill was a phenomenal witness as were so many of those who ​have ​testified​ in the impeachment hearings of Donald J. Trump. Many were career diplomats with advanced degrees and possess a commitment to our nation, its national security and not to a political party. They have and Fiona Hill has served both Republican and Democratic presidents. Trump's trumped up desire for investigation of Ukraine and the Bidens for the hacking of the 2016 election is not only self serving and wrong but is a strike at the heart of this nation's national security by the president of the United States who would rather cast blame onto Ukraine, an ally in the center of Europe and gateway to Russia, while he absolves Russia and Russia's Putin for its obvious crime of 2016 US election hacking many times indicted by US national security agencies​ as well as ​Special ​C​ounsel Robert Mueller​'s​ indictment of ​ 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for allegedly meddling in the 2016 presidential election, charging them with conspiracy to defraud the United States​.

​
This is not only wrong but, is, in my opinion, a treasonous high crime as Trump appears to be acting as a Russian witting, unwitting agent or useful idiot playing into the hands of Russia, an adversarial power, while he jumps in bed with his love Putin, a corrupt demagogue. It is stunning. Nothing less than NATO is at stake and 75 years of crafting post WWII western alliances. Putin sees Ukraine as Russia's because of its fall out of Russia's orbit since the ​demise ​of the old Soviet Union. Russia would like it back as its invasion of Crimea and its hot war against Ukraine's Donbass south eastern portion reflects. It is clear Russia's objectives are an undermining of NATO, the west while creating a divided US and a weakening of US support for Ukraine with the hold up of much needed US weapons to defend itself against Russian aggression. Putin sees this as his ticket to ride roughshod trying to regain Russia's former eastern block nations at the expense of those nations that want western culture and democracy.

If the Republicans in the senate vote to acquit Trump on the articles of impeachment charges brought by the House, which I have every reason to believe they will, they will, as I see it, be an accessory after the fact of treason. History, one hopes, will judge them harshly assuming they even care about that. Trump's guilt of bribery as well as obstruction of Congress is as plain as Trump's bleached blond hair!

CNN: Flat Earth conspiracy is growing especially among born again religious zealots--THE JOKE IS ON US!

Is this a joke? No.  This is why Charles Pierce wrote a book entitled: "Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free," which can be purchased on Amazon, and why Marx said religion is the opiate of the people. I am most definitely NOT a Marxist and believe in regulated capitalism but on this one issue Marx was right. Extreme religious fundamentalist fanaticism and orthodoxy keep our nation from scientific and cultural advancement incapable of replacing irrational superstitious hocus pocus with indisputable fact.

As one of my FB friends pointed out Stephan Hawking said "greed and ignorance will make humans extinct."  Scientific truth cares not whether one believes in it. Science will do what it will do despite man's rejection of it to the detriment of us all.  The joke in the end is on us!

A quote from the link below:

Trump constantly lies and the elected Republicans in Congress support him in these lies. These people take the word of Rush Limbaugh, a high school graduate, over well-respected academic institutions and the mainstream media which neither supports the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party. It is pretty neutral. They do not listen to mainstream science. They do not do the hard work that scientists have done to reach their conclusions. They simply find some person (hopefully famous, maybe somebody way out of the mainstream of science whose views have been proven false, an eccentric) who support (or whose words can be twisted to sound like they support) their views. We have lost our ability to think critically and determine accurate, unbiased sources of truth and information. We have lost the notion of objective truth ! And all of this is extremely dangerous !!!

VOTE BLUE, THE PARTY OF SCIENCE AND TRUTH TO SAVE THE PLANET AND US -- Send this opinion to anyone you choose.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/11/17/1900204/-CNN-Flat-Earth-conspiracy-is-growing-especially-among-born-again-religious-zealots?detail=emaildkre

Another quote from Malcolm Nance's book "The Plot to Betray America."

"In the Plot to Betray America" "I detail how Donald Trump, his political team, his family, and his most loyal American followers deliberately tried to get away with the greatest act of treachery in the history of the United States--an open in-your-face betrayal of he oath of office for money, power, and the chance to fundamentally break the traditional American system of government and damage our national security to benefit Trump's allies in Russia, Saudi Arabia, and a newfound friend in North Korea. Trump has tried to make America essentially a Moscow-backed autocracy filled with obscene corruption. Gone is the accountability and image of transparency in a constitutional democracy that so many Americans would find they had taken for granted." 

"The Plot to Betray America" "is the story of how equal measures of hatred, ambition, ignorance, and superstition have come to tear America apart. It is a nightmarish take, two parts political thriller and one part spy novel, of how the formerly hardline anti-Communist Republican Party has turned on a nation's norms and shredded its belief in the Constitution to cover up the crimes of a pathological liar. History has revealed that Trump is a man who could barely construct a comprehensive sentence on tangible policy to the American people but has managed to use raw power of the Oval Office to subjugate the 60% of American citizens who oppose him and to ignore any law that suits him. This man has created a for-profit concentration camp system and was publicly overjoyed when he separated thousands of Central America, Honduran, Guatemalan, and Nicaraguan children from the parents and caged them in desert prisons. The worst part of the story is how easily one third of the nation has been brainwashed into backing a man who thought the pinnacle achievement of his life would be to construct a building emblazoned with the word Trump in Moscow, the capital of our enemy."

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE OF THIS SPELL BINDING BOOK BUY IT OR KINDLE IT.  YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!

SEND THIS TO ANYONE YOU CHOOSE. 

A quote from Malcolm Nance's book "The Plot to Betray America"

"America is the greatest power the world has ever seen simply because it harnesses the strengths of all those who seek her bounty. Where the transgressions of parents could always be atoned for by the children who stood firm to refine the American promise."

Malcolm Nance -- "The Plot to Destroy America"

FABULOUS segment and interview on Joy Reid of that brilliant scholar on American national security, Malcolm Nance.  His most recent book "The Plot to Destroy America" is a must read.  I intend on downloading it to my Kindle.  He is riveting.  I hope others in my top six MSNBC commentators, Ari Melber, Nicole Wallace, Chris Matthews, Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, and Larry O'Donnell have him on at length with, perhaps, Steve Schmidt to discuss our national treasonous betrayal by Donald J. Trump and his corrupt minions to subvert our democracy by reaching out to Russia, once rejected by the right and now loved.  The eternal question is why.  I believe Malcolm Nance answers that question. 

Senate Confirms Wildly Problematic Trump Court Pick Steven Menashi

"He’s never tried a case. He condemned women’s rights and diversity. He refused to answer senators’ questions. Republicans confirmed him anyway."

At the risk of sounding looksist, this is one ugly beast inside and out. All I can say is elections matter! Vote blue up and down the ticket.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/steven-menashi-republicans-senate-confirms-trump-judge_n_5dcd9beae4b00b9293bff09a

"The Plot to Betray America" Inquiring minds want to know

Malcolm Nance has written​what I think is​ a very good book entitled "The Plot to Betray America." It involves Trump cancelling a routine Navy maneuver around the Black Sea attendant to national security because he thought it would threaten Putin! ​ Malcolm Nance, ​​according to Wiki, "​is an American author and media commentator on terrorism, intelligence, insurgency and torture. He is a former United States Navy senior chief petty officer specializing in naval cryptology. ​​Nance is an intelligence and foreign policy analyst who frequently discusses the history, personalities, and organization of jihadi radicalization and al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL); as well as counterinsurgency and asymmetric warfare. Schooled in Arabic, he is active in the field of national security policy particularly, in anti- and counter-terrorism intelligence, terrorist strategy and tactics​ ... .​​  I​n 2016, he published the book, Defeating ISIS: Who They Are, How They Fight, What They Believe,​ ​and published The Plot to Hack America the same year​."​

The subject of this book if true​ is stunning​. If anything can be labeled treason​ against this country​ this can. I continue after a thousand days of this Cretan's ​acting ​presidency ​to ​want to know ​what​ on god's earth Putin has on Trump that he continues to want to court his favor, continues to be enamored with the substance of Putin's dictatorial leadership and continues to be in love with Putin​'s personality​ specifically so much that he will do anything ​not ​to offend him even if it means he commands ​reversal of ​a policy at the expense of US national security. Trump was furious and stopped Navy routine maneuvers around the Black Sea that were within the proscribed limits​ and that the US and other nations conduct all the time​. He was furious because he thought it would offend Putin. Really? Routine US military exercises around the Black Sea made this acting president furious because he thought it would offend Putin? I am stumped.

If Trump were a closeted gay I would think Putin was the love of his life. Yes, I surely know Trump has no homosexual proclivities. That is clear. B​ut​ what I cannot account for is Trump's sycophant behavior towards Putin. Putin the former KGB member, the former good Communist when Russia was Communist Trump admires. Is it only money or real estate? Is that the tie that binds? Or is it something else no one has guessed. Inquiring minds want to know!

Iran-backed Islamic Jihad Says 'We Are Going to War' With Israel After Assassination

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/iran-backed-islamic-jihad-says-we-are-going-to-war-with-israel-after-assassination-1.8118638

NOT good. Elections matter. Netanyahu may be singularly going to war with Hamas which means judging by what they delivered after Netanyahu ordered the assassination of a top Hamas leader and killed his wife in the process Hamas showed it has strength with a retaliation of 50 rockets only 20 of which Israel stopped. One hit Tel Aviv coming close to two cars on a highway which it thankfully missed.

A policy of war and not diplomacy has implications for the world equipped with nuclear capabilities on both sides. How is our own useful idiot beholden to Russia and Putin going to respond to this?

Trump says he may begin cutting Social Security and Medicare if he wins in 2020

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-says-may-begin-cutting-201130207.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=fb

For all you Republicans and/or others who are contemplating a horrific vote for Trump in 2020 and who are 65 or approaching that age, beware of how you vote in 2020. You may be voting against your benefits.

Pass this on to anyone you choose!

Poignant words from Charles Pierce in Esquire

This is an excellent piece posted by a political ally and fellow FB blogger quoting Charles Pierce who wrote "Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free."

"In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, "And we shall overcome." I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing "Amazing Grace" in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.

And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.

The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides.

Watch him make fun of the woman again. Watch how a republic dies in the empty eyes of an empty man who feels nothing but his own imaginary greatness, and who cannot find in himself the decency simply to shut the fuck up even when it is in his best interest to do so. Presidents don't have to be heroes to be good presidents. They just have to realize that their humanity is our common humanity, and that their political commonwealth is our political commonwealth, too. 

Watch him again, behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now."

Mr. Rogers Enduring Wisdom by Tom Junod

This is an excellent article by Tom Junod in the Atlantic. It is a bit lengthy but superb!

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/what-would-mister-rogers-do/600772/

To Adam Schiff re: Bolton

It will restore my faith in our nation if John Bolton the uber hawk and by his description uber patriot if he would testify before the committee whether by subpoena or by his own choice. I believe Adam Schiff should think carefully about bypassing this man by just appending him to the obstruction of justice count. He belongs front and center because of who he is and always has been an ardent adversary of Russia and its totalitarian leadership!

A blue wave or a nation of none

Finally, some good news has washed over me.  The bellwether national election results last evening for Democrats were an endorphin high.  The endorphins are so pleasurable that I yearn for more and more and more because it feels so darn good.  Now, finally, a shift has occurred in the land of Republican red to a land of Democrat blue.  Kentucky with the upset win for governor of the Democrat Andy Beshear tells the tale.  Trump went to Kentucky trying his best to work the Trumpian charm he thinks he has so the incumbent Bevin would win.  He said it would be a rejection of him if Beshear beat Bevin, a Trump loyalist who was rather detested in his state.  It was particularly satisfying that the narcissist Trump was foiled.  He was right it was a big election.  As much as it was about support for the Democrat Andy Beshear it was, importantly, a rejection of Trump too.  You must not lose, Trump commanded, at his pre-election feel good rally in Kentucky.  How could you do that to me, he asked, because everything is always doncha know about Donald Trump to Donald Trump.  Kentucky by electing Beshear, defeating Bevin and by proxy Trump it defeated Trumpian injustice.  When justice prevails it is a satisfying feeling.

Even more poignantly exciting was that Democrats in Virginia turned their state entirely blue.  Democrats hold it all -- the governor's seat, the senate, the house and more.   For the first time in 25 years Democrats in the state of Virginia are in total control.  It was a wonderful night for Democrats and progressives to behold.

Democrats, though, cannot rest.  We must be vigilant all over the nation going forward trying to turn entrenched red to blue in states like Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Colorado and more. And most importantly we must defeat Donald Trump in the general election next November.  Democrats and progressives must stand for hope and not fear, for foreign engagement and not isolation, for democracy and not dictatorship.  We must stand for the balance of power our Founders bestowed upon our nation and not for a unitary executive they loathed.  We must stand for science and not science denial, for love and not hate, for humanitarian policies and not the policies of racist destruction.  We must stand for election honesty and we must stand for all inclusiveness and not racist white separatism that allows a man to throw battery acid in the face of a person of color simply because his skin is dark or yell "go back from where you came."  I ask back to where?  The United States of America is their home.    We must turn a blue wave into a blue tsunami. We must examine our national character and be a nation for all or we will be a nation for none.  

Scientists Declare A Climate Emergency, Warn Of ‘Untold Human Suffering’--The life you save may be your own!

As the mendacious madman takes the US out of the Climate Change Agreement signed during the Obama Administration scientists are telling us untold human suffering will be the result of Trumpian folly. Elections have consequences and in this case deadly consequences for the children, grandchildren and for great grandchildren yet unborn! This action by Trump spells murder. Our president will be held to account for not only the murder of human beings but the murder of the earth.

Science does not care. Science will do what science does irrespective of the consequences of rancid decision making. When 99% of scientists agree we are in a climate emergency of global climate change brought on by man's overuse of fossil fuels believe them. Believe what they say or don't. It will be at the peril of all of us if we do not.

You get the policies for which you vote. VOTE BLUE ALWAYS UP AND DOWN THE TICKET and save our planet's life before it is too late.  The life you save may also be your own!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/scientists-declare-climate-emergency_n_5dc0a206e4b0bedb2d513df8

Man, 61, arrested for allegedly throwing acid on Latino man's face in possible hate crime

Mahud Villalaz, 42, who is an American citizen, suffered second-degree burns to his face after a man he described as being white and in his 50s or 60s berated him and threw acid at him.
In security video first obtained by WISN-TV, the two men are seen talking in front of a restaurant when the suspect points at Villalaz and then tosses the acid at his face. 

Villalaz can be seen stumbling away from the man, who then slowly walks toward Villalaz.

A GoFundMe page has been established to help pay for Villalaz's medical bills and lost wages while he recovers and gets additional medical treatment. Villalaz is a welder and continues to suffer from blurred vision in his left eye stemming from the attack.

By 5:30 p.m. Sunday, $700 had been raised toward a $15,000 goal. [give if you can]
On the GoFundMe page, his sister Priscilla Villalaz thanked police for making the arrest and thanked well-wishers who reached out to them."

usatoday.com

Man, 61, arrested for allegedly throwing acid on Latino man's face in possible hate crime

Russia Picked Donald Trump and Ran Him for President, Former Israeli Intelligence Officer Says--BIG SURPRISE -- NOT!

"Russia chose Donald Trump as the U.S. presidential candidate who would be most advantageous to Moscow, and used online tactics to win him the presidency, according to a former agent of the Israeli intelligence agency the Mossad.

"Officials in Moscow looked at the 2016 U.S. presidential race and asked, 'Which candidate would we like to have sitting in the White House? Who will help us achieve our goals?' And they chose him. From that moment, they deployed a system [of bots] for the length of the elections, and ran him for president," former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo told the audience at the Marker's digital conference in Israel on Monday, where experts gathered to discuss online disinformation campaigns and bots.

"What we've seen so far with respect to bots and the distortion of information is just the tip of the iceberg. It is the greatest threat of recent years, and it threatens the basic values that we share—democracy and the world order created since World War Two," Pardo noted, according to Haaretz."

My comment: Russia may as well have attacked the US with bombs.  The damage that has been done by Donald J. Trump to our nation is as all encompassing as if they had.  Our entire system both domestic and foreign policy has been overturned.   If, finally, the curse of Trump is electorally eradicated it will take years to undo.  Send this to whomever you choose and make sure to tell them to vote blue up and down the ticket!

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-picked-donald-trump-and-ran-him-president-former-israeli-intelligence-1273009?fbclid=IwAR0qamhjcsiry6wBrOHM--qNcmYI54XmCmb5p1CygWnHZZy4eoJly9UpuFo

Elizabeth Warren -- Middle class will NOT pay one penny for Medicare for all--Please read her statement

Here is what Elizabeth says re: Medicare for all.

We need a health care system that reflects our values.

No American should ever die or go bankrupt because of health care costs. And no for-profit insurance company should be able to stop any American from getting the care they need.

Health care is a human right, and that’s why I’m fighting for Medicare for All. It’s the only plan that gives everyone in America full coverage, with the freedom to see any provider, with no premiums, copays, and deductibles — no restrictions, no surprises, and no one going broke because they get sick.

Today, I’m releasing my plan to pay for Medicare for All. My plan won’t raise middle-class taxes by one penny. In fact, my plan puts $11 trillion back in the pockets of American families by virtually eliminating their current premiums, deductibles, and copays — that’s bigger than any tax cut in American history.

To cover the cost, we start by taking the money that employers are currently paying in the form of premiums to private insurance companies and have them pay it to Medicare instead.

We make up the difference with targeted spending cuts, new taxes on giant corporations, Wall Street, and the richest 1%, and cracking down on tax evasion and fraud.

Try our new calculator to see what our plan for Medicare for All would mean for you.

Health care is personal for you, personal for me, and personal for every family in America.

My daddy’s heart attack nearly sent our family skidding over a financial cliff.

Today, I think about all the kids this year who will face the double blow of nearly losing a parent and then watching their lives turn upside down as their families struggle to pay a growing stack of medical bills.

I spent my career studying why so many hard-working middle-class families were going broke. For years, my research partners and I traveled across the country, from bankruptcy courtroom to bankruptcy courtroom, talking directly with people who’d seen their lives turned upside down.

One of the biggest reasons we found? Medical problems. In 2007, my research found that the number one reason families were going broke was health care — and three quarters of those who declared bankruptcy after an illness were people who already had health insurance.

Between 2013 and 2016, the number one reason families went broke was still because of health care — even though 91.2% of Americans had health insurance in 2016.

It’s clear: Families are getting crushed by health costs. But you know who’s doing great? Private health insurance companies — they’re sucking billions of dollars in profits out of the system.

Under Medicare for All, we’ll rein in the corruption, waste, inefficiency, and corporate profiteering in our health care system.

And we can pay for it without any new taxes for middle-class families. Existing federal and state spending on health care stays about the same. Business spending on health care stays about the same — payments just go to Medicare instead of private insurers. And yeah, big corporations, Wall Street, and the top 1% pay their fair share.

Everyone’s covered, it’s fully paid for, and independent economists have verified that it’s doable. This is how we end the stranglehold of health care costs on American families and provide one of the greatest federal expansions of middle-class wealth in history.

In just a few steps, use our calculator to find out how Medicare for All would affect you. And share what you see with your friends, your family — with everyone you know.

Person to person, story by story, we’ll fight the misinformation from giant health insurance and drug companies who are desperate to stop anything from getting in the way of their profits. We’ll make it clear why we need to fight for Medicare for All — because it will make a real difference in people’s lives.

Trump’s Syria Troop Withdrawal Complicated Plans for al-Baghdadi Raid

NYT:   "For months, intelligence officials had kept Mr. Trump apprised of what he had set as a top priority, the hunt for Mr. al-Baghdadi, the world’s most wanted terrorist.

But Mr. Trump’s abrupt withdrawal order three weeks ago disrupted the meticulous planning underway and forced Pentagon officials to speed up the plan for the risky night raid before their ability to control troops, spies and reconnaissance aircraft disappeared with the pullout, the officials said.

Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death in the raid on Saturday, they said, occurred largely in spite of, and not because of, Mr. Trump’s actions.";

My Comment:  It's a miracle the raid was completed successfully no thanks to the stable genius who nearly screwed things up by his Syria withdrawal!  The withdrawal did not last long. Troops as I write this are being diverted to the Syrian oil fields.  Trump said of Iraq when we began that war based on lies that we should have kept the oil.  Who would notice?  Seems like a war crime to me to go in and steal a nation's assets.  True to the fascist MO.  Invade, bomb a nation into oblivion and then steal everything that is not nailed down.  Sick.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/baghdadi-isis-leader-trump.html?emc=edit_na_20191027&ref=cta&nl=breaking-news?campaign_id=60&instance_id=0&segment_id=18289&user_id=85a8ac1c6f518c011d82f4864472cc9b&regi_id=75028030ing-news

Question and Critique everything

I am inclined to give kudos when kudos are due. They are due now. The death of ISIS leader Al-Bagdadi seems to have been well organized and perfected.  Kudos to the military who faced danger completing it.   Still, I have questions.  How did the special ops unit get Baghdadi's DNA if he blew himself up and then the whole big strong building collapsed around him as Trump said? How is that possible? When Bin-Laden was killed it was a clean killing so DNA could be collected. Did the US have an original sample of his DNA to compare with that of the deceased?   Why too was Al-Baghdadi hiding  in an inhospitable place for ISIS?   Kudos to the men who risked their lives to get Baghdadi but I do wonder how true all of Trump 's description of the take down is given Trump's penchant for lying.

Moreover, and most importantly, because Baghdadi was killed that surely does not mean ISIS is dead. ISIS will regroup and live to fight another day with new leadership.  ISIS will never die because it is an ideology with thousands who support it.  This reinforces those of us who decried Trump's abandonment of the Kurds thousands of whom died fighting ISIS with us.  Worse still, the ISIS prisoners did escape numbering hundreds if not thousands to go where? Europe about which Trump does not care or even to the homeland of which Trump claims he cares about so much.  Thanks to Trump this nation will not enjoy the help of the very effective Kurds in eliminating ISIS again. 

Trump's hostile rhetoric calling Baghdadi a dog and a coward running crying and screaming down the tunnel was unnecessary.  It will do nothing but inflame followers of ISIS.  It surely will not scare its members into submission.

Trump did not inform Congressional leadership of the Bagdadi raid which traditionally presidents do for top secret military missions.  He claims he did not because of leaks but truth is I suspect it was revenge against Democrats for their very effective impeachment process.

Trump even in military victory sows the seeds of division in a land he claims to love.  One should question and critique everything or accept the negative foreign policy consequences which could be many from a man who is unfit for the office he holds. 

Elija Cummings 1951-1-2019

My heart is heavy because of the loss of this greatest of men. My tears well up as each speaker sings his praises. He was a yardstick for good and a moral compass for all that is right. He fought for it and then died too soon for the mind of those who loved him to comprehend. Rest easy this warrior for the greatest good. Rest easy for this champion of the poor. Rest easy for this leader who had a passion for humanity and showed us the path to perfection to which this nation should strive.

Elijah Cummings was a charismatic giant who stood on the shoulders of those giants who made this nation into a beacon of liberty's light for the suffering, for the poor, for the immigrant, for the sick and for the dispossessed. I love you, Elijah Cummings. We who consider ourselves humanitarian will miss you more than you will ever know.

Let's get real about Tulsi Gabbard!

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/10/18/1893465/-Let-s-get-real-about-Tulsi-Gabbard?detail=emaildkre

If you are anti Trump as I am do NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT vote for a third party candidate like Tulsi Gabbard or Jill Stein. I don't care how convincing their arguments are that Clinton lost on her own. Bull pucky. Third Party candidates like a Ralph Nader or a Jill Stein lose it for the Democratic progressive candidates period end of story. DO NOT DO IT IF YOU LOATHE, DETEST AND HATE DONALD TRUMP. IF YOU DO VOTE DO SO FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOMINEE!!!

• 
  

  There is talk that Russian bots are posting for Tulsi Gabbard solely to give Donald Trump the win. Say NO to a third party candidate that is solely there to hand a victory to Donald Trump. Think historically how much better things would have been with an Al Gore presidency which Nader negated -- All those lives lost in Iraq would be living now and climate change would have been addressed. Jill Stein is a Russian bot too. How much better would we have been had Hillary taken the electoral college instead of the three million popular votes by which she won. THINK PRACTICALLY DO NOT NOT NOT VOTE FOR TULSI GABBARD.

Rep. Elijah Cummings Dies At 68

This was the first news I read this a.m. I am so sad. This man was a beacon for those of us who call ourselves progressives. His loss leaves an empty space which I hope will be filled by someone fitting to occupy the space which this great man filled. We will miss you Rep. Cummings. Now you rest with the other greats who tried to make this a fairer more perfect nation.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rep-elijah-cummings-dead_n_5da82baae4b0b5c9be49604f

US nuclear weapons are now being held as ‘essentially Erdogan’s hostages’ in Turkey: report

https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/u-s-nuclear-weapons-are-now-being-held-as-essentially-erdogans-hostages-in-turkey-report/

"And over the weekend, State and Energy Department officials were quietly reviewing plans for evacuating roughly 50 tactical nuclear weapons that the United States had long stored, under American control, at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, about 250 miles from the Syrian border, according to two American officials.
Those weapons, one senior official said, were now essentially Erdogan’s hostages. To fly them out of Incirlik would be to mark the de facto end of the Turkish-American alliance. To keep them there, though, is to perpetuate a nuclear vulnerability that should have been eliminated years ago. 

“I think this is a first — a country with U.S. nuclear weapons stationed in it literally firing artillery at US forces,” Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies wrote last week."

My Comment: Drumpf is going to get us all killed or held hostage to 50 gd American nuclear weapons held in Turkey. Drumpf the blowhard talks smack about how he is going to rain down stiff sanctions on Turkey for their blasting away our former ally and helper in defeating ISIS. I will believe those sanctions when I see them. In the meantime a nation with American nukes is shooting at US forces.  What could possibly go wrong?  All this to appease Drumpf's buddy Putin and to appease his other authoritarian friend Erdogan so Turkey can finally annihilate their perpetual perceived enemy US ally the Kurds and gain a foothold in Syria.  War crimes are being committed as I write this and Trump is the useful idiot helping Tyrants!  If Drumpf were not the so called president he would be in jail! 

If this does not convince you of this crackpot president's threat I do not know what will--The ISIS of this nation

"A graphic video -- story linked below omitting the horrific video featuring a fake President Donald Trump stabbing members of the news media and lighting the head of a political rival on fire was played at a conference for his supporters this weekend, according to a report Sunday by The New York Times." This is utterly disgusting. He has been called upon to denounce it but has not so far and others in his entourage have not either. What is this jerk president made of? What toxic DNA flows through his body? The video is unconscionable and should be denounced in the most adamant and vociferous way.  This will encourage the right wing toward violence as if they needed any more encouragement.  If this does not convince you of this crackpot president's threat to us I do not know what will.  https://www.huffpost.com/.../fake-trump-meme-video...

U.S. Takes Custody of British ISIS Detainees Who Abused Hostages The military took the two men out of a wartime prison in Syria run by a Kurdish-led militia as Turkey invaded the region--MY COMMENT

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/us/politics/beatles-isis-us-custody.html?emc=edit_na_20191009&ref=headline&nl=breaking-news?campaign_id=60&instance_id=0&segment_id=17729&user_id=85a8ac1c6f518c011d82f4864472cc9b&regi_id=75028030ing-news

MY COMMENT:  So the Beast Drumpf was asked by an American journalist what will happen to the ISIS prisoners about 12,000 in number held in prison by the Kurds when the Americans leave Syria. He answers nonchalantly "they'll probably go to Europe" like it was no big deal. Really you idiot they will just probably go to Europe? What and kill more people in Britain, France and elsewhere not to mention the US if they get here? 

For that alone he should be impeached. That's working against our allies for damn sake. Maybe he should make sure they get to Russia to his good buddy the tyrant Putin maybe that will get his gd attention.

Either IMPEACH and convict this gd moron or vote blue and save the world.  This jackass has NO idea what he is doing!

White House Refuses To Cooperate With Impeachment Inquiry; Constitutional Crisis Looms--TRUMP VEERS INTO TYRANNY

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-house-accuses-democrats-impeachment-overturn-election_n_5d9cfd31e4b02c9da0406582?fbclid=IwAR1yPl5comWg5IjB3A_zky05g-EUxdLlwSshN9QhPLdTVDLiU3kONkGPMRw

Moreover because of this Beast's rancid foreign policy adventure leaving our allies the Kurds to encounter a possible genocide as Turkish and Russian troops are lined up to cross the border. This is the worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this nation.  Worse thousands of ISIS troops are emerging out of prisons.  This could get him impeached as the Republicans are loathe to this betrayal of the Kurds who lost thousands helping the US.

Turkish invasion of Syria would be 'godsend' for ISIS, experts warn

"We have more work to do to keep ISIS from coming back," the spokesperson for the Kurdish-led forces said. "If America leaves, all will be erased."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkish-invasion-syria-would-be-godsend-isis-experts-warn-n1063621

Chaos in Syria, Washington after Trump call with Erdogan unleashed Turkish military

  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/chaos-syria-washington-after-trump-call-erdogan-unleashed-turkish-military-n1063516

 

What a MESS! As long as the Beast has one, ooops he said two towers, in Turkey he goes along with a Turkish Erdogan (a strongman of course) policy to order a pull out of American troops -- allies of the Kurds who defeated with the US ISIS. Now ISIS thinks it died and went to heaven as it will have a second chance to regroup and annihilate the Kurds and even strike the US as ground troops are strewn all over the Middle East.  An impending genocide of the Kurds is at hand.  Even Syria and Russia were surprised by the impulsive action, a hallmark of a Drumpf presidency.  It seems Erodogan had his little feelings hurt not having a one on one with Drumpf in New York.  Trump was trying to get Erodogan off the phone thus promising a Syria pull out and abandoning a Kurd ally.  Sure understandable one wants to get a pain in the neck off the phone so you give them a reward -- a potential genocide!  Is he 15 years old or 74?  Even the Republicans are cracking.  We'll see for how long.

The US is now perceived as an unreliable ally. Another ugly Drumpf feature.  He cares only about himself! Drumpf does not care about a friend which is why he can walk away from the Kurds, who spent blood (10,000 dead) with the US to defeat ISIS.  He is concerned as much as if he were endangering fleas. He cares NOTHING for a friend or anyone else except he does care about his gd money, his Trump tower Istanbul.  UGLY, UGLY UGLY man.

He needs to be impeached, convicted, then prosecuted as a civilian and jailed!

VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET AND SAVE A NATION!

Suggested Reading

Larry O'Donnell's interview of James Stewart was excellent. Suggested reading: James Stewart's "Deep State" on my list after Rachel Maddow's "Blowout." I wish I had two pairs of eyes to read such great material on the unstable genius Trump. His presidency if you want to call it that, is the shame of our nation!

Theater of the Absurd

It is the height of absurdity for Trump and his minions to want an investigation into what they say is the larger so called "deep state" scandal of Ukraine interference in the US 2016 election rather than Russia. Now I ask you Ukraine is a small nation compared to Russia and, moreover, is defending itself in a hot war against Russian invasion after Russia took Crimea by force. It is in Russia's prime interest to shake the accusation off of it for its interference in the 2016 US election for their electoral preference of Donald Trump and place it on a sham wholly disputed accusation that Ukraine did it. This is reductio ad absurdum.

Ukrainian interference in the US 2016 election has been roundly debunked and dismissed by Mueller himself coming to the absolute truth conclusion that Russia used its massive tentacles and technological expertise to do so. It is theater of the absurd to point an accusatory finger at Ukraine. The head of Ukraine, Zelensky, must tread carefully with Trump because Ukraine depends upon the US to protect its national security with US weapons to the tune of 250 million dollars of support that Trump had held up in order to put force on Ukraine to do his bidding and investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. THAT is the height of a Constitutional violation which Trump took an oath to support. That is the rope Trump has used to hang himself and others loyal to him by asking in a short memo for a foreign nation to do his bidding against his main electoral opponent, Joe Biden. 

How would tiny by comparison Ukraine have the ability to perform the massive 2016 election interference the Mueller evidence of which showed Russia clearly performed? Russia not only had the motive but the ability to use their complex KGB-like intelligence and technology to commit the 2016 election interference that Mueller unequivocally said they did. Trump, as in Beckett's theater of the absurd will have to be waiting for Godot to arrive to prove his lie only to find out Godot never will appear.

Properly had

This ugly man Trump is throwing this nation under the bus taking dozens perhaps hundreds of formerly innocent people with him. Some trusted him, some even loved him and this is what this Beast gave them -- subpoenas, maybe criminal prosecutions, and the need to hire attorneys for what? For working for and not recognizing a Mafia like conman who lies all the time and cares NOTHING for anyone but himself.

Enjoy yourselves, as Sherlock Holmes once said: you've been had properly had!

Salient Points and my opinion in italics and bracketed

have tried to copy and paste what I think are the most salient parts of the Whistle Blower Complaint.  I think it easier to understand if it is written.

My opinion:  Lost in the retelling of the Whistle Blower Complaint is my opinion that the real effort of Trump is to change Ukraine back to right wing leadership that would be favorable not only to Trump but to most importantly Putin taking the onus of Russian interference in the US 2016 election, proved beyond a reasonable doubt, and placing it on so called by Trump Ukrainian corruption which is a lie and has since been disproven.  The former Ukrainian Russia friendly corrupt leadership in Ukraine is now hold up in Russia as he was removed from Ukraine.  Russia has taken part of Ukraine -- Crimea -- and Ukraine is now fighting a hot war on that border with Russia.  Ukrainians generally loathe Russian aggression. Putin's desire, of course, is to return the entire Baltic region to Russian control lost during Glasnost and the fall of the former Soviet Union.  Putin is aiming at Kiev to take all of Ukraine.  The question becomes and always has been in my opinion WHY OH WHY IS TRUMP SO DEDICATED TO ADVANCING RUSSIAN AUTHORITARIAN INTERESTS AND TURNING HIS BACK ON THE DEMOCRACIES?  Once we find this out all other dominoes to me would fall into place.   The accusation of Biden's interference has been disproven and is now a conspiratorial lie promulgated by none other than the professional liar Trump!  It helps Putin!

Phone call of July 25 and beginning of the whistle blower Complaint

initiate or continue an investigation into the activities of former Vice President Joseph Biden and his son, Hunter Biden;

assist in purportedly uncovering that allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election originated in Ukraine, with a specific request that the Ukrainian leader locate and turn over servers used by the Democratic National  Committee (DNC) and examined by the U.S. cyber security firm Crowdstrike,  which initially reported that Russian hackers had penetrated the DNC's networks in 2016; and

meet or speak with two people the President named explicitly as his personal envoys on these matters, Mr. Giuliani and Attorney General Barr, to whom the President referred multiple times in tandem.

COVER UP and FOOTNOTES:  Relegating certain information to be held as "Classified" which should not remain classified but is in order to cover up certain actions by Trump or his minions.  "I also believe that applying a classification marking to this information would violate EO 13526, Part 1, Section 1.7, which states: "In no case shall information be classified, continue to be maintained as classified, or fail to be declassified in order to: (I) conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; [or] (2) prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency."

It is unclear whether such a Ukrainian investigation exists. See Footnote #7 for additional information.

"I do not know why the President associates these servers with Ukraine. (See, for example, his comments to Fox News on 20 July: "And Ukraine. Take a look at Ukraine. How come the FBI didn't take this server? Podesta told them to get out. He said, get out. So, how come the FBI didn't take the server from the DNC?")

The President also praised Ukraine's Prosecutor General, Mr. Yuriy Lutsenko, and suggested that Mr. Zelenskyy might want to keep him in his position. (Note: Starting in March 2019, Mr. Lutsenko made a series of public allegations—many of which he later walked back—about the Biden family's activities in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials' purported involvement in the 2016 U.S. election, and the activities of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. See Part IV for additional context.) [My note:  The entities Trump praises are among the right wing corrupt and have since been voted out of office or removed. Zilenskyy a seemingly honest president, is supposed to clean things up. THERE WAS NO UKRAINIAN INVOLVEMENT IN THE US 2016 ELECTION.  THAT WAS RESERVED FOR RUSSIA PROVEN BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT]

They told me that there was already a "discussion ongoing" with White House lawyers about how to treat the call because of the likelihood, in the officials' retelling, that they had witnessed the President abuse his office for personal gain.

The Ukrainian side was the first to publicly acknowledge the phone call.

  "Donald Trump expressed his conviction that the new Ukrainian government will be able to quickly improve Ukraine's image [i.e. with Trump and Putin] and complete the investigation of corruption  cases that have held back cooperation between Ukraine and the United States." [lie with much needed by Ukraine to fight Russians 240 million dollars of US military equipment held back]

In addition to White House personnel, I was told that a State Department official, Mr. T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, also listened in on the call.

 Based on my understanding, multiple State Department and Intelligence Community officials were also briefed on the contents of the call as outlined above.

COVERUP:  In the days following the phone call, I learned from multiple U.S. officials that senior White House officials had intervened to "lock down" all records of the phone call, especially the official word-for-word transcript of the call that was produced—as is  customary—by the White House Situation Room. This set of actions underscored to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call.
•    White House officials told me that they were "directed" by White-House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for coordination, finalization, and distribution to Cabinet-level officials.

THE POIGNANT QUESTION:

The poignant question is: WHY DIDN'T THE DNI WHEN HE RECEIVED THE WHISTLE BLOWER COMPLAINT FROM THE IG SAYING IT WAS URGENT GIVE IT DIRECTLY TO CONGRESS AS THE LAW STATES? INSTEAD TRUMP TOLD OFFICIALS TO "LOCK DOWN" ALL RECORDS OF UKRAINE CALL!!