Transcript Please

Remember Mr. Mendacity Trump lying his posterior off about Obama's birth certificate? Well, I ask where is his Wharton or U of Penn transcript proving he, in fact, graduated from there and claims to have graduated first in his class. Where is the proof of not only graduation from Wharton and U of Penn but also his first in his class standing?

I suspect his class standing is NOT superior at all IF he even graduated. Show me his transcripts! Cut and paste this question on either your blog or email and get this question answered. If it is true that he graduated Wharton and did so first in his class as he says then I will accept the proof but I want the proof first!

Show us the money -- the Russian connection:

If I hear our orange faced know nothing president blame Hillary Clinton for the Flynn, his own self-inflicted probably very illegal national security and other breaches I may have to find that building from which to jump! Some quotes Trump should read IF he can read at all. Shakespeare: "The fault dear Brutus is not in the stars but in ourselves." President Harry Truman: "The Buck Stops Here" meaning at the president's desk. It is preposterous how many avenues of blame the nation has been offered by this inept Commandant (yes, I mean Commandant) in Chief for the Flynn scandalous episode but this president will keep on preposterously blaming Hillary Clinton for everything but the proverbial sink.

The Flynn firing OR in the alternative resignation, we know not which because Trump and his administration tell us both, indicates this scandal probably runs deep. One man cannot take the blame for a Russian liaison both before the presidential election and after it without others higher in the chain of command giving him the green light to do it. We need some meat on the so far evidence thin bone. Those agencies that are investigating this Herculean swamp need to provide the nation something -- even if it is small -- to prove what we all know is probably true before Trump replaces those in the intelligence agencies with his own cronies who will bastardize that, Illusive word in in the Trumpian dictionary -- TRUTH. I believe Donald Trump during his campaign and even long before it had massive financial involvement with Russia so much so that the word Russian blackmail of Trump comes up so frequently in the investigation.

Moreover, Trump's campaign management, including probably Trump himself, had nefarious communication with an adversary of this nation prior to the election prodding it to hack into and find DNC emails to use against Hillary Clinton. I believe our intelligence agencies and even those of our allies know the truth but the investigation of its tentacles reach so far and wide it will take an army slogging through an Amazonian jungle of information to get it.

Trump's tax returns, which can and, I believe, have been sought by a FISA court could show much of what Trump needs to hide and why Trump refuses to release them. The information in them probably would show the never ending conflicts of interest and perhaps even a plethora of illegalities by this amoral entity whom this nation so unintelligently elected president. It appears Russia has something on Trump; probably financial as Russia holds a massive amount of his debt. They also probably know and have proof of other aspects of his extra curricula life when he was in Russia which we need NOT know except that most probably can guess what the smarmy details of it might be. We do know, by Putin's own admission, that Russia has the best prostitutes.

There is an avalanche of detail to know about the Trump/Putin connection from Trump's conflicts of business interest in Russia to the Russian hacking of a US election to skew the vote toward Trump and Trump's attempt at subverting and clandestinely changing Obama sanction policies as payback for the Russian election hacking of DNC computers to help Trump. Until we see some actual documented proof it is simply speculative through the NYT, the Washington Post and other professional news services.

The electorate needs at least some authoritative proof so we can see how much our safety and security have been compromised and why our intelligence sector AND even foreign intelligence sectors do not trust this president will not take the Russian treasonous express to tell his pal Putin what he knows. The FBI, the CIA and National Security have some of the proof on the Trump/Putin love affair which monumentally upset them in the first place. In the end I believe it is pay for play at its worst. Putin hands Trump the election and Trump by eviscerating sanctions and NATO gives Putin part of his empire back. I would believe what my own eyes see. Therefore LET'S SEE at least SOME OF THAT PROOF. Yes, show us the money!

Midnight

The Trump 45 and Bush 43 presidential disasters are what happen when an administration is installed that eschews facts and dismisses science. Facts and science rule every time. Trump's so far short time in the White House has been comprised of a house of lies, an eschewing of intellect, an administration of cruelty and placing in positions of immense power crackpots who are not intellectually capable of handling the jobs for which they were assigned. It boils down to the fact said of Trump when he began his ridiculous run for the presidency: Trump is UNFIT and WHOLLY UNQUALIFIED for this office. Each scandal and appointment is reflective of that fact. He is a danger to our nation.


I can only imagine with fear and trepidation what not only our allies are thinking now that they know the Trump administration is in a state of chaos but what our adversaries are thinking. ISIS and those who support that tyrannical horror must be licking their chops. Instead of Trump making us safe, as he said that was the pivotal point of his election, he is placing us more at risk as the clock ticks closer to midnight and he has NO idea what to do.

Fractured Lands

I came upon this in depth article from the New York Times again and began to pick up where I left off.  I think there is no better analysis of the history of what went down in Iraq and the surrounding nations in the Middle East nor I do not think one can get a better understanding of this nation and its allies' contribution to the mayhem that exists until this day.  I believe it explains why this nation and its allies MUST take responsibility for the refugees that emerged from war making on a nation that did nothing to us and its resulting chaos.  The article written by Scott Anderson is breathtaking in its scope.  Read and you will know what your nation has done and continues to do in your name so that it should never happen again. 

"Watch out, Mr. President, once you break it you own it":  Secretary of State Colin Powell to President George W. Bush about the danger of invading Iraq.  August 5, 2002

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/11/magazine/isis-middle-east-arab-spring-fractured-lands.html?emc=edit_ta_20160811&nlid=75028030&ref=headline&_r=1

Just how much trouble is Michael Flynn in? AND WHAT DID THE PRESIDENT KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT?

On Wednesday, national security adviser Michael Flynn told The Washington Post that he and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak had never discussed the sanctions put in place by the Obama administration in a series of communications in December 2016.

On Thursday, Flynn told The Post — through a spokesman! — that, well, who could say what he and Kislyak talked about. Flynn “indicated that while he had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn’t be certain that the topic never came up,” the spokesman said.

That's, um, bad. It strains credulity that on Wednesday, Flynn could issue a flat denial about conversations he had with Kislyak, but on Thursday, suddenly his memory of those conversations changed.

It also runs counter to the version of events that Flynn as well as then-Vice President-elect Mike Pence and several other senior Trump officials put out in the wake of the revelations that Flynn and Kisylak had been in contact, even as an investigation by the Obama administration was concluding that Russian hackers had interfered with the U.S. election process for the express purpose of hurting Hillary Clinton and helping Trump.

The two men “did not discuss anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia,” Pence insisted in an interview on “Face the Nation” in January, adding that to accuse Flynn of discussing sanctions “is to give credence to some of these bizarre rumors that have swirled around the candidacy.”

That runs directly counter to the information The Post gathered from nine (!) intelligence officials who were granted anonymity to speak candidly. This passage is particularly damning:

All of those officials said ­Flynn’s references to the election-related sanctions were explicit. Two of those officials went further, saying that Flynn urged Russia not to overreact to the penalties being imposed by President Barack Obama, making clear that the two sides would be in position to review the matter after Trump was sworn in as president.

“Kislyak was left with the impression that the sanctions would be revisited at a later time,” said a former official.
The FBI investigation into Flynn's contacts with Kisylak is ongoing. And the Post story is already creating turmoil within the administration.

​IF THIS IS EVER UNRAVELED THE QUESTION WILL BECOME: WHAT DID THE PRESIDENT (PRESIDENT ELECT) KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT.​

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/us/politics/donald-trump-michael-flynn-russia-sanctions.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

And so it begins!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/michael-flynn-russia-sancti…


Michael Flynn Reportedly Spoke To Russians About Sanctions Last Year
If that's true, Flynn would have violated a law prohibiting private citizens from engaging in diplomacy.
huffingtonpost.com

RANDY RAINBOW -- FIND ME A FACT -- "Matchmaker" Fiddler on the Roof -- BRILLIANT!

 Enjoy!

FIND ME A FACT!

https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei/videos/985978234837453/

If you know someone who is gay or you simply care

Please sign the Petition. It is hard to believe that there are such CRACKPOTS in our nation who are so sick, so depraved, so inhuman, so stupid and so cruel that this legislation is even a possibility and that Trump would sign it. From what planet did Donald Trump come? From what sewer did this man Trump emerge?

Ivanka Trump is in the apparel business and comes from New York. Surely she has friends and/or coworkers whom she knows to be gay. Surely most of you have a friend, family member or coworker who are gay or, perhaps, you are simply an empathetic and humane person. I urge you to sign this petition no matter what your connection to the LGBT community is or is not.

Sign the petition: Sign the petition: No federally approved anti-LGBTQ discrimination

I just signed this petition telling Congress to push back against the First Amendment Defense Act, legislation to codify discrimination against LGBTQ people into federal…

share.credoaction.com

Trump Trumped by Putin

I have thought for quite some time about Trump's affection for the autocrat Putin and his suggestion that Putin hack the DNC email that something seemed to be awry in Trumpland. Trump's dig-his-heels-refusal to release his tax returns so that we the people can see what investments, monetary entanglements and possible conflicts of interest Trump may have with not only Russia but many nations around the world as well.  His spiderweb of investments compromise his presidency and places our nation in danger. The Manchurian candidate Trump as Russian stooge and useful idiot to the former KGB useful idiot expert Putin is suspect.  It is alleged pay to play at its worst.  Trump does not love Putin because he likes looking at him half naked on a horse and Putin surely does not love the orange mango president Trump for his money.  No, Putin has plenty of that.  Both Putin and Trump get something out of their mutual admiration society.  Trump gets debts forgiven and Putin gets to invade Eastern Europe thereby getting his old empire back.   Allegedly the FBI and the CIA are on a warpath of investigation but I advise not to hold your breath.  While Trump waits for a volcanic eruption that he thinks will never come he continues to rake in billions from the presidency.  That was what his con was all about. Trump's Washington hotel with his name on it is collecting millions for him as foreign dignitaries stay there to court favor with the American president. That is patently illegal as was his travel to Cuba when it was against the law to do so.  Remember, he could shoot someone in the middle of New York City and get away with it. 

The New York Times reported: 

It was Trump's assertion that he has "no deals in Russia" that seemed especially noteworthy. He said something similar last month in a pre-inaugural press conference, telling reporters, "I have no deals that could happen in Russia, because we've stayed away."

To the extent that reality matters, Trump and his business team did not "stay away." The New York Times reported a few weeks ago:

Mr. Trump repeatedly sought business in Russia as far back as 1987, when he traveled there to explore building a hotel. He applied for his trademark in the country as early as 1996. And his children and associates have appeared in Moscow over and over in search of joint ventures, meeting with developers and government officials.

During a trip in 2006, Mr. Sater and two of Mr. Trump's children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, stayed at the historic Hotel National Moscow opposite the Kremlin, connecting with potential partners over the course of several days.

As recently as 2013, Mr. Trump himself was in Moscow. He had sold Russian real estate developers the right to host his Miss Universe pageant that year, and he used the visit as a chance to discuss development deals, writing on Twitter at the time: "TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next."

Trump once told a biographer, "I know the Russians better than anybody."

Why are his words not used as proof of his lies?

The so called M16 CIA agent who put forward the dossier on Trump's Russian connection is now in hiding and one of the two Russian agents cooperating with M16 is dead and the other is lying in a coma near death. That says something thing doncha think?  There is much to the Putin Trump Russian bromance that does not smell like a Valentine rose.  It smells toxic.

Trump has besmirched every friend of this nation from Australia to Mexico to NATO safeguarding our Eastern European allies from Russian encroachment while Trump says nary a word about the build up of Russian forces on the border of Ukraine where attacks have occurred nor does he say anything about Russian usurpation of Crimea nor Russian ventures into Georgia.  All Trump can think of is to drench a heaping dose of Putin praise on him.  Just what does he like about this murderous autocrat who kills those who dare oppose him even murdering reporters? 

As Shakespeare would say "something is rotten in Denmark."  I can smell high crimes and very serious misdemeanors a mile away.  It is the great con he is perpetrating on the American public and seemingly getting away with all of it. He is using the power of the presidency for the money he can milk from it while he places billionaires of no qualification in cabinet positions of power and former Goldman Sachs employees sit at Trump's side as advisors. One former Goldman partner and hedge fund manager, Steven Mnuchin, has even been nominated as Treasury Secretary. This comes from a man who was going to "drain the swamp."  Must I say again he IS the swamp!

The Manchurian Russian connection is by far, though, the most distressing.  I believe he is in debt to the Russian oligarchy, banks, and even to the Russian mafia for billions.  That is the guillotine Putin holds over Trump's fake orange haired head.  When asked by Mr. Conservative Bill O'Reilly why Trump likes the murderer Putin so much.  Trump says there are plenty of murderers out there and what is so clean about our own nation anyway.  Republicans must have adored their president saying that speaking almost like Noam Chomsky, the Darth Vedar of the Right. 

I say, Putin, thy name is blackmail.  Throw in some Russian prostitutes and the plot sickens, I mean thickens. Trump is scummy enough to be involved since, as he said, he cannot help himself when it comes to touching women.  I cannot prove the Russian prostitute connection but I feel it intuitively since sex tapes were mentioned within the M16 dossier context and Putin just coincidentally happened to mention how nice Russian prostitutes are. I wonder why Putin said that.

This president is the most corrupt, noxious, malignant, narcissistic liar that ever set foot into the oval office. One should NOT be afraid of Muslims one should be afraid of Trump. Donald Trump's administration is an existential threat to democracy.  It is a white nationalist and white supremacist threat from the highest echelon as he nominates white supremacist and antiSemite, by his own admission, a Leninist, Steve Bannon, as a regular attendee to the Principals Committee of the National Security Council. I believe Trump is the true Manchurian candidate sliding into the presidency just barely through the electoral college back door while Hillary received 3 million more popular votes. Trump, though, has been trumped by Putin and both know it.  I just hope we are not trumped by Putin too!

Walking in Another's Shoes-- Frontline "Battle for Iraq"

All should watch Frontline "Battle for Iraq" linked below but I know most will probably not because it is not as much fun as "Dancing with the Stars" or the Superbowl or "The Voice." According to the 2010 Census, "the population of the United States was 308,745,538. Including active duty, national guard and reserves, the population of Americans in uniform is 2,317,761, meaning that less than1 percent, .75 percent to be exact, of the country's population is a member of the military." Most of the US population sink into television oblivion while thousands to whom we pay lip service homage go to their untimely deaths or, if they are lucky to come home alive, live a lifetime with brutal disability. Think into the past when the Bush administration first invaded Iraq, a nation which did nothing to us. Think on that Shock and Awe day when an administration lied about Hussein possessing WMD which were allegedly earmarked for us. There were no WMD. Bush and his henchmen pushed lies to take the nation to war and so the Iraq War has morphed over nearly two decades into civil war, then morphed into ISIS and goes on now day after day after day after day for nearly 15 years without end as a Middle East region, too, contagiously explodes into never ending violence.

Innocents are caught in a trap they never set for themselves. Refugees desperately clinging onto life stealing a shred of hope that something will improve beg entrance into a country where Lady Liberty beckons saying "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door" but its president bars the door. Refugees beg for help but the President of the United States wants to push them away even if their refugee status was bestowed upon them by the United States of America.

ISIS says god willing, Sunnis say god willing, Shias say god willing, Christians say god willing and hypocrite of hypocrites Trump says god willing we will win. Whose side is god on anyway and why does homo sapiens man, who has the biggest brain, not question it all? God is coming to no one's rescue not even the US soldier, or Trump, or Christians or Muslims or anyone. How could that truth be more apparent and yet the mantra of god willing, god will help us, god is good, god is great, god will kill the infidel, god is angry, no god is so happy with those who blow up their bodies for afterlife bliss not ring a cacophony of screeching sound in our ears? God will NOT help anyone but man must help himself or become resigned to the permanent fact of permanent war. No amount of American fire power, no amount of US troops on the ground, no amount of presidential bluster in however many years he has to spew it will win against ISIS or will win against the Taliban in Afghanistan. One would think trump's best friend Putin would share a bit of his experience as to the impossible fight that is Afghanistan. The Russians were there nearly 10 years and left. Trump who knows no history cannot understand how futile the fight is in nearly every corner of the Middle East much less understand the many dimensions of why.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and getting the same result. Watch the Frontline documentary "The Battle for Iraq" and see into what sewer swamp our nation has been plunged. It is an eternal war that Bush could not end, that Obama could not end and that Trump will CERTAINLY not end. In fact, with Trump's loose tongue spouting confrontational verbiage alienating even our friends he just may plunge us into a deeper hell -- a nuclear hell -- from which there truly is no escape. As much as the bloviator-in-chief loves to puff up his chest to tell us we will get sick of winning so much. We may not get sick of winning so much but we surely will get sick of losing again. There is no winning Middle East wars that breed only insane violence, death, carnage and destruction. It creates an Arab mindset of hate toward those for whom there is already not much love. Who of you would want to live in this hellish place that is Iraq? Who of you would want to walk in an Iraqi's shoes? I suspect no one would!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/battle-for-iraq/

The Malignant Machinations of a Corrupt Presidency

This post was sent to me by someone I trust. It is hard, though, to wrap my brain around it although I suspect it true. It simply staggers me. I do not know if a government here could get away with this but I do not put it past trump to try so I send it out for you to know. While plausible this could not happen without many many refusing to act on the most unconstitutional of orders even with the sanctioning of 9/11 law which was meant for terrorist acts NOT for political opposition. In view of the protest at an Executive Order and opposition to the trump presidency in general it would be a very difficult and an enormous task to for them to implement what is essentially murder. Still, I play it safe as I know how corrupt and malevolent this "administration" is and what the capabilities of a malignant narcissist trump might be. Nothing surprises me now!!

The Post:

Yesterday, the President downgraded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence from the National Security Council. They will now attend on an ad hoc basis. They have been effectively replaced with Steve Bannon. Bannon has no government, intelligence, or high-level military experience; his experience is leading a propaganda outlet (Breitbart News) that peddles nationalist and white nationalist viewpoints.

This would be deeply concerning in and of itself. But one of the jobs of the NSC is to oversee a secret panel that authorizes the assassination of “enemies of the United States Government” – including American citizens. These targeted killings are fully authorized by law under the Congressional military authorization act following 9/11. There is no trial, no due process, and no public record of the decision or the assassination itself.

Just to recap the absurdity: the President of the United States has appointed a known propagandist, nationalist, and white supremacist to replace the highest military advisor in the country on a council that authorizes secret, legal, targeted killings of American citizens (and others) without due process.

What You Can Do:

- Call your Senators and Congressperson this week and demand that they publicly and legislatively oppose Trump’s appointment of Steven Bannon to the NSC.
- Spread the word about this news to your networks, since this is not getting a lot of coverage right now.

Please COPY AND PASTE this update as opposed to sharing the post so that it will have a greater reach.

- Post courtesy of Brad Marshland.

The President's Heart

In the confounding era of a Trump presidency I must wax clear my concerns as a Jewish woman where my sentiments about being a Jew lie, how strongly or not I support the Jewish state now, and my concerns about my Jewishness within a Trumpian administration that is unclear to me in its opaque verbosity against purposeful antiSemitic, anti-Muslim and other racist hate-filled acts that have become more plentiful as Trump's campaign and his assent to the presidency takes place.

I have been politically invariant through the decades. I have through my college years and beyond taken a decidedly left of center seat and remained in that chair ever since formed in part through an empathy with the "other." I was born three years after the most cerebrally indelible event that has been burned into the Jewish mind -- the Holocaust -- which erased from the face of the earth, through unspeakable horrors, 2/3rds of the Jews of Europe. At 10 years old I saw for the first time pictures of the liberation of Auschwitz shown in a Newsreel before the main show in theaters of that era. I became nauseated at the sight. I was thankful to be living in a nation where I thought that would not happen again and where the specter of antiSemitism was, I also thought, gone. My young eyes saw the vicious slings and arrows of Nazism but thought being a Jew in our nation meant I would not have to feel the fear of such a horrific thing happening to me.

In present time, however, and as a politically sophisticated adult the reality of ever present antiSemitism rings true and it is especially true now by the surprising Trump victory and its attendant racial overtones. We are seeing fires at mosques, desecration of Muslim graves as well as Nazi Swastikas painted on houses by thugs as the Trumpian fog of white nationalism hangs in the air of the White House.

Several things about Trump are worrisome. It is more than alarming to me that one of the main actors in the Trump administration is Steve Bannon who not only is in the president's administration with an office close to him but has been promoted to chief strategist and senior counselor. Bannon, the former head of Brietbart.com has been a trafficker in extremist right wing conspiracy theories, sexist beliefs and antiSemitic thought. According to Political Conundrum Forum Trump reorganized the National Security Council which now gives Bannon a regular seat on the principals committee — the meetings of the most senior national security officials, including the secretaries of defense and state.

What does this say about an administration that looks the other way as members of the so called Alt Right give the president a Nazi-like salute, where David Duke KKK arch racist and antiSemite praises the president while "understanding" why Trump cannot invite him in and when the president commemorates National Holocaust Remembrance Day by conspicuously omitting the word Jew or Jewish when mentioning it? It has been my experience that those who are less than sympathetic to the suffering of the Jew as the prime recipient of the Final Solution during the Holocaust often leave out that fact or tell us that there were more than simply Jews who were the recipients of Nazi madness.

It gives me no solace that Trump pays lip service to the support of the State of Israel while advocating for policies that would destroy the Jewish state not help it thrive. Those who think he is a friend
of the Jew because he has a Jewish son-in-law err in their naiveté. His friendship with Putin, no friend of the Jew, and his reliance on Bannon who according to his ex-wife did not want his children schooled with Jews speaks loud and clear as to what the president harbors in his heart if he, in fact, has a heart at all.

Ex-KGB Chief Who Leaked Incriminating Trump Info Found Dead In The Back Of A Car In Russia -- [The Man Who Knew Too Much]

 
By John Prager on January 28, 2017 5:07 pm ·

Trump and his allies expect us to dismiss the 35-page dossier that details Donald Trump and his team’s ties to the Russian government, but a lot of crazy stuff keeps happening that makes it impossible.

When it was just former MI6 agent and author of the report Christopher Steele, who is in hiding to protect himself from both Trump and Putin’s goons, saying that President Asterisk’s closet is overflowing with skeletons (and Russian hooker urine) it was one thing, but the existence of audio and even video of Trump engaging in incriminating acts was confirmed by at least four sources, including one in the American intelligence community. Israeli intelligence officials have also been warned about sharing intel with Trump’s administration for fear that it will be leaked to Vladimir Putin. And then there’s the little matter of what happened to a gentleman who helped Steele compile his incriminating yet not entirely verified report…

Oleg Erovinkin was a former general in the KGB and the FSB. He is suspected of feeding information to Steele, and he was found dead in his car on Boxing Day. Russian state-run media initially reported that foul play was involved when “Erovinkin’s body was “found in a black Lexus… [and] a large-scale investigation has been commenced in the area. Erovinkin’s body was sent to the FSB morgue.” Since then, the cause of death has been downgraded to “heart attack.” The Telegraph reports:

Erovinkin was a key aide to Igor Sechin, a former deputy prime minister and now head of Rosneft, the state-owned oil company, who is repeatedly named in the dossier.

Erovinkin has been described as a key liaison between Sechin and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Mr Steele writes in an intelligence report dated July 19, 2016, he has a source close to Sechin, who had disclosed alleged links between Mr Trump’s supporters and Moscow.

The death of Erovinkin has prompted speculation it is linked to Mr Steele’s explosive dossier, which was made public earlier this month. Mr Trump has dismissed the dossier as “fake news” and no evidence has emerged to support its lurid claims.

The Russian state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Erovinkin’s body was “found in a black Lexus… [and] a large-scale investigation has been commenced in the area. Erovinkin’s body was sent to the FSB morgue”.

No cause of death has been confirmed and the FSB continues to investigate. Media reports suggested his death was a result of foul play.

It was later claimed he died of a heart attack. Christo Grozev, an expert on Russia-related security threats, believes Erovinkin is the key source to whom Mr Steele refers in his dossier.

“Insiders have described Erovinkin to me alternately as ‘Sechin’s treasurer’ and ‘the go-between between Putin and Sechin’. One thing that everyone seems to agree – both in public and private sources – is that Erovinkin was Sechin’s closest associate,” Grozev says. “I have no doubt that at the time Erovinkin died, Mr Putin had Mr Steele’s Trump dossier on his desk. He would – arguably – have known whether the alleged… story is based on fact or fiction.”

“Whichever is true, he would have had a motive to seek – and find the mole,” he adds. “He would have had to conclude that Erovinkin was at least a person of interest.”

At this point, it will be difficult for our own intelligence agencies to get to the bottom of this situation. Recently, for example, Trump decided to retain James Comey — yes, the guy who interfered in the election on his behalf — as the head of the FBI. The Donald also has the power to fire Comey if the ongoing investigation is not positive for Trump. At around the same time as the announcement, the Bureau cleared Michael Flynn of any wrongdoing in his numerous, suspicious calls to the Russian ambassador.

Our country is in a bad place and we need more information to correctly determine what is going on with any of this — information the current administration and his despotic allies will go to any lengths to hide.

Was Erovinkin murdered because of his knowledge of information that could greatly hurt Trump and his BFF Putin? Maybe, maybe not. Putin is exactly the sort of person who has been known to leave a trail of dead journalists in his wake for reporting too much. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that he had a former KGB agent murdered for knowing too much.

Featured image via Getty Images (Drew Angerer)/Twitter

COURT STEPS IN DEPORTATIONS HALTED SOME GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE!!!

COURT STEPS IN DEPORTATIONS HALTED


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/court-blocks-trump-refugee-ban_us_588d4b53e4b0b065cbbc6a6f?xnlfqhm52qpioogvi&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

TRUMP SLAMS THE DOOR--PIC --- PLEASE LOOK AND SCROLL DOWN -- SHORT COMMENT

TRUMP SLAMS THE DOOR

Trump Targets Muslims, Refugees In New Executive Order Issued On Holocaust Remembrance Day

“We don’t want them here,” he said.

SOMETHING MUST BE DONE; TRUMP WILL KILL THIS NATION.  WAR WILL BREAK OUT ESPECIALLY

WHEN HE VOMITS THAT HE WANTS TO STEAL IRAQ'S OIL!!   THIS IS A PRESIDENCY

OUT OF CONTROL.  HE HAS CLOSED VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS, CLOSED THE WHITE HOUSE TELEPHONE LINES, FIRED LONG TERM NEUTRAL STATE DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES AND AMBASSADORS WHO ARE DEDICATED CIVIL SERVANTS OVER MULTIPLE PRESIDENCIES KEEPING US SAFE!!!  HE HAS FIRED
EMPLOYEES OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AND PLACED A GAG ORDER ON ANY WHO ARE THERE, ORDERED THE SCRUBBING OF
COMPUTERS.  HE IS ALIENATING ONE OF OUR CLOSEST ALLIES, MEXICO, ON OUR SOUTHERN BORDER; HE IS THREATENING TO WITHHOLD FUNDS FROM SANCTUARY CITIES INCLUDING BOSTON; THIS IS NO JOKE.  TRUMP MUST BE STOPPED.  CALL YOUR CONGRESS PERSONS AND TELL THEM EMPHATICALLY THAT THEY ARE DONE IN CONGRESS IF THEY DO NOT OPPOSE THIS -- ESPECIALLY REPUBLICANS BUT DEMOCRATS TOO!!  THIS CANNOT GO ON.  I AM NOT BEING OVER EMOTIONAL.  OUR LIVES TRULY ARE AT STAKE!

RESIST!

PRESSURE CONFERENCE

The "Press Conference" with British Prime Minister May was the shortest ever. Trump read from cards and took only two questions. Journalists on CNN and even MSNBC are going out of their way to put a positive spin on it for Trump.

In my opinion there is NOTHING positive about it as one cannot believe one thing Trump says. Now he says he is okay with torture and thinks it works. Trump says his Defense Secretary Maddis, the former general, says torture doesn't work so now he is going with him. Oh really? I would believe that like I would believe Chris Christie was doing a "traffic study" when he stopped dead the traffic on the GW Bridge.

No one but no one can trust this president as he has shown time and again he will say what he knows someone wants to hear and change his position from the beginning of a sentence to a different posture at the end.  All of a sudden he supports NATO 100%. I DON'T think so as that is NOT what Vladimir Putin wants to hear. Fool me once .... can't get fooled again.

The press is running scared. HOLD POWER'S FEET TO THE FIRE. The proof is not in what the mendacious president says but by what he does!!!

Stop the World I Want to Get Off

Trump in four days has done much to sink a nation. It will not happen today or even tomorrow but expect planetary destruction if not from permanent Middle East war then from the science of indisputable fact climate change.

I will, instead of creating an opus maximus that talks about the progression of egalitarian democracy to Trumpian tyranny list the planet obliterating democracy the killer Trump is winding up to pitch.

In DC land, Herr Trump is busy exercising his writing small fingers skill showing us his signature, the size of Mt. Everest, on every Executive Order he has signed so we can see how important he is.

The XL pipeline and the Dakota pipeline, stopped by the always thoughtful President Obama, are now in a go-ahead process signed by the stroke of a small finger I mean pen by a know nothing, allegedly mentally ill nincompoop who suffered a popular vote loss to a woman by the name of Hillary Clinton. She received, as we know, 3 million more popular votes that he. That FACT sticks in Trump's craw as the man behind the darkest of curtains, resurrected from death his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, to tell us the news media hater Herr Trump actually won because there are after all, she said, "alternative facts" otherwise known as lies that say the opposite. Statistically determined and certified by the Secretaries of State all over the nation conclude voter fraud was non-existent and that Herr Trump's "alternative facts" are incorrect. They are, of course, real to his Trumpian base who believe Trump when he says voter fraud accounts for the 3 million Clinton popular vote triumph. If he told his supporters Democrats conspiratorially knew about and planned for Democratic Martians to come down on a rocket ship from space to vote illegally for Secretary Clinton, Herr Trump's base would believe that too.

Back to the pipelines: There were, recently two big spills one or both in Canada because guess what? Over time pipes leak and like everything on the planet they succumb to age. Oil pipes can also leak even due to human error like our own biggest most catastrophic BP oil spill in the Gulf which spewed 210 million gallons of oil they could not contain. The effects of it are felt seven years later to this day. When pipes leak or when there is a spill they are hard and nearly impossible to contain with archaic containment booms or worse sprayed from the air with Corexit oil dispersant which poisons the water, fish and wild life further. According to the Government Accountable Project:

"Conclusions from the report strongly suggest that the dispersant Corexit was widely applied in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon explosion because it caused the false impression that the oil disappeared. In reality, the oil/Corexit mixture became less visible, yet much more toxic than the oil alone."

The XL pipes will extend all the way from Canada to Louisiana crossing the nation's mid section. TransCanada's pipeline, carrying tar sands oil, some of the dirtiest oil in existence, is 1,200 miles of pipeline which is the final piece of a 3,800-mile pipeline network the GAO says. What could possibly go wrong? The pipeline in the beginning of its construction will create 42,000 jobs so says Trans Canada CEO, Russ Gerling but at the end will create permanently only 35 jobs. Other clean energy jobs are taking shape so why take the risk? Try on for size money for the industry and campaign contributions for the politicians that's why. I thought Herr Trump was draining the swamp. He can't he IS the swamp. Who needs the EPA anyway when we know private enterprise will never cover up their mistakes. Will they? Answer: YES, they will.

When pipes leak it fowls wildlife and drinking water killing the ecosystem and humans with it. Lets not honor a treaty with the Dakota Soux Native American tribe preserving their ancestral land. Why would be care about them? Andrew Jackson didn't. Despite Trump instructing his EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to shut down its dissemination of information information still gets out. Under Trump EPA regulations will be all but obliterated and certainly not transparent making the poisoning of our lakes, rivers and streams by toxic waste all but certain. Who did Herr Trump nominate for the cabinet position of the EPA? -- Scott Pruit the former AG of Oklahoma and climate change denier. Did I fail to mention Oklahoma is home to oil drilling and fracking for oil creating hundreds of environmentally impacting earthquakes but who cares about a little shaking? Answer: The earth. It HATES it and so should you!

Today, I can hardly wait to see, Herr Trump is going to start ordering the building the Great Wall of America (like China's 2000 year old one) only on our southwestern border to keep Mexicans and other "undesirables" out diverting funds from one thing to pay for another through executive order. Can he do that without Congress? I thought he said Mexico was going to pay for it.  Suggestion: Make a hefty contribution to the ACLU some of whom say they will be hammering him with lawsuits. Meanwhile the wall will have to wind its way through the courts. Herr Trump will soon be nominating an extremist right wingnut justice for SCOTUS. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, please stay healthy or things will not look good in Glocca Morra.

Some think all his cabinet picks will be approved; Senator Sessions from Alabama is a career confederate racist opposer of minority voting rights who never saw a voter suppression tactic he did not like. Betsy Devos for Education Secretary is a know nothing of education but a know everything about her billion buck business Amyway and a religious fanatic who hates public schools but loves for pay charter schools -- stick the public with the tab why doncha and make more billionaires? Trump's cabinet is a who's who of American billionaires.

Then there is Herr Trump blabbering at the CIA about how he won the election and that stealing Iraq's oil -- a war crime -- putting our soldiers on the ground at risk is such a dandy idea. Oh well, maybe the US will have another crack at it says our bone spur military deferment Commander in Chief. Our Iraqi partners WILL turn in an instant against the US soldier Herr Trump claims to love so much and they will bring I bet some choice extremist followers with them. The US will have exactly zero allies and eternal war or worse. Of course making Jerusalem the capital of Israel and returning the US embassy there will THRILL Palestinians--NOT!

There is always Herr Trump's entertaining bromance with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin who has, it seems, something over Trump. What could it be? Conflicts of interest or a cleverly placed sentence in his congratulatory statement to Herr Trump for his victory. He told us how wonderful Russian prostitutes are. Is this a warning across the Trumpian bow for Trump to play or pay -- dearly? Where is that sex tape when you need it? Expect NATO to be weakened with Trump's lovemaking to Putin letting Russia run roughshod over Ukraine and the Baltic states building back their lost empire once again to the ecstatic joy of Putin's people in his homophobic paradise of Russia.

Almost forgot, Herr Trump will let in no Middle East refugees from "terrorists nations" i.e. Muslims from wars this nation began and were snowballed in the Middle East. Destitute, shattered and demoralized there is no room for them in the Christian Inn of America even though the wars from which they are running have been in large part because of the Iraq (and elsewhere) US policy failure.

Yes, it will be a new day and America will be Great Again. Or in the alternative relegated to the ash bin of history. Meanwhile planet earth is warming much faster than scientists thought as an ice shelf in Antarctica is about to break off sending billion of gallons into our seas and at some point Mar a Largo, Herr Trumpf's Florida estate, will be under water -- hopefully with him in it. Can someone stop the world I want to get off before it ends?

The Implication of the wall and a bit more

If anyone thinks a mega expensive wall on the southwestern border is the answer to the alleged immigration issue they are dead wrong - emphasis on dead. Here are three opinions blogged on Facebook (including my own) about the wall, taxing goods coming into the country, taxing companies that send businesses/jobs to Mexico and what the ramifications of doing these things will be.

One more thing: To add to the chaos of American foreign policy vis a vis Mexico is the fact that Trump this weekend will speak with Putin, his beloved. It is rumored that the sanctions against Russia that Obama reimposed for hacking and other things will be removed or relieved improving the Russian economy leaving Russia the freedom, with Trump looking the other way, to move into at least the Ukraine and the Baltic states embracing a return or at least the beginning of a return to the old Soviet empire. As one American ambassador put it: Trump is moving the world to a "war footing!" Is it too fear-mongering to say Poland, Hungary, Romania, et als beware? Back to the wall:

Larry Brancato We are the ones going to pay for it [the wall], but Trump supporters are to stupid to see it, if he puts a 20% tax on imports we will be paying more for everything from Avacados, to kiwi, from strawberries to tomatoes, from machinery to medical equipment. The tubing my mother uses for her breathing machine come from Mexico. And the workers making products for export to Mexico will also get the shaft, because Mexico will tax imports. So while Trump says their paying for it in the end the American voter will be paying for it [and a trade war will begin.]

Natalie Rosen You are 100% CORRECT, Larry. Mexico will NOT pay for the wall. That is the issue or one of them in addition to the fact that if the Mexican economy is screwed by our action their economy just coming back from the doldrums will again be propelled into an economic downturn. So it means that Mexicans will again be desperate for jobs. Illegal immigration has already been curtailed by a Mexican economy that is improving. IF the US ruins that then it will jet propel more "undocumented" workers coming into this country and this gd wall that people think will work so swimmingly to keep them out WON'T! Life finds a way. This is a CRACKPOT "solution" by a CRACKPOT president to a NON problem that an immigration bill from Congress would fix but as usual Republicans care nothing about doing that or care nothing about anything that helps those in need period but they love their government health care/retirement options, love their government paychecks, and love all their billionaire lobbyists that fill their coffers with millions.

At the heart of Romney's con is tribalism pure and simple. The nationalists want to keep America white and not brown. In every way the American consumer is going to get the shaft! Trump is less than smart, understands nothing or just plain does not care and refuses to read and learn. He is an amoral man who has zero empathy or even curiosity as to what his policies will mean. It means a trade war will begin as Mexico will increase their tax on imports. Our once friendly neighbor to the south will NOT be so friendly and they will find other countries like Nicaragua, China or even Cuba from which to buy and sell their goods. America is NOT indispensable. Joy Reid said it best. It's NOT the Mexican worker that is the problem for the American worker it is and will be AUTOMATION and ROBOTICS that will kill American jobs!

The Damage Done

I was sent the following.  I went over each and every bullet point and believe this list is accurate.

The swift and aggressive actions are broad-reaching. Here's the latest comprehensive account.
"In only 6 days, look at the damage this repulsive person America elected has done and it is surely not over yet: To recap:
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the DOJ’s Violence Against Women programs.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.

  *On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Minority Business Development Agency.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Economic Development Administration.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the International Trade Administration.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Legal Services Corporation.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the DOJ.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Electricity Deliverability and Energy Reliability.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Fossil Energy.

* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered all regulatory powers of all federal agencies frozen.

* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered the National Parks Service to stop using social media after RTing factual, side by side photos of the crowds for the 2009 and 2017 inaugurations.

* On January 20th, 2017, roughly 230 protestors were arrested in DC and face unprecedented felony riot charges. Among them were legal observers, journalists, and medics.

* On January 20th, 2017, a member of the International Workers of the World was shot in the stomach at an anti-fascist protest in Seattle. He remains in critical condition.

* On January 21st, 2017, DT brought a group of 40 cheerleaders to a meeting with the CIA to cheer for him during a speech that consisted almost entirely of framing himself as the victim of dishonest press.

* On January 21st, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held a press conference largely to attack the press for accurately reporting the size of attendance at the inaugural festivities, saying that the inauguration had the largest audience of any in history, “period.”

* On January 22nd, 2017, White House advisor Kellyann Conway defended Spicer’s lies as “alternative facts” on national television news.

* On January 22nd, 2017, DT appeared to blow a kiss to director James Comey during a meeting with the FBI, and then opened his arms in a gesture of strange, paternal affection, before hugging him with a pat on the back.

* On January 23rd, 2017, DT reinstated the global gag order, which defunds international organizations that even mention abortion as a medical option.

* On January 23rd, 2017, Spicer said that the US will not tolerate China’s expansion onto islands in the South China Sea, essentially threatening war with China.

* On January 23rd, 2017, DT repeated the lie that 3-5 million people voted “illegally” thus costing him the popular vote.

* On January 23rd, 2017, it was announced that the man who shot the anti-fascist protester in Seattle was released without charges, despite turning himself in.

* On January 24th, 2017, Spicer reiterated the lie that 3-5 million people voted “illegally” thus costing DT the popular vote.

* On January 24th, 2017, DT tweeted a picture from his personal Twitter account of a photo he says depicts the crowd at his inauguration and will hang in the White House press room. The photo is curiously dated January 21st, 2017, the day AFTER the inauguration and the day of the Women’s March, the largest inauguration related protest in history.

* On January 24th, 2017, the EPA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to freeze all grants and contracts.

* On January 24th, 2017, the USDA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to stop publishing any papers or research. All communication with the press would also have to be authorized and vetted by the White House.

* On January 24th, 2017, HR7, a bill that would prohibit federal funding not only to abortion service providers, but to any insurance coverage, including Medicaid, that provides abortion coverage, went to the floor of the House for a vote.

* On January 24th, 2017, Director of the Department of Health and Human Service nominee Tom Price characterized federal guidelines on transgender equality as “absurd.”

* On January 24th, 2017, DT ordered the resumption of construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, while the North Dakota state congress considers a bill that would legalize hitting and killing protestors with cars if they are on roadways.

* On January 24th, 2017, it was discovered that police officers had used confiscated cell phones to search the emails and messages of the 230 demonstrators now facing felony riot charges for protesting on January 20th, including lawyers and journalists whose email accounts contain privileged information of clients and sources.

And today: the wall and a Muslim ban.

HOW TO FIX CONGRESS!!

Someone who knows finance is asking everyone to forward this email to a minimum of 20 people, and to ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in the United States will have the message. This is an idea that should be passed around.

Let's see if these idiots understand what people pressure is all about.

Salary of retired US Presidents .. . . . .. . . . . .. . $180,000 FOR LIFE.

Salary of House/Senate members .. . . . .. . . . $174,000 FOR LIFE. This is stupid

Salary of Speaker of the House .. . . . .. . . . . $223,500 FOR LIFE. This is really stupid

Salary of Majority / Minority Leaders . . .. . . . . $193,400 FOR LIFE. Stupid

Average Salary of a teacher . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. .$40,065

Average Salary of a deployed Soldier . . .. . . .. $38,000

Here’s where the cuts should be made!

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

"I could end the deficit in five minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election".

The 26th Amendment ( granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds ) took only three months and eight days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffett is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2017

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman / woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.

2. Congress (past, present, & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 3/1/17. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and go back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people, then it will only take three days for most people in the U.S. to receive the message. It's time!

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

If you agree, pass it on.
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