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And the ride in Washington continues to twist like a two lane route through deserted lands. Huh? Month after month of disarray and confusion coming from our esteemed president and his sycophantic followers, we just can't seem to get low enough when it comes to "slime factors." You read that right, the slime factors coming out of the "Trump Swamp" include every move to strip environmental regulations, ignore ethical rules and norms and to attack anyone that opposes the man in the Oval - including attacks that denigrate both the target of the criticism but also the reputation and integrity of the attackers. Yes, we are evolving America - and sadly it's going the wrong direction!
Just this week, after rounds of speculation and denials, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has announced his retirement (surprise) at the end of this Congressional term (See: www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/house-speaker-paul-ryan-tells-confidants-he-wont-run-for-reelection-report.html). He claims it's to spend more time with his family, but what are the real reasons for his "sudden" announcement? Could it be that he was the financial beneficiary of political ($$$) support from the NRA that may have come directly from Russian Oligarchs interested in influencing our elections? Could it be that Ryan has a closet full of skeletons - including efforts to destroy the balance and norms traditionally embodied in the House of Representatives? Could it be that Ryan "achieved" his goals of meeting every one of his financial backers' policy demands and now that he has put them into place, he wants to go and hide before they blow-up in America's face? It certainly would be beneficial for him to conveniently "disappear" from public view once the tax cuts come back to haunt us all. Kind of difficult to profess an ideology of balanced budgets and anti-spending while promoting huge deficit busting tax cuts and spending favorable to his "handlers." Could it be he wants to avoid having the public learn he does not support Trump, but his lack of a spine made it necessary for him to "go along" with the man? Could it be that history will not treat him well once it is revealed for all time that all of the Congressional investigations into Hillary Clinton were designed and implemented to destroy a candidate for the presidency based upon pure political manipulation (putting Party over Country again and again)? (See: nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/10/trey-gowdy-stops-pretending-admits-this-is-politics.html).
On top of this news, Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen is now under criminal investigation for shady dealings pre and post election. What worries the Trumplings the most? It appears Cohen may have kept recordings of conversations with those intent on pursuing criminal affairs or perhaps with those intending to interfere with our elections or at least in a position to sway an election to Trump. (See: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-allies-worry-that-federal-investigators-may-have-seized-recordings-made-by-his-attorney/2018/04/12/16d6345a-3e89-11e8-912d-16c9e9b37800_story.html?utm_term=.3742cf2f8402). Either way, another bad sign for Trump, right?
And now Trump and his lawyers have moved the Court allow them to review all material recovered in the FBI - Cohen raids claiming they alone can determine whether "evidence" seized is protected by the Attorney-Client privilege. (See: www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/04/15/michael-cohen-trump-review-seized-evidence/519408002/). Seems rational right? Except by doing so, the president is insisting he cannot rely upon the judgment of his own Justice Department to determine the legality of its investigation and raids. Let that sink in. Trump is arguing with his lawyers the Justice Department cannot be trusted to make the right call when it comes to investigations and evidence legally obtained via subpoenas issued from a Federal Court. Additionally, there is now rampant speculation Trump may create a constitutional crisis by outright firing Mueller as Special Counsel or Assistant FBI Director Rod Rosenstein (existing law requires the president to first fire his FBI Director in charge and require his replacement the authority to fire the special counsel). And no one knows if Trump will act in accordance with his emotional will - which makes him more dangerous as ever. (See:
nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/04/will-trump-actually-fire-mueller-rosenstein-or-sessions.html).
On top of this, Former FBI Director James Comey's new book was published and it's filled with nuggets of insight into a number of issues - especially those relating to the president's lack of fitness to serve as POTUS. Par for the course, Trump reflexly tweeted out insult after insult directed at Comey, including allegations the man should "go to jail" for leaking classified information - except there is no evidence of any such leaks. (See: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-assails-comey-in-tweetstorm-calls-for-ex-fbi-director-to-be-imprisoned/2018/04/15/af00c178-40af-11e8-ad8f-27a8c409298b_story.html?utm_term=.6d555075769d).
Once again, when Trump feels threatened, he resorts to name calling and insults void of any factual basis. Why? Because his official propaganda network (Fox news) amplifies his lies and insults to the delight of his loyal and otherwise brain-dead base of Trumpling supporters. It seems they believe the notion that honesty be damned as long as they perceive themselves as "Winning" (even though we all lose from this attitude).
While the Cohen raids were unfolding, Trump surprisingly issued a full pardon to Scooter Libby, once convicted of lying to the FBI in covering up the wrongful outing of Valerie Plame as an active CIA operative. Coincidence? Perhaps. (See: www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/us/politics/trump-pardon-scooter-libby.html). But the week couldn't end on that simple note, No, instead the president used the military to strike Syria over their use of chemical weapons on its own citizens. Afterwards, Trump proclaimed "Mission Accomplished". (See: www.cnn.com/2018/04/14/politics/trump-bush-mission-accomplished-reaction/index.html). Except what exactly was accomplished by these strikes -except to distract Trumplings from his own very, very bad week?
As President George Washington once wrote; "Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness." The direction of America is now misguided by a president unfit to serve. We cannot expect the GOP to do anything about this problem and we certainly cannot expect Trumplings to come to their senses (they seem to have lost theirs somewhere along the line). We must stay diligent and not allow anyone, including Donald Trump to pursue policies pursued by licentiousness because we have no other option. Try to have a great week!
Just this week, after rounds of speculation and denials, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has announced his retirement (surprise) at the end of this Congressional term (See: www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/house-speaker-paul-ryan-tells-confidants-he-wont-run-for-reelection-report.html). He claims it's to spend more time with his family, but what are the real reasons for his "sudden" announcement? Could it be that he was the financial beneficiary of political ($$$) support from the NRA that may have come directly from Russian Oligarchs interested in influencing our elections? Could it be that Ryan has a closet full of skeletons - including efforts to destroy the balance and norms traditionally embodied in the House of Representatives? Could it be that Ryan "achieved" his goals of meeting every one of his financial backers' policy demands and now that he has put them into place, he wants to go and hide before they blow-up in America's face? It certainly would be beneficial for him to conveniently "disappear" from public view once the tax cuts come back to haunt us all. Kind of difficult to profess an ideology of balanced budgets and anti-spending while promoting huge deficit busting tax cuts and spending favorable to his "handlers." Could it be he wants to avoid having the public learn he does not support Trump, but his lack of a spine made it necessary for him to "go along" with the man? Could it be that history will not treat him well once it is revealed for all time that all of the Congressional investigations into Hillary Clinton were designed and implemented to destroy a candidate for the presidency based upon pure political manipulation (putting Party over Country again and again)? (See: nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/10/trey-gowdy-stops-pretending-admits-this-is-politics.html).
On top of this news, Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen is now under criminal investigation for shady dealings pre and post election. What worries the Trumplings the most? It appears Cohen may have kept recordings of conversations with those intent on pursuing criminal affairs or perhaps with those intending to interfere with our elections or at least in a position to sway an election to Trump. (See: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-allies-worry-that-federal-investigators-may-have-seized-recordings-made-by-his-attorney/2018/04/12/16d6345a-3e89-11e8-912d-16c9e9b37800_story.html?utm_term=.3742cf2f8402). Either way, another bad sign for Trump, right?
And now Trump and his lawyers have moved the Court allow them to review all material recovered in the FBI - Cohen raids claiming they alone can determine whether "evidence" seized is protected by the Attorney-Client privilege. (See: www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/04/15/michael-cohen-trump-review-seized-evidence/519408002/). Seems rational right? Except by doing so, the president is insisting he cannot rely upon the judgment of his own Justice Department to determine the legality of its investigation and raids. Let that sink in. Trump is arguing with his lawyers the Justice Department cannot be trusted to make the right call when it comes to investigations and evidence legally obtained via subpoenas issued from a Federal Court. Additionally, there is now rampant speculation Trump may create a constitutional crisis by outright firing Mueller as Special Counsel or Assistant FBI Director Rod Rosenstein (existing law requires the president to first fire his FBI Director in charge and require his replacement the authority to fire the special counsel). And no one knows if Trump will act in accordance with his emotional will - which makes him more dangerous as ever. (See:
nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/04/will-trump-actually-fire-mueller-rosenstein-or-sessions.html).
On top of this, Former FBI Director James Comey's new book was published and it's filled with nuggets of insight into a number of issues - especially those relating to the president's lack of fitness to serve as POTUS. Par for the course, Trump reflexly tweeted out insult after insult directed at Comey, including allegations the man should "go to jail" for leaking classified information - except there is no evidence of any such leaks. (See: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-assails-comey-in-tweetstorm-calls-for-ex-fbi-director-to-be-imprisoned/2018/04/15/af00c178-40af-11e8-ad8f-27a8c409298b_story.html?utm_term=.6d555075769d).
Once again, when Trump feels threatened, he resorts to name calling and insults void of any factual basis. Why? Because his official propaganda network (Fox news) amplifies his lies and insults to the delight of his loyal and otherwise brain-dead base of Trumpling supporters. It seems they believe the notion that honesty be damned as long as they perceive themselves as "Winning" (even though we all lose from this attitude).
While the Cohen raids were unfolding, Trump surprisingly issued a full pardon to Scooter Libby, once convicted of lying to the FBI in covering up the wrongful outing of Valerie Plame as an active CIA operative. Coincidence? Perhaps. (See: www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/us/politics/trump-pardon-scooter-libby.html). But the week couldn't end on that simple note, No, instead the president used the military to strike Syria over their use of chemical weapons on its own citizens. Afterwards, Trump proclaimed "Mission Accomplished". (See: www.cnn.com/2018/04/14/politics/trump-bush-mission-accomplished-reaction/index.html). Except what exactly was accomplished by these strikes -except to distract Trumplings from his own very, very bad week?
As President George Washington once wrote; "Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness." The direction of America is now misguided by a president unfit to serve. We cannot expect the GOP to do anything about this problem and we certainly cannot expect Trumplings to come to their senses (they seem to have lost theirs somewhere along the line). We must stay diligent and not allow anyone, including Donald Trump to pursue policies pursued by licentiousness because we have no other option. Try to have a great week!
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