Saturday, May 5, 2018

Russia and the NRA: The 'Other' Russian Investigation

Good Day World!

Everyone in the world (with the exception of some blind monks in the Himalayas) knows about the Trump campaign and Russian collusion investigation.

Not so well known, is the FBI is investigating the NRA about obtaining funds from Russia in order to promote Trump in 2016.

At first, the NRA stated categorically that it did not accept money from Russian donors for election-related purposes when the FBI came calling.

That claim changed in the early days of the investigation, and the NRA admitted it had a single Russian donor - Alexander Torshin.


For starters, it turns out that Torshin, a Russian banker and NRA member with ties to the Kremlin, and the Russian mob, was put on a sanctions list by the US Treasury Department.  

That wasn't the end of it, however.

Next, the NRA admitted that 20 Russian citizens had collectively donated $2,500, mostly in "membership dues and additional magazine subscriptions."

The NRA told the FBI the money was only collected for lawful purposes. 

Because the NRA's political arm has insulated the group with secrecy and bribery, some think it's power is total.

We'll see what the FBI has to say about that when they release their findings. 

One question looms however, will the FBI be allowed to share the results? Will Trump puppets, like Sessions, stuff the report into his "round file," for partisan purposes?

Or, will Trump (the NRA's new champion) hide the final report before the truth can come out to the public? 


Time for me to walk on down the road...

Friday, May 4, 2018

Trump Should Have a Better Vetting Process For His Own Lawyers

Good Day World!

By now, everyone knows that Trump's vetting process for cabinet positions, and other government positions, is a joke.

How could it not be? Just look at the parade of losers who Trump nominated that are gone already.

But...when it comes to picking his own lawyers he better change his loyalty system and look for some real lawyers and not idiots like Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani in a conversation, with Fox News, blew the lid off the Stormy Daniels case by admitting Trump was aware of everything.

He stated that Trump knew a payment was made to the porn star on his behalf. Yet, for months Trump denied knowing anything about Daniels, and called the story fake news.

Now you have Giuliani saying the story is real, but it was not an illegal deal.

Giuliani's insistence the money had nothing to do with the campaign is complicated by the fact that Daniels' silence was secured just days before the 2016 presidential election, and as Trump was dealing with the fallout from the "Access Hollywood" tape in which he bragged about sexually assaulting women.

Legal experts were surprised that Giuliani decided to let the cat out-of-the-bag (with a bogus cover-up story) on live TV. Some speculated it was a preemptive strike for what will be revealed in Michael Cohen's records.

By getting out front, and literally flipping the story around, Giuliani has further endangered Trump according to legal experts who questioned Giuliani's understanding of the law.

Trump, as he's done in the past with other individuals, picked Giuliani because he knew he would be loyal to him - to the point of breaking laws.

Ignoring the reality that his legal team is a bunch of B-list legal hacks will be Trump's eventual downfall.

It's no wonder that top-shelf lawyers are avoiding what once would have been a plum career choice. They know, based on history, Trump will never take their advise if it doesn't fit his reality.

That fact will be Trump's Waterloo.

Time for me to walk on down the road...





Thursday, May 3, 2018

It's Finally Come To This: Trump Openly Threatens DOJ


                                               Good Day World!

The pretense of acting like Trump's cooperating with the Russia investigation has been dropped like a hot potato.

Another Trump lawyer, Ty Cobb, has been sent packing. His crime? Apparently He's been advocating for letting Mueller complete his investigation without any interference from the Oval Office.

Trump's latest barrage of bilge involves threatening to "get involved" with the Department of Justice. As in, "I'm coming to take you down."


News flash for Trump...despite what your tortured brain tells you, it's not okay to attack government agencies with impunity.

That's the message Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave a group of Republican lawmakers Tuesday when he signaled he would not back down from their impeachment threats.

Trump's rotating list of lawyers hasn't gone unnoticed. A lawyer only lasts as long as he stays in Trump's favor and agrees with him on everything.

Real lawyers are leaving him like fleas jumping off a dog because he won't take their advise. It's really that simple. The word has gotten around in lawyer-land that Trump is using and abusing his legal team.

It's also becoming clear that Trump is throwing off all the shackles of law and a civilized society. He infusing our legal system with puppets, and claims he's above the law - any law, because he's the president.

This growing confidence of his doesn't bode well for the safety of our Constitution.

A showdown is coming between our whole system of law and order and checks-and-balances, versus a demagogue who would be a dictator.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Dazed and Confused: What Should American's Think?


I'd like to quit thinking of the present, like right now, as some minor, insignificant preamble to somethin' else. - Cynthia from the movie, "Dazed and Confused." (1993)

                                               Good Day World!

I don't have to take a poll to know that we're living in extraordinary times in America.

When you have arguably the worst president in our history being considered for a Nobel Peace Prize, it's understandable if you're a little dazed and confused.

Trump, of course, is already taking credit for uniting Korea and disarming their nukes, hence saving the world.

The only problem with that, is no actual official negotiation has taken place. Donny and Rocket Man haven't met face-to-face. There's no confirmation where these negotiations will take place...and when.

When I heard that South Korean president Moon was suggesting Trump should get a Nobel Peace Prize (again ahead of everything), the first thing that struck me was he was stroking Donny's ego.

An easy thing to do, as some other world leaders have already figured out.

Meanwhile, this possible Nobel Prize winner, is getting ready to pick a fight with Iran by backing out of the current nuke agreement on May 12th - in essence, violating the treaty that the rest of the civilized world agreed to.

The last thing anyone needs is another war in the Middle East.

Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 
is trying to push Trump's buttons by claiming Iran has already violated the treaty and is making nukes.

With the Jared Kushner connection to Netanyahu, you can be sure there's been secret talks between Trump and Netanyahu. Collusion, if you will.

Both leaders are under attack in their own countries, and the idea of a war as a diversion, must be appealing. 

Even the idea of selecting Trump for the honor of a peace prize, shatters all norms when you look at all he legal trouble he's in, and his assaults on our Constitution.

From colluding with Russia, to bribing women not to expose his sleaze before the presidential election, he's demonstrated that the only thing he deserves is being locked up behind bars.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

NRA's Hypocrisy Exposed At Annual Meeting


                                           Good Day World!

One of the NRA's favorite claims is "a good guy with a gun will stop bad guys with a gun."

That fable is part of the foundation of lies and half-truths that the political wing of the NRA has been spreading like cow manure in the fertile fields of fear that their supporters live in for decades.

Every year the NRA holds an annual meeting where members bring guns and praise for concealed weapons.

This year Vice President Pence is the scheduled speaker, although there's rumors Trump may also show up and lavish praise on AR-15s.

Here's the kicker; no guns (or any other weapons) will be allowed in the forum because the secret service doesn't trust hundreds of crazed attendees toting assault rifles.

The may call themselves "good guys," but the secret service isn't going to take a chance one of the "good guys" shooting someone they think is a "bad guy" on stage.

There's going to be an estimated 80,000 people gathering Friday in Dallas, Texas. The testosterone levels will be through the roof. Throw in some alcohol and guns, and by golly you have a party! 

The organizers are bragging about 20-acres of firearm exhibits that will be one of the featured attractions.

Panels of so-called experts will discuss how it's a person's right to carry a gun anywhere in public. Anywhere that is, but the main venue of the NRA gun-love fest.

The NRA thinks it's okay to carry guns in schools. Left to their own devices, the NRA would have allowed it's members to tote firearms to the venue.

However, the gun-worshipping organization wouldn't have been able to feature Pence, and possibly Trump, if the secret service didn't get it's way on disarming the attendees.

Apparently, all the so-called "good guys" can't be trusted with weapons in public. Now imagine that...

Time for me to walk on down the road....

Monday, April 30, 2018

A 'New Age' Twist On An Ancient Ceremony


                                         Good Day World!

I remember back in the 1970s and 1980s when the expression New Age was birthed.

I wrote it off has some wacky philosophy that was trending in Hollywood and Arizona. Even if I would have read the "New Age Journal" by Mark Satin, I think my opinion would have remained the same.

I do recall trying to get through Marilyn Ferguson's best-selling "Aquarian Conspiracy," and losing interest half-way through it.

Then there was Shirley MacLaine, the spokesperson for the New Age movement. Other celebrities, and the public, looked at her as being slightly "off balance."

So, what has all of this got to do with the present?

As you probably suspected there's still plenty of New Agers out there practicing their philosophy.

Recently, there's been a shift to South America where New Agers, and curious tourists, are going to experience new-age healing retreats.

These retreats offer traditional, indigenous healers, known as curanderos. They offer up a psychoactive concoction that rivals LSD for their "patients," called ayahuasca.

It's really not totally traditional, because the curanderos were the ones who originally took it in order to diagnose their patients. In this modern version the patients get to get stoned themselves.

There's ayahuasca retreats springing up everywhere between Canada and Turkey. It's a largely unregulated export market.

However, this new favorite brew for New Agers is already having a supply problem.

The ingredients, found deep in the Amazon forest, are getting harder to obtain.

As a result, some of the necessary ingredients are being substituted with other plants that are similar, but with a nasty side-effect; some tourists have died from ingesting this modified ayahuasca.

I'm thinking that the New Agers probably should move on from this form of healing-therapy, and reconsider their foundation of using healing crystals.

At last count, no one ever died from them.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Wake and Bake Headlines For Sunday April 29th, 2018

Good Day World!

Have you ever tried cannabis infused coffee?

It's good stuff that helps you focus on the foolishness in our world.

Let's start off with these serious stories about fools:

1. Trump Slams Media In Campaign Style in Michigan
     Donny is at it again, bragging about his so-called accomplishments, and threatening to shut Congress down if he doesn't get more money for his wall.

2. Joy Reid Says She Can't Prove Hackers wrote "hateful" Posts
    MSNBC's Joy Reid was a fool for thinking she could cover up her hateful past posts. She showed just how big a fool she is when she tried to suggest hackers wrote those posts! NOT!

3. Lawmakers Demand Answer From Speaker Paul Ryan Over House Chaplain's Ouster
    Why did partisan Paul Ryan kick the chaplain out? In the first place it's not the speaker's prerogative to terminate an officer of the House without a vote of the House. 
   When some Democrats and Republicans called for an answer they were voted down by the Trumpies in the group.    The word is, Ryan fired the chaplain because he thought his prayer during the Omnibus Bill was biased for the poor.
   That coming from a fool who is fortunately retiring.

Need a break from this Serious shit? 

Q - How can you tell if a porno movie was made in the 1970s?

A. Even the guy's penises have sideburns!

All right...moving right along:

A couple of tourists were dining at a fine restaurant in the Napa Valley. After waiting for an hour the husband finally was able to catch the waiter's eye.

"I want a bottle of your best wine," he ordered.

"What year?" asked the waiter.

"Right now!" bellowed the tourist.

Okay... enough for today.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

It's Time to Pay Up Donnie!

It's looks like there will be some prime real estate going on the market soon in New York City. Convicted rapist and former president ...