Saturday, July 27, 2019

#MoscowMitch - A Traitor and Trump Apprentice Threatens 2020 Elections

"Coffee. Today isn't happening without it!"

                                       Good Day World!

It's about time to call out a traitor to our country (other than Trump); the scoundrel's name is Mitch McConnell, and obstruction is his game. #MoscowMitch  

The first senator, and Senate Majority leader, to obstruct Russia's inference with the 2016 election was Mitch McConnell. When Obama's intel community told him what was going on, he told them not to say anything about it.

That was the first sign he was turning traitor. 

He favored a cult leader over our election integrity. Mitch felt Trump was as corrupt as himself, and their future could be bright - taking advantage of their power positions in order pursue their personal agendas.

American's were left with the most corrupt and lying president in history.

With the help of Trump's chief conspirator, Moscow Mitch, he has insulated himself from impeachment by controlling the senate vote. Only a traitor would work with the crazed clown in the White House, protecting him from the laws of the land.

One of the biggest warnings in the Mueller report was Russia is still actively attacking us in cyberspace, and we can expect them, and other bad actors, to try to infiltrate our 2020 election process.

As a result, Democrats passed two election security measures that were promptly shot down by the so-called "Grim Reaper" aka, Mitch.

Instead, Moscow Mitch claimed the measures gave Democrats some sort of a partisan advantage. The sad thing is he's right...legislation to secure elections is partisan. 

The fact that it's partisan shows just how pathological the Republican Party has become in its determination to hold onto power.

Those measures should have been a bipartisan slam dunk!
Especially the one calling for a paper backup system for states that don't already have one, like Oregon whose mail-in system is secure.

One of the reasons why Moscow Mitch stopped the measures was out of pure greed:

Related: As he Blocks Election Security Bills McConnell Takes Checks from Voting Machine Lobbyists

Some things in our system today are partisan in the sense that if we were to do them they would advantage the Democratic Party over the Republican Party.

For example...

* Securing voting systems from foreign hacking
* Allowing every American to vote
* Making it as easy as possible to vote
* Assuring that all votes are counted equally

Now consider what this says about Republicans, who are willing to stop these measures in order to stay in power.

Frankly, Trump and minions like the fact that our election process is still dysfunctional, and getting more help from Russia sounds good.

The last thing Trump wants is an election that is secure, free, fair, and open. Moscow Mitch is doing his best to make sure it won't be.  

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

Friday, July 26, 2019

Future Shock: Grooming the Next Generation of Trumpies

"Hand over the coffee and no one gets hurt!"

Good Day World!

Watching a video of Trump addressing a group of impressionable teenagers at a Turning Point USA convention recently, made my blood turn cold.

For several reasons:

1) The similarity of another youth group - Deutsches Jungvolk (German youngsters in German Youth Group) were rallying around the cult figure, Adolf Hitler. 

The group's main goal was to indoctrinate German youth into believing everything Hitler said, regardless of how crazy it was.

2) Trump is a cult figure, with followers so extreme they're ripping apart the moral fabric of our country. We're not talking about Republican youth with conservative ideals, but a sick hybrid that is dividing the country along racial lines.

A lot like the Hitler youth did prior to, and during, WWII.

3) The sick mind of one young man, Charlie Kirk (who was 18 when he founded the group in 2012), is behind Turning Point USA (TPUSA)

His organization has secretly attempted to influence student government elections in an effort to "combat liberalism on college and university campuses," since it's inception.

In December 2017, former employees of the organization accused it of engaging in racist practices, as well as potentially illegal involvement in the 2016 presidential election.


In conclusion

Despite calling themselves conservatives (in a pathetic attempt at some kind of political cover) Turning Point USA is really a Trump Youth Movement.

Watching Trump address the group for two hours with fiery rhetoric and racial lies mirrored history. I could hear the ghosts of the Hitler Youth movement chanting "Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler!"

One more thing:

In 2018, The Southern Poverty Law Center's Hate Watch List documented TPUSA's links to white supremacists.

A Humorous aside related story: Trump Appears In Front of Doctored Seal With Russian and Golf Imagery, TPUSA Aide Fired

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

Thursday, July 25, 2019

The Aftermath: The Corruption Continues in our Country

"I think, therefore I've had my cup of coffee."

Good Day World!

Anyone, like me, hoping for a High Noon moment where Mueller would come out guns blazing yesterday during his hearing, were sorely disappointed. 

It was more of a pathetic performance by all parties involved.

I seriously wondered if Mueller would make it through both hearings. He looked like he should be in a nursing home for dementia. When the farce was over, he could have auditioned for the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz.

Mueller's memory and poor hearing combined, resulted in a painstaking back-and-forth process with both Democrats and Republicans.

It was a lot like listening to someone scratch their nails on a blackboard.

Viewers weren't eagerly watching the show while eating popcorn. I heard reports of viewers nodding off on the West coast, because it started so early (5:30 a.m.).

The Aftermath

Nothing has changed. No needle moved forward towards impeachment. Just a 75-year-old man who didn't want to be there and a bunch of pissed-off politicians.

Trump, of course, once again claimed he was exonerated. Anyone that managed to stay awake throughout the proceedings knows that claim is pure bullshit. 

Jerry Nadler settled any doubts about that claim in his opening questioning when he asked if Trump was exonerated by his report.

The simple answer from Mueller was "No." That was probably the highlight of the day. The ensuing broken conversations with Mueller didn't produce any new revelations.

What I'm trying to figure out is why Mueller was so adamant about sticking to his script without explanations? It almost seemed like he didn't want to say anything for fear of some type of retaliation.

Did William Barr and the Trump team convince him that he had no right to say anything more than what was in the report? Forever a good soldier, I could see this happening.

If so, Mueller can forget about his glorious years of service to his country because when it came time to truly stand up for this nation...he failed. 

The Democrats, aka Pelosi, didn't come out and say "Impeachment time is here." The Republicans took a sigh of relief, and are still riding the Trump Train today.

The corruption continues.

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

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Bomb Bomb Afghanistan and another Pearl of Wisdom From Trump

Overheard: "Somedays you make the coffee. Somedays the coffee makes you."

Good Day World!

I'll keep our meeting short today because you're probably going to want to watch the Mueller hearings. (They begin 8:30 a.m., Eastern time, and 5:30 a.m. West Coast time) I know I will be.

Related: Key Aide Will Appear Alongside Mueller in Hearings 

Meanwhile...

In case you missed Trump's latest foreign affair gaffe - more like fuck-up - our ally Afghanistan wants to know why Trump is talking about wiping their country off the face of the earth!

During a chit chat with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in the White House Monday, Trump's ignorance was in full bloom. 

After bragging about how he could murder Afghanistan's 10 million people in 10 days if he wanted to, Trump claimed that India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally asked him if he would like to be a mediator in the decades long conflict between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region.

India's Ministry of External Affairs, Raveesh Kumar, was blunt when asked if Trump's claim was true; "No such request has been made by Modi." Period. Straight up. Trump is caught lying again in front of the entire world.

I'll never get use to the humiliation of having a president scorned for his stupidity, and lies, by allies and enemies alike.

Living under the Trump regime has been a steady stream of Trumpisms for all occasions - from "Lock her Up!" "Build That Wall" to "Send her back!"

These hateful chants and the daily quota of lies, may be pearls of wisdom to his twisted base, but to the rest of America they're revolting and racially charged.

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

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

'High Noon' For Mueller Tomorrow

Deja Brew...the feeling you had this coffee before...

Good Day World!

Just for fun let's turn the clock back to 1952 to an Academy Award winning movie, High Noon, with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly.

You're patience will pay off. There is a point to this.

The story takes place in a small town in the New Mexico Territory of the Old West. The time has come for the town Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper), to retire after marrying Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly).

They plan to start a new life, raise a family, and run a store in another town. But life is complicated. A vicious criminal, Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) that Kane sent to prison, was released and was due in town they day they were leaving.

His mission was clear. Get revenge by gunning Kane down. Aware that Miller, and his gang, were coming after him, Kane tries to get help from the towns citizens, but they were too afraid of the outlaws

Part of Kane just wanted to leave, but he was aware that he still had a duty to the townspeople, and the rule of law. It gets real hard when his new wife gives him an ultimatum to leave with her, or stay without her.

In the final scene Kane stands up to the four outlaws, killing two outright and getting wounded. You hear the train whistle, then you see Kane's wife run into the sheriff's office, grab a gun, and run to help her husband. She kills one outlaw, the last one, Frank, grabs her, but she breaks away, and Kane shoots him dead.

The end.

Today.

The question is, will Mueller run away from his duty and not cooperate when he appears before Congress tomorrow?

Or, will he break out of the Gary Cooper mode he's been in, and answer all the questions the panel asks before riding off into the sunset for the last time?

Everyone on both sides of the aisle have respect for Mueller - the lone truthful man who honorably served his government for decades before retiring. 

Is it fair to expect Mueller to emulate a character from a western movie? I think it is. 

In both cases we have a lone man who can make a difference in people's lives if he stands up for our values, and the rule of law.

Will Kane stood his ground when it counted. Let's hope Mueller does too.

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

Monday, July 22, 2019

Premature Polls For 2020 Election Are A Waste of Time

 
A new study has shown that the best time to brew a pot of coffee is right freaking now! 

                                            Good Day World!

Okay folks...let's start off agreeing the 2020 elections don't start until 2020. A simplistic observation for the current state of affairs in the nation... but necessary.

All of the current political polls pitting theoretical Democratic opponents against Trump for the presidency are a waste of time. 

Crumbs for political birds-of-a feather who are addicted to never-ending battles that suspend time-and-place in a Twilight Zone most Americans don't want to be caught up in.

Most Americans are more interested in health care, or how they're going to make ends meet every month. Not the parade of democratic candidates seeking to challenge Trump or something else to do with NEXT YEAR's election.

I'm sure there will be an uptick of interest when the democrats finally select a candidate next year. Meanwhile, the political poll pollution is a daily irritant this year.

Make no mistake...most of the polls are political pablum for each party with a validity ratio... of whatever they say it is. Having taken a class in Empirical Research in college has always made me skeptical of polls.

There's a lot of factors involved, and good pollsters know how to pull out the results they want by the way questions are asked, who they ask, when they asked the question, and so on.

Polls are bad enough, but when they ask premature -often theoretical-questions, you might as well take the results straight to the outhouse.

Polls are indicators. Nothing more, nothing less. They're fun for some people who pretend their always accurate, or for the people creating them as a yardstick to predict the future.

Perhaps the best way to look at polls is how accurate they were in the 2016 election. It wasn't Hillary who was winning like all the polls predicted, it was a con man from New York.

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

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Stream of Conciousness: If Republicans Are Not Lemmings Then What Are They?

"Listen, before I had my coffee, I didn't know how awesome I was going to be today, either."

                                           Good Day World!

I just finished reading a fascinating article on lemmings which has forced me to reconsider my application of the word for Republicans who follow Trump - hell, or high water.

Lemmings DO NOT follow each other off of cliffs. That's right.

It's time for another term for those members of the GOP who drink Trump's Kool Aid without asking what's in it.

Terms already heavily bandied around in social media run from Trumplicans to minions. There's always the old standbys like cohorts, devotees, fanatics, zealots, boosters, and disciples, to consider.

But none of the above terms seem quit right for the new breed of Republicans who follow Trump like Zombies on Prozac. 

I managed to find a Republican who could speak in complete sentences the other day, and I asked him what Trump's followers should be called?

Have you ever been talking with someone who suddenly rolled their eyes until they were pale white orbs? There was a pause, I don't think he was aware of how he looked before he confidently replied, "What was that question again?"

I gave him a cookie and moved on.

Defining Trump's followers is like trying to catch chickens on meth. In many ways they're indescribable. Some, like the one I interviewed, can speak in complete sentences. 

It goes down hill from there. 

The sycophants that show up at his rallies grunt in short sentences and have a nasty habit of chanting racial slurs spontaneously (although I strongly suspect there's inside Trumpies who initiate the famous chants like "Send her back!" and "Lock her up!").

How do you compare those rowdy rally attendees to old men and women sitting in their homes counting on Trump to turn back the clock to the 50s after listening to his subtle/subliminal promises?

Coming up with the right term is really a challenge.

I continue to search for an all inclusive term for the types of followers he has, but it's like trying to catch Trump actually telling the truth about something... it's nearly impossible.

So, I turn to you dear reader, and ask for your assistance in solving this grave matter. 

Comments urged below this post, or use my email address on the side of the page to share your choice for a proper term for Trumpies. 

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 ...