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...

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Ignorance is Addicting: Look at Trump Supporters

Good Day World!

Ignorance is a weed in the garden of knowledge.

When people aren't carefully orientated to reality, it results in ignorance.

One of the biggest challenges in the 21st century is deciding what is real and what's fake.

The line between reality and make-believe has dissolved in our politics and general society. While you can argue Trump is leading the way to worshipping ignorance and alternate realities the process actually started decades ago.

The bulwark against ignorance is schooling. Careful orientation to reality is called general education. It's society's way of combating generalized ignorance.

Going to school is society's way of avoiding a general in curiousness about reality. Generalized ignorance is more addictive because it requires very little effort.

When you have a president who tells lies daily, the bar for reality is lowered. Make-believe magical thinking bolsters ignorance. It's very addicting because you can reshape the world anyway you want.

Not being hampered by reality or truth, you have carte blanche to reject anything that doesn't fit in with your world view.

When you look at Trump supporters they all have one thing in common; alternate facts, and so-called truths built on lies. That gives them license to reject science - global warming being one good example.

Dismissing reality is a good way to ignore education and truth.

You are no longer constrained to uncomfortable facts and are free to pursue an alternate path towards ignorance that fits your world view. 

The disillusioned, undereducated, and fearful followers of Trump have found sanctuary in ignorance, partisanship, and alternate realities.

Reality and facts are under siege. The barbarians are at the gate.

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






Friday, April 27, 2018

An Alternate World Sounds Good To Me


                                           Good Day World!

I never considered the idea of living in an alternate world until Putin put Trump in the Oval Office back in '16.

I watched the house Energy and Environment Subcommittee all but eviscerate EPA chief Scott "The Pud" Pruitt yesterday, over a string of ethics controversies.

But, I doubt if anything will come from the revelations of corruption - based upon verifiable facts - because  like all of Trump's puppet's, he can do no wrong as long as he destroys the EPA with the death of a thousand cuts.

This is what it's like to live in Trump World - once called the United States of America.

In Trump's World it's corporate heaven. It's a world where graft and corruption are cultivated like weeds in the South Lawn of the White House.

Truth is assaulted every day when White House slaves staff follow along with the Liar-In-Chief's version of reality. Facts face an uphill climb in this administration of slime.

The fabric of our society is  being subjected to the whims of a racist and misogynist, who dreams of having his ugly mug on Mt. Rushmore someday in the dystopian future.

Here's the thing, it appears like Trump will finish his term without being incarcerated for the numerous felonies he's managed to perpetrate without any convictions...thus far.

It's up to voters in 2020, to stop Trump's rampage against everything good America stands for. 

It's hard to estimate how much more damage Trump will do to this country, and our Constitution, until the next presidential election rolls around. 

But, who wants to wait and see if Donny starts WWIII?

I'm telling you, an alternate world looks increasingly good to me. 

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

Thursday, April 26, 2018

The One Subject Trump No Longer Brags About

Good Day World!

It wasn't that long ago when Trump couldn't go a day without bragging about the stock market, like it was a reflection of his greatness.

When was the last time you heard him mention the current stock market? As in the last few months.

The market has been jumping up and down like an excited kangaroo in 2018. Yesterday, US stocks plunged as investors feared the rising oil prices and costs would slow down growth.

It goes deeper than that however.

Gina Martin Adams, chief equity strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence, recently reported that "The reason we're not seeing a strong recovery for the market is broad economic numbers are suggesting the impact of tax reform was only temporary."

That's not good news for Republicans who want to tout the tax reform bill has a great success in the midterm races. It's also not good news for the American public.

This growing concern over the volatile stock market is heightened by the fact that interest rates have gone up, making it more expensive for companies to borrow money.

As if that's not enough bad news, there's other uncertainties like the possibility of a trade war with the world, and yesterday's announcement that China and Russia have become military allies aligned against the U.S.

The bottom line is Trump no longer believes that the stock market is a worthy reflection of his "yuge" economic success as president.

Which means that he's going to have to depend on fake news from Fox, Breitbart, Infowars, and the ilk, to paint an entirely different picture than what's really happening in America.

Related: 5 Famous Investors Say This Is When The Stock Market Will Crash

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











Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Trump/ Partisanship vs Constitution: Supremes To Decide Fate of Travel Ban

Good Day World!

One of the things that has helped me cope with Trump in the Oval Office has been our court systems.

From the lower courts, to the Supreme Court, Trump's attempt's at violating our Constitution have been turned back consistently.


Breaking News: Judge Orders Reopening of DACA, after 90- day delay - 4/25/18

It does appear that Trump is going to win his travel ban today, as Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy have both signaled support for it.

In order to halt the ban one of those two justices needs to support the challengers. That doesn't look likely.

If it wasn't a conservative court the ban would be stopped. But it appears politics is going to infect this decision.

It's an ongoing battle between Trump and the law.

Despite appointing conservative lower court judges, and district judges, it doesn't mean they're always going to go along with a moron like Trump.

For example, we've witnessed the 9th Circuit Court standing up for the rule of law against Trump's efforts numerous times.

Despite Trump's attempts to circumvent our nation's laws, the judiciary system has proven a worthy opponent. The biggest hurdle appears to be partisan poison.

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

Trump's Lowest Grift Ever Saved for Holy Week

This is a story about how the devil's puppet, aka Donald Trump, mocked Christianity by selling a book combining the Bible, the Constitu...