“REAL” STATE of the UNION

Hope most of you are clear on what’s going on with our Department of Justice, FBI, Congress, and current president because I’m totally mystified!

Christopher Wray, the FBI director, clashed publicly with the president for the first time today, condemning ! a push by House Republicans to release ! a secret memo that purports to show how the bureau and the Justice Department abused ! their authorities to obtain a warrant to spy on a former Trump campaign adviser.

The “FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it,” the bureau said in a statement. “As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

Though Wray’s name was NOT attached to the statement, the high-profile comment by the FBI thrust him into a confrontation with Trump, who abruptly fired his predecessor, James B. Comey.

Trump wants to see the memo released, telling people close to him that he believes it makes the case that FBI and Justice Department officials acted inappropriately ! when they sought the highly classified warrant in October 2016 on the campaign adviser, Carter Page.

The New York Times and Washington Post have been reporting that people who have read the three-and-a-half-page memo say it contends that officials from the FBI and the Justice Department were NOT forthcoming ! to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) judge in seeking the warrant. It says that the officials relied on information assembled by a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, without adequately explaining to the judge that Democrats had financed the research.

Wray had strongly objected to the move to release the memo and was allowed to review it only on Sunday, after the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Devin Nunes [what a slug!] of California, relented.

Wray made a last-ditch effort on Monday, going to the White House with the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, to try to persuade !!! the White House to stop the release of the memo.

It is absolutely frightening that the GOP is willing to attempt to destroy the credibility of the FBI in order to protect ! a president who is under investigation for possible collusion with an enemy state and obstruction of justice.

Sadly, from my perspective, the Republican Party is now itself guilty of obstruction of justice!

3rd LONGEST in US HISTORY

The 45th president gave his agonizing State of the Union address last night.

One hour and 20 plus minutes of bluster!

The longest State of the Union on record since the 1960s was Slick Willie Clinton‘s in 2000. It clocked in at just under one hour and 29 minutes.

Unfortunately, BOTH unity and credibility were NOT part of Trump’s attempted enterprise during those eighty plus minutes.

I watched, with enhanced anticipation, and listened to the talking heads this a.m. on the cable networks. One would have thought that each network experienced a total different, and separate SOTU, speech.

The same reactions were exhibited by their respective guests.

NO one is on “the same page.” And, truth be told, NO one wants to be!

America is in the midst of a GREAT DIVIDE…

There are two important dates rushing toward us: February 8th [next Thursday], when our government runs out of money – AGAIN!!! and, some form of finalized negotiation regarding the Dreamers and DACA is put forth; and, March 5th [possible deportation date of roughly 1 million Dreamers]. There was ABSOLUTELY z-e-r-o mention of these dates within the SOTU.

The other thing that stood out to me was before Trump got to the details of his Immigration proposal, he spent a lengthy period of the speech focused on crime committed by illegal immigrants. He even spotlighted four parents of teenagers who were killed by MS-13 gang members, who were in the audience of invited guests of the White House, which seemed overly harsh given his propensity in describing the crimes themselves.

It seemed geared toward assuring immigration hawks that he is NOT going soft by allowing “Dreamers” a path to citizenship. But, Democrats viewed this as an effort to demonize !!! ALL of the undocumented population, and by the time Trump talked about specific proposals, they were having basically NONE of it.

Credibility and Unity?

How nauseating were the expressions on the faces of Pence and Ryan from the moment the current president entered the chamber, and throughout the speech?

Also, Pelosi seemed to be having a major problem with her dentures, didn’t you think?

 

ANDY exiting…STAGE LEFT

Yesterday, within the Mueller investigation inferno, FBI Deputy Director Andrew G. McCabe abruptly stepped down, after months of continuous criticism from the current president, telling friends he felt pressure from the head of the bureau to leave, according to ALL news and cable outlets.

Why would/did he step down now?

ALL of the open pressure from the Executive branch finally got to him? This does NOT bode well for an independent Justice Department or FBI. Politicizing the FBI is sickening behavior that is contrary to the belief that NO person is above the law.

Having said that, Christopher A. Wray, the FBI director, raised concerns !!! about a forthcoming Inspector General report, highlighting some concerns centered around McCabe, allegedly. Consequently, Wray suggested moving McCabe into another job, which would have been a demotion.

McCabe opted to retire in March.

Agents and lawyers, states the New York Times, expect the report by the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, to be highly critical of some FBI actions in 2016, when the bureau was investigating BOTH Grandma Clinton’s email use and the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia.

The report is expected to address whether McCabe should have recused himself ?! from the Clinton investigation because of his wife’s failed State Senate campaign, in which she accepted nearly a half-million dollars in contributions from the political organization of Terry McAuliffe [nothing GOOD comes from his neighborhood], then the governor of Virginia, who is a longtime friend of Clinton and her husband, Slick Willie.

Given the current political atmosphere where 37% of Americans support Trump and believe in “flying monkeys,” McCabe should have distanced himself ! from the 2016 investigations – especially having to do with the Clintons.

Squandering our Democracy for such deplorable idiocy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

LIBERALS WILL HATE IT!

If you felt the earth move under your feet, earlier this morning, it was because Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase are forming ! a company to figure out how to reduce health-care costs !!! for their hundreds of thousands of US employees.

The new company will focus on technological solutions that can provide simplified and transparent health care for the three companies’ US employees at a lower cost.

The three companies together have more than a million employees, though NOT all of them work in the US. The companies did NOT say how much money was earmarked for the initiative or whether it would grow to include ?! other employers.

They also said the new entity will be “free from profit-making incentives and constraints” [on this point, call me skeptical].

Amazon has already triggered concerns for the broader health-care industry due to its as-yet unclear ambitions in the space, factoring into CVS Health Corp.’s $69 billion bid last year for insurance giant Aetna Inc.

Specifically, Amazon has been eyeing an entry !!! into the pharmacy-services industry and has added health-care supply options to its business-to-business marketplace offering.

Health-care spending in the US grew 4.3% to $3.3 trillion in 2016, accounting for an 18% share of the nation’s gross domestic product, according to the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Prudent business decision(s) long before a political one…

Too bad I won’t be around to see, and enjoy, it.

WHAT DEFINES CONSPIRACY?

Donald John Trump’s 2018 State of the Union address is likely to be remembered as the speech before special counsel Robert Swan Mueller III’s report arrived.

But, as we have ALL witnessed over the last 72 hours, anything can, and will, happen.

Thus far, Trump’s response to the Mueller investigation has been: NOT to provide refuting evidence to potential charges of collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice – by NOT only him, but his family, members of his administration, and distant relatives from s@!#hole countries [I just made-up the last portion about ‘distant relatives’] as well.

Rather, it’s to shift the grounds of the political debate – making any charges against the president appear trivial, malicious and highly political.

Let me refresh every one’s mind about the 45th president and his barrage of criticism toward our institutions:

• Trump’s sustained attack on the FBI’s credibility [“in tatters,” he claimed];
• Trump has maligned the CIA [comparing it to the Nazis];
• Trump positing in a vicious manner that our electoral system [is “rigged”];
• Trump daily maligning the media [“fake news”];
• Trump attacking the federal judiciary [US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel is a “hater” and a “Mexican”];
• and, in the past 10 months, Trump berating the Justice Department [harboring the “deep state”].

Any institution that checks him is smeared, and crucified!

To me, it’s ALL quite simple: People who believe conspiracy theories cease to believe !!! in the possibility of discourse and deliberation.

When the whole game is rigged, debates can only be decided by power.

Respect for the rule of law itself by this White House cretin?

The next 45-60 days may provide ALL of us the answers.

THE STATE of the COVFEFE

Stephen Colbert recaps the Grammys, and draws some anticipation for tonight’s Main Event…

 

Name the proof-reader at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Expose them!

 

WINTER MILITARY EXERCISES

Life within the Korean Peninsula getting tranquil?

American intelligence, reporting through the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, that North Korea’s armed forces have scaled back their annual winter military exercises this year.

The North Korean maneuvers, which typically run from December through March, were slow in getting started and are less extensive than usual, according to American officials.

The most obvious possibility is that restrictions on shipments of oil and refined petroleum products to North Korea imposed by the United Nations [and our current president deserves credit for his political pressure] have led the country, which has one of the world’s largest standing armies, to conserve fuel by cutting back on ground and air training exercises.

However, military analysts inside and outside the US government caution that the development has NOT yet led to a dramatic decrease in the North’s military capabilities. There also appear to be NO signs that sanctions are limiting North Korea’s push to strengthen its nuclear and missile arsenal.

North Korea’s winter exercises have long been viewed as a critical element/part in maintaining the country’s military readiness. For decades, US military planners considered Spring – the most dangerous time of the year – since the North’s military had completed extensive training and maneuvers and the warmer weather was more conducive to military operations.

We would do well to keep in mind, that NOTHING seems to have altered the policy of the rulers in North Korea, as we know/understand it, on 29 January 2018.

But, we have deployed three carrier groups in the area, with a fourth on it’s way for the Winter Olympics.

Each with full nuclear capability.

 

 

DOES BOBBY need PROTECTION?

If you watched any of the dribble on the Sunday talk shows, you might get a sense that the Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III may be exposed, without any political protection.

By my comment, I mean any urgency to advance long-stalled legislation to protect the special counsel ! despite a report that Trump had tried to remove him last June.

“I don’t think there’s a need for legislation right now to protect Mueller,” Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the House majority leader, said yesterday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “Right now there’s not an issue. So why create one when there isn’t a place for it?”

Democrats have been saying they would try to ensure that continuing budget negotiations included legislation to protect the special counsel. But, yesterday, Republicans who have backed such a bill appeared to settle instead on providing a warning to the president [that’ll do a lot of good, don’t you think?].

I’m of the thought that we need to pursue this bill and other measures for the future to assure that our Democracy is protected against the next Trump [and, there will be from BOTH sides of the aisle moving forward].

These measures should also include requirements for candidates: to reveal their income tax returns; submit to physical and mental health exams by independent expert panels; clarification of impeachment and succession rules; and, to submit detailed position papers-NOT ghost written on critical issues.

The latter to insure the candidates are sufficiently informed on the background of issues rather than on the political approach to solutions [the 45th president personifies this image].

Focusing on facts, and NOT verbal bulls!#t.

Aiding and abetting corruption…ah, the smell of napalm in the morning!

READING…

Please pay close attention to this clip.

This is the first time, for everyone except Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr., that they have EVER held/read the written word…

 

When will someone tell Cher the party is OVER! Take your clay mask off, C.

THE CRUCIBLE AHEAD

We’re coming up on about 36 hours before the 45th president gives his first State of the Union address.

NO matter what any politician [including the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters] or pundit [yes, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell] may be saying this morning, tomorrow night is a “must ticket” for ALL Americans.

First, it must be said, NONE of the worst fears of this petulant child have really come to pass. Yes, Donald John Trump is a complete embarrassment to most rational-thinking countrymen! with his moronic behavior; ill-mannered presence; and, worst of ALL – total ignorance of the ways and means of “how” our government operates [which is the area of deepest concern for me as we anticipate Year II.

Also, significantly, it should be mentioned, we have had NO direct military confrontation with North Korea [although the state of Hawaii seemed NOT to have been made aware of that matter].

With ALL that being said, at least, from my vantage point, there are four campaign promises that Trump hasn’t begun to put a dent in:

• ObamaCare/Healthcare;
• Infrastructure;
• Trade;
• and, the most critical to the country, as a whole – IMMIGRATION. 

As you can tell, I’m weakening, tomorrow night looks to be one for buttered popcorn.