Trump Newspaper Headlines: December 20, 2019: Impeached

Well, there you go...

The 8-Counts of Impeachment President Trump SHOULD Have Had by December 2019 (New York Times)

Via NY Times Here by David Leonhardt

During Watergate, the House Judiciary Committee considered five articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon — and voted down two of them. During the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the House voted on four articles — and rejected two.

So last week I posed a question to legal experts: If the House were going to forget about political tactics and impeach Trump strictly on the merits, how many articles of impeachment would there be?

I think the answer is eight — eight thematic areas, most of which include more than one violation.

In making the list, I erred on the side of conservatism. I excluded gray areas from the Mueller report, like the Trump campaign’s flirtation with Russian operatives. I also excluded all areas of policy, even the forcible separation of children from their parents, and odious personal behavior, like Trump’s racism, that doesn’t violate the Constitution.

Yet the list is still extensive, which underscores Trump’s thorough unfitness for the presidency. He rejects the basic ideals of American government, and he is damaging the national interest, at home and abroad. Here’s the list:

1. Obstruction of justice.

Both the Nixon and Clinton articles included the phrase “prevented, obstructed, and impeded the administration of justice,” and Trump’s impeachment should start with his pattern of obstructing investigations.

He has admitted that he fired the F.B.I. director to influence the investigation of his own campaign. He has harassed Justice Department officials who are Russia experts, including Andrew McCabe and Bruce Ohr. Trump also directed his White House counsel to lie about their conversations over whether to fire Robert Mueller. Most recently, the White House tried to hide evidence about Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s president, by improperly classifying material about it.

2. Contempt of Congress.

Another article of impeachment against Nixon said that he had “failed without lawful cause” to cooperate with a congressional investigation. Trump has gone much further than Nixon, outright refusing to participate in the constitutionally prescribed impeachment process. As a result, the country still doesn’t know the full truth of the Ukraine scandal.

3. Abuse of power.

The House will almost certainly adopt a version of this article, impeaching Trump for turning American foreign policy into a grubby opposition-research division of his campaign.

The most haunting part is that if a courageous whistle-blower hadn’t come forward, Trump most likely would have gotten away with it. He would have pressured the Ukrainian government to announce an investigation of the Bidens, and we in the media would have played along, producing the headlines that Trump wanted to see.

4. Impairing the administration of justice.

That phrase appears in the second impeachment article against Nixon, which detailed his efforts to use the I.R.S., F.B.I. and others to hound his opponents. It’s a version of abuse of power — but distinct from the previous item because it involves using the direct investigatory powers of the federal government.

Trump has repeatedly called for investigations against his political opponents, both in public and in private with aides. For example, as the Mueller report documented, he pressured Jeff Sessions, then the attorney general, to investigate Hillary Clinton: “You’d be a hero,” Trump said. This behavior has violated the constitutional rights of American citizens and undermined the credibility of the judicial system.

5. Acceptance of emoluments.

The Constitution forbids the president from profiting off the office by accepting “emoluments.” Yet Trump continues to own his hotels, allowing politicians, lobbyists and foreigners to enrich him and curry favor with him by staying there. On Sunday, William Barr, the attorney general, personally paid for a 200-person holiday party at Trump’s hotel in downtown Washington.

The Democratic-controlled House has done an especially poor job of calling attention to this corruption. It hasn’t even conducted good oversight hearings — a failure that, as Bob Bauer, an N.Y.U. law professor and former White House counsel, told me, “is just astonishing.”

6. Corruption of elections.

Very few campaign-finance violations are impeachable. But $280,000 in undisclosed hush-money payments during a campaign’s final weeks isn’t a normal campaign-finance violation. The 2016 election was close enough — decided by fewer than 80,000 votes across three swing states — that the silence those payments bought may well have flipped the outcome.

7. Abuse of pardons.

The president has wide latitude to issue pardons. But Trump has done something different: He has encouraged people to break the law (or impede investigations) with a promise of future pardons.

And he didn’t do it only during the Russia investigation. He also reportedly told federal officials to ignore the law and seize private land for his border wall, waving away their worries with pardon promises.

8. Conduct grossly incompatible with the presidency.

This is the broadest item on the list, and I understand if some people are more comfortable with the narrower ones. But the “grossly incompatible” phrase comes from a 1974 House Judiciary Committee report justifying impeachment. It also captures Trump’s subversion of the presidency.

He lies constantly, eroding the credibility of the office. He tries to undermine any independent information that he does not like, which weakens our system of checks and balances. He once went so far as to say that federal law-enforcement agents and prosecutors regularly fabricated evidence — a claim that damages the credibility of every criminal investigation.

You may have forgotten about that particular violation of his oath of office, because Trump commits so many of them. Which is all the more reason to make an effort to hold him accountable.

Gun Violence and Mortality in the US: It's on the GOP

When cops start losing their patience... the #GOP is toasted.... Here and below from The Guardian.

This is just a most straight-forward rip on Mitch McConnell... he's just got to go....

“We’ve got to get the Violence Against Women Act acted upon,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said. “We’ve got to get in a room. I don’t want to hear about how much they support law enforcement, how much they care about lives and the sanctity of lives.

Guns and lies in America: sign up for email updates

“And yet we all know in law enforcement that this is one of the biggest reasons that the Senate and Mitch McConnell, and John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and others are not getting into a room and having a conference committee with the House, and getting the Violence Against Women Act, is because the NRA doesn’t like the fact that we want to take firearms out of the hands of boyfriends that abuse their girlfriends.”

The NRA says the act’s definition of domestic abuse is too broad. Experts disagree.
“And who killed our sergeant?” Acevedo asked. “A boyfriend abusing his girlfriend. So you’re either here for women and children and our daughters and our sisters and our aunts, or you’re here for the NRA.”

Growing more emotional, he continued: “So I don’t want to see their little smug faces about how much they care about law enforcement when I’m burying a sergeant because they don’t want to piss off the NRA.

“Make up your minds. Whose side are you on? Gun manufactures? The gun lobby? Or the children who are getting gunned down in this country every single day? In our schools, in our theatres, in our colleges, on our streets, in our homes, in our businesses. Who are you coming to work for?

The Violence Against Women Act, passed in 1994, lapsed during last year’s government shutdown. The Democratic-controlled House reauthorised it in April, adding protections for transgender victims and banning those convicted of domestic abuse from buying guns.
Responding to Acevedo’s comments last week, Cornyn referred to Donald Trump’s current predicament when he said: “Unfortunately, legislation like this has fallen casualty to impeachment mania.”
The Senate has not yet had to act on impeachment, as House committees continue to stage hearings before staging a formal vote.
On Monday Acevedo rejected Cornyn’s argument. “And don’t tell me, senator, with all due respect, it’s about the impeachment. Because you brag every day, you and Mitch McConnell, about getting judges confirmed. You brag about every piece of legislation you care about.

“Start caring about cops, children and women and everyday gun violence. And that will be the last thing I say this week, because the rest of this week is going to be about Christopher Brewster and his sacrifice.”

Cornyn did not immediately comment. Nor did the NRA.
“You are an American, and American blood is being shed every day in this community throughout this nation,” Acevedo said. “Do something about it or retire.”

Trump Impeachment Progress: Nov. 21, 2019 National Headlines

So the headlines pretty much say it. Trump is betraying US interests. And extorting allied countries for personal gain. And delaying their aid and thus strengthening Russia's invasion of an innocent country. All in one corrupt quid pro quo bundle.

If this is not impeachable conduct for an American President, NOTHING IS.

"We followed the President's Orders."

Trump Impeachment Progress October 29, 2019

Here House Democratic caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries: “This is about the United States constitution," he said. "This is about the rule of law. This is about national security. This is about abuse of power. This is about the fact that the president betrayed his oath of office and the American people and also undermined the integrity of our elections by soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 election."

Here   "In his testimony in the House impeachment inquiry Tuesday, Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, is expected to describe his concerns with how the Trump administration handled Ukraine policy and with a July call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. 

In the Spring of 2019, I became aware of outside influencers promoting a false narrative of Ukraine inconsistent with the consensus views of the interagency," he says in his prepared opening remarks, which were obtained by NPR. "This narrative was harmful to U.S. government policy. While my interagency colleagues and I were becoming increasingly optimistic on Ukraine's prospects, this alternative narrative undermined U.S. government efforts to expand cooperation with Ukraine."

Trump Impeachment Progress, the Ukraine, Giuliani, Pence

Well, it's been some time since posting. Trumpy put his foot in it pretty bad since then.

He and his administration have been soliciting the Ukraine for political dirt and investigations against Joe Biden and the 2016 US elections. This is a crime.

So Trump is the subject of impeachment investigations in the House of Representatives now. Some #GOP are supporting the inquiry. It's bad. It is clear he is guilty.

Below is the status of and some of the collateral damage to the accomplices to this scheme:

Impeachment inquiry: Vice President Mike Pence refuses to turn over requested documents 

Impeachment inquiry latest: Rudy Giuliani defies subpoena request for documents on Ukraine in impeachment inquiry - live updates

Our Ocean's Treasures and Web of Life Are Losing the Battle to Survive - While the #GOP Denies Global Warming Altogether. While Greta Thunberg Comes to Address Us About the Near Future

So Hawaii's coral reefs are in danger because of an oceanic heat wave. That is to say, from global warming. Marine heat waves and climate change are less covered topics, compared to land-borne problems. Our seas - and the life within them - are not only at risk. We are losing them.

The Caribbean's corals are dying from a disease...

About half the coral species that make up Florida’s reef tracts and about a third of those throughout the Caribbean are vulnerable to the disease, at a time when the delicate ecosystems are already threatened by climate change....

But the federal budget to protect coral reefs has been largely unchanged for years, and that's left coral science in the "Middle Ages," said coral scientist William Precht.

The disease is likely the deadliest for coral since so-called white-band disease emerged in the 1970s, almost wiping out two kinds of coral, he said.

“Now, we’re looking at a similar type of disease, but instead of affecting two species, it hits 22,” said Precht.

“The end result could be catastrophic.”

This while the Republican Party and even Donald Trump himself denigrate climate science, caps on greenhouse gas emissions, and even young emissaries like Greta Thunberg.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, addressed the U.N.'s Climate Action Summit in New York City on Monday. Here's the full transcript of Thunberg's speech, beginning with her response to a question about the message she has for world leaders.
"My message is that we'll be watching you.

"This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

National

'This Is All Wrong,' Greta Thunberg Tells World Leaders At U.N. Climate Session

"For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

"You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.

"The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

"Fifty percent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.

"So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the consequences.
"To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature rise – the best odds given by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] – the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on Jan. 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.

"How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just 'business as usual' and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.

"There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

"You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you. 

"We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.

"Thank you.".

Climate March and Climate Strikes Starting Worldwide NOW

#ClimateStrike begins. Thank you Greta... We’ve been doing this since Kyoto... and it’s getting too big to stop. #KeepItIntheGround 

Love of the Sea

At an early age, I kept aquariums in my room. Maybe starting in 5th grade, 6th grade? Around ten or eleven years old anyway.

I'd bike to "fish stores" in the San Fernando valley and try to bike back before the fish in the little plastic bags ran out of oxygen and/or overheated, and died.

I loved feeding them, researching which fish could live together, researching and providing the conditions they needed to live, etc.

It was entertaining, and they were my own pets! Studies show today that aquariums and fish can help relax people, and extend life expectancy. Incredible. I look forward to starting aquariums here at home with my two young kids.

I moved onto salt-water aquariums in about 11th grade - which are more difficult to keep! Salinity, temperature, pH and water quality all need to remain in safe zones. Or the fish would die. I didn't like that. Nobody likes that.

I think the Republican climate change-denying politicians today do not understand that the world's oceans are the same - and that the temperature and pH are quickly becoming problematic. And that we are to blame. Perhaps they never kept a fish tank? We are heating and polluting the planet and our oceans too fast. We are losing our coral reefs. Entire species are at risk. Perhaps the web of life in the ocean as a whole. It is an overwhelming idea.

In high school, also just around the age of 16 (I'll have to check my PADI card), I got certified as a scuba diver. Today I have almost 100 logged dives, mostly in California, but many in exotic and wonderful places like Hawaii, the Bahamas, even Greece!

The diversity and beauty and wonder of coral reefs is irrefutable. yellow tangs, blue tangs, green moray eels, zebra fish and humuhumunikinikiapuaa (I typed that from memory, maybe it's close!).

Octopus, sharks, lobsters, starfish, shrimp, scallops - these are all amazing, wonderous creatures.

The coral reef is the home for many of these animals. The bottom animals of the chain eat from the coral reef, and all the animals up the chain eat from there, up to us. We endanger societies all across the earth that rely on seafood for protein and nourishment. That cannot just go to Costco and get some farm raised salmon.

It is almost impossible to imagine a world with a nearly dead sea. We have time to save it - maybe. We have to stop increasing the rate of global warming right now. We have to stop preventable pollution from entering our seas right now. I hope you have this in your awareness, and take it quite seriously, and are helping. It's taken millions of years to deliver the Finding Nemo beauty and necessity of sea life. We cannot allow it to go away.

Great Barrier Reef health outlook downgraded to "very poor" due to ocean warming

SOS From Brazil's Amazon Fire Protesters: 'We Need The World's Help Right Now'

Here  "Hello, planet! Wake up! Without the Amazon, you can't breathe!" protesters chanted Friday in Rio de Janeiro ... demonstrators marched along Ipanema beach, chanting, "The Amazon stays, out with Bolsonaro," a reference to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Protesters swarmed the main bus station in the capital city of Brasília, packed over six blocks of downtown São Paulo and filled plazas across the northern cities of Recife, Manaus and Belém.

Bolsonaro is rejecting help.

The Amazon must not be destroyed. It is an inconceivable loss and recklessly dangerous for our planet's climate and biodiversity.

Trump echoes NRA talking points, showing that “background checks” talk was all a charade

Here via Vox  All a charade. Thanks for nothing Mr. Trump. We have to do this ourselves and vote these bastards out. Sign below, act, vote, do not forget.

Trump echoes NRA talking points, showing that “background checks” talk was all a charade

Tell Congress to take action on gun violence now

Here   Tell Congress to take action on gun violence nowCongress was elected to do more than just offer thoughts and prayers after mass shootings. The House Democratic Majority passed two commonsense gun reform bills months ago that could save lives, if the Senate would only pass them.
Add your name now to demand the Senate take action on gun violence and vote to pass our legislation now >>

Democratic lawmaker: Mueller testimony 'doesn't have to go beyond' report to be 'really damning' for Trump

Here “He doesn’t have to go beyond the Mueller report in any way,” she continued. “I’ve read it all and both chapter one and two are really damning — both the interference with our elections but also definitely the effort to obstruct justice by the president there's just absolutely no question about it.”

Tell NBC: Ask candidates about climate change in the presidential debates!

Here Make sure the NBC moderators ask serious questions about climate change in the Democratic presidential debates.

In 2016, NBC's presidential debate featured zero climate change questions -- leaving viewers uninformed about how the candidates would tackle the central environmental challenge of our time. We can't repeat that mistake.

Denounce Trump's invitation for foreign governments to interfere in our elections

Ugh Here “The President of the United States just admitted that if a foreign country approaches him with “opposition research” on the Democratic candidate, he’d take it and use it. Trump is willing to put his own interests ahead of the nation’s and worst of all, he’s practically inviting Russia or any other country to interfere in our elections in 2020, as long as it’s on his side.

This is undemocratic, unpatriotic and wrong -- and the Republicans know it. Let them know where you stand by adding your name to my petition denouncing the president’s inexcusable invitation to foreign interference in our elections, and demanding action.”

Nadler tells Barr he's NOT going to be 'Totally Exonerated'

Here  

[...]
In a letter to Attorney General William Barr Tuesday evening, Nadler urged the Justice Department “to return to the accommodation process without conditions” and said the House was not moving prematurely to punish Barr for failing to comply with the committee’s demands.
     “The pace with which we are proceeding is consistent with the exceptional urgency of this matter: an attack on our elections that was welcomed by our President and benefited his campaign, followed by acts of obstruction by the President designed to interfere with the investigation of that attack,” Nadler wrote.
thehill.com — June 4, 2019

"Whooa!   That’s gotta hurt.
Play with the Bull, Bill Barr — and get stuck on the Horns of a Dilemma.

...

Sooner or later, the truth would be told, Trump is guilty of Witness Tampering and Obstruction (and so much more, like: “Russia if you’re listening ...”) — and Bill Barr lied to the American People to coverup the truth of Trump’s Guilt.
Indeed, the very last words of Robert Mueller’s “CONCLUSION” were:

this report … does not exonerate him."

Add your name to join End Citizens United and demand Mitch McConnell bring the For the People Act for a vote

Here  It's been 51 days since the For The People Act, Democrats' SWEEPING Democracy reform bill, passed the House. 

 Sign on: Demand Mitch McConnell bring the For the People Act for a vote

BREAKING: Endangered Species Facing Extinction — Act Now

Here to sign NRDC petition to Donald Trump and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.

Per UN report this week: One million species face extinction (!!) and humans will suffer badly too.

We have to turn the tides on climate change and habitat loss. It is our generation’s job number one.

Hundreds of Former Federal Prosecutors Say Trump Committed Obstruction of Justice Felonies

Here Ok, so, uh, hundreds? Hundreds of former prosecutors - including super high-level Republican appointed prosecutors? Because, yes law has no party. #Guilty

Trump Gave Putin ‘Green Light’ to Meddle in 2020 Election, Ex-FBI Boss Says

Here Well, there ya go. Not sure why an ex-FBI boss would say anything close to that - unless there was a stink to high heaven going on in the White House.

Meanwhile, Today Climate Change Isn’t Stopping for Anyone or Anything

How Do You Save a Million People From a Cyclone? Ask a Poor State in India

https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEOurelWw5tkaB3jjL6O5YiAqFwgEKg8IACoHCAowjuuKAzCWrzww5oEY?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

Mississippi River Breaks Quad Cities Flood Record, Threatens Homes Downstream

https://whotv.com/2019/05/02/mississippi-quad-cities-flood-record-22-64-inches-causing-issues-downstream/amp/ 

Barr Digs Himself Into a Hole Deeper, and Trump Escapes the Spotlight for Another Day

White House complained to Barr that Mueller should have decided on obstruction

Washington (CNN) The White House has accused special counsel Robert Mueller's team of playing politics with the investigation and wildly straying from their ...

CNN

Speaker Pelosi accuses Attorney General William Barr of committing a crime: 'He lied to Congress'

"The attorney general of the United States of America is not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. That's a crime," Nancy Pelosi says of William ...

CNBC

Nadler likens Trump to 'dictator,' threatens Barr with contempt after hearing boycott

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler vowed a "reckoning" Thursday after Attorney General Bill Barr boycotted a scheduled hearing before the ...

Fox News

Bill Barr’s Perverse Theory of Justice

In America, no one is above the law — except the president and everyone who does wrong in his name.

The New York Times

William Barr proved himself to be Donald Trump's lawyer, not America's: Today's talker 

USA Today

And While Politics Roils, This is What We Should Be Doing: The Plan to Grab the World's Carbon With Supercharged Plants

Here in WIRED magazine.

For the environment and our future, we are going to have to increasingly focus on things like this.

Machines sucking carbon out of the air sound like a good idea: and the scale and scope is daunting.

Per the article, plants have been doing this for 500 MILLION YEARS.

Thank you Joanne Chory. Let's put this on national and global agendas ASAP.

Every polluting industry should be paying into a fund planting trees and helping research better carbon capture. EVERY POLLUTING INDUSTRY. While we responsibly phase them out and they help us morph into a clean energy civilization, which is self-evident and necessary.

And of course, the below is NOT what we should be doing:

Trump erases offshore drilling rules enacted after BP oil spill

The Trump administration on Thursday dismantled safety rules for offshore drilling put in place by the Obama administration after the disastrous BP oil spill ...

POLITICO

Interior Dept. Loosens Offshore-Drilling Safety Rules Dating From Deepwater Horizon

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday made public its rollback of a major offshore-drilling safety regulation, significantly weakening an ...

The New York Times

Extinction Rebellion protests win political attention in the U.K. - NBC News

Well, we are doing something here 

"After 1,000 arrests and days of disruption, one group's direct action has successfully driven climate change up the political agenda in Britain.

I think we’ve become hugely popular and politicians are aware of that," organizer Nuala Gathercole Lam told NBC News. "There has been a shift toward understanding the urgency of this."

The group is rallying behind warnings from scientists, the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that significant reductions in carbon emissions must be achieved within the next 11 years to avoid devastating consequences for the planet, such as mass extinction, by the end of the century."

We all need to do more, our governments and the US Government in particular.

Because on the same day, Researchers say world's second-largest emperor penguin colony has been wiped out

"Phil Trathan, a penguin expert with BAS who co-authored the report, said “it is impossible to say whether the changes in sea-ice conditions at Halley Bay are specifically related to climate change, but such a complete failure to breed successfully is unprecedented at this site.”

“Even taking into account levels of ecological uncertainty, published models suggest that emperor penguins numbers are set to fall dramatically," he said, adding that the penguins are likely to lose between 50 percent and 70 percent "of their numbers before the end of this century as sea-ice conditions change as a result of climate change.”

"Mueller report: Attorney General Barr jumped the gun in clearing Trump of obstruction" USA Today

Here

And Barr's shameful press conference this morning firmly puts him in the henchman file - not a single negative word about Trump or his campaign's conduct!!

And the report shows Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied and shilled for the President - and she now admits it! See below.

Another Solid and Sane Candidate Running for President in 2020: Democrat Eric Swalwell

Here and Here

You've got to love how reasonable U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell is.

Most Americans would vote for these ideas.

"...a ban on assault weapons..." is a no-brainer in this day and age.

It's a great and necessary policy today, already supported by a majority of Americans.

But he adds, "...a ban on assault weapons was not a step toward broader gun bans. You know, keep your pistols, keep your long rifles, keep your shotguns."

Yep. That is very reasonable.

The buy back plan he mentions for the assault weapons provides incentive too.

He adds that he supports giving "Medicare for all," but doesn't want to see private insurance abolished.

Again, very reasonable. The American people can get behind these ideas.

“I support a bill that would give Medicare to all," Swalwell said on CNN's "State of the Union. "The part of the bill that I would strike would be to give a public option, the Medicare portion, but allow people to keep plans they like."

He's provided good leadership in his committee roles in the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and Committee on the Judiciary as well.

Keep bringing it Mr. Swalwell!

William Barr

Well, he’s showing his colors. Any hope that he was less than a partisan hack have evaporated.

As the March 22, 2019 post below stated, “The world and history now fixes its gaze on him”

What a doozy. He’ll go down as another Sarah Huckabee Sanders: a morally vacuous henchman. A lying apologist and enabler of “President Trump.”

First, there was his brutally dismissive “summary”of the Mueller report that has let Trump trot around unscathed for weeks in a media bath of “total” exoneration, where there was not that. Then Barr backtracks and says his was not a summary? What is in the report?

Now he’s refusing to share the unredacted report with Congress. (Really? Why? WHY?)

And he throws out the word “spying” for the authorized investigatory process the DOJ and FBI were tasked to pursue. Spying he said! Complete click-bait and inappropriate, unnecessary sensationalism without context. He is creating and perpetuating bad cover stories for Trump. There is your Sarah Huckabee right there.

As Eric Holder said, “When there is a predicate, a legitimate basis, it’s called “investigating” not “spying”.  I am confident that the people at DOJ/FBI conducted themselves in an appropriate way. No evidence to suggest otherwise.”

So thus far Barr is digging himself in as another entrenched flunky, rowing Trump’s misdeeds across the river Charon where daylight and the public cannot see them. (And why? WHY?)

You had better be representing reality and the interest of the American people Mr. Barr. The truth comes out.

“The end of oil and fossil fuels is coming faster than we realize, but it still may be too late”

Here Fantastic synopsis in April, 2019.

And While Trump and the GOP Denigrate Wind Energy and Cling to Fossil Fuels - Chroncling the End Times on Tangier Island

Here

"And so the people of Tangier are being named as some of the first potential climate-change refugees in America."

Muller's Report Summary Through the Eyes of a Biased Trump Appointee vs. The Report

So, there is still lots going on. William Barr's "summary" or 4-page public offering about the Mueller Report leaves many questions. Firstly, that a reportedly near-400 page report can be distilled into 4 pages. And secondly, what's really in the report, as opposed to a partisan Republican appointee's (Barr's) summation?

The House intends to subpoena the report Wednesday.

There is the sense of a cover-up. We can only know what the truth is by seeing the full report.

Trump has claimed 'total exoneration' - yet even Barr's meager partial quotation in his own summary below shows that the report does not exonerate Trump of obstruction. See below: "The Special Counsel states that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

How can the American people enjoy being lied to so bluntly? It's like we can't read.


As for Barr's offering that there is no [apparently criminal-level] evidence of the Trump Campaign's collusion with Russia "in its election interference activities", see below. People already know better. There were tons - ok literally dozens - of lied-about interactions between Trump's Campaign and Russians. (And why Russia?? Why not Brazil, or Japan, or North Korea or Iran? Russia, Russia, Russia. And they certainly had the intent, from Jr. to Stone to Donald himself (Russia, if you are listening...). So what else is in there?

And even the fragmented and very narrow phrase Barr offers "[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or colluded with the Russian Government in its election interference activities" is worded such that there may be plenty of 'collusion' (or more accurately criminal intent and conspiracy, etc.) evidenced in the report - just not in that specific window. But we haven't seen the report yet. So we don't know. And it seems dubious and certainly early for Trump and the Administration to be gloating and taking such big victory laps.

There is a lot more to learn.

There are also still lots of other investigations into Trump and those in his campaign and inner circle.

There are still lots of shoes to drop. Stay tuned.

Ok, Go Time: Mueller Delivers Report on Trump-Russia Investigation to Attorney General

Here

The integrity of our country is at stake

Again, the world is holding its collective breath over this. None of us know how much of the full Mueller Report we will get to see. And how soon we will get to see the condensed report. And it is no doubt vastly in the public interest that we see all but the most confidential parts of it.

Newly installed and controversial Attorney General William Barr today gets to see the report. And soon will share its basic findings with Congress, and reportedly the public right after that.

The world and history now fixes its gaze on him:

Jamie Dimon says we've split the US economy, leaving the poor behind - CNBC

When the CEO of a bank like J.P. Morgan Chase says something like this, well, you know. It's REALLY BAD. Here

The #GOP Tax Scam has redistributed more wealth to the top. And the Trump Administration plans to hack away at Social Security and Medicare, the very programs that actually are crucial for low and middle income Americans.

We have to do better. We HAVE TO DO BETTER than this.

"I don't want to be a tone deaf CEO; while the company is doing fine, it is absolutely obvious that a big chunk of [people] have been left behind," Dimon said. "Forty percent of Americans make less than $15 an hour. Forty percent of Americans can't afford a $400 bill, whether it's medical or fixing their car. Fifteen percent of Americans make minimum wages, 70,000 die from opioids" annually.

#incomeinequality #GOP #TaxScam #injustice

Will Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Report Really be Finished Soon?

Much of the world is holding its collective breath over this. None of us know what it will mean. Or how much of this report we will get to see. And how soon we will get to see.

But very soon, it is being reported that newly installed and controversial Attorney General William Barr will get to see the report. And share its findings with Congress.

The world and history now fixes its gaze on him: 

Opinion - The New York Times

The Mueller Report Is Coming. Here’s What to Expect.

A concise report will probably act as a “road map” to investigation for the Democratic House — and to further criminal investigation by other prosecutors. 

By Neal K. Katyal   Here

Democrats to Protect Nation from Faux National Emergency

A needless power and vanity grab by the President (the "wall!" that the Pentagon and pretty much everyone says is not needed) is being resisted by many. The full Congress denied it in the budget process. Now Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have to block the President's actions. Thank you Hon. Speaker Pelosi. Hope the reasonable Republicans that have pledged to resist the contrived "emergency" continue to resist it.

Pelosi urges members to back resolution terminating national emergency

“Trump’s Shutdown Was a Cruel Joke” New York Times Editorial Board, January 25, 2019

Here  Well written, concise and definitive. 

Uh Oh - The Trump Resignation or Impeachment Offramp May Be Approaching

Uh oh Here And hooray!!! (Note: after this story broke Mueller’s office put out a note denying the characterization of the BuzzFeed news scoop at link - but they didn’t refute it altogether. Stay tuned!!)

The bombshell report BuzzFeed published on Thursday that said President Donald Trump directed his personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress lit up social media. 

Some of the first to react included Democratic lawmakers:

If the @BuzzFeed story is true, President Trump must resign or be impeached.

— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) January 18, 2019

Listen, if Mueller does have multiple sources confirming Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress, then we need to know this ASAP. Mueller shouldn’t end his inquiry, but it’s about time for him to show Congress his cards before it’s too late for us to act. https://t.co/ekG5VSBS8G

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 18, 2019

Based on the Buzzfeed report and numerous other articles showing @realDonaldTrump committed Obstruction of Justice and other possible felonies, it is time for the House Judiciary Committee to start holding hearings to establish a record of whether @POTUS committed high crimes.

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 18, 2019

Happy New Year! “The Shutdown Is Mitch McConnell's Fault”

Happy New Year! So the government has been shut down for 26 days. It’s a record.

Here