The Wreck in Quebec Falls Mainly On trump's Dreck.

To the seven people who follow this blog, you've no doubt realized I express only the greatest DISDAIN and HATRED towards Loser of the Popular Vote donald trump.

That I view trump as a con artist, a thief, a bankrupt businessman who doesn't know thing one about actual business/finance, a racist douchenozzle, ignorant, ill-read, ill-informed, just plain ill.

That I knew trump would be a train wreck in the White House, that he would shred every norm, break any law, betray every ally, if it meant filling his own pockets and satisfying his own Id (his Ego too subsumed by narcissism to be of any value anymore).

This weekend trump went to the G7 meeting, a gathering of the top economic powerhouses - U.S., Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada (with UK/France/Germany/Italy as part of the EU) - to coordinate current trade and finance issues and plan for long-term economic stability.

With trump already issuing tariffs aimed at Canada and Europe, the threat of escalating a trade war was a major topic. With trump going to these meetings with open disdain for certain discussions and a refusal to respect anyone else's opinions, this was looking like a bad weekend for the global economy.

Well, yeah. It may have actually gotten worse.

Let us refer over to this other Paul, fellow by the name of Krugman with a noted reputation for knowing economics. Hey, Paul, this is Paul here, alright if I quote you right now from your New York Times piece? Thanks, Paul:

...Still, there has never been a disaster like the G7 meeting that just took place. It could herald the beginning of a trade war, maybe even the collapse of the Western alliance. At the very least it will damage America’s reputation as a reliable ally for decades to come; even if Trump eventually departs the scene in disgrace, the fact that someone like him could come to power in the first place will always be in the back of everyone’s mind.

What went down in Quebec? I’m already seeing headlines to the effect that Trump took a belligerent “America first” position, demanding big concessions from our allies, which would have been bad. But the reality was much worse.

He didn’t put America First; Russia First would be a better description. And he didn’t demand drastic policy changes from our allies; he demanded that they stop doing bad things they aren’t doing. This wasn’t a tough stance on behalf of American interests, it was a declaration of ignorance and policy insanity.

Trump started with a call for readmitting Russia to the group, which makes no sense at all. The truth is that Russia, whose GDP is about the same size as Spain’s and quite a bit smaller than Brazil’s, was always a ringer in what was meant to be a group of major economies. It was brought in for strategic reasons, and kicked out when it invaded Ukraine. There is no possible justification for bringing it back, other than whatever hold Putin has on Trump personally.

Then Trump demanded that the other G7 members remove their “ridiculous and unacceptable” tariffs on U.S. goods – which would be hard for them to do, because their actual tariff rates are very low. The European Union, for example, levies an average tariff of only three percent on US goods. Who says so? The U.S. government’s own guide to exporters...

Was there any strategy behind Trump’s behavior? Well, it was pretty much exactly what he would have done if he really is Putin’s puppet: yelling at friendly nations about sins they aren’t committing won’t bring back American jobs, but it’s exactly what someone who does want to break up the Western alliance would like to see...

I doubt our own economic leaders - business CEOs, Wall Street, major investors - are going to be thrilled that the economic system they've known for the past 50 years or more is about to go into the dumpster fire. Any advantages trump and his handlers think they have trying to bully other nations into serving their (not ours) whims aren't there. Yes, the U.S. economy is too massive to wage war against. Yes, a trade war would hurt the other G7 members more than it would hurt America.

But don't forget Machiavelli's maxim about Fear and Love: The real trick for a Prince is to avoid being HATED, because once your opponents and underlings reach that stage they will pay any price driven by that hate to destroy you.

Our staunchest and longest-serving allies neither fear nor love trump at this moment: They Hate him now. If they fear anything, it's the likelihood of kleptocrat/dictator/real victor of the trade wars - Putin - getting everything he wants including the dissolution of a united Europe.

Getting into a trade war with the United States is one thing: All of Europe has to be wary now that Russia will escalate their manipulations of local "populist" movements to disrupt their elections and destabilize their governments. Any of which is possible when economic downturns caused by the trade war make most nations turn on each other in rage and confusion.

Still, for all Putin is getting out of this chaos, the one truly enjoying all of this has to be trump. This fulfills his sociopathy. Convinced that the world is his to own and destroy, he will now take his pleasure in burning it all down.

trump: "Everything burns."

We as a planet are so royally fucked.

Florida: Where Republicans Tout "Safety LAST"

What the ever-loving hell was this? (via Steve Contorno at Tampa Bay Times):

For more than a year, the state of Florida failed to conduct national background checks on tens of thousands of applications for concealed weapons permits, potentially allowing drug addicts or people with a mental illness to carry firearms in public.

A previously unreported Office of Inspector General investigation found that in February 2016 the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services stopped using a FBI crime database called the National Instant Criminal Background Check System that ensures applicants who want to carry a gun do not have a disqualifying history in other states.

JESUS FOOKING CHRIST.

The employee in charge of the background checks could not log into the system, the investigator learned. The problem went unresolved until discovered by another worker in March 2017 — meaning that for more than a year applications got approved without the required background check.

THE PASSWORD? THE EMPLOYEE LOST THE PASSWORD?! AT WHAT POINT DID ANYONE THINK "Hey let's call the IT guys and have them reset the login"???

Was this going to be a problem for Florida while this lapse took place? In case someone may have noticed the background checks weren't happening?

During that time, which coincided with the June 12, 2016 shooting at Pulse nightclub that left 50 dead, the state saw an unprecedented spike in applications for concealed weapons permits. There were 134,000 requests for permits in the fiscal year ending in June 2015. The next 12 months broke a record, 245,000 applications, which was topped again in 2017 when the department received 275,000 applications.

OH FOOK ME.

Department employees interviewed for the report called the NICS checks "extremely important." Concealed weapons licenses "may have been issued to potentially ineligible individuals." If it came out they weren't conducted, "this could cause an embarrassment to the agency," the report said.

AN EMBARRASSMENT TO THE AGENCY?! HOW ABOUT "Oh my FUCKING GOD we may be letting more people get shot and killed!"

How the HELL do you NOT do your job for a full year?
How the HELL do you NOT call in IT if you've got issues with your logins?
How the HELL do you allow safety requirements to lapse like this for a full year?
How the HELL did anyone NOT NOTICE these background checks weren't being done?

I work in libraries. I have job duties I perform on a daily and weekly basis. If I miss even one job function by just a day or two my co-workers are on me to make sure it gets done.

HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has made it a priority to speed up the issuing of concealed weapons permits since he was elected in 2010. In 2012, he held a news conference to celebrate the state's one millionth concealed weapons permit, noting the time it took to process an application fell from 12 weeks to 35 days on his watch. There are now 1.8 million concealed weapon permit holders in Florida.

Now running for Florida governor as a Republican, Putnam's campaign touts his expansion of concealed carry permits as one of his top accomplishments.

Oh, that's right. The guy in charge of the Department - Putnam - doesn't give a rat's ass about public safety when it comes to firearms. Anything to make the NRA's life easier to get more guns into the hands of dangerous people.

This is how he supervised the Agriculture (and Consumer Services, which is an odd blending of two separate government functions) Department. Without a goddamn care for procedure and safety. With more concern for his NRA and corporate buddies profiting from his FAILURE to do his damn job.

And now this sonofabitch is running this midterms to be Governor.

Putnam will run this state like he ran that Department. That is, he won't do his goddamn job.

Putnam will pander to the gun nuts instead of the millions of Florida residents who are begging and pleading now - after wave upon wave of mass shootings - for better gun safety laws and enforcement.

This expose is a horrifying revelation. It is shameful, if not criminal negligence.

Every person in that Department who had a hand in this failure should resign or get fired with cause.

Putnam should apologize for his failure to do his job. Putnam should resign from it if he's still working as the commissioner. Putnam should drop out of the governor's race and flee the state of Florida in shame.

Pity of it is, Republicans no longer have any shame. Just look at who they vote for anymore. I bet Putnam is going to campaign on his making it this easy for gun nuts to buy firearms. "Under my governorship, we won't do ANY background checks at ALL! Why bother? We've done it already!"

This makes me sick.

WHAT THE HELL, REPUBLICANS. WHERE THE GODDAMN HELL IS YOUR ACCOUNTABILITY.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, FLORIDA.

DO
NOT
VOTE
FOR
PUTNAM
OR ANY OTHER
REPUBLICAN

The Republicans cannot be trusted to uphold their oaths, cannot be trusted to do their jobs.

GODDAMN THEM.

The Republican Crook Operating In Broad Daylight

And no, it's NOT trump I'm talking about. It's his sleazy buddy Scott Pruitt (via Martin Longman at Washington Monthly):

Three months after Scott Pruitt was sworn in as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, his executive scheduler emailed Dan Cathy, chairman and president of the fast food company Chick-fil-A, with an unusual request: Would Cathy meet with Pruitt to discuss “a potential business opportunity”?

A call was arranged, then canceled, and Pruitt eventually spoke with someone from the company’s legal department. Only then did he reveal the “opportunity” on his mind was a job for his wife, Marlyn.

“The subject of that phone call was an expression of interest in his wife becoming a Chick-fil-A franchisee,” company representative Carrie Kurlander told The Washington Post via email...

The deal ended up not happening, but can you imagine the gall of a government official pushing such a nepotistic act so blatantly? Over a freaking Chick-Fil-A franchise?!

At least when Teapot Dome happened, it was over something like oil, you know, actual commodity value. This is penny ante stuff. Back to Longman:

...Chick-fil-A is not Harvard University. They will accept you if you have the dough and a decent business plan. But, I suppose it can’t hurt to throw your influence around a bit if you have some. Making the EPA director happy probably isn’t either here or there to the people who run Chick-fil-A but it can’t possibly hurt. All Pruitt had to do is to make this call himself on his own time. Most likely, they would have told him where to download the application and maybe offered some tips for getting approved, much like they would for anyone else making that call. But, who knows, maybe he could have greased the skids a little bit. That’s how things often work, and it’s not a big problem.

I dunno if Longman's being sarcastic on that point, because trying to influence a corporation into doing something for your wife seems unethical as hell.

Instead, Pruitt uses his staff to make the call and thereby crosses a bunch of ethical lines. It’s such a lazy form of corruption...

And here we get to the nub of the problem. Pruitt's corruption is blindingly lazy and trivial and wasteful. It'd be funny except that it's costing taxpayers every time he indulges in this shit. Just look at this from Huffington Post:

• A bizarre and insanely cheap rental agreement with an oil lobbying firm.
• Trying to fly first class instead of business/coach, and spending on expensive luxury hotels in violation of government travel guidelines.
• An obsessive and paranoid spending spree over security, millions of dollars towards armored cars, extra security (20 guards, almost triple the number the previous EPA chief hired), and some weird super-secure phone booth for his office (that ended up costing double what the original invoice was set for).
• Firing or demoting agency staff who questioned his spending. Also booting scientists off of various committees for clearly partisan reasons. And giving raises to personally-loyal staffers far above what other pay raises have been in the agency.
• This is not on the HuffPo list, because that came out in April and this stuff is new (via Washington Post): Sending staffers out to do menial services such as pick up his laundry, take him shopping for his favorite brand of hand lotion (!), and buying a used trump Hotel mattress (?). 

Pruitt is showing the sad sign of a rich man whose business philosophy has been "Other People's Money": why waste your own wealth when you can waste someone else's? Here, he's wasting ours.

There are a few reasons why you don't put a person with a business background in a political office: Above all, where behavior that would be "normal" in the private sector becomes flagrantly unethical and stupid in a public sector where all actions have to fall under public scrutiny.

Let's be honest, people: Pruitt's behavior is at a level of gross corruption we haven't seen since the Harding administration. Not exactly the stuff of Teapot Dome, but more along the lines of Charles Forbes, Secretary for the newly developed post of Veteran Affairs whose personal corruption involving kickbacks was one of the more publicly known scandals before Teapot Dome got out.

Pruitt's behavior is the kind that in a more honest - or more accountable - administration would have led to resignation within days of the first breaking news reports. Instead he's been allowed to continue under trump's aegis, with the Shitgibbon himself singing Pruitt's loyalty to his own greedy self.

Say hello to the new normal, where the scandals that would get you booted from the White House would be if you took trump's second scoop of ice cream.

We are so very royally fucked, America.

Remember D-Day: To Boldly Go

(update: Thanks again to Crooks And Liars for linking me to Mike's Blog Round Up! Three huzzahs and wassups to my boss Tengrain over there)

When remembering the Normandy landings, we Americans need to remember that our Allies of World War II stormed the beaches alongside us. The French landing at Sword alongside Polish, Nordic, and British forces. The British led additional allies at Gold. Americans fought at Utah and Omaha.

Taking on Juno Beach were the Canadians, eh?

It gets overlooked in World War II narratives but the Canadians were a vital part of the War Effort to stop the Nazis. While part of the British Commonwealth and thus under British generalship, the Canadians on their own were a fearsome and dedicated army that impressed - okay, terrified - the Germans more than any other fighting force.

So anyway, the Canadians were assigned their own beachhead - Juno - out of the Commonwealth nations taking part in D-Day, and for the most part they handled some of the toughest fighting of the landings save for Omaha.

Among the Canadians was a Captain in the Royal Artillery by the name of James Doohan.

You might know him better as Scotty.

He was part of the landing that was able to fight their way inland, but by nightfall they were forced to press onward and he ended up getting hit by friendly fire during a patrol. He nearly got shot through the chest but a cigarette case in his pocket saved his life. Doohan DID lose a finger.

So when you watch Star Trek episodes, you might notice once in awhile on his right hand the middle finger is missing. Doohan mentioned later if he had ever gotten asked about the missing digit he'd note that an engineer is bound to lose a finger by accident.

Regarding the war, Doohan couldn't return to battle but he did switch over to being a pilot in the Canadian Air Force, during which he got tagged as the craziest pilot in their roster by flying a plane between two telegraph poles just to prove it could be done. When the war ended he went home, and then got into acting, starting in radio and then moving onto television. He picked up guest roles here and there before winning the spot on this science fiction gig that lasted... well, forever.

Doohan did a lot in his life: flew planes, fought on D-Day, punched Klingons while giving them their language (!), and probably told fellow Canadian William Shatner more than once to get bent. All in all, a Man's Life Lived Well.

So to donald trump, taking the time this week to insult our Canadian allies, ye might wanna rephrase that laddie.

Anniversary Again for Tank Man

It's been so crazy with the ongoing madness of a trump administration that I almost forgot about this.

We all need the reminder that we NEED to stand against the tyranny of political bullies, be it the Chinese autocrats or the trumpian sociopaths.

Dear NFL Owners

So the current news flurry - other than the shocking revelations that Manafort was trying to suborn perjury - was how trump tried to cancel the expected Philadelphia Eagles appearance at the White House to honor their Super Bowl win when it turned out that, well, nearly every Eagle player refused to hang out with a lying adulterous cheating scuzbucket.

trump ended up hosting a dismally attended affair filled with government staffers to make it look like football fans showed up, with trump trying to mock NFL players for unpatriotic motives before failing to even sing "God Bless America" correctly.

All in all, an embarrassing display by the President Loser of the Popular Vote, a clear sign of how trump has politicized even the most trivial act of a nation's leader, and underscoring how precarious the professional sports leagues are dealing with this maniacal self-service sonofabitch.

Dear NFL Owners who succumbed to trump's insane ploy to belittle NFL players who were kneeling in protest against police brutality towards unarmed Blacks:

Once you agree to be trump's bitch, you will ALWAYS be trump's bitch.

And you're finding out right now that being his bitch is not a smart move at all.

#TakeAKnee

And We're At the Point In the trump Criminal Proceedings Where the Crook Is Desperately Bullying His Way Out of Certain Doom

I'm gonna throw this up here:

You might notice a few things.

Yeah, I have the fucker Blocked. I had to crawl through Anne Laurie's link at Balloon Juice to pull this up.

Second, trump argues "stated by numerous legal scholars" but fails to mention even ONE by name. This is a strawman defense: if he even succeeds in finding one legal expert to back his claim, I guarantee you there will be five others arguing that a President cannot self-pardon based on the legal premise that a person cannot serve as a Judge (and by example, provide a legal decision such as pardons) in his own case.

Third, he tries to wiggle out by saying "when I have done nothing wrong." But has any other person sitting in the White House ever bring up such an argument to self-pardon before? Innocent people don't beg for pardons, only criminals do. I know Obama hadn't, because Fox Not-News/Limbaugh/Breitbart/D'Souza and the rest of the Far Right Noise Machine would have thrown the biggest conniption in history. I don't think it ever came up as an issue for Dubya. although it should have regarding the blatant human rights violations of torture he oversaw his tenure. It may have come up during Clinton's impeachment, but to be honest I don't recall if it had, and again the goddamn Far Right Noise Machine would have pulled that conniption bit.

Finally, he ends his pity party tweet by claiming the Mueller investigation is - once again - A WITCH HUNT, which is generally offensive to actual witches and ignores the fact that Mueller is actually catching people with indictments and guilty pleas.

What this tweet represents is a warning flag from trump's camp, trying to rally other Republicans to defend him when (not if) the situation gets to where trump makes his attempt to self-pardon.

Again, this would require enough - even ONE - Republican Party leader to step up and slap trump down for his criminal hubris. That will never happen. This party is led by cowards afraid of their angry wingnut voter base AND their greedy wingnut SuperPAC funders.

In the end, this really requires enough American voters - ALL of us not beholden to trump's lies and destructive ways - to step up this midterms and VOTE THE GODDAMN REPUBLICANS OUT OF OFFICE. Get Democrats in control of the US House. Do what we can to swing the US Senate Blue. Get enough state legislatures and Governor seats under Democratic majorities.

This is war, where trump is firing off every tweet to burn a section of our Constitution away with his ignorance and hate.

Stand up. Vote Democrat. For the LOVE OF GOD, STOP trump at ALL costs.

I Survived Orlando MegaCon 2018: And What a Shindig It Was

I've been a bit busy being outraged by the sins of the week, but I do need to note previous weekend trip to Orlando's Orange County Convention Center to cause chaos and anarchy among the mobs of cosplayers and vendors!

As always, I go on the Saturday because that's when the costume contests are going on, meaning a lot of cosplayers and costumes to witness. It also means it's the busiest day of the weekend, so expect a lot of long lines...

Like this one, just to get inside the West Concourse itself.

LONG LINE...

I am, in my own way, cosplaying here. This is my GEEK costume from my college days of yore when I went to UF and haunted all the comic book stores between 1988 and 1992 (yeah, that old).

Once you get your ticket checked in and you receive the daily wristband, then you get into ANOTHER line to wait to get into the vendor floor and artist alley that opens an hour later.

 And then, the mad rush inside!!!

 Oh, great, been here less than ten minutes and already Deathstroke's angry at me.

 Documenting the atrocities. Say hello to a 10 dollar burrito.

 Death is here to enjoy the long walks, the stressful waiting, the hurried running from event to event...

And more walking, and more walking...

WE NEED MORE BENCHES IN THE AISLES.

The "Harlem Shake" song started playing nearby so I asked the Jurassic Park cosplayers to keep dancing...

 It's the DC Writers panel! Unfortunately, none of them were hiring (oh, cmon, guys, I can write a great Brother Power miniseries...)

The main hallways of costumers gathered to cosplay their hearts out. I did not get a chance to go down to the lower level where all the Deadpools had herded. Another time, Wade!!!

Say hello to a friend: Laura, from my gaming days playing the MMO City of Heroes! She's not the one making silly faces to the selfie camera...

And now, the reason why I decided a few weeks ago to attend MegaCon this year: our one, our only, the best wrench wench in the 'Verse all the way from some place in Canada: JEWEL STAITE (I apologize, how DO you pronounce the name...?)

 Mal: I don't believe there's a power in the 'Verse can stop Kaylee from being cheerful.

With brief YouTube clip: alas, we were seated away from the room's speakers so we only got to hear her straight from the stage.

Ms. Staite spent much of the chat sharing stories about starring in Firefly, and Stargate Atlantis, and a couple of other shows. She was sweet and charming and a pure delight.

As she was one of the last major stars of the evening, it was 7:30 or so when she finished - oy, long day - and so Laura and I did our best to go find a place along International Drive to eat... took us a half hour to walk to the parking lot (the shuttles would have been stuck in traffic) and then WE got stuck in traffic and didn't get to a decent place to nosh - Bahama Breeze, incredibly good Caribbean food - until 9 PM. Spent the time sharing the photos each of us took during our 'con experience - she had been there to get celeb photos with Ms. Staite and a certain Jeff Goldblum - and talking about gaming since City of Heroes shut down a few years back.

All in all, a fun day. Just remember, MegaCon, WE NEED MORE REST STOPS oy my feets ow ow ow ow ow...

Only trump Could Make the Legal Institution Dumber

Oh ye Gods, this will never end in a sane and rational manner. Via Adam L Silverman at Balloon-Juice, picking up on the story out of the New York Times:

Legal turduckens Jay Sekulow and John Dowd prepared a twenty page legal memo explaining why the President could not obstruct justice and therefore should not be interviewed by the Special Counsel as part of the Special Counsel’s ongoing investigation. Someone leaked it to The New York Times...

As one would expect of a legal memo produced by a well-past-his-prime John Dowd and a never-was grifter of the religiously devout Jay Sekulow, the memo is full of errors in legal reasoning. Again from The New York Times (emphasis Silverman's):

“There could not possibly have been intent to obstruct an ‘investigation’ that had been neither confirmed nor denied to White House counsel,” the president’s lawyers wrote.
Moreover, F.B.I. investigations do not qualify as the sort of “proceeding” an obstruction-of-justice statute covers, they argued.

“Of course, the president of the United States is not above the law, but just as obvious and equally as true is the fact that the president should not be subjected to strained readings and forced applications of clearly irrelevant statutes,” Mr. Dowd and Mr. Sekulow wrote.

But the lawyers based those arguments on an outdated statute, without mentioning that Congress passed a broader law in 2002 that makes it a crime to obstruct proceedings that have not yet started.

Samuel W. Buell, a Duke Law School professor and white-collar criminal law specialist who was a lead prosecutor for the Justice Department’s Enron task force, said the real issue was whether Mr. Trump obstructed a potential grand jury investigation or trial — which do count as proceedings — even if the F.B.I. investigation had not yet developed into one of those. He called it inexplicable why the president’s legal team was making arguments that were focused on the wrong obstruction-of-justice statute...

If I could interpret: trump's legal team has the conclusion that trump wields broad executive power under Article II of the Constitution, and it was merely their job to fit the best possible legal history to defend that conclusion. They probably don't even care that they're basing it on a law that no longer exists, a law that most judges - even Republican ones - would ignore in favor of the 2002 law that supplanted it.

What the lawyers are arguing is that trump as President can never obstruct justice, and indeed can shut down any criminal investigation at any time and by his whim.

As pointed out on Southpaw's tweet: Under this logic, the president could open a booth on Pennsylvania Ave to accept bribes, people under federal investigation could stop by with a briefcase full of cash, and he could order their investigations closed—all without incurring any criminal liability for himself.

There is no goddamn way the Founders intended Article II to grant any President the power to be a crook.

Silverman also points out that trump's own lawyers make the argument that "the President did, indeed, author the fraudulent statement for his son (donald jr.) regarding the 9 June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Jr, Jared, Manafort, and a variety of Russian assets and agents." Another potential obstructive act, but also creates a situation where donnie junior is on record lying about that meeting to Congressional committees.

This remains the major problem of working with an unrepentant bullshitter like trump: He lies so often that you can't keep track, and his current statements / arguments will undermine previous ones with reckless abandon.

It would be frivolous to make mention that the leaked memo from Dowd's office was reportedly typed up in Comic Sans font.

Comic Sans font.

COMIC SANS FONT?!

The only font more evil than Papyrus.

PAPYRUS!!!

When you have a lawyer that works with the most unprofessional font in human history, you are not working with the best and brightest from the Martindale-Hubbell directory.

What is horrifying is how trump will push this argument to all ends, bully the system into accepting his interpretation, because he alone profits from it - both literal and metaphoric - on his path to Authoritarianism.

But how can we thrive when the would-be dictator is an idiot of the highest order, twisting his own legal help into idiots as well?

Troubling thoughts for troubling times.

Puerto Rico the Forgotten Scandal

June is traditionally the beginning every year of the hurricane season on the Atlantic coast.

And yet, we're still trying to recover from last year's season, especially with the horrific devastation in Puerto Rico. Months after getting shredded by Hurricane Maria, only now are we getting even an estimate on the costs of that disaster:

A new Harvard study estimates that at least 4,600 people in Puerto Rico have died from causes related to Hurricane Maria, a far larger number than the official government death toll of 64.

According to the new study, which was conducted by a group of independent researchers from Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, these deaths could often be attributed to delayed and limited health care in the aftermath of the storm, which shuttered several hospitals, crippled the power grid, knocked out cell service, and made many roads impassable...

It’s been eight months since the hurricane hit Puerto Rico, and the island still suffers from a damaged power grid, a short supply of clean water, and a dearth of other essential services. The stress from and effort to rebuild and recover after the storm also continues to put a strain on those suffering from medical conditions...

I can tell you on an anecdotal level I know someone who had family in Puerto Rico, and that person lost at least one loved one in the aftermath of Maria. Here in Florida, we've received thousands of fleeing Puerto Ricans who couldn't stay in their own homes because their homes were gone and the risks were growing worse by the day.

A lot of this can be placed at the foot of President Loser of the Popular Vote trump. Referring to Jamelle Bouie at Slate.com:

Puerto Ricans were still recovering from Hurricane Irma when Maria made landfall last autumn. The storm devastated the island, destroying homes and crippling vital infrastructure. The crisis that ensued demanded an immediate and robust response from the federal government. But the response was sluggish, even as early reports made clear that this was a serious tragedy in the making. The White House made few preparations in the lead-up to the storm, and it was weeks before the Federal Emergency Management Agency committed its full resources to the island. During that time, clean water was scarce, food was hard to find, and hospitals struggled to care for patients, some with serious injuries and illnesses. Most of Puerto Rico lacked electricity for months, and medical supplies were few and far between. When FEMA did eventually act, it dropped the ball. To deliver 30 million meals, the agency contracted with an Atlanta-based wedding caterer with no experience in emergency management. By the time the company’s contract was terminated, it had delivered just 50,000 of those meals...

Master chef Jose Andres - one opposed to trump on a personal level - did far more serving meals to Puerto Rico than our own government, on his own time and dime. Back to Bouie:

A faster, stronger response would have prevented some of those deaths. Even if the White House was unprepared when the storm initially hit, much of the aftermath could have been averted if President Trump had focused his administration on the disaster and brought the weight of the federal government to bear on the unfolding tragedy. Instead, Trump sent every signal that he simply didn’t care. He downplayed the devastation to Puerto Rico and blamed Puerto Ricans for not doing more to repair the damage. He went after the mayor of San Juan, who had criticized the government’s response. He didn’t use his Twitter account to publicize relief efforts or generally encourage Americans to help...

And as soon as FEMA and other government agencies could get out of Puerto Rico, they did, leaving behind little in the way of repaired cities and working utilities.

As much as this is a sin of the trump administration and a Republican Party unwilling to help anybody who's not in their circle of rich friends, this is a dark stain on our nation as a whole. Nobody else really wants to look at Puerto Rico and do anything about it:

Out of sight and out of mind. It's not really a state (even though it's a Territory our nation is responsible for), it's not really our citizens (despite the fact that YES Puerto Ricans ARE Americans), it's not really our families or children left to suffer (if this were Florida we'd be sending every emergency truck and crew we've got like we did responding to Hurricane Irma).

Of all the places most vulnerable to another hurricane this 2018, Puerto Rico tops the list. Far more likely than Florida or Georgia or South Carolina or Mississippi or Texas or Louisiana or Alabama or North Carolina or Maryland or Virginia or anywhere else along the East Coast.

And yet our government still won't lift a finger. Because we are not yelling at them every minute of the day to do anything about it.

What does that say about us, in the end?

We should be better than this, America.

For the 4,600 dead. For the thousands left alive, we need to do better by Puerto Rico and to our own.

Charity services are still up. Contact and help:

Unitarian Universalist Disaster Relief Fund

MariaFund.org

United For Puerto Rico

Jose Andres's World Central Kitchen

trump Is Destroying Everything? Must Be Thursday

Oh lord, this was a crazy day.

Trump started the day off with a trade war, not with China not with Iran not with Russia not with North Korea, a trade war with Canada, Mexico, and much of Europe. Basically, pissing off our allies. Via Business Insider:

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Thursday said steel and aluminum tariff exemptions for the European Union, Canada, and Mexico would expire at the end of the day. Starting Friday, he said, steel imports from those countries will be subject to a 25% tariff, and aluminum imports will be hit with a 10% tariff.

The US put in place exemptions for key allies after first announcing the tariffs in March. But the exemptions were designed only to be temporary reprieves.

With negotiations going nowhere, Trump decided to go forward with the tariffs...

trump apparently wasn't getting the kickbacks or Quid Pro Quos he wanted, so BOOM goes the economy. Canada is bound to retaliate, Mexico is in no mood to play nice with trump already, and Europe? Well:

The EU is expected to respond with tariffs on a little more than $3 billion worth of American goods including motorcycles, bourbon, and blue jeans.

Considering how our economy has NOT gotten the promised boosts from Paul Ryan's godless Tax Cuts For the Rich - the 2.2 percent GDP this quarter is middling - the hit we're about to receive is gonna sting. Combine that with the fact that these tariffs are raising prices on ourselves on these imports, this is essentially the nation as a person punching ourselves in the face. Back to the Insider:

By increasing the cost of imported steel and aluminum, companies that rely on the metals will be forced to either accept the higher costs and lower profits or pass on the price increase to consumers.

For instance, the Beer Institute — an industry group that represents US brewers — warned that aluminum tariffs would drive up the price of beer cans. The Beer Institute estimated that the increased costs would in turn force brewers to save money in other areas, such as by laying off workers or raises the prices paid by consumers.

Again. We're punching ourselves in the face here.

The stock market - which didn't respond too well to trump's earlier plans to tariff the United States into Third World status - took a noticeable nosedive today much like they did they last couple of tariff announcements. You'd think Congress would notice these things and send up panic flares to their deep pocket SuperPACs to, you know, serve their own economic interests and cut trump's base off at the knees...

And that was just before 10 AM.

trump followed that up with making plans to pardon the likes of Dinesh D'Souza. I dunno if I mention him much here, but D'Souza is a failed academic who keeps selling himself as a conservative intellectual who spends far too much time insulting the ever-loving hell out of liberals like it's his only mission in life, using that reputation to shill himself to the Far Right media outlets needing an ethnic person to deflect accusations of racism that D'Souza himself revels in.

trump's pardoning is not out of any actual injustice - D'Souza was caught and plead guilty on campaign finance fraud - but because D'Souza is a political hack on trump's side of the fence. It's also rubbing this in the face of prominent trump critic Preet Bharara, the federal prosecutor who sent D'Souza to the big house (D'Souza is actually taunting Bharara about this).

But this is more than just trump giving out pardons like candy at Halloween. This is trump sending a clear message to the nation and to his political and business cronies. Via Slate.com:

First and most obviously, by pardoning D’Souza, the president is signaling—and frankly, let’s just call it shouting aloud—to the Michael Flynns and the Paul Manaforts and the Michael Cohens in his world that Everyone in America Who Helps Donald Trump will eventually get a pardon. This is how he has previously deployed his pardon power, and it is not a complicated message when there are several people around you who are contemplating plea deals versus lengthy prison sentences.

And as Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall was quick to point out, by pardoning someone as usefully racist and homophobic as D’Souza, Trump is also winkingly letting America know that this sprawling tribe of conspiracy theorists and racists and provocateurs and misogynists and performers of casual hate will always have a champion in the White House. Solid...

...While Trump’s pardon of D’Souza grows, in part, out of Republicans’ broader war on the fundamental legitimacy of campaign finance law, now is an opportune moment for the president to explicitly hop on that bandwagon. Investigations into his close allies keep centering around possible campaign finance violations in which Trump may have been complicit. By dismissing the prosecution of D’Souza’s illegal straw-donor scheme as somehow unfair and ideological, Trump is pardon-signaling, setting the table for a next round of campaign finance pardons...

The crook in the White House is letting the crooks on his team know they can get away with robbing the liquor stores and banks and pension plans of the nation.

This is all on top of how trump is abusing executive powers on immigration - #WhereAreTheChildren - and failures of leadership - we are now getting estimates that the actual death toll in Puerto Rico is over 4,600 - which have been news stories deserving far more attention than the mainstream media is giving them.

We are so very extremely royally fucked going into June.

We're Over the Cliff. This Is Now a Matter of How Steep the Fall Will Be

So this thought has popped up again:

I think I've argued before about the unlikely scenario of the United States splitting into civil war, especially the disastrous economic implications of such an event. Very few states can stand on their own, and too many Red states - the likely culprits in a secession movement - are too dependent on federal aid to pull it off. Back in 2009, this kind of argument didn't make any sense to me.

But the thought is still out there, we ARE as a nation in the middle of an Honest-to-God Constitutional Crisis, and as the signs of irrevocable differences among Americans are growing this is getting too serious to ignore.

Just yesterday, Balloon Juice had two different articles about this issue, and as I take the commentary there serious then these arguments need to be considered. First, to Anne Laurie marking the Twitter war between Megan McArdle and Reality:

I tweeted McArdle back directly after that "twee cosmopolitan" putdown:

As Sam Houston and William Sherman tried to warn the hard Conservative wingnuts that were pressing for a regressive and racially-motivated war in 1860, the more Liberal left-wingers that made up the Union side of things had the numbers and the willpower to save the nation, give it a month or give it five years. Those same Liberal-leaning types - urban surely, educated most likely - may look weak or indecisive but in truth they have conviction and patriotic devotion (they're just trying to remain polite about it).

Ahem. Back to BJ:

Megan's thinking of "letting go" would be easy to understand except for the facts that 1) our cultural divisions are not geographic ones (even Texas and Florida and Alabama and yes South Carolina will be split internally by Right and Left factions), 2) such "letting go" will not resolve half the arguments we have, and 3) The side spoiling for a fight (hint: it's the pro-gun anti-gay racist trumpshirts) won't let it go and will turn violent no matter what.

And now Adam L. Silverman's piece, with analysis and insight (aptly titled Megan McArdle Knows Absolutely Nothing About Any Form Of War And Wouldn’t Even If A Member Of The Military Bit Her!):

What McArdle doesn’t understand, because she knows nothing about war – theoretically, conceptually, and/or experientially (sic) – is that there has been a low level insurgency in the US going back decades. We sometimes call this the Culture War. Sometimes it’s referred to as the Southern Strategy, but it involves one of the two major political parties and its supporting movements, including religious movements, in the US refusing to accept the legitimacy of any other ones. It includes frequent use of dehumanizing language and threats of violence ranging from legislatively and regulatorily (sic) directing the power of the state, utilizing lawfare, and actually threatening and sometimes undertaking violence against their opponents or the objects of their dehumanization campaigns when the insurgents don’t get their way. And these people – elected, appointed, voters, supporters, pundits, etc – are McArdle’s fellow travelers! They are part of the larger political, ideological, dogmatic religious, and sub-cultural groups and movements that McArdle has been marinating in since she was an undergraduate.

They also make the mistake that they are the only ones that get to define patriotism and to actually care about the US and its ideals. They have convinced themselves that they are the only ones who can properly interpret the Constitution when in fact they are the poorest of linguistic and political historians of the late 18th Century, which leads to constantly misunderstanding and misapplying the Constitution. And they have deluded themselves into thinking that because their opponents believe in civility that their opponents are also unwilling to actually defend themselves in the political, ideological, social, religious, economic, and/or legal arenas. And those delusions include the mistaken belief that they don’t have the means to do so.

Right now the US is experiencing one of its periodic bouts of growing pains. As was the case in the 1780s and 1790s, the 1830s and 1840s, the 1860s, the late 1870s through the 1890s, during WW I, in the mid to late 1930s, and in the middle 1960s through the early 1970s, a period of imperfect progress is being met with a backlash against it. It is ugly. It is unpleasant. It is damaging. People who do not deserve to be hurt are being hurt. The real question that McArdle should have asked, yet is incapable because she is as the one who does not know how to ask, is what does it really mean to form a more perfect union? And what are the best ways to go about perfecting the union? Those are the real questions of American civic life. Not whether Democrats in urban areas know how to use guns...

With all that as my background, what's MY take on the current downward spiral?

This all depends on the response to the most likely trigger to cause the "civil war": Mueller's investigation into trump's criminal ties to Russia and to Russia's interference with the 2016 elections.

The Far Right (pro-trump) have clearly marked out their line in the sand that Mueller's work is "illegal" and part of a "spygate" conspiracy hatched by the Obama-Hillary Left to steal the election (which, logically, meant Obama-Hillary should have done a better job of actually stealing it back when they needed to). If Mueller completes his Special Counsel investigations finding serious charges - serious enough to warrant directly arresting trump (which would mean breaking a gentleman's agreement to not arrest sitting Presidents Losers of the Popular Vote) - this side will freak out and rage against the "Deep State" that makes up the federal government.

The other side - made up of Never-trumpers, "Rule of Law" conservatives and moderates, progressives, essentially the 65 million who voted Hillary and believe Russia stole enough states to fuck with the Electoral College - have marked out their line: Anything trump does to shut down Mueller's work is full-on Obstruction and that the entire Republican Party will be guilty of selling the nation out to Putin.

From where we're at right now, Mueller and other investigators have found so much criminal misdeeds before, during AND after the 2016 campaigns that trump is going to shut it down as best he can: However, he's noticeably run out of legal means of doing so and he's bound to simply break existing laws to complete his journey to complete Obstruction and dismantling of the Rule of Law.

This all depends entirely on how the Federal agencies and how the U.S. Military responds.

Right now, most of the agencies - getting shredded by trump's corruption and mismanagement - are likely going to oppose trump right out of the gate. The Intel communities in particular - fully aware of how badly Russia hacked us and hurt us - will refuse to back any attempt by trump to shut down Mueller or the Justice Department.

The military is the big wild card here. Granted, most soldiers and officers are personally conservative: However, they are trained and expected to abide by the Constitution and Rule of Law (that is, they answer to their oaths to defend the nation, they do not take loyalty oaths to any one man the way trump expects). The military is also one of our more diverse institutions, with a lot of soldiers and officers made of the minorities - Black, Latino, women, and now LGBT - that would suffer under a trump rule that's unbound by Constitutional limits. If trump does go full Authoritarian by shutting down Mueller and violating the Rule of Law, there is a good chance the military will refuse to obey any further orders from that White House. At which point shit gets really real.

This is where the wingnut fantasies of their pro-gun militias taking out Army units come into play. This is also where those fantasies will get taken out pretty quickly because 1) those Far Right militias do not have the numbers, 2) those Far Right militias do not have air support, 3) we've seen these Far Right militias in action before, and they are so disorganized it's laughable. They only lasted as long as they did during their hissy fits because the Feds wanted to avoid another Waco tragedy.

Still, the military is expected to answer to the presidency as Commander-in-Chief. They could just as easily side with him as the "lesser of two evils" and just wait him out for "saner" leadership to replace trump (he's NOT going to live forever). If the military sides with trump and the Far Right, any resistance by the Progressive/Center Left will not last long either.

Congress, being what it is - owned by cowardly Republicans who refuse to rein in trump's worst behaviors - will likely collapse into factions when trump acts against Mueller. There are signs of rifts in the House already especially over immigration (and the dawning realization that the replacement Speaker following Ryan will be too wingnut even for them). If trump tries to play dictator, there's a chance enough Republicans will flip to Independent/Democrat to give Dems control of the House (and even the Senate): At that point, trump will be the one in serious trouble. If the GOP remains united, then trump remains unchallenged and key Democratic figures - Pelosi, Schumer, Harris, Warren - will find themselves targets of arrests.

If things do break down into civil war, the dividing lines are going to be messy, mixed-up, and all over the map. Where the first civil war was easier to map out with clear North-South boundaries, this coming fight isn't as geographically fixed. Yes, there may be solid Red (conservative) states and solid Blue (liberal) states, but within each state there are splits between the urban, suburban, and rural areas. Big states like Texas and Florida may be dominated politically by Far Right Republicans, but they've only achieved that thanks to rigged gerrymandering that ignored actual demographics. Any attempt to secede (if trump fails to stop Mueller) or to enforce their rule (if trump succeeds) will cause mass protests and chaos across every major city and then some. On the same argument, any attempt by California or Illinois or New York to secede (if trump wins) or enforce (if trump fails) will get rioting from the Red parts of their states in the rural and suburban regions (such as New York's Long Island or California's southern coastal Far Right communities).

There are very few regions that are decidedly in favor of one side over the other. If I had to say it, the only solid Red states that would ally with trump if he goes Full Dictator would be West Virginia, Idaho, Oklahoma, and maybe one of the Dakotas. The rest would have serious internal strife issues (yes, even South Carolina and Utah and Alaska). If there were any solid Blue states that would oppose trump, I'd go with Hawaii, Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont.

There will be no true safe havens. We will find that out right quick.

Actual civil war will be messy at the street level. Pro-trump forces - being gun-nuts evangelicals - will target what they hate most: Minorities, women, health clinics, gays, schools and colleges. They won't hit military sites - in some respects they won't even really fight to protect trump - because they'll know that's suicide: Instead they'll hit civilians the same way all terrorists would. THIS is why they don't want to give up the military-grade firepower they currently have to wipe out entire unarmed gatherings.

Pro-Constitutional forces - being legal-minded - will target the ones backing trump: Every Far Right media talking head and deep-pocket SuperPAC funder. Given how much of trump's support is based on lying and media manipulation, shutting down the likes of Fox Not-News, Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Drudge, Jones, Coulter, and others would be a necessity. After that, targeting every goddamned coal-roller truck in the nation. Eliminating trump's base of support because honestly there are few places trump can truly hide.

Changes to our nation's habits will be immediate. The electrical grid is vulnerable, our communication network is vulnerable, our transportation systems - highway, trains, airports - are vulnerable. Either side will disrupt each of these things to their advantages. Our schools will close, most places of business may close due to supply cutoffs, most of our common resources available through utilities will be shut down. Not every location will be hit hard - some states and cities obviously will be hurt more than others - but everyone will feel some kind of pinch.

Even the rich will be affected. Our financial systems and markets would have early days of downturn as chaos makes things unpredictable. Foreign trade and business deals will suffer at first, maybe prolonged by any drawn-out fighting. Breakdown of intrastate trade definitely will hurt local and regional business.

If the U.S. divides into civil war, our foreign allies - and enemies - will get disrupted themselves. Without trump to hold them back, Western European nations may reform NATO into a more aggressive front against Putin's meddling into Eastern Europe. Asia will likely slide further under China's influence. Israel may suddenly find that a distracted and divided United States leaves them alone with few allies just as their war against Gaza Palestinians and Iran/Syria gets serious.

All of the problems that led to this moment - immigration, trade, global terrorism - will remain unresolved or actually worsen.

If there's any good news in a trump-fueled civil war, it's that his overseas properties will fall completely to shit and file for bankruptcy.

Everything else will be a bloody mess, and none of us will be able to avoid it.

I thought once we could, that we were going to evolve past the cultural divisions pushed by an increasingly angry Far Right, that we were going to listen to the better angels of our nature.

But the goddamn Far Right doubled down on their madness, dug deeper into their re-enforced Narrative, and rallied around a person in trump who brought them a fake victory, ignoring all the signs that trump is NOT someone you want leading your war effort.

I have been saying for the past few years this was not going to end well. We're at Phase Two of the madness right now, and from what I see - what too many other people are starting to see - the end is more and more looking to be bloody and crazy and terrifying.

This is already out of control. And we will be lucky to live through this. But not all of us are that lucky...

All You Need to Know About trump Right Now, May 2018 Edition

I'm just gonna refer you to two different articles.

First up, David Frum with FIFTEEN Unanswered Criminal Law Questions about trump (I've Bold the questions I think are the most serious):

1. Trump campaign aides and associates met with Russian agents in advance of the Russian hacks and releases of Democratic internal communications. Did these meetings lead to any form of coordination between the Trump campaign, the Trump family, or Trump supporters on the one hand and Russian intelligence and its proxy, WikiLeaks, on the other?
2. Russia engaged in large-scale and illegal expenditures on social media to help elect Trump. Did the Trump campaign, the Trump family, or Trump supporters coordinate or assist in any way with these violations of U.S. law?
3. Trump campaign aides reportedly met with representatives of Persian Gulf governments who offered to violate U.S. law to help elect Trump. What came of those meetings?
4. How much Russian money has flowed into the Trump family and the Trump Organization since Trump suddenly and mysteriously became cash-rich in 2006?
5. Did all the foreign funds flowing into the Trump family and Trump Organization comply with applicable U.S. laws on taxation and money laundering?
6. Did the Trump family and Trump Organization themselves comply with all U.S. laws on taxation and money laundering?
7. To what extent was Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort beholden to foreign entities? What services, if any, did he provide them?
8. To what extent was Trump’s first national-security adviser, Michael Flynn, beholden to foreign entities? What services did he provide them?
9. The same question applies to Sam Clovis, George Papadopoulos, and other figures on Trump’s campaign and foreign-policy teams.
10. The family business then run by Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, was in desperate need of funds in late 2016. The record shows he approached entities in China, Russia, and Qatar for aid. What is the exact list of foreign entities solicited by Kushner? What pitch did he offer them in exchange for their prospective investments? Did his pursuit of these investments ever tilt the administration’s foreign policy?
11. After the election, Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen obtained millions of dollars from foreign and domestic businesses in return for his promise to consult with them. Did Cohen share any of those payments in any way with the president, his family, or his businesses?
12. Since the election, Trump’s companies have received millions of dollars in licensing fees from entities in Turkey, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, and other foreign countries. How much have the president’s businesses been paid by foreign persons and what portion of his total income originates in foreign payments?
13. Is it true that Stormy Daniels’s daughter was threatened in order to coerce Daniels to sign a nondisclosure agreement with Trump? If so, who ordered and delivered that threat? Did any other women sign such agreements? Were any of them threatened?
14. Was Trump in any way connected to the payment of $1.6 million to former Playboy model Shera Bechard, an agreement facilitated by Cohen—Trump’s personal lawyer—and using the same aliases and structure as the agreement Cohen struck with Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf?
15. Elliott Broidy, the former deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee, told The Wall Street Journal that he had an affair with Bechard, and that she subsequently decided to terminate her pregnancy. He made the first installment of that payment on November 30; he had a private meeting with Trump on December 2, at which he pushed for a crackdown on Qatar, lobbying for which he expected to be rewarded by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. How did Broidy land that meeting—and why did Trump prove willing to follow his advice?

These are all legitimate questions that should not be evaded by trump nor his people.

Second, Washington Post's fact-checking by Glenn Kessler and Meg Kelly:

Here is a guide to the various “scandals” about the probe that Trump has promoted since he became president — and what happened to them. For context, we will include the actions taken by federal investigators.

March 4, 2017: ‘Obama had my wires tapped at the Trump Tower’ - ...On Sept. 1, the Justice Department said in a court filing that the FBI and the National Security Division confirmed that they had no record that would support Trump’s tweets: “Both FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets. FBI again confirmed that they do not have any such records by consulting with personnel knowledgeable about Director Comey’s statements and the surveillance activities of the FBI.”

June 1: ‘The big story is the unmasking’ - ...Trump openly mused that Susan E. Rice, President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser, was in big trouble and may have committed a crime. “I think it’s truly one of the big stories of our time,” he told the New York Times on April 5. But the story did not have legs and faded from sight. Numerous former national security officials told The Fact Checker that Rice, as national security adviser, had every right to request the identities of U.S. citizens who were incidentally recorded or referenced in surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency. It turned out that Rice had unmasked the identities of senior Trump officials to understand why the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates was in New York. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan had arrived for meetings with Trump aides, but the UAE did not provide the customary notice about his trip to the Obama administration. Republicans on the committee decided she did nothing illegal.

Aug. 10: ‘The Democrats colluded with Russia’- Trump has repeatedly tried to turn the tables by claiming that the Democrats, not his campaign, colluded with Russia. The allegation never made much sense because the Democrats were the victims of hacking operations that transferred emails and other information to WikiLeaks through apparent Russian connections. ...The president gained some traction for his case when it was revealed that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee were the mysterious Democratic donors who paid a research firm, Fusion GPS, to collect information on Trump’s Russia ties... The White House began to argue that because Steele was getting information from Russian officials in part with funds provided by the Clinton campaign, the Russians were helping Clinton. Officials also suggested that the whole investigation was tainted because it started with the dossier. But that was undercut by the revelation that the probe actually started because of a report from an Australian diplomat that Papadopoulos appeared to know about the Russian hacking before WikiLeaks began releasing details...

Feb. 3: ‘The FBI was politically biased against me’ - The Nunes memo suggested that a group of politically biased law enforcement officials set out to sabotage Trump, with the Steele dossier as a key piece of evidence. The memo focused on the FBI application for a wiretap order that targeted Carter Page, a former Trump adviser, after he had left the campaign. The classified memo, which Trump ordered released, claimed that law enforcement officials had abused their powers by failing to make clear that one of the pieces of evidence was the dossier; they claimed it was tainted by political bias because of its Democratic origins... But the memo also confirmed that the investigation of the Trump campaign started with Papadopoulos, not the Steele dossier. The impact of the memo further faded with the FBI’s strong statement that it contained “material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy,” as well as the release of a Democratic memo that sharply disputed the conclusions of the Nunes memo...

March 18: ‘The investigators are hardened Democrats’ - Eleven members of Mueller’s team have made political donations to Democrats, compared with five with no record of such donations. Five of the 16 known members contributed to Clinton’s 2016 campaign. The Department of Justice is legally barred from discriminating against career appointees based on political affiliation, so Mueller, a longtime Republican, is not permitted to ask about political affiliation. Mueller took action against Strzok when texts expressing anti-Trump sentiments were discovered. But he can’t inquire about political leanings before hiring. (unspoken in this tidbit is the fact that among lawyers and other legal professionals that would partake in a Special Counsel investigation, many of them ARE Democrats by choice. You can't find enough Republican lawyers to hire in the first place)

The most current trump excuse - that Obama planted a spy (SPYGATE!) in trump's campaign - is also a losing argument because of various points: 1) the informant (NOT SPY) was inquiring into making contacts with trump's campaign only because of Papadopoulos' big fat mouth, 2) human sources like the informant is a standard FBI practice (remember Donnie Brasco?) when investigating criminal activity such as foreign nations hacking U.S. computers, 3) the Justice Department and FBI are not about to give up the source to trump's Congressional lackeys because doing so sets a precedent of partisanship interfering with the Justice Department's mandate to uphold the law and the FBI's ability to investigate crimes.

If I could combine both articles together under one thought it would be this:

donald trump is a lying crook trying to disrupt the very investigations into his crooked behavior and we as a nation are going to be fucked if he gets his way.

There. That simple.

Gods help us.

WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN?!?!

WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN???

Federal officials lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children last year after a government agency placed the minors in the homes of adult sponsors in communities across the country, according to testimony before a Senate subcommittee Thursday.

The Health and Human Services Department has a limited budget to track the welfare of vulnerable unaccompanied minors, and realized that 1,475 children could not be found after making follow-up calls to check on their safety, an agency official said.

Federal officials came under fire two years ago after rolling back child protection policies meant for minors fleeing violence in Central America. In a follow-up hearing on Thursday, senators said that the agencies had failed to take full responsibility for their care and had delayed crucial reforms needed to keep them from falling into the hands of human traffickers.

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN???

Every single person who had a hand in sending those kids into the black hole of darkest humanity should be in JAIL RIGHT FUCKING NOW. YOU DON'T DO THIS TO KIDS! YOU DON'T EVER DO THIS TO KIDS!

This is what the harshness of trump's anti-immigration rage is creating: A system ripe for exploitation and destruction and death. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THOSE KIDS???

Yes, these kids were part of families that were coming to the United States, but these were families looking for asylum and safety, and in rejecting that humane concept our own government pulled those families apart and sent 1500 OR MORE CHILDREN INTO GOD KNOWS WHAT HARM.

WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN???

Right now, I am totally on board with calls to abolish ICE outright. This is insane, and illegal, and evil.

WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN???