The Nunes saga 3-30-2017

30, March 2017                              The Nunes saga

The Nunes – Russia-Trump saga has all the intrigue of a spy thriller far exceeding anything Tom Clancy or John Le Carre’ could offer. The latest episode in this gripping story is Nunes, who imagines himself as a tough Jason Bourne, but behaves more like Inspector Clouseau (the inept protagonist of the “Pink Panther” comedies), leaping over the White House wall to meet “Deep Throat”. Nunes switched cars and ditched aides to “cover his tracks”. He then met his former boss to tip him off about possible incriminating information linking him to the bare chested boss at the Kremlin. But the story has taken another twist, “Deep Throat” has finally been unmasked – they were two White House aides who seem to have conjured up a fake story to cover Trump’s preposterous claim that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower!

Democrats’ demands for Nunes to recuse himself are not enough. They must insist that Nunes be investigated for violating his oversight duties communicating with the White House who is under investigation. Two patriotic Americans who are putting country over party are Senators Graham and McCain who are demanding Nunes remove himself as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.  Charges of a cover-up are growing. Why is Nunes so fearful of former Attorney General Sally Yates and former CIA head John Brennan, from testifying? Calls for an independent council, who would be insulated from partisan political pressure, are growing.

The stench of corruption emanating from the White House is like a dead skunk trapped in the basement.

Trumpcare epitaph 3-25-2017

Mar 25, 2017                                              Trumpcare epitaph

Mr. Trump promised a health care plan that would be “unbelievable,” “beautiful,” “terrific,” “less expensive and much better,” “insurance for everybody.”

Seven years of publically denouncing the shortcomings of Obamacare, the repeal–replace failed after 18 days. I wonder how the master deal-maker will spin this major defeat.

Thirsty for revenge, a bruised, battered and a shell-shocked President Trump is now desperately looking for a fall-guy to assign blame. Gone, at least for the moment, is the John Wayne tough-guy persona that has accompanied his campaign and presidency. The finger pointing has started. The spinning wheel of blame and shame has stopped at Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff who coordinated the legislative strategy with his good friend, Speaker Paul Ryan.

But more and more Republicans, especially the Freedom Caucus, are blaming Trump for the debacle, complaining that he didn’t have the slightest understanding of the complexities of health care policy or legislature procedure. They were also offended by his vulgarity, bombast, and intellectual laziness.

This was also a major setback for the legislative principal arm-twisting Speaker Ryan who suffered his first major defeat.

It’s often said that politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose. Trump campaigns in braggadocio and governs in shrill bombast. As more people realize that the emperor is wearing no clothes, his approval ratings will continue to plummet.

Trumpgate 3-23-2017

23, March 2017                       Trumpgate

FBI Director Comey, consumed with guilt over his mishandling of Clinton’s emails, has stiffened his spine and declared the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election will continue. 

It is critically important that the FBI is shielded from political interference from the Trump administration which has displayed brazen attempts to lie and obfuscate. Unfortunately the Justice Department is stacked with Trump loyalists who may decide to softball the investigation. A visibly shaken Trump has already attempted to intimidate Comey with a barrage of negative tweets calling collusion charges, “fake news” and vowed to find those responsible for the leaks. Trump seems to have conveniently forgotten that it was a leaker who unmasked the devious General Flynn.

Leaking the Pentagon Papers saved tens of thousands of lives. If someone leaked the bogus claims of WMD’s, the invasion of Iraq and the rise of ISIS could have been halted.  

These warning tweets from the president do enormous damage to public confidence in the F.B.I.’s investigation. Tweeting will not erase the dark clouds engulfing the White House. Rex Tillerson’s decision to skip the NATO meeting and depart to Russia is also deeply troubling.

To remove such concerns demands the appointment of a special prosecutor who is independent of political pressure. Failure to hold all those who may have colluded with Russia would be a monumental betrayal of our democracy and the American people. The Republicans have a stark choice - country or party? Let’s hope they choose the former.

For more, go to http://callforsocialjustice.blogspot.com/

Wiretapping 3-18-2017

18, March 2017                             Wiretapping

Once again, Mr. Trump seems to be peddling more inflammatory nonsense in a desperate attempt to deflect attention away from the ongoing investigation linking his election team’s possible collusion with Russia.

The former president, the former director of national intelligence, the FBI director, the speaker of the House and the chairmen of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees — all deny that Obama tapped Trump’s phone.  

FBI director, Comey asked the Justice Department to repudiate the claim. Comey’s unprecedented action may be an effort to ingratiate himself with Clinton and her supporters who hold him responsible for gifting the election to Donald Trump.

Mr. Trump’s latest accusation is much like his earlier racial taunts that President Obama was born in Africa. Last year he repeated a bizarre accusation from his guru, Mark Levin, that Ted Cruz’s father played an active role in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

The White House press secretary insisted that Obama had used Britain’s spy agency, GCHQ, to eavesdrop on Trump which was vehemently denied by the British government.

It is time Trump offers an unconditional apology to President Obama failing which Obama should seek justice and compensation through the courts. POTUS is not above the law of the land.

 

North Korea 3-17-2017

17, March 2017                             North Korea

Mr. Trump is ignoring his first major foreign policy challenge. No, not the travel ban which is in search of a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. This is a complete waste of resources that could be better utilized in confronting a serious challenge that has landed on his doorstep. North Korea’s bizarre despot, Kim Jong-un, is fast becoming a major threat to regional and national stability.

The stakes could not be higher. We have a super macho, twitter-happy U.S. president that is being challenged by a mercurial North Korean authoritarian leader. Trump and Kim have much in common. Both are unpredictable leaders who thrive on adulation. Kim and Putin also have much in common; both do not tolerate dissidents who are ruthlessly exterminated.

According to Robert Litwak, from the Wilson Center, “North Korea is on the verge of a strategic breakout that would enable its leadership to strike the United States with a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile. Litwak predicts that by 2020, North Korea could have a “nuclear arsenal half the size of Great Britain’s with missiles capable of striking the U.S. homeland.” In his new book, “Preventing North Korea’s Nuclear Breakout,” Litwak warns that North Korea is building a nuclear bomb arsenal that could be as large as 100 warheads, and from missiles that could easily reach Japan and South Korea. A 140 character Trump tweet will not resolve this menacing problem.

Conflicts of Interest 3-14-2017

14, March 2017                                                Conflicts of Interest

Conflict of interest charges have been levelled against  Donald Trump who has large outstanding loans estimated at $300m with the German Deutsche Bank, his largest creditor.

Deutsche has been accused of massive money-laundering violations of US law beyond its failure to establish adequate financial controls. It is estimated that $10B of Russian money has been transferred to the bank.

Top Democrats on the House financial services committee, are concerned the Department of Justice will soft-pedal the investigation in deference to Mr. Trump especially as the investigation will fall under the purview of the morally challenged Sessions.  There are additional concerns that Trump’s administration extensive ties to Russian government officials and oligarchs would add additional pressure for the Doj to steer clear of  serious investigations.

Furthermore, it is likely that Deutsche may get a free pass and save billions in fines  by granting favorable restructuring terms for Trump’s outstanding loans.

In another disturbing development, Democratic senators are demanding a response from commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, seeking clarification of what role he played as vice-chair of the Bank of Cyprus. It was reported that the White House instructed Ross to ignore such demands increasing misgivings and suspicions that money may been sent to the Trump organization or to the RNC to influence the 2016 election. The stench of massive corruption is getting stronger by the day.

Big Brother 3-12-2017

12, March 2017                            Big Brother

WikiLeaks published another massive dump dubbed “Vault 7” describing how Big Brother - CIA programs hack into Apple and Android cellphones, smart TVs and even cars. Fortunately, these tools have been unable to penetrate encrypted data protected by apps such as Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp.

WikiLeaks also revealed a CIA and British intelligence program called "Weeping Angel," which has the ability to hack into a Samsung smart television and turn it into a surveillance device which can record audio conversations, even when it appears to be turned off. It is troubling that the CIA failed to alert tech companies over these massive breaches in their software. But what is even far more disturbing is why these intrusive programs are being used to spy on American citizens and our allies!

The leak also shows the CIA has developed ways to hack into cars and trucks, which Assange alleges would "permit them to engage in near undetectable assassinations.” Trump who was euphoric when WikiLeaks hacked into the DNC may now have second thoughts.

Our allies have rightfully expressed outrage of CIA’s intrusive activities. 

It is also noteworthy that Julian Assange appears to be giving Russia and our other adversaries a free pass.

It is a pity that his computer skills are so limited that he is unable to penetrate the IRS database and reveal Trump’s tax returns which still remain well hidden away from the peering eyes of the media. Now that would be a huge scoop!

Sessions 3-2-2017

2, March 2017                                 Sessions

The Russian-Trump connection gets murkier by the day.

Our democracy should be based on free and fair elections. But there is mounting evidence that a significant number of Trump officials colluded with Russia to tilt the result in favor of the current president. This has become an unprecedented constitutional crisis.  Attorney General, Jeff Session’s meetings with Russian ambassador contradict his earlier sworn testimony he gave to Congress. Sessions is only the latest villain in a dark conspiracy to subvert our democracy. It defies credulity that he acted on his own without the active support of his current boss.

Sessions has committed a serious crime bordering on treason. He must step down, recusal is not enough. Furthermore, he should be disbarred and face jail time. Lying under oath is not a trivial matter.

Russia's interference in the US, Ukraine and Georgia’s elections demonstrate their relentless efforts in subverting the sovereignty of independent nations.

Their successful hacking renders the US increasingly vulnerable to cyber-attacks into our defense, financial, and infrastructure systems.

Our government's weak response to such attacks sends a strong message to ISIS and other terror groups that the United Sates is weak and incapable of safeguarding its most important institutions.

It's not a coincidence that both Donald Trump and Georgia's Bidzina Ivanishvlli campaigns rallied supporters with boisterous anti-media rants, lies about a rigged election system and anti-trade tirades. This is Putin’s playbook which he “generously” shares with his adversaries.

Trump’s Speech 3-2-2017

2, March 2017                            Trump’s Speech

In an incredibly low bar of expectations, President Trump stayed on script and was able to read from his teleprompter taking long pauses for thunderous applause from sycophantic Republicans who just a few months earlier had mocked and ridiculed him.

Predictably, Trump heaped praise on his many accomplishments with promises of creating millions of jobs, winning wars, adding 56 billion to an already bloated military and building a beautiful wall on our southern borders. ‘Huddled masses’ will no longer be welcome to our shores. The architect of hate condemned “hate in all of its very ugly forms.” Candidate Trump I hope you are listening and embarrassed by your denigration and assaults on women, mocking the disabled and anti-immigrant diatribes.

He promised to repeal the ACA with TrumpCare with significant lower costs and better coverage but the Pipe Piper offered no details on how this Houdini magic would be accomplished. He recently admitted to the nation’s governors that “nobody knew” replacing Obamacare “could be so complicated.” Oh really! Town hall meetings are becoming so loud and raucous that Congressional representatives are fearful to attend. The thud of shovels and pitch forks are getting louder.

He promised to commit $1 trillion in an infrastructure plan for the nation’s “crumbling infrastructure” but offered no details.

Perhaps, the lowest point of his speech was his cynical exploitation of the grieving wife of Navy Seal Ryan Owens who lost his life in a botched raid in Yemen.