Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Yes, this is Iowa. Presidential Candidate Governor Inslee was there to review the devastation of the places ice and water had it way with the Missouri River.

One of the residents that still remain is a town named Hamburg, Iowa spoke to Governor Inslee. The ice was very destructive as it floated through the town. Silos full of grain were ripped open. Last fall's grain was exposed to contaminated water and is worthless. The grain is not salvageable. It will be moldy if it isn't already. No livestock can consume any of that grain and it cannot be used in any food products intended for humans. It can't be used for pet food either. Last year's grain is lost in Hamburg.

 That is only the beginning. Homes and buildings are covered in black mold, which makes me wonder about the air quality to remaining residents.

The comment by the resident was about seeing Hamburg from a helicopter. If Governor Inslee believes that is necessary, the Army Corp and/or USGS may already have aerial views or would accommodate his visit when those aerial photos are gathered. It is not at all unusual for the federal agencies to take aerial pictures to clearly understand the problems. Sometimes, media aerial views are accepted by those agencies as well.

Modern day Iowa is not resilient to the climate crisis and it's current state is not sustainable.

If there are no air quality studies conducted by now, the US EPA needs to carry out that responsibility and it can't be conducted from a desk in DC.

April 23, 2019
By Robin Opsahi and Barbara Rodriquez

The longest-serving Republican in the Iowa Legislature (click here) said he's leaving the party, in part because of his disapproval with President Donald Trump.


Rep. Andy McKean, who represents Anamosa in the state House of Representatives, announced Tuesday that he plans to register as a Democrat and vote with the minority caucus.


"With the 2020 presidential election looming on the horizon, I feel, as a Republican, that I need to be able to support the standard bearer of our party," McKean said during a news conference at the Capitol. "Unfortunately, that's something I'm unable to do."


McKean said Trump is just one part of a bigger national trend of partisanship that made him feel out of place in the Republican caucus. McKean said when he joined the Iowa Statehouse 40 years ago, there were many moderates in the Republican Party. But now, he said, the ranks have thinned.


"I think the party has veered very sharply to the right," McKean said. "That concerns me."...


...McKean had a "no party" affiliation on the Iowa Legislature website briefly Tuesday before updating it to reflect that he now identifies as a Democrat. According to the site, McKean has left his Republican committee assignments.
Don McGahn's fuss about testifying to Congress is a lot of nonsensical fluff to appear to put up a fuss to temper Trump's high anxiety.

The United States of America's Constitution is built on a very solid premise that there are three branches of government which is to carry out oversight as a check on any one power of any one branch.

The idea a White House Council paid for by the American people to assist the President to LAWFULLY and ETHICALLY carry out his duties to the American people would even balk at a mere request by the US House to make testimony is an insult to the Legislative Branch of the USA. It is also taking on the role of a Defense Attorney long before there is finding and proof of illegal activity. To say this is astounding is only to realize the content of the White House is based in criminality and its defense.

The US House has every right to ask a former and/or existing White House counsel to come forward to make a testimony to the advice being afforded the president due to such veering off of any legal path revealed by the Special Council report. Trump needs to get over his high anxiety and step aside from more obstruction that is becoming more and more clear as the only defense for Trump and his revolving door cabinet.

The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States whose role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and his Administration.

The White House Council is not a defense attorney. May we please reflect on that for a minute. 

Okay, times up.

Why would the American people pay an attorney who is supposed to advise the president to also defend the president? What is there to defend if the president is carrying out his duties to the letter of the law? The letter of the law is what the White House Council is supposed to be advising. McGahn better not have acted as a defense attorney in any of his advise.

There should have never been for one second any speculation as to the lawful actions of a president of the USA. No question.
Just to be clear, the violations by Trump and his family, of the USA Constitution has nothing to do with the Special Council report.

Let me state that one more time.

The violations by Trump and his family, of the USA Constitution has nothing to do with the Special Council report.

The Special Council did not go on a witch hunt and look for reasons to hold the Trump Administration responsible for it's unethical and illegal activities. None of the other violations the US House is finding in Oversight has nothing to do with the Special Council Report.

These violations of the law and ethics are not under one committee. The illegality is spread across most of the committees in the US House.

Trump and his family are in violation fo the law.

The USA Constitution is the law. Just that simple. For two years the US Congress did nothing in upholding the USA Constitution and due to that, now the Trumps and Kushners believe they can conduct themselves as they please without worry.

[N]o Person (click here) holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” Foreign Emoluments Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 8. 

THEY VIOLATED THE USA CONSTITUTION AND NO ONE DID A THING until members filed suit to end the abuse. (click here) I think the violations go well beyond Trump and also extend to his advisers. I don't care if they state they are volunteers, that is just another lie. They are using their power within the White House for their personal enrichment. 

More illegal activity by Kushner and Trump.

Jarad Kushner is emptying some cabinet posts and running the 2020 campaign from the White House for the RNC and Trump.

Passive observation is not allowed. Trump has been grooming the NO INFORMATION VOTERS for years if not decades or more. His dialogue, including Twitter, is absent of facts and only serves as a master to his underlings.

There are people that have no information about the illegality of the Trump administration, except, for the words he utters. That is a fact. There are violent outbursts to prove it.

April 16, 2019
By Gabriel Sherman

...Inside the West Wing, (click here) acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has told officials the immigration controversies are more than a distraction, but good 2020 politics. “Everyone including Mick thinks it’s really smart,” a source close to the White House said. “The Democrats want to make this election about Donald Trump. But if Trump makes it about immigration and socialism and the Electoral College, it’s good for him,” the official said. It’s a view shared by the 2020 campaign. “He is battling obstructionist Democrats who tried to block his national emergency declaration and is openly considering relocating illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities, which had proudly proclaimed themselves safe havens. You can bet you’ll be hearing about immigration as 2020 approaches,” campaign press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told me....

The Hillary Clinton investigation has been closed a long time ago. There were no laws governing the use of electronic messaging until the Obama Administration. The 30,000 personal emails on the Clinton sever (a former President and First Lady and later a Senator and Secretary of State) that was erased by lawyers were under no obligation to protect those conversations for most of the years Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. There is no case here.

...Rudy Giuliani (the wayward former NYC mayor) told a prominent Republican last week that Barr has all the evidence he needs to name a special prosecutor to investigate the basis on which Mueller was appointed. “Rudy is dead focused. He wants Barr to take action and investigate McCabe, Strzok, Page, Rosenstein, and Comey,” the Republican said, referring to the senior Justice Department and F.B.I. officials.


While Trump relishes the prospect of going after his opponents, his family is acting emboldened in the post-Mueller environment. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, in particular, are taking a more aggressive approach to internal politics, sources said. “Jared is totally relieved about Mueller. He feels they’ve been completely exonerated. The criminal liability has gone away,” a source who spoke recently with Kushner told me.

A former West Wing official said Kushner’s influence has never been stronger. “He’s running the R.N.C. He’s running the campaign,” the official said. “You have to go through Jared on everything,” a Republican close to the White House said. “He’s the kingmaker....

The only reason the Trumps and their cohorts are acting out in the face of very obvious crimes and ethics violations are that they are trying to bring the country's opinion of them under their control. The issue with classified clearance and Trump circumventing all others to issue it is to provide leverage to family business interests.

The violations of the public trust are extremely obvious. The New York State bar needs to review Guiliani's license and Barr should be reviewed by ethics panels and legal authority as well. 

The US House has its hands full with the Special Council report AND two years of negligence of LEGALLY REQUIRED oversight.

Gloves are off,. the Trump White House, including Guiliani, is attempting to shift public sentiment toward Russia.

The Trump and Kushner families have exploited the power of the USA for their own personal gain and they want to keep it that way.

The entire family is used to talking past detractors, especially on Facebook. They have been conducting dialogue for a long time to maintain and expand their wealth with Facebook. The "realDonaldTrump" has been selling himself as a real celebrity with a dark secret of how to best overcome financial woes.

So, their skills are interesting, compelling to some, but, if Americans sincerely love their country they will reject this show business White House and cling to their Constitution.

Right now the Trumps, Kushner and Guiliani are trying to sway public sentiment to disqualify Democrats at the sincere embrace of the country.

The White House wants the USA, but, does not want the USA Constitution regardless of flag hugging. They want to rule as they please and make it their home. Not their home away from home, but, their home.

The Kushner family has used the power of the White House to obtain visas for Chinese oligarchs lobbied by Don, Jr. Jarad received large amounts of money from the Arab countries with the Saudi Prince openly stating he had Kushner in his pocket. He does. It is a fact. Kushner is now chasing business ventures in Israel. The entire disaster that is Trump is about their personal wealth and has little to no the country or the people. Trump and Kushner would sell the USA to Russia if it meant the oligarchs would pass more money through Deutsche Bank. 

If statements by the Trump White House and it's cohorts don't sound right, it isn't.

April 23, 2019

On Tuesday, (click here) White House senior adviser Jared Kushner was asked about the now-concluded investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and his own ties to the foreign power. Here's his response:

"You look at what Russia did, you know, buying some Facebook ads to try and sow dissent and do it, it's a terrible thing. But I think the investigations and all of the speculation that's happened for the last two years has had a much harsher impact on our democracy than a couple Facebook ads."

In short: No biggie!...

Notre Dame fire: drone footage shows damage to cathedral (click here for the fundraising efforts from Cardinal Dolan - thank uou)

My understanding of the Venezuela refugee status is half the country's population will leave. That is failed leadership. It is also a huge failure for Russian intervention which only regards Venezuela as a strategic military site.

Maduro has no reason to have nuclear capacity jets. I think he needs to return them to Russia in exchange for food, clothing and a better grid structure.

Republican men not only have identity issues, they are insecure beyond belief. Evidently, it drives them to drink beer to intoxication.

This is pathetic and shows a real trend in identity issues with Republican men. In the White House today women are treated as sex objects in demanding of hair length and dense make-up. I don't want to hear "this is who we are" because they all look like the same Barbie dolls.

After Kavanagh found his sexual prowess as his only real accomplishment in high school, he took his lack of identity into college and carried out the same lack of social skills.

This hatred/bigotry against other people, including the opposite gender, is a gross example of men that only define themselves by the narrowest of margins in the category of mature and able to take on life. At no point in time in his high school years (high school people may lack some clout but they aren't children) did Miller ever realize that the people surrounding him were his community. He totally rejected the idea of BELONGING to a diverse community. He also doesn't allow females THEIR SPACE at all.

The profile of these bozos is all too easy. They are narcissistic and not even simply arrogant, they define themselves by denying everyone around them as a legitimate human being.

When one denies others their valid place in life the only place for them is in service to their master. Hence, women are sex objects and assaulted. It is the only place for women in a man's world where being self-centered is their survival.

Just as a point of interest, being financially aloft does provide for even more distance between them and real people. Being a member of the 0.01 percent club isn't really a club, it is competition to own the world.

October 9, 2019
By Maxwell Tani

White House senior adviser Stephen Miller (click here) once jumped into a women's track meet to make a point about masculinity.

In a lengthy profile published on Monday, The New York Times reported that Miller "jumped, uninvited, into the final stretch of a girls' track meet, apparently intent on proving his athletic supremacy over the opposite sex."

The White House seems not to have denied the incident to the Times, only clarifying that the girls' track team was from another school.

Classmates remembered different racially and politically charged incidents.

Miller reportedly said he could not be friends with a person of Latino heritage, and on a different occasion, the paper reported, Miller "set off on a patriotic semi-striptease before the editor of the student newspaper, according to the editor, Ari Rosmarin, theatrically removing a button-down to reveal an American flag T-shirt in protest of an article he found inconsistent with the national interest."...