Sessions Machiavelli?

Just a thought: In a Machiavellian maneuver, did Jeff Sessions set Trump up to fire Comey knowing the backlash will make Pence the next President of the United States?....

Boxers

In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade

And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him

'Til he cried out in his anger and his shame

I am leaving, I am leaving, but the fighter still remains.

An old man sits in his living room in the light of one lamp and the flickering barrage of FoxNews streams, pics and banner headlines. His life almost used-up, he needs his daily morning, afternoon and prime time fix of things to resent, a fresh charge of anger—even fury—to reacquaint him with at least the sensations of youthful strength and drive he’d taken so much for granted, even wasted like the cheap gasoline in the good old days that never were.

Donald Trump knows that old man is watching him on the fake news. He knows because that old man is the poorman version of himself, lonely, disappointed, inwardly aware of the near-total failure he made of his life, but outwardly muffling the anxiety churned in the calderone of that truth by casting blame on everything and everybody else.

I could have been as successful as Trump, thinks the old man. I could’ve been rich, too, he knows, equating wealth with proof of winning in life, as did his same-aged hero.

Trump looks out through the TV screen at the old man and thinks,  Loser. Wouldn’t want to be him, even while knowing deep-down to his malnourished soul all his wealth can’t separate him from the rancid umbilical cord that firmly attaches him to the aged object of his contempt.

Both always right, never wrong; in the ring a lifetime of battling every contradiction, ignorant of the love being wasted outside the arena; preferring the company of spectators who only seemed to appreciate them more.

The spectators are all gone, now. A sad wife remains. The old man fantasizes a new, much younger spouse, envious that Trump could collect and discard so many of them; not considering for a moment the president’s inability to feel human love caused those women to drift away, as his distant and sad old wife, also emotionally neglected, though still existing under their communal roof, often wishes she had long ago abandoned him.

Losers, both of them: one in the company of strangers, pouting in the Oval Office; his biggest fan watching, alone with himself and memories of nothing, nothing at all….   

Maddow Got Punked by Trump

I try to remain objective. However, if I see bull I call it out no matter which side it's on. Rachel Maddow embarrassed herself last night. What was she thinking? Maddow said she had Donald trumps tax returns and acted like it was going to be a huge scandal instead it was just more fake news.

All Maddow proved is that President Trump is a successful businessman who paid millions in Taxes. He had actually paid $38 million in taxes on $153 million of income. That translates into a tax rate of around 25%. That is a much higher rate than Warren Buffet, Mitt Romney, Bernie Sanders and many many more wealthy Americans paid.

So, Rachel...thinking of revealing more of Trumps returns in the future? Please, for the sake of anyone with legitimate concerns, only show us something if there's really something to see. Otherwise, I hear Geraldo has found another vault ...perhaps it contains Trump's love letters to Putin....Go for it.

You Want This Country to Be Safe? You're Looking in the Wrong Direction

Guest Blogger: Jennifer Arend

Most people know about the conspiracy theory that a certain horrific event was an inside job. If that's true, it's becoming clearer every day why it happened. The fear of terrorism is the perfect distraction. Our own government can do whatever it wants to us because the entire country is afraid of Muslims and illegal immigrants instead of the rich and powerful corporations that are actually destroying everything good about this country piece by piece. It's so much easier, isn't it? It's so much easier to be afraid of "outsiders" than to come to terms with the fact that the threat to your lives, your jobs, and everything else you should be entitled to (yes ENTITLED) has already been here in this country all along...and only grows hungrier and more brazen by the minute.

But go ahead and keep raising those fists and chanting for that wall while the Republican administration robs you of your rights and assures you that it's for your own protection. Go ahead and keep complaining about immigrants taking your jobs while the super rich continue to outsource and build their companies overseas. Go ahead, keep complaining about the the few cents (yes CENTS) per

day you pay in taxes toward helping struggling Americans while the rich pocket dollar after dollar. This is your country too, and if you want to just sit back and pretend like you should be more worried about immigrants (because god forbid you admit that you may have been conned), who am I or anyone else to stop you? Just FYI though, in the history of this country the majority of attacks have been committed by people who were BORN here. In fact, the vast majority of those terrifying events were executed by white males. So, if you think it's crazy to be concerned about white American men...then it's even more insane how worried people are about immigrants.

You want this country to be safe? You're looking in the wrong direction. Why are you looking over there? Oh, right. Fox News told you, and Fox News is the only real news out there! I guess it doesn't matter to you how many lies they've been caught telling or how completely

unrespected their organization is by the rest of the world. I guess it doesn't matter that they are the most biased news source out there (worse than any biased conservative OR liberal propaganda). As long as you believe it, it must be true, and no one could possibly know more than you about anything. Not economists. Not scientists. Not actually respected journalists.

The sad part is, I DO care what you think. Even if I KNOW for a FACT that you're wrong, I still care. I still want to listen. I still want to talk about this stuff because it's important to me, and quite frankly, it should be important to EVERYONE. This is the future of our country we're talking about. This is the world we're going to leave for our kids. And don't give me that "we can't do anything about it" crap.

Did the founders of this country say that when faced with the tyranny of the English? Did the abolitionists say that during the civil war? Did the allies say that during WWII? Did suffragettes say that when rallying for women to be able to vote? Did civil right activists say that? Is that why Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King are heroes--because they said "we can't do anything about it?" Uh...no. They are heroes because they knew that if people come together, they CAN change things, and they each did their part to lead people to fight for change.

So, stop it. Stop saying protests don't do anything so you can feel better about sitting back and doing nothing. Stop getting angry at the people who are out there fighting for your rights just as much as they are fighting for their own. Do you want your kids to get a good education or do you want ALL kids to get a good education? Do you want to drink clean water and breathe clean air? Do you want a job that pays a living wage? Do you want your country to be safer from the people who are ACTUALLY dangerous

to your families? If some day you find yourself unable to work, do you still want quality healthcare that you can afford? For God's sake, even if you don't care about people who are different than you, there are SO MANY issues that affect YOU and YOUR FAMILY. So, stop it. Stop buying into what this government is trying to sell you just because you voted for it. Stop believing everything the government feeds you. Question everything. Research the reputation of your sources before you trust them.

The government will tell you whatever is in its best interest to tell you. So, don't let them get away with hiding from the press and censoring scientists. They will tell you what you want to hear in every speech, but they will not back that up. I mean, you can't say you are FOR CLEAN AIR while you are in the process of dismantling the organization that's in charge of keeping it CLEAN. You can't say you want to give people good affordable healthcare coverage while drafting a proposal to significantly raise the cost of medical insurance for average Americans and the elderly. Well, I guess you can...because for some reason people are still just smiling and nodding. Holding our leaders accountable for their decisions isn't wishing that they'll fail. It's doing everything in our power to ensure that they DON'T.

There is nothing patriotic about someone who waves an American flag around, but doesn't care about the fate of the nation or its citizens. You can't say you care about our soldiers while they're being sent to die in wars that are more about the oil industry than freedom.

You can't say that you care about veterans while watching every single pro-veterans bill get shot down by members of the party you vote into office over and over. It doesn't work like that. It doesn't make SENSE.

I don't understand people who want to continue to believe things that aren't even true because that's their "opinion". You can't decide what is true and what isn't based on what you WANT to be true. I don't understand people who would rather live in ignorance than educate themselves about what is and isn't happening in this country. How can you expect to leave behind a better world for these future generations if you don't even know what's at stake or who you need to fight for it?

I don't understand how anyone can just bring children into this world and not want to go to the ends of the earth to make sure they have it better than we have, and I don't understand how anyone thinks they can do that if they're just giving their attention to something they'll agree with...or worse...not bothering to pay attention to anything at all because they "don't like politics."

I doubt anyone is going to change their mind about anything based on this rant, and anyone who it may or may not be aimed at isn't even going to read it. But, you know, it makes me feel better to vent my frustrations. And I can't lie...I prefer my own speeches to those of almost everyone else. I probably missed my calling, but what can you do? 

I Got Nothing. Cathy?

Hypocrite-in-Chief

Bob

Many months ago, I predicted to my sister Cathy, among other family and friends, Donald J. Trump would hate living in the White House, viewing residence inside the historic building as a plunge into a ghetto-like nightmare. He’d feel an urgency to escape such shabby quarters for the splendors of his pampered previous life whenever possible. Yet even I could not have prophesied how often that would be. 

Since Trump assumed the presidency January 20, 2017, he has departed the White House every weekend for his gaudy but opulent private home and club Mar-a-Lago in Florida, from where he can impress other wealthy club members by sharing classified alerts and his texted responses about the misbehaviors of North Korea.

This hypocrite-in-chief often criticized Barack Obama's travel expenses on Fox News and on his Twitter account. Based on an October 2016 Government Accountability Office analysis of White House travel, Trump’s weekend trips have probably cost the federal Treasury about $14 million, exceeding in four weeks the yearly costs of Obama’s trips of $12.1 million, provoking the Washington Post to complain, "the elaborate lifestyle of America’s first family is straining the Secret Service and security officials, stirring financial and logistical concerns in several local communities, and costing far beyond what has been typical for previous presidents."

Perhaps Trump simply feels Americans have been blessed mightily to have him as our president, and we should pay for that privilege. A lot.

Your turn, Cathy….

Cathy's Response

Cathy

Dear Brother,

While it is true that travel expenses incurred by President Donald Trump during the first month of his administration are approaching what former President Barack Obama’s were in a year,  this includes Secret Service protection for Trump’s adult children. I also expect that when Melania and Barron join him in the White House these expenses will greatly lesson.

In comparison Obama’s, vacation expenses over the duration of his Presidency totaled more than $100 million over eight years, averaging 12.5 million per year. The Obama family took vacations to exclusive beaches in New England, private clubs in Key Largo and, of course, luxurious beaches in Hawaii.

Tax- payers picked up the travel expenses, along with $5,000 to $10,000 a night spent on luxury rental properties. The Obamas took 43 vacations and holidays, including annual ski trips. The Obamas took 43 vacations and holidays including annual ski trips. This does not include Michelle’s trips overseas with her mother and daughters. Compared to all the places the Obamas traveled to, Trump is likely saving the Taxpayers money.

In defense of Trump's Mar-A- Lago trips, all have been a working trip. He met and interviewed potential key cabinet members there and met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as. In comparison, Obama’s vacations went mostly uninterrupted.

President Trump has stated that he will refuse the president's annual salary of $400,000. This alone will save taxpayers $1,600,000 over the next 4 years or $3,200,000 over the next eight.

If I can only dream.....

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING! THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!

President Trump gave a heartwarming first address to Congress last Tuesday. As I expected, Republicans loved it and Democrats hated it. The President’s tribute to Carryn Owens, widow of U.S. Navy Seal William Ryan Owens, brought tears to the eyes of millions. It was a powerful moment watching his widow, tears streaming down her face. She clearly appreciated her husband’s service being recognized by the President of our country. Many claimed Trump had exploited her, yet many Democrats brought undocumented immigrants with them. What point were they making? Weren’t they exploiting the undocumented for their own agenda. Then there were those who said he should have apologized for Owens death. Maybe he should have--along with Obama for planning the mission in the first place. No, Trump didn’t have to execute it, but he did. I never heard them demanding an apology from Obama and Clinton over Benghazi and Ambassador Chris Stevens’s death. All I heard was Stevens was in Benghazi because of his own choosing and knew the risks. I am sure Owens knew the risks, too, and would have completed the mission no matter whose administration authorized it.

President Trump received such a positive response after his address. Perhaps he gave many a more positive outlook on his Presidency. Democrats, instead of deciding to close party lines and work alongside him for the good of all, decided to continue their attempts to destroy his administration.

The new attack on Jeff Sessions is just another way of the Democrats continuing the path they are on.   During his confirmation hearing, Sessions was asked about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign, not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee. Sessions last year had more than 25 conversations with foreign ambassadors as a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, including the British, Korean, Japanese, Polish, Indian, Chinese, Canadian, Australian and German ambassadors, in addition to Kislyak. Wasn’t that his job?

Frankly I am very tired of the Russian's are coming message the Dems keep pushing. Saying that Russia cost Clinton the election is insane. Yes, they hacked into the DNC because they FAILED to protect their own computers. However, what they uncovered proved what a nasty woman Hillary Rodham Clinton was. Her private emails revealed how corrupt and inept she is. Pretending that they didn’t matter is an outrage to everyone with a brain. If that cost her the election, then she deserved to lose.

Claims now that Obama had all this information during his presidency but did not release it trouble me even more. What was his motive? If Clinton had been elected, would we be hearing any of this now. My conclusion is Obama wanted to hold onto it just in case she lost and use it (in the way they are doing now) to sabotage the Trump administration.

I don’t care who talked to who. There was no such outrage when then-President Barack Obama leaned into then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and whispered he would have “more flexibility” to work with Russia after the 2012 Election.  Medvedev immediately delivered that message to Putin.

What about Hillary Clinton’s State Department approving the transfer of 20% of America’s uranium holdings to Russia, while nine investors in the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation? Bill Clinton received $500,000 in 2010 for a speech in Moscow from a Russian investment bank that had ties to the Kremlin and nobody blinked an eye.  Her Pay- for- Play Clinton foundation is now dismantled, because her power to give her donors what they want is gone.  Doesn’t that prove what was going on all along?

The Democratic Party has now turned into a disgusting and embarrassing bunch of sore losers, who are not working for us because they are too busy trying to fight the Trump administration no matter what Trump does. Trying to scare us with “the Russians are coming” is all the fight they have left.

What is happening is a modern version of McCarthyism. In the 1950’s Senator Joseph McCarthy was able to whip up hysteria in America by making accusations of subversion and/or treason without proper regard for evidence.  He made unfair allegations and used unfair investigative techniques in order to restrict dissent or political criticism.  Thousands of Americans were accused of being Communists or Communist sympathizers and were aggressively investigated and questioned before government, private-industry panels, committees, and agencies. Many people lost their jobs and careers, destroyed, and many were imprisoned. Most of these convictions were later overturned when they were declared unconstitutional and illegal.

To the Hollywood elite, I ask you this. Do you remember, or have you ever bothered to read about, the Hollywood blacklist. Three former FBI agents published a magazine, Counterattack, and, in June 1950, the bible of the graylist, Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television. Over 500 people from the entertainment industry were black or graylisted.

To those doing this same thing to their colleagues:

               "The film industry is a great industry with infinite possibilities for good and bad. Its primary purpose is to entertain people. On the side, it can do many other things. It can popularize certain ideals, it can make education palatable. But in the long run, the judge who decides whether what it does is good or bad is the man or woman who attends the movies. In a democratic country, I do not think the public will tolerate a removal of its right to decide what it thinks of the ideas and performances of those who make the movie industry work."__Eleanor Roosevelt - Her newspaper column, "My Day," October 29, 1947

Final thoughts:

Trump is OUR President. Like it or not, get over it and move on to helping our country instead of continuing to divide it. Stop deciding that what is right for you is right for everyone. Work with our government to do what is right for the majority.  Peacefully protest if you need to, but allow those that do not share your viewpoint to do so as well. Go to town rallies and listen to the speaker, then object if you feel he is wrong, but at least hear him/her out. Right now many are seeing your groups as a bunch of noise and tuning you out.  The best way to get your point across is to stop yelling and let us listen to your concerns. If not …well…then I change the channel, and I as well as others aren’t listening……….

                 “We’re not going to get the contradictions, we’re not going to get the facts, we’re not going to get the real story underlying it. We’re living in an age where what you say and its relation with the facts is completely irrelevant, as we see in the presidential campaign. And it’s carrying over into the hearings.” __Charles Krauthammer, Fox News contributor

 Bob Responds

Oh, Sis, Sis, Sis. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Your puppy-love for Trump just reminds me daily how much younger you are than me. So innocent. So easily captivated by politicians who "say what they think", even when what they think comes out of their mouths as incomprehensible blather. Your normal critical thinking skills melt away, and your brain tilts in its warm fluid with a cannabis-like high brought about by your awe of the most powerful man in the world getting away with his daily spewing of nonsense.

Still, I do share your rebuke of this Trump/Putin BFF 24/7 cable news/Deep State propaganda: a satanic partnership craving war with Russia, but seriously weakened when their warhawk regime-change loving (Libya-Syria) lady-friend lost to Trump. Trump would rather do business with the Ruskies than fight with them, but the Deep State will not abide him standing in the way of World War III. So, just as the Deep State manufactured the propaganda of WMDs and forced its puppet Bush and New York Times to lie the nation into war with Iraq, the press, without a compliant president, is left alone this time to build-up the spirit of Americans for one last civilization-ending war. Only this time the president won’t mouth the Deep State’s lies, so the Deep State has no choice but to lie about him to depose him.

And I even agree with you on Attorney-General Sessions, that there is no there there.

Where I must part ways, however, with you, Cathy, is your assessment of Trump’s presidential stature in delivering the State of the Union Address. “Heart-warming” is not the description I would use. “Chilling” would be more apt. Certainly the tears and obvious dispair of Carryn Owens over the death of her Navy Seal husband William made my own eyes fill with tears and made my heart ache for her.

But my contempt for the man (who so casually and recklessly sent William Ryan Owens into fatal battle) was only stoked higher when he prodded the widow to stand when she clearly hadn’t wanted to. And then Trump, always the showman, couldn’t help but gauge the worth of the Navy Seal’s life by the length of the applause his soul, looking down, could bask in.

Barf.