Trumps Latest Attack on the US Military

I get that a lot of Republicans are racist, but just how far are you willing t go?
The latest effort by Trump in saying children board to US service members will no longer count as US citizens is absurd.  So we send a soldier overseas to fight and possibly die for the country and they and their spouses lose a natural American right?
Why are ok with this?  Is it because you think it will only affect colored people? Those of a different religion? Will you make an exception for white people?

The modern Republican party is despicable and keep attacking Americans, our rights as citizens (things like voter suppression and declaring corporations are people, and money is Free Speech), our livelihood (rolling back regulations that protect citizens to give corporations more money, for example), imposing taxes on American citizens to give to corporations such as Tariffs and allowing big companies to pay no federal income tax through loopholes, to stoking hatred and fear using tools such as racism to divide and control the middle and working class so they are easier to take advantage of.

• Illegal Immigrants take jobs Americans dont want and pay billions in taxes for services they are not able to use. If you really think its an issue go after the companies that hire them, but since that almost never happens the real purpose is clear.
• Trump put thousands of veterans on the street in 2017 because he delayed renewing housing benefits for them in efforts to force the Democratic party to fund his wall.
• Trump made tens of thousands of poor children suffer and undoubtedly some died when he pulled the same tactic with CHIP.
• Trump has stolen money from the military and the US Coast Guard to fund his wall.
• Trump and Mitch McConnel block efforts to secure our elections from foreign meddling.

The list goes on and on and its clear, if you vote Republican in 2020 your voting against America.

This week in Congress

So AOC had this wonderful bit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJlpS4vhKP0
You know what was amazing there? Not just how clear she framed and showed the corruption really is but that she was so clear not one Republican dared interrupt her to try and obfuscate and hide the corruption.  Normally we see a lot of theater and grandstanding for the cameras but here she made it so obvious that no one wanted to call attention to themselves or be caught on camera defending these practices and regulations.
Make no mistake, they will fight tooth and nail to protect that corruption but in this instance at least they knew they were outmatched.

Meanwhile in another committee we had Whittaker make a fool of Congress and showed he is loyal to Trump, not the United States of America. So did several Republicans.
This was all about theater and pandering to the audience with no real answers.

MSNBC stats review

Its short and worth the viewing if you want well researched facts.
https://youtu.be/ZTzBVpNlzQg

Trump and FoxNews shutdown about to hit day 30

So Trump came out with his new offer.
He wants 5.7 billion for his wall, offered to hire 75 more judges (instead of the 275 or so requested by Senator Lankford last year), a 805 million on increasing security and inspections at Ports of Entry, 2750 border agents (where most of the drugs enter), 3 years extension for DACA and TPS (which he himself canceled and is being ruled against in the courts).

The temporary extension is meaningless since Trump has shown he is wiling to use it as a negotiating tool and cancel it at anytime. Plus its in the courts hands now.
Not enough judges so we still have to pay hundreds of millions for the extra internment camps he set up, at a whopping $680 per person per day! That huge price tag is why Senator Lankford proposed hiring so many judges. The faster the cases are pushed through the less it costs the taxpayers.
However certain people are making a lot of money with those camps and can you guess who is getting kickbacks to keep them open and full?

Trumps plan offers nothing the Democrats want or can rely on, costs the American taxpayers more money, and does not solve the Immigration or illegal drug problem.
Remember he was ready to sign a deal without the wall until Fox News laid into him, then he canceled on Senator McConnell (who is still hiding from embarrassment).

So it looks like the shutdown will go well beyond 30 days, possibly into the Feb timeframe Trump said he was prepared for (though not years). Soon a lot of federal workers will miss their second paycheck, and as people quit to get jobs where they will get paid replacements will be long in coming.
And contractors will never get paid for the lost time.
If this goes into February a recession seems likely.

Summary

Bottom line it, whats going on here?

Trump wants his wall and he is unwilling to negotiate in good faith. An actual negotiation is the concept behind what our government was founded upon. Different sides and points of view coming together and compromising until a mutually satisfactory deal is reached.

Trump has said and shown thats not what he wants, he refused deals when the GOP controlled both Houses and now is in a weaker position and wont act like it. Since he wont negotiate or give up something substantial in trade he chose to shut down part pf the government, just as last year he blocked CHIP (health care for poor children) and a VA benefits bill passed by the GOP Congress.

Without being wiling to trade something of value to get what he wants he has decided to hold American workers hostage by withholding their pay.

The Democrats could give into that tactic, but of course that just proves it works and encourages him to do it each time he wants something.

Trump helps Russia, Again

Trump said he is considering pulling out of the nuclear arms deal President Ronald Reagan made.
Some of the media will over the coursew of the next few days talk about it, some will in trying to "analyze" it will say its a distraction to change the topic from the Khashoggi murder by the Saudis.
I'm sure that is partly true.
Fox will undoubtedly play it as a bold move to strike a better deal and say it proves Trump is not under Putins thumb. Putin will of course bluster about how dishonorable America is and that we cant be trusted to keep our agreements and honor treaties.
Under Trump that seems obvious.

Congress could block it, but as we have seen the GOP controlled Congress is unlikely too.
However regardless of what happens countries will lose trust in America, knowing any President can come in and throw out or otherwise sabatoge previous agreements or treaties. That hurts our national security going forward.
Maybe the deal wont be canceled, in which case we gain nothing but lose credibility and power. Maybe the deal will break down and Russia will improve their nuclear capability. Maybe they wont bother since they are still hurting financially. They never really recovered from the Cold War and all that military spending. Maybe they will even use that to get new concessions from the USA to avoid nuclear escalation they cant afford anyhow.
Maybe even Trump will manage to get a better deal than President Reagan was able to, though seriously who really believes that last option?

In the meantime we continue to see a passive GOP weakening our country, increasing the national debt, killing business and weakening alliances while China and Russia gt more powerful and take advantage of the weakness were showing under failed leadership.
Meantime they distract the American people with scandals and divide our country up. While they weaken it so they can retain and grab more power and further line their pockets, they weaken us against our enemies without.

We must stop this nonsense and replace Congress with people who put the country first!

The Fall of the GOP

So the GOP can add Rep Duncan Hunter and Paul Manafort (Not just Trumps campaign manager but also the RNC Treasurer) to the growing list of  Republican leadership indicted, convicted, or just having to resign due to scandals.
With the dual hit of Manafort and Cohen further implicating Trump in criminal matters the GOP needs to decide their fate, if its not already too late.
The last two years have seen a record number of disgraced politicians, most of them Republicans and a rise in white nationalists running for office under the GOP banner.

The GOP was discgraced under President Nixon but they did step up.  The modern GOP has yet to do so, choosing to hitch thier wagon to Trump and as each new scandal occurs they keep doubling down.
President Trump is..

• Guilty of violating the emoluments clause of the US Constitution.
• Lining his pockets at taxpayer expense by funneling money into his properties
• Guilty of having the highest turnover and corruption in any Administration.
• Dividing the country and promoting hatred and fear, rising hate crimes and mass shootings.
• Alienating our allies and sucking up to our enemies.
• Encouraging jobs being sent overseas and setting up a trade war that costs more jobs and may send us into a recession.
• Attacking US intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
• Trampling on the Constitution, including vital rights such as Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press.
• Campaign finance violations and probably working with a hostile foreign power to ensure his victory.

That's just the highlights!

Some people do not believe or see all those things, but the number that do is growing as more and more examples and evidence emerges. At some point it will be obvious to even his most devoted supporters and then they will be angry at being lied to for so long. The GOP needs to decide do they ride the Trump train over the cliff or do they step up and put party over country and show some loyalty to the United States of America.

The longer they take the worse they look and the more of them like Jordan, Nunes, and Gowdy will go down in history as traitors to the country.

We are beyond appealing to their patriotism, now we need to hope they will start looking after their own survival and legacies.

And the ones that claim they do it for thier conservative agenda? They lie to you.  Pence would be far more effective at pushing it. The only reason they hold back is cowardice and greed.

Air Force One turned into a touristattraction

From Buzzfeed, Trump has found another way to use the Presidency to line his pockets at taxpayer expense. Of course the GOP does nothing about it.
We have to vote in independents or democrats to replace the GOP in November!
Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats are our best hope to save the country from the current and worsening corruption that plagues it.

GOP Continues to Attack and Harass the FBI and DOJ

Why does the GOP want to protect Putin?

I get why Trump does, he owes him too much money and I suspect getting out of paying by declaring bankruptcy again wont work in this case. He has to do Putins bidding to pay the debt off, hence stalling and reducing sanctions as much as he can, weakening NATO, and making China and Russia more powerful on the political and economic stages at the expense of America.

But why are so many Republicans trying to help those efforts?

The GOP has..

• Blocked a bill to require Tariffs be voted on. Remember Tariffs are in effect a sales tax. Tariffs on incoming goods mean Americans pay more, and as long as Americans buy the goods or foreign countries can sell elsewhere they are not hurt at all.
• Allowed the withdrawal of multiple international treaties and agreements. Most of the benefit is going to China, but Russia is also gaining as the USA steps back other countries make new deals and trade partners. So our farmers and manufacturers are losing business.
• Allowed the weakening of the US dollar by massively increasing the national debt. If this continues the dollar will be replaced by the Euro or something else as the default currency. At that point we are in major trouble and unlikely to recover.
• Sabotaging the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling with the 2016 election. In doing this they are further eroding Americans confidence in the government, just so they can protect Trump.  If they really believed he was innocent they would wait for the investigation to finish and then declare victory.  No one fights that hard to obstruct justice if they are innocent. One of thier current excuses is that its gone on too long with no proof of collusion. 
• Russia Investigation; 397 days over 20 indictments and 5 guilty pleas so far, including 4 ex-trump advisers and a bunch of Russians.
• Benghazi, over 2 years
• Hillary Clinton's email investigation, over 3 years
• Iran-Contra; 2,420 days
• Whitewater; 2,978 days.

The evidence that Trump is helping Russia at the expense of the USA is clear and indisputable, the only thing we dont know for sure is if that is because of an arrangement or just incompetence.

Most of the GOP dont get the possibly incompetent excuse, they dont have a history of multiple bankruptcies and are reasonably presumed to be competent.

So why are they selling America out? 

Add Paul Ryan to the Obstruction list

I havent been happy with most of the GOP over how far they are going to protect Trump.
With the Nunes memo we now learn that Paul Ryan was cooperating in the conspiracy against the United States with Carter Page. Thanks to the GOP everyone now knows how long Carter Page has been under survelence, including those potentially working with him.  The GOP did not succeed in discrediting the Meuller investigation but they did send out a warning to others possibly involved so thy can run or destroy evidence.
Go back and listen to Carter Pages interview last October. He said he expected Speaker Ryan to release publicly info on the FISA warrent on him and the Dossier.
Lock Him up!

The GOP  has decided to go all in on attacking the FBI, DOJ and the FISA judges (Which last month both Nunes and Ryan voted to continue as is and said it was vital to our national security for them to be able to spy on Americans) and for what?
Another publicity stunt!
That is all the memo is. its the opinion of some of the GOP on the House committee. They hid a lot from us and are afraid to let the Democrats on the committee have their say.
The bias in the memo is clear and we know from media reports that a lot of flags had been thrown up on this, including by the Australian government.
Honestly, just listen to this guy talk and you can understand wht the FBI was watching him.
Maybe Trump was not working with Russia for help with the 2016 election.
However there is so much here that bears investigation it would be criminal not to.
Carter Page, Stephen Popadapolis, Mike Flynn, Paul Manafort, Jeff Sessions, Betsy Devos, Blackwater, Jarad Kushner, money laundering, refusal to sanction Russia, The meeting with the Russian Lawyer, and more.
If Trump was actually innocent he would not have gone this far and made all these pathetic cover up attempts.

Carter Page
Listen to some of the other interviews this guy gave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGohRTrY1rw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJUNvtC_Qqc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzm_AVBWO84

The Case for Conspiracy against the United States against the GOP

I uploaded this video and wanted to give my reps a chance to look it over before posting about it.
I am heartened by the Alabama race and some Republicans coming out against Roy Moore.  While I accept the argument that its possible not all the women told the truth.  However you only had to listen to his own word during his interview on Sean Hannity to see that he did indeed do at least some of what he was accused.  Even if as he said he did not 'commonly' do it.

However, while the moral issues and hypocrisy of the GOP infuriate me that is not related to this video. It is the GOP providing cover and enabling the criminal actions of the President and many in his cabinet.

Look for my tax plan later this week!

Tax Scam

Most of the individual and Middle Class cuts are only temporary and will be phased out within 10 years.  The corporate tax cuts are set to be permanent.
Watch this, especially the first 12 minutes where they talk about the GOP tax plan.
Some middle class people will pay more, others less in taxes for the first few years but the majority of lower and middle class Americans will pay more as the individual tax cuts expire.
Also insurance and tuition will go up and major cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will impact many families.
Why cut taxes to corporations, millionaires and real estate moguls? Big donor money.
Will tax cuts to corporations increase jobs and wages as the GOP says? History says no. They will buy back stock, lower their debt, pay dividends and executive bonuses, and merge with other companies to reduce competition.  Corporations have been doing historically well and making more money than ever and have access to cheap capital.  Instead of job growth we will see lay offs due to mergers and consolidation and deregulation.  Wages will remain stagnant or continue to drop when compared to inflation as nothing in this tax plan requires or even encourages wage hikes.  Between increased automation and less competition in fact they have fewer reasons to increase wages and many of the larger companies will lay people off.  Smaller businesses will face stiffer competition from the big companies who can take better advantage of the tax cuts and cheaper loans.

This is something I havent heard a lot on the news...
The AMT or individual minimum tax is repealed for individuals (that gets talked about) but also for BUSINESS so it will be possible for companies through loopholes to pay NO INCOME tax at all!
And why does the corporate tax rate need to be lower than many individuals?

Note This!

• Expiring Provisions: All individual income tax changes, excluding the move to Chained CPI and the elimination of the individual mandate penalty, would expire effective December 31, 2025. This includes the individual income tax rate cuts, the expanded child tax credit, the repeal of personal exemptions, and the expanded standard deduction.

• The House Tax cut plan The summary is just a few paragraphs, please read it.  The full text is of course much longer but there is a table of contents.  Guess what? Lots of corporate loopholes in it. Estimates are corporations will pay much less than the average 18.1% they do now.
• Summary of Senate Tax plan by the Tax Foundation 
• Breakdown by sample families of tax changes  Most people get a cut (at least till the sunset expiration in 2025) though its not that much.
• Analysis of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act  Pay attention to the 2027 estimates! And browse that table of individual items below.
• Interview on AM Joy where a small business owner talks about how service (restaurants, bars, etc and smaller businesses will see higher taxes and how tax cuts on the larger corporations will shed jobs. 

Frankly if they really wanted to increase your effective income it would be much better to raise the minimum wage which would spread out to everyone getting a wage increase. We would have more income, pay more in taxes because we make more but still have more in our pocket!

That would even lower the national debt instead of increasing it!!

More money in the general economy also leads to job growth as people spend more and companies can then sell more.

2004 Bush Taxcut to  bring money back to the USA resulted in massive stock buybacks and layoffs.

Vets and dead soldiers are Losers!

I am surprised it took me so long to think of this given all the evidence.
A lot of people are speculating on why Trump attacked and continues to attack Myeshia Johnson...

• He is a Racist. People point out the only other Gold Star family he attacked was also of color.
• He is a misogynist and attacks women on a personal level, never a professional one.
• He was counter punching and felt attacked when the reporter asked why he had not yet said anything about the soldiers killed in Niger (12 days prior).

I think there all wrong, or rather partly wrong.  There should be no doubt by this point that he is a racist and a misogynist, nor that he hits back when he thinks he is attacked.

However from what I have seen the thing that Trump is most about and considers most sacred is ego and winning.  Everything he does is always the best and greatest ever. He considers himself a winner.

He respects winners. and those he thinks are losers are beneath him and should just shut up.

I think because he was able to dodge the draft that he feels anyone who serves is a loser who was unable to get out of it.

Think about his history with Vets.

• Attacks McCain for getting captured
• Attacks the Khan family on the campaign trail
• Attacks the grieving widow of a dead soldier, accusing her of lying about what he said.
• Defrauds Vet charities he raised money for during the campaign by not paying them until the media calls him on it.
• Despite tweeting about virtually anything he never utters a word about soldiers who die unless first asked about it, whether the latest bit in Nigers, the sailors who died in ship accidents or the raid in Yemen.
• His speeches, whether at memorials like the CIA or the graduation commencement at the Coast Guard.  He will talk at length about how powerful the military is because he considers it an extension of his will and power,  But only talks in offhanded ways about dedication.

Seems pretty clear that the rel reason is so down on veterans is he thinks we are losers.

Rory

USAF E-3 Honorably discharged in 1983

Pences stunt, Its not Free Speech when taxpayers pay for it

The Trump Admin pulled yet another hypocritical political stunt over the weekend.
In order to pretend to be patriotic by saying the NFL protesters who take a knee during the Anthem are unpatriotic they staged a stunt and made you and me foot the bill for it.
It is not Free Speech when the taxpayer pays the bill.
Free Speech is when citizens speak their mind even if others do not agree and is a vital part of our country.  How much did this stunt cost us? Five hundred thousand?  A million?
Travel and staff costs for the VP, his team, and secret service protection and checking out the stadium would make this a pretty expensive ad.

Pissed at the GOP

• Paul Ryan said they repealed the Obama regulation for Medicare to share with the FBI information for Gun background checks. This was those people mentally ill enough they cant work.

So people who have admitted they are mentally ill enough that they cant work should be able to get guns according to the GOP.

• Trump goes to Puerto Rico and spends most of the conference bragging and even asking local reps to say how good a job he has done. Really? Ratings are more important than making sure you resolve any issues?
• Trump the draft dodging coward who has to be reminded by his wife to salute the flag dares call out the NFL for peaceful protests?  There not talking or sitting there taking a knee, that is more respect then he ever gave to the Flag or the country.

There is more, just look at the news or pick up a paper but I am too mad to think about it any longer.  Called my Senators office and let them have a piece my mind.
The GOP is the party of hatred and division and are more concerned with lining their pockets than serving the country.
The GOP is trying to censor the internet, give guns to everyone, murder US citizens, promote wars and all to line thier pockets. We must get rid of them.
I have2 reps in my state I think ar honest actors, Senator Lankford and Rep Tom Cole but both are not doing enough to curb the corruption.

Day 9 and were still way behind where we should be in aid

While Trump cheers himself saying how great a job he is doing in regards to the disaster in Puerto Rico (and just left for his usual weekend off) they are suffering and dying.
These are American citizens yet he and the GOP treats them like a third world country.  Did they ask Texas or Florida how they were going to pay for aid?
We should have ha the navy and air force in their a week ago to help out.

Taking a Knee is more respectful than burning a flag

We have all seen a lot of commentary on his and Trump is increasing the rhetoric.

First taking a knee is actually not really disrespectful. 

Disrespecting the Flag includes...

• Burning the Flag
• Trampling the Flag or letting it hit the dirt
• Hoisting another flag such as the Confederate flag above the US flag.
• Honoring the Confederate flag, which was a symbol of sedition and attacking the United States.
• Talking during the Pledge or Anthem.

Quietly taking a Knee?  That is honoring the flag but praying for things to get better.

Trump cares nothing for the flag or the anthem.  Remember during his inauguration how Melania had to remind him to put his hand over his heart?

He dodged the draft, sold the country to the Russians and wants to sell our national monuments to the oil companies.  The man never cared about the USA, he just wants attention and conflict.

He came down harder and more impassioned against the NFL then he did the Nazis and KKK after Charlotsville.

He chose to pick a fight to get attention rather than help the people in Puerto Rico, an actual US territory.

Hey GOP!  Next time can YOU show the country some respect by nominating a patriot for president?

Trump credited with standing by and FOR the Nazis in Charlottsville

So Trump condemned the violence in Charolltsville by saying there was violence on "many sides" even though the only person who killed anyone was a neo-nazi and they assaulted the police and priests with bottles, brass knuckles and baseball bats.
The Daily Stormer a neo-nazi rag actually thanked Trump (I rarely bother qualifying him with the title of president which he won but does not deserve) for supporting them and not condemning them.
A REAL president would have made a statement that was so crystal clear no one could interpret it differently on this.  Yet he knows part of his base are racists so he wont call them out.
The man has known racists and at least one publicly admitted nazi in his inner circle.
The GOP put this man forward as the best of their party and still mostly support him so in my mind they are culpable and have effectively declared themselves the party of hatred and anti-american values.
Had this been an American Muslim Trump would have jumped all over it and used it to fuel more of his facist agenda.  However because it was Right Wing terrorists he barely says and actually does nothing about it. Remember he ordered the FBI to specifically avoid looking into Right Wing violent groups and the GOP stood quietly by.

Charlottsville, VA Not where most of us think of as a racist hotbed

The good news is the anti-racists outnumber the racists in the protests.
The bad news is the violence and a racist driving a car into the crowd.
The worse news is that Trump again says nothing, though he took the time ot threaten war against Venezuela,  Likely another feeble attempt to distract people from his problems.
The man really shows he cares nothing about America.

Update.
Seems Trump cares more about HC emails and Mikas looks than he does about violence in America.  At least when its his supporters that he stirred up killing people.
He offered condolences to the police officers and the civilian killed which is a nice if somewhat empty gesture.  However he did not come down hard or demand they stop.
The closest he said was we need to restore law and order but in those three tweet not ONE word condemning or calling out the hate groups.

Funny clip showing the hypocrisy of the Republican party

Bill Maher clip on the hypocrisy of the GOP.

How can anyone trust thisWhite House to be able to handle anything with even a small degree of competence?

Scaramucci is inept.
I wonder if he will last the weekend and if he does it shows yet again how inept the White House really is.  I mean asking the phone call to off the record it would still have been stupid to say but toi forget that key detail?  And this is a communications Director?

His quotes ranked

This is actually kind of funny but after the laugh is over its scary to realize these guys are in charge of the country.