Commentators on the podcast, Trump, Inc., are saying that high level Democrats feel that it is necessary to take it slowly and carefully when they start investigating Trump.  Evidently, they are afraid of looking like the Republicans conducting Bengazi.  What is the matter with Democrats?  How did they become so gutless?  Doesn’t anybody care anymore what’s right?

As I said days ago, I didn’t vote for the Democrats so they could be nice.  I didn’t vote for them so they could compromise with the Republicans.  There is no way to compromise with the Republicans.  I want Trump et. al. investigated.

Podcast: Trump, Inc. “The Emolument Suit Against Trump That is Moving Ahead.”

This is an essential podcast.

Podcast: Intercepted.  Chris Hedges on elections, “Christian Fascists” and the Rot Within the American System.”  November 7, 2018.

I just recently made a yearly contribution supporting the Intercept.  If you’re tired of listening to the same old rehash of stories on Cable News, try the Intercept.  Always interesting, always challenging, always a different take.

The Washington Post is reporting that hate crimes rose 17% last year.

The New York Times is reporting that shortly after the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, one of the kill team phoned and instructed his superior to “tell your boss.”  They are not certain that this was Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but it is likely.

One of the suspects identified by Turkey in the murder, has been closely identified with bin Salman, three others are linked by witnesses to bin Salman’s security detail.  A fifth man, the doctor, “holds senior positions in the Saudi Interior Ministry and medical establishment.” (NYT, 10/17/18)

CNN has filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court to reinstate the White House credentials of Jim Acosta (NYT 11/13/18).

Jerome Corsi, a conspiracy theorist and associate of Roger Stone, and said that he expects to be indicted by Mueller for lying to investigators.  In a UTube live stream, he whined about his age and asked listeners for money to cover his legal fees.  Corsi has said that he believes he committed no crime.

 

Voter Suppression.  We wouldn’t have all these voter suppression efforts had the Supreme Court not eviscerated the Voting Rights Act.  The situation in Florida is turning out to look very much like the phony “riot” that took place when the Republican Party sent their operatives into Florida in 2000 to intimidate people out of continuing to count votes.

Joe Scarborough in a typical delusional rant last week, argued that in 2000 Republicans sent people to Florida to make sure all the votes were counted.  Sorry, but that’s just a lie.  This lie rivals Scarborough’s refusal to admit that he and the dreadful Mika helped Trump get elected.

Please remember that people like Elise Jordan who tries to pass herself off as a moderate supported Kavanaugh and during the hearings, retweeted a tweet asserting that the Ford accusation was a matter of mistaken identity.

Matt Whitaker should have never been anywhere near the Justice Department in an official capacity.  He should have never been Sessions’ Chief of Staff much less Acting Attorney General.  This man is a political operative (like Kavanaugh), a scam artist,  someone who feels (like Trump) he is above the law.  Whitaker was part of a company that was closed down and fined millions for defrauding people (including vets who they targeted).  He also ignored a ruling that he return profits from this company.

The Trump Administration is a daily example of the bias in the criminal justice system.  Scam artists and thieves like Matt Whitaker, Donald Trump and Paul Manafort  violated the law for years without being prosecuted.   They think they can get away with it because they have all their adult lives.  We cannot continue to have a country where white collar and corporate criminals are allowed to operate without consequences or are given slap-on-the-wrist sentences.

Mike Pence, Matt Whitaker and others in the Trump Administration are dangerous right wing religious zealots.   They do not believe in the separation of church and state, one of the foundations of the constitutional system in this country.  They must be removed from office.

Rep. Brian Higgins of New York, soon to be a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, is soft peddling (as is Nancy Pelosi) the resolve of the Democrats to investigate Trump.  Pundits on Cable News are all saying that the American people don’t want the congress to spend their time investigating, they want compromise, bi-partisanship.  I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s correct.  I did not vote for, work for, contribute to the campaigns of Democrats for them to cave in to an out-of-control right-wing set of Republicans.  I didn’t vote for them to compromise.  I voted for them to fight for us, to fight for regular people.

Donald Trump needs to be indicted.  We cannot have a criminal running the country.

Well, that’s not it, but it’s enough for one afternoon.  I’m going to walk my cat.

 

FBI Is Investigating Florida Company Where Whitaker Was Advisory-Board Member

Active case is being handled by FBI Miami office; acting attorney general oversees FBI

Donald Trump Played Central Role in Hush Payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

Federal prosecutors have gathered evidence of president’s participation in transactions that violated campaign-finance laws,

“…Mr. Trump’s installation of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general of the United States after forcing the resignation of Jeff Sessions is unconstitutional. It’s illegal. And it means that anything Mr. Whitaker does, or tries to do, in that position is invalid.”

“It defies one of the explicit checks and balances set out in the Constitution, a provision designed to protect us all against the centralization of government power.”

“For the president to install Mr. Whitaker as our chief law enforcement officer is to betray the entire structure of our charter document.”

 

Tired of listening to the rehash of the same old stories?  Take a listen to the Intercept Podcast.  Always interesting.

The Doctrine of American Mythology.

NYU’s Ruth ben-Ghiat and Yale’s Jason Stanley discuss Trump’s brand of authoritarianism and dissect the similarities and differences between Trump and fascist leaders Mussolini and Hitler.  Adam Johnson breaks down how white supremacy and fascism are discussed in U.S. media, hypocrisy on Saudi Arabia and the false both sides paradigm on radical right-wing violence and terrorism.

“

While many commentators in the U.S. media talk about Sergio Moro as a “crusading anti-graft judge,” (Reuters, 11/1/18) they fail to point out that Moro presided over the elimination of Brazil’s most popular politician from electoral consideration in the recent Presidential election.  Moro was the central player in the jailing of now president-elect Bolsonaro’s opponent, Lula da Silva.  Bolsonaro is rewarding Moro with an appointment as the head of the justice ministry.

Bolsonaro represents everything right-wing, everything authoritarian, everything pro-business, misogynist, anti-gay that politics has to offer.  Commentators often refer to him as the Brazilian Trump, but he is arguably far worse.  Like Trump, he was at one time caricatured in the media as a joke.  But, Bolsonaro is not a joke anymore.  He will soon take office as the President of Brazil.

Bolsonaro’s election stokes fears among those on the center and the left.  Bolsonaro has made openly misogynist statements, sworn to unleash the police on the poor, expressed a fondness for military dictatorship, and aligned himself with the most exploitive of business interests.

Congresswoman Erika Kokay of Brazil has stated that Brazil’s mainstream media had made a “national hero out of a great destroyer of the rule of law.”

See

Viga Gaier, Rodrigo (11/1/18)  Brazil’s Bolsonaro names judge who jailed his rival as justice minister.  Reuters.

 

 

 

This is a great website and an always informative podcast.

Homepage

“I’ll give carte blanche for the police to kill.”  Event in Deerfield Beach, FL, October 8, 2017

 

The Washington Post is reporting that according to individuals “familiar with the matter,” the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General has referred to the Justice Department allegations that Ryan Zinke, head of the Interior Department, used his position for private gain.  The referral was evidently of only one of the several probes being conducted by the IG’s office into Zinke’s affairs and how he has conducted himself in office.  The IG’s office only refers cases of this type to the Justice Department if they have determined that there is a possibility of criminal charges.

Zinke has been trying to replace the acting Inspector General at Interior with a political appointee.  In this context, the referral to the Justice Department makes perfect sense.   According to Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the advocacy group Center for Western Priorities.   “If Interior’s inspector general is unable to hold Secretary Zinke accountable without political interference, it’s time for career prosecutors at the Justice Department to take over,” she said.

There are at least three probes into Zinke’s behavior.  It is unclear which of these was referred to the Justice Department.    One set of allegations involves Zinke’s involvement in a Montana land deal.  The land deal, backed by the chairman of the oil services firm Halliburton, involves the development of two parcels of land owned by Zinke and his wife.  A number of Halliburton’s operations are affected by decisions and policies made by the Department of the Interior, “…including rules on how oil and gas drilling must be conducted, and which public lands and federal waters are open to energy exploration and development.”  Zinke has no business being involved in any way with a company which is affected by Interior policies much less involved in a way that might involve personal gain.

In addition, the Inspector General’s office is looking at Zinke’s involvement in a decision by Interior not to approve a casino deal in Connecticut.  Career staffers had approved the application of Native America tribes to run a casino which would have competed with an MGM Resorts International casino.  After MGM and two Nevada Senators lobbied against the deal, Zinke refused to sign off on it.

Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) urged Zinke in a letter “to immediately cease any efforts to use the office of the Secretary of the Interior for personal gain and fully reimburse the public for your private use of public resources.”   In the letter, Democratic Senators asked why Zinke had invited former donors as official guests last year on a trip to California’s Channel Islands and questioned Zinke’s request that staffers look into designating his wife as a department volunteer.

Conveniently, Zinke may leave office after the midterm elections.

See Eilperin, Jiliet and Josh Dawsey  (10/30/18) “Zinke’s own agency watchdog just referred him to the Justice Department.”  The Washington Post.

The Washington Post is reporting that according to individuals “familiar with the matter,” the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General has referred to the Justice Department allegations that Ryan Zinke, head of the Interior Department, used his position for private gain.  The referral was evidently of only one of the probes being conducted by the IG’s office into Zinke’s affairs and how he has conducted himself in office.  The IG’s office only refers cases of this type to the Justice Department if they have determined that there is a possibility of criminal charges.  Zinke is looking to replace the current acting IG, who is investigating him, with a political appointee.

If this is the kind of government you want, vote Republican.

 

Angela Merkel of Germany announced that she is going to step down as German chancellor.

Brazil has elected a right wing President, Jair Bolsonaro.  The coverage of the election on NPR’s Morning Edition, concentrated on voter frustration with violent crime and corruption.  Bolsonaro was considered too extreme by the traditional parties, having made offensive statements about women, gays, Brazilians of color and democracy itself.  Once, as a Congressman, he proposed: “Let’s go straight to the dictatorship.”  Bolsonaro spent seven terms in the Brazilian Congress.  “Elections won’t change anything in this country,” he once said.  “…it will only change the day that we break out in civil war here and do the job that the military regime didn’t do, killing 30,000.  If some innocent people die, that’s fine.”  Bolsonaro has a military background and is supported by the military.  In 1993, he delivered a speech before a Congress he was part of.  “I am in favor of a dictatorship.”  He said.  “We will never resolve serious national problems with this irresponsible democracy.”  After spending so long in Congress, Bolsonaro has almost no legislative record.  He wasn’t concerned with passing legislation or even engaging in debate about policy.  He was a one-trick pony, concentrating on a supposed Communist threat.  Some have accused him of being a left-over from the Cold War.  He supports widespread gun ownership as an answer to violent crime.  He once told an opponent that she didn’t even deserve to be raped and said that he would rather die than find out his son was gay.  NYT (10/29/18)

Bolsonaro’s election is considered momentous for the fate of the Amazon.  He has promised to champion the powerful agribusiness sector in Brazil.  And, he has promised to set aside no land for indigenous people displaced by business interests.  See Somini Sengupta, 10/17/18  (NYT)

Jimmy Carter has written a letter to Secretary of State Brian Kemp asking him to step down and give over control of the oversight of the state’s election to someone else since he is running for office in the election.  Carter has also endorsed Kemp’s opponent, Stacey Abrams.  Kemp said recently that Abrams’ get out the vote campaign was a direct threat to Kemp’s election.

Good Reads:

How Saudi Arabia manages it’s image.  Bazzi, Mohamad (10/29/18) NYT.

While most of us struggle to keep up with the daily outrages of the Trump administration, Senate Republicans are confirming nominees for the federal judiciary at an assembly line pace.  And, the people they are confirming are far to the right of the conservative judicial mainstream.  They are people for whom conventional legal reasoning is irrelevant, for whom the desired political outcome overrides every consideration.  They will have an impact on our lives for years to come.

After refusing to confirm nominees during the Obama Administration, Republicans are now speeding them through the Congressional process so that they can pack the courts before the midterm elections.

Because of the past obstructionist tactics of the Republican Party there are still over 100 vacancies in the federal judiciary.  Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, “departed from decades of Senate practice to expedite the hearing processes for circuit court appointees.”  Grassley put multiple nominees together in a single hearing, making it more difficult for staff to “properly vet and question any of them.” (Michaelson, 9/21/17)

And, Grassley limited the time for the questioning of nominees who are getting lifetime appointments to federal appellate courts.  These individuals will spend decades on the bench when Democratic senators were allowed only 15 minutes to question them (Michaelson, 9/21/17).   Anyone who has ever watched a Congressional hearing knows that nominees can easily filibuster for 15 minutes of questioning, easily refraining from answering any hard questions.

Grssley’s tactics have been called “unprecedented and consequential” by Kristine Lucius, from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.  In the past nominees have been lumped together or “stacked” only when the minority agreed to do so.  This is being done over the objection of the minority party (Michaelson, 9/21/17).

In October of 2018, Grassley, also over the objections of Democrats, pushed ahead with hearings for judicial nominees during the Congressional recess.  That way, Democrats won’t get to question the nominees at all.  Grassley’s response to the objections of Democratic Senators was: “As a result of Democratic delay tactics, there are now 154 current and future judicial vacancies, 63 of which are classified as judicial emergencies. The judiciary simply cannot afford further obstruction from your side”  (LeBlanc, 10/15/18).

The tactic of first obstructing nominations and then rushing them is not an accident.  Republicans have been working since the Reagan administration to pack the courts with “right-leaning” judges.  They have become emboldened during the Trump administration to appoint not only “right-leaning” judges, but people who are far to the right and utilizing judicial interpretation based far beyond anything most people would recognize as conventional legal reasoning.

The court packing comes at a time when the courts have become “the last bastion of civil rights.”  The courts stood in the way of Trump’s travel ban and slowed EPA rollbacks of environmental regulations, to name just two areas.  The courts have also in the past limited executive power (Michaelson, 9/21/17).  With the appointment of Bret Kavanaugh, that may all come to an end.

The recent Republican nominees have been chosen by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation and are therefore “extreme right-wing nominees.”  One sitting circuit court judge compared abortion to slavery and another nominee called Justice Anthony Kennedy a “prostitute” (Michaelson, 9/21/17).

Leonard Leo, Trump’s adviser on the judiciary who is managing what Michaelson (9/21/17) calls “the think-tank-to-court pipeline,” said in May of 2017: “I would love to see the courts unrecognizable” (Michaelson, 9/21/17).

Leonard Leo may well get his wish.  I dread the day.

_____

LeBlanc, Paul (10/15/18) Grassley rejects Democrats plea to delay judicial hearings until after recess.  CNN.

Michaelson, Jay (09/21/17) While you weren’t looking, the Senate has been rubber-stamping Trump’s Extreme Judicial Picks.  Daily Beast.