Denouement

"The denouement is the moment when all of the knots of a story are untied, and all the threads are unraveled, and everything is laid out clearly for the world to see." — Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events



...Except it was anticlimax. And there hasn't been a whole lot of unraveling. And what's been laid out certainly isn't clear.


Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III delivered his 400-page report to Attorney General William Barr a week ago. According to Barr's 4-page summary, the President* was cleared of conspiracy to act with Russia in the influence of the 2016 election, but Barr says that Mueller did not find conclusively either way about the obstruction of justice charge:

The Special Counsel therefore did not draw a conclusion - one way or the other – as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction. Instead, for each of the relevant actions investigated, the report sets out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the Special Counsel views as “difficult issues” of law and fact concerning whether the President's actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction. The Special Counsel states that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

So, the good news is, our President* wasn't a witting conspirator with a foreign power. This is great news for our Democracy. But it leaves us scratching our heads. The Russia Thing was a big ol' honkin' knot, with many threads. Thirty-seven people and entities were indicted or plead guilty to 199 charges. There are mountains of "stuff" surrounding Russia and the President* of the United States!

My overwhelming question that remains is: Why, then, is 45 so chummy with Putie? Maybe it doesn't rise to the level of criminal conspiracy, but they have something going on between them. Why does Benedict Donald defend Putin at every turn? Why does he meet privately with him? Does Putin have something on him? Or is it simply the fact that TЯUMP wants to stay in his good graces until he is out of office so that he can go ahead with his Moscow tower project? SOMETHING is going on with the TЯUMP circle and Russia, and it stinks.

My second question is: Why no indictment of Donny Jr?? There is so much there!

Obstruction of justice. There are many questions about why Mueller did not come to a conclusion. Did he mean to punt it to Congress, or to Barr? Does the decision surround the erroneous thought that there has to be an underlying crime for obstruction to occur? Did he honor the Justice Department's policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted? It may be, simply, that 45 is dumb as rocks and couldn't plan criminal obstruction any easier than he could eat hamburders with rubber chopsticks.

There are serious questions about Barr's own role in the obstruction charge. As I noted in my February 23 post "America is Thirsty," William Barr wrote an unsolicited 19-page memo (15 pages longer than his Mueller summary) to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last June -- long before he was nominated for A.G. -- questioning the obstruction of justice charge altogether. Some speculate that he was chosen for the Attorney General job in part because of his opinions in this matter. Indeed, after a couple days' review of the 400-page, 22-month-long investigation report, he and Rod Rosenstein (not Mueller!) "have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense." Hmmmmmm  <LSR holds her nose>  Something stinks.


After Barr's summary was released, there were choruses of calls for the full release of the report. Yesterday he announced that he will release the full report, albeit undoubtedly heavily redacted to protect Grand Jury secrecy or ongoing investigations, to Congress within a few weeks.

John Cole

So where are we now, as a country?

We are thirsty for more. An overwhelming majority of Americans want to see the whole report.

Clay Jones

We are trusting. Most Americans trust Mueller and are satisfied that he faithfully completed his investigation.

We are untrusting. Those of us on the left, at least, don't trust Barr, a powerful political appointee with preconceived opinions on the important obstruction charges.

We are fatigued. Americans are split on the opinion of wanting Congress to continue the investigations.

We are still divided. Despite TЯUMP's  "total exoneration" lie, poll numbers indicate that the results of the report did not change anyone's opinion of SCROTUS.  His base is calling for apologies; the rest of us are demanding to read the report for ourselves.

We are undaunted. This is just one thing. Mueller didn't hand us a smocking gun, but it doesn't exonerate SCROTUS from being a dangerous individual, unfit for the office, for many other reasons than being an outright traitor. We will persevere in resisting and removing him, one way or another. There are still threads to unravel. Investigations -- many of them -- continue.

Clay Jones

But really, you don't need me to explain all this to you. Stephen Colbert, once again, to the rescue.






Resist, my friends. RESIST!

Executive Overreach - Let's Compare!

While we wait for more on Mueller's Report.....

This topic was inspired by my sister resister Karen.

Some TЯUMP supporters, when confronted with a misdeed by their supreme leader, like to say, "Yeah but whatabout Obama?!"

The specific issue inspiring this post was a comment from Karen about the Angry Creamsicle's capricious use of power to declare a a national emergency to divert military funds for the building of his GDW (goddam wall), and the Senate's rebuke of the same. She said that "his base doesn't understand there is a constitution for a reason." A responding comment was, "the Dems don't seem to understand it either! They also didn't seem to mind when the former President went beyond his power."

I am sure you have heard plenty of other similar comments. SCROTUS himself likes to falsely  compare his actions to Obama's (subject of a future post!).

Firstly, I want to remind my readers that false comparison or false equivalence is a logical fallacy. It is a tactic used a lot by the right, I've noticed, and is also a propaganda tactic. I discussed propaganda in my recent post about FAUX News and linked to an excellent analysis of their propaganda tactics.

Armed with this knowledge, you know that whenever someone (on the right or on the left) uses a "whataboutist" argument, analyze it carefully, and if a false comparison, you should steer clear. Point out it's a false equivalence, and move to a more productive discussion. And please, if I present a false comparison in my arguments here, or other faulty argument, point it out to me. I know I have bias, and I'm passionate about my views, but I try to present facts and use logic. Call me on it if I don't. (And please, conservatives, if all you can rail about in my posts in my use of offensive silly names for your Lord God Lovey, just save it, and maybe read on.)
.
But for the sake of argument, let's look at executive overreach. Perhaps the comparison is not as false as it seems.

There are two types of "executive overreach" strategies, actions that bypass Congress for the implementation of the president's agenda: executive orders and national emergency declarations. They are two different beasts.

In terms of Genghis Can't's national emergency declaration, we can't compare it to executive orders. That's comparing apples to oranges (aka a false equivalence). So let's compare apples to apples.

Executive orders. Executive orders aren't great. They blatantly go around the legislative branch. The president is not to be making law. He is to be executing the law. But presidents since George Washington have been signing executive orders to get their policies enacted. Obama wasn't unique. 45 isn't unique.

It's true that Obama signed a lot of executive orders. He signed 276 of them. The priority of the Republicans in Congress during Obama's years was to simply block Obama, and I suppose he felt the need to use this power to push his agenda. But with 276 executive orders, he doesn't hold the record for executive orders (FDR holds that record for 3,734 in his 12 years). It's not even a record for modern presidents.

Obama signed 276 executive orders during his eight years. So far, SCROTUS has signed 101. At this point in Obama's presidency, he had signed 80 executive orders to SCROTUS's 101. But we should look at the other modern presidents. George II signed 291 in his eight years; Clinton signed 364 in his eight years; and George I signed 166 during his 4-year term -- nearly on par with his successor Clinton, and far more per year than Obama.

So let's give that a rest. They all do it, for better or for worse. I agree, executive orders aren't the best way to enact law. We hired Congress to do that job, and we should let them do it. Here's more about the history of executive orders.

Now, the oranges. How do our modern presidents stack up in their national emergencies?

If you look at the list of national emergencies declared, they are almost all have to do with sanctions or esoteric trade issues. Most of them involve foreign policy. And none divert funds. SCROTUS's military executive order diverting funds from the pentagon is the only military national emergency since Bush readied troops and military appropriations in response to 9/11, and the only one to divert funds that were previously earmarked by Congress.

SCROTUS's national emergency truly was unprecedented, and it was plainly unconstitutional. THAT is what makes it egregious (that, and the fact that there is no emergency). Plain and simple, Congress has the power of the purse. It is clearly spelled out in the U.S. Constitution in Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 (the Appropriations Clause) and Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 (the Taxing and Spending Clause). There has never been a national emergency, nor an executive order, that redirects funds from one program to another for a pet project. And that's because the Executive branch does not have the power to spend money. Period.

Mike Thompson/USA Today

The reason why TЯUMP's national emergency is wrong is because it is ILLEGAL.

Don't be comparing this action with Obama's national emergency of "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Conflict in Somalia (Executive Order 13536) – intended to help combat Somali pirates" or "Declaration of a National Emergency With Respect to the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic (Proclamation 8443) – empowered the secretary of Health and Human Services to issue waivers allowing overcrowded hospitals to move swine flu patients to satellite facilities or other hospitals" or any other of our former presidents' emergency declarations.

Think about issues on their own and for their own merits. Let the Constitution guide us!

(And RESIST!)


“The point of protesting about 'moral equivalence' is surely not to blur moral choices on ‘our side’. Is it?” ― Christopher Hitchens

Mueller's Report Just Finished!

10 minutes ago, the Washington Post reported that the report has been submitted to the Justice Department.

Americans want to see what's in it!  The Pollyanna Little Sister Resister believes that Attorney Genral Barr will do the right thing and will release it as-is to Congress. There is tremendous public pressure to do so.

Stay tuned.

FAUX News is a Real Problem

FAUX News has become a real problem for our nation. The organization and its people are doing damage. This one mega "media" outlet is a clear and present danger to the values of the United States.

Paul Fell

The Organization. Fox News was started in 1996, when Bill Clinton was president, as a conservative answer to cable television's CNN. It was founded by Australia-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch seized on a portion of the population's fear and rage and began feeding them what they wanted to hear. In the beginning, Fox News was closer to real journalism. For example, Hannity was Hannity and Colmes. Alan Colmes gave a liberal counterpoint to Sean Hannity's conservative bent. That is long gone. Since the beginning, though, Fox has really just been an outlet for its wealthy owner.

Though they call themselves Fox News, "news" is a loose interpretation. There are only a couple of news programs in Fox's lineup. Their bedrock is not journalism, but a myriad of talk shows, interview programs, "discussions" and one-sided "reports" that run throughout each day, such as The O'Reilly Factor, Fox & Friends, The Five, Special Report with Bert Baier, Tonight with Tucker Carlson, Hannity, and The Ingraham Angle. All these many talking heads spend hours spouting opinions, and as we shall see, propaganda.

And though Fox News was founded as a news-based alternative to CNN, it unabashedly became a mouthpiece for the Right. Media Bias and Fact Check rank it as moderately to strongly right bias and "mixed" factual reporting. And finally, even Fox admits it is not a news organization. By its own admission in its terms of use, it purports its purpose as "for your personal enjoyment and entertainment." In other words, Fox News is not journalism. You could even call it.... Fake News.

It's so "not news" in fact, that a 2012 study showed that viewers who viewed only Fox News were less informed that people who watched no news at all.


The People. There are a lot of nefarious characters associated with Fox. The long-time chairman, Roger Ailes, came aboard at the network's founding but took to sexually harassing women within the organization and resigned in 2016 following the revelations of sexual harassment by dozens of women and a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Gretchen Carlson. Ailes died in 2017, following a fall and a subdural hematoma exacerbated by his life-long hemophilia.

Many of the pundits that call Fox News home are unpleasant people with questionable morals. I don't have time to profile all of them, but one has been in the news lately. He, along with his comrades Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity, is really the worst of what Fox News has to offer.

Fucker Tucker Carlson is one whom we must judge by the content of his character. And his character is that of a hateful, despicable racist and misogynist.

If you've watched him at all, you can't help but be disgusted by his mocking, condescending, sarcastic tone, no matter the subject area. Get him talking to a snowflake libtard, and all bets are off. Here's just one example I grabbed.

If you can stomach it, here's an interview with a proponent for marijuana legalization.




Here's another one that I found by chance. Carlson is talking to filmmaker Rob Reiner.




Carlson was recently caught on mic talking to Dutch historian and journalist, Rutger Bregman. It was a fairly civil conversation until Mr. Bregman called out the truth about Carlson and other Faux News pundits. Bregman cut a little too close to the quick when he truthfully called out Carlson and other Fox News pundits as being but whores for Murdoch. Carlson went off on him, becoming extremely agitated and irate, shouting profanities.

Here is the unaired segment between him and a calm, collected, and informed Bregman.




And The Onion unearthed this interview: Tucker Carlson Spends Entire Show Screaming Over Child Bride He Invited On to Debate Him

As if being a run-of-the-mill asshole wasn't enough to make you hate him, Carlson has shown himself to be the worst kind of racist and misogynist.

Last week, 24-year-old researcher Madeline Pultz of Media Matters listened to hours of a radio talk program called, "Bubba the Love Sponge" and heard Fucker Tucker Carlson saying really odious things about women and minorities. It is hard to listen to, and I admit that I only listened to part of it, because it was so disturbing that I had to turn it off.

Here are the audio clips with captions:

Misogyny:



and racism:




Carlson found no reason to apologize. Instead, he made himself to be the victim, saying that he was being bullied, and that he would "not bow to the mob." Guess what, Bub? The "mob" is the majority of Americans who have morals and ethics. We have a society, and this mob's society does not tolerate hateful speech. Yes, you heard that right. We're intolerant of hate! 

After the "Love Sponge" interviews were exposed, Carlson dug in, refusing to apologize and diminishing his hateful words as simply "naughty." And advertisers fled. And more advertisers fled. And reportedly there are more clips that Pultz found that have not yet been released. Watch your news feeds.

Here is Stephen Colbert's take on the Tucker situation:





Interestingly enough, Carlson wasn't always full of vitriol and hate. At one time, according to Lyz Lenz of the Columbia Journalism Review, he was a legitimate, fair-minded journalist. I guess Fox News changes people. More about that below.

Carlson is arguably the worst among them, but there's also odious Jeanine Pirro, who has also lost advertisers for hateful anti-Muslim comments directed toward Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Pirro is so odious, in fact, that just this morning it was reported that she has been yanked from the network over her comments about Omar. Wow.

Really, all of the Fox News pundits are at the least distasteful, but I'll leave it to my readers to explore more about all the FAUX News cast members.


And then there's Sean Hannity.

Sean Hannity, talk host of the Fox News program Hannity, has been verrrrry cozy with Agent Orange. He's so entrenched within the Sphere of Donald that it is becoming concerning. He's hardly an outside observer. He speaks with SCROTUS by telephone quite often -- reportedly having a direct line to him -- and he has joined Hair Hitler on stage during at least one campaign rally, creating a journalistic breach and causing The Atlantic to describe him as TЯUMP's "shadow press secretary." They even shared the same lawyer, one Michael Cohen, an attorney who served just three clients in total. USA Today has called Hannity's influence on Trumpenstein "dangerous."

Hannity's chumminess and influence bring us to:

The Propaganda. The very start of Fox News's propaganda was their gas-lighting slogan, "Fair and Balanced." There is absolutely nothing fair nor balanced about content on Fox News. The slogan was dropped in 2017 after the Roger Ailes scandal, replaced by another gas-light, "Most Watched, Most Trusted.” This slogan comes a little closer to the truth. Fox News does rank highest in viewership, and unfortunately, most of those viewers do trust the content lock, stock, and barrel. It's not because the network or its employees are inherently trustworthy. Just the opposite, viewers are propagandized into this "trust." Fox News viewers are fearful and angry, and they slurp up the chum that they are fed.

I was astounded as I read up on the feedback loop between Fox News, especially morning show Fox & Friends, and the President*.

Fox & Friends, is hosted by three Murdoch mouthpieces, Ainsley Earhardt, Steve Doocy, and Brian Kilmeade. These three talking heads have possibly the most influence over the executive branch, save Hannity. SCROTUS gets some of his policy decisions from those three! The Donald doesn't trust his national security advisors, but if Fox & Friends suggest a policy move, it's not out of the question that SCROTUS will make policy based on it! The hosts unabashedly talk directly to the President* and direct him to action.

Matthew Gertz of Media Matters began noticing patterns in Twitler's morning tweets, and started analyzing the tweets' relationship with Fox & Friends' content. It became obvious that no, the Orange Menace was not tweeting to try to distract from bigger issues, nor was he tweeting about planned-out policy or governance issues. He was simply live-tweeting Fox & Friends. It's a really fascinating read. But if you're more of a audio-visual learner, here is a compilation of the Fox & Friends / Twitler tweet loop:




and another version with some commentary by Matt Gertz:





Vox analyzed a year-and-a-half's worth of Fox & Friends transcripts and reached the conclusion that unlike state-run media, Fox & Friends seems to be evidence of an emerging media-run state.

But executive-branch-policy-makers Fox & Friends and Sean Hannity are not the only concern arising from the existence of Fox News.

Fox News not only feeds the President's* brain, but they feed massive amounts of propaganda to the masses. Here is an extensive analysis from Heather Hogan writing for Autostraddle. She outlines propaganda tactics and the way Fox News uses each using some good infographics. Fox News uses misinformation, false dichotomies, race-baiting, scapegoating, projecting/flipping, and many other propaganda tactics to reel in their viewers and steep them in hate and fear. Please read her piece. Then, go back and watch some of the Tucker Carlson clips, and you can see those propaganda tactics at work.

Hogan wrote in 2015, and since TЯUMP has occupied the Whitewash House, the propaganda machine has gotten even worse. Just this week, Jane Mayer of the New Yorker wrote a piece outlining the symbiosis of influence between Fox News and SCROTUS saying, "White House and Fox interact so seamlessly that it can be hard to determine, during a particular news cycle, which one is following the other’s lead." Former Fox News bigwigs Bill Kristol and Joe Peyronnin, have expressed their concerns that Fox News is morphing more and more into a state media mouthpiece. Bill Shine was a Fox producer and executive and until a few days ago White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications. Now Shine is the Apricot Pol Pot's advisor for the 2020 campaign and is reportedly still on Fox News's payroll. Shine is but one of many former Fox News pundits to be working in the administration. Mayer outlines a lot more. Mayer also reports that Fox News killed the scooped story about the Stephanie Cliffords affair and cover up just before the election because reportedly Fox News executive Ken LaCorte told FoxNews.com reporter Diana Falzone, “Good reporting, kiddo. But Rupert [Murdoch] wants Donald Trump to win. So just let it go." The public wouldn't hear about it until about a year after the election, when the Wall Street Journal caught up to it.  Please read Mayer's investigation. It is long; it goes deep, and her analysis is quite concerning, but we must be informed and take this seriously.


The Bright Spots. Once in a great while, there will be some measured reason on the airwaves emanating from Fox News. Newsman Shep Smith has frequently critiqued Baby Finger's behaviors or policies. Geraldo Rivera got red when he lambasted The Angry Creamsicle's decision to tear gas families with children at the border. Chris Wallace took Steven Miller to task on facts about national emergencies. But these truthful moments are so rare that the moments themselves are news-worthy. That's just bizarre.

The Backlash. After Jane Mayer's piece in the New Yorker, the Democratic National Committee announced that they will not allow Fox News to host any 2020 presidential primary debate. More Americans, like you and me, brother and sister resisters, are opening our eyes to the travesty that is Fox News. And as I indicated earlier, advertisers have fled controversial content.  Lawsuits have been filed against Fox News for defamation, sexual harassment, and racial discrimination. There may be more consequences to come. For now, Fox News charges ahead unreined.

These movies might be worth a look: A 2015 documentary entitled, "The Brainwashing of my Dad," which outlines the morphing of a compassionate, liberal-minded man into a hate-filled conservative, thanks to an abundant consuming of right-wing media. And "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," a 2004 film by Robert Greenwald.


The Action. What can we do to combat the damage caused by the symbiosis between this widely-viewed media source and the highest office in the land? We can resist!

It's tricky, because our First Amendment gives Fox News the right to say whatever they want to say. And there's no law against lying. And now that in their terms of service they've disavowed being a news organization, there is no journalistic standard that they must meet.

However, with Freedom of Speech, there can be consequences. The rest of us are free to use our speech to protest. Money talks, and the best form of protest is through our pocketbooks. Contact advertisers. Here is a list of the biggest advertisers currently using Fox News. Tell them to distance themselves from the network. Tell them you'll boycott them -- and do it.

The best action is to be informed citizens. We've taken the first step, by reading these sources. (Thanks for reading along with me!) We can continue to engage our conservative-leaning, Fox-watching friends and relatives. Talk to them about the toxic relationship and the way that the media gives talking points to the President* and vice versa. We can support legitimate journalism, especially print journalism, by buying subscriptions, reading them, and talking to each other about the issues.


"Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Strange --- they all seem to have some connection with this place."

There have been a lot of comparisons of Hair Hitler, to ...well, Hitler. But a more immediate and relevant comparison is to arguably the second-worst U.S. President, Richard M. Nixon.






SCROTUS: "The law is totally on my side, meaning, the president can’t have a conflict of interest."


I'm going to let these political cartoons from the 70s speak for me. Editorial cartoonists are some of the best commentators: commenting, provoking, educating, and inspiring in one panel and a few words. Powerful art.

Many of the following are by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post cartoonist Herbert Block, also known as Herblock. He was one of our nation's most brilliant, prolific, and longest-lived (72-year career!) editorial cartoonists. And I daresay one of the most prescient, as his cartoons could be published today with just a few minor edits.

"Listen, are you going to be loyal to me or to that (expletive deleted) Constitution?"

Herblock

 Just substitute the word Russia for Watergate:

Herblock

Today, the words after "Investigations" would not fit onto the briefcase:

Herblock

Substitute "Russia" or "Campaign Finance" or "Foundation Spending" or "Words out of Mouth"....

....

John Pierotti

Len Borozinski, aka Boro

Substitute the names George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, Donnie Jr, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner:

Herblock

"How can they say he hasn't faithfully executed the law?"

Herblock

SCROTUS: "The buck stops with everybody."

Herblock

Herblock

Karl Hubenthal

Herblock

Herblock

Herblock

Etta Hulme

Herblock

And contemporary cartoonists' take on the same thought:

Pat Bagley

Rob Rogers

John Cole

Dan Wasserman

Dave Granlund

Dave Granlund

Chris Britt

Milt Priggee

Stuart Carlson

Let's have a repeat of this classic Herblock!

There's still time to change the road you're on

"Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there's still time to change the road you're on." - Led Zeppelin

I'm a little late to the party. I wanted to write earlier than this about Michael Cohen's testimony on Wednesday, but life happens. Work, dancing, lectures, traveling!

Michael Cohen, Don the Con's former personal lawyer and "fixer" of 10 years, met with the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, February 27. Americans from coast to coast were glued to their computers, TVs, and radios, including yours truly.

I was lucky enough to watch the first two-plus hours at home, then listened intermittently in the car the rest of the day. Darn work!

Here is the full hearing:



I couldn't find the transcript of the entire hearing, but here is the transcript of his opening statement. Here is the transcript of Rep. Cummings's closing statement, which you can watch below. It is a powerful moment.




These were a few of my extemporaneous notes while I watched:  "Screeching Repubs" — "Not letting him answer" — "crapping their pants" — "sarcastic - Gosar" —"No questions- just shrieking" — "ask a question and don't wait for answer"


The Michael Cohen saga, at least how it relates to our current situation, started in April 2018, when the FBI raided his office, home, and hotel room and took boxes and boxes of evidence and phones — over three million files — after a referral from Robert Mueller to the Southern District of New York. It was reported at first that evidence concerning the Access Hollywood tape was being sought, along with documents concerning the Stephanie Cliffords (aka Stormy Daniels) pay-off. After the raid, Cohen described the FBI agents as being quite polite and courteous and that he thanked them at the end. It was at that moment that I thought, "Huh. Maybe his calm demeanor means something...." It was soon obvious to me that he felt a sense of relief.

Soon after, Cohen was indicted and he plead guilty to eight counts, including tax fraud, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations.

He was asked to come before Congress to testify, and the hearing had to be postponed a couple times. In January he asked to postpone because his former boss — the President* of the United States — threatened his family with this tweet:

Kevin Corke, @FoxNews “Don’t forget, Michael Cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud, and as recently as this week, the Wall Street Journal has suggested that he may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars....” Lying to reduce his jail time! Watch father-in-law!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2019

And he also called Cohen a "rat."

Remember: "rat" is a mafia term. I've described his Don Scrotolone tendencies in a post in June, 2017. Don't forget, "rat" means "flipping" — revealing the truth about crimes. "Rat" is most definitely not the same as "liar."

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) continued the mafioso style when he attempted to intimidate Cohen with this tweet, right before the hearing:

Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot…

This tweet put Gaetz in the sights of the Florida Bar Association, and he may be in big trouble.  Here's a really good article from Vanity Fair outlining the Gaetz situation, on its own and as a piece of the bigger puzzle that is Trump World.


Finally, last week, Michael Cohen came to Congress to testify to the House Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Elijiah Cummings (D-MD).

I'm learning more and more about our government as these dangerous times unfold. And more and more I am grateful for the Founding Fathers for putting powerful checks and balances in place. I ❤ the U.S. House of Representatives. Thank you, Founding Fathers (albeit for this particular committee, the fathers of the early 1800s)! If you are like me and didn't know much about the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, you can learn about it on Wikipedia or the official website here. It's a powerful committee, and one we need right now.

Cohen came before Congress with his hang-dog look perfected. Given that he plead guilty to eight counts, continues to cooperate with the Southern District of New York, is reporting to prison in a couple months, and came before Congress voluntarily, I believe his motives now are genuine: to reveal the truth and to change the road he's on.

We know he is a shady guy. He has lied over and over on behalf of his wretched boss. He lied to benefit himself, as well, in taxes and loans. He has not been a model citizen. But I think he is now contrite, wants to own his mistakes, and move forward in his life. We've all been there. Maybe not to this extent, but we've all been there.


So, the testimony.

He REAMED Dirty Don. The testimony was brutal and explosive. He laid it all out in plain language. Benedict Donald is a liar, a conman, and a cheat.

But we knew that.

Some notable moments during the hearing:

•  The absolute shriekiness of Ranking Member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). Such a picture-perfect defender of Captain Chaos. Jordan's whole demeanor, body language, tone, words: a bursting boil of "Mrs. Putin" pus. Positively.

• The one-note "Liar Liar Pants on Fire" line of "questioning" by the right. Really, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ)? Putting up a meme in the hallowed halls of Congress? Grow up, man!

• The shameful use of a black woman, Whitewash House staffer Lynne Patton, to somehow defend against The Fanta Fascist's raging racism. And later, Rep. Rashida Tlaib's (D-MI) repudiation of Rep. Mark Meadows's (R-NC) act, calling the stunt racist in itself. Fireworks flew there for a few moments toward the end of the hearing. See the emotional video below:





She may have back-pedaled outright calling Meadows "racist," but I'm not. He's racist. Another of his public racist acts was saying, that Obama should be sent "back to Kenya."

It is astounding that racists continue to use the "some of my best friends are black" trope to absolve themselves of their racism. Just look yourself in the mirror, white people. Recognize your privilege,  recognize your bias, recognize that you can do better. And do it. Stop trotting out your friends of color to somehow distance yourself from yourself!!

• The explosive proof that not only did Two-Pump Trump know about the Stephanie Cliffords's pay-off, he reimbursed Cohen via check.

• Cohen calling out Republicans: "I did the same thing that you're doing now for 10 years. I protected Mr. Trump for 10 years....I can only warn people, the more people that follow Mr. Trump as I did blindly are going to suffer the same consequences that I’m suffering." Video here.

• Cohen naming names. The names and deeds of Allen Weisselberg, Ron Lieberman, Matthew Calamari, David Pecker, Dylan Howard, Barry Levine, and Russian mobster Felix Slater. Little Sister Resister is popping up some popcorn for the next round of hearings!

• The fact that the Republicans did not ask any questions. Cohen called them out on that too, saying:

I just find it interesting, sir, that between yourself and your colleagues that not one question so far since I’m here has been asked about President Trump. That’s actually why I thought I was coming today—not to confess the mistakes that I’ve made. I've already done that. And I’ll do it again, every time you ask me about taxes or mistakes. Yes, I made my mistakes. I’ll say it now again. I'm going to pay the ultimate price … The American people don’t care about my taxes. They want to know what it is that I know about Mr. Trump. Not one question so far has been asked about Mr. Trump.

They were woefully unprepared. Shamefully so.

• In fact, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) was so unprepared he didn't even know who Michael Cohen was before that day and didn't realize that the "boxes of documents" Cohen referred to were seized by the feds almost a year ago. Idiot! These are our leaders?!

• The Republicans' concern for a potential book deal. Why?? Is that illegal? No. Is it unethical? No. Hell, he should write a book! I would! And I'll definitely read his!

• The confirmation that Forrest Trump never expected to win, and didn't really want to be prez, and that the campaign would be "the greatest infomercial in political history." It's obvious that he wanted to WIN though. Winning is everything.

• The fact that Cohen was directed to threaten Twitiot's schools not to release grades or SAT scores. Got something to hide, Donny Boy? 

• And in the final minutes of the hearing, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) elegantly used her five minutes to ask a set of laser-sharp questions that did more to open up more questions about Trump and his nefarious tax habits than the previous 7 hours. Thank you, Bronx citizens, for gifting us this crackerjack lawmaker.





In a personal aside, it was really cool texting with my son and my Sister Resister Karen in real time about the hearing, including the moment between Meadows and Tlaib.


As usual, our satirists give us perhaps the most adroit analyses:

The Onion:

Offended Mark Meadows Reminds Colleagues He Never Once Complained About Capitol’s Integrated Drinking Fountains


Seth Meyers in his Closer Look:




...and last night's Saturday Night Live. Nailed it. ...Especially Kyle Mooney's impersonation of Rep. Gosar. Gotta laugh!






Our resistance — our votes — placed the Democrats in the House, and our resistance is pushing them to use their power on our behalf. We ourselves, as a nation, are on a better road. Keep it up, Brother and Sister Resisters! Keep it up!