The End of Silence

"I think of protest as confrontation and disruption, as the end of silence." – DeRay Mckesson

Tuesday was full o' newsy bits!

The World Series Boos: There was some blow-back from some folks about the 100dB booing against 45 at the World Series game Sunday. Let's watch again.

Look how Trump’s face changes when he realizes an entire stadium is booing him pic.twitter.com/E46rzbzmbl

— Arlen Parsa (@arlenparsa) October 28, 2019

Some writers opined that it was not the right thing to do. Writers like Peter Wehner of The Atlantic. You know, "When they go low, we go high."

No. It's not only ok, it's right to boo this man. And not for any of the reasons his readers gave that Wehner mentions in his piece.

We do respect the presidency, and that's why this president was booed. "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president... is morally treasonable to the American public." – Theodore Roosevelt

Furthermore! We are booing this one man for many reasons. When he himself has disrespected the presidency as well as the United States of America, he especially does not deserve respect. Protesting is American. "I think of protest as confrontation and disruption, as the end of silence." – DeRay Mckesson

meme by my Big Sister Resister Pagrs!

The Military Raid: The Odious One made some stoooopid mistakes during his 48-minute-long ramble about the military raid to get ISIS leader al-Baghdadi. He accidentally or otherwise revealed many secrets about equipment and tactics that military and national security experts wish he hadn't blabbed about, including the likeness (but not the name) of "what I call a dog" who was wounded in the mission. Here's the good boy (or girl?)

And what the heck with the graphic descriptions, including repeated representations of al-Baghdadi's "whimpering and crying." Officials do not know where he got this information, as there was no audio in the feed, and the video of the dark tunnel was not discernible. But (surprise!) it may not at all be true. SCROTUS considers crying to be an unforgivable weakness, so describing al-Baghdadi this way is the greatest insult that 45 can muster for the monstrous terrorist. It's also classic projection. ;-)

As always, Stephen Colbert masterfully treats this news in his monologue:




And please watch this mash-up of Obama and TЯUMP done by Jimmy Kimmel Live!





The Impeachment: Impeachment news breaks fast in our country these days, but LSR is working hard to keep up!

Alexander Vindman testified to the impeachment inquiry committees yesterday. You can read his opening statement here. The trail of evidence is winding around closer and closer to the center.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is a highly decorated 20-year Army man, wounded in Iraq by an IED. He was awarded the purple heart. He has a Master's degree from Harvard. He is an expert on the Ukraine and has served in the Whitewash House in the National Security Council.

He is also an immigrant. He and his family immigrated from the Soviet Union when he was 3 years old. A classic American story, his father, his twin brother and he were seeking a better life when they fled the Soviet Ukraine in 1979. His father worked hard to provide, and the brothers not only thrived, they excelled. Lt. Col Vindman's twin brother is also a highly decorated Army veteran.

And Vindman was listening in on the fateful July 25 telephone call between 45 and Ukraine President Zelensky.

Another impeccable witness.

Which means the sycophants over at FAUX News have to stoop to their pit of slimy, stinky poo-mud to find something to throw. And they did.

Always-drunk-sounding Laura Ingraham got John Yoo to climb out of the slime hole and together they engaged in a shameful smear campaign.

Oh my God, look at the spin they are using right now, actually saying that Vindman is a Ukrainian double agent....this is so freaking bananas pic.twitter.com/Oxpju5W23N

— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) October 29, 2019

I don't have to tell you, my readers, this (and this is a minor point), but Ms. Ingraham and Mr. Yoo may not understand that UKRAINE IS AN ALLY. Assisting Ukraine is American policy! How is it even possible to engage in espionage with someone the United States government is trying to assist!? To the bigger point, this man is an American patriot. He has devoted much of his life to the service of the United States, including taking shrapnel from an IED. He did his duty to report his concerns at the time, and he is doing his duty now to come before Congress to tell the story.

Laura and John, you are ugly, ugly, disgusting people.

It was reported that Lt. Col. Vindman confirmed what we suspected: the summary of the phone call that SCROTUS released was missing some of the conversation. He will no doubt be one of the star witnesses of the public hearings to come.

....which we learned about yesterday, when Speaker Pelosi announced that the House will vote on an impeachment resolution tomorrow. Part of the resolution will be a capitulation to GOP demands that a full vote be taken authorizing the inquiry itself, but it will also outline the process to come, including the public portion of the impeachment inquiry. I. Can. Not. Wait.

It's possible that Ambassador Sondland perjured himself during this testimony, as Lt. Col. Vindman gave contradictory testimony.

Upcoming witnesses:According to the Washington Post, "Robert Blair, a senior adviser to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney; two officials with experience at the Energy Department, Brian McCormack and Wells Griffith; and two State Department officials familiar with Ukraine policy, Catherine Croft and Chris Anderson, according to three people familiar with the proceedings."

I would like to hear from John Bolton and Rudy Giuliani.



Have you called your Members of Congress today? #Resist!

A liar who will deceive with his tongue will not hesitate to do the same with his pen...

"Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books, for a liar who will deceive with his tongue will not hesitate to do the same with his pen." – Maimonides
                             ....Or his photograph.

Sunday it was reported that mega bad guy, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed (he reportedly blew up himself and some children after being chased down a dead-end tunnel) in a U.S. military raid on Saturday. It was a risky operation, made riskier by 45's earlier capricious decision to pull troops out of Syria. All the meticulous planning – which the president* was aware of – had to be speeded up before troops and equipment were lost to the retreat. What a dumb-ass.

According to Wikipedia, this isn't the first time his death has been reported. In fact, al-Baghdadi apparently has had more lives than a cat. Reportedly, soldiers were able to gather DNA from the scene and confirm the identity within a couple hours. Amazing.

And then, this photo was released.

My first impression was "yeah, right." And then it was adding a thought bubble to the TV-Addict-in-Chief: "I wonder when 'Hogan's Heroes' is on." Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Mark Milley on the right is pleading with us with his eyes. "Get. Me. Out. Of. Here."

I'm not the only one to be skeptical of this photo. Pete Souza, official Obama photographer, jumped on it. See his tweet:

The raid, as reported, took place at 3:30PM Washington time. The photo, as shown in the camera IPTC data, was taken at "17:05:24". https://t.co/XV0MFfFiTt

— Pete Souza (@PeteSouza) October 27, 2019

It doesn't take a genius photographer to know that this was staged. Where the hell are they all looking? And why aren't their machines plugged in?

Compare this picture to Souza's iconic photo of President Obama during the raid and killing of Osama bin Laden.

Even 45's propaganda is amateur.

Anyway, I guess the death of al-Baghdadi good for the War On Terror, but the loss of the leader is just that....the loss of the leader. ISIS isn't going away. Especially after TЯUMP let them out of the Kurdish prison with his stupid decision to withdraw from northern Syria.

If you don't quite understand the full situation in Syria, you're not alone. It's a hugely complex situation, as is all of the Middle East. This is worth the watch. John Oliver, in his no-nonsense and frequently funny style, explains it. And you get to laugh, too.




How does the death of al-Baghdadi affect the impeachment inquiry? It doesn't.


Other events of the last few days, impeachment and otherwise:

Rep. Elijiah Cummings was laid to rest on Friday. Such a loss of a fine statesman, dedicated to the country literally until his dying day. Within hours before his death, he signed subpoenas for the impeachment inquiry. May he rest in power.


Congress gets to see grand jury information presented during the Mueller investigation, according to a court ruling. The ruling also deemed the impeachment inquiry legal to proceed without a formal vote, which we already knew it was. Judge Beryl A. Howell of the Federal District Court in Washington indicates that 45's obstructive tactic actually worked against him. She wrote, “The White House’s stated policy of noncooperation with the impeachment inquiry weighs heavily in favor of disclosure. Congress’s need to access grand jury material relevant to potential impeachable conduct by a president is heightened when the executive branch willfully obstructs channels for accessing other relevant evidence.”

Good judges make good checks and balances.


There was fall-out from the storming the SCIF by idiot Repug lawmakers. There are calls for investigation and censure, as the Congressmen violated the law by bringing – and using – cell phones within the secure facility. Here's a good Q and A explanation of the SCIF situation from the New York University School of Law.


Kelly Anne Conway was her usual charming self last week. This time, she railed against a Washington Examiner reporter. See some of her 7-minute rant here.

"Don't pull the crap where you're trying to undercut another, a woman based on who she is married to." Hillary much, Kelly Anne? Later, Mrs. Conway took offense to the suggestion that she threatened the reporter, saying, "If I threaten someone, you'll know it." Straight out of the script of an abuser.


Late one night, another clown in the circus butt-dialed a reporter from NBC and left a nice long 3-minute voicemail. And Rudy Giuliani's conversation mistakenly recorded wasn't some idiotic thing like plans for lunch. Rudy was heard discussing going to Bahrain and for needing "several hundred thousand dollars." It's not the first time he butt-dialed this reporter. The first time the accidental voicemail centered around dishing on -- you guessed it -- Hunter Biden. Read about – and listen to – the goings on in the Center ring here at NBC.com. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up!


Former Chief of Staff John Kelly said in an interview over the weekend that he had warned his boss about impeachment. “I said, whatever you do — and we were still in the process of trying to find someone to take my place — I said whatever you do, don’t hire a ‘yes man,’ someone who won’t tell you the truth — don’t do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached,” Kelly said. Clearly, as he has done throughout the last three years, he ignored good advice.


Yesterday, SCROTUS attended a World Series game at Nationals Park. When he was announced, the cheers surrounding game time turned to boos, and then to chants of "Lock him up!" Poor Trumpty Drumpfty got hims feelings hurt (videos in link - you'll want to see his face). It's probably the first time that he's been in front of a crowd that wasn't filled with his sycophantic base. Poor baby.


Upcoming impeachment inquiry testimony:

From the New York Times's impeachment briefing:

There will be weekend testimony: Investigators are scheduled to talk tomorrow (Saturday) to Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia. 

Charles Kupperman, who served until last month as deputy national security adviser at the White House, is scheduled to sit for questioning on Monday. Mr. Kupperman worked closely with Mr. Bolton. 

And Timothy Morrison, the senior director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council and a Bolton loyalist, is scheduled to appear next Thursday. He would be the first current White House official to speak with investigators.

Regarding Charles Kupperman: he has asked a federal judge to rule on the admissibility of his testifying. Congress has issued a subpoena but his boss at the State Department has forbidden anyone from cooperating. He is asking the court for direction. EXACTLY the reason why our founding fathers created three co-equal branches of government. Let's hope the courts rule the right way.


As always, thanks for reading! I'll be back with more!

Looking forward: Democrats, get it together!

Hello, Readers!

I just want to make you aware of an excellent editorial series from the Los Angeles Times. It's in seven parts; none of the pieces is very long, and I hope you'll read them. It's great food for thought. We (ha! I'm not a Democrat, but I'm with you, Lefties!) need to get it together in order to defeat the Orange Scourge. Please read it, and think about who you will support and how we'll make this happen in 12 short months from now.

Part 1. Undoing the great mistake from 2016

Part 2. Trump’s presidency is a train wreck. Let us count the ways

Part 3. Sorry, ‘electability’ matters

Part 4. Moderate and progressive Democrats have to unite to win back the White House in 2020

Part 5. Democrats need to talk honestly about race. But can they?

Part 6. Cleaning up Trump’s mess

Part 7. How old is too old to be president?

Resist and VOTE!

The Republikarens and other stories

The fun never ends!

It's turning out to be another blockbuster week in our history.

The biggest story was former Ambassador to the Ukraine Bill Taylor's testimony to the Congressional committees on Tuesday. His opening statement reads like a "Mission: Impossible" script. You must read it. Here ya go.

Reports are that there was rapt silence with in the congressional chambers, with an occasional gasp, during his statement.

A couple of my takeaways:

What we had suspected, was confirmed. There were two separate teams working the Ukraine mission: What Taylor called the "regular channel," which he lead after Maria Yavanovich's ouster; and the "irregular channel," manned by Giuliani and his amigos, Kurt Volker, Ambassador Sondland, and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. Taylor's outline of the second team, directed by the president* to enact some coercion of Ukraine into performing political errands, is damning. This opening statement alone, disregarding his more than nine hours of testimony, is enough evidence to convict 45 and a few of his buddies.

• He confirmed the explicit quid pro quo, saying that "everything" (a Whitewash House meeting and the $400 million in military aid) was dependent on a public announcement from Zelensky about investigations into the Bidens.

• He described the strong-arm tactics of The Don, saying:

Before these text messages, during our call on September 8, Ambassador Sondland tried to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman. When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, he said, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check. Ambassador Volker used the same terms several days later while we were together at the Yalta European Strategy Conference. 

• He painted a picture of the fragility of Ukraine, in Russia's shadow, deeply wanting to be free of corruption and become an upstanding European country as well as a U.S. ally. Through his words, you can feel the vulnerability of Ukraine. How could the country resist demands made by the most powerful leader in the world?

Bill Taylor is the epitome of American Patriot. Educated at West Point and a Vietnam veteran, he has been a public servant for over 50 years. He was on the ground during the 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed, ready to help pick up Ukraine. As you read his statement, you know this is personal for him. He has a deep respect for Ukraine, as well as deep respect for the United States of America. I had never heard his name before now, but I have deep respect for him. And he's an impeccable witness.


On Monday, Fuckface von Clownstick invited the press into his worm hole cabinet meeting and spouted for 71 minutes. Seventy-one minutes: it was a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Skip the press conference and let Stephen Colbert tell ya all about it.




On Wednesday an angry white mob stormed the castle. In a grotesque stunt, a couple dozen GOP congressmen stormed into the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), the ultra-secure area in the basement of Capitol Hill where closed-door testimony is being held. They thought this was a good way to protest the closed-door nature of the testimony and impede the proceedings. But it just made them look like immature idiots. In fact, 12 of the members who RSVP'd to the storming were actually part of the committees and are invited to hear the depositions. They succeeded in holding up the testimony of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper for five hours. They used cell phones and shared audio in this highly secure, classified area, a possible felony. They had Domino's pizza delivered. The Sergeant-at-Arms showed up. Sigh.

You may remember last week when Rep. Matt Goetz, angriest of the angry white men, showed up to the chamber and demanded to be let in. The headlines made it look like he was disallowed simply for being Republican. The truth is, he isn't on one of the investigating committees, plain and simple. This week, it was Matty boy who lit the torches for his brethren and led them to the basement on Wednesday.

OK, I'll say it real slow for those of you Members of Congress in the back who don't quite understand.

• The depositions are behind closed doors to protect the integrity of each witness.
• It's not secret. Initial testimony is behind closed doors (as was done during the Nixon and Clinton impeachment inquiries), but public testimony will be presented in time (as was done during the Nixon and Clinton impeachment inquiries). Transcripts of these depositions will be made public eventually. 
• There are no rules about the process that the House must take. None in the Constitution, none in House rules.
• It isn't a Democrat show. There are a total of 47 Republican representatives taking equal part in the closed-door inquiries. They are able to question and cross-examine each witness. 
• Matt, you are not a part of any of the committees that are participating in the inquiry. For the last time, sit back in your seat and keep your hands to yourself. And turn over your pitchfork right now. 
• Your obstruction is showing. You can't defend the corrupt actions of your supreme leader, so you attack the process. 
• Now everyone, go back and start legislating or you'll all get detention.

A couple other tidbits from the week.

45 threw a fit and cancelled his subscriptions to The New York Times and the Washington Post. And more: Trump Cancels White House Subscription To ‘Highlights’ Over Anti-Goofus Bias (from The Onion).

The Racist-in-Chief called the impeachment inquiry a "lynching" in a Tuesday tweet.

So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we will WIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2019

There was backlash, understandably. The term was not used in error. Twitterers responded.

You weren't castrated & forced to eat your genitalia like Claude Neal. You weren't dragged behind a car, doused w/gasoline & set on fire like Cleo Wright. You weren't blow torched until your eyes popped out of your head like John Jones. That's lynching. You get due process.

— Carol Anderson (@ProfCAnderson) October 22, 2019

Senator Lindsey Graham, who has in the past has sometimes sounded reasonable, mostly now screeches as SCROTUS's mouthpiece. Today he introduced a resolution to condemn the House's inquiry. Sen. Graham, you are not party to the impeachment process. Go join Rep. Goetz on the Think Bench out in the hall, please.

The Moron-in-Chief said that he's going to build a wall in Colorado. Cuz, you know, New Mexico.

And some positives from the Resistance:

Watch Mitt Romney, the one GOP lawmaker who is not afraid to speak out against TЯUMP. He may be positioning for something.....

This week's testimony from Bill Taylor revealed an angry John Bolton, who was fired as national security advisor just around the time the $400 million in aid was being dangled. Is he poised to be a thorn in 45's side? Do we get to welcome this famously hawkish conservative, who has served in three GOP administrations, to the resistance? The plot thickens.

Our dear Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has been awarded the $1 million Berggruen Prize for Culture and Philosophy, given annually to a “thinker whose ideas are shaping human self-understanding to advance humankind.” She, of course, is donating the prize money to charity. Ahhh, we love our Notorious RBG!

Thanks for reading! Keep up the Resistance!

A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality...

(quote by Second Lord, "All's Well That Ends Well," Act III Scene VI, William Shakespeare)

....the notable coward's story continues.


What a week! Holy cow.

In roughly chronological order:

Monday, Former Russia advisor to the president* Fiona Hill testified. She expressed dismay at the ouster and the smear campaign against former Ambassador to Ukraine Maria Yovanovitch. She had left the administration before the Ukraine phone call, but not before the shenanigans had been put into motion. She walked into Capitol Hill like a boss and told the truth. Another American hero.

On Tuesday, both Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani flaunted the subpoenas and refused to provide documents, as did the White House Office of Management and Budget. More American cowards.

Also on Tuesday, SCROTUS called for impeaching himself. Yes, indeed. A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality. You finally agree. We need you gone.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff gave a brief update and said that there would be no formal vote on proceeding with an impeachment inquiry. The Whitewash House has not been able to defend the actions, so they attack the process. In 45's whiny letter to Congress last week, one of his chief complaints was that a full House vote on the inquiry was not undertaken. Neither the Constitution nor House rules stipulate that a vote must be taken. A reporter asked Speaker Pelosi, "Why not take a vote and call 45's bluff?" Her response: "We're not here to call bluffs. We're here to find the truth and to uphold the Constitution of the United States. This is not a game for us. This is deadly serious."


And then Wednesday. Whoa, Nelly! Our 1,000th Backward Day was chock full o' nuts.

On Wednesday morning, losing his grip on the situation, TЯUMP became absolutely deranged about the Syria debacle and lied over and over about what had happened there. His remarks in front of the press and the president of Italy on Wednesday were head-spinning. He said that the fight is about control of land, that it "had nothing to do with us" and that his move was "strategically brilliant." He lied that he didn't give the green light to Turkey to invade (ahem: your own words a couple weeks ago, worm: "Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria. The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area.")

He continued his out-of-control spin by insulting the Kurds, by saying they are "no angels" and "they have a lot of sand to play with." Reminder: over 10,000 Kurds died in our fight against ISIS. You can read about all the myriad falsehoods he spouted in AP's factcheck or on Slate. It's mind-boggling and stomach-churning. Our National Pit o' Despair again shows no bottom.

Later that day, the House overwhelmingly (354 to 60) sent a bipartisan rebuke to the president* for his actions in Syria.

And shortly after the resolution was passed, he met with Democratic leaders in the Whitewash House.

This headline appeared on my newsfeed: Great White Shark With Massive Bite on Head Attacked by Even Bigger Shark. A picture emerged from the incident:

Which is the bigger shark?

Speaker Pelosi owned the meeting! She left when the Toddler-in-Chief threw a tantrum and called her names. We are reminded of December when she left the Whitewash House in flames (and that coat though!).

In typical fashion, Baby Hands tried to spin it that Speaker Pelosi was the one who had the meltdown during the meeting. He went so far as to tweet that photo as evidence of her meltdown. BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Look again at the photo. All those little men, cowed and subdued, by one very powerful woman.

This picture will be shown in sociology, psychology, and political science classes for years to come. Pelosi is da broad!


As part of his tantrum during that meeting, Cheeto Benito called Four-Star Marine general and former Secretary of Defense James Mattis "the most overrated general." General Mattis laughed it off later, at a white-tie dinner. I think I'm in love with General Mattis.

Also on Wednesday, FAUX News (so you know it was leaked to inexplicably try to make him look good) broke that he had sent this letter to Erdoğan  WTAF. We all thought it was parody. Surprise, Americans. It is not parody.

Another of Giuliani's associates was arrested on Wednesday at JFK with similar charges as the original two goons, and we learned that Giuliani has been under FBI counterintelligence investigation.

We barely digested all of that news on Wednesday when ProPublica broke the story that Darth taxeVader has apparently been committing tax fraud by keeping two sets of financial books, one for lenders that shows higher rental incomes, and one for the IRS, which shows lower property valuation. You may recall that Michael Cohen, in his remarks to Congress, indicated that the Tax Cheat-in-Chief had done this. Here's the proof.

Also on Wednesday! SCROTUS tried to ambush the unfortunate parents from Great Britain whose son had been struck and killed by a U.S. diplomat's wife who was driving on the wrong side of the road. The teen's parents were in Washington and met with the president*, and the ugly so-and-so gathered the press, and the person who had killed their son, in a different room, waiting for a surprise meeting. Un.fucking.believable.

And somewhere on Wednesday, nearly getting lost in all of the other jaw-dropping news, Michael McKinley, one of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's top aides, testified to Congress. You may recall that he resigned last week. He was upset about the treatment of Ambassador Yovanovitch as well as the State Department's response to the Ukraine scandal. He was a pretty darn good witness.


The crazy continued into Thursday.

A bomb was dropped on Thursday when acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, in front of reporters and cameras, gave evidence in support of impeachment. He stated that there was quid pro quo regarding the Ukraine situation. He admitted that the $400 million in aid to Ukraine was indeed held up on the condition that Ukraine investigate long-debunked theories about interference in the 2016 election. Jonathan Karl of ABC even stopped and clarified with him using the words quid pro quo, and Mulvaney confirmed, yes. It happened. And, he added, "It happens all the time....get over it." Here is the video. We can all see and hear his words with our very own ears and eyes.




Hours later, Mulvaney tried walking back his admission, blaming the press for "misconstruing" his words. Honey, we were there, listening to you. You said it. Now, shhhhh be quiet and maybe you and Rudy should put the lid back on the cookie jar and go out and play.


Ambassador to the E.U. Robert Sondland testified to House Committees on Thursday. He was ticked, as he had found himself the recipient of many of 45's lies. But the essence of his testimony was that 45 directed his personal attorney (remember, Giuliani is not a government employee) to orchestrate foreign policy in Ukraine. He asserted that Giuliani's mission was perhaps “to involve Ukrainians, directly or indirectly, in the president’s 2020 re-election campaign.” Sondland also said, “We were also disappointed by the president’s direction that we involve Mr. Giuliani. Our view was that the men and women of the State Department, not the president’s personal lawyer, should take responsibility for all aspects of U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine.”

To my view, it takes a lot of chutzpah to say something like that, given that Sondland himself bought his way into an ambassadorship with $1 million donation to TЯUMP's inauguration. He had no foreign service experience, yet was charged with being ambassador to the whole of the European Union, and somehow found himself in the middle of Ukraine's issues as one of the "three amigos" working Ukraine, the other dos amigos being Kurt Volker and Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

Rick Perry resigned, by the way. It was expected that he would resign, but it became official. Remember when Perry famously forgot the name of the agency he has led the last couple years? It was during the 2011 debate, when he was listing the agencies that he would eliminate from the cabinet and he couldn't recall the name of the Department of Energy. "Oops." Yup, typical to this administration, he has led an agency he doesn't believe in. And typical to this administration, he went through the revolving door.

Republicans are starting to turn on Mein Furor. On Friday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) expressed their concerns. In addition, former Ohio Governor and 2016 GOP presidential candidate John Kasich all expressed support for impeachment. In addition, Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) has expressed his support for impeachment and has called on Rick Perry to comply with the subpoena and testify. On Saturday Rooney announced his intention to resign (he makes the umpteenth GOP member of Congress to step aside).

Friday another impeachable offense arose: SCROTUS announced that the next G7 summit will be held at Doral, his two-bit "resort" in Miami. Emoluments clause, anyone? He then said that it will be hosted "at cost." What that means, no one knows. And it wouldn't eliminate the benefits that a huge summit brings to the resort or its owner. Breaking: on Saturday evening, he backed off of that "offer," blaming the "Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility.... Thank you!" You're quite welcome. Idiot.

On Friday, General David Petraeus, former commander of troops in Afghanistan and CIA Director, called Benedict Donald's actions against the Kurds "a betrayal."



John Cole unearthed this first draft of the letter to Erdoğan:

John Cole

And just to put this here. I'm speculating as to who is the whistleblower? Not that it matters anymore, but I wonder if it's former National Security Advisor John Bolton or national security council lawyer John Eisenberg. Eisenberg's name popped up at some point, and I searched for more about him. He fits the profile for a good whistleblower.


If you haven't been paying attention and you want to get caught up, click here: Impeachment. You'll see my previous posts on the subject. Thanks for reading, sister and brother resisters!

#Reisist! (have you contacted your Member of Congress lately?)

Small and Sinking

"It is a sign that your reputation is small and sinking if your own tongue must be your flatterer." – Sir Matthew Hale (1609-1676)

Last week we heard from the "very stable genius" that he possesses "great and unmatched wisdom."

Dude, really? Look around you. It's not just your reputation. The whole freakin' ship is sinking. 


Pence's ship looks like it is sinking too.

First, as you recall, his boss threw him under the bus shortly after the story broke, by asking the press (and the Dems) to "look at Mike Pence's phone calls." This week, NBC's Vaughn Hillyard had Pence against the wall.

              (sorry for the laughtrack)

Rachel Maddow has an interesting look at the bus-throwing. She hypothesizes that SCROTUS may be banking on an all-or-nothing situation, that he won't be impeached because the Senate does not want a President Pelosi. Once again, he's a few stones short of a bucketful. The House can choose to bring articles against Pence or not, and if they do, the Senate will vote separately on his impeachment vs. 45's. There is no "package deal." (Ahhhh, but I'm still warm all over thinking about President Pelosi).

Anyway, you can see in Maddow's segment below how TЯUMP pointedly asks the court to rule that the president, and specifically not the vice-president, be immune from prosecution.

Impeachment proceedings are rolling right along!

The former Ambassador to the Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who we first learned about in the whistleblower complaint, defied the Whitewash House order not to testify. She appeared to Congress behind closed doors on Friday for almost nine hours. By her testimony, simply put, she was ousted because she was interfering with Rudy Giuliani's plans to secure the Ukraine government's cooperation in aiding 45. Ambassador Yovanovitch's mission was helping to stop corruption in Ukraine, only to be undermined by corrupt actions by those within her own government. Actually, not even! Rudy Giuliani is NOT a government employee. He is 45's personal attorney. He play-acted State Department Official in all this dirty dealing.

Her testimony came with good timing, as the day before two of Giuliani's associates, who helped Giuliani in Ukraine, had been arrested and charged for campaign finance crimes. The two are Soviet-born (Ukraine and Belarus) U.S. citizens and their arrest adds a verrrry interesting dimension to the Ukraine scandal. Though he has tried to distance himself from the two, it appears that Bumbledore had a relationship with at least one of them as early as 2014. After their arrest, the two were promptly subpoenaed to appear before Congress as part of the impeachment inquiry.

Gordon Sondland, Ambassador to the E.U., will also defy the State Department order and will comply with the subpoena to testify next week. He is a central figure in the whole Ukraine deal, and may give more insight into the quid pro quo. He is set to appear on Wednesday.

Rick Perry, who is most likely resigning as Energy Secretary by year's end, was subpoenaed. SCROTUS tried to throw him under the bus, too, with regard to the phone call, saying Perry made him do it. Perry says, yes, he urged 45 to call the Ukrainian president, but not for finding dirt on the Bidens. He urged a call to discuss energy and economy. Perhaps we'll get to the truth when he testifies.

Next Tuesday, October 15, is a big day for the inquiry. Congress returns to work that day, and the day marks the deadline for all sorts of documents to be provided to Congressional committees, including documents from Giuliani and Vice President Pence.


Support for impeachment is growing.

A group of 17 Watergate prosecutors wrote an op/ed in the Washington Post in which they assert that he should be impeached now based on the evidence already at hand. SCROTUS himself submitted the evidence regarding telephone call; no more is needed for an article of impeachment for abuse of power. We can charge contempt of Congress based on his letter refusing to cooperate, and obstruction of justice..... well, there's a mountain of evidence for that. (Thank you, Bob Mueller!)

Conservative writer and one-time Republican George Will agrees. He writes a scathing piece in the Washington Post, saying that his refusal to cooperate alone is impeachable, and he entreats Congress at large and Republicans specifically to simply do their job. He says it much better, of course. Read his piece.

The American public is also reaching the same conclusion. This week's polls show an increasing public support for impeachment. This poll from Fox News indicates that 51% of registered voters support impeachment AND removal from office. Their jefe was not at all pleased with this poll.

But if we get our way, he can complain to the steel bars.

On a more serious note, the world is keenly feeling the effects of 45's capricious decision to withdraw troops from Northern Syria and leave the Kurds high and dry. Dozens of Kurdish fighters and several civilians have already been killed. Tens of thousands of refugees are trying to leave the area. Military rounds came very near to American troops the other day. Accident? Intentional? Hmmm....Turkey had known the troops' location for months.

SCROTUS, in his great and unmatched wisdom, justified his betrayal of the Kurds by saying that they deserved it. You know, because they didn't even help storm Normandy. No words.

John Cole

In the clip above, you'll hear him say that there is "tremendous support outside of the Washington area" for his decision to withdraw from Northern Syria. Yeah, there is. You know who supports this action?  The world's other brutal dictators: His love, Putie the Cutie, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Syria's Bashar al-Assad, who is licking his lips at driving out the Kurds and reclaiming the northern part of Syria. This weekend, it was reported that relatives of ISIS fighters, many of them women and children, were allowed to be released, and it is feared that in the chaos 11,000 ISIS fighters themselves may be able to escape. It's completely chaotic there, and thousands of people are at risk of dying.

The situation is tragic on many levels. And all because of one madman's stupidity.


Other news:

Remember a couple weeks ago when the Whitewash House accidentally sent their impeachment talking points to the Democrats? This week they did it again. What a bunch o' maroons!

Regarding his taxes: Darth taxeVader lost his appeal and a federal court gave the go-ahead for his tax returns to be released to Congress. This may go all the way to the Supreme Court. Deutsche Bank has indicated that they do not hold copies of his tax returns, and there is speculation that they were destroyed.

A couple notable ship-jumpers: A senior advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo resigned this week. And Kevin McAleenan, acting Secretary of Homeland Security, on the job for just a few months, resigned as well. #GetOutWhileYouCan

By the way, as an aside, after nearly three years in office, the Senate still has not received nominations for 143 key executive branch positions, and 83 more are awaiting nominations, out of 743 positions. That's 21% of top positions that haven't been filled. How can our government work this way?

Tonight, this disturbing headline from the New York Times: Macabre Video of Fake Trump Shooting Media and Critics Is Shown at His Resort.  I'll let you read the article for yourself. It's deeply disturbing. The time for him to go is yesterday.



Lastly, for your edutainment, I offer this clever animation explaining impeachment.

Remember: find more about the impeachment inquiry schedule at the Washington Post.

The Hope: The Elders, the Women, and the Strength of the Fourth Branch

Fox News conducted a recent poll which showed that we are getting fatigued. We are simply tired about politics under the TЯUMP administration. I've been at this blog for almost 3 years – this is my 134th post – and I get it. It's hard to keep up with the news, period. It's hard to maintain the energy to be outraged and it's hard to work up the energy to act on that outrage.

But you know what? We must.

We must keep going. We must read the news every day. We must learn about the law, the Constitution, and we must not ever let this indecency get normalized.

I appreciate my readers for continuing this journey with me, even through the fatigue, the anger, the worry, and the dismay. I've always tried to put a positive spin on our outlook. It's important to feel both the anger and the hope. The anger can be useful; it can spur us toward action. But we shouldn't stay in the anger; that could become damaging. We must not become indifferent either. The minute we become complacent or unmoved, we will lose our Republic. Let's hold on to the hope. We have had honor in our government, and we can get there again.

Let's take a break and look for the hope and the inspiration: those leaders who can guide us through this mire of anger and fatigue.


The Elders

Oh! President Jimmy Carter! May we grow up to be like you! President Carter is 95 years old, and he is still working every single day making houses for Habitat for Humanity. The organization was founded in 1973 by a Georgia couple, and President and Mrs. Carter were early supporters. President Carter continues to build houses every day. He hasn't let cancer or broken bones slow him down. Even this week, when on Sunday he took a fall and sustained a facial injury that required 14 stitches. This remarkable man, along with his wife Rosalynn, was back at the job site a day later, hammer in hand, to build another house for the underprivileged.

Here's a snapshot of their project from last year.





He has been mostly quiet about our current president* and all the horseshit emanating from the White House, but this week he spoke up, in his gentle manner as always. He gave an interview to Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC.



Jimmy Carter is a good man. He is deeply religious, but will stand up for what is right, including leaving a church when it is the right thing to do. Christians can find inspiration in him.

Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), age 79, lived through the worst of the Civil Rights Era. He walked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1960s. Mr. Lewis was brutally beaten more than once, but he kept getting up, fighting for the greater good. And he continues to fight, working hard for the citizens of Georgia's 5th Congressional district, and for all of us as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Barbara Bush sadly died last year at age 92, but she was truly an inspiration and a patriot. She was the second woman to be both the wife and the mother of U.S. presidents, the first being Abigail Adams. She worked tirelessly for literacy, and in 2016 she was not afraid to speak loudly -- but gently -- about the scumbag that was about to be nominated as the Republican candidate for president.




Jane Goodall, at age 85, is still working for global conservation. She has been working all her life to protect chimpanzees, and has inspired millions to conserve the natural world all around us. And she hasn't stopped.

There are many women who inspire us. Michele Obama, for one. If you haven't read her memoir yet, grab it. Her story is inspirational, uplifting, and quintessentially American. Her influence has even been able to soften me at the personal level (not on the second-worst-presidential-level) of George W. Bush with their sweet friendship.

Michelle Obama has helped change the world. What a powerful woman! 

We can look to other young, powerful women for hope:

Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old who within a year turned her one-person school strike protesting climate change into a world-wide movement, inspiring millions around the globe to demand and work toward change. This 16-year-old has met with world leaders and faced off with some of the most bullying among them.

Greta Thunberg

Mari Copeny, "Little Miss Flint," 12 years old, of Flint, Michigan, has been leading the fight for clean water in her community since she was 8 years old.

Malala Yousafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize at age 17, has inspired millions in her quest for equal education and women's rights in Pakistan and around the world.

Ten-year-old Bana al-Abed has been raising awareness about Syrian refugees. This young activist has also spoken to world leaders and educated and inspired many about the plight of children in war zones.

Jazz Jennings, 19, has been a stalwart advocate for transgender youngsters and all who are in the LGBTQ community.

Indiginous Canadian and "Water Warrior" Autumn Peltier, age 15, has been working toward ensuring clean water in indigenous communities across Canada.

Emma Gonzales led the way for gun reform after her high school in Parkland, Florida experienced a deadly mass shooting. Who can forget her 6 minute, 20 seconds of silence – equal to the amount of time it took the gunman to murder 17 of her schoolmates – during her powerful speech after the shootings.






Women are at the forefront of our progress as a nation. From the courageous women running for – and winning – elected office, to the the young activists who inspire and spur us toward action, women have a special gift for leading. Women have important traits, like empathy, cooperation, nurturing, connection, thoughtfulness, and sensitivity.

Women leaders guide us to more collaboration and less war; more compassion and less greed; more deliberation and fewer hasty decisions; more consideration and less power struggle. Women who harness these traits are powerful forces.

And they scare the jeebus out of men like the Orange Scourge. These women are often the brunt of bullying and mocking, but they deflect that shit like Wonder Woman and are not slowed down a bit. Let them inspire us.

Sasha Brown-Worsham, writing for The Guardian about our young female leaders, encapsulates old white men's terror: "What would happen if teenage girls were actually allowed to feel good about themselves? What if we allowed them to have their interests with no shame? They might rise up and change everything. And that scares a certain kind of man."

The rest of us, men and women, old and young, activist and dreamer, can and will change the nation. As Rebecca Solnit wrote in a sobering and powerful essay, we are in dangerous times, but there is hope. The forefathers were wise, creating three co-equal branches of government, and today it seems like it is almost breaking. But in their infinite wisdom, they created another. We the People have power. We the fourth branch of government, and we can tip the scales. Our demands will be met. But we must make them.

Pay attention. Get angry. Act.

#Hope! 




Want to help directly? (As always, research charities before sending your hard-earned dough!)

Habitat for Humanity
Jane Goodall Institute
Environmental Defense Fund
Flint Water Fund: United Way
Malala Fund
Navajo Water Project
Parkland Cares
Everytown.org
Emily's List


**Special thanks to my sister resisters Pagrs and Karen for giving me articles and inspiration!**