Day 798 Friday March 15, 2019
598 Days to the 2020 election and 676 Days to Inauguration Day
We are caught in a really bad nightmare. I keep hoping to wake up and find it is not true. It’s been coming for a long time. What worries me the most is the constant chipping away, little piece by little piece at our democracy and our institutions. All these people taking their little bites for themselves, like a school of piranha.
Let’s look at yesterday’s news:
– A Republican congressman released the full transcripts of the testimony of Lisa Paige and of Peter Strzok, the two FBI agents that were having an affair and exchanged some text messages that were not complimentary to Donald Trump. This had Republicans and the their right wing buddies jumping up and down about how the FBI was against Trump, in the bag for Hillary, not professional, etc. etc. etc.
Now we get to read the full transcripts. Whoops. It shows just the opposite. Huh? Who knew? Obviously, not this Congressman. In fact, it shows just the opposite. If an FBI agent had wanted to damage Trump they would have leaked the information that his campaign was under investigation, but they didn’t because they are professionals.
According to the testimony there was credible evidence that Russians were working with people in the Trump campaign to get him elected, and – according to the testimony – anytime Russians are doing anything in the U.S. it is taken seriously. They, the FBI would have investigated regardless of whether Trump had won or not.
So there you have it. Republican Congressman says he’s releasing entire testimony to show the FBI for what it is. What he thinks it is and the truth are at polar opposites.
– A mass shooting in New Zealand, inspired by right wing nuts in this country.
– Remington, maker of Bushmaster, the AR-15 used to mow down the children in Sandy Hook Elementary in 243 seconds is being sued. Remember under W and the Republicans in Congress they passed legislation saying gun manufacturers could not be sued for selling weapons. Now, they are being sued for marketing weapons in a manner that suggests their product would be great for criminal activity. The lawyer for the plaintiff asked the question, “Would we hesitate to condemn Ford if it marketed a car saying it would be great for running into a crowd?”
– And then there’s Wilbur Ross “W-I-L-BURRRR” (For Mr Ed fans.) and sidekicks Mark Meadows and Paul Gosar.
Together they teamed up to make fools of themselves not once in a committee hearing but twice!
Way to go boys!
I don’t know who went first, but it really doesn’t matter. Wilbur Ross reminds me of Mr. Dithers from the Simpsons, except he doesn’t seem to be in as good health as Dithers. Let’s remember that Ross was involved with the Bank of Cyprus when it was laundering money for Russian oligarchs. At that time he was on the board of the bank. He resigned to become Secretary of Commerce. There were some issues he had with stocks that he had to get rid of, which he did by signing them over to family members.
Now on to the Census thingee. The right wing wants a citizenship question on the U.S. Census. Seems okay right? They also want to count only citizens. Seems okay too, right? Kind of anodyne, right? I mean, “what’s the big deal?”
Like many of these things they seem harmless until you hear the facts.
– One, it’s unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution makes clear everyone is to be counted. Why? Well, for one thing we broke away from Britain and formed our own country specifically around this question. The Boston Tea Party was because of this very problem, and Patrick Henry said, “No taxation without representation,” and he also said, “Don’t tread on me.” Now, I kinda think those are right wing talking points suitable for tee-shirts and license plates, so it’s kind of odd that now they want to go against that pattern of Revolutionary patriotism and zeal, but that’s what Ross wants to do. Why? Well, they know if you put a “Are you a U.S. citizen?” on the 2020 Census a lot of people will either lie or hide and not be counted, which is exactly what they want. The Census is used for apportionment of Congressional seats and funding. If they can keep those shithole Democratic states, like California and New York, from under reporting the people they have then the welfare Republican states like Wyoming and North Dakota get more money and power.
Let’s also not forget the Ross has already lied to Congress about this issue. He said he was asked by AG Jeff Sessions for this data for law enforcement purposes, which is true. But but but, Sessions asked because Ross asked him to do so, which he lied about to Congress. The Census people went back to Justice and said they could give them better data for law enforcement purposes and cheaper than putting it in the Census. Better? Cheaper? What’s not to like? Sessions told them, his own Justice people, not to take the meeting. Why would he not want them to take the meeting? BECAUSE HE HAD NO INTEREST IN THE DATA!
Okay with that as background let’s look at the latest round of back and forth with W-I-L-BURRR and the Congressional Oversight Committee (now that it is in the hands of Democrats, who want to really perform oversight):
Paul Gosar compares Ross to Jefferson. U.S. Virgin Island representative, Stacey Plaskett takes exception to the characterization reminding folks that Jefferson was a slave owner and approved the idea that slaves were 3/5ths of a man.
Here’s a unbiased report from Daily Kos.*
*Okay, it’s not unbiased. It calls Ross a doddering old man. What’s wrong with that? He is.
Then Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asks W-I-L-BURRR a question. You think he’s doddering? The old fool says he doesn’t feel a need to answer the question. (Because AOC is out of time.) Chairman Cummings tells him he can answer the question. He says he doesn’t feel the need. Cummings tells him he, Cummings is asking. Now he feels the need. He says he doesn’t know or wait he says he’s complied with the law. AOC says that under the law Census has to provide three reports and they’ve only provided the first two. The third one is the one Congress acts on and that hasn’t been provided putting him, the Secretary of Commerce and the Department of Commerce in violation of the law, and AOC’s question is why hasn’t that been provided?
Ross goes into his fumbling forgetful old man routine and throws in a lie. “We’ve complied with the law.”
This is too much for Mark Meadows, a stickler for procedure when the committee was interviewing Michael Cohen, but now? Not so much. He doesn’t know what law is. He thinks this is way out of line yadda yadda yadda. But he must love Ms Cortez quoting chapter and verse the law’s chapter and verse and offering to provide the Congressman with a copy of the law. Cummings got Ross to say he’d give the committee in writing that they, Commerce, had complied with the law. Wow, they are willing to put his lie in writing. Especially, funny is that Cummings said after AOC made her comments that the third report hadn’t been provided that Ross had a bunch of lawyer types scurrying to try and confirm what she was saying;
Here’s the two minute version:
Here’s the longer eight minute version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL9nXM5A-DQ
Enough for now.
598 Days to the 2020 election and 676 Days to Inauguration Day
PS Get your wedding supplies at the Clearance section of Wal-Mart. Yeah, Baby!
Yet?
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