Sanctions Policy Quo for Russia

Posted by TomCat at 12:23 pm Politics

Feb 142018

In order to demonstrate that there was a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump, including the Republican Reich, in the theft of the 2016 Presidential election, we must demonstrate the existence of quid pro quo. That means "This for that". Quid, in this case, is all the things Russia did to harm Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump. Quo is for Trump and the Republican Reich to ignore the sanctions Obama imposed and Congress passed against Russia.

Three senior Democratic senators on Monday introduced a resolution pushing President Donald Trump to use the new authority over Russia sanctions that Congress overwhelmingly gave him last year.

The symbolic measure from Sens. Ben Cardin of Maryland, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Robert Menendez of New Jersey marks the latest Democratic effort to pressure the Trump administration on its delay in implementing a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill — designed in part as a response to Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 election — that the president signed only reluctantly.

The administration’s decision last month to hold off on new penalties targeting the defense and intelligence sectors of President Vladimir Putin’s government infuriated Democrats, who pointed out that the bipartisan bill Congress approved with only five opposing votes last year had designed the sanctions as mandatory.

“The lack of seriousness shown by the administration in the face of a clear national security threat and even clearer congressional intent is alarming and cannot continue,” Cardin said in a statement on the resolution… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Politico>

Rachel Maddow explains how what Russia wants in return for infesting the White House with Trump is sanctions relief, and how the Trump Reich is giving Russia what Putin wants.

There it is! Quid pro quo quad erat demonstrandum. If election fraud by a foreign power is an act of war against the United States, and I think it is, then conspiracy with a foreign power to commit such an attack is treason. Even if it is not an act of war, conspiracy with a foreign power to commit such an attack is sedition. Both are impeachable and indictable offences.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Open Thread – 2/14/2018

Posted by TomCat at 12:21 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 142018

It’s a nice comfortably cool day, and I slept well last night. It’s been a strange winter. I’m at the same latitude as the border between Wyoming and Montana, but I have not turned my heat on this winter, and I only closed my window overnight once. I expect a grocery delivery from Store to Door in about an hour. When I finish putting everything away, I’ll break for lunch. Then I’ll finish here.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:03 (average 4:55). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Late Show Channel): Donald Trump’s Valentine’s Day Card To Melania Trump

Barf Bag Alert!!

How appropriate! Other than National Socialism, Trump loves only his own ego. RESIST!!

From Washington Post: When evaluating President Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen’s new admission that he paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket, it’s worth focusing on what he doesn’t deny: namely, that Trump had anything to do with it.

In a statement first reported by the New York Times and also shared with The Washington Post, Cohen says for the first time that he paid Daniels. The Wall Street Journal had first reported the payment as hush money to keep the adult-film actress from disclosing an alleged affair with Trump, but thus far nobody else had confirmed that the payment existed. Cohen’s hand was apparently forced by the watchdog group Common Cause, which last month announced it was filing a complaint arguing that Cohen’s $130,000 payment could be construed as an illegal 2016 campaign contribution.

I don’t buy it. Cohen is a Republican. Republicans don’t altruistically pay out big bucks like that. When it comes to their own money, they squeeze quarters so tight the eagle shits. Cohen, if not Trump, paid her with campaign money or with our money, both of which are criminal acts. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Millions of Americans on Wednesday demanded that Donald J. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, issue them checks in the amount of $130,000 for not having sex with Trump.

After Cohen revealed that he had issued such a check to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who he claims never had intimate relations with his client, there was widespread outrage among other Americans who had also not had sex with Trump but had not been paid for not doing so.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for Stormy Daniels,” Tracy Klugian, a florist in Santa Rosa, California, said. “I just want my check, too.”

Harland Dorrinson, a bank teller in Akron, Ohio, said that he had already e-mailed Cohen to demand payment. “I have never come close to having sex with Trump, and that should be worth something,” he said. “Specifically, $130,000.”

Andy, Dorrinson is wrong. Albeit non-consensual, he has had sex with Trump. There isn’t an American in the poor and middle classes that Trump and the Republican Reich haven’t screwed. Where’s my $130,000? RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0214Cartoon

Poor or Middle Class? Get Vaseline!

Posted by TomCat at 1:27 pm Politics

Feb 132018

Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten and his Republican Reich have released their budget. The GOP Nazi word for Vaseline is Vienerschleider, and if you don’t know hat that has to do with a Republican budget, it’s time for you to bend over and grab your ankles. You’re about to find out in the worst possible way.

The Trump administration wants to slash food aid to low-income families and make up the difference with a box of canned goods — a change that Office of Management and budget director Mick Mulvaney described in a Monday briefing as a “Blue Apron-type program.”

“What we do is propose that for folks who are on food stamps, part — not all, part — of their benefits come in the actual sort of, and I don’t want to steal somebody’s copyright, but a Blue Apron-type program where you actually receive the food instead of receive the cash,” Mulvaney said. “It lowers the cost to us because we can buy [at wholesale prices] whereas they have to buy it at retail. It also makes sure they’re getting nutritious food. So we’re pretty excited about that.”

Mulvaney’s remarks drew raised eyebrows from some critics, who accuse the Trump administration official of drawing an unfair comparison between the food stamp program, which delivers an average of $1.37 per meal to America’s poorest, and a high-end meal kit that runs $10 per serving.

On Monday, the Trump administration proposed cutting food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, by $17 billion in 2019 and more than $213 billion over the next decade. The dramatic reductions came as part of a budget proposal that made sweeping, across-the-board cuts to popular safety net programs, including federal housing subsidies and Medicaid.

But the administration’s SNAP proposal was particularly striking, advocates and experts said, because it advocates a fundamental change to the program’s administration. For the past 40 years, the Agriculture Department has distributed benefits as either paper coupons or virtual disbursements on Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, allowing recipients to use them as cash on foods of their choice and at their own grocery store… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Washington Post>
Photo Credit: Samuel Warde

When you get your GOP food package, say "Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!" But don’t expect a cat to come. Republicans will be feeding you the portions that the cats rejected.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Joanne Dixon Has a BIG Mouth! ;-)

Posted by TomCat at 1:26 pm Blog News, Politics

Feb 132018

96-JoanneD

This is Joanne’s seventh Big Mouth award. She earned her first in September 2013, her second in March 2015, her third in May 2015, her fourth in July, 2016, her fifth in October, 2016, and her sixth in September, 2017. I still predict there are more coming. I still think JD comments more than I do.

A denizen of Care2, she came to us from there, and is now part of management. She’s super-smart, witty a political junky and an activist for all kinds of human rights. I have had occasion to correspond with her, and she faces some major issues in her life with exceptional dignity and grace.

In early 2016, I appointed her to a staff position, Politics Plus Author, and in October 2016, I promoted her to Editor. Please join in piling on the praise and kudos she deserves. Her daily comments and her articles make this a far better site.

Help Her

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Open Thread – 2/13/2018

Posted by TomCat at 1:25 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 132018

My vision is still a bit blurry from yesterday’s ordeal, but I’m pleased to report that my vision is perfect in both eyes with my glasses, except for the double vision. The non-malignant remnants of my choroidal cancer are even smaller than they were six months ago. I could not have received a better report. I’m running late because of chores, and am hurrying because WWWendy is coming this evening to destink the TomCat.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:49 (average 4:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Inequality Media Channel): Rise Up Vs. Trickle Down Economics

In short, the way to build up the economy is to tear down the Republican Reich. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): America’s Crumbling Infrastructure Under Donald Trump

Barf Bag Alert!!

There’s the problem. Because the Fuhrer finds America’s infrastructure sexy, he can only be referring to all the pussies he wants to grab. When it comes to actually building America’s infrastructure, Republicans are too preoccupied with tearing it down. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: According to Politico, Susan Collins is shocked to discover that the White House has broken a promise to her.

President Donald Trump’s legislative affairs director, Marc Short, stood just off the Senate floor as Republicans cast a party-line vote on Trump’s tax package late last year, but his moment of triumph was brief.

As she walked off the floor, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins spotted Short — and she exploded.

The White House had promised Collins, a moderate, that it would seek a vote before recess on guaranteeing payments to health insurers in order to stabilize Obamacare markets, a key issue for her. But under intense opposition from pro-life groups and from House conservatives, no such vote materialized.

I don’t buy it. When Senate Republicans passed their Tax SCAM, I said that Collins had to know that "promise" would never be kept. I stand by that. What we see from her now is Kabuki theater to fool her constituents and make her appear innocent. She’s guilty. She’s a Republican! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0213Cartoon

Busy day!

Open Thread – 2/12/2017

Posted by TomCat at 9:32 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 122018

I’m rushing to finish in time for my appointment. This is my only article today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s Took me 6:45 (average 7:14). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The Hill: U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon said he would boycott a visit to the White House.

Rippon — the first openly gay athlete selected to a U.S. Winter Olympic team — told the Daily Mail that he would not go to the White House in an effort "to support my community."

"No, I have no desire to go to the White House," he told the Daily Mail.

"But I would like to do something to help my community."

Rippon added he would want to do "something positive and not just stay at home" during the White House visit, such as planning his own event in support of gay rights.

The US would not have won a team figure skating medal, were it not for Rippon’s stellar performance. Hey GOP! Shove that up your Pence! RESIST!!

From The Daily Beast: Julian Assange Offered Hannity Impersonator ‘News’ About Top Democrat

The head of Wikileaks told @SeanHannity__ to seek ‘other channels’ for information on Sen. Mark Warner of the Trump-Russia investigation. ‘@SeanHannity__’ was a woman in Texas.

Anyone care to speculate what "other channels" Assange (R-RU) had for Hannity? RESIST!!

From Think Progress: \Industry-friendly lawmakers are waging a coordinated campaign with the Trump administration to strip Americans of their legal rights to use the courts to hold polluting companies and the government itself accountable for violations of bedrock environmental laws and other important public protections.

Members of Congress have introduced more than 50 bills over the past year that would make it extremely difficult or impossible for people to seek justice in a court of law, according to an in-depth analysis by the Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization. The proposed bills are targeting laws related to environmental protection, public health, consumer rights, and civil liberties.

The number of bills introduced in the current 115th Congress that would strip individuals of their legal rights to seek justice in a court of law have doubled from the previous Congress and quadrupled since the 112th Congress that ended in 2013. Similar to how credit card companies and other retailers block consumers from the use of a court of law to resolve disputes, these bills would have a similar effect by preventing aggrieved members of the public from filing lawsuits to ensure laws are enforced.

Even when polluters harm people directly and intentionally, the Republican Reich protects them from justice. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0212Cartoon

Pence Spreads Gospel of Hate

Posted by TomCat at 1:20 pm Politics

Feb 112018

I saw the Olympic Games as a possible vehicle for peace in Korea. Anytime we can get a a nuclear armed megalomaniac like Kim Jong Un to take a step back from the edge, that has to be a positive thing. The rapprochement between Moon Dae In and Kim Yo Jong, which included plans to meet, are just such a step. Unfortunately, the less intelligent and less wise nuclear armed megalomaniac insists on using tiny hands to beat his war drum, so he sent a troll, Vice Resident Pence, to Pyeomgchang to spread his pseudo-Christian gospel of hate.

Despite global calls for #KoreanPeace and hopes that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence would use his trip to South Korea for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games to engage in diplomatic talks to ease rising tensions with North Korea, Pence remained icy toward the country’s delegation.

As he left the Olympics on Saturday, Pence told reporters aboard Air Force Two that he was "encouraged" by his talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and claimed "there is no daylight between the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan on the need to continue to isolate North Korea economically and diplomatically until they abandon their nuclear ballistic missile program"—despite the radically different approaches Pence and Moon took regarding North Korea’s presence at the games.

At Olympics opening ceremony, Pence refuses to stand for any country except the U.S. https://t.co/5erLr66U5M pic.twitter.com/d7deL3bGoz

— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) February 10, 2018

While Moon both met and attended events with Kim Yo Jong—the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a key representative for the country at the Olympics—Pence declined to acknowledge her, even when they were seated near to each other:

Pence’s blatant refusal to engage in diplomacy came as a clear rejection of demands from around the globe that he use his presence at the Olympics to de-escalate nuclear tensions that have ramped up since President Donald Trump took office. Pence instead reiterated messages the world has come to expect from the Trump administration on the topic of North Korea; he vowed to impose the "toughest and most aggressive" economic sanctions "ever," insisted the country was trying to "hijack the message and imagery" of the games, and stayed seated as the joint team of athletes from the two Koreas entered the Opening Ceremony on Friday…

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

That was hugely disrespectful to both Koreas. Somebody really needs to hide the Fuhrer’s button

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Open Thread – 2/11/2018

Posted by TomCat at 1:19 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 112018

It’s a weird Sunday, because WWWendy came yesterday instead of today. In fact, that makes it feel like Monday. I decided to give myself a treat and ordered a pizza. It should get here in about an hour so I’ll break for lunch before I’m done. Tomorrow please expect no more than a Personal Update or an Open Thread. I have my semi-annual preventive eye cancer screening with Allison, my Ocular Oncological Surgeon. My eyes will be fully dilated, photographed and ultra sounded. The last is like fingernails on a blackboard inside my head. When the torture is over, my vision will be so blurry that I’ll be useless for the rest of the day. It’s an ARGH, but it is necessary. Update: BURP!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:52 (average 5:20). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): Lying Their Way Into Heaven

They have a point. The US has committed more terrorist acts than any other nation or group since Nazi Germany. In the last 40 years, virtually all have been committed by a Republican Reich. RESIST!!

From Politico: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a relentless critic of the media, has found a way around the often unflattering coverage of his role in the Trump-Russia investigation — by operating his own partisan news outlet.

Resembling a local, conservative news site, “The California Republican” is classified on Facebook as a “media/news company” and claims to deliver “the best of US, California, and Central Valley news, sports, and analysis.”

But the website is paid for by Nunes’ campaign committee, according to small print at the bottom of the site.

Hey Asshole! Don’t Californicate California!! RESIST!!

From NY Times: Before his sudden firing last week, the Pentagon official who oversaw military commission trials at Guantánamo Bay was exploring potential plea deals to end the long-delayed prosecution of five suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks, a move that would foreclose the possibility of execution, according to several people familiar with the matter.

No deal was imminent, the people said, but the talks were active and contemplated the defendants — including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of the attacks — pleading guilty and probably receiving life sentences. Most of the people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations.

At the GOP Gitmo Gulag, nothing short of state sponsored murder will satisfy the Party of Death! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Older Entries Newer Entries