A Bright Spot Makes the Fuhrer Squirm

Posted by TomCat at 10:37 am Politics

May 062020

Do you remember the “anonymous whistleblower that helped expose the high crimes and misdemeanors for which criminal Fuhrer Trump* escaped responsibility? Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch and the Senate Republicans violated their oath. Well, it’s whistleblower time again. This one is not anonymous, and the high crimes and misdemeanors are even worse.

[H]e was pressured to invest in drugs and vaccines that lacked scientific merit, because the people selling them had friends in the Trump administration, up to and including the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. He was forced to transfer funds to acquire drugs for the Strategic National Stockpile, America’s most important reserve of lifesaving medications, based not on health needs but on “political connections and cronyism.” He was instructed to use his department’s budget to purchase flu medications of questionable efficacy. And when the COVID-19 crisis erupted, he was pressured to approve a plan that would “flood” cities with unproven and untested doses of chloroquine drugs, from uninspected manufacturing plants in Asia. When his efforts to work through the system failed, he decided he had a “moral obligation to the American public” to ring the alarm about the plan, “which he believed constituted a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety.” In retaliation, he was “smeared,” with officials unfairly accusing him of dropping the ball on vaccine development and PPE preparation.

These are just some of the allegations contained in a blistering, 63-page complaint that Dr. Rick Bright, former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), filed today with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. According to his lawyers, Bright will testify before Congress next week.

Vanity Fair has submitted requests for comment to the White House and the Food and Drug Administration, and will update this article with any responses. In a statement, Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Caitlin Oakley said: “Dr. Bright was transferred to NIH to work on diagnostics testing—critical to combatting COVID-19—where he has been entrusted to spend upwards of $1 billion to advance that effort. We are deeply disappointed that he has not shown up to work on behalf of the American people and lead on this critical endeavor.”

Bright has become the first high-level federal whistleblower to publicly allege that the Trump administration has responded to the COVID-19 crisis by unduly pressuring health officials, and putting politics and profit ahead of science. Bright, the government’s top coronavirus vaccine developer, had spent a decade at BARDA, a small but powerful agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), whose mandate is to partner with private companies to help accelerate the development of vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics. According to Bright’s complaint, BARDA manages almost $50 billion worth of contracts and acquisitions, on an annual budget of just over $1.5 billion. He was named director in 2016… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Vanity Fair>

I strongly encourage you to click the link in the second paragraph and read the shocking complaint in it’s entirety.

Here’s some coverage from CNN.

Ousted vaccine director says pandemic warnings were ignored

In the criminal Fuhrer’s White House, as in the entire Republican Reich, truth telling is a capital offense.

White House coronavirus task force to be ‘phased down’ around Memorial Day

There are few things that the Republican Reich, especially criminal Fuhrer Trump* hate more than oversight. They fear that the next whistle blower will publicly expose it, when Republicans murder more and more Americans to reopen the economy for Trump’s* political ends.

MSNBC did a better job covering the actual corruption.

Coronavirus Whistleblower Complaint Suggests Trump Admin. Putting Politics Above Science

How many thousands of Americans have died and will die, because criminal Fuhrer Trump* is diverting the resources desperately needed by sick families no serve his, his relatives’, and his Republican cronies’ greed?

The last time there was a whistleblower complaint, we impeached Criminal Fuhrer Trump*. Since these high crimes and misdemeanors are even worse, it’s time to give that dirty son of a bitch (apologies to all female dawgs) a second asterisk.

RESIST!!

Open Thread–5/5/2020

Posted by TomCat at 10:30 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 052020

It’s a tired day, here in the CatBox, as yesterday completely wore me out. I’ve avoided tatoos all my life, but now I have five. They are small dots on my abdomen to serve as targeting guides. I almost asked them to roll me over and put two eyes above my butt hole. That would have given me a Trump* tattoo that acts just like the Fuhrer does!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:38 (average 5:08). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0505TrumpVirusMap

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: There is an op-ed in the Kansas City Star written by Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren (www.kansascity.com/…) promising to use the power of the government to punish the blatant corruption that is obvious everywhere:

The Biden administration will appoint an inspector general to review every coronavirus relief transaction currently evading serious scrutiny. Wasteful, corrupt deals and giveaways will be rooted out and undone. Suspicious transactions will be referred to the Justice Department for investigation and prosecution. Every Trump administration official and business executive contemplating such deals should hear us loud and clear. Trump may wink and nod at this corruption. We will not.

Imagine what this means for Jared Kushner? Or everyone involved in the open piracy of stealing medical supplies from a state that paid for them (and arranged transportation)? Or all the companies selling our national stockpile for high profits?

When this unfortunate virus has stabilized, we need a national truth and reconciliation committee. And with real jail time!!

Wow! If they really follow through this time, unlike far too many past instances, we’ll need to build more prisons to hold those Republican corporate criminals. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): New Ad From Conservative Group Angers Trump

I think the Lincoln Project made a fantastic ad. On most things, I completely disagree with most conservatives. However, I am willing to respect them, coexist with them, and compromise with then, with one caveat. It must be mutual. That cannot happen with today’s Republican Reich. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Donovan – Catch the wind

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

Open Thread–2/22/2022

Posted by TomCat at 9:55 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 222020

The labs are in, and the news is bad. I do have esophageal cancer, probably in stage III. That gives me a three year survival rate of 32%, with chemo and radiation. The next stage is a nose to knees Pet Scan. So it’s not a happy time in the CatBox. I plan to get our hosting paid at least a couple years in advance and take steps to transfer ownership of Politics Plus to Nameless, Lynn, Joanne and Lona on my passing, so the community here will survive me. I plan to dedicate whatever time I have left to do as much good as I can. I’m very tired. I had an emergency Republicosis run at 1:30 AM. Fortunately, I made it to the throne without accident this time. Tomorrow, please expect no more than an Open Thread. It’s a WWWendy day, and we have lots of extra work, using the new blender to prepare food less likely to get stuck in my tumor. Have a great weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:37 (average 5:10). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From ProPublica: President Donald Trump’s new acting intelligence director, Richard Grenell, used to do consulting work on behalf of an Eastern European oligarch who is now a fugitive and was recently barred from entering the U.S. under anti-corruption sanctions imposed last month by the State Department.

In 2016, Grenell wrote several articles defending the oligarch, a Moldovan politician named Vladimir Plahotniuc, but did not disclose that he was being paid, according to records and interviews. Grenell also did not register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which generally requires people to disclose work in the U.S. on behalf of foreign politicians.

FARA is the same law that Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates were convicted of violating. (Manafort went to trial. Gates pleaded guilty.)

Although such behavior would disqualify a Democrat, in the Republican Reich, proof of such criminal corruption must be tendered by all applicants seeking employment in high office. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): GHOST DONALD IN THE SKY – Parody

Wonderful! May your song be prophetic about the political demise of every Republican politician starting with Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch and continuing beyond Criminal Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten*! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Byrds – “Mr. Tambourine Man” – 5/11/65

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread – 1/4/2020

Posted by TomCat at 7:58 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 042020

It’s a tired Saturday here in the CatBox. I had a kink in my back last night that was so severe, that I finally gave up at around 2:00 AM and took an Oxycodone. The Republican war to retain power still dominates the news, and since I covered that yesterday, this is my only article today. Today and tomorrow are Holy Days in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, the Festival of Cards Gone Wild. Good luck, Pat! Tomorrow is also a WWWendy day to de-stink the rancid TomCat. We have lots of chores to do do, so please expect no more than a Personal Update from me. Have a peaceful weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:03 (average 5:11). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Crooks and Liars: The reasons that Donald Trump would need a massive distraction at this point are numerous. Every day seems to produce fresh evidence that the White House was fully aware that Trump’s delay of military assistance to Ukraine was simply against the law, and that multiple officials engaged in a criminal conspiracy to cover up for Trump and retroactively create an excuse for an inexcusable act. Somewhere right now, Mitch McConnell is probably drafting a statement claiming that the Senate could not possibly consider an impeachment trial “during a time of war.”

But onto that stack of dog-wagging rationales add this one: According to Forensic News, Trump’s loans from Deutsche Bank were underwritten by a Russian state-owned bank. That news reportedly comes from a whistleblower with access to documents from both Deutsche Bank and Russia’s state-owned VTB Bank. VTB Bank was also the proposed lender on the never-completed Trump Tower Moscow project.

The question of why Deutsche Bank would extend a series of huge loans to Trump has been dangling since before he ever announced his candidacy for president on a golden escalator ride. When Trump first went to Deutsche Bank, he was worse than broke. He had just finished bankrupting multiple casinos in New Jersey, and then had convinced investors to back a takeover of those casinos at a fraction of the original value. Then Trump deliberately allowed the investment group to go bankrupt so he could grab the whole deal himself at a fraction of what his investors had paid. Then he went bankrupt. Again. And along the way he was socked with a massive fine for money laundering at his now bankrupt (again) casino.

Trump was so fiscally radioactive that no American bank would let him in the door. But Deutsche Bank turned around and gifted Trump with loans that gave him a fresh start and an apparently miracle turnaround of his New York real estate empire. Those loans have always been the subject of head-scratching over just what Deutsche Bank could have been thinking. But if Forensic News is right, what Deutsche Bank was thinking was that it wasn’t risking a damn thing, because the Russian government was actually vouching for Trump through VTB Bank. If Trump didn’t come through, Vladimir Putin was offering to make it good.

As I have said for over a year, Trump* is Putin’s Pet Pervert! RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Erin Burnett calls Trump’s 2011 video about Obama and Iran ‘unbelievable’

Is that projection or what? To be fair, if the Reich can show evidence that the “immanent threat” they claim is real, and that assassinating a leader of one sovereign nation in the territory of another sovereign nation can ameliorate that threat, I’ll be the first to say I am wrong. In the interim, the Republican track record for lying us into three wars, and the Trump* track record for lying about virtually everything, demand disbelief of every claim they make without proof. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Doors – Riders on the Storm (Official Audio)

I can’t stand the words to this song, but the music is incredible. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Joe, Come Clean Please

Posted by TomCat at 9:26 am Politics

Dec 062019

Joe Biden engaged in an unfortunate exchange with an Iowa Voter, who said he is not a Republican. The voter suggested that Biden had been influence peddling by landing his son, Hunter, a plumb job at corrupt Ukrainian utility, Burisma. Hunter was clearly not qualified. Joe extricated himself by yelling at and insulting the voter.

A voter at a campaign event in Iowa got into a spat with Joe Biden on Thursday in an exchange that had the Democratic 2020 hopeful slamming the man as a “damn liar” and seeming to call him “fat”, which had conservatives leaping up to attack the candidate.

The man in the audience took the microphone and described himself as an 84-year-old retired farmer, then argued that Biden is too old to be president and pressed him on his son’s business activities in Ukraine, saying the former vice-president had “sent” Hunter to the country to work with an energy company.

Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden and the 2016 election, while holding up US military aid for Ukraine’s defense against Russia, is at the heart of the congressional impeachment inquiry.

Biden’s son Hunter used to be on the board of a private Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. The voter at the event in New Hampton, Iowa, who declined to give his name when questioned immediately afterwards by reporters, challenged Biden on the integrity of the business arrangement when he was Barack Obama’s vice-president… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Guardian>

Here is a video clip showing the incident and a brief discussion of it.

Joe Biden to voter: You’re a damn liar, man

One of the journalists compared Biden’s anger with Pelosi’s, when accused of hating Trump. The comparison is not valid, because Pelosi’s anger included an explanation. Biden’s did not. It came with a denial an insult.

First, please be assured that I am not attacking Joe Biden. I hope that, if enough people repeat advice similar to mine, he’ll follow it.

Until Biden defuses this issue himself, Republicans will keep bringing it up over and over again. Skilled fascist propagandists from the Republican Reich will be far fiercer opponents than that poor farmer. Biden’s only chance is for the public to know the whole story before that happens.

I think Biden had nothing to do with placing Hunter at Burisma. I think he knew Burisma offered Hunter the job, only because he was Biden’s son. I think Biden knew Hunter was not qualified and voiced his disapproval. However, because Hunter is an adult, he couldn’t stop him. If that is the truth Biden needs to publish it far and wide, even if it means embarrassing his son.

If that isn’t the truth, he needs to reveal what is. But for the sake of his candidacy, the Party, and the nation, he needs to come clean.

RESIST!!

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