FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
Anybody old enough to remember the original James Bond movies might remember the second installment, “From Russia with Love”, starring Sean Connery. In this spy movie, Bond fights the Russian KGB over a top secret decoding device that British Intelligence is trying to get their hands on. The villain, Donald “Red” Grant, is a vicious killer ruthless in his pursuit of his enemy. There are murders, blackmail schemes and twists and turns aplenty in the plot, but in the end the good guys prevail. In one of the scenes, a beautiful Russian agent lures Bond into a bedroom rendezvous about to be video taped by the KGB for blackmail purposes, a tried and true KGB tactic down through the years. Why bring this up? As the initial indictments begin to come down in the Robert Mueller Trump Collusion and Russian election meddling investigation, it reminds me of a question I have been asking since the first time anyone asked Donald Trump a question regarding Russia or Putin and his softer than soft position on anything involving them-what do the Russians have on this man? It has to be something, from the shady business deals Trump and his cronies cut, money laundering (see Paul Manafort indictment) that has taken place, clandestine meetings with Russian intelligence operatives during the election campaign or maybe something as simple as blackmail over a sexual dalliance from the past-who knows? All I know is that Trump and his cronies have NOT dealt with Russia in any way shape or form, and that Putin continues to pursue his vision of renewed Russian power and glory at our expense all around the world in Ukraine, Syria and elsewhere. Hopefully, as the Mueller investigation moves forward, the truth will come out and we will be able to determine just how deep the complicity between the Trump campaign and the Trump White House goes with regards to Russia. We already know that there was a historic effort on behalf of the Russian government to sabotage the 2016 Presidential election, such as face book and twitter postings, attempts to hack into various state voting records, release of hacked e mails from Clinton’s campaign manager’s e mail account as well as the secret meetings with various Trump campaign operatives to uncover “dirt on Hillary Clinton”, the very definition of collusion. All the while Trump harangues on twitter about how this investigation is a witch hunt, that we should be investigating Hillary Clinton-anything to deflect from the facts which are now being revealed. And he parades out mouthpieces like Sarah Huckleberry Sanders and General Kelly and his partners in crime at Faux News to deflect from the truth. And in the meanwhile, his agenda items like “tax reform”and health care just sit and get stale, like left over corn beef hash. I have contended all along when the facts come out in this investigation there will be more than sufficient grounds to begin impeachment proceedings. We already know, just based upon these initial indictments, that individuals, who were in key positions of trust like Campaign Manager Paul Manafort, are accused of criminal behavior on numerous counts. Yet Trump continues to insist his innocence in all of this, another bold faced lie. The real issue will be if the politicians in Congress have the stomach or political wherewithal to do the right thing for our country instead of what’s right for their political futures. After all, the “base” needs to be satisfied, there’s no way they can give up their hero, Donald Trump, no matter what he is guilty of. They are seemingly blind to the fact that this man and his administration are destroying our country, a little piece at a time. I don’t think we can wait another three years to rectify the unprecedented harm this individual is doing to our democracy!!! IMPEACH DONALD TRUMP. Before it’s too late for all of us.
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TAX REFORM (or BAIT and SWITCH)
As some of the details begin to emerge on the Republikan version of “tax reform” (translation the rich get richer and the rest of us pay for it), the true colors of the Republikan majority in both houses of Congress become clear. The end game is the proliferation of the 1% and corporate Amerika’s wealth at the expense of the middle class. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is comparable to a NYC sidewalk shell game, where you have to guess under what shell the coin sits while the operator works you like a mark, which you are. And so are we! One of the original premises of this Blog was to sound the alarm on the assault upon the very backbone of this country, the middle class. We are being bombarded every day with the far reaching tentacles of this administration and the majority party digging deeper and deeper into our pockets while at the same time lining their own and those of their wealthy individual and corporate benefactors, i.e. the Koch brothers, Oil and Gas, Pharmaceutical and wall Street to name a few. I urge everybody to take a hard look at this so called “tax reform” legislation and let your Congressman know it won’t fly, at least not the way it is currently being written. Several items you should be aware of which WILL directly affect you. The proposed elimination of the mortgage deduction, a huge item of note because of the amount that can be deducted right off the top. Already being vehemently opposed by groups such as the National Association of Homebuilders and National Association of Realtors due to the severe impact this legislation would have on one of the cornerstones of our economy, the home building and real estate markets. I know in my case alone this deduction amounts to over $5000, and in my world this is a significant amount of money! Next would be the elimination of the deduction for state and local income taxes, another item that directly affects my income tax because KY has an income tax. Last year that deduction amounted to over $1000 for me. Real dollars. Not Washington dollars. The plan also calls for reduction of the corporate tax tare from 35% to 20%, a HUGE reduction when compared to the so called tax breaks middle class America will realize under this “Trumped” up proposal. Indeed, the Republikans are so worried about getting ANY kind of legislation passed before next years’ mid-term elections that they will try to push through this plan. Their only concern is getting reelected so they can continue to perpetuate the greatest scam ever pulled on the American public, the Trump vision for the wealthy and corporate America. The promise that this bill will “create millions of new jobs and stimulate 3% growth in the economy” is as hollow as all of the other promises this administration has spewed forth through mouthpieces like Sarah Huckleberry and Faux News-don’t believe a word of it! Trump, the Republikans and Pillory Clinton
Pillory: To attack or ridicule publicly; to attack, criticize, censure, condemn, denigrate, lambaste or savage. Here’s a news flash for Donald Trump, The Republikan party and Faux News-you won the election almost a year ago! Hillary Clinton is a private citizen now, not a government official. And yet, here we are with Republikan stooges such as Peter King of NY, Devin Nunes of CA and Ron DeSantis of FL gravely announcing the formation of committees to investigate e mails once again and a supposedly shady deal with the Russians involving uranium. It seems more than ironic that the timing of these announcements coincides with the handing down on Monday, October 30th the first indictments in the Mueller probe into the REAL scandal, the Trump complicity in the Russian meddling in the previous election. As is typical with the way this administration reacts to any questions into its motives or directives to manipulate information to suit its purpose, this latest distraction should be seen for what it really is-a smoke screen. To distract from the real truth which will be coming out in bits and pieces over the next weeks which will show without question that Donald trump literally stole the presidency with the assistance of Putin and many other Russians who spied, hacked, posted and otherwise tilted the election in his favor over Hillary Clinton. Maybe this explains the unbelievable infatuation Trump and even his family have with Hillary Clinton. His son, Donald Jr. even went so far as to send her a mocking tweet on her birthday ridiculing her “arrogance”. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Perhaps it’s the fact that he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by roughly three million votes, dispelling his absurd claim to a “sweeping mandate”. With all of the pending domestic issues and real crisis looming in the area of foreign policy, wouldn’t our resources and attention be better served on something other than, as my old boss used to say, “left over corned beef hash”. And shame on Fox News (FAUX NEWS) for once again serving as Trump’s mouthpiece in emphasizing these stories when there are so many other problems and issues to report on. Just like they did during the past election, with the constant barrage of misinformation regarding e mails and Benghazi. The bottom line here id that two things need to happen. First, Trump and the Republikan Party need to move on from all things Hillary. Secondly, the Democrats need to come up with a spokesperson who is an actual political entity rather the ghost of lost elections!!! I think the majority of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, would agree with me wholeheartedly. And leave poor Pillory out of the news. ZINKE and WHITEFISH ENERGY
(something smells fishy in Puerto Rico) Well, well, what do you know- another Trump Cabinet level appointee, Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke is now embroiled in a “pay for play” controversy on the awarding of a $300 million contract to a company named Whitefish Energy, a company from the same small town in Montana (aren’t they all?) as himself, and one headed by an individual who has made sizeable political contributions to both the Trump campaign as well as Zinke himself, and also a neighbor, Andy Techmanskis. Zinke’s son also worked at one time for Whitefish Energy. However, according to Zinke, he had nothing to do with steering the huge contract to restore Puerto Rico’s hurricane ravaged power grid, including replacement of transmission and distribution lines, toward Whitefish Energy of Whitefish, Montana, his home town. The company, by the way, had two, that’s right, TWO employees at the time this contract was awarded by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. And now, not surprisingly, ethical questions are being raised and Congressional investigations beginning into the entire scenario behind this contract award. So here is another case where a Trump level appointee in his lily white Cabinet comes under scrutiny for looking out for special interests who have made significant financial contributions to his and Trump’s campaigns at the expense of those most in need, the storm battered victims of the hurricane who have been without power now for over a month. And once again, we have Sarah Huckleberry and others disavowing any administration knowledge of or complicity in the awarding of this contract. How many times do we have to see this act before the show gets cancelled?!? Look up Ryan Zinke on Wikipedia. He is to be commended for his outstanding military service as a Navy Seal, and we thank him for his service. But look at his record as a Congressman from Montana and his positions on everything from climate change to abortion rights, and you’ll find the same thing you find with the rest of the individuals in the Trump Cabinet and administration-Christian Conservatives on the right fringe of every issue who are more interested in perpetuating their own wealth and power than in doing what is right for their country, and are doing irreparable harm every day to the very agencies the are entrusted to manage, such as the Department of the Interior. Once again, you can’t make this stuff up!! Hopefully the facts will come out that will give us all more clarity to this contract award and those responsible for its placement and execution. The people of Puerto Rico deserve to know the truth, and deserve to have their power restored in a timely fashion. We have all seen that the handling of the incredible difficulties this United States Territory has endured since Hurricane Maria has been something less than stellar. Now we heap insult to injury by appointing a politically connected company to do a job they seem incapable of performing in the requisite time. Let’s hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. THE NEVER ENDING WAR
I am thankful for our military and all those who have served, are currently serving and may yet serve in the future. Both of my parents served as Marines during World War II, my brother-in-law recently retired as an Air Force general after over thirty distinguished years of service, and a nephew is currently deployed in Qatar. Without a strong military, dating back to the Revolutionary war, there would be no United States of America. Of that there is no question. My question is, as one of over seventy million baby boomers coming of age, can anyone remember when we WEREN’T at war?! Thinking back on my own timeline, it would read like this: Korean Conflict, Cold War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Balkan War, War in Afghanistan and last, but not least, The War on Terror. This now dates back approximately twenty five years of uninterrupted conflict somewhere in the world, and with only brief interruptions over sixty years of involvement in wars involving the United States military. Now that we have no fewer than three military generals at the very top of our government as Chief of Staff, Secretary of Defense and national security advisor, it seems like an opportune time to examine the influence these individuals and the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have in shaping our national policies, and whether or not such influence is in our country’s best interest? The events of September 11, 2001 will remain one of the darkest hours in American history-no one who was alive that day can deny it was one of the most intense experiences of their lifetime (myself included) as we watched the twin towers crumble. History, however, has shown that this tragedy could have been avoided had our various governmental agencies tasked with keeping our country safe just communicated with one another-FBI and CIA in particular. And since that horrific day over fifteen years ago, we have been at war with El Qaeda, ISIS, Al Shabbat and countless other factions in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, The Philippines and now we are learning about our widening involvement on the African continent. A recent engagement in the African country of Niger has focused the publics attention (and, I met add, our Congress-where are you guys sleeping???) on this little known fact, and now the military has promised a “thorough investigation” into the mission that led to this loss of American lives. We are told these Special Forces operators were pursuing a militant leader, but in reality no one will ever know what their mission was. It’s clear the overall mission is development of another huge drone base out of which all military operations on the African continent will be staged. Really? And nobody knows about this except those in the know? While we seemingly immerse ourselves in another quick sand pit while still trying to extract ourselves from places like Syria and Afghanistan (without success, I might add). It seems to me that pursuing these extremists around the globe is like trying to exterminate roaches (literally and figuratively)-the more you kill the more of them seem to pop up somewhere else to wreak havoc. I understand the strategy of better to kill them over there than over here (we have our own lunatics armed with assault rifles to do that here), but I really wonder where all of this ultimately leads? We have lost countless American lives and limbs fighting these wars over these past fifteen years, and yet we are still there fighting in every single one of these countries! What have we accomplished in Afghanistan-somebody please explain that strategy to me after fifteen years? Look at Iraq, less stable today than it was under Sadam Hussein, a seething cauldron of Sunnis hating Shiites jus waiting to explode again as Saudi Arabia and Iran jockey for positions of power. Both Afghanistan and Iraq have totally corrupt governments propped up by U.S. men, equipment and money. Our disengagement would undoubtedly lead to the ultimate collapse of both countries into chaos. But would they present a clear and imminent danger to our national security>? I think that is open to debate. And now we are confronted with the ultimate military test-North Korea. It would appear from all that I have read that there is no way to win a conventional arms conflict on the peninsula, as the North Koreans boast the fourth largest standing army in the world, over 4000 artillery pieces aimed at Seoul alone, and there are some forty thousand or so American troops within this kill zone. In the meanwhile, Kin Jung Un continues to develop his nuclear capabilities and arsenal to the point of now being able to inflict grievous damage on Guam, Hawaii or even the U.S. mainland if attacked. So where does that leave the options on the table? Since we have basically laid out a red line in the sand, it frighteningly appears that the only viable option available to achieving our stated goal of never allowing North Korea to become a threat to our national security (like they aren’t already?!) would be a preemptive strike, possibly with nuclear weapons. Considering the loss of life involved in such a scenario is almost too much to conceive, not just American but hundreds of thousands of South Koreans and innocent North Koreans who would lose their lives. And what about the Chinese? Do we think they will just stand idly by while we blow their long time ally into the Stone Age without some sort of military response? I am pointing these things out not as a criticism of our military but rather our nation’s overall foreign policy strategy (or lack thereof) at the present time and where we are headed as a result. The question I am asking is that have we allowed this policy to be determined by the military and if that influence needs to be tempered by the other branches of government, in particular Congress. It frightens me and should frighten everybody when our own Senate Foreign relations Committee members don’t know we are in Niger or have any reason why we are there. “Seven Days in May” is a movie I would highly recommend for anyone who thinks the notion of the military calling the shots is so far fetched, particularly under Donald Trump’s watch. MOORE is LESS
To further demonstrate the depths to which the Republikan party has sunk, let us examine the portfolio of the latest clown to be brought on stage and embraced by the cowardly members of the United States Senate, and most importantly, Mitch McConnell. Moore was elected by the great people of Alabama to replace the Trump Attorney General appointee, Jeff Sessions, another Alabamian that the state can be proud of laying off on Washington, an appropriate revenge for the never to be forgotten defeat in the Civil War. More on him in a later blog, to be entitled “Court’s in Session”. At any rate, back to Roy Moore. If you look him up on Wikipedia, it will be another one of those “you can’t make this stuff up!” moments. His record on almost every issue from abortion rights to gay and lesbian rights to the separation of church and state, his positions and past history are so far removed from main stream thinking that’s it’s difficult to comprehend. Seriously, folks, do yourself a favor and do some research on this racist right winger, who was also, by the way, Chief Justice of the great state of Alabama……before he was removed from the bench. Now I have nothing against Alabama-I have spent a decent amount of time in the state from the picturesque north to the beaches in the south. It’s quite beautiful. However, much like I did in a recent post about the wonderful people of the Granite State and their current political position, I have to really question who in their right mind could possibly cast a vote for this guy for ANY office, much less the United States Senate. His campaign was championed by non other than Steve “Loose Cannon” Bannon, who backed Moore while the Republikan establishment backed his opponent, Luther Strange. The last time I saw Moore prior to the primary he was on stage at a rally and literally pulled a revolver out of his pocket to demonstrate his position on the Second Amendment, which his opponent had claimed was soft. I have news for you folks-nobody in Alabama is soft on our inalienable right to amass stockpiles of assault rifles, bump stocks, hand grenades and whatever else you can legally acquire to combat the zombie apocalypse which is surely going to be upon us very soon. And to think this man now represents the thinking of his constituents is again too mind boggling to comprehend. I have to believe that the people in the “Heart of Dixie” do not support the views of Roy Moore or those that espouse his insanely radical beliefs. If they do, then things are so far gone now that it probably doesn’t matter if they voted in George Wallace, another well known Alabamian who did his best to keep his state in the Stone Age. I hope this racist buffoon will be typical of the type of candidate that the Bannon led faction presents to the American people come election time as he has promised. It will hopefully make it that much easier for the Democrats to win back our Congress and restore some semblance of normalcy to nation that is teetering on the brink right now, thanks to the election of clowns like Roy Moore (is LESS). As Trump famously said during one of his campaign rallies to encourage his supporters to rough up a demonstrator “get him outta here”! Hopefully the people of Alabama will do just that TRUMP “Banking” on WALL STREET
(and once again at our expense!) Here we go again-another Republican controlled Senate piece of legislation which further weakens the rules and regulations which were put into place following the 2008 banking crash designed to protect consumers from the large corporate entities which are once again having their way with us, both literally and figuratively. His right hand man, Mike Pence, was there, naturally, to cast the tie breaking vote in favor of this legislation, which, by the way, the Republicans had fast tracked thru the process by virtue of bending Parliamentary procedure utilizing the Congressional Review Act, once again requiring only a simple majority vote rather than two-thirds for passage. Trump, who campaigned vigorously claiming he would fight the wall Street special interests has instead taken them on as his mistress, and the list of steps he has taken to bed them is indeed of interest to anyone who is concerned we are headed for another big fall in the financial markets. In addition to passing legislation favorable to these special interests, let’s once again look at the backgrounds of some of the Trump appointees to various cabinet and other high level administration posts and their direct involvement with these entities. Steve Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, Goldman Sachs hedge funder; Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, N.M. Rothschild & Sons, hedge funder; Alexander Acosta, Secretary of Labor, U.S. Century Bank; Eric Hargan, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Winston & Strawn, Securities, Acquisitions and Venture Capital; Elaine Chou, Secretary of Transportation, Bank of America, Citicorp. You get the picture? With these backgrounds and the Wall Street influence permeating this administration, the notion of draining the swamp has become building the Hoover dam!!! Let’s not forget what these people and their corporate entities did to us in 2008, while greedily lining their own pockets in the fast track mortgage business. They were responsible for a catastrophic failure in our system that nearly took down the economy of the free world, and cost the hard earned savings of literally millions of Americans at the time, including one-third erosion overnight of my own personal portfolio. And yet, instead of sending those responsible to prison, we rewarded them with a government bail out! And today, under the direction of the Trump administration, many of the laws and regulations which were passed following this debacle are being dismantled by the Republikans in Congress strictly along party lines. Everybody is giddy over the performance of stocks and the current bull market, but where will the protections be when the bottom falls out again, as it surely will? To understand the nature of the banking business today, we have only to look at the recent history of Wells Fargo. This company was responsible for bilking its own customers out of millions of dollars by virtue of setting up fake accounts in their name without any knowledge of same by the customer, among other items. Once again, instead of holding those at the top responsible, they get a slap on the wrist and golden parachutes for the executives responsible for perpetrating this fraud! And at the same time, honest hard working families and small businesses are having a very difficult time trying to borrow money for essential items like homes, college tuitions, growing their business, etc. due to the stringent requirements the banks were imposing on them. Once again, what is wrong with this picture? What is wrong is that we are continuing to widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots, and the 1% and corporate entities who make huge contributions to politicians to perpetuate their positions of power set policy for the rest of us. And guess what? These policies do not benefit the middle class in any way, shape or form! Like the proposed Trump budget and the so called tax reforms, which are nothing more than a New York City sidewalk shell game, designed, once again, to benefit the wealthiest of Americans and the large corporations who are bankrolling these politicians. Pharmaceutical companies, Oil and Gas, Wall Street Banks and Hedge Funds-the list goes on and on. The “bottom line” is this-this administration and those who support it do NOT have your best interests in mind. Their only interest lies in consolidating their hold on the wealth and power of office which allows them to continue to perpetuate this unrelenting attack on the middle class, the very backbone of our great country. The only real way to solve this problem is by attacking it at the source-vote these self serving parasites OUT OF OFFICE in the next election!! The ballot box is the only weapon we have, so please use it to clear a path forward to a better tomorrow for the sake of our children and grandchildren. IT’S NOT ALWAYS BLACK OR WHITE
Probably the most difficult issue facing our nation today is the seemingly ever widening gulf between black and white, or more properly stated, African Americans and Caucasians. Underlying causes of this rift include police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, disproportionate numbers of blacks being incarcerated in our jails which are bursting at the seams (USA has the largest number of individuals incarcerated IN THE WORLD), income inequality, high unemployment and gangs , guns and violence being experienced in almost every city of any size in America. Add to this the election of a President who seems to pander to the right wing racist faction and deliberately and methodically appeals to his so called “base” to support his troubling views and history related to the race issue. Let’s be brutally honest about this-this past election was more about white backlash to eight years of Barrack Obama than any other single issue! All you have to do to discover this for yourself is take a look around at the crowd at Trump’s next so called “rally”, or take a look on Wikepedia at the Trump Cabinet or his other appointees in other key positions. And one his so called “key advisors” is none other than Steve ‘Loose Cannon” Bannon, with a proven track record of exclusionist rhetoric and support for the far right. And Trump himself has consistently fanned the flames by involving himself in issues like the NFL protests, the current and unfortunate Gold Star Family controversy involving a Florida Congresswoman and the grieving wife and mother of one of our fallen heroes recently KIA in Niger, both African Americans. And oh, by the way, does anyone recall his remarks after Charlottesville?!? Hardly unifying. Having been raised in basically an all white environment and having lived mostly in suburbia, I have very little knowledge of what the African American experience must be like in our country today. Certainly we have made huge strides since the pioneering efforts of people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson, Dick Gregory and others like Hugh Hefner, but to claim that race relations have improved significantly since those days in the 60’s would be naïve at best. There is an entire generation of young blacks who are so disenfranchised from the system that a life of guns, drugs and crime is literally their only way out! And, unfortunately, we see the result on a daily basis with the staggering rates of violent and gun related crimes and deaths in our inner cities. In my home town of Louisville, we hear daily news reports of more shootings in the predominantly black west end, and chalk it up as “just another day in the hood”, while hoping and praying that it stays there as opposed to spreading into our mostly white enclaves. I don’t recall any of my friends being pulled over and harassed or worse because of the color of their skin, either. The fact of the matter is the only interaction I have had with any African American is an occasional hello to one of my neighbors, who has been living here for over thirty years. So how could I possibly understand their issues and concerns beyond what I read and hear in the media? Do I consider myself a racist? No, but in reality we are all somewhat racist in one way or another, intentionally or not. It is something that has to be confronted head on, not swept under the carpet for fear of alienating one group or another. We can all learn from those who serve such as la David Johnson, one of the fallen servicemen who were killed in Niger. I’m quite certain that he and his comrades in arms weren’t too concerned about the color of each others skin when they came under attack by unknown assailants, as has been the case with those who serve dating back to the Revolutionary War. These men consider themselves to be brothers, brothers in arms who would do literally anything to defend the life of the man standing beside him. Where you are from or your ethnicity doesn’t seem to matter much when the bullets start flying. Like these heroic individuals who serve and have served, we must remember that we are all in this together. The state motto of KY is “United we Stand, Divided we Fall”. These words also ring true when it comes to black and white relations in our great country, and it is incumbent on each of us every day to do our part to improve upon the advances that have been made and move forward to solve the aforementioned problems. There is no other alternative. We’re all in this together, folks. This is OUR country, and the ideals and principles upon which it was founded were never more relevant than they are today. All men ARE created equal, with liberty and justice for ALL, not just some. There is no room for compromise in this regard. Period. |
About Mike ColeBorn in Hamilton, OH but a proud Kentuckian since age two. One brother and three sisters. Suburban, Catholic middle-class upbringing. Attended Jefferson Community College and Pasadena Community College. Proud father of four and grandfather to seven, and most of all, a concerned American citizen! Are you??? Categories |