The KELLYANNE and FAUX NEWS COUP
While I was hoping both of the aforementioned propaganda outlets were becoming even more irrelevant to the national debate regarding the ongoing investigations into the Trump campaign and collusion with the Russians and the White House over possible obstruction charges related to same, they just refuse to stop the noise. Just over the weekend, the ultimate insider, Kellyanne Conway, while doing an interview with another Faux News stooge named Jesse Waters decrying the ongoing Russia investigation was “unfairly stacked against (Trump), “the fix was in from the beginning”, “pro Hillary” and so on and so on and so on. In the meanwhile, Waters states that “the investigation is part of a plot to destroy trump’s presidency for political purposes and that “we may now well have a COUP on our hand”, while the banner beneath shouts out to all “A Coup in America?” while continually streaming across the screen. Of course, he has subsequently come under intense criticism for even bringing up the word, and worse yet to use it in a way that has no relationship to the true meaning of the word. Political Scientist Marcel Dirsus wrote “there is no coup in America, just a de-facto state propaganda outlet named Fox (only referred to in this blog as “FAUX” News due to the continuous stream of untruths that emanate forth from their broadcasts) News”. Brian Klaas, a fellow in comparative politics at the London School of Economics said this statement and use of the word coup “is so dangerous for democracy-it’s precisely the language you see before actual purges take place”. This is precisely what Faux News and Kellyanne Conway are really trying to accomplish-to take the focus off of the ongoing investigation because they know that the final outcome will not be favorable for Trump when all is said and done. They will do or say anything to discredit Robert Mueller and his team as they continue their diligent work, and fellow Republikans in Congress follow suit by attacking the credibility of the inquiry and those conducting it, including the FBI and Justice Department. I wrote a post over the weekend regarding another dangerous and misguided attempt by this administration to ban the use of seven different terms by the Center For Disease Control entitled “The Thought Police Have Arrived” and thereby negate as opinion scientific evidence and dismiss politically sensitive social issues such as gay & lesbian and minority rights to suit their right wing political agenda. The Trump administration appears to be hell bent on foisting (any Curb your Enthusiasm fans out there?) their ideological vision of America and that of their Christian Conservative predominantly white male base upon the two-thirds of us that totally reject the politics of divisiveness and vitriol that have marked Trump’s time in office to date. As I have stated before, the way to take back this country from them lies in the power of your vote and your voices of reason. Let’s make sure we sweep the house clean in ‘eighteen. VOTE THE BUMS OUT! And stop patronizing those advertisers who continue to prop up FAUX NEWS, hitting them in the pocketbook where it hurts. OMG OMAROSA!
There has been recent news from the White House that an Assistant to the President (more on this title later), Omarosa Manigualt Newman (that’s quite a mouthful!), had resigned to, as Sarah “HuckleBerry” Sanders stated ‘to pursue other interests”. This was following several reports that after being dismissed by Trump Chief of Staff General Kelly she went on a profanity laced tirade, demanded to see the president, and had to be escorted off of the grounds after trying to gain access to Trump in the White House. Of course, she has subsequently denied these reports (wonder if that has anything to do with the continuance of her $179,700 annual salary?) Seriously-she is still being paid despite being either fired or having resigned, whichever story you choose to believe. In my business career that never happened. Hush money? You can decide for yourself, but more on this particular individual and the ongoing hypocrisy of this White House. Omarosa Manigault Newman’s (hereto after referred to as OMN for purposes of brevity) apparent qualification for this high paying government position was being a contestant on Trumps reality show “the Apprentice”. Her official position was Director of Communications for the Office of the Public Liason (WTF?), and her duties involved working with black colleges and to insure diversity in the military, whatever that means. She also had previously enjoyed basically unlimited access to Trump, her old friend, in the Oval Office but all that changed when General Kelly became Chief of Staff and tried to restore some semblance of order to the chaos he encountered. This limitation may have been the triggering mechanism for her departure. At any rate, OMN now states that working in this White House was very difficult because, and I quote, “most of these aides never worked with any minorities (me) and didn’t know how to interact with them (me)”. No kidding? Just take a look sometime at the Trump team-you’ll never see so many middle age or older white folks in one place since your last visit to Cracker Barrell! And yet our favorite carnival barker, Sarah Huckleberry is quoted as saying “we have a really diverse team across the board”; REALLY?!? Where are they hiding? The treatment of and attitude toward women and minorities of Donald Trump is truly despicable, and the only surprise in this story is that it took so long for this woman to resign? Once again, it must be said, follow the money trail. I’m sure there are reasons that go back to her appearance on ‘the Apprentice” back in 2004 that warrant looking into regarding her relationship with Donald Trump and what qualifications brought her to be placed in the position in the White House she just “resigned”. I think there’s a lot more to this story than meets the eye, and I don’t believe it’s about diversity. The THOUGHT POLICE HAVE ARRIVED
As if things weren’t scary enough with all of the damage and disarray being inflicted by the Trump administration and the ongoing investigations into his collusion and obstruction during the 2016 election, an item caught my eye this morning off of page one that has really ominous implications. It is being reported by The Washington Post that a senior member of the Center For Disease Control Office of Financial Services informed a meeting of policy analysts in Atlanta that the following words were hereby FORBIDDEN , including “fetus”, “transgender”, “diversity” and “science based” in any future budget documents. In other words, let’s just pretend in our alternate reality that abortion does not exist, there is no such thing as gays or transgenders, no blacks, Hispanics or other minorities and any claims that issues like climate change are based on scientific fact are opinion not fact. In one fell swoop, all of Trump’s homogeneous dreams are realized! The “base” will be overjoyed, and Christian Conservatives will be singing hymns to the heavens. But what about the other two-thirds of us? Do we continue to stand by while agency by agency this President and his lily white appointees dismantle and destroy the principles and ideals upon which this nation was founded? The other transformation taking place under the radar being aggressively pursued by this administration and the Republikan majority in Congress is the stacking of judicial nominees and appointees with conservative judges who will further their far right agenda. If you look carefully at the qualifications some of these appointees bring to the table other than their political persuasions you will find them lacking to say the least. All of this taking place against the backdrop of the circumspect maneuvering undertaken by Mitch McConnell to get Neil Gorsuch appointed to the Supreme Court after refusing to bring President Osama’s nominee up for a vote, and obstructing many of his court appointments in order to stack the deck in the Republikans favor. These appointments will affect our society for years to come on the key issues that absolutely eat at the very fiber of Christian Conservatism, abortion rights, gay and lesbian rights, transgender rights and immigration issues such as inclusion of Muslims. These are the very same issues that the aforementioned banning of words intends to marginalize or worse yet pretend don’t exist. It’s bad enough that this President and his administration are openly hostile to the media, but now the thought police are coming to control what we read and hear. That should be enough to scare the crap out of all of us who care about our democracy and are concerned about the direction our country is headed under the disastrous reign of King Donald to date. WAKE UP AMERICA BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!!!! GREATEST SHELL GAME EVER!!
As defined by Wikipedia: “Shell game-is portrayed as a gambling game, but in reality, when a wager for money is made, it is almost always a confidence trick used to perpetrate fraud. In confidence trick slang, this swindle is referred to as a “short con” because it is quick and easy to pull off.” I posted a blog a few weeks back entitled “Tax Reform (or Bait & Switch)” regarding the proposed Republikan tax plan and the bait & switch nature of the bill and its impact on the lower and middle class income families in this country. Well now, this Christmas present for corporate America and the very wealthy disguised as a tax break for the middle class is one step closer to becoming a reality, unless a couple of more courageous Republikan Senators put the good of their constituents ahead of Trump’s win at any cost driven agenda. With the defeat of Roy Moore and the seating of a Democratic Senator from Alabama to take place after Christmas recess, this piece of terrible legislation is being fast tracked thru Congress in order to give Trump any kind of legislative victory as his first abysmal year in office comes to an end. They are terrified of Trump, and will undoubtedly line up behind him and their party banner to get this done. Shame on all of you! As I have previously stated, when real people begin to see the real numbers involved, there will be hell to pay at the polls next November when mid term elections roll around. This bill will be their legacy, just like workhouses and Ebenezer Scrooge. The overriding emphasis driving this piece of legislation is to stimulate the economy in terms of growth and spending, thereby creating new jobs and economic opportunities for all Americans according to the Republikans. I look at the economy and say it is doing very well, thank you, and that corporate America is reaping record profits. Donald Trump takes unjustified credit for this and congratulatory phone calls about it from his good friend Vladimir Putin, but the economic projections upon which this supposed stimulus package are based are themselves inaccurate and skewed to make the impact of these changes appear far more optimistic than actual number crunching over the life of this bill. To say nothing of adding over a trillion $’s to our national debt, something they promised they would never do. I say the real reason for passing this bill is to further line the pockets of the corporate donors and the one per centers who got this buffoon elected in the first place, and has nothing to do with tax relief for the middle class. My twenty six year old daughter who has a $20,000 plus college loan debt (like so many others) and earns less than $50,000 will no longer be able to deduct the interest paid on this loan, but Koch Industries gets to reduce their corporate tax liability by almost 20%! What is wrong with this picture? Beware of the sidewalk hucksters who would have you believe there is a ball under one of the shells, because chances are he already has your wallet in his pocket along with it!!! WHITE HOUSE or KREMLIN WEST?
Maybe I’m a victim of my Baby Boomer upbringing during that period of time generally referred to as the “Cold War” (there really wasn’t anything cold about it), but Russia was the clear adversary, from the space race to the proliferation of nuclear weapons to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought us all to the very brink of extinction. This was the world we grew up. But a Hollywood actor named Ronald Reagan changed all of that with his vision of a free & democratic Europe, the “Star Wars” defense initiative, which culminated essentially in bankrupting the then Soviet Union. It also essentially ended the Cold War after nearly forty years as the Soviet Union itself unraveled and left Russia standing alone as a now second tier power. The good guys had won a tremendous victory over the oppression and totalitarian rule of the “Evil Empire”. Fast forward to this moment in time some thirty years later and it would appear the tables have turned completely. In the year since Donald Trump became President, Russia, under the iron fisted rule of a murderous thug named Vladimir Putin, has expanded their influence throughout the world while the role of the United States is being gradually diminished by the gutting of the State Department currently under way. First there was Crimea, which Russia unilaterally usurped without any difficulty; next came the incursion into Ukraine (let us not forget the two hundred plus victims of the airliner Russian made and delivered anti-aircraft missile downed over sovereign Ukraine); next Syria, where under the guise of fighting ISIS terrorists Putin propped up the regime of another murderous thug (gassing his own people!) Bashar el-Assad. What begin as a civilian uprising against a brutal dictator as a part of the so called “Arab Spring” thus ends with Assad still in power and the Russians firmly entrenched in the Middle East. Worst of all, there is mounting evidence that Putin and his government directly interfered in the 2016 presidential election in order to defeat long time adversary Hillary Clinton, and colluded with the Trump campaign in order to achieve this goal. There are numerous ongoing investigations into these allegations by Congress and the Justice Department (when are these going to end? We need answers, not more questions Mr. Mueller!), and already indictments have been handed down for key administration personnel like Mike Flynn. Numerous social media outlets such as twitter and face book were deluged with Russian propaganda during the campaign, and the Wikipedia leaked documents have been traced back to them. Despite all of this, Donald Trump has steadfastly refused to acknowledge Russian meddling, naively accepting Putin’s absurd denials and actually speaks highly of Putin, who obviously has learned to play him like a fine Russian fiddle. I have maintained all along that there is an underlying reason for this behavior, and I believe it is financially driven. Literally hundreds of billions of dollars are changing hands, and Trump has been involved in Russia as a businessman for decades. Follow the money. It is also possible there is something more sinister involved here also, like blackmail. Let us not forget that Putin headed up Russian intelligence, and one of their favorite ploys was blackmailing potential victims through the use of a sexual encounter which was videotaped and then used to threaten the individual involved with disclosure should they refuse to cooperate. Based upon the allegations about Trump’s sexual harassment issues that have dogged him throughout the campaign and have been revived by the #metoo movement, and the fact that he held a Miss Universe pageant some years back in Moscow could lead one down a path nobody has been willing to investigate. All I know is that Trump and his entire posture toward Russia and Vladimir Putin is not only difficult to understand, but very dangerous for the United States of America. For all of our sakes. Let’s get to the bottom of these allegations. Either Trump is guilty of collusion and obstruction and should be removed from office as appropriate or he isn’t. Why it is taking so long is difficult to understand, and every day that goes by is another day that we grow weaker while our adversary grows stronger. Our current posture toward this adversary is both naïve and foolish, and the very future of our Republic could be at stake. I’d hate to think that our White House has become KREMLIN WEST. The EAST WING
I have been watching an excellent program called “The West Wing”, a television series that ran ten or so years ago and was all about life inside the West Wing and the White House. It was an outstanding production, and won multiple awards for excellence with actors and actresses who made their roles very believable, from President Bartlett on down to his personal assistant, Charlie. As I watch the program, I am struck by just how far this great country has fallen in just a little over a decade, with shows like “House of Cards” and “Game of Thrones” ruling the media airways with tales of conspiracies, treachery and mayhem, with few if any characters exhibiting any good qualities or sense of decency and concern for their fellow man. Funny how our choices of entertainment mirror our society at any given moment in time, and that they are very dark and depressing at present. Our previous administrations, I sincerely believe, be they Republican or Democratic, were comprised of people who put the requirements of country above all else in most cases, and were very conscientious about their duties and responsibilities as related to the betterment of our great nation. They were guided by the same basic democratic principles as our founding fathers, and in most cases were decent and caring people who had many ideological differences and political battles over policy issues but at the end of the day could compromise when the good of the country was at stake. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said today of the current administration. It more reflects a television reality show than our government, and is staffed with people from the top down who DO NOT have the best interests of this nation at heart, but rather the sole objective of advancing their own right wing Christian Conservative and racist agenda while at the same time lining their own and the coffers of the big business and corporate donors who enable the perpetuation of this agenda thru their monetary influence. Lies and attacks on anyone who disagrees with this agenda or dares to speak out against it. Our State Department is in shambles, and our influence around the world rapidly waning while hot spots like the Middle East and Korean peninsula continue to threaten to turn into full scale warfare at any moment. Our Congress is weak and ineffectual, and we have allowed one of our greatest adversaries, Russia, to become a serious security threat both foreign and domestic just a few short years after they were reduced to a fractured group of former Soviet Republics. And Donald Trump refuses to even acknowledge that Russia is indeed responsible for meddling in the 2016 election that in all probability won him the presidency over Hillary Clinton, while all the while an internal investigation by the Justice Department into these and other allegations of collusion and obstruction drags endlessly on. When and where will it all end?! What we have here is not a West Wing but an East Wing, sort of like opposite George from an old Seinfeld episode where everything was the opposite of what it was supposed to be. America deserves better. SARAH “HUCKLEBERRY” SANDERS I just forced myself to watch two minutes of the White House press briefing starring Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the official voice of our government, and the Washington press corps that covers the White House. I have nicknamed her “Huckleberry” because there are very few things that she has to say that are worth listening to, and her performances at the podium on behalf of this president are disheartening, to say the least. There is no such thing as ‘truth to power” in this administration, and there have been more lies and misinformation put out by her than Pinocchio as a result of her trying to defend the indefensible, Donald Trump. The way she talks down to the entire press corp. during these so called briefings brings to mind Sister Mary Holy water teaching my second grade class at Our Lady of Lourdes. I honestly don’t know why these professional journalists even bother showing up, other than the fact that every one of these briefings is better than reality TV from an entertainment standpoint. Her responsibility as Press Secretary, as I understand it, is to disseminate the Presidents message to the American people and the world, and to keep the media informed of issues or items which constitute the Presidents agenda and how they relate to Congress, other countries, etc... Instead, with Sarah Sanders, we get misinformation, lies and attacks on the very press who are there to cover the story. The adversarial relationship that has developed between this White House in general and she in particular with the media is nothing short of incredible, all things considered. I have been watching a television series called “the West Wing” in which the Press Secretary, (played by Emmy Award winning actress Allison Janney) is a conscientious and patriotic member of the White House staff who maintains a professional and yet human relationship with the reporters doing their jobs by covering the White House. I contrast her grace and diplomacy with that of “Huckleberry” Sanders, and it is as different as watching “House of Cards” and all of the bad things that show represents about government. How she can stand there day after day and defend the actions of her boss, a man who has been accused by some fifteen different women of inappropriate sexual behavior and been heard uttering extremely offensive sexist remarks about females? How can she stand there and flat out lie on his behalf while calling herself a Christian? It will be interesting to see how long she lasts in this thankless job, working for a president who seems more intent on destroying than building. Her predecessors didn’t fare too well either……. In the meanwhile, take what she says for what it is-Trump speak with little relation to fact or the truth in most cases! And thank the stars for our free press and the media-without their vigilance, this administration would really be running off the rails full speed ahead. To all of our detriment. Don’t let the talk of “fake news” confuse the facts-most of the so called “fake news” originates at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue these days. SANDY HOOK-FIVE YEARS LATER
It has been five years since the horrific shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT and since that time we have witnessed one after another of the same type insanity-Orlando, San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Charleston and on and on. And during that same period of time, despite the fact that a number of state and local governments have enacted their own legislation to regulate firearms, the Congress of the United States, including both House and Senate, has done absolutely nothing despite the majority of their constituents favoring such legislation. The reason is quite simple, really. The number of members of Congress who are beholden to the NRA both financially and politically is staggering, and they are all hiding behind the Second Amendment. While their fellow citizens are being gunned down in the streets by weapons of mass destruction such as assault rifles and bump stocks, they are cashing lobbyists’ checks and planning their next reelection campaign! And make no mistake about the NRA-they are in business to SELL WEAPONS, period. The seemingly endless claims of Second amendment rights and the right of the citizens to bear arms is only a smokescreen to cover the real mission-sell more guns and ammunition. After all, it seems that only having seven million or so assault rifles in circulation right now leaves a lot of room for market growth for Remington, Smith & Wesson, Glock, etc., etc. I wrote a post shortly after the Las Vegas shooting calling for an outright ban on the sale of assault rifles and bump stocks entitled “the NRA is KILLING US ALL”, and to date nothing has been done on either count. The rest of the world used to look at the United States for leadership and example. There is no other country on the face of this planet that is as enamored as we with possessing firearms, and no other country in the world has a homicide rate like ours where firearms are involved. These are not statistics we should be proud of. Our moral leadership on this issue takes a back seat to profit and votes. And the NRA. The Congress of the United States of America needs to step up and begin to realize that the Second Amendment is not a blank check-it is being paid for every single day by real human lives that are being lost as a result of their inaction on further regulating weapons of mass destruction such as assault rifles and bump stocks. Unless you are going to war, there is no reason to own such a weapon. I submit anyone who hunts with such a weapon isn’t a sportsman at all. I guess a piece of an antler is trophy enough after blowing the deer apart with .552 rounds! In closing, the way to commemorate those who have lost their lives in these terrible incidents is to do the best we can to insure they will not have died in vain by enacting more responsible gun legislation through our elected officials. Our vote is our power as citizens, more powerful than the NRA and all of their lobbyists! If they won’t support the majority position, VOTE THEM OUT!!! Their voting records on gun issues are posted for all to see by the NRA themselves, that’s how influential they have become in Congress. That alone should scare the hell out of everyone…… ere to edit. |
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 |