What’s REALLY In The Mueller Report?

OK, so the Mueller Report is finally completed.  Will we see it?  Will Congress?  Or are we supposed to just take the word of an extreme right-wing political hack expressly placed into office by tRump to protect himself? “Coverup General” Barr “auditioned” for the roll by stating on record that a President could not, by definition, obstruct justice.  Because he IS the law?  What?  Nixon said something similar, and we know how that worked out.

At least 16 members of the tRump campaign have had over 100 contacts with at least one  hostile government who has hacked into our voting machines, electric grid, and voter rolls: Russia.  Mueller’s investigation led to the indictments of 34 people thus far, including eight Americans affiliated with the tRump campaign or administration, and three Russian companies.

And, with the Mercer family’s Cambridge Analytica sharing the most confidential and prized stolen Facebook data and polling information with the Russians — so the Russians could maximize their influence and install tRump — we can suspect that he was placed into our White House as an asset.  Yet, magically, Barr says “no collusion”.

Trump Team Russian Connections

UPDATE Mar 3 2017.  Washington Post lists the Trump people in the Russia web.

So many of Trump’s close inner circle of advisers and appointees have close ties with Russia, have met with Russian operatives and/or ambassador, or have lucrative business deals with Russian oligarchs, real estate or Rosnift (the Russian state owned oil company) that it’s becoming complex to keep score.  Below is an informal list, with very brief descriptions of each player.  (Strike-throughs indicate that this person has already resigned or been removed from their position.)  This list is expected to get longer as more information is revealed about the Trump camp.

I AM Part of the Resistance (by Thomas J. Gray)

UPDATE: I’ve received notification by Thomas J. Gray that he is the author of this piece.  By the time I had seen it on facebook, it had been added to – so I am updating this post to more accurately reflect the original wording.  I liked much of what had been added, and I understand that in the passion of those first horrible days, many felt similar feelings and simply added their own parts.   This phrase was added:

The survival of our democracy and our way of life demands that we stand and resist. So I will Resist. I AM part of the Resistance, and I AM proud of it.

Here is the original, by Thomas J. Gray:

How GW Bush Stole the 2000 Election

Democratic elections have always been messy; democracy itself is inherently messy.  And there have probably always been shenanigans to be found in the process.  But the “election” of George W. Bush was probably one of the most egregious election scams we’d seen up until that time.  Bush lost the popular vote by 540,000 votes.  But things got really strange in Florida, where George’s brother, Jeb was Governor.

GOP Voter Suppression in Florida

Governor Jeb Bush instructed his Secretary of State Katherine Harris to purge the voting rolls of thousands of voters.

12,000 eligible voters – a number twenty-two times larger than George W. Bush’s 537 vote triumph over Al Gore – were wrongly identified as convicted felons and purged from the voting rolls in Florida, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. African Americans, who favored Gore over Bush by 86 points, accounted for 11 percent of the state’s electorate but 41 percent of those purged.. Rolling Stone

But that didn’t stop the voter suppression efforts.  The fact that voter suppression had been used to successfully “elect” a United States president was not lost on the Republican party.

Why Putin Wanted to Elect Trump

Hidden beneath all the chaos of the first three weeks of the Trump administration — the  questionably legal Executive Orders, the inept wording and rollout of the Muslim ban, the tweet ravings against actors and department stores, the insults against our intelligence community and our allies, the provocation of China, the assault on our environment,  and the laughable outright lies uttered by spokespeople — there continues the quietly rowing scandal of the Trump team’s close ties with Russia.

We can presently recognize several reasons why Putin wanted Trump as US President, but since the Director of the CIA has been replaced with a Trump loyalist, the investigation has probably officially been stopped and silenced.   However, many in the intelligence community do not trust the Trump administration because of their many ties to Russia,  and these agencies are providing the United States media information via internal leaks which may help us save democracy.  

17 different intelligence agencies have confirmed that Russia manipulated our election to place Trump in the White House.  But why?

Our first rule always applies: Follow The Money.

But let’s dig deeper…initially, there appear to be three reasons: Territory, Oil Money & Sanctions, and Influence over & Disruption of the United States.

So for now, lets start by taking a brief look at the backstory of the USSR and it’s empire.

The History Behind the 2016 Coup

Sometimes it’s challenging to decide where to start with a Backstory.  History’s threads weave through a lot of current events.  But the coup of November 2016 has a somewhat clear place to start.  Let’s look at a bit of history for the backstory.

In 1933, wealthy right-wing  corporatists conspired to execute a coup and oust FDR, disliking his New Deal policies of helping the poor, ending child labor – and his decision to stop using the US Military to support oppressive corporations like United Fruit in the third world.

Their goal was to emulate the corporate fascism of Hitler and Mussolini that was happening in Europe at that time, instead of what was shaping up to become a liberal democracy.

General Smedley Butler

They approached Marine General Smedley Butler, the most highly respected Military officer in the US at the time,  for assistance — but they guessed wrong.  He remained loyal and gathered details, then, reported the treasonous conspirators.  The attempted coup, now often called The Wall Street Putsch,  failed.  There were some hearings, but, the House was reluctant to investigate such wealthy pillars of society.  In fact, being wealthy, the plotters were not held to account. (If you do a search for “FDR coup Gen Smedly Butler”online, you’ll find a large amount of information.) For the most factual read,  Here are transcripts of General Butler’s testimony and later interviews giving tons of detail.

Next time, a more subtle plot had to be devised.

Wealthy corporatists  came up with a devious plan, slowly building their control over government over several decades through electing conservative Republicans and “Blue Dog” Democrats.

A New, Delicate Balance of Activism and Love

Those who are paying attention are aware that the US government will be taken over by true fascism come Jan 21. A pro-torture, pro-war, racist, white nationalist, anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti LGBTQ, anti-civil rights, anti-free speech regime has committed a coup (with the help of far-right elements within the FBI and Russian hackers). According to the NSA, the 2016 elections were hacked and manipulated  — even though the majority of citizens are repulsed by their ideas.  And even though their opponent has, at this writing, about 1.5 MILLION more votes, and counting.

Those in government and the press have accepted the results and are readying us to comply with the new fascism.  But we will not.

We are now being called to walk in a very specific state of consciousness: we who are loving, caring, people cannot allow ourselves to be drawn down into the hate and violence of the tRump regime and  his “brownshirt” supporters. But neither can we just hope that meditation, staying positive, and remaining centered will protect the defenseless.  History shows us that all our beautiful energy cannot always stop monsters.

This is Why We Are in the Street

Now that Trump has won the electoral college (and lost the popular vote) in the United States election, this man who has unleashed so much racist, misogynist and xenophobic hatred will soon be installed as president of a vast, multi-cultural nation.  And the people are in the streets worldwide. #NotMyPresident

I am seeing conservatives post on social media criticizing the massive nationwide demonstrations. Many implying that the citizenry are merely “upset that their side lost”.

 

No.

• Have you not seen the KKK victory parades? 
• Have you not seen homes defaced with swastikas?
• Have you not seen the nooses left (often with black dolls lynched) in peoples’ yards?
• Have you not seen the children of color being bullied and taunted — often by cruel white adults – that they will soon be deported?
• Have you not seen trolls attacking Jews on social media, saying that tRump will soon “re-start the ovens”?
• Have you not seen graffitti with “Fu*k N*ggers” sprayed on cars, homes and businesses?  People of color are being told to “get to the back of the bus”.
• Have you not seen peaceful Muslims threatened?
• Have you not seen the assaults and even murders of people of color which began on the night of the election?
• Have you not seen the attacks upon the LGBTQIA community (“We got a new president you f*cking faggots”)
• Have you not seen men threatening women – especially gay women – with the slogan “Trump that Bitch”?

Yes, the word “tRump” is now a threatening euphemism for lynching, rape, beatings and murder.

Bernie says Hillary on worst day better than any GOP on best – The Supreme Court

Anyone who’s read this blog for any amount of time knows that I’m an enthusiastic Bernie supporter.

Bernie — plus a HUUUGE  turn-out for Progressives in the Senate and House  — could mean a GREAT change for the citizens of this country:

 

• Imagine an economy designed to actually serve the citizens instead of only the elite.
• Imagine FDR’s Second Bill of Rights becoming reality.
• Imagine getting money out of politics and having an actual democracy.
• Imagine the end of “too big to fail”, breaking up the big banks, and ending monopolies — especially that of our of our media institutions, so that the citizenry could have a chance to hear diverse opinions and values.
• Imagine single payer health care, freeing us all from the profiteering insurance, medical and pharmacy complexes.
• Imagine restoring our infrastructure, with the federal government creating good jobs as the CCC and other government programs that lifted our citizenry out of poverty in the 1930s.
• Imagine our country getting very serious about cleaning up our environment, tackling it like we did the race to land on the moon back in the 1960s.
• Imagine our taxes actually being spent on making ALL our lives better, creating more EQUALITY and SERVICES for ALL — instead of subsidizing multinational corporations, polluting corporations, Big-AG, and “defense” contractors.
• Imagine restoring the tax rate on the wealthy plutocrat/polluter class to what it was during Eisenhower, when the US economy created the biggest middle-class in history: with unions insuring good wages, good benefits, vacation and retirement for the workers who actually built this country.

Democratic Socialism and Un-Democratic US Oligarchs

Let’s talk a little bit about Democratic Socialism, such as found in Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Who doesn’t want a society that is based upon equality?

Who doesn’t want a society where each member is well educated and healthy?

Why do you think Democratic Socialist societies are alway — always– listed in the top Happiest Countries on Earth?  Every Year.

It is because the taxes they collectively pay are used to provide each member of their society with high quality health care, high quality education, and social services.