March 16, 2017

Trump habitually lying, and supporters' indifference to those lies, is the essence of republicanism

...it's the way the republican agenda has been advanced, for decades.

We've been living big republican lies for decades. Most of their politics revolves around maintaining those lies, at least in their supporters' eyes. War on terror, war on drugs, war on climate science, defending coal, oil drilling, privatization of education and healthcare lies, are enmeshed in our national policy and appropriations.

Now we are seeing full republicanism play out, with their governmental majorities enabling them to advance many of these lies into action or law. Some of them are tragicomedic, like the recent Trump lie about millions of immigrants voting illegally in the past election - put into action under vice-president Pence who hasn't bothered to pick up a phone to call even one state representative to determine the truth.

Others, like Trumps promised plan to 'defeat ISIS' are still floating around like a lost hope as his military lurches forward without direction or clarity from their commander-in-chief. A great deal of Trump and his republican enablers' lies are being employed as cover for their kleptocracy, influence peddling, and outright theft.

We can only hope to regain our only effective counter, removing them from power, because this administration and cohorts don't give a damn about the courts or the law. That's how it always been, for the entire lifetime of my political experience; a fight for the truth, over republicans' self-interested lies, designed to block progressive change and legislative accountability.

Now, we're realizing and experiencing full-republicanism; the essence of deliberate dishonesty. It's the political fight of our lives, for the truth.

March 11, 2017

Preet Bharara was fired because of his record prosecuting corruption

...apparently Bharara is being yanked from a number of high-profile cases, some involving New York's financial district, some involving Russian mobsters. Very likely, he would have been at the center of any investigation into Trump's finances, with jurisdiction over Trump Tower.

Of course, Trump had the right to do what other presidents have done and clean house, but Preet had been assured he would stay. It raises the question of what he was investigating and what he was on to. In many ways, Bharara is Trump's Archibald Cox, the special Watergate prosecutor who was fired by the Nixon White House in the ''Saturday Night Massacre''.

Okay, maybe not that big, but this mass firing has to be viewed in the prism of the ongoing investigation(s) into the Trump White House. There isn't anything to be done about it, but it shouldn't go unremarked on. Without replacements in place, there are myriad, ongoing cases and investigations affected, undoubtedly many critical issues left in the lurch.

Maybe the sudden purge is just part of the jitters Trump's developed since he made his 'wiretapping' charge against Barack Obama. Trump had better hope no one finds there's any truth to his claims. In order to snoop on Trump, the Obama Justice Dept. would need a warrant. If a warrant exists, and if the probable cause needed for a judge to approve one is revealed to Congress or the public, the entire bottom will fall out of his presidency.

Maybe he can see the dragnet closing in. Makes sense, from his standpoint, to get rid of this leading corruption expert.


https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/840670663329370112