monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Unlike Senator Susan Collins, who took pages upon pages of text on national television to tell us something we already knew, I will cut right to the chase: I am out of the Republican Party.

(...)

That it is necessary to place limitations, including self-limitations, on the exercise of power is—or was—a core belief among conservatives. No longer. Raw power, wielded so deftly by Senator Mitch McConnell, is exercised for its own sake, and by that I mean for the sake of fleecing gullible voters on hot-button social issues so that Republicans may stay in power. Of course, the institutional GOP will say that it countenances all of Trump’s many sins, and its own straying from principle, for good reason (including, of course, the holy grail of ending legal abortion).

(...)

But whatever my concerns about liberals, the true authoritarian muscle is now being flexed by the GOP, in a kind of buzzy, steroidal McCarthyism that lacks even anti-communism as a central organizing principle. The Republican Party, which controls all three branches of government and yet is addicted to whining about its own victimhood, is now the party of situational ethics and moral relativism in the name of winning at all costs.

Why I’m Leaving the Republican Party

October 1st, 2018

A record number of people registered to vote in the midterm elections on National Voter Registration Day last week, surpassing the previous record set during the 2016 presidential campaign.


More than 800,000 people registered to vote this year as part of National Voter Registration Day, which fell on Sept. 25. The corresponding campaign had aimed to register 300,000 people.

“Some us were saying, ‘Hey, maybe we’ll hit 400 or 500,000,” says Brian Miller, who coordinates National Voter Registration Day in his role as executive director of Nonprofit VOTE. “No one that I know of thought we would surpass 800,000 voter registrations. That surprised all of us. But I think it’s a sign of the interest in the midterms and the interest in having this unified day of action.”

I can't help it if you have the memory of a flea.

Vile Antisemite Linda ‘Sharia’ Sarsour Says Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ‘Works For Us On the Inside’

1 – Gillibrand broke from the mainstream of the Democratic party when she withdrew support from the “Israel Anti-Boycott Act,” which opposes the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel.

2 – Gillibrand provided key support for President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, which the Israeli government strongly opposed over security concerns. She also opposed Trump’s decision to leave the Iran accord in hopes of negotiating a better deal.

3 – Gillibrand glowingly praised virulent anti-Israel activist and radical Linda Sarsour.

4 – Gillibrand sided with an anti-Israel activist who claimed the Israeli government does not respect Palestinian rights. She also criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who offered the Palestinians a state on numerous occasions, as “not hav[ing] a plan for peace.”

5 – Gillibrand voted against confirming Israel supporter David Friedman as President Trump’s ambassador to Israel.

So essentiaoy Gillibrand has supported extremely reasonable positions,

What was the final consensus:

I didn’t know that the P word was considered racist, but then again I’m not sure I ever heard it used......but I won’t be using it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he does not plan to fire Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department official in charge of the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

“No I don’t, no,” Trump told reporters when asked if he had plans to fire the No. 2 Justice Department official. Rosenstein was flying with Trump on Air Force One after widespread speculation just weeks ago that Trump could fire him after a news report that he had questioned Trump’s fitness and wanted to record conversations with him.

US President Donald Trump has said the sex assault claims made against his new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh were a "hoax" and "all made up".

The Republican president condemned Democratic calls to impeach the judge as an "insult to the American public".

The Democratic leadership has distanced itself from the calls by two of its rank-and-file lawmakers.

Justice Kavanaugh was confirmed by the Senate on Saturday, in a 50-48 vote that followed strictly partisan lines.

As he left the White House for an event in Florida on Monday, Mr Trump said: "So I've been hearing that now they're thinking about impeaching a brilliant jurist.

"A man that did nothing wrong, a man that was caught up in a hoax that was set up by the Democrats using the Democrats' lawyers and now they want to impeach him."

He added: "I think it's an insult to the American public."

"The American public has seen this charade, has seen this dishonesty by the Democrats."

He said the conservative judge was "a top scholar, top student, top intellect and who did nothing wrong and there was no corroboration of any kind".

The allegations against the nominee were "all made up, it was fabricated and it was a disgrace," Mr Trump said.

The 53-year-old justice was sworn in on Saturday evening in a private ceremony at the Supreme Court.

On Monday evening, Mr Trump will host another swearing-in ceremony for him at the White House.

Meanwhile, Christine Blasey Ford - who said the judge sexually assaulted her at a house party in 1982 when they were high school students - has been unable to move back home because of "unending" death threats, according to one of her lawyers.

Meanwhile, Christine Blasey Ford - who said the judge sexually assaulted her at a house party in 1982 when they were high school students - has been unable to move back home because of "unending" death threats, according to one of her lawyers.

08-Oct-18



Trump's numbers

38% strongly approve


38%strongly disapprove


51% total approve


47% total disapprove

Democrats Are Failing On Russia For The Same Reason They Failed On Kavanaugh

Republicans not only were able to demonstrate the allegations against Kavanaugh were wholly unsupported by any evidence, but they began to reveal Democratic skullduggery that may have been the proximate cause of the circus the hearings became. I am not sure I’d recommend the committee continue to investigate, but I’d be very interested in seeing the communications between the offices of Feinstein and Hirono and Ford’s attorneys. I’d wager there’s a lot more to that story.

In both the Russia and Kavanaugh cases, Democrats demanded investigations, thinking their misbehavior would not be revealed. But Republican persistence has instead exposed the Democrats’ misbehavior and bad faith.

Now the Democrats are on notice. Gin up an investigation and the Republicans will find out. Sow the wind, and Republicans will be sure you reap the whirlwind.

The Democrats created this ****. The Republicans are now shoving them in that ****.