It"s Called "Justice"

This just in.

The Attorney General/White House spokesman Bill Barr has presented the White House spin on the Mueller Report, before we see it naturally.

It turns out the Big MAGAt , known for being “very strong”, was suffering emotional stress and was “frustrated and angry” at the Russia investigation.

The Attorney General/White House spokesman Bill Barr, by divine insight of con-servatism, knew the Big MAGAt’s emotional state without the pesky trouble of an actual interview from the worst liar in the history of the United States.

Well, that changes everything.

What this clearly means is it was not obstruction of justice, it was just “fighting back”. It’s about the delicate dictator’s “feelings”, you know.

Another shocking revelation was displayed this morning, especially in light of his open partisan bias in denouncing the Russia investigation in his job application letter.

The Attorney General/White House spokesman Bill Barr represented the "independence" of our Justice Department by parroting “No collusion, no collusion” several times in his press conference.

Why does that ring a bell? “Collusion” still isn’t a legal term, but who cares when the political message is clear, amirite?

And let’s not forget to blame the “enemy of the people” in all this:

“As he entered into office, and sought to perform his responsibilities as President, federal agents and prosecutors were scrutinizing his conduct before and after taking office, and the conduct of some of his associates. At the same time, there was relentless speculation in the news media about the President's personal culpability. Yet, as he said from the beginning, there was in fact no collusion. And as the Special Counsel's report acknowledges, there is substantial evidence to show that the President was frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks. Nonetheless, the White House fully cooperated with the Special Counsel's investigation...”  ~ Attorney General/White House spokesman Bill Barr

Of course, Attorney General/White House spokesman Bill Barr would never lie. "Fully cooperated” means firing, and threatening to fire, the investigators while refusing to be interviewed under oath. Don the Con's lawyers' written statements claimed over 30 instances when his "greatest memory" couldn't remember, or didn't recall. He had “no independent recollection” where he was on the day of  the Trump Tower meeting with Russian agents. (He was in Trump Tower that day.)

And don't you know it should be treason for investigators to be "scrutinizing his conduct"? It's not like Dirty Don is a Democrat, for Satan's sake!

After all, the AG/White House spokesman’s job is to provide political cover for the leader he has sworn to loyally protect and defend. He was also clear about who Mueller worked for. And it was NOT the American people, silly ones.

Mueller worked only for Attorney General/White House spokesman Bill Barr, who works only for Trump. Got it?

It’s called “justice”. Get over it.

Barr may have sworn to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States”, but what he really meant was to support, defend, protect and serve the interests of Dirty Don the Big MAGAt.

This affirms our sacred national standard of power and justice, “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” This applies to Republicans only, obviously.

The short Q&A session was abruptly terminated after this highly inappropriate question was asked. “Is it an impropriety for you to come out and sort of spin the report before people are able to read it?”

"No", was Attorney General/White House spokesman Bill Barr's parting lie to the press, as he walked off.

Isn’t that just what the enemy of the people would ask?

Not That Different

Here's how the enemies of democracy operate. 

First, the fanatic and loyal Trump supporter Patrick Carlineo was charged with threatening to kill Rep. Ilhan Omar. Carlineo told the FBI "that he was a patriot, that he loves the President, and that he hates radical Muslims in our government.”

This is terrorism people. This is the Right-wing terrorism Trump is more than tacitly condoning, by shutting down federal investigation, identification, and classification of domestic white nationalist terrorism.

After the terrorist was arrested, Rep. Ilhan Omar called Trump's authoritarian bigoted adviser Stephen Miller a white nationalist, which he is.

Miller loves serving the racist agenda of a racist president. He has praised Alex Jones, and is a buddy of alt-right racist Richard Spencer. AND he wants to lock immigrant children in cages.

For her calling out Trump’s white nationalist henchman, the racists of the Party of Trump accuse her of being anti-Semitic. This is calculated to inflame more hate, racism, and bigotry towards an innocent black woman. 

For the Party of Trump, it is not evil enough for her to be just threatened by a white nationalist terrorist.

Those fascist vermin are basically signaling to their cult of killers to continue targeting Omar.

Understand this.

If it excites them so much to imprison and terrorize brown children, imagine what they'd like to do with their political opposition. "Lock her up!" is more than a hate-filled rally chant. It is their plan. 

These cold-blooded, evil-hearted assholes are not that different from Nazis. If not for our Constitution they’d have us all in camps. Unless they are stopped, that is exactly what they would do.

What Republic?

Collusion. Obstruction. Cover-up. These are not legal terms, but are very real elements in the dirty workings of powerful and corrupt individuals, corporations, government agencies, or administrations.

For those of us who are not lawyers, we need to at least understand how Merriam-Webster defines obstruction of justice.

“the crime or act of willfully interfering with the process of justice and law especially by influencing, threatening, harming, or impeding a witness, potential witness, juror, or judicial or legal officer or by furnishing false information in or otherwise impeding an investigation or legal process”

The Barr/Trump Cover-up of the Mueller Report is rolling along, just as intended. 

All we really have is, “Trust us. We promise.”

Nothing else. They don’t have to cover up the report forever; just long enough to dupe the public into buying their summary and spin as the actual report. 

They’d like to stall on this until the election, of course.

It’s safe to say If Democrats hadn’t taken the majority of the House, we would never see the report. It will be enough of a fight as it is. 

After all, Nunes and the rest of Trump’s House loyalists exonerated him with their not-so-thorough committee investigation, under coaching from the White House, of course.

Since there WAS obvious collusion and conspiracy with Russians, and there WAS obstruction of the investigation in plain sight, the propaganda machinery of the Party of Trump is working feverishly to distract us from what we already know.

“But, intent and motive for conspiracy are difficult to prove,” one may fairly assert. That may be so, but again, it’s all in plain sight.

Numerous campaign cronies were caught lying about numerous contacts with Russians running up to, and after, the election.

In glaring plain sight was, “Russia, if you’re listening...”  And they were. 

His cronies and offspring delighted in meeting with Russian agents in Trump Tower, seeking their support in the election. 

And in Helsinki, our intelligence community was thrown under the bus because Putin “strongly denies” interfering in the United States presidential election.

Who ya gonna trust, Trump or your lyin’ eyes?

Something else is in plain sight. Somehow a few inconvenient words slipped through Barr’s filter. Now the Party of Trump’s mission is to deflect from one annoying little passage from the report.

"While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,"

Or as the Liar-in-Chief puts it, “Complete and total exoneration!”

In the tradition of all authoritarian followers, this is what his cult of true believers shall believe. And so does his loyal party of authoritarian enablers, sycophants, stooges, corporate elites and shills calling themselves the “Republican Party”.

Okay. Time out. 

I need to clear this up right now. They are NOT a “republican” party. That’s history. Their name has become a lie.

Merriam-Webster defines a republic as:

“ a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch... and a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law”

So much for the Party of Trump being that of a republic. He is their monarch and is above the law. He is protected from the law by those abetting his crimes, obstruction, lies, betrayals, and treachery.

Hey, they are Right-wing Authoritarians after all. They have no conscience. They prove it daily.

Any defense of the indefensible is fair in their war against democracy, education, journalism, and equal justice under law.

Rand Paul told Fox(R) News on March 26, 2019, “I think that you can’t obstruct justice when there wasn’t a crime. How do you cover up for a crime that didn’t occur? So if President Trump and nobody in his campaign colluded with Russia, which was the accusation, if they didn’t do that, how can they be covering up for something they didn’t do?”

Gee, that just makes simple common sense, doesn't it? So, how do we know there “wasn’t a crime” again? Perhaps because there wasn’t enough evidence or proof?

What happens when process, evidence and proof are suppressed by obstruction? Proof there was no crime?

No. What happens is there is no conviction for the crime.

“...if they didn’t do that, how can they be covering up for something they didn’t do?”

They same way they’d cover up something they DID do. The report that “does not exonerate” the Tangerine Tyrant is precisely what is covered up now.

Then something else emerged into plain sight:

As Marcy Wheeler wrote in the New Republic: 

Barr’s letter doesn’t address something else Mueller investigated: whether a series of exchanges between Trump’s campaign and Russians amounted to a crime. The sworn testimony of Trump’s aides reveal that, at least through June 2016, he continued to pursue a $300 million real estate deal in Moscow that required Vladimir Putin’s assistance. While hoping to land that deal, Trump’s son, Don Jr., took a meeting with some Russians offering dirt on Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” At the end of the meeting, Don Jr. said his father would consider sanctions relief for Russia if he won.

Then, on August 2, 2016, in the same meeting where Manafort gave Kilimnik polling data, he discussed a “peace” deal in Ukraine that would also amount to sanctions relief for the Russians.

Finally, after he was elected but before he was president, Trump undercut President Obama’s response to the Russian hacks, suggesting that he would give Russia sanctions relief.

The hack-and-leak is not the crime Trump may have committed. It is, instead, a quid pro quo deal by which Russia would help Trump win and Trump would relieve Russia of the sanctions imposed for engaging in human rights violations, annexing Crimea, and hacking the election to help Trump win.


Obstruction is committed before the crime is proven in order to destroy, conceal, or suppress evidence, and to impede or undermine the process of investigation. This is exactly the purpose for the obstruction.

There is never a “crime" when obstruction is successful.  Funny how that works out.

What a beautiful system of justice we have for those very special people.

Next up, also in plain sight, we'll see how beautifully "Individual 1" slithers out of his campaign finance crime.

And he will. The authoritarian Party of Trump will do everything and anything to hold power and defend their Monarch from the rule of law.

And you thought we had a republic?

Sorry, Ben Franklin, we couldn't keep it. The Republican Party destroyed our republic. 

Origins of Con-servatism

I’ve often discussed the human characteristic described as the authoritarian personality. And I have also described modern American conservatism as a very authoritarian Cult of Right-wing Authoritarian Personalities. Today’s con-servative C.R.A.P. has descended, in more ways than one, from a long history of authoritarian, reactionary elements of society.

Conservatism cannot hold power without a total lock on the authoritarian minority of a population in service to the ideology. Because the established political powers are guaranteed support from only the authoritarian quarter of a population, the forces of conservatism will always be directed at dominating discourse, suppressing democracy, and overruling consent by the majority of the governed. Only that special minority are deemed worthy of rule by authoritarian leaders and their true believer authoritarian followers.

The overlap of “conservative” and “authoritarian” is almost total. Not all conservatives are Right-wing Authoritarian Personalities, but all authoritarians are conservatives. And they are true believers in their leaders.

In 2017 psychology professor John Ehrenreich wrote an article for Slate titled, “Why Are Conservatives More Susceptible to Believing Lies?”

He found, “Conservatives’ greater acceptance of hierarchy and trust in authority may lead to greater faith that what the president says must be true, even when the “facts” would seem to indicate otherwise.”

This willful blindness is not good for humanity’s prospects for survival and prosperity.

So who are these conservatives and where did they come from?

Along with an understanding of the nature and history of the Right-wing Authoritarian Personality, knowledge of the history of conservatism itself is important. As we know, authoritarian personalities have been among us since our cave dwelling ancestors needed a rapid fight-or-flight response for survival. As monarchies rose, authoritarians would almost universally side with the leaders and their military/police guardians. This pattern of behavior would develop into modern conservatism.

Freelance writer and video essayist Ian Danskin brought us the illuminating youtube series exploring such topics as “The Alt-Right Playbook: Always A Bigger Fish” and “White Fascism” 

I can’t recommend these video essays on conservatism enough. (He just needs to apply the term "con-servatism" for our new nexus of white nationalism and corporatism.)

Danskin presents an excellent overview of the history of conservatism, going back to Thomas Hobbes, Edmund Burke, Joseph DeMaistre. They reached common agreement in finding democracy “repulsive” in their defense of monarchy.  He traces the lineage from these men through modern pillars of conservatism like Hayek and the Austrians to the Goddess of Greed, Ayn Rand.

Let’s have a look at some thoughts and quotes from “The Origin of Conservatism” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4CI2vk3ugk

According to conservatives, conservatism is all about “fiscal responsibility”, “limited government”, and “Rights of the individual”. It doesn’t take a journalist or historian to know how flexible these principles become when applied by conservatives and authoritarians.

Danskin observes the reality of their policies and finds conservatism is much more about, “maintaining social hierarchies”, asserting the idea that “people are fundamentally unequal”, and  “capitalism good, democracy bad”.

These are the tightly held “principles” of con-servatism.

He frames Royalist Edmund Burke’s message as, “Your labor is only as valuable as the degree to which it satisfies the desires of the moneyed classes.” This stands against Adam Smith’s “Labor Theory of Value” that places value on the labor done by workers. We see where this is going, don’t we? Labor becomes the dirty word here, as in value of, as well as in organization and representation of labor rights. Conservatism never tires of telling us labor rights should be unequal to owners’ rights and privileges. Never mind labor produces the value by which the owners profit.

He illustrates how conservatism promotes the idea that, “Humans are innately unequal and society flourishes when power is doled out to the deserving”, and “Conservatism upholds the status quo and defends the powerful.” It’s always been this way with American conservatism, since the colonial monarchists.

And throughout American history, from defending slavery, to opposing the civil rights movement, and to suppressing minority voting, the pattern has been consistent. Danskin makes it clear,  “The alt-Right ARE of the conservative tradition, only more.”

I wish I could say there is light at the end of the tunnel. Today authoritarianism speaks louder than democracy. Ignorant, frightened, racist and brainwashed Americans have chosen the path of darkness and authoritarianism, and they have shown they don’t need a majority to take us there.

American democracy died in 2000. The American soul died in 2004 when it reelected the men who lied us into a war of aggression. Trump has only zombie-fied the rotting corpse into a white nationalist corporate state.

The late, great George Carlin told us back in 2007:

You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations, and they’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the State Houses, and the City Halls. They’ve got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies so they control just about all the news and information you get to hear. They’ve got you by the balls.

And that is how it will always be...As long as enough of the majority are apathetic or ill-informed, the authoritarians will preserve the power of their elite rulers. 

Democracy is the direct threat to their rule. By having the louder voices and financial support from the ruling class, they easily dominate political discourse. They have been wildly successful in demonizing journalism and education. This has always been the way of darkness and evil.

Only a volitional evolution of conscience and consciousness, along with the willingness and ability of the majority to vote and become active, can illuminate the darkness wrought by ignorance, hate, and a cult-like faith in authoritarian con-servatism.

Until then, democracy loses and con-servatism wins.

It's NOT OK

The undeniable truth is this: The Party of Trump are the enemies of democracy. Identify the enemy and their goals. If we get that straight, first and foremost, we can proceed with a strategy to save our republic.

Until the public figures that out, the authoritarian far Right's mortal threat to our democratic republic will prevail. They have proven they don't need a majority in our flawed and delicate democratic institutions.

We’ve seen nothing from the  Mueller Report. All we have is what Trump’s loyal henchman Barr says about the Mueller Report. Barr was always opposed to the investigation. It has been clear since this unctuous toady’s job application letter to Trump showed he wants to cleanse his boss of the stench of corruption and collusion with Russia. 

Most of us don’t buy it. The Party of Trump reeks of authoritarian corruption, and show only scorn for not only the rule of law, but for basic human decency.

Now the Tangerine Tyrant, like all totalitarian thugs, wants vengeance.

Putin’s Puppet tweeted to his authoritarian followers: “Congressman Adam Schiff, who spent two years knowingly and unlawfully lying and leaking, should be forced to resign from Congress!”

Every Republican dutifully followed their authoritarian leader and called for Schiff to step down. 

And the Mueller Report has not even been released yet.

Shiff's eloquent response to the Party of Trump after they demanded he resign from the House Intelligence Committee should be the lead story in the news until the election. 

He has shown the entire party is corrupt, by aiding and abetting a criminal, and waging open war on decency, truth, justice, and democracy.

Let these words reach every voter in every corner of the Republic. 

~~~~

"My colleagues might think it’s OK that the Russians offered dirt on the Democratic candidate for president as part of what’s described as the Russian government’s effort to help the Trump campaign. My colleagues might think it’s OK that when that was offered to the son of the president, who had a pivotal role in the campaign, that the son did not call the FBI, he did not adamantly refuse that foreign help — no, instead that son said he would ‘love’ the help with the Russians.

You might think it was OK that he took that meeting. You might think it’s ok that Paul Manafort, the campaign chair, someone with great experience running campaigns, also took that meeting. You might think it’s OK that the president’s son-in-law also took that meeting. You might think it’s OK that they concealed it from the public. You might think it’s OK that their only disappointment after that meeting was that the dirt they received on Hillary Clinton wasn’t better. You might think it’s OK. I don’t.

You might think it’s OK that the president’s son-in-law sought to establish a secret back channel of communication with Russians through a Russian diplomatic facility. I don’t think that’s OK. You might think it’s OK that an associate of the president made direct contact with the GRU through Guccifer 2.0 and WikiLeaks. You might think it’s OK that a senior campaign official was instructed to reach that associate and find out what that hostile intelligence agency had to say, in terms of dirt on his opponent.

You might think it’s OK that the national security adviser-designate secretly conferred with a Russian ambassador about undermining U.S. sanctions, and you might think it’s OK he lied about it to the FBI. You might say that’s all OK, that that’s just what you need to do to win. But I don’t think it’s OK. I think it’s immoral, I think it’s unethical, I think it’s unpatriotic and, yes, I think it’s corrupt, and evidence of collusion.

I do not think that conduct, criminal or not, is OK. The day we do think that’s OK is the day we will look back and say that is the day America lost its way.”

~~~~

Schiff’s “You Might Think It’s OK” speech should be remembered by history as the line in the sand, drawn by defenders of truth, justice, decency, and democracy.

It is nothing less than taking a moral and resolute stand for our Constitution, rule of law, and what remains of our nation’s dignity.

Exonerated? Hell, No.

As the Deep State Turns.

Mrs. Betty Bowers understands:

MAGA CULT YESTERDAY: "The Mueller investigation is a corrupt, biased witch hunt that will only produce lies! The FBI is a cabal of criminals."

MAGA CULT TODAY: "The Mueller investigation is a 100% reliable search for the truth. God bless the FBI."

First some facts:

The Mueller investigation resulted in indictments for more than three dozen individuals for a variety of crimes, including top Trump campaign officials and members of Russian intelligence.

Among the indicted and guilty pleas are Trump’s inner circle cronies: former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, former campaign chair Paul Manafort, former deputy campaign chair Rick Gates, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former personal attorney Michael Cohen, and his longtime adviser Roger Stone. 

All of these crooks and liars helped Trump deceive America about their cozy alliance with Russia, the Trump Tower Moscow deal, and cover-up of Trump’s campaign finance felony. The rot at the core of this corruption and collusion is within their white nationalist, pro-Putin, leader.

American authoritarians and their Russian allies are now cackling with delight that Putin’s Puppet has been "totally exonerated".

Never mind this detail: "While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

So, what? Putin's Puppet joins O.J. Simpson in being "totally exonerated", amirite?

Meanwhile the Tangerine Tyrant and his angry mob want to punish Hillary for no crime at all.

There was no obstruction found when Lynch met Bill Clinton.

There were no indictments for Hillary's deleted emails or use of a private server. BTW IOKIYAR for Trump's crew to use private emails for public policy.

Hillary’s email debacle drew no charges, hurt no one, and helped no adversary. Yet Trumpists still chant, "lock her up", don't they?

They remain, and will always be, furious with hate. Over what?

Nothing.

So what doesn’t bother them? Putin’s puppet humiliated our nation in Helsinki by siding with Putin over US Intelligence. He betrayed our country, and allowed Putin more unobstructed interference in our elections.

No problem. That’s just all part of “making America great”.

"But her EMAILS!!!" 

What about them? No secrets were passed on to Russians, like Trump did in the Oval Office after boasting about firing Comey to stop the investigation.

Just more betrayal.

"Russia, if you're listening..." WAS collusion.

The Trump Tower meeting with Russian agents WAS collusion.

Firing Comey to shut down the investigation WAS obstruction. Only Trump loyalist Barr, not Mueller, made the decision it wasn't obstruction.

Speaking of emails...

This is what collusion looks like:

Jun 3, 2016, at 10:36 AM, Rob Goldstone wrote:

Good morning

Emin just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting.

The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.

This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump - helped along by Aras and Emin.

What do you think is the best way to handle this information and would you be able to speak to Emin about it directly?

I can also send this info to your father via Rhona, but it is ultra sensitive so wanted to send to you first.

Jun 3, 2016, at 10:53, Donald Trump Jr. wrote:

Thanks Rob I appreciate that. I am on the road at the moment but perhaps I just speak to Emin first. Seems we have some time and if it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer. Could we do a call first thing next week when I am back?

Best,
Don

On Jun 7, 2016, at 4:20 PM, Rob Goldstone wrote:

Don

Hope all is well

Emin asked that I schedule a meeting with you and The Russian government attorney who is flying over from Moscow for this Thursday.

I believe you are aware of the meeting - and so wondered if 3pm or later on Thursday works for you?

I assume it would be at your office.

Best

Rob Goldstone

On Jun 7, 2016, at 18:14, Donald Trump Jr. wrote:

Great. It will likely be Paul Manafort (campaign boss) my brother in law and me. 725 Fifth Ave 25th floor.

Seems we have some time and if it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer. Could we do a call first thing next week when I am back?

Best,
Don 

It will be fascinating to hear what Mueller has to tell the House committees, won't it? I mean apart from, "It also does not exonerate him."

What's The Message?

What’s the message here? I really didn’t want to click CNN’s link worded, “Voter on Ocasio-Cortez: She’s ridiculous”. 

Hmm, I think I see where this is going. I mean, what could possibly give me the notion that corporate media has a corporate bias?

Cynicism and curiosity got the best of me, and I clicked. It was a three minute segment on Erin Burnett’s program.

At the link, CNN posted the headline saying,  “Moderate voters Skeptical of Ocasio-Cortez”. 

OK, we’ve transitioned from just “voter” to “moderate voters” in a rural area of Pennsylvania that Trump won.

Imagine my shock. It seems AOC Derangement Syndrome has spread from FOX(R) to CNN. My suspicion was confirmed.

The so-called moderate “Voters we spoke to” said they would not support ANY Democratic candidate so far. (Turns out they are rural white Trump voters, and “for the border wall”.)

The couple said, “They identify as moderate and have no regrets leaving the Democratic Party.”

Um, because the Party of Trump is more “moderate”? 

Gee, that’s a lot of certainty and conviction in those rural white folks.

Well, “real Americans” must know better than the rest of us. Trump-voting, wall loving, socialism-fearing "moderates" must have their sound reasons for not voting for Democrats.

They declare they have “No interest in going back because they have real issues with its emerging leaders".

Emerging leaders. They must be referring to the declared presidential candidates, amirite?

Nope.  

Turns out AOC, a first term House Representative, is a “leader” already. And she’s a scary Democratic Socialist.

“Too bizarre...ridiculous" Her Green New Deal will “lose jobs, lose wages”. 

Isn’t it odd how those “moderates” seem to be parroting Trump and Republican talking points?

“They’re more liberal, tending to be socialists”, warned another rural white male. Fellow Pennsylvanian Joe Biden might be OK. “People like him”, because he’s “moderate”, just “as long as he doesn’t get to the socialism part of it”.

CNN could have been honest and titled the piece, “Trump Voters Fear Socialism”.

Thank Mammon, our one true sacred god of the free market, we have been alerted to the dangers of democratic socialism by Trump voters and corporate media.

Thank you CNN, for regurgitating the far Right’s fear-mongering socialism phobia. And thanks for spreading that FOX(R) AOC Derangement Syndrome. 

Fellow corporate-owned entities like FOX(R) and the Party of Trump appreciate the help.