Jared Kushner

You know the old saying; "all roads lead to Rome"?  Well historians may adjust that saying to 'all roads lead to Moscow', when the trump administration is discussed in the future.

Yesterday afternoon I heard an NPR report that jared kushner volunteered to speak with the Senate Intelligence Committee.  The report noted that the White House said kushner has nothing to hide.  I decided I'd look into this, with my assumption being that he really didn't have anything to hide and that is why trump was offering him up.  My research this morning indicates a chronology that doesn't seem to back up my thinking and at the same time may make trump and kushner wish they hadn't done this.  It also may, just may, point to the possibilities that Russia is unhappy with trump and is starting to 'blackmail' him.

My research led me to a NBC article that was posted yesterday, 3/27, at 3:18 pm. It noted that, "trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told NBC that Kushner "doesn't have anything to hide."   The article went on to say that puppet-spicer told reporters that kushner said, with relation to his role during the trump transition period, "hey I'm glad to talk about the role that I played and the individuals that I met with".  Up to this point in time we know that kushner spoke with the Russian Ambassador during the transition.  But that was as of last night.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/kushner-testify-russia-senate-intel-committee-n738876

This morning, Reuters published an article at 7:18 am with the following information:

"A Russian bank under Western economic sanctions over Russia's incursion into Ukraine disclosed on Monday that its executives had met Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a top White House adviser, in December.

Kushner previously acknowledged meeting the Russian ambassador to Washington last December and only on Monday did it emerge that executives of Russian state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) had talks with Kushner during a bank roadshow last year."

In an email statement, VEB said that as part of its preparing a new strategy, its executives met representatives of financial institutes.  The email goes on to read that meetings were held with representatives of the some of the world's largest banks and businesses including kushner Companies.  VEB  declined to say where or when these meetings took place.
As of this morning when Reuters published this article there was no comment from kushner.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN16Y1H6


So again we have an attitude of disregard  for the law.  There were sanctions in place with reference to VEB and kushner had business discussions with them.  Also, as I noted above, we may have a form of blackmail going on here.  Here's the last piece of today's puzzle.  VEB is a state run bank and the chairman, who by the way met with kushner, has a relationship with Putin.  CNN reported the following:


"The Russian bank chairman who met with Jared Kushner in December isn't your ordinary banker.
His state-run bank has been under US sanctions for nearly three years.   He was appointed to his job by Russian President Vladimir Putin after eight years at Russia's biggest state-owned commercial bank."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/politics/kushner-meeting-russian-banker-tied-to-putin/

So, why did this bank, VEB, make this revelation about kushner at this particular point in time?  This is the very reason why the Emoluments clause exists and why these types of activities are reasons for not receiving security clearance.

Right now, it seems that more and more roads do lead to Moscow.

Devin Nunes

*********** Another late post.  Sometimes I have a hard time keeping up.  Sorry. ***************



I just looked through the names of all of the representatives in the House of Representatives.  There were very few that jumped off the screen and said to me 'hey, you know my name'.  It seems that the name Devin Nunes will become one of those names.  Nunes is a representative from California and is the current chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.  Well he's not looking too intelligent right now.

Intelligence concerns are vital & delicate.  Nunes was appointed head of this committee in January of 2015.  It has become obvious to me that he does not have the temperament or experience to lead this committee through what will be turbulent times.

Last week, Nunes released 'information' regarding the Intelligence Committee's current and ongoing investigation into possible trump campaign involvement with Russian Government officials, Russia's possible interference in our electoral process and trump's allegation that he was wire tapped by President Obama.

Last week Nunes met with an un-named source on the White House grounds who told Nunes that trump campaign associates were noted in phone discussions as a result of surveillance of foreign officials.  What he did next was go to trump and then the media.  What Nunes did not do was discuss this with his committee.

The question is now obvious, can Nunes and the republican dominated Congress investigate all of the afore mentioned issues in an objective manner?  Can Nunes be responsible to the American people or is he compelled to prop up trump's delusions?  If he has information given to him regarding the committee's investigation, can he be trusted to handle that information in a way that does not exacerbate what is obviously a partisan and delicate issue?  The answer to these questions, as far as I'm concerned is a loud and resounding no!!

So what do we do with this?  The answer is simple and at the same time complex.  The simple answer is obvious......appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate all of these issues and any others that need to be looked into.  This becomes complex, again, for obvious reasons.  Certainly the Congress, as it is currently configured will only serve their limited scope and not the broader demand to have these issues addressed in a trustworthy way.

There have been some voices calling for an independent prosecutor. In late February, Republican Representative Darrell Issa said on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher:

"You're going to need to use the special prosecutor's statute and office,  You can't just give it to your deputy. That's another political appointee."

Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee said, “You have the leader of the House Intelligence Committee, a former member of the Trump transition team, complicating his own investigation. We need a special prosecutor to unwind the web of connections, provide the American people with a clear, fact-based accounting, and serve justice.”

Republican Senator John McCain, Chairman ofthe Armed Services Committee,  didn't go as far as an independent prosecutor, but he has gone on record as saying he’d never seen anything like what Nunes did. “It continues on and on and on,” he said. “That’s the reason why we need a select committee to clear this whole issue up.”\

Former Vice President Joe Biden supported McCain's call for a 'select committee'.

Every day, for the past week, I hear and read reports echoing these same demands from various quarters.  I receive more and more petitions demanding an independent prosecutor.  The first battle has been won with the defeat by  forfeit of the health care bill.  It is now time to press hard on the next pressure point, starting the process of appointing an independent prosecutor.  The law reads that if a majority of the non-majority mebers of the Judicial Committee of either house of Congress requests the process beb started, then it must be started.  Please call your Senators and Representatives.  Links to their contact information are below.

http://www.house.gov/representatives/

https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

p.s. - joke of the day - so called ruler of the united states = SCROTUS

Three Party System

"What we have here is failure to communicate"  Cool Hand Luke

"Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose."  "that which we call a rose by any other name would smell [you can fill in the blank]" Gertrude Stein & William Shakespeare
'let's call a spade a spade'

To "call a spade a spade" is a figurative expression which refers to calling something "as it is", that is, by its right or proper name, without "beating about the bush"—being outspoken about it, truthfully, frankly, and directly, even to the point of being blunt or rude, and even if the subject is considered coarse, ...

Call a spade a spade - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_a_spade_a_spade

Here's the good news, we now have three parties.  Here's more good news, the third party is a party within a party.  The Republican party is really, now, a coalition of the 'regular' Republicans and the 'Freedom Caucus' republicans.  The health care debacle has completely exposed two separate voting blocks within the Republican held House of Representatives.  So.....let's call a spade a spade.  The Freedom Caucus is flexing its muscle.  If they do not like what their republican sisters and brothers are layin' down, then they ain't gonna be pickin' it up.

trump, in his vast stores of wisdom and intellectual prowess has blamed the 'failure' to pass the American Health Care Act on Democrats.  he is upset because the Democrats did not give the legislation even one vote.  Waaaaaaaaaahhhhh.  This guy either has difficulty with basic math or thinks that we Americans lack the ability to perform basic math.  Hmmmmmm, let's see, 465 seats in the House, 5 seats vacant, leaving 460 voting seats.  The Democrats have 188 of those 460 seats.  I don't even have to do the subtraction to know that the Republicans have an extremely large voting advantage in the current House.  My name is Bill and I'm wondering just how 'gula-bill' trump thinks I am.

trump has blamed the failure to garner enough votes on partisan politics.  As much as I hate to write these words, he's right.  There are now three parties in the House, and they all voted along their respective party lines.  When President Obama was in the White House, Republicans walked in lock step, and as far as I'm concerned, for no other reason than he was 'black'.  Now Democrats are marching the same way, but for a much better reason, because trump is immoral.  The third party, the Freedom caucus, will not break ranks because they view the world in a very simplistic black and white manner and will not budge off of their view, much like a child before the child's brain matures.

If this trend continues, I believe that the House will be in grid lock until its makeup changes.  I also believe that the majority in the House will be changing drastically in 2018 with an overwhelming shift to a Democratic majority.  Then and only then will we be seeing legislation of  any substance and consequence move through the House.

I am not Nostradamus.  I am not a prophet.  I do believe that there will be no significant legislation passed through the House until after the 2018 mid term elections.  Time will tell.  Also, this health care bill was a battle, it was not the war.  The war will only be won when trump is removed from office along with all of the other trash.

Racism, Violence and trump

'Hey......look at me!!!!!!  I'll say and do anything to have all of the attention stay focused on me.  I'll prove it':

“We had no Democratic support,” [t]rump said from the Oval Office. “They weren’t going to give us a single vote.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/24/trump-blames-democrats-for-gop-health-care-bill-failure-says-obamacare-is-imploding.html

"“Look, we got no Democratic votes. We got none, zero,” [ ] [t]rump said in a telephone interview he initiated with The New York Times."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/us/politics/donald-trump-health-care.html

Well, I don't call him d. j[ackass] for nothin'.  But I'm not going to dwell on the obvious fact that trump/Ryan Care was the republican's bill to loose.  The Republican's have an overwhelming majority in the House and they couldn't pass a bill that was introduced by their Speaker of the House and strongly lobbied for and supported by their administrator, little lord trumpy boy.

Nope, that's not what I'm going to focus on today, but unfortunately what I will write about does involve trump to a small extent. I'll start by noting that trump said, during the presidential campaign, that he could, "shoot somebody and not lose any voters."  This is the very type of language that, at that time, concerned me due to the influence it could have over at least one, if not more, sick and stupid idiots.  Words are powerful if the person speaking them has a powerful platform to speak them from.  The position of a presidential  candidate is such a platform, even if the person on that platform is obviously deranged.  In fact, because d. j[ackass] is mentally ill, he has a voice that speaks to other sick individuals.
Late on Monday night, 3/20, a white male from the Baltimore Metro area, stabbed a black male twice with a 26 inch sword, in New York City (NYC).  James Harris Jackson, 28 years old, stabbed Timothy Caughman, 66 years old, once in the chest a second time in the back.  Caughman was able to stagger into a near by police precinct, was taken to the hospital and died shortly afterwards from his wounds.  Jackson turned himself in 25 hours after the attack, just after midnight on Wednesday 3/23, because he saw his photo in media reports.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/03/23/official-sword-death-black-man-is-assault-on-diversity.html


In both the FOX report and an article in the Baltimore Sun, Authorities reported that Jackson "told police he'd harbored feelings of hatred toward black men for at least 10 years."

Also per both news outlets' reports:

- [Jackson]traveled to New York on March 17 and had been staying in a Manhattan hotel.

- "The reason he picked New York is because it's the media capital of the world, and he wanted to make a statement," [Assistant Chief William] Aubrey said.

- Investigators said they believed Jackson was considering other attacks but surrendered after noticing his photo in media reports.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-nyc-stabbing-20170322-story.html







The above photo is of Jackson, in custody of the NYPD.  My impression, when looking at this person's face was immediately that of belligerence. Pure, unadulterated belligerence. This photo is from a New York Times article. All three articles noted that Jackson chose NYC because "his goal was to draw the widest possible attention to his murderous plan."

Jackson was arraigned on Thursday in Supreme Court in Manhattan and charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime. He is being held without bail. At the arraignment, Joan Illuzzi, the prosecutor, said that "Jackson was particularly offended by black men who were with white women." Illuzi told the judge that additional charges may be filed, including murder in the first degree, “as this is an act, most likely, of terrorism.”

Sam Talkin, Jackson's defense lawyer pointed out that if the information put forth by the authorities is accurate, they will have to deal with Jackson’s “obvious psychological issues.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/nyregion/james-harris-jackson-timothy-caughman.html

This last quote is where I stop looking up information about this horrific crime and start to ask some questions and make some observations.

Psychological issues?  It could be said that anyone that commits murder has 'psychological issues'.  But, let's put the proverbial shoe on the  proverbial other foot.  Let's say a young black male, holes up in a Courtyard Hotel in some affluent, mostly white, suburb, for a few days and then goes out into the neighborhood and randomly stabs a 66 year old white male with a 26 inch sword in the chest and the back.  Do you really think that that young black male's psychological state would be any kind of a factor at all?  Do you really think that the defendants attorney would even mention it?  I don't think so, how about you?  Be honest!

So, how does this relate back to d. j[ackass] trump.  Easy enough to see.  Although he is not the cause of racism in our country, he certainly has sent a loud message to racists that it's okay.  I haven't heard a peep out of  the White House, out of trump.  not even a ........ dare I say it .......... a tweet!  If trump were to attempt, and I mean attempt, to at the very very least present himself as a moral person, he would have 'said' something by now.  But, at least he is being honest about who and what he is, a racist son of a bitch.  Good going jackass!

$h!t or Get Off the Pot

Congress has shown themselves to be chicken $h!ts.  The Republican majority tried to ram rod this ill conceived,not well researched or well prepared health care bill, through Congress.  How'd that work out yesterday.  But wait, they are supposedly having a vote today.  Why?  Because trump seems to think that he runs the Congress.  Per a NBC report, early this morning:

"Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney made clear Thursday evening that President Donald Trump is done negotiating on the hotly-debated health care bill and wants a vote on Friday."

This is according to a source in the closed door session with Freedom Caucus representatives and other GOP House members.  The article goes on to say that 

"[a] senior administration source confirm[ed] to NBC News the "very definitive, very clarifying" message from the president and the administration's intention to move on — should the health care bill fail to move forward — to other matters"

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/scheduled-health-care-vote-looms-house-gop-remains-short-support-n737491

trump, of course, tweeted on twit (my new name for twitter) as follows:

President Trump
✔@POTUS

Disastrous #Obamacare has led to higher costs & fewer options. It will only continue to get worse! We must #RepealANDReplace. #PassTheBill
8:26 PM - 23 Mar 2017

I find this tone disconcerting.  I wasn't aware that the administrator dictated to Congress what is to be voted on or when it is to be voted on.  If Paul Ryan intends to be that much of a lap dog for trump and goebbels-bannon (g-p), he should come right out and say so.  Otherwise, he needs to grow a set and tell trump, to his face and through the media that he, Paul Ryan, sets the agenda for the House, not trump.

Now, by the way, I'm hear to tell you that it will not matter whether it's the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) or the American Health Care Act (trump Care or Ryan Care, your choice), what trump tweeted will be the case.  And why is that Bill, you might ask?  It's simple.  Private insurance companies have no business being put in charge of insuring people that are not in a financial position to purchase insurance.  This country, our country, has reached a place with reference to the large divide between the 'haves' and the 'have nots', where all of us must create the pool of funds necessary to take care of the 'have nots'.  

As businesses, health insurers, are not going to create that pool of funds without exacting a heavy toll on everyone.  Insurers are in business to make a profit, not to care for people.  Conversely, one of the tasks that our government is commanded to perform in the preamble of the Constitution is to "promote the 

general Welfare".  There is no greater aspect of the general Welfare than the health of "we, the people".  Without a healthy population, "Justice, .... domestic Tranquility, [and]  the common defence" would be superfluous.  Our government is tasked with caring for us.  Our government is us; by the people, of the people and for the people.  Having a single payer system for the 'have nots' would have those citizens be part of the largest insured pool and would therefore drive the cost of health care down due to economies of scale and greater (if not the greatest) bargaining power.  

This is a no brainer!!  And yet with the lack of brains in D.C., those that are legislating and administering our country seem to have less brains then none.  They have negative brains.  Just like 'men' who become enamored with a woman for sexual reasons, these people are thinking with the 'wrong head'.  The head they are thinking with is that, that speaks to their ability to receive campaign funds from health insurance companies.  Our representatives are not serving us, they are serving the health insurers and ultimately, they think, themselves.  Fortunately for us, they will soon learn that thinking with the wrong head does not yield the selfish results they are attempting to achieve.

trump Has It All Wrong ..... Surprise

Today, a vote is planned in the House, on the health care bill proposed by Paul Ryan.  trump has been speaking with Republican members of the House and has been telling them that their jobs will be in jeopardy in 2018 if they do not pass this bill.  The new York Times (NYT) has reported that:


"at a private meeting with House Republicans at the Capitol, the president also delivered a blunt warning that many of those present would lose their seats in next year’s midterm congressional elections if the effort failed.

“I’m going to come after you,” Mr. Trump told Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina, a prime holdout and the chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus

[A]ccording to several people in the room who described his comments on condition of anonymity because the session was private, [trump is quoted as having said] “I believe Mark and his group will come along, because honestly, a loss is not acceptable, folks.”"

Then the article noted that Representative Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican and a member of the Freedom Caucus is quotaed as having said:

“I think if we do do this, we lose the majority,” 


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/us/politics/house-republicans-health-care-donald-trump.html?_r=0

Well, I believe that they are both right and they are also both wrong.  It really will not matter if they pass this bill or if they do not, because the energy to turn out the Republican majority in 2018 has been set in motion, has tremendous energy and that energy is only growing.  If this bill is voted down, the results of the mid term election in 2018 will still see the Democrats taking the majority.  Passing the bill will only place more fuel on the fire that is powering the engine of change that will surely occur in 2018.

 There are 435 seats in the House.  Five of those seats are vacant, 193 are Democrats and 237 are Republican.  This means that there are 430 representatives voting.  A majority will be 216 votes.  The Republican vote count as of last night per the NYT is as follows:


- 149 Support the bill or lean yes

- 44 Undecided or unclear

- 15 Concerns or lean no

- 29 No
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/20/us/politics/health-care-whip-count.html

Assuming that all 188 Democrats vote against the bill and we only look at the 29 definite 'no' votes shown above, that makes the count 217 votes against  against and 213 for.  We'll know this evening how it actually went.

In the mean time, I wanted to share how I feel about this 'healthcare' bill and about trump et.al.






Enough said!

Bewildered but not Surprised

A colleague at work told me about this yesterday afternoon and I sloughed it off, but as I chewed on it, I had to investigate.   The querry for google was "security clearance for ivanka".  The results were as follows:

Ivanka Trump to get top security clearance and office, WH official says

CNN · 15 hours ago

First daughter Ivanka Trump given West Wing office, access to classified information

CBS News · 10 hours ago

Ivanka Trump getting West Wing office and security clearance despite having no official role

Hot Air · 13 hours ago

More for security clearance for ivanka

Ivanka Trump getting West Wing office and security clearance despite ...

hotair.com/.../ivanka-trump-getting-west-wing-office-and-security-clearance-with-no-...

13 hours ago - Two: She's applied for a security clearance, which is unusual twice over — not only do presidential family members typically not receive them, ...

Ivanka Trump to get top security clearance and office, WH ... - CNN.com

www.cnn.com/2017/03/21/politics/ivanka-trump-west-wing/

15 hours ago - Washington (CNN) Ivanka Trump will work out of an office in the West Wing and get asecurity clearance, a White House official told CNN ...

Ivanka Trump to get top security clearance and office ... - FOX2now.com

fox2now.com/.../ivanka-trump-to-get-top-security-clearance-and-office-wh-official-s...

7 hours ago - WASHINGTON -- Ivanka Trump will work out of an office in the West Wing and get a security clearance, a White House official told CNN ...

Ivanka Trump To Get Security Clearance, West Wing Office—But No ...

www.commondreams.org/.../ivanka-trump-get-security-clearance-west-wing-office-n...

16 hours ago - "Doesn't the Trump administration have enough ethics problems? Aren't there already enough conflicts of interest to sink a ship?" by.

Ivanka Trump Is Getting Security Clearance, Because of Course She Is ...

https://www.themarysue.com/ivanka-trump-security-clearance/

17 hours ago - Ivanka Trump holds no official office in her father's administration, but that hasn't stopped her from sitting in on meetings with world leaders and ...

Ivanka Trump to receive White House office, security clearance - ABC ...

abcnews.go.com/Politics/ivanka-trump-receive-white...security-clearance/story?id...

1 day ago - President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump will receive an office in the West Wing of the White House and a security clearance as she ...

Ivanka Trump given West Wing office and security clearance in ...

www.telegraph.co.uk › News

1 day ago - Ivanka Trump has been given her own West Wing office, confirming her position as a key member of her father's White House team.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! What the...... shut yo mouth........but I'm talkin' 'bout trump........and we can dig it.

I thought we got rid of this distraction back in December of last year. So now I've got to revisit it. What possible case can be put forward that ivanka trump needs any level of security clearance, much less the top level of clearance. The following is one of the criteria that must be met, to be granted security clearance per the State Department:

"Eligibility will be granted only where facts and circumstances indicate access to classified information is clearly consistent with the national security interests of the United States. Access to classified information will be terminated when an individual no longer has need for access."

https://www.state.gov/m/ds/clearances/c10978.htm

Further information was found on a site listed as military.com:

Guideline B: Foreign Influence
The Concern:
Having close ties with individuals who are not citizens of the United States could create the potential for foreign influence that could result in the compromise of classified information.
Contacts with citizens of other countries or financial interests in other countries could also create vulnerability to coercion, exploitation, or pressure.

http://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/security-clearance-jobs/security-clearance-eligibility.html

In a recent New York Times article, ivankas 'attempt' to seem within the criteria for receiving clearance was explained as follows:

"Ms. [t]rump handed over day-to-day control of her company to her top executive, Abigail Klem, and transferred its assets to a new trust overseen by relatives of her husband.

Under the trust, which was executed in the first week of March, Ms. [t]rump may address potential conflicts in one of two ways: recuse herself from related White House business or veto a potential business deal for her company, said Jamie Gorelick, a longtime ethics lawyer in Washington who is an independent adviser to the [i]vanka [m]. [t]rump Business Trust."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/business/despite-trust-ivanka-trump-still-wields-power-over-her-brand.html?_r=0

What a load of crap.  She still has the ability to make decisions for her company while receiving intelligence that may present her with 'insider' information.  And......who's going to be her watch dog on each and every piece of White House business that she's going to touch.  Where's the certainty that this person, who does not work for our government, isn't taking information that she becomes privy to and uses it to make private, personal business decisions that ultimately result in personal monetary gain?

ivanka trump has no position in the administration other than that of daughter. ivanka trump does not meet the criteria for receiving security clearance. No person is above the law. Even Neil Gorsuch said this in relation to trump at his confirmation hearing yesterday.

In essence, this is a short and simple post. I will be calling my congressman & my senators to demand that they review the granting of security clearance to ivanka and demand that they put pressure on their colleagues to start the process of appointing an independent prosecutor because this is just one more illegal activity that makes trump impeachable.