....... More Distractions

********* Please forgive the late posting.  Read as if it is Tuesday, 3/21.  Thank you. *************


A decade ago, I was a manger at a healthcare facility that was unionized.  When an employee performed in a way that was improper in some way, I was obligated to formally discipline that employee, to 'write them up'.  Invariably the employee would always say to me 'look what you've done to me'.  My fellow managers and even other union members pointed out that I didn't do anything to them, that they did it to themselves.

Yesterday, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, chaired by California's Devin Nunes, had a rare open door meeting.  Nunes, after listening to hours of testimony from FBI director James Comey said to Mr. Comey:

"You've put 'a big gray cloud' over [the] [t]rump administration."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/nunes-to-comey-youve-put-a-big-gray-cloud-over-trump-administration/2017/03/20/03be6f26-0da3-11e7-aa57-2ca1b05c41b8_video.html

Come on......let's be adults.  Completing my analogy, who put the " 'big gray cloud' over the trump administration"?  The answer is obvious.  But this is not the distraction that took place yesterday.  The 'watch this' moment was at the beginning of Comey's testimony when he said:

"I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. And that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts.  As with any counterintelligence investigation, this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/20/520865505/the-fbi-is-on-the-case-and-other-takeaways-from-the-house-intel-hearing

DISTRACTION!!!!!!!!  That's what;s going on here.  Isn't Comey the one who always says he has a policy of not commenting on active investigations.  But now it's ok because the Department of Justice ( DOJ) told him it was ok......more like told him to do so.  'Oh look.......we, the DOJ (and therefore sessions and trump), we're doing the right thing.  we're 'allowing' Comey to talk about this active investigation........boy are we good people, or what?'

Assessing if crimes have been committed?  Another distraction.  What this means is that trump will put forward campaign personnel and possibly expendable political appointees that he brought with him from the campaign to take the fall.  The distraction here is the appearance that those that may have committed crimes will be named, but you can bet that those named will not be far up the food chain.  'Oh look .......we're so good that we're going to get to the bottom of who done it'.  Yeah?  But will they get to the top?

In the middle of the hearing, trump (or at least someone with access to his twit account, oh I'm sorry, I meant twitter) tweeted six times (at least that's what I'm seeing).  I also see that these were the first twit tweets since the 19th and that there was only one tweet on the 19th.  Sadly enough one of the representatives on the committee, saw the tweet and payed attention to it.......distraction.

Yesterday, i was speaking with a friend and I noted that I haven't read the book and it might be difficult for me to do so without talking to Ralph on the big white phone (puking), but I bet that distraction is a component of trump's the art of the deal.  I'm also willing to bet that he and his staff are starting to confuse themselves.

Defining the balls and keeping my eye on them is, as I've written before, the key.  As far as I'm concerned the balls are:

   - the appointment of an independent prosecutor to investigate trump with reference to possible conflicts of interest involving possible links to the Russian government.  This must include the subpoena of trump's last seven years of tax returns.

   - following an investigation by an independent prosecutor, the impeachment of trump and then removal from office by the Senate

Only activities that relate to these two basic goals concern me.  I'm willing to have fun with, get angry about, research, be critical of, call out other issues that trump et.al. present, but these two basic goals are what I have chosen to focus on.

these guys think their clever.....imagining them sitting in oval office snickering

    - if I can figure it out, then any clear sighted person can and that means they're not so clever

msgs being sent = 

   - only persons that will be under suspicion = campaign personnel / nobody of any great consequence

   - russia will be the scape goat (and they should be, but they are not without accomplices in the U.S.)

   - this will be declared as the be all & end all & therefore no need for independ prosec

Distraction upon Distraction upon Distraction upon ........

In the voice of Lili von Shtupp of Blazing Saddles fame:

I'm tired, tired of being distracted
It seems like it's so protracted 
I'm tired

I've heard it thousands of times
Line after line
and it's always, always the same

Their always talking then balking
 And balking then walking
And it seems like a cryin' shame
Right folks?

I'm tired, tired of being distracted
It seems like it's so protracted 
God damn it........I'm tired

I mean........let's look at this guano.

d. j[ackass] keeps throwing the wire tap crap out there to distract from so many things.  Investigations into his possible ties with Russia, the health care debacle, the twice failed travel and refugee ban, the fact that he has a leninist nazi white supemecist whispering in his ear and controlling the national Security Council, his twisted twit tweeting.  I'm sure there's more that the wire tap crap distracts from, but I'm missing it at the moment.  Now he's claiming that president Obama  had Britain do the tapping.......AGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

Then there's goebells-conway (g-c).  trump has turned down her volume since the first few weeks, but he still employs her as a tool.  she opens her mouth and spews out the most ridiculous content.  Nothing she says makes any sense.  None of what she says has any basis in reality, fact or logic.  her modus operandi is to distract from EVERYTHING by placing her confused thought processes out on the table.  trump recognizes that g-c does not have the ability to think with any amount of logic, knows that she will say anything just to hear herself talk and that she loves to use her confused mind to argue with the media.  So, he throws her out there when he really wants to muddle all of our minds.

trumpy boy has been using the travel and refugee ban to distract us from whatever else is going on at the moment.  Health care, budget, Russia.  Then he tweets to distract us from the travel / refugee ban;  he's going to the Supreme Court, he doesn't go to the Supreme Court.

Communication is vital to administering our country.  I know........ let's hire a completely incompetent idiot to be our press secretary; puppet-spicer (p-s).  This guy cannot put a coherent sentence together unless it is written on paper for him and even then he doesn't read it without sounding like a broken robot.   There's a distraction for ya.


Here's a cute little tid bit from this past Sunday's talking head shows.  Mulvaney, director of the Offiice of Management and Budget,  on face the nation when talking about the 'budget' proposal; "[w]e had special interests at play on The Hill. We had lobbyists at play on The Hill. The president wrote this budget without consideration for those things, without being beholden to anybody except the people, and that’s who this budget is written for."  Again with the feeding us crap method.  This budget was written for who?  Oh......I get it, it's written for anyone that owns an interest in the weapons industry (I don't want to use the old hackneyed phrase 'military industrial complex').  Those are the "people".  But we'll try to sell it to the chumps that elected us.  They'll buy that shit.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-transcript-march-19-2017-cruz-pelosi-mulvaney/

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but what about those two pages of 2005 worthless tax returns that showed up in Rachel Maddow's mail box.  You don't think d. j[ackass] had anything to do with that tripe, do ya (by the way, I like tripe, so I'm sorry I'm degrading it by using it in a derogatory manner on trump)?

Saying something is so and that's supposed to make it so.  Fake news.  Alternative facts. Not releasing taxes to cause distraction for other issues.  Using other issues to distract from taxes.  Using taxes and other issues to distract from possible ties with Russia.  You could lose your mind!  

When trump was a child, I'm willing to bet he heard the story of The Boy who Cried Wolf and said to himself......'oh......what a great way to have fun and confuse people ....... and hide the truth'.

This all sounds overwhelming.  I have spoken with many people who feel overwhelmed.  I mean...... as I type this, he's only been the head admin for two months and a few hours, but it feels like it's been a lot longer.  For me the key is (and I lose sight of this sometimes) to define what the issues are for myself, filter out trump's and goebells-bannon's horse dung, and keep my eye on the balls that I define need to be payed attention to.  And advise that all of us do the same.

Keeping Lines of Communication Open

While listening to Weekend Edition on NPR yesterday, I heard a brief local article about a high school student in Philadelphia that  is promoting a letter writing campaign to the White House.  The student felt that her voice and others her age were not being heard because they are not of voting age. I said to my self......self this is a really emotionally astute young person.  What she is doing is something that a friend of mine taught me many years ago.  Keep the lines of communication open.

This friend related a story to me about raising her daughter.  As is the case with many teens, her daughter was having some rough times in her mid teen years.  She made it a point to sit and speak with her daughter every night.  Her daughter did not want to talk, but my friend consciously  made it a point to sit and talk to her daughter with the hope that her daughter would respond, would share herself, would talk to her mom.  Gladly, my friends daughter turned out to be a great adult.  I cannot say with certainty that keeping the lines of communication open on a regular, nightly basis was a contributing factor for this happy outcome of what could have been an unhappy ending, but it certainly couldn't have hurt.  The possible flip side could have been the child experiences neglect and is left to her own devices, takes a bad path and does not have a good life.  Certainly, making sure to do the hard emotional work of maintaining communication with her daughter could have only helped.

I feel like this story applies to our current elected and appointed officials.  I feel like they are wayward children, going down the wrong path.  We are the parents.  Even 16, 17 and 18 year old teens are seeing this.  The young woman I heard on my local NPR affiliate, WHYY in Philadelphia, seems to recognize the need for keeping lines of communication open.  As distasteful as we may find it, to attempt to 'speak' with many of our elected  officials in a civil tone, we must.  If we neglect them, the chances for them to walk down a bad path may very well increase.  And if they walk down a bad path, it won't just effect their lives.  With reference to House representatives and Senators, that wayward path won't just effect their constituents.  The decisions these people make will effect all of us. Obviously trump will affect all of us.

We have many lines of communication available to us;  Phone, email, regular mail, certified mail, the media, letters to editors, protests, town hall meetings, one on one meetings w/our representatives, the ballot box.  We are using all of these forms of speaking with our elected officials and we will continue to do so.  

Today's post is shorter than usual because this topic is simple and direct.  Keep speaking with our child like representatives.  Do not neglect them.  They have a definite tendency to go astray from a moral and decent  road, and that will only turn out badly for us.  We need to be responsible for ourselves and therefore it is only we, the people, that can ensure that our needs are taken care of.  Congress and trump et.al. are not and will not be looking out for our interests.  They are children and it is our responsibility to place them and keep them on a good path.

Happy 200th Birthday Frederick Douglass

This will be a quick one because I am simply up to my eyeballs with work I have to get done in other areas of my life today.  I feel like I'm making excuses, being preemptively defensive, but those are issues I have struggled with all of my teen and adult life.......sorry.

I learned that today is the 200th birthday of Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist of the 1800s.  It is unfortunate that I feel the need to mention that Douglass was an Afro-American, but this seems to be a tag that is placed on him, as though that made him unusual due to is intellectual prowess.  Humans are humans and if you strip the skin off of all of us, we're all the same.  Same brains, same spinal cords, same organs, same skeletons, same musculature.

I have known one of Frederick Douglass's great thoughts for many years and want to share my thoughts around it.

"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

I used to read this as if "power" were to "concede" something, it would "demand" something in return.  Recently, oh.......starting about 11/9/2016, I started to interpret this differently.  I do not, now, believe that my original understanding was what Douglass meant.  I do not know for sure what he meant, but I now think that what he meant was that the powerful people in our world will not give up anything unless people demand  that they do.  Furthermore, that demand needs to be, has to be, must be a "demand" or demands that ultimately cause 'pain'.  I'm not talking about physical pain, nor am I talking about a slight bit of emotional discomfort.  I mean a great deal of emotional pain, with no let up until the concession that is necessary is given.  Just as with operant conditioning, what pain is meaningful to the person to experience it,  must be identified first, otherwise the demand will not cause pain.

I believe we are working on many different fronts, to combat d. j[ackass] trump and in doing so, we may not know exactly what is causing the pain, but I believe the pain is being felt.  We must continue.  

The Congress is a much easier nut to crack.  Make it clear that if they do not bend to the peoples' will, they will no longer maintain their positions of power.  They will be voted out.  We are also traveling down this path correctly, from the way I'm seeing things.  The special election in Georgia's 6th congressional district in April may inform us of our success, but the real measure of our success will be the mid-term elections in 2018.

I also want to quickly look at another Douglass thought/quote that I only learned today:

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

Douglass was truly brilliant.  His meaning here is obvious, but rather then looking at Afro-American history to see this point, I suggest we look at our current older white male and female, violent, bigoted population, trump's constituency.  Something I have understood for decades is that each generation of white American's are getting less and less bigoted.  Each generation of white Americans seem to be understanding more and more that we are all humans and are leaving skin color behind them.  I certainly see this in the 'millennial'  generation.  So, I have more and more hope as I grow older that we, as humans, are moving towards humanism at a steady pace.  It is the Electoral College that has made this appear to not be the case in our recent elction, but I believe we are now at the beginning of the end of the Electoral College.

So..........Happy Birthday Frederick Douglass!  And.......thank you for sharing your wonderful and beautiful thoughts with us.

Budgetary Distraction and Message

Here's the breakdown.  The way I read this has three main basic meanings:

   1.) The obvious - trump (oooooops goebbels-bannon) continues to send the message that the trump & goebbels-bannon (g-b) regime intends to, appear at the least, and be, at the most, a militaristic administration.  They seem to understand that money is not limitless, so they are gutting other services that we, the American people, want, need and pay for to fund a large military build up.  As I have said many times, this is looking and continues to look like Germany in the 1930s.

2.) The not quite as obvious - trump and g-b have made their proposed budgetary cuts extremely severe to give themselves negotiating room with Congress.  They know that this budget will not pass through Congress the way they have presented it.  The real dollar targets are different, but the basic picture remains the same.

3.) Because of this cynical pre-negotiation stance they are taking, they plan to distract from their secondary goal, which they have constructed to feed their primary goal.  They want to drastically reduce spending on domestic programs (which means that America is not first in his mind at all).  They want to take money away from agencies like The Environmental Protection Agency, The Department of Agriculture, The Labor Department, Health and Human Services, Education and Housing and Urban Development to fund this military build up.  The proposed cuts to The State Department and The Justice Department, I believe, are the distraction tools.  I do not believe that these two departments will really experience the cuts that are suggested.  Although, I may be wrong.  After all, these two departments are critical to America being the beacon of light, hope and justice in our country and around the world. 

The point is, although this budget proposal seems clear, it is being used to distract from the real goal, that of building a militaristic nation. But to what end?  'See, look, we said we were going to cut wasteful spending for you, the tax payer'.  'See, look, we said we'd put America first and so we are increasing the military's budget to do just that, keep you secure'.  The real deal is that tax payers (except the 1%) are not getting any tax break here. Somebody has to pay for this.  There's no tax reduction, just a shift of where the money will go.  And they're using fear to drive this shift.

trump and g-b want to make it look like they are protecting Americans with this large increase in military spending at the expense of anything that doesn't have to do with the military, to cover up what they truly are, troubled violent people.    Are we really that unsafe in our country that we need the level of increases in military spending that they have proposed?  I don't see it that way.  Why do they really want this military build up.  I don't know, but again, it sure looks like 1930s Germany to me.

So, here it is.  The basic budget that d.j[ackass] has presented.  Make of it what you will.

Discretionary spending, in billions

Agency	2017 baseline	2018 proposal	Change	Pct. change
Environmental Protection Agency	$8.20	$5.70	–$2.6	–31%
State and other development programs	38	27.1	–10.9	–29%
Agriculture	22.6	17.9	–4.7	–21%
Labor	12.2	9.6	–2.5	–21%
Justice	20.3	16.2	–4.0	–20%
Health and Human Services	77.7	65.1	–12.6	–16%
Commerce	9.2	7.8	–1.5	–16%
Education	68.2	59	–9.2	–14%
Transportation	18.6	16.2	–2.4	–13%
Housing and Urban Development	36	31.7	–4.3	–12%
Interior	13.2	11.6	–1.5	–12%
Energy	29.7	28	–1.7	–6%
Treasury	11.7	11.2	–0.5	–4%
NASA	19.2	19.1	–0.2	–1%
Veterans Affairs	74.5	78.9	+4.4	+6%
Homeland Security	41.3	44.1	+2.8	+7%
Defense	521.7	574	+52.3	+10%

Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding. Totals are shown for fiscal years, which begin in October. They reflect base budget levels for each department, which do not include supplemental money for disaster relief, emergencies or additional war spending. They do include offsetting receipts and proposed changes in mandatory programs (CHIMPS) that are used to offset discretionary spending.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/15/us/politics/trump-budget-proposal.html

How Long Has This Been Going On?

Yesterday......."all my troubles seemed so far away"........just kidding.  Yesterday, while listening to NPR, I heard some foolish Congressman, Kevin Brady discussing the current health care bill that was introduced by Paul Ryan.  Brady is the chair of the House Ways and Means committee.

Audie Cornish, a reporter for NPR, asked the congressman about tax credits in the bill:

CORNISH: Are tax credits essentially the same as government subsidies, right? You have some critics who say, look; either way, this is a kind of entitlement, and we're supposed to be getting rid of entitlements.

Brady's answer was as follows:

BRADY: Yeah, so I realize many of these are sort of wedge questions I think hoping to pit Republicans against Republicans, but tax credits have been a portion of every Republican - nearly every Republican health care plan for more than a decade. You know, credits that are focused on age that expand with your family - these are the credits that over time have been shown to provide the most affordable health care and don't contribute to ever-escalating premiums.

Is this guy a whack job?  There have been no tax credits that "over time have [ ] shown to provide the most affordable health care and d[idn't] contribute to ever-escalating premiums", prior to the current Affordable Care Act (Obama Care).  And I'm here to tell you that back into the late 90's, I am clear that premiums were escalating by an average of 15% per year with higher co-pays and deductibles as well as less coverage each year.  So, I started looking around to see if my memory served me well, and gosh darn it, wouldn't you know I'm feeling pretty good about my recall.

http://www.factcheck.org/2011/10/factchecking-health-insurance-premiums/

So, let's see ........ average premiums were at there lowest point after the current health care act started and then started to rise again.  Why?  It couldn't have anything to do with the health insurance companies,now could it?  I mean there were no tax credits in the late '90s and early 2000s and average yearly increases were high.  There were no credits then.  Obama care starts and premium increases are pretty darn low.  Then they start to creep up again.  There is no correlation here between a lower percentage in premium increase in relation to tax credits, because there were no tax credits over that period of time.  What Brady said was a load of jumbo mumbo (jumbo = an elephant and mumbo = well........use your imagination).

By the way, I don't want anyone to think that health care premium increases started to go up the year after Obama Care became law, because of Obama Care.  People often do not understand the difference between contiguity (two events close together in time and space) and cause & effect.  People often think that because two events occurred close to each other that that automatically means that one caused the other.  Sure, I understand that the insurance industry was being required to insure everyone that applied for health coverage.  Sure I understand that youger, healthier people decided to opt out and therefore money from healthy people with low health costs wasn't being put in the pot to spread over to those that required more health care.  But I also want you to know that health insurance companies were making plenty of money.  Take a look at the following search results when I Googled "2010 to 2015 health insurers profits":

Health insurers watch profits soar as they dump small business ...

https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/.../health-insurers-watch-profits-soar-they-dump...
Jan 26, 2015 - 5:00 am, January 26, 2015 Updated: 5:00 am, January 26, 2015 ... Health insurersworking the system to pad their profits ... was $30.40 on March 23, 2010, the day President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law.

No. Obamacare isn't killing the insurance industry. - HealthInsurance.org

https://www.healthinsurance.org/.../no-obamacare-isnt-killing-the-insurance-industry/
Mar 1, 2016 - As health carriers blame losses on Obamacare, their stocks gains continue to ... Despite record-breaking profits year after year, health insurance ... a profit of $11 billion (onrevenues of more than $157 billion) in 2015, .... In Mar 2010 when ACA was signed into law WCG was at 26, in Feb 2017 it was at 142.

Thanks, Obamacare! Health insurer stocks soar - CNN Money

money.cnn.com/2015/01/21/investing/unitedhealth-earnings-obamacare/
Jan 21, 2015 - UnitedHealth just reported strong earnings and its stock is at a record high. ... margin since the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was signed into law in March 2010. ... Obamacare isn't the only reason why health insurer stocks have been so hot though. ... It is up so far in 2015 while the S&P 500 is down.

Obamacare Gives Big Windfall To Insurance Companies As Quality of ...

dailycaller.com/2015/.../obamacare-gives-big-windfall-to-insurance-companies-as-qu...
5:09 PM 08/24/2015 ... As “stock market darlings,” health insurance company profits have skyrocketed to all-time highs and stocks have split ... the broader stock market by a wide margin since Obamacare was signed into law in March 2010.

Health insurance industry rakes in billions while blaming Obamacare ...

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/.../health-insurance-industry-rakes-in-billions-while...
Nov 1, 2016 - Major insurance companies are enjoying record profits but claim they are losing ... CEO Stephen J. Hemsley made over $20 million in 2015.

How about this search, "health insurance profits in 2016"?

Making a killing under Obamacare: The ACA gets blamed for rising ...

www.salon.com/2016/.../making-a-killing-under-obamacare-the-aca-gets-the-blame-f...
Let's take a close look at health insurance companies' soaring profits. ... Friday, Oct 28, 201602:00 AM PDT ... a killing under Obamacare: The ACA gets blamed for rising premiums, while insurance companies are reaping massive profits.

Healthcare shocker: These insurers are making money on Obamacare ...

www.latimes.com/.../la-fi-hiltzik-obamacare-profits-20160427-snap-htmlstory.html
Apr 27, 2016 - The pending departure of the big insurance company UnitedHealth from most of ... so much about the insurers who are reporting profits from the program. .... 2016 is the first year where the policies are priced on functionally ...

I think I've made my point.  So my  question remains......how long has this been going on?  And more to the point, in a country that's this filthy rich, how long are we going to allow the insurance industry to make obscene profits on the backs of all Americans while not providing health care for all Americans. America is a great country, and there is plenty of money.  In a post last year I proposed a health care plan and I'm going to reprint it here.

- For all individuals or households that report income of less than a certain defined amount (X) on there annual tax return, a health insurance card is automatically produced and sent to that individual & all members of the family and dependents listed in the return, They receive the same health care benefits that health insurance companies provide, but the payment will come from the Federal Government.

- for individuals that work for a company that generates less than a certain defined (Y) amount of revenue on their annual tax return (not profit), and their household reports less than (X) amount of incomee a health insurance card is automatically produced and sent to that individual & all members of the family and dependents listed in their return. The determination occurs because the employer i.d. number is listed on the the individual's tax return. This number is cross referenced to a data base which will check it against the employers tax return. As with the first solution, above, the individual & all members of the family and dependents listed in the return, receive the same health care benefits that health insurance companies provide, but the payment will come from the Federal Government.

- for individuals who make over the (X) amount and who work for companies that report higher than (Y) revenues, the company will be required to provide health insurance and the individual employee will be required to pay their portion of the health insurance for themselves and their families. This will be done with a private sector health insurer of the company's choosing.

If you read this carefully, you will see that every person in America has just received health insurance. The last question is why would anyone find this disagreeable? Republicans will scream "SOCIALISM" (the 'S' word) and their sheep will echo the word as though it was like saying the 'F' word or the 'P' word or the 'C' word or the 'N' word. BUT, let me go to any one of the "99%" and tell them that their Social Security was being taken away from them and watch how loud they scream bloody murder. We already practice Socialism. It is a good thing. It is "promot[ing] [ ] the public Welfare" as per the preamble of The Constitution and so will the plan, detailed above.

trump Tax Update

Ya know.........no one really gives a rats derriere how much trump paid in taxes in 2005 or how much he reportedly made in 2005.  But if you are interested, he paid approximately $38 million in taxes and reported approximately $150 million in income.  Again, I don't know about you, but this is not the information I want to know about, from his tax returns.  I also am not concerned about 2005, because I believe the statute of limitations for tax returns is seven years.

What I am interested in is all of the information on trump's tax returns for since 2009.  And......you all know why.  Because I want to see what information there is, if any, that clearly shows he has financial obligations to Russia.  Of course, if he does and because he has refused to divest himself of his business interests, that would be a "HUUUUUUUUGE" problem.  (Actually, I'm amazed he hasn't tried to copyright or trademark the word 'huuuuuuuge').

Why does trump think that anyone is going to buy his 'disclosure' of insignificant information from an insignificant tax return?  Does he really think that he can now start to tweet that he has now released his tax return information?

Rachel Maddow, on MSNBC, tweeted that she had a scoop last night:

Rachel Maddow MSNBC
✔@maddow
BREAKING: We've got Trump tax returns. Tonight, 9pm ET. MSNBC.
(Seriously).
7:36 PM - 14 Mar 2017
Before she could go on the air with her 'scoop', the White House picked up her tweet and preemptively tweeted:



David Shepardson‏Verified account @davidshepardson 15h15 hours ago
.@WhiteHouse statement on Maddow show @realDonaldTrump tax return via @ewstephe pic.twitter.com/nP8Z0o94p6

I have no clue who David Shepardson is.  Nor do I particularly care.

Here's the deal.......first of all if you've got a scoop, keep it under your hat until you're going to report it.  If it's the real deal, you'll get the credit you deserve.  Secondly, really think it through before you decide you if you want to put some piece of information out there.  In this case, was this really a big deal?  I don't think so.  Yeh, sure it was a small crumb, but not the information that's going to blow the lid off of trump's BS.  

I appreciate the role that the press, the honest press, is playing in our fight to remove trump from office.  They have a large role to play.  Even though this story back fired a little bit, it is still part of the continuing pressure that is distracting trump's staff, and trump too.  What the press does need to do is to define what 'the ball' is and keep their eye on it.  They cannot allow trump to define what the ball is and thereby distract the press, our press, our eyes, our ears from what the real ball is.