TRUMP IS DRAGGING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY INTO A LITTER BOX

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Contrary to popular belief, Black people don’t have a moral obligation to be stupid

TRUMP IS DRAGGING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY INTO A LITTER BOX
YET, CONGRESS IS FAILING TO USE ITS MOST POWERFUL WEAPON AGAINST HIM

At this point even Donald Trump supporters recognize that he has the self-serving and anti-intellectual immaturity of an 8-year-old. Due to his childish irresponsibility, in just over two years he’s caused the United States to go from the most respected nation on Earth to the laughingstock of the world. And so far, the United States Congress has become complicit in his dysfunction by allowing him to drag the nation into a litter box.  Clear evidence of that is in the short time that Trump has occupied the Oval Office, the nation has gone from engaging in serious, if often disingenuous, political debate, to indulging in childish name-calling, spitball fights, and blatant obstruction of justice over Twitter. That’s a horrible image for a once great nation.
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tried to justify congress’ inaction by pointing out that Trump is trying to goad congress into premature impeachment proceedings in order to galvanize his base in preparation for the 2020 election, and since the GOP is in control of the senate, any attempt to remove him from office would fail at this point. So the smart thing to do is to hold hearings on the Mueller Report and educate the public on why Trumps impeachment is necessary.
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So, while Pelosi has an excellent plan, Trump is stonewalling her efforts by blocking all congressional subpoenas for documents and witnesses for congressional hearings, which makes it impossible to educate the public – at least, in a timely manner.
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Trump has declared that he is not going to cooperate with congress' constitutional right of oversight, and he has taken it upon himself to overrule the United States Constitution by declaring that any further investigations into his personal conduct is unnecessary, completely dismissing congress' constitutional right to oversight, and his Attorney General, William Barr – who’s supposed to be representing the people, not Trump - has declared that since a sitting president can't be indicted, neither can he be investigated. So, essentially, Donald Trump has placed himself above the law, and taken over the government.

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While both Trump, and Barr, know that this tactic is illegal, they’re trying to force congress to waste time by having to go to court. Trump’s betting his presidency, and freedom, on the hope that he can make it to the 2020 election, and just maybe, the GOP will be able to retake congress and kill the investigations into his criminality all together. Thus, congress seems to be between a rock and a hard place.

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So, what’s next to impossible to understand is, why isn’t congress invoking all of its powers to fight this blatant assault on our democracy? They’re spewing a lot of tough sounding language, but they're completely ignoring their most powerful weapon – their power of “Inherent Contempt", which allows them - as congress - to simply arrest a person, or fine them $25,000 a day, until they comply. Now, that would get a person's attention. It would make me show up a day early.

INHERENT CONTEMPT
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The National Constitutional Center states in it’s publication, Constitutional Daily, that “Justice Willis Van Devanter made perhaps the most famous statement of these powers in McGrain v. Daugherty, a 1927 Supreme Court decision about Mally S. Daugherty, the brother of former Attorney General Harry Daugherty.  A select Senate committee issued a subpoena for Daugherty to testify and to also surrender records from an Ohio bank. When Daugherty refused to comply after a second subpoena, the Senate passed a resolution issuing a warrant and authorizing a Senate deputy to take Daugherty into custody. Daugherty filed a habeas petition against his detention. A lower court ruled that the Senate exceeded its powers by detaining Daugherty, freeing him. However, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction, holding that under the Constitution, Congress has the power to compel witnesses and testimony “to obtain information in aid of the legislative function.”

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“Each house of Congress has power, through its own process, to compel a private individual to appear before it or one of its committees and give testimony needed to enable it efficiently to exercise a legislative function belonging to it under the Constitution,” Van Devanter said. 'This has support in long practice of the houses separately, and in repeated Acts of Congress, all amounting to a practical construction of the Constitution.'”

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It's been reported by several news organizations that Attorney General Bar has even taken to mocking Speaker Pelosi by jokingly asking her after he ignored a congressional subpoena, "Did you bring the handcuffs?" So, for congress to do anything less than utilize all of its Constitutional powers is to invite disrespect of congressional authority by both the people involved, and the public at large, because it makes congress look like they’re unsure of their own authority. The speaker should have Attorney General Barr locked up, because he's not only thumbing his nose at her, but at congress, the United States Constitution, and the American people.

DONALD TRUMP: THE WORLD’S MOST LYING, CORRUPT, AND INCOMPETENT BUSINESSMAN

The courts have just turned over Trump’s finances to congress. Trump wasn't trying to move Hell and Earth to keep that from happening for nothing. We're now gonna see what a corrupt fraud he is.
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We're soon gonna find that Donald Trump is, hands down, the world's worst businessman. He's never started a business that wasn't an abject failure. Recent reports by the New York Times - with just a sliver of the information they have now - revealed that Trump's entire image was built on a lie. His father kept him afloat while he was alive by giving him over $400 million, towards the end, and after his father died, Donald went into bankruptcy 6 times (count 'em, SIX TIMES!!!). As a result, he couldn't get a loan from ANY bank in America. Then the Russians came to his rescue in order to use his name to do business and launder money - they even had an office in Trump Tower!!!

PREDICTION: We're about to find that all, or at least most, of Trump's so-called wealth is actually Russian money. Trump perpetuated a lie about how much of a bigshot and great businessman he was, and then used that lie to rent his name to the Russians. The Russians then hung out a shingle under it to launder money and commit crimes all over the world. The Russians have a phrase for a person like Trump - "a useful idiot."

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Thus, this is a pivotal moment in American history and we're dealing with a world-class criminal in Donald Trump. So, the founding fathers expected congress to step up to the plate at a time like this. If they fail to do so, we can just flush our democracy down the toilet.

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 

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WHY ISN'T CONGRSS USING ITS MOST POTENT WEAPON - ITS POWER OF INHERENT CONTEMPT?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

WHY ISN'T CONGRSS USING ITS MOST POTENT WEAPON - ITS POWER OF INHERENT CONTEMPT?

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Congress needs to stop playing games and start playing hardball against the Trump administration instead of running their mouths about the actions that they “may take if” Trump is not responsive to their authority.
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Donald Trump and the GOP are not paying the house any attention – they can’t afford to because their backs are up against the wall, so they don’t have any other options other than to ignore congress. They’ve obviously come to the conclusion that nothing would be worse than the truth coming out, so they’ve decided to obfuscate and stonewall. 
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What makes that such a severe problem for the nation is since Donald Trump is all but illiterate, he’s incapable of even beginning to grasp the seriousness of the Constitutional crisis that he’s setting in motion.  In addition, he doesn’t care, because he’s not interested in the impact that it’s having on the country. It’s all about “the Donald”, and he simply can’t afford to allow America a glimpse into his criminal empire, because it’s all built on smoke and mirrors and if contaminated by truth, it’ll all come tumbling down. Even Trump ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said - and during a hearing, no less - that “Trump is a fucking idiot."  I rarely agree with Sen. Graham on anything, but in this case, no truer words were ever spoken. 
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Think about it. As much as Trump likes to brag about what a great man he is, if he didn’t have a lot to hide, he’d not only allow us to see his taxes in

order to put us in awe over how fantastically rich he is, but he’d give us a guided tour through the entire Trump empire to prove what a genius he is. That’s his braggadocious nature. So, the fact that he’s taking such extreme measures to hide his finances tells us something very suspicious is afoot – either he’s not even close to being as rich as he claims to be, or he's afraid it will reveal how deeply involved in Russian money laundering and crime he is, or maybe, both.
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We know three things about Trump’s finances – first, that his father financed Donald’s false narrative of a successful businessman until his death; secondly, every business venture that Donald has engaged in on his own has been an abject failure, and finally, after his father died, the only thing that kept him from having to go on welfare was a trust fund from his father and the Russians paying him to use his name to launder money and engage in other nefarious activities.
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So again, congress needs to stop playing games with Trump. They should ask Trump’s people to either come before a congressional committee or to submit documents only once. If they fail or refuse to do so, congress should issue a subpoena. Thereafter, if they fail to respond to the subpoena, congress should invoke their “inherent contempt” powers and fine them $25,000 per day and/or throw them in jail until they comply. Congress has that right under the Constitution - and without even having to go to court. That way the American people can be educated and pressure can be placed on the Republican senate prior to initiating impeachment. In addition, Pence, who was brought into the administration by Paul Manafort, could also be impeached for his connection to Michael Flynn, which would preclude a pardon of Trump.
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It's been reported by several news organizations that Attorney General Bar has even taken to mocking Speaker Pelosi by jokingly asking her after he ignored a congressional subpoena, "Did you bring the handcuffs?" So for congress to do anything less than utilize all of its Constitutional powers is to invite disrespect of their authority by both the people involved, and the public at large, because it makes congress look like they’re unsure of their own authority. The speaker should have Attorney General Barr locked up, because he's not only thumbing his nose at her, but at congress, the United States Constitution, and the American people.

INHERENT CONTEMPT
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The National Constitutional Center states in its publication, Constitutional Daily, that “Justice Willis Van Devanter made perhaps the most famous statement of these powers in McGrain v. Daugherty, a 1927 Supreme Court decision about Mally S. Daugherty, the brother of former Attorney General Harry Daugherty.  A select Senate committee issued a subpoena for Daugherty to testify and to also surrender records from an Ohio bank. When Daugherty refused to comply after a second subpoena, the Senate passed a resolution issuing a warrant and authorizing a Senate deputy to take Daugherty into custody. Daugherty filed a habeas petition against his detention. A lower court ruled that the Senate exceeded its powers by detaining Daugherty, freeing him. However, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction, holding that under the Constitution, Congress has the power to compel witnesses and testimony “to obtain information in aid of the legislative function.”

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“Each house of Congress has power, through its own process, to compel a private individual to appear before it or one of its committees and give testimony needed to enable it efficiently to exercise a legislative function belonging to it under the Constitution,” Van Devanter said. “This has support in long practice of the houses separately, and in repeated Acts of Congress, all amounting to a practical construction of the Constitution.”

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This is a pivotal moment in American history and we're dealing with a world-class fool in Donald Trump. So the founding fathers expected congress to step up to the plate at a time like this. If they fail to do so, our democracy is down the toilet.
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Trump has just declared that he is not going to cooperate with congress' constitutional right of oversight, and he has taken it upon himself to overrule the United States Constitution and has declared that any further investigations into his personal conduct is unnecessary, completely dismissing congress' constitutional right to oversight, and Attorney General Barr has declared that since a sitting president can't be indicted, neither can he be investigated. So, essentially, Donald Trump has taken over the government.

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Trump is obviously so ignorant and uninformed regarding the underpinnings of America’s democratic laws and traditions, and so self-serving, greedy, and in fear of the revelations in the Robert Mueller Report that he’s completely untethered to the democratic principles that most of us take for granted. As we speak – and as we twerk, and watch our baseball, basketball, and football games -Trump is currently testing the limits of America’s willingness to defend our Constitution. He's fully prepared to turn the United States of America into the Autocratic States of Donald Trump. And Trump is transparent. That’s why he’s so fixated on the word, “coup.” He wants to be America’s Putin - and yes, it can happen here. If Trump and Mitch McConnell's stacked Supreme Court goes along with him, at that very moment, we no longer have a democracy, but a kleptocracy like in Russia, which, it seems, is Trump's ultimate goal. He's already mentioned adding 2 years to his presidency to make up for the 2 years "wasted" on investigating him, and Michael Cohen, his long-time attorney and "fixer", said that he suspected that Trump wasn't going to give up power without a fight.

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Michael Cohen: "I fear Trump won't peacefully give up the White House if he loses the 2020 election."

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It is essential, therefore, that congress be resolute in confronting this blatant assault on our democracy. It is also essential that congress meets this challenge to our way of life with unapologetic vigor. This is no time for speeches, nor, polite accommodations, and congress must make that point abundantly clear by bringing criminal charges against Attorney General Barr for committing perjury before congress.  That will serve two purposes – first, it will send a very powerful message to Trump’s other minions, and secondly, it will make Barr unavailable to interfere in the remaining cases still pending from the Mueller investigation. Because Barr has made it very clear that he represents nothing less than a fox in the hen house.  He will find a way to sabotage any evidence pointing to Trump's unlawful behavior in any case within his purview. That's what he auditioned for, and why Trump hired him.

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So while the GOP is missing in action and playing political games as usual, it’s important for the responsible members of congress to recognize that this is not simply business as usual. This is the most serious assault on the United States Constitution in the history of this country - and by the most clueless individual who has ever set foot in the Oval Office. It's one thing to have a tyrant like Richard Nixon in office who's testing the limits of our democracy, but yet another to have a mindless illiterate with autocratic aspirations in office who doesn't even know that there are any limits. So this is the most dangerous situation this nation has ever faced, and it must be addressed as such. It is essential that we snatch it, and Trump, out by the roots - and fast.

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TRUMP INCOMPETENCE

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 

 

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WHY IS THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION INCOMPLETE?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

WHY IS THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION INCOMPLETE?

It is unclear whether Robert Mueller’s reputation for competence and credibility has been greatly overblown, or if there’s much more to his report than is being publicly revealed, but as it stands, the report clearly opens up many more questions than it answers. I could go into this matter in great detail, but that would require a book, so I've decided to provide just a snapshot of what Barr, Trump, and the GOP expect us to accept.
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They obviously think the American people are complete idiots. In spite of all of the smoke emanating from Trump's corruption, Attorney General Barr is trying to tell us, "Aw, it wasn't nothing. Trump's been completely vindicated. While I can't show you the entire report, just take my word for it." He must think we're crazy. 
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Even at first glance it looks like the American people are being hoodwinked. While Mueller was preceded by an admirable reputation, he is a lifelong Republican, and the entire Republican Party is now being threatened by Donald Trump’s corruption. So flawless reputation or not, Robert Mueller’s failure to resolve the matters below leaves the unmistakable smell of funk in the air.
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The investigation not only seems to have been prematurely truncated, but grand jury issues and trials have been left completely unresolved. It almost seems as though someone told Mueller, "Okay, that's it. You're out of here." How can Mueller abruptly declare that there has been no collusion before the connection between Russian agent Maria Butina, the NRA, and the GOP have been resolved, for example? Something is very wrong here.
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Here are just a few other examples of the issues that have been left dangling in mid air:
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Collusion:

          1). Why wasn’t there a sealed indictment against Donald Trump, or any member of his family based on the following?

                   a. The Trump Tower meeting.

                   b. Trump Jr lying before congress. 

                   c. The Trump connection with Manafort and Russia.

                   d. Trump’s public request for Russia to reveal Clinton email.

                   e. Russian sanction quid pro quo.

                   f. Trump Moscow Tower discussions during the campaign.

                   g. The NRA connection between Trump, Russia, and the GOP.

                   h. The significance of so many Russians attending Trump’s inauguration.

                    i. Erik Prince's attempt to back-channel Russia.

                   j. Jared Kushner's attempt to back-channel Russia.

                   k. Erik Prince lying to congress.

                   l. What did Pence know about Michael Flynn?

                   m. Where did all of the inauguration money come from, and where did it go?

Obstruction:

          1).The Comey firing.

                   a. Trump's seeming attempt to obstruct Flynn investigation.

                   b. Trump's comment to Russians in Oval office that firing of Comey was Russia related.

                   c. Trump's comment on national television that firing of Comey was Russia related. 

                    d. Trump's threat to congress during his State of the Union address.

                   e. The Attorney General shuffle.

                   f. Trump's attempt to intervene in New York DOJ personnel assignments.

          2). Witness tampering

                   a. Trump's comments about Michael Cohen on Twitter.

                   b. Trump's comments about Manafort on Twitter.

                   c. Pardon dangling.

          3). Jeff Sessions firing.

While I'm not happy about having to cast suspicion upon an honorable public servant like Robert Mueller, under the circumstances, unless one is a complete idiot we have no choice. Mueller's flawless reputation is not only based on his credibility, but also for being thorough, but what's being presented here by Attorney General Barr as Mueller's findings can be called many things, but thorough is not among them. So, again, something is terribly wrong here.
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Maybe Mueller's intent was to approach this investigation with complete integrity, but one of his many virtues is his tendency to be a team player. In such a case, his flawless reputation would make him the perfect Republican for the party's intent to perpetrate a snow job. But we should reserve judgment on this matter until we can see the document in it's entirety. That's what makes seeing the Mueller document in its entirety an absolute must, because we'd foolhardy to forget that Attorney General Barr literally auditioned for his job, which speaks volumes regarding Trump's intent to obstruct.
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So the Republicans are undoubtedly going to accuse the Democrats of trying to move the goal posts, but the goal was to have a thorough and exhaustive investigation, and that's certainly not the case here. Thus, they can say what they will, but the questions above need to be answered, and until they are, this investigation is far from over, Mueller or no Mueller. We simply cannot allow the Republicans to "Kavenaugh" this investigation (which is another issue that needs to be revisited), because the current circumstance clearly demonstrates that matters such as these are far too important.

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But with respect to Robert Mueller, there's always the possibility that President Richard Nixon's White House counselor, John Dean, was right when he tweeted the following:
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“Trump and his minions think they dodged a bullet. I have a notion — only recurring though — that Mueller delivered a bomb to AG Barr, who is now trying to figure out how to tell Trump in a way that doesn’t cause him to start World War III.  Barr knows he works for a psycho.”

THE AMERICAN FASCIST
https://wattree.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-facist.html

Eric L. Wattree 

Http://wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA) 

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 

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