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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7050 on: August 08, 2018, 12:55:28 AM »
Meanwhile, in Washington, Rick Gates has been steadily throwing his former boss and fellow criminal Paul Manafort under the bus and reversing over him several times for good measure.
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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7051 on: August 11, 2018, 10:15:06 PM »
"Since Jan. 20, 2017, Americans have seen an endless torrent of corruption beyond anything previously imagined. No president has ever had a surer instinct than Donald Trump for finding and empowering scam artists, spongers and thugs.

As a candidate, he promised, “I'll choose the best people for my administration.” Maybe he inadvertently omitted the word “not.” Looking for the best people in Trump’s circle would be like looking for icebergs in the Everglades."

-- Steve Chapman in the Chicago Tribune

Current case in point: Chris Collins (R-NY), one of the current occupant of the Oval's most ardent suck-up. He's now had to halt his re-election campaign because he's been indicted for insider trading. And he's not alone. Four additional Republican congressmen are now implicated in those same charges: Mike Conaway (R-TX), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Billy Long (R-MO), and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK). And wouldn't you know it, two of the new stockholders, Reps. Mullin and Long, are members of the Subcommittee on Health of the House Energy and Commerce Committee along with Rep. Collins. How much more insider-y can you get?
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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7052 on: August 15, 2018, 01:28:47 AM »
She took a recording device into the White House Situation Room. The last time I checked the Situation Room is  a SCIF. That said, Washington DC is a "one-party-consent" state with regards to making recordings.

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rtpoe

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7053 on: August 15, 2018, 11:16:02 PM »
Each new scandal is distracting us from the really insidious things being done by the administration.

For example, ICE is still screwing over immigrants - even legal ones:

The Washington Post reports that the Dept. of Homeland Security is setting up alleged "green card" eligibility interviews to entrap and arrest undocumented people who are trying to use the appropriate legal avenues towards citizenship.

The ACLU of Massachusetts is accusing the agencies of conspiring to “trap” unsuspecting immigrants on a path toward legal permanent residency by inviting them to these interviews only for ICE to arrest them there. This happened to at least 17 people in 2018 including Calderon, although only 13 qualify as members of the class, according to the lawsuit. The ACLU argues this violates their rights to due process and the Immigration Nationality Act, among other things, for detaining the immigrants before they’ve had a chance to complete the process for seeking legal status.

“The government created this path for them to seek a green card,” Matthew Segal, legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, told the Associated Press. “The government can’t create that path and then arrest folks for following that path.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/15/citizenship-service-conspired-with-ice-to-trap-immigrants-at-green-card-interviews-aclu-says/
http://www.aclum.org/en/cases/calderon-v-nielsen

There's also a case of the Feds screwing over a woman who was here legally on a tourist visa for the crime of using our medical assistance programs - as she was allowed to.

Back in 2016, Nicoll Gutierrez of Michoacán, Mexico was visiting her mom (a US citizen) in Maryland when she was five months pregnant. She experienced complications, and was diagnosed with pre-gestational diabetes. Her doctors told her not to travel, so going back to Mexico wasn't an option.

An immigrant group directed them to Maryland Health Connection, the state's health insurance marketplace, where they learned that with her valid tourist visa, Nicoll was eligible for Medicaid and CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program. Her son was born in the US before her visa expired, making him a US citizen.

But under Trump's New Cruelty, Nicoll has been placed on the "No visa - EVER" list because she so blatantly used public health funds when she wasn't a citizen. The administration is currently finalizing a proposed change to immigration laws that would give immigration officials much broader latitude in using the usual "becoming a public charge" line when deciding to let people in. Even if state or even federal laws say they are eligible for such benefits and assistance.

Now it's true, Nicoll *could* indeed be sponsored for citizenship by her US relatives. But the wait list for a married daughter of a US citizen who comes from Mexico is....23 years.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Mexican-tourist-denied-entry-at-Bush-after-13139345.php

rtpoe

The last fling of winter is over ...  The earth, the soil itself, has a dreaming quality about it.  It is warm now to the touch; it has come alive; it hides secrets that in a moment, in a little while, it will tell.
-  Donald Culross Peattie

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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7054 on: August 16, 2018, 11:20:38 PM »
With a straight face, the press secretary came to the podium today and said that former CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance was revoked by the current occupant of the Oval Office because of "his erratic conduct and behavior", because he "has a history that calls his credibility into question", because he has made "a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations" and "wild outbursts on the internet and television – about this Administration." 

Yes, he said that about not himself, but about John Brennan, the man who helped get Osama bin Laden.

She then read off a list of people -- James Clapper, James Comey, Michael Hayden, Sally Yates, Susan Rice, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and Bruce Ohr -- and hinted that their security clearances may soon either be revoked, or not renewed.

Other than them all serving their country honorably, the only thing all those people have in common is that they all have spoken out against the excesses of the current occupant of the Oval.

Even Richard Nixon, who also compiled an "enemies list" in his time, never went so far as to go around the established protocol for revocation of security clearances.

It gets worse. The statement was dated July 28, 2018. But it was only read out today. Why? The given reason is that that date "was a cut-and-paste error" and that they actually were going to do it then, but "last week was very hectic". Hectic, how? He was on vacation last week...again. So that is yet another lie from the author of lies. The real reason, is that Brennan was on MSNBC last night and said (in so many words) that the current occupant of the Oval was an incivil, uncouth, incompetent, divisive non-leader who was endangering our country.

So, here we are. People who actually have helped keep this country safe, people who have served this country honorably and well, are in danger of having their security clearances revoked. Yet incompetent charlatans and complicit fools like Ivanka and Jared and even Omarosa still have their security clearances intact. And why? Because people like John Brennan speak truth to power, and those currently in power would rather give aid and comfort to agents of a foreign adversary by inviting them into the Oval Office with no other Americans present, than hear the truth spoken about them. Here is hoping that Brennan and those like him continue to not relent.

This is not normal.
« Last Edit: August 16, 2018, 11:22:10 PM by TheZookie007 »
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3deroticer

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7055 on: August 17, 2018, 01:26:18 AM »
We have all heard the term Banana Republic being use now to describe this administration, but the thing about Banana Republic is that its ripe picking for the other countries to attack us. Banana republic don't get great picking of loyal people to the country serving the people. The only people that want to work for Trump are the self serving opportunist that wants to harvest it. There is a struggle between getting the supreme court justice pick in before Trump is removed from office. Has Trump stir enough of the hornet nest to sabotage the supreme justice process?
"Yesterday, Reince Priebus called this whole story a 'nothing burger,'" he said. "Well these emails have turned it into an all-you-can-prosecute buffet."

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Prof Morearty

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7056 on: August 17, 2018, 10:52:53 AM »
I hope I didn't sabotage this thread with my most recent post, by giving the impression that criticisms of Trump are unwelcome.  They are entirely welcome and necessary.  My post only aimed at reducing the constantly repeated insulting comments, not eliminating them (far less was I aiming at banning valid complaints).  Sometimes people need to let off steam, even if it won't accomplish anything.
The best capsule description of Trump comes from Barbara Streisand 
  clueless, reckless, graceless, mindless, heartless
We could add shameless.  I hate to say it, but his total lack of conscience is his strength.  What person with any sense of decency would
-hire his own daughter and son-in-law at public expense;
-fire the head of the FBI who is investigating him;
-disparage America's best actress as overrated because she criticizes him;
-call upon a hostile foreign power to ferret out and publish incriminating information about his opponent;
-shove a foreign head of state aside so he could stand in front of him with pride;
-remove a former CIA director's security clearance for criticizing him?
But since he has no sense of shame, he goes right on doing what he wants, and his hardcore fans go right on applauding him.
Here's something to think about: can he crack down of freedom of speech and of the press, as he clearly wants to do?  No, the Bill of Rights forbids that, right?
Wrong.  Here's what the first amendment says:
Quote
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Congress shall make no law: the President can do what he wants (I hope that's wrong, but I'm just wallowing in pessimism).

Any possibility of redress in November?  I doubt it.  The Democrats and other opponents of Trump will probably gain some seats, but not two-thirds.  So, no chance for impeachment, and, thanks to his veto, no chance to pass laws that will curb his tyranny.

OK, enough moaning with no ideas of how to stop this monster  -- but I hope someone will come up with some rays of hope. ::)
« Last Edit: August 17, 2018, 11:57:18 AM by Prof Morearty »

Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7057 on: August 17, 2018, 04:34:01 PM »
I hope I didn't sabotage this thread with my most recent post, by giving the impression that criticisms of Trump are unwelcome.  They are entirely welcome and necessary.  My post only aimed at reducing the constantly repeated insulting comments, not eliminating them (far less was I aiming at banning valid complaints).  Sometimes people need to let off steam, even if it won't accomplish anything.
The best capsule description of Trump comes from Barbara Streisand 
  clueless, reckless, graceless, mindless, heartless
We could add shameless.  I hate to say it, but his total lack of conscience is his strength.  What person with any sense of decency would
-hire his own daughter and son-in-law at public expense;
-fire the head of the FBI who is investigating him;
-disparage America's best actress as overrated because she criticizes him;
-call upon a hostile foreign power to ferret out and publish incriminating information about his opponent;
-shove a foreign head of state aside so he could stand in front of him with pride;
-remove a former CIA director's security clearance for criticizing him?
But since he has no sense of shame, he goes right on doing what he wants, and his hardcore fans go right on applauding him.
Here's something to think about: can he crack down of freedom of speech and of the press, as he clearly wants to do?  No, the Bill of Rights forbids that, right?
Wrong.  Here's what the first amendment says:
Quote
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Congress shall make no law: the President can do what he wants (I hope that's wrong, but I'm just wallowing in pessimism).

Any possibility of redress in November?  I doubt it.  The Democrats and other opponents of Trump will probably gain some seats, but not two-thirds.  So, no chance for impeachment, and, thanks to his veto, no chance to pass laws that will curb his tyranny.

OK, enough moaning with no ideas of how to stop this monster  -- but I hope someone will come up with some rays of hope. ::)

Yes you did. I am out of this thread with contributions about "right" politics examples from different countries. Either I can express myself the only way I think is the correct way to oppose "right" politics and their people or I am out. And here I am out now ....
Anti-social behaviours lack consideration for the well-being of others. Any types of conduct that violates basic rights (human rights is one of them) of another person. It can show as covert or overt hostility.

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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7058 on: August 17, 2018, 06:06:30 PM »

Congress shall make no law: the President can do what he wants (I hope that's wrong, but I'm just wallowing in pessimism).


It may seem that way, but no man is above the law. As long as the checks and balances proscribed with our Constitution exist, and as long as every member of the Legislative branch remembers (or is made to remember) that they swore an oath to protect, uphold and defend that Constitution "from all enemies, foreign and domestic", there remains some glimmer of hope.



Any possibility of redress in November?  I doubt it.  The Democrats and other opponents of Trump will probably gain some seats, but not two-thirds.  So, no chance for impeachment, and, thanks to his veto, no chance to pass laws that will curb his tyranny.


As long as our voting systems are not tampered with, and as long as the Republican voter suppression efforts are beaten back, I want to believe, I have to believe, that somehow the Dems will snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The alternative is too bleak to contemplate.


OK, enough moaning with no ideas of how to stop this monster  -- but I hope someone will come up with some rays of hope. ::)


We may have to go back to the basics:

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

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3deroticer

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7059 on: August 17, 2018, 08:46:59 PM »
Well that recording of Lara Trump negotiation with Amarosa an indication of how Trump does business, then we are in deep trouble where everyone is bought off to lie. Just heard that the senate is now changing and loosening the safeguard of our internet. The very opposite of protecting us from hacking. Everyday the office of the highest level is getting more absurd than ever before. There are several days before anyone post in here, and I didn't think because of the warning, but that its so bizarre that everything about it has already been said.
"Yesterday, Reince Priebus called this whole story a 'nothing burger,'" he said. "Well these emails have turned it into an all-you-can-prosecute buffet."

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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7060 on: August 18, 2018, 12:56:47 AM »
Some good news amongst the madness:

First, the entire Senate passed an unanimous (albeit non-binding) resolution explicitly declaring that the free press is not "the enemy of the people", touts the "indispensable role of the free press" and says an attack on the media meant to "systematically undermine the credibility of the press as a whole [is] an attack on our democratic institutions."

Second, more than 300 newspapers joined The Boston Globe in the paper's initiative calling for editorial boards to take a stand against the authoritarian rhetoric from the current occupant of the Oval toward the media, which Marjorie Pritchard, the deputy managing editor of the Globe who oversees the paper’s editorial page, dubbed a "dirty war."

Third, in the wake of the revocation of John Brennan's security clearance, and retired Admiral William H. McRaven's call for his security clearance to be revoked too ("I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency."), 12 former CIA directors and deputy directors, who served Democratic and Republican administrations alike, came together to write an open letter condemning this latest deranged outburst:

Quote
One of the signers told me the statement was circulated to all living ex-directors and deputy directors at noon on Thursday, with a request to reply by 6 that night. The names of four former directors are not on the letter: former President George H.W. Bush, John Deutch, Adm. William Studeman, and James Woolsey. It could not be ascertained, either by me or by one of the organizers, whether they declined to sign the statement or simply hadn’t seen it by the deadline.

Fourth, remember that asinine dick-measuring contest military parade that the current occupant of the Oval wanted this fall? It's off -- for now.

Finally, a glimmer of hope that the "blue wave" might indeed be coming (despite what the current occupant of the Oval and his friends at Faux would have you believe):

Quote

Ever since, the President has adopted this as his election mantra. Earlier this month, he tweeted this reality-defying version of his latest plotline: “Presidential Approval numbers are very good - strong economy, military and just about everything else. Better numbers than Obama at this point, by far. We are winning on just about every front and for that reason there will not be a Blue Wave, but there might be a Red Wave!” Three days later, buoyed by a series of rallies for the Trump faithful at which he repeated his new slogan, Trump tweeted it again. “As long as I campaign and/or support Senate and House candidates (within reason), they will win! I LOVE the people, & they certainly seem to like the job I’m doing. If I find the time, in between China, Iran, the Economy and much more, which I must, we will have a giant Red Wave!” The President repeated it again after this week’s contests: “Great Republican election results last night. So far we have the team we want. 8 for 9 in Special Elections. Red Wave!”

The problem with all these tweets is not so much that they are riddled with factual inaccuracies, although they are. (Obama’s approval numbers were better at this point; pending the results in Ohio’s Twelfth District, Republicans have only won seven of nine special elections for this Congress.) The problem is that there is no red wave in sight, nor do the Republicans who have to deal with that reality expect one to somehow magically materialize. “No, there is no red wave. There is no one who thinks that,” a Republican strategist who has been advising the Party’s keep-the-House efforts told me on Thursday. “It’s like the phrase from his [ghost-written] book, ‘The Art of the Deal’: Lying isn’t lying if it’s in the service of Trump.”...

That evidence is overwhelming. “I haven’t spent thirty seconds thinking about a red wave, because I think it is totally delusional. Any Republican pollster or strategist worth their salt just rolls their eyes at the thought of it,” Charlie Cook, the dean of American election forecasters, told me. Cook, the editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, has followed closely every midterm election since 1974, when the Republicans suffered historic losses amid Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal, reshaping Capitol Hill for a generation. His team at the Cook Political Report currently assesses thirty-seven Republican House seats as highly vulnerable, up from twenty in January, including three more moved to “toss-ups” after the primary-election results Trump touted in his red-wave tweet this week. Another fifty Republican-held seats are currently assessed as potentially vulnerable. Given that Democrats only need to defend their two vacant seats and pick up twenty-three more to win back control of the House, they have many possible routes to a majority. As for other metrics used to assess the midterm-election outlook, Trump’s approval ratings remain historically low, hovering around forty per cent, and Democrats register leads of between eight and twelve points in most recent national surveys of generic congressional-ballot preference. Over the last twenty-one midterm elections, the President’s party has lost an average of thirty seats in the House and four in the Senate. No wonder Trump is trying to sell the one metric that is trending in his favor, the strong economy. But, even here, he is selling an alternate reality by declaring that the economy is “better than ever,” a conclusion that would surprise, among others, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, each of whom saw growth numbers as good or better, depending on which ones are cited.
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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7061 on: August 21, 2018, 04:50:23 PM »
It's only lunch-time and already things have been busy.

First, erstwhile Mayor of New York and current man about town Rudolph Giuliani went onto NBC's Meet the Press to claim that "the truth is not the truth" and that his client didn't want to talk to Robert Mueller because "he didn't want to be caught in a perjury trap." Let the record show that the only way you can fall into a "trap" of perjury is if you lie under oath. You can't fall into that "trap" if you just...oh, I don't know...tell the truth? But since we all know how much of an inveterate liar his client is...

A few minutes ago news broke on two more fronts:

"Stuttering" Paul Manafort was found guilty on 5 counts of filing fake tax returns, one count of failing to report foreign bank accounts, and two counts of bank fraud. There were 10 other counts against him but the judge declared a mistrial on them since the jury couldn't reach a verdict on those counts.

He's also being charged in Washington DC with failing to report his work as an agent for Ukraine to the US government, conspiracy to launder money, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Jury selection for that second trial is set to begin Sept. 17.

And Michael "Soggy Bottom Boy #1" Cohen announced that he was pleading guilty to eight federal charges: five counts of tax evasion, once count of a false statement to a bank, one unlawful corporate campaign contribution, and one excessive contribution. In addition to the charges in New York, Cohen faces two civil lawsuits filed in California by adult film actor Stormy "Hush Money Ain't Hushed Me Yet" Daniels.

Finally, the other day we heard from the current occupant of the Oval, claiming that he could run the Mueller investigation if he wanted to, and that former Watergate lawyer John Dean was "a rat". Mr. Dean had more than a few words to say about that latest emission, not all of them good.

But with the news that Don McGahn spent more than 30 hours talking to Mueller and that details of exactly what he talked about remain under wraps, I think even the current occupant of the Oval has to realize that the walls are closing in and that he is in "the jackpot seat for impeachment".
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rtpoe

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7062 on: August 21, 2018, 09:13:58 PM »
So when you include Michael Flynn with them, that means that El Presidente's former National Security Advisor, Campaign Chairman, and personal attorney have all been convicted or plead guilty to felonies.

And the first two Congressmen who endorsed him, New York’s Chris Collins and California’s Duncan Hunter, are both under indictment.

We're at the point where we can't tell if it's the End of the Beginning, or the Beginning of the End.

We'll know more after Election Day (which is only about 70 days away (tick, tick, tick.....)).
rtpoe

The last fling of winter is over ...  The earth, the soil itself, has a dreaming quality about it.  It is warm now to the touch; it has come alive; it hides secrets that in a moment, in a little while, it will tell.
-  Donald Culross Peattie

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3deroticer

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7063 on: August 21, 2018, 10:23:04 PM »
They are 4 states away from overturning the constitution. That's what at stake. When John Kelley told Amarosa that he is in charge not Trump, that was my first time my eyes shot open. It made sense that Trump spending so much time golfing because he isn't in charge of the whitehouse and a puppet. But the word i out that they draft a new revision of the constitution by the heritage foundation and morning prayer group that been doing a long run plan on rewriting the fabric of our govt. The plan to turn California into 3 smaller state is their plan to get those more states to be able to turn over the Constitution. We only got wind of it prior because of them getting so close to make it happen, but they need to get Brett Kavanaugh into the supreme court to make that happen.
"Yesterday, Reince Priebus called this whole story a 'nothing burger,'" he said. "Well these emails have turned it into an all-you-can-prosecute buffet."

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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #7064 on: August 22, 2018, 01:43:36 AM »

They are 4 states away from overturning the constitution. That's what at stake. When John Kelley told Amarosa that he is in charge not Trump, that was my first time my eyes shot open.

It's not the first time that a Chief of Staff/Secretary of State for an entertainer-turned-Republican who then entered the Oval Office said such a thing.


It made sense that Trump spending so much time golfing because he isn't in charge of the whitehouse and a puppet. But the word i out that they draft a new revision of the constitution by the heritage foundation and morning prayer group that been doing a long run plan on rewriting the fabric of our govt. The plan to turn California into 3 smaller state is their plan to get those more states to be able to turn over the Constitution.

We only got wind of it prior because of them getting so close to make it happen, but they need to get Brett Kavanaugh into the supreme court to make that happen.

If that man is sworn in as an Associate Justice of the SCOTUS, the slow-moving coup d'etat led by Mitch McConnell would be complete. If ever there was a time for the Democrats to raise Cain, this would be the time. Although I understand why they didn't, if they had been half as obstructionist to this current regime as the Republicans had been towards Pres. Obama, we might be in a better spot now. Instead we have been lumbered with the worst, least competent, most vile cabinet in American history.
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