Rudy Giuliani: Second Worse Corrupt Liar Ever and Now Right Along Side #1 Donald J. Trump

Welcome aboard Rudy: I know I can always count on you

Or “Dirt” on Biden via: Bribes & threats, um Mr. Ukraine

(That kind of “Info” right, Rudy Gee)

NBC NEWS HEADLINES

“Rudy Giuliani's former DOJ colleagues believe he committed crimes in pushing Biden probe”

Jeffrey Harris, who worked closely with Giuliani in the 1980s and is now a lawyer in private practice in DC, said to NBC “I think the Giuliani that I know would prosecute the Giuliani of today. There’s a whole apparatus of the United States government that’s set up to deal with foreign officials and Rudy Giuliani’s not one of them. To the extent that you could look at this as using government resources for your benefit, there are a number of crimes that this conduct would answer to.”

NBC News also reached out to seven former colleagues of Giuliani's. Of the six who offered comments of Giuliani, none, on or off the record defended him. 

Harris and the other former DOJ lawyers said they believe Giuliani has potentially exposed himself to a range of offenses — from breaking federal election laws to bribery to extortion — through his efforts to assist the Ukrainians in probing Biden, thought to be Trump’s top political opponent.

Background: On a Friday in late July, Giuliani boarded a plane to Spain to meet with an adviser to the Ukrainian president about a plan to investigate Joe Biden. That trip is now described in the whistleblower complaint in all the news. 

Even several former Giuliani colleagues said they believe it should appear in a future indictment. That Giuliani trip and role in this scandal has triggered an impeachment inquiry and still coming into focus.

Giuliani’s trip to Spain came one day after Trump urged Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to probe Biden and his son Hunter, according to the whistleblower's complaint. 

Trump pushed the claim that Biden helped to force out a Ukrainian prosecutor (Viktor Shokin) because the man was probing a gas company that employed Hunter Biden as a consultant.

Shokin was ousted amid calls from top officials of several Western nations over concerns he wasn’t doing enough to root out deep-seated corruption. The whistleblower's complaint also says that Giuliani had other contacts with Ukrainian officials as part of the effort to dig up dirt on Biden. 

For example, Giuliani met with Ukraine’s prosecutor general on at least two occasions — in New York in January and in Warsaw, Poland in February, filed in the complaint.

At the heart of the whistleblower's complaint is the allegation that Trump abused his power by “… soliciting interference from a foreign country in the 2020 elections” — with Giuliani acting as the president’s point person in the effort.

Bruce Fein, a former special assistant to the Assistant AG for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) under President Nixon and associate Deputy AG under President Reagan, and he worked at the DOJ with Giuliani in the early 1980s, said he believes Giuliani could be prosecuted for breaking federal election law, adding: “He was soliciting a foreign government to help Trump’s 2020 campaign. That’s a problem. Federal election laws make it illegal to solicit anything of value from a foreign government or persons to influence the outcome of an election.” (Ergo: Trying to get, or actually getting dirt on Biden or any other political opponent that way breaks the law).

Fein said Giuliani could also have opened himself up to bribery charges in connection with the president allegedly withholding military funds in order to pressure the Ukraine to launch an investigation of the Bidens, adding: “If Giuliani was privy to that, he could be complicit with Trump in conspiring to solicit a bribe.”

Giuliani, who has said he’s been working as an unpaid attorney for Trump, has told NBC News that he went to Spain on his own dime on a trip he described as a mix of business and pleasure. Giuliani is not listed as receiving any money from the Trump campaign, according to FEC filings.

Giuliani scoffed at the suggestion that he had broken the law, saying: “Büllshït. They don’t know what they are talking about. What crimes?”

My 2 cents: This cannot be brushed aside as “Fake News” or “Media Witch Hunt,” or “A Hoax” all words Trump uses to label these things – not one bit. 

This is very serious criminal acts on Trumps part, and I might add although very complex, quite easy to follow and understand the story based on one simple statement: “Trump tried to use a foreign government to stay in office.”

It is incomprehensible to me and I’m sure to millions of rational-thinking Americans that using or trying to use any foreign government in any sense of the word “to use” for political gain is unlawful and flat out un-American by any definition.

Trump and those around him are just like those involved with Nixon during Watergate, or with Reagan and VP (later President George H. W. Bush who pardoned most of the guilty) in Iran-Contra, or all the way back to the Teapot Dome oil leasing public land scandal in 1920 under President Harding must be punished, too.

The GOP always professes to be the party of “law and order and justice.”  I say to them: Prove it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Trump True Confession: So, What Now You Don't Trust Me - A Bit Late for That, Um LOL LOL

Hello — truth teller par excellence

(But, only this once)

Trump wrapped up his swing through New York City and he stopped by the luxury restaurant Cipriani to deliver remarks at a high-roller breakfast fundraiser. Fresh off meetings at the United Nations, Trump couldn’t take his mind off a certain anonymous whistleblower whose recently declassified complaint has threatened to blow up his administration (from the Daily Beast article in part).

According to an attendee at the breakfast, Trump brandished a printed copy of the memo of his now-infamous Ukraine phone call, flaunting it as he blasted Democratic lawmakers for being mean to him. After waving the document around and receiving cheers from the gathering of Republican donors and supporters, the president boasted about how much money — $13 million in 24 hours — he had raised for his reelection effort, the attendee noted.

It was yet another illustration of how Trump’s big week in New York has been overshadowed and bedeviled by revelations that he and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani had urged Ukrainian officials to investigate the son of Joe Biden, the former vice president who remains likely to be Trump’s 2020 election opponent. 

Over the past few days, the president has helped raise millions for the 2020 fight and has been lavished with praise by world leaders.

Through it all he’s remained obsessed over the scandal unfolding back in Washington as the DEM-run House inched closer to full impeachment proceedings.

Through it all, Trump’s demeanor and approach to the rapidly unfolding scandal has vacillated between spoiling for a fight and hoping for a détente. Often, it depended on who he was talking to or what setting he found himself in. 

According to those in attendance at his breakfast fundraiser, he was upbeat and fired up, telling donors that he and his political team were ready to punch back hard.

In private, however, there was genuine consternation regarding how a brutal impeachment process would affect his legacy and his White House, with much of his staff sharing those same anxieties. 

Those close to Trump say the president never expected House Speaker Pelosi to back any major impeachment moves — at least not until this week.

Trump took to Twitter as usual to accuse liberals of deliberately ruining and degrading his “important day” at the UN. And according to a LA Times report, Trump also used his time at a private event for U.S. officials at the Intercontinental Hotel in New York on today to rage about the whistleblower and whoever supplied that individual with information.

Trump told them: “I want to know who this the person is — who is the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason — we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”

My 2 cents: Yep, firing squad right Mr. Prez Moron? That's the ticket – guilty until proven innocent.

Just like simple old Wild West Judge Roy Bean Saloon Justice: “Bring guilty bastard in, give him a fair trial and then hang him.”

Judge Roy Bean, presiding 

This all sounds like Trump all over again shades 2016 strategy, with one caveat however: I bet Trump is worried sick.

BTW: Trump, like most GOPers can’t stand the truth or facts of this sad saga in American history that will surely put him in history books then he can brag from his seat in Hell – “I’m the hottest president ever, believe me.” We do, Mr. Trump, surely we do believe that.

Thanks for stopping by.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is DEM's Worse Nightmare: She Should Shut Her Yap ASAP or Sooner

She seeks constant Microphone and Media Attention 24/7

(A grand stander above all else)

CBS News update on the whole Ukraine-Trump scandal, and the main post today follows that:

Trump admitted on Sunday (September 22, 2019) that he in fact did discuss Joe Biden in a phone call with newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, July 24, 2019. 

He seemingly is confirming reports that he discussed a potential investigation into a domestic political opponent with a foreign leader.

Trump told reporters at the White House before departing on a trip to Texas: “The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, with largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place and largely the fact that we don't want our people like Vice President Biden and his son [contributing] to the corruption already in the Ukraine.”

The president's admission about his conversation about Biden with the current Ukrainian president is an extraordinary development in the unfolding dispute over a whistle blower complaint by a member of the intelligence community. 

The administration has refused to provide the complaint to Congress, but details about its contents have slowly emerged over the past week.

Hard facts we already know:

The Washington Post reported that Ukraine was the subject of the whistle blower complaint, which a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News.

But the source also said “…Ukraine was just part of the complaint,” suggesting it included more than one element or allegation. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump urged Zelensky to investigate the Biden’s eight times.

Main post today:

WASHINGTON (USA Today) – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) added further fuel to the impeachment fire in a nighttime tweet where she said the even bigger scandal than the controversy over the “Ukraine-Trump-Biden-Congress whistle blower complaint fight” was House Democrats refusal to impeach Trump. 

Specifically she wrote: “At this point, the bigger national scandal isn't the president's lawbreaking behavior - it is the Democratic Party's refusal to impeach him for it.”

Although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi still opposes impeachment, it appears that the controversy is starting to shift the calculus for some Democrats. 

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a Sunday morning television interview on CNN's State of the Union: “We very well may have crossed the Rubicon here. If the president is essentially withholding military aid at the same time he is trying to browbeat a foreign leader into doing something illicit...then [impeachment] might be the only remedy that is co-equal to the evil that this conduct represents.”

The growing controversy surrounds that August whistle blower complaint by a U.S. intelligence community official and ongoing efforts by Democrats to learn more about Trump's contacts with Ukraine. 

Democrats have demanded access to the whistle blower complaint as the Acting DNI and his IG and the AG are all stonewalling. 

My 2 cents: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez should just STFU. 

All she has done to date and from day-one is to keep her face in the news cycles anyway that she can. The more outrageous and bizarre the better for her (she thinks).

But, now saying the DEMS are worse than Trump is despicable and way over the common sense line. 

If it were my choice, I’d have the whole DEM House ensure her. 

Short of that, I hope she gets several mainstream, level-headed DEMS to run against her in 2020. She need not be in Congress.

Speaker Pelosi must act now because Ocasio-Cortez is bad news for the DEMS and her views could spread in a very bad way.

Thanks for stopping by.

Trans Secy Elaine Chao on the Hot Seat: Hey GOP "Lock Her Up, Lock Her Up" Honest Payback

Honest, kind homey look: A long way past that 

(Show me and Mitch the money)

The McConnell’s (Sen. Mitch and Trans. Secy. Elaine Chao) – getting rich at the public’s expense and violating law along the way:

This story from the Washington Post. 

The House Oversight and Reform Committee has sought documents from Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao as it investigates what it calls “…troubling questions into whether the Trump appointee misused her position for personal and family benefit.”

Noting that federal employees are forbidden from using public office for friends or relatives and their “private gain” the committee’s letter to Chao cites media reports that allege she leveraged her position to help “Foremost Group — a New York-based shipping company” that carries goods between the United States and China and that is owned by her father and sisters — gained “influence and status with the Chinese government that has given the Chao firm millions in loans.”

The sweeping request for documents follows growing scrutiny of Chao and it joins a host of inquiries into the Trump administration by a Democrat-led House.

The committee cites reporting by the New York Times this summer that the Transportation Department canceled a fall 2017 trip to China after State Department staff members grew leery of Chao’s efforts to include relatives in meetings with Chinese officials.

House investigators are examining Chao’s appearances with her father, James Chao, in interviews that featured the DOT’s seal and the committee’s letter that alleges Chao’s father “touted her influence within the United States government and boasted about his access to President Trump on Air Force One.”

My 2 cents: This is serious corruption of the worse and corrupt kind. 

But, within this Trump administration, basically from day-one, there have been few surprises and I suspect, many are forthcoming? 

So stay tuned – the Trump iceberg runs very deep. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Drones Attack Saudi Arabia Refinery: Oil Production Cut by Half – Who is to Blame

This image was flashed to the world

(September 14, 2019) 

This major update just in re: he following story from CNBC news flash:

Brent crude oil jumps 13% after drone strikes disrupt Saudi crude production

Attacks shut down one half of Saudi oil production (from CNBC).

That is being reported as “Yemen Houthis involvement” instead suggesting they were launched by Iranian-backed proxy militias based in Iraq. Baghdad denies its territory played any role in the attacks. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has put the blame for the attacks squarely on Iran, saying on a Twitter: “Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply... There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.”

FYI: What evidence supports Pompeo’s assertion I wonder?

Tehran has provided material support to the Houthis, who have been engaged in a bloody war with Saudi Arabia since Riyadh launched an offensive in Yemen in 2015. The conflict is often described as a proxy war between the Sunni kingdom and the Islamic Republic, though the Houthis are far from completely aligned with Iran. 

Washington provides intelligence and logistics support to the Saudis for their operations in Yemen, something many members of Congress have voted to end.  

Tensions between Iran and the U.S. and fears of a new war in the Middle East have been rising since the Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and re-imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran in an attempt to push it into a more stringent deal involving broader security concessions.

In May and June, six foreign tankers were hit in alleged sabotage attacks that the U.S. government has blamed on Iranian forces, a charge Tehran denies. 

Then Iran on June 20 shot down a U.S. surveillance drone it says was flying over its territory, prompting a planned U.S. military strike on Iranian military targets which Trump approved and then called off just 10 minutes before the attack was launched.

I insert this reminder as being directly related: Regional tensions have escalated since Washington quit an international nuclear deal and extended sanctions on Iran to choke off its vital oil exports.

The Iran nuclear deal:

That deal, official name: “The 2015 JCPOA” signed by the P5+1 (US, UK, France, Russia, China and plus one: Germany) was working by all accounts including on-site IAEA inspections.

So, Trump took steps to cancel the deal saying: “It was awful – the worse in history - I can get better deal.”

(I insert: So, Look at what the “deal-maker” has wrought: On the verge of WWIII in the ME with Iran in the middle. Some deal, um, Mr. Trump?)

What was Trump’s main reason? Barack Obama was the main part of getting Iran the deal and Trump is blind with his jealousy of Obama about anything he did or accomplished and it is plenty, too.

Now Iran breaks the limits of the deal and Trump says: “See I told you it was a bad deal (funny how Trump never mentions that he cancelled what was working for is pile of dung that stinks).

If by chance, Iran were to stop and back down and sticks to the JCPOA deal, guess what Trump will then say: “See I told you I could get a better deal – I’m good at deal making.”

More from here:

Meanwhile, France, condemning Saturday's attack saying: “Such actions can only worsen regional tensions and risk of conflict.”

Turkey, an ally of Iran, called for the avoidance of “provocative steps that could harm regional stability.”

The attack comes after Trump said a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was possible at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this month. But, Tehran ruled out talks until sanctions are lifted.

“Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply,” Pompeo said in a Twitter post.

Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) told Trump by telephone following the attacks: “Riyadh was willing and able to deal with the terrorist aggression.”

A senior Emirati official said the UAE, Riyadh's main partner in the Western-backed military coalition in Yemen, would fully support Saudi Arabia as the assault targets us all.

The UAE, concerned about the rising tensions with Iran and Western criticism of the war, has scaled down its military presence in Yemen, leaving Riyadh to try to neutralize the Houthis to prevent Iran from gaining influence along its border.

Riyadh accuses Iran of arming the Houthis, a charge both of them deny.

Iran's foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif tweeted: “That Washington and its allies were stuck in Yemen and that blaming Tehran won't end the disaster.”

My 2 cents: The obvious and now possible long-term cause for this is Iran ever since June has been incrementally rolling back its obligations under the 2015 nuclear production deal (9+1 agreement - which BTW was working) that Trump withdrew from left harsh sanctions in place.

Iran has since stepped up their uranium enrichment program by using advanced centrifuges that bring it closer to bomb-making capability – something the agreement had stopped and with IAEA proof, too. 

Trump hated that deal for one reason: It had Obama’s name on it and Trump can’t allow Obama to outshine him on any deal – since Trump is “a stable genius and the best deal maker of all time” – or so he professes often.

This mess whatever it is was driven by Trump’s attitude against both Obama and Iran and now he will as usual blame Obama mostly – Trump is incorrigible.

Thanks for stopping by.

Trump to Congress: Impeach Me, Ha Just Try — I Dare You to Try, No I Double Dog You to Try

Trump's pitiful arrogance now on full display

(But, he is worried sick, bet on it)

Introduction: As we all know by now, if you believe the exact opposite of what Trump says, then you’ll be on target every time. Case in point, this story headlines (Yahoo news).

Trump declares himself unimpeachable, based on

“Perhaps the greatest economy” everTrump declares himself unimpeachable, based on 'perhaps the greatest economy' everTrump declares himself unimpeachable, based on 'perhaps the greatest economy' ever

Ergo: The truth is that Trump is worried sick about being impeached – that would literally destroy him, whether removed or not, since he brags about “never losing, or always being on top, etc.” 

The shame of impeachment would send him into utter madness and total rage. Of course, he has to say what the story says, absolutely stunning as it is even extraordinary but routine for Trump. He always fluffs himself and be damned with everything or anyone around him anywhere in the country – it’s always “me, me, me, and oh yeah, did I say me?

This story:

Trump capped another extraordinary — and yet, by now, routine — week as president by ridiculing the idea that a chief executive with his epic record of achievement could be removed from office. 

Trump’s ellipses led on to a familiar litany of self-praise that included his two Supreme Court picks and the specious claim that he has “done more than any President in first 2 1/2 years,” before concluding with an oddly punctuated fragment — “WIN on Mueller Report, Mueller Testimony & James Comey.” — Whose meaning is clearly best understood by those in red MAGA hats.

Trump’s tweet was in response to a vote Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee to establish rules for eventual hearings that could, in theory, lead to the president’s possible impeachment and ultimately his potential removal from office. This is, clearly a hypothetical scenario.

But while Democrats remain divided on whether to pursue impeachment ahead of the 2020 election, Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) summed up the committee majority’s view that the ground rules resolution as: “The necessary next step in our investigation of corruption, obstruction and abuse of power.”

Nadler didn’t mention the “greatest economy” or the low unemployment figures for “Blacks, Hispanics, Asians & Women,” words that Trump uses to persuade Nadler and his base that those are all that matter.

Nadler’s view would seem to be supported by the Constitution, which specifies impeachment for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” without an exception based on employment data or the stock market averages.

One person who disagrees with Trump’s formulation is Gregory Cheadle, who was singled out by Trump at a campaign rally in Redding, CA on June 3, 2016, as “My African-American.”

His “My African-American” comment seen on YouTube below:

Now, Cheadle made headlines by announcing he was leaving the Republican Party, in part because he has come to conclude that the president is a white supremacist, saying to NPR: “When you look at his appointments for the bench: white, white, white, white, white, white, white. That to me is really damning to everybody else because no one else gets a chance because he’s thinking that the whites are superior, period.”

Asked about Cheadle’s defection as he departed for a speech in Baltimore — the city he described during his feud with Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) as “a disgusting rat and rodent-infested mess” — Trump said he had no recollection of the man.

He went on to boast about how much black people like him, saying again in true Trump BS fashion: “I have tremendous African-American support.”

Note – FYI: said Trump, who received just 8 percent of the African-American vote in 2016. A CNN poll released this week showed him with an approval rating among black women of 3 percent.

In Trump’s world, the boundary between truth and falsehood is often blurred. Trump also lashed out at an ABC News/Washington Post poll showing his approval rating falling 6 points in two months to just 38 percent. He explained it away by alleging some conspiracy. 

Trump’s tweet was in response to a House Judiciary Committee vote to establish rules for eventual hearings that could, in theory, lead to the president’s possible impeachment and ultimately his potential removal from office.

Also in on the conspiracy, it seems, were Gallup and CNN, both of which conducted separate polls showing Trump’s approval rating to be at 39 percent. In August, a Fox News poll put the president’s approval at 43 percent.

Additionally, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform is looking into other potential conspiracies, including the possibility that Trump is profiting from his presidency.

In a June 21 letter, Chairman Cummings wrote to acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan requesting further information on military bookings at Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland — a property, Cummings noted, that “has lost millions of dollars every year since its purchase.”

While Trump has scoffed at claims that he may be in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause, he got more bad news when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated one of many emoluments-related lawsuits filed against him.

All that despite a campaign pledge by Trump to divest himself of his business interests after assuming office and subsequent assurances that becoming commander in chief has cost him “$3 to $5 billion.”

However, his 2018 financial disclosure form showed he made at least $434 million in gross income last year.

From big issues to seemingly small ones, Democrats have no trouble coming up with reasons to call for the president’s impeachment. Take the latest turns in “Sharpie-gate.”

Both the New York Times and the Washington Post, citing anonymous White House sources, reported that Trump himself told his staff to get NOAA officials to retract a statement that corrected his assertion that Alabama was threatened by Hurricane Dorian.

Chief scientist at NOAA, Craig McLean, told his colleagues in an email, re: NOAA’s coerced correction that: “My understanding is that this intervention to contradict the forecaster was not based on science but on external factors including reputation and appearance, or simply put, political. That compromises the ability of NOAA to convey life-saving information necessary to avoid substantial and specific danger to public health and safety.”

When asked who had altered an outdated NOAA map showing Dorian’s path, Trump responded: “I don’t know.”

The Washington Post later reported, based on anonymous sources, that Trump was the artist in question.

Trump in the same week, fired John Bolton over various disagreements — including Bolton’s opposition to the president’s secret invitation to Taliban negotiators at Camp David.

Trump has repeated a widely disputed assertion about his own involvement with the effort to find survivors after the 9/11 attacks in New York City saying again: “I went down to Ground Zero with men who worked for me to try to help in any little way that we could,” (Trump said at 9/11 commemoration at the Pentagon).

Maybe Democrats will ultimately decide that impeachment hearings aren’t worth the risk of alienating voters and squandering their chances to retake the White House and Senate in 2020.

Maybe all of this news from the past week is nothing more than further evidence of the vast media/Democratic conspiracy that Trump and his diehard supporters see aligned before them. After all, African-American unemployment is at an all-time low.

My 2 cents: I will simply let this story stand on the details noted above.

Thanks for stopping by.

Trump Lead Scientist: His Assault on Clean Air, Safe Water & Climate System in High Gear

Let me get that for you — anything else, just ask

(I'm only here to help, believe me)

WASHINGTON (NY Times) — The Trump administration is expected to complete the legal repeal of a major Obama-era clean water regulation, which had placed limits on polluting chemicals that could be used near streams, wetlands, and water bodies.

The rollback of the 2015 measure, known as the “Waters of the United States” rule, has been widely expected since the early days of the Trump administration, when Trump signed an EO directing federal agencies to begin the work of repealing and replacing it.

Look back to 2015 when Mr. Obama initiated that rule:

The agencies and their supporters say the safety of drinking water and stream health are threatened because of weak state and local regulation and a lack of enforcement. 

The rule is meant to make it clearer which waterways EPA and the Corps of Engineers can oversee under the 43-year-old Clean Water Act, which covers “navigable waters” such as the Mississippi River and Lake Erie but is vague on how far upstream protections must go to keep those water bodies clean. 

In essence, the rule would establish whether antipollution laws are triggered if a farmer blocks a stream to make a pond for livestock, a developer fills in part of a wetland to put up a house or an oil pipeline has to cross a creek.

Then, Senior White House adviser Brian Deese told reporters during a conference call about the rule: “The only people with reason to oppose the rule are polluters who threaten our clean water, which is based on common sense. The status quo is rife with unsustainable confusion over what’s protected and what’s not.”

Now along comes Trump who is weakening that Obama-era water rule has been a Trump central campaign edge.

Trump characterizes that rule (as many GOPers before him) as “a federal land-grab that impinged on the rights of farmers, rural landowners and real estate developers to use their property as they see fit.”

(I insert: So, those farmers and others are scientific experts about clear air, water, and the environment just like most GOP science deniers, right)?

The environmentalist experts in those critical areas re: human life sustaining elements (air, water, food) say Trump’s push to loosen clean-water regulations represents an assault on the nation’s streams and wetlands at a moment when Trump has repeatedly declared his commitment to “crystal-clean water.”

(I insert: This fact check reminder of Trump's environmental rhetoric versus his record on what Trump says vs. what he does, or as most of us already know by now is utter büllshït and is always the precise opposite of what he says, e.g., he says things are up/proof shows they are down; he says great achievement/actions show miserable outcomes; he says he’s the most-positive president ever/his actions show 99% negative, etc. etc. We always get the exact opposite from Trump – that’s his style – and he expects everyone to believe his every word, no questions asked).

My 2 cents: This again shows exactly who Trump is. It’s his M.O. his true self – it’s in his DNA and has been for his way for his whole miserable life. 

It impacts and destroys and damages all that is good and productive and safe for and about us. It’s not what he believes in. It’s his raw ugly hatred and jealousy of anything positive from Obama. 

That Obama success makes Trump ill to see a black man out perform him, and he is livid. Trump's hatred drives him 24/7. Just like he keeps blaming Hillary Clinton for his win – how pathetic is that? 

Expect more from him, too, so hang on tight.

Thanks for stopping by.

Rachel Maddow, NBC, Comcast, and MSNBC: Sued by OAN for $10 Million Part of Libel Claim

“Skip Miller's” Law firm takes lead on the OAN suit

OAN (“One America News Network”) sues Maddow for $10M.

This story is here from Huff Post and here from Salon with this headline:

Pro-Trump cable news outlet sues Rachel Maddow for $10M for calling it “paid Russian propaganda”

Maddow took aim at OAN’s Kristian Rouz, who has also been a contributor to the Russian news agency Sputnik News.

(Note: Sputnik News is operated by “Rossiya Segodnya” (English: “Russia Today”). That is a major news agency owned and operated by the Russian government that was created by an Executive Order of the President of Russia on December 9, 2013 – yes, then that Russian president was Vladimir Putin – oops…)

The lawsuit: It contends that Maddow’s comment on her July 22 MSNBC show were retaliation after OAN President Charles Herring accused cable television giant Comcast of censorship.

The suit contends that Comcast refused to carry the channel because: “It counters the liberal politics of Comcast’s own news channel, MSNBC.”

The suit names Maddow, Comcast, MSNBC and NBC Universal Media.

Skip Miller, an attorney representing OAN, said in a statement: “One America is wholly owned, operated and financed by the Herring family in San Diego. They are as American as apple pie. They are not paid by Russia and have nothing to do with the Russian government. This is a false and malicious libel, and they’re going to answer for it in a court of law.”

A week after Herring sent an email to a Comcast executive, Maddow opened her July 22 MSNBC show by referring to a report in the Daily Beast that said an OAN employee also worked for Sputnik News, which is linked to the Russian government, saying in part: “In this case, the most obsequiously pro-Trump right-wing news outlet in America really literally is paid Russian propaganda. Their on-air U.S. politics reporter is paid by the Russian government to produce propaganda for that government.”

In the lawsuit, OAN said Kristian Rouz was a freelancer for Sputnik News, not a staff employee, and his work there had nothing to do with his work for OAN.

The lawsuit includes a statement from Rouz that said he wrote some 1,300 articles over the past 4 ½ years for Sputnik but: “I have never written propaganda, disinformation, or unverified information.”

A message seeking comment from an MSNBC spokeswoman was not immediately returned. 

However, the lawsuit included an August 6 letter from Amy Wolf, an attorney for NBC Universal News Group, to OAN’s attorney saying in part: [OAN] “Publishes content collected or created by a journalist who is also paid by the Russian government for writing over a thousand articles. Ms. Maddow’s recounting of this arrangement is substantially true and therefore not actionable.”

My 2 cents: The right wing media (FOX and OAN) are both staunch Trump sycophants – quite disgusting and not worthy to follow with very rare exceptions of a few level-headed commentators – but, for the most part only a small handful worthy of watching and especially of believing. 

I also predict that Rachel Maddow will not lose this case. 

We shall see. Thanks for stopping by.