Despite Stocks Cratering Donnie Bonespurs Continues To Try To Gaslight Reality- Putting Us All At Risk

"It's MY news turn! That virus is takin' away my blame the Dems an' fake news act! BWAHAHAA!"

"Whereas his supporters can be lied to and gaslighted, a virus cannot. A virus is going to do what a virus does. Viruses are not thinking and aware. Technically, they’re not even living things. They are like an army of androids, multiplying as they attack and infect living things. So none of the tricks that Trump has learned and deployed will work against this virus. Only science, honesty, prudence and genuine concern for public safety will work now."  Charles Blow, NY Times, 'You Can't Gaslight A Virus'

"This virus can't be bluffed or bullied and will soon become Mr. Trump's greatest adversary."     Walter Russell Mead, The Wall Street Journal, , 'Trump and the Pandemic', today, p. A15

"At a moment  citizens are turning to the government for facts and assurance,  Trump has been immersing himself  in grievances and feuds with Democrats and other perceived enemies."-  The Washington Post, today,  'Trump Struggles For Calm As Virus Spreads'

"This crisis has unhelmed and unmasked him. He’s incapable of leading. When it comes to Trump, truth, decency and self-possession have been in quarantine from the start.".  Jennifer Senior, NY Times, 'Trump Is Unfit For This Crisis, Period'. 

You just had to love it if you are a Trump hater: The Washington Post story Sunday of how the blustering 73 year -old brat baby occupying the White House was pitching fits because the coronavirus was knocking him off the news cycle.  "How dare that virus get more attention than me!"   Yeah, but see, sonny, you regard the media as fake news anyway so why the bawling?

Before that the clueless imbecile and dyspeptic buffoon had immortalized himself by way of a number of incidents embodying how chaotic his responses have been:

-  When visiting the CDC on Friday spent 45 minutes hurling epithets including that Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington- was a "snake"

-  Then quickly asking if his town hall on FOX News "got good ratings"

- Then bragging how every doctor at the CDC proclaimed how Doturd "knew so much"

- To which his answer was "Maybe I have a natural ability"

Uh yeah, to pull bullshit out of your ass and then toss it out for public consumption - even when you have to know it's shit

But the most crucial aspect is the number of testing kits, the current shortage of which is leaving us in the dark,  essentially "driving blind" as one health expert quoted on CBS put it yesterday morning.   Given the lack of such kits and appropriate testing, especially of vulnerable populations - like the uninsured- there is little doubt this snafu is allowing the virus to spread.

To fix ideas, even de facto virus "czar" Mike Pence has admitted it "could be a matter of weeks"  before test kits are widely available. In the interim the COVID-19 virus could spread not just to thousands but tens of thousands,  Already we know no less than five Reepo lawmakers  - who came into contact with a known carrier of the coronavirus.  Included in the contacts are Matt Gaetz of Florida and Doug Collins of Georgia who announced yesterday that they had begun two weeks of self-imposed isolation.  

Gaetz himself flew with Trump on Air Force One from Orlando to Washington on Monday and was informed en route that he had come into contact with a virus carrier at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland last month.  Meanwhile, Trump has falsely claimed the virus is “contained” in the United States and accused the media and Democrats of exaggerating the threat it poses, in an effort to make him a one turner.  The execrable maggot seems not to grasp he's doing that to himself.

As for his co-maggots at FAUX News (like Laura Ingraham) who claim this is all a "Left virus plot against the President" - they had better hope Dotard (given his age) doesn't come down with this and end up on a ventilator.   Then they will see just how much of a hoax or "fake news" COVID-19 really is.   See e.g.

• CPAC attendees insist COVID-19 is no big deal; freak out when it turns out they were exposed  

Apart from the clownish actions at CPAC and the downplaying tactics of Trump and his FOX tools, the most critical issue remains how they've screwed the pooch with the test kits.  Thanks to the Trumpies blowing it with the test kits (not having a Plan B ready in case the CDC flubbed it - as they did with an early version of the test) not every one who wants or needs a test can get it, That, btw, includes nurses and other health care workers on the front lines.  And more than one of these medical workers has made it known our hospitals are nowhere near ready to handle a mass influx of infected people - subsequently found to be positive for COVID-19.

In the midst of this is the orange fungal growth with a red MAGA cap, who believes he is the one who ought to be at the top of the news cycle, and only in a positive fashion  - because he's doing everything "perfectly".  Yeah, right, perfectly wrong. Including lying his fat orange ass off by claiming something everyone with an IQ over room temperature knows is flagrantly false, i.e.:

"Anyone who wants a test can get a test.. Anybody right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test, they're there.  And the tests are beautiful."

Can anyone believe this maggot-ridden asswipe?   I mean, just after this spooge fest we heard governor after governor and doctor after doctor  state this was categorically untrue given all states are in dire need of test kits and testing.  This was echoed by Dr. Walter Mills - president of the California Academy of Family Physicians who   told The San Jose Mercury News:  “We have no local testing available,” 

And then Trump has the absolute temerity to squawk about the "Fake news and democrats" trying to bring him down, while his  FOX News acolytes acts as accessories after the fact. Now, I wouldn't believe this gaslighting POS pretender  if he called an emergency press conference tonight and said the COVID-19 vaccine will be ready in May.   The fact now is thanks to the Trump cabal's fumble on the test kits, there are nowhere near enough available for those who need them.  And without the test kits and strategic testing we can't know how widespread the virus is, or even its fatality rate.

But this so -called leader doesn't even recognize that you can't simply spout falsehoods about a critical test because you wish it were true, or you are trying to throw the media off its game.  Which is actually its duty to alert the American people - including Trump's zombie horde- of where we stand in confronting COVID-19.

What is Trump's game and why is he really so furious at the virus for making it impossible for him to control the news stream?  It is because he's being exposed as the shameless con man he is for trying to manage perceptions.   The dope came right out and spouted this regarding the cruise ship off San Francisco last week, where 21 had tested positive for the virus:

"I like the numbers being where they are.  I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship.  But if they do take em off then the 240 will probably be a much higher number and the 11 too."

Confirming once and for all this two-legged cockroach is unfit to lead, hell even to scrub a toilet.  He I so wrapped up in his solipsistic world of ego and entitlement he can't even see the markets are giving him a total thumbs down as president.  With the 2,000 point dive yesterday it's clear they also aren't buying any of his codswallop.  Why would they, given he's shown he's not serious about dealing with the COVID-19 but rather trying to bullshit the populace on Main Street and the traders on Wall Street using daft promises and happy talk?

Meanwhile, Trump's Reeptardo minions are desperately trying to save his orange carcass by trotting out BS that won't make a dime's worth of difference, like "targeted tax cuts" - compliments of  senile Chuck Grassley.  Oh, and "payroll tax cuts" - which is the last thing we need given they will only hasten the insolvency of Social Security.  For reference, the average increase in weekly wages from such a cut is about $15:00, or chump change.  Simply not worth the blow to Social Security, so the House Dems ought to fight it tooth and nail.

Worse, none of these efforts will relieve the enormously leveraged markets, i.e. based on investors' using debt to purchase shares - say $1 of personal money for every $9 debt - to get a $10 share.  This is a house of cards ready to collapse. Thus, even if the markets buy into Trump's bloviations  and "fixes" it will do nada to relieve the debt pressures ready to explode.  And if anyone doesn't think the COVID-19 virus can't be the great unraveler they need to read the WSJ article 'Network Effects Multiply A Viral Outbreak'  (March 6, p. A 17).

What is actually needed, as any rational (even non-finance ) person can see are supply side (fiscal) aids such as: indefinite paid leave for all working families,  increased unemployment insurance for anyone laid off in the current economic doldrums - and as shutdowns continue,  free testing for COVID-19 for those lacking insurance, and free access to healthcare facilities for all those showing symptoms.   One also can argue for an increase in medical capacity in the event infections out pace the ability of existing hospitals to absorb them. These should all be proverbial 'no brainers'.

Stay tuned.  Thanks to Trump's incompetence we are not out of this by a long shot. If you do the (exponential ) math, as Chris Hayes showed last night, we could be looking at 1 million U.S. cases by early May, and 8 million by mid- June.

See also:

Coronavirus | Donald Trump

Here Are 13 Claims Trump Has Made about Coronavirus That Have Already Gone down in Flames

And:

Coronavirus | Donald Trump

Here Are 7 Ridiculous and Disturbing Moments from Trump’s Visit to the CDC

And:

 As the coronavirus burns, Trump scores a perfect Nero

And:

Trump returns from golf weekend to attack Democrats and media for 'inflaming' coronavirus worries

And:

Disaster preparedness expert on WH coronavirus response: 'Absolute gross amateur-hour incompetence'

And:

• Trump steaks, Trump Airlines, Trump University, Trump America: Failing to plan is planning to fail
  

Senate Confirmation Hearing Descends Into Partisan Knife Fight In P.M. - As Kavanaugh Bawls

"BWAHAHAHHAA! Them Dems Is So Disgusting.....!  WAAHHH!"

Question:  When 11 angry, entitled white men with  ‘R’ after their name channel their hate and frustrations into a heavyset female prosecutor to take down a fragile, female sex assault victim – so THEY don’t look bad- what do you get?  Ans.: A Battle Axe!

 And so it was Thursday that the Senate confirmation hearings for accused sexual molester Brett Kavanaugh descended into a full fledged farce,  when the 11 male members passed on their responsibility for questions to Rachel Mitchell – a Maricopa County AZ  prosecutor.  The strategy in using this woman was clear: The Repukes wanted a battering ram – or even battle axe- to tear down the victim’s defenses and render looking like either a phony or fraud.   It didn’t work!  As MSNBC cohosts Lester Holt and Casey Hunt –put it, Mitchell didn’t lay so much as a mitten on courageous Christine Ford.

Speaking in no nonsense, but emotional overtones, Dr. Ford made her sobering opening statement and followed it up by her compelling revelations as well as the impact of the whole thing on her life and her family.   Most appalling was her reference to being called “some of the most vile names imaginable” as well as being  subjected to a barrage of death threats from clearly mentally deficient degenerates.  Rather than face such a woman – bowed but unbroken – the Republican Senate Judiciary misfits chose to use a female avatar (Rachel Mitchell) to do their questioning for them. So terrified were they of the negative optics – for THEM – of besting up on a traumatized woman.

So the pussies had to get another woman to do their dirty work for them – a puppet trick if ever there was one.  In fact, the whole time I was watching Mitchell’s grilling of Dr. Ford (the first three questions) it was plain to see they were all marked by legalistic mumbo-jumbo framing, and hyper fine splitting of terms - all designed to trap Dr. Ford into perjury or inconsistencies.

Mitchell’s dual role itself almost invited a kind of schizoid approach given she had to play both defense lawyer and prosecutor.   The problem was that the “prosecutor” came out way too much when interviewing Dr. Ford and the defense lawyer came out way too much to favor Kavanaugh. In this way the whole event could be seen as one long grandstanding show designed to confer false credibility on “Booze ‘em& Bang ‘em” Brett.  This in order to expedite an unholy rush to judgment,….errr ….confirmation of the arch liar and pussy grabber, for tomorrow.
So no wonder John Clune, a Boulder CO attorney for Deborah Ramirez referred to the Senate hearing bluntly:

“This feels like a setup, designed to obstruct the truth  and guarantee a political outcome.”

 In other words, just like the Warren Commission- concocted by LBJ and J. Edgar Hoover.  But in this case, the lies and M.O. were exposed from the get go.  This was especially in the P.M. session when the Reepturds and Kavanaugh dropped any pretense of an apolitical, non-partisan process and turned full rabid rat on the 10 Committee Democrats  - depicting them as the uber villains.

Led by the likes of  Southern Chauvinist Drama Queen Lindsey Graham - pitching his own hissy fits and squawking ‘mob rule” – even as he whined "this is the worst process I've ever seen". Etc.  But we know that what he really meant was too such transparency and democracy had found its way through the hoopla and nonsense.    But the whiny little bitch's biggest outburst was left for last, when he screamed in a high pitched, falsetto voice:


"Boy, so y'all really want power! I hope to God ya never get it!"


Totally failing to grasp, amidst his scripted convulsions, that HIS lot has failed to use ANY power, i.e. in checks and balances, to stop Trump's excesses. So yeah, someone with balls has to take the reins, Little Lindsey.

As for Janice's reaction to Graham's selective hysteria - well I dare not repeat it in a family -oriented blog. :(

Chuck Grassley, the octogenarian Reeptard fossil overseeing this farce,  belched earlier with a gusto that nearly invited a myocardial infarction:

“The goal is to depoliticize the process and get to the truth instead of grandstanding.”

REALLY?  Could have fooled me, Chuckie, old boy!

Cutting out all the fulsome codswallop let serious observers agree that the aged imp had to know the design of this “hearing’ was specifically to accomplish what he didn’t want: politicization AND grandstanding.  That occurred the second he and his Reepo swine decided to forgo an FBI investigation focused on Dr. Ford's further claims – and instead offer up a “he said, she said” circus.

We also know this is true because generally an FBI first pass investigation NEVER delves into a
candidate's high school years - unless red alarm bells go off as they did here. But those alarms delivered the justification for Grassley, Hatch and Co. to obfuscate and spin using their predominant numbers on the Committee. 

But. Whoa,  Nellie! The afternoon scene  devolved into a full -on partisan knife fight,  even eclipsing Lindsey Graham's drama queen displays.  This as the 11 Reeps - unable to tolerate any further pussy footing -  finally took the reins from Rachel Mitchell's hands, leaving her to sit and stew. Predictably,  they literally went ape shit barking in rage at the Dems for their unseemly efforts to tear "a good man" (actually, Bill Clinton's chief inquisitor)  down. Meanwhile, their boy toy Brett didn't help the situation by alternately going "livid and tearful" according to a Financial Times observer.  Brett bawled and howled at various points how he'd never be able to coach his daughter's team again and his family had been dragged through the mud.   Oh, and he might never be able to teach at Hah-vahd again, poor thing. Well, shoulda thought about that when you were a young, entitled punk at Georgetown Prep, mate. 

The spectacle was the most maudlin and sickening since Edward Muskie was reduced to tears in a presidential campaign decades ago (he was the  Dem VP pick at the time). By any standard, the unhinged drama on display this afternoon ought to sink Kavanaugh's chances -  but don't bet on it. The Repukes lost all sense of shame as  well as irony long ago when they opted to get into bed with Donnie Dotard - aka the pussy- grabber- in- chief.

 The American people deserved much better than what they got today, but like the Warren Commission 54  years earlier, the powers- that- be believe the people must be treated as fragile infants for their own good.  Thus, like the WC we got another fraud and farce, only this time for thankfully less money wasted in the end!  That's a 'W' considering Kavanaugh's checkered past, as more voices have made his impacts on them known.

 Yes, the Reeptards may ram this tainted, tear jerking scumball through tomorrow, but in the court of public opinion it will be a fail - and they will pay even more heavily in November. 

See also:
Voting Matters, But Staying Engaged Matters More
--------------------------------

Update - Sept. 29th:

It now appears GOP  Senate Judiciary Committee member Jeff Flake has balked at being the 11th vote for the general Senate confirmation to go forward. Flake, after being confronted by two female activists in an elevator, has now requested that the FBI extend an investigation into Kavanaugh's HS background.  Trump, incredibly, has likewise approved the move, giving the FBI a week to complete the investigation. 

Spare Me Your Pseudo-Moral Outrage, Ted Olson!

I had to laugh heartily when I spotted former Solicitor General Ted Olson's polemic ('A Disgraceful Process') in the latest issue of TIME Oct. 1, p. 27).  First it helps to jog readers' memories on just who this asshole is, in case they forgot.   He was the chief lawyer for the Dumbya side in the now historic case of Bush v. Gore in 2000.   This was yet another case of the archaic Electoral College playing a major role in grabbing a presidency for a Repuke - in this case George Bush Jr.  But maybe the bigger picture - as spelled out by Vince Bugliosi in his book, 'The Betrayal of America'-  was how the then Supreme Court basically chose the president.

As Bugliosi writes (p. 41,  Chapter: 'None Dare Call It Treason'):

"In the December 12 ruling by the Supreme Court handing the election to George Bush, the Court committed the unpardonable sin of being a knowing surrogate for the Republican Party instead of being an impartial arbiter of the law."

As an accomplice to this perfidy we find one Ted Olson, taking the side for BushCo.  Now this villain of the piece (an accomplice to "treason" by Bugliosi's reckoning), wants us to get all worked up over the terrible deed being perpetrated on Brett Kavanaugh. Olson writes to start:

"HOW LOW WE HAVE SUNK. the DEMOCRATS have demanded an FBI investigation into an alleged drunken assault from 36 years ago, between teenagers, at a party in a private home."

How low have we sunk? Before you go into that, you'd do well to ask that question of Sen. Mitch McConnell who happily kept Obama's SC pick (Merrick Garland)  on ice for the better part of a year, to deny ANY process. And now Olson has the nerve to insist on Kumbaya - and Kavanaugh confirmed with zero impediments?  Note also Olson's parlance: "an alleged drunken assault ....between teenagers"  thereby cynically conflating victim (Dr. Ford) with alleged perp (Kavanaugh)..

And then, predictably, Olson trots out the usual canned attacks perfected by the Reepos:

"The accuser doesn't remember exactly when the offense took place or exactly how she got to the house. And she allowed her name to be publicly associated with the accusation only after the completion of a two month investigation into its subject, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, by the U.S. Sente Judiciary Committee and two days of questioning by 18 senators."

Ok, back up here a bit. The "investigations" were bogus because they were partisan and that is why Dr. Ford called for the FBI investigation (something done as a matter of course, especially if new information comes to light).  It was clear Christine Ford didn't trust the bullies and buffoons of the Senate GOP to do any proper investigation, and by the end of the two months that was obvious. Hell, the pair of  elderly GOP Senate Judiciary Bozos  - Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch- didn't even pick up on Kavanaugh's assorted lies.  So why the hell would Dr. Ford feel any confidence in the process up that point?   Yes, Olson mentions the FBI did its own investigation too, but now he disallows a further one that new information from Dr. Ford has some to light.

As for as the bit about not being clear on details, anyone who's taken a Psychology 101 course knows this is standard for a sexual trauma survivor.  Nearly all specific details are lost in a protective "limbo" (the victim is protected by her mind's own impaired memory from re-living them, as my newly minted Ph.D. (in Psychology) niece Shayl has made clear.).  As Dr. Shayl also added: "It's incredible to me Olson wouldn't know that as he appears not to be a stupid man. And yet he writes with full -on steroids stupidity"

He also whines a lot, emulating other Reepo whiny bitches, e.g.

"Today's confirmation proceedings are characterized by acrimony, political grandstanding, nasty charges, protests, mischaracterizations and quite possibly defamatory innuendo."


So what did you expect? That for a guy specially selected by the nation's number one admitted pussy grabber, things would be all sweetness, light and decorum? Hardly! Given the polarization of the nation and a budding tyrant and traitor left with no checks on his own behavior we have already entered the era of constitutional crisis and political warfare. Only a rank imbecile or naive fool would fail to see that, and Michael Moore's new film makes that clear. (See my review two posts earlier).

The beginning of the last paragraph of Olson's petulant screed is almost laughable given how he summarily dismisses the fact the same Dr. Ford has been mercilessly bombarded by hate emails, death threats, and hacking (impersonating her online) from deranged Trump cultists.  This has forced her and her family from their home and even forced them to hire security.  WHY,  Mr. Olson, would any woman bring that upon herself and her family just for a lark, or made up story?

Anyway, Olson scribbles:

"It is surprising that anyone of the character, integrity and standing required of our highest court would allow their names to be submitted for such deplorable treatment."

Yeah well, maybe - like Kavanaugh - they believed they could get away with their crimes and attempted rapes. Want me to believe your boy is all in the clear and the model of morality being portrayed? Then let him take a lie detector test like Christine Ford did, and also allow and actively encourage the further FBI investigation.

Unless, of course, he has something to hide!  We now know, for example, that Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct continued beyond high school to Yale where a Colorado woman - Deborah Ramirez - has now accused Trump's fellow pussy grabber of gross, indecent exposure.  E.g.

Senate Democrats Investigate a New Allegation of Sexual Misconduct ...

Then, there's also been the titanic response (720,000 tweets on  #WhyIDidn'tReport) to Dotard's tone deaf questioning of Dr. Christine Ford, i.e. in not reporting Kavanaugh's attempted sexual assault earlier.

Let's get it clear that the deprivation of Kavanaugh’s life or liberty is not at stake, but rather the privilege to hold one of the most important positions in the nation, for which good character and fair treatment of others is necessary.   We may be able to excuse the fact this guy was nominated by the nation's number one serial sexual assaulter, but we cannot have his confirmation if there's even a whiff of  extreme sexual impropriety, as there appears to be.

It's time that Ted Olson and his fellow moralizing  hypocrites wake up, and stop treating the victims of Kavanaugh's assaults and misconduct as the perps wreaking "disgrace" on the SC confirmation process.


See also

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/john-grant/81230/awesome-uncontrollable-male-passion-meets-its-match

And:

Alex Henderson

Article Tools E-mail | Print Comments (0)

Republicans

These 5 Far-Right Republicans Just Proved They Don’t Take Sexual Assault Seriously

"Leaks" Vs. Collusion Redux: Senate Intel Committee Hearing Shows Why Independent Investigation Is Needed

Porcine eyes dim with bluster, Lindsey Graham lies at yesterday's Senate Intel Committee hearing by asserting intelligence agencies found "no evidence of collusion" with Russians. Numerous Dems had to correct him on that, but it opened the door to GOOP stonewalling and why an independent investigation is needed.

Sadly, as in the case of the House Intelligence Committee Hearings in March, the Senate Intel Committee counterpart also devolved into a war of memes: "leaks" vs. collusions. The obdurate GOP bunch, including Lindsey Graham, Chuck Grassley, Joe Cornyn and Ted Cruz - determined to stonewall on the collusion aspect - kept a common refrain of question aimed at Sally Yates and former DNI James Clapper: "Have you ever forwarded or approved of the release of classified files and information to non-governmental sources?"

Another clodhopper numskull with the actual name of  "John Kennedy" - if you can believe it - had the temerity to ask Sally Yates if she felt like she "belonged on the Supreme Court" because she challenged Trump's illegal travel ban "executive order". An order, I might add, that possessed all the heft and legally consistent substance of a torn page from a child's coloring book.

This gaggle of Repuke clowns tried to make hay out of this deflecting BS, as well as the "unmasking" of Michael Flynn as a compromised stooge of the Russkies.  By contrast to these turkeys, former acting US attorney general Sally Yates was totally professional in her bearing and answers.  Though provoked numerous times by the mostly irrelevant "who's the leakers" drivel of the GOP side, she never lost her cool. Testifying for the first time about her knowledge of contacts between the Trump camp and Moscow, Ms. Yates said that she requested an urgent meeting with the White House counsel, Don McGahn, after she became aware that the White House had made false public statements about Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak.

White House officials including the vice-president, Mike Pence, had stated that Flynn and Kislyak had simply exchanged pleasantries and talked about arranging a future meeting between Trump and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.  It later emerged that the conversations were more extensive and included discussion of sanctions imposed on Russia by the Obama administration. Ms. Yates said that she telephoned McGahn on the morning of 26 January, two days after the FBI interviewed Flynn about the contacts and had given her a detailed readout of the interview. She told McGahn she needed to meet him in person because what she had to say was so sensitive.

Yates and a senior justice department colleague met McGahn the same afternoon in a secure room in the White House and told him that statements made by Pence and other administration officials about Flynn’s behavior were untrue, and that “Flynn’s underlying conduct was problematic in and of itself”.

McGahn called Yates back to the White House on 27 January and put further questions to her about Flynn. According to her Senate testimony, the White House counsel asked her: “Why does it matter to the Department of Justice whether one White House official lies to another White House official?”
“We explained to him that it’s a lot more than that,” Yates said. “We also said that we weren’t the only ones who knew this. The Russians also knew what General Flynn had done and that what Pence said was not true. The Russians not only knew this but they also likely had proof.”

Yates said she could not speak about statutes under which Flynn might be prosecuted without revealing classified information about the investigation, but she told McGahn that any White House action on Flynn would not interfere with the FBI investigation as he had already been interviewed.
Subsequently, McGahn asked Yates whether he or his staff could come to the justice department to review classified evidence of Flynn’s conduct. Yates consulted the FBI over the weekend and called McGahn back on Monday, January 30th, and said White House officials could come to the department to review the material.

She added that she did not know if McGahn or his staff took up her offer, as that was her last day at the department: Trump fired her on the night of January 30th, ostensibly because she had refused to defend his executive order to do with the travel ban. But more likely because Ms. Yates brought the Flynn matter to attention.

All that ought to have gotten through the skull of any person of normal intelligence, but not the "leaks first"  Reepo brigade. Every time it was one of their Committee members turn they beat the "leaks" drum into insensibility.  This despite the fact - as former Nixon WH counsel John Dean observed in several interviews the past few months:  "leaks to the press are vital to democracy".  Indeed they have the same import and value as whistle blowing on the power mongers, especially when they are acting without any transparency.  There are then, some laws that trump immediate "security" laws because they pay homage to the Constitution above all else

This was underscored in a recent piece in the Columbia Journalism Review  entitled 'Flynn Resignation Shows Leaks Under Trump Are Working - Keep 'Em Coming"  The author argued, and I totally agree - that it is not unlawful for journalists to receive and publish leaked information from anonymous sources.  Those sources can also include intelligence officers if their leaks provide insight into national security transgressions with an import than trumps the USC or other legalistic violations themselves. Hence, the exposure of Flynn - then national security adviser to Trump- was more important than him possibly being compromised in his position. The law "breakage" therefore was done under the aegis of a national security that trumped the national security associated with classified info leakage.

Even conservative Joe Scarborough on his Feb. 15  show commended whoever leaked the information on Flynn, noting:

"The only reason we're finding out about it now is because a patriot did leak this to the Washington Post. Did get this information out there or else we wouldn't even have known about it."

Then there was John Cornyn trying to grandstand by making hay out of national security adviser Susan E. Rice  "refusing to appear before the committee to answer our questions about unmaksing". But why should she have? There were no questions that merited her wasting time stroking Reepo egos and stonewalling by an appearance.  Ms. Rice’s actions were not unusual or unlawful as numerous security officials have pointed out. Whenever Americans are swept up in surveillance of foreign officials by intelligence agencies, their identities are supposed to be obscured, but they can be revealed  ("unmasked") for national security reasons, and intelligence officials say it is a regular occurrence.

Former CIA Assistant Director John McLaughlin, interviewed on MSNBC April 4, said:

"Susan Rice was merely doing her job. Occasionally these reports refer to foreigners contacting Americans about something so the national security adviser has the option of asking the FBI, or the National Security Agency if it can be justified to let her know who those people are- and often to protect them. Sometimes you want to go to an American and say, 'you should know who you've been I contact with'.   This is done quietly and not spread around the government, And people that make decisions for unmasking someone have a very high bar for doing it, it isn't done casually,  So I think she was basically just doing her job as she should have been doing it."

So again we behold the GOP  paranoia - without a whit of evidence - getting the better of them, as well as of Trump when he accused Ms. Rice of a "crime". Thus, no surprise that a spokeswoman for Ms. Rice, Erin Pelton, said in an email, “I’m not going to dignify the president’s ludicrous charge with a comment.”  As well she shouldn't, because we have run amok Reepos - like Corynyn and Lindsey Graham- who have no sense or shame, attempting to make hay out of nothing. After all, look how they went after Ms. Rice in the Benghazi spectacle - when real security norms were transgressed - by the REEPOS! (Trey Gowdy inadvertently blowing the cover of a CIA source. With goons like these who needs enemies?)

The most aggravating aspect of yesterday's hearings was the way the REEP clowns continually tried to dismiss or diminish the collusion aspect with Lindsey Graham at one point even off-handedly referring to the "claims of some guy in England".   That was none other than Christopher Steele and he wasn't just "some guy" but a former MI6 agent - the UK equivalent of the CIA.  Over a year ago, Steele had uncovered  a  plot to torpedo the 2016 U.S. general election using disinformation as well as outright hacking of both parties' computers, although only using the gathered material against one. In addition, an annex to the released intelligence report disclosed high level conspiratorial shenanigans involving the Trump team and Russian counterparts as well as compromising material collected on Trump when he was in Moscow in 2013 for a "Miss Universe" beauty pageant.

As revealed by Mr. Steele in his last interview (with David Corn, published in 'Mother Jones'  4 months ago) before going underground, the material gathered in memos was considered so explosive that he turned it over to contacts he had in the FBI last summer. This was without informing the opposition research group for which he'd initially begun his project. The FBI, despite this explosive stuff sitting on its shelves, chose instead to go after Hillary Clinton with damning insinuations of guilt over her email server, as opposed to parsing and exposing the Steele material.

While the intelligence community (including former DNI Clapper yesterday)  has been playing it coy saying they can't substantiate what's in the Steele dossier. or that it is "raw intelligence" and doesn't "prove" anything, others have recognized that where there's smoke there's fire. In particular, contrary to a dopey Trump tweet months ago that Steele is a "failed spy" he was actually one of the UK's best on Russian matters. A highly regarded and respective intelligence operative who doesn't make shit up like Trump, or pull it out of his ass.

According to an earlier March AP report in the Denver Post ( 'Ex Spy Regarded as Dependable') :

"Three British intelligence agents interviewed by the Associated Press described Steele as well regarded in the intelligence community, with excellent Russian skills and high level sources."

According to one Financial Times account, Steele was the "UK intelligence expert on Russia".  James Nixey, the head of Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia program, informed the AP that sections of the dossier document created by Steele "read exactly as reports from the secret services"

In other words, professional through and through, no exaggerations and no fillers that hadn't been  sourced.   All of which tells me the only way we will get to the bottom of this morass is to enable Steele to testify - preferably before an independent commission. The reason is that the Repukes are too tied to Trump at the hip and will never become serious about any investigation. They desperately need him as the vehicle to push through their radical agenda on health care and tax cuts. So it would be a waste of time to invite Christopher Steele to testify unless Steele himself became convinced it wouldn't become a Repuke dog and pony show.

As long as the hearings are split along the lines of leaks vs. collusion, this is about all we can expect and I'm not even sure an independent prosecutor or investigation will make a definite difference. But it might. What we have sure isn't working.

Obama Needs To Act Quickly To Appoint A Scalia Replacement

Antonin Scalia's death drew all kinds of nonsensical homage, including from Bernie Sanders. This is a guy who asked back in 2011, "Where are all the demons?"

Watching and listening to the candidates' responses to last night's first GOP debate question (on whether President Obama ought to appoint an Anton Scalia replacement), it was like an echo chamber except for one voice. All of the gathered Reepos, except for Trump.  asserted Obama should not make a move to appoint in an election year. But The Donald conceded it is fully within the President's purview and office, but did add "It is up to Mitch (McConnell) in the Senate to stop him". So all of them in one way or the other want the appointment stopped, or postponed. (Jeb did offer his 0.02 as well more or less on the same wavelength as Trump).

Look, we need to put the inevitable politicization (and polarization) aside and understand there are a host of serious issues on the Court's docket, including abortion rights, immigration and Obamacare. It is unfair to the citizens of this country to simply allow or enable a set of 4-4 deadlocked results all of which will end up as "no decision". Certainly, we ought to have the ballast and seriousness as a nation to move forward and hence it behooves Obama not to be paralyzed over this but to act quickly and decisively.

Waiting cannot be an option, especially given it could well be that we might (God forbid!) end up with a President Rubio or President Cruz who could appoint additions that would make Antonin Scalia look like Thurgood Marshall. It is difficult to comprehend such an abomination but fully within the realm of probability. For this reason Obama cannot just freely hand over this critical game changing appointment to a possible Republican. He must do it now, and the sooner the better.

I am even prepared to allow that the appointed Justice need not be a died in the wool liberal, not if it greases the wheels of the appointment process and makes the Repubs more likely to act. In that sense, I'd even be willing to go along with a centrist, though I'd prefer that person be a Democrat.

An encouraging sign is a report from CNN that the President is prepared to go to battle with Senate Republicans who are already calling for a freeze. This is a good sign and indicates Obama has not been cowed by the screeching voices of the Repubs and is prepared to give them a fight if that is what they want.

In particular, he needs to squelch the malarkey as parroted by Chuck Grassley that "it has been standard practice the past 80 years not to confirm Supreme court nominees in an election year."

Well, Grassley, then it's time that ancient custom be broken!     How does that go? "Justice delayed is justice denied."

To be sure, Scalia did a few things right in his rulings. In 1989, for instance, he begrudgingly agreed with the court that free speech rights protect burning the American flag.  However, this merely shows that "even a broken clock is right twice a day" and we can't depend on a conservative court appointee to even get that many rulings right.  And let's face facts, we can't trust any of these guys in their hearings.

Scalia, for example, vowed in his appointment hearings he'd never be a judicial activist, overturning long held rulings. Then, once he got through and had his robes he promptly became one of the most activist Justices of all. To read more on Scalia's detestable activism don't take my word! Check out this article from the center-right (not left!) Economist:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2013/02/voting-rights-act
Let's hope Obama makes a sensible choice and that the Republicans have enough good sense to cooperate with what will likely be his last SC appointment. If they want to turn the balance of the court back to conservativism let them win the general election and then whoever it is can name whatever guys they want.