A Local Matter... ?

The shooting deaths of African-Americans by police officers that have prompted nationwide racial tensions are local matters to be dealt with by local authorities, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters at her Wednesday press briefing.

”Certainly a terrible incident. This is something that is a local matter and that’s something that we feel should be left up to the local authorities at this point in time,” Sanders said in response to a question about the acquittal of two Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police officers involved in the 2016 death of Alton Sterling. Sanders was also asked about the recent fatal shooting of Stephon Clark in California, and the 2014 death of Eric Garner.

The death of Sterling and similar shooting deaths of other African-Americans became a key issue in the summer of 2016 amid the presidential race between Donald Trump, who voiced strong support for police, and Democrat Hillary Clinton, who expressed support for police while also calling for reforms that she said would improve relations between law enforcement and the black community.

Sanders said Wednesday that the president remains committed to supporting police and did not see a role for himself in the multiple high-profile incidents of African-Americans being killed during interactions with police. {emphasis mine}

“Certainly we want to make sure that all law enforcement is carrying out the letter of the law. The president’s very supportive of law enforcement,” she said “But at the same time, in these specific cases and these specific instances, those would be left up to local authorities to make that determination and not something for the federal government to weigh in to". {emphasis mine}

White conservative code for, we really just don't care.?

In fairness it is best to wait until all the facts are known before the president makes a statement. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out. Given Trump's track record we already have an indication.

SOURCE

Cultural Marxism Debunked...

More on the great myth fabricated by conservative extremists, aka right wing reactionaries.

And the following

On the Myth of “Cultural Marxism” 

by Keith Preston • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Economics/Class Relations, Left and Right, Political Correctness/Totalitarian Humanism

In the News This Morning...

BEIJING (AP) — China announced a $3 billion list of U.S. goods including pork, apples and steel pipe on Friday that it said may be hit with higher tariffs in a spiraling trade dispute with President Donald Trump that companies and investors worry could depress global commerce.



President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to veto the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill already passed by Congress, only hours before government funding would lapse.

The about-face comes a day after the White House had said Trump would sign the legislation despite his misgivings. The government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. Saturday if Trump does not sign a funding bill into law.


George Mason University will use a $5 million gift to its economics department to create three faculty positions, the school announced Thursday.

The gift comes from the Charles Koch Foundation, which has given millions of dollars to colleges and universities across the country. The Koch family is known for its support of conservative political groups, and at George Mason, concerns have been raised by some students and faculty about the foundation and whether its generosity influences academic freedom.


President Donald Trump’s top White House lawyer, Don McGahn, is expected to step down later this year, though his resignation is contingent on the president finding a replacement and several other factors, according to four sources familiar with McGahn’s thinking.


President Donald Trump finally jettisoned National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster on Thursday afternoon. His replacement is John Bolton, the former ambassador to the United Nations in the Bush administration — and one of the most radically hawkish voices in American foreign policy.

Bolton has said the United States should declare war on both North Korea and Iran. He was credibly accused of manipulating US intelligence on weapons of mass destruction prior to the Iraq war and of abusive treatment of his subordinates. He once “joked” about knocking 10 stories off the UN building in New York. That means his new appointment to be the most important national security official in the White House has significant — and frightening — implications for Trump’s approach to the world.


tormy Daniels's attorney hinted on Thursday that he may have hard evidence that the adult-film actress had an affair with President Trump, posting a photo on Twitter of what appeared to be a compact disc in a safe.

"If 'a picture is worth a thousand words,' how many words is this worth?????" Michael Avenatti tweeted.


Thought for the day:

No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.

Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826

FOX News Contributor Finally Speaking the Truth...

This just in:

Ralph Peters, a longtime Fox News military analyst, said Tuesday that he is leaving the network. And he's leaving in the most dramatic way possible: By sending to colleagues a blistering critique of the network as pro-Trump "propaganda."

Peters wrote in a letter to a handful of colleagues that Fox is "assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law." He called it "a destructive and ethically ruinous administration."

We couldn't agree more!!

More HERE

An Example Of Doing the Right Thing...

I run Dick’s Sporting Goods. It’s Congress’s turn to do something about guns.  Edward W. Stack, CEO Dick's Sporting Goods

Throughout history, the United States has been a beacon of hope for the world — especially for people who appreciate and respect that we are a country founded on laws that have been enacted to guard our freedom and keep us safe.

As a gun owner, I support the Second Amendment and understand why, for many, the right to bear arms is as American as baseball and apple pie. But I also agree with what Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in his majority opinion in 2008’s landmark Heller case: “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” It is “not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”

It is clear we have a problem with the gun laws in this country. They are not squarely focused on keeping all of us safe — especially our children.

There continue to be mass shootings — at our schools, churches and entertainment venues. Following each of these senseless, tragic events there’s a great deal of idle, fruitless talk in the halls of Congress, and then the conversation quickly comes to an end.

It’s our great hope and belief that this time will be different. It has to be different.

Maybe it’s because the survivors of the Parkland, Fla., massacre — and the thousands of students who made their feelings known for 17 minutes last week — are standing up and shouting “enough is enough” and “never again.” They are demanding that our elected officials come together to find solutions. These brave young men and women are not going away.

In the weeks since we at Dick’s Sporting Goods announced plans to stop selling assault-style rifles, plans to only sell firearms to those over 21 and other new policies, we have been striving to keep this conversation going. We have met with a number of lawmakers and have talked with many of our peers in the retail industry. We have spoken with strong-willed advocacy groups and visited with families in Parkland.

It is becoming increasingly apparent through our conversations that there continues to be deep skepticism that anything of substance will be done.

Some members of Congress are committed to change, but not enough are willing to set aside partisanship to find a solution. I continue to call on lawmakers in both parties to talk with each other with the expressed intent to act.

What’s also surprising is how many citizens and leaders in our government are not aware of the loopholes and inconsistences in our firearms laws.

Here are some to think about:

●You can’t buy a handgun until you’re 21, but you can buy an assault-style rifle at 18.

●You can buy a gun on the Internet from someone in your state without a background check, but a background check is required to buy a gun on the Internet from someone in a different state.

●Few states provide a list of those in their state who are banned from buying a gun to other states.

●A person deemed too dangerous to fly on a commercial plane is nonetheless legally permitted to purchase a gun.

SOURCE

Leadership is more than looking out for what might seem to be your self interests. At the end of the day it is about doing the right thing. Sadly the Congress of the United States of America and the current President are more interested in their political self interests than they are interested in doing the right thing.

There's always hope. But, hope without action simply insures perpetuation of the status quo. Or worse.

Be sure to click pm SOURCE and complete reading the article if you haven't already.

The Future of Our Democratic Republic At Stake...

President Trump fired off angry tweets Sunday morning railing against the Justice Department special counsel’s Russia investigation and attacking the integrity of former FBI director James B. Comey and his former deputy, Andrew McCabe, charging that their notes from conversations with him were “Fake Memos.”

For the second straight day, Trump was unrestrained in his commentary about Robert S. Mueller III’s expanding investigation, which is probing not only Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible links to the Trump campaign, but also whether the president has sought to obstruct justice.

After Trump’s personal attorney, John Dowd, called Saturday for an end to the Mueller probe, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Sunday urged the president and his legal team to cooperate fully with the investigation and warned of serious ramifications if they did not.

In one of his tweets, Trump protested, “Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added ... does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!”

SOURCE

Then there is this:

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) urged President Donald Trump and his lawyer on Sunday to stop flailing at special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and to let the probe continue unimpeded.

"When you are innocent … act like it," Gowdy said on “Fox News Sunday" when asked about Trump's repeated Twitter attacks on Mueller, whose probe has become increasingly perilous to the president and his inner circle. "If you’ve done nothing wrong, you should want the investigation to be as fulsome and thorough as possible."

Gowdy's comments came a day after Trump's attorney John Dowd called for Mueller's investigation to be shut down. Gowdy issued the same exhortation to Dowd: "If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.”

SOURCE

Then there is this:

Congressional Republicans and conservative pundits had the chance to signal Trump his attacks on law enforcement are unacceptable—but they sent the opposite message.

President Trump raged at his TV on Sunday morning. And yet on balance, he had a pretty good weekend. He got a measure of revenge upon the hated FBI, firing former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe two days before his pension vested. He successfully coerced his balky attorney general, Jeff Sessions, into speeding up the FBI’s processes to enable the firing before McCabe’s retirement date.

Beyond this vindictive fun for the president, he achieved something politically important. The Trump administration is offering a not very convincing story about the McCabe firing. It is insisting that the decision was taken internally by the Department of Justice, and that president’s repeated and emphatic demands—public and private—had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

SKIP

But in the hours since the McCabe firing, Trump’s enablers in Congress and in conservative media have evinced no such concern. They have accepted the story that McCabe was honestly investigated and independently disciplined without qualm or quibble. In the words of former Fox News anchor Brit Hume:

"It’s certainly conceivable that Trump, being Trump, would reach into the inner workings of the FBI and Justice Dept. to frame Andrew McCabe and get him fired. But anyone who claims that’s what happened needs to provide evidence to back it up. Mere supposition doesn’t cut it."

But aren’t the president’s own written and globally published demands for a firing some kind of evidence?

Apparently not.

SOURCE

Given what we have observed of the Trump methodology and his dangerously flawed character, every patriotic and liberty loving American ought to be extremely concerned with the emotionally and mentally unstable man in the Oval Office. The damage he and his party could inflict on our democratic republic and its institutions is grave and the threat of it happening very real.

With 2018 approaching and 2020 not far behind consider your support and vole very carefully. Your children and grandchildren's future depends on it.

We Already Knew... Now It's Official... What Will Trump and His Minions Say?

study published on Friday appears to confirm what news reports suggested long ago: President Trump’s campaign rallies were associated with a rise in violence when they came to town.

A city that hosted a Trump rally saw an average of 2.3 more assaults reported on the day of the event than on a typical day, according to the study, led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and published in the journal Epidemiology. The authors found no corresponding link between assaults and rallies for Mr. Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

“It appeared to be a phenomenon that’s unique to Donald Trump’s rally,” said Christopher Morrison, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and the lead author of the study.

SKIP

Mr. Trump himself repeatedly seemed to endorse attacks on his detractors, too.

“Maybe he should have been roughed up,” he said of one protester who was reportedly punched and kicked in November 2015. “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell ya,” he said of another a few months later. He even offered to pay legal fees for his supporters if they became too aggressive.

The supporters also often aimed offensive and violent rhetoric at Mrs. Clinton, suggesting she be killed.

To determine whether those words and news reports corresponded with an actual shift in violence, the researchers compiled a list of 31 Trump rallies and 38 Clinton rallies held in cities with assault data available online.

They compared the number of assaults reported on the day of the rally to the number reported on the corresponding day of the week, for each of the four weeks before and after the event.

On a typical day, cities saw an average of 19.4 assaults, they found. On the day of a Trump rally, that number rose to 21.7.

The pattern held even when the researchers controlled for the influence of factors like population size, data sources and the day used for the comparison.

The researchers offered two explanations for the increase in assaults. Either they were the result of clashes at or near the rallies, or they occurred elsewhere in the cities after the aggressive mood on display by Mr. Trump, his supporters or his opponents had spread through “social contagion.”

Source...

People of decency and rational mind cannot help but wonder just how in the hell Donald J. Trump, given his multitude of egregious character flaws could have ever been elected by the people of tis country to the highest office in the land.

International Women's Day March 8, 2018...

A hearty KUDOS goes out to McDonalds!!

McDonald's says it will turn its logo upside down on all its digital channels, such as Twitter and Instagram, on Thursday, while 100 restaurants will have special "packaging, crew shirts and hats, and bag stuffers" to celebrate.

"In celebration of women everywhere, and for the first time in our brand history, we flipped our iconic arches for International Women's Day in honor of the extraordinary accomplishments of women everywhere and especially in our restaurants," McDonald's global chief diversity officer, Wendy Lewis, said in a statement.

Lewis continued: "From restaurant crew and management to our C-suite of senior leadership, women play invaluable roles at all levels, and together with our independent franchise owners, we're committed to their success."

Has Overconfidence Already Set In?...

Democrats may have already won the House

Top Republicans sound increasingly resigned to losing a special House election in Pennsylvania Trump Country a week from today, after party-affiliated groups spent more than $9 million on a race that should be a "gimme."

It's one of the increasingly bearish signs for the GOP ahead of November's midterms, with mammoth stakes for the West Wing: If Dems take the House and there's a Speaker Pelosi, President Trump faces endless subpoenas and perhaps impeachment proceedings.

We had a very clarifying conversation with an analyst who's reliably ahead of the curve, and he agreed to share his findings with Axios.

Chris Krueger, managing director of Cowen & Co.'s Washington Research Group, said he sees four "glaring red flags for the House GOP majority":

1. The correlation between the president’s approval number and first-term midterm losses by the president’s party: In the six times that the president’s job approval was under 50%, the average loss was more than 43 seats. The Democrats need 24 to flip the House.
2. CA + PA = half-way there: California is the citadel of the resistance, which has 14 House Republicans. Between retirements, losing state-and-local tax deductions in the tax bill, and Trump’s California disapproval, the Golden State could lose half its GOP delegation. The new Pennsylvania redistricting map — and similar anti-Trump trend lines — could cost Rs as many as six seats.  These two states get you halfway to a Democratic House.
3. Suburban danger zones: 2018 could make the suburbs great again for the House Democrats. The Democratic victories in last year's Virginia and New Jersey governor's races could well be the canaries in the coal mine. Remember that there are 23 House Republican seats in districts Clinton won — and most are suburban.
4. Trump Coalition Unique to Trump: This is the biggest wildcard.  Just like we saw with Obama voters in the midterms of 2010 and 2014, we suspect the unique coalition that supported the president will not turn out for generic House members of that President’s party. Just as Obama voters didn’t turn out for generic House Democrats, Trump-centric voters won’t come out for generic House Republicans.  You do not drain the swamp by reelecting the establishment and the deep state.

Go deeper: Cowen's Washington Macro Commentaries 

As democrats are often wont to do they are showing signs of overconfidence as we approach the 2018 id-term elections. This is a very, very, dangerous mistake as the 2016 HRC loss to DJT so vividly pointed out to us.

Theoretically the orange man in the Oval Office ought to be easy to derail in 2018 and topple in 2020. Don't blow it Democrats