LIGHTING THE FIRES OF INTEGRITY AND LOYALTY

Former Trump White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now governor of Arkansas can’t seem to keep her hands out of the kitty belonging to the taxpayers of the state of Arkansas. Several week ago it was revealed that she had spent $20K of state money on a wooden podium that has yet to show up, but the coverup was…and is…on. As the scandal grew the Arkansas GOP came to her rescue with money to cover the expense, whereupon she immediately got a law passed that blocks the public from commenting on the money she spends. However, this only spurred a Republican to demand a Legislative audit of Podiumgate and every other purchase made during her time in office. Sari-o is now being accused of using the $20K to fly a friend to Paris for a purloined vacation, along with governor H-S of course. The friend, coincidentally, is one of the organizers of the Trump-inspired J6 insurrection in DC. If one can’t get the needed funds with a Deutsche Bank loan, the Arkansas cash box serves just as well.

Not feeling the heat from this June escapade, Governor Sarah on September 1 held a bash at the governor’s mansion for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks football team on the eve of their season’s first game. The tally for this, funded by the Governor’s Mansion Commission, a publicly funded state department, came to at least $13,081.36 if we’re counting pennies. About $4,500 went for food, including the soft pretzels, but no alcohol was purchased if we believe the receipts provided…though it may have been served to head coach, Sam Pittman, three full-costumed mascots, team cheerleaders, or the dance team…heaven forfend that any football team members imbibed. The additional help hired for the occasion may have sneaked a nip or two, to offset what is probably minimum wage pay of $760 in toto. Sounds as if the DJ did okay with a $600 fee, as did Brooksie Balloons who charged $500. As we might suspect, Amazon.com got over $1400 for gingham-checked tablecloths, and likely over $800 for bamboo plates and various sizes of pompoms. The florist charged almost $800 for flowers, candles and tablescapes, with a photo booth rental earning over $700…oh, and $435 for a lighted sign spelling out ‘GO HOGS.’ What would it be for a football party not having giant footballs along with junior-size footballs sailing through the mansion…$335 worth, thanks to the taxpayers who couldn’t attend the invitation-only soirée. Ordained Southern Baptist Pastor Mike Huckabee sure knows how to raise a daughter, huh?

Sarah’s old White House boss continues to cast unpleasantries as he roams around the country spewing his vitriol. The sad thing is that we are becoming inured, desensitized, to his dehumanizing marginalization of segments of the population as he continues his campaign to unravel our democracy on his path to regaining power. His now infamous Veterans Day speech, claiming the 2020 election was stolen, saying, “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections…They’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American dream.” Nazis used the term ‘vermin’ to describe Jews, and we can only presume that Trump intends inclusion of brown-skin immigrants, and political opponents, especially those of a darker cast. MSNBC’s Jen Psaki said, “If elected to a second term, Trump would prosecute anyone he deems an enemy, unleash troops on protestors, and essentially unravel the rule of law as we know it. And this time, he plans to line his administration with people who actually will help him do it.” Trump was caught unawares by actually winning his first presidential election, stumbling through it in complete stupidity; but now that he has done the dress rehearsal, has won over the unsavory MAGAts who will do his bidding, get ready for Vice President Tucker Carlson and Attorney General Mike Johnson.

Stephen Miller, who served as senior advisor for policy in Trump’s White House, is still in the mix as he works on plans to install loyalist attorneys across the federal bureaucracy in a Trump II Administration. Miller worked as communications director for Jeff Sessions, before Sessions was dumped by Trump, with emphasis on anti-immigration policies. In Trump’s fold he helped to implement the family separation policy for migrants, and is now working for John McEntee, former Director of the White House Personnel Office, who is now running a right-wing dating site…picture that! It’s comforting to know that neither Miller nor McEntee are attorneys…the blind leading the blind, so we can only imagine what lies ahead with these two advising Trump. Joyce Vance points out a sentence in Vanity Fair story which she calls “chilling” that warns, “imagine a future in which Bill Barr seems moderate.” The goal is to replace lawyers across the executive branch with Trump loyalists…the supreme qualification. Competence, good judgement, or a commitment to the Constitution be damned. The power to prosecute will be a political tool to be used at Trump’s discretion! Trump, in his book, The Art of the Deal, draws a distinction between integrity and loyalty, saying he prefers the latter. He compared attorney Roy Cohn to “all the hundreds of ‘respectable’ guys who make careers out of boasting about their uncompromising integrity but have absolutely no loyalty.” Cohn was Trump’s ‘other guy.’

A recently released audio of a Trump interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl, recorded a couple of months after the J6 Insurrection, finds the former prez saying he would have accompanied the MAGA rioters to the Capitol building if not for the Secret Service fearing for his safety. “I was thinking about going back during the problem to stop the problem, doing it myself. Secret Service didn’t like that idea too much. And I could have done that. And you know what? I would have been very well received. Don’t forget, the people that went to Washington that day, in my opinion, they went because they thought the election was rigged. That’s why they went,” he said. The claim that he could have been the peacemaker contradicts the testimonies given by over a thousand witnesses during the J6 Committee hearings, prominently, that of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Hutchinson testified that Trump angrily tried to overpower the driver of the presidential limo to force his entourage to join the protesters who were headed to the Capitol building, and that he acknowledged that some carried weapons, saying, “They’re not here to hurt me.” They were only there to “hang Mike Pence.” The committee’s 814-page report concludes that Trump “lit that fire” in fueling the raid on the Capitol.

A Colorado judge ruled last week that Donald Trump, as president, “engaged in an insurrection” on January 6, 2021, but ruled against an attempt to remove him from that state’s 2024 primary ballot, saying that the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban” doesn’t apply to presidents. Judge Sarah Wallace found Trump’s conduct “actively primed the anger of his extremist supporters” and “acted with the specific intent to incite political violence and direct it at the Capitol.” So, even with these conclusions she hesitated because the Constitution fails to detail enforcement of the ban on running for office and was persuaded that the mention of “officers of the United States” did not include the office of President. This case and those similar cases in Minnesota and Michigan are likely to end up with the US Supreme Court making the final ruling on enforcement of the 14th Amendment since we are in such unfamiliar territory with Trump.

The late writer and author, David Foster Wallace, was often asked existential questions and explored what it means to relate to others. Of note is a well-distributed commencement address he gave to graduates of Kenyon College in 2005, entitled ‘This is Water,’ wherein he tells of a parable of a young fish who doesn’t know what water is, just as many of us go about our lives on autopilot, not fully aware of our environment or our actions. “If your total freedom of choice regarding what to think about seems too obvious to waste time discussing, I’d ask you to think about fish and water, and to bracket for just a few minutes your skepticism about the value of the totally obvious,” he concludes. Perfect words for considering our ballot choices heading into an election year!

And speaking of one who is eternally unaware, Marjorie Taylor Greene says, “You know nothing is built in America these days! I just bought a TV with a label that says ‘Built in Antenna.’ I don’t even know where that is!”

November 13

BANKING ON A FAST CAR TO BE SOMEONE – MAYBE WE MAKE A DEAL

Surprise, surprise…Judge Aileen Cannon has decided that for the present, our former president’s trial for charges of mishandling classified documents, scheduled for March 2024, will not be changed for now. Trump’s whining to get the dates rescheduled for all his trials until after the 2024 election has been dead-ended in all cases. He and his attorneys have been saying they are simply too busy with the complexities of preparation, while being tied to the demands of a grifting campaign which they term “the presidential nomination campaign.” Gotta keep that ‘basket of deplorables’ fat and happy to insure that the money keeps rolling in to keep the attorneys fat and happy! Judge Cannon indicates she will revisit other deadlines as the time draws closer, but by March many of the issues in the case may have been decided and Trump may be attending that trial in his custom-fitted orange jumpsuit by Brioni.

Special Counsel Jack Smith responded sans gloves with the Trump team when they attempted to get the federal election subversion case trial dismissed as being “meritless.” Smith’s team wrote in their rebuttal, “The defendant stands alone in American history for his alleged crimes. No other president has engaged in conspiracy and obstruction to overturn valid election results and illegitimately retain power.” The Trump claim that there was no crime since the election wasn’t successfully stolen, which was countered by Smith’s team saying that robbers are still charged with a crime even if they are “captured en route to a bank robbery.” “A conspiracy can be committed even if the object of the conspiracy is unattainable,” they added. The Trump team now has ten days to respond before US District Judge Chutkan makes a ruling on their motion to dismiss. Keep an eye open for the getaway car!

In the New York court last week, Ivanka Trump, the Don’s “wonderful and beautiful daughter,” took the stand as a witness in daddy Trump’s $250M fraud trial for questioning about past deals as prosecutors attempt to prove the family organization knowingly lied to lenders. Following the leads of her brothers who testified the week before, she was “unable to recall” any details, saying, “I’m not an accountant,” in her calm and disciplined manner. Of course, she was undoubtedly fretting over her poor kids that she had to leave outside, begging for bread on the streets. She admitted that “there were many emails, many conversations” and she was treated to examination of copies of emails and other documents relating to a Deutsche Bank private wealth management division loan which had her fingerprints all over, so to speak. That loan, for purchase of the Doral Golf Club in Miami, was contingent upon the Trump organization maintaining a value in excess of $3B, which raised some concern with a Trump lawyer. Ivanka then renegotiated the contingency to get the net worth covenant reduced to $2.5B…not bad for a beautiful daughter who can’t afford a babysitter! Her comment via an email in 2011 was, “It doesn’t get any better than this. Let’s discuss ASAP.” The same year Daddy Donny would claim that he was worth $4.2B, though the prosecution alleges that he was not worth $2B at that time. Ivanka the Beautiful was originally listed as a co-defendant for the family case, but an appeals court tossed that designation, ruling that her involvement with the Trump Organization as a top executive had passed the statutes of limitations after she stepped down to serve in the Trump Administration following the election; therefore, she is only a witness.

Deutsche Bank, for its part, started severing ties with Trump after the embarrassment of the 2020 election due to the negative publicity. The threat to seize Trump’s assets as he spirals downward is real, as he would be unable to pay off the loans should they be called for payment in full. It is assumed Trump has only been paying interest on the loans, so the bank would declare him in default as they started the foreclosure on the properties he put up as collateral. Selling the loans on the secondary market is a non-starter, because no buyer would care to join the line of creditors who have been stiffed, especially if considering the added $1B debt that Trump is rumored to have. But then, misery loves company, and who would be more deserving than Deutsche, an enterprise noted for its money laundering schemes over the years, so criminality among criminals should get its just rewards…it’s every rat for himself.

A post on Quora reads, “My son is taking part in a social experiment. He has to wear a ‘Trump 2024’ t-shirt for two weeks to see how people react. So far, he’s been spit on, punched and had a bottle thrown at him! I’m curious to see what happens when he goes outside.”

Even though his kids were of no help to him after their court appearances, Spraytan Donny is hanging in there to salvage his ‘reputation’ as a legit businessman, placing a great burden on his legal team who now weave in and out of his fantasy world to earn their keep. As Aldous J. Pennyfarthing writes on Daily Kos, “If you ever find yourself in legal peril, you might want to consider hiring Alina Habba as your attorney. But only if you’re on trial for dropping a house on a witch, because if you hire her for committing crimes in the real world, you’ll likely be in for a rude awakening. Trump is facing loads of legal peril, and Habba’s job is to go on teevee to convince millions of people who are already sure he’s innocent that the Brobdingnagian heap of criminal and civil accusations against him were all meticulously curated by a sitting president who’s nothing but a listless amalgam of advanced dementia symptoms. If, during sentencing, she somehow manages to score him a hard-bristled toothbrush for his weekly prison urinal cleanings, that’ll be just gravy.” On a recent appearance with Newsmax’s Carl Higbie, Habba claimed Trump isn’t worried about going to jail because he “did nothing wrong” and the Secret Service will keep that from happening anyway. Pennyfarthing asks, “What does that mean? Who knows, really? The Rosetta Stone for translating MAGA-speak into the King’s English is likely more fermented psychedelic toad venom than any of our snowflake liberal bodies could possibly handle.” Aldous J. suggests it may translate into an OK Corral-style shootout between the Secret Service and the court bailiff working the fraud trial should Judge Engoron attempt to throw Trump into the cooler for violating the gag order. Or that possibly Trump has a stay-out-of-jail-free card because he has an armed Praetorian Guard paid for by the federal government, a snag they can surely work out if he is indeed sentenced.

Trump’s hand-picked Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, was still trying to prove his worth in bringing the two parties together as the deadline approached for the budget vote. Along with that countdown Mikey is drawing attention in many quarters as well…the most prominent eyebrow raiser being a year-old clip where he says he and his son use Covenant Eyes, which bills itself as a tool that “helps you live porn-free with confidence,” an app which weans people from porn by monitoring online activity of phones or computers. “Covenant Eyes is the software we’ve been using a long time in our household,” Johnson says in the clip, which was filmed at a ‘War on Technology’ event, hosted by Cypress Baptist Church in Louisiana in October 1922. Covenant Eyes’ site says, “Porn is a human problem, we provide a human solution. Covenant Eyes helps you and the ones you love live porn-free through transformative accountability relationships.” News doesn’t suggest that Johnson has a pornography addiction, only that the site sends a report to the ‘accountability partner’ who in this case is his son, Jack. Father and son receive a report on one another’s internet use once weekly, and if “anything objectionable comes up,” Mike or Jack will receive an immediate notification. Johnson said his son has “got a clean slate so far,”….no word from Jack on his father’s slate, nor from Johnson’s office after inquiries.

Speaker Johnson, noted for his socially conservative views, has made his Christian faith a cornerstone of his career, both politically and professionally. He once worked for Alliance Defending Freedom, a rightwing Christian legal organization which aims to overturn same-sex unions, enact a total ban on abortion, and strip away the standing minimal rights of the transsexual community. As far as raising questions about what Johnson does, or doesn’t do, on Covenant Eyes through his internet connections, it should raise security concerns since Google once determined the site violated its policies after a Wired investigation, though it has since been reinstated. Johnson’s office has been contacted for comment on donations to his 2018 campaign from Russian nationals through a Texas-based company, American Ethane, which donated thousands of dollars to Louisiana Republican candidates. American Ethane was run by American John Houghtaling, but 88 percent of the firm was owned by three Russian nationals. One of the men, Konstantin Nikolaev, an oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin, has financially backed Maria Butina, a Russian citizen who live in Washington, DC, and who served 18 months in prison after being convicted of being an unregistered foreign agent, after infiltrating conservative political groups and influencing foreign policy to benefit Russia before and after the 2016 election. Jason Hebert, former campaign manager for Johnson, claims the $37,000 was returned once they were “made aware of the situation,” being a violation of federal law to ‘knowingly accept donations from a foreign-owned corporation, a foreign national, or any company owned or controlled by foreign nationals,’ The Federal Elections Commission fined American Ethane $9500 for their transgression, resulting in a scathing condemnation by two FEC commissioners who said, “Though American Ethane did pay a civil penalty, it was a slap on the wrist that failed to account for a violation of one of the most fundamental provisions entrusted to this commission to enforce. One can only hope that in future cases, the commission will once again muster the political will to wall off our elections from the malign influence of foreign money.”

Steve Schmidt on his The Warning blog says, ” The new Speaker has no bank accounts of any kind, believes people and dinosaurs lived together 6,000 years ago, and is second in line to the American presidency; he is a fanatic, a true believer, the extremist in our midst, and is indeed the ‘Handmaid’s speaker.’ Mike Johnson of Louisiana shouldn’t be where he is. Now that he is, be warned.” Those who have looked into his personal financial disclosures found that he lists zero assets, and while he may be observing the rules on what he lists, it’s clear he doesn’t have much money…a red flag?

His wife, Kelly, has sponsored a seminar entitled ‘Answers for Our Times: Government, Culture, and Christianity,’ announcing herself as a Christian counselor and anti-abortion activist, claiming to be a “leader in the pro-family movement.” The two have followed the evangelical circuit giving their seminars, with Mike talking about how he thinks mandatory religious exams should be given to American political candidates. “I want to know what you think about the Christian heritage of this country. I want to know what you think about God’s design for this society. Have you even thought about that?” he queries. “We have too many people in government who haven’t even thought about this stuff.” Maybe he doesn’t know about Article VI Clause 3 of the US Constitution which says, “No religious Test shall be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” Or, maybe like most Republicans, he just doesn’t care? Robert Harrington on The Palmer Report calls Johnson “a deadly dangerous christofascist looney, and people like him are infiltrating the Republican Party…they are becoming the Republican Party.” Harrington writes as one who has experienced first-hand the evangelical movement, the followers of which believe that more evangelicals should be in public office who can run government according to their intolerant biblical strictures. He says, “They are scary. There is always something deeply wrong with them. Always. None of them are ever normal. It’s a symptom of how the moral void of the MAGA Republicanism is being filled up by evangelical lunatics. And they’re coming for your country today.”

Posted on the Quora website: After seeing a protestor’s sign which read, “GOD WILL JUDGE AMERICA OVER ABORTION AND GAY MARRIAGE.” I need to get this straight…God didn’t judge America over the millions of natives that were raped and murdered and had their land stolen. God didn’t judge America over the millions of Africans that were raped, murdered and enslaved for centuries. And God didn’t judge America over not taking care of the homeless, hungry, sick and dying poor. But now God will judge America over abortion and gay marriage? Rrrrright!”

“Hey, you idiots! You think if Donald Trump was my Chosen One, don’t you think I could have gotten him reelected?”  – God

“Do you think that God gets stoned once in a while? Look at the platypus. I think so.”  – Robin Williams