Watergate: The Biggest Political Scandal of My Lifetime, Until Maybe Now
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=10573"><span class="small">Dan Rather, Reader Supported News</span></a>
Wednesday, 15 February 2017 15:13
Rather writes: "On a 10 scale of armageddon for our form of government, I would put Watergate at a 9. This Russia scandal is currently somewhere around a 5 or 6, in my opinion, but it is cascading in intensity seemingly by the hour."
Dan Rather. (photo: WNYC)
Watergate: The Biggest Political Scandal of My Lifetime, Until Maybe Now
By Dan Rather, Reader Supported News
15 February 17
atergate is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime, until maybe now. It was the closest we came to a debilitating Constitutional crisis, until maybe now. On a 10 scale of armageddon for our form of government, I would put Watergate at a 9. This Russia scandal is currently somewhere around a 5 or 6, in my opinion, but it is cascading in intensity seemingly by the hour. And we may look back and see, in the end, that it is at least as big as Watergate. It may become the measure by which all future scandals are judged. It has all the necessary ingredients, and that is chilling.
When we look back at Watergate, we remember the end of the Nixon Presidency. It came with an avalanche, but for most of the time my fellow reporters and I were chasing down the story as it rumbled along with a low-grade intensity. We never were quite sure how much we would find out about what really happened. In the end, the truth emerged into the light, and President Nixon descended into infamy.
This Russia story started out with an avalanche and where we go from here no one really knows. Each piece of news demands new questions. We are still less than a month into the Trump Presidency, and many are asking that question made famous by Tennessee Senator Howard Baker those many years ago: "What did the President know, and when did he know it?" New reporting suggests that Mr. Trump knew for weeks. We can all remember the General Michael Flynn's speech from the Republican National Convention - "Lock her up!" in regards to Hillary Clinton. If Hillary Clinton had done one tenth of what Mr. Flynn had done, she likely would be in jail. And it isn't just Mr. Flynn, how far does this go?
The White House has no credibility on this issue. Their spigot of lies - can't we finally all agree to call them lies - long ago lost them any semblance of credibility. I would also extend that to the Republican Congress, who has excused away the Trump Administration's assertions for far too long.
We need an independent investigation. Damn the lies, full throttle forward on the truth. If a scriptwriter had approached Hollywood with what we are witnessing, he or she would probably have been told it was way too far-fetched for even a summer blockbuster. But this is not fiction. It is real and it is serious. Deadly serious. We deserve answers and those who are complicit in this scandal need to feel the full force of justice.
Trevor Noah Reveling in Michael Flynn's Resignation Is All of Us
Wednesday, 15 February 2017 15:02
Canfield writes: "Tuesday night's Daily Show thus provides an illuminating reminder that as these revelations continue to pile up, it's getting harder and harder - or perhaps a little easier - to make sense of it all."
Trevor Noah on "the Daily Show." (photo: Comedy Central)
Trevor Noah Reveling in Michael Flynn's Resignation Is All of Us
By David Canfield, Slate
15 February 17
uesday started off with a bombshell in the political world as Michael Flynn resigned amid swirling scandal, becoming the shortest-serving National Security Advisor in modern American history. It was the latest blow to the Trump Administration, which has seemingly turned terrible decision-making into an art form.
Daily Show host Trevor Noah could barely contain his glee at the irony of it all. “Donald Trump [is] finally draining the swamp of the people he brought to the swamp,” he quipped. “President Trump is a genius, people—he hires a cabinet full of terrible people, fires them one-by-one, looks like he’s a man of action. Drain the swamp—down the previous levels!” The story was big enough for Noah to spend two segments on it, later transitioning to Republicans’ laughably evasive responses to Flynn’s lies and subsequent departure. (On Kellyanne Conway’s starkly contradictoryToday Show segment, Noah asked, “How does she say that with a straight face?”)
Yet by the time 11:00 p.m. rolled around, late-night comics were already far behind on the shocking information dumps. The New York Times and CNN broke major news well after Noah’s show-taping that it wasn’t just Flynn talking with the Kremlin—several “high-level officials” of the Trump campaign reportedly engaged in “constant” communication with Russian intelligence officials. In the cycle of the Trump Administration, a delay of even a few hours means you’re bound to be working off of old news. Tuesday night’s Daily Show thus provides an illuminating reminder that as these revelations continue to pile up, it’s getting harder and harder—or perhaps a little easier—to make sense of it all.
FOCUS: Republican Cruelty - Just for Immigrants, Disabled, and Gays?
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=20877"><span class="small">William Boardman, Reader Supported News</span></a>
Wednesday, 15 February 2017 12:48
Boardman writes: "Scapegoating minorities is useful in building a police state."
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. (photo: AP)
Republican Cruelty - Just for Immigrants, Disabled, and Gays?
By William Boardman, Reader Supported News
15 February 17
Scapegoating minorities is useful in building a police state
osa Maria Ortega, 37, came to the United States as an infant. She has a sixth grade education. When she was about eleven, her mother was arrested and deported. Her two younger brothers, born in the US, became citizens. She became a permanent resident, with a green card. She is a mother of four children, ages 12-16, who are all citizens, and engaged to marry Oscar Sherman, a citizen.
When she lived in Dallas County, she registered to vote on forms that had no box to check for “permanent resident,” only “citizen.” She registered in 2012, as a Republican. She voted for Mitt Romney. She voted again in May 2014. When she moved to Tarrant County, she again registered to vote in October, on a different form, with a box for “non-citizen,” which she checked. That registration was rejected. She explained to election officials that she had voted in Dallas County without difficulty, they said she had to be a citizen. In March 2015 she filed another form claiming to be a citizen. Apparently no one thought to sort the situation out humanely, with someone who didn’t know the difference legally between permanent residency and citizenship.
Instead, in October 2015, she was arrested and charged with “Illegal Voting,” a second degree felony under a Texas law that took effect January 1, 2012. She was indicted in November 2015. According to Rosa Maria Ortega’s attorney, Clark Birdsall, the Texas Attorney General’s office agreed to dismiss all charges if she would agree to testify on voting procedures before the Texas Legislature, but Tarrant County district attorney Sharen Wilson vetoed any deal and demanded a trial to showcase how tough she could be on “election fraud.” The state and county officials refused to comment on this to The New York Times, but a spokesman for Wilson offered a non-denial denial saying any negotiations had been only “discussions.”
On February 8, 2017, after about two hours of deliberation, a jury found Rosa Maria Ortega guilty on two counts, thereby rejecting her testimony that she was confused by and didn’t understand the law. Each count carried a possible sentence of 20 years in prison. The statute requires that the court determine that a person cast an illegal ballot “knowingly.” The following day, the Texas county judge sentenced Rosa Maria Ortega to an eight-year sentence on each count (to run concurrently) and fined her $5000.
The Attorney General, Ken Paxton, was elected in 2014 after years of crusading against “voter fraud.” (He has his own legal issues these days, Texas criminal securities fraud charges and a federal lawsuit, but he denies any wrongdoing, with a trial coming up May 1.) After Rosa Maria Ortega’s sentencing, Ken Paxton was all over the news boasting in an email:
This case shows how serious Texas is about keeping its elections secure, and the outcome sends a message that violators of the state’s election law will be prosecuted to the fullest. Safeguarding the integrity of our elections is essential to preserving our democracy.
Republican governor Greg Abbott, a longtime promoter of fantasy voter fraud, pushed his way into the Rosa Maria Ortega spotlight with a tweet of absurd intensity for a fellow party member:
In Texas you will pay a price for Voter Fraud: Noncitizen Sentenced to 8 Years in prison for Illegal Voting. #txlege
The judge who sentenced Rosa Maria Ortega is also Republican. So is the Attorney General. In 2014, Rosa Maria Ortega voted for him.
Rosa Maria Ortega’s ordeal is a Republican zeitgeist story
Since 2002, some 72 million Texas votes have led to voter fraud prosecution in – wait for it – fewer than 100 cases (in which convictions led to light sentences or probation). But politicians pursuing an imaginary monster tend to inflate any evidence they can find of their particular Big Foot. That’s just Rosa Maria Ortega’s bad luck, that and Republicans’ savage indifference to inflicting needless pain and cruelty.
Texas voter laws have for years illustrated Republican cruelty in pursuit of hobgoblins. Last year the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, by a 9-6 vote, struck down part of the Texas Voter ID law. Considered the country’s most conservative appeals court, it held that the Texas law discriminates against black and Latino citizens. For now, the US Supreme Court has rejected a Texas appeal of the lower court’s ruling. The law would have eliminated 16,400 legal voters from the election. Texas governor Greg Abbott issued a statement at the time:
The 5th Circuit rightly reversed the lower court’s finding of discriminatory purpose, but wrongly concluded the law had a discriminatory effect. Voter fraud is real, and it undermines the integrity of the election process. As Attorney General I prosecuted cases against voter fraud across the State, and Texas will continue to make sure there is no illegal voting at the ballot box.
At about the same time, Abbott also claimed: “The fact is voter fraud is rampant—and in Texas, unlike some other states and unlike some other leaders, we are committed to cracking down on voter fraud.” Politifact called Abbott’s claim a “Pants on Fire” lie. In Texas it’s a crackdown on rampant voter fraud when they judicially lynch an under-educated woman who voted Republican. (In Iowa, the woman charged with voting twice for Trump is, according to her attorney, mentally incompetent to stand trial.)
Rosa Maria Ortega’s attorney Clark Birdsall is outspoken about the injustice of this Texas prosecution and the fatuous Republican self-grandiosity that goes with it:
These people are beating their chests and wrapping themselves up in the flag and trying to impress our current occupier of the White House, and they’re like a big-game hunter, one foot on the carcass, with their gun in their hand and with a big smile on their face.
This is such a miscarriage.
And the taxpayers are going to pay a minimum of $300,000 or $400,000 to house this woman, just so a local politicians can curry favor with Trump, or with Abbott, who is just as out of control.
William M. Boardman has over 40 years experience in theatre, radio, TV, print journalism, and non-fiction, including 20 years in the Vermont judiciary. He has received honors from Writers Guild of America, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Vermont Life magazine, and an Emmy Award nomination from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=35918"><span class="small">Michael Moore, Michael Moore's Facebook Page</span></a>
Wednesday, 15 February 2017 11:43
Moore writes: "Stunning bombshell right now from the New York Times - Trump campaign chair, campaign officials and Trump associates made repeated contacts and calls with Russian intelligence during the YEAR leading up to the election."
Michael Moore. (photo: Where to Invade Next)
This Is What Must Be Done Now
By Michael Moore, Michael Moore's Facebook Page
15 February 17
tunning bombshell right now from the New York Times -- Trump campaign chair, campaign officials and Trump associates made repeated contacts and calls with Russian intelligence during the YEAR leading up to the election.
It's what we all suspected. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on: TRUMP COLLUDING WITH THE RUSSIANS TO THROW THE ELECTION TO HIM.
So this is what I want done NOW:
I and tens of millions of Americans demand that the weak and spineless Democrats bring Congress to a halt until investigative hearings are held and impeachment charges are filed. We don't want to hear you Dems huff and puff and grandstand and take symbolic actions. We demand that you halt all actions being taken by an illegitimately elected government until this matter is resolved.
Attorney General J Beauregard Sessions must immediately appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate these potentially treasonous acts.
So-Called President Trump could save the country a lot of time, money and pain by stepping down tonight.
Somehow, our judicial system has to find a way to make restitution to this country. Pence can't be president as he, too, was elected under this same fraud. The court has to rule either that the President is the winner of the popular vote OR the election must be held over. The Republicans-- the beneficiaries of this treason --cannot be allowed to hold on to the power by default. If it turns out there's a traitor in the White House, the judicial branch must find a fair, peaceful way to un-do and then re-do the election of 2016.
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=63"><span class="small">Marc Ash, Reader Supported News</span></a>
Wednesday, 15 February 2017 09:44
Ash writes: "Donald Trump has spent his entire life being very, very sure that he is in total control of events around him and impervious to failure. But that's not what his CV says. A closer look at Trump's less than exemplary past includes an alarming history of train wrecks that he walks away from, but others do not."
Fomer U.S. Army General and National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn. (photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters)
f Michael Flynn was forced to resign, it was a foregone conclusion that the Trump/Bannon/Miller-run White House would distance itself from “Flynn’s” actions. Appearing telephonically on MSNBC, retired four-star general Barry McCaffrey, however, said he could not imagine a scenario in which Flynn could have communicated with Russian officials regarding sanctions without then-President-elect Trump being onboard. If true, that leaves one dangerously irresponsible individual separated from the national security apparatus and at least one other in total control of it.
Russia does not appear to be onboard.
Multiple reports circulating today indicate a substantial increase in provocative military acts by Russia toward US assets: a Russian spy ship (in international waters) off the Delaware coast, the deployment of a ground-launched cruise missile in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and reports of Russian war planes “buzzing” a US destroyer operating in the Black Sea.
It should be noted that these acts, taken individually, don’t necessarily indicate impending conflict, and as always the US is at least as guilty as the Russians, particularly in the Russian view. But the timing is strange. We have a newly sworn-in president who is virtually effusive in his praise for Russian president Vladimir Putin and seemingly giddy at the prospect of improved relations. So why the saber-rattling?
If we are looking at conditions that have changed, the ostracizing of Michael Flynn is at the top of current events programming. The interesting thing here is the now-viral outtake from the Justice Department warning to the White House that Flynn could be vulnerable to Russian blackmail. Presumably, Flynn was reticent about admitting to transition-team leaders that he had discussed US sanctions with Russia prior to having the official capacity to do so. But that doesn’t add up.
That would have required Flynn to be making commitments for Trump without Trump’s knowledge or consent. Neither Flynn nor his Russian counterpart would have shown up for that meeting. He had to have been, as McCaffrey pointed out, acting under authority. So if that did not make Flynn susceptible to blackmail, what did — and is it causing increasing US-Russian tensions?
It also bears noting that blackmail is not now mentioned for the first time in this saga. Blackmail as a concern for Trump himself was at issue in considering the much-maligned Christopher Steele dossier. In retrospect, one might wonder whether the dossier was the iceberg or the tip.
Donald Trump has spent his entire life being very, very sure that he is in total control of events around him and impervious to failure. But that’s not what his CV says. A closer look at Trump’s less than exemplary past includes an alarming history of train wrecks that he walks away from, but others do not.
What if Putin … is not our friend?
Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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atergate is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime, until maybe now. It was the closest we came to a debilitating Constitutional crisis, until maybe now. On a 10 scale of armageddon for our form of government, I would put Watergate at a 9. This Russia scandal is currently somewhere around a 5 or 6, in my opinion, but it is cascading in intensity seemingly by the hour. And we may look back and see, in the end, that it is at least as big as Watergate. It may become the measure by which all future scandals are judged. It has all the necessary ingredients, and that is chilling.
uesday started off with a bombshell in the political world as 
osa Maria Ortega, 37, came to the United States as an infant. 
tunning bombshell right now from the New York Times -- Trump campaign chair, campaign officials and Trump associates made repeated contacts and calls with Russian intelligence during the YEAR leading up to the election.
f Michael Flynn was forced to resign, it was a foregone conclusion that the Trump/Bannon/Miller-run White House would distance itself from “Flynn’s” actions. Appearing telephonically on MSNBC, retired four-star general Barry McCaffrey, however, said he could not imagine a scenario in which Flynn could have communicated with Russian officials regarding sanctions without then-President-elect Trump being onboard. If true, that leaves one dangerously irresponsible individual separated from the national security apparatus and at least one other in total control of it.
