Biden

Short commentary...

Biden made the speech I had hoped he would make. It was all about unity and an end to hate. It was inspirational - maybe the best speech he has ever given.

However, he was obviously pushing as hard as he could to stay on top for 25 minutes. He did well - I counted only eight very slight missteps. Nonetheless, I think that speech will be the most energy we will see from Biden from this point onward.

I shudder to think what he will be like in the third year of a mandate. He needs to commit to only staying for one term of office.

Note - Including both the Pervert Clinton and the Crooked Clinton as part of the Democratic National Convention was painful to watch. Biden needs to be forthright enough to tell them to go away. This is his party now.

The Trump Doctrine and COVID-19

He underplayed the pandemic risk for months on end, blowing chances of isolating the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA early on.

He wrongly predicted the demise of the pandemic numerous times, lulling people into a false sense of ease.

He decried the use of masks, and refused to be seen using one for months, and he supports anti-maskers.

He has held mass gatherings where people did not social distance or wear masks.

He undercuts virtually all of his scientific advisors - especially Fauci - pushing conspiracy theory-based treatments and perspectives which, if followed, would actually kill people.

He blames the recent massive spread of the disease on testing...as in, the USA tests so much more than any other country that the Americans naturally find more COVID-19 than any other country, the implication being that there is no real issue.

He refuses to lead on this issue, preferring distractions such as his growing confrontation with China.

People wonder at his intelligence - why ignore taking steps that other countries are doing successfully worldwide, and the best scientific advice? 

He is not nuts - I think Trump knows exactly what he is doing, which is this...

Trump's sole focus is on November 3, 2020. Present opinion polls indicate that he has a less than a 10% chance of winning re-election. Because of this, he needs a different strategy from that of "being elected" to stay in office. This is where COVID-19 comes in.

Trump has recently indicated that he may try to delay the election because of COVID-19. This is related to his concern that the related use of more mail-in ballots means mass fraud, as more COVID-19 = more mail-in ballots = a stronger accusation of fraud. Both the delay gambit and allegation of a fraudulent election could potentially keep him in office regardless of the outcome of the vote.

This strategy only works if the pandemic is still raging in November.  If America has dealt well with the pandemic by then, then the vote would not be delayed and there would be no basis for increased use of mail-in ballots, so there would be less of a basis for Trump to challenge the vote based on claims of mail-in fraud.

COVID-19, like the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that he has been actively encouraging and making even more violent, is therefore his political friend. 

And so, Trump's COVID-19 strategy should be obvious - he has been doing whatever he can to keep the pandemic raging across the country, because this is the basis of his "Plan B" strategy for staying in office should he not win the vote itself.  

Unlike any previous American president, he is willing to do things that others have never been willing to do. This includes purposely dividing his country on race lines, and stoking the flames of a pandemic knowing it will kill tens of thousands of people as part of a strategy to try to stay in power.

Trump has no doubt already instructed A.G. Barr to prepare documentation to bring legal proceedings to contest the election, based on the the fact that he will claim main-in-ballot fraud, no matter what happens with COVID-19. 

Although Republicans have so far said that a delay to the election is not on, expect Mitch McConnell to start to soon start to voice his opinion that the election should be delayed...a shameless sycophant is always a shameless sycophant.

The Trump Doctrine is to focus only on Power at Any Price through Any Method, at the expense of everything else.

There has never been an American President like this man. 

Stoned!!!

Trump commuted Stone's sentence, as predicted.

Mueller broke his silence to defend Stone's prosecution, which was based on the reality that lying to the police is a crime, literally everywhere on Earth. 

Recall - Stone lied to the FBI and obstructed their investigation into Russia's and Wikileak's involvement in a conspiracy to subvert American democracy on behalf of Trump. Stone was convicted, not by the Democrats; not by the FBI and Mueller; not by an Obama judicial appointee; but by a jury of his peers.

That jury is certain to speak out to voice its opinion that Stone was properly convicted.

Will Trump attack even these normal Americans, who as citizens, weighed the evidence against Stone and convicted him beyond a reasonable doubt? 

Of course he will! "FAKE JURY!!!"

The Russia "hoax" that Trump and Fox are constantly harping on is the apparent "lie" that Russia perverted American democracy by intervening on behalf of Trump in 2016.

Here is what happened in 2016...this needs to be quoted...

"...there were two main Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election.... 

The first involved attempts by a Russian organization, the Internet Research Agency (IRA), to conduct disinformation and social media operations in the United States designed to sow social discord, eventually with the aim of interfering with the election.... 

The second element involved the Russian government's efforts to conduct computer hacking operations designed to gather and disseminate information to influence the election."

This quote is NOT from the Mueller Report. It is from Attorney General William Barr's Summary of that Report. 

In his Summary, Barr went to great lengths to explain that there was no conclusive evidence that Trump participated in the "obstruction of democracy". But nowhere in his summary does Barr question the essential findings of the Mueller Report, which is that Russia interfered in the last presidential election on Trump's behalf.

Be warned! Barr apparently counselled Trump to not commute Stone's sentence. One has to think that even Barr's days as a Trump Lackey are now numbered!

Say "Hello!" to Attorney General Giuliani!

(Merci to the Newyorker magazine)

 

Will Trump Resign THIS WEEK?

Here is the argument.

The United States Supreme Court decides this week if he has to release his tax returns. Those tax returns will likely outline financial arrangements that are deeply entwined with Russia.

Why does Trump meet Putin for hours at a time at secret meetings where no notes are taken?

Why does he mimic Putin in denying what every US intelligence service has confirmed, which is that that Russia deeply influenced that last presidential election in his favour?

Why has he invited Russia back into the G-7, in spite of their aggression in Ukraine, and their targeting of his own country's military personnel via bounties paid to the Taliban?

Why?

Because Trump has been Putin's Bitch for decades.

Trump was bankrupt in the early 1990's - by his own admission, he was a billion dollars in the hole. 

He was a billionaire again by the mid-1990s, a few short years later, during a time that just happened to coincide with the break up of the Soviet Union and the rise of the Oligarchs. 

His tax records will likely show that he received hundreds of millions of dollars in Russian money over those years - he was a money laundering machine for citizens of America's historic enemy who were raping their own country.

He can't survive politically in information like this comes out, which is why he has fought the release of his tax records all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.

If that Court orders the immediate release of those records, expect him to "...go out on top....like a winner!"

What if one of the most corrupt men in American history, a criminal, and a traitor has been running the USA for the last four years?

Oh...another tidbit...Trump's efforts on behalf of the Russians would have occurred in New York City. 

Who was the mayor of that city during those years?

Never The Loser...Will Trump Resign?

OMG...and then, out of the blue, there it was...

https://www.hilltimes.com/2020/06/26/253818/253818

The ideal time for him to resign would be Sunday, August 23rd; the day before the Republican Convention starts. Doing this will cause the maximum amount of damage to his party...which has never really ever been "his party".

Circle that date on your calendar.

Treason, In Plain View

He used to be their darling. David Frum is now one of the Republicans', and especially Trump's main pains in the ass...

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/most-shocking-thing-about-zelinskys-testimony/613477/

The absurdity of it all may be best exemplified by Michael Flynn.

Flynn will walk away a free man after admitting that he committed a crime, and that with the full benefit of some of the best defence lawyers in the United States. 

His crime was lying to the police - he had the option of saying nothing to the cops - he had a "right to remain silent" - but he chose to talk to the cops, and when he did, he lied through his teeth. Lying to the cops is a crime...everywhere.

He was not set up. He did not stand up in court and say "I'm guilty" in the dead of night, under the threat of physical violence, or flippantly and without the benefit of legal counsel. 

After negotiations with prosecutors, he agreed to and signed a written plea deal in which he agreed to work with the FBI to help uncover the essence of the Trump Campaign's links to Russia. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he had legal advice when he did it.

William Barr, at the insistence of President Trump moved to have Flynn's prosecution stopped - at the sentencing stage! I have literally never heard of this. The legal system has literally never heard of this.

The reason? Because Bill Barr has claimed that Flynn had been entrapped!

What?!

The simple definition of "entrapment" is "tricking someone into committing a crime."

Entrapment occurs when the state sets up a fake crime, and someone takes the bait. For example, when the state offers a two-bit criminal a chance to participate in a drug deal that does not exist, then charges the person with conspiracy to commit the non-existent offence.

How was Flynn tricked into committing a crime when his own lawyers negotiated a plea deal on his behalf that he then agreed to and signed? Where is the "trap" in that? He knew exactly what he was doing when he did it, and had the benefit of legal advice while he did it. 

More than that, the crime was REAL...he committed obstruction of justice, and no one disputes this, not even Barr.

But was he tricked when he first talked to the FBI? Flynn even had lawyers with him when he lied to the cops! The man was literally surrounded by legal counsel at every single stange of his encounters with the criminal justice system. 

If you recall, that he lied to the FBI was so plain and obvious, that he publicly apologized to the Vice President for having mislead even him about his contacts with Russia! 

Flynn lied to EVERYONE! As noted by Frum, this was all in plain sight!

Here is a thought...maybe Flynn could have simply told the truth.

Stone goes to jail to serve his sentence in July. Was he entrapped as well, just like Flynn? Barr has no doubt been instructed by Trump to make sure Stone never serves a single day in jail. 

We are witnessing what may be one of the worst perversions of justice ever in the USA. The "entrapment" that has occurred consists of the millions of people who are willing to believe that this is somehow real, when what is really going on is that a President of the United States is bending the criminal justice system to his political will. Others have done it before, but never so brazenly.

What comes next?

MANA!!! MANA!!! MANA!!!

Trump recently threatened to sue CNN when the published a poll showing that Biden led him by 14% in a poll. Fox published a poll yesterday saying he trailed Biden by 12%.

Will his lawyers send a letter?

Everyone is in the election prediction business now....

https://www.270towin.com/2020-election-forecast-predictions/

And the Economist...

https://projects.economist.com/us-2020-forecast/president

You don't need to cull through all of this. Basically, if Trump loses Florida, he is doomed.

No doubt, Putin's boys are ramping up the Fake News Facebook ads in that state right now. (Hmmm...did Black Lives Matter plant COVID-19 in the state to frustrate Trump's electoral chances? Did immigrants bring in the virus because Trump's wall with Mexico was not completed?!) 

Oh, there were more than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases in Florida yesterday - the most in one day, ever.

MANA!!! MANA!!! MANA!!!

*Make America Normal Again