Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Washington (CNN) Former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates is finalizing a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller's office, indicating he's poised to cooperate in the investigation, according to sources familiar with the case.

Gates has already spoken to Mueller's team about his case and has been in plea negotiations for about a month. He's had what criminal lawyers call a "Queen for a Day" interview, in which a defendant answers any questions from the prosecutors' team, including about his own case and other potential criminal activity he witnessed.
Gates' cooperation could be another building block for Mueller in a possible case against President Donald Trump or key members of his team.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James said in a video posted Thursday that President Trump doesn't "give a (expletive) about the people."

James, who previously referred to Trump as a "bum" on Twitter, https://www.uninterrupted.com/watch/ABLj1BXw/rolling-with-the-champion-le-bron-james-kevin-durant?playlist=N4M8xKh5, a multimedia platform that he co-founded.

In the piece, the four-time NBA MVP and Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant were asked by ESPN's Cari Champion about political division in the United States and the climate that athletes face when trying to speak out.

"Well, the climate is hot," James said. "The number-one job in America, the appointed person, is someone who doesn't understand the people. And really don't give a (expletive) about the people."

James explained that, as a child, there were three high-profile people from whom he sought inspiration: The best athlete, the greatest musician and the president.

"You never thought you could be them, but you can grab inspiration from them," James continued. "I never felt I could be the president of the United States, but I grabbed inspiration from that. And this time right now, with the president of the United States, it's at a bad time. And while we cannot change what comes out of that man's mouth, we can continue to alert the people that watch us, that listen to us, (that) this is not the way."

The 33-year-old James, who is among the most recognizable athletes in the United States, has not been shy about criticizing Trump since he took office last year.

In the wake of violent protests in Charlottesville, Va., in August, James referred to Trump as the "so-called president" and the need to unify as a country without him. One month later, at Cleveland's media day, he spoke at length about his frustration with Trump's rhetoric and referred to the president as "that guy." Then, during a December game in Washington, he wore one white shoe and one black shoe with the word "Equality" on the heel.

"Obviously, we know where we are right now. We know who’s at the helm," James said when asked about the shoes.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

"Donald Trump, a Playboy Model, and a System for Concealing Infidelity: One woman’s account of clandestine meetings, financial transactions, and legal pacts designed to hide an extramarital affair," by Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker:

The details: In 2006, "Trump and [Karen McDougal, a former Playmate of the Year] began an affair, which McDougal later memorialized in an eight-page, handwritten document provided to The New Yorker by John Crawford, a friend of McDougal’s. When I showed McDougal the document, she expressed surprise that I had obtained it but confirmed that the handwriting was her own."

• "The interactions that McDougal outlines in the document share striking similarities with the stories of other women who claim to have had sexual relationships with Trump, or who have accused him of propositioning them for sex or sexually harassing them. McDougal describes their affair as entirely consensual."
• "[H]er account provides a detailed look at how Trump and his allies used clandestine hotel-room meetings, payoffs, and complex legal agreements to keep affairs — sometimes multiple affairs he carried out simultaneously — out of the press."
• "On November 4, 2016, four days before the election, the Wall Street Journalreported that American Media, Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, had paid a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for exclusive rights to McDougal’s story, which it never ran."
• "Several people close to McDougal argued that such untold stories could be used as leverage against the President."
• "A White House spokesperson said in a statement that Trump denies having had an affair with McDougal: 'This is an old story that is just more fake news. The President says he never had a relationship with McDougal.'"

Go deeper...

 

[Michael Scally MD]

If you've been listening just to the Kremlin and the Pentagon, you probably didn't know that Russia attacked American forces and their allies in Syria last week, suffering heavy casualties.

Yes, all sides admit that there was an incident at a U.S. base in Deir Ezzor. And that elements of the Syrian regime and Shiite militias participated in the assault. The Pentagon and Kremlin both acknowledge that Russian "mercenaries" participated, too. But the line for now is that those contractors had gone rogue, and Moscow didn't know anything about it.

When reporters asked U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis about the incident, he called the whole thing perplexing. "I have no idea why they would attack there, the forces were known to be there, obviously the Russians knew," he said. "We have always known that there are elements in this very complex battle space that the Russians did not have, I would call it, control of."

Now, it should be said that Mattis, a retired four-star Marine Corps General, is a very smart man. His perplexity in this case is probably what Plato called a "noble lie," a falsehood spoken by a leader to achieve a greater social good. If Mattis acknowledges the obvious -- that the Kremlin authorized a direct assault on a U.S.-sponsored base by non-uniformed personnel -- he risks an escalation spiral in Syria. Better to express bewilderment and give Russian President Vladimir Putin a chance to back down and deny culpability, which he ended up doing despite the heavy casualties suffered by his mercenaries.

But make no mistake: There is overwhelming evidence that those Russian contractors were working at the behest of the Kremlin. What's more, the Russians knew U.S. military personnel were in Deir Ezzor, which has been part of successive agreements to separate, or "deconflict," forces fighting in Syria.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

In June, 2006, Donald Trump taped an episode of his reality-television show, “The Apprentice,” at the Playboy Mansion, in Los Angeles. Hugh Hefner, Playboy’s publisher, threw a pool party for the show’s contestants with dozens of current and former Playmates, including Karen McDougal, a slim brunette who had been named Playmate of the Year, eight years earlier. In 2001, the magazine’s readers voted her runner-up for “Playmate of the ’90s,” behind Pamela Anderson. At the time of the party, Trump had been married to the Slovenian model Melania Knauss for less than two years; their son, Barron, was a few months old. Trump seemed uninhibited by his new family obligations. McDougal later wrote that Trump “immediately took a liking to me, kept talking to me - telling me how beautiful I was, etc. It was so obvious that a Playmate Promotions exec said, ‘Wow, he was all over you - I think you could be his next wife.’ ”

Trump and McDougal began an affair, which McDougal later memorialized in an eight-page, handwritten document provided to The New Yorker by John Crawford, a friend of McDougal’s. When I showed McDougal the document, she expressed surprise that I had obtained it but confirmed that the handwriting was her own.

The interactions that McDougal outlines in the document share striking similarities with the stories of other women who claim to have had sexual relationships with Trump, or who have accused him of propositioning them for sex or sexually harassing them. McDougal describes their affair as entirely consensual. But her account provides a detailed look at how Trump and his allies used clandestine hotel-room meetings, payoffs, and complex legal agreements to keep affairs—sometimes multiple affairs he carried out simultaneously—out of the press.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

The 35 words that make a president: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The eight words in Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution that define “http://constitutionus.com/": “adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”

This is language to remember in light of congressional testimony this week by President Trump's intelligence team.

“Frankly, the United States is under attack” from Russia and other foreign countries who are “using elections as opportunities to undermine democracy…There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operation,” said Dan Coats, the administration's Director of National Intelligence.

Mike Pompeo, the director of the CIA, said at the same hearing that “we have seen Russian activity and intentions to have an impact on the next election cycle here.” FBI Director Christopher Wray agreed that the Russians had meddledin 2016 and planned to do so again.

Trump named all three men to their jobs and had high praise for them. He said Coats “has clearly demonstrated the deep subject matter expertise and sound judgmentrequired to lead our intelligence community.” He said Pompeo would be "a brilliant and unrelenting leader for our intelligence community to ensure the safety of Americans and our allies.” He called Wray "a man of impeccable credentials."

You'd think the straightforward assessment of these three professionals hand-picked by Trump would carry weight with him. Instead, in the aftermath of the hearing, Trump reportedly was still skeptical that Russia had interfered.

Trump's refusal to accept the consensus of his own national security team seems to be the definition of “adhering to” our “Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.” His state of denial of emboldens America’s enemies to continue their attacks against our democratic process, and makes him a willing accomplice in their efforts to undermine our republic.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Washington (CNN)The FBI obtained photos of the bruised face of Colbie Holderness seven days after President Donald Trump's inauguration last year, according to emails obtained by CNN, raising questions about what information White House counsel Don McGahn had at his disposal regarding her ex-husband, Rob Porter.

Holderness provided the photos to the bureau as part of a security clearance background check that was being conducted into Porter. At the time, Porter was Trump's staff secretary, managing the flow of some of the most sensitive information destined for the President. But, according to the White House, the full extent of the domestic violence allegations weren't known by senior officials until last week, when pictures were published by the Daily Mail.

It's unclear if the FBI sent the photos to the White House, though a law enforcement source said the bureau would have at least provided a synopsis of what they portray. But the existence of the photos is leading law enforcement experts and officials in previous administrations to strongly question how McGahn didn't act on the domestic violence allegations, which have rocked the White House over the past week and triggered at least one congressional investigation. Like other top presidential lawyers before him, McGahn had legal staff in his office who were assigned to deal with clearance issues.

"That isn't reasonable," national security expert Mark Zaid said of the idea that McGahn only learned about the photo when it was published. "I would be surprised that if in their partial report in March, the FBI either didn't include the photo or, at a minimum, reference they had photographic evidence of the domestic assault."

He added: "And I can't fathom it not being part of the completed report" that the FBI delivered to the White House in July.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

SKANKING WITH THE NRA
https://claytoonz.com/2018/02/16/skanking-with-the-nra/

As predictable as conservative political cartoonists drawing crying Uncle Sams after this week’s school shooting in Lakeland, Florida, Republicans tweeted out “thoughts and prayers.”

Thoughts and prayers are very nice. I’m not against thoughts and prayers. I am against only offering thoughts and prayers. Republicans are bad about offering thoughts and prayers while aiding a lobbying organization that opposes all methods of gun control, or even gun sense.

After the Las Vegas shooting, we were told it was too soon to talk about it. But, there was talk of ending the sale of bump stocks, a device that basically turns a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic weapon. It’s been five months since the Vegas massacre, but I guess it’s still too soon because we’ve yet to see any effort in ending the sales of bump stocks.

incredulity has been expressed at the fact a 19-year-old can’t buy a drink, can’t buy a handgun, but in Florida, he can purchase a semi-automatic AR-15, the gun of choice for mass shooters. That’s the law and there’s nothing illegal about it until he starts shooting his former classmates. Will we see Republicans, who control the House, Senate, Presidency, and even the governorship in Florida, do anything about this? Looking at the financial contributions from the NRA to Republicans, all we can expect are more thoughts and prayers while creating laws that make it as easy as possible to kill a large number of people in a manner of minutes.

While Trump’s lawyer pays off porn stars to shut up, the NRA pays of Republicans to tell us to shut up about gun control. The porn star was a lot cheaper, and has higher principles.

Senator John McCain is the granddaddy of receiving money from the NRA. He’s taken $7,740,521. But, he did offer thoughts and prayers.

Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina has accepted $6, 986,620 from the NRA. He also offered thoughts and prayers.

Roy Blunt, Senator from Missouri, got $4,551,146. He too offered thoughts and prayers.

Cory Gardner, Senator from Colorado, got $3,879.064. He sent his thoughts and prayers.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst took $3,124273 and gave us thoughts and prayers.

Indiana’s Todd Young got $2,896,732 and gave thoughts and prayers.

Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy received $2,861,047 and also gave thoughts and prayers.

Those numbers are just from the Senate. I didn’t include contributions to the House. But you can check out the list at The New York Times. Among the highest recipients of NRA funds in the House, 95 out of 100 are Republican. The top two Democrats in the Senate are Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who rank 52nd and 53rd — behind every Republican but Dan Sullivan of Alaska.

The NRA spent over $50 million to elect Trump, and there are questions about some of that money coming from Russia.

In Florida, Senator Marco Rubio has received $3,303,355, and Governor Rick Scott, along with Rubio, has an A+ rating from the NRA, which means they belong to the NRA.

When asked about gun control, Rubio said it was too soon to talk about it after the Lakeland shooting “because people don’t know how this happened.” Yes, we do, Marco. A kid bought a semi-automatic weapon, which is legal because politicians like you allow it, and he took it to a school and shot 17 people. That’s what happened.

Don’t expect solutions from these people. Do not expect gun sense, common sense, or any sense. Do not expect results.

But they will give you lots of thoughts and prayers.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

In June, 2006, Donald Trump taped an episode of his reality-television show, “The Apprentice,” at the Playboy Mansion, in Los Angeles. Hugh Hefner, Playboy’s publisher, threw a pool party for the show’s contestants with dozens of current and former Playmates, including Karen McDougal, a slim brunette who had been named Playmate of the Year, eight years earlier. In 2001, the magazine’s readers voted her runner-up for “Playmate of the ’90s,” behind Pamela Anderson. At the time of the party, Trump had been married to the Slovenian model Melania Knauss for less than two years; their son, Barron, was a few months old. Trump seemed uninhibited by his new family obligations. McDougal later wrote that Trump “immediately took a liking to me, kept talking to me - telling me how beautiful I was, etc. It was so obvious that a Playmate Promotions exec said, ‘Wow, he was all over you - I think you could be his next wife.’ ”

Trump and McDougal began an affair, which McDougal later memorialized in an eight-page, handwritten document provided to The New Yorker by John Crawford, a friend of McDougal’s. When I showed McDougal the document, she expressed surprise that I had obtained it but confirmed that the handwriting was her own.

The interactions that McDougal outlines in the document share striking similarities with the stories of other women who claim to have had sexual relationships with Trump, or who have accused him of propositioning them for sex or sexually harassing them. McDougal describes their affair as entirely consensual. But her account provides a detailed look at how Trump and his allies used clandestine hotel-room meetings, payoffs, and complex legal agreements to keep affairs—sometimes multiple affairs he carried out simultaneously—out of the press.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

I FIND IT hard to write about Donald Trump.

It is not that he is a complicated subject. Quite the opposite. It is that everything about him is so painfully obvious. He is a low-rent racist, a shameless misogynist, and an unbalanced narcissist. He is an unrelenting liar and a two-bit white identity demagogue. Lest anyone forget these things, he goes out of his way each day to remind us of them.

At the end of the day, he is certain to be left in the dustbin of history, alongside Father Coughlin and Gen. Edwin Walker. (Exactly – you don’t remember them, either.)

What more can I add?

Unfortunately, another word also describes him: president. The fact that such an unstable egomaniac occupies the White House is the greatest threat to the national security of the United States in modern history.

Which brings me to the only question about Donald Trump that I find really interesting: Is he a traitor?

Did he gain the presidency through collusion with Russian President Vladimir Putin?

One year after Trump took office, it is still unclear whether the president of the United States is an agent of a foreign power. Just step back and think about that for a moment.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Conclusions. We observed a robust correlation between higher levels of gun ownership and higher firearm homicide rates. Although we could not determine causation, we found that states with higher rates of gun ownership had disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Washington (CNN)A former Playboy model who claims she had an affair with Donald Trump beginning in 2006 is going public with a description of Trump's alleged system for concealing affairs.

In an eight-page, handwritten document that The New Yorker obtained, Karen McDougal detailed her alleged affair with Trump for nine months from June 2006 to April 2007, when Trump was two years into his marriage with Melania Knauss, the future first lady. The document was provided to The New Yorker by McDougal's friend, but she confirmed to the magazine that the handwriting in the document is hers.

The magazine's story was published on Friday.

The document describes how Trump allegedly carried out his affair with McDougal -- paying for dinner in a private bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, offering her money after the first time they had sex and reimbursing her for travel.