Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Some of the drugs were hidden in passenger cars, concealed in trucks in cans of jalapeños or stashed in tanker trains with ordinary loads of cooking oil. Others were sent beneath the border in sophisticated tunnels.

The 10 weeks of testimony at the trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the drug lord known as El Chapo, have revealed that his innovative smuggling network typically went through legal checkpoints — not isolated stretches of the border where a wall might be an obstacle.

President Trump’s plan to build a wall along the southwestern border has not been mentioned at the trial, but it has lurked in the background of Mr. Guzmán’s prosecution, a watershed moment in America’s war on drugs.

The trial, in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, is the first time that American federal prosecutors have publicly revealed the inner workings of Mr. Guzmán’s Sinaloa drug cartel, offering the most extensive details yet on the organization’s structure, financing and distribution methods. In doing so, prosecutors have relied on firsthand experts: a long list of Mr. Guzmán’s own former underlings and allies.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

The plan was dazzling: a glass skyscraper that would stretch higher than any other building in Europe, offering ultra-luxury residences and hotel rooms and bearing a famous name. Trump Tower Moscow, conceived as a partnership between Donald Trump’s company and a Russian real estate developer, looked likely to yield profits in excess of $300 million.

The tower was never built, but it has become a focal point of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Trump’s relationship with Russia in the lead-up to his presidency.

The president and his representatives have dismissed the project as little more than a notion — a rough plan led by Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, and his associate Felix Sater, of which Trump and his family said they were only loosely aware as the election campaign gathered pace.

On Monday, his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said “the proposal was in the earliest stage,” and he went on to tell the New Yorker that “no plans were ever made. There were no drafts. Nothing in the file.”



However hundreds of pages of business documents, emails, text messages, and architectural plans, obtained by BuzzFeed News over a year of reporting, tell a very different story. Trump Tower Moscow was a richly imagined vision of upscale splendor on the banks of the Moscow River.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

The major issue for political pundits regarding 2019 is whether Donald Trump’s presidency will survive the year leading into the 2020 elections. Their focus is on the likelihood as to whether Trump will be impeached by the House of Representatives and then removed by the U.S. Senate.

Trump will not be removed from office by the Constitutional impeachment and removal process.

Instead, the self-professed supreme dealmaker will use his presidency as a bargaining chip with federal and state authorities in 2019, agreeing to leave office in exchange for the relevant authorities not pursuing criminal charges against him, his children or the Trump Organization.

...

The legal danger to Trump is developing more in the office of the attorney general of New York State, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In response to a lawsuit from the attorney general of New York State, Donald Trump agreed to shut down the https://news.yahoo.com/trump-agrees-shut-down-embattled-charity-164952686.html?soc_src=newsroom&soc_trk=com.apple.UIKit.activity.Mail&.tsrc=newsroom“a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation –- including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more."

The lawsuit implicates all three Trump children as well, seeking to bar them, as well as their father, from serving on the boards of other New York nonprofits.

It is now clear that the investigations of Donald Trump are now focused on possible criminal conduct of the Trump children, as well. Donald Trump Jr. has reportedly told confidants that he expects to be indicted by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III for actions taken by him during the campaign as well.

Having succeeded in obtaining Cohen’s guilty plea, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York can now investigate whether there is any evidence of other involvement of the Trump Organization in criminal activity, including money laundering crimes, tax evasion or bribes from foreign officials or governments, which are illegal under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Such evidence could lead to indictment of the Trump Organization itself and seizure of assets derived from such criminal activity.

...

Accordingly, before the end of 2019, Donald Trump will resign from the office of the presidency: He will do this pursuant to a deal with the U.S. Justice Department, the incoming President Mike Pence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the New York Attorney General’s Office, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Here’s my prediction for a possible Trump departure:

Trump resigns, to then be pardoned by Pence. In turn, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the New York State Attorney General will refrain from filing any charges against Trump and his family members and agree that there will be no forfeiture of Trump Organization assets.

After two years of legal wrangling, the Trump Foundation will soon be no more. Last month, in the midst of a dramatic month for cases that stem from President Trump’s pre-presidency life, a judge signed off on a plan to shutter Trump’s https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-boasts-of-his-philanthropy-but-his-giving-falls-short-of-his-words/2016/10/29/b3c03106-9ac7-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html (much-criticized) personal foundation. Under the new agreement, the foundation will be dissolved under court supervision.

In effect, the deal implies that the foundation cannot be trusted to disburse its remaining $1.7 million to legitimate nonprofits. But even though the foundation is dissolving, the lawsuit against the foundation will continue, with the New York attorney general seeking damages for the foundation’s alleged “extensive and persistent violations of state and federal law,” including the illegal use of foundation money to pay off legal settlements, buy portraits of Trump, and promote Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The December settlement is an important reminder of the risk that the state of New York poses for Trump. In particular, New York is uniquely well-positioned to go after Trump where it could hurt him most — through his businesses. In fact, New York has been one of the most significant and I’d argue most underrated legal hazards for Trump since he began his campaign for president. Here are three reasons why.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Americans might soon learn what, if anything, special counsel Robert Mueller has found out about potential collusion between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia.

But there's one Trump-Moscow link where the emerging evidence is already as damning as it is disturbing.

During much, if not all, of Trump's campaign he sought to enrich himself by pursuing a luxury hotel-condominium-office deal in Russia known as Trump Tower Moscow.

And as a candidate, Trump repeatedly misled or lied to voters about his business with Russia. "I have nothing to do with Russia," he told reporters in July 2016. "I don't deal there," he said during the Oct. 9 presidential debate.

The truth is, Trump had coveted a lucrative hotel project in Russia — whether http://old.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/tmt/316249.html (to build one or license his name) to be emblazoned on a skyscraper — for decades. "https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/we-will-be-in-moscow-the-story-of-trumps-30-year-quest-to-expand-his-brand-to-russia/2018/11/29/91f9f100-f3f4-11e8-aeea-b85fd44449f5_story.html?utm_term=.6bafc62373a7 (We will be in Moscow at some point)," he said in a 2007 deposition.

Later, as a presidential candidate, he secretly signed an 18-page http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/12/18/attachment.1.pdf for Trump Tower Moscow on Oct. 28, 2015, the day of the third Republican presidential debate.

Court filings by Mueller in November make clear that negotiations led by Trump lawyer Michael Cohen continued through at least June 2016. Cohen lied about this to Congress to "give the false impression that the Moscow Project ended before 'the Iowa caucus and ... the very first primary,' " according to the filings.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Once upon a time, Ayn Rand-reading, red-baiting Republicans denounced Soviet Russia as an evil superpower intent on destroying the American way of life.

My, how things have changed.

The Grand Old Party has quietly become the pro-Russia party — and not only because the party’s standard-bearer seems peculiarly enamored of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Under Republican leadership, the United States is starting to look an awful lot like the failed Soviet system the party once stood unified against.

Supposedly middle-class workers — people who have government jobs that are supposed to be stable and secure — are waiting in bread lines. Thanks to government dysfunction and mismanagement, those employed in the private sector may also be going hungry, since 2,500 vendors nationwide are unable to participate in the food stamp program while the government is shuttered and unable to renew licenses for the https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/what-electronic-benefits-transfer-ebt.

Why? Because of the whims of a would-be autocrat who cares more about erecting an expensive monument to his own campaign rhetoric than about the pain and suffering of the little people he claims to champion.

And for now, at least, most of those little people are too frightened of the government’s wrath to fight back overtly. Instead, desperate to keep jobs that might someday offer them a paycheck again, the proletariat protest in more passive ways: by calling in sick in higher numbers.

The would-be autocrat surrounds himself with toadies who spend more time scheming against one another — sometimes to comic effect — than trying to offer their boss sound guidance or thoughtful policy solutions. In his presence, and perhaps especially when the cameras are on, they praise him relentlessly: his brains, his leadership, his “perfect genes.”

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Back in the day the KGB used try to infiltrate FBI and other agencies in order to weaken them. Now Russia has their mafia agent in the WH who just shuts down the government severely affecting the ability for our agencies to operate

Put pressure on GOP to reopen the government

The Kremlin is overjoyed with the disaster Trump is creating while Trump and his criminal cronies are benefiting from it. Trump doesn’t give a shit about a wall. This was never about a wall. And for everyone who wasted our brain cells discussing fence vs wall I hope they learned

Everyone needs to call every treasonous complicit Republican traitor and demand they reopen the government. While Trump is worrying about protecting himself and doing maximum damage our country is in danger because our enemies are watching closely

It’s unreal watching Trump dismantle our intel agencies and security under the guise of a wall. Reminds me of Trump Moscow Tower that never happened over the decades(since 1987) but gave Trump great cover to keep traveling to Russia to meet w his mob associates

Thread by @olgaNYC1211: "Back in the day the KGB used try to infiltrate FBI and other agencies in order to weaken them. Now Russia has their mafia agent in the WH wh […]"

 

[Michael Scally MD]

The stalemate between Donald Trump and congressional Democrats over funding for the border wall has been politically damaging for the president. Most Americans blame him for the longest government shutdown in history. Plus he has been put in a difficult strategic corner as he needs a way to resolve the shutdown without looking like he has abandoned a signature promise of his election campaign. Democrats dismissed his proposed deal to end the partial government shutdown in exchange for temporary protections for “Dreamers” and other immigrants.

The problem for Trump is that while his fixation on the wall might play well to his supporters, actually building it would be a political disaster for him. His insistence provides red meat for his anti-immigrant base who believe that the border with Mexico is porous, allowing millions of undocumented workers as well as criminals, drugs and terrorists to wantonly flood into the United States. By demanding the wall, Trump is sending a message to his voters, that he understands their concerns, and as a master builder is willing to rock the Washington boat to get something done.

However, if the wall were ever to begin to get built it would create problems beyond pushing away the swing voters he needs to be competitive when he runs for reelection in 2020.

First, most experts on immigration agree that the wall will not solve any of the problems cited by Trump. ...

Second, the wall will be extremely expensive. Trump is currently asking for about $5 billion to begin construction on the wall, but if the wall were ever to be completed the final price would likely be much higher. ...

A third point is that the wall will probably never be completed. ...

The fourth problem is the question of who will build the wall. Various defense contractors will bid for it. The firms that will be interested in this unusual, but extremely lucrative project will have to do whatever they can to keep bidding costs low. ...

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Frequent cable news guest and Republican strategist Rick Wilson went to an uncomfortable place when he zinged senior Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller by implying that Miller has not had relations with a living human woman.

During a panel discussion of Donald Trump‘s offer to end his own shutdown on Tuesday night’s edition of MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, host Chris Hayes noted Miller’s influence, and essentially called him a white nationalist in the most polite fashion imaginable.

“There’s, to me, the pernicious fingerprints of Stephen Miller on this in the way that he is opposed — he wants to reduce immigration, unauthorized, authorized, legal, in every possible way, because he has concerns about the demographic integrity of the current majority of the country, and that’s fundamentally what’s driving this,” Hayes said.

“There’s something deeply wrong with Stephen Miller… and maybe someday, he’ll have a relationship with a live human woman,” Wilson said, to an audibly uncomfortable Hayes.

“I don’t know if that has anything to do with it,” Hayes said, without offering evidence that it doesn’t not have anything to do with it.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

RAMA LAMA DING DONGS
https://claytoonz.com/2019/01/23/rama-lama-ding-dongs/

The Saints got robbed.

With 1:45 left in the fourth quarter, and the Saints on the Rams’ 13-yard line, tied 20-20, facing third-and-10 in the NFC Championship, the Saints got robbed. If the Saints had gotten a first down on the play, they could have drained the time left on the clock, kick a chip-shot field goal, and leave the Rams with very little time to march down the field and tie the game. What happened was, the Saints got robbed.

A Rams player, Nickell Robey-Coleman committed pass interference on the Saints’ Tommylee Lewis. The referees didn’t see it, despite one of them staring right at it. The entire universe agrees there was a blown call. Even the Rams defensive back, Lewis, admitted he committed pass interference. Lewis said that he “wacked his ass” to save a touchdown. It worked.

Now, in what may have been Drew Brees’ last chance to go to the Super Bowl, has been stolen. The Saints had the best regular-season record in the NFL this season, but they’ll be watching the Super Bowl from home.

A Louisiana eye doctor (in case you’re a Republican, New Orleans is in Louisiana) is offering free eye exams to NFL referees. Maybe he should also offer those to Trump supporters.

Trump supporters believe Donald Trump is doing a great job, he’s intelligent, has their best interest as his top priority, and that he’s a classy guy. Most of all, they don’t believe there has been any collusion between his campaign and Russia to win the 2016 presidential election. They don’t believe Putin is wacking anyone’s ass.

Never mind that meeting in Trump Tower with Russians, or at least 16 members of Trump’s campaign had contacts with Russians (and the number keeps rising), or Trump publicly asked them to hack Hillary Clinton’s campaign, or his campaign chairman was giving internal campaign polling data to friends of the Kremlin, the Trumpanzees will tell you they don’t see any evidence.

They don’t see that Trump has never criticized Vladimir Putin, yet he’ll go after Justin Trudeau over cheese prices. They don’t see that Trump wants to remove sanctions against Russia. They didn’t see Trump kissing Putin’s ass in Helsinki (if you’re a Republican, that’s in Finland). They didn’t see Trump taking Putin’s word over his intelligence agencies. They don’t see Trump handing Syria to Putin. They don’t see Trump threatening to pull out of NATO, which is Putin’s greatest wet dream. They don’t see that the FBI was investigating Trump as a threat to our national security and that he may be a Russian asset.

I’m a Saints fan, but I’m a bigger fan of my country. It makes me sad the Saints won’t be in the Super Bowl, but it’s probably not a threat to national security, even with the New England Patriots in the game…again (which was another game full of iffy calls). But, having Trump steal an election with the help of Vladimir Putin is dangerous to our democracy and national security.

Trump sycophants are like Patriot fans. They don’t see Trump’s deflated balls. But, while the refs may need eye exams, Trump supporters need their eyes and brains examined.

 

[Michael Scally MD]