Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

CÚCUTA, Colombia — The narrative seemed to fit Venezuela’s authoritarian rule: Security forces, on the order of President Nicolás Maduro, had torched a convoy of humanitarian aid as millions in his country were suffering from illness and hunger.

Vice President Mike Pence wrote that “the tyrant in Caracas danced”as his henchmen “burned food & medicine.” The State Department released a video saying Mr. Maduro had ordered the trucks burned. And Venezuela’s opposition held up the images of the burning aid, reproduced on dozens of news sites and television screens throughout Latin America, as evidence of Mr. Maduro’s cruelty.

But there is a problem: The opposition itself, not Mr. Maduro’s men, appears to have set the cargo alight accidentally.

Unpublished footage obtained by The New York Times and previously released tapes — including footage released by the Colombian government, which has blamed Mr. Maduro for the fire — allowed for a reconstruction of the incident. It suggests that a Molotov cocktail thrown by an antigovernment protester was the most likely trigger for the blaze.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

MOOBS ...

 

[Michael Scally MD]

DAMN, IT’S GOOD TO BE A WHITE GANGSTER.
https://claytoonz.com/2019/03/10/damn-its-good-to-be-a-white-gangster-cartoon-for-cnn/

Judge T.S. Ellis ignored sentencing guidelines and only gave former Trump Campaign manager Paul Manafort 47 months in prison. If you’re a Republican, that’s a little less than four years. Manafort committed several crimes, deliberately over several years, and the judge ignored that too. He was also ordered to pay $25 million in restitution and received a $50,000 fine.

Manafort stole millions of dollars from the US government to support his absurdly lavish lifestyle. You remember the Ostrich jacket, right? Manafort hid millions of dollars of income in overseas accounts and lied to banks to obtain millions more in loans.

Manafort gave the finger to the criminal justice system at every step and still got an enormous break. Manafort was tried in two courts, the Eastern District of Virginia and in Washington, DC. It was the DC judge, Amy Berman Jackson who revoked his bail after he was caught trying to tamper with witnesses. He was found guilty on eight counts in Virginia. He pleaded guilty to more crimes in a plea agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but that was a ruse. He told more lies and may have been feeding information to Donald Trump’s legal team.

Manfort whined at the sentencing about how inconvenienced he’s been over getting caught and the judge recognized he wasn’t accepting his guilt. There was no contrition, remorse, or apology. But, then the judge complained about the sentencing guidelines and said the guy who built a career lobbying for dictators had led a “blameless life” before he got into trouble, and gave him a sentence that fell more than 15 years below the bottom of the guidelines range.

Manafort received about the same sentence, and in many cases, less than a typical low-level, nonviolent, first-time drug offender in the federal system.

Manafort faces another sentencing next week in the Washington court and the judge is expected to add to his sentence. The sentence he received last week could end in 2020, given the standard 15% reduction for good behavior in prison and deducting the approximately nine months he has already has served.

Manafort may not have been speaking to the judge during his statement, and instead may have been performing for an audience of one. His lawyers did the same thing after the hearing in citing how the case didn’t have anything to do with Russian collusion.

Donald Trump praised the sentencing and said it was “vindication” and tweeted, “Both the Judge and the lawyer in the Paul Manafort case stated loudly and for the world to hear that there was NO COLLUSION with Russia.” No, the judge did not say there was “no collusion.” He didn’t say it quietly, loudly, or in all caps. In case you’re new around here, Donald Trump lies.

It may not matter what sentence Manafort receives in DC next week. Trump, being an idiot and a guy who flaunts pardons like shiny objects will probably pardon Manafort, right after the 2020 presidential election. Trump said he feels bad for Manafort, taking the side of the crook.

That would be another injustice of the American justice system. Basically, rich white guys receive light sentences. If you’re black, they might kill you on the street for selling loose cigarettes.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Li Yang, the Florida massage parlor entrepreneur who created and operated a business that sold Chinese business executives access to President Donald Trump and his family at Mar-a-Lago, has yet another intriguing line of work. She is an officer of two groups with ties to China’s Communist government. And she founded a Miami-based nonprofit that promotes “economic and cultural exchange” between China and the West in coordination with “senior…Chinese leaders” in the United States, according to a profile of Yang posted on a Chinese social media platform.

After Mother Jones on Saturday revealed that Yang, who goes by Cindy, had been peddling entrée to the Trump family, the Trump White House, and assorted GOP powerbrokers, national security experts noted that this situation could pose a threat, presenting opportunities for espionage or blackmail targeting the president and his inner circle. They expressed concern the Yang’s efforts to broker interactions with Trump and his clan could be exploited by Chinese intelligence. “Guess who else has 100% known about this from the beginning?” tweeted Susan Hennessey, a Brookings Institution fellow who previously worked as a National Security Agency lawyer. “Chinese intelligence services.” Samantha Vinograd, a CNN national security analyst who worked for the National Security Council during the Obama administration, noted: “Our intel community has said China poses one of the most significant counterintelligence challenges—my money is on the Chinese Govt having at least picked up on [Yang’s] access if they didn’t direct it.”

No direct evidence of any such activity has yet emerged. When Mother Jonestried to reach Yang at different phone numbers, each time a man answered the phone, said he did not speak English, and hung up. And Yang did not respond to emails. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders did not respond to questions about security issues raised by Yang’s access. But these apparent links between Yang and Chinese government-related entities will likely fuel concerns that Yang’s actions could have a foreign influence or intelligence angle.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Sign #1: Obsessed With Their Image
Sign #2: Lie About Ridiculous Things
Sign #3: Different Relationship With Lying
Sign #4: They Don’t Give Up On Their Lies
Sign #5: They Will Dismiss You

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Washington (CNN) -- President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about the Russia investigation might seem unprecedented, including his blistering attacks on investigators and pushback against the press. But history presents another strong example. More than 40 years ago, President Richard Nixon grappled with Watergate and hit many of the same points as the scandal unfolded.

In both cases, the President and his White House were enveloped by a sprawling Justice Department investigation. Both times, this led to the departure of senior officials, a slew of criminal charges against people close to the President, and allegations of a cover-up. Nixon and Trump both relished opportunities to proclaim their innocence and go after their opponents.

There are parallels, but there are also some differences. Watergate forced Nixon from office in August 1974 after Republicans in Congress withdrew their support. Trump has maintained the backing of GOP lawmakers and voters alike. Indeed, many Trump supporters have embraced his narrative that he is the victim of a “witch hunt” and the investigation itself is the problem.

As special counsel Robert Mueller nears the end of his investigation and Democrats on Capitol Hill ramp up their own probes, here are a dozen ways Nixon and Trump struck similar tones.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Only one year ago, adult-film actress Stormy Daniels had just begun a public fight to escape the constraints of an agreement she signed in October 2016 preventing her from discussing her relationship with President Trump. It was Daniels against an array of powerful people: The president of the United States, his pit bull personal attorney Michael Cohen, his personal legal team and, indirectly, the publisher of one of America’s best-known tabloid magazines.

Since then, the balance of power has shifted. Daniels’s representation of what happened and the context for it has been embraced by her former opponents save one: Trump himself.

This isn’t simply political score-keeping. The timing of the agreement reached with Daniels has long raised the question of motivation: Was it an effort to bury her allegations about a one-night stand with the president in order to keep it from influencing the election? If so, Cohen’s involvement, as a representative of Trump and agent of the Trump campaign, would make the payment a violation of campaign finance law, according to experts who’ve spoken with The Post.

As of Monday morning, everyone involved in the payment except Trump now says that that’s exactly why the payment was made.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]