It seems the wheels are coming off the Trump presidency with the first indictments coming out. They told us nothing we shouldn't have already known--Donald Trump and every single person around him is a fucking corrupt, conscienceless crook. Yes, that includes John Kelly who is nothing more than a stupid old racist which is exactly why Trump picked him--birds of a feather. Not to mention the unconscionable way he lied about that Congresswoman in his little speech. She should sue his ass for slander.

Obviously, Mueller is not finished yet. It's just getting started. I imagine a lot Trump's people and congresspeople on both sides of the aisle are nervous because a lot of them, I think, took money from Russia. When this is done, we're going to find out that republicans and dems sold us down the river to gorge themselves into a stupor at the big, fat Russian cash cow. And the man who had two scoops to everybody else's one is Donald Trump.

The republicans in their typical fashion are trying to refocus this on Hillary Clinton. Let me get this straight: when people complained about Clinton winning the popular vote by 3 million and that Trump shouldn't be president, the pubs said, "Shut and get over it!" Now that this president is on dangerously thin ice, the pubs are now dusting off all the Clinton garbage they thought they could throw away forever and telling us how they are investigating her AGAIN. What happened to shut up and get over it, fellas?

Of course nothing will come of these investigations simply because she's already been absolved. To hang something on her now is implying nobody did their job the first time and the reasons why will have to be enumerated and that's not going to happen because a great many of them were republicans. It's a desperation ploy. No amount of Clinton finger-pointing is going to work. Why? She's not the president and never has been. They have to go after Trump--period. It doesn't matter if Clinton is ten times more guilty of colluding with the Russians. Trump is the president and he is the one who has to be investigated. Even if she went to prison, it wouldn't let him off the hook but only make them more determined than ever to go after him. The very fact that Trump doesn't get that shows how unfit he is for office and why he has been such a shitty, ineffective president.

Where will this end? Gotta end at Trump's feet. Maybe no evidence will be presented showing him directly involved but so many people, including his own children, so neck deep in it that it would be very difficult to believe he couldn't have known. He will leave office a pariah even if he doesn't resign. He will be disgraced.

As for his tax reform, I wouldn't count on that going anywhere either.

Well, the next round of indictments are likely to name Michael Flynn and his nutball son. There is, according to various reports, enough evidence to show that he lobbied overseas for foreign interests and laundered money. He supposedly got a cleric who had promoted a coup against Turkey's Erdogan extradited from the US where he sought refuge back to Turkey. He already was forced to resign after lying about not talking to the Russians after Obama's sanctions and for receiving over half a million dollars from the Turkish govt but not registering as a foreign agent.

It's not clear what he or his son will be charged with. The son was probably even crazier than his father after we saw his penchant for spreading bizarre conspiracy theories that were generated by users at 4Chan who are largely white supremacists who cheer every time there is a mass shooting (as there just was today) and even try to take credit for them. Flynn Jr. was instrumental in spreading the Comet Ping Pong child molestation ring conspiracy which was invented on 4Chan. Even after the story was debunked following the arrest of Edgar Maddison Welch, Flynn Jr. tried to keep the story alive saying just because Welch found nothing doesn't mean the story isn't true. Just hours after posting this on the internet, his govt account was disabled and he was booted from Trump's team. These are the types of people Trump hires.

There is also enough evidence to charge Wilbur Ross, Trump's commerce secretary, with his failure to disclose his close ties with Putin's inner circle as well retaining a stake in a shipping company partially owned by people in Putin's inner circle. Authorities in govt accountability say that Ross had to choose between his job as secretary or the shipping company--that to keep both is unethical.

So look for three more to bit the dust soon. There is talk also that Jared Kushner will also be named in an indictment for his ties. Donald Trump Jr. may also face an indictment for his self-confessed role in meeting with a Russian agent in order to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. And all of this is still only a start. There are still more indictments to come.

Trump is in Japan right now, where he is not well liked and is doing nothing to improve that outlook. Quite the opposite. One has to wonder if Pence will be indicted and for what. Things are awfully quiet about him. Too quiet. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

DB Roy wrote:Authorities in govt accountability say that Ross had to choose between his job as secretary or the shipping company--that to keep both is unethical.

Supposedly the law on this does not apply to the President. That could be due to the emoluments clause? But either way, his lack of interest in ethics is wearing on the public and dragging down the Republican image. All contributing to the talk of a wave election in 2018.

Our only hope is to start all over from the bottom. Local politics often have a much bigger impact on peoples' lives than the President.

Does everyone know the name of his/her Congressman? Do you write or call them? Your mayor, your school board, your zoning commission, your county government, State Senators and Assemblymen. Let's start here. It's not like we can compete with super pacs on a national level.

Anyone worried that the ratio of Social Security Covered Workers to Beneficiaries is 2.8 to 1 as of 2013?

https://www.ssa.gov/history/ratios.html

Anyone worried about Social Security? Yeah, of course.

It needs a serious process to get it sorted. Both parties have, in my opinion, been operating in bad faith. They each want to blame the other side for being willing to sacrifice some priority of their own base, without taking any responsibility for getting a compromise put together.

The Republicans seem to be ready to launch big cuts in "entitlements". They seem to be gambling that their opportunity is clear enough to grab while they are in power, in the same way that Dems passed Obamacare with their majority from the 2008 wave election. I doubt if they will really attack Medicare and Social Security head on, but rather will make budget cuts in programs aimed directly at the poor, such as Medicaid (they are already cutting CHIPS) and let states deal with the fallout. Is it a formula for suicide, in the old "third rail" terms? I don't think so. But if they do try to make cuts in Medicare or Social Security, it could prove disastrous for them, in the manner of the Kansas budget cuts.

If Mr. Trump and the rest of the Republican party don't get their s**t together REALLY quick and get this tax reform bill passed and signed by year end,they are going to get hosed at the polls in November, 2018. I'm a lifelong Republican and I can't believe the ineptitude I've been seeing in Washington since January.

We have a Republican president with a majority in Congress and they can't get anything done-it's unbelievable! All I've heard is a lot of hot air and no action and I'm really tired of it.

My wife and I both voted for Trump in November, mainly because the only other choice would have been Hillary and we couldn't stand the thought of her running the country. In the Texas Republican primary, we both supported John Kasich, the governor of Ohio.

If President Trump hopes to get reelected in 2020, he'd better show his base some results or he will be a one-termer and the Republican party may join the Federalists and Whigs as a footnote in U.S. history.

Tax reform was a very rushed affair, though, don't you think? Getting something passed may be in the Republicans' short-term interest and protect them somewhat in 2018, because if the plan goes south it won't be noticeable that soon. I'm no tax expert, but the plan seems not to be the middle-class rescue that Trump promised, and there is certainly no rational reason (only wishfulness) to think this plan won't pile on more debt.

Trump has put himself in a Catch 22: he pushed too hard, too fast on health care repeal when he could have and should taken more time. It failed spectacularly and now he has to push tax reform through fast or face voters' wrath at the midterms. But most of the public in polls don't like this tax plan because everybody knows it's a tax cut for the rich that will raise the debt and bleed much of our infrastructure dry when that revenue stream dries up. Schools will be the first to suffer.

This has been a strange year. One of the reddest states in the union where Trump polled very well has rebuffed him twice--first by electing a man Trump didn't back and then, when Trump decided to back him, elected someone else. When the president backs you publicly, it's supposed to be political gold. Now, it looks like the worst thing you could have is Trump's backing. Meanwhile, the Russian investigation clock keeps ticking louder and louder.

Rep. Adam Schiff warns the GOP may be attempting to end the House Intelligence Committee committee’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election by the end of this year.

Schiff’s warning mirrors a report from The New York Times published Friday suggesting that the House Intelligence Committee is rushing to finish the investigation before Congress breaks for the holidays. According to the Times report, some of the panel’s most important witnesses will be interviewed in New York next week, potentially forcing some House Democrats to choose between voting on the GOP’s controversial tax bill and attending depositions for the Russian investigation. Schiff said the witnesses were willing to travel to the capital.

...Asked about the push to end the investigation, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who is leading the House probe on Russia, told The New York Times, “I feel no need to apologize for concluding an investigation.”

12/15/17
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/re ... mg00000009

It would be delicious if the tax bill failed because several Republicans decided to attend the depositions in NY! If the investigation is closed early, major leaks may occur in retaliation.