Category: Democratic News

Will Trump's Senate Trial Be a Southern "Good Ol' White Boys" Sham or a Real Trial?

Crazy Donald Trump
Crazy Donald Trump

The 45th President of the United States has been impeached.

For those who might think this is a “symbolic” gesture because the U.S. Senate might not convict, think again. Donald John Trump has been impeached on two articles of Impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

These articles never expire.

These articles never go away.

This will forever be his legacy.

And the GOP will forever be the party that chose party over country.

The GOP willfully ignored a president who:

  • Shook down a world leader to call for an investigation into his then-likely opponent in the 2020 election;
  • refused subpoenas from the United States Congress and ordered his White House appointees to disregard subpoenas from the United States Congress;
  • he personally and repeatedly instructed the Postmaster General to double shipping rates for Amazon, in an attempt to inflict billions of dollars of new costs on founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post;
  • he referred to African countries as “shitholes” and Mexicans as “rapists”;
  • he called neo-Nazis “very fine people”;

And there’s more the GOP willfully ignored. He was only impeached on the first two bullet points above.

Donald J. Trump deserved to be impeached and he deserves to be removed from office.

Will his trial in the Senate be an actual trial, or will Moscow Mitch McConnell and Spineless Lindsay Graham hold a sham, good ol’ white boys trial?

So far, Moscow Mitch has signaled a show trial only, claiming that it’s not up to the Senate to do the House’s job.

But the House impeaches. That’s an indictment.

Now, the House, the equivalent of the prosecution, must put its evidence before the jury, the United States Senate. Just as prosecutors must prove their cases, this trial before the Senate is the venue for the House to call witnesses and subpoena documents. No prosecution ends with an indictment.

So let’s see and hear it all.

Remember, the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Roberts will preside, and Justice Roberts is not one to take anything he does lightly.

This is only the third time in the history of our Republic that a U.S. President will stand trial before the Senate.

May the trial be full, complete, open, thorough, and exhaustive, with all evidence and witnesses presented.

Even the president himself.


Undocumented Immigrants Working for Trump Are Tired of His Abuse & Insults

Victoria Morales
Victoria Morales.

The undocumented immigrants working for Donald Trump’s New Jersey golf course are fed up with the President’s abuse and insults, according to one woman who works for his club, the New York Times reports.

Victorina Morales has been a housekeeper at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., for more than five years. She’s cleaned Trump’s toilet. She’s made Trump’s bed. She’s dusted his crystal golf trophies. She has worked for him while he’s been President.

Because of the “outstanding” support she has provided during Mr. Trump’s visits, Ms. Morales in July was given a certificate from the White House Communications Agency inscribed with her name.

Think about it. This was a person, an undocumented immigrant, who had Access. That’s a hot word in D.C. Access. Access to the President of the United States.

And who wants to bet that President Trump knew he had undocumented workers at Trump properties?

I’d put money on it.

NBC quotes Ms. Morales, “I told them that I don’t have papers, I don’t speak English and that I was an immigrant. They said, ‘No, it doesn’t matter.'”

Trump’s people deny they knew. I doubt that.

At any rate, Ms. Morales is speaking out, the NYTimes says:

Ms. Morales said she has been hurt by Mr. Trump’s public comments since he became president, including equating Latin American immigrants with violent criminals. It was that, she said, along with abusive comments from a supervisor at work about her intelligence and immigration status, that made her feel that she could no longer keep silent.

“We are tired of the abuse, the insults, the way he talks about us when he knows that we are here helping him make money,” she said. “We sweat it out to attend to his every need and have to put up with his humiliation.”

From NBC again:

The Trump Organization LLC, the primary holding company for the president’s hundreds of businesses, referred NBC News to the White House, which didn’t directly address the Times report. It said in a statement:

“We have tens of thousands of employees across our properties and have very strict hiring practices. If any employee submitted false documentation in an attempt to circumvent the law, they will be terminated immediately.”

Right. And those who knowingly hired and humiliated them?

They’ll be promoted.

Or maybe run for president some day.


What is a Democrat? How do we come in from The Wilderness?

A Democratic Donkey ready to fight
A Democratic Donkey ready to fight
Are Democrats poised and ready for the battles ahead.

If you haven’t yet listened to Jon Favreau’s documentary podcast The Wilderness, it’s time. The content is engaging, fascinating, and inspirational. Most of all, it explores the question, “What is a Democrat?” Who are we? How did we get here, with Donald Trump as President of the United States, a minority voice in Congress, a minority of Democratic governors, so many Republicans elected at the state and local levels? Yet, Democrats far outnumber Republicans in this country.

Who are we? Where are we? Why aren’t we voting? What do we stand for?

The podcast is excellent.

Start here. Start today.


Get To Know Conor Lamb, The Next Dem To Upset A GOP Dark Red District

Conor Lamb, Democratic candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania's 18th.

Conor Lamb, Democratic candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 18th.

Conor Lamb has as real shot at upsetting a dark red GOP district that includes Houston, PA.

Lamb speaks on, wait for it, Jesus, as only a young man of faith who knows the teachings of Jesus can:

“Jesus always started out by going and being with a certain group of people,” says Conor Lamb as we’re winding down hilly back roads to the Washington County Gun Show.

Jesus, Lamb tells me, tried to get to know people as people before he tried to win them over with arguments. He “wasn’t asking people where they stood on abortion before they came and sat down with them.”

Lamb, the Democratic candidate in a neck-and-neck special election on March 13, has to hope the people of Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District will likewise listen to what he has to say before judging him by his party affiliation.

Described as a “square-jawed 33-year-old Marine Corps officer who resigned from his job as a federal prosecutor in Pittsburgh to run, has a chance to upend the district’s politics—as long as he can avoid being labeled a liberal without discouraging the district’s not inconsiderable Democrat base from turning out. A devout Catholic, Lamb is pro-union and pro-gun, backs bipartisan deals for fixing Obamacare and the nation’s infrastructure, wants more job training and less college debt, and says he’s pro-fracking but pro-environment, too. And he’s betting that this mix of economic populism and moderate social politics can win the predominantly blue collar district.”

And I couldn’t be happier for him. Or for Pennsylvania’s 18th, which, currently, begins northwest and west of Pittsburgh, south to the state line, and explodes east into Westmoreland County.

Let’s see what the district looks like after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is done redrawing it.

Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District

Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District (Since 2013)


Hillary Clinton v. Donald Trump: Live Blogging

hillary clinton v. Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton v. Donald Trump. (Screenshot)

10:39 p.m.

And, it’s over. Handshakes.

10:37 p.m.

Trump goes after Rosie O’Donnell.

Rosie O’Donnell.

Says he was going to say something terrible about Hillary and her family, but decided not to.

10:34 p.m.

Trump said Clinton does not have a presidential look, Holt said. She’s the first female nominee of a major party.

“I don’t believe Hillary has the stamina. I said ‘the stamina.'”

As soon as he visits 128 countries or spends 11 hours testifying before a congressional committee, “then he can talk about stamina.

10:33 p.m.

Trump wanders again. “We are losing billions and billions of dollars.”

10:30 p.m.

“Words matter when you run for president and they really matter when you are president,” Clinton says. She acknowledges that this campaign has troubled many world leaders.

“Our word is good,” she reassures.

Says Trump never said what his alternative would be to deal with Iran.

10:28 p.m.

Holt: Do you support the current U.S. policy on first use [of nuclear weapons].

Trump says China should “go into” North Korea, Iran has power over North Korea.

10:27 p.m.

Trump: Saudi Arabia and others should be paying us money.

10:24 p.m.

Clinton speaks of Iran. Sanctions were not enough.

President Obama, John Kerry, she helped, shut down Iran’s nuclear program.

Speaks of Trump’s “cavalier attitude” about nuclear weapons.

“A man who can be provoked by a Tweet should not have his hand anywhere near the nuclear codes.”

10:22 p.m.

Trump keeps naming Sean Hannity as his source.

Trump says that he has much better judgment than Hillary Clinton.

“I think my strongest asset, maybe by far, is my temperament.”

10:19 p.m.

Trump: ISIS formed because of a vacuum formed  by Barack Obama and Secretary Clinton.

10:18 p.m.

Trump: “NATO could be obsolete.” Says NATO does not focus on terror.

10:17 p.m.

Hillary speaks of cooperating with Muslims in America, not alienate Muslims and push them away like Trump has done.

10:16 p.m.

Clinton: George W. Bush made the agreement to leave Iraq. The only way we could have stayed would have been to have an agreement with the then-Iraqi government to protect American troops. That did not happen.

10:14 p.m.

Trump: “Had we taken the oil,” there would be no ISIS.

10:13 p.m.

Holt: “How will you prevent home-grown terrorism?”

Trump: Speaks of ISIS.

10:12 p.m.

Clinton: “I have put forth a plan to defeat ISIS.” It does entail going after them online. We must also intensify air attacks against ISIS. Take out their “claim of being a caliphate.”

“We’re hoping to push [ISIS] out of Iraq in a year.”

This would be awesome.

10:10 p.m.

Trump talks about his endorsements.

Now talking about ISIS.

10:08 p.m.

Clinton: We are not going to sit idly by and let state actors go after public and private information.

“I was so shocked when Donald invited Putin to hack into Americans.”

10:07 p.m.

Hillary Clinton speaks on cyber security. There are independent hackers. There also cyber attacks coming from states. “The most recent and troubling of them has been Russia.”

10:05 p.m.

Trump says Clinton treated Obama horribly.

“As far as the lawsuit,” admits he was sued, “we settled with no admission of guilt.”

That just means cash flowed and the other side was silenced.

10:03 p.m.

Clinton: [Trump] has started his race for president on this racist, birther lie.

Clinton: Trump was sued in 1973 because he would not rent to African Americans. “He actually was sued twice by the justice department.”

10:01 p.m.

Talking about a birth certificate. President Obama’s. “I was the one who got him to produce the birth certificate.”

Lester Holt: “The birth certificate was produced in 2009. You continued to speak about it in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and January 2016.”

10:00 p.m.

“I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. I did. You know what else I did? I’m preparing to be president.”

[APPLAUSE]

9:59 p.m.

Again, Lester Holt has lost control. Trump rambles on.

9:56 p.m.

Trump: “In New York City, we had 2,200 murders, and stop and frisk brought it down to 500.”

Hillary: Crime has continued to drop under the current mayor. We have to work with faith communities

9:54 p.m.

Clinton speaking of “implicit bias,” which is a problem for all of us, she says. Police now are having to handle a great deal of mental health problems on the street.

9:52 p.m.

“We’ve got to address the systemic racism in our justice system. We can’t just say ‘law and order.'”

Clinton is glad the federal government is ending private prisons. “I want to end them in the state systems.”

9:51 p.m.

Hillary Clinton bemoans the negative picture Trump paints of the Black community.

“Stop and frisk was found to be unconstitutional,” Hillary says.

9:50 p.m.

Trump bemoans Chicago, “I have property there.”

9:48 p.m.

Holt: “Stop and frisk has been ruled unconstitutional.”

Trump: “No, you’re wrong.” Blames the judge and current mayor.

9:47 p.m.

Trump, “African Americans live in Hell.” Calls for bringing back “stop and frisk.”

9:46 p.m.

Trump: “We need law and order. When I look at Charlotte, NC, a city where I have investments.”

9:44 p.m.

Holt turns to the question of race. “Everyone should be respected by the law,” Clinton says. “And everyone should respect the law.”

Clinton speaks of “brave police officers” who also want reform.

Clinton: “We have to tackle the plague of gun violence.”

9:43 p.m.

No focus. Clinton and Trump go back and forth. Lester Holt again tries to take the reigns.

9:42 p.m.

Trump, “Look, it’s all words. It’s all sound bytes.”

Regarding people who did not get paid, “I took advantage of the laws of the country.”

9:40 p.m.

Hillary speaks of people she’s met who were “stiffed” by Donald Trump.

Trump does not deny the accusation from Clinton, “Maybe he didn’t do a good job and didn’t deserve to be paid.”

9:38 p.m.

Again, Trump speaks. Lester Holt has lost control.

9:37 p.m.

“As far as my tax returns, you don’t learn much from tax returns. You learn from financial disclosures,” Trump said.

9:35 p.m.

Hillary Clinton: Trump’s paid zero in federal taxes. What’s he hiding? “There’s something he’s hiding.”

“Were he ever to get near the White House, what would the conflicts be?”

9:34 p.m.

Clinton, “For 40 years, or 39, everyone running for president has released their tax returns.”

9:31 p.m.

Lester Holt to Trump: “You have not released your tax returns.”

“I’m under a routine audit and I will release them” as soon as the audit is over.

Dancing away from the question, now talking about a trade deficit.

Holt presses Trump on his taxes. Trump says he gets audited often by the IRS.

9:30 p.m.

Trump goes after Clinton again. “We are in a big, fat, ugly bubble.”

9:28 p.m.

Lester Holt has lost control of the debate. Clinton speaks of the “Trump loophole,” “Trumped up trickle down” economics.

“I don’t think top-down works in America,” Clinton says.

9:19 p.m.

Hillary speaking of her record. Donald Trump keeps squinting.

The moderator, Lester Holt has already lost control of the debate.

9:18 p.m.

Hillary is keeping her cool. Donald Trump is speaking to Hillary.

 

9:15 p.m.

The debate is on. Donald Trump is wandering, drinking water already. Hillary’s best take-away so far? “Trump Dump Trickle Down Economics.

 


Congresswoman Robin Kelly Is Up For Re-Election, And You Should Vote For Her

From Congresswoman Robin Kelly:

Believe it or not, it is that time again.
I am running for re-election for Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District.
 I need your help, because without your support we cannot continue to fight to reduce gun violence, stimulate economic development and job creation, provide high quality educational options for our children and affordable health care within our communities.
 Much has been achieved, but much work remains.
 Please join me for a volunteer meet-up on Thursday, October 15, 2015, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM, at the Quarry Event Center, located at 2423 E. 75th Street, Chicago, Illinois, (corner of Essex Avenue and 75th Street). Complimentary parking available. 
 Please stop by for some refreshments, critical campaign information and take some petitions. I need to get at least 3500 signatures.
 If you are not able to attend the Kick-Off Event, please sign up here to volunteer.
 For additional information regarding the campaign and volunteer updates, please visit my website at  www.robinkellyforcongress.org.
Thank you in advance for your support.
We are happy to offer our support.
And our vote.

Obama Continues to Kick Ass as POTUS: U.S. Says Navy SEAL Team Captures Shabab Leader in Somalia

From the NYTimes:

A Navy SEAL team targeted a senior leader of the Shabab militant group in a raid on his seaside villa in the Somali town of Baraawe on Saturday, American officials said, in response to a deadly attack on a Nairobi shopping mall for which the group had claimed responsibility.

The SEAL team stealthily approached the beachfront house by sea, firing on the unidentified target in a predawn gunbattle that was the most significant raid by American troops on Somali soil since commandos killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Qaeda mastermind, near the same town four years ago.

The Shabab leader was believed to have been killed in the firefight, but the SEALS were forced to withdraw before that could be confirmed, a senior American official said. Such operations by American forces are rare because they carry a high risk, and indicate that the target was considered a high priority. Baraawe, a small port town south of Mogadishu, the Somali capital, is known as a gathering place for the Shabab’s foreign fighters.

Read more here.


Video: Garrison Keillor On The Role Of Humor In Politics


Definition of a Liberal, by Garrison Keillor

“This is Democratic bedrock: we don’t let people lie in the ditch and drive past and pretend not to see them dying. Here on the frozen tundra of Minnesota, if your neighbor’s car won’t start, you put on your parka and get the jumper cables out and deliver the Sacred Spark that starts their car. Everybody knows this. The logical extension of this spirit is social welfare and the myriad government programs with long dry names all very uninteresting to you until you suddenly need one and then you turn into a Democrat. A liberal is a conservative who’s been through treatment.”

–Garrison Keillor, Homegrown Democrat


Help Tammy Duckworth Win!

Help Tammy Duckworth

From U.S. Senator Dick Durbin:

I wrote to you a few months ago to tell you about a remarkable candidate for Congress — Tammy Duckworth.

Joe Walsh continues to be the most outspoken (and controversial) Tea Party member of the House.

He relishes the endless confrontation and works overtime to fuel the bitter rhetoric attacking the Democrats and the President. He is proud of the Tea Party threats to shut down essential government services and destroy America’s reputation for paying its debts. Joe Walsh promises more confrontation; more personal attacks and more stalemate.

Illinois and our Congress deserve better.

Will you help Tammy defeat Walsh by contributing $5 or more to her campaign?

Tammy is a true public servant who knows what it means to serve our country.

She’s also a proven leader who understands what it will take to rebuild our economy and create jobs. Her courage and common sense make her exactly the kind of person we need in Congress.

I can’t think of a better person to replace Joe Walsh than Tammy.

Please join me in supporting her with a contribution of $5 or more.

Thanks for your help,