Focused Read in 3 minutes
"When Your President is a
National Cancer
(By John
Pavlovitz, July 2017)
Some things live solely at
the expense of others ...
... There is little doubt
that this President is a parasite, a national cancer—and his
Administration is rapidly sucking the goodness and the progress from
us day by day, offense by offense, attack by attack, violation by
violation.
From the very first day
they’ve shown us who they are and how they work:
Deporting immigrants.
Banning Muslims.
Silencing the Free Press.
Discarding Environmental protections.
Cutting public school funding.
Crippling the Arts.
Removing healthcare.
Deleting dreamers.
Excluding Transgender people from the military.
The pattern is astounding
in its consistency:
... They are incapable of creating anything meaningful or beautiful or life-giving.
They only know how to destroy.
They only know how to take.
They only know how to use up.
That is what cancerous things do.
They pollute.They kill.
And right now we who call
this country home, and who aren’t okay with this malignant, immoral
presence in our midst are being called to move together.
We are being
challenged to call out this President and his cohorts, as the great
national disease that they are—and to condemn the vile, ignorant
bitterness that it is breeding.
Good people feel it.
They
know we’re not well because of this illness.
And it is the good
people who need to be loud right now.
That is the only way to fight
the sickness that feeds on silence, that thrives in darkness, that
counts on compassion fatigue—
that thinks tired, depleted people
will stop giving a damn.
So we have to give a
damn—vehemently.
This is not a political
movement we are being invited into in these moments, not a religious
one either—no it’s nothing that small and insignificant.
... This is We the Pissed
Off People.
This is American humanity moving in concert;
bound together by our belief in one another’s worth,
by the knowledge that Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are not currently available to everyone,
by the conviction that this President is a threat to the very best things about this nation...
We declare together:
No sick person should have to choose between getting well or going broke.
Everyone who desires to, should be able to marry the person they love.
Everyone who is burdened to, should be able to serve this country.
Everyone who wishes to make their home here should be able to, without being punished for the color of their skin, the orientation of their hearts, the place they were born, they religion they profess or reject.
No faith tradition gets to make the rules for those of us who don’t share that faith tradition.
We will not be known as a
people of exclusion, of bigotry, of malevolence.
... This is the
United Freakin’ States of America ...
... When your President is a
national cancer, you can let your country be ravaged—
or you can
push back like hell and make your country well again.
We will get well.
You
can read more here
Focused Thought in 15 seconds
Focused Action in 30 seconds
You can watch the Velshi & Ruhle video and you can share it on Twitter here
Focused Point of Interest in 4-5 minutes
📎Note:
Just two examples of how far Trump/Pence/GOP/RNC will go to obstruct Special Counsel Mueller investigation -- in a coordinated effort that depends on Democrats giving them an assist in character assassination* on behalf of Trump who was highly likely installed by Putin.
Article two does state that " ... A White House spokesperson said the swipes at Rosenstein were not part of a coordinated communications effort, unlike the coordinated strategy with the Republican National Committee to take on former FBI Director James Comey, ... " but who can believe a word that comes out of the Trump administration? Not me.
⬇
⬇
ONE
"4/12/2018 Exclusive: Inside the GOP
plan to discredit Comey
President Donald
Trump's allies are preparing an extensive campaign to fight back
against James Comey's publicity tour,
trying to undermine
the credibility of the former FBI director by reviving the blistering
Democratic criticism of him before he was fired nearly a year ago.
(Emphasis is mine.)
The battle plan against
Comey, obtained by CNN, calls for branding the nation's former top
law enforcement official as "Lyin' Comey" through a
website, digital advertising and talking points to be sent to
Republicans across the country before his memoir is released next
week.
The White House signed off on the plan, which is being overseen
by the Republican National Committee.
(Emphasis is mine.)
... Republicans hope to remind
Democrats why they disliked Comey by assailing his credibility,
shining a new light on his conduct and pointing out his
contradictions -- or the three Cs.
An old quotation from
Clinton is prominently displayed on the "Lyin'Comey"
website, with Trump's former Democratic rival saying that Comey
"badly overstepped his bounds."
Comey's media blitz
... The President's firing of
Comey set into motion a cascading series of events that continue to
complicate and cloud the Trump presidency.
The Justice Department
appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel in the Russia probe after
it was revealed that Trump had asked Comey to drop the investigation
of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
The White House is bracing
for Comey to share his story, with aides fearful of how the President
will react and how it could influence the escalating Mueller
investigation.
The well-orchestrated RNC strategy could, of course,
be upended by the President himself through a tweet or off-the-cuff
comments about Comey.
The exhaustive plan to
attack Comey illustrates how seriously Trump's allies are taking the
memoir and a round of television interviews Comey is set to
give, including on CNN starting next week followed by a
town hall April 25.
The Republican plan
against Comey is built around several aggressive arguments, according
to the plan obtained by CNN, including these:
(Emphasis is mine.)
1.
"Comey has a
long history of misstatements and misconduct," including damage
caused to the FBI because of "bizarre decisions, contradictory
statements and acting against Department of Justice and FBI
protocol."
2.
"Attempts to
smear the Trump administration are nothing more than retaliation by
a disgraced former official."
3.
"Comey isn't
credible -- just ask Democrats." The digital ads will show
several Democrats calling for Comey's resignation after he injected
himself into the 2016 presidential race, including House Democratic
leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Rep.
Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who is shown saying: "All I can tell
you is the FBI Director has no credibility."
Political contradictions
The political
contradictions surrounding Comey are underscored by how such a
central part of the Republican plan is built around reminding
Americans of how Democrats had disdain for him, particularly those
from the Clinton campaign.
... The memoir's release is the first major opportunity for
Comey to speak aloud -- and be subjected to questions -- about his
interaction with Trump before being fired.
"Mr. President, the
American people will hear my story very soon," Comey wrote last
month on Twitter. "And they can judge for themselves who is
honorable and who is not."
The RNC plan, which was
approved by the White House, attempts to portray Comey as a man
simply out for himself.
"James Comey's
publicity tour is a self-serving attempt to make money and
rehabilitate his own image," said McDaniel, the RNC chairwoman.
You
can read more here
⬇
TWO
"4/13/2018 White House is prepping an
effort to undermine Rosenstein
The White House is
preparing talking points designed to undermine Deputy Attorney
General Rod Rosenstein's credibility, according to sources familiar
with the plan.
The plan calls
on President Donald Trump's allies to cast Rosenstein as
too conflicted to fairly oversee the Russia investigation.
The talking points are
still in their preliminary form, and not yet finalized, people
familiar with their preparation said.
A White House spokesperson
said the swipes at Rosenstein were not part of a coordinated
communications effort, unlike the coordinated strategy with the
Republican National Committee to take on former FBI Director James
Comey.
The Justice Department
declined to comment.
Already, a number of
Trump's associates have called for Rosenstein's firing in appearances
on television and in public remarks over the past few days, but not
all of them did so at the request of the White House. ...
Weighing Rosenstein's fate
Efforts to undermine
Rosenstein in the media come as the President is weighing whether to
fire the top official overseeing the Russia investigation.
Trump is still livid about
the raid on his private attorney Michael Cohen -- "He'll be
pissed about it until he dies," another source said -- and he
and his allies are increasingly convinced that Mueller and Rosenstein
have overstepped their bounds.
One area of conflict the
White House wants its surrogates to highlight: Rosenstein's role as a
key witness to the Comey firing, sources said.
... The White House is hoping
Trump's defenders will use the notion that Comey and Rosenstein are
close to argue that Rosenstein is approving an ever-expanding
investigation against Trump and his associates as retribution.
... A source close to
Rosenstein noted, however, that the two men are not friends.
... While many of Trump's
friends and staffers have discouraged him from firing anyone in the
past, that has shifted in the wake of the Cohen raid, even though it
was carried out by the Southern District of New York and not
Mueller's team. ...
Public show of force
The animosity toward
Rosenstein that has emerged on Capitol Hill, including from House
Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, could also make the
President feel as those he has more cover to fire Rosenstein, a
source said.
Trump himself has remained
preoccupied with the Russia investigation...Twelve minutes before Sean Hannity was set to hit the
airwaves on Wednesday, his most powerful regular viewer seemed to
know what was in store.
"Big show tonight on
@seanhannity!" Trump wrote on Twitter. "9:00 P.M. on
@FoxNews."
What followed was a nearly
hour-long screed on the swirl of perceived Justice Department
offenses against Trump and a preemptive strike against James Comey,
the FBI director Trump fired who embarks next week on a book tour.
Thirty minutes into the
television program that Trump promoted on Wednesday, attorney Joseph
DiGenova -- who nearly joined Trump's legal team before withdrawing
because of conflicts --
barked his instructions.
"Rod Rosenstein is so
incompetent, compromised and conflicted that he can no longer serve
as deputy attorney general, and Jeff Sessions now has an obligation
to the President of the United States to fire Rod Rosenstein,"
he said, his voice raised in anger.
He wasn't alone. Earlier
on Fox, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich described Rosenstein as
ineffective at keeping Mueller within bounds.
... Across the Atlantic, one
of Trump's former campaign aides was espousing the same view during a
Wall Street Journal panel in London.
Citing, among other things,
Rosenstein's authorization of FBI raids on the office and hotel room
of Trump's attorney Michael Cohen, former campaign manager Corey
Lewandowski declared there was cause for dismissal.
"I think any or all
of those are justification for firing the deputy attorney general,"
he said.
And Steve Bannon, the
former White House chief strategist, has begun advocating for
Rosenstein's firing in conversations with Trump allies and advisers,
according to people familiar with his efforts, who also say Bannon is
warning that Trump's legal team is woefully outmatched by Mueller's
team.
... Bannon's campaign hasn't
necessarily included direct conversations with Trump himself. But his
views reflect a concerted effort by Trump's allies to convince the
President that harsher action is necessary to short circuit the
Russia probe. ...
Political fall out
... On Thursday, a top
Republican took his warnings against firing Mueller public.
"Anyone advising the
President -- in public or over the airwaves -- to fire Bob Mueller
does not have the President or the nation's best interest at heart,"
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, wrote on Twitter. "Full stop."
You
can read more here
* "Character Assassination Encyclopedia Entry
Character assassination is
a deliberate and sustained effort to damage the reputation or
credibility of an individual. The term could also be selectively
applied to social groups, institutions,and corporations, which could
all experience loss of reputation due to character
assassination.Character attack is an inclusive concept that can be
addressed from various academic perspectives,such as rhetoric,
political science, propaganda studies, and others. This entry first
examines the history of the study of character assassination and then
highlights the fundamentals and typologies of character attacks. It
concludes by discussing application areas of character assassination
… “
You can read more here
( About Academia.edu )
.
.
.
→ Direct sources for Democrats:
* ( Personal favored and most informative follows are shared here with the understanding that readers will always apply their own critical thinking to any information provided anywhere by anyone. #StrongerTogether does not share sources of information lightly but -- no one is perfect! -- so always #DistrustAndVerify I am using a star rating that is strictly based on my situational experience with the work of the media personality specifically in relation to issues of interest to me. )
The Democratic Party Website
Also
C-SPAN (a good place for speeches & hearings direct source (s))
→ Fact checking organizations courtesy of the Society of Professional Journalists
in alphabetical order...
→ Some of my favorite, most informative
follows on Twitter include:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ US Intelligence | Author | Navy Senior Chief | NBC/MSNBC
⭐⭐⭐ Federal Government Operations | Vanity Fair | Newsweek | MSNBC Contributor | Author
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Voting Rights/Voter Suppression | Author | Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible media -- at the moment:
📰📰📰 Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible Talking Heads -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
( 📎 Interesting to note: Wallace, a former Republican (or an inactive Republican I believe she calls herself) is new to the job but for right now she has clearly put country over party and her work on Trump GOP has been credible, IMO... )
...for Networking for Democrats today!
g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
📎 Note: I rarely get involved in primary races -- outside of those in my own area. And, unless there is a glaring reason that can not be ignored, I support Democratic Party nominees winning in general elections.
.
.
.
(Linked) "...is our 2016 platform...a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
It’s a simple but powerful idea: We are stronger together."
Eleanor Roosevelt with female reporters
at her first White House press conference
on March 6, 1933.
“ … At first Eleanor Roosevelt adhered to her own...political topics. She told about her daily schedules, discussed the prints on the White House Walls, and shared low-cost menus for Depression-era households. But reporters pressed the First Lady for more news on public policy, and the press conference sessions soon broadened their scope. As early as April 1933 Eleanor Roosevelt provided a political scoop; she announced that beer would be served in the White House once Prohibition ended. By the end of 1933, according to UP reporter Ruby Black, the First Lady had defended low cost housing, the subsistence homestead program, equal pay for equal work, old age pensions, and the minimum wage. “Tea Pouring Items Give Way to Big News,” Black declared. “No newspaperwoman could have asked for better luck,” reporter Bess Furman recalled. The First Lady, she wrote, “conducts classes on scores of subjects, always seeing beyond her immediate hearers to ‘the women of the country.’” … “ ( You can read more here )
( #its2018now )
*
Curated by Gail Mountain, with occasional personal commentary, Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
*
See the League of Women Voters website:
Vote411 here
*
Thank you for Focusing!
g., aka Focused Democrat
✊ Resisting "Fake News"
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