Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez(D-NY) joined fellow Democrats for a briefing(04/07/22) on their push to ban stock trading by members of Congress. Others on the briefing were Senator Jeff Merkley(D-OR), Rep Joe Neguse(D-CO), Rep Rashida Tlaib(D-MI), Rep Abigail Spanberger(D-VA), Rep Pramila Jayapal(D-WA), Rep Andy Kim(D-NJ) and Rep Angie Craig(D-MN).
Rep Ocasio-Cortez said banning stock trading by members of Congress will not only address legitimate concerns about conflicts of interest, but that it would also tackle the other urgent problem involving crisis of faith in our institutions. She said: “We are also tackling a crisis of faith in our institutions in the United States, and that exploitation of that crisis of faith is a direct threat to our democracy, as we have seen over the last two to four years. It is our responsibility to ensure that we eliminate that perception of impropriety, because it is these perceptions that can be exploited to undermine our most sacred institutions.”
The final speaker, the epitome of “save the best for last”, was Minnesota’s Rep Angie Craig(remember that name folks, vivacious Angie is going up the Dem ladder). She said: “My background experience in this issue is I actually sat on a corporate executive team for 12 years before I came to Congress, and this is not hypothetical to me, it’s not hypothetical. I helped run the investor relations department of a major fortune 500 company. I know that information moves markets, and it moves stocks. That’s why when I first got here, I wrote something called the Humble Act, which as part of it, would ban members of Congress from owning individual stocks. And it’s also not hypothetical to me because before I was sworn in to Congress, I had stock from the company I had worked for for 12 years. I had stock options from that company as well. Every single one of those shares were sold in the open market before I stepped foot into the U.S. Capitol, every single one. And if we can’t find 535 people in the damn United States of America, who are willing to give up their personal stock portfolio in order to serve their constituents, then shame on us, just shame on us.”
Bottom line folks, as some of the speakers here pointed out, banning stock trading by members of Congress should be a no-brainer, and no Democrat should be opposed to it. Opposing a stock trading ban for members of Congress is bad optics, bad morally, bad politics, and a sure loser at the polls this Fall. It’s really that simple.
For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out. You may also Cash App
You may reach the author via email at administrator@grassrootsdempolitics.com or author@emolumentsclause.com
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow yesterday gave a very compelling case as to why Matt Whitaker, Trump’s appointee to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions creates such an appearance of impropriety that Whitaker’s only option is recusal from Mueller probe.
It is well known that even though Special Counsel Robert Mueller was given great latitude to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections, his investigation has boiled down to two major questions–whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia and whether Trump, in an effort to hide his ties to Russia has used his position as President to obstruct justice.
Well it turns out, according to Maddow that Matt Whitaker, Trump’s appointee to replace Jeff Sessions and the new custodian of the Mueller probe has already made public his position on the two key TrumpRussia questions making him unfit to oversee Mueller probe.
Whitaker reportedly said on a radio show on June 21, 2017; “The truth is there was no collusion with the Russians and the Trump campaign.“ Regarding obstruction of justice, Whitaker said this on Sean Hannity show, one of Trump’s favorite shows on Fox News; “This idea that there was some collusion with Russian nationals and even Putin to interfere…with the election I think is just ludicrous based on what we know at this point.”
The full Maddow segment is available here but the relevant clip is below
Bottom line, as Maddow correctly observed, if Whitaker has already stated publicly his conclusions about the two key questions being investigated by Mueller–collusion and obstruction–he cannot credibly oversee the Mueller probe and must recuse himself.
For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out
While most of the mainstream media was preoccupied with Senator Susan Collins’ decision to vote for Kavanaugh’s confirmation, NBC News Heidi Przybyla (one of Yours Truly’s MSM faves) went on All in with Chris Hayes and dropped a major bombshell that may prove disastrous to Kavanaugh, and indeed Senator Collins, even after he is seated at the U.S. Supreme Court. According to Heidi Przybyla, there are text messages that have been obtained by NBC news which suggest that Kavanaugh himself may have played a part in covering up evidence from his classmates who may have corroborated Debbie Ramirez’s claims against him.Specifically, one of the texts show a witness freaking out because she doesn’t want the media/public to know that Kavanaugh reached out to her.
Think about that folks. There is electronic evidence that Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh himself, not his surrogate, was reaching out to potential witnesses/corroborators (his former Yale classmates) trying to conjure up a counter narrative to the Debbie Ramirez allegations. Even more troubling, Heidi Przybyla says some of Kavanaugh’s Yale classmates reached out to the FBI in an effort to provide more information but were turned away. Simply put, no reasonable person presented with this information would ever have concluded, as Senators Collins & Flake did, that there were no corroborators to the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh or that the FBI background investigation was “thorough”, or “comprehensive”.
The full All In With Chris Hayes Segment is available here but the relevant clip is below
So you say, “But @Emolclause, what does that have to do with Senators Susan Collins and Jeff Flake?” Here’s why. The FBI supplemental background investigation was ordered by President Trump in large part to address the lingering sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh that had been brought by Dr Christine Blasey Ford, Debbie Ramirez and others. Both Sen Flake and Collins later based their decision to vote for Kavanaugh on the fact that the FBI investigation never corroborated the sexual assault allegations against him.
In essence, both Flake and Collins had already decided to vote YES on Kavanaugh. They just could not do it given the cloud of the sexual assault allegations against him, hence the Trump’s FBI supplemental investigation. Put another way, Trump’s FBI supplemental background probe was a sham from the beginning specifically designed to give cover to Sen Collins and Sen Flake’s predetermined YES vote on Kavanaugh. It was never meant to gather any corroborating information on the sexual assault allegations.
Therefore when both Sen Collins and Sen Flake came out in support of Kavanaugh because there was “no corroborating” information they literally perpetrated one of the biggest and most consequential frauds on the American public ever–the aforementioned “no corroboration” fraud. Luckily some serious journalists like NBC News’ Heidi Przybyla are digging around and hopefully soon will get to the bottom of this “no corroboration” fraud.
The entire Sen Collins Speech on Kavanaugh is available here but the relevant “corroboration” speech is below.
Yours Truly alluded to this “no corroboration” fraud in an earlier Tweet.
To be clear, Senator Collins offered more than the “no corroboration” argument to support her YES vote on Kavanaugh in her 3PM nationally televised speech. She did not make any forceful arguments in her 3 PM speech and you need not take Yours Truly’s word for it. Just look at how MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell tore apart the key arguments in Sen Collins’speech, specifically her presumption of innocence argument.
Lawrence O’ Donnell correctly pointed out that when sexual impropriety allegations were made against former Dem Senator Al Franken, Senator Collins was quick to call for his resignation, even before an investigation was launched. O’Donnell also tore up Sen Collins’ totally frivolous, even laughable argument that Kavanaugh and Mark Judge should be believed because they denied the sexual assault allegations under penalty of perjury. Yeah, Senator Collins literally said in her speech that she believed Kavanaugh because he denied the allegations under oath–how ridiculous is that?
The entire Last Word segment is available here but the relevant clip is below
Bottom line Collins’ biggest argument that there were no corroboration is a big fat lie. The truth, as Heidi Przybyla reports, is that the FBI never reached out to people who might have corroborated both Dr Ford and Ramirez’s stories and both Senators Collins and Flake knew that. Even more troubling, there are text messages showing that Kavanaugh himself was reaching out to his former Yale classmates trying to create a counter narrative for Ramirez’s allegations, which by itself should disqualify him from Judgeship in any court, let alone the U.S. Supreme Court. They may succeed in getting Kavanaugh into the U.S. Supreme Court in the short run for their partisan political interests, but in the long run as the truth about Kavanaugh will inevitably continue to trickle out, the fraud Collins & Flake have perpetrated on Americans must be exposed and should forever form their legacies–the two U.S. Senators who perpetrated one of the biggest and most consequential frauds on the American public–one that rewarded an undeserving nominee with a lifetime Supreme Court appointment. History will be very harsh to both Senators Susan Collins and Jeff Flake, and deservedly so.
For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out
Turns out that while Trump is flexing his political muscles promising his adoring fans that he will crush any future Democratic opponent, efforts are underway within his own GOP to primary him in 2020. According to a CNBC article, conservative columnist and prominent NeverTrumper Bill Kristol is apparently actively recruiting Republicans to primary Trump in 2020, a move that is certain to enrage the criticism averse Trump. He has apparently talked to Gov John Kasich(Ohio), Sen Ben Sassse(Neb) and Sen Jeff Flake(AZ) about a possible 2020 Trump primary challenge.
The NeverTrumpers have largely remained silent during Trump’s presidency but now with all the troubles, legal and otherwise, engulfing the Trump administration, they are starting to voice their opposition to his presidency again. This could prove highly problematic to the GOP establishment because Trump will certainly take opposition from within as “disloyal” rebellion and wage a fierce war against his critics.
Yours Truly, a political sage at this juncture has long predicted a GOP split before 2020 and this llatest development has all the markings of one.
It will be interesting to see how the GOP civil war plays out as we approach 2020. Bottom line when it does finally happen just remind the cable TV pundits that grassroots @Emolclause called it a long time ago. Remember folks, it is Mitt Romney who will give Trump a run for his money, leading to the GOP split.
For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out
Now that Trump has been implicated in criminal conduct by the Michael Cohen plea deal and is in danger of further exposure from the Paul Manafort case and a grant of immunity to his former chief accountant Allen Weisselberg, it appears the new GOP protective stance is to incite him to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a move that could end Mueller probe altogether.
Chief among his inciters is U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who was once regarded as a reasonable moderate and a check to Trump’s unconventional presidency. It appears according to media reports however that Sen Graham has done a complete about face and is now basically inciting Trump to fire Sessions in an effort to insulate Trump from the gathering storm that is the Mueller probe. So you ask “Wait @emolclause, how is Sen Graham inciting Trump?” Here’s why.
It is well known that Trump is a major consumer of cable TV news. Back in 2017 Sen Graham went on a cable TV show and said there would be “holy hell to pay” if Trump fired Sessions. His statements were correctly characterized by the mainstream media as a stern message to Trump to not even think about firing Sessions. The same Sen Graham has now taken to cable TV news this time saying Trump has a right to install a favorable attorney general. Sen Graham told reporters recently:”The president’s entitled to an attorney general he has faith in, somebody that’s qualified for the job, and I think there will come a time, sooner rather than later, where it will be time to have a new face and a fresh voice at the Department of Justice.”
There is no other way to interpret Senator Graham’s recent comments regarding AG Jeff Sessions other than he(Sen Graham) is sending a message to Trump that there will no longer be “holy hell to pay” if Trump fired Sessions–essentially inciting him to do so. Sen Graham’s surprise 180 degrees flip was best captured by this tweet by prominent women empowerment activist Amy Siskind
It appears at every turn when the public has gotten close to finding out the truth about Trump’s very questionable conduct with Russians, congressional Republicans have always stepped in to protect him and Sen Lindsey Graham appears to be the latest. As Yours Truly has repeatedly stated, and the Washington Post now agrees, Trump is not necessarily the problem but rather his abetting congressional Republicans like Sen Lindsey Graham.
Bottom line Senate Democrats and the mainstream media must confront Sen Lindsey Graham about his strange about-face regarding AG Jeff Sessions. Yours Truly wishes someone would soon pose Amy Siskind’s question to Sen Graham–“What does Putin have on you Senator Graham”?
For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out
Ever since U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Trump Administration’s new tough “Zero Tolerance” immigration policy, a sharp debate has erupted as to whether Trump Admin’s immigration stance is so tough as to be inhumane/a human rights violation
Of particular concern has been the “Zero Tolerance” policy’s requirement that when migrant families are apprehended after illegally crossing the southern U.S. border, the children are separated from their parents who go and face immigration/removal proceedings. The Department of Homeland Security takes custody of their children, in many cases infants, and places them with U.S. relatives
For the record, every U.S. Admin crafts its own immigration policy which often differs from previous administration policies and the Trump Admin is entitled to its own immigration policy. What makes the "Zero Tolerance" policy markedly different is that many, including the United Nations have called it a violation of human rights for the way it rips migrant children from their parents. The Obama administration, as did other previous administrations placed similarly situated families in family detention centers for the precise reason of keeping families together. The Trump Administration, ashamed of its own immigration policy has resorted to shifting the blame on the Obama administration--a blatant lie. Rather than put an immediate end to their human rights violations the Trump admin has chosen to perpetuate it using a blatant lie that it is Obama who started the evil program
In addition to that there have been reports that in the process of placing the kids with their relatives, their parents are losing contact with them which as you know is any parent's worst nightmare.
As if the immediate trauma "Zero Tolerance" policy is inflicting on migrant families is not enough, now doctors are warning that the separation from their parents will cause the children irreparable harm, up to and including mental problems. This is as serious as it gets which is why Yours Truly is calling upon Dems to immediately step in and do what America has always done-- rescue children in danger.
The dire warning by the doctors must be the "red line" for Dems as regards Trump Admin's Zero Tolerance policy. This is way beyond the usual immigration politics Americans are accustomed to.
Dems have a moral obligation to demand an immediate end to Trump Admin's "Zero Tolerance" immigration policy which subjects migrant infants to irreparable health defects.
For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out
