Tag: under

Posted on

DHS Inspector General Sat On Missing Secret Service Texts Info For A Year

$upport via Cash App

CNN’s Whitney Wild appeared on Outfront w/Erin Burnett show(07/29/22), where she dropped a bombshell, telling host Jim Sciutto(subbing for Erin), that embattled DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari did not find out about the missing Secret Service text messages in December 2021 as has been previously reported, but rather, in May 2021–seven months earlier. This means Inspector General Cuffari took a whole year before informing the January 6th Committee about the missing texts, a totally unacceptable position, which only heightens concerns about a possible cover up by DHS.

As host Sciutto correctly pointed out in his intro, it’s not only the missing Secret Service texts that are at issue here, but also, those from former Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, and his top Deputy Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli’s texts are crucial to the January 6th Committee’s investigation because former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue testified before the Committee, under oath, that Trump had tasked Cuccinelli with seizing all voting machines for the purposes of investigating his bogus election fraud claims. Cuccinelli’s communications with Trump’s White House officials, or Trump himself, would therefore be very valuable to the January 6th Committee, and the fact that they cannot be retrieved, should be cause for serious concern, even a possible criminal investigation.

CNN’s Whitney Wild(video at 1:50):“What they had said prior is that the [DHS] Inspector General was aware of the missing text messages as of December 2021, that was the information we had learned some days ago, when two key Democrats were calling for the Inspector General’s recusal. Now, sources tell CNN, that the Secret Service notified the office of the Inspector General that text messages were erased in May of 2021, seven months earlier than previously known. The Secret Service has explained that these text messages were lost in a previously scheduled data migration of agents cell phones. The Committee [January6th] and Cuffari [DHS-IG] are interested in these text messages because, as you point out, these are people who were right at the center of what was going on on January 6th, and depending on what the content is, could shed light on the Secret Service’s response that day, and further, what they witnessed, among others…The other big thing that we’re learning here about the timeline[is]…in July, a representative for the Inspector General’s office told the Department of Homeland Security, they were no longer seeking these text messages. That was in July of 2021, about a year before the Inspector General brought these hurdles to congressional oversight committees.”

There’s no other way to interpret Whitney Wild’s remarks other than(I’d be happy to stand  corrected of course), DHS Inspector General Cuffari is not being forthright about his investigation into the missing Secret Service texts. The shifting narratives as to when his office found out about the missing texts only raises suspicions from the general public, of a possible DHS cover up. Also, why did his office stop looking for the texts in July 2021? Wasn’t that the proper time for him, or the DHS Secretary for that matter, to notify the January 6th Committee of the problems they were having retrieving the texts? Very suspicious indeed.

Bottom line folks, the missing Secret Service texts scandal is just the latest in a long line of very troubling stories emanating from DHS, which all center around the same original sin–lack of proper congressional oversight, an issue Yours Truly has repeatedly screamed about, to your rolling eyes of course. Simply put, DHS has devolved into the corrupt federal behemoth we are witnessing today because at every turn since it’s inception, Congress and the corporate mainstream media, have looked the other way, when the public has raised credible concerns about abuses at/by the agency.

One only hopes that some of the outrage over the missing/deleted Secret Service texts will be aimed at complicit Congress and the corporate mainstream media. Simply put, DHS and other agencies tasked with our national security, will never change without proper/effective oversight. Plain and 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@grassrootsdempolitics.com

Posted on

Kurt Bardella: 2022 Midterms Might Be The Last Free And Fair Elections We Have. WHOA!!

$upport via Cash App

MSNBC’s Katie Phang show(05/21/22) did a segment on WaPo’s bombshell revelation that Ginni Thomas’ involvement in the effort to overturn the 2020 election results was much more than has been previously reported. The conversation then turned into how ruthlessly Republicans would have dealt with a similarly situated liberal justice. Guest Kurt Bardella slammed the perennial weakness by congressional Democrats, who he said always played defense as opposed to the attack-minded Republicans. Bardella then made a startling assertion, telling host Katie Phang that if the January 6th Select Committee doesn’t go on the offense by making top Trump officials testify in public like Republicans did Hillary Clinton during Benghazi, then “this[2022 midterms]might be the last free and fair elections we have.”

MSNBC host Katie Phang(video at 5:11): “Kurt I saw you tweeting about how you were surprised that Democrats didn’t immediately start investigations into the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic as soon as they got into power. Now we see the January 6th Committee is apparently fine with not even getting him to testify…What will it take for the Dems to go on the offensive?”

Kurt Burdella: “I just think back to the Benghazi Select Committee, when Republicans didn’t blink to bring up Hillary Clinton to testify for more than 11 hours and face that type of grilling. I don’t know how you can have a system that has Secretary Clinton at the time having to do that, but you let Donald Trump, and people like Mike Pence, and Ginni Thomas, and Rudy Giuliani, and Steve Bannon, and Mark Meadows avoid that type of public setting. It’s such a parity and I’m telling you, we’re seeing right now, at this very second, Republicans campaign for the midterms on the idea that they are going to do this to the Biden administration. That they are not going to hesitate to use the reins of power to go after the president’s son…to try to impeach the president, to try to impeach the DHS secretary…Democrats are about to get a lesson on how to wield power, whether they like it or not, if they don’t step up right now because they are the last line of defense of stopping Republicans from hijacking democracy. It’s not about 2024 Katie, it’s about 2022 because I promise you, if Republicans are allowed to regain a congressional majority, they will not certify a Democrat win in 2024…This check and balance that we are about to see with the January 6th Select Committee is perhaps the last guardian of defense that we have of our democracy and our process, and if we don’t get answers from everybody who was involved, especially at the very top, this might be the last free and fair elections we have.”

As outlandish as Kurt Bardella’s assertion sounds, rank and file Democrats know it is absolutely true. A lot of the crazy things we’ve witnessed from Trump Republicans are rooted in their belief that Democrats will never muster enough courage to hold them accountable in any meaningful way–all bark no bite. Let’s hope the January 6th Select Committee breaks this expectation of weakness by Republicans, by holding them accountable through lengthy public testimonies, under oath. If the January 6th Select Committee fails to hold Trump and his top lieutenants accountable, then as Bardella correctly points out, democracy as we know it, will be dead this year, not in 2024, and Dem weakness will be partly to blame. This of course, also apples to President Biden’s Department of Justice.

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@grassrootsdempolitics.com

Posted on

Is Locking Out MTG From The 2022 Ballot A Template For Locking Out Trump In 2024?

$upport via Cash App

Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene on the Tucker Carlson Show(04/18/22)

A rattled Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene(R-GA) appeared on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson show(04/18/22) where she lashed out at liberals for what she characterized as an effort to rip her name off the ballot, and steal her district’s ability to reelect her to Congress. What Rep Greene(aka MTG) is referring to, is a lawsuit filed by liberals, that seeks to bar her from running for reelection because she aided and abetted the January 6th insurrection. Her rattled appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show is explainable because it not only appears that the lawsuit may be headed for success, but also because establishment GOP is not offering her a helping hand. Simply put, MTG has reason to be worried about her future in Congress, even before a single vote is cast.

An elephant in the room question that has arisen from the MTG challenge, is the effect if any, it may have on others who aided and abetted the insurrectionists? The biggest question of course, is whether successfully locking out MTG from the ballot could be a template for locking out…idk…some guy in Palm Beach Florida, out of the GOP presidential contest?

Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene specifically told host Tucker Carlson(video at 0:38):“These people[liberals]hate the people in my district so much, they look down on them because they voted for me and sent me to Washington to fight for the things that most Americans care about, like secure borders, stopping abortion, protecting our second amendment, stopping the out of control spending in Washington, and stop funding never-ending foreign wars, and all the insanity that takes place in Washington. Well, I went there and I have been fighting it and now the Progressives, the people that donate to dark money groups, you know, the 501(c)(3)s and the foundations, they’ve hired up some attorneys from New York who hate the people in my district, and don’t believe that they should have the right to elect who they want to send to Washington, which is me. I have overwhelming support in my district and I’m so thankful for all of them. Well now they’ve filed a lawsuit, because they’re trying to rip my name off of the ballot, and steal my district’s ability to reelect me and send me back to Congress.”

Asked by host Tucker Carlson whether she was getting any help from the GOP establishment, Rep Greene responded, “Not yet. I’m on my own to defend myself…I have to protect myself. I have to go to court on Friday and actually be questioned about something[January6th]I’ve never been charged with, and something I was completely against.”

There’s no other way to interpret Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s remarks on Tucker Carlson’s show other than, she is completely rattled by the lawsuit, which she’s finally realizing, presents a real threat to her future in Congress. She’s also clearly surprised(not sure why), that no one from the GOP establishment is rushing to her aid.

Bottom line folks, the outcome of this MTG challenge may have far reaching implications, chief among them, whether former President Trump can be similarly locked out of the 2024 ballot. Hmm, we’ll see what happens.

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@grassrootsdempolitics.com.com

Posted on

Texas Surcharge Program, A Modern Day Slavery

You have heard many stories about how the Republican party both nationally and at the state level has over the years embarked on policies that consistently hurt the poor while benefiting the rich, or as they call it on Twitter the #WarOnPoverty. The GOP’s attack on the poor has taken several forms for example reducing funding for food stamps, opposing hikes to minimum wage, etc.

All these affronts on the poor by the GOP have received a lot of national media attention and deservedly so. However there are other egregious GOP attacks on the poor that never get the national media attention they deserve, but have serious negative consequences on the daily lives of the working poor. One such attack is the notorious Texas Surcharge Program, an out and out modern day slavery.

The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature introduced the program in 2003 with an aim to raise money to fund the very expensive Texas trauma centers.

The idea was that imposing additional fines to traffic tickets would deter people from breaking traffic rules and as a result improve overall public safety while at the same time providing the much needed funding for the trauma centers. The result however has been the total opposite–a total nightmare for Texas drivers.

Millions of Texas Drivers are driving around with driver licences that they don’t even know have been long suspended thanks to the surcharges. You have Texas parents dropping their kids to school and then going to work only to have to call their family from county jail saying they were arrested for driving with a suspended license that they had no idea about. This of course means these families then have to redirect their already meager financial resources to paying a bail bonding company, towing charges etc or in many instances just letting their loved one sit in jail, losing their jobs and digging them deeper into poverty–the aforementioned modern day slavery.

You also have to consider the tremendous burden that lack of a valid driver’s license imposes on working families. This for some people means giving up a good job offer simply because it will require them to drive daily with their suspended license putting them at risk of arrest, or not being able to take out a rental car during the holidays, and so on, all because of the Texas Surcharge program.

As you can see from this Texas Tribune piece, it has been very difficult to put an end to this program even though there is irrefutable evidence of the disastrous effects it is having on Texas working families. As the article correctly points out, the Texas Surcharge Program is a cash cow that Texas politicians(including some Democrats) have found impossible to resist. Much of the Texas media is also resigned to this sad reality—that we are forever stuck with the Texas surcharge cash cow, its harmful consequences on working families be damned!!

Excerpt from an 08/18/2014 Texas Tribune piece by Gilad Edelman

Yours Truly totally rejects this notion that we are somehow stuck with the modern day slavery that is the Texas surcharge program, and intends to marshal support for a grassroots campaign to finally put an end to the misery this program continues to impose on working families. Simply put Yours Truly intends to finally free Texas working families from the shackles of the Texas surcharge program.

The original plan was to muster enough grassroots pressure to force the Texas legislature to finally scrap this program but it appears there’s already an alternative and equally effective route available. Turns out Equal Justice Under Law, a Washington DC based non-profit has already filed a federal lawsuit against Texas DPS arguing that the Texas Surcharge program is unconstitutional.

In a December 5 2018 KUT News piece, the Executive Director of the DC non-profit, Phil Telfeyan said regarding the Texas surcharge program, “What Texas is doing is punishing people for being poor.” The lawsuit by this DC non-profit makes our efforts at scrapping the Texas surcharge program much easier because a ruling by a federal court that the program is unconstitutional frees us all from its shackles.

Bottom line folks, we cannot just sit idly by and expect to be miraculously emancipated from this modern day slavery. We must fully support the great efforts of Phil Telfeyan and his non-profit group to finally put an end to the Texas surcharge program. It all begins by giving our full support, material and otherwise to the good folks at Equal Justice Under Law as they pursue their lawsuit against Texas DPS. Yours Truly highly recommends that you follow them on Twitter so as to keep up with their federal lawsuit.

It also cannot be left unsaid that if Democrats want to make inroads in Texas they must capitalize on highly unpopular GOP-inspired initiatives like the Texas surcharge program that elicit bipartisan loathing. The winning message for Texas Democrats can be very simple, “If you are sick driving scared because of GOP’s surcharge program, vote for Democrats.”

For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out. 

Posted on

Sen Collins Says Kavanaugh Lies Are A “Major Problem”


Sen Susan Collins, one of the Republicans considered likely to vote against Kavanaugh’s confirmation has provided the strongest hint yet that she has not yet made up her mind on Kavanaugh but more importantly, that she could be a NO vote.

When a Maine newspaper asked her about Kavanaugh’s lies under oath during his confirmation hearings to the DC Circuit Court, and specifically as relates to Judge Pryor’s “vetting”,  Sen Collins responded that she was not aware of the issue but added, “If in fact (Kavanaugh) was not truthful, then obviously that would be a major problem for me.”

This is very encouraging news for anti-Kavanaugh liberals because as Senator Collins will soon find out, Kavanaugh has not only lied to congress, he has serially lied to congress under oath–felonies!!


Yes Senator Collins, this should be a major problem for you and your fellow GOP Senators thinking of elevating Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bottom line, Mainers should keep up the pressure on Sen Collins. Yours Truly foresees a NO vote in the horizon by Sen Collins and possibly Sen Murkowski over Kavanaugh lies. A luta continua!!

For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out




Posted on

Emails Prove Kavanaugh Lied To Congress Under Oath Several Times



Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had a tense time on the confirmation hot seat taking questions from Senator Patrick Leahy and other Dems as to whether he lied to Congress under oath during his confirmation hearings for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

Well, courtesy of a Daily Beast article, we can definitively identify multiple instances where Kavanaugh lied to Congress under oath.

Kavanaugh lie #1—In 2006, under questioning by the late Dem Senator Ted Kennedy, Kavanaugh said he wasn’t involved in the selection and vetting process of controversial conservative judge William Pryor. Turns out there are now emails proving Kavanaugh was intricately involved in Judge Pryor’s vetting.

Kavanaugh lie #2—During his 2006 confirmation hearings for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, under questioning by Dem Senator Patrick Leahy, Kavanaugh outrightly denied ever receiving stolen Dem documents from Republican operative Manuel Miranda. Now during his confirmation hearings to the U.S. Supreme Court, after being confronted with emails between him and Miranda, he finally admitted to Senator Leahy that he did indeed receive the stolen Dem documents. He now contends however that he didn’t know they were stolen. A cursory look at the emails in question leads any reasonable person to the conclusion that Miranda did not get the Dem documents through legitimate channels making Kavanaugh’s assertion that he didn’t know Miranda acquired the Dem documents illegitimately an outright lie.

Kavanaugh lie #3—-Kavanaugh also lied about George W. Bush administration’s “Terrorist Surveillance Program”. Kavanaugh initially testified under oath that he found out about the program through a 2005 New York Times article. Well, turns out there is a 2001 email in which Kavanaugh is asking a DOJ lawyer: “Any results yet on the 4A implications of random/constant surveillance of phone and e-mail conversations of non-citizens who are in the United States when the purpose of the surveillance is to prevent terrorist/criminal violence?”. This again proves that Kavanaugh knew about the terrorist surveillance program way back in 2001 but decided to lie to congress about it under oath

It is well known that lying to congress under oath is a felony. Any reasonable person would therefore conclude that repeatedly lying to congress under oath is so serious, it should preclude anybody from assuming any judgeship, especially a judgeship at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bottom line Dems and the mainstream media must continue shedding light on Kavanaugh’s troubling conduct which clearly precludes him from being a Supreme Court Justice.

For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out




Posted on

Dem Senators Heitkamp & Manchin Must Hold The Line On Kavanaugh


Ever since President Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court, the running narrative among mainstream media types has been that Dem Senators Joe Manchin(WV) and Heidi Heitkamp(ND) who are up for reelection this year, have no otherwise but to vote for Kavanaugh because Trump won decisively in both West Virginia and North Dakota in 2016.

Senators Heidi Heitkamp(D-ND) & Joe Manchin(D-WV)

In other words according to the mainstream media talking heads, it would be political suicide if the two Dem Senators from Trump-popular states opposed Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Recent events however suggest that during his confirmation hearings for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Kavanaugh may have lied under oath to Congress–a felony. This is such a serious issue that U.S. Senators need to get to the bottom of before casting their vote for or against Kavanaugh. Senate Republicans are working hard to hide from the public, documents that could prove Kavanaugh lied to Congress. Against this backdrop, Dem Senators Heitkamp and Manchin have a duty not to allow Senate Republicans to ram Kavanaugh through without proper vetting especially as regards to his potential felonious conduct. Simply put, Senators Heitkamp and Manchin must hold the line on Kavanaugh.


There is also such an egregious double standard surrounding what Senate Republicans are trying to do with Kavanaugh compared to what they demanded with Obama’s Supreme Court nominees Sotomayor and Kagan. This tweet by Sen Kamala Harris(D-CA) perfectly illustrates this egregious double standard.


Senators Heitkamp and Manchin should also be sympathetic to pleas by their fellow Senator Patrick Leahy(D-VT) who is desperate to get to the truth about Kavanaugh because it was him that Kavanaugh potentially lied to under oath. Senator Leahy deserves to know the truth about Kavanaugh.


Bottom line if Senators Heitkamp and Manchin vote for Kavanaugh without inquiring as to whether he lied under oath to Congress–a felony–it will be an exercise of extreme cowardice and quite frankly a dereliction of their senatorial duty to properly vet nominees to the highest court in the land. They must hold the line on Kavanaugh.

For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out