Ever since Trump became President, many have wondered why congressional Republicans have totally abdicated oversight functions that all their predecessors routinely conducted and Americans came to expect as the norm. The inaction as regards oversight by House Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s congress has struck most Americans as very strange and has spawned many conspiracy theories, the most popular one being that Russian President Putin has “Kompromat” on all congressional Republicans.
Well, courtesy of a bombshell article by The Daily Intelligencer, we now find out that congressional Republicans have actually compiled a secret list of things they have vowed to block from any congressional oversight requested by Dems–a sad and totally unprecedented move by U.S. members of congress.
The list of items GOP has vowed to keep away from any congressional oversight includes “election security and hacking attempts”, ” White House security clearances”, “Trump’s Tax Returns”, ” Trump’s family businesses”, among many others. Think about that, we currently have GOP members of congress whose stated mission is to hide from the public any wrongdoing by Trump and his administration–the aforementioned criminal enterprise.
Bottom line Dems and the mainstream media must start calling out congressional Republicans for totally abdicating their oversight functions. Its about time people started calling Trump’s GOP what it truly is–a criminal enterprise. What House Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell are presiding over in congress today goes way beyond what Americans would characterize as “politics as usual” and is borderline if not out and out criminal conduct.
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The U.S. Supreme Court deals with a wide range of issues affecting the daily lives of Americans. Because the issues the court deals with are so many and so diverse, it is impossible/unfair to paint the courts decisions with a broad brush. However when it comes to politics, especially as it relates to GOP vs Democratic Party issues, the Roberts Supreme Court has established itself as a reliable GOP ally making horrendous decisions that favor the GOP
One such horrendous decision was Citizens United, where the court allowed the unlimited flow of dark/anonymous money into political campaigns. No reasonable person can ever conclude that the Roberts Supreme Court did not envision the disastrous effect unlimited dark/anonymous money would have on U.S. politics. Reasonable people will conclude that the Roberts Supreme Court knew their decision in Citizens United would likely lead to a spike in political corruption (pay for play) but went along with it anyway because it favored the GOP. The disastrous effects of Citizens United on U.S. politics continue to be felt to this day especially by poor voters who feel their representatives only cater for their rich mega donors
Then this week the Roberts Supreme Court made yet another horrendous decision which any reasonable person knows or should know will lead to the political disenfranchisement of millions of minority voters but like Citizens United, favors the GOP. The Roberts Supreme Court struck down lower court decisions that had found Texas Congressional Districts unconstitutionally gerrymandered(racially). There is no question that this will embolden Texas and other GOP-controlled states to gerrymander congressional districts even further.
As if this is not enough, the Roberts Supreme Court also upheld Ohio’s policy of purging voters that a lower court found unconstitutional–targeted minority voters. This again is a horrendous decision by the Roberts Supreme Court which any reasonable person knows or should know will lead to even further purging of minority voters in Ohio and other states. The Ohio decision fits the pattern–it is yet another horrendous decision by the Roberts Supreme Court, whose disastrous effects are easily predictable, but the court upheld because it favors the GOP.
Bottom line it is time for Dems to come out of the wood works and start speaking boldly about the troubling trend being set by the Roberts Supreme Court as regards the GOP. As Yours Truly stated earlier, the Roberts Supreme Court has essentially become a trusted wing of the GOP. From sanctioning unlimited flow of money into politics through Citizens United, sanctioning racially-based gerrymandering, to now sanctioning voter purging, Dems have no otherwise but to start speaking out against these horendous decisions.
So you ask, “but @Emolclause how are Dems supposed to speak out against the Roberts Supreme Court? Won’t that look bad?” Well, Dems need to do what has worked for them for decades–peaceful protests. Peaceful protests outside the Roberts Supreme Court like the one done yesterday after the court upheld Trump’s Muslim ban must become more common.
Surely the strong grassroots Dem women who organized the highly successful Womens March can put together a Supreme Court March to protest Citizens United, Gerrymandering and voter purge decisions. Everbody knows the justices have lifetime appointment and there’s nothing Dems can do to effect their removal. However the justices like the rest of us consume the same national news stories. Images of massive protests outside the U.S. Supreme Court will not go unnoticed by the Roberts Supreme Court and may,just may, revert the court back to being the “people’s court” not the “GOP’s court”.
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One of the biggest obstacles for Democrats, especially in the battle for control of State Legislatures has been the powerful gun lobby group National Rifle Association(NRA). Unlike other powerful lobby groups that influence both the Republican and the Democratic Party, the NRA literally has a stranglehold on the Republican party. NRA’s stranglehold on the GOP is so bad, even President Trump recently had to ask GOP Members of Congress not to be “afraid of” the gun lobby group when discussing sensible gun control proposals. Marion Hammer, a powerful NRA lobbyist in Florida for example is so feared by Florida State GOPers, that she’s dubbed “The Real Gov of Florida.” Such is the power the NRA wields over the GOP
The troubling news therefore that the FBI is investigating the NRA as a possible vehicle for funnelling Russian money to help Trump in the 2016 elections should be of great concern to Democrats. New York Times Columnist Frank Bruni said on CNN’s Outfront with Erin Burnett that the NRA spent a whopping $30M to help Trump get elected, which is more than they spent the last two Presidential cycles combined. A Russian banker Alexander Torshin who has ties to Putin is an NRA life member and the key suspect in the alleged funnelling scheme. Torshin apparently wanted to create a “back channel” between the Trump Campaign and Russia and one of his associates reportedly told a Trump campaign staffer that “Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump.
Under normal circumstances this would be just another questionable daliance between a powerful U.S. gun lobby group and a foreign financier. However against the backdrop of an ongoing Special Counsel investigation into U.S. election meddling by the Russians, this strange relationship between the NRA and the Putin-allied Russian financier has become a much more serious issue, one that Americans trust Mueller and Co. will get to the bottom of.
It also bears pointing out, as New York Times Columnist Frank Bruni did that Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr, is a major NRA supporter and activist. Trump Jr you’ll remember is already in the middle of a very questionable meeting with Russian lawyer Natalya Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower. Veselnitskaya has since confessed that she’s an informant for Putin’s Kremlin
Simply put, the NRA-Russia story is a major story that could affect the Dem political fortunes from here on out. According to CNN Political Correspondent Sara Murray, the NRA is privately, very concerned about the FBI’s investigation into its ties to the Russian Banker(vid at 14:00). Obviously we Dems have to be patient and allow the feds to conduct their investigation into the NRA but just like Trump used the ongoing Clinton email probe to hamstring her 2016 campaign, there is no reason why the DNC should not pummel NRA-allied GOP candidates over Russian money as we head to Midterms 2018, the perfect target being Sen Ted Cruz
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