A Bungled End to the War in Afghanistan

It is finally over...almost The 18-year war the United States fought in Afghanistan, to defeat, er, rather, to bring to justice, that is, not lose any ground to…uh, Osama bin Laden, no-no, al-Qaeda, I meant, the Taliban, wait, we’ll just call it terror…has ended, maybe in 14 months, with a truce signed February 29, 2020, by the U.S. and Taliban representatives in Doha, Qatar. Strangely, it was U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, not Mike Pompeo, who signed for the U.S. even though Pompeo was at the signing, almost as if he knew there was dishonor in signing it. 
        The current Afghan president Ashraf Ghani was not included because “talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban are due to follow.” In other words, they haven’t started yet. This treaty, or truce, or whatever it is, is strictly between the U.S. and the Taliban. Trump left it up to the Taliban to make peace with the Afghan government. This took Ghani by surprise and he lashed out at several points Trump guaranteed the Taliban. For one thing, Ghani will NOT agree to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners! The Taliban immediately responded that they “would resume fighting Afghan forces.” Think there will be any lasting peace once U.S. and NATO forces leave?

In the name of peace......fire!

        While it appears this could be more of a withdrawal or retreat without surrendering (like a poor man’s version of the truce we have with North Korea where technically we’re still at war) than a treaty document, Pompeo claims the Taliban has committed to certain peace moves that aren’t clearly spelled out (about like Trump wrangled from Kim Jong Un at Singapore – a lot of words but no substance), but somehow this is a glorious day for our military and a bold move by Trump. The Taliban has however continued to gain momentum and last year the BBC found they were in control of 70% of Afghanistan. When the U.S. invaded in 2001, the Taliban controlled about 55%.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urgently stressed "the importance of sustaining the nationwide reduction in violence, for the benefit of all Afghans" in the looming withdrawal of U.S. forces in areas that have been repeatedly contested. All the Taliban has to do is wait until U.S. forces flee and then any ‘contesting’ will be to their advantage. We are leaving the NATO troops to fend for themselves. We are leaving President Ashraf Ghani and the Afghan government high and dry, defenseless, and without a fallback plan. Trump is simply withdrawing our forces, destroying what equipment is left that we don’t want to fall into someone else’s hands, stuffing the flag in a bag and hightailing it out of Afghanistan like rats deserting a sinking ship. Surrendering is the foremost trait of a coward.

Did we win, draw even, or at least can hold our heads high? No.

         But I am celebrating the end of the U.S. involvement in the war. Not for a second do I believe the killing has ended. It is just the end of U.S. military forces doing a majority of the fighting, killing, and being killed. So, what did they ultimately die for? To Trump, what does that matter?
The U.S. suffered over 2,400 KIAs, over twice that number injured. NATO troops paid in blood with over 3,500 casualties. Between the Taliban and US-led forces, well over 50,000 Afghani civilians were killed simply to fight, or prop up, an unpopular government (that Bush and Cheney thought would do their bidding.) The U.S. tried to fight the war in a more streamlined way, yet in a similar fashion to the Soviets. It’s no wonder we couldn’t succeed. The British discovered the same damned thing earlier in the century. Afghanis have to settle Afghanistan’s problems and challenges. Anyone else involved in their ceaseless feuding unites the Afghanis just long enough to savagely bleed the invaders, drive them out, and then they go back to killing each other as they’ve done for centuries. Their fighting is religion-based with the Sunnis and Shiites believing the other holds a heretical view of Islam, deserves no mercy, and must be destroyed. The Taliban is the political and military muscle of the Sunnis in Afghanistan. As long as any religion is used to justify bigotry, hatred, differences, and divides, the killing won’t stop.

Does Trump deserve credit for ending U.S. involvement? Yes, in the same way that the driver who crashes a car into a wall to stop the pinging noise in the engine is responsible for putting an end to the annoying sound. Trump didn’t have many options in order to get out without actually surrendering. Plus, this is an election year; he needs something to brag about since the coronavirus and the slowing economic conditions around the world are going to impact how he is viewed. And while he’d never admit it publicly, the germ-o-phobe in Trump has him near panic over the coronavirus. This is what happens when you don’t read. Trump spends more time watching TV, refuses to learn or listen to others, and has the least scientifically-inquisitive mind of any president in history. Does anyone trust Trump to come up with a responsible plan that he just staples together on the fly? Trump is retreating from the world because he doesn’t know what to do, he doesn’t understand foreign policy, diplomacy, and honoring our word. So in order to avoid the realities of dealing with a world he’s too ignorant to understand and work with, Trump retreats from it like a turtle pulling back into its shell but puffing himself up to project a tough guy image to a world that is not even looking in his direction anymore.

        Here is Trump qualifying his ending the war, as reported by the BBC. Speaking at the White House, Mr. Trump said the Taliban had been trying to reach an agreement with the U.S. for a long time. (Yes, the Taliban has been trying to get the U.S. to leave for 18 years!)

        He said U.S. troops had been killing terrorists in Afghanistan "by the thousands" and now it was "time for someone else to do that work and it will be the Taliban and it could be surrounding countries". (If Trump is saying the Taliban will now have to kill ‘the terrorists,’ then who have our troops been killing for 18 years? The U.S. has been switching designated enemies from al-Qaeda or Taliban to terrorists since 2002 right after U.S. troops ousted the Taliban from Kabul. Who are the 'surrounding countries' who should now step into Afghanistan's affairs? Iran? Pakistan?)

        "I really believe the Taliban wants to do something to show we're not all wasting time," Mr. Trump added. "If bad things happen, we'll go back with a force like no-one's ever seen."

Check out Trump’s language: “If bad things happen, we’ll go back with a force like no-one’s seen.”

Really?

You’ll go back after you turned tail and ran? You got nothing for your treaty. The Taliban agrees to “not to allow al-Qaeda or any other extremist group to operate in the areas they control.” How about in areas they don’t control? How will that be enforced once U.S. and NATO troops are gone? What constitutes “bad things?” But the ‘reveal’ so to speak, might be the phrase “no-one’s seen.” If you don’t do anything, will anyone see it? Trump is a coward to his core. He’d no more go back to Afghanistan than he’d go back to Marla Maples.

This Afghan debacle is a war George W. Bush launched immediately after 9/11 in which we never should have been engaged. Afghanistan didn’t attack us, Iraq didn’t attack us. Elements of bin Laden’s al-Qaeda attacked us and they were spread across the Middle East; from Saudi Arabia to Indonesia, with a heavy concentration in Pakistan. Yet Bush chose Afghanistan because he thought - as primitive as they appeared to be - the Taliban would be easy to knock off and he could claim he was keeping the caves in eastern Afghanistan out of al-Qaeda's hands. Now, Trump is ending it like the fiasco it has been for the U.S. all along; like a cowering cur with its tail tucked between its legs, limping off the battlefield dragging the flag in the mud behind it. This is Trump’s foreign diplomacy. This will be his legacy. He has no honor, and he has no pride in anything except when he looks in a mirror.

            Addendum-dum: On March 4^th, Trump authorized dozens of drone airstrikes on Taliban positions in southern Afghanistan after the Taliban launched numerous attacks on Afghan Security Forces on March 3rd, which is exactly what the Taliban said they’d do. They did not attack US forces, but Trump ordered US forces to respond. This will unravel any treaty and I fully expect Trump to accelerate withdrawal in an almost panic mode that will increasingly appear to be a rout of US forces.

Trump told reporters on March 3^rd that he spoke on the phone with the leader of the Taliban, He stated, “We’ve had a good conversation. We agreed there’s no violence, we don’t want violence. But we’ll see what happens.” Does that sound like a confident statement or that anything was ironed out? Less than 24 hours later Trump sends in the drones to attack the Taliban. How good was that conversation again?

Impeach Donald J. Trump

Why is removing Trump from office even a question anymore?

A Clown Gets a Pie in the Face

        Why wait? We need laughter now. If only for a moment. So we'd benefit from a hilarious distraction away from the constant chaos, mounting scandals and lawsuits, violations of the Constitution, the subjugation of American democracy, and destroying whatever international goodwill was left toward this nation. There's got to be a pie out there somewhere with his name on it.

Fake it 'til you break it -- A False Presidency and a Fantasy Wall

Now that the Supreme Court has determined that Mexico - as in “Mexico will pay for the wall” - is located in the Defense Department’s budget, it’s time to consider Trump’s “wall.”

Trump's wall is as fake as his understanding of the presidency.

His wall is as fake as his marriages.

His wall is as fake as his love for Don Junior, Eric, Tiffany, and Barron.

His wall is as fake as his comb-over.

His wall is as fake as his conservatism.

His wall is as fake as his religious beliefs.

His wall is as fake as his golf handicap.

His wall is as fake as the top 10 floor numbers of Trump Tower

Need I say more? Okay…

His wall is as fake as his patriotism.

His wall is as fake as his skin color...

Add your own.

Celebrating our Independence?

The Republican Party has sold out the nation to Russia. Our own intelligence agencies, as well as our foreign intelligence friends, were warning us the Russians were interfering in the 2016 election. The Mueller Report confirmed this. Donald Trump became president thanks to Russian meddling.

How clearly does that have to be stated to anyone?

Here’s the thing; Donald Trump doesn’t care how this looks. He doesn’t care if there was collusion or obstruction. As long as it got Trump what he wanted, it was okay. He admits it in his line of tweets like “…I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected.” This is called an Excited Utterance which the Federal Rules of Evidence say is admissible in court. Trump is admitting he knew they were doing it but he doesn't see anything wrong with it.

The Republicans, the nation, even the Constitution mean nothing to him. Power and the unbridled capacity to enrich himself with it is the only thing that matters.

Yet the GOP still defends whatever Kremlin-asset Donald Trump does without question. This is the very definition of treason against the United States.

But by all means, enjoy Trump’s overpriced Fourth of July martial spectacle celebrating our “independence.”

Trump Embarrasses the United States on the World Stage...Again

While in Hanoi with the world’s press gathered after the US-North Korea talks abruptly ended, Trump was asked about whether he spoke with Kim Jong Un about American Otto Warmbier who had been held for months by North Korea and was brutally tortured until he was comatose, then hurriedly released to the U.S. so he could die hours later at home.

Trump answered the reporter’s question by saying Kim “tells me he didn’t know about it and I will take him at his word.”  

Trump could have made a statesman-like appeal to Kim and ask him to launch an investigation to find out who ordered and carried out Warmbier's torture - because who would have the nerve to do something that besmirched and sullied Kim's reputation and make him look like a blood-thirsty monster to the world rather than a great leader? Trump would have finally looked presidential with that one request. But Trump just doesn't have it in him.

Once he was safely back home where he thinks he can massage whatever message comes out and do his own damage control he reinvents the moment and claims it was a misunderstanding, tweeting “I never like being misinterpreted, but especially when it comes to Otto Warmbier and his great family. Remember, I got Otto out along with three others. The previous Administration did nothing, and he was taken on their watch. Of course I hold North Korea responsible…”

Trump didn't “get Otto out.” That's just Trump hyperbole. Only days before Warmbier died, panicky North Koreans contacted the U.S. and demanded they take the dying man off their hands. Trump didn't lift a finger. Trump also played the “blame Obama” card in his tweet - as though passing the buck to cover his own shortcomings in defending Kim's implication in murder is a rational and adult way to explain why Trump is not to blame, for anything. Trump ends the tweet almost in a whisper “Of course I hold North Korea responsible…” 

Of course you do. 

 

Yet when Trump had the opportunity to say that on the world stage he crumbled. He showed everyone his true colors; he defended the regime that killed Warmbier, and he actually used the world stage to praise that regime. What does that say about the United States with Donald Trump as our president?

Worldwide approval of U.S. leadership has already floundered and remains low after a dramatic drop during Trump's first year in office, while China's rating ticked up to its highest in almost a decade. That’s according to a new Gallup poll released Thursday, February 28th that measures how adults in 133 countries feel about the global leadership of countries like the U.S., China, Germany, and Russia. The low approval rating for the U.S. "suggests that the doubts sowed in Trump's first year about U.S. commitments abroad have taken root," it reads. "Russia is now on a more even level with the U.S." Trump is the reason we are at this new low point.

Trump has repeatedly embarrassed the U.S. on the world stage.

He shut down the U.S. government over Mexico not paying for his border wall. When that didn't work, he declared a National Emergency when there was no emergency at all, even according to his own military commanders. It was such a serious situation that, after declaring it, Trump spent the next three days playing golf at Mar-a-Lago.
        In Helsinki he validated Vladimir Putin’s interference in the 2016 election…interference that got Trump into office. Trump used the same opportunity to defend Putin, taking his word over the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus. All the while Putin stood next to him and proudly boasted "Yes I did, yes I did" want Trump to win.

Trump validated Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ordering the execution of U.S. legal resident Jamal Khashoggi. What is one death when measured against the billions U.S. defense contractors, and real estate moguls like Trump, make off the Saudi government?

He defended as "fine people" racists, White Supremacists, and the KKK at the Charlottesville Virginia march even after a White Nationalist had killed a protester and injured 19 others. 

He referred to African nations as “shithole” countries, just as he did with Haiti and El Salvador. Even after being told the correct pronunciation, he still repeatedly mispronounces Namibia as ‘Nambia’, Tanzania as 'Tan-Zay-nee-uh, Bhutan as “Button,” and Nepal as “Nipple.” He doesn’t understand that Colombia and Columbia are not the same things.

Trump was actually laughed at by the entire world…literally, on September 25, 2018, when he bragged about phony accomplishments before the U.N. General Assembly.

His administration still uses the terrorist tactic of ripping children away from parents who’ve crossed the border into the U.S. attempting to flee terror in their own country. Several of those kids have now died as a result of maltreatment while being held in U.S. government facilities. The Trump administration doesn’t care.

That is because Trump doesn’t care...about America or anything else. Trump only cares about Trump. The entire Trump presidency is one long get-rich-quick scheme.

We will pay for Trump’s enriching himself at our expense far into the future unless we use our Constitutional right to demand enactment of the 25^th Amendment to remove him from office and indict him as soon as he steps outside the White House. He should face the consequences for his lifetime of unethical behavior, criminal activities, and treasonous actions taken as president. 

For his massive corruption, dishonesty, deceit, fraud, sexual assaults, money laundering, numerous Emoluments violations just to name a few, Trump should become the first U.S. president to die in prison.

It will be cheaper for us.

Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton’s Incredible Offer

        On Monday, September 10^th, National Security Advisor John Bolton made a speech where he said the US would do everything "to protect our citizens" and threatened sanctions against the International Criminal Court if it goes ahead with prosecutions against Americans. Founded in 2002, the International Criminal Court investigates and brings to justice people responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, intervening when national authorities cannot or will not prosecute. The US is among several nations that have not joined the court.

          In the speech given in Washington, Bolton said: "If the court comes after us, we will not sit quietly." And that the ICC “is dead to us.” ICC judges and prosecutors would be barred from entering the US and their funds in the US would be sanctioned. No one is going to mess with any US citizen.

          Couldn’t be clearer how he feels.

          So how does Trump’s self-abasing praise for Putin’s offer at the Helsinki summit last July square with Bolton’s claim that the US would do everything "to protect our citizens?"

           At the summit, Putin proposed what President Trump described as an “incredible offer,” Russia would be allowed to question certain U.S. officials it suspects of interfering in Russian affairs, like former Ambassador Michael McFaul and Bill Browder (who was mostly responsible for the Maginsky Act), whom Trump considered turning over to Putin’s FSB. Trump even seemed excited about the prospect, calling it an "interesting idea."  

"The President's going to meet with his team and we'll let you know when we have an announcement on that," White House Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

        In speeches, interviews and op-eds, John Bolton has called Vladimir Putin a liar who aligns himself with America’s enemies, and whose country is a long-term strategic threat to the United States. So what was Bolton’s reaction to Trump finding Putin's offer "incredible" last July?

(Crickets)

        It was left to Sarah Sanders to respond. “It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it," Sanders said in a statement. It took Trump four days until he finally "disagreed with it." How do we even know Trump disagrees with this proposal, especially since it was made to him in sincerity and he originally said it was an incredible offer? Trump should tell us what was incredible about it. Of course, Trump didn’t bother to verbally disavow it himself, nor would Sanders. Trump didn’t say, do, or tweet jacksh*t. Sanders just issued a statement. When that didn’t put out the raging firestorm it caused, the State Department sent out spokeswoman-apologist Heather Nauert to try to undo the damage by telling a reporter that Russia’s request is “absolutely absurd.” That shows how tough Bolton and the Trump administration can be.
BOLTON...
SAID...
NOTHING

        Bolton will defend U.S. citizens even against the world…as long as Trump isn’t trying to sell them out.

        This is why Bob Woodward’s observations about Trump are so critical. Trump is a very real threat to the safety and well-being of every American.

A Quiet Coup d'etat Has Taken Place in the U.S. Government

We have had a bloodless coup d’état in Washington DC if the anonymous New York Times op-ed author is to be believed. Men and women we didn’t elect are running things any way they want, and they corral Trump like he’s a five-year-old claiming they are protecting us by doing so. They are talking about Trump’s behavior and character as being childish and they must keep him 'cribbed' to prevent him from acting on his impulses.

PEOPLE WE DIDN’T ELECT ARE RUNNIG THE GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT US FROM TRUMP.

One of Trump’s earliest cheerleaders in the Senate, Bob Corker, less than a year ago described the White House as an Adult Day Care Center where they swipe things off Trump’s desk so he can’t sign them and he forgets they were even there, just like what happens with an easily-distractible five-year-old. Corker has not changed his view on that. This past July, Lindsey Graham had to scold Trump on TV that “Putin is not your friend” like he was talking to a kindergartner. Graham has not walked that back. Is anyone in the GOP concerned about the optics of this? The man elected as the head of that party is being handled like a little child, and the GOP basically is saying “Yeah, we know. It’s been that way since day one. But we work around it and we get as much of our agenda crammed through under his name until someone comes along and figures out what’s really going on.”

SO PEOPLE WE DIDN’T ELECT ARE RUNNING OUR GOVERNMENT AND USING TRUMP AS A SHIELD.

Trump, who is being described as an amoral dimwit, is being used by the Republicans so they can do what they want almost unchecked. Keep in mind, the op-ed letter writer is proud of what they’ve accomplished so far, which, all things considered, isn't much. But of course it includes the program to terrorize kids by separating them from their parents at the border, the tax cuts rammed through last December of which 83% of it will benefit the wealthiest 2% of the population - like Trump – and add almost $2 trillion (with a “T”) to the deficit, and are now attempting to rush through a Supreme Court pick who is on record as saying that a president should not be subpoenaed or even investigated. The GOP is going along with forcing through and putting a man on the Supreme Court who will most likely get to decide cases regarding Trump’s criminal liabilities, obstruction of justice, and possible violations of ethics, security, and political power. Because if Kavanaugh says Trump is above the law, then the GOP gets the Putin-installed childish puppet to continue to cover for them for the next 2 to 6 years. Thanks for putting party before country, GOP.

PEOPLE WE DIDN’T ELECT ARE RUNNING OUR GOVERNMENT SO PUTIN CAN’T RUN IT.

Every U.S. intelligence agency (along with warnings from our foreign intelligence friends) clearly identified Russia as having infiltrated and influenced the 2016 election. Who did Putin’s meddling get elected? Trump is indebted to Putin one way or another. 
        And from people inside this administration, there have been repeated whisperings to reporters, analyses of his speeches, and detailed information given to reputable authors about Trump’s unfitness for office. So the adults in the room - these are supposedly Trump’s “best people” - have gently pried the government away from Trump like you take a toy away from a five-year-old. And through this op-ed letter, they have assured us they are doing it to protect us from Trump’s worst inclinations, like, say, aiding and abetting a hostile foreign power or violating his oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, the nation, and the people who serve it by saying he believed Putin over his own intelligence people. The GOP wants to protect this charade so they can continue to govern in Trump’s place because Trump doesn’t appear to know what he’s doing. The letter implies they did this for altruistic reasons because they can’t trust Trump’s decision-making. Like we're in a plane with a disabled pilot spiralling toward the ground and the anonymous resistance member is able to reach up and tap the rudder pedals or nudge the throttle every so often to delay the impending crash. 

We did not elect these people. Aren’t Trump supporters upset that there is a quiet resistance to Trump’s inclinations? Doesn’t it bother them that the president is described as, and treated like, an unruly five-year-old? Do they support a coup d’état carried out quietly by unelected people who are now making governing decisions for them? They’re not doing what Trump wants; they are doing what they want. Trump is not in control. He’s being treated like a child because he appears to be acting like a child. They say they are doing it to defend the republic, and make it seem noble that they get to make all the decisions instead of the five-year-old. If you’re a Trump supporter, is that what you want the government to do? Keep him contained in such a way as to minimize whatever damage he can do? If you’re a Trump supporter why would you tolerate that? Either one…that he is being kept from governing or that someone is having to corral him and govern in his place?

WE HAVE HAD A VERY QUIET AND HIDDEN COUP D’ÉTAT CARRIED OUT IN OUR GOVERNMENT.

If Trump is not capable of conducting the affairs and duties of the office of the presidency, then get him out of office legally. That's what you can do. That is what you must do. Don’t take over and then tell us you’re doing it for our own good to save us from what Trump is trying to do. Present your case to the American people. We decide. You don’t.

REMOVE THE CRIMINAL-TRAITOR-ETHICS VIOLATOR-CHILD KIDNAPPER-LIAR (TAKE YOUR PICK) FROM OFFICE

Michael Cohen indicates Trump ordered him to violate campaign finance laws to pay hush money to two women he has extra-marital affairs with.

Trump violated his oath of office by aiding and abetting Russia when he validated Putin’s denial of meddling in the 2016 election against the information he received from his entire intelligence apparatus.

Trump signs into law a Tax Bill last December that substantially benefits him and his organization, specifically it gives huge tax breaks to golf course owners and real estate developers, to the tune of billions of dollars after Republicans, and only Republicans, pushed the $1.5 trillion tax bill through the Senate without any hearings, testimony, or expert witness feedback. And on June 22, Trump signed an executive order to roll back environmental regulations to protect the world’s oceans thereby handing himself a business win in the process. It will “facilitate the economic growth of coastal communities and promote ocean industries” which will include most of Trump’s hotels and golf courses, increasing their profit margins. The order eliminates several regional planning bodies that were designed to keep an eye on local bodies of water and apply federal standards accordingly.

To date, 535 migrant children have still not been reunited with their families even after being ordered to do so by a federal court over a month ago. This is a form of terrorism endorsed by Trump to scare immigrants from coming to the U.S. by forcibly taking their children away when they cross the border. The children are innocent, yet they are ripped from their parents and put in cages in a detention camp. One has died while in ICE custody, and at least a dozen have been sexually or physically abused by ICE or HHS employees.

Immediately after Trump became the Republican nominee, the FBI provided him with high-level security information by high ranking counter-intelligence officers that the Russians were infiltrating the US election system and trying to spy on his campaign. They even warned him explicitly that the Russians were trying to contact his campaign and that if he was contacted or if he knew of any attempted contact, he should alert the FBI. This was AFTER the meeting Trump had in March with George Papadopoulos at the table who presented an offer to contact the Russians, after the Trump Tower meeting with Jr., Kushner and Manafort with at least 5 Russians on June 9^th, after Jeff Sessions first meeting with Sergey Kislyak, after Paul Manafort had offered a Russian oligarch close to Putin with a personal update on the Trump campaign, and after Carter Page had gone to Moscow at the behest of Manafort for the Trump campaign. Keep in mind this was BEFORE he became president. Yet he still claims there was no collusion. Was there a criminal conspiracy, then?

Trump’s lies? Did he ever provide his tax returns before the election which he vowed to do at least 16 times before November 8^th?  Was Don Junior’s meeting with the Russians at Trump Tower about adoptions like Trump wrote aboard Air Force One as an explanation? Didn’t Trump brag when he came back from Singapore that North Korea would de-nuclearize immediately? Didn’t the White House promise that 70% of the GOP tax cuts would go to workers when it is now confirmed that 83% has gone to the ultra-wealthy in this country? Didn’t Trump say he would hardly leave the White House to play golf because there was so much work that needed to be done? To date, he has golfed over 60 times in less than 2 years in office, far more than Obama did in 8 years.

Trump has been involved in over 1,300 lawsuits in the last 18 years, including one over his fraudulent Trump university that was still ongoing during the campaign. Nineteen women have accused him of sexual assault or misconduct, including ex-wife Ivana who once used the word "rape" to describe what he did to her in a court case. His businesses have repeatedly declared bankruptcy, including three casinos, an airline, vodka, a mortgage company, bottled water, steaks, a magazine, a dot com company, even a board game. He has told an average of 6 1/2 lies per day since taking office, for a total of over 4,000.

At the beginning of June, the Pentagon told Congress it estimates that nearly 500 civilians were killed as a result of US military actions in the first year of the Trump administration. "The Department of Defense assesses that there are credible reports of approximately 499 civilians killed and approximately 169 civilians injured during 2017." The report adds that "more than 450 reports of civilian casualties from 2017 remained to be assessed," meaning the number of civilian casualties caused by US military operations could go up. The report covers both US airstrikes as well as ground combat operations. The DoD acknowledged that civilian casualties have more than doubled since January 2017.

How many more reasons does anyone need to remove this criminal Russian asset from the Oval Office?

Hello, GOP. Anyone home?

Do Not Be Silent - Do Not be Fooled - Resist traitorous Donald Trump

Our Constitutional Republic is in danger due to this man. Trump is drawing closer and closer to invalidating our Founding Father’s experiment in self-government. He violated his oath of office and no one who can do anything about it in Congress or on his Cabinet is holding him accountable.
        Trump sided with Vladimir Putin against all of our intelligence gathering agencies filled with men and women who quietly defend this nation against foreign intrusion. Men and women who just want a president that has their back...not stabs them in it.
Trump does nothing to preserve, protect and defend the United States or the people who serve it.

That is not incompetence.

That is not ignorance.

THAT IS TREASON.

DON'T SUPPORT TRAITORS - BECAUSE THOSE WHO SUPPORT TRAITORS ARE THEMSELVES TRAITORS.

Putin and Trump - World-Class Liars

Trump – “There is no collusion. Absolutely none. I have nothing to do with Russia.”

Putin - "Thank you, President Trump. Information obtained from the CIA was sufficient to search for and arrest of criminals.”

          Today, it is revealed by White House press manipulator Sarah Huckabee Sanders that on Sunday Russian President Putin phoned Trump to thank him for a tip from the CIA that thwarted a terrorist attack being planned at Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. A tip from the CIA? And Trump had a hand in providing it?

Countries share intelligence occasionally, but this call was highly unusual since presidents rarely, if ever, thank one another for something from the other's spy agency. According to the White House press release, which was offered only after the Kremlin had mentioned it in their own TASS dispatch, “The Federal Security Service said Friday that seven members of a terror cell had been detained for their involvement in the plot, and that "a significant amount of explosives," weapons and "extremist literature" were confiscated.

          TASS also reported that when caught, the perpetrators even obliged by confessing to the whole terrorist scheme on camera. It was almost as if it was STAGED!!!

For the fifth time this year, this information was released by the RUSSIANS…not by the White House. Not until the Kremlin made the phone call known did our own president acknowledge he had been colluding with…I mean, in contact with, Putin. So we’re just now finding out OUR intelligence agency is working with the RUSSIAN intelligence agency and American citizens have deliberately been kept in the dark. Yet both governments now want to openly brag about it, so it’s not like they’re trying to keep it a secret so they can thwart future terrorist attacks. Why is Trump telegraphing this information? He said so many times on the campaign trail that he wasn’t going to let our enemies know what the U.S. is doing. (What he seems to mean is he doesn’t want U.S. citizens to know what he’s doing.) As if it has always been done this way, Trump is pointing out how our intelligence service is helping the Russians.

This then begs the question of why didn’t our CIA do the same for the Pakistanis who supposedly are our allies when a terrorist bomber struck at a Christian church in Quetta last Sunday killing 9 people? Why didn’t our intelligence services provide any help to Nigeria in recent weeks when Boko Haram killed hundreds of people in separate attacks across that country since mid-November? Closer to home, why didn’t that vaunted intelligence stop Akayed Ullah the New York City subway bomber on December 12th? On top of all that, as recently as last month, Trump said he didn’t trust our intelligence agencies, and less than a year ago he was comparing them to the Nazis. Why was their untrustworthy intelligence good enough now to pass on to the Russians?

Does anyone believe this nonsense? What evidence do we have that the CIA provided the information? There is nothing to show it sent anything or contacted the FSB at all. Neither Trump nor Putin has provided proof of cooperation between the two agencies. We just have to take their word for it. But things that are asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. Putin called to thank Trump for the CIA tip, after Thursday's call congratulating him on how strong our economy is. Why would the Russians congratulate the U.S. on a booming economy? How does that help Russia?

          This is just the latest pack of lies from two world-class liars. It was invented (by Putin or Trump, or both) to gloss over something entirely different. Both leaders agreed that this serves as an example of the positive things that can occur when the two countries work together. Here’s the bizarre part…you notice that “when the two countries work together,” the Trump administration never works with Brazil, Thailand, Iran, Denmark, China, Sri Lanka, or any other country in that manner. It is always…ALWAYS…the Russians - and only the Russians. Why?

          Do you believe Trump when he says there’s no collusion?