Anyone Tired of all the Winning Yet?

It's been a busy week for the new President.

If you followed Trump, even a little bit, in the two years leading up to last week - nothing he did should be a surprise to you. That is, unless you took him and his rhetoric metaphorically. Or even figuratively.

Apparently, no one took him literally.

ObamaCare D.O.A. - new plan TBD.
Federal hiring freeze.
But not the military. That's going to get bigger.
A whole pile of State Department folks quit/fired ... it was a race to the door.
Tears at the EPA, PBS and NPR.
No more regulations. Or, you can have a new one, but you have to take 2 away.
No more abortion talk for global health assistance groups.
TPP is just T.P. (that's Toilet Paper for you folks not into acronyms) now.
Green light for the Dakota and Keystone Pipelines.
Domestic Steel for those pipes.
Green light for new manufacturing facilities.
Sanctuary Cities are on notice, but it won't matter too long...
He's going ahead with the wall. Yes, that's a physical wall.
And there's "Extreme vetting" - in case you made it over the wall. Maybe in an airplane?

That last one might be the brick too far for some folks. There's still a judiciary branch of the government, but apparently it's no longer a page in the White House.gov's website. There's a few other pages missing now. Some people noticed these omissions.

And no one has noticed how busy the Pentagon has been this week... And they've been really busy.

It's been a good week of fundraising at the ACLU and Planned Parenthood though. And folks who make signs for protesters. A banner year. Pun unexpected.

A No Hitter for Clemens?

Judge Declares Mistrial in Roger Clemens Perjury Case

The federal judge presiding over Roger Clemens’s perjury trial declared a mistrial because the prosecution revealed information Thursday that he had previously deemed inadmissible.

The United States District Court Judge Reggie Walton abruptly stopped the trial and scolded the prosecution for playing a videotape of the 2008 Congressional hearings on performance-enhancing drug use in baseball. The part of the tape that worried him included comments made by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a MDDemocrat, about the credibility of Andy Pettitte, Clemens’s former best friend and teammate, who is expected to be one of the star witnesses for the government.

Read More

I wonder how much money the taxpayers would save if they lopped off all the terrible show trials? Looks like there are way too many overpaid lawyers and government workers sucking off the taxpayers -- with zero results.

Great job, Eric Holder.

About Face: Military, not Civilian Trial

9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed To Be Tried By Military Commission, not the civilian court.

In a striking about face for the Administration, some Sept. 11 suspects will no longer be tried in civilian court in NYC.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and four co-conspirators will be tried in a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Department of Justice officials said today.

Mohammed was to have been tried in New York City, but city officials strongly objected to the move and Congress refused to appropriate funds to house Guantanamo inmates on mainland United States and to provide funds for a trial of extraordinary expense.

Read more ....

Mr. Obama also announced he's running for another term, today. No coincidence in the timing.

Rights? What Rights?

A US DOJ investigation has found that a large number of FBI agents and supervisors in several offices found to have cheated while taking a test about surveillance policies and civil rights.

Well, that pretty much sums it up into a neat little package, doesn't it?

I suppose cheating on the surveillance test ought to win you an accommodation for original thinking?

"You have the right to... ahhhhh... huh huh..."

"Boner! You have a right to a boner! huhuhuh huh! Boooinng!"

"Shut up, Beavis. Yeah, you have the right to shut up, or something."

Sunday Comics

Sesame Street, 40 years later... an update
Eric Holder gets schooled in how the Judicial system works.
Mr. Obama went to Asia this week. Wins another prize.

American women figure out what rational government health care means... (hit, it's similar to jumbo shrimp)
And speaking of boobs...
Oh, and Sarah Palin put out a book - but I figure you've probably heard enough about that by now.

That was the week that was. Hope you had fun. See you next week!

Roh Roh Rezko

Obama’s Best Friend, Tony Rezko, has been Convicted Of Sixteen Crimes.

The jury reached a verdict in the corruption trial of Chicago “slum landlord” Tony Rezko, the sleazy best friend of Barack Obama.

Rezko for those of you who don't know - was a prominent fundraiser for Obama back in the day, and even helped him buy his Hope Mansion in Chicago, plus he bought the lot next door on the same day.

Rezko was convicted of “12 counts of wire and mail fraud, two counts of money laundering and two counts of aiding and abetting bribery.” But what’s the worst the judge could throw at him for such petty misdemeanors? Oh and: “300 years in prison.” So what? Obama will just pardon him in January, 2017.

From the Sun Times:
Here are eight things to know about all this:

1. They met in 1990. Obama was a student at Harvard Law School and got an unsolicited job offer from Rezko, then a low-income housing developer in Chicago. Obama turned it down.

2. Obama took a job in 1993 with a small Chicago law firm, Davis Miner Barnhill, that represents developers -- primarily not-for-profit groups -- building low-income housing with government funds.

3. One of the firm's not-for-profit clients -- the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., co-founded by Obama's then-boss Allison Davis -- was partners with Rezko's company in a 1995 deal to convert an abandoned nursing home at 61st and Drexel into low-income apartments. Altogether, Obama spent 32 hours on the project, according to the firm. Only five hours of that came after Rezko and WPIC became partners, the firm says. The rest of the future senator's time was helping WPIC strike the deal with Rezko. Rezko's company, Rezmar Corp., also partnered with the firm's clients in four later deals -- none of which involved Obama, according to the firm. In each deal, Rezmar "made the decisions for the joint venture," says William Miceli, an attorney with the firm.

4. In 1995, Obama began campaigning for a seat in the Illinois Senate. Among his earliest supporters: Rezko. Two Rezko companies donated a total of $2,000. Obama was elected in 1996 -- representing a district that included 11 of Rezko's 30 low-income housing projects.

5. Rezko's low-income housing empire began crumbling in 2001, when his company stopped making mortgage payments on the old nursing home that had been converted into apartments. The state foreclosed on the building -- which was in Obama's Illinois Senate district.

6. In 2003, Obama announced he was running for the U.S. Senate, and Rezko -- a member of his campaign finance committee -- held a lavish fund-raiser June 27, 2003, at his Wilmette mansion.

7. A few months after Obama became a U.S. senator, he and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a doctor in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood -- a deal that has dogged Obama the last two years. The doctor sold the mansion to Obama for $1.65 million -- $300,000 below the asking price. Rezko's wife paid full price -- $625,000 -- for the adjacent vacant lot. The deals closed in June 2005. Six months later, Obama paid Rezko's wife $104,500 for a strip of her land, so he could have a bigger yard. At the time, it had been widely reported that Tony Rezko was under federal investigation. Questioned later about the timing of the Rezko deal, Obama called it "boneheaded" because people might think the Rezkos had done him a favor.

8. Eight months later -- in October 2006 -- Rezko was indicted on charges he solicited kickbacks from companies seeking state pension business under his friend Gov. Blagojevich. Federal prosecutors maintain that $10,000 from the alleged kickback scheme was donated to Obama's run for the U.S. Senate. Obama has given the money to charity. (by Tim Novak)

Look for this to come up in some talking points... but not by the GOP - as Rezko and the Republican leaders in Illinois (yeah, there are a couple left) are in his pocket too - and Karl Rove is part of that deal with Rezko to get US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald out in order to install a "puppy dog" who will obey orders.

Dirty, dirty scum bag - typical of Illinois politics. Ladies and Gentlemen, your nominee who's all about change?

Don't Steal the LORD's Metal

The owner of a machine shop where thieves stole $3,000 worth of scrap steel, iron and aluminum wasn't going to let it happen again. After Saturday night's theft, Joseph Lord loaded his shotgun and laid low, expecting the thieves to return. They came back on Tuesday, in broad daylight.

When Lord saw their 2008 F-250 pickup truck, he shot out its tires and windshield and blasted its radiator, Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty said.

The startled thieves took off on foot, but investigators quickly tracked down the truck's operator, who will be charged with theft, Liberty said. Charges are pending against an accomplice, the sheriff said.

Liberty said he discourages the use of guns to protect property. In this case, Lord told investigators he wanted to disable the vehicle so the criminals couldn't escape.

"I can understand the frustration that Mr. Lord must have been experiencing," Liberty said. But, he added, "We don't want to see anyone get hurt over property."

Open Letter to Joe Lieberman

Dear Mr. Lieberman~

Unlike many other residents (and in my case former resident) of Connecticut, I will not lie to you. You, sir, are a disgrace to the United States of America. Not to a political party, mind you, but to the country you profess to serve.

I did not vote for you in the 2000 election. I did not vote for one of my favorite candidates (Mr. Gore) because of you and his wife Tipper. At the time I did not think you a dangerous warhawk, I thought you dangerous for your desire to take away American's rights of free speech and freedom to share information. I was opposed to the censoring of music, television, movies, and video games that you were advocating.

You continue to do this even now, at the same time you demand freedom and democracy for the Middle East. Iran already censors their information, Senator, they do not need your help to do it. I understand that war is fun. They show the cool night-eye vision goggles on CNN and things go BOOM Their are bright colors and fires and chaos and cool weaponry for the History channel. I understand. What I think you are failing to grasp is that their are human beings involved in this war. Real breathing (or formerly breathing) people. And they are dying on both sides in the tens of thousands.

I know you were and continue to be for the war for your own personal religious reasons. I have read and re-read the Old Testament and have yet to find the "blow the shit out of your enemies" section of the text. I did see the "turn the other cheek" part but that assumes that you were hit on your cheek in the first place. I read the "love your enemies" part and the "be kind to your fellow man" area but something probably got lost in the translation.

Recently, you encouraged the president to not only continue in Iraq but to expand the war into Iran.

"I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq," Lieberman said. "And to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers."

You were able to come to this conclusion by traveling to Iraq and speaking with the soldiers. Sir, these men are soldiers. There job is not to give you answers but to protect our country and our people. In turn, they ask for honesty and for you to look out for them. With armor, weapons and necessary equipment to fund a war and the best care available if they are injured while fighting for the country. You took their answers to your questions and parlayed them to us falsely then had the gumption to act shocked that they are not happy.

During Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-CT) trip to Iraq two weeks ago, McClatchy published an article highlighting how several soldiers who met with Lieberman had wanted to ask him, "When are we going to get out of here?" Others told McClatchy, "We’re waiting to get blown up," and "We’re not making any progress," but said they didn’t feel comfortable telling Lieberman their true feelings. One said he thought he would be demoted if he spoke openly.

This morning on CNN, Lieberman was asked about the article and appeared to blame the soldiers for not being honest with him. "I was really upset about it," he said, because "I sat at a table with a bunch of our soldiers there" and "was asking them to speak to me from their heart."

I also have issue with your reaction to the politicalization of the Department of Justice. You recently voted against cloture in the lack of confidence vote against Alberto Gonzalez. You claimed that you voted against ending the discussion claiming "[i]t is an expression of opposition to spending any more time on a resolution that will accomplish nothing, instead of going ahead with the next item of business, which is energy legislation." You realize the irony in that statement, right? You voted against ending the discussion of the no confidence vote because you did not want to talk about it. There were more important things ahead.

Well, the politicalization of the Justice Department is one of the most crucial items that our Congress should work to fix. The basis of our democracy rests on it. This is not a political stunt. This is defense of our constitution.

In the past year, there has been an increase of defendants claiming that the charges brought against them are political ploys and not true charges.
The controversy has drained morale from U.S. attorney offices around the country. And now, legal experts and former Justice Department officials say, it is casting a shadow over the integrity of the department and its corps of career prosecutors in court.

There has long been a presumption that, because they represented the Justice Department, prosecutors had no political agenda and their word could be trusted. But some legal experts say the controversy threatens to undermine their credibility.

"It provides defendants an opportunity to make an argument that would not have been made two years ago," said Daniel J. French, a former U.S. attorney in Albany, N.Y. "It has a tremendously corrosive effect."

Defense lawyers in political corruption cases often argue to juries that the prosecution was motivated by politics, especially when the prosecutor happens to be of a different political party than the defendant.

Let me decipher this for you because you seem to have issues doing it yourself. There are three branches of government. Each with separate and independent powers, They are the Executive, Legislative, and the Judicial. This is Separation of Power. The founding fathers thought that with human nature being the way it is one day we just might elect a person because we would want to have a beer with them rather than by who would do the best job. In turn by having others make sure that they don't do anything like start an unfounded war or turn the government of this country into a Corporate Branch.

The most important of these is the Justice Department. It's job is to ensure that whatever else happens, there will be a non-political set of eyes on the issue and it will be resolved fairly. Congressman, you are trying to put an end to a fair and just criminal system.

You have recently said about Alberto Gonzalez, "... Attorney General Gonzales is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, and it's time for him to really look into his own heart and soul, as tough as it is, and ask whether he should continue in this job. And it is time for the Senate to move on right now..."

Unreal. You, sir, should look into your heart and soul and decide, as tough as it is, and ask if YOU should keep your job. You should decide now if you are with America or against her. Decide well. Our country depends on it.

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