Kingfisher Cove

From the White House Correspondents Dinner

"Almost inevitably, unreasonable government secrecy is the enemy — and usually the giveaway about what the real story might be. [Applause] And when lying is combined with secrecy, there is usually a pretty good roadmap in front of us. Yes, follow the money. But follow also the lies." 
–Carl Bernstein (who, with Bob Woodward, reported on Watergate until Nixon resigned).

Instead of Draining the Swamp

…he’s drowning us in it.

I. Hate. Him.

Week Twenty-Three

Compiled by Amy Siskind

Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.

This week the Trump-Russia scandal continued to unfold, but that wasn’t the big story. What stands out in Week 23 is the kleptocracy — a pattern of conflicts of interest and pay-to-play — and the Trump regime’s utter irreverence towards ethics and past standards.

As the 100-day mark approaches, Trump has no legislative accomplishments and his foreign policy can best be described as an embarrassing mess. Instead, Trump seems focused on enriching himself, his regime, and his business contacts. The pace and boldness of corruption whiff of a man who is aware his days in this gig are numbered.

1. Seven weeks have passed since Trump’s tweet accusing Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower. He has yet to offer any evidence or apologize.
2. American Oversight, a group of liberal lawyers, is suing the DOJ and FBI seeking proof for Trump’s wiretapping claim.
3. Trump has yet to offer any evidence or apologize for his accusations that Susan Rice committed a crime by spying on his campaign.
4. The New Yorker reported not only did bi-partisan members of the House find nothing in the Rice intercepts, but also the rationale came clear: per an intelligence source, the WH said, “We are going to mobilize to find something to justify the President’s tweet that he was being surveilled.’
5. Trump hosted a disastrous Easter Egg Roll, including telling the children, “We will be stronger and bigger and better as a nation than ever before,” and forgetting to lift his hand to his heart during the National Anthem.
6. NYT reported on violations and a raft of potential conflicts-of-interest as Trump appoints former lobbyists, lawyers and consultants to craft policies in industries where they formerly worked.
7. OGE director Shaub noted that Trump rolled back an Obama requirement that appointees not accept jobs in agencies they recently lobbied, and that Trump has granted waivers allowing appointees to take up matters which benefit their former clients.
8. WAPO reported 168 corporate interests have made requests to Trump for regulatory relief, all likely to be granted, “especially those designed to advance environmental protection and safeguard worker rights.”
9. On Tax Day, breaking precedent with every modern-day president, Trump did not release his tax returns, nor explain why.
10. WSJ reported that in the first quarter, Trump’s campaign funds paid $500k to Trump’s companies including hotels, golf clubs and restaurants.
11. Trump raised $107mm for his inaugural, doubling Obama, although Trump’s crowds and festivities were markedly smaller. It’s unclear where unspent money has gone, while numerous “pay-to-play” stories emerge.
12. For example, Rachel Maddow reported on a $666,000 gift from a businessman named R. W. Habboush, which led to a meetings between his son and both an NSC official and Bannon to discuss how to open up business with Venezuela, which is heavily sanctioned by the US.
13. Trump dropped his campaign promise to let Medicare negotiate bulk discounts on prescription drugs after meeting with pharma lobbyists.
14. Ivanka was granted China trademarks during dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. As reported in Week 22, Trump also changed his position saying China does not manipulate its currency.
15. FT reported Manafort stepped in to the China action, advising Chinese billionaire Jiehe on how to access to Trump’s $1tn infrastructure plan.
16. CREW filed an amended complaint to its emoluments challenge against Trump in federal court, adding new plaintiffs who claim they’ve been “directly harmed by a loss of business and wages.”
17. Dow Chemical donated $1mm to Trump’s inauguration, then asked the regime to ignore a study on its pesticide which was “originally derived from a nerve gas developed by Nazi Germany,”
18. Trump billionaire outside adviser, Steve Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone which has significant holdings in China, stands to gain from US-China policies he helped to shape.
19. USA Today reporters pieced together that Trump companies own 400+ luxury condos and homes worth $250mm up for sale or rent presenting people, corporations or foreign interests an opportunity gain influence through purchases.
20. Further, since Trump launched his presidential bid, Trump companies have sold at least 58 units for $90mm — almost half to LLCs. Since Election Day, 14 units have been sold for $23mm — half to LLCs.
21. The House Oversight Committee sent a letter asking Trump for details on how and when the Trump will donate profits made from foreign government officials. Reps Cummings and Chaffetz signed the letter.
22. Two days earlier, without explanation, Chaffetz said he would not run for re-election in 2018, and that he may leave office early to return to the private sector.
23. Despite denials by the Trump, Erik Prince’s had close ties to the Trump regime, including riding the Acela with Conway, providing advice to Trump’s inner-circle including Flynn, and entering Trump Tower through the back entrance.
24. As mentioned in Week 21, Prince had a one-on-one meeting with a Putin insider in Seychelles on January 11. He is also Betsy DeVos’s brother.
25. Without explanation, the national security official leading the DOJ investigation into whether the Trump regime colluded with Russia, abruptly resigned.
26. CNN reported that the FBI used information in the Steele dossier, which they independently confirmed, for their FISA warrant against Page.
27. CNN reported Russia tried to use Trump advisers, including Page, to infiltrate the campaign. Page is one of several advisers US and European intel found to be in contact with Russian officials during the campaign.
28. The DOJ said is it preparing charges against WikiLeaks founder Assange, with Sessions saying Assange’s arrest is a priority. Strangely, the Trump regime has turned on Assange, after lauding him during the campaign.
29. Sessions left open the possibility of prosecuting US news organizations for publishing leaked information, and stories on the Trump-Russia scandal continue to pour out.
30. As part of a custody battle, InfoWars’ Alex Jones said he is a “performance artist.” As noted in Week 19, InfoWars and Breitbart are under FBI investigation for their roles in Russian hacking of our election.
31. NBC compiled a seating chart of attendees at Putin’s December 2015 RT celebration dinner. Other than Flynn seated next to Putin, Stein was also at Putin’s table and Assange appeared via satellite. NBC also reported on efforts by RT to promote Stein (and hurt Hillary) in the primary.
32. The House Intel Committee announced it will reopen its Trump-Russia probe ex Nunes. Yates, Comey, Rogers, Brennan and Clapper have all been invited to testify.
33. Nikolai Andrushchenko, a Russian journalist and Putin critic, was beaten to death by strangers. He is the 12th “mysterious” Russian death in recent months.
34. Like their interference in the US, Russian sources are flooding French social media with fake news ahead of France’s election.
35. Reuters reported on a Putin-linked think tank that very purposefully and carefully orchestrated an attack on the US election. Fake news, pro-Kremlin bloggers and cyber-attacks were all part of the plan.
36. Exxon sought a US waiver to resume drilling in their Russian jv with Rosneft — a deal forged by Tillerson, who is ring fenced from Exxon for only one year. Amid outcry, permission was denied by the Treasury Dept.
37. The UK Election Commission has launched an investigation of Farage’s Leave.EU for its funding. The involvement of Cambridge Analytica — which also allegedly has ties to Bannon and the Mercers and the Russian hacking of the US election — was not declared to the election watchdog.
38. Sessions said he was “amazed” that a US judge “on an Island in the Pacific”(aka Hawaii) could block Trump’s Muslim Ban.
39. Sessions took a fact-free swipe at another ethnically diverse city, saying New York City was soft on crime and plagued by gangs murders.
40. ICE immigrant arrests were up 33% in the first two months of the Trump regime, including a doubling of noncriminal arrests.
41. The first protected DREAMer, Juan Manuel Montes, who is 23 and have lived here since age 9, was deported by Trump.
42. Trump ally Rep Steve King celebrated the deportation by tweeting a photo of a frosty beer mug with the words, “First non-valedictorian DREAMer deported. Border Patrol, this one’s for you.”
43. Ironically, a federal lawsuit brought on behalf of Montes has been assigned to Judge Curiel, the jurist infamously attacked by Trump for his Mexican heritage during the Trump University case.
44. Trump signed an executive order to review high-skilled H-1B immigration visas.
45. Trump’s order does not, however, impact low-skilled H2A or H2B visas. According to CNN, Trump businesses have received 1,024 H-2B visas since 2000, and Trump Vineyards has received 64 H-2A permits since 2006
46. In a troubling provocation, Russian aircraft were spotted flying off the coast of Alaska four times in four day this week.
47. Amidst silence from Trump and our State Department, pogroms of gay men in Russia’s Chechnya region escalated. Russia also banned Jehovah’s Witnesses, claiming “extremist activities.”
48. Trump shocked US and international officials when he called Turkey’s Erdogan to congratulate him on passage of a referendum which allows Erdogan to further consolidate power as an autocrat. International monitors have said the vote was not “genuinely democratic.”
49. Trump held a secret meeting at Mar-a-Lago with former presidents of Colombia, threatening to undermine the country’s peace agreement with rebel leaders. The meeting was arranged by Rubio, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and was not on Trump’s schedule.
50. Meanwhile, at a speech in WI, Trump called some of Canada’s trade practices a “disgrace” and claimed NAFTA is “a disaster for our country.”
51. In another embarrassment of US foreign policy, Trump promised “we are sending an armada”- the USS Carl Vinson carrier group was being deployed to waters off the Korean Peninsula. This was not true.
52. Mattis and McMaster also made similar misstatement about the USS Carl Vinson’s location. While traveling in the region, Pence assured our allies the misstatements were “not made intentionally.”
53. On Wednesday, Tillerson said that Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal. On Thursday, Trump said Iran was not in complaint.
54. Trump offended our S. Korea allies with a claim that the country “actually used to be part of China.” Trump apparently gleaned this “knowledge” from his conversation with Xi Jinping.
55. For his upcoming visit to London, Trump demanded a carriage ride with Queen Elizabeth II down a strip that leads to Buckingham Palace.
56. Three month in, Trump has only filled 4% of key roles in the executive branch. And with all the international hot spots and conflicts, the State Department remains largely vacant, including Deputy Secretary.
57. A State Department official who helped shape the Iran nuclear deal was summarily reassigned for criticizing Conservative Review and Breitbart.
58. The Surgeon General was also quietly dismissed on Friday evening, without explanation or a full-time replacement.
59. DeVos’s pick to head the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights said she faced discrimination for being white.
60. In his first three months of office, Trump has made 417 false or misleading claims.
61. Trump first quarter job approval stood at 41%, the lowest of any modern day president by 14 points in Gallup polling.
62. The Resistance claimed a major victory, bringing down FoxNews icon Bill O’Reilly. Some speculated that the rise of Trump, and his backing of O’Reilly after recent allegations, laid the groundwork for O’Reilly’s fall.
63. Hundreds of thousands are expected to march on Earth Day in the global March for Science in DC and at 609 satellite locations.

Past weeks:
Week 1: https://goo.gl/KWlyOO
Week 2: https://goo.gl/Pn7MFs
Week 3: https://goo.gl/CZwxsX
Week 4: https://goo.gl/JhwuON
Week 5: https://goo.gl/TGM6x8
Week 6: https://goo.gl/uhyjxe
Week 7: https://goo.gl/bMdhTG
Week 8: https://goo.gl/89MW8h
Week 9: https://goo.gl/ekv9wE
Week 10: https://goo.gl/RETyH1
Week 11: https://goo.gl/6cs0tt
Week 12: https://goo.gl/bRMx5o
Week 13: https://goo.gl/xzdjyY
Week 14: https://goo.gl/1HwN4H
Week 15: https://goo.gl/JxVghS
Week 16: https://goo.gl/sZpudG
Week 17: https://goo.gl/QymWmJ
Week 18: https://goo.gl/Ri6E9N
Week 19: https://goo.gl/L6JOSV
Week 20: https://goo.gl/PvlahQ
Week 21: https://goo.gl/XDjZFw
Week 22: https://goo.gl/AQydgj

Andy Borowitz Cracks Me Up (Plus He’s Spot On)

Obama’s First 100 Days:

1. Passed economic stimulus package.
2. Expanded children’s health insurance to millions of families.
3. Implemented new ethics guidelines to curtail influence of lobbyists.

Trump’s First 100 Days:

1. Searched in vain for White House light switches.
2. Declared war on Meryl Streep.
3. Lost aircraft carrier.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday was the first truly nice day we’ve enjoyed around here since…OCTOBER. What a godawful dreary, wet, windy winter and spring we’ve had. And even a sunny day here and there (only FOUR of them, according to my favorite meteorologist, since October) was either butt-cold or very windy or both. But yesterday was pretty darned nice, even though it was rather breezy. A sweatshirt and jeans helped with that (although I’m thinking onion goggles might be in order to keep my eyes from watering!)

So, we took a beach walk!

The Olympic mountains were plugged in! Lots of snow up there, unlike last year.

We witnessed our neighbor here catch a cutthroat as we walked past. He does catch and release, which I don’t understand (unless the current season requires it). I mean, injure the fish with your hook and toss it back in? Isn’t that rather cruel? What’s the point?

This behemoth rolled in on a storm several months ago and is now wedged in front of our house over the beach berm. John said he needs to bring down the chain saw and cut it up so it’ll float away in pieces. Somebody had tied a rope to it at some point, probably to haul it out to the water to float away, where it then found our beach. Gee, thanks.

So, this was funny: When we were about ready to head down for our walk, Mojo was sleeping on the bed and I said to him, “You want to go for a walk? Go to the beach?” He almost always joins us (since he was a tiny lil’ thang), but it’s been months since we’ve ventured down there (because: weather). He blinked at me and laid his head down on his giant paws, so John and I left for the beach. As we walked and searched for agates, I kept looking behind us to see if Mojo had “gotten the message,” but apparently he hadn’t. We’d walked quite a ways when we encountered some neighbors sitting on the beach in front of their place under their newly erected Earth flag (it’s Earth Day!) and we chatted for a while, catching them up on all the particulars of the &$+@!! parties that have us all pissed as hell. And then the woman says, “Is that your cat?” We turned around and there was Mojo several feet away, rolling on the beach in the sunshine! He’d quietly followed us after all! He understood! Good boy!

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This is pretty cool! John’s been volunteering at the Hydroplane Museum in Kent a couple of times a week, working to restore the 1979 Miss Squire Shop, that he originally helped build all those years ago. A film crew from the Tri-Cities area came in and interviewed some of them and took some video for a news segment, and here it is! And yes, you can see (and hear) John! 

 

NBC Right Now/KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA |

 

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Back to dreariness.

It’s currently pouring down rain. Sigh.

Week Twenty-Two

Compiled by Amy Siskind

Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember. Here's week 22.

Week 22 has, by far, the most items related to Trump-Russia ties. This week, the word “probe” progressed to “scandal,” signaling an acceptance that some sort of collusion occurred. Trump continues his attempts to divert attention from this story by bombing and provocation without a strategy or plan. Two days of bombing have earned him his first two days of positive press. Meanwhile, as we approach the 100-day mark, Trump has accomplished little and his regime is in disarray.

1. Six weeks have passed since Trump's tweet accusing Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower. He has yet to offer any evidence or apologize.
2. Trump continues to claim, without evidence, that Susan Rice committed a crime by spying on the Trump campaign.
3. The Trump regime has articulated five different policies for Syria in the last two weeks. As the week closed, he still hadn’t settled on one.
4. Reuters reported that the Assad regime was warned by Russia (after Russia was warned by Trump) of the impending US strike, and was able to mostly evacuate the target.
5. Tillerson attended a G7 meeting, where he was a dissenting voice on imposing more sanctions on Russia. Tillerson said of Russia’s involvement in Ukraine, “Why should U.S. taxpayers be interested in Ukraine?”
6. Tillerson ditched his press pool while meeting with Putin. Tillerson claimed he and Putin found very little to agree on.
7. As news about the Trump-Russia collusion in our election seeped out this week, Trump and Putin sought to display a deteriorating US-Russia relationship, with Trump saying relations were “at an all-time low.”
8. The next day, Trump tweeted an odd, unprompted reassurance, “Things will work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia. At the right time everyone will come to their senses & there will be lasting peace!”
9. Buzzfeed reported Pyotr Levashov (Peter Severa), a Russian hacker, was detained in Spain for ties to a computer virus linked to the US election. His wife said he was arrested for being “linked to Trump's win.”
10. WAPO reported that the FBI had obtained a FISA warrant to monitor Carter Page in connection with an investigation of the Trump campaign’s connection to the Russia’s effort to swing the election in Trump's favor.
11. WAPO also reported that the first 90-day FISA warrant was issued in July 2016, and has since been renewed by the FISA court more than once.
12. In an ABC interview, Page said he couldn’t guarantee he did not discuss easing of sanctions with Russian contacts at a meeting in July in the Russian capital, “We’ll see what comes out in this FISA transcript.”
13. According to the Steele dossier, also discussed at that July meeting was the sale of a 19.5% stake in Rosneft, Russia’s state oil company — allegedly in exchange for lifting of sanctions.
14. CNN reported that classified documents reviewed by Democrats and Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee contradict Nunes’s and Trump's claims that Susan Rice did anything unusual or illegal.
15. Financial records obtained by AP confirmed at least 2 payments totaling $1.2mm paid by a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine on the so-called Black Ledger to Manafort’s consulting firm in the US.
16. After consulting with federal authorities, Manafort said he would register as a foreign agent for his past work on behalf of pro-Russia interests in the Ukraine.
17. Manafort became the second in Trump's inner-circle to retrospectively register as a foreign agent, Flynn being the first for his work with Turkey.
18. A DC lobbying firm which was that was directed by Manafort and Gates also retroactively registered as a foreign agent for work to promote a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party’s interests in Washington.
19. The day after Manafort stepped down from the Trump campaign, he set up a shell company which secured $20mm in loans, including $3.5mm from Spruce Capital, which has connections to a post-Soviet fertilizer oligarch, Alexander Rovt, who also has ties to Trump.
20. Buzzfeed reported on a bizarre story involving Trump attorney Michael Cohen taking a $350k check from a Russian NHL player, which was meant to be passed along to Cohen’s client, a Russian women in Florida for payment on a condo, but instead Cohen cashed the check and kept it.
21. Former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove said Trump borrowed from Russia as a lender of last resort after the 2008 financial crisis.
22. The Guardian reported British spies were the first to spot the Trump team’s links to Russia dating back to late 2015. GCHQ shared the suspicious activity with their counter-parts in US intelligence.
23. Germany, Estonia, Poland, Netherlands, France and Australia also relayed material on the Trump campaign’s links to Russia to US Intelligence during 2016.
24. The head of GCHQ met with CIA Chief Brennan in July 2016 — per The Guardian, the matter was deemed so sensitive it was handled at “director level.” This meeting allegedly precipitated Brennan’s one-on-one meetings with the Gang of Eight, described in Week 21.
25. CNN confirmed The Guardian reporting, citing sources in the US congressional and law enforcement, and US and European intelligence.
26. CIA director Pompeo had harsh words for Wikileaks, including a “hostile intelligence service,” and said Russian military intelligence used WikiLeaks to release hacked DNC emails.
27. Pompeo also described RT, as Russia’s “primary propaganda outlet” and said it actively collaborated with WikiLeaks.
28. Ironically, while part of Trump's campaign, Pompeo had cheered on Wikileaks, tweeting a Restate article, “BUSTED: 19,252 Emails from DNC Leaked by Wikileaks”
29. Offering no evidence, Stone told POLITICO the Obama administration got a FISA warrant on him. Stone has admitted communication with both Guccifer 2.0 and Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks.
30. Maddow observed the serious press and agencies rushing in this week to take credit for having uncovered the Trump regimes collusion with Russia — meaning the scandal has entered a new phase as accepted.
31. The House Intelligence Committee sent Rep Quigley to Cyprus as part of its Trump-Russia probe. Week 19’s list noted some of the extensive ties between Cyprus and the Trump regime.
32. The Department of Justice released 90 pages under the FOIA about voting machine malfunctions in PA, MI, WI, FL and NC.
33. As Trump neared the 100-day judgment mark, POLITCO described the WH as a “pressure cooker” to show results, when little has been accomplished.
34. As power continued to consolidate in the hands of the Trump family, Trump's WH drew comparisons to a “family business.”
35. Unabated personnel drama plagued the WH the entire week, as snipes continued between Bannon, Kushner and Trump.
36. After Trumpcare failed (twice), Trump had promised to take on tax reform next, saying a plan was forthcoming. This week Trump's WH scrapped this effort, saying they would not produce a tax plan.
37. WSJ reported that Trump's federal hiring freeze, put in place day 1 of his administration, put correctional officers at risk, could delay payments to veterans, and prevent disabled and retirees from getting social security.
38. The next day, Trump lifted his Federal hiring freeze.
39. During the hiring freeze, thousands of positions remain vacant including more than 350 at the EPA alone. CNBC blamed the pace on “Trump's close involvement” and “turf wars” in his inner circle and Cabinet.
40. Trump threatened to undermine Obamacare to get Democrats to the negotiating table. Specifically, he would hold back subsidy payments to healthcare companies providing insurance to low-income Americans.
41. The Government Accountability Office said it’s investigating whether the Trump transition team followed federal guidelines and ethics rules during the transition.
42. DeVos said she would scrap Obama’s plan for tougher federal oversight and new rules for student-loan servicers. Coincidentally, DeVos has significant holdings in one such servicer, Performant Financial Corp.
43. Trump appointed crony Don Benton, a salesman, to director of the Selective Service System, overseeing the military draft. This is the first time since 1941 a person with no military experience has been chosen.
44. Allan Lichtman, the American University who predicted the winner of the last eight presidential elections, predicted Trump will be impeached.
45. CREW and others sued DHS under the FOIA for failing to disclose visitor logs of the WH, Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower.
46. On Friday, the Trump regime said they will not release the WH visitor logs, breaking with a practice started under President Obama.
47. The rationale for not releasing visitor logs were “security risks”’ and to save taxpayers $700k over the next three years. A weekend in Mar-a-Lago costs taxpayers an estimated $3mm.
48. Trump is on track to spend more in his first year, than Obama spent in all eight years in office.
49. Trump Hotel DC is facing new legal challenges under the emoluments clause from a watchdog group represented by constitutional lawyer Laurence Tribe, who noted a “major infusion of value” from the GSA.
50. A deal for a Trump-branded hotel in Dallas with a developer Mukemmel Sarimsakci, known as “Turkish Trump,” collapsed. Sarimsakci said the Trump Organization had been vetting potential investors in the deal.
51. Bloomberg found that of Trump's 10 most engaged followers on Twitter, five are confirmed robots and three appear to be bots.
52. A Florida court of appeals ruled against Trump, saying he owed a paint company $300k for stiffing them on work done and supplies provided at the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort.
53. Trump completely reversed himself on several key campaign positions this week. China is no longer a currency manipulator, NATO is no longer obsolete — nor is Ex-Im Bank, and he likes the job Yellin is doing.
54. Trump credited new-found knowledge from China’s leader (N Korea) and business leaders like Boeing’s CEO (Ex-Im Bank). Boeing donated $1mm to Trump's inauguration, and as mentioned in prior weeks, China has granted many goodies to Trump, including 38 new trademarks.
55. Trump's Treasury Department oddly placed Germany on its new special currency “monitoring list.” Germany’s currency is the Euro.
56. In a FBN interview Trump described eating “the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake” with China’s leader — giving a free advertisement to Mar-a-Lago catering — then got the country he bombed wrong (said Iraq).
57. Spicer made shocking statements regarding Hitler and the Holocaust at Tuesday’s press briefing. He used the term “Holocaust center” rather than concentration camp, and in comparing Hitler to Assad, said the former had never used chemical weapons on his own people.
58. The Anne Frank Center called on Trump to fire Spicer. The Trump regime has amassed a steady stream of anti-Semitic behavior, including omitting Jews from the WH International Holocaust Remembrance Day statement.
59. No one from the Trump family attended the WH Passover Seder, unlike his President Obama and Michelle who attended every year.
60. NBC reported on Gorka’s ties to Vitezi Rend, a Nazi-linked group, including wearing his honorary medal from the group at Trump's Inaugural ball.
61. In a speech on Tuesday, AG Sessions ordered prosecutors to crack down on illegal immigrants more aggressively, claiming gangs and cartels are turning U.S. cities into “war zones.”
62. ICE quietly detained 367 immigrants this week in raids across the country. ICE claims the raids are focused on “criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants and immigration fugitives” — advocates say this is not true.
63. A mother of four in Cincinnati was deported after appeals. Maribel Trujillo had no criminal record in her 15 years here, and has children aged 3–14 years-old, the youngest of which has special needs.
64. On Thursday, the “mother of all bombs”- the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat — in Afghanistan. Trump refused to say if he had ordered the strike, and even if he knew about it.
65. Trump said he gave total authorization to “my military” — a reference appropriate for a dictatorship, not a democracy.
66. While his popularity continues to flounder, Trump got his second day of positive press for dropping the MOAB (the first was the Syrian bombing).
67. Trump has yet to declare a strategy in Afghanistan or appoint an ambassador. The $16mm cost MOAB killed 36 ISIS fighters — a cost of roughly half a million per fighter.
68. Late Thursday, Trump also issued confrontational statements about N. Korea, threatening a pre-emptive strike. N. Korea’s vice foreign minister says Trump is “making trouble” with “aggressive” tweets.
69. Trump spent Friday in Mar-a-Lago, golfing and avoiding the press. Friday marked Trump's 18th time golfing, compared to other presidents at this point: Obama 0, W Bush 0, Clinton 3.
70. As Tax Day approaches April 18th, thousands are expected to march today in cities around the country to protest Trump being the only modern day president to not release his tax returns.

Past weeks:
Week 1: https://goo.gl/KWlyOO
Week 2: https://goo.gl/Pn7MFs
Week 3: https://goo.gl/CZwxsX
Week 4: https://goo.gl/JhwuON
Week 5: https://goo.gl/TGM6x8
Week 6: https://goo.gl/uhyjxe
Week 7: https://goo.gl/bMdhTG
Week 8: https://goo.gl/89MW8h
Week 9: https://goo.gl/ekv9wE
Week 10: https://goo.gl/RETyH1
Week 11: https://goo.gl/6cs0tt
Week 12: https://goo.gl/bRMx5o
Week 13: https://goo.gl/xzdjyY
Week 14: https://goo.gl/1HwN4H
Week 15: https://goo.gl/JxVghS
Week 16: https://goo.gl/sZpudG
Week 17: https://goo.gl/QymWmJ
Week 18: https://goo.gl/Ri6E9N
Week 19: https://goo.gl/L6JOSV
Week 20: https://goo.gl/PvlahQ
Week 21: https://goo.gl/XDjZFw

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

Sexual assaulter/harasser all-around asshat Bill O’Reilly is:

 

                     HISTORY!!!!

Bye, Felicia.

Book Club!

So far, three of us women in this lovely, peaceful* little neighborhood of beachfront paradise have formed a book club, and I’m about 2/3 through the assigned book. It is so good.  It’s a novel called “Exit West” written by Mohsin Hamid, and I already highly recommend it. It’s a relatively short read, and I’m intrigued with the omniscient point of view. The prose can be staccato, much like the machine guns rattling in the distance; or lengthy, almost stream-of-consciousness, which captures the frantic thoughts and stresses of lives turning upside down. You care about those lives. They are people who work at modern jobs and fall in love and enjoy their scooters and motorbikes and rely on their mobile phones—all things that suddenly disappear. Gone. Poof. But there are magic doors…

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Did you notice the asterisk above next to the word “peaceful?” For the second time in a month, there was a HUGE party at one of the neighbors’ homes last weekend (the owner rents it out through AirBnB and another vacation rental service). The first party on St. Patrick’s Day had over 200 people, mostly under-age, with cars parked up and down our private (and fragile) little road, blocking driveways, tearing up the road berm, (and stealing the artistic house sign at the top of another neighbor’s driveway). It was a frigging zoo. John called the cops and turned around dozens of cars (with the threat of the cops coming). This weekend, it happened again and three police cars showed up, including K-9. This time, someone broke the security gate (of course nobody owned up to it). We are beyond frustrated with this property owner (as you can imagine). The road committee principals (John’s the president) are meeting tomorrow night to discuss meeting with an attorney to figure out options. In the meantime, John and our neighbor John M. (committee secretary) fixed the gate and changed out all the codes. (If you come to visit, remind me to tell you the new code!) For the time being, the owner of the rental doesn’t have the gate code, and nor do the rental services!  Heh.

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Margaret came to visit last week and spent the night! We had one of our fun and whirlwind times together, yapping-yapping-yapping. Lots to catch up on, with details we don’t blog or post on FB. There was sort of a plan to work on genealogy, but instead of hauling out our laptops and digging, we ended up, well, yapping about it instead. Which was interesting and helpful! We both watch “Who Do You Think You Are,” which is a TV show about celebrities working with Ancestry Dot Com to find their roots. Of course, they have the luxury of flying to far-flung countries or all around the U.S. to meet with pre-arranged historians and genealogists who have already mapped out their ancestors and documentation. Oh to HAVE THAT LUXURY!! I’m still stuck in Ireland and have not been successful in knocking down my brick wall. (And yes, I would LOVE to go to Ireland and see what I could discover).

(Yeah, lately I’ve been wearing my hair straight now and then. Not my preference, but it’s quicker).

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We have tickets and hotel booked to visit Nate and Sandra in San Diego! We leave June 1 (my birthday) and return June 5th (Nate’s birthday). Happy birthday to us! Sandra should be beginning to “pooch” by then, I would think! (Have I mentioned how over the moon I am??)

I’m excited for Nate—today he had PRK surgery (like Lasik) so he won’t have to wear glasses or contacts anymore. Here he is post-surgery, looking a little rough:

Week Twenty-One

Compiled by Amy Siskind

Over the past three weeks, Trump's approval plummeted as he struggled to take back the narrative amidst legislative failures and a ubiquitous Russia. He floated several attempts to deflect, and replace Russia as the lead story: the Obama wiretap, the Nunes brouhaha, the Susan Rice unmasking — but none seemed to work. This week he figured out a way to take back the narrative — one commonly used by autocrats — he started a war.

1. Five weeks have passed since Trump's tweet accusing Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower. He has yet to offer any evidence or apologize.
2. Seeking to deflect from his growing unpopularity and Russia stories, Trump segued his Obama story to “a crooked scheme” involving Susan Rice spying on the Trump regime.
3. Citing no evidence, Trump said Susan Rice had committed a crime. Experts debunked his claim, saying unmasking is routine for an NSA.
4. The LA Times Editorial Board launched a scathing six-part series on the Trump presidency: “Our Dishonest President.”
5. Since taking office, Trump has made 367 false or misleading claims according to the WAPO.
6. Rejecting Trump's defense, a Kentucky federal judge said a lawsuit against Trump for inciting violence at a campaign event could proceed.
7. Trump's popularity plunged to 34% in an April IBD/TIPP poll, including a significant loss of support among rural voters (56% to 41%) and white men (58% to 49%).
8. A Quinnipiac poll found a similar drop in approval by Trump key demographic white men: 58% to 47%.
9. The US jobs report for March was dismal, weakest in almost a year. Unlike February when Trump took credit for a strong report despite his short time office, this time there was no comment.
10. ProPublica reported that despite his pledge to remove himself from his business interests, Trump can pull money from any of his businesses, at any time, without disclosing it.
11. At a WH press briefing, Spicer defamed ProPublica, calling it a “left-wing blog.” ProPublica issued a strong response and statement of facts, including the Trump trust documents which were revised on February 10.
12. While under consideration for a major national security role, Stephen Feinberg said he wants to keep his stake in Cerberus, which is the 17th biggest US Army contractor in 2015.
13. Breaking from Trump's pledge to “drain the swamp,” POLITICO reported that Trump ex-staffers are cashing in through foreign lobbying work.
14. Trump has left the WH Office of Science and Technology vacant, filling just one position with the former chief of staff for Peter Thiel. As discussed in past lists, Trump is installing “spies” into agencies, while leaving key roles without appointed candidates.
15. Researchers said the Trump regime has been deleting scientific data collected by government agencies. One scientist said, “It’s a bloodbath.”
16. In violation of the Hatch Act, Dan Scavino Jr., social media director and WH advisor, tweeted at a member of the Freedom Caucus that he was a “big liability” and should be primaried. He later changed his Twitter bio to “Personal @Twitter Handle.”
17. Without public announcement, Trump issued an EO changing the order of succession within the DOJ.
18. Twitter filed a lawsuit after the Department of Homeland Security requested they reveal the identity of an anonymous account which has been critical of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office
19. On Friday, DHS dropped its request, and Twitter withdrew its lawsuit.
20. The Twitter account for the US agency which controls the US nuclear force, US Strategic Command, tweeted an article by Breitbart.
21. Expanding his already huge portfolio of responsibilities, Kushner traveled to Iraq with General Dunford. The trip became the stuff of parody in a piece titled, “Jared Goes To Iraq! A Picture Story.”
22. WAPO reported Kushner Iraq trip violated protocol in that it was confirmed before they landed.
23. Kushner’s increasing foreign relations portfolio led to questions of whether he has become the “defacto secretary of state.”
24. The city council in Cambridge, MA passed a resolution calling for Congress to begin an impeachment investigation into Trump.
25. Trump invited Egyptian President el-Sisi to the WH, and did not mention human rights abuses. Families of Americans being held prisoner in Egypt also said Trump had ignored their pleas for help, after Trump on the campaign trail, excoriated Obama for not prioritizing prisoners in Iran.
26. On #EqualPayDay it was noted that Trump had quietly signed an EO taking away Obama-era protection for women workers.
27. Trump cut all funding to UNFPA, a United Nations agency that works on maternal and reproductive health.
28. Trump defended serial sexual harasser Bill O’Reilly during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, calling him “a good person” and saying, “I don’t think Bill did anything wrong.”
29. In the first three months of 2017, hate crimes in NYC doubled over last year. Most crimes were anti-Semitic, with an uptick in anti-black incidents as well.
30. The NY State Supreme Court ruled that NYC can destroy immigrants municipal ID information, as part of the City’s effort to protect undocumented immigrants from being deported by the Trump regime.
31. An Indiana restaurant owner was deported overnight by ICE to Mexico, despite pending legal actions. According to NPR, none of his lawyers were notified.
32. FT reported that the FBI plans to create a special unit to coordinate its investigation of Russian interference with the election.
33. Before resigning as NSA, Flynn did not reveal income he received from Russian-related entities during 2015 for speaking fees.
34. Yahoo reported that Trump abruptly pulled out of meeting scheduled for February with Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of the Bank of Russia and a close ally of Putin, over disclosed ties to organized crime.
35. ICE whisked away Evgeny Buryakov, the Russian spy mentioned in Week 20. At trial, Buryakov’s attorney fees were paid by his employer VEB, a Russian Bank whose head secretly met with Kushner in December.
36. BuzzFeed reported that former Trump advisor Page met with an undercover Russian spy in 2013, and passed along information.
37. WAPO reported Erik Prince, Trump insider and brother of Betsy DeVos, attended a secret meeting arranged by the UAE with a Russian close to Putin in Seychelles on January 11, opening a back-channel to Russia.
38. A UAE crown prince also had a meeting with Flynn, Kushner and Bannon in December. In an unusual breach of protocol, the UAE did not notify the Obama administration in advance.
39. CNN reported the FBI is investigating links between Alfa Bank and Trump Organization servers, indicating an intention to communicate. During the campaign, 80% of Trump Org server lookups were done by Alfa Bank and 19% by Spectrum Health, which is led by Betsy Devos’s husband.
40. NYT reported that Kushner omitted his multiple meetings with Russians in filling out his Questionnaire for National Security Positions.
41. In a video obtained by Forward, Trump's chief counter-terrorism adviser, Gorka, publicly supported a violent anti-Semitic militia group.
42. On Thursday, Nunes temporarily stepped away from chairing the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation of Russia, citing an ethics complaint by the Office of Congressional Ethics.
43. In a letter that afternoon, the Republican chair of the House Ethics Committee announced they too are investigating Nunes for the “unauthorized disclosure of classified information.”
44. Confusion reigned in the Trump regime after the Assad chemical bombing. Without citing specifics, Trump said he changed his Syria policy, but no one else in the regime seemed to know details.
45. Without a formal announcement, Trump removed Steve Bannon from the National Security Council. Jennifer Jacobs, a Bloomberg reporter, broke the story after reading it in a notice published in the Federal Register.
46. POLITICO reported that mega-donor Rebekah Mercer convinced her close ally Bannon not to resign. Reporter Jane Mayer has uncovered that the Mercers stand to avoid $6.8bn in taxes under Trump.
47. The National Security Council page on white house.gov is blank, save for these words: “Check back soon for more information.”
48. NYT reported that as early as July, the CIA had evidence of Russia’s efforts to get Trump elected, and that Trump advisers were likely working with the Russians.
49. In August, CIA director Brennan met with the Gang of Eight to share his findings. Reid has pushed repeatedly to inform the American public, but McConnell questioned the findings and pushed for a softer version of a public letter, striking any reference to Russia.
50. As noted in Week 4, McConnell had also been the roadblock to Obama going public in October with more explicit information on Russia’s attempted interference with our election.
51. Also as noted in Week 4, shortly after the election, Trump chose McConnell’s wife as his nominee for transportation secretary.
52. On Friday, McConnell passed the filibuster-ending “nuclear option” for Supreme Court picks. One columnist referred to him as “the man who broke America.”
53. Trump had also pushed McConnell towards the nuclear option. One expert in authoritarianism said of autocrats, “They will continue to rewrite major rules and disregard norms.”
54. Wars within the Trump regime continued this week, with open animus between Kushner and Bannon, and rumors that Bannon and Priebus could be on their way out.
55. All the while, power continues to consolidate into the hands of Trump, Ivanka and Kushner. In the executive branch, only 4% of key roles are filled and 92% still have no nominee.
56. In a PR stunt that fell flat, Trump donated his $78,333 paycheck to the Park Service. Ironically, Trump's budget calls for deep cuts to the Interior Dept, which includes the Park Service, of 12% or $1.5bn.
57. On Thursday, amidst a continued fall in approval and a growing drumbeat of Russia, Trump used provocations by North Korea and Syria as an opportunity to threaten war against both.
58. On Thursday night, while in Mar-a-Lago meeting with China’s President Xi, Trump launched an attack on Syria .
59. Trump did not seek approval or notify Congress ahead of time. He did however, give advance notice to Russia.
60. Trump cited Assad’s use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians, including children, as justification. Ironically, one of Trump's first actions in office was his Muslim Ban, which banned Syrian refugees. Also per PolitiFact, on the campaign trail, Trump promised to remove existing Syrian refugees from the US.
61. Also of note, the Trump regime has been responsible for killing hundreds of innocent civilians, including children, in the failed Yemen raid, and then in Mosul where pamphlets told citizens not to leave their homes.
62. Pentagon released a video of the US strike Thursday night, which they claimed, “Initial indications are that this strike has severely damaged or destroyed Syrian aircraft and support infrastructure and equipment.
63. Nine civilians, including four children, were killed by Trump's airstrike.
64. By the next day, the Assad regime was again launching airstrikes from the airfield Trump's attack had supposedly destroyed.
65. The media loved Trump's show of force, and on Friday Syria become story one, displacing Russian interference and ties to Trump.
66. The Onion ran the perfect parody of the situation on Friday, “Trump Confident U.S. Military Strike On Syria Wiped Out Russian Scandal.” Other pundits used the euphemism, Wag the Dog.
67. To complete the stagecraft, the Trump regime released their version of the Situation Room photo. This version was taken in Mar-a-Lago, and included Spicer, two Goldman Sachs executives, Commerce Secretary Ross, and Kushner glaring over at Bannon.

Past weeks:
Week 1: https://goo.gl/KWlyOO
Week 2: https://goo.gl/Pn7MFs
Week 3: https://goo.gl/CZwxsX
Week 4: https://goo.gl/JhwuON
Week 5: https://goo.gl/TGM6x8
Week 6: https://goo.gl/uhyjxe
Week 7: https://goo.gl/bMdhTG
Week 8: https://goo.gl/89MW8h
Week 9: https://goo.gl/ekv9wE
Week 10: https://goo.gl/RETyH1
Week 11: https://goo.gl/6cs0tt
Week 12: https://goo.gl/bRMx5o
Week 13: https://goo.gl/xzdjyY
Week 14: https://goo.gl/1HwN4H
Week 15: https://goo.gl/JxVghS
Week 16: https://goo.gl/sZpudG
Week 17: https://goo.gl/QymWmJ
Week 18: https://goo.gl/Ri6E9N
Week 19: https://goo.gl/L6JOSV
Week 20: https://goo.gl/PvlahQ

Happy Happy Joy Joy!!!

Guess what?

YES!!! We learned today (and have permission to announce) that around October 2, 2017, we will have a GRANDSON!!! A boy!!! Am I over the moon? Oh, you bet I’m over the moon!! I am giddy beyond belief.

It was hard last year (when we were given these mugs) and I’d walk past them sitting on the dining room countertop and feel a gut punch to the heart. At Christmas, I stuck them in a cupboard to make room for decorations and didn’t put them out again once Christmas was over. But they’re out now, sitting back on the dining room countertop! And I can walk past them and grin big! All is well. Sandra is about 15 weeks along, and all tests show a healthy, robust baby boy!

A boy!!

My son will have a son.

Oh-my-gosh, this little boy will be a wonderful world mix! He will be part Irish, German, Japanese, and South Pacific Islander, plus bits of Scandinavian, Italian, and Great Britain thrown in for good measure. (I have no idea where the Italian comes from, but Nate and I both have some of that in our DNA ethnicity makeup. I still have lots of genealogy hunting to do).

As you can imagine, I’m beyond excited! Squeeee!!!

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This morning, I participated again with the Harstine Island Farmers Market and sold some glass ditties (I did almost as well as I did last month!) John was able to help and hang out with me this time. He’s been spending his Saturdays up in Kent at the Hydroplane Museum working on a restoration project of the 1979 Miss Squire Shop (and will continue to do so), but this time he went on Tuesday instead, so his Saturday was free. It was sure nice to have his help and company. He got to meet some of the *interesting* folks I’d met last time. Remember the woman I mentioned from last month who told me that I had “an aura?” Well, today she told me that she’s been going outside at night to howl. “I just have to howl. Something calls me, and I go out and howl. I love full moons. The other night I was out howling and coyotes howled back. It was so cool!”

There are also really nice and fun (and grounded) folks and I met up with a few of the customers I’d met last month. It was wonderful to hear how much they liked the piece they’d purchased from me. (A couple bought more!) It’s quite social! The keeper of the Wild Felid Advocacy Center on the island was there with a table of items from their gift shop and John and I chatted with him for a while. So interesting! Caring for those wild cats is just an amazing and daunting job. There’s also a guy who roasts his own coffee on the island and his coffee setup (along with a bakery setup) is extremely popular! John and I both had a cup of his brew and it was delicious! Rather strong, but not biting, which I think is unusual. We probably should have bought some of his beans. Needless to say, we were both pretty much bouncing off the walls! (Especially since I hadn’t eaten anything beforehand).

Fun day. Yesterday sucked with a big wind storm that was spooky at times. Thankfully no damage and no power outages, but I’m glad that’s over. Very unusual this time of year.

Did I mention that I’m over the moon???