No Chicken Roasting This Year Either

For the third year in a row, demagogue and malignant narcissist Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump has decided not to attend the White House Correspondent's Dinner on April 27, not daring to face the people he's called the "enemy of the people." Trump's excuse, if you can stifle a laugh, is that "the Correspondents dinner is too negative. I like positive things." Instead, the authoritarian buffoon will hold one of his Nuremberg rallies at a place yet to be determined in Trumpland.

The dinner was the scene of one of Trump's worst public humiliations in 2011 as he was roasted by Seth Meyers and President Obama, on the evening that the successful raid on Osama bin Laden's compound took place. Talk about a sick burn.

We have little respect for the dinner event itself, as it draws together news makers and politicians and the people who are supposed to cover them in an elite, unethical venue. But Trump's third ducking of the event shows him again to be the coward that he is, only brave enough to appear in front of his howling cult. Sad!

(photo: "I regret to inform you that < bwak cluck cluck >...")

Tweet Of The Day -- Flashback Friday

Or, "how far and fast we've fallen":

#tbt to 2014 when this was DC's biggest scandal https://t.co/EJGJzRH6yi pic.twitter.com/wGVQsjrgDC

— shauna (@goldengateblond) May 18, 2017

Today's Cartoons

(click on images to enlarge)


(Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star Tribune)


(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)


(Paul Szep, gocomics.com)


(Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee)


(John Darkow, Columbia Missourian)


(Jim Morin, Miami Herald)


(David Horsey, Seattle Times)

Weekend 5 By 4 Music

Fifty- five years ago this week, The Beatles had the top 5 songs on the Billboard charts, a record that has never been equaled.  In honor of that extraordinary achievement, we're offering those songs today (for as long as they stay up) in the order they were rated that week:

1. Can't Buy Me Love

2. Twist and Shout

3. She Loves You

4. I Want To Hold Your Hand (live)

5. Please Please Me

Wingnut Gaetz Running For Alabama Senate Seat?

We saw this report about nasty right-wing crank and Trump cultist Rep. Matt "DUI" Gaetz (Trump-FL) contemplating a move from Florida to Alabammy to run in 2020 against incumbent Dem Sen. Doug Jones and our first thought was, Alabammy's loss would be Florida's gain. There's no more loyal Trump sycophant than Gaetz, who is a regular shouty face on Trump TV where he auditions for Trump each time. Since Alabammy has a very loose residency requirement to run for Senate (one day) it would be easy for Gaetz to set up residence in a trailer park there.

Gaetz's possible move hasn't endeared him to local Rethug politicians, including wingnuts Rep. Bradley Byrne and Rep. Mo "Slo Mo" Brooks who are probably wondering why Gaetz would mark their territory (cough cough insane ambition). Now perhaps pedophile predator "Judge" Roy Moore, who lost to Sen. Jones in a 2017 special election, will actually run and make it a Rethug wingnut free-for-all, carving each other up in their primaries. Go for it, Gaetz. But don't drive to Alabammy; get a designated driver.

(photo: Okaloosa Co. FL sheriff's office booking photo)

Time's Up For Assange?

After months of anticipation and rumor, the Ecuadorian government appears to have had enough of hosting Russian intelligence enabler and accused sexual assaulter Julian Assange, the head of WikiLeaks, and are about to terminate his stay at their London embassy. Metropolitan London police have reportedly been stationed outside the embassy in anticipation of his ejection.

WikiLeaks actively worked with Russian military intelligence during the 2016 Presidential campaign to disseminate stolen e-mails from the Democratic National Committee to damage the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 after failing to appear in court on a warrant seeking his extradition to Sweden to face charges of rape and assault. The investigation into those charges was later dropped due to time elapsed. According to AP's report, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno was angered by WikiLeaks' recent allegations of corruption:

"On Tuesday, Moreno blamed WikiLeaks for recent allegations of offshore corruption that in appeared in local media outlets and the publication of family photos to social media.

Moreno accused WikiLeaks of intercepting phone calls and private conversations as well as 'photos of my bedroom, what I eat, and how my wife and daughters and friends dance.'”

File under "biting the hand that feeds you." Hopefully, the hand will bite back this time.

(photo: Getty Images)

Tweet Of The Day -- Low Expections, Lowered

During a Republican retreat last year, Trump nodded along and took copious notes. The lawmakers were impressed the president seemed to be so studious — but, it turns out, he was just writing notes on how to best trash Bannon as “Sloppy Steve.” https://t.co/EVPbAf5p0Q pic.twitter.com/Xai7RJHmmE

— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) April 3, 2019

Today's Cartoons

(click on images to enlarge)


(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)


(Nate Beeler, The Columbus Dispatch)


(Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star Tribune)


(Jeff Danziger, The Rutland Herald, VT)


(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)

Yesterday Was A Bad, Bad Day For Trump

The expectation is that corrupt demagogue and fraudster Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump will not only try to fight yesterday's order to the Internal Revenue Service by House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal to release six years of Trump's tax returns, but will shake in fear and rage at the coming dissection of his individual and business tax returns by the House. (Read Chairman Neal's letter here). Unfortunately for Trump, the law gives the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee the absolute power to get Trump's tax returns, no subpoena necessary. That's not to say that Trump won't order them withheld, which would be a direct violation of the law. We'll see if the IRS Commissioner and plutocratic money fondler Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin have the stomach for it though. If not, as expected, it's going to end up in the Supreme Court. Neal's letter also jabs Trump on his claim that his taxes have been under audit, by asking the IRS for any evidence of that claim.

In a separate development yesterday, Mazars USA, the auditing and accounting firm that handles Trump's financial statements, stepped forward to say that they would release those statements going back 10 years in response to a "friendly" subpoena from the House Oversight Committee, to which Committee Chair Elijah Cummings responded that they'd do just that shortly. In the testimony of former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, he indicated that Trump often inflated or deflated his assets depending on the situation, whether to banks from which he was seeking a loan, or insurance companies, raising the potential that Trump committed bank and insurance fraud.

Added to these major developments, yesterday's allegations from some of the investigators and agents on Special Counsel Mueller's team that Trump attorney William Barr's whitewashing letter on the Mueller report excluded a lot of damaging information about Trump and his co-conspirators (likely on obstruction of justice) helped to make it a very bad day for Trump.

Colbert: No Holds Barr-ed

If you missed Stephen Colbert's opening monologue last night (and even if you didn't), it's a classic. He takes on the Barr letter that attempted to spin the Mueller report to malignant narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump's advantage, giving him a narrative advantage. He also touches on the Congressional Rethuglicans' desperate attempts to shield Rump from a full disclosure of the report, which he compares to a fictional Harry Potter book, "Donny Trump and the Idiot of Azkaban," and his loony windmills cause cancer speech. Cheers when Colbert says that hauling Trump out of the White House would be pretty satisfying, after Trump's tweet saying nothing will satisfy the Dems. Much more hilarious riffs to follow.

Kushner's Growing Security Problems

Walking security risk and incompetent jack-of-all-trades Jared "Mr. Ivanka Trump" Kushner was initially denied his top secret security clearance due to issues about foreign influence, his financial interests and "personal conduct," according to a report in the Washington Post. According to documents describing the testimony of White House security officer Tricia Newbold that were provided to the House Oversight Committee, Kushner's request for a clearance was rejected and then overruled ultimately by demagogue and Putin pal Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump despite objections raised by then-Chief of Staff John Kelly. According to the Post:

"The specific issues flagged in his background check remain unknown. But The Washington Post reported last year that foreign officials had privately discussed ways to try to manipulate Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience.

Among the nations that discussed ways to influence Kushner were the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and Mexico, current and former officials said.

Kushner also came to his post with complex business holdings and a family company facing significant debt, including more than $1 billion owed on a Manhattan office tower at 666 Fifth Avenue.

In 2016, at the same time Kushner was helping to run Trump’s presidential campaign, he and company officials spoke with potential foreign investors about becoming partners in the building, including investors in China and Qatar." (our emphasis)

The report from 2017 that sinister Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed "Bone Saw" bin Salman said he had Kushner "in his pocket" undoubtedly was a factor among many to deny his top secret clearance, along with Kushner's proposal to the Kremlin that a clandestine back channel be set up to communicate with them safe from U.S. intelligence surveillance.

The documents released by the House Oversight Committee identify Kushner as "Senior White House Official 1" leaving little doubt that "Senior White House Official 2" is none other than his wife, and the object of Trump's lust, Ivanka, who received her top secret clearance at the same time, despite serious problems with her activities that would disqualify her from a top secret clearance. Get it all out in the open so we know more about those "disqualifying" factors.

More On Low Barr's Letter: "Alarming And Significant" Evidence Ignored

The Washington Post, hours after the New York Times broke the story (see post below), has confirmed that investigators on the Special Counsel's team are expressing frustration at Attorney General consigliere for Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump William "Low" Barr's whitewash letter spinning the Mueller report in the most favorable way possible.  The Post has additional quotes from investigators (i.e., FBI agents) that are more pointed than the Times' reporting on Barr's highly suspect conclusion about obstruction of justice:

In his letter, Barr said that the special counsel did not establish a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. And he said that Mueller did not reach a conclusion “one way or the other” as to whether Trump’s conduct in office constituted obstruction of justice.

Absent that, Barr told lawmakers that he concluded the evidence was not sufficient to prove that the president obstructed justice.

But members of Mueller’s team have complained to close associates that the evidence they gathered on obstruction was alarming and significant.

“It was much more acute than Barr suggested,” said one person, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the subject’s sensitivity.  (our emphasis)

"Alarming and significant... much more acute than Barr suggested."

This is confirmation that this is a full-blown coverup by the utterly compromised, highly partisan Attorney General consigliere for Trump. The House Judiciary Committee needs to get the damn subpoenas flying, not "work with" Barr for "a short period of time," schedule testimony by all concerned, and finally acknowledge that Barr's been acting in bad faith all along.

BONUS:  Marcy Wheeler points out that the Times story also includes a valuable insight -- that the Mueller team prepared several summaries of the report, "possibly customized to each of several audiences..."  So, where are those summaries, Mr. Barr?

(Photo:  You can take the "honorable" off now.)

Low Barr's Letter: More Than Meets The Eye

The New York Times broke a story tonight that indicates some of the investigators on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team believe their findings in the investigation were more damaging to demagogue and Putin pal Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump than Attorney General William "Low" Barr's summary letter indicated. One could imagine the anger of the men and women who spent nearly two years of their lives developing the Mueller report, only to have a Rump appointee who auditioned for the job sugar-coat the findings in his four page letter to Congress. Quoting the Times report:

"Some of Robert S. Mueller III’s investigators have told associates that Attorney General William P. Barr failed to adequately portray the findings of their inquiry and that they were more troubling for President Trump than Mr. Barr indicated, according to government officials and others familiar with their simmering frustrations.

At stake in the dispute — the first evidence of tension between Mr. Barr and the special counsel’s office — is who shapes the public’s initial understanding of one of the most consequential government investigations in American history. Some members of Mr. Mueller’s team are concerned that, because Mr. Barr created the first narrative of the special counsel’s findings, Americans’ views will have hardened before the investigation’s conclusions become public." (our emphasis)

It was apparent from the time that Barr promised a "summary" that the Rump regime wanted to control the narrative, while stalling release of the report itself. Based on this reporting, it's clear that the summary was dishonest in its representation of the 400 page Mueller report by giving it a spin favorable to Rump. The House Judiciary Committee has approved a subpoena to force Barr to release an unredacted copy of the Mueller report. Again from the Times:

"The officials and others interviewed declined to flesh out why some of the special counsel’s investigators viewed their findings as potentially more damaging for the president than Mr. Barr explained, although the report is believed to examine Mr. Trump’s efforts to thwart the investigation. It was unclear how much discussion Mr. Mueller and his investigators had with senior Justice Department officials about how their findings would be made public. It was also unclear how widespread the vexation is among the special counsel team, which included 19 lawyers, about 40 F.B.I. agents and other personnel." (our emphasis)

More in later posts as this story develops.

Tweet Of The Day

We're old enough to remember, too.

I'm old enough to remember when the House voted 420-0 to demand release of Mueller's entire report.

(It was 20 days ago.)https://t.co/b9qavsa3EX https://t.co/ZqV5gUNLdO

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) April 3, 2019

Is it possible it's dawned on Republicans that the Mueller report -- all 400-some pages -- might, just might, have lots of damaging information that the White House would rather not see the light of day? Ya think?

Today's Cartoons

(click on images to enlarge)


(Jeff Danziger, The Rutland Herald, VT)


(Matt Davies, Newsday)


(Ken Catalino, gocomics.com)


(Jim Morin, Miami Herald)


(Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee)


(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)