Kellyanne Conway says the Russia-Trump investigation is a "rush to judgment."

Give it time. The GOP spent five years and tens of millions of taxpayer dollars running 11 investigations of Benghazeee!, and had Hillary Clinton give 11 hours of sworn testimony in order to PROVE BEYOND A DOUBT that she was innocent.

I think we owe Mr. Trump the same courtesy.

"To remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all."

Where is there a law or rule that says the most powerful voices in our country cannot speak out: former presidents and vice presidents MUST SPEAK out against Donald Trump and this Administration, because the Republicans, who know better won't.  Donald Trump and the Republicans are shredding our constitution, our flag and our democracy.  This must stop.

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must NEVER be a time when we fail to protest."

Please, Presidents Bushes, Clinton, Carter, and Obama say something together, collectively. Maybe if you do the Republicans in Congress will listen and move to save our Constitution and Democracy.  

Donald Trump has shredded and broken rules of civility, lied his way to the highest office and believes he is immune from any law or any rule.*

The former presidents and vice presidents can and should SPEAK OUT irregardless of precedent.  Desperate times call for desperate measures. The majority of Americans are calling/looking for one more powerful than Trump to speak and make a difference. Now is the time.

And we cannot allow the main stream media to do what they did during the primaries, and that brought Trump into office.  That is to make every Trump tweet the main topic of the news cycle.  Trump wants all to believe that it's HRC's fault because she and the Dems lost the election. Turn to main stream and that is all you will hear. WHY??????

she went off.

But that didn't stop 86-year-old Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt from using the occasion to issue an unusually blistering 6-page condemnation of the Trump administration's immigration policies, even as he concurred with its legal right to deport Magana Ortiz:

"The government's insistence on expelling a good man from the country in which he has lived for the past 28 years deprives his children of their right to be with their father, his wife of her right to be with her husband, and our country of a productive and responsible member of our community. Magana Ortiz, who first entered the United States at 15, is now 43 years old, and during his almost three decades here has raised a family and built a successful life. All of his children, ages 12, 14, and 20, were born in this country and are American citizens, as is his wife. His eldest daughter currently attends the University of Hawaii, and he is paying for
her education.

"Since coming to the United States, Magana Ortiz has become a respected businessman in Hawaii and well established in the coffee farming industry. He has worked with the United States Department of Agriculture in researching the pests afflicting Hawaii's coffee crop, and agreed to let the government use his farm, without charge, to conduct a five-year study. In his time in this country Magana Ortiz has built a house, started his own company, and paid his taxes. Although he apparently has two convictions for driving under the influence, the latest of them occurred fourteen years ago, and he has no history of any other crimes. Indeed, even the government conceded during the immigration proceedings that there was no question as to Magana Ortiz's good moral character.

[...]

"Magana Ortiz now asks us to stay his imminent removal. Because we are without authority to do so, he will be returned to Mexico, after having spent 28 years successfully building a life and family in this country. He will also be subject to a ten-year bar against his return, likely forcing him to spend a decade deprived of his wife, children, and community.

[...]

"In doing so, the government forces us to participate in ripping apart a family. Three United States citizen children will now have to choose between their father and their country. If they leave their homeland with their father, the children would be forced to move to a nation with which they have no connection. All three children were born in the United States; none has ever lived in Mexico or learned Spanish. Moving with their father would uproot their lives, interrupt their educations, and deprive them of the opportunities afforded by growing up in this country. If they remain in the United States, however, the children would not only lose a parent, but might also be deprived of their home, their opportunity for higher education, and their financial support. Subjecting vulnerable children to a choice between expulsion to a foreign land or losing the care and support of their father is not how this nation should treat its citizens.

"President Trump has claimed that his immigration policies would target the 'bad hombres.' The government's decision to remove Magana Ortiz shows that even the 'good hombres' are not safe. Magana Ortiz is by all accounts a pillar of his community and a devoted father and husband. It is difficult to see how the government's decision to expel him is consistent with the President's promise of an immigration system with 'a lot of heart.' I find no such compassion in the government's choice to deport Magana Ortiz.

"We are unable to prevent Magana Ortiz's removal, yet it is contrary to the values of this nation and its legal system.  Indeed, the government's decision to remove Magana Ortiz diminishes not only our country but our courts, which are supposedly dedicated to the pursuit of justice. Magana Ortiz and his family are in truth not the only victims. Among the others are judges who, forced to participate in such inhumane acts, suffer a loss of dignity and humanity as well. I concur as a judge, but as a citizen I do not." (Emphasis is mine.)

So Trump fired the guy. But being Trump, that was not enough. He called him names to the Russians. He slandered him. He lied about him.

This was as strategically unsound as the bad guy lecturing Bruce Willis at the end of the film instead of just shooting him.  Bruce is already coming after you, but now he's coming after you mad.

I have no love for James Comey, but he could spot DJT the first three moves, let him call Sean Hannity for advice, and still beat him at tic-tac-toe. And he has a particular set of skills. Even as a private citizen, he is not someone you would want for an implacable, lifetime enemy. He knows everyone in America who investigates stuff, and he has a lot of time on his hands because of course he lost the best job a guy like him could ever have.

The Trump administration is moving toward handing back to Russia two diplomatic compounds, near New York City and on Maryland's Eastern Shore, that its officials were ejected from in late December as punishment for Moscow's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

President Barack Obama said Dec. 29 that the compounds were being "used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes" and gave Russia 24 hours to vacate them.

Early last month, the Trump administration told the Russians that it would consider turning the properties back over to them if Moscow would lift its freeze, imposed in 2014 in retaliation for U.S. sanctions related to Ukraine, on construction of a new U.S. consulate on a certain parcel of land in St. Petersburg.

Two days later, the U.S. position changed. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at a meeting in Washington that the United States had dropped any linkage between the compounds and the consulate, according to several people with knowledge of the exchanges

silly me.  we knew damn well he was a snake before we took him in.

the show is surreal.  

"I love the coal mines"

My parents-in-law will be in San Diego next week to visit with their youngest son and his wife, who just moved there from Texas in January after she accepted a branch management position with J.P. Morgan Chase. (It was actually a lateral move for her since that's what she was already doing for JPMC in Houston, but they really wanted to move to California and this opening afforded them the opportunity.) We'll spend a couple of days with them, too. They really like it down there.

Elder Daughter informed us last night that we're to be grandparents again. The baby's due in early January. So, I'm in a good mood, the present state of the country notwithstanding.

Anyway, I better finish up my last report here at work, so I can get home to finish packing. We depart Hilo at 9:10 p.m. and arrive at LAX tomorrow morning at about 5:00 a.m., and after we pick up the car, we'll be in Pasadena between 7:00-7:30 a.m., depending on traffic. I'm taking my laptop, so I can work on a few things at my leisure. But the rest is going to be playtime.

what do you think of Gillian Andersens version version of The Many Faced God?

Pentagon declares success for key test of missile defense

President Trump went after Democrats early Wednesday, saying they no longer want Carter Page to testify in the investigation into the Russian election meddling.

"So now it is reported that the Democrats, who have excoriated Carter Page about Russia, don't want him to testify," Trump tweeted Wednesday.

"He blows away their...case against him & now wants to clear his name by showing "the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan..." Witch Hunt!"

TPM traces the source

His tweet followed a brief segment on "Fox and Friends" reporting that Page sent a letter to the House Intelligence Committee on Monday claiming that the committee had delayed its plans to interview him. One of the hosts of "Fox and Friends" also highlighted a Tuesday night report from Fox News' Catherine Herridge that Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee had pushed for Page's testimony to be delayed, citing a "source familiar with the matter."

And I wholly agree here

Since his ties to Russia have surfaced, Trump officials have tried to distance themselves from Page, making Trump's mention of Page on Wednesday morning somewhat peculiar.

Now a pastor, Ms. Court serves only to highlight the difference between her own unyielding and dogmatic Christianist beliefs, and the actual message of peace, love and tolerance as preached by her own would-be savior, Jesus of Nazareth.

he might do some CYA about renegotiating but maybe not even that.

under any normal circumstances he would but he needs a good story.  he really needs a positive news cycle.  and he needs something for the press to talk about besides Russia.  if he withdraws its  1 hour story.  if he does anything else it will be covered.  plus the "base" who want this will take what he gives them and like it.