Tag archive: Washingtonia

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Much Ado about Ukraine

An emerging story casts further light on the Trump administration’s freewheeling, Mafia-style transactional interactions with foreign governments and its rampant stonewalling of congressional oversight. On August 12, 2019 a whistleblower from the U.S. intelligence community filed a complaint with the Inspector General that alleged some kind of wrongdoing at high levels of the U.S. government. The complaint was marked “urgent concern”, an unusual designation requiring immediate action, but the complaint hasn’t been made public, nor has it been shared with Congress, in direct contravention of the law.

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Ditch Mitch

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is perhaps one of the most disliked, and most effective, politicians in the country. First elected in 1984 in a squeaker election which he won by less than one percent, McConnell has won reelection five times, and faces another race in 2020. He was tapped to replace outgoing Senate Minority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) in 2006, and became Majority Leader when Republicans took over the Senate in 2015.

 

The self-styled “Grim Reaper” of the Senate, Mitch McConnell is where legislation goes to die. Through a combination of stonewalling, pigheadedness, and obscure parliamentary tactics, McConnell has done his level best to frustrate Democratic administrations and agendas for decades.

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Mueller Speaks. Again.

On Wednesday, July 24, 2019 former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees regarding his 448 page Report on investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, Trump campaign officials collusion with Russia, and President Trump’s subsequent attempts to obstruct justice by curtailing or stopping the investigation. Mueller has been a frequent guest on Capitol Hill, testifying there many dozens of times in his thirty-plus year career.

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Happy Trump of July!

Donald J. Trump’s hijacking of America’s birthday celebration on July 4th was quite a spectacle, if not the one he intended. Since the Bastille Day parade he was treated to by France’s President Macron two years ago, Trump has been aching to outdo his host in mock military maneuvers; thwarted in his desire last year for a Veterans Day Parade extravaganza, Trump belatedly settled for an Independence Day appearance on the National Mall, in front of the Lincoln Memorial, perhaps the president he least resembles.

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Donald Trump’s 2019 Solar Return: Jupiter to the Rescue

In last year’s Solar Return, I opined that 2018 was the critical time – if he made it through that solar year, Donald Trump would likely finish his term in office, and could possibly be re-elected. Despite the Mueller Report’s scathing details of impropriety and actions which would be judged criminal coming from anyone not shielded by the office of the presidency, Trump has hung on. Impeachment in the House may still be on the table, but with a GOP majority in the Senate which refuses to budge on its support for the 45th president, conviction and removal from office is unlikely.

 

Reflecting that earthly reality, the skies seem to have parted somewhat for Trump, and the 2019 Solar Return puts a more favorable light on his prospects going forward. Believe me, I evince no pleasure in reporting this, but an old friend which has sustained The Donald since birth is once again stepping into the breach, fortifying the Lucky Schmuck with its substantial staying power and grace.

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Mueller Speaks

At precisely 11 AM EDT on May 29th, 2019, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller finally spoke publically about his investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election, Russian contacts with the Trump Campaign, and Donald Trump’s efforts to hamper that investigation, more than two years after it began. It was Mueller’s first public statement on the matter, and it fell into the body politic with a resounding boom.

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