Crisis after Crisis . A Opinion .

Was this "crisis" created to fuel another war on drugs?

Sometimes I can never keep up with the shenanigans in the news and politics . There is so much to cover. The Opioid "crisis" is not NEW , its been going on for a while . I want to say that it appears to be another set of "alarmist propaganda" just to generate a public reaction to continue the war on drugs . The Nations relentless  (1)>>" war on drugs" took a twist this year . On Oct. 26, Donald Trump finally declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. This means that federal agencies have officially been directed to spend more money over the next 90 days on combatting addiction.  As you may have read that there is a  (2)>>"Opioid Crisis " in America . How this so called "crisis" began seems to be puzzling. Yet less believable to me.The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's ability to keep addictive opioids off U.S. streets was derailed -- Somehow ?  An Ex- DEA blamed Congress .  The Washington Post, Rannazzisi tells the inside story of how, he says, the opioid crisis was allowed to spread -- aided by Congress, lobbyists, and a drug distribution industry that shipped, almost unchecked, hundreds of millions of pills to rogue pharmacies and pain clinics providing the rocket fuel for a crisis that, over the last two decades, has claimed 200,000 lives.   Well . I have a"theory" not to be "cruel" in any manner of  not showing any sympathies , but I have always believed this , while the government wants you to stay away from certain kinds of drugs . BUT they rather have you swallow their OWN  pills as an alternative to anything thats on a (3)>>Schedule  1 definition . We are already a drugged out society . We have alcohol in abundance , we have stimulants , downers , elixirs that are cooked up by the legal pharmaceuticals . Its not that we need more drugs .  All Drugs are dangerous with specialty (4)>>synthetic opioid.  When I heard the first mention of the word "opioid" I thought it referenced  "opium", yes opium is extremely dangerous, its derived from the poppy flower. It was used as a medicine for 4000 years , gave birth to a notoriety of addiction .  What the media failed to distinguish synthetic opioid from natural . Start with the causes of the opioid crisis. On “Face the Nation,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, chair of Trump’s opioid commission, blamed over-prescribing doctors. “This crisis started not on a street corner somewhere. This crisis started in the doctor’s offices and hospitals of America.”  Interesting , Christie is the head of the presidential commission on opioids, warned of the dangers of marijuana in a letter to President Donald Trump earlier this month about the panel's findings, saying the current push for marijuana legalization could further fuel the opioid epidemic.But some experts say the commission's fixation on marijuana was bizarre and troubling, lending credence to outdated views of marijuana as a gateway drug.  The Washington Post asserted that the problem arose because of “aggressive marketing” on the part of the pharmaceutical companies that sell opiate painkillers. Others on the left think it is an arbitrary explosion of demand. They make it sound like market failure, but the “aggressive marketing” was not slick TV commercials. Rather, the drug companies targeted doctors, not consumers. They provided many lucrative carrots to doctors and spent resources lobbying to change regulations and pain prescribing guidelines in order to rig the FDA/AMA system in their favor. Now remember that drug distributors were fined for repeatedly ignoring warnings from the DEA to shut down suspicious sales of hundreds of millions of pills, while they racked up billions of dollars in sales. A crisis that is so manufactured just to keep the "war on drugs" from imploding in the 21st Century .
Hollywood's Walk of Shame & Congress too!

 My reaction to the Hollywood accusations of "harassment" of women , for the most part is sadly ridiculous . What I mean by sad is that though these allegations might be true , there could be more going on in a industry that seems to pop up new starlets right out of the blue . Starting with  Harvey Weinstein, the 65-year-old married father-of-five. At his age , acting the way he did ,  he's nothing but pure scum . His accusers , personally are not "saints" . Many of these women have been involved in multiple relationships that do not "reflect a conservative family minded system".   What I have been  puzzled at is , that many of the women wait for so long to accuse . Cosby for example many of the victims "recollect" incidents that happened over 50 years ago . The problem here is that while many victims chose the silent road , the victims helped the abuser abuse more victims . This creates serious legal problems for prosecutors . With statutes of limitations in place in many sates , only a handful of cases will be verified .    At least 30 high-profile men in a variety of industries have also been accused. Since then, a number have resigned, been fired or experienced other fallout after claims ranging from inappropriate text messages to rape.  Hollywood has never been a place of any kind moral ground .  There is a "clue" that hinges on the culture problem in our society .  (5)>>Vanity Fair magazine this month published a short article called "  What Donald Trump Learned from Hugh Hefner " .  Curiously one paragraph sheds light on why Hollywood is what it is .  Its fueled by the rich & famous following the Playboy Hefner philosophy.  Trump is a " by -product" of cultural indoctrination of the Hefner philosophy at its worse. While thats all I can say about Hollywood . This crisis now has jumped toward Congress. Is the Halls of Congress any cleaner ?  Sen .Speier told CBS’ “Face The Nation” sexual harassment right now is worse than it’s ever been in Congress. “It's worse in part because we have a system in place that allows for the harasser to go unchecked, doesn't pay for the settlement himself and is never identified,” she said. “The Office of Compliance, to which victim must apply or complain, is a place that has really been an enabler of sexual harassment for these many years because of the way it's constructed.” If you though Roy Moore was dirty , then former shock jock Al Franken looks a bit more repentant . His apology to Tweeden was accepted . Its rather odd that a lot of women are speaking now  out during political elections against  {Roy Moore} who is either a lier , or he is "innocent" as he claims .  Congress has to start somewhere to clean up its act . Its a matter of civility , equality for women . On Tuesday, the House of Representatives announced that it will institute mandatory anti-sexual-harassment training for members of Congress and their staffs.  On Wednesday, a group of female lawmakers started pressing for a bill that would change that internal reporting process in Congress by removing the counseling and mediation requirements, and extending the deadline to 180 days, as The Hill reports.

The lawmakers are calling it the 'Me Too' Act.   

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>>" war on drugs". America’s drug problem has a long history, and the causes of the present crisis are legion. But one stands out: the stubborn survival of the drug war. Serving as both a system of control and a style of political discourse, the drug war has turned the nation’s response to addiction into a zero-sum game between treatment and enforcement and consistently fixed the national gaze on criminal evildoers instead of the legal drug industry. (2)>>"Opioid Crisis ". American researchers and patients would’ve spent the last several decades experimenting with marijuana to maximize its potential as a pain reliever. Pot use isn’t without health consequences, but is much less harmful than many prescription drugs. Instead, drug warriors fought to stymie marijuana research, keep pot illegal, and stigmatize medical marijuana as a dangerous fraud, even as doctors prescribed more opioid painkillers—that is, medical heroin. Still, the Drug Enforcement Administration continues to oppose medical marijuana, the NFL still prefers its players to relieve their pain with prescription opioids, and the worse-than-useless War on Drugs rages on, with predictably ruinous consequences. (3)>>Schedule  1 definition .  In the United States, when a substance (drug) has a legal status of highly-illegal. It is also listed as having no medicinal value. The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision. Alcohol is a legal controlled substance for example  also has potential for abuse .(4)>>synthetic opioid.      There are actually a large amount of opioids that are either synthetic or semi-synthetic (meaning that they are synthesized from naturally-occurring opiates). These drugs are used and abused in many different ways and can be both beneficial and dangerous to users, even deadly if taken in high enough doses.  Ie: analog of fentanyl. .heroin, morphine.     (5)>>Vanity Fair.    The Article in question    http://bit.ly/2zn9PBx    . Here the quote that defines exactly he Hollywood crisis , the spirit behind it . : " Is the presidency of Donald Trump the price America paid for Hugh Hefner’s sins? Did Playboy magazine’s gospel of monogrammed hedonism ultimately produce the tufted warlock in the White House" . Remember Donald Trump is a by product of the Hollywood entrainment industry at its rawest . Donald Trump owned Miss Universe pageant . Trump soon found himself under-appreciated by three of the very women who had once been lucky enough to win Miss Universe titles. Lupita Jones, a former Miss Universe from Mexico, announced that her country wouldn’t be participating in the 2015 pageant. Former Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera, of Puerto Rico, dropped out of the panel of judges for Miss U.S.A. And Colombia’s Paulina Vega, the 2014 Miss Universe, declared his remarks “unjust and hurtful.” Trump’s response, in part: Vega was a “hypocrite” because she didn’t give up her crown.

Latest Polls , Democrats big Night .

Here we go again! Our two party system in action . While our voters can flip flop on any candidate . HOPEFULLY no rigging ! Before we get into that we have to look at the polls, as they say polls don't lie? But they do send mixed messages .  (1)>>Like Congress & the Republicans . Only 37% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Democrats, down from 44% in March of this year. A majority, 54%, have an unfavorable view, matching their highest mark in polls from CNN and SSRS, CNN/ORC and CNN/USA Today/Gallup stretching back to 1992. The other news is that Donald Trump polls ratings keep diving . I think its like a parrot , "did I not hear this before?" His  approval rating has hit a new low, coming in at 36 percent in the latest findings released by CNN on Monday.According to the survey, 58 percent of adults disapprove of the way the president is handling his job, with 48 percent registering strong disapproval. If it's CNN its FAKE NEWS! The polls are a lie. REGARDLESS voters have spoken , they went to the polls in Virgina , dealing a setback to President Donald Trump with a decisive victory over a Republican who had adopted some of the president’s combative tactics and issues. Is this a sign of a turn-around? { OR a marry -go-round ?} As of Wednesday morning, the state Democratic Party said it had picked up 16 seats, tying the GOP 50-50—and 12 of (2)>>the winners were women. {There may still be a few recounts.}"The America that Donald Trump left when he went to South Korea bears little resemblance to the America that he will return to because he has gotten a shot across the bow," Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez told NBC News. "The formula" for success (Tuesday night) is the formula for success we're using everywhere." The House could be won if there is a big anti-Trump turnout, and Democrats hope to pick off governor's offices and state legislatures. But the Senate, they thought, would have to wait for 2020.

Republican Party caught in its own "scandals".

Evangelical Rep. Roy Moore has
more in common with
Hollywood scandals . 

While the Republican propaganda machine is directed at Hillary still on going Dossier , dealing uranium with Russia . The Republicans seem to have run into a slight problem of their own besides Donald . Republicans are being called hypocrites for defending Judge Roy Moore who is running for Senate in Alabama.  GOP leaders desperately want Roy Moore off the ballot. But they have neither the legal nor the political leverage to force the defiant ex-judge out of the race. So their stuck with him.The White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a host of other Republican senators called on Moore to drop out of the race Thursday if there were truth to the accounts of four women who told (3)>>The Washington Post that Moore pursued relationships with them while they were teens and he was in his 30s. The news sent Republican operatives scrambling to parse the dusty sections of Alabama state law that deal with replacing candidates on the ballot. Moore has denied the allegations since they were published. He called the claims "completely false" Friday when appearing on Sean Hannity's syndicated radio show. He also said it was "Fake News" { borrowed a line from Mr. Trump.}  The Republicans are ruining in circles over him. The hypocrisy among the Republicans is utterly amazing .

Enter Donna Brazile.

While the Republican party is swimming in scandals alike . The Democrats have a serious problem on explaining not as much the notion of rigging the system as the Republicans , and the Russian "theory" . (4.1)>>Brazile's revelation that the DNC was rigged for Hillary .{ thats not new , we knew about that } Brazile ran into her own bit of trouble in October when Wikileaks released emails showing that, in her role as a CNN strategist, she shared questions for CNN-sponsored candidate events in advance with friends on Clinton’s campaign. This was one of the accusations that Donald Trump levied at Hillary Clinton . You see,  four years ago I wrote a piece on this blog that (4.2 )>>I "predicted" { well maybe not} Hillary was going to win , become our first woman President . I stuck with that for a while .Till the GOP pulled off a coup by slipping Donald Trump past their nomination . When Donald Trump entered the race it was already over for Hillary . Though Mr. Trump was totally unprofessional during the debates .  Hillary was able show how articulate she was . She overwhelmingly won . BUT if you believe in conspiracies which are hard to double down just who arranged the 2016 election. The only candidate who was more qualified than both Clinton , or Trump was (4.3)>>Barnie Sanders.      Hillary's chances were challenged. If Trump never entered the race , this is my own opinion  , Hillary would have defeated who ever was going to win the Republican Party nomination . (5)>>The leaked emails revealed Hillary’s campaign was grabbing money from the state parties for its own purposes, leaving the states with very little to support down-ballot races. As can be seen in the quotes above, Brazile adamantly denied that she had received questions in advance, although she seemed to qualify her statements by saying “from CNN.” But then it was revealed on Oct. 31 that she had been forced to resign from CNN after another email emerged through WikiLeaks indicating she had provided the Clinton campaign with yet another question. These "revelations " are troubling . If you liken the Russian hacking -meddling theory , this whole thing revealed by Brazile provides us with proof that our "democracy"  afar as we can see it , is greatly eroded . Both parties of our political system play their games to stay in power . The end result are angry people who flip political parties during an election as a weapon to punish government . Case in point , THE MOB RULES !

NOTES AND COMMENTS :

(1)>>Like Congress & the Republicans . But the Republican Party isn't doing any better, with just 30% of Americans holding a favorable view. That's essentially the same as September, when the rating hit its lowest point in polling back to 1992, but down from 42% in March. A broad 6 in 10, 61%, have an unfavorable opinion.  (2)>>the winners were women.  Tuesday’s results showed the potential of a rising coalition of women, minorities, and gay and transgender people who are solidly aligning with Democrats. Most of the Lefts anti-Trump margin . African Americans , Latinos . Some are skeptical of reading too much into one off-year election. And even Democrats have had heated disagreements over whether identity politics help the party or drive people away.     (3)>>The Washington Post  -  The Washington Post's report that Republican nominee Roy Moore alleged pursued teenage girls while in his thirties -- which Moore denies -- has led to a chorus of GOP senators conditionally calling on Moore to withdraw from the ballot ahead of the December 12 special election for Attorney General Jeff Sessions' old seat. (4.1)>>Brazile's revelation that the DNC was rigged for Hillary .  Former interim Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile claims Hillary Clinton secretly took over the DNC before she had won the Democratic primary. In an excerpt from her new book published by Politico, Brazile said she promised Clinton’s opponent, Bernie Sanders, that she would get to the bottom of whether Clinton had “rigged the nomination process.” She wrote, “By September 7, the day I called Bernie, I had found my proof and it broke my heart.” Brazile describes a fundraising agreement between the Hillary Victory Fund, Hillary for America, and the DNC that stipulated that Hillary would control the “party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised” in exchange for Clinton raising money and investing in the DNC. It was signed long before Clinton became the nominee. (4.2)>>I "predicted" {well maybe not}. Its title was Madam President I presume ........  I got a bit crazy with the writing . I was trying to foresee a White House dominated by Bill Clinton rather than Hillary. I also wrote that the whole 2016 election was "rigged" for a Hillary win . I would never think that Donald Trump would repeat the same words I wrote . Unless he read my blog . Never the less , its stranger than fiction how we are , how we got to this point.(4.3)>>Barnie Sanders.  "undermine one candidate" - If the candidate is clean, above board, honest and nothing to hide, Sanders may have been the only good guy on the ballot . If you take our two party system which will not allow for multi-party platforms to run in an election. We have the Green , Libertarian  for examples they never win . Sanders campaign declined to utilize the joint fundraising agreement offer from the DNC because its entire DNA went against raising big corporate money, instead choosing to target small dollar donations. As a result of Sanders opting to answer to working people who donated rather than millionares, billionares, and corporations, he wasn't afforded the same say in strategy, hires, or finances as Clinton over a body that, by its own by laws, is supposed to be impartial in the primary process and not be providing special privileges to any candidate during a competitive primary.   (5)>>The leaked emails revealed.  The record states, then, that in March, Brazile sent an email to the Clinton campaign saying, “From time to time I get the questions in advance.” In October, she says, “As it pertains to the CNN Debates, I never had access to questions and would never have shared them with the candidates if I did.” Could it be that Brazile is just lawyering everyone to death? After all, the forwarded question in this case doesn’t pertain to any “debate”; it was a “town hall” event. There is a difference. And: Whereas a “Democratic official” says that Brazile was sharing a question for panel discussion, Brazile herself makes no mention of any panel in her on-the-record statement.

The Strange Case of Manafort . & Some other Musings.

I have to tell you that for the Trump Administration there is a momentum that seems blur reality.His business  associates have been  a complete embarrassment to from the start . (1)>>WE have a list of names , The administration has been rocked by a series of high-profile exits —In the past six months, the Trump administration has seen the firing or resignation of its chief of staff, communications director, press secretary, FBI director, ethics director, national security adviser and more. So far many top-level people who've either been fired or have resigned from the administration. The Exodus of Manafort ,Now, months after the Republican operative left Trump's campaign last fall, Manafort finds himself among the central figures in investigations regarding Russian election meddling and possible ties between members of the real estate mogul's team and Moscow. the recent (1.2)>>"investigations" of Mueller .How rich are Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, and where did they travel? That question lingered over the pair's court hearing on Monday after both faced the first indictments from Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into (1.3)>>Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.Because both men appeared to be globe-trotting multi-millionaires and faced charges for serious crimes related to their work abroad, the government said they should be held under house arrest.   White House shake-up into motion, including bringing back former campaign officials, hiring a crew of outside lawyers to work on the Russia investigation and having his tweets monitored by White House advisors, reported the Wall Street Journal.  Attorneys for Paul Manafort defended him in a court filing Thursday as a (2)>>"successful, international political consultant" who, by nature of his work on behalf of foreign political parties, was necessarily involved in international financial transactions. They argued that Manafort, who led Trump's campaign for several months last year, had done nothing wrong and did not pose a risk of fleeing the country. In a court filing on Thursday, Manafort defense lawyer Kevin Downing said the money laundering count, the most serious facing his client with a 20-year maximum sentence, was based on a “tenuous legal theory” tying it to his failure to register as a  (3)>>foreign agent of the former Ukrainian leader.  For all the talk of Russian collusion, there isn’t really a federal crime that matches what the press, critics, and Capitol Hill lawmakers have been calling collusion, a word that refers legally to a narrow segment of antitrust law. And there’s almost zero chance anyone will be charged with treason, a charge that’s available to use only against enemies in a declared war.Perhaps more significant than Manafort’s actual charges is the fact that Mueller revealed to the public that a Trump foreign policy adviser named George Papadopoulos had pled guilty to lying to the FBI in an interview about his contacts with a professor who claimed to have links to Russian sources closely connected to the Kremlin or Vladimir Putin. What is clear at this point is that Mueller is just getting started. Trump may have lied about a whole series of things, but Trump didn’t say any of it under oath, so Trump can fall back on his well-worn “fake news” defense with no legal consequence.

& Some other Musings. 

Are we ready for the new TAX Plan ? Taxes are on my mind as well , since I live in a heavy tax and spend state like California . A state like mine just raised its "gas tax" to pay for road construction  is utterly ridiculous . (4)>>Californians should be mad at this , for the first part over the last decade Californians voted in ballot propositions that included to raise taxes on road renovations . While all this money is being raised , it never goes to where its intended . Its money at tax payer expense that is always flushed down the toilet . Getting our Federal taxes cut requires many obstacles . President Trump leaves little doubt about how great his tax overhaul is going to be when he is in front of crowds, urging them to pressure Congress to pass it. (5)>>"Does anybody in this room mind getting a massive tax cut?" Trump said last week at a White House reception for Hispanic Heritage MonthAfter the audience shouted, "No," Trump continued: "Does anybody object to paying less taxes?" Another loud "No" followed. CNN reported that  " Much like with their as-yet-unsuccessful Obamacare repeal and replace efforts, the Grand Old Party has spent years talking about tax reform. Details? They can wait. The "Unified

Framework" for tax reform that the President and his Republican compatriots released at the end of September looked like a high school book report puffed up to meet the teacher's page count requirements". (6)>>The new Republican tax proposal is arguably the pinnacle of Paul D. Ryan’s legislative career, the culmination of years spent in the wonky trenches of conservative think tanks and esoteric congressional budget and tax debates. It could be a legacy-defining achievement for Mr. Ryan, the self-proclaimed “policy guy” who only reluctantly took the helm of the House in 2015 and found himself in that most political of positions as speaker. It could also be a colossal disaster that imperils Republican control of the House, threatens Mr. Ryan’s reputation and position and leaves his party without a noteworthy legislative achievement despite control of Congress and the White House. In unveiling the House Republicans’ tax bill, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., touted its positive impact for a typical American family. "With this plan, the typical family of four will save $1,182 a year on their taxes,"Ryan said Nov. 2.  House Speaker Paul Ryan said he thinks his chamber will pass a GOP-backed tax reform plan by Thanksgiving and the Senate will follow about a week later, keeping with President Trump’s timetable to give Americans a “big beautiful Christmas present.”

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>>"investigations" of Mueller. The indictment (PDF), unsealed on Monday, includes an extensive look into Paul Manafort’s byzantine financial dealings. In particular, it details how he used a company called Lucicle Consultants Limited to wire millions of dollars into the United States.   (1.2)>>WE have a list of names. Of people who left the Trump Administration . Its mind boggling .Tom Price, Sebastian Gorka, Steve Bannon, Anthony Scaramucci, Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, Mike Dubke, James Comey, Mike Flynn, Sally Yates, and  Paul Manafort. (1.3)>>Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Putin has denied interfering in the U.S. presidential election, despite the continuing evidence from U.S. intelligence agencies. President Donald Trump has refused to fully endorse the findings about Russian hacks and tweeted this week there was "NO COLLUSION" between the Kremlin and his campaign.  HOWEVER there is still no evidence how the Russians somehow took the voters for a ride . While the recent "hearings" on social media like Facebook and Twitter presented that fake accounts were set up by Russian trolls to somehow "influence" the outcome is laughable . There is more evidence of internal rigging as in the case of the Democratic Party { perhaps the Republican party as well} Calling it an inside job .  (2)>>"successful, international political consultant". Manafort currently has three US passports, each under a different number. He has submitted 10 passport applications in roughly as many years, prosecutors said.* This year, Manafort traveled to Mexico, China and Ecuador with a phone and email account registered under a fake name. (The name was not disclosed in the filings.)* Over the past year, Manafort traveled to Dubai, Cancun, Panama City, Havana, Shanghai, Madrid, Tokyo and Grand Cayman Island.* Both Manafort and Gates were frequent travelers to Cyprus. "Extensive travel of this nature further evidences a risk of flight," the prosecutor's filing said.* Manafort wrote on loan applications and other financial documents that his assets were worth between $19 million in April 2012 and $136 million in May 2016.* In some months, like while he served as Trump's national campaign chairman in August 2016, Manafort's assessment of his total worth fluctuated. In August 2016 he said his assets were worth $28 million, then wrote he had $63 million in assets on a different application.  (3)>>foreign agent of the former Ukrainian leader. Association and collusion are not the same. There is no doubt there is significant assocations and relationships between Trump people and Russians.  Paul Manafort had had a contract for tens of millions of dollars to “greatly benefit the Putin Government” . Manafort faces a long list of charges that includes conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, false statements, acting as an unregistered agent as a foreign principal, making misleading statements in violation of the Foreign Agent Registration Act, and seven counts of failing to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. (4)>>Californians should be mad at this.  Gov. Jerry Brown may have violated the notion of "taxation without representation " when he bypassed voters to push for his Gas tax hike . What Brown did sent shock-waves trough out the state , increasing the cost of fuel means that other commodities will cost more . Your groceries will go up , and up !. The bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown will raise the state excise tax on gasoline by 12 cents, from 29.7 cents per gallon to 41.7 cents per gallon. The excise tax on diesel fuel will increase by 20 cents, from 16 cents per gallon to 36 cents per gallon, and the sales tax rate on diesel will increase from 9% to 13%. What Californians need to know about the state's $52-billion transportation plan » Most Republican lawmakers opposed the tax increases, saying the state should instead divert billions of dollars from wasteful spending and a bullet train project they believe is not cost-effective and direct it toward transportation.Many Republicans have already latched onto the tax increases as a hot-button issue for the 2018 elections. (5)>>"Does anybody in this room mind getting a massive tax cut?" . Everything is on the line for Mr. Ryan and his fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill as they embark on a push to enact the most ambitious tax overhaul in three decades by the end of the year. Their bill would affect virtually every taxpayer in the country, dropping the top corporate tax to 20 percent from 35 percent and delivering more modest cuts for many families through changes to the tax brackets and other measures. To offset some of the cost, it would also limit or end some popular deductions, like mortgage interest and state and local income taxes, potentially leaving some taxpayers with higher bills.  (6)>>The new Republican tax proposal is arguably the pinnacle of Paul D. Ryan’s legislative career. So Ryan has some mathematical detail to back up the figure. But it leaves out at least three caveats. The median household income is $59,000, but the median family income is almost $73,000: The Ways and Means Committee used the figure for median household income, but Ryan referred to the "typical family of four." The major difference is that households can include one person living alone, whereas a family is a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together.So among families, a $59,000 income is not necessarily "typical" -- it’s actually in the bottom half of the income spectrum. The last time the median family income was as low as $59,000 was in 1985.

"Cats out of the Bag "

AS they say the "Cats out of the Bag " Case in point  the Trump dossier . As we recollect this dossier was during the election a document that contained some damaging but less credible evidence that  Donald Trump secret ties with Russia , or Russian intelligence has attempted to develop a secret relationship with Trump or cultivate him as an asset?  Interestingly with all the Russia hype going about Mr. Trump . (1)>>The Russian media is hammering Trump constantly to the point of ridicule . What the Russian government wanted out of Trump , was Putin's hope that the Sanctions imposed by Obama would be lifted and relations would be normalized . Period the end of a new cold war . It never came about . Donald Trump took a step backward bowing to the  Washington war hawks of the old  guard McCain type cold war era  politicians . Basically it put Donald Trump in a precarious situation , perhaps  betraying any closed door "negotiations" with the Russians.  Recently a Russian politician has threatened to "hit Donald Trump with our Kompromat" on state TV. Speaking on Russia-24, Nikita Isaev, leader of the far-right New Russia Movement, said the compromising material should be released in retaliation over the closure of several Russian diplomatic compounds across the US. When asked whether Russia has such material, Mr Isaev, who is also director of the Russian Institute of Contemporary Economics, replied: "Of course we have it!". So If Presient Trump is loved by any Russians in Putin's cabinet you can forget it   The  big story on Tuesday was saying that (2)>>Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee financed research for the "Steele dossier" — a much-discussed report prepared by a former British intelligence operative. The dossier for me would have been incredibly embarrassing to the American Government if it was true. The fact Democrats were behind the funding for the dossier is not totally new. When Mother Jones first reported on the research that led to the dossier back in October 2016, it said the research effort was originally funded by President Trump's GOP opponents and then, when he won the nomination, by Democrats. So many conservative media figures and GOP politicians have increasingly tried to publicize other Russia-related matters that they say implicate Trump’s political enemies — whether the Obama administration, the Clintons, Mueller, fired FBI Director James Comey, or even the FBI as a whole — in misconduct of some kind.Two of these stories — questions about an Obama-era uranium deal, and questions about the salacious “dossier” on Trump — have been bubbling in conservative media for some time, and have gotten particular attention this week. There is a lot of word play here going on .
Conservative Antics .

The Dossier story gets weirder , besides camp Hillary looking for dirt on Trump in 2016, The Washington Free Beacon says it hired intelligence firm Fusion GPS during the 2016 Republican presidential primary.  the Fusion efforts researching Trump were first funded by Republican foes of Trump, and Democrats began paying the research firm later on, after he became the presumptive nominee. It appears there were Republicans that did not want Trumpas their nominee choice . (3)>>Obviously Trump was already tainted with Connections to the Clinton's . The Republican operatives who ran against Donald Trump — the managers of the Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and John Kasich campaigns — had not only not heard of any GOP-funded oppo project but did not believe one existed. Neither did some of the NeverTrump activists working outside the campaigns to try to stop the GOP front-runner. So many falsehoods... first Donald Trump was the Republican front runner from the moment he announced his candidacy. Trump led the Republican field in every National poll consistently through the primaries and debates right to the nomination. The BIG question is who groomed Trump for the Presidency ?  It was not the Russians , but the inner circle of Republicans who planned for years for the perfect coup . 

Flake &  Croker. 

The  question is there any unity in the Republican party is fracturing . (4)>>Flake’s remarks followed a series of television interviews in which Tennessee Senator Bob Corker denounced Trump, followed by angry retorts from the president. That all came just hours before Republican senators met for lunch with Trump to discuss the path ahead for their plans to overhaul the tax code.Flake's decision not to run for re-election will have electoral repercussions in Arizona where the GOP is now scrambling to find a new candidate to run in his stead. But, Flake's decision not to run leaves him unencumbered for the next 14 months in Washington: free to speak out or even vote against Trump's agenda if he disagrees without any fear of retribution. Flake also brings the number of ardent (5)>>Trump-defying Republicans to three in the US Senate, a magic number that is enough to block even simple majority votes in the Senate, where Republicans have 52 members.   Corker -- once considered a serious contender to be Trump's secretary of state --has had especially sharp barbs against Trump in the weeks since he announced he wouldn't run for re-election. Corker told CNN's Manu Raju Tuesday that Trump's legacy be "the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, just the name-calling." Mr. Corker, another loud Trump critic, is going home after next year. So are several moderate House Republicans: Charles W. Dent of Pennsylvania, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and David G. Reichert of Washington. Mr. Trump said the turmoil in the Republican Party is nothing compared with what is happening in the Democratic Party, which is still reeling from revelations that party officials conspired to sabotage Sen. Bernard Sanders’ presidential run in favor of Hillary Clinton.“That’s a mess” Mr. Trump said, adding that his lunch Tuesday with Senate Republicans was “a lovefest.”

The End of the Republican party ? .

But defections of mainstream conservatives like Flake and the others foreshadow a splintering of the Republican Party. Trump wants a party not committed to principles or policies, but only to the Trump brand, however he defines it. The "real" conservatives have fled the party to certain point leading to a complete disconnect in Congress . Their rebellion against the power of organized money has upended American politics in ways that may reverberate for a long time. The face of the party today hinges on what next Donald Trump does next . The next four years are going to be a roller coaster ride.  { see this "prophetical" article written in 1955 http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1955/10/11/republican-party-may-fall-apart-after/ } Most recently, deep fissures have been evident in the Republican Party between establishment and insurgent types. This began with the 2010 midterms, when the party’s control over its own nominations slipped away in the Tea Party revolt by conservative voters. Republicans and progressives to proclaim their disgust at what the GOP has become—the party of Trump and Moore, not the Bushes and Romneys. 

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>>The Russian media is hammering Trump constantly to the point of ridicule . Most of us that are convinced of Russian -Trump Collusion may have missed a valid point right now . Donald Trump is not liked in Russia anymore . Kremlin-controlled news outlets used to root for Donald Trump’s election. Now they’re reveling in the chaos and division of his early presidency.“Sessions Scandal: ‘U.S Headed to Constitutional Crisis,’” reads a March 3 headline on the website of the Kremlin-funded English-language network RT.“Immigrants See American Dream Fade in Wake of Surge in Hate Crimes,” Sputnik News, another English language outlet bankrolled by the Kremlin, reported the same day.“America is in the grips of hatred,” the Russian television commentator Dmitry Kiselyov told viewers of the Rossiya 1 network on Sunday night. The popular host, appointed directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggested the political discord could lead to violence in gun-friendly America — “a dangerous combination with free-flowing firearms,” he said.  Some analysts say that the Kremlin doesn't yet know what to make of Mr. Trump, particularly given his habit of saying one thing and then promptly reversing himself – often via a bluntly worded tweet. Politically Trump makes no sense anymore to the Russians, since he's going against what Putin hoped for as a type of alliance in Regards to Syria . It's not the way that Moscow is used to handling relations with its nuclear rival. "Official Russian behaviour since Trump came to power is extremely cautious," says Fyodor Lukyanov, a prominent foreign-policy commentator. "It seems the Russian leadership is starting to understand that the United States is much more unpredictable than anyone imagined it could be." Unless President Trump can kick the old guard war hawks of the 50s to stabilize relations with Russia . Were heading back to the conflicts with Russia mirroring the 1960s.  (2)>>Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee financed research for the "Steele dossier" . The Nation published Patrick Lawrence’s article “A New Report Raises Big Questions About Last Year’s DNC Hack.” The article largely reported on a recently published memo prepared by Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), which argued, based on their own investigation, that the theft of the DNC e-mails was not a hack, but some kind of inside leak that did not involve Russia. A new Media Research Center study finds that, since the inauguration, major TV news networks have devoted an astonishing 1,000 minutes out of a total 5,015 minutes of Trump administration coverage discussing speculation that the Trump campaign may have colluded with Moscow in hacking Clinton campaign emails, “which means the Russia story alone has comprised almost one-fifth of all Trump news this year.” In contrast, they so far have devoted just 20 seconds to the more substantive scandal of Hillary and her husband possibly trading US uranium rights for Russian cash.(3)>>Obviously Trump was already tainted with Connections to the Clinton's . Let's take the early '90s, for example: Back then, Trump had taken his two elder sons to the White House with him, and they had met with Hillary Clinton. He would later write, "The First Lady is a wonderful woman who has handled pressure incredibly well." Or how about the time Donald Trump went out of his way to defend the indefensible incident of 1999?Just before the turn of the century – in an interview with The New York Times – Trump tried to downplay the Monica Lewinsky scandal for his old pal, Bill. He said, It's sad because he would go down as a great President if he had not had this scandal. People would have been more forgiving if he'd had an affair with a really beautiful woman of sophistication. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe were on a different level.Clearly, Trump was a fan of the Clintons.And it's easy to see why: Trump is a powerful New York businessman, and the Clintons are a powerful New York family.It's no surprise that they'd run into each other at fundraisers, as they did during the summer of 2000. At the time, Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, was running for president.  (4)>>Flake’s remarks . A cordial conservative with a maverick bent, Flake angered Trump’s base by refusing to endorse Trump in 2016. Flake also criticized the president’s order banning people arriving from seven heavily Muslim nations. In Flake’s book “Conscience of a Conservative,” released this year, the senator said it’s time for Republicans to reclaim conservatism from Trump. (5)>>Trump-defying Republicans to three in the US Senate. The Republican Party is divided into four groups. The first two, core conservatives and “country first” conservatives, overwhelmingly approve of Mr. Trump but disagree on immigration and America’s role in the world.The other groups are market-skeptic Republicans and “new-era enterprises ” that are strongly pro-business, according to Pew. Mr. Trump’s base remains energized and mostly intact, and it’s wreaking havoc on the Republican establishment.