Tuesday, February 27, 2018

The So-called President to the Rescue? Or Are the "Children" Rescuing Us?

The thing about Trump is that he blindly and stupidly sets up the jokes. Here's a beaut!



Instead of making up fairy tales about himself running unarmed to face an AR and its triggerman, Trump should be actually defending all of us in his constitutional job of commander in chief by  defending against the Russians attacking our 2018 election. This is his sworn duty — to defend us.

Today's polling results show that over 70% of Americans thinks he isn't doing this job. How can the other 30% think he is, you ask? My guess is that the other 30% are on opiodes or believe the Russians are really our friends just like Trump says. Or, most likely, they're just not thinking at all except about lunch.

Trump is failing us badly. But that's what he does. Always and consistently.

But I am happy today anyway because the next generation has stepped up to the plate. It is horrible that 17 people had to be shot to death at a Florida high school in order for us to discover what wonderful people today's high school students are. They are so smart that they are smart enough to call themselves "children" rather than kids or young adults. "We are your children and you adults failed to protect us." That works!

As the "children" that we failed to protect, they have Trump in a dither of what to do. They have major U.S. companies fleeing association with the NRA. They have state governors assuming the task of gun control measures. And they have a lot of GOP members of Congress worrying even more frantically  about November's election.

These "children" are moving into politics in a big way, smart enough to see that there is plenty of room for grassroot workers to win elections for candidates who support the issues these young people care about. Gun control is but one of their big issues. They care enormously about the environment. After all, they will have to live on this planet a lot longer than we oldies. They also care about equal dignity for all and social justice for all. And they know how to get things done. Their rallies have been overnight miracles, with a big march on Washington DC coming up in a few weeks.

What particularly tickles me is that six of them have signed up to run for governor of Kansas. What a great way to get a continuting platform for their message. What news person can ignore a six-person team running for governor!

It's hard living in these days of Trump. It's tiresome and tiring. He is so predictably awful and so loud in demanding attention all the time. And he wounds people and the environment on virtually a daily basis, which grieves me.

But the "children" of that Florida high school and their six-person gubernatorial tag team in Kansas cheer me up.  The future is arriving a bit ahead of schedule, and it looks wonderful!

Thank you, you high school children. We adults may have failed to save you, but you are saving us!



Friday, February 23, 2018

The Evil That Trump's Manafort Served






We should all be disgusted that Paul Manafort had a role in putting someone into our White House, namely Donald Trump, for whom he acted as campaign manager for six months. As bad as Trump is, Manafort is arguably worse. He is as wretched a human being as his employers in the Ukraine in their political campaigning.

Do you understand what Putin's minions did in the Ukraine presidential campaign?

They poisoned the opposition candidate.

Literally.

The handsome man pictured below was close to beating the Putin candidate for the presidency of Ukraine and thus keeping that country out of the controlling hands of Russia.

As the election neared, the Putin puppets were scared this man would indeed win, and so they poisoned him, thereby disfiguring his face and making him repulsive to voters.


Before Poisoning by the Russians


After poisoning by the Russians

When a woman candidate then took over the run against the Putin puppet, she was kidnapped and jailed.

The next move of the pro-Putin people was to hire Manafort for $15 million. His job?  To hide the evil done in the Ukraine election and to burnish the image of the Putin puppet in the world. 

This is the kind of man Manafort is. He aides and abets the worst kind of criminality. And Trump not only hired him to run his campaign but himself defended Putin and Russia during the campaign even at the expense of America. When a news reporter challenged Trump's friendliness with Russia, pointing out that Putin "kills people", Trump replied that the USA also kills people.

Yes, we have killed to get our way, although CIA political assassination in other countries is now outlawed by our federal laws.  But we haven't poisoned people so that their faces become disfigured and scarred.

And American political donations should not go into the pockets of men like Manafort who try to hide such vicious acts. 

But that's exactly what has happened. Yesterday Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller revealed that he had filed additional charges against Manafort, these being for tax fraud in Manafort's deceiving the feds about the $15 million he got from Putin's Ukraine puppets. The "hush-it-up" money was paid by Putin's criminals right into Manafort's hands. These funds then were disguised by Manafort in his  crimes of tax fraud and money laundering. 

What kind of man is Trump to hire such a one as Manafort? And to pay him from donors' contributions? Do Trump's supporters know what their money has been used for?

He who sits down to sup with the Devil must use a long spoon. 

There is however no spoon long enough to adequately distance one from  the evil Manafort serves.



Monday, February 19, 2018

BRING BACK GEORGE WASHINGTON!

WE USED TO HAVE PRESIDENTS WHO DIDN'T TELL LIES. Happy George Washington's Birthday! And Happy Lincoln’s Birthday too. He didn’t lie either. In fact, none of our prior presidents were famous liars…..

BRING BACK GEORGE WASHINGTON! OR LINCOLN Or even Franklin Pierce? Polk? ......

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Tell These Children We WILL Do Gun Control Locally. AND MEAN IT!

Look at them. Each one of them.  The Names and Faces of the Florida School Shooting Victims   

Feeling bad isn't enough. Do something about it! Do as I have just done.

I looked intently at each of these people, especially the children, and I said aloud to each, "I am sorry. I should have done something to prevent this happening." And I should have. 

And so should each of you. Do it now. Look at each of these soft young faces and tell them you're sorry we didn't do enough. Then get busy campaigning for local and state gun control laws. The Supreme Court explicity allows that appropriate local regulation is acceptable. So we can't get a GOP Congress to do it? Then do it where you live! 

And campaign for candidates who support gun control. 

We owe these sweet children and their brave teachers. We owe them our efforts to save other children. They may be our children or grandchildren. But all children are our children.

These Florida children were our children too.


Trump Is More Scared of Mueller AFTER Russian Indictments!

At first Trump claimed that the Robert Mueller grand jury indictments of 13 Russians had cleared him of any complicity in the attack on the 2016 campaign process:  All he said in those first hours was, "I am vindicated... No collusion"

But two days after that assertion he is acting more guilty than ever and is again trying to shake the FBI off his tail.

In this morning's Tweets he blamed the FBI for the Florida high school shooting in which 17 students and teachers died this past week. Yes, the FBI failed to send to the local Florida FBI office a tipoff about the 19-year-old shooter. It was apparently a failure to follow the FBI's own procedures, but it was not an issue of available FBI manpower.

Nevertheless, Trump today leaped on this FBI failure as an excuse to resume attacking the FBI for investigating the relationship between his campaign and the Russians in swinging the election away from Hillary Clinton. As the headline in the Washington Post said this morning: Trump blasts FBI’s failure to probe tip on Fla. shooter, says ‘too much time’ spent on Russia.

This renewed attack by Trump on the FBI investigation of his campaign establishes that Trump is still afraid of Mueller's digging out a full Trump/Russian conspiracy in twisting the 2016 election. There is still a very scary skeleton waiting to pounce out of Trump's closet.

What is the scary skeleton?

Maybe Mueller actually knows by now, but it's obvious Trump still hopes Mueller hasn't peeked through the closet keyhole and seen Mr. Bones wearing a Trump cap.

I confidently bet Mueller isn't through picking over those old bones in the Trump closet. That's why as late as this past week Trump's once right-hand man, Steve Bannon, was being interviewed for 20 hours by Mueller and his team. It's also why Mueller is just now working on getting an interview session with Trump.

Trump does well to still be afraid. Mueller's hounds are still at his heels. And not even the death of 17 people at a Florida high school will be enough to turn Mueller from his purpose. Nor will it turn his boss, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The latter elected to endorse the Mueller grand jury indictments by himself announcing them on television. He wasn't grabbing credit away from Mueller. He was protecting Mueller and the investigation by personally embracing it in front of God, TV and the entire American public. The investigation is now clearly the godchild of Rosenstein. (And don't lecture me on the politcal-religious-movie tangle I've created here with the godfather bit.)

Watch what people do! That's one of the prime rules of politics. People can say anything. Especially Trump, who can and does say anything without even an attempt to nod at the truth. Watch what they do. Words are puffs of noise on the wind; actions abide. Trump can say he's "vindicated" by the Mueller indictments but by going on the attack again against the FBI's investigating him, he's showing us he's deathly afraid of what Mueller may still find out.

The sun has just come out and I'm in a wild sort of mood so what the hell! I'll guess what is in Trump's closet that is terrifying him. I guess that it's some serious federal business crimes in his pre-campaign days. These types of crimes could include violation of such heavy-duty laws as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Law. Some of these federal business laws carry stiff prison sentences for the individuals involved. In short, Trump couldn't buy his way out by just paying a fine leveled on his family company. The Russians know about the crime and have the proof of it because it was conducted in collusion with some of the unsavory governments, e.g. Azerbijan, or the crooked businesses the Russians dote. That's the blackmail Putin holds over Trump. Blackmail that can put Trump in prison.

I don't think Trump would enjoy prison at all. Nor would his fellow prisoners enjoy having the boaster-braggart Trump amongst them. They'd probably prefer solitary confinement.

Wouldn't you?

Now let's wait for that creaky closet door of Trump's to squeek open and let his secret skeleton stalk out, led in handcuffs by Robert Mueller.

'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished....






Saturday, February 17, 2018

Mueller Is Apparently Still Tracking Co-Conspirators. Hi, Ho, Silver!

Keep this in mind. Common sense tells us that if Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller were through  investigating a possible Trump/Russian campaign conspiracy, he wouldn't still be interviewing potential suspects/witnesses. But last week his team spent 20 hours interviewing one-time Trump advisor Steve Bannon and is still negotiating terms with Trump's attorneys for interviewing the president. I doubt they are gathering to discuss canasta rules.

What follows here is a pretty good column from the Washington Post explaining the apparent Mueller strategy. I must admit though that I would sure like some reassurance that Mueller has not dismissed this original grand jury that issued the indictment. Read this piece and you'll see why that bit of information is key as to where we are in this investigation. Here's the relevant part of the Post column which appears in full at Mueller’s indictment only scratches the surface of a widespread conspiracy.

"There were reports late Friday afternoon that Mueller’s inquiry into Russian meddling is not yet complete. With a grand jury investigation shrouded in secrecy, any prediction is an exercise in reading tea leaves. But there could be any number of reasons for Mueller to not yet show his full hand.
Once an indictment is returned, the grand jury’s work on the charged offenses must cease. If the investigation is not yet complete, prosecutors could choose to bring an initial indictment against Russian participants while continuing the grand jury investigation against others.

"That procedure could make sense. Friday’s indictment sets a dramatic stage for anything that will follow. It provides the most detailed public account to date of the activities that Mueller is charged with investigating, and puts to rest any notion that there is “no there there.” It also lets other potential targets know that Mueller’s knowledge of Russian interference is extensive, and that the wisest course may be to cooperate rather than to try to obfuscate or obstruct.
"Bringing the first major indictment against only Russian individuals is also a brilliant rebuttal to those who argue (without basis ) that Mueller’s inquiry may be politically motivated. It allows Mueller to reveal the breadth and seriousness of the misconduct without any distracting political sideshows. Surely the condemnation of the conduct set forth in Friday’s indictment will be bipartisan and overwhelming. That will give Mueller’s investigation considerable momentum and should provide substantial political insurance against any potential moves to fire the special counsel.
"If the investigation into election meddling remains ongoing, then a superseding indictment could later add additional co-conspirators and charges. On that point, it is interesting to note the indictment’s allegation that the defendants conspired not only with each other , but also with “others known and unknown to the Grand Jury.” This could just be boilerplate language — or it could be a signal about things to come.
"Finally, the other unanswered questions surrounding Mueller’s inquiry relate to other criminal areas such as obstruction of justice. There have been clear signs that Mueller may be probing potential efforts to thwart the Russia investigation and/or efforts by campaign officials to conceal Russian contacts. That parallel area of inquiry is not affected by this indictment. The obstruction of justice-related shoes, if any, still remain to drop.

"The indictment alleges an astonishing conspiracy. It remains to be seen just how widespread the conspiracy was, and whether there were criminal efforts to cover it up. Mueller may be just getting started." 
                                                **********
Meantime while we await further shoe-fall, be glad of these things:
1. Trump has been completely stripped of any claims that "the Russian thing is a hoax";

2. He and Congressman Devin Nunes and the other GOP Congressional Trump stooges look like such utter fools, even worse than usual;

3. Even the GOP in Congress must now see they have a duty to act against the Russian "warfare";

4. If they don't, the Democrats have a juicy issue to run against them in the fall election;

5. Mueller has sure put the lie to Trump & Company's lament that the FBI & Mueller are just out to get him as part of a Democratic conspiracy because some FBI guy's wife ran as a Democratic candidate in some state and a friend of Clinton's gave her money. (Wha? Mueller was indeed brillliant to go after the Russians right off the bat. Who would waste time on parrying such nonsense about the alleged partisan conspiracy?)

6. By focusing on the Russians in this initial indictment, Mueller has probably provided himself a shield against being fired by Trump.  With a lovey bunch of indictments in one hand, plus two confessed transgressors in the other, and a couple more apparent co-conspiritors in his back pocket, Mueller doesn't look like someone on an anti-Trump crusade but like an authentic law enforcement juggernaut cranking toward a satisfying enforcement of the laws protecting the nation.

In short, Mueller is a regular Lone Ranger!  So Hi, Ho, Silver, and let's get the bad guys into the hoosgow!

And enjoy the weekend. It was 60 degrees here yesterday and it is now snowing. The weather is mighty changeable, just like this week's politics! But spring will come, and Mueller's work will go on. I predict hot times by the Fourth of July!

Thirteen Indicted Russians. Where Are We Now With the Mueller Investigation?

In his ignorant stubborness Trump proclaimed yesterday that he is "vindicated" by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's 34-page indictment of thirteen Russians for interfering in our 2016 election.

No, Trump is not vindicated. He has entirely lost his claim that the Russians didn't interfere in the election, that it is just "a hoax" by the Democrats to explain why they lost the election. He has called the interference "fake news". It wasn't a hoax and it wasn't fake.

The indictment of the thirteen Russians on carefully described criminal grounds clearly establishes that the Russians did indeed interfere so severely as to constitute a war-like act against our country, as the indictment notes. Insofar as this was an act of war, any American who knowingly joined in it commited treason, the sole crime defined in the Constitution as warranting capital punishment.

The Mueller indictment also does not clear Trump and his coterie of collusion with the Russians, as Trump claims. The fact that there is no evidence in this indictment of such collusion, as Deputy General Rod Rosenstein has noted, does not mean there is no evidence elsewhere of such collusion. In fact, this same week Mueller went right on interviewing Trump campaign people, most notably Steve Bannon. Why would Mueller still be interested in the Trump campaign if there wasn't some indication of collusion?


So where are we now with the Mueller investigation? We are partly finished. All indications are that there will be more revelations, likely dealing with obstruction of justice, possible collusion with the Russians, and possibly Trump's business crimes as the hook by which the Russians got control over him. And maybe even more issues of which we don't yet have an inkling.

But this opening salvo is key. Mueller did well to begin his reporting by first explaining the Russians' role. In dealing with a crime in which there was possibly collusion, it is effective to first establish the misdeeds of one of the perpetrators before describing those of a second.

This opening report is also key because it sets before the American people — and the government — the danger still facing us, i.e. the looming Russian interference in this year's elections. The heads of all the federal intelligence agencies have just told Congress in open hearings that the threat in 2018 from the Russians is real and imminent. Mueller's report makes clear how well-organized and well-financed such Russian attack can be.

In light of Trunp's denial of this threat, Mueller had to sound the alarm bell now. Trump has the duty, first and formost, of protecting our country. He must not be allowed to duck that duty because he loves the myth that he beat Hillary Clinton all on his own and without Russian help. Whether he did or did not is one for the political scientists to figure out. All that matters now is unified American action to protect the 2018 election from Russian interference. To get unified federal action we need the leadership of the president.

If Trump doesn't respond, Congress must act. So far the GOP in Congress has been increasingly reluctant to part ways with Trump or leap to its duty on anything. An exception: in early 2017 Congress enacted sanctions on Russia for what was then known to have been interference in the 2016 election. Trump hasn't enforced these sanctions; the now criminally indicted Michael Flynn reassured the Russians even before Trump was sworn in that the new president would not be enforcing any sanctions against Russia. And Trump has kept Flynn's promise.

Now there must be new sanctions on Russia. They must be severe. And they must be immediate! Our families back to the Revolution have fought and died for our free and fair elections. These are the foundation rock of our democracy and must be protected.

Instead of protecting us from the Russians, Trump and his clownish Congressman Devin Nunes have done all they could to impede and denigrate Mueller's investigation. As one commentator put it, "They are doing the Russians work for them."  Bombshell Russia indictments: What do they all mean? - The ...

Needless to say, we must impeach Trump. If the Democrats win back Congress in November, impeaching Trump should be their first priority. He is dangerous. He has stoked the possibility of nuclear war with North Korea and has failed to protect us from the Russian "warlike" acts (so-called in the Mueller indictment). As ideaologically bad as Vice-President Mike Pence is, he wouldn't be as bad for the country as Trump. There couldn't be two like Trump.

Could there?







work for them." from wp 2-16-18 
Bombshell Russia indictments: What do they all mean?





Monday, February 12, 2018

How Trump Is Supremely Useful to the GOP's Ugly Plans for the USA!

Trump is a clear liability to the GOP, isn't he? He sure seems like it.

But not so fast! He is actually highly useful to them. And I apologize for not seeing their scheme of things. Here is a really good breakdown from the New York Times on what the GOP is up to and why they want Trump. It's scary! Read it and then sign up to work in the fall elections.

We have to save our country from this.

               Charles M. Blow G.O.P. Visions of Tectonic Realignment   

Friday, February 9, 2018

Another Alabama Blessing for Democrats in Winning Senate Seat

Believe it or not, it has been two months since Deep South Alabama stunned the nation by electing a Democrat, Doug Jones, to a U.S. Senate seat instead of the repugnant Republican Roy Moore, the man who fancies 14-years-olds.  The outcome was a stunner because Alabama is probaby the reddest of the red states.

In past weeks, we have already looked at how grassroots campaigning made this win possible. Winning Political Campaigns With Virtually No Mone...  As explained in that posting, campaigns that have sufficient volunteers don't need big money for advertising on TV. Volunteers are a vital part of getting out the vote, and money and ads can't replace them in that job, the job that wins elections. No place has ever proven the truth of this as strongly as Alabama did in December.

And no segment of the population proved the value of get-out-the-vote more than did the black community in Alabama. In an interview broadcast on NPR a black leader explains the Alabama "ground game", how it worked in the African American community, and how it can work elsewhere. This segment also indicates how important a portion of the Democratic vote is represented by black voters. Jones Victory Credited To African-American Voters : NPR. The numbers in this story are stunning as to the percentage turn out by blacks and the 98% level of vote for the Democrat Doug Jones.

But one number may be more important than all the others: it's the number four. In a New York Times piece the writer explains the motivation for the get-out-the-black-vote. Black Voters in Alabama Pushed Back Against the Past  In recounting the iron-handed white attempts to suppress blacks in Mississippi for 150 years after the Civil War, he reminds us of the little girls who died in the terrorist explosion of a church in Alabama in the 1960s. Four girls died, the smallest number of which he writes. As small a number as it is, it is the most important number because the Democratic candidate Doug Jones is the district attorney who got their killers convicted. As one voter said as Jones won, “Those four little girls are on their feet tonight at 16th Street Baptist Church, celebrating,” he said. “They’re celebrating in spirit.”

The blacks of Alabama have a strong memory of this kind of evil. Even now Alabama is devising ways to deprive them of their voting rights. But the African Americans aren't going to let anyone push them backward. They will overcome.

The articles cited here in my posting do a good job of explaining the campaigning that will help us all overcome. It will help us all to get our country back from Trumpism and, among other things, silence the blatant racism he spews. We need to go forward. We shall go forward. 





Sunday, February 4, 2018

How We Now Know Mueller and Rosenstein Are Safe.

I'm not so worried now about Trump firing the top FBI guys. There are several very strong indications the danger is passed. The least of these is that it would so clearly be obstruction of justice that GOP Congressional leadership would have to stop him or be complicit.

In fact a court might even step in and contravene the firings on the grounds it is just too flagrant a crime of obstruction.

As for the Congress, doing nothing when you have a duty to act can actually be commission of a criminal act in some cases. I think the House GOP are getting nervous about being linked in to Trump's obstruction. Republicans distance themselves from Trump on GOP memo as Democrats fight to rebut.  Paul Ryan is looking particularly antsy. Nunes, of course, is apparently just too dumb to realize he has already jumped into the soup.

More important perhaps than the foregoing is that yesterday Nunes said he is now "in Part Two" of his investigation. Part Two? That means the memo didn't make the grade for Trump's purposes. So Nunes is doing a Part Two in which he says he is "going to focus on the role of other agencies" in the matter, mainly on State. One publication is reporting that Nunes is going to do five reports on various agencies shortcomings. That way lies yawning. Report: Nunes Wants to Publish As Many As 5 More Memos

A plethora of reports, including one on the State Department, does not sound like a path to firing Mueller or Rosenstein.

Also if the Nunes memo had produced the uproar the Dopey Guys had hoped for, Mueller &/or Rosenstein would have been fired right away. Like within 24 hours. Of course then it would have been a "Satuday Night Massacre" for real. Because it would have actually been Saturday night, which would have been so cool.

That aside, a bad act like the firing of the two FBI guys has to be done quickly or it doesn't look like the evidence was compelling. Of course, it could happen Monday... But how does Trump square that with having loafed around Mar-logo (or whatever it's called) for days? Sure would seem like the information in the memo wasn't very strong.

Which it wasn't. It was all old stuff that had been answered months ago.

I think Trump/Nunes wanted this memo as cover for GOP Senators to vote against impeachment when it comes to the Senate from a Democratic-dominated House after November 2018. Nunes and Trump can read the signs just as well as the fleeing GOP Congressmen can. So far 41 of the Congressional GOP are leaving the House and Senate. Because they don't want to go back to being the minority after losing the House majority in 2018.  But the Democrats would still need 67 Senate votes, i.e. a 2/3 vote, to get an impeachment conviction. Some of those votes would have to come from GOP Senators. The Nunes memo gives the notoriously non-conscientious GOP senators a place to hide from their duty.

Or is planning this far ahead beyond the likes of Trump and Nunes?

On yet the other hand, never under-estimate the cleverness of the devil. 



Friday, February 2, 2018

Nailing Nunes and His Big Noise about Nothing

Just a few thoughts about the dumbest man in America, Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, author of the "secret memo" that has had the media and Washington D.C. all knicker-twisted for over a week. Nunes, Trump and the usual wildies have vowed ithe memo establishes the need to clean out the FBI, get all new leaders, and change how things are done there. The Democrats and retired intelligence workers say this baseless blather  will undermine public confidence in a vital component of our democracy.

Here's how the Editorial Board of the New York Times summed up the possible damage from Trump/Nunes and friends:
"It would be nice to treat Mr. Trump, Mr. Nunes and their cohort as the junior high school pranksters they resemble, but what they’re doing — cynically undermining the nation’s trust in law enforcement, fostering an environment of permanent suspicion and subterfuge — is far more dangerous.

The "secret document" has now just been published and it's a nothing. Some pre-release thoughts about it and other Nunes matters may be useful. These are some of my recent posts on Facebook.

NUNES SELLS WINE IN RUSSIA! YOUR READ IT HERE FIRST! (Jan'30)
The Nunes family runs a dairy business. Otherwise Nunes' only asset is an interest in a wine business that sells in Russia. You want to launder money for the Russians?  Maybe launder it in "wine" which you sell to them at premium prices but fill the bottles with colored water. (And don't say I couldn't make a decent living as a crook.) P.S. On my own I found out about Nunes selling wine to the Russians. So you wanna buy me a glass of wine? Non-Nunes?!

DEVIN NUNES OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE....... (Jan.31)
As an attorney I believe Republican Congressman Devin Nunes has committed obstruction of justice by coordinating with the White House in producing a spurious "secret memo" designed to falsely discredit the FBI and thereby impede its present criminal investigation of Trump. It's even possible Nunes is already a target of the FBI for obstruction, based on his strange antics last year when he claimed to be rushing a "secret document" to the White House on the "unmasking" of people by the Obama administration through the FBI. The FBI wasn't intimidated by Nunes' nonsense then  (and obstruction was obviously the goal) and it won't be now. The only real unmasking was Nunes unmasking himself as a fool by hiding out in White House shrubs.


PAUL RYAN TRIES TO SAVE NUNES FROM OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE CHARGE (FEB.1)
Being a wee bit smarter than Devin Nunes (and who isn't?) GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan has said the Nunes memo has nothing to do with the Mueller investigation. Nunes the dimwit failed to pick up on this nudge. His accomplice in obstruction of justice, Trump, has made things even worse by avowing to friends that release of the current secret document will end the Mueller investigation of Trump. That sure looks like obstruction to me and Nunes is clearly part of it.

THE BIG NUNES MEMO IS A NOTHING. (FEB.2)
All the anti-FBI charges in this memo, about how a surveillance warrant was obtained, are old hat. All these points have been raised before and knocked down. Of course Trump's supporters will be fooled by them because they want to be. The rest of us can yawn and walk on. But let's remember that this is the second time* Nunes has fooled himself and thought he could fool the rest of us. He's also forgotten that the clock is ticking toward November. If a Democratic majority emerges in just nine months, Trump will be impeached and this memo will be used to light fireworks in celebration.

(*The first time was when he thought he could sidetrack the investigation of Trump by alleging (falsely) that the Obama administration had illegally unmasked targets of FBI surveillance. As I mentioned earlier Nunes crept around in the White House bushes to hide his delivery of that earlier "secret memo." He was videotaped doing this!)
                                                                     
                                                                 __________________

What are we going to do for chuckles if Nunes ever decides to go home to his dairy cows? And I'm not sneering at dairy cows. I live in dairy country and like to talk to them. But they are not very bright, not like goats.  So Nunes probably fits right in.