So Donald Trump really did call to congratulate Vladimir Putin for stealing another election in Russia. Update!

OMGD! I'm so proud of you! You really put the "dick" in dictator. I wish I was there to kiss your ass in person.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

President Trump on Tuesday congratulated President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on his recent re-election victory, but failed to ask him about either the fairness of the Russian vote, which Mr. Putin won with a lopsided margin, or about allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. 

Mr. Trump also did not raise Russia’s apparent role in a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter on British soil — an act that prompted the United States to join with Britain, France and Germany in denouncing the Russian government for violating international law. 

Instead, in his phone call with Mr. Putin, the president focused on what the White House called “shared interests,” including North Korea, Ukraine and the escalating arms race between the United States and Russia. He said he and Mr. Putin were likely to meet soon to discuss those issues. 

“We had a very good call,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, where he was meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. “We will probably be meeting in the not-too distant future to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control.”

And why is the arms race getting out of control?

Because these two demagogues are in a dick measuring contest.

So just let this steep in your mind for a moment. This president called the man who interfered in our election, has hacked into our power grid, and is currently having people murdered on British soil, to congratulate him for oppressing his people and stealing their right to choose their own leader.

You know who never would have done that?

Hillary Clinton, that's who!

Hell even John McCain would have had the cojones to do the right thing.

An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election. https://t.co/lcQTBi7CA1

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) March 20, 2018

Yeah, no shit!

Take a look at this completely surreal moment when Sarah Huckabee Sanders explains why Trump did not say anything to Putin about stealing this election.

Sarah Sanders is asked whether the Russian election was free and fair: "We don't get to dictate how other countries operate." pic.twitter.com/kqEWvNFeOa

— Axios (@axios) March 20, 2018

Wait, what?

AMERICA does not get to dictate how elections in other countries operate?

 Well I bet Afghanistan and Iraq are glad to hear about that.

And she calls herself a Republican. 

I am so far down this rabbit now hole that I am certain I will never see the sun again.

Update: Courtesy of WaPo:  

President Trump did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers when he congratulated Russian President Vladi­mir Putin Tuesday on his reelection, including a section in his briefing materials in all-capital letters stating “DO NOT CONGRATULATE,” according to officials familiar with the call. 

Trump also chose not to heed talking points from aides instructing him to condemn Putin about the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy in the United Kingdom with a powerful nerve agent, a case that both the British and U.S. governments have blamed on Moscow. 

The president’s conversation with Putin, which Trump called a “very good call,” prompted fresh criticism of his muted tone toward one of the United States’s biggest geopolitical rivals amid the ongoing special counsel investigation into Russia’s election interference and the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian officials.

I don't know folks. I'm beginning to think there might be something hinky going on between Trump and Putin. 

Or am I just being paranoid?

Meghan McCain asked if her father's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate led to Donald Trump.

(Interesting part shows up at the 1:50 mark.) Courtesy of Mediaite:  

“One thing your dad got criticized for is picking Sarah Palin,” Jones said. “Maybe he was ahead of his time.” 

“Isn’t this the party of Sarah Palin?” Jones asked. “How well do you think Sarah Palin would do in the modern Republican party?” 

“I still think President Trump is lightning in a bottle,” McCain responded. “I don’t think he’s going to be emulated very easily. 

“I think it’s a very specific man and a very specific moment,” she added. 

“The question of Sarah Palin — because I’ve heard it argued to me before, that she was sort of the opening of the populist movement within the Republican party — I’m mixed on it, because part of me thinks, yes that could be true. The other part of me thinks it was just the wave where the party was going.”

I would disagree with that last part.

I think that Palin gave voice to the very people that the Republican party had relied upon for decades but did not ever want to have their picture taken with at any events.

These were the great unwashed racists, xenophobes, and Christo-fascists who could be relied upon to vote GOP, but never felt that there were any candidates that truly represented them.

Sarah Palin did, and she demonstrated to Donald Trump that these people were the easiest to manipulate, agitate, and turn out to vote.

That is why Trump tapped Palin early on to present him to HER people, after which he summarily dismissed her and cast her back into the wilds of Wasilla.

Which is why we now find her showing up to give a speech in some bodunk county in Texas:Sarah Palin, the ninth governor of Alaska, levied accusations against the press, attacked “fake feminists” and called Texas to “revitalize our identity” during Saturday night’s Lincoln Reagan Dinner, hosted by the Denton County GOP.

The speech, which also saw a raffling off of a AR-15 shaped guitar autographed by Ted Nugent, had all of the red meat we would expect from Palin:  

Palin called the area's climate “cute,” adding, “It's Texas, and there are a lot of snowflakes surviving in Texas.” In her speech, she berated news reporters for perpetuating “press propaganda.” 

Addressing the “state of the news media,” she said, “It's tragic because America's finest are fighting, and even dying, for those freedoms in the free press.”“What the press likes to focus on is labeling us 'conspiratorial,’” she said. 

She presented a motif of “identity” throughout her speech, emphasizing that the GOP ideology serves to uphold American values. 

“Leftists say the stupidest things,” Palin said before aiming an attack at “pink-pussy, fake feminists” — namely, actress, writer and director Lena Dunham. 

The crowd responded with enthusiastic applause and whistles when Palin condemned illegal immigration. People who have a problem with that, she said, can “take it up with Barack Hussein Obama and Chuck Schumer.”

Yep, these are Palin's people. The biologically dead end cousin fuckers, who demand that pro-wrestling be part of their cable package, and who eagerly fill the stands of monster truck rallies.

And now this is who also supports Donald Trump, even though he does not have a thing in common with them.

Well aside for abject racism and a disdain for liberals that is.

Bill Kristol, the man who "discovered" Sarah Palin, finally admits that she helped to usher in the Trump presidency.

Kristol: Palin a harbinger of GOP to come from CNBC.

Courtesy of CNBC: 

Harwood: There are people who trace a direct line from Sarah Palin to Donald Trump. It is characterized as "the dumbing down of Republican politics," an anti-intellectual movement, which is odd from you because you are an intellectual. 

Kristol: Yeah, she turned out to be a disappointment. I mean, when she was picked, she was a popular governor of Alaska who had taken on the oil companies and so forth. I thought Palin as [John] McCain's VP would be a way to almost channel a certain kind of populism into what I would say is a healthy conservatism. 

Harwood: You discovered her on a Weekly Standard cruise, right? 

Kristol: She invited Fred Barnes and me and our families over to lunch at the governor's residence there. And we were impressed by her. And she was charming. And she was different — 42-year-old governor of Alaska, kind of an exotic state. 

I had been originally for John McCain picking Joe Lieberman — a centrist play against Barack Obama. And they chose not to go that way. And then I thought, 'OK, well, why not take the gamble with Palin?' 

But I will say this. For all the alleged dumbing down, the people who ran and won in 2010 and 2012 were pretty impressive, a lot of them. The Republican ticket in 2012 was Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. Whatever again you think of them, that's not a dumbed-down ticket. 

So I thought, 'OK, Palin, they didn't win.' And I thought, 'OK, she chose to be a celebrity rather than a politician.' I didn't realize that we were going into a celebrity culture — such a celebrity culture that Trump would actually as a celebrity run and win in 2016. 

I don't think Palin really led to Trump. Was this somehow a bit of a precursor or something? I'm willing to say, 'Maybe so.'

I think that this is as close to an admission of guilt by Kristol, that his infatuation with Palin, and fan like articles on her behalf, directly led to Donald Trump's campaign, that we are likely to get.

But in fact that is exactly how all of this went down.

Make no bones about it, without a Sarah Palin there would simply NOT be a President Trump.

And both Bill Kristol and John McCain are going to have to live with that for what remains of the rest of their lives.

Devin Nunes issues a subpoena to bring John McCain aide before House Intelligence Committee to answer questions about Russian dossier.

Courtesy of the Washington Examiner:  

House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes has issued a subpoena to David Kramer, a former State Department official who, in late November 2016, traveled to London to receive a briefing and a copy of the Trump dossier from its author, former British spy Christopher Steele. Kramer then returned to the U.S. to give the document to Sen. John McCain. 

Kramer is a senior fellow at the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University. 

McCain later took a copy of the dossier to the FBI's then-director, James Comey. But the FBI already had the document; Steele himself gave the dossier to the bureau in installments, reportedly beginning in early July 2016. 

McCain, recovering in Arizona from treatments for cancer, has long refused to detail his actions regarding the dossier. For his part, Kramer was interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee on Dec. 19. The new subpoena stems from statements Kramer made in that interview. 

In the session, Kramer told House investigators that he knew the identities of the Russian sources for the allegations in Steele's dossier. But when investigators pressed Kramer to reveal those names, he declined to do so. 

Now, he is under subpoena. The subpoena, issued Wednesday afternoon, directs Kramer to appear again before House investigators on Jan. 11.

This is of course a troubling development because the House Intelligence Committee leaks like a sieve, the names once revealed might quickly make their way to the Kremlin and those Christopher Steele assets might simply disappear.

And wouldn't THAT be convenient for Donald Trump?

But why do this in the first place, since Mueller obviously knows who these individuals are and has likely already spoken to them?

Get this: 

There is a growing belief among some congressional investigators that the Russians who provided information to Steele were using Steele to disrupt the American election as much as the Russians who distributed hacked Democratic Party emails. In some investigators' views, they are the two sides of the Trump-Russia project, both aimed at sowing chaos and discord in the American political system. 

Investigators who favor this theory ask a sensible question: Is it likely that all the Russians involved in the attempt to influence the 2016 election were lying, scheming, Kremlin-linked, Putin-backed enemies of America – except the Russians who talked to Christopher Steele?

So the argument is that since the Kremlin's trolls hacked government agencies and spread disinformation through various social platforms in America that ALL Russians should be considered liars and their information seen as suspect.  

Of course the hole in that logic is that Streele was using assets that he had worked with for decades in some instances, and the information they had provided in the past had proven accurate.

It really seems pretty clear that this is yet another attempt by Nunes to sabotage the Russia investigations, and to cover for his boss, which is obviously Donald Trump, and NOT the constituents from California who elected him.

And by the way didn't Nunes supposedly recuse himself from this investigation?

Let's end our day with a spoonful of Joe Biden, just to make us all feel a little better.

In emotional moment on @TheView, Joe Biden consoles Meghan McCain, whose father was diagnosed with same cancer Biden's late son Beau had. "There is hope. And if anybody can make it, your dad [can]." pic.twitter.com/tQUy11X5sV

— ABC News (@ABC) December 13, 2017

I am by no means a big fan of Meghan McCain, but she is a human being, and she is suffering.

Joe Biden demonstrates such abundant humanity in how he interacts with her, and his ability to even make her laugh while she is falling apart on national televisions speaks highly of the kind of heart our former Vice President possesses.

When Joe and Barack ran our country we were in many ways the best we have ever been.

They embodied the type of decency that we are sorely lacking these days. 

I miss them both, and know that whenever I share a story about what either one of them is up to these days that it will be both uplifting and hopeful.

Over the weekend John McCain all but slams Donald Trump for dodging the draft during the Vietnam War.

Watch. John McCain seems to take a dig at Trump for draft dodging. pic.twitter.com/RVtAtDFHeY

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 23, 2017

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

Sen. John McCain took some veiled shots at President Trump over the weekend — slamming high-income draft dodgers for using their wealth to avoid serving in the Vietnam War. 

“One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never, ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest income level of America and the highest income level found a doctor that would say that they had a bone spur,” the Arizona lawmaker told C-SPAN3 in an interview that aired Sunday. 

“That is wrong. That is wrong,” he said. “If we’re going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve.” 

McCain, a Republican, didn’t actually name Trump — but the “bone spur” reference appeared to be a direct jab.

Okay so in about a two or three day span of time that is now George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and John McCain taking veiled shots at Donald Trump. 

But my question is why do they remain simply veiled shots?

At this dangerous point in our history why can these individual, who all know what is at stake, not simply call Trump out clearly and publicly for what he is doing to this country?

And what will they tell themselves, and the American people, after it is too late?

John McCain first Republican to sign onto Democratic bill to make Facebook ads more transparent.

Courtesy of Politico:

Sen. John McCain has become the first Republican to sign on to a draft bill from Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner that would increase the transparency of political advertisements on social media platforms like Facebook. 

The move, announced Wednesday, marks a win for the bill's Democratic authors, who have been working for weeks to secure GOP support. 

The proposed legislation, the Honest Ads Act, is an offshoot of the investigations into Russia's use of Facebook, Twitter and Google to influence the 2016 election. It would create federal disclosure requirements for political ads sold online — including who paid for them — so they are "covered by the same rules as ads sold on TV, radio, and satellite," according to a news release. 

"This is the first substantive bipartisan piece of legislation that’s trying to — with a very light touch, because we don’t want to slow down innovation, or restrict free speech or people’s access to the internet — to deal with the problem that we saw in 2016 in terms of foreign interference in our electoral process," Warner told reporters. 

McCain said he backed the bill “for the same reason I have been for transparency in campaign finance reform for the last 25 years." He said he didn't know if other Republicans would get on board or if GOP leadership supports the proposal.

There have been some reports that John McCain wants his final act on earth to be to sabotage Donald Trump's presidency as much as possible. 

That may well be, and it would be completely understandable given how Trump has treated McCain in the past, however it could also simply be that McCain is getting back in touch with his long dormant patriotism and wants to protect his country from future manipulations by adversarial nations determined to undermine our democracy.

John McCain speaks out against Donald Trump without ever actually mentioning his name.

Courtesy of The Hill:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted “half-baked, spurious nationalism” in the United States in an emotional speech Monday night after receiving the National Constitution Center’s Liberty Medal. 

“To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain 'the last best hope of earth' for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history,” McCain said in the speech. 

The Arizona senator said “we live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil” and said Americans “are the custodians of those ideals at home, and their champion abroad.” 

“We have done great good in the world. That leadership has had its costs, but we have become incomparably powerful and wealthy as we did,” McCain said. 

“We have a moral obligation to continue in our just cause, and we would bring more than shame on ourselves if we don’t. We will not thrive in a world where our leadership and ideals are absent.”

As you all know I am loathe to give John McCain too much credit.

After all it was his decision to pluck Sarah Palin out of the worlds of Wasilla and plop her onto the national stage that led to much of what is happening to our country today. 

However having said that it should be noted that McCain seems to be determined to repair at least some of the damage caused by his unfortunate choices.

Maye its the brain cancer, and his impending mortality, but he is finally starting to sound like the guy everybody loved during his days on the Straight Talk Express.

Donald Trump missed the deadline to implement those Russian sanctions. Surprised?

Courtesy of the Washington Examiner:  

President Trump's team has missed a deadline for implementing new sanctions against Russia, and has ignored congressional requests for more information, according to a pair of leading senators. 

"They've had plenty of time to get their act together," Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., and Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday. 

McCain and Cardin spearheaded a congressional effort to impose far-reaching sanctions on Russia in response to President Vladimir Putin's aggression in a variety of arenas. The bill passed with near-unanimity in the Senate, and Trump opposed the bill but signed it. But the Trump team missed an October 1 deadline for implementing the sanctions, which target Russia's defense and intelligence sectors. 

"The delay calls into question the Trump administration's commitment to the sanctions bill which was signed into law more than two months ago, following months of public debate and negotiations in Congress," the senators said.

Yeah, like Trump was EVER going to bite that hand that helped get him elected.

Silly GOP Senators.

By the way it should be noted that the Washington Examiner is a Right Wing rag, so if they are reporting a story like this it means that Trump is now losing the conservative media. 

Donald Trump has now taken to mocking John McCain and Mitch McConnell in private.

Courtesy of Axios: 

In private, President Trump has taken to physically mocking M&M: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (slumped shoulders; lethargic body language) and Sen. John McCain (imitating the thumbs-down of his historic health-care vote). 

Trump is venting about his frustration with what he considers failed leadership by Senate Republicans as he takes his lumps this week in wars with, well, everyone.

Axios also reports that Trump is feeling like a whipped dog since it seems he simply cannot get a win.

Whether it be the NFL players, Kim Jong Un, moderate Republicans, Robert Mueller, or even his own former adviser Steve Bannon, it seems that EVERYBODY is defying him and coming out on top.

That makes Trump especially dangerous.

He hates to lose, and at this point he desperately needs a win, so that could really manifest itself in a variety of destructive ways.

Susan Collins pulls a John McCain and kills the most recent Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare.

Breaking: Susan Collins is a NO. Her statement: pic.twitter.com/QKgv8wrsde

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) September 25, 2017

I am no Nostradamus or anything but I knew that neither Collins nor Murkowski were going to sign on to this bill.

In fact this came out earlier today concerning Lisa's vote.

Friend saw @lisamurkowski at farmer's mkt in Anchorage this Sat. Asked re ACA. She looked him in the eye & said "I will not be bought off."

— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) September 25, 2017

This is where I would typically say that this thing is now dead for good, and we can all relax.

But that it what they used to say about Jason Voorhees, and he kept coming back over and over again. 

Donald Trump directs today's Twitter tirade at John McCain.

John McCain never had any intention of voting for this Bill, which his Governor loves. He campaigned on Repeal & Replace. Let Arizona down!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

Arizona had a 116% increase in ObamaCare premiums last year, with deductibles very high. Chuck Schumer sold John McCain a bill of goods. Sad

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

Large Block Grants to States is a good thing to do. Better control & management. Great for Arizona. McCain let his best friend L.G. down!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

Okay that last one is a low blow.

Graham by the way did not seem to take it personally.

My friendship with @SenJohnMcCain is not based on how he votes but respect for how he’s lived his life and the person he is.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 22, 2017

Trump also sent out a tweet suggesting that Rand Paul might have a change of heart "for the good of the party," and another one suggesting that Lisa Murkowski "comes through." However I can find no evidence that either of those two things are true so I think this is just some early morning wishful thinking on Trump's part.

Like Jimmy Kimmel said there is no evidence that Trump has ever read this Graham-Cassidy bill, or has any idea what is in it.

He just wants to win, and he does not care if by doing so the American people lose.

John McCain has killed another Trumpcare bill.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Senator John McCain of Arizona announced on Friday that he would oppose the latest proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act, leaving Republican leaders with little hope of succeeding in their last-ditch attempt to dismantle the health law.

Mr. McCain, who killed the previous repeal effort with his dramatic “no” vote in July, released a statement saying he would not support the latest proposal, by Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is Mr. McCain’s closest friend in the Senate. 

“I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal,” Mr. McCain said. “I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried. Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will affect insurance premiums, and how many people will be helped or hurt by it.”

With McCain out this deal is dead, because I am convinced that both Senator Murkowski and Collins will also likely vote no on this bill. And right now the Republicans cannot afford to lose even one of them.

I imagine this was hard for McCain since his bestest buddy in the whole world, Lindsey Graham, put his name on this, but the man has brain cancer so how COULD he in good conscience have voted any other way?

Somebody in another thread asked if this meant we had to forgive John McCain for Sarah Palin, and the answer to that is no, no we do not.

What John McCain has done may seem admirable, but seriously it is the bare minimum that people should expect from their representatives.

Sarah Palin is a plague on this nation which keeps on giving, and there is NO undoing that.

The push to repeal Obamacare intensifies.

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

Senate Republicans are on the cusp of passing a bill that will eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars worth of health funding, destabilize insurance markets, and eventually phase out Medicaid in its entirety. Less than two months after three Republican senators stopped an earlier effort to strip away much of America’s health care safety net, millions of Americans’ health care is now in very serious peril. 

The new Trumpcare legislation — often referred to as “Graham-Cassidy” after Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), its leading proponents — contains several provisions undercutting the Affordable Care Act. It eliminates subsidies helping many millions of Americans purchase health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges and Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, replacing this funding with a less generous block grant to states.

Then, this block grant abruptly disappears in 2027, leaving many millions of Americans with nothing.

The Trump Administration is pushing hard to get this one passed.

Courtesy of Axios:   

Vice President Mike Pence is throwing the Trump administration’s weight behind the latest Affordable Care Act repeal bill — and against a bipartisan effort to stabilize the marketplaces. In an interview on Air Force Two, Pence told me he’ll call on all Senate Republicans to support the bill by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy at a lunch meeting this afternoon, saying, "this is the moment. Now is the time.” 

The bottom line: It’s likely coming down to the votes of Sens. John McCain and Lisa Murkowski, two of the Republican holdouts (the others are Susan Collins and Rand Paul). Graham, who was on the flight with Pence, told me McCain will speak for himself — but added with a knowing smile that he feels good about McCain’s vote.

I have already made my phone call to Lisa Murkowski and I encourage others to contact their Senators as well.

It might provide some solace to know that there are heroes out there fighting the good fight.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says Democrats are willing to jam up the Senate to stop the GOP's latest ObamaCare repeal bill. 

“We’re going to look at every possible way to slow this bill down," Schumer said during a Monday press conference. 

Mostly powerless to set the legislative agenda in the minority, Democrats have some delaying tactics at their disposal.

These Democrats deserve words of encouragement as well, so if you have a Democrat for a Senator they might also enjoy hearing from you.

Ultimately I hope that we are working our way toward single payer, but until then we need to fight tooth and nail to hang on to Obamacare for as long as we can.

Yes Lindsey Graham's latest attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare is just as bad as you feared.

JUST OUT: Here's a summary of the Graham-Cassidy repeal. Yes, it's that bad.

Spread far and wide if useful. pic.twitter.com/Z0bbj0qaPd

— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) September 13, 2017

Courtesy of The Week: 

On Wednesday, Republican senators introduced the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson health-care bill, the party's latest attempt at repealing and replacing ObamaCare. The legislation, introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Dean Heller (Nev.), and Ron Johnson (Wis.), proposes "a block grant given annually to states to help individuals pay for health care." "This proposal removes the decision from Washington and gives states significant latitude over how the dollars are used to best take care of the unique health-care needs of the patients in each state," a statement said. 

Graham goaded his Republican colleagues to not "let the health-care debate die," as he warned that a single-payer system would be "inevitable" if Republicans fail to undo ObamaCare. He declared this bill Republicans' "best and only chance" at dodging that. 

"If you want a single-payer health-care system, this is your worst nightmare. Bernie, this ends your dream of a single-payer health-care system for America," Graham said in a shout-out to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). On Wednesday afternoon, Sanders is expected to introduce the Medicare for All Act of 2017, a bill backed by at least 15 Democratic senators that would replace the current health-care system with a public system paid for by higher taxes.

The good news is that there is only fifteen days left before the Republicans lose the fast-track procedural powers that they need in order to bypass a filibuster by the Democrats.

The bad news is that the guy who helped stop the LAST repeal Obamacare bill, John McCain, has already signaled his support for this one.

I personally do not think this will make it through either, but that does not mean we can sit back and simply hope things work out.

Time to start sending those emails and making those phone calls again.

Here is the contact information to help you get started.

John McCain has flipped! He now supports the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.

No seriously, do you see that spot on it? That look like cancer to you?

Courtesy of The Hill:  

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday that he supports a newer version of an ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill, throwing some support behind the last-ditch effort. 

McCain said he backs a bill from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that would convert ObamaCare spending into block grants for states. 

Asked if he supported it, McCain told reporters, "Yes. You think I wouldn't be?" 

Graham is one of McCain's closest friends. 

Fucker!

This is why I was not among those blowing kisses at McCain after he cast his deciding vote to stop the GOP repeal and replace runaway train the last time.

I KNEW he could never be counted on to stand his ground for long.

Even though Trump has already said that he would sign this newer version, all is not yet lost.

The measure faces long odds, despite the boost from McCain. The White House is pushing for it, but Senate GOP leadership has so far not expressed interest publicly. 

Republicans face a tight deadline of Sept. 30, when the fast-track process known as reconciliation needed to pass a repeal bill without Democratic votes expires. 

So it is still somewhat unlikely that this thing will make it to a vote by the deadline.

But let's not forget that there is still a long way to 2018.

I fucking KNEW that McCain could not be counted on to hold the line for long.

I swear he shifts positions every time the wind blows.

Hopefully at least Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins will remain more steadfast in their opposition.

Okay let's talk about Trump's completely unhinged speech in Phoenix, Arizona last night.

I have to imagine that Sarah Palin must watch this and just every once in awhile whisper to the drunken barfly on the stool next to her and say "I taught him that. Isn't he magnificent?"

This speech essentially went off the rails the minute that Trump opened his little anus shaped mouth.

CNN did their very best to itemize the incredible cavalcade of lies and misrepresentation of the facts that Trump vomited forth on his audience, and you can see that here.

I will present some of the lowlights to save you some time: 

"And just so you know from the Secret Service, there aren't too many people outside protesting, OK. That I can tell you."

This was literally the first line, or should I say lie, of this speech.

There were in fact thousands of protesters outside of the venue and there was also a number of arrests.

"Our movement is a movement built on love."

Perhaps the biggest lie of the night, and one that Trump himself will refute a little later on when he starts attacking his opponents, on both side of the aisle, and in the media.

"Just like (the media doesn't) want to report that I spoke out forcefully against hatred, bigotry and violence and strongly condemned the neo-Nazis, the White Supremacists, and the KKK."

"So here's what I said, really fast, here's what I said on Saturday: 'We're closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville, Virginia' -- this is me speaking. 'We condemn in the strongest, possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence.' That's me speaking on Saturday."

Trump purposefully left out the part about there being hatred and violence "on many sides, on many sides."

THAT is what sparked the initial criticism against him.

"The New York Times essentially apologized after I won the election, because their coverage was so bad, and it was so wrong, and they were losing so many subscribers that they practically apologized."

Trump has said this a number of time, but it did not happen.

"How good is Hannity? How good is Hannity? And he's a great guy, and he's an honest guy. And 'Fox and Friends in the Morning' is the best show, and it's the absolute, most honest show, and it's the show I watch."

I think that speaks for itself. (I will however remind everybody that in a 2012 study it was found that viewers of Fox News were LESS informed than those who watched no news at all.)

"But, you know, they all said, Mr. President, your speech was so good last night, please, please, Mr. President don't mention any names. So I won't. I won't. No I won't vote -- one vote away, I will not mention any names. Very presidential, isn't' it? Very presidential." 

This is the sitting president literally going after one of the Senators, John McCain, in his home state, during a campaign style rally.

"And nobody wants me to talk about your other senator, who's weak on borders, weak on crime, so I won't talk about him. Nobody wants me to talk about him. Nobody knows who the hell he is."

And this is the sitting president going after the other Senator, Jeff Flake, in his home state, during a campaign style rally.

"I don't believe that any president has accomplished as much as this president in the first six or seven months. I really don't believe it."

The thing about facts is that you do not actually have to believe them. And the facts do not even come close to supporting this claim.

In fact they prove the exact opposite.

Trump also mentioned "They're trying to take away our culture. They are trying to take away our history," as a dog whistle to his faithful about the Confederate statues being torn down.

Another thing that Trump kept referencing was the huge size of the crowd gathered inside the convention center to hear his speech, but that was also quite the exaggeration. 

Here's the full crowd as #TrumpinAZ finishes up. pic.twitter.com/iUGVUmppGZ

— David Catanese (@davecatanese) August 23, 2017

But one thing that CNN left out that TPM caught was Trump toward the end of his speech suggesting that he might close down the government if Congress does not okay his stupid border wall.

To be clear this is the guy in charge of the government, threatening to lock its doors and turn out the lights if he does not get his way. 

Well I promised you unhinged, and you have to admit THAT was unhinged.

Donald Trump responds to news of a US Navy destroyer crash with a flippant "That's too bad." However Breitbart says that's not his fault.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Ten U.S. Navy sailors were missing and five were injured after the USS John S. McCain guided missile destroyer and an oil tanker more than three times its size collided near Singapore early Monday. 

American and Singaporean ships and helicopters launched a search-and-rescue mission after the pre-dawn collision at the entrance to one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Five injured and ten missing, but when Trump was asked about the incident, this was his response:  President Donald Trump’s initial reaction to the crash of the USS John McCain with a merchant ship east of Singapore that left five sailors injured and ten missing was: “That’s too bad.”

Later of course after the blowback Trump's advisers apparently got hold of his Twitter account and tweeted this:

Thoughts & prayers are w/ our @USNavy sailors aboard the #USSJohnSMcCain where search & rescue efforts are underway. https://t.co/DQU0zTRXNU

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2017

I think that is like the Hallmark card version of a presidential condolence.

"Sorry to hear your ship got smashed. Hope you get well soon."

Kind of makes you wonder if the fact that the ship was named after the guy whose vote spiked Trumpcare has anything to do with Trump's dismissive attitude?

No, don't be silly. According to Breitbart there is really a simply answer that deflects the blame away from Trump: 

A source with direct knowledge of these matters tells Breitbart News that the senior staff at the White House, including National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, did not brief President Donald Trump on the collision the Navy destroyer USS John McCain had with an oil tanker near Singapore before he originally seemingly dismissed the incident saying, “that’s too bad.”

Yes, it's not that Donald Trump is an insensitive POS, it's that the guy who Stephen Bannon just lost a power struggle with in the White House is incompetent at his job.

Seems perfectly clear.

Top Republicans launch shadow campaign to replace Donald Trump on the ticket in 2020.

Courtesy of the New York Times: 

President Trump’s first term is ostensibly just warming up, but luminaries in his own party have begun what amounts to a shadow campaign for 2020 — as if the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue weren’t involved. 

The would-be candidates are cultivating some of the party’s most prominent donors, courting conservative interest groups and carefully enhancing their profiles. Mr. Trump has given no indication that he will decline to seek a second term. 

But the sheer disarray surrounding this presidency— the intensifying investigation by the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and the plain uncertainty about what Mr. Trump will do in the next week, let alone in the next election—have prompted Republican officeholders to take political steps that are unheard-of so soon into a new administration. 

Asked about those Republicans who seem to be eyeing 2020, a White House spokeswoman, Lindsay Walters, fired a warning shot: “The president is as strong as he’s ever been in Iowa, and every potentially ambitious Republican knows that.” 

But in interviews with more than 75 Republicans at every level of the party, elected officials, donors and strategists expressed widespread uncertainty about whether Mr. Trump would be on the ballot in 2020 and little doubt that others in the party are engaged in barely veiled contingency planning. 

“They see weakness in this president,” said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. “Look, it’s not a nice business we’re in.”

Some of the Republicans identified as conducting these "shadow campaigns" are Senators Tom Cotton and Ben Sasse, Ohio Governor John Kasich, and least surprising of all, Mike Pence.

This should not be surprising in the wake of sanctions bill the Senate Republicans forced Trump to sign, and the fact that they are making it impossible for him to make any recess appointments. 

Clearly the Republicans see the writing on the wall, and are becoming convinced that Trump will not be a viable candidate in 2020.

Considering of course that he even lasts that long.

It appears likely that Russian oligarchs helped to fund Donald Trump's presidential campaign, as well as the campaigns of some other prominent Republicans.

Courtesy of Dallas News:  

Donald Trump and the political action committees for Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich and John McCain accepted $7.35 million in contributions from a Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank. 

During the 2015-2016 election season, Ukrainian-born billionaire Leonid "Len" Blavatnik contributed $6.35 million to leading Republican candidates and incumbent senators. Mitch McConnell was the top recipient of Blavatnik's donations, collecting $2.5 million for his GOP Senate Leadership Fund under the names of two of Blavatnik's holding companies, Access Industries and AI Altep Holdings, according to Federal Election Commission documents and OpenSecrets.org.

Marco Rubio's Conservative Solutions PAC and his Florida First Project received $1.5 million through Blavatnik's two holding companies. Other high dollar recipients of funding from Blavatnik were PACS representing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at $1.1 million, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham at $800,000, Ohio Governor John Kasich at $250,000 and Arizona Senator John McCain at $200,000. 

In January, Quartz reported that Blavatnik donated another $1 million to Trump's Inaugural Committee. Ironically, the shared address of Blavatnik's companies is directly across the street from Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in New York.

Right across the street huh? Well that's certainly handy.

The Dallas News also makes this rather astute point:

Blavatnik's relationships with Russian oligarchs close to Putin, particularly Oleg Deripaska, should be worrisome for Trump and the six GOP leaders who took Blavatnik's money during the 2016 presidential campaign. Lucky for them no one has noticed. Yet.

Well guess what? We've noticed. 

I should point out that this is not definitive proof that Russian oligarchs directed Blavatnik to donate any of this money, but of course they probably did.

And there is no proof that the donations have impacted the way that certain Republicans react to the news of Russian interference in our elections, but of course it certainly might.

And finally on its own this would probably not even seem like such a big deal, but when you add it to the pile of what we already know about the 2016 elections, well then it certainly does.