Tag Archive for Putin

The Three Stooges: Slinging in Ukraine

The impeachment inquiry rolls on and more disturbing evidence is surfacing about America’s CEO/Dictator Donald Trump’s shakedown on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for information about Democratic rival and former Obama administration Vice President Joe Biden. Damning testimonies like those of William B. Taylor portray our orange-haired, megalomaniac man child in the White House as some kind of mafioso wise guy trying to put the screws to Zelensky whose country needs help from western NATO nations but is also being squeezed from the east by Putin’s Russia.

The whole operation sounds fubarred from the very beginning. Supposedly, Trump’s carny barker and chief of staff Mick Mulvaney brought in the Donald’s three amigos, or in this case, the three stooges to coordinate the action. Slick Mick thought that Kurt Volker, Gordon Sondland and Rick Perry could convince various people in the Ukraine to arrange a deal for information on Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s business dealings which might help Trump in the 2020 election. Volker and Sondland have both testified before the House with Sondland stating that there was some kind of quid pro quo involved.

The really funny thing about this is that Rudy ‘Captain Colludiani’ Giuliani became involved with his now arrested henchman Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who look like they came directly from central casting, and allegedly used them to try and dig up dirt on Biden, thus fubarring the operation even more. Add Mick Mulvaney’s confession of a quid pro quo agreement and impeachment is looking now like a done deal even without the ten cases of obstruction laid out by the Mueller report. (Helpful reminder and hint: the Mueller report wasn’t a witch hunt because it produced 37 indictments. We repeat 37 INDICTMENTS!!! Please, corporate media – mention this FACT next time poor, little victim Trump cries that he is being persecuted or lynched!)

Which is why Trump desperately tried a little tail wagging the dog action this past weekend by announcing that terrorist ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi  was killed by special op forces. This is a good thing and we should be able to pat Trump on the back. . . but he made it impossible to do even that. In true Trumpian fashion, he made the operation all about him. He bragged about the killing and morbidly regaled the press with how al-Baghdadi cried and died like a dog. Many people have even compared Obama’s address when Osama bin Laden was killed to Trump’s and well. . . there’s no comparison: Obama is the adult and Trump is the arrogant, spoiled little child looking for attention. Trump even got royally booed at game 5 of the Astros-Nationals World Series as the crowd broke into chants of “Lock him up!” Oh, the irony! So Trump’s little distraction action failed miserably and it looks like Nancy Pelosi is bringing forth a vote to formalize the impeachment inquiries.

But at least we can enjoy Donald Trump’s latest film about all the hilarious hijinx that happened (or didn’t happen) The Three Stooges: Slinging in Ukraine, featuring, of course, the very best people: Kurt Volker as Larry, Gordon Sondland as Curly, Rick Perry as Moe and Rudy Giuliani as Captain Colludiani, rated I for Impeachable.

The Three Stooges - Slinging in Ukraine: American CEO/Dictator and master dealer Donald Trump needs some mud for slinging at his chief political rival Joe Biden. But because of stupid democratic laws in America he needs to put the squeeze on foreign governments like Ukraine. So he sends his best stooges to dig up some dirt. Hilarity ensues when Rudy Giuliani appears as Captain Colludiani and fubars the whole secret quid pro quo operation. Rated I for Impeachable.
The Three Stooges – Slinging in Ukraine: American CEO/Dictator and master dealer Donald Trump needs some mud for slinging at his chief political rival Joe Biden. But because of stupid democratic laws in America he needs to put the squeeze on foreign governments like Ukraine. So he sends his best stooges to dig up some dirt. Hilarity ensues when Rudy Giuliani appears as Captain Colludiani and fubars the whole secret quid pro quo operation. Rated I for Impeachable.

IMPEACH!!!

Finally. . . the Democrats have started an impeachment inquiry! And all it took was America’s CEO/Dictator Donald Trump brazenly and stupidly asking another country for dirt on a political opponent. In yet another candidate for the ‘Are you freaking kidding me’ file, Trump asked Ukraine President and former comedian Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone conversation to do Trump a favor and investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. The orange haired man child even released partial transcripts which proves a quid pro quo element to the dialogue. Of course, this little kerfuffle with Ukraine and its naive new President only helps Trump’s best buddy, Vladimir Putin. But to make sure that breaking the law doesn’t bother Trump, he just asked China for dirt on Biden as well.

Not only is Trump in trouble, but Attorney General Bill Barr and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani are also implicated in the mob style pressuring and the corresponding cover up. Whistleblowergate is blowing the Trump administration to smithereens and in true Trumpian fashion, the narcissistic megalomaniac is throwing everyone under the bus except himself. Trump is unraveling before the nation’s eyes, even calling for the identity of the whistleblower and threatening civil war if he is impeached. Most of the nation’s militias are right-wing and they are disturbingly taking Trump’s threats seriously.

Will Whistleblowergate finally be the straw that removes Trump from office? We’re skeptical but hopeful. Many Republicans are showing signs of abandoning Trump. Even Jeff Flake (if he can truly be believed) mentioned that if Republicans in the Senate could vote silently, at least thirty-five would vote for Trump to be impeached and removed. We’re hoping Adam Schiff and the Dems in the House keep up the pressure and overwhelming convince the nation that Trump is nothing more than a bully, a con artist and a crook. Polls indicate that more and more Americans are approving of the impeachment inquiry. This is a good thing for not only this nation but every nation on the planet.

Impeach Trump!
Impeach Trump!

Moscow Mitch; Or Moscow’s Bitch

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a.k.a. Turtle Boy, has been in the headlines a lot lately. Apparently poor little Mitchy doesn’t like his new nickname, ‘Moscow Mitch’, given to him for his refusal to pass election security bills that would ensure Russia doesn’t interfere with the 2020 elections like they did in 2016. Why would anyone, especially a United States Senator, want a hostile foreign nation to interfere with our democratic elections?

Well, Turtle Boy knows that without Russian help, Republicans have no hope of winning. Ever since 1988, Republicans have only won the popular vote in the presidential elections once – that’s right folks – one time(2004). The only reason they’re even competitive in the House of Representatives is because districts are so gerrymandered by GOP controlled states that Republicans have a distinct advantage over Democratic candidates. Even Robert Mueller warned of Russian interference in his recent testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. The Russians hacked elections in all fifty states in 2016. Furthermore, Moscow Mitch knew about it and still did nothing to stop it in 2016 and he will continue to nothing about it because Moscow Mitch places the Republican party above country.

Moscow Mitch also has dubious ties to Russia in that Kentucky has gotten some pretty sweet deals from Russian oligarchs. Yes, Moscow Mitch has sold out his country for fun and profit and yet he has the audacity to accuse Democrats and media outlets of ‘modern day McCarthyism’. How is this dipshit still getting elected despite an approval rating in the thirties in his home state of Kentucky? Maybe its because voting machine companies donate heavily to his coffers. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen; Corporate America has fixed it so Moscow Mitch gets elected time and time again because . . . you know. . . corporations are people, too. Thanks Supreme Court!

So, poor wittle Turtle Boy better get used to being called Moscow Mitch because he will be called Moscow Mitch up until he loses his seat next November. But fear not; after he loses, at least Moscow Mitch can move to Russia to stay with Vladimir Putin and his Russian oligarch pals.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a.k.a ‘Turtle Boy’, whines about his new nickname 'Moscow Mitch' while his boss Russian President Vladimir Putin suggests a more appropriate moniker.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a.k.a ‘Turtle Boy’, whines about his new nickname ‘Moscow Mitch’ while his boss Russian President Vladimir Putin suggests a more appropriate moniker.

The British Trump

The United States isn’t the only country being overrun by right wing conservatives seizing control of the power structures. Many countries throughout the world have seen hard line conservative parties gain power and predictably are establishing authoritarian measures to make sure they stay in power. This past week, conservative Boris Johnson became the new Prime Minister in the United Kingdom. Johnson has been described as the British Donald Trump . . .you know . . . narcissistic womanizer with not a bit of intelligence. We thought that the U.K. went off the deep end when they voted for Brexit. With Boris Johnson taking the helm, we’re pretty sure the sun has set on the British Empire.

So, what is behind the rise of all these right wing, authoritarian conservative gaining power throughout the western world? Could Russian President Vladimir Putin have something to do with the rise of authoritarianism and the decline of western democracies? We’re thinking, yes. Modern day Russia is basically a corrupt oligarchy, where only the rich and powerful have a say so in how the country is run. Since the fall of communism and the Soviet Union in the early ’90s, Russia has gone through some pretty rough years which has given rise to the oligarchs. Putin was pretty peeved that his country lost the Cold War. But the former KGB operative is intelligent and very clever. Over the past twenty years, he and the deep pocketed Russian oligarchs have systematically used capitalism as a weapon against the western capitalist democracies and, as we’re seeing now, to devastating effect. They know that one common trait among all capitalistic countries is greed; the life’s blood of capitalism. There are any number of egotistical, power hungry people in western democracies who’d sell out their own mother for money, wealth and power. Trump’s connections to Russia are well known despite his protests and denials. Boris Johnson also has conflicts. Other countries have also shown a susceptibility to make corrupt deals with Russia.

In his testimony to Congress this past week, Robert Mueller explicitly warned that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and is on it’s way to mucking up our elections in 2020. And the Mueller report also states that Trump openly welcomed Russian interference (there are videos of Trump openly asking Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails). Russian oligarchs have used corrupt, crony capitalism to amass their considerable fortunes and they will spare no expense supporting the best hackers available in undermining our democratic institutions. And yet Mitch McConnell blocked legislation that would provide protection against hacking in the upcoming election. We guess Turtle Boy knows that the Republicans can’t win again without Russia’s help.

So Britain now has it’s own Donald Trump. We here at the Bucket see Putin as a James Bond Super Villain who dispenses helpful hints for those wanting to remake western democracies into Putin-style oligarchies. All you have to do is buy off wacky haired, egotistical, narcissistic, populist, capitalist megalomaniacs like Boris Johnson and Trump, who love money, fame and power. Oh, and don’t forget those wacky haired communist leaders like Kim Jong Un.

Russian President and James Bond Super Villain, Vladimir Putin, recently dispensed a helpful hint for those wishing to control the world: buy off men who are narcissistic megalomaniacs with wacky hairdos.
Russian President and James Bond Super Villain, Vladimir Putin, recently dispensed a helpful hint for those wishing to control the world: buy off men who are narcissistic megalomaniacs with wacky hairdos.

Wake Up America!

We’re still astonished that forty percent of Americans are still supporting America’s CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, even after he’s admitted to collusion with Russia and practically knelt down and licked Vladimir Putin’s shoes during their summit in Helsinki. Of course, over the course of the last three years there have been many moments when Trump did or said something so incredibly insipid, stupid or ridiculous that any sane person would have thought surely people would abandon him. But not only are his base supporters applauding him, (Trump supporters are even wearing “I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat” t-shirts) but the Republicans are doing nothing to reprimand him or reign him in thus indicating they are fine with Russia intervening in our elections, especially if it keeps Republicans in power.

Can you imagine the outrage if decent Republican presidents of the past like Eisenhower or Reagan had done what Trump has done? What if Eisenhower had said he didn’t trust the CIA and invited Krushchev to put missiles anywhere he wanted? What if Reagan (who called the Soviet Union the evil empire) fawned over Gorbachev, calling him ‘strong and powerful’? Can you imagine the outrage if Obama had asked Putin to help him win his elections? We’re living in a time where the supposedly ‘moral and righteous’ Republican party is anything but. The Republicans are nothing but feckless, mendacious hypocrites who revel at putting party above country, truth and justice. At least it seems with recent primary elections that some Americans are finally waking up to the GOP’s treachery.  Just this week, the Ohio congressional seat special election in district 12 is still too close to call and this district is about as red as you can get. We have one thing to say to Trump supporters or people on the fence about our orange haired, man child president: Wake Up!

Can you imagine the outrage if Eisenhower said he trusted the KGB more than the CIA or if Reagan fawned over a 'strong and powerful' Gorbachev or if Obama received help wining his elections from Putin.

Modern day Republicans conveniently look away from Trump’s outrageous actions that would have gotten previous presidents universal condemnation.

Putin’s Bitch

We’re still flabbergasted by Donald Trump’s performance at his summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki a few weeks ago. We’ve never seen such a shameful display by a United States president. Many others, including Republicans agree with us. Dubya came close when he got all romantic about looking into Putin’s eyes and seeing into his soul, ”I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul.”  But Trump’s actions boggle the mind.

To make matters worse, Trump insists on gaslighting Americans by stating that Russia is really sorry that Trump is President …er… CEO/Dictator and that they might influence the upcoming election… for Democrats.  But all indications are that because Trump and the Republicans are in power, Russia and Putin are relevant on the world stage again and they couldn’t be happier. Or like Trump said in Helsinki, “Putin is strong and powerful.”

And all pictures and videos seem to back this up.  There are very few pictures from the Helsinki summit where the normally glum Putin, isn’t smiling, like this pic from after Trump’s secret meeting with Putin. Oh yeah… Trump really looks like he’s laying down the law to Putin. Russia must really have something good on Trump… just sayin’.

America's CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, boldly lays down the law with Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

America’s CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, boldly lays down the law with Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

The Axis Of Vile

Once again, America’s CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, has managed to embarrass the United States on the world stage. This time, he’s pretty much admitted to treason against his country and completely submitted to Russia’s president/dictator, Vladimir Putin. In an ‘historic’ meeting with the Russian strongman, Trump called out his own country’s intelligence agencies, all of whom have come to the conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections, and yet sided with Putin. Can you imagine if conservative patron saint, St. Ronald Reagan had done something like that back in the ’80s with Mikhail Gorbachev? “The CIA says not to trust you Gorby, but I’ll give up all our nuclear weapons and you can keep yours.” Once again, electoral-vote.com provides an excellent analysis on what the hell happened in Helsinki.

Prior to the summit, or shall we say submit, Trump also called America’s European allies in the European Union ‘foes’. Last week at the NATO summit, he managed to practically withdraw the United States from the organization. Like a former Russian envoy said, “Putin has to do nothing to undermine the alliances and international institutions that helped to advance American security and prosperity for the last several decades. Trump is doing all the work for him.” WTF!!!

So what does this all mean? Are we now forming an ‘axis of vile’ against the rest of the world? Are we now in cahoots with authoritarian regimes like North Korea and Russia? Or is Trump just doing what he was supposed to do when Russia hacked the election in 2016; make Russia great again? We don’t know but we’re getting pretty sick of this shit. We think our elected officials should probably start getting off their lazy asses and aggressively pursuing removing this idiot from office before he gives Putin the keys to the White House. Either that or we guess we’d better all start learning Russian.

America's CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, has joined a super cool new club called the Axis of Vile with his authoritarian strongmen pals Kim Jong Un of North Korea and Vlad Putin of Russia.

America’s CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, has joined a super cool, new club called the Axis of Vile with his authoritarian strongmen pals Kim Jong Un of North Korea and Vlad Putin of Russia.

Trump’s New Tough Guy Alliance

The Trump-Kim summit has concluded and there’s some strange and disturbing things that have become crystal clear. One is that, apparently Trump has decided to end our alliance with freedom loving western democracies like France, Germany, Canada and Britain. His disrespect of those countries leaders during the G7 summit couldn’t have been more obvious. Then he proclaimed that Russia should be invited back into the group, again avoiding any kind of bad mouthing of authoritarian Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly repressed free speech and press in Russia as that country’s dear Leader since the 20th century.

Trump’s kind words for Kim Jong Un also brought concern since the North Korean dictator has proven to be a very cruel authoritarian leader in his own country. Trump even said that he wants the people of the United States to treat him the same way North Koreans treat their dear Leader; with awe and reverence. Most analysts conclude that this was clearly a victory for Kim. Trump’s actions have elevated a tin horn dictator to a seat at the adult table with the big boys of the world. So basically, we’ve made North Korea and Russia great and relevant.

So, America’s new tough guy allies are authoritarian dictatorships, North Korea and Russia. These are countries that value only true devotion to their leader and democratic institutions like free speech and freedom of the press are suppressed and punished with extreme cruelty and even death. The fact that so many Republicans are drinking the Kool-Aid and signing up for the ‘cult of Trump’ is truly alarming. Trump is looking more and more like a certain WWII dictator from Germany to us. Please refer to our handy dandy right wing conservative fascist checklist to see for yourself.

American CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, introduces America's swell new allies, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Russian strongman, Vlad Putin, who are super cool, way funny, bigly sexy and pretty gosh darn tough.

American CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, introduces America’s swell new allies, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Russian strongman, Vlad Putin, who are super cool, way funny, bigly sexy and pretty gosh darn tough.

Take A Knee America

We’re back from our longer than expected respite from TFS(Trump Fatigue Syndrome)…for how long, we don’t know. Under normal circumstances, with a normal President, not that much would have happened in a month. But America’s CEO/Dictator Donald Trump does more stupid things in a month than most people do in a lifetime. Add to that the incompetence, cowardice, corruption and greed of the Republicans in congress, the invisibility of the Democrats, and the normalization of the right wing by the corporate media and we just don’t have much hope left for this country. We just may fold up our tent and move to a remote island somewhere in the South Pacific, far away from the selfish, egotistical, greedy, ultra-materialistic, ultra-competitive assholes who now seem to proliferate and run this country.

We’ve got some posts readied for the hurricane responses, but first we’ll take a look at the ‘feud’ between Trump and the NFL over players taking a knee during the national anthem, which culminated with Vice President and modern day Puritan Mike Pence leaving the stadium during the Colts-49ers game because some of San Francisco’s players kneeled during the national anthem in protest of racial discrimination in America. Trump admitted that this was a planned stunt. Not only that, but the cheap political stunt was at the taxpayers’ expense. We don’t care much for the NFL or any professional sports for that matter. Both the owners and players make WAY too much money and have WAY too much influence on modern culture. But that being said, players have the right to kneel in protest because…THIS IS AMERICA. We have a thing here which separates us from other countries called freedom of speech. The players were kneeling as a way to draw awareness to racial discrimination which still plagues this country. Their protest in no way was to disrespect the flag or those who fought for it. But the poor ‘widdle’ rich guys in the NFL executive front offices and the poor ‘widdle’ rich guys in the Republican party see it as an affront to their authority, which in their puny, narrow minded, conservative mind set is absolute. I mean how dare any one with less money criticize the actions of the people in charge. Of course, they had quite a different opinion during the Obama era.

Well if Trump and Pence are so sensitive to people taking a knee, we wonder what would happen if all of America took a knee during the national anthem. Would they leave the country? Hey, it’s worth a try, folks. We have no doubt, Trump and Pence could crash with their pal Vlad in Russia.

Maybe if all Americans took a knee during the national anthem, easily offended American CEO/Dictator Donald Trump and his Puritan Vice President Mike Pence would leave the country and stay with their old buddy Vlad Putin in Russia.

Maybe if all Americans took a knee during the national anthem, easily offended American CEO/Dictator Donald Trump and his Puritan Vice President Mike Pence would leave the country and stay with their old buddy Vlad Putin in Russia.

A Confederacy Of Nincompoops

The biggest media circus of the 21st century has commenced. The hearing about possible connections of the Trump campaign with Russia during the presidential election and Trump’s possible obstruction of justice in preventing further investigation into the matter has started and all eyes are on former FBI director James Comey, who’s already released some pretty damning evidence already.

We’re not big fans of James Comey. He knew Trump may have colluded with Russia on hacking the election and he chose to instead bring up Hillary Clinton’s non scandal with the email server before the election, which many believe, including us, tilted the election in Trump’s favor. In our minds, he’s a nincompoop (old timer staff member Chester Einstein loves that funny old word.) He deserved to get fired. But now he’s in a position where the sane people of the United States have to rely on him to bring down a dangerously insane President.

Will Comey’s testimony amount to something? Could this be the end of the Trump White House? We here at the Bucket would like nothing more than to see all the Republicans responsible for Trump becoming President go to a maximum security prison with cellmates named Bubba who like to spoon…a lot. But unfortunately, and we hate to be dubious downers about this —- it’s already shaping up to being nothing more than spectacle. Top Republicans are already spinning up tornadoes of excuses for Trump. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said that Trump was just inexperienced and didn’t know the protocol. Arizona Senator and crusty old curmudgeon, John McCain, who was supposed so concerned over the possibility of Russia interfering in the election, struck out in his questioning of Comey, preferring to ask nonsensically about Hillary Clinton’s emails. The pattern looks to be set. As long as Republicans are in charge, they will not harm other Republicans. They have deliberately chosen to put party before country. Period!

Trump is the ideal distraction for conservative Republicans to ram their filthy, cruel, narrow minded, ideological agenda through congress. While the media and the American public are currently busy gawking at the Trump and Comey confederacy of nincompoops, the Republicans in the House just passed a bill that would rescind the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Law from 2010, thus opening the door for the same kind of financial malfeasance which brought upon the Great Recession. Senate Republicans are also close on repealing Obamacare. With the Republicans in charge, one thing is for sure; democracy in this country is so screwed.

Apparently, Americans have to depend on one nincompoop to defend us from another more colossal nincompoop. Ahhhh! Democracy in the 21st century!

Apparently, Americans have to depend on one nincompoop to defend us from another more colossal nincompoop. Ahhhh! Democracy in the 21st century!