Tag Archive for Russia

Trump’s New Supreme Lackey

To no one’s surprise America’s CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, picked a right wing conservative to be his new Supreme Court justice. Super catholic, Brett Kavanaugh, would give the Court a decidedly conservative and catholic lean for the next generation.

Of course, the media pundits and supposed experts are squawking and blathering about what all this means. There’s even news that departing justice, Anthony Kennedy even hand picked his successor. Most people are speculating that Roe v. Wade will likely be overturned, thus forcing women who may want to terminate a pregnancy for health reasons into back alley abortions or to use a coat hanger just like the good old days prior to the 1970s. We guess the life of the mother isn’t important at all to supposedly pro-lifers. Talk about your compassionate christian conservatism.

But we think it’s pretty clear that Trump chose Kavanaugh, because of his supposed enlightened stance on presidential privilege. Kavanaugh was member of Ken Starr’s team that sought impeachment against Bill Clinton and said at that time that no president was above the law. But apparently the young religious zealot had an epiphany while working in the Bush White House and believes that the president is above the law, especially if he’s Republican, which comes in handy with the ongoing Russia probe. So if and when Trump is found guilty of collusion with Russia and treason, he’ll really be innocent because…you know…conservative Republicans are never wrong and should never be punished (see Watergate, Iran-Contra affair, Iraq War, etc…).

Supreme Court justice nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, proudly proclaims that America's CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, is above the law and cannot possibly be guilty of crimes he may have committed like collusion or treason.

America’s CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump, guarantees he won’t have to go to jail by choosing right wing authoritarian and religious zealot, Brett Kavanaugh, as the new Supreme Court justice.

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.

The Ol’ “I Don’t Recall” Ploy

Once again, Attorney Confederate General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III has broken out the ol’ tried and true “I don’t recall” ploy. We’ve commented before about his stonewalling. But recently, Sessions doubled down the tactic showing selective memory concerning meetings with the Russians. He stated that he had no recollection of the March 2016 meeting with George Papadopolous until he saw the news reports and then he suddenly remembered. So in short: Sessions said he could not remember much about Russian influence on the Trump campaign, except when he could block such influence.

One thing’s for sure: Sessions is sure doing conservative Republican icon, St. Ronald Reagan, proud. Whether it’s perjury or using the Department of Justice for political investigations or just out and out racism, Sessions is proving himself worthy of the greatest obstructionists in Republican history and considering the last seventy years: Allen Dulles’ CIA, Watergate, Iran Contra, the Iraq War, the Great Recession, etc… that’s saying something.

The ghost of conservative icon, St Ronald Reagan, approves of Attorney Confederate General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, using the ol' "I don't recall" ploy, which he used effectively to avoid telling the truth during his presidency.

The ghost of conservative icon, St Ronald Reagan, approves of Attorney Confederate General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, using the ol’ “I don’t recall” ploy, which he used effectively to avoid telling the truth during his presidency.

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.

Trump Fatigue Syndrome

The dog days of summer are here in America and people are sweating their arsenals off in every corner of the U.S. The monsoon season is upon us here in Arizona which means the normally dry air with <10% humidity, is now a swamp like 30-50%. Our energy levels are zilch. While we’re feeling the draining effects of the heat and humidity, we’re also suffering from something more insidious: Trump Fatigue Syndrome. Yes, we are so god damn sick and tired of this stupid President and his daily scandals, lies, deception and bullshit, that even hilarious commentary from comedians like Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Samantha Bee isn’t helping. Even the news that Sean Spicer is resigning brings us no joy.

One reason is that we keep hearing that the shit is going to hit the fan real soon. But we’ve been hearing that for five months now. Nothing is happening, which gives us a nauseous feeling that justice will not be served. We just hope the scenario depicted in this photo-toon Meme-rie eventually plays out. It was originally a photo-toon featuring disgraced Bush administration member Scooter Libby from our March 11th issue in 2007. But we like to recycle here at the Bucket, so voila…here’s the Donald getting a special welcoming from his new bunkmate. In short: LOCK HIM UP!!!!  

P.S. If you’re thinking of visiting Arizona, do not come in July and August. See our old Cactus Corners Forecast category posts for clarification.

Donald Trump's new cellmate and friendly, loyal assistant asks if he likes spooning.

The only cure for Trump Fatigue Syndrome is placing the Donald in a new luxury residence complete with a friendly, loyal assistant.

Stonewall Sessions

One of the more annoying characters in Donald Trump’s cavalcade of sycophants is Attorney Confederate General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. We’ve commented before about his racism and lying under oath. Well there was more deceit on display last week as our top justice did his best to obstruct justice.

During testimony last week in the investigation into the GOP’s ties with Russia during the 2016 election, Sessions stonewalled and did his best St. Ronald Reagan “I don’t recall” spiel. How did it go? Well, the Republicans, like always smirked their way through it, slapping themselves on the back at how cleverly they can deceive the American public, just like they’re doing with their healthcare plan.

But what’s bothersome is that our attorney general, who is supposed to be our top administrator of justice is obstructing justice at every turn. If he and Donald Trump did obstruct justice by firing James Comey, then that is grounds for impeachment. But Newt Gingrich already has a defense lined up. He stated this week that the President cannot possibly obstruct justice, even though he pursued Bill Clinton for two years because he lied about having sex. In a nutshell, it’s okay when Republicans obstruct justice and commit perjury and commit treason…ad infinitum.

Attorney Confederate General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, displays his gnat like memory while performing some Jackson-esque stonewalling.

Attorney Confederate General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, displays his gnat like memory while performing some truly Jackson-esque stonewalling.

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!

 

Syria: Shock And Awe Redux

We were all ready to do a post on Vice President and modern day Puritan, Mike Pence, when BOOM…American CEO/Dictator decided to create a distraction to the investigations into Russians meddling on his behalf during the 2016 elections and bomb Syria. Officially, Trump proclaimed that he saw the images of children who were gassed by Syrian leader, Bashar Al-Assad, and at the urging of ‘heartbroken’ daughter Ivanka, had to do something. But of course, that sympathy doesn’t extend to letting Syrian women and children enter the United States as refugees. What’s more, he contacted the Russians before hand to tell them of his plans. The Syrian military knew about the attacks as well. By most accounts, the attacks did little damage to Syria and raises more questions that it answers. What’s interesting is that some Democrats, like Chuck Schumer, supported Trump’s move and Hillary Clinton suggested taking action a few hours before Trump did. But this certainly seems like a classic ‘wagging the dog’ moment.

But the most appalling development of this affair was the nauseating obsequiousness of the main stream corporate media as they fawned and practically had orgasms in praising Trump’s action. It reminded us of the ‘shock and awe’ bombing of Baghdad at the beginning of that clusterf*ck known as the Iraq War. We expected moderate GOP hawks such as John McCain and Lindsay Graham to be giddy about the bombings. But media pundits like Fareed Zakaria said Trump “Donald Trump became the President of the United States”. Brian Williams took the prize for the biggest ass kisser. We lost all respect for Williams way back in 2005 when he suggested that the government could pay journalists to promote a certain viewpoint. (Can you say unethical, boys and girls.) Then there was his admission that he made up some stories about the Iraq War back in 2015. Williams repugnantly called the bombings in Syria “beautiful pictures of fearsome armaments”. Good grief guys…get a room already. Why is Williams even on the air any more? He should be putting his talents to work where they belong: selling used cars.

But it worked, like it always does for Republicans. They create distractions and their buddies in the corporate media compliantly shift their focus and forget about previous criminal activities. Talk about short term attention spans. We’re having serious doubts now that anything will come of these investigations into Trump’s connection with Russia.

So basically, for future reference, in the coming years of the Trump administration; if things are going badly, just expect a bombing in a country in the Middle East and the media will lighten up and all will conveniently be forgotten.

Corporate media 'journalists' Brian Williams and Fareed Zakaria dutifully kiss the ass of American CEO/Dictator over his beautifully presidential bombings in Syria.

Corporate media ‘journalists’ Brian Williams and Fareed Zakaria dutifully kiss the ass of American CEO/Dictator over his beautifully presidential bombings in Syria.

Trump’s Lapdog In The Dog House

In a stunning reversal of fortune, California Republican representative Devin ‘Fido’ Nunes, recused himself as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the Trump administration’s ties with Russia during the 2016 election.

Nunes has received much criticism from Democrats and moderate Republicans for appearing to be CEO/Dictator Donald Trump’s lapdog. In the past couple of weeks, Fido has gone out of his way to make sure Donald Trump knew what was going on during the proceedings, which is a huge violation of House rules, federal law and ethics. But hey…when has that stopped the Republicans before. He is now under investigation for possibly disclosing classified information. Fido’s colleague, Rep. Ted Yoho, even said in defense of his friend, “Nunes is a man of high integrity and character”. Then he went on to say “You gotta keep in mind who he works for. He works for the president. He answers to the president.” No. No he doesn’t. Devin ‘Fido’ Nunes works for the constituents of the 22nd congressional district in California, not the President. He should put the people’s interest first since this is…you know…A DEMOCRACY.

Yep, Fido Nunes has been a good boy for his authoritarian master. We have no doubt he’ll be rewarded for his service like the good little lapdog he is.

American CEO/Dictator Donald Trump, lavishes praise upon his lapdog, Devin 'Fido' Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee for breaking federal and ethical laws to keep him informed of anything bad the FBI is saying about him.

American CEO/Dictator Donald Trump, lavishes praise upon his lapdog, Devin ‘Fido’ Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee for breaking federal and ethical laws to keep him informed of anything bad the FBI is saying about him.

Perjurious Sessions

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is certainly living up to his low expectations that we set for him. It has just been revealed that the new Attorney General lied under oath about communications with the Russians during the 2016 election. Sessions said that he didn’t but new reports confirm that he did talk with Russian the ambassador. Of course, in true Republican fashion, he blamed the people who asked the questions not his own impeccable self. But he did recuse himself from any inquiry into any interference from Russia during the 2016 election.

Of course, America’s new CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump defended his attorney general saying he did nothing wrong. Trump has also started practicing another typical GOP canard; blaming the previous Democratic president. The incompetent Bush Administration took delight in blaming all their mistakes on Bill Clinton. Now, Trump is doing the same to Obama. He’s even gone as far as accusing Obama of wiretapping him during the election, without proof of course. We almost wish Obama did wiretap Trump and an investigation would commence. Then at least we’d hear about the conversations Trump and his lackeys may have had with the Russians.

Attorney Confederate General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, receives instructions from his boss, CEO/Dictator Donald Trump, that his perjury about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 election at his confirmation hearings was actually all Barack Obama's fault.

Attorney Confederate General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, receives instructions from his boss, CEO/Dictator Donald Trump, that his perjury about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 election at his confirmation hearings was actually all Barack Obama’s fault.