So, I’ll make this post kind of my base of operations for the ensuing Trumpocalypse, which means I’ll try to explain as much as possible and update/reblog this post as new information becomes available. That’ll be hard because, like I said last week, New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN are tumbling over each other trying to break this piece leak by leak.

tl:dr - We’re in the early days of one of the biggest news stories of our generation, in which the President is being actively investigated for treason. 

Okay, so this all started with that resignation, right?

That was what woke the country up to how big of a deal everything is. General Michael Flynn resigned as Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser on February 13th after it was leaked to the Wall Street Journal that Flynn was under investigation for some phone calls he’d had with Russia.

What’s so bad about that?

The U.S. intelligence community, as you probably remember, found evidence late last year that confirmed Russia had intentions of influencing our election. Barack Obama retaliated by placing sanctions on Russia. Flynn’s calls with Russia took place that same day, right after the announcement of the sanctions. Flynn told Russia “You don’t have to worry about those sanctions,” suggesting the new administration planning to lift them.

Wait, how do we know all this?

Donald Trump is a jackass who thinks he knows more than everybody, even the people who know the most about everything on Earth, the United States intelligence community. The FBI, CIA, NSA, our spies, military intelligence, etc. are currently proving the worth of their years of privacy violations. They always said “We only do this to protect America,” and while I’m not ready to say that’s true, that’s definitely what they’re using their intel for now. The intelligence community, based on their intel, believes the Trump White House is penetrated by the Kremlin, and they don’t take kindly to being insulted by Dumbass Donnie, so they happily leak intel to the press to push Congress to investigate. Some even suspect the sanctions themselves were a coordinated effort by the intelligence community and President Obama to bait the Trump campaign into trapping themselves.

Okay, so they want to lift the sanctions. Aren’t they allowed to do that?

Yes, but then comes another leak. The NSA confirms Trump’s campaign was in “constant contact” with the Russians throughout the election. Put the pieces together: Trump’s campaign in contact with Russia + Russia hacking Hillary Clinton’s emails + Trump winning + Trump campaign lifting sanctions against Russia for the crime Russia committed that helped Trump win = …

Equals what?

Equals the Trump campaign colluding with a foreign power to execute an act of espionage against the United States.

But how can they prove Donald Trump knew anything about this?

In comes the latest leak from literally less than twelve hours ago. Guess who told Flynn to call the Russians? Guess who told him what to say? It was Trump’s close friend, the lawyer of the Trump Foundation, Michael Cohen. That’s just the cherry on top of the leak last week that Sally Yates, the acting Attorney General who was fired for refusing to enforce the Muslim Ban, straight up told the Trump administration that Michael Flynn had contact with the Russians the day the sanctions were imposed, AND told them the content of those calls. That was a full month before Flynn resigned. He only resigned after the intelligence community leaked it to the press. 

Yikes.

Yikes indeed.

Welp, the GOP isn’t going to investigate anyway.

It’s not up to them. The committees that would call for investigation are bipartisan. One of them, the Intelligence Committee is headed up by Senator Richard Burr from my home state of North Carolina. He’s one of the many senators, like Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Lisa Murkowski, and John McCain, who would salivate at the chance to take down Donald Trump. Any other president would have a decent GOP wall to protect them. Donnie does not. Even if he did, it wouldn’t matter. The intelligence community would keep leaking intel until they had to.

So, where are we in this whole process?

The FBI briefed Congress Friday on the Trump campaigns connections to Russia. Three different bipartisan committees have opened up investigations, the Intelligence committee, the Armed Services committee, and the Foreign Relations committee. These are separate investigations from the ongoing FBI probes, of which there are currently three active. Democrats want to establish a special committee to open a fourth investigation, and some even more aggressive Dems want a special prosecutor brought in to open a fifth investigation.

But they won’t impeach him, will they?

The trouble here for Donnie is that we’re not talking about lying under oath or covering up burglary. We’re not talking about conspiracy or bribery or destroying evidence. We’re talking about treason. Congress can choose not to impeach all they want. When the FBI takes Donnie away in handcuffs, it’s over.

But then Mike Pence becomes president, which is even worse.

First of all, no it’s not worse, you dumb shits. Second of all, every member of the Trump campaign who knew about any of this is going down. That include Pence, Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, and the rest of the Dark Brady Bunch.

So then who becomes the President.

Paul Ryan.

Gross, but he’s kinda hot.

Glad you asked, disembodied rhetorical device. Attorney General and Top Racist Jeff Sessions just recused himself as Attorney General for anything having to do with Trump/Russia probes for having contact with Russian diplomats.

Isn’t that the same shit Flynn just resigned over?

Not only is it the same shit, it’s the same diplomat. The CIA leaked over the weekend that they consider this diplomat a top spy of the Kremlin and a top spy recruiter. Not only did Sessions talk to him, but he talked to him twice, and he lied about it under oath.

Why do people keep talking to this spy guy and then lying about it?

You know why.

Okay, so that’s how many people in Trump’s inner circle who’ve had to publicly get roasted over close contacts with Russia.

3.

How many is the average?

Native Nations March

If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?

This bill — cosponsored by Republican members of Congress from fossil fuel-producing states — is just one sentence long, and says nothing about what would happen to the multiple environmental regulations the EPA has instituted since 1970, or its multibillion-dollar budget, or its thousands of staffers. H.R. 861 is currently awaiting action in the subcommittee on environment.

2. H.R. 610: Tax dollars for private schools

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) introduced this bill in January, which would redistribute funding earmarked for public schools in the form of vouchers for parents to send children to private schools. Over the long term, this would eventually bankrupt public schools, and create a stratified education system in which cash-strapped public schools would be unable to meet the educational needs of low-income students. The bill is awaiting action in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

3. H.R. 899: To terminate the Department of Education

If this bill, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), becomes law, the U.S. Department of Education would terminate by the end of 2018. The bill’s brevity leaves many questions unanswered, like what would happen with Department of Education grants for public schools and universities, its budget, or its staff. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said she would personally be “fine” if the agency she heads were to be abolished.

4. H.J.R. 69: To repeal a rule protecting wildlife

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), whose constituents likely include hunters who kill wildlife for sport rather than for food, introduced this joint resolution voicing displeasure with a Department of Interior rule that prohibits “non-subsistence” hunting in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. The resolution passed the House and is awaiting action in the Senate.

5. H.R. 370: To repeal the Affordable Care Act

While President Obama was in office, House Republicans voted at least 60 times to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — despite its futility. However, the Trump administration has made the repeal of Obamacare a top priority, meaning the repeal bill from Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) is likely to pass.

6. H.R. 354: To defund Planned Parenthood

Despite the widely publicized debunking of the video alleging the women’s health nonprofit was selling human organs, Republicans are still refusing to stop destroying Planned Parenthood. Rep. Diane Black (R-Tennessee) introduced a bill that would prevent any federal grants from going to Planned Parenthood for a full year unless they swore to not perform abortions. As the chart below from Planned Parenthood shows, only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood resources go toward abortions, while the vast majority of funding is used to help low-income women get STD tests, contraceptive care, and breast cancer screenings:

7. H.R. 785: National Right-to-Work legislation

Conservative ideologue Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is aiming to cripple unions at the nationwide level with a bill that would systematically deprive labor unions of the funding they need to operate. Unions often provide one of the crucial pillars of support for Democratic candidates and causes, and conservatives aim to destroy them once and for all by going after their funding. It’s important to note that right-to-work is bad for all workers, not just union members — in 2015, the Economic Policy Institute learned that wages in right-to-work states are roughly 3.2 percent lower than in non-right-to-work states.

8. H.R. 83: Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act

Multiple cities and states around the country have openly stated that they won’t abide by President Trump’s plan to aggressively round up and deport undocumented immigrants. A bill by Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pennsylvania) would strip all federal funding of any city that doesn’t obey Trump’s immigration policies for up to a year.

9. H.R. 147: To criminalize abortion

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Arizona) wants to aggressively prosecute pregnant women seeking abortions, along with abortion providers, by making abortion a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The bill is currently awaiting action in the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.

WOMENS STRIKE – FIND A RALLY NEAR YOU – wear red in solidarity

The Women’s March on Washington galvanized women across the globe and gave voice to a rising political force on a history-making day. More than 2 million people took to the streets in Washington, D.C., and cities small and large on Jan. 21 to protest a new administration they fear will roll back civil, human and reproductive rights.

Will that voice thunder again?

On Wednesday, International Women’s Day, the organizers behind the January march are planning a showing of economic solidarity in walkouts, rallies and marches dubbed A Day Without a Woman.

Read more. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-bill-would-allow-obs-to-withhold-information-from-pregnant-women_us_58b85e8de4b01fc1bde6b9fc