Part One – Michael Cohen has his Premises Raided

FBI Raid on Michael Cohen Escalates Scandals To New Levels….

The big news WaPo first reported is the raid on the offices & residence of Michael Cohen: trump-attorney-cohen-is-being-investigated-for-possible-bank-fraud-campaign-finance-violations-according-to-a-person-familiar-with-the-case.  Investigators could never get such a search warrant without solid info of likely crimes: to-search-michael-cohens-home-and-office-the-fbi-had-to-clear-a-higher-than-normal-bar.  The reported charges stem from potential bank fraud, wire fraud & campaign finance violations.  Fully expect this is not just about the Stormy case, but the evidence also could spill over into ties with Russians.  Cohen’s communications with Trump would be included in the materials hauled off by the FBI, & it’s highly probable Cohen & Trump are both in the crosshairs of this raid.  So the Russian & Stormy scandals are both in play here.  Although it was a Mueller referral, note how it was New York district authorities conducting the raid, which means this part of the investigation can continue should Mueller get derailed through nefarious tactics by Trump.

More than ever, the American people need to find out the truth about the Russian scandal.  And yes, we’re running a real risk of the prez soon bringing on a national disaster!  In a very unpresidential rant after his lawyer’s office got raided, Trump took potshots at Sessions & Rosenstein, either one of which if removed would be replaced with a Trump sycophant willing to fire Mueller.  Were that to occur, it would cause a constitutional crisis, prove conclusively Trump committed obstruction of justice, & immediately delegitimize him as our president.  Myself & those of us in the resistance movement would no longer recognize Trump as our American president!  It could also finish the GOP as a viable party, especially if the majority party in Congress don’t bring up articles of impeachment.  Worse yet, American democracy would be threatened like no other time since the Civil War, possibly even sparking another civil war.

At that point should Trump plot out a path to stop the Mueller probe, anyone from the echo, to puppet GOP politicians, to his merry band of Trumpeters, it would be easy to recognize lawless Americans who would become enemies to the United States, those who’d still support the prez even after firing Mueller.  It’s going to take a full-scale effort to fight our enemies & take our country back, rising up in protest to remove a president who thinks he’s above the law!  Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but let’s also brace ourselves just based on the vitriol coming from Trump Monday, as we’re at real risk he could spark that lawless constitutional crisis.  As corrupt & unhinged as the prez has been shown to be, we need to be prepared for most anything.  It looks like he’s now angrier than he’s ever been.  This may be coming to a head as a dangerous moment in our history, & America could be nearing a tipping point!

Presidents are elected to serve all Americans, & on that note Trump is a dismal failure.  One reason we might surmise is he knows the Russia reports are not going to be in his favor, so he appeals only to his loyal base as the segment of the population who might help him stave off impeachment, or if he does get booted from office can still maintain his adoring Trumpeters as his fan base, since he always needs doting lackeys for whatever his next venture might be.  Mueller is obviously following the money trail, of which now includes tracking money to the Trump campaign from rich Russians, or in this specific case a Ukrainian with close ties to Russia: trump-mueller-ukraine-victor-pinchuk & also see mueller-looking-into-150k-payment-ukrainian-magnate-gave-to-trumps.

In other Russian news, see links on other Trump aides on the hot seat, including several articles on Manafort.  Cambridge Analytica in conjunction with Facebook are also part of the equation on the flood of fake news that distorted the campaigns, so as Mark Zuckerberg goes before Congress, this could be a pivotal week for Facebook.  Also see these excerpts from robert-mueller-ken-starr-investigation-donald-trump, revealing Mueller is more tight-lipped & by the book than Ken Starr ever was:

 Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election could not be more different than Ken Starr’s probe of Bill Clinton’s behavior in the 1990s. While Starr’s probe shifted focus from real estate deals to the president’s infidelity, Mueller’s has stayed methodically focused on Russia. While Starr’s investigation drew out to four years, Mueller’s team has worked quickly to secure indictments and guilty pleas from some key players in his first year. And while Starr’s team leaked constantly, Mueller has often surprised everyone when he filed charges. It remains to be seen how the probe’s ends will differ. Starr’s team eventually sent a report to Congress that led to Clinton’s impeachment on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Mueller, who is operating under a different law, will send a report to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who will then decide what to share with Congress and the public. However it ends, legal experts give Mueller high marks for avoiding some of the pitfalls that damaged Starr’s efforts. Here’s a look at how he’s avoided three mistakes that hurt his predecessor.

Trump should prep for his Mueller interview much like he prepared for the debates.  He should have answers prepared for the questions sure to pop up over the Russian topics Mueller has already tipped him off to.  It shouldn’t be that much of an issue if he answers honestly.  That is, assuming he is innocent.  That’s where the problem is likely to come in, since answering truthfully will probably prove his guilt.  Plus he’s a pathological liar, as we’ve seen repeatedly, so as he twists his tales to embellish himself, he becomes a perjury risk: trump-preparing-for-interview-with-mueller-report.  Also check out exhaustive-history-donald-trump-russia-scandal-timeline where we see Trump has long had close ties to Russia.

In the international dangers, the big news this week was Syria’s hideous chemical weapons attack on their own people.  Trump vows to retaliate while Israel also took action, so things are really heating up over there.  Let’s just hope things don’t escalate between America & Russia.  Trump’s incoherent message on Syria from last week that he intended to pull out, it sent strong signals to the world Russia & Iran are soon to be the dominant powers in that region: abandoning-syria-hands-the-middle-east-to-us-adversaries.  And when in doubt about what to do concerning the chemical attacks on civilians there, Trump just blames Obama: trump-puts-blame-on-obama-after-alleged-chemical-attack-in-syria & then see ted-lieu-tears-into-trump-for-putting-blame-on-obama-after-alleged.

Perhaps the greatest threats to America & the world largely fly under the radar.  Inside the link malala-is-building-more-schools-in-pakistan-thats-not-likely-to-reduce-support-for-extremism, the indoctrination into the radicalized form of Islam from an early age where teachings include apostates should be killed, it’s quite a common ideology spreading throughout the Asian/Middle East corridor & into parts of Africa.  In conjunction with the proliferation of nuclear weapons, which Pakistan happens to already be a nuclear power, the greatest danger the world faces now & into the future is this melding of Islamic extremism & nukes, where loose nukes &/or missiles with nuclear warheads increasingly fall into the hands of radical nation states &/or terrorist organizations.  With their rabid Wahhabi/Sharia Law ideology fed by madrassas education, many believe it’s their sacred duty to kill infidels who don’t subscribe to their radical version of Islam, so that’s a group mentality that won’t hesitate to use nukes once they get their hands on them.  

Under the Stormy Daniels group of links, that’s another section where Michael Cohen is prominently featured.  Her lawyer Avenetti says he will be announcing details on that threat Stormy had gotten from a thug in a parking garage with her young daughter in the car, even releasing a sketch of his face: lawyer-says-there-is-sketch-of-person-who-threatened-stormy.  This scandal is tied into the big raid that was the headline story Monday.  In the final group of links, we see this concluding excerpt from the link lets-pay-trump-to-leave-office, practically begging we find a way to bribe Trump to leave office:

Besides, nothing else has worked to rein in Trump’s behavior. We thought the military generals would be a moderating force. White House aides have tried to keep the president off Twitter. None of it has worked. He’s still railing against immigrants, stoking trade wars and assaulting democratic norms. At this point, we might as well try throwing cash at our Trump problem. At least we know that Trump, a businessman, former game show host and beauty pageant impresario, is preoccupied with how much money he has. He’s been known to overstate his net worth. In 2006, he unsuccessfully sued a journalist who claimed he was worth only $150 million to $250 million. So Mr. Ibrahim, if you read this, perhaps you might consider adding Trump to the list of candidates for the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership in the next year or two. Maybe the payments could be in bitcoin. Whatever it takes. Nothing less than the future of the United States is at stake.

From conservative-pollster-i-think-the-republicans-are-in-deep-trouble we see this excerpt about a potential blue wave, which would be all for the best if it can start leading to a purge of the extreme nihilistic mindset which has latched onto the GOP like a bloodsucking leech.  Ultimately repairing the GOP requires first beating back that toxic element, so the party can come back to its senses & pursue the common good for all Americans, instead of blindly embracing pet projects that appeal only to their hardcore base:

Conservative pollster Frank Luntz said on Sunday that he believes Republicans are in danger of losing both chambers of Congress in this year’s midterm elections. “I think the Republicans are in deep trouble in the House and the Senate as well. If the election were held today, frankly, I think Republicans would lose both,” Luntz said on Fox News.

In the final link a-gorgeous-silver-lining-in-the-dark-days-of-trump, Rubin does find this bright spot:

This wave of participatory democracy is the gorgeous silver lining in the dark clouds of the Trump era. Americans are thinking seriously about democracy, striving to bolster the political norms that Trump is tearing down and connecting with their fellow citizens in ways they have never done before. America’s democracy has a pulse, and through exercise it’s becoming stronger.

But please stay informed by checking out this first group of links in the Related Articles.  After what just happened with his lawyer Michael Cohen, the news this week could escalate into mayhem.  That includes what might be further revealed about the investigation & Trump’s reaction to it, which could push the prez over the brink into taking actions of pure madness!  We’ll all likely be shocked when Mueller’s final findings come out, & Trump as much as anyone knows it.  He’s desperate now.  That’s why we risk a real crisis should the prez try derailing the probe or take whatever unknown rash actions.  Being trapped in a corner with the facts of the probe closing in, Trump is extremely dangerous, so it’s important to warn one & all!  We must all be alert to a president who may be scheming to abuse his power.