(CNN) As the White House scans Washington for a bounce-back win after the Obamacare imbroglio, the political forecast is promising only heavy weather.

An unappetizing list of looming congressional showdowns, complex, months-long legislative challenges and intractable threats to President Donald Trump's standing threaten to make the failed health care push look like a small setback.

Approaching sagas of a potential government shutdown, raising the debt ceiling and a moment of truth in the Senate over the potential "nuclear option" confirmation of Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch will severely test the political alacrity of a White House already exposed by the busted bid to repeal Obamacare....

... Throw in the corrosive impact that the thickening cloud of intrigue over Russia's alleged election meddling is exerting on the White House, and add the challenges posed by the President's own habit of detonating political explosions that damage his own standing, and it's tough to predict the administration's first big political win -- or how much that victory will cost. ...

...At the top of the list of political messes for the Republican majority and the White House is the possibility of a government shutdown that could occur on an inauspicious date, April 29, Trump's 100th day in office.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/politics/trump-outlook/index.html


Shut him down, along with massive national protests.

Let them get some of what they're giving.

Nunes said the plan was to further question FBI Director James Comey and NSA director Mike Rogers instead, but then postponed that hearing as well, citing scheduling issues. A series of additional meetings were postponed as well. Democrats say that explanation doesn't add up and want the hearings immediately rescheduled. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), a member of the intelligence committee, told MSNBC on Wednesday that "no future hearings for the Russia investigation are on the books."


https://www.google.com/amp/www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/amp/4-unanswered-questions-about-rep-nunes-russia-n740231



This is completely, unacceptable.

Democrats should be raising holy hell.

Was doing some digging and reading on Southern African American folklore (translation - I have a fascination with folk magic, pagan origins and beliefs from all sources), and ran across the writings of the amazing Zora Neale Hurston.

I saw the wiki entry, and searched for the article, which I could only find in pdf form. Started reading, and my jaw dropped as I was delighted and deeply respectful of her insight and talent.

"High John the,Conquerer" is the personification of hope, unbreakable spirit, and laughing in the face of oppression.

The power is very real.

An Adolph Hitler or a Donald Trump is no match for such power.

I intend to read as much of Zora's writings as I can absorb. I feel blessed as I read her, and you might also.




"In "High John De Conquer", Zora Neale Hurston reports that:

like King Arthur of England, he has served his people. And, like King Arthur, he is not dead. He waits to return when his people shall call him again ... High John de Conquer went back to Africa, but he left his power here, and placed his American dwelling in the root of a certain plant. Only possess that root, and he can be summoned at any time.[citation needed]

This is from Hurston's published article in American Mercury magazine in 1943. In this article she relates a few stories about High John, enough to define him, but not an exhaustive survey of the folklore. The purpose was to present the nation with the hope-building and the power of this inspiring figure during the darkest days of World War II. The article ends with:

So the brother in black offers to these United States the source of courage that endures, and laughter. High John de Conquer. If the news from overseas reads bad, if the nation inside seems like it is stuck in the Tar Baby, listen hard, and you will hear High John de Conquer treading on his singing-drum. You will know then, that no matter how bad things look now, it will be worse for those who seek to oppress us.... White America, take a laugh from out of our black mouths, and win! We give you High John de Conquer."

— The American Mercury, October 1943, pp. 450-458[1]


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Conqueror

"Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said during an interview early Wednesday that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes's (R-Calif.) behavior has been “aggressive” and “unusual” in recent days.

“A lot of us have a lot of history with Chairman Nunes and consider him a friend, but until we really get read into whatever drove last week’s behavior, it’s really hard for us, along with the rest of the American public, not to make some assumptions about what is driving this very strange behavior,” Himes said on CNN’s “New Day.”

Himes, a House Intelligence Committee member, added that the panel’s functions have stalled since Nunes said there was incidental intelligence surveillance of President Trump’s transition team last week."

VIDEO AT LINK...

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/intelligence/326258-dem-rep-nunes-acting-aggressive-unusual

Explanations?

By JO BECKER, MATTHEW ROSENBERG and MAGGIE HABERMAN
March 27, 2017
Senate investigators plan to question Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and a close adviser, as part of their broad inquiry into ties between Trump associates and Russian officials or others linked to the Kremlin, according to administration and congressional officials.

The White House Counsel’s Office was informed this month that the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, wanted to question Mr. Kushner about meetings he arranged with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, according to the government officials. The meetings, which took place during the transition, included a previously unreported sit-down with the head of Russia’s state-owned development bank.

Until now, the White House had acknowledged only an early December meeting between Mr. Kislyak and Mr. Kushner, which occurred at Trump Tower and was also attended by Michael T. Flynn, who would briefly serve as the national security adviser.

Later that month, though, Mr. Kislyak requested a second meeting, which Mr. Kushner asked a deputy to attend in his stead, officials said. At Mr. Kislyak’s request, Mr. Kushner later met with Sergey N. Gorkov, the chief of Vnesheconombank, which the United States placed on its sanctions list after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia annexed Crimea and began meddling in Ukraine.

A White House spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, confirmed those meetings, saying in an interview that nothing of consequence occurred and portraying them as routine diplomatic encounters that went nowhere. But Mr. Gorkov, who previously served as deputy chairman of the board at Sberbank, Russia’s largest state-owned bank, said in a statement issued by his bank that he met with Mr. Kushner in his capacity as the then-chief executive of Kushner Companies, his family’s sprawling real estate empire.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/us/politics/senate-jared-kushner-russia.amp.html


Holy. Shit.

"The House intelligence committee investigation of the Trump campaign’s alleged links with Moscow looks in danger of unravelling as a result of the unexplained behaviour of its chairman, Devin Nunes, a former Trump adviser.

James Comey: Democrat by birth, Republican by trade, thorn in the side of both
Read more
Such behaviour reportedly includes an unexplained disappearance from an Uber ride with a staffer on Tuesday night, described by his Democratic counterpart as a “peculiar midnight run”.

The investigation subsequently appeared to stall, with Nunes calling off a critical hearing scheduled for Tuesday 28 March, at a time when his Democratic counterpart on the committee, Adam Schiff, said he had seen more than circumstantial evidence of collusion between the Trump camp and Russia."....


"At the hearing, Comey refused to name any of the campaign aides under FBI scrutiny. Schiff, the ranking Democrat, said he and Nunes had been given a classified briefing that involved evidence of collusion that “isn’t purely circumstantial”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/26/trump-russia-investigation-house-intelligence-devin-nunes





First I've heard about the unexplained Uber thing.

Sounds like someone having a meeting with a handler.



But wait, there's more!


"Hours before the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee announced his shocking claims about surveillance of the Trump transition team on Wednesday morning, he practically disappeared.
Rep. Devin Nunes was traveling with a senior committee staffer in an Uber on Tuesday evening when he received a communication on his phone, three committee officials and a former national security official with ties to the committee told The Daily Beast. After the message, Nunes left the car abruptly, leaving his own staffer in the dark about his whereabouts.
By the next morning, Nunes hastily announced a press conference. His own aides, up to the most senior level, did not know what their boss planned to say next. Nunes’ choice to keep senior staff out of the loop was highly unusual."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/24/devin-nunes-vanished-the-night-before-he-made-trump-surveillance-claims.html

Begs the question - does Nunes really think he is slicker than the F.B.I.?

"Social media erupted on Saturday after a CNN analyst and former Homeland Security official said that sources have told her that former national security adviser Michael Flynn may have struck a deal of some sort with the FBI.

“It is starting to look like, from my sources and then also from open reporting, that Mike Flynn is the one who may have a deal with the FBI and that’s why we have not heard from him for some time,” Juliette Kayyem, an assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs in the Obama administration, said in a panel discussion on Friday night.

Kayyem noted that of the four former Trump advisers who are said to be subjects in an FBI investigation of potential ties to the Russian government, Flynn is the only one who has not volunteered to testify to Congress. The other three advisers, Paul Manafort, Carter Page, and Roger Stone, offered to testify earlier this week."...

"“I don’t have anything on that,” Flynn spokesman Price Floyd told The Daily Caller when asked for comment on Kayyem’s claim.

When pressed for clarification if he was denying the claim or was was merely not responding, Floyd said: “Not responding.”


http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/25/did-michael-flynn-strike-a-deal-with-the-fbi-cnn-analyst-claims-he-might-have/

Donald Trump could be forced to leave office over the investigations into his administration’s links with Russia, a former national National Security Agency (NSA) analyst has warned.

John Schindler, a security expert and former counterintelligence officer, said that if the US President was to face an indictment over allegations his campaign team colluded with Russia to disrupt the presidential election, it could put an end to his presidency.

Speaking to CBC radio, Mr Schindler said: “If, not just people around him, but the president himself is facing possible indictment down the road, that could be a game changer. He could be removed from office for that, whether he wants to be or not."

https://www.google.com/amp/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-presidency-finished-russia-investigations-fbi-vladimir-putin-nsa-analyst-john-schindler-a7649371.html%3Famp

The tide is turning.

Or "LOCK HIM UP"?

In my humble opinion, we should never under any circumstances reflect their lockstep thought processes.

" They should be facing charges, or ought to be incarcerated because", or something along those lines, at least shows there is some thought involved, instead of a knee jerk, purely emotional "Seig Heil!" typical Trumpster outburst.

This has been a public service announcement from orangecrush.

Your mileage may vary.

On Monday, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey confirmed that the FBI is investigating the possibility of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Following Comey’s testimony, historian Douglas Brinkley declared, “There’s a smell of treason in the air.”

Between revelations about “longtime [President Donald] Trump confidant” Roger Stone and the controversies surrounding former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, it’s clear that key Trump campaign staff were in contact with Russia. Stone has admitted to being in contact with Guccifer 2.0, likely a front for the Russian government, and repeatedly gave advance notice of disclosures from WikiLeaks, which has been acting suspiciously like an agent of the Russian government. Stone is now on the hook with the Senate Intelligence Committee. And at Monday’s White House briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer conceded that Stone worked on the campaign, and that he and the president “had a long relationship going back years where [Stone] would provide counsel.”

Media outlets and social media are filled with accusations of collusion, calls for a special counsel, and queries about treason. Representative Maxine Waters tweeted simply, “Get ready for impeachment.”
If Trump participated in, facilitated, or encouraged a Russian cyber attack intended to overthrow the United States government by changing the outcome of the 2016 election — and then promoted Russia’s interests after assuming office — Waters may get her wish. Those acts could amount to an impeachable offense. They could even be treason.

Should cyberspace be understood as a theater of war?
Treason has traditionally been understood as a crime defined by clear binaries — at war vs. at peace; enemy vs. ally — and requiring physical conflict. Here, no shots have been fired, no battles pitched, unless cyberspace can be understood as a theater of war within the meaning our Framers envisioned. And perhaps it can.

https://psmag.com/a-guide-to-treason-2-0-3dbf93f4e415#.vg5ahvc43