I’m listening to Devin Nunez giving his opening statement right before the testimony of Gordon Sondland and he just gave a list of “supposed” allegations against individual 1 which he referenced as being absurd (my characterization). However, as he was reading his statement his list was almost one by one stuff that is verifiably TRUE despite Nunez claims to the contrary. In my view Nunez is a “piece of work.” He comes across to me as an attorney who could defend OJ Simpson and still sleep at night.

Here’s some of the accusations against individual 1 he called absurd: that individual 1 is an agent of the Russians (well, hopefully, we’ll figure that one out), that he’s laundered Russian money in the past (true – read “House of Putin House of Trump” among others), that he welcomed Russian help in the 2016 election (true – read the “Mueller Report”), that he obstructed Justice in the Mueller probe (true, as I’ve said, I don’t think Nunez read the Mueller report), that individual 1 was in contact with someone (Roger Stone) communicating with WikiLeaks about the STOLEN emails (true – check out the testimony in Stone’s trial), that individual 1 and his campaign COLLUDED with the Russians (true – again, read Mueller’s report), and the list goes on. Nunez has BLIND loyalty to our so-called president – which has been clear for over two years – a loyalty he puts above his oath to our constitution. Yikes!!!

While I watched as much of Sondland’s testimony as I could handle, he clearly corroborated virtually EVERY bit of evidence which has become public testimony prior to his own. I’m not going to add more here about Sondland, but today I logged onto my computer to watch the testimony of Fiona Hill and David Holmes and the implication of the CORRUPTION coming out of Washington DC via individual 1 and aimed at Ukraine was further corroborated. After the initial statements and the questioning by the majority counsel there was a recess so the members of the committee could participate in some votes (I have to wonder what they’re voting on because we KNOW Moscow Mitch won’t allow any of it to reach a vote in the Senate) and during the discussion following the recess on MSNBC one of the commentators reminded viewers that yesterday, Lev Parnos, in some kind of deposition regarding his indictment for CORRUPTION (along side of Rudy Giuliani – more to come on that) pointed out he was the “point person” in a “fact finding” trip to Ukraine by a delegation led by Devin Nunez. That says a lot!

I’m anticipating the response to the questions coming from Adam Schiff and the majority counsel by Nunez and the minority counsel (who, by the way, has not been that impressive to me) and, likely, I’ll write a bit about it. However, the bottom line is the democrats have enough “evidence” to IMPEACH our so-called president and provide a powerful case in the Senate to have individual 1 unceremoniously removed from office by the Senate. Of course, no one I know believes the Senate will vote to “convict” individual 1, therefore removing him from office. There are multiple reports individual 1 wouldn’t leave even if “convicted.” (Likely, once he’s out of office, he’ll be facing the possibility of being convicted based on the number of indictments he’s likely looking at as he’s no longer protected by the now infamous “OLC memo.”

If you’ve had your head in the sand the reason I refer to our so-called president as “individual 1” is because that’s the name he’s been referred to in the CRIMINAL conviction of Michael Cohen, his former “fixer,” (what kind of “job” is that?) by the Southern District of New York where he’s listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in two FELONIES. These two FELONIES have to do with the FACT individual 1 paid HUSH MONEY to two women he had “allegedly” had affairs with while his present wife was either pregnant with his last (I hope) son, Barron, or while his son was an infant.

These payments happened just weeks prior to the 2016 election and were designed to prevent “we the people” from knowing further his “deplorable” treatment of women. (Keep in mind, this was shortly after the “Access Hollywood” tape had been made public and likely played a significant part in his “victory” – of course, with 3 MILLION fewer votes than his opponent) Add this “secret” to the Russian interference and that the FBI refused to make public their knowledge of that Russian interference and add that to James Comey, curiously, “outing” Hillary Clinton, erroneously, 11 days prior to the election, and you have the recipe how America could vote in a mafia type “leader” as our so-called president.

Ironically, since that time individual 1 has FIRED the man most likely responsible for him being in the “White House” with the aforementioned “outing” of Mrs. Clinton. In fact, our so-called president has been lobbying for Comey to be arrested and prosecuted, apparently for a refusal to grant him a pledge of complete loyalty (as if he was a mafia boss). He’s also unceremoniously fired other members of the FBI because of their investigation of the Russian intrusion on our election – curiously if he was “innocent” – in his words, “didn’t do anything wrong”) – you’d expect him to want the investigation. First, to clear his name and those in his campaign, and secondly, to make sure we STOP the Russians from doing it again. Nada, on both fronts!

So, not much should be surprising as to how things have evolved since November 8, 2016. The MOST surprising part of what has transpired, to me, has been the acquiescence of the republicans to a “politician,” who, based on my personal experience, represents the opposite of what they supposedly have “stood” for over the years. Obviously, if you’ve read this blog over the course of time, you know I’ve been lamenting the rightward tilting of the republican party since I started writing and that my concerns began in the days of Ronald Reagan. I’ve since learned my “concerns” should have begun with the so-called “Powell memo” written by soon to be, at the time, Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell in about 1972 and sent to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce laying out the “groundwork” for America’s turn toward a corporatocracy and the authoritarianism we’re seeing today in republican politics.

However, over the years republicans would have us believe they were the “party of family values.” They would have us believe they stood on the front lines in the defense against countries like present day Russia pushing to undermine the alliances formed after WW II. They’ve somehow convinced “we the people” they believe in fiscal “conservatism” while, at the same time funneling TRILLIONS to their wealthy donors. And, aside from other issues, once Barack Obama was elected, their covert RACISM became overt in their allowing the so-called “Tea Party” to take over their caucus.

During this process, until individual 1 succeeded in gaining the “White House,” I had no idea who Devin Nunez was. Sadly, I now know and I have to wonder how the good people of Central Californian could send someone this willing to do the bidding of the Russians, along with individual 1, to the Congress. I’m going to try to force myself to listen to his response to the opening statements of Fiona Hill and David Holmes, both of whom further pointed out the danger to “we the people” coming from our “White House.” Stay tuned……………….

Well, my wife needed to use the computer and then got enthralled watching the testimony, so I decided to do other things. And, this morning, I decided to watch a bit of CNN instead of the usual MSNBC. Essentially, the “experts” were giving the same message. Although, former governor Kasich of Ohio, as usual, was non-committal in regard to IMPEACHMENT a former member of the CIA who worked there with Fiona Hill pointed out people like Nunez and Jim Jordan (of Ohio) are considered by the Russians as “useful idiots.” As I watched the IMPEACHMENT hearings my thought was simply they are idiots, but I can see how the Russians would consider them “useful.”

For heaven’s sake, their constant regurgitation of the DEBUNKED conspiracy theories that the “meddling” in the 2016 election came from the Ukrainians comes directly out of the Vladimir Putin “playbook.” Putin must be just, as they say, “laughing all the way to the bank.” And, America has media outlets willing to perpetuate what is happening to our “homeland,” Outlets like Fox “news” which is often referred to as “Trump TV.” Individual 1 comes across as a cross between a mafia boss (which is how I’ve perceived him) and a cult leader (which is becoming apparent to me as I try to explain the behavior of republicans who I believe know better).

Final Thought: Here’s the bottom line. When this IMPEACHMENT issue goes to a vote in the House it’s unlikely ANY republicans vote in favor of the ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT although I believe the significant part of all this will be the trial in the Senate. The reality is there are members in the Senate whose jobs are on the line in 2020 and how the Senate deals with this will help determine how many republicans in the Senate lose their jobs. I believe at least a half dozen are vulnerable and if the American people care about the Russians determining our political future the republicans will be in serious jeopardy in November of 2020.

I’ve pointed out how serious the allegations coming out of the Mueller report were, but this Ukraine shakedown “dots the “i’s” and crosses the “t’s” as to how CORRUPT our so-called president is along with most of those still left in his administration. Add to that members of Congress like Nunez and Jordan who the Russians view as “useful idiots.” I have to wonder why “we the people” are having such difficulty understanding the gravity of this situation. Sadly, we know the republicans in the Senate will not vote to remove individual 1 from office, but it’s up to us to remove these republicans from the Senate at the same time WE remove individual 1 from office in 2020’s election.

My final question is will Moscow Mitch even allow a regular “trial” in the Senate? Will they create a sham or will they spend five weeks listening to witnesses similar to the Clinton impeachment trial? Stay tuned…………………………..