'Siege warfare’: Republican anxiety spikes as Trump faces growing legal and political perils

Friends, 

This whole piece merits a good, close read. I sense that this is not the Washington Post being alarmist and trying to sell newspapers, but that it's all really that concerning right now, with the Robert Mueller investigation zeroing in on Trump.  

"The Trump White House," to use the authors' words, is at a "precarious juncture."  

Stephen Bannon himself predicted this would happen:

But some allies fret that the president’s coalition could crack apart under the growing pressure. Stephen K. Bannon, the former Trump strategist who helped him navigate the most arduous phase of his 2016 campaign, predicted 2019 would be a year of “siege warfare” and cast the president’s inner circle as naively optimistic and unsophisticated.

Check out Trump's expression in the photo below taken on December 7th.  This piece came out the next day on the 8th.  He's definitely not happy.  How could he be?  I'm sure it hasn't been a bed of roses for his "fixer," Michael Cohen, either.

It's not only what he'll do, or what those around him will do, but the evil, damning spirit that can, yet again, get unleashed.  This is a Twitter-fed, "siege warfare" campaign and mentality, as it were, that gets exaggerated, but nonetheless stoked and on the defense.

Let's not forget the sadistic, reckless zero-tolerance policy with respect to Central American migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border that resulted in a horrific episode that continues forward, nightmarishly, for the children—many of them small children—whose lives, alongside those of their parents and families, have been seriously, if intentionally, cast into jeopardy.  Designs and actions like these are hateful, destructive, and perverse.

May cool heads prevail in the coming weeks and months.  

We must all weather this, no matter what.  And not just us in the U.S., but the planet, as a whole.

Read on. Stay tuned. Have a heart.  Do not succumb to the ugliness.  Get woke!


-Angela Valenzuela



Siege warfare’: Republican anxiety spikes as Trump faces growing legal and political perils

A growing number of Republicans fear that a battery of new revelations in the far-reaching Russia investigation has dramatically heightened the legal and political danger to Donald Trump’s presidency — and threatens to consume the rest of the party, as well.

President Trump added to the tumult Saturday by announcing the abrupt exit of his chief of staff, John F. Kelly, whom he sees as lacking the political judgment and finesse to steer the White House through the treacherous months to come.

Trump remains headstrong in his belief that he can outsmart adversaries and weather any threats, according to advisers. In the Russia probe, he continues to roar denials, dubiously proclaiming that the latest allegations of wrongdoing by his former associates “totally clear” him.  Continue reading here.

Court hears appeal on Capitol surveillance video

Update on the release of the Leininger capitol video during the 2003 voucher battle. -Angela

Oct. 24, 2007, 10:33PM
Court hears appeal on Capitol surveillance video

By GARY SCHARRER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — It's a legal case that joins conservative Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott with a liberal political magazine against the Department of Public Safety over what a surveillance camera saw in a back hall of the state Capitol.

Lawyers for the Texas Observer argue that the camera is clearly visible and that the videotape is subject to scrutiny under the state's Public Information Act because it does not betray any confidential security measures.

Lawyers for DPS argue that bad guys, including potential terrorists, might be able to detect blind spots and weaknesses in the security system if the agency is forced to share video with the public.

"It's a very interesting case ... a very tough case," said Third Court of Appeals Justice David Puryear, who presided Wednesday over a three-member panel hearing the dispute.

The Observer wants to look at only one tape in an effort to validate reports that political mega-donor James Leininger of San Antonio camped out behind the House chamber May 23, 2005, to lobby legislators on a school voucher bill.

"We thought it was important that the public know that one of the largest campaign contributors in the state was talking to state representatives and trying to get them to change their vote on an issue of paramount importance to the future of the state," Observer executive editor Jake Bernstein said after the hearing.

The Observer has won the early rounds, including an attorney general's opinion that the tape contents belong to the public and a district court ruling along the same lines. But the nonprofit investigative publication has not yet seen the tape.

"We still want to know if, in fact, (Leininger) was on there or not," Bernstein said.

It could take the appellate court months to rule, with the losing party possibly petitioning the state Supreme Court. So far, DPS has spent at least $165,000 of to defend its position.

"The whole key of this case is the precedent that it would set," said Austin lawyer Raymond White, a partner in the law firm of Diamond McCarthy, which represents the agency.

Allowing the public to see the videotape from one surveillance camera means that every tape in each part of the Capitol would be subject to public scrutiny, he said.

Collectively, the videotapes show how the Capitol security system works, White told the justices.

gscharrer@express-news.net