Trump's 18 Lies in the State of the Union Address

From economic statistics to energy production to taxes, crime and immigration, President Donald Trump's State of the Union Address last night was an exercise in prevarication. Here is a thorough article by Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post that details his litany of lies and exaggerations. See for yourself here.

Justice Closing in On Trump?

Below are some excerpts from a fascinating little piece by former Watergate reporter Lucian K. Truscott IV. Truscott draws a number of parallels between the investigation into the Nixon White House's corruption and the unfolding investigation into the Trump campaign and White House. The article itself isn't overly long. You can read the entire Salon article here.

FROM TRUSCOTT'S ARTICLE:

Nixon had been in office for more than four years when on June 17, 1972, the so-called Plumbers working for the Nixon reelection committee, at the direction of the White House, were arrested at the Watergate office building in the process of bugging the Democratic National Committee Headquarters. Donald Trump was in office a grand total of four days when his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, committed a crime when he lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the Trump campaign and transition.

Flynn and one other Trump campaign staffer have pleaded guilty to perjury, and two more senior campaign officials have been indicted. So far, more than 20 members of the White House staff have either been fired or resigned from their positions. Every day there is another story about who will be next to go. Will it be Rex Tillerson, who has been quoted calling Trump a “moron”? Sessions, who has lied repeatedly about his contacts with Russians during the campaign and enraged Trump when he recused himself from the Russia investigation? Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, chairman of a bank in Cyprus used in Russian money laundering and photographed on numerous occasions falling asleep at meetings, including state occasions in Saudi Arabia and in the White House itself?

See a pattern here? Resignations. Firings. Indictments. Hearings. Special prosecutor. Leaks. Media hordes. And all over Washington, D.C., offices filled with eager beaver investigators burrowing into every corner of the Trump campaign, the Trump transition, the Trump White House and Trump’s business empire.

Now Washington’s immune system is about to expel yet another infection from the body politic. The end game is here. Even Trump knows it.

Appearance to Beneift Young Democrats

I will be making an appearance in Visalia on Friday, February 16, and you are all invited. It's called "Liberally Speaking: An Evening with Steve Natoli," and will be held starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Lamplighter Inn at 3300 W. Mineral King Boulevard in Visalia. The event is being hosted by the Tulare County Democratic Central Committee. Benefits from the evening will be used to support the COS (College of the Sequoias) Young Democrats to attend the California State Democratic Party convention and to help organize a new countywide Tulare County Young Democrats club.   A donation of $15 per person is requested. Coffee and light refreshments will be served. If you would like to contribute more, you can make checks payable to COS Young Democrats. For more information contact COSYD President Katherine Dodson at (559) 750-6916 or email her at kdodson@cacollegedems.org.  

I will be reading excerpts from my book "Liberally Speaking: Why Liberalism is Right for America" and signing copies for those who wish to purchase the book. I will have observations on current political developments and there will be some time for questions. Copies of "Liberally Speaking" sell for $21.60 including tax.

On Trump's Latest Racist Comments

Donald Trump's reference last Thursday to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as "shitholes" should certainly come as no surprise given his long, openly racist record. The two positives to take from this are that first, it makes it crystal clear that racism is not an issue confined solely to the past in American society, and that second, it provides cause for the majority of decent Americans to once again reaffirm their commitment to strive to continue the struggle to effectuate the founding words of the nation, that "we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal." There was no better time for this to come to a head than on the eve of the annual Martin Luther King holiday.

Trump's documented record of racism is a long one. It dates all the way back to the 1970s when he was fined as a discriminatory landlord. It continued through his anti-Obama "birther" pronouncements. His 2016 presidential campaign statements against Mexicans and blacks were right up the same alley. Trump's Charlottesville comments last year opining that there were "many fine people" among the neo-Nazis and Klansmen there chanting anti-Semitic, anti-Latino and anti-black slogans earned him the full-throated endorsements of America's Nazi, Klan, and so-called "alt right" movements.

Condemnation from the Haitian government, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the African Union have made it clear how much international damage has been done by referring to entire races and continental populations as people devoid of human worth. Now that such blatant racism is out in the open and globally recognized, it is more important than ever that decent Americans, regardless of their overall political beliefs, publicly reject these sentiments in favor of the conviction that we are all God's children who deserve the dignity and love due fellow human creatures. 

 

Help Save Healthcare for Children: Action Needed

It's been more than 100 days since Congress allowed the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP, known as Healthy Families in California) to lapse. Even in this Congress this inaction stands out as one of the cruelest failures imaginable.

9,000,000 low-income children and pregnant women will permanently lose comprehensive and affordable health care coverage if Congress doesn't act. We must hold their feet to the fire as passionately and effectively as we defended Obamacare last year.

Dozens of the nation's leading health care and children's advocacy groups have organized a day of action to #SaveCHIP. Here's how you can help:

• Use this fact sheet and this toolkit to call your representatives and senators at (877) 233-9025 and request they fund CHIP for five years as part of the Jan. 1‌9 vote to fund the federal government;
• Help get the word out on social media -- use #SaveCHIP to educate your friends and family about why this is so important to millions of Californians;
• Tell your coworkers, neighbors, and friends to join you! The more people speak out about the importance of CHIP on the same day at the same time, the greater the impact on Congress.

Republicans just gave trillions of dollars to the ultrarich in tax cuts. There is simply no excuse for cutting off this life-saving and life-changing healthcare for children and pregnant women.

Rancho Bernardo Democratic Club 2018 Kickoff and 2017 Year in Review

Since moving to Rancho Bernardo full time Joan and I have been attending the monthly meetings of the RB Democratic Club. It's an active club, well plugged in to the San Diego Democratic scene.  Here's the announcement about the club's January 20 kickoff event and a compilation of the speakers who have appeared at the club meetings throughout 2017. Keith Mikas is RB Dems President. Greetings and happy New Year. Remember Saturday, January 20 at 6 PM (yes one year since T day) will be our welcome back party for the club. Location: The Westwood club in Rancho Bernardo, 17394 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego, CA 92127. This is a free event and we’d love to have all club members there. If you need a ride or would like to carpool please contact Jodi Tadder (Mobil 858 – 277 – 4576). A little look back at what we accomplished last year as a club. All four candidates running for the 49th Congressional District spoke or visited our club: Doug Applegate, Mike Levin, Paul Kerr, & Sara Jacobs. Our state senator, Toni Atkins, soon to be President Pro Tem of the Senate, stopped by for questions and answers. All five candidates for Council District Two race were invited to speak. However, the three candidates Jennifer H. Campbell MD, Bryan Pease & Jordan Beane, made it and spoke at our meeting. In countywide races all three candidates or their surrogates came and spoke to our club: Assessor/Recorder Clerk:  Matt Strabone, Sheriff:  Dave Myers & District Attorney &  Geneviéve Jones-Wright. IBEW representatives, James Alvernaz, came out to our club to update us on the new union Democratic club and ways that we should all be actively supporting unions. The current four Democratic candidates for San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 4, Ken Malbrough, Lori Saldaña, Omar Passons & Nathan Fletcher, stopped by and spoke. The sole Democratic candidate running for San Diego County Board of Supervisors district 5: Easter Sanchez (currently city councilmember for Oceanside). We had a first this year, we endorsed our first candidate as a club, Sunday Gover, who is running for our state assembly district 77. We hosted a “Spring into Action” event where local Democratic representatives from city, county and the federal level came and talked to us: Jessica Hayes, Tommy Hough, & Jennifer Sosa. In 2018, we have a Judicial Offices race in San Diego Superior Court.  One of the two candidates, Matthew Brower, spoke to our club about the importance of this race. We also heard from: The City of San Diego Mayor’s homeless Czar, Stacie Spector, Carl Yaeckel from San Diego citizen’s climate action, and lastly an update from Rancho Bernardo Community Council President Robin Kaufman, who knows about all things Rancho Bernardo.