Here Is Reason Hope Hicks Resignation Matters

We all know how the Trump presidency ends.   Republicans play like there is nothing going on, while Democrats are waiting for the latest news stories about the drip-drip-drip of evidence.  But whether one is living in a very cloudy fantasy land, or in reality, we know that this does not end well for Trump, and perhaps some of his family.

Today was another bombshell day as Hope Hicks resigned.   More than what that means for the day-to-day operations at a White House, that never is able to chew gum and walk at the same time, is the legal aspect to this story.

Hicks was in the midst of the criminal aspects now so very much under investigation by the Special Counsel.  She had a most cozy and close-up view of Trump and the day-to-day happenings in the White House.   Let us recall she was present on Air Force One during a most important time for the Russian investigation.  She reportedly was involved in the drafting of a memo of deceit that did not in any way accurately recount the reason for the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 which involved Trump. Jr.  One can strongly assume Mueller wants to know her intimate level of knowledge concerning Trump’s repeated attempts to throw the Russian investigation off track.

There is dirty linen to air.

Some I suspect is literal.

But for the nation what matters is the legal linen she can now talk about with investigators.

Walmart Raises Selling Guns To Age 21–Collective Voice Of Nation Being Heard

More good news as retailers bend to the will of those who demand changes to America’s sick relationship with guns.

Walmart, the largest seller of firearms and ammunition in the U.S. has announced it would no longer sell guns or ammo to anyone under the age of 21. The move comes the same day that Dick’s Sporting Goods announced it would no longer sell firearms to anyone under 21 and said it would stop selling assault-style weapons.

In a statement, Walmart said the decision came “in light of recent events,” falling two weeks after 17 people were killed and 15 others were wounded at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Police said the 19-year-old suspect, Nikolas Cruz, used an AR-15 rifle. 

Since the Parkland shooting, there have been increased calls for a ban on weapons such as AR-15s and raising the age required to legally purchase a gun.

President Trump indicated on Wednesday that he would support raising the age for firearm sales. 

Walmart said it will be “removing items from our website resembling assault-style rifles, including nonlethal airsoft guns and toys.”

Walmart stopped selling modern sporting rifles, including the AR-15, in 2015. 

Texas Energy And Their Boom And Bust Economy

Catching up on some good reads and this one is most interesting.  Concerns the boom and bust cycles of the Texas energy sector.

Texas is the only state that has its own electrical grid. It is operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ercot), and was created largely to avoid federal regulations. Because of the intense energy needs of the oil-and-gas business—it takes a lot of power to run oil refineries and petrochemical plants—Texas uses more electricity than any other state. (California, the second-largest consumer, uses about two-thirds as much.) Yet electricity in Texas is cheaper than the national average, and in some places it is free at night. That’s because Texas gets about seventeen per cent of its electricity from wind power, and wind generally blows more at night, when demand is lower. The plains and mesas of West Texas, and the coastal region south of Galveston, are lined with regiments of wind turbines. They are so heavily subsidized by the federal government that wind-energy producers sometimes pay companies to take the energy off their hands, in order to receive federal tax credits. In October, 2016, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, broke a bottle of champagne atop a three-hundred-foot turbine to inaugurate a vast new wind farm in Scurry County, three hours west of Fort Worth; it will provide a million megawatt hours a year to the Texas grid.

Americans Want Gun Control Measures Passed Into Law

A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows strong support for stricter gun laws among registered voters at 68 percent, compared with just 25 percent who oppose stricter gun laws.

More very encouraging poll results show that 88% of voters support universal background checks.

70% support a ban on high-capacity magazines.

68% want to ban assault-style weapons.

Other polls show similar growth in support for additional gun restrictions — and that the growth comes mostly from Republicans and independents. A CBS News poll out late last week found 65 percent of Americans say the laws governing the sale of guns should be stricter — an increase of 8 points from last December, and the highest number CBS News has ever recorded for stricter gun laws.

Win For Teachers Union In West Virginia

This is what many were hoping for this past week.  We were hoping because teachers with better pay matter to this nation.

A teachers’ strike that ground public schools to a halt across West Virginia is set to end on Thursday, a week after it began, Gov. James C. Justice and teachers’ union representatives said Tuesday. They announced a deal that signaled a win for unions in a reddening state, even though some lawmakers and even the teachers themselves expressed doubts it would ultimately work.

Mr. Justice, a Republican, said that he had promised the state’s teachers and other school employees a 5 percent raise and that he would create a task force to address the problem of rising insurance costs for public employees, a key issue in the strike.

This Is Why We Call It FAUX News

There was an about-face from Faux News host Tucker Carlson that needs to be made known.

Carlson had devoted coverage over two nights of his show last week to the accusation that CNN had scripted a question for a student (which was never asked) during last week’s gun town hall in South Florida.

The accusation, denied by CNN, still elicited this tweet from Pres. Trump: “School shooting survivor says he quit @CNN Town Hall after refusing scripted question. @TuckerCarlson. Just like so much of CNN, Fake News.”

But it was the conscienceless conservatives on FAUX News who were the ones  hyping and spreading false stories.

The AP reports that Glenn Haab, father of student Colton Haab, admitted that he omitted several words in an email that made it appear as though CNN was scripting questions.

Carlson used two nights to make gross inaccuracies and only backed off when the power of the real press and reporters in this nation took up the call for professional reporting.

The lesson to be learned is that we can see what happens when you peddle false information and insane conspiracy theories in order to pander to your viewership who you know will hang on to your every word without even thinking there might be a chance it couldn’t be true.  Does anyone else see how dangerous this can be? FAUX News knew it couldn’t verify the story, but they reported it anyway just to try and stick it to CNN.

Trial Process Begins For Criminals In Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Investigation

A judge in Washington said she was setting a Sept. 17 trial date for former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort on charges from special counsel Robert Mueller including money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent.

The decision from U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson would put Manafort on trial at the height of the midterm campaign season, a potentially unwelcome distraction for Republicans as they try to maintain majorities in Congress.

The GOP willfully did this to themselves in 2016, and will now have to deal with the results.

Dicks Sporting Goods Bends To America’s Need

Dick’s Sporting Goods, the nation’s largest sporting goods retailer, will stop selling assault-style weapons like the one used in the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting.

The company said it will also raise the minimum age for all gun sales to 21. Dick’s will not sell high-capacity magazines that allow shooters to fire far more rounds than traditional weapons without reloading, as well as other accessories used with weapons similar to the AR-15.

The Parkland shooter, Nikolas Cruz, bought a gun at Dick’s.