Putin-Gate-- is Multi-Dimensional Chess Back?

Lindsey Graham was on CNN Tuesday talking Congress' role and next step in Putin-Gate. They invited him on to talk about Flynn getting fired and he almost immediately said that what he wants is to see the incriminating transcripts that the Trump Regime is hiding from Congress:

"I haven't seen the transcripts; I don't know what we're talkin' about. What did General Flynn say to the Russian ambassador about lifting sanctions? Did he say anything at all or is this just being spun by the media? I think Congress needs to be informed about what General Flynn said to the Russian ambassador about lifting sanctions. And I want to know, did Gneral Flynn do this by himself or was he directed by somebody to do it? ... I'd have a hard time believing that General Flynn would get on the phone with the Russian ambassador and suggest that 'Don't worry, we will revisit this when we get to be president'... without some understanding that the administration would be sympathetic to the idea... Americans have a right to know whether or not this was a General Flynn rogue maneuver or was he basically speaking for somebody else in the White House.

When the anchor pushed him on House Republican efforts to cover up the whole scandal-- basically Paul Ryan, Jason Chaffetz and Devin Nunes-- he pointed out that "we do have allegations now coming from the media that the Department of Justice informed the White House that the National Security Advisor may be subject to blackmail by the Russians. I think that's something Congress has a right to know." Listen to the whole tape. And then consider what Moby posted on his Facebook page Monday. Here's the screen-grab:

Pretty heavy stuff-- and I suspect Lindsey Graham was not one of the DC friends Moby spent the weekend talking with. Nor was Moby the only one posting this kind of heavy scary shit about the Trump Regime on Facebook. Earlier today Dan Rather sounded a rather loud alarm bell:

Watergate is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime, until maybe now. It was the closest we came to a debilitating Constitutional crisis, until maybe now. On a 10 scale of armageddon for our form of government, I would put Watergate at a 9. This Russia scandal is currently somewhere around a 5 or 6, in my opinion, but it is cascading in intensity seemingly by the hour. And we may look back and see, in the end, that it is at least as big as Watergate. It may become the measure by which all future scandals are judged. It has all the necessary ingredients, and that is chilling.

When we look back at Watergate, we remember the end of the Nixon Presidency. It came with an avalanche, but for most of the time my fellow reporters and I were chasing down the story it rumbled along with a low-grade intensity. We never were quite sure how much we would find out about what really happened. In the end, the truth emerged into the light, and President Nixon descended into infamy.

Welcome to Chelsea

This Russia story started out with an avalanche and where we go from here no one really knows. Each piece of news demands new questions. We are still less than a month into the Trump Presidency, and many are asking that question made famous by Tennessee Senator Howard Baker those many years ago: "What did the President know, and when did he know it?" New reporting suggests that Mr. Trump knew for weeks. We can all remember the General Michael Flynn's speech from the Republican National Convention-- "Lock her up!" in regards to Hillary Clinton. If Hillary Clinton had done one tenth of what Mr. Flynn had done, she likely would be in jail.

And it isn't just Mr. Flynn, how far does this go?

The White House has no credibility on this issue. Their spigot of lies-- can't we finally all agree to call them lies-- long ago lost them any semblance of credibility. I would also extend that to the Republican Congress, who has excused away the Trump Administration's assertions for far too long.

We need an independent investigation. Damn the lies, full throttle forward on the truth. If a scriptwriter had approached Hollywood with what we are witnessing, he or she would probably have been told it was way too far-fetched for even a summer blockbuster. But this is not fiction. It is real and it is serious. Deadly serious. We deserve answers and those who are complicit in this scandal need to feel the full force of justice.

The first comment on Rather's page came from Stephanie Wolkin: "I worked in the US Senate during Watergate. The difference is that during the investigations that led to Nixon's resignation we had lawmakers in both parties who valued our nation over their own party. Howard Baker and Lowell Weicker, both Republicans, followed the evidence and it led to the rest of the country finding the truth and the extent to which our democracy was endangered. We have no one in the Republican party now who will stand up to the Trump machine."

Lindsey Graham? John McCain? Little Marco? Certainly not the lemmings in the House; they followers-- hacks like Ryan, Chaffetz, Nunes... someone has to make it 100% safe before they'd ever make a move. Trump will be down and all-but-out before Ryan and the House Republicans ever get serious.

Chaffetz-- DO. YOUR. JOB!

Don't Be Surprised That The Resistance Is Musical Too-- Green Day, Moby, Arcade Fire, Gorillaz...

I haven't really kept up with the music business since retiring from Reprise. But I'm still a music fan and I was excited, about a month before the election, to hear the new Green Day album, Revolution Radio. The first single was the anti-gun nut song, Bang Bang and when they performed it at the American Music Awards a couple weeks after Trump won the election, Billie Joe inserted the lyric/chant, "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA." The response was electric and downloads went crazy immediately. It's a funny thing about downloads... after the first single on an album comes out, the trend these days is for bands and record companies to decide about a second single based on downloads and spins. I'm not sure why they picked "Troubled Times," (video up top) but a friend of mine told me it was getting the most online attention, more than other contenders like Ordinary World, the upbeat title track or the very commercial-sounding "Still Breathing" (for which a video had already been made). It was a good decision. The album shot to #1 in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Italy and Ireland-- and #2 in Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Korea and Greece. The band is letting the song and video speak for themselves but their only statement about it that I could find was "Today we celebrate Love and Compassion more than ever."

Of course, Green Day isn't the only band letting their fans know what they think about Trump. The Gorillaz, who haven't been around this decade, put out Hallelujah Money,which takes a little getting used to, but certainly makes the point. Arcade Fire teamed up with Mavis Staples on a song called "I Give You Power."



I'm sure Moby fans, who had already heard him calling Trump a "sociopath," were just waiting to see how he'd react musically to Trump. No one's going to be disappointed when they watch the new video for "Erupt and Matter" from last year's These Systems Are Failing. Don't miss this powerful statement on the rise of fascism:



And now check out another piece of the resistance: OurFirst100Days, which is very explicitly advocating action to protect threatened communities and causes.

Our First 100 Days seeks to aid in that protection. Joining together with artists and labels we will be releasing one rare, unreleased or exclusive song per day to you via Bandcamp.

For a minimum contribution of $30, supporters will be able to access all 100 songs in the project, including new music from Angel Olsen, How To Dress Well, Toro Y Moi, The Range and many more.

All profits raised from Our First 100 Days will go directly to organizations working on the front lines of climate, women's rights, immigration and fairness.

The project was started in conjunction with Secretly Group and 30 Songs, 30 Days, and aims to raise funds and awareness for organizations supporting causes that are under threat by the proposed policies of a Trump administration. This project is produced with the help of Revolutions Per Minute, an organization that provides strategy and support for artists making change.