He has shown himself to be a malignant narcissist and a habitual liar. The Washington Post’s ongoing tally of Trump lies is now at almost 14,000. 

These are not “misstatements” or “gaffes” or the semi-harmful utterances of a fabulist: Donald Trump behaves like a pathological liar.

Republican leaders and others in Trump’s inner circle know that he is mentally unwell. They speak of that fact in hushed tones and in “off the record” conversations with reporters. This is but another example of how Trump’s Republicans are more loyal to power, and to him, than they are the country’s well-being.

Trump’s voters and other followers are members of his political cult. They share his collective narcissism and other pathologies. To abandon or criticize their leader would require them to engage in a level of critical self-reflection they may no longer be capable of. 

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on September 25, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

A huge national spotlight is now on Adam Schiff, the member of Congress leading the impeachment inquiry. In his tenth term, Schiff is really going places. But where is he coming from?

This year, as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, he has relentlessly built a case against a horrendous president. For progressives eager to see Donald Trump impeached, Schiff is an enemy of their enemy. But whether he’s a friend is another matter.

“Schiff’s record on foreign policy, civil liberties, human rights and other key issues has often put him more in line with Republicans than with liberal Democrats,” international affairs scholar Stephen Zunes told me. “It is ironic, therefore, that Trump and the Republicans are portraying him as some kind of left-winger.”

Everyday People for Positive Change, a citizen ballot issue committee, announces that yesterday (October 30th) the group submitted a certified pre-circulation petition to the City Clerk for a proposed ballot issue to reform Columbus City Council.  The proposed charter amendment would continue the effort to bring Columbus’s antiquated council make-up up to date to fully and unquestionably comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its prohibitions against “minority voter dilution,” which question was raised to Columbus leaders by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in a series of communications in 2017.

The proposed charter amendment would:

1.       Create a 9 member council effective January 2020 (2021 elections)

2.       Require each member to live in one of the districts and be elected by the voters of the district in which each resides.

3.       Establish the initial apportionment plan, outlining the 9 districts.

The march is November 2nd, 2019 at 5:30. We will be meeting at the intersection of North High St and West Poplar before marching north. Route details and more detailed schedule at Facebook Event.

The hideous treatment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange continues and many observers are citing his case as being symptomatic of developing “police state” tendencies in both the United States and in Europe, where rule of law is being subordinated to political expediency.

Julian Assange was the founder and editor-in-chief of the controversial news and information site WikiLeaks. As the name implies, after 2006 the site became famous, or perhaps notorious, for its publication of materials that have been leaked to it by government officials and other sources who consider the information to be of value to the public but unlikely to be accepted by the mainstream media, which has become increasingly corporatized and timid.

WikiLeaks became known to a global audience back in 2010 when it obtained from US Army enlisted soldier Bradley Manning a large quantity of classified documents relating to the various wars that the United States was fighting in Asia. Some of the material included what might be regarded as war crimes.