…another one bites the dust. Hope Hicks, abruptly resigned on Tuesday, as reported in the Washington Post (paywall). Yeah, apparently the Cheeto-in-Chief™ wasn’t too thrilled about her testimony before a House intelligence panel on Tuesday, let her know it, and she bailed. According to the same article in the Washington Post:

“Hicks acknowledged to the House intelligence panel Tuesday that she has occasionally told “white lies” for Trump, according to a person familiar with the testimony.”

Uh, yeah, so who doesn’t lie in that place? The Post goes on to say:

“…Hicks had been increasingly feeling the stress of the position, especially in the wake of revelations about her relationship with former staff secretary Rob Porter.”

JFC, so a 29 year-old, former model gets caught sleeping with a wife-beater while cowering in the shadows for the better part of 13 months playing nurse-maid to Dummy Donny, then tries a half-ass claim of executive privilege?!

Yup, definitely time to go “…pursue other opportunities.” I’d say it’s Hope-less too…

What? I know, I know, an entire month between primal screams. Well, I’m back, with a vengeance.

First, the needless, senseless, tragedy inflicted on the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14th. I’ve made my point of view with respect to gun control abundantly clear – far too many firearms in private hands in the United States, period. My posts from last October are available here, here, here and here.

I’ll write more on this topic, but not now – I can’t, it still hurts too much. :-(

In other news, we’ve learned Robert S. Mueller III brought indictments against 13 Russians, claiming (paywall) interference with the 2016 presidential elections, while U.S. intelligence agency sources continue to claim Vladimir V. Putin personally ordered – and guided – these efforts. The New York Times article quotes Rod J. Rosenstein at the news conference where the indictments were announced:

“The indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy,” Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general overseeing the inquiry, said in a brief news conference. “We must not allow them to succeed.”

…and less than 24 hours ago, Robert S. Mueller III announced his office has (paywall) secured a guilty plea from Rick Gates, former Trump campaign staffer and business partner of fellow conspirator, Paul Manafort, who has also been indicted. Again, from the New York Times:

“Besides the agreement with Mr. Gates, the special counsel’s team has already secured guilty pleas from two of Mr. Trump’s advisers. Michael T. Flynn, the president’s first national security adviser, and George Papadopoulos…”

Alrighty then, four indictments, three guilty pleas – nice work sir, nice work!

I have no doubt we’ll see additional indictments and additional guilty pleas – the criminals temporarily occupying the White House will all eventually be swept from office as a result of Mr. Mueller’s meticulous investigation!

Finally, a bit of housekeeping – yes, I’m going to start flagging most, if not all, of my [largely] attributed links to content I’ve sourced from the Guardian, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post as being paywalled. Why? I’ve heard from frustrated readers when they follow a link, (often at my behest in a given post), they’re confronted with, yup, you guessed it, a paywall.

Hey folks, honest, fact-based journalism costs money, so think about subscribing to one, or more, of these venerable publications – you won’t regret it. That, and all of my links will magically work! ;-)

Let’s begin with a cogent recap of the situation Republicans fine themselves in as of 9:00 AM EST, courtesy The Washington Post.

News flash – GOP blamed for the government shutdown.

…the fantasy that an unpopular president with majorities of his party in the House and Senate could shift blame to Democrats has started to crumble.

Yup, and the morbidly obese Racist-in-Chief™ is whining about not being able to scamper off to Florida!

This is what comes from electing someone entirely in over his head. It did not help that Trump reportedly whined to staff about missing his party at Mar-a-Lago. His reputation as a man-child remains intact.

OK, time to break out the diapers, ‘cuz we’re gonna need ’em!

Link to a .PDF version of today’s poster here.