RAM PRODUCTIONS INTERNATIONAL
  • Home
  • How We Can Work Together
  • About Michael Russnow
  • Actor/Personality
    • 2019 Sample Reel
    • 2014 Sample Reel
    • Michael Russnow Does Stand-Up
    • Water Into Wine
    • The Time Tree - Older Alex
    • Actor's Slate - One Minute Version
    • Actor's Slate - Four Minute Version
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part One
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part Two
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part Three
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part Four
    • Michael Russnow Speaks Out Episode 1
    • Michael Russnow Speaks Out! - Episode 2
    • Commentators Shouldn't Say Trump Has Pulse of America
  • Huffington Post Articles
    • Business >
      • Abolish Tipping
      • AIG Reverse Stock Split
      • AIG Plummets: Stock Split
      • Asus Computers
      • AT&T Doesn't Communicate
      • Bernard Madoff Swindled Everyone
      • Citigroup Reverse Split
      • Citigroup to Reverse Split
      • Horrible Banking Experiences
      • Is Shelly Sterling Channeling Lurleen Wallace?
      • Los Angeles Parking Meter Signs
      • My GE Dishwasher Tragedy
      • State Controller Has Your Money Available
      • Windows 7 Not As Great As Advertised
      • You Can't Feed Parking Meters
    • Media >
      • Abolish the Electoral College
      • BP Chairman Choice of Words
      • British Nurse Suicide Overblown By Media
      • Ed McMahon's Money Problems
      • Is Media Keeping Trump Alive
      • Los Angeles Times Backtracks on TV Grid
      • Lou Dobbs and His Ilk are Wrong
      • Media Downplays Hillary 3 Million Victory
      • Media Headline Biases
      • Media Inflames Comey Letter Re Hillary
      • Media Mischaracterizes GOP Win
      • Media Props Trump Up, Even When Hillary Wins Debate
      • Media Says Hillary's Not Transparent
      • Media Scare Tactics
      • Media Sensationalizes Obamacare Premium Rise
      • Memo to the Media: Maybe It's Time For a "Spartacus" Moment
      • Obama Asks Pundits Not to Skew Words
      • Obama Gym Workout No Big Deal
      • Obama Promised Change - From Bush and Cheney
      • Obama Would Be Citizen, Even if Born in Kenya
      • Palin Accuses Letterman of Seeking PR
      • What's Happened to the LA Times?
      • White House Gate Crashers
      • Why Does Trump Get More Face Time Than Hillary?
      • Why Media Normalizes Trump
    • Politics >
      • 2012 Iowa Caucuses: Shakespeare Was Right About the Masses
      • 2012 Vice Presidential Debate: Biden Blew Ryan Away
      • 25th Amendment Might Rid Us of Trump
      • Calling for Al Gore
      • Debate 2: Hillary Held Firm, While Trump Lied
      • Donald Trump Comportment: When is Enough Enough?
      • Donald Trump Supporters Are Deplorable
      • Donald Trump Supporters Must Be Stupid
      • Electoral College Support Because Founders Created it
      • Europeans are for Obama
      • French Choose President By CItizenry
      • GOP Senators Continue to Support Trump
      • Has Hillary Given Up in South Dakota?
      • Hillary Beat Trump in Popular Vote
      • James Comey, Legal Moralist or Fool?
      • John McCain No Longer a Hero
      • McCain's Nervous Breakdown
      • McCain/Palin Debate Spin
      • McCain Pulls Out the Heartstrings
      • Obama Accepts Super PAC Money
      • Obama & Clinton Forces, Can't We Get Along?
      • Obama Becoming First Wimp
      • Obama's Decision to Go to Copenhagen
      • Obama First 2012 Debate: Gotta Do Better
      • Obama Has Every Right to Replace Scalia
      • Obama: It's Time to Play Hardball
      • Obama Must Stop Postponing Health Care Law
      • Obama Needs Marc Antony to Get it Right
      • Obama Nobel Peace Prize
      • Obama Second 2012 Debate: Romney Overmatched
      • Obama Third 2012 Debate: He Gives Romney Presidential Seminar
      • Obama Won, But GOP Doesn't Seem to Recognize it
      • Patriotism Not a Republican Virtue
      • Pence Won Debate, Not By Much
      • Political Leaders and Journalists MUST Discuss Popular Presidential Vote
      • Politician/Media Rarely Discuss Americans Preferred Hillary
      • Popular Vote Must Choose Presidency
      • Primary Ballots For Party Members Only
      • Proposition 8 Backlash
      • Redo in Michigan and Florida
      • Religion in Politics
      • Romney Acceptance Speech
      • Rudy Giuliani's Screaming Convention Tirade
      • Ruth Bader Ginsurb's Contempt for Donald Trump
      • Sarah Palin's Appeal is That She's Annie Oakley
      • Sarah Palin's a Right-Wing Gidget
      • Sarah Palin, A Stepford Wife
      • Sarah Palin Is No Dan Quayle
      • Scalia Should Recuse on Gay Issues
      • Senate Refusal to Vote on Scalia Replacement a Sham
      • Should Anthony Weiner Resign?
      • Super Delegates Caved to Obama
      • Trump Is No Populist
      • Trump Name Calling: Why Hasn't it Backfired?
      • Trump Paris Pull-Out, Time To Elect Popular Vote President
      • Trump Performance as President Might Be Best Solution to Change Presidential Election System
      • Trump's Problems Aren't Going Away
      • We've Finally Got Health Care
      • When Does Political Correctness Go Too Far?
      • Will Hillary Have Last Laugh?
    • Show Business >
      • Movies >
        • A Most Violent Year
        • Black Swan a Must See
        • Boyhood: An Engaging Film
        • Che The Movie
        • Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino
        • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
        • Deborah Kerr, Rhymes With Star
        • Defiance
        • The Fighter
        • Good
        • The Hateful Eight Bloated But Intriguing
        • Honorary Academy Awards Ceremony a Travesty
        • Inception
        • Jackie Chan Should Not Get an Oscar
        • Leonardo DiCaprio Deserves the Oscar for "Wolf of Wall Street"
        • Michael Moore"s Where to Invade Next: Documentary or Propaganda?
        • Minority Report and the Oscar Controversy
        • Mitch Reinholt of American Teen
        • Movie Theatre Etiquette
        • Nicholas Hoult of A Single Man
        • Jackie Chan Gets an Oscar?
        • Quentin Tarantino Afraid Aging Will Make Him Out of Touch
        • The Reader
        • Revolutionary Road
        • Seven Pounds
        • Texting in Theatres Is A Blight
      • Television >
        • The Amazing Race
        • Big Brother: Danielle's Stupid Decision
        • Big Brother: Frank Eudy's Ouster
        • Celebrity Apprentice 2011
        • Charlie Sheen's Rant
        • Conan O'Brien's Pissed
        • David Letterman's Apology to Palin
        • David Letterman Gag Didn't Work
        • Do We Need Intrusive Network Logos
        • Glee Message of Tolerance Misguided
        • Golden Globes 2010
        • Golden Globes 2011
        • Golden Globes 2012
        • Golden Globes 2016
        • Hell's Kitchen's Gordon Ramsay
        • I Can Die Now, I've Met Betty White
        • Lost Finale
        • NBC's Decision to Bring Back Leno
        • Political Correctness on TV
        • Racial Advancement on TV
        • Survivor Caramoan: Why Was Erik Reichenbach Ignored by Jeff Probst?
        • Survivor Nicaragua 2010
        • Survivor Redemption Island 2011
        • Survivor: Samoa 2009
        • Susan Boyle I
        • Susan Boyle II
        • Susan Boyle III - The Finals
        • The Amazing Race: Amazing that Brooke and Scott Made the Top 3
        • The Emmy Awards 2014
        • The Oscars 2010
        • The Oscars 2011
        • The Oscars 2012
        • The Oscars 2013
        • The Oscars 2013 Afterthought: Why MacFarlane's Lincoln Joke Didn't Work
        • The Oscars 2014
        • The Oscars 2015
        • The Oscars 2016
        • The Oscars 2017
        • TV Cops Get Away With Murder
        • TV Shows and Films Shouldn't Screw Talent
        • Young Actors in TV Roles
      • Book of Oded Review
      • Chekhov Alive in Hollywood
      • Cutting Meat in Movies and TV Shows
      • Hal Kanter Memories
      • I Never Cried For My Father
      • Perceptionism is the worst "ism"
      • Robert Anderson Has Died
      • SAG Actors Must Remain Strong
      • SAG Negotiations Marred by Clooney and Hanks
      • Ted Lange's Lady Patriot Onstage
      • Trump Bails Out Ed McMahon
      • WGA Strike For Dummies I
      • WGA Strike For Dummies II
      • WGA Strike For Dummies III
      • WGA Strike For Dummies IV
    • Travel >
      • Airline Fees Are Chintzy
      • Airline Service Is a Sham
      • Bitching Can Be Effective
      • Morocco Can Be Intriguing
      • Volcano in Iceland
    • It's Not Easy to Become a Juror
  • My Novel
  • LA Fitness Has Terrible Customer Service
  • Political Correctness Should Be Challenged
  • Sarah Palin Says She's Not Responsible
  • Remedies When You've Been Cheated
  • The Iguassu Falls
  • Getting to Rio
  • Rio de Janeiro
  • São Paulo
  • Contact
  • London Film Award Certificate

​Trump’s Problems Aren’t Going Away:

Despite Conflicting Testimony,
​Americans Will Believe Comey Has Told The Truth

Picture


                                                                                                                         The Huffington Post, June 13, 2017


I wanted to wait a bit after former FBI Director James Comey’s Senate testimony to let it all settle.

In the next few days, our selected president declared in typically self-serving terms, bordering on fantasia, Comey vindicated
him or lied, depending upon Trump’s cherry picking of Comey’s remarks.

Remember, too, I have no love for James Comey and have written many articles eviscerating him in HuffPost for his interference in the 2016 presidential election.  That said, I’ve never disputed his integrity, his capacity for telling the truth. His judgment, hell, yes. But he’s never been caught telling a lie.

That can’t be said about Donald Trump, who repeatedly lied when confronted with facts concerning many of his utterances,
most notably his campaign to cast illegitimacy on Barack Obama’s presidency with the nonsense Obama was born in Kenya. The man in the White House whom I’ve designated Trump the Pretender has lied about our economic statistics, crime statistics and so many things which have been shown to be false through Trump videos the media oft display in contrast with public statements.

Trump’s a salesman, that was his career, embellishing his products as the best and his competitors in less lofty terms.  This continued in politics, where he insulted in unseemly and often false terms his opponents or their families.  Besides calling
Ted Cruz “lyin’” he accused Cruz’ father of complicity in JFK’s assassination.  Trump protects himself, or thinks he does with
“People are saying,” or “I’ve been hearing,” so that when the untruth is exposed he can say he wasn’t the one making the accusation.

Whereas with James Comey, flawed as he is, there’s no evidence yet presented he’s stated something untrue even once, let alone on repeated occasions like Trump.  So, even with a he said/he said situation, such as what was said in the Oval Office between Trump and Comey, while it may not be enough in a court of law it should certainly be enough in the court of public opinion.

​Which brings us to today’s Senate Intelligence Committee grilling of Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, a man forced to recuse himself from the Russian investigation, yet had a hand in Comey’s dismissal, citing selective, convenient reasons for recommending his termination.

It wasn’t surprising most Republicans on the Committee, with the exception of Susan Collins (Maine) and to a lesser extent Marco Rubio (Florida) foisted praise on Sessions, while leading him into answers he easily responded. They often shifted to the Hillary Clinton investigation, which GOP senators perhaps forgot candidate Trump once praised.  Or that Trump cajoled Russia during the campaign to leak more data damaging to Hillary, even as Sessions and senators declared such hacking as inimical to American democracy.

Senator Cotton (Arkansas) was the worst, in a rare instance damning Democratic colleagues for questions adding nothing to
the investigation, which sounded very Trump-like in presuming that his outrage would somehow negate facts that have come
out and are continuing to emerge, mostly due to reportage by respected journalists.

The Democrats were naturally more antagonistic and one could see Sessions squirming the moment vice-chair Warner (Virginia) laid out his concerns, particularly why Sessions left the famed meeting in the Oval Office, allowing Comey to sit alone with the president with no witnesses present. Senator Wyden (Oregon) accused Sessions of stonewalling.
​
Sessions repeatedly refused to answer questions, citing an unsubstantiated rule that he could not do so, though stating it wasn’t due to executive privilege, which he said only the president could demand.  He persisted in stating there was a rule that such conversations couldn’t be discussed, though when Senators Heinrich (New Mexico), King (Maine) and Harris (California) asked for the rule to be quoted he could not do so and would not specifically commit to providing such a written documen

Sessions refused to even acknowledge that Trump’s request for a letter urging Comey’s dismissal by Deputy Attorney-General Rosenstein and himself, listing as the primary cause Comey’s press conference and letter to congress concerning Hillary Clinton, seemed questionable at best, inasmuch as Trump admitted to NBC’s Lester Holt it was “this Russia thing” that caused the dismissal.  That he had decided to do so beforehand and was not affected by the letters, so why had he asked them to write them?

Here was a man who confidently turned to his Republican former colleagues for assistance, which most provided, and clearly padded his non-revelatory answers to the Democrats, knowing full well it was eating up their five-minute time periods.  Oddly, John McCain (Arizona), was suddenly coherent and initially seemed to press Sessions a bit, at one point referencing his service on the Armed Services Committee, which McCain chairs, wondering why he’d be talking to the Russian Ambassador when Russian matters didn’t seem to concern him while on the committee.

This investigation is hardly over, and I’m betting Sessions will resign.  However, with all the subsequent commentary there’s
just about never any talk about changing our presidential election system to popular vote. With all the controversies over myriad subjects, health care, medicare/medicaid, immigration, the environment, etc., it’s as if the commentators and politicians are incapable of talking about more than the issue of the week, presuming it rather than the umbrella issue that caused this all, our election system, caused our current mess.

I urge you to write to representatives and media outlets to get the discussion and debate in focus, particularly the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.  To not forget how Trump got there with almost 3,000,000 fewer votes than Hillary Clinton, nonetheless attempting to ram through policies that a greater number of voters didn’t want. That should be the most important issue on the plate in America.

                              Check out Russnow’s novel, Hollywood on the Danube on all Amazon sites and Kindle

                                                 Follow Michael Russnow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kerrloy

                                                                                                                                                         Contact Us

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.