Yes Republicans, There is a Santa Claus 

War and Investigations:  During his state of the union speech Trump told the Democrats that they have a choice, they can have “peace and legislation or war and investigations,” an out in the open attempt at intimidation intended to end the investigations into his campaign, administration, and family.  Suffice it to say that those threats didn’t go over all that well with Pelosi & Co., nor do they appear to have done anything more than inflame House Democrats, the men and women who now hold the reins.  Yesterday, Adam Schiff, now the Chair of the powerful House Intelligence Committee, announced that he is reopening and expanding the scope of the committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the investigation that former Republican Chair Devon Nunes and the rest of his Republican cronies ended after concluding that the whole interference thing wasn’t much of a problem because at the end of the day it got us Trump and anyway what’s a little interference and collusion with enemies anyway.  In addition to looking into the shenanigans/crimes that took place during the 2016 campaign, Schiff plans to focus on what’s been going on in Trumpland since 2016; the extent of links and coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with Trump including looking into things like money laundering and other financial entanglements; if any foreign actor, Russian or otherwise has leverage over Trump or any member of his family; if any member of the Trump crime family or administration is vulnerable to foreign exploitation that would could influence the direction of US government policy; and, lastly whether any obstruction has taken place including obstruction by any member of Congress (ahem Devon Nunes).  His investigation is likely to involve calling back some of the witnesses that the Nunes team treated with kid gloves, subjecting them to some real questioning.  Additionally, he will most certainly cross all of Trump’s redlines by diving headfirst into Trump family and Trump Inc’s financials.  Yesterday, with Schiff at the helm and the Republican members of the committee finally seated, the Committee took its first actions, voting to send transcripts of the testimony provided to the committee by such Trump notables as Don Jr, son in law Kushner, Erik Prince, Hope Hicks, and Steve Bannon, among others, to Special Counsel Mueller.  To be clear, Mueller and the FBI have already seen these transcripts because the testimony has been under a security review to determine what to redact before any public release, but since Mueller’s team needs official transcripts for grand jury purposes they haven’t been able to proceed, until now.  It didn’t take long for Mueller to indict Roger Stone once he received the official transcript of his testimony so it’s more than fair to assume a few more perjury indictments are imminent.  Yesterday after Trump formally nominated David Malpass to head the World Bank, he was asked about Schiff’s expansion of the Russian investigation and the Intel committee’s plans to look into his finances.  Trump responded by lashing out at Schiff calling him “just a political hack who’s trying to build a name for himself” adding “it’s called presidential harassment.” Note to Trump, get used to it.  Separately, in an interview with CBS’s Jeff Glor, VP Pence proved once again that he’s nothing more than an obsequious Trump toady.  Still recovering from the dual indignity of being forced to sit next to Speaker Pelosi during the state of the union speech and having to watch all those women in white celebrate their victories, he defended Trump’s shutdown and his threat to go with war if the investigation continues by saying that though “congressional oversight is a part of the checks and balances of our system, but what Trump meant to say was that he is opposed to ‘partisan’ investigations.”  A seriously ironic comment from a leader of the party of the endless Benghazi hearings, the ones that led to zero indictments.  Getting back to the House, it’s not just the Intelligence Committee and that “hack” Schiff that Trump has to worry about.  He also has good reason to be concerned about others including the very formidable Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler and the equally capable Oversight Chair Elijah Cummings, not to mention all the other committees that have already started hearings on issues such as child separation, gun violence and climate change.  On the Judiciary front, acting Attorney General is reported to be undergoing serious preparation in anticipation of his “voluntary” Friday grilling by Nadler and the Judiciary Committee.  To make sure that Whitaker doesn’t duck questions, including those about any discussions he’s had with Trump concerning the Mueller investigation and how he concluded that it wasn’t necessary for him to recuse himself from the investigation,  Nadler is planning to ask the Judiciary Committee to authorize a subpoena today, one that he will use as needed.  Friday’s hearing should be very interesting.

Dixie Cups:  Things have gone from bad to worse in Virginia. It’s starting to look like everyone in the state who matters is either into Blackface, KKK attire or has at least one pending “me too” accusation in his past.  First it was Governor Northam’s admission that he was one of the two dudes on his year book page, either the one in Blackface or the other one in a KKK robe.  Then he corrected himself saying he was neither but that he had done the Blackface thing at least one other time while impersonating Michael Jackson in a dance contest but still failed to explain how the offensive picture of those other two guys got on his page.  Then accusations that next in line Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax assaulted a woman back in 2004 came to light. And, because that wasn’t enough for one state, or in the case of Virginia, one commonwealth, yesterday the next in line Attorney General Mark Herring, another Democrat, revealed that he too once did the Blackface thing when he was a 19 year old college student.  As to his assault accusation,  Fairfax continues to deny that his interaction with his now gone public accuser Professor Vanessa Tyson was anything more than a consensual act. However, she has released some graphic details of their interaction and hired Kavanaugh accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s lawyers. For his part AG Mark Herring issued a straightforward and seriously apologetic  statement about his transgression and has stepped down as the head of the Democratic State Attorneys General association.  No one has yet resigned, but lots of organizations and press outlets are calling for the whole lot to leave.  Assuming they all do, certainly not a foregone conclusion at this point, the next in line to step up to the Governor’s mansion is a Republican, Kirk Cox, the Virginia House Speaker, certainly not an outcome that anyone ever anticipated and not one that bodes well for the Democratic party.   Regardless of what happens, everyone south of the Mason Dixon line and probably a few people up north are now examining their yearbooks and picture archives for any incriminating photos from their past.  Democrats are learning once again that being the party that “does the right thing” has its complications. Down one Al Franken, it looks like they are about to give up Virginia.   Steve King,  Iowa’s Republican Congressman is probably laughing, his racist speech has lost him his committee assignments but he’s still a sitting Congressman, and then there’s Trump. Enough said.   

One More Thing:  Russian sparrow Maria Butina’s on again/off again boyfriend and sometime Republican and NRA operative Paul Erikson was indicted by a federal grand jury in South Dakota on charges of wire fraud and money laundering yesterday.  Though the indictments appear to have more to do with cheating people out of their hard earned savings than anything else, there is probably a Russian link there somewhere as some of the indictments include reference to information provided by a certain person referred to only as MB.  Besides everything goes back to Russia, doesn’t it?