Then there is this...

Patheos, January 16, 2020: 10 Evangelicals Arrested After Killing 7 During Violent Exorcism Rituals In Panama

NBC News reports:

Prosecutors in Panama say they have found the corpses of six children and one adult in a clandestine burial pit where a sect had tortured indigenous people in exorcism rituals.

Prosecutors said Thursday the dead minors ranged in age from one to 17, and that the adult was a pregnant woman who was the mother of five of the kids.

"According to reports, 10 “lay preachers” from “The New Light of God” church were arrested and are accused of staging violent and sometimes deadly exorcism rituals where indigenous peoples were asked to “repent or die.”

I missed this in the news coverage. Maybe it wasn't important enough...

Washington Post: Which of these 2020 Democrats agrees with you most?

Take the short quiz to see which Democrat comes closest to matching your views.

I was surprised to find Bloomberg at the top of my list...

I read the article. I think there are four factors driving Trump's decision:

1. Trump did it on Michelle Obama's birthday. It's kind of "in your face Michelle". Michelle, of course, was a champion for nutritious school lunches and worked hard to make kids more healthy including growing vegetables with the kids help on the White House grounds. The vegetable garden is still there, but it is maintained by the National Park Service and private funding.

2. This was another Obama law and Trump has promised to undo every Obama law and executive action. Trump has an "Obama syndrome".

3. Trump wants the votes of the potato industry that has lobbied for this change so they can sell more potatoes.

4. Trump wants school kids to look more like him. Fat and heavy.

This quote from the Daily Kos article is alarming...

"Trump's Twitter proclamations, many of which are not only brazen lies but tinged with paranoia and conspiracy, are now being elevated over the analyses of the nation's collected intelligence infrastructure because nobody in his administration dares publicly contradict him when he's lying to the American people."

The authoritarian bully was elected by 63 million voters...and they plan to vote for him again.

Politico: Trump accuses Dems of using impeachment trial to hurt Sanders campaign

Trump, the master of the false messaging, is accusing Democrats of sabotaging Bernie Sanders’ candidacy, "echoing allegations from Sanders supporters during the 2016 primary."

“They are rigging the election again against Bernie Sanders, just like last time, only even more obviously,” Trump said in a pair of tweets, claiming that Democrats were using his impeachment trial beginning next week to keep Sanders off the campaign trail in the critical final weeks before the Iowa caucuses."

“They are bringing him out of so important Iowa in order that, as a Senator, he sit through the Impeachment Hoax Trial... Crazy Nancy thereby gives the strong edge to Sleepy Joe Biden, and Bernie is shut out again. Very unfair, but that’s the way the Democrats play the game. Anyway, it’s a lot of fun to watch!”

This is classic Trump pandering for that 10 percent or so of the Bernie supporters to put him over the top again on November 3rd. And sadly, it works...divide and conquer.

Trump and Republicans would really love to run against Bernie Sanders...

You didn't mention Amy Klobuchar.

I think one of the problems is that the campaigns begin way too early. The more passionate voters get behind their candidates up to maybe two years before the general election. Many more pay little attention until just right before the elections, and by then the process has eliminated anyone who cannot tap emotions and raise lots of money. Name recognition seems to be garnered more through one line zingers that the media can play over and over again.

This is Trump's turf...his homefield. He knows how to play the game with contless rallies, tweets and lies. Most Democrats, with perhaps the exception of Bernie, do not or cannot play that game effectively. The word "ruthless" best describes the antics of Republicans and Trump to win at any cost. "Russia, if you are listening, you are welcome to meddle in our election." It's all about the power.

Russian meddling will especially occur in earnest in the two weeks before the election. We will cry foul at the time and shed lots of tears after November 3rd, but it won't change the election results. Similar to the referee on the football field calling out after a review of the play, the various election commissions and courts will state: "the vote by the people stands"...for another four years.

Hold on longer Ruth Gator Ginsberg...we sure hope.

This is what worries me...a repeat of 2016:

Vox, August 24, 2017: The Bernie voters who defected to Trump, explained by a political scientist

In the 2016 general election, about 12 percent of the Bernie supporters crossed over and voted for Trump. I saw another study that said 11 percent, and that if the Bernie supporters who voted for Trump simply would have stayed home on election day, Hillary would have won.

Now I am seeing the same emotional trends of the Bernie supporters going down the same path as they did against Clinton in 2016. I am a former precinct chair, and at our Colorado caucus in 2016 as I made the rounds amongst the Bernie supporters I was aghast too hear the vitriol that some expressed against Hillary, much of it based on misinformation and ignorance. It wasn't just my precinct...it was nationwide, but especially in the Rust Belt states. I think many of them were victims of Russian trolling with misinformation. Of course the worst example is the Pizzagate episode.

I struggle to understand the absolutism of support of both the rabid Trump supporters on the right and the rabid Bernie supporters on the left. I use the word "rabid" deliberately because that is my impression of their behavior...emotions trumping critical thinking. I read articles in Psychology Today to understand them. I go to Bernie's "Our Revolution" website and watch Nina Turner on TV. And I shake my head in disbelief as I see us headed down the same path as 2016.

The Russians are already at work seeking to add fuel to the fires burning in the hearts of the Bernie supporters...not all supporters -- just the most rabid ones. Their fear and anger has evolved into frustration and hate. The hate for "anyone but Bernie" will only increase as we get closer to the convention. And after the convention when Bernie is not the pick, they will feel bitterness that will transpire into another vote for Trump.

History repeats itself. It is Bernie's socialist revolution and he and his most rabid supporters do not know the meaning of compromise. It only takes some 10 percent of them to cross over to vote for Trump and give him victory again.

"Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.” Yoda - The Phantom Menace

And yes we all have suffered now under the Trump presidency. It will be that way for generations as the Trump appointed members on the appeals courts and Supreme Court whittle away at our Democracy moving it closer to a fascist and more theocratic state.

My opinion...I hope I am wrong. We need to vote with our heads...not our emotions.

The second half of the Rachel Maddow interview with Lev Parnas was equally revealing. Everyone was in the loop...all the President's men and the President himself. Gotcha! They are all making statements denying their involvement, but the only way to really seek the truth is to subpoena them all as witnesses in the Senate trial. And I would be okay with Hunter and Joe Biden testifying as well to clear their names. Let the whole nation hear from everyone under oath.

Let Trump testify on his own behalf under oath. I also wrote my Senator Gardner this morning asking him to vote for allowing witnesses to testify. We need to put pressure on these guys.