Someone once said that America was a
sleeping giant. Those words were spoken at the start of a world war,
but they still resonate today as we see protest marches sweeping the
country, town hall meetings disrupted by catcalls, and our elected
representative's phones ringing off the hook.
The ill conceived Executive orders that
have come spewing out of the Oval office have brought chaos and
anger. Mr. Trump seems intent on erasing policy that has been long
standing. Not just policy implemented by the Obama administration,
but policy that has been created over successive administrations.
Our new President has managed to offend our friends and our trading
partners even while he praises our adversaries.
We are seeing a bully who believes he
can control and force others to bend to his will. But America has
never been a pushover. We have strong people who believe in the
values that were the goals of our founding fathers. We are seeing
resistance from sea to shining sea to a man who apparently believes
he can ride roughshod over the American people as if they have no say
in their lives.
From California...
To Minnesota..
In our immigrant communities...
And in our entertainment...
No one is exempt from being called to
account...
We are the people and we will be heard.
(And that last one is seriously funny.)
124 comments:
I found this laying around somewhere:
You cannot practice foreign policy according to the principles of Mother Teresa. ~James Baker
I don't know about that. Mother Theresa lived to a ripe old age and died loved by just about everyone.
People are finally coming out and questioning Trump's mental stability. Andrew Sullivan, the editor of New York magazine, is just talking about that now on CNN. It is something I have always wondered about, and remember remarking on during the campaign.
That story's takin’ hold in some places; headline… Senator [Al] Franken called President Trump's mental health into question
"Speaking with SOTU host Jake Tapper, Franken said “a few” of his
GOP colleagues are questioning Trump mental health, “In the way, all
of us have this suspicion. He lies a lot.”"
David Frum isn't exactly a bleeding-heart liberal (he was a speechwriter for Dubya). But, the essay is fairly hard on Trump nonetheless.
How to build an Autocracy by David Frum in The Atlantic
And, The Madness of King Donald by Andrew Sullivan in NewYorkMagazine, on account of Lynnette mentioned Sullivan earlier.
I was looking over the interview of Presidential Senior Advisor Stephen Miller on FoxNewsSunday when I realized that Mr. Miller was being allowed to read his answers from notes (or, at least he was referring to notes to make sure he got all his talking points in on the answers). This almost certainly means that the questions had been given to Mr. Miller in advance by FoxNews, otherwise he wouldn't have known what notes he'd need to bring to the interview. Anybody happens to have it on record, or if it's available on YouTube, can check--the interviewer, Chris Wallace, asks a question and Mr. Miller's eyes keep flicking over to a point just to the right of the camera he's talking into (left of the camera from the audience viewpoint) as he checks his notes while giving the answer. I backed it up and looked at it again; no question about it.
Just another indication of where FoxNews is going with the Trump Presidency (at least for now.) They're past being ‘in the tank’ for a Trump administration; they're now part of the team. Well, I guess everybody's gotta make a choice on that one.
Lynnette:
"People are finally coming out and questioning Trump's mental stability."
Finally? Theyve been doin that since the primaries. Maybe instead it's you who finally noticed.
From last thread:
"[Marcus]: White men in particular are dead tired of hearing how we are the fault of all ills and still actually be the ones who do most of the paying for those who attack us.
So you think this is partly to do with people in the Middle East who blame the West for the problems that beset it because of its colonial past? That this is a response to those feelings?"
Nope. Im not saying white men get radicalised to the right of politics by muslims per se. Well perhaps a small contingent of them there "counter jihadists". The rest are basically normal men with a conservative mindset lashing back at Identity Politics and Victimhood Politics as wholes.
The Kremlin has decided to weigh in on Michael Flynn's side and has denied that Flynn ever discussed sanctions with any of his contacts in the Kremlin prior to the election of his principal, Donald Trump. (Our spooks have transcripts of the conversations, which is why the White House finally gave up on its denials of said pre-election contacts, but the Russians seem fairly confident that their denials will help muddy the water and help Flynn (and more importantly help Trump) weather this fuss, even in the face of the transcripts to the contrary. They may be right. The Trumpkins are a fiercely committed group of folks; evidence has little impact on a large percentage of them.)
In spite of the Kremlin's vouching for Michael Flynn this morning, it's beginning to look like Shorthands is gonna havta, however reluctantly, replace Flynn after all. Luckily for both Shorthands and Putin, this post is not subject to Senatorial approval, so, after a brief dalliance with known names (like Petraeus perhaps) Shorthands will be free to fill the office with another person acceptable to the Kremlin.
Word no sooner hit the rumor mill that Flynn was being looked at a second time by Trump than Flynn offered up his resignation (which has apparently been accepted).
I might point out that most Republican Congressmen and Senators who could be made to comment on the situation, covered themselves in glory by hemming and hawing and opining that they'd have to ‘know more about the situation’ before they could have an opinion, and generally acting like they were terrified of crossing Trump or his loyal Trumpkins.
I managed to get some decent sleep last night so I was able to read the entire Atlantic piece (which was fairly long). That is a very scary analysis. I haven't emailed my representative yet. I think I may include a link to that piece for her to (hopefully) read. The more people who are aware of the danger the better.
Maybe instead it's you who finally noticed.
Oh, no, I noticed.
We cannot avoid this surreality all around us. But it may be possible occasionally to transcend it. Andrew Sullivan
I hope he is right.
I was leaving this one for Lynnette, but she's apparently decided to be nice to you. I'm not so easy…
From last thread:
"White men in particular are dead tired of…"
This thread…
"The rest are basically normal men…lashing back at Identity
Politics and Victimhood Politics as wholes."
‘White men in particular’ seem to be embracing Identity Politics with a vengeance theses days (and identifying themselves as ‘normal men’) who're claiming to be victimized by the system (more specifically by the Muslims in the system). This is not a backlash against identity politics; this is an obvious, open, and eager embrace of identity politics and a grasp at their own claim for victim status. How Marcus could miss this is beyond my ken.
"That is a very scary analysis."
Conservatives are usually good at scaring people.
But, ya don't want to overreact to to every warning. Don't wanna burn out before the four years are up and it's time to get Shorthands tossed to the curb. He's probably in it for the whole four years. We need to be right there with him in three years, makin’ sure he doesn't get beyond four.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (Rep--Calif.) has issued a statment:
"Michael Flynn served in the U.S. military for more than three
decades. Washington, D.C. can be a rough town for honorable
people, and Flynn—who has always been a soldier, not a politician—
deserves America's gratitude and respect for dedicating so much of
his life to strengthening our national security. *** I thank him for his
many years of distinguished service.”
Nunes is head of the committee which would ordinarily investigate Flynn's contacts with the Russians, assuming there's gonna actually be any investigation.
Seen on Twitter:
"When campaign chairman and [head of] NSA both resign over
Russia ties there is more. [Paul] Manafort and [Michael] Flynn had
nothing in common except Russia and Trump."
The original story about Flynn's resignation was that Flynn resigned of his own volition. After it became clear that the Democrats were going to continue to question why Trump would allow Flynn to remain in his position the story was changed to make the claim that Trump had asked for Flynn's resignation.
FoxNews is running the Flynn story with a concentration of how the lefties have been leaking intelligence reports to the news (to those not FoxNews nor Breitbart, neither of which are showing much interest in the Flynn story for the sake of the Flynn story).
And the net just keeps getting wider…
"WASHINGTON — Phone records and intercepted calls show that
members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other
Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian
intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four
current and former American officials."
New York Times
It doesn't stop with Manafort and Flynn.
Watergate didn't seem like much in the beginning either.
It didn't did it? Turns out that Flynn phoned the Russian Ambassador five (5) times before he got through that day on the fifth time. He was a man on a mission. Quaere then: Who sent him on that mission?
David Ignatius, in an opinion piece published in his usual haunts at the WashingtonPost, tells us that the Trump administration is taking the official position that Flynn decided all on his own to contact the Russians about the Obama administration sanctions. Ignatius makes if fairly obvious that he doesn't really believe that. Neither do I.
TrumpTweets: Turns out the Evil Hillary Clinton is behind all this nonsense about Trump having connections to the Kremlin. Also, FoxNews is "great"; everybody else, not so much.
Shorthands has claimed, during his joint ‘press conference’ with Bibi Netanyahu, that the media has treated Michael Flynn 'very, very unfairly'. Apparently some as yet unknown evil media person sneaked into the White House while Shorthands wasn't looking and fired Michael Flynn. (And there have been other notable lapses of security since Shorthands took office, but we'll save discussion of those for a later date.)
Finding a scapegoat for a diversion is the usual behavior of an authoritarian leader. For Saddam it was Israel, for Trump it's the press, and Hillary Clinton for good measure.
I certainly hope that Congress follows up on the Russia connection. It appears to have a rather bad odor about it.
I listened to the little video clip in Trump's twitter feed regarding education and encouraging school choice. Sounds a bit like encouraging school segregation.
It appears that Moscow is intent on challenging Washington, no matter who sits in the White House. Something Trump should be taking note of.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that Russia had “secretly deployed” at least one operational unit of a ground-launched cruise missile known as the SSC-8.
The move, if confirmed, would be a direct violation of a landmark 1987 treaty that banned ground-launched missiles with a range between 300 to 3,400 miles. Commonly referred to as the INF or Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, it was billed at the time of its signing as one of the most “detailed and stringent” treaties in the history of nuclear arms control.
"Sounds a bit like encouraging school segregation."
The whole point appears to be to divert public education funds to private education. (Folks can send their children to private or even segregated schools now if they want to; they just have pay for it themselves. What they're after is the ability to tap into the public education tax base and use those funds to fund non-public eduction. That's their whole goal.)
"…Trump should be taking note…"
Intermediate range missiles; Europe should take note. Trump will let it slide.
"I certainly hope that Congress follows up on the Russia connection.
It appears to have a rather bad odor about it."
Republicans in the House are very resistant to the idea of following up on any of that; they want it to all fade away. There are some Republican Senators who're taking a more responsible view of the situtation, but, they're not exactly what I'd call ‘eager’ to investigate the question of what influence or leverage Putin might have over Trump, or what agents or influences the Russians might have already inside the Trump administration.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, the Republican Congressmen (and Republican Congresswomen) do seem interested in investigating the leaks that have embarrassed Shorthands and his administration to date. This seems to me to be a waste of time and effort. I think we can safely rely on Shorthands and his administration to investigate those questions vigorously and repeatedly if necessary. They hardly need Congressmen (and Congresswomen) duplicating their efforts.
Now that Trump has his own man, Steven Mnuchin, in as Secretary of the Treasury, the IRS, which reports to Mnuchin now, has announced that they will no longer enforce the ‘individual mandate’ that underlies ObamaCare. In effect, this guts the law. (Reuters) That's almost certainly an illegal abuse of discretion--I'm almost certain this is not considered a discretionary enforcement matter; I don't think that's even open to a reasonable argument. I think that's why nobody saw this one coming (I'm not exactly up to speed on the legalities here, but, I think I got that one right--and I think the courts will eventually agree), but, by the time anybody gets this one through the courts it's gonna be all over.
I was expecting the Republicans to go through the process of repealing the law. I was not expecting this. But, this is what we got. I'd say ObamaCare is dead; ain't official yet, but it's real enough.
Interesting note, might not mean much but it's interesting. Michael Flynn's security clearance has been suspended.
Looks like that Reuters article I mentioned above got it wrong (and it seems to have been revised although there's none of that footnoting that sometimes goes along with an article revision). The IRS isn't actually claiming the authority to abandon enforcement of the individual mandate; they're just not demanding the information up front (in the 1040 instead of in the attachments) as a condition of processing the tax returns.
Trump just finished up another press conference, this one supposedly to announce his new pick for Secretary of Labor. He spent most of the time attacking the press. Guy doesn't get it. He can't expect to declare open war on the media and then have them treat him with kid gloves in return. He's picked his fight; he's declared the press to the the enemy, the ‘opposition’ as his advisor Steve Bannon phrased it. And he treats them as such. He can't expect they're gonna treat him with deference in return.
Shorthands said during his rather scattered news conference of this afternoon that his decision to fire Michael Flynn and pretend it was some unnamed evil press person who'd done Flynn in was made easier because he had an ‘outstanding’ candidate to serve as Flynn's replacement. That candidate was General Robert Hayward.
Problem is, Hayward has turned him down; apparently Shorthands wasn't fully up to speed on how this was workin’ out for him when he was at the press conference. He's now trying to get Hayward to change his mind and accept the position. Financial Times
That would be Harward not Hayward.
Unfortunately it just seems to go from bad to worse.
I talked to a couple people today who have decided to turn off from politics entirely. I told them to at least return in 2 years.
"But, ya don't want to overreact to to every warning. Don't wanna burn
out before the four years are up…"
The question going forward is… Does Trump's wild performance in yesterday's news conference knock the Russian question off of the top of the news for the weekend and beyond?
That very well may have been Trump's intention. We'll have to wait and see if it works.
However, in spite of the Trumpkins' delight in such performances I don't believe Trump can keep playing the wild-ass clown without what even his own loyal Trumpkins begin to get wise to him. I think every one of these shows tarnishes him just a little bit, and when he does not produce for them, they'll eventually decide to remember how to be embarrassed. But, that's eventually.
For now the question is, ‘Does Trump's wild performance in yesterday's news conference knock the Russian question off of the top of the news for the weekend and beyond?’
Coming soon to a theater near you…
"Give the boy a lollipop and he won’t notice if you steal his lunch.
The Japanese gave Trump a new jobs announcement he could take
to the Midwest, and in return they got presidential attention and
coddling that other governments would have died for.
"If you want to roll the Trump administration, you’ve got to get in line.
The Israelis got a possible one-state solution. The Chinese got Trump
to flip-flop on the ‘One China’ policy. The Europeans got him to do a
180 on undoing the Iran nuclear deal.
"Vladimir Putin was born for a moment such as this."
David Brooks NYT
For the record… The confirmation of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, (former oil company shill when he was Attorney General of Oklahoma), is among the permanent damage that Trump can do before the Trumpkins wake up to what they've done.
Like the common fascist he is proving himself to be, Trump keeps up his pressure on the institutions which seem likely to contest his consolidation of power.
"The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC,
@CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American
People!"
TrumpTweets
Those who seem likely to contest his consolidation of power include the media mentioned above (specifically excluding Breitbart and FoxNews), and the judiciary (whom he routinely attacks personally) and conspicuously does not include what's left of the Republican Party leadership in Congress.
Devin Nunes, Republican Chair of the House Intelligence Committee is not interested in discovering what might be Trump's connections to or obligations to Vladimir Putin. However he is interested in having the FBI investigate the CIA. () I recall that the 9/11 Commission, empaneled to look into the failures that lead to 9/11 concluded that failures of communication between the CIA and the FBI directly contributed to the failure to pick up the 9/11 hijackers before they pulled off their attack.
I don't think having the FBI investigate the CIA is an idea that's likely to lead to the continued sharing of information between the two agencies. But,if domestic security suffers, then no doubt it will be blamed on the Democrats, so, all will continue to be well in Trumpland.
Hmmmm… Link didn't come through. We can fix that
"Give the boy a lollipop and he won’t notice if you steal his lunch.
Trump gets China trademark
LOL! Yup. It's called bribery, and some might question the ethical ramifications of some things.
The confirmation of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, (former oil company shill when he was Attorney General of Oklahoma), is among the permanent damage that Trump can do before the Trumpkins wake up to what they've done.
I fear there are many things.
I haven't seen any good public polling on the subject, but the anecdotal evidence coming in suggests that Shorthands' core supporters, the dedicated Trumpkins, were delighted by his performance on Thursday during his shambling and disorganized press conference. The fact that he was obviously disorganized didn't bother them any more than it usually does, and the fact that he got caught lying through his teeth didn't bother them much at all. They expect that from Trump. As a group, they've convinced themselves that Trump lies to people they don't like, and lies when he says things they don't want to hear, and only tells the truth when he says things they do want to hear (no matter how unlikely those things might happen to be).
Assuming this anecdotal evidence bears out, then we should probably expect to see Trump holding more of those rambling press conferences, at least until the press gets a handle on how to handle a President Trump who lies to them from the podium at the White House. (I expect they'll get a handle on that eventually, and then Trump'll quit holding those press conferences, but…. Until then….)
A senior NSC aide, one Craig Deare, Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, has been canned by Trump after it was discovered that he'd trashed the boss at a private, off-the-record, think-tank confab. link Mr. Deare was a Trump appointee, so the FoxNews/RadioRightWing slant on this problem, that it's ‘holdovers’ and ‘loyalists’ from the Obama administration causing trouble, that narrative seems to have taken a bit of a hit.
It appears that Shorthands' campaign rally in Florida was a rousing success, inasmuch as it lifted Trumps' spirits, which was apparently its primary purpose. link The problem this sort of self-medicating emotional therapy poses for him is that this will very likely divert his attention from the meltdown that's occurring in what little exists of an actual Trump administration. Things are gonna keep getting worse and he'll wanna keep going out to hold rallies so he don't havta deal with it.
That's a prescription for disaster, mostly for him I think; the Republic will survive and probably recover.
It seems that Trump's press conferences are good fodder for comedians if nothing else.
On a slightly different topic, it seems they have discovered, or confirmed suspicions, that there is a new continent, which they have named Zealandia, underneath New Zealand.
Hmmm...perhaps Atlantis might really exist?
So, that meant I finally had to look up the answer. Just where is the original Zeland? Turns out it ain't nowhere near Zealandia. (I woulda guessed Africa, but, nope.)
Opinion piece: Trump doesn't have a foreign policy doctrine. He doesn't even have a foreign policy. What he has is a selection of disorganized, unrelated position statements that he picked up from listening to hour and hours of RadioRightWing to discover what his Trumpkins want to hear.
And they don't fit together. So, he's just wingin’ it day to day. He'll be wingin’ it for the foreseeable future.
DerSpiegel: "Europe Must Plan to Defend Itself"
Basically, I agree with the premise stated in the title. However, I would have preferred it to come about because we insisted that Europe begin to take self-defense seriously, a simple matter of them meeting their own obligations. I'd really rather it hadn't come about because they view us as no longer dependable.
I suppose we might consider this the proverbial ‘silver lining’ in an otherwise miserably cloudy sky.
Okay, here's the question: How do we tell if Trump goes crazy under the pressure; it is, after all, a high pressure job. How do we tell if Trump loses his grip on reality?
I mean, assuming he doesn't strip naked and dance on the front lawn or something like that. Suppose he just goes normal-like crazy and can't tell what's true and what's not? Suppose he starts having delusions and fantasies how well things are going with him in charge now? Suppose he starts to really believe that he's already ordered The Great Wall of Trump to be built, and that's supposed to make it happen?
Supose he starts to actually believe that the CIA is out to get him and his only true friend is Vladimir Putin?
Suppose he actually goes crazy?
How would we know? How could we tell?
On a less speculative front, there's at least one accounting coming in the next week or so, and I'm expecting some fireworks from the Trumpkins following that one.
Trump has promised a new Executive Order on visas within the week (and it very well may take more than just the week, but it'll havta happen fairly soon). It has to be recognizable to the dedicated Trumpkin as a Muslim ban (at least a partial ban, but it has to be aimed at persecuting Muslims); he promised them a Muslim ban; they do expect him to deliver on that one. And it somehow has to pass Constitutional muster, which means he's gotta come up with something his lawyers can argue isn't really a Muslim ban in spite of it sure as hell looks like one. Trump apparently still thinks he can pull that off. I don't think he can. I think that's gonna be his first real failure in the eyes of the dedicated Trumpkin. But, that hasn't happened yet. So far he's still good with his Trumpkins. But, he's got that thing comin’, and that might be his first notable failure to keep faith with his Trumpkins.
It seems that Sweden just got Trumped.
So, that meant I finally had to look up the answer. Just where is the original Zeland? Turns out it ain't nowhere near Zealandia. (I woulda guessed Africa, but, nope.)
In a way though it does make sense. So many countries, and cities, are named after early explorers or colonialists. Look at New York. So if New Zealand was colonized by the Dutch...
But the idea of finding another continent that is, for the most part, completely submerged, kind of shows the changes that can occur on our Earth, either because of shifts in the Earth's faults or changes in sea level.
Perhaps a warning for the future.
"It seems that Sweden just got Trumped."
Good! It needs a sound Trumping like nothing else. And quick.
I'd really rather it hadn't come about because they view us as no longer dependable.
Bruno, if he is still out there, must be in seventh heaven.
Good! It needs a sound Trumping like nothing else. And quick.
I'd be happy to send you ours.
Suppose he actually goes crazy?
How would we know? How could we tell?
The scariest thing about those questions is that they are valid.
"[Sweden] needs a sound Trumping…"
Small government, small out-of-the-way country. No big, complicated issues to deal with. He might be able to handle that job. Not guaranteed, but maybe.
(Also, no Constitution and no separation-of-powers issues to bedevil him.)
"Bruno, if he is still out there, must be in seventh heaven."
Horribly unpleasant thought. Not real important, but unpleasant nonetheless.
I've been reading the reviews and what I discover is that Trump is still getting high fives and cheers and giggles and grins from the dedicated Trumpkins. He's delivering on what they wanted. He's pissing off the people they wanted pissed off. It matters very little to them that he's not actually getting anything done. Actually getting anything done remains, as it has always been, a secondary consideration to the dedicated Trumpkins. (A fair number of them, a significant minority of them, pretend that he is getting real stuff done, although most of them probably know better.)
Trump's opponents (in both political parties) may think it matters that Trump showed himself to be disorganized and highly delusional at Thursday's press conference. However, to the dedicated Trumpkins, that's completely irrelevant. He was publicly angry and abusive of those fellow Americans and American institutions whom they have chosen as their enemies, and that's what he promised them, and that's pretty much all they expect at this juncture. So, they're still good.
By the way, word is out and about that David Petraeus is no longer under consideration for the NSA position on account of he publicly demanded the right to pick his own staff and to have the final say on who got to sit in on the meetings (possibly threatening Steve Bannon's fairly odd position as Trump's political director for the National Security Council). After Harward embarrassed Trump by taking a couple of days to consider it before turning it down, Petraeus decided to make his demands known up front. His demands were unacceptable to Team Trump. (CBSNews) So, they're still trying to find somebody to accept what used to be considered a dream job for anybody in the National Security business.
After Harward embarrassed Trump by taking a couple of days to consider it before turning it down, Petraeus decided to make his demands known up front.
I think Harward had made some demands as well, and was rebuffed. Which was also why he turned it down.
I wonder, can a president be impeached for non performance of duties due to lack of confidence in him by candidates for his appointments?
It seems that the right people have been reading that piece in the Atlantic.
I have to wonder if the Republican party majority in Congress is not starting to really wonder how useful Trump will actually be for their agenda? Wouldn't Pence be a better figure head?
"I wonder, can a president be impeached for non performance of
duties due to lack of confidence in him by candidates for his
appointments?"
No, although he can be removed from office by majority vote of those who have accepted his appointments and who have been confirmed. How to Get Rid of Trump―NewYorkTimes by Nicholas Kristoff It's known as the 25th Amendment.
"I have to wonder if the Republican party majority in Congress is
not starting to really wonder how useful Trump will actually be for their
agenda?"
First they have to develop the ability to agree upon an agenda. The financial aspect is especially troubling. A fair number of Republicans in the Congress and in the Senate are well aware that the economic theory they've been selling to the Republican voter ‘base’ is a bunch of bullshit. They're not really all that eager to implement the plan they've been pitching. Replacing ObamaCare is equally problematic. ObamaCare was closely patterned after the best Republican theory they could ever come up with (and they still wouldn't vote for it)--all other options are much worse, even from a Republican point of view. (There are what were originally Democratic submissions for national health care, and they'd probably work better; but they can't go there; Glenn Hannibaugh would have a fit.)
"I think Harward had made some demands as well, and was
rebuffed. Which was also why he turned it down."
Yes, but he waited until after he was offered the job to make his demands known. Petraeus learned from Harward's experience. Didn't wait. (In Harward's defense, I don't know that it's his fault Trump went public with the offer before Harward accepted.)
I'm reading that former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton is on the short list for the NSA position, Bolton's utter lack of any experience or qualifications does not seem to be an impediment here.
In Bolton's favor (in lieu of experience or qualifications), he's batshit crazy and couldn't pass Senate confirmation for his short-term position as U.N. Ambassador (which he resigned when his recess appointment timed out and he'd have had to stand for Senate confirmation to continue). But this is his opportunity to get back into the halls of power without having to go through that Senate confirmation stuff, so he might actually accept the position.
The dedicated Trumpkins actually do think that Trump is being successful in Washington. WaPo
"The scariest new catchphrase of the Trump era – and we’re only one
month in – is the ‘deep state,’ a term borrowed from countries like
Turkey and Egypt, where networks of military officers and intelligence
operatives control much of the government."
Doyle McManus in the LA Times
Ain't quite as scary a situation as they make it sound.
(McManus appears unaware of the popularity of that term among the right-winger conspiracy buffs like Steve Bannon and Glenn Hannibaugh, indeed among conspiracy buffs of all radical fringe persuasions although probably most popular in the West among the right-wingers, but that's not terminal to his argument.)
I noticed that Milo Yiannopoulos, who was given the headliner's position at this years' Conservative Political Action Conference has now been ‘disinvited’ from the Conference in its entirety. Looks like he's getting his speech curtailed by people who don't agree with him again, ‘cept this time it's conservatives who're not letting him speak ‘on matters of [supposed] importance’.
And, we have a new selection for the NSA position; it's one Gen. H.R.McMaster (Ret.), whom I've heard of but don't know much about off the top of my head (havta try to recall if there's stuff I've forgotten, or not associated with the name). One thing I do know is that he's not John Bolton, which sounds like a good thing at first blush.
Also, it appears that acting NSA, Gen. Kellog (Ret.) is gonna stay on as Chief of Staff of the NSC. No real indications whose idea that was. It's possible Shorthands is setting up another of those situations where nobody's sure who's in charge.
And, on checking today's TrumpTweets to see what Shorthands had to say about the good General, I discover that he's trying to blame ‘the media’ for his screwup the other day alleging a terrorist attack in Sweden that never happened.
It seems that the Trump administration is working up a new ‘Executive Order’ that specifically mentions the Seven Muslim Majority Nations included in his older Visa Ban (to make his Trumpkins think he's persecuting Muslims like he's promised), but that does not actually ban visa holders from those nations. (Talk ’bout persecuting Muslims so's to fake out his supporters, but don't actually do anything ‘bout it, so's to not get overruled by the courts again.) AP.Org
Looks like they're still workin’ on it, as that dodge would very likely be sniffed out even by their dedicated Trumpkins.
Was just listening to Stephen Colbert's evening monologue and heard that the crime rate in Sweden has dropped steadily since 2005, Muslim immigrants notwithstanding.
And what does it say about a presidency that, one month into it, we are already discussing how it can be ended early?
That we have put in place a leader whom many Americans consider unfit and ill prepared to lead.
I noticed that Milo Yiannopoulos,...
I saw that too. I was actually going to leave a link to an article about it before I saw your comment. It seems his right wing supporters just couldn't stomach his pedophilia remarks.
And, we have a new selection for the NSA position; it's one Gen. H.R.McMaster (Ret.)...
In this case apparently many people are lauding Trump's pick. Both sides of the aisle. Maybe he got another one right ( I actually like Mattis)?
"And what does it say about a presidency that, one month into it, we
are already discussing how it can be ended early?"
Yeah, well, I'm not fully on board with that. I'm kinda in the same frame of mind I was in when I counseled against running Da’esh out of Sunni cities of Iraq too early. Wanna give ‘em a full dose of what they asked for.
By the same token, I'm inclined to wanna give the Trumpkins a full four years of Trump. I expect that'll cure a lot of what ails ‘em; wise ‘em up a whole bunch.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
"It seems his right wing supporters just couldn't stomach his
pedophilia remarks."
That was just an excuse. The management at CPAP was already getting whole boatloads of shit on account of Yiannopoulos isn't really a conservative. He's a shock-jock; he's a showman, a fake conservative. He's kinda like Stephen Colbert, except he's not clever enough to pull off irony so he's gotta go for full on offensive (makes him acceptable at Breitbart where they're not really conservatives either). The management was already takin’ shit for inviting him. The reappearance of the tape (it wasn't a secret before) just gave ’em an excuse to correct their error and get outta shit with their donors.
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It took fairly minimal research to recall why I remembered that name. McMaster was a Colonel in Tal Afar during the Second Gulf War. He developed the ‘clear, hold, build’ strategy that pacified Tal Afar when the rest of Iraq was going up in flames. But, McMaster was only a Colonel, while David Petraeus was a General, and Petraeus was rather more politically savvy than was McMaster, so Petraeus got the credit for McMaster's strategy (and thus began the meteoric career that eventually ended with Petraeus being busted down in disgrace for sharing classified information and documents with his mistress). However, Petraeus did keep McMaster close, so he tended to rise as Petraeus rose, and McMaster managed to not get tarnished when Petraeus fell.
Petraeus was knocked out of the running for daring to announce conditions in public. McMaster may have reaped the benefit of that; it's likely that McMaster actually got the control Petraeus had demanded (less the right to exclude Steve Bannon from NSC meetings, which Trump was not gonna give away).
Yeah, Trump coulda done a lot worse. In fact, for most of his picks he has done a lot worse.
Shorthands the Dancing Bear is now scheduled to speak at the CPAP convention. (link) Presumably, this will make up some for the pain of losing Milo Yiannopoulos; it should at least reestablish the entertainment factor.
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"Goofy haircut? Check. Boxy frame and ill-fitting suits? Check. Erratic
and unstable personality? Check. Simplistic way of looking at the
world? Check. Primitive vocabulary? Check. Hates the country to the
south? Check. Brooks no opposition from underlings? Check. Thin
skin and a tendency to disproportionately lash out at critics? Check.
Father gave him his career? Check."
Quaere then: Were they talking about Trump or North Korea's Kim Jung Un? link
" just listening to Stephen Colbert's evening monologue and heard that the crime rate in Sweden has dropped steadily since 2005, Muslim immigrants notwithstanding."
You, not beeing a swede, can be excused for believing that. I can tell you though thats a piece of FAKE NEWS. There are many rock solid points to make why this is so but since I'm still in Thailand and on My iPad i cant be bothered to type it for ya. Maybe when I'm back home at My keyboard. Although I actually suspect you already know I'm correct here....
In Bangkok now for 4 days before returning home, greetings to all two or three of you readers. And to you too Zeyad if you're still lurking about.
"Although I actually suspect you already know I'm correct here...."
I'm actually somewhat suspicious of your supposedly ‘rock solid points’.
I'm fairly certain you can find an increase in ‘rape’ since 2005, but I'm also given to understand that the definition of what is ‘rape’ has loosened significantly since then too. (Not to mention that ‘buyer's remorse’ is more likely to called rape when the accused is a brown skinned male being accused by a blonde Swedish girl.) I'll be much more impressed by a change, an uptick, in murder rates, as dead bodies are difficult to fake in service of a political agenda, the supposed victims being generally unwilling to carry the charade out that far.
However, I'm more than willing to await your return to a fully functional keyboard. (And hoping that's not just an excuse to get back to where you can find your list of Sweden Democrats' web sites.)
Shorthands has released his new deportation strategy, which basically consists of not having a deportation strategy. Instead of concentrating on getting the bad guys he's flattened the field and grandma's who've been working paying taxes their whole working lives are not as equally likely to be deported as are hardened criminals. (This is important because we don't have the resources in those agencies to deport them all--we need to concentrate on getting the bad dudes and moving them through the deportation system.)
My guess is that this is intended to take the focus away from his supposed ban on visas from the Seven Majority Muslim Nations, which is due out this week and which will almost certainly be a disappointment to his Trumpkins, so he's dropped this bomb just now to obscure that failure, drive it out of the news.
Poor editing on that first paragraph, but I'm hoping the point came across.
There was one thing I missed mentioning about Trump's new executive orders regarding illegal immigrants. Along with that, he's ordered that new funds will be made available to build The Great Wall of Trump. Apparently he's still not real clear on how that money thing works. (That or he figures his Trumpkins won't notice that executive orders don't actually produce any funds.)
Quaere here: Anybody takin’ bets on how long Rex Tillerson hangs in there before he figures out that he's not gonna make enough money on being Secretary of State (Trump ain't gonna share; I don't care what he told Tillerson goin’ in) to justify putting up with the daily humiliations?
"I actually like Mattis"
Lot of that goin’ ‘round these days. It happens that Mattis actually looks sane when compared to the rest of Team Trump who're standin’ there next to him. He looks a little less sane when compared to a less full-tilt-crazy-ass bunch of people. (When the comparatively sane-lookin’ guy goes by the nickname of ‘Mad Dog’ in the wider community ya know ya got a problem with this crew.)
Interesting note at the end of this article…
"[B]oth the Paris and Brussels [Da‘esh] attacks were financed on
credit."
Der Spiegel
I think they meant credit issued by EU banks.
In Bangkok now for 4 days before returning home, greetings to all two or three of you readers. And to you too Zeyad if you're still lurking about.
lol! Hello, Marcus. Hope you are enjoying sunny Thailand. We are actually having some wonderful weather here, before the other shoe drops.
I have been snowed under at work, and consequently tired when I get home, so haven't had the time to create a new post for my two or three readers, but I will get there eventually. :)
Anybody takin’ bets on how long Rex Tillerson hangs in there before he figures out that he's not gonna make enough money on being Secretary of State (Trump ain't gonna share; I don't care what he told Tillerson goin’ in) to justify putting up with the daily humiliations?
Perhaps he's just enjoying the break from work before he decides to go back to the daily grind. From all I hear there hasn't been much of substance coming out of State since the takeover, er transfer, of power by Trump and his minions.
I think they meant credit issued by EU banks.
Hmmm...equal opportunity lenders.
It seems that Milo has now resigned from Breitbart, with many apologies. He didn't want to interfere with the "important work" that Breibart is doing.
(When the comparatively sane-lookin’ guy goes by the nickname of ‘Mad Dog’ in the wider community ya know ya got a problem with this crew.)
lol! I suspect there is more to Mattis than that appellation would imply. He may be more close to McMaster in policy than you would think.
"He may be more close to McMaster in policy than you would think."
McMaster showed himself to be a competent military tactician when he was in Tal Afar. His command of policy was not thereby established.
Essay argues that Trump's anti-immigrant policies are likely to increase our risks, not mitigate them.
"Why are jihadi terrorist attacks in the United States so rare? After
all, fewer than 100 Americans have been killed here by jihadi terrorists
since September 11, or an average of just six per year. Why have so
few American Muslims gone to join ISIS? Countries in Europe have
provided many more recruits to the terrorist group. Why are American
Muslims as a group so much more patriotic and less alienated from
their homes than many Muslims in Western European countries?
"The answers lie in exactly those things the Trump administration is
trying to undo."
TheWeek
There is a media rumor going ‘round to the effect that Kellyanne Conway has been ‘sidelined’ as a Trump spokesman because nobody believes what she has to say anymore. (Both Kellyanne and Shorthands' White House Office of Propaganda deny this is actually true. And, Sean Hannity and FoxNews have also weighed in on her behalf and assured the dedicated Trumpkins that she'll be back in a prominent media position soon as she gets her kids enrolled in schools in D.C., and, most importantly, that everybody still believes her when she spouts nonsense on TV.) This illustrates what I think will soon become apparent as one of the Trump administration's weakest points, and one not yet noticed by the mainstream media.
Trump is gonna run out of first string people willing to work for him and will have to start picking from the second string. And folks are gonna notice. And it's gonna start happening fairly soon. How long ya'll reckon before Mattis, McMaster, and even Tillerson are lookin’ for the exits while they still got a chance to preserve their reputations?
How long ya'll reckon before Mattis, McMaster, and even Tillerson are lookin’ for the exits while they still got a chance to preserve their reputations?
I have wondered the same thing. Perhaps it will depend upon how much leeway Trump gives them. For instance, Mattis was quite open about reassuring the Iraqis that we really don't want to steal their oil. Something Trump has suggested repeatedly.
So yes, we have something to learn from the immigrant experience in Europe. But it's not that immigrants are dangerous and must be kept out. It's that America, for all our missteps, is on a fundamental level doing immigration right, by being an open and welcoming society. But if Donald Trump has his way, we won't be that for long.
We have made missteps in the past, during the WWII era, and have recovered. We can only hope that Trump will be a one term president and we can elect someone of a more wise character.
"It's that America, for all our missteps, is on a fundamental level doing
immigration right, by being an open and welcoming society."
I am strongly opposed to the idea that we should filter immigrants on account of their religion, or lack thereof. However, that doesn't mean I'm in favor of immigration on a large scale. We once needed people to fill up the vast unpopulated areas of our country. We don't have vast unpopulated areas anymore--‘cept those places that don't have enough water to support populations much higher than what they've already got. We don't need more people. May be some people out there that we'd rather have in here, but that don't mean we need more people in general.
"We have made missteps in the past, during the WWII era…"
Or ethnicity (race, as some folks describe it); I'm equally opposed to the idea of making the cuts on the basis of ethnic (‘racial’) characteristics.
Word is that Steve Bannon is gonna write Trump's upcoming speech to a joint session of Congress.
What could possibly go wrong there?
And early morning word is that Trump's replacement ban of visa to The Seven Majority Muslim Nations is gonna get put off until sometime next week.
They seem to be having trouble with the wording on that one. They need something their Trumpkins will recognize as persecuting Muslims (he promised them he'd persecute Muslims; they damn well expect him to produce on that one--like the wall, non-negotiable). Apparently the Trump administration thought it was gonna be easy to slide one of those past the courts with just a little tweaking; ain't. (Also like the wall--ain't gonna happen; this one will also have to be forgiven.)
Iraqi government forces have retaken the Mosul airport. (That's on the west side of the river so the airport can serve as a beachhead for the assault on the rest of Da‘esh controlled west Mosul.) There are some ‘mopping-up’ operations yet to carry out, but, effectively, Da‘esh has lost the airport to Iraqi government forces. NYT
The New World order according to Steve Bannon.
"This is the main thing that the mainstream media -- or the opposition party -- never caught, is that if you want to see the Trump agenda it's very simple. It was all in the speeches. He went around to those rallies and the speeches had an enormous amount of content in them ... He's laid out an agenda with those speeches with the promises he made and our job every day is to just to execute on that ... he's maniacally focused on that."
"All of those promises are going to be implemented," he said.
Problem with trying to follow Bannon's supposed map is that Trump managed to be on both sides of so many issues (often in the same paragraph, sometimes in the same sentence).
We don't need more people.
Some people disagree with you.
The new birth rate numbers are out, and they're a disaster. There are now only 59.6 births per 1,000 women, the lowest rate ever recorded in the United States. Some of the decrease is due to good news, which is the continuing decline of teen pregnancies, but most of it is due to people getting married later and choosing to have fewer children. And the worst part is, everyone is treating this news with a shrug.
Iraqi government forces have retaken the Mosul airport.
At least something, somewhere, is going well.
"Some people disagree with you."
Some people are still quoting 18th century philosophers as their authorities on the subject. Those people do not understand robotics, nor do they appear to understand that we can now produce what the population needs without employing that population. We need to consider a new economic model that adjusts to the fact that we don't need more people (and I'm still a free-market capitalist at heart; I expect any successful new model will have to start there).
16th century philosopher; died in 1596 A.D.
TrumpTweets: Shorthands is gonna skip the White House Correspondents' Assoc. dinner this year. Bit of a break from tradition, but given that he's declared war on the domestic media (FoxNews and Breitbart notably excepted), it's not a surprise.
There appears to be growing concern about the repeal of Obamacare. At least that is a hot topic at all of those raucous town hall meetings that are taking place around the country. In fact, Obamacare is more popular than it's ever been.
I can see why Trump has decided to skip that dinner. I can't imagine that would have been a comfortable experience for him.
"There appears to be growing concern about the repeal of Obamacare."
One of the things the Republicans, along with their mouthpiece media, liked to gloss over, was the fact that ObamaCare always polled as ‘unpopular’ (vs ‘popular’) because there were a substantial number of liberals who thought it didn't go far enough, not that it went too far. FoxNews and RadioRightWing, and the Congressional Republicans always lumped these people in with the conservatives who didn't want any health insurance guarantees at all in arguing that ObamaCare was ‘unpopular’.
Now that they've got a real shot at repealing ObamaCare that distortion of the polling numbers is no longer so easy to pull off.
"I can see why Trump has decided to skip that dinner."
He also didn't want a very public display of the number of people who'd decided to not attend his White House Correspondents' Club dinner. Figured to nip that one by announcing that he was not attending himself.
It has also occurred to me that the Republican's antipathy towards ObamaCare is largely driven by people who don't have ObamaCare; people who are not directly effected. Most of the Republican ‘base’ is covered by either Medicare, Medicaid, or employer-based medical insurance. They're philosophically opposed to ObamaCare because they managed to put Obama's name on it. (It originated as a Republican proposal from the conservative Heritage Foundation.) That's not gonna hold up well against a contingent of people who're actually getting coverage now under ObamaCare--that's something like 20 to 26 million, depending on whom you're listening to. (Smaller than the Republican base admittedly, but vitally effected, and there's considerable overlap.)
One of the things the Republicans, along with their mouthpiece media, liked to gloss over, was the fact that ObamaCare always polled as ‘unpopular’ (vs ‘popular’) because there were a substantial number of liberals who thought it didn't go far enough, not that it went too far.
This is a good point. These people aren't necessarily going to support Trump or the GOP's ideas on health care reform.
It occurs to me that the same may hold true for the tally of voters. The numbers of votes counted show that Hillary beat Trump in the popular vote. But those are just the votes cast for those candidates. What of those voters who didn't vote or who voted, but chose other candidates? Those people may not be open to Trump or his policies. So he may have dissent from more than Hillary voters.
There were also a fair number of Trump voters who simply chose to not believe him when he said he was going to repeal ObamaCare. A surprising percentage of Trump voters managed to convince themselves he was only telling the truth when he said things they wanted to hear (and since he managed to take most sides of most issues at one time or another, sometimes switching sides in the middle of a paragraph if not a single sentence, that's gonna lead to a bunch of disappointed Trump voters).
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