;)
The Commentariat -- February 4, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Jonathan Martin & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, abandoned by allies in the Democratic Party and besieged by demands that he resign, met with his cabinet Monday morning as state legislators returned to a Capitol thrown into chaos by the governor's insistence on staying in office despite revelations that a photograph showing people in blackface and Ku Klux Klan robes was displayed on his medical school yearbook page. But even after meeting Sunday night with a group of his African-American aides, most of whom told him the only way he could clear his name would be to quit, Mr. Northam was giving no indication that he intended to step down. As Mr. Northam dug in, his onetime allies in the state and national Democratic Party intensified their pleas that he quit, angry and embarrassed at the prospect of being saddled with a governor suddenly compromised by his past." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Northam also must be "consulting" with Megyn Kelly. ...
... Oh, Great. Jonathan Martin: "Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of Virginia issued a statement Monday morning denying an unsubstantiated allegation of sexual assault that a right-wing media site published amid extraordinary political turmoil in the state that has raised the possibility of Mr. Fairfax becoming the next governor. In a statement issued at 2:55 a.m., aides to Mr. Fairfax -- a Democrat who has drawn national attention as Gov. Ralph Northam considers resigning over past racist behavior -- said the allegation was 'false' and that Mr. Fairfax had 'never assaulted anyone -- ever -- in any way, shape or form.' The aides said that Mr. Fairfax is considering 'appropriate legal action against those attempting to spread this defamatory and false allegation.'" ...
... Theresa Vargas of the Washington Post: "The statement came after the online publication, Big League Politics, ran a story under the headline: 'UPDATE: Stanford Fellow Hints At Possible Justin Fairfax Sex Assault.' The story was based on a private Facebook post from the woman, which the publication said it had obtained from a friend of hers who had permission to share it. In their response, Fairfax's staff members, pointed out that the woman first approached The Washington Post with the allegation shortly before he was inaugurated and The Post 'carefully investigated the claim for several months.' The woman approached The Post after Fairfax won election in November 2017 and before he was inaugurated in January 2018 inauguration, saying she felt like she had an obligation to speak out.... Fairfax and the woman told different versions of what happened in [a] hotel room [in 2004] with no one else present. The Washington Post could not find anyone who could corroborate either version. The Post did not find 'significant red flags and inconsistencies within the allegations,' as the Fairfax statement incorrectly said.... The Washington Post did not run a story." ...
... Alejandro de la Garza of Time: "In the midst of the ongoing controversy over a racist photograph on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook page, a photograph of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) posing in front of a Confederate flag is making the rounds on social media.... The photograph of McConnell, which apparently shows the senator posing in front of a large Confederate flag, had previously surfaced in 2015, according to Snopes. The photo was allegedly taken at a Sons of Confederate Veterans event in the early '90s." Includes photo.
Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times: "Seven European Union countries on Monday recognized Juan Guaidó as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, turning decisively against President Nicolás Maduro after he refused their demand to schedule a new presidential election. The countries -- Austria, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden -- joined the United States, Canada, Australia and much of Latin America in withdrawing recognition of Mr. Maduro's government and acknowledging Mr. Guaidó, the opposition leader, as the interim president pending elections."
Ben White of Politico: "... polling suggests that when it comes to soaking the rich, the American public is increasingly on board. Surveys are showing overwhelming support for raising taxes on top earners, including a new Politico/Morning Consult poll released Monday that found 76 percent of registered voters believe the wealthiest Americans should pay more in taxes. A recent Fox News survey showed that 70 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on those earning over $10 million -- including 54 percent of Republicans. The numbers suggest the political ground upon which the 2020 presidential campaign will be fought is shifting in dramatic ways, reflecting the rise in inequality in the United States and growing concerns in the electorate about the fairness of the American system."
Ahmed Aboulenein & John Davison of Reuters: "Iraqi President Barham Salih said on Monday that ... Donald Trump did not ask Iraq's permission for U.S. troops stationed there to 'watch Iran.'... U.S. troops in Iraq are there as part of an agreement between the two countries with a specific mission of combating terrorism, Salih said, and that they should stick to that. Trump said it was important to keep a U.S. military presence in Iraq so that Washington can keep a close eye on Iran 'because Iran is a real problem,' according to a CBS interview broadcast on Sunday. 'Don't overburden Iraq with your own issues,' Salih said. 'The U.S. is a major power ... but do not pursue your own policy priorities, we live here.'"
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post runs down a number of the contradictory remarks Trump made in his CBS interview, which aired Sunday. As Daniel Dale wrote (tweet below), interviewers would do well to slow down. Mrs. McC: That might not help. I've heard interviewers ask follow-up questions that highlight some contradiction, & Trump completely changes the subject: "Why didn't you do your homework, Donnie?" "The dog ate it." "You don't have a dog." "I'm an underprivileged kid from Jamaica, Queens who doesn't even have a pet. You should be saying great things about me." An interviewer would have to go back & back to the initial question until Trump finally ripped the mike out of his lapel & trounced out in a huff. ...
... Eric Levitz of New York: "In an interview with CBS News, the president said that he does not want his youngest son Barron to play youth football because 'I just don't like the reports that I see coming out having to do with football ― I mean, it's a dangerous sport....' [BUT]... As evidence of football's devastating effects on the human brain mounted -- and the NFL responded by implementing (demonstrably inadequate) rule changes to modestly reduce the risk of its athletes suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) -- the president argued that the game had grown insufficiently violent. 'Today, if you hit too hard, if they hit too hard, "15 yards, throw him out of the game,"' Trump groused in 2017. 'They had that last week, I watched for a couple of minutes. Two guys, just really, beautiful tackle -- "Boom, 15 yards."... They're ruining the game ... they want to hit.' These remarks heavily implied that Trump sees the lives of (disproportionately African-American) NFL players as fundamentally less valuable than those of wealthy, white people like himself."
*****
The Laziest President* in American History. Alexi McCammond & Jonathan Swan of Axios: "A White House source has leaked nearly every day of President Trump's private schedule for the past three months.... This unusually voluminous leak gives us unprecedented visibility into how this president spends his days. The schedules, which cover nearly every working day since the midterms, show that Trump has spent around 60% of his scheduled time over the past 3 months in unstructured 'Executive Time.' We've published every page of the leaked schedules in a piece that accompanies this item. To protect our source, we retyped the schedules in the same format that West Wing staff receives them.... Trump, an early riser, usually spends the first 5 hours of the day in Executive Time.... He spends his mornings in the residence, watching TV, reading the papers, and responding to what he sees and reads by phoning aides, members of Congress, friends, administration officials and informal advisers.... Some days, Executive Time totally predominates. For instance, he had 1 hour of scheduled meetings on Jan. 18 (with acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin) and 7 hours of Executive Time." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I suspect this is the most Trump can manage. He's a fat old guy, his diet is terrible, (and who knows? he might be taking energy-sapping meds). As a result, he doesn't have much energy. Since Ronny Jackson will once again be performing & reporting on Trump's annual physical exam, we'll never know what's wrong with his health & ability to function. ...
... David Boddiger of Splinter: "Scrolling down the retyped presidential schedule published by Axios from Nov. 7, 2018 to Feb. 1, one can count how many times the term 'Executive Time' appears. It's mind-blowing.... And it shows, according to the news site, that Trump is the most unstructured and undisciplined president, probably ever.... Since the midterms, Trump has spent 297 hours in executive time. During the same period, he had 77 hours of scheduled meetings, policy planning, and strategy sessions.... At the end of the day, usually around 6 p.m. or before, Trump reportedly returns to his residence, where he watches more TV and tweets, among other things. His days are longer when he travels, the report said.... This weekend, while Trump continues to claim the country faces a 'crisis' at the southern border over immigration and a lack of a border 'wall,' he visited the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, FL, where he played golf with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods on Saturday." ...
... Kevin Drum: "The only question is whether Trump's schedule is so empty because he doesn't want to meet anyone or because no one wants to meet him." ...
Yeah But. What a disgraceful breach of trust to leak schedules. What these don't show are the hundreds of calls and meetings @realDonaldTrump takes everyday. This POTUS is working harder for the American people than anyone in recent history. -- Madeleine Westerhout, White House staffer, in a tweet
It's called whistleblowing, dear. You know how to whistle, don't you? -- Mrs Bea McCrabbie
Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump declined to say Sunday whether he wants the findings of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation made public, instead promising to defer to the Justice Department.... Asked about the 34 people Mueller's probe has indicted, the president said none of the charges were related to him or collusion with Russia. In fact, Mueller's team has indicted a number of Trump campaign or administration officials for lying about their interactions with Russia.... The president's comments on the investigation, which the acting attorney general said is wrapping up soon, came in a wide-ranging interview with CBS News. Among the highlights of the interview: The president said he is keeping another government shutdown on the table, outlined disagreements with top intelligence officials, argued that keeping troops in Iraq is vital to watching Iran, contended that having a Cabinet packed with interim secretaries is a plus for his administration and again attacked former defense secretary Jim Mattis by falsely saying he forced him to resign.... He repeatedly cited the costs of having troops all over the world as a reason to bring them home. He struggled to reconcile his criticisms of [President] Obama for telegraphing withdrawals of troops but now doing it himself. 'I'm not telegraphing anything,' he said, minutes after explaining what he wanted to do in Syria.... The president again disagreed with his intelligence chiefs, saying there is a 'very good chance' he can make a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons at a summit next month, which the president said was already scheduled. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Here's the transcript of the interview. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
I feel like Trump interviews could benefit from literally slowing down. One of his methods is literal fast-talking, speaking over questions and bombarding the audience with rapid incoherence that falls apart upon a moment of silence and a 'hold on, let's focus on this for a sec.' -- Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star, in a tweet ...
... Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "... Donald Trump said on Sunday that he is committed to pulling troops out of Afghanistan and Syria. But in at times rambling remarks to CBS's Face the Nation, Trump also said he wants to keep US troops in Iraq to 'watch Iran.'"
Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: "Trump portrays [Texas] ... as a crime hub for undocumented immigrants, with rampant cases of voter fraud and thousands of child predators behind bars. Yet his tweets are laden with misleading and inaccurate statistics. The real Texas numbers are far less scary."
Where Are All the Best People? Juliet Eilperin, et al., of the Washington Post: "From the Justice Department to Veterans Affairs, vast swaths of the government have top positions filled by officials serving in an acting capacity -- or no one at all.... To deal with the number of vacancies in the upper ranks of departments, agencies have been relying on novel and legally questionable personnel moves that could leave the administration's policies open to court challenges. The lack of permanent leaders has started to alarm top congressional Republicans who are pressing for key posts to be filled. 'It's a lot, it's way too many," Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said of the acting positions in Cabinet agencies.... By any standard, Trump's administration lags behind its predecessors when it comes to filling top posts throughout the government -- even though the president's party has controlled the Senate for his entire time in office. The Partnership for Public Service, which has tracked nominations as far back as 30 years, estimates that only 54 percent of Trump's civilian executive branch nominations have been confirmed, compared to 77 percent under President Barack Obama."
Jonathan Martin of the New York Times on "the duality of American politics in the Trump era. The largest class of women were just sworn into Congress last month. The congressional black and Hispanic caucuses are as big as they have ever been. Several Democratic candidates for president -- female, black, Hispanic, Asian-American, gay -- reflect the diversity of the country. And on Tuesday night, a leading African-American politician, Stacey Abrams of Georgia, will appear before millions to give the Democratic response to the State of the Union. If President Trump's election amounted to an angry rejoinder to America's first black president, as many on the left believe, Mr. Trump has created a backlash of his own, energizing women and people of color who represent an unmistakable rebuke to his demagogy on race and ethnicity and his misogynistic attacks. But the president is also reshaping Democratic politics in far-reaching ways: His divisive behavior, and the Republican silence that often meets it, has pushed Democrats to try to set an example by aggressively confronting current and past misconduct in their own ranks, as they did with [Virginia Gov. Ralph] Northam...."
Gregory Schneider, et al., of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) called an unscheduled senior staff meeting Sunday night just before the start of the Super Bowl, as the governor considered resigning after two days of defiance amid a controversy over racist photos in his medical school yearbook. People familiar with the meeting said the governor had not reached a final decision about his fate. It was unclear who was there, besides that it involved senior staffers of color. But Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who would become governor if Northam resigned, was not there, the people said. Calling the Sunday night meeting was a clear signal of Northam's effort to weigh support within the administration as he evaluates his options. Though he pledged on Saturday to stand his ground, he also said he would reconsider if he felt he could no longer be effective. Just a day later, resignation is an active consideration, the people said." ...
... Alan Blinder & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "The refusal by Ralph Northam, the Democratic governor of Virginia, to resign after the revelation of a racist photograph is threatening his party's political fortunes in Virginia, where Democrats are on the brink of consolidating power after a decade-long rise in the once-conservative state.... This week is arguably among the most crucial of the year's 46-day legislative session, with an important deadline for bills to advance. The speaker of the House of Delegates, Kirk Cox, and other Republican legislators warned that Mr. Northam's 'ability to lead and govern is permanently impaired.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One thing you can count on is that the inclination to racism & misogyny tracks nearly perfectly with egocentrism. One can hardly expect a racist to fall on his sword for the greater good. Northam may be forced out, but it won't be for want of trying to cling to power. ...
... Christian Vasquez of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday weighed in on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's racial controversy -- by taking a shot at his 2017 Republican gubernatorial challenger, Ed Gillespie. 'Ed Gillespie, who ran for Governor of the Great State of Virginia against Ralph Northam, must now be thinking Malpractice and Dereliction of Duty with regard to his Opposition Research Staff. If they find that terrible picture before the election, he wins by 20 points!' Trump tweeted. Gillespie appears to remain a sore spot for Trump.... Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and counselor to George W. Bush, never invited Trump to campaign. After Northam won, Trump tweeted that Gillespie 'did not embrace me or what I stand for.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Tom Nichols, in a Washington Post opinion piece: "... while Democrats, and decent people everywhere, have a right to demand that [Virginia Gov. Ralph] Northam step down, Republicans who continue to support a party dominated by Trump can't be taken seriously on this point. Trump's record on race-related issues is abysmal.... For the most part, the party has indulged his race-baiting comments and his crude handling of racial issues. But somehow party leaders, who stand firmly behind him, and a national party that just passed a resolution expressing 'undivided support' for him, seems to have no qualms about calling out Northam.... There are plenty of good arguments for kicking Northam out of his job. The newfound racial piety of a party that sold its soul to Trump isn't one of them." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Amy Gardner, et al., of the Washington Post: A "sweep [of arrests] across eastern North Carolina was one of the most aggressive voting-fraud crackdowns by a Trump-appointed prosecutor -- and also a deliberate choice that demonstrates where the administration's priorities stand. At the time of the arrests [which numbered 20], an organized ballot-tampering effort that state officials had repeatedly warned about was allegedly gearing up in the same part of North Carolina. The operation burst into public view after Election Day in November when the state elections board, citing irregularities in the mail-in vote, refused to certify the results of the 9th Congressional District race. That seat remains unfilled while state officials investigate. The decision by U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon Jr. to focus his office's resources on the prosecution of noncitizens rather than the ballot-tampering allegations in Bladen County comes amid a broad push by President Trump and other Republicans to portray illegal voting as a widespread phenomenon that threatens the integrity of American elections. After the August arrests, Higdon issued subpoenas for millions of records of foreign-born voters from state and local agencies -- a request North Carolina officials have said will consume an enormous amount of time and costs millions of dollars."
** David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "More often than not over the past 40 years, our government has helped the rich at the expense of everyone else. As a result, economic inequality has reached Gilded Age levels. In the face of these trends, the radical response is to do nothing -- or to make inequality even worse, as President Trump's policies have. It's radical because soaring inequality is starting to threaten the basic fabric of American life. Many people have grown frustrated and cynical. Average life expectancy, amazingly, has fallen over the past few years. Over the sweep of history, the main reason that societies have declined, as the scholars Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson have written, is domination 'by a narrow elite that have organized society for their own benefit at the expense of the vast mass of people.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: See also Alex Shephard's opinion, linked yesterday, on what Democrats should do about Howard Schultz & his regressive, self-serving fake "middle road." ...
... Washington Post Editors: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ... [has a plan better than Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax]: substantially hiking the estate tax on huge inheritances, an alternative to taxing someone's fortune during his or her lifetime.... Mr. Sanders estimates that his plan would raise $315 billion over a decade. That revenue is badly needed. Federal debt as a share of the economy has spiked. Rising generations face huge challenges paying for the health care and pensions of their retiring parents. Meanwhile, the very wealthiest Americans have done extremely well in recent decades, with a drift toward an ever-higher concentration of national wealth at the top." ...
... Chuck Schumer & Bernie Sanders in a New York Times op-ed: "From the mid-20th century until the 1970s, American corporations shared a belief that they had a duty not only to their shareholders but to their workers, their communities and the country.... It created an extremely prosperous America for working people and the broad middle of the country. But over the past several decades, corporate boardrooms have become obsessed with maximizing only shareholder earnings..., helping to create the worst level of income inequality in decades. One way in which this pervasive corporate ethos manifests itself is the explosion of stock buybacks. So focused on shareholder value, companies ... have been dedicating ever larger shares of their profits to dividends and corporate share repurchases.... Fueled by the Trump tax cut, in 2018, United States corporations repurchased more than $1 trillion of their own stock, a staggering figure and the highest amount ever authorized in a single year. This has become an enormous problem for workers and for the long-term strength of the economy.... We are planning to introduce bold legislation to address this crisis. Our bill will prohibit a corporation from buying back its own stock unless it invests in workers and communities first, including things like paying all workers at least $15 an hour, providing seven days of paid sick leave, and offering decent pensions and more reliable health benefits."
Medlar's Sports Report. Ken Belson of the New York Times: "Putting up with pain -- a lot of it -- has for decades been central to the bargain of playing for glory and money in the N.F.L.... To do that, countless players have long ingested far more pills than they should. In recent years though, N.F.L. players, especially linemen, have gotten significantly larger, and pain medication has become far more potent and addictive, with devastating consequences. A study published last year in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine found that 26.2 percent of retired players said they had used prescription opioids within the past 30 days. Nearly half of those players said they did not use them as prescribed. Seven percent of retired players -- equal to about 1,500 men -- said they had misused painkillers in the past month, according to a study conducted in 2011 by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis."
Mrs. McCrabbie: In response to unwashed's comment below, here's a shot of Trump's NYC penthouse I had not seen before. Trump calls the design style "comfortable modernism":
Way Beyond the Beltway
God Save the Queen. David Herszenhorn of Politico: "If Britain crashes out of the EU, and things go bad in London, Queen Elizabeth II will be ready to make her own exit -- to an undisclosed location. The U.K. government has repurposed Cold War emergency evacuation planning to prepare for the chance of violence and mayhem following a no-deal Brexit, and the need to protect the royal family, the Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday reported." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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Lauren Bacall tells all the Steves in the Trump Debacle how to whistleblow.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VBk79X3rMyc
A little off topic but not too far.
A couple of weeks ago friends gave me an extra copy of Bill Bryson's "The Lost Continent - Travels in Small-town America." A story about his drive through the US as an adult reminiscing about trips in the family station wagon as a kid. This morning I got to the part where he's in NYC.
"...On Fifth Avenue I went into Trump Tower, a new skyscraper. A guy named Donald Trump, a developer, is slowly taking over New York, building skyscrapers all over town with his name on them, so I went in and had a look around. The building had the most tasteless lobby I had ever seen -- all brass and chrome and blotchy red and white marble that looked like the sort of thing that if you saw it on the sidewalk you would walk around it. Here it was everywhere -- on the floors, up the walls, on the ceiling. It was like being inside somebody's stomach after he'd eaten pizza. "Incredible," I muttered and walked on..."
This was published thirty years ago. I'd wonder what he would write today.
@Ak: Yeah, Betty Bacall not only taught men how to whistle but she landed someone like Bogart who coulda whipped them Stevies to a pulp–-you betcha!
Today in Germany they have finally realized the importance of Betty's and Nancy's–-they want more women in politics and quotas have been suggested but some say that's not cricket–-not democratic.
"A deep male voice is often associated with authority, whereas a female voice has less social clout and gets easier talked over."[ gets talked over more easily?]
Merkel says "for a woman commanding authority is something she needs to learn" ( yeah–-Barbara Jordan sure enough had a problem with that) We also learn that Thatcher, that crafty wood hatcher, underwent special training to lower her voice. I can think of other special trainings Margaret could have participated in.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/opinion/germany-wants-more-women-in-politics-but-quotas-are-a-bad-idea.html
The other thing we learned––as though this was actual news––was that "Fatty"–-Ak's favorite name for this sorry ass president–- diddles away the day pretending he's actually doing the job he was elected to do. "Fake News!" he'll say and we'll say "Fake You" Mr. President, sir." Fat chance that––but someone ought to.
"The Handmaid Tale" video take-off on Reagan's "It's Morning in America" (written by Peggy Noonan) during the Super Bowl was great. "Wake Up America!"
Best line of the day about the pathetic excuse for a football game that was played yesterday:
Both teams are playing as though they know what happens when you get to the White House.
Approximately 250 years ago, Joseph Haydn wrote a symphony
for the donald. Can anyone guess which one?
If you look up "gaudy" in the dictionary, there should be a picture
of trump's penthouse. I especially like the pullouts on either side
in the foreground. They appear to be crypts, maybe for ex-wives,
or old call girls, or maybe mobster friends.
Forrest,
Based on that picture of Fatty's digs, I'm gonna guess "L'Imperiale". I'm pretty sure it's not "The Philosopher" or "The Schoomaster".
Fatty calls the style of that gaudy mausoleum "comfortable modern"?
Looks more like "Louis XVI before the beheading".
If TT was like pizza inside a stomach, that penthouse must be polyps in his colon. I just wonder who has to clean all that shit - one of his caravans?
"The contempt with which American leaders treat American blacks is very obvious; what is not so obvious is that they treat the bulk of the American people with the very same contempt. But it will be a sub-zero weather in a very distant August when the American people find the guts to recognize this fact."
Jame s Baldwin
@Akhilleus: If that's "comfortable modernism," then Louis XVI was (a) modern & (b) comfortable with his head ensconced in one of those crypts on the side of the photo there & having Trump roll out Louis' head, crown & all, for special guests.
The supposed "disgraceful breach of trust" is nothing of the kind. The true disgraceful breach of trust is a self-dealing con man pretending to be president and refusing to do the job with which he has been entrusted by the electoral college, if not the majority of voters.
It could be said, with one hundred percent accuracy, that Trump is simply not able to do the job, being, as he is, astonishingly unfit. So try, then. At least try to educate yourself, surround yourself with qualified, decent, smart, honorable people, not the smirking crooks, inveterate liars, and incompetent wastrels you call advisors and cabinet members. Try to be a president. Try.
People without legs race in marathons. Blind people can walk to work. Even three legged dogs can still run. The handicap of unfamiliarity with the job and its requirements is no excuse. Get off your ass and do some work.
Whoever leaked that schedule did us all a favor.
This lazy piece of shit deserves the most extreme opprobrium. Instead, he lauds himself as the greatest president in history. Ignominious fool.
"Trump roll[s] out Louis' head, crown & all, for special guests."
Hey, maybe it's part of the Trumpy White House Tour. He can put Louis' head on the pillow of the bed in the Lincoln bedroom, like the horse's head in "The Godfather". "And this is the Louis guy who had his head cut off, over in France. They do that there, see? Look at that clean slice. Beautiful, isn't it? He specifically asked that his head be sent to me. Just before he died, he said 'Send my head to my good friend Donald J. Trump. I know he'll be a great world leader some day. Perhaps the best ever.'"
Then he puts on the crown and poses for selfies, as the head, rictus in place, stares at him from behind.
No, this symphony has nothing to do with the donald digs.
It's about his departure from Washington.
It's Haydn's Symphony No. 45 (get it? 45) in F sharp.
It's commonly referred to as "The Farewell Symphony."
One can only hope.
I won't be watching Fatty's State of Trump speech. Why bother? We all know what he's going to say.
Me, me, me, me, me. And oh, by the way, did you hear about these people over here? They're all talking about me. Followed by wall, wall, wall, where is my wall, democrat party loves murderers, and I'm the best president and no collusion.
What I am interested in is Stacy Abrams' response. Already winger media is tearing her down. Fox calls her the "failed gubernatorial candidate". The failure was not hers, however, it was the failure of the Sec'y of State, also running for the governor's office, who decided that thousands of Georgians who might be tempted to vote for Abrams, shouldn't get that chance. Also, she's a wild-eyed extreme demycrap.
Whatever.
At least she's a decent, qualified, smart person, unlike Fox's boy, Fatty.
And it's guaranteed that her speech will not look like this.
Forrest,
A-ha. Very clever. Yes, one can only hope.
A bit more on the "duality of Anerican politics", Steve M. today highlighted a CBS poll that lays out, issue after issue, how far Republican voters are outliers from mainstream opinions, despite the persistent refrain of Confederate backers who insist the country is "center-right".
With the Faux News self-reinforcement mechanism, this isn't surprising to anyone who lives with or knows somebody living the Inability to Think for Yourself Syndrome. But it's more about the GOP reacts to this relationship that concerns me. A responsible political party would reboot and try to reestablish its foundational roots after such a passage as Hurricane Drumpf. McConnell and "Steve" as the GOP "leaders" only leaves more room for violating rats. Now completely freed from any sense of accountability and completely severed from notions of "good governance", the future of the GOP will absolutely cancerous to our Nation, while labotamied conversative voters exhalt at the Trail of Lib Tears.
The only way the GOP comes off the cliff is if majority desire translates to majority rule.
http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2019/02/republicans-vs-americans.html?m=1
So after Big League Politics takes down both Northam and Fairfax, who assumes the governorship? A Republican, by chance? This new upstart offshoot from Breitbart is working hard to make a splash right out of the gate.
Well, I did the due diligence I should have done before posting & VA's next in line is the Secretary of State, a Democrat, Kelly Thomasson. After that is Treasurer Manju S. Ganeriwala, an Independent appointed by Tim Kaine. And after that, Auditor, held by Martha Mavredes, described as a 'non-partisan.' So no obvious R's in the immediate lineup.
Every minute this Northam idiot drags his feet, he screws with the entire party. And it doesn't surprise me that R's are coming out with a story to damage Fairfax. The idea of another black governor in Robert E. Lee's home state is more than they can stand. I hope it doesn't turn out to be true.
But at this point, we know what's true about Northam. And that is, at this point, he's being an asshole. Bite the bullet, pal. You do the crime, you do the time. All this hippity hopping around is embarrassing and stupid. "It wasn't me, but yeah, I did blackface that other time, but there aren't any pictures of that, but I just did it as a joke, and I was young and..." Oh, shut up. Here, write this down: "I, Ralph Northam, resign immediately". Now sign it.
And there's the door. Bye-bye now.
First of all, I thought those 2 square protuberances were garbage disposals. Then I realized they were distorted close-up gold door handles.
the overall impression is as soulless as el escorial in Spain
If anyone needed a hint of how much attention Trump will pay to any agreement on the border, he's hinting he "might" declare a national emergency in his SOTU --- ten days before the deadline for an agreement.
If you ask me, any State of the Union address by the Orange Menace IS a national emergency. Maybe bring in the fire hoses to get him off the dais? I will be watching Netflix.
Re the "tasteful" boudoir in which the Menace ensconces himself, I wonder how much of that screaming gold is cut with lead? Maybe that is hastening his empending dementia--
Jeanne,
In one of my earlier professions (during college), I worked for a company that restored old churches. One of the things I learned was the centuries-old application of gold leaf, including the proper sizing (rabbit skin glue) of the surface, and the coverage of a red base coat prior to the application of the thin sheets of beaten gold to be pressed, rubbed, and burnished.
On certain jobs where those hiring us didn't want to spend the money on actual gold leaf, they'd opt for a much cheaper substitute called Schlagmetal or Dutch metal. It looked okay from a distance, but we could always tell the cheap-out material.
I'm guessing there's not a molecule of real gold in Fatty's gaudy abode.
Lets all remember congressman Joe Wilson yelling "you lie" during Obama's state of the union address. Let's hope Democrats don't do this with every trump lie. They could stress their vocal cords beyond repair. We need their voice in Congress.