;)
The Commentariat -- October 16, 2017
Afternoon Update:
The Babysitters. Ashley Parker & Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "When Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) described the White House as 'an adult day-care center' on Twitter last week, he gave voice to a certain Trumpian truth: The president is often impulsive, mercurial and difficult to manage, leading those around him to find creative ways to channel his energies. Some Trump aides spend a significant part of their time devising ways to rein in and control the impetuous president, angling to avoid outbursts that might work against him, according to interviews with 18 aides, confidants and outside advisers.... Trump's penchant for Twitter feuds, name-calling and temperamental outbursts presents a unique challenge. One defining feature of managing Trump is frequent praise, which can leave his team in what seems to be a state of perpetual compliments.... H.R. McMaster, the president's national security adviser, has frequently resorted to diversionary tactics to manage Trump. In the Oval Office he will often volunteer to have his staff study Trump's more unorthodox ideas.... Perhaps no Cabinet official has proven more adept at breaking ranks with Trump without drawing his ire than Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who has disagreed with his boss on a range of issues...."
Greg Sargent: "The Trump administration is set to roll out a new analysis on Monday that supposedly demonstrates that President Trump's proposed tax plan would ultimately boost middle-class incomes ... based on the notion that corporations will pass their tax savings ... on to workers, something that other researchers doubt.... Trump allies and Republicans are so desperate to pass this tax plan that they're also doubling down on another strange argument: If Republicans don't get this plan passed, their majority in Congress is doomed -- and with it, so is the Trump agenda.... these two lines of argument, when taken together, actually illustrate just how deep the scamming around these matters really runs."
Natasha Bertrand of Business Insider: "The founders of the opposition-research firm that produced the dossier alleging ties between ... Donald Trump's campaign team and Russia [-- Fusion GPS --] will invoke constitutional privileges and decline to testify before the House Intelligence Committee, their attorney ... Josh Levy wrote in response to subpoenas issued earlier this month by the committee's chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes.... A former federal prosecutor, Renato Mariotti, said the First Amendment argument, while 'novel,' seemed 'unlikely to succeed.... That is probably why the attorneys have emphasized other arguments, like Nunes' apparent lack of authority to issue the subpoenas and the fact that Congress didn't authorize the investigation he's conducting on his own,' Mariotti said." ...
... Brian Beutler comes up with a new reason we should believe the "golden rain" incident in the Moscow Ritz actually happened -- because subsequently, peeing all over President Obama has been the way Trump has "governed."
** Ed O'Keefe, et al., of the Washington Post: "Congressional Democrats reacted sharply Monday to reports that President Trump's nominee to serve as the nation's drug czar helped steer legislation that made it harder for the government to take some enforcement actions against giant drug companies. One Democratic senator [-- Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) --] called on Trump to withdraw the nomination of Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a position requiring Senate confirmation. Another quickly introduced legislation to undo the law that Marino championed and that passed Congress with little opposition.... In a separate letter to Trump, Manchin said that more than 700 West Virginians died of opioid overdoses last year. 'No state in the nation has been harder hit than mine,' he wrote.... Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) also said Monday that she would introduce legislation that would repeal the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016. The law, she said, 'has significantly affected the government's ability to crack down on opioid distributors that are failing to meet their obligations and endangering our communities.'" Mrs. McC: Thank you, Washington Post & "60 Minutes."
Richard Oppel of the New York Times: "Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who walked off his base in eastern Afghanistan in 2009, setting off a huge military manhunt and a political furor, pleaded guilty on Monday to desertion and to endangering the American troops sent to search for him. The guilty pleas by Sergeant Bergdahl, a 31-year-old Idaho native now stationed at an Army base in San Antonio, Tex., were not part of any deal with prosecutors. It will now be up to an Army judge here at Fort Bragg to decide the sergeant's punishment, following testimony at a hearing that is expected to begin as soon as next week." ...
... Brian Ross, et al., of ABC News: "... Bergdahl, Trump said in several campaign speeches as a presidential candidate, was a 'traitor' who should be executed. In an on-camera interview shot last year by a British filmmaker, obtained exclusively by ABC News and airing today on 'Good Morning America,' 'World News Tonight With David Muir' and 'Nightline,' Bergdahl says the words of the man who is now his commander in chief would have made a fair trial impossible. 'We may as well go back to kangaroo courts and lynch mobs that got what they wanted,' Bergdahl says. 'The people who want to hang me -- you're never going to convince those people.'... Trump ... called Bergdahl 'garbage.'... 'You know, in the old days -- bing, bong,' Trump said as he mimicked firing a rifle. 'When we were strong.'"
Michael Wilson of the New York Times: "A federal jury convicted Ahmad Khan Rahimi, a loner from New Jersey drawn to online calls to jihad, of setting the explosives in the Chelsea neighborhood that blew out windows and sent shrapnel flying into buildings, cars and people during a two-day bombing campaign in and around New York City last year. The conviction on Monday carries a mandatory life sentence; the sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 18.... Jurors also heard from those wounded that night by shrapnel from a bomb specifically designed to hurt people. No one was killed, a remarkable stroke of good fortune when the magnitude of the explosion became clearer."
David Zucchino of the New York Times: "After weeks of threats and posturing, the Iraqi government began a military assault on Monday to blunt the independence drive by the nation's Kurdish minority, wresting oil fields and a contested city from separatists pushing to break away from Iraq. In clashes that pit two crucial American allies against each other, government troops seized the vital city of Kirkuk and surrounding oil fields, ousting the Kurdish forces who had controlled the region for three years in their effort to build an independent nation in the northern third of Iraq. The Kurds voted overwhelmingly in a referendum three weeks ago for independence from Iraq. The United States, Baghdad and most countries in the region condemned the vote, fearing it would fuel ethnic divisions across the region, lead to the break up of Iraq and hobble the fight against the Islamic State."
*****
"The Low-Information President." Eric Levitz: "Here in the Fake News Media, we spend a lot of time documenting all the ways in which Donald Trump’s 'populism' is a lie. (The president isn't a self-made titan of business so much as a trust-fund kid turned con artist; his administration isn't pro-worker, only pro-boss; far from 'draining the swamp,' he's flooding it with raw sewage.) No occupant of the Oval Office has ever shared the average person's disinterest in policy, parliamentary procedure, and the rudiments of American civics to the extent that Trump does.... But if blithe ignorance about politics and mindless faith in the claims of right-wing pundits worked for Trump as a candidate, they've proven less effective for him as a president.... The fact that he gets most of his news from the GOP's propaganda network [Fox 'News'] has led him to assume that the party's talking points bear some resemblance to political reality.... Now, weeks after introducing 'his' tax-cut plan, Trump is starting to learn what it actually does -- and he's not happy." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The underlying problem may be that Trump never expected to win the presidency, as several of his reported remarks have indicated. While he well may believe a bunch of the crapola he hears on Fox "News" & from a host of conspiracy theorists, what he believed & what he said before his election didn't matter if the whole campaign was just a massive publicity stunt. It's easy to throw flames until you find out that you've unexpectedly been tasked with putting out the fires. On January 20, Trump the Unready found himself in a profoundly bad position: he had to try to keep those preposterous campaign promises. Indeed, if you look at nearly every dangerous, dimwitty move he's made, you can find its antecedent in a dangerous, dimwitty campaign promise or assertion.
Where's Donaldo? San Francisco Chronicle Editors: "As raging wildfires devour the lives, homes and dreams of Californians in an unprecedented scale, one voice has been conspicuously mute through day after day of crisis: President Trump. This is not a man who is reticent to let Americans know what is foremost on his mind. He is also someone who should have learned by now -- after devastating hurricanes and the Las Vegas massacre -- that Americans expect their president to step forward with empathy and resolve in moments of national trauma. Yet Trump has offered no more than a few perfunctory words about the Wine Country fires that have left at least 40 dead, consumed thousands of structures and stretched the physical and mental mettle of the dedicated firefighters and medical professionals to the edge of exhaustion." Mrs. McC: There are few groups less likely to vote for Trump than the liberal, wine-sipping coastal elites of Napa. The editors suggest my reading is "cynical." I call it realistic, inasmuch as everything Trump does or says is in his self-interest, and he can't see any upside in showing sympathy for this California corps d'elite.
Fredreka Schouten & Christopher Schnaars of USA Today: "President Trump's campaign spent more than $1 million on legal fees between July 1 and Sept. 30, as special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional committees intensified their probes into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.... The Republican National Committee last month reported paying more than $230,000 to the president's lawyers assisting in the Russia probe, John Dowd and Jay Sekulow. In addition, party officials say they spent nearly $200,000 in September on lawyers to help [Trump Junior] prepare for his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee's investigators." ...
... Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "In total, donors to the Trump campaign and the Republican party have spent over half a million dollars on Trump Jr.'s legal representation.... President Trump claims to be worth $10 billion. But his son's legal defense is being paid, with the help of people of modest means donating small amounts to the Trump campaign. Over $1.2 donated to the Trump campaign last quarter was 'unitemized,' meaning it came from individuals who have cumulatively donated $200 or less." Mrs. McC: Among these donors are surely some of the same patsies who have made televangelists rich.
... Andy Borowitz of the New Yorker: "Just minutes after the publisher Larry Flynt offered ten million dollars in exchange for information leading to Donald Trump's impeachment, Trump contacted Flynt and said that he would gladly provide the information himself in exchange for the cash.... Meanwhile, the success of Flynt's cash offer appears to have only emboldened the publisher, who announced that he is now offering twenty million dollars for information leading to the impeachment of Mike Pence." ...
... Jane Mayer of the New Yorker profiles mike pence, "who has dutifully stood by the President, mustering a devotional gaze rarely seen since the days of Nancy Reagan...."
Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "The United States military said on Monday that it would practice evacuating noncombatant Americans out of South Korea in the event of war and other emergencies, as the two allies began a joint naval exercise.... It has been conducting similar noncombatant evacuation exercises for decades, along with other joint military exercises with South Korea. But when tensions escalate with North Korea, as they have recently, such drills draw outsize attention and ignite fear among South Koreans, some of whom take them as a sign that the United States might be preparing for military action against the North."
Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "The Justice Department has dispatched an experienced federal hate crimes lawyer to Iowa to help prosecute a man charged with murdering a transgender high school student last year, a highly unusual move that officials said was personally initiated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In taking the step, Mr. Sessions, a staunch conservative, is sending a signal that he has made a priority of fighting violence against transgender people individually, even as he has rolled back legal protections for them collectively."
Scott Higham & Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post detail Rep. Tom Marino's (R-Pa.) critical part of passing a law that severely curtailed the DEA's ability to regulate narcotics, making "it virtually impossible for the DEA to freeze suspicious narcotic shipments from the companies.... Marino ... represents a district in northeastern Pennsylvania that has been hard-hit by the opioid crisis." Marino is Trump's nominee for drug czar, an apt title for a major opioid pusher. In the main story, also linked yesterday, the authors fingered others responsible for the plot to push the legislation through an uninformed Congress (and White House). One of the secret plan's architect? Haley Barbour, now a lobbyist for the drug cartel industry. Mrs. McC: I hope the Post will profile Barbour. You can get an idea of his role in the plot by reading yesterday's lead article on this topic.
Mark Stern of Slate: "There's no guarantee ... that the courts will step in to save Obamacare. But ... potential legal challenges do have a genuine chance of succeeding -- and, in the process, thwarting Trump's most dangerous (and expensive) attempt yet to sabotage Obamacare. The ACA is clear: HHS must keep paying out stercost-sharing subsidies to insurers whether it wants to or not. Trump has no authority to destroy the ACA by rewriting it. The cost-sharing money must keep flowing. If Trump wants to cut off those funds, he cannot merely sign an executive order. He must convince Congress to change the law itself." Stern presents three legal theories supporters of the payments might pursue.
Jessica Garrison & Kendall Taggart of BuzzFeed: "A high-stakes legal showdown is brewing for ... Donald Trump, as a woman who said he groped her has subpoenaed all documents from his campaign pertaining to 'any woman alleging that Donald J. Trump touched her inappropriately.' The subpoena ... was issued in March but entered into the court file last month.... Summer Zervos, a former contestant on the Trump's reality TV show The Apprentice, accused Trump of kissing and grabbing her when she went to his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007 to discuss a possible job at the Trump Organization. After Zervos made the accusation last October, just weeks before the election, Trump denied her accusation and called it a lie. She responded by suing him for defamation. As part of that suit, her lawyers served a subpoena on his campaign, asking that it preserve all documents it had about her."
Kyle Swenson of the Washington Post: "If there was one Hollywood celebrity who perhaps should have stayed on the sidelines of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, it was Woody Allen. The Oscar-winning director's personal and professional lives intersect directly with the disgraced media mogul in messy ways. The two worked together on several films.... Allen also faced his own allegations of sexual misconduct and his estranged son, Ronan Farrow, was the journalist who wrote the New Yorker's blockbuster investigation into Weinstein s behavior. Over the weekend, the 81-year-old director told the BBC Weinstein's downfall was 'sad for everybody involved.' But Allen also warned about a 'witch hunt atmosphere, a Salem atmosphere, where every guy in an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a lawyer to defend himself,' Allen told the BBC. 'That's not right either.'"
Medlar's Sports Report. Rob Goldberg of Bleacher Report: "After remaining unsigned through six weeks of the 2017 NFL season, Colin Kaepernick claims the league is participating in collusion.... The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback has filed a grievance against the owners for collusion under the latest collective bargaining agreement."
Beyond the Beltway
"Res Ipsa Loquitur." New York Times Editors: "Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney..., has no opposition on the Nov. 7 ballot as he seeks election to a third four-year term.... In 2015, Mr. Vance chose not to pursue sexual abuse charges against Harvey Weinstein. In 2012, he dropped a case against Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who were investigated for possible fraud in the way they pitched a SoHo hotel and condo project.... In both situations Mr. Vance had at one point or another accepted campaign contributions from those people's lawyers.... In a statement submitted to state elections officials on Wednesday, Mr. Vance reported $925,333.49 in his campaign account. The list of donors is strewn with law firms and individual lawyers.
Republicans Repeal the Public Will. Clio Chang of the New Republic: "... in the midst of last year&'s [Democratic] electoral wipeout, there was one bright spot: Citizens took the law into their own hands, introducing 71 ballot initiatives in 16 states -- the most in a decade.... But such victories have proved short-lived. Republican legislatures responded to the surge in civic participation by using their power to effectively overrule the will of the people -- and to make it harder to enact citizen-backed reforms in the future.... [Besides repealing some ballot initiatives,] following the election, according to a report by Ballotpedia, lawmakers in 33 states introduced 186 bills to adjust the ballot-initiative process -- often making it more restrictive.... Veteran political observers say that the current conservative backlash against ballot initiatives is particularly extreme.... In an age of partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression, robust forms of direct democracy are more important than ever."
Way Beyond
Hussein Mohamed & Mohamed Ibrahim of the New York Times: "The death toll from twin truck bombings in Somalia's capital rose to nearly 300 on Sunday, officials said, as emergency crews pulled more bodies from burned cars and demolished buildings after the Saturday blasts. Officials called the explosions on Saturday one of the deadliest attacks to hit the capital, Mogadishu, since an Islamist insurgency began in 2007. The blasts left at least 300 others wounded, and families scrambled to find missing relatives amid the rubble and in hospitals. The death toll -- which the information minister on Sunday said was 276 -- was expected to rise. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed declared three days of national mourning and called for donations of blood and funds to help the victims.... There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack."
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More in jus' shambling along...
"...(he's) one of the tiny quorum of adults around Trump—doing his “national duty,” " writes William D. Cohan in Vanity Fair on why "Gary Cohn can't quit"
Cohn’s continued presence in the West Wing is a testament to a reality that is rapidly becoming crystalline: that Cohn, along with Kelly, Jim Mattis, the defense secretary, and Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, are all that is standing between Trump and utter chaos and incompetence.
Lies and Consequences
The history of the last generation in American politics can be summed up in a very few words.
Republicans fuck things up royally, Democrats clean up the mess. Republicans come back and fuck things up worse. Then blame Democrats, even though Republican perfidy and lies cause world wide problems.
This morning I read a piece in the WaPo about the rightward trend in Austrian politics (although I'm not sure Austrian politics have ever been all that liberal, but still...). The proximate cause cited in the article is the refugee crisis that has ginned up immense hatred (right-wing brand, natch) and supported the rise of reactionary wingnut forces across the continent.
Since we're talking about causes, what might be the cause of this refugee crisis? ISIS, you say? Multiple horror shows across the Levant? Syria? Iraq? Fill in the blank...
Quite.
And what caused the rise of ISIS and fomented much of the current horror in the Middle East?
The Iraq War.
And the cause of that war? George W. Bush and Dick Cheney told a lie and started a war of choice.
But now George W. Bush is enjoying a sort of renaissance of popularity. He paints kitty cats and piggie toes. He paints pictures of military personnel (those who weren't killed in his war of choice, that is). He smiles and waves and lolls in his hammock back on the ol' ranch.
Doesn't seem right, does it?
Now think of what horrors the current Republican shithead is causing. He already makes people yearn for the last shithead. (Those who weren't paying attention, that is.)
So, basically, the upsurge in right-wing hatred and power based on their fanning the flames of ignorance and fear because of the presence of poor people who had nowhere else to go because Bush and Cheney set their countries on fire, can be traced back to a Republican lie.
Now think of ALL the lies being floated by the current shithead.
Jesus. I hesitate to even begin to predict what the world will be like after three more years of this asshole.
And, just wondering which Democrat will be lucky enough to come along and try to clean up this latest Republican mess. They don't even deserve the title of Political Party. They're a conflagration. An absurd, ignorant pustule of hatred, greed, stupidity, and racism. They spread evil at home and abroad with equal abandon.
How did they get this way? How did they glom on to such a horrific sense of selfishness and violence? I can venture no guess, but as Seneca once suggested, "Vices can be learned, even without a teacher."
Boy, he had that right.
First and ten, Socrates drops back to pass...
Colin Kaepernick's collusion charge will be tough to prove. Almost impossible, I'd say. In order to win a collusion suit he must prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that all NFL owners got together to give him the back of their collective hand. They didn't have to. It's enough that the Racist in Chief has promised dire consequences for the NFL and is castigating them tweet by tweet for allowing those nasty blah players, the moochers, to protest racial injustice. That is a yuuuuuuge no-no in Trump's Amerika. Only whites get to complain. And, after all, these owners are in business to make money. Right now they're trying to figure a way to kill these silent (but effective) protests without looking like the KKK knights on horseback in "Birth of a Nation", riding to save the hurt sensibilities of white football fans.
As for Kaepernick, there are more than a dozen guys being paid to play quarterback in the NFL who couldn't touch him, talent-wise. Not even close. He was a Super Bowl quarterback who can't even get a look-see by a single team, many of which could really use a guy of his abilities. The demonstrations, and the little king's tweets, have made him a pariah.
But his initial idea, to protest the unequal treatment of black Americans, has been successful. People are at least talking. Most whites however, are talking about how ungrateful these players are, but those people weren't going to be sending donations to Black Lives Matter any time soon anyway. But the conversation is being heard, no matter what the Orange Headed Baboon says. In fact, if it wasn't effective, he wouldn't be opening his yap.
Now, however, Kaepernick has pretty much sealed his fate. Even if he wins this suit (highly unlikely), he'll get a cash pay out, but nothing else. His career is effectively over. He will never again play in the NFL (if I'm wrong, I'll happily admit it, but I doubt any will give him a chance now). He might as well go play in Canada. Now that he's suing the owners, there isn't a one, that I can see, who will forget that and welcome him to training camp next year. He's done.
Likely he knew this. Perhaps this is another attempt on his part to continue the conversation. If so, he's deserves a lot of respect. He's giving up the one thing he's worked his whole life to achieve, the job of being a professional quarterback.
I was never much of a fan of Colin Kaepernick as a player (for a number of reasons, one of which was that I felt he was wasting his talent and not paying enough attention to details), but in his capacity as a gadfly, he's gunning for Hall of Fame status.
Socrates would be pleased.
Haven't had time to read through Jane Mayer's entire piece on little mikey pence in the New Yorker (linked above), but an early revelation produced an instant double take. Talking to pence's mother and brother, Mayer learned that little mikey, according to the family, is "hilarious"! A card, a crack up, a veritable comic genius. Really? Must be a well kept secret talent. Mostly, pence seems about as funny as bubble gum in your hair. He comes across as restrained to the point of bondage, abstemious, tendentious, preachy, and calculating, but hie-larious? Unh-uh.
Go figure.
I can guarantee you that one thing that won't be a bit funny would be for little mikey to inhabit the Oval. Even KKK Steve Bannon admits that if pence got into the White House, the country would be run by the Kochs.
Just what we need. Our trip through the Trump Inferno interrupted by impeachment, then pence in the White House. Virgil would jump out of the boat and take his chances. I'd go with him.
I finally finished Jane Mayer's profile on Pence––she's one of the best in the business and this in- depth piece has actually changed my mind about the Trump ousting. Pence presents as someone we definitely want to go quietly away in the night. Just the fact that he is the Koch's best boy is enough to settle that score. A few take-aways that I found interesting:
His father Edward–-a strict and abusive authoritarian, son Gregory says, "He was black or white, you were never confused where you stood, my brother's a lot like him." No comprising done in that household. And the Mother––wow! A Stepford wife by her own admission until she went back to school and "got a brain." So Pence emerges from that family dynamic, changes his religion–-"I gave my life to Jesus"––and as someone said–-"he comes across as Midwestern nice, but it [referring to a political issue] was mean and shallow. This is a man who called Paul Weyrich a friend and a mentor, the guy who condemned homosexuality, feminism, abortion, and government imposed racial integration. David Brock called Weyrich "a slimeball in the first degree." We also have a columnist who followed Pence's trajectory who said: "He has a fatal flaw: he's too political and idealogical –-his focus was on the next step up, not the job at hand."
So from now on when we see Pence gazing at Trump like a love struck puppy (Mayer uses the example of the Nancy Reagan gaze at her Ronny who by the way called her "Mommy") we can hope against hope that Mike and his mother/ wife will never grace the high chair in the White House, but remain as just one of the others in the Child Day Care Romper Room.
Science, schmience.
According to a piece in the Washington Post, President* Luddite has gone almost a year since his questionable election without naming a science advisor.
Gee...let's see how long it took some really smart presidents. Obama? 42 days. Jack Kennedy, 64. (Nixon appointed one within 28 days, but after a short period, ended up curtailing a good deal of government sponsored science research. Nixon, very much like Trump, was thin skinned and hated anyone he suspected of looking down on him--pointy-headed liberal leaning scientists, for example--and didn't want any of these guys telling him that research into better ways to wage war and kill people didn't make for great science.) Although the Decider went 230 days. Why is it that two of the stupidest presidents in history decided they didn't need any advice about immensely important scientific issues? I suppose if they were smarter, they'd see things differently. QED.
But Trump knows it all, so he don't need no sciencey types waving facts and figures around. That's all liberal fake news. Besides, his base hates science. Look who he appointed to run the Department of Energy. A moron who forgot one of the three most important things he wanted to do as president. Is it true that one of Newton's Laws was "Two out of three ain't bad?"
Never has a leader made more vital decisions, affecting more people, based on less information. Or worse? False information. Fake information. Made up bullshit. Pure crapola.
No wonder he has no use for a science advisor. Just someone else to make him feel stupid. Although a bag lady could do that without half trying.
But don't worry, I'm sure he'll come up with some peachy candidates. But it will have to be someone with no science background, a religious nut, a conspiracy theorist, and an ideological tool for the rich, the ignorant, and the haters.
Yeah, that oughta do it.
Thought that last week I'd provided a near-complete list of the Pretender's anti-Obama agenda, but another occurs to me this morning.
As The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau is about to release rules making it harder for payday and auto loan sharks to bamboozle their victims, I'm guess this Obama achievement is already dead center in the Pretender's sights.
There are likely others I haven't thought of...
From FB: Says it all about the 'great' America.
http://americanupbeat.com/real-vintage-advertisements-that-would-surely-be-banned-today/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cv&utm_campaign=Facebook_AU_Vintage_10_003&utm_co
Ken,
There's no doubt that protecting any scheme to separate Americans from their money via some corporatized scam is Job One for the pretender. He's done it many times (he tried to run several casinos, operations that have separating visitors from their cash while promising them riches galore, as a prime objective) and he's appreciative of other con games that attempt to do the same. It's likely that the sort of tactics employed by pay day loan crooks make the Scammer in Chief jealous that he didn't think of such things for himself. Naturally he's on their side, and never on the side of those they take advantage of. In most cases the term of a pay day loan is two weeks. The average annual interest rate? 400%. You read that right. It's not 40%, which would be outrageous on its own. It's 400%. Little king con man can only DREAM of being that greedy, and making it legal. No wonder he's on their side.
Trump Bizarro World
No matter the job, Trump appoints a person whose world view is 180° opposite the goals of that department or agency.
Public Education? Someone who hates public education and sees students and their parents as marks.
Energy? Someone whose idea of energy is something that makes money for his pals.
Housing? Someone who thinks those who need help finding a place to live don't deserve it.
Justice? Someone whose idea of justice is something benefits Christian, straight, white southerners. Period.
Commerce? Puh-lease.
Treasury? A guy who shoves it up the ass of old ladies in order to take their homes away so he can buy a new vacation home for his new wife.
EPA? A criminally negligent asshole who sides with environmental rapists every time.
And now director of National Drug Control Policy? A weasel who bends over backwards to ensure that the drug companies can fuck over millions of Americans without paying the penalty. Might as well appoint someone from the Medellin Cartel.
Pick any group or organization or idea and Trump will choose someone directly opposed to the mission of that group to run it. Boy Scouts? A child molester. Chief veterinarian? A vivisectionist. Fire Chief? An arsonist. Police chief? A Mafia don.
It's the Trump Way.
"Mrs. McC: Thank you, Washington Post & "60 Minutes." Yes! Absolutely––this information on the drug company's cozy connection with those in congress makes me sick. And one of my favorite ones= =to= hate southern honeys, Marsha Blackburn was front and center.
Many people are complaining that women who are assaulted don't "bother" to report it or take action. From my own experiences, and observations of others, I think those complaints are disingenuous. When the assailant is the head of the company, committee or other organisation, to whom do you report? If the assailant is the good buddy of said head? Often the women have told friends, who have neither encouraged reporting, nor done so on their friends' behalf - are they also to blame? Often, one is told "that's life, get over it" or a similarly dismissive, "that's terrible, where will we go for dinner?". The opprobrium attached to "telling" on someone is greatly underestimated, and then one isn't believed anyway, as the boys club closes ranks. Or it's all "just a joke, haven't you got a sense of humour?" But also, the need of the woman is so often a burning desire to blank out the event. These incidents can be very, very traumatic, especially for women with few networks, little experience and at the beginning of their working lives. And still, appallingly in this day and age, to blame oneself, and be mercilessly blamed, for acting, speaking, and yes Donna Karan, dressing in a way that "invited" the attack. One is paralysed and unable to act assertively to report or defend oneself. And I mean paralysed, mind goes blank, body goes limp, and all you want to do is cry. You feel worthless because you are made to feel worthless. That's why these attacks are so effective, why perpetrators keep succeeding, and too many victims give in to them. Jane Fonda should not be required to beat herself up for not being brave. The perpetrators are not "sick", they are violent, scheming, malevolent criminals. I recognise that these kinds of things happen to men as well, perpetrated by other men and sometimes women, the powerful dominate the powerless. I'm sure those male victims feel the same sense of helplessness as females. Echoing HRC slightly out of context, this is another case of "women's rights are human rights". We must fix this for all victims of the mean and powerful.