Thursday, October 19, 2017
What Sgt. La David Johnson Didn't Sign Up For
Posted by Rude One
It's practically a saying from the old country: If you elect a raging sociopath with a dead soul, don't be surprised when he acts like a raging sociopath with a dead soul.
So, frankly, what would have been shocking is if President Donald Trump had expressed remorse, sorrow, and sympathy to the widow of Sgt. La David T. Johnson, killed on a mission in Niger along with three of his fellow soldiers. Did anyone think that he wouldn't screw it up?
Of course, every time you think that Trump has cleared some incompetence bar, he sets it lower and still manages to flatten his gelatinous body to squeeze under it.
Talking to Myeshia Johnson while she was in a car with Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson on her way to the airport to greet the casket holding her husband and the father of her two children and one on the way, Trump referred to Sgt. Johnson only as "your guy." This is according to Wilson and Johnson's mother, who heard the call on speakerphone. And Trump's words of comfort were "He knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway."
The first part of that sentence has gotten the most attention, but, really, the second part is just as callous and malignantly narcissistic. "I guess it hurts anyway" makes it seem like Trump thought the death shouldn't have hurt as badly because Johnson had joined the military. Even more, it's that he doesn't comprehend what the pain of loss is like because it's not about him.
Let us pause here to recognize that the deaths of four soldiers in Niger on October 4th weren't acknowledged by Trump until Tuesday. The "fake news" had reported on it shortly after the ambush that also wounded two others. And Johnson's body was found two days after the assault by Nigerians, not by the U.S. Special Forces there. American soldiers are in the African nation to train the local military on dealing with al-Qaeda, although history has shown that the mission creep from this kind of activity often plunges more troops into danger (see Vietnam, El Salvador, and on and on).
Let us also recognize that had this attack and these KIA's had occurred when Barack Obama was President and Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, it would have been a scandal that would have stoked impeachment talk, if not criminal charged. The silence from the administration and the president would have been an indicator to Republicans of some massive cover-up, perhaps even the willingness of the administration to allow soldiers to die.
It would be a shame if, say, not only did the American forces lack enough medical support in Niger, but that "the military’s Africa Command asked lawmakers broadly for more help months before the attack in Niger, a West African nation nearly twice the size of Texas." Oh, right, they did. On March 9, 2017. To the Senate Armed Services Committee.
General Thomas D. Waldhauser, the head of the U.S. Africa Command, testified, "[Our] African partners lack the capability and capacity to assist with personnel recovery missions. Integrating personnel recovery and surgical stabilization/medical sustainment capabilities are a moral obligation and essential for the proper care of U.S. service members who risk their lives to protect our nation."
Committee Chair Sen. John McCain pledged at that hearing, "We owe our witnesses, and the men and women they lead, unambiguous national security priorities, clarity in our strategic thinking, and an unwavering commitment to provide them the resources required to support the necessary courses of action."
Except just under seven months later, those resources weren't there in a way that might have been able to help the soldiers killed in Niger. There are reasonable discussions to be made about distribution of forces and the use of resources. But had this been Obama and Clinton, we would be hearing how incompetent they are and how they abandoned our troops.
Certainly, we should now at least be saying that Republicans and Trump were warned and did nothing about it (just as they did nothing when Clinton asked for more funding to shore up defenses at embassies and consulates overseas).
So when Trump told Myeshia Johnson that her husband "knew what he signed up for," well, that's bullshit. What he signed up for didn't involve the nation not putting out the resources needed to make any medical attention quickly available. What he signed up for didn't involve being left to rot for a couple of days because of inadequate ability to search for his corpse.
What he didn't sign up for was that his family would be treated like their grief should be muted because his Commander-in-Chief cannot handle human feelings and doesn't understand that his incompetence contributed to their pain.
It's practically a saying from the old country: If you elect a raging sociopath with a dead soul, don't be surprised when he acts like a raging sociopath with a dead soul.
So, frankly, what would have been shocking is if President Donald Trump had expressed remorse, sorrow, and sympathy to the widow of Sgt. La David T. Johnson, killed on a mission in Niger along with three of his fellow soldiers. Did anyone think that he wouldn't screw it up?
Of course, every time you think that Trump has cleared some incompetence bar, he sets it lower and still manages to flatten his gelatinous body to squeeze under it.
Talking to Myeshia Johnson while she was in a car with Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson on her way to the airport to greet the casket holding her husband and the father of her two children and one on the way, Trump referred to Sgt. Johnson only as "your guy." This is according to Wilson and Johnson's mother, who heard the call on speakerphone. And Trump's words of comfort were "He knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway."
The first part of that sentence has gotten the most attention, but, really, the second part is just as callous and malignantly narcissistic. "I guess it hurts anyway" makes it seem like Trump thought the death shouldn't have hurt as badly because Johnson had joined the military. Even more, it's that he doesn't comprehend what the pain of loss is like because it's not about him.
Let us pause here to recognize that the deaths of four soldiers in Niger on October 4th weren't acknowledged by Trump until Tuesday. The "fake news" had reported on it shortly after the ambush that also wounded two others. And Johnson's body was found two days after the assault by Nigerians, not by the U.S. Special Forces there. American soldiers are in the African nation to train the local military on dealing with al-Qaeda, although history has shown that the mission creep from this kind of activity often plunges more troops into danger (see Vietnam, El Salvador, and on and on).
Let us also recognize that had this attack and these KIA's had occurred when Barack Obama was President and Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, it would have been a scandal that would have stoked impeachment talk, if not criminal charged. The silence from the administration and the president would have been an indicator to Republicans of some massive cover-up, perhaps even the willingness of the administration to allow soldiers to die.
It would be a shame if, say, not only did the American forces lack enough medical support in Niger, but that "the military’s Africa Command asked lawmakers broadly for more help months before the attack in Niger, a West African nation nearly twice the size of Texas." Oh, right, they did. On March 9, 2017. To the Senate Armed Services Committee.
General Thomas D. Waldhauser, the head of the U.S. Africa Command, testified, "[Our] African partners lack the capability and capacity to assist with personnel recovery missions. Integrating personnel recovery and surgical stabilization/medical sustainment capabilities are a moral obligation and essential for the proper care of U.S. service members who risk their lives to protect our nation."
Committee Chair Sen. John McCain pledged at that hearing, "We owe our witnesses, and the men and women they lead, unambiguous national security priorities, clarity in our strategic thinking, and an unwavering commitment to provide them the resources required to support the necessary courses of action."
Except just under seven months later, those resources weren't there in a way that might have been able to help the soldiers killed in Niger. There are reasonable discussions to be made about distribution of forces and the use of resources. But had this been Obama and Clinton, we would be hearing how incompetent they are and how they abandoned our troops.
Certainly, we should now at least be saying that Republicans and Trump were warned and did nothing about it (just as they did nothing when Clinton asked for more funding to shore up defenses at embassies and consulates overseas).
So when Trump told Myeshia Johnson that her husband "knew what he signed up for," well, that's bullshit. What he signed up for didn't involve the nation not putting out the resources needed to make any medical attention quickly available. What he signed up for didn't involve being left to rot for a couple of days because of inadequate ability to search for his corpse.
What he didn't sign up for was that his family would be treated like their grief should be muted because his Commander-in-Chief cannot handle human feelings and doesn't understand that his incompetence contributed to their pain.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Trump Won't Stop Lying About Fallen Soldiers And Past Presidents
Donald Trump believes that the only way to get out of a hole is to keep
digging, and that’s exactly what he’s doing right now while trying to
downplay his lack of concern over the American soldiers who died after
being ambushed during an attack in Niger. Trump claims that he’s done
more than past presidents have, but that’s not even close to being the
truth. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/17/disrespectful-lie-anger-grows-over-trumps-claims-that-past-presidents-didnt-honor-fallen-troops/
http://www.businessinsider.com/sean-spicer-interview-with-robert-mueller-trump-russia-investigation-2017-10
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/17/disrespectful-lie-anger-grows-over-trumps-claims-that-past-presidents-didnt-honor-fallen-troops/
http://www.businessinsider.com/sean-spicer-interview-with-robert-mueller-trump-russia-investigation-2017-10
Trump Drops 92 Spots On Forbes Rich List After Losing $600 Million This Year
Donald Trump, and the few people who still support him, love to tell us
that he is one of the best businessmen the world has ever known. If that
were the case, then how did he manage to lose $600 million in the last
year, causing him to drop 92 spots on Forbes list of 400 richest
Americans?
Trump is about as good as running businesses as he is at running the country, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/17/news/trump-billionaires-forbes-richest-americans/index.html
Trump is about as good as running businesses as he is at running the country, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/17/news/trump-billionaires-forbes-richest-americans/index.html
Sean Spicer Meets With Investigators In Trump Probe
Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer met with investigators
from Robert Mueller’s team on Tuesday to discuss resident Trump’s
firing of former FBI director James Comey. Considering the content of
the meeting, it seems incredibly likely that Mueller is looking into
potential obstruction of justice charges against Donald Trump, as Ring
of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.
http://www.businessinsider.com/sean-spicer-interview-with-robert-mueller-trump-russia-investigation-2017-10
http://www.businessinsider.com/sean-spicer-interview-with-robert-mueller-trump-russia-investigation-2017-10
Televangelist: God Will Punish Those Who Mock Me!
Jim Bakker wants you to know that if you make fun of him God will punish
you. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, the hosts of The Young Turks, break
it down.
“You remember Jim Bakker? He’s the guy who hosted the televangelist program The PTL Club in the 1980's until it was revealed he paid off Jessica Hahn over rape allegations. Bakker would end up serving five years in prison for mail and wire fraud and has since gone back to his televangelist ways, hosting a show in which he pitches survivalist goods to those prepping for the end of days.
Last week, during his program’s broadcast, Bakker took aim at those who have ridiculed him over the years by telling them that eventually, they will have to answer to God for doing so.
Defending his past prophecies that haven’t come true yet, Bakker and his wife claimed that he had accurately predicted 9/11 while noting that “when God says something to you, you don’t always know the exact time it’s going to happen.”
He added that his critics need to stop “beating up on prophets” because the lord proclaims “woe unto you when you beat up on the prophets.” After labeling those who aren’t speaking to God as “mean people” and “anti-Christ,” he then railed at those who have made fun of him over the years.”
https://www.mediaite.com/weird/televangelist-jim-bakker-warns-critics-god-will-punish-you-for-making-fun-of-me/
“You remember Jim Bakker? He’s the guy who hosted the televangelist program The PTL Club in the 1980's until it was revealed he paid off Jessica Hahn over rape allegations. Bakker would end up serving five years in prison for mail and wire fraud and has since gone back to his televangelist ways, hosting a show in which he pitches survivalist goods to those prepping for the end of days.
Last week, during his program’s broadcast, Bakker took aim at those who have ridiculed him over the years by telling them that eventually, they will have to answer to God for doing so.
Defending his past prophecies that haven’t come true yet, Bakker and his wife claimed that he had accurately predicted 9/11 while noting that “when God says something to you, you don’t always know the exact time it’s going to happen.”
He added that his critics need to stop “beating up on prophets” because the lord proclaims “woe unto you when you beat up on the prophets.” After labeling those who aren’t speaking to God as “mean people” and “anti-Christ,” he then railed at those who have made fun of him over the years.”
https://www.mediaite.com/weird/televangelist-jim-bakker-warns-critics-god-will-punish-you-for-making-fun-of-me/
Donald Trump Callously Tells Widow of Fallen Soldier, "He Knew What He Signed Up For."
In this ‘Dollemore Daily’ Jesse addresses the comment, reportedly made
to the wife of a fallen army Green Beret, Sgt. La David Johnson, "He
knew what he signed up for."
Senate Intelligence Committee comes for the stupidest man in the Trump–Russia investigation
Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has a son who is also
named Michael Flynn.
Flynn the younger is best known for his outlandish statements in support of every possible conspiracy theory, such as a Russian bribery scandal involving President Obama, a secret group behind the Las Vegas shooting, and a fresh set of accusations against Hillary Clinton.
And all that is just today.
Which makes this a fairly typical day in the life of blowhard racist golf bro, Michael Flynn—whose biggest accomplishment in life is spreading the insane “Pizzagate” story.
But the scruffier, pudgier Flynn—whose only military experience is dodging duck hooks on the golf course—was employed for a bit packing his father’s briefcase, accompanying him on overseas trips, and possibly little things like helping poppa plan to kidnap people and hand them over to foreign dictators.
Which has earned him some time with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and has now brought him to the attention of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/17/1707474/-Senate-Intelligence-Committee-comes-for-the-stupidest-man-in-the-Trump-Russia-investigation
Flynn the younger is best known for his outlandish statements in support of every possible conspiracy theory, such as a Russian bribery scandal involving President Obama, a secret group behind the Las Vegas shooting, and a fresh set of accusations against Hillary Clinton.
And all that is just today.
Which makes this a fairly typical day in the life of blowhard racist golf bro, Michael Flynn—whose biggest accomplishment in life is spreading the insane “Pizzagate” story.
But the scruffier, pudgier Flynn—whose only military experience is dodging duck hooks on the golf course—was employed for a bit packing his father’s briefcase, accompanying him on overseas trips, and possibly little things like helping poppa plan to kidnap people and hand them over to foreign dictators.
Which has earned him some time with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and has now brought him to the attention of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/17/1707474/-Senate-Intelligence-Committee-comes-for-the-stupidest-man-in-the-Trump-Russia-investigation
Trump told soldier's widow 'he knew what he signed up for'
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Miami politician says aliens took her on a spaceship - Now she’s running for Congress
“I went in. There were some round seats that were there, and some quartz rocks that controlled the ship — not like airplanes.”
Source:
http://mysteriousuniverse.org by Paul Seaburn
Read here:
https://helenastales.weebly.com/blogue/miami-politician-says-aliens-took-her-on-a-spaceship-now-shes-running-for-congress
Source:
http://mysteriousuniverse.org by Paul Seaburn
Read here:
https://helenastales.weebly.com/blogue/miami-politician-says-aliens-took-her-on-a-spaceship-now-shes-running-for-congress
DNC Appoints Anti- $15 Minimum Wage Stooge To Finance Committee
Elections have consequences, and the consequence of Tom Perez winning the
DNC chair is that we now get anti-progressive, pro-corporate,
anti-worker millionaires appointed to important positions inside the
DNC.
Donald Trump Ignores Fallen Soldiers In Niger - Lies About Obama As Cover!
In this ‘Dollemore Daily’ Jesse addresses Donald Trump's remarks in a
press conference at the White House with Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell. Trump obfuscated and made excuses for not mentioning the loss
of four Green Berets in Niger 13 days ago.
Trump has written letters to the families of the fallen. Or he will. They’ll go out tonight. Probably. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.
"So given how vocal Trump was about his support for the military, his silence after the Oct. 4 ambush in southwestern Niger in which four U.S. Special Forces soldiers were killed was noticeable. He finally commented on the incident Monday — 12 days after it happened. Asked by a reporter about his delayed response, Trump said he had written letters over the weekend and would “at some point” call the families of the fallen soldiers.
He also said of Obama and other previous presidents that “a lot of them didn't make calls,” an assertion former Obama aides forcefully denied. He did not explain why it had taken so long to publicly acknowledge the incident.
CNN reported over the weekend that Trump was golfing while the remains of La David Johnson, one of the four killed in the attack, were returned to Dover Air Force Base, a juxtaposition critics pounced on.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/10/16/why-was-trump-so-quiet-after-the-deaths-of-four-u-s-soldiers-in-niger/
During a Monday news conference,resident Trump was asked about the
killing of four Green Berets in an ambush in Niger and why he hadn't
addressed their deaths. The panel criticizes Trump's response.
Trump has written letters to the families of the fallen. Or he will. They’ll go out tonight. Probably. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.
"So given how vocal Trump was about his support for the military, his silence after the Oct. 4 ambush in southwestern Niger in which four U.S. Special Forces soldiers were killed was noticeable. He finally commented on the incident Monday — 12 days after it happened. Asked by a reporter about his delayed response, Trump said he had written letters over the weekend and would “at some point” call the families of the fallen soldiers.
He also said of Obama and other previous presidents that “a lot of them didn't make calls,” an assertion former Obama aides forcefully denied. He did not explain why it had taken so long to publicly acknowledge the incident.
CNN reported over the weekend that Trump was golfing while the remains of La David Johnson, one of the four killed in the attack, were returned to Dover Air Force Base, a juxtaposition critics pounced on.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/10/16/why-was-trump-so-quiet-after-the-deaths-of-four-u-s-soldiers-in-niger/
During a Monday news conference,
Trump can't hold President Obama's jock strap
Trump, Chieftain of Spite
It
must be cold and miserable standing in the shadow of someone greater
and smarter, more loved and more admired. It must be infuriating to have
risen on the wings of your derision of that person’s every decision,
and even his very existence, and yet not be able to measure up — in
either stratagem or efficacy — when you sit where that person once sat.
This
is the existence of Donald Trump in the wake of President Barack Obama.
Trump can’t hold a candle to Obama, so he’s taking a tiki torch to
Obama’s legacy. Trump can’t get his bad ideas through Congress, but he
can use the power of the presidency to sabotage or even sink Obama’s
signature deeds.
In
fact, if there is a defining feature of Trump as “resident,” it is
that he is in all ways the anti-Obama — not only on policy but also on
matters of propriety and polish. While Obama was erudite, Trump is
ignorant. Obama was civil, Trump is churlish. Obama was tactful, Trump
is tacky.
There
is a thing present in Obama and absent from Trump that no amount of
money or power can alter: a sense of elegant intellectualism and taste.
The
example Obama set makes the big man with the big mouth look smaller by
the day. But I believe that this nonadjustable imbalance is part of what
has always fueled Trump’s rage against Obama.
Trump, who sees character
as just another malleable thing that can be marketed and made salable,
chafes at the black man who operated above the coarseness of commercial
interests and whose character appeared unassailable.
America
— even many of the people who were staunch opponents of Obama’s
policies — admired and even adored the sense of honor and decency he
brought to the office. Trump, on the other hand, is historically unpopular, and not just in America.
As The Pew Research Center
pointed out in June: “Trump and many of his key policies are broadly
unpopular around the globe, and ratings for the U.S. have declined
steeply in many nations.” Trump is reviled around the globe and
America’s reputation is going down with its captain.
All
of this feeds Trump’s consuming obsession with undoing everything Obama
did. It is his personal crusade, but he also carries the flag for the
millions of Americans — mostly all Republicans — who were reflexively
repulsed by Obama and the coalition that elected him.
Trump
has done nearly everything in his power to roll back Obama’s policies,
but none are as tempting a target as the one named after him: Obamacare.
Republicans
— including Trump — campaigned for years on a lie. They knew it was a
lie, but it was an enraging one that excited their base: Obama was
destroying America’s health care system, but Republicans could undo the
damage and replace it with their own, better bill.
First,
Obama wasn’t destroying America’s health care system. To the contrary,
he simply sought to make it cover more people. He moved to take American
health care in a more humane, modern and civilized direction, to make
it more universally accessible, even by the sick and poor who often took
its absence as a given.
Second,
the Republicans had no replacement plan that would cost less and cover
as many or more people. That could not be done. So, their
repeal-and-replace efforts failed. But that also meant that Trump’s
promise was proven a lie. Trump has no problem lying, but in the end he
wants his lies to look plausible.
Trump
makes assertions for which there is no evidence — either knowingly
lying, recklessly boasting or wishfully thinking — then seeks support
for those statements, support that is often lacking because the
statements are baseless.
He
violates a basic protocol of human communication: Be sure of it before
you say it. His way is to say something wrong, then bend reality to make
it appear right. This is why the age of Trump is so maddening and
stupefying: He is warping reality.
Last week he took more swipes at undermining the A.C.A.:
Asking his administration to find ways to increase competition among
insurers (a move many worry will move younger, healthier people out of
the marketplace) and stopping the so-called “cost-sharing reduction”
(CSR) payments — federal subsidies paid to insurance companies to help
finance coverage for low-income Americans (a move many believe will send
premiums soaring for those people).
Trump is doing this even though it will likely wreak havoc on countless lives. He is doing this even though a Kaiser Health Tracking Poll
released Friday found that most Americans want Trump and Congress to
stop trying to repeal the law, and instead work on legislation to
stabilize the marketplaces and guarantee health care to Americans.
Furthermore,
six in 10 Americans believe Congress should guarantee cost-sharing
reduction payments, as opposed to only a third who view these payments
as a “bailout of insurance companies,” as Trump has called them. There
is no real reason to cut these payments, other than to save face and
conceal the farce.
Trump
isn’t governing with a vision, he’s governing out of spite. Obama’s
effectiveness highlights Trump’s ineptitude, and this incenses Trump.
Millions of high-security crypto keys crippled by newly discovered flaw
A crippling flaw in a widely used code library has fatally undermined
the security of millions of encryption keys used in some of the
highest-stakes settings, including national identity cards, software
and application signing, and trusted platform modules protecting
government and corporate computers.
The weakness allows attackers to calculate the private portion of any vulnerable key using nothing more than the corresponding public portion. Hackers can then use the private key to impersonate key owners, decrypt sensitive data, sneak malicious code into digitally signed software, and bypass protections that prevent accessing or tampering with stolen PC's.
The 5 year old flaw is also troubling because it's located in code that complies with two internationally recognized security certification standards that are binding on many governments, contractors, and companies around the world.
The code library was developed by German chipmaker Infineon, and has been generating weak keys since 2012 at the latest.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/10/crypto-failure-cripples-millions-of-high-security-keys-750k-estonian-ids/
The weakness allows attackers to calculate the private portion of any vulnerable key using nothing more than the corresponding public portion. Hackers can then use the private key to impersonate key owners, decrypt sensitive data, sneak malicious code into digitally signed software, and bypass protections that prevent accessing or tampering with stolen PC's.
The 5 year old flaw is also troubling because it's located in code that complies with two internationally recognized security certification standards that are binding on many governments, contractors, and companies around the world.
The code library was developed by German chipmaker Infineon, and has been generating weak keys since 2012 at the latest.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/10/crypto-failure-cripples-millions-of-high-security-keys-750k-estonian-ids/
Monday, October 16, 2017
Rebekah Mercer And Kellyanne Conway Need To Compete In A Who Looks More Like A Skeleton Contest
We need to stop talking about Bannon and start talking about the REAL source of all this.
Steve Bannon is a just another tool of the Mercers.
He is. Conway is, and Trump is. They're tools. To make all of this about him or them is to allow the source of their power to remain largely unknown. Between the perpetual campaigning and Citizens United, we need to shine bright spotlights on the money sources that influence - CONTROL - our government.
After the Russians, this reclusive father-daughter team exercised massive control of the last election. THEY need to be outted widely. Can you say Cambridge Analytica? Can you say Breitbart?
Robert Mercer - father/patriarch
Diane Mercer - mother
Rebekah Mercer - daughter/on-the-ground-face-of-the-family
After bankrolling the Trump campaign's dirty tricks squad, the Mercer's started enjoying what they bought. Big Bux Bob, the dad, put his 42 year old little girl, Rebekah-Friend-Of-Czarina-And-Secretary-Of-Everything, on the Presidential Transition team.
Even the god-fearing set get this:
Know Thy Enemy: Ephesians 6:11-12
So yeah, use their names whenever you want to speak of Bannon, their current field general.
He is. Conway is, and Trump is. They're tools. To make all of this about him or them is to allow the source of their power to remain largely unknown. Between the perpetual campaigning and Citizens United, we need to shine bright spotlights on the money sources that influence - CONTROL - our government.
After the Russians, this reclusive father-daughter team exercised massive control of the last election. THEY need to be outted widely. Can you say Cambridge Analytica? Can you say Breitbart?
Robert Mercer - father/patriarch
Diane Mercer - mother
Rebekah Mercer - daughter/on-the-ground-face-of-the-family
After bankrolling the Trump campaign's dirty tricks squad, the Mercer's started enjoying what they bought. Big Bux Bob, the dad, put his 42 year old little girl, Rebekah-Friend-Of-Czarina-And-Secretary-Of-Everything, on the Presidential Transition team.
Even the god-fearing set get this:
Know Thy Enemy: Ephesians 6:11-12
So yeah, use their names whenever you want to speak of Bannon, their current field general.
Trump accuser subpoenas campaign for documents on other allegations
A woman who has accused resident Trump of groping her in
2007 is subpoenaing his campaign for any documents on "any woman
alleging that Donald J. Trump touched her inappropriately," BuzzFeed News reported Sunday.
The woman, Summer Zervos, is a former contestant on Trump's reality show, "The Apprentice."
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-accuser-subpoenas-campaign-for-documents-on-other-allegations-report/ar-AAtut5m
The woman, Summer Zervos, is a former contestant on Trump's reality show, "The Apprentice."
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-accuser-subpoenas-campaign-for-documents-on-other-allegations-report/ar-AAtut5m
Sunday, October 15, 2017
Republicans stand by as the nation goes to hell
After GOP Sen. Bob Corker raised the prospect last week that Donald Trump could propel us into World War III, House Speaker Paul Ryan responded to the horrific prospect this week with the fierce urgency of whatever.
They should just "talk it out" among themselves, Ryan told reporters Wednesday.
It was a revelation of sorts in the sense that it was hard to imagine Ryan carving out an even more useless space for himself in Washington than he has already been occupying. Conservative columnist Michael Gerson wrote:
So how does Ryan imagine a Corker/Trump conversation might unfold? Over dinner, Corker accuses theTrump, who has consistently fumed over the nettlesome nature of beingresidentof being a chaotic, directionless, shallow liar who could start a nuclear war. Trump passes the peas and attacks Corker for being short. This is, after all, the way gentlemen resolve their differences.
Angry at Congress's inability to dismantle his predecessor's signature achievement, health care, Trump is taking it upon himself to scrap the government subsidies millions of Americans depend on to pay for their coverage. Trump, who clearly believes this was a master stroke that will force Democrats to the bargaining table, has now placed the squeeze on Republicans to fix the subsidies fast lest millions of Americans see their premiums skyrocket 20 to 25 percent by 2020.
After all, the first spike in coverage will come at the beginning of next year—becoming the GOP's de facto opening bid in a midterm election year that will ultimately be a referendum on their turn at one-party governance.
But hey, for a guy who often can't even remember why he stepped into a room, so goes his negotiating prowess. The White House is less about “strategy” these days than simply scrambling to keep Trump from blowing up the world.
Defense Secretary James Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster reportedly toiled to find a way for Trump to shake his fist at Iran without totally sinking the Iran nuclear deal with which U.N. investigators say the country has complied. When Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had originally advised Trump to stay in the deal, he apparently "threw a fit." So Trump's national security team spent months formulating a compromise between Trump's need for cathartic juvenile expression and our country's imperative to keep another regime from becoming the next unsolvable nuclear problem, à la North Korea.
In short, alongside Trump's governing incompetence, his bouts of rage have emerged as the most consistent and predominant feature of his
And yet, in the face of what has become a crystal clear and present danger to the existence of our country, Ryan and his Senate counterpart Mitch McConnell have emerged as some of the most feckless, immoral, and negligent leaders of our time. More simply put—these guys might well be the biggest couple of tools to ever "lead" Congress.
While Ryan wants Trump and Corker to go to couples therapy (as if that'll solve our WW III dilemma), McConnell was busily covering his right flank this week with an offering of red meat to the GOP's starved base. In a Weekly Standard interview, McConnell tried to ease activists’ calls for his ouster by suggesting that Republicans would no longer honor the Senate's "blue slip" tradition.
The practice allows any senator to effectively block consideration of a judicial nominee from her or his own state, which gives the minority party considerable power to slow down the judicial appointment process (a power that Republicans abused during President Obama's last two years in office). It remains to be seen if Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley will follow McConnell's lead, but McConnell had to dangle something to distract conservative activists from his year of missed opportunities. Why not actively work to give Trump more power since he's been comporting himself so admirably?
McConnell and Ryan are currently duking it out as the most reviled politicians in the land—detested almost equally as much by Trump's rabid supporters as Democratic voters. They lead a Republican Congress that, in the words of the Senate GOP's campaign arm, "has replaced President Obama as the bogeyman for conservative GOP primary voters."
They couldn't be a more deserving pair as they continue to empower the man-child in chief who is now bitterly destroying everything he can get his stubby little paws on.
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