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steve2470

steve2470's Journal
steve2470's Journal
September 2, 2020

Smarter-than-average bear wheels trash bin outside Florida home

https://abc30.com/pets-animals/bear-wheels-trash-can-back-to-florida-home/6345080/

MARY ESTHER, Fla. -- A bear in Florida just channeled his inner Yogi Bear and made a smarter-than-average move.

You have likely seen a lot of videos of bears going through the trash, making a mess. But not this very polite black bear.

Brett Longo shared video of the bear walking upright and wheeling a trash can in front of his home in Mary Esther.

People on social media jokingly suggested that the bear was trying to be helpful.


September 2, 2020

Kenosha business owner declines President Trump photo-op, former owner replaces him

https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/kenosha-business-owner-declines-president-trump-photo-op-former-owner-replaces-him

A Kenosha business owner is accusing President Donald Trump of using his destroyed store for political gain.

Tom Gram’s century-old camera shop burned to the ground a week ago during the unrest in Uptown Kenosha. Gram said he declined President Trump’s request to be a part of his tour of damage Tuesday in Kenosha. Instead, a former owner of the shop was invited and he praised the president’s efforts.

Gram has owned Rode’s Camera Shop since he bought the business from the Rode family eight years ago. He worked at the store for more than four decades, but that all came to an end last Monday when the building went up in flames.

Gram said he got a call Monday from the White House asking if he’d join the president on a tour that would showcase his leveled business, but Gram immediately refused.

“I think everything he does turns into a circus and I just didn’t want to be involved in it,” Gram said.

To Gram’s surprise, he watched on TV as the president showed up with the store’s former owner and President Trump made it seem like the store was still his.
September 2, 2020

Trump Stopped Going to Dover AFB To Receive Bodies After Getting Berated On First Visit

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-dover-afb-returning-soldiers-bodies-lie_n_5f4ebdc9c5b6250f655c1ca8

WASHINGTON ― In the world of President Donald Trump, he has paid his respects to “many, many” returning soldiers killed in the line of duty, with daughter and top presidential aide Ivanka Trump adding that “each time” she has stood by his side at one of these ceremonies, it has hardened his resolve to bring troops home.

In the real world, Trump has traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware exactly four times ― fewer than half as many times as his vice president ― and avoided going at all for nearly two years after getting berated for his incompetence by the father of a slain Navy SEAL, according to a former White House aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bill Owens, the father of William “Ryan” Owens, refused to shake Trump’s hand at that Feb. 1, 2017, encounter, the aide said, and then told Trump that he was responsible for his son’s death for approving the disastrous raid in Yemen without bothering to understand the risks.

“He refused to go back for two years, he was so rattled,” the aide said, adding that the main reason Trump had approved the raid just five days after taking office was that predecessor Barack Obama had refused to do so.


So glad Mr. Owens told his corrupt ass off.
September 1, 2020

Trump's IRS chief has made hundreds of thousands from Trump properties while in office

https://www.citizensforethics.org/charles-rettig-trump-properties/

Charles Rettig, the Trump-appointed IRS Commissioner who has refused to release President Trump’s tax returns, has made hundreds of thousands of dollars renting out Trump properties while in office, according to documents obtained by CREW. Last year Rettig said it was his decision whether to turn over Trump’s tax returns to Congress, under the supervision of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

An analysis of Rettig’s personal financial disclosures for the last two years shows Rettig making $100,000 – $200,000 a year from two units at Trump International Waikiki. Trump made a detour to visit the property during a trip to Asia in his first year in office—a priceless promotional appearance for the business he still profits from as president. Rettig bought a 50% stake in the units in 2006, three years before the property opened, likely benefiting the future-president, whose company got 10% of total pre-sales.

Rettig isn’t exactly advertising his Trump-based profits. In fact, there’s no mention of Trump at all in the disclosures. The two properties are referred to only as “Residential Real Estate – Honolulu, Hawaii” and “Residential Real Estate (2) – Honolulu, Hawaii.” This isn’t new. When he was first nominated, he failed to disclose the properties were in a Trump-branded building. At his confirmation hearing, he did not directly answer concerns about the properties, only saying he would serve in an “impartial, unbiased” manner.

Trump is the first president elected since Richard Nixon to not release his tax returns. He’s fought hard to keep them secret, taking his fight all the way to the Supreme Court. There are all kinds of reasons he doesn’t want them made public—including the fact that they could point to potential criminal conduct. With Trump’s name removed from some buildings as it began to hurt property values, we can only imagine how toxic it would become if a bombshell in his tax returns were released. Which means the IRS Commissioner has a vested interest in the success of the Trump brand—and of preventing anything that could damage it.
September 1, 2020

Godzilla is now a Japanese citizen and tourist ambassador to Tokyo

https://twitter.com/Htop_Gunder/status/1300514990043148289

https://twitter.com/Htop_Gunder/status/1300527346689114112

What took them so long ?


eta: Oops, I don't read Japanese, and I read further down the thread

https://twitter.com/oafbot/status/1300573677872771073


eta2: BBC article from June 2015

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32987622

Godzilla finally gets citizenship in Japan

Godzilla's citizenship certificate
Name: Godzilla

Address: Shinjuku-ku, Kabuki-cho, 1-19-1

Date of birth: April 9, 1954

Reason for special residency: Promoting the entertainment of and watching over the Kabuki-cho neighborhood and drawing visitors from around the globe

Previous visits to Shinjuku Ward: 3 times; Godzilla (1984), Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (1991), Godzilla 2000 Millennium (1999)


September 1, 2020

ex-GOP consultant Stevens: Trump may seize ballot boxes in Miami if he needs to

Will he win? I hope not. I wake up every day to fight against that outcome. In terms of the law and Trump delaying the election or doing other things? He is not going to ask permission. He will just do it. I have challenged Republicans with the following scenario. I have not found one who can sensibly respond.

In November there are reports of voting irregularities in Dade County, Florida. There usually are. They usually do not mean anything. Donald Trump orders Chad Wolf to send those camo-wearing paramilitaries who were deployed in D.C. and Portland into the Dade County Courthouse and they seize the boxes of votes. The courts go crazy. They order the boxes returned. But let's say some of those boxes are opened. Now there is a problem with the chain of custody.

What happens then? Are the votes in Dade County thrown out? How do you have a national election without Dade County? Who would stop this? Security guards at the Dade County courthouse aren't going to stop guys in camouflage with automatic weapons. Trump would give those orders to seize the boxes and interfere with the 2020 election. Trump is testing whether the Republicans will stand up to him. Bill Barr won't stop him. That is for sure.


https://www.salon.com/2020/08/31/longtime-gop-consultant-this-election-is-the-most-dangerous-period-since-the-civil-war/

https://twitter.com/stuartpstevens

I worked in 5 R. presidential campaigns. This is my account of how the R Party became Trump. Not a book i thought I’d write but a book I felt I had to write



Stevens is not some crazy fringe person, despite being a long-time GOP consultant. He's with The Lincoln Project. Hopefully this scenario will not occur.
September 1, 2020

Eric Swalwell (D-CA): Oh my. "Dark shadows" and "people wearing black uniforms." How much is it....

Oh my. “Dark shadows” and “people wearing black uniforms.” How much is it worth to you that this unwell man is not president? $1? $10? $100? Step up and save America from this lunatic. Elect
@JoeBiden
at: https://act.joebiden.com/BVFraiser?attr=102721894


https://twitter.com/ericswalwell/status/1300658011434815490
September 1, 2020

Trump: "people in the dark shadows" are controlling Biden

Trump jumps into the deep end of conspiratorial waters, claims “people in the dark shadows” are controlling Biden


https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1300639216251146241


He is either losing his mind totally or stoking up chaos on purpose....

eta: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/31/trump-biden-conspiracy-theory-406729

President Donald Trump alleged unnamed people in “dark shadows” are controlling Democratic nominee Joe Biden in an interview with Laura Ingraham that aired Monday night on Fox News.

In discussing what he characterized as anarchists and thugs terrorizing American cities, Trump said, “People that you've never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows” are pulling the strings of the Democratic nominee.

Ingraham asked the president to elaborate, saying, “That sounds like a conspiracy theory.“


Trump specified: “There are people that are on the streets, there are people that are controlling the streets.”


Just such crazy shite and people believe it.
September 1, 2020

Trump compares killing an unarmed black civilian to missing a three foot putt in a golf tournament..

Trump compares killing an unarmed black civilian to missing a three foot putt in a golf tournament, Ingraham jumps in to make him stop.


https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1300639524159193090

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