February 4, 2017

While We are Distacted by "Bowling Green Massacre", Putin Wants Trump to Help Him Invade Poland

This ought to be a huge story. Trump's folks are asking for phony intelligence about Poland invading Belarus. Think "yellow cake uranium." Why would Trump want intelligence about Poland invading Belarus? So Putin can invade Poland.

According to one U.S. official, national security aides have sought information about Polish incursions in Belarus, an eyebrow-raising request because little evidence of such activities appears to exist. Poland is among the Eastern European nations worried about Trump's friendlier tone on Russia.

https://apnews.com/9a5a5fbbb2ba45b2b9316e1734ec22eb

It is very easy to laugh at the "Bowling Green Massacre." But between chuckles be sure to gnash your teeth and let your elected officials know that you are not on board with a Russian invasion of Poland that Trump's U.N. nominee will approve by preventing any U.N. action in defense of Poland.

Thanks to highplainsdem for highlighting this story at DU! Now go rate his/her post up so that it will get more attention.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028594421

February 4, 2017

Can Anyone Who Graduated "With Honors" Really Be as Dumb as Kelly Anne Conway?

Serious questions. Unless she lied and cheated her way through college and then law school, I don't see how any one can be a stupid as this woman wants us to think she is. "Alternative facts"? "Bowling Green Massacre?" These are worse than Ann Coulter at her worst (When she praised our Canadian allies who fought beside U.S. troops in Vietnam. Guess that's why Canada accepted so many draft dodgers during the Vietnam War.)

So, consider this possibility. Maybe Conway, who used to work for Mike Pence still works for Pence. Maybe she has dyed her hair blond and come up with a bunch of outrageous things to say that will make Donald Trump look like an incompetent who has a dumb blond for a top adviser. Her Orwellian remarks in particular made Americans feel even more unsafe and has probably contributed to the whopping 40% who want to see Trump impeached.

Consider the possibility that Kelly Anne Conway is Mike Pence's Nancy Reagan. Or maybe his Lady Macbeth. Does the POTUS employ a food taster to check for drugs in the coffee?

February 4, 2017

If You Want to Understand Trumps Continued Appeal to His Base, Read Bandits by Eric Hobsbawm

Here, I’ll make it easy for you. This is the Amazon link.

https://www.amazon.com/Bandits-Eric-Hobsbawm/dp/1565846192/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1486170977&sr=8-4-fkmr0&keywords=bandits+hobsbaw2n

Too bad it isn’t on Kindle, then you could get to work right away delving into the minds of the people who still think the sun shines from Trump’s ass two weeks into his administration when his disapproval rating is greater than 50% and 40% of registered voters want him impeached!

With so many people so very, very angry and afraid of Trump, why do your relatives who watch Fox News still cheer for him? Are they stupid? Are they being paid? No, they belong to subset of Americans who read and hear the same news that you and I read and hear and react to it in an entirely different way.

These are the American peasants, rural downtrodden workers (and by “rural” l I mean “small minded” not small town) who dream about an idyllic past when everything was peachy for them and the tiny group with whom they identify---usually their family, maybe their church or social circle or profession or town if they really are from a small town. And then, the snakes crawled into Eden and stole their birthright, and they were cast from the garden. Now, helpless, friendless, hopeless, all they can do is pray that someone---a King will come to stamp out the snakes and restore their Eden. And, since the “snakes” have official titles like “officer” and “boss” and “judge”, the King will have to be a rebel. He will have to be willing to break the law, like Jesus in the Temple. He will have to be a Bandit King.

For Trump’s supporters, up is down and right is wrong. Trump’s supporters are the kind of folks who automatically cheat on their taxes, steal internet access, leave their bills unpaid, file frivolous lawsuits. Lying comes as naturally to them as breathing. That’s because they know in their hearts that there is something wrong with the world. In a just and right world, they would be happy. If they are not happy, then something is wrong with the world, not them. And their religion---apocalyptic—teaches them that it is right and virtuous to destroy anything that makes them unhappy or even uneasy. Make that anything they do not understand.
Here is a quick list of things which Trump’s base do not consider sins in a Bandit King.
1.Nepotism

2.Cheating

3.Recklessness/Impulsivity

4. Being Spiteful

5 .Lavish Spending

6. Crimes

7. Lies

8. Promiscuity

9. Vulgarity

10. Poaching public lands

11. Bigotry

12 .Egotism


Note that much of what normal people hate about Trump’s first 14 days falls into one of these categories. We hate his bigotry towards Muslims and Latinos and women. We hate his lies. We despise his massive ego. We cringe whenever he tramples over the rule of law. His tweets are infuriating. The way he openly profits from his position of power, the way he rewards his family and friends—to ordinary, reasonable Americans these are the signs of an unfit political leader. We worry that he will lead us into war. We worry that he will kill us or bankrupt us. We worry that the world as we know it will come to an end on a whim of the enormous man-child whom the Russians have installed as our president.

But to one of the peasants who has been longing for the coming of the Bandit King, these vices are all virtues.

What would make the peasants change their minds? Very few things, actually. Bandit Kings are cut lots of slack. However, even Bandit Kings have to follow certain rules. Trump’s base will abandon him if he is ever proven to be guilty of

1. Rape

2. Cowardice

3. Injustice (towards his supporters )

4. Being stingy (towards his supporters)

5. Double dealing and backstabbing (his supporters)

Not much to work with, I know. Journalists who really want to drive a wedge between Trump and his base should probably concentrate on how individual hardworking Americans are suffering from Trump’s policies. But be warned. Bandit Kings have a nasty habit of dying and turning into legends.

P.S. Note that the Evangelicals who are hoping Trump will bring Armageddon only showed signs of abandoning him in the primaries over one thing--the whole "pussy grabbing" affair that was awfully close to rape. But then the FBI and the MSM got the topic of conversation back to Hillary the Witch's Emails and the Evangelicals forgot about the rape. The way to knock Trump out of power is to prove a rape allegation.

February 1, 2017

What Will Happen When Trump Tries to Declare Martial Law?

He has defied the Judicial Branch. He has fired the acting Attorney General---which is actually worse than Nixon's infamous Saturday Night Massacre (that was just a Special Prosecutor, not the Prosecutor for the whole country). He is rewriting legislation, which means he is trampling all over the legislative branch--although the Republican wimps in Congress are pretending not to notice (must be some pretty bad blackmail material that Putin has on them). He is threatening to stifle the press and impose a state religion. And his popularity is in the toilet, all in a brief 9 days. One in 100 American marched against him a week ago. At the rate he is going, soon one in two Americans will have protested him---the half that do not picket being too young or too old or too sick to take to the streets.

Where does this all end? Trump has backed himself into a corner and has only one play left. He can declare martial law. What will the military do when this happens? I am predicting that all those generals whose asses he has been kissing (see link)

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-generals-cabinet-232396


will give him a big "Hell, no!"

Note that I did not write "if". That is because he is obviously planning a military coup. Why else would he be making so cozy with the Pentagon while taking a big Trump Dump all over everyone else?

I suspect that Putin told him "Get the military in your pocket, then you can do anything you want." Putin does not know the U.S. and he does not know the U.S. military. We swear to defend the Constitution, not the person who happens to be acting as President.

January 30, 2017

What Trump's Seven Countries Have in Common---They Are All on PUTIN's Mid East Wish List

We have been so alarmed at Trump for taking a big, old stinky Trump dump on the Statue of Liberty and the U.S. Constitution that we have forgotten who benefits from the executive order. Rather than looking to see what the countries do not have in common ( no Trump business ties) look to see what they have in common.

That is where Russia comes in.

Russia is actively courting the oppressive regime in Iran. No links necessary. And Iran has always wanted control of Iraq, the other big oil producing Shia state. Severing U.S. ties with these two countries by turning away political refugees makes it that much easier for Russian controlled totalitarian regimes to oppress and control the Iraqi and Iranian people. Turning away U.S. military assets from Iraq---such as interpreters---will make it harder for the U.S. to do anything in Iraq since no one will want to work with a country that goes back on its promises and abandons its allies---leaving Russia and Iran free to step into the void.

What about the five smaller countries on the list. Were they chosen at random? I doubt it. I think Putin sent Trump a memo. A wish list. "These are the countries Mother Russia wants. Take care of it."

Here is CNN on the seven countries which Trump/Putin targeted.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/29/politics/trump-travel-ban-countries/


Syria. Check. We know that Russia is actively attempting to consolidate control of Syria.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/01/russia-iran-turkey-game-syria-170126131318559.html


Yemen. Check.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samuel-ramani/why-putin-is-keeping-a-cl_b_12184874.html

On August 21, 2016, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh urged Yemen’s Houthi government to give the Russian military access to all of Yemen’s bases, ports and airports. To justify this bold policy suggestion, Saleh praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “positive attitude” in the UN Security Council, and described Russia as Yemen’s “closest kin” in the international community.

Somalia. Check.

http://www.ibtimes.com/somalia-seeks-russias-help-fighting-al-shabab-terrorists-strengthening-economy-2355958

Somalia is asking Russia to help equip its armed forces to fight terrorism in the Horn of Africa nation, where Islamic militant group al-Shabab is waging a deadly insurgency against the Western-backed government, according to Sputnik news agency, which is owned and operated by the Russian government. Mogadishu is also seeking Moscow’s support in strengthening its flagging economy, Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke reportedly said Tuesday at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Sudan. Check

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article60560

Sudan’s President Omer Al-Bashir will visit Russia in the coming two months to discuss mutual cooperation, according to the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Libya. Check.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/01/russia-endgame-libya-170116061913370.html

In a quick turn of events this week, Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar met Russian officials in an effort to secure crucial military support that would pave the way for his control of the North African country.

Haftar visited a Russian aircraft carrier off the coast of Tobruk from where he held a video conference with Russian defence minister Sergey Shoigu. Italian State TV RAI reported that Haftar signed an agreement whereby Russia would build two military bases near Tobruk and Benghazi.

Why might Putin want to control seven Middle Eastern countries? Oil. If you add up Russia, Iran, Libya and Iraq, you come up with a world oil superpower. But oil doesn't do you much good if you can not ship it. Sudan, Yemen and Somalia make them a powerhouse on the Red Sea. Iran/Iraq/Syria connect the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean.

The last thing that Putin wants is refugees from these countries coming to the land of the free, making a lot of money, gaining political clout and then using that clout to do what Irish-Americans did for their home country. After its losses in Afghanistan, Russia retrenched. But it is ready to become a world colonial superpower again. And it is counting upon Trump to pave the way for them by telling the oppressed people of those countries "You either suck up to Putin and his puppet or die."

January 29, 2017

Guess What Trump's Favorite Film Is?

I was thinking about what has been happening and Trump's outrageous behavior and how he seems to be actively participating in the meltdown of his career in politics, and it suddenly occurred to me "Trump is playing some freaky version of Charles Foster Kane from some weird personal misinterpretation of the film."

Keep in mind that in modern America, we all see ourselves as characters in films, just as people used to use fairy tales as archetypes. Bill Clinton's foes would have done well to make note of the fact that his favorite movie was High Noon--meaning he was just waiting for a whole bunch of bad guys to try to take him on.

I decided to look it up online to see if my hunch was correct. And it was. Trump loves Citizen Kane. And he thinks that what happened to Kane was a "modest fall." And that he needed a better woman. Making it all about love. And everyone knows that we love a character in direction proportion to the amount of love he shows for someone or something else. Poor little rich boy. He loved others so much that he tried to save them. And his political foes shot him down. And that made him an even greater man. The End. Roll credits.

Here is a link.

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/11/donald-trump-misinterprets-citizen-kane-interview-1201747615/

Be sure to watch the video link. I now believe that Trump is actively seeking his own political ruin out of some misguided desire to emulate Charles Foster Kane. That he never divested because he never really intended to do this job for more than a brief time. That he took advantage of millions of Americans, putting their livelihoods at stake so that he could act out a narcissistic fantasy.

What a tool.

January 29, 2017

Are Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway Under Orders to Get Trump Kicked Out of Office?

"Alternative facts"???? You would have to be brain dead not to know that this phrase would immediately start a run on George Orwell's 1984. How many people out there heard the words and did not think about "Newspeak"? Anyone?

And vetoing Homeland Security when it suggested---very reasonably--that the executive order to detain folks from certain countries should make exception for people who live here legally--like doctors, U.S. military translators, business owners---or have a very good reason for visiting the U.S---like being honored with an Academy Award nomination or being an athlete???? You would have to have the IQ of slime mold not to know how that one was going to play out in the press.

Which begs the question---what the hell are Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway up to? They certainly are not serving the best interest of the current POTUS. So, who is giving them their marching orders?

Several possibilities come to mind. 1. The most obvious--maybe they are both idiots, in which case they will hang themselves with their own idiocy. But what if they are not as dumb as they look? (Note Conway graduated with honors from both college and law school). In that case, we must consider other possibilities.

2. Maybe it is Russia. Putin and his master Mogilevich are probably very sharp when it comes to engineering a Russian fascist coup, but do they really understand Americans? The same folks that believe that the Constitution gives them a right to fly carrying a loaded assault rifle are less than amused when told to "shut up." That's First Amendment and they know they have a right to wave a Nazi flag in front of a synagogue if they want, and the only thing that separates our country from Europe---where their party is illegal--is the U.S. Constitution. The natural response of Americans when told to "shut up" is to take to the streets, marching and waving signs and getting all up in Trump's face. We are an apocalyptic people, always looking for a good excuse to toss out the old and make way for the new.

Note to Trump. If your advisers are taking advice about how to do pr for your administration from a bunch of Russians, fire them. Russia is full of people who quietly endured the czars and then the communists. They are obviously sheep compared to your average ruggedly individualistic American, descendants of all the Europeans who would not bow their necks under someone's jack boot.

Another possibility---3 a. Manchurian Candidate by character assassination. Are Bannon and Conway under orders to make Trump look so appalling that he is forced to resign or face impeachment. If Bannon and Conway' shenanigans cause the Stock Market to crash, Trump will be blamed and the Republicans who are currently keeping silent will suddenly start demanding his head. Here is what Karl Rove said when Trump caused Boeing stock to drop.

“What he did yesterday was he de-stabled the stock of a major American company,” he said. "That stock is held by millions of Americans."

“Now, it’s not just a bunch of executives in Chicago or a bunch of management types sitting in Charlotte, N.C., or Seattle, Wash., where they have their management facilities,” Rove added of Boeing.

“[It’s held by] pension funds, by university endowments, by ordinary people who’ve invested in Boeing. There’s one elemental thing a president ought to keep in mind, which is the power of his words, and therefore, the accuracy of his words.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/309231-gop-strategist-trump-not-accurate-on-boeing

Imagine what Rove will say if a whole lot of stocks drop?

3 b.Trump could even be complicit in this one. Maybe the blackmail material which Putin holds over his head is so bad (like stat rape) that he would rather look like a mad man and go along with his political ruination that resist and face jail time. An ex-president unfairly hounded from office by his enemies can make a pretty good living. Maybe he is counting the days until he can resign and get the hell out of DC.

The result in either 3a or 3b, Mike Pence, a man who, under ordinary circumstances would never get elected is suddenly POTUS. And Pence, unlike Trump, has proven that he can be bought.

Campaign finance records from a 1990 run for Congress show that Pence, then 31, had used political donations to pay the mortgage on his house, his personal credit card bill, groceries, golf tournament fees and car payments for his wife.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/think-trump-is-scary-check-out-mike-pence-on-the-issues_us_57f137d5e4b095bd896a11db

Making Pence an ideal tool for people like Putin and the Kochs. Hell, maybe this whole thing was dreamed up by Karl Rove. He, at least, seems to understand the American people. And he has had nothing but good things to say about Pence. And Rove and Trump had a private meeting back in June....

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/03/us/politics/karl-rove-donald-trump.html

Oh, and Conway used to work with Pence. Maybe she will be working with him again, soon. Maybe she is Mike Pence's "Nancy Reagan." Trump could sure use a Nancy Reagan of his own right now.

January 29, 2017

Thank You Steve Bannon For Showing Us Your True Fascist Colors

The Department of Homeland Security wanted to exempt foreign nationals who held green cards and work Visas. These folks---doctors, tech, scientists, teachers---had already been vetted. They held important jobs in this country. They were part of the work force. They were part of the American dream, which encourages foreigners with necessary skills to leave their own countries and come to the US to make our work force stronger. For centuries, the United States has been luring the best and brightest from the Old World to the New World with the promise of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and economic opportunity.

Steve Bannon wants to stop all that. He wants to turn us into a third rate country where skill and productivity and hard work are less important than the penis between a man's legs and his lack of melanin skin pigment. He wants a country that is so starved for talent, that someone with a pitiful talent like his looks like a genius.

Had the executive order exempted those holding work visas or permanent residents, Trump could have claimed it was about national security. But Steven Bannon had to stick his rosacea stained white nose where it did not belong and make it about fascism---racial and ethnic purity. His America would rather do without health care, without safe skies, without hard working taxpayers----if those doctors, IT folks and hard workers have brown skin or worship Allah rather than Jehovah.

I did a little research into my own family tree recently and discovered that many of my ancestors---in particular the "McCamys"---were not the poor, huddled, starving of Europe. They were dissenters, Presbyterians in the case of the McCamys, who could not practice their religion in the UK, where only the Church of England was allowed. Or Huguenots, who had no religious freedom in France. They were heretics, criminals, "terrorists" according to their kings---and they came to the New World bringing with them education and skills, and they got to work in a land where they would not be taxed unfairly or denied jobs due to their faith. A lot of Steve Bannon's followers had ancestors like mine--ancestors who would be rolling in their graves if they could see their descendants sitting on their butts in front of the TV, watching Fox News and whining about their lack of "white privilege".

Steven Bannon's followers have been duped. They think that the reason that they are not doctors or engineers or military officers is because someone with a different skin color or religion "stole" those jobs from them. And so, when Bannon penned an executive order that kept at least one doctor from coming back to the U.S. to serve the sick, they cheered. Never mind that the sick folks she was supposed to serve might have included one of their own family members. Never mind if one of their neighbors will die from lack of care. They would rather be dead. Steven Bannon told them so.

And that is what is so terrible about fascism. Its goal is not racial and ethnic purity. Fascism is a tool of the rich used to push the people down and keep them down. Deny them health care and education and hope, feed them anger and fear and despair, so that they remain weak and poor and submissive to their "betters"---folks like Bannon who plans to lord it up in his new, frightened, dumbed down America. Fascist leaders do not admire or respect their followers. The Steve Bannons of the country are secretly laughing at Trump's base, even as they whisper into their ears "You could have been something, if not for that (expletive racial slur) who stole your birthright from you."

Watch out America. Our Goebbels won't look like this.




That's the German version of Steve Bannon. Our fascist propagandist will look like this, an ordinary Joe who beats his wives and does not get to the gym as often as he should. A regular guy except for his ambition. A Richard Nixon in Bubba clothes:

January 28, 2017

In His First Seven Days, Trump Has....

1. Driven his approval rating down by eight points---a feat that is even more impressive when you recall that he started with the lowest approval rating of any newly elected president in recent history. I am not sure I have ever seen a rockier “honeymoon.”

http://fortune.com/2017/01/24/donald-trump-approval-ratings/

2. Given the mainstream press (the NYT) the balls to call him out on his “lies” rather than using familiar euphemisms such as “misstated.”

Good thing, too. An emasculated press is not good for anything except “keeping its mouth shut.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/us/politics/donald-trump-congress-democrats.html

Speaking of "keeping its mouth shut", Trump (via spokesman Bannon)

3. Told the press to "keep its mouth shut", a bit odd coming from a man whose number one job is to uphold and defend the Constitution----the Constitution whose first Amendment has something in it about freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Is there some new kind of ultra orthodox Federalist that I have not heard about? A group that only wants to the Constitution but wants to dump all the amendments as being against the Founders' wishes at the moment in time when they wrote the Constitution? If so, we should hook them up with the NRA, those staunch defenders of the second amendment.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/316360-bannon-media-should-keep-its-mouth-shut

4. Declared his administration (again via a surrogate) to be in possession of "alternative facts,"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/22/kellyanne-conway-says-donald-trumps-team-has-alternate-facts-which-pretty-much-says-it-all/?utm_term=.c10e5b4cb9bf

which in turn has

5. Driven sales of George Orwell's 1984 up to first place on Amazon!

http://time.com/money/4648774/trump-1984-dystopian-novel-sales-brave-new-world/

6. Given the mainstream press (the WaPo) the balls to question his sanity. Or maybe, in the case of the WaPo, I should say “gave them the tits” seeing as this what former Nixon Attorney General John Mitchell threatened to put in a wringer, precipitating the Watergate investigation.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/01/25/maybe-trump-isnt-lying/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-e%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.efc6e51f16ad#comments

7. Generated the largest single day protest march the nation has ever seen. I put this in bold, because it takes a lot to get Americans off their butts and out into the streets. Bonus points for global protests in places as remote as Antarctica. And check out this headline!




http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/womens-march-anti-donald-trump-womens-rights-largest-protest-demonstration-us-history-political-a7541081.html

8. Threatened to impose martial law in Chicago. Hmmm. Could this be connected to the fact that 500,000 Chicagoans marched against him?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/us/trump-threatens-federal-intervention-in-chicago-citing-carnage.html

9. Threatened to withhold “federal funds” from sanctuary cities.

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/25/president-trump-signs-executive-order-threatening-to-withhold-federal-funds-from-so-called-sanctuary-cities/

Recall that these cities are the source of much of the nation’s tax revenue. Meaning that when Trumps says he will not pay for LA’s ports or New York’s airports or Chicago’s highways or Boston’s public health, he is threatening to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs that keep the red states afloat. Plus, big port cities rely upon federal funds to keep us all safe from terrorists. Meaning that to Trump, shipping a maid back to El Salvador is more important than keeping our children from being blown up by ISIS.

10. Declared that water boarding is not torture.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/316435-trump-waterboarding-isnt-torture

11. Tweeted 52 times!

http://trumptwitterarchive.com/#/archive

January 25, 2017

Draft Dodger Trump's Latest Attack on Veterans---the Federal Hiring Freeze

Trump got out of the draft by claiming to be disabled due to heel spurs. Meanwhile, a lot of Americans who were not born with silver spoons in their mouths were forced to serve in the Vietnam War. Many died. Many others were left with permanent medical problems for which they receive care at the VA--Veterans Administration. Now, Trump wants to take away their health care. And, he wants to make it harder for them to find jobs, too. And he has found an easy way to do it----freeze all federal hiring.

http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/trump-hiring-freeze-dod-va-veterans

Did you catch that? The "swamp" is staffed by veterans---men and women who served their country in the military and now serve it as federal employees. And disabled veterans---those who have paid an enormous price for their country---will now find their job options even more restricted. That means more homeless veterans, more unemployed veterans.

To rub salt in the wound, the hiring freeze include the Veterans Administration. That's right. The folks who serve veterans. Remember how Trump said he would fix the long waits at the VA? He was lying. He is making it impossible for the VA to fill vacancies---and due to retirement, there will also be openings for doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers, pharmacists, technicians and all the other who care for our disabled veterans.

The VA is the largest health care provider in the country and the second largest in the world, after Great Britain's National Health. To freeze hiring is to put the health and safety of veterans at risk. It is almost as if Trump wants veterans to have to wait so long for care that they die....

Traitor, molester and now foe of veterans---is this really an American president?