January 7, 2020

Parkhomenko's Daily Email: " Penta-gone to shit "

1.7.20

Good morning. There are 301 days until the presidential election. We’re pulling out of Iraq but wait a second no we’re not, John Bolton teases testimony and Republicans are just the worst Part Infinity.

Note: Mark Zuckerberg is a little turd. Actually, that’s being charitable. Mark Zuckerberg is a democracy-destroying little turd. Yesterday, after telling the nation that he was too busy to be impeached, Trump called in to Rush Limbaugh’s show where he divulged that Zuckerberg congratulated him on being “number one” on Facebook. Now look, Trump lies about EVERYTHING, so it’s likely this is just more bullshit. But we know Zuckerberg tried to keep secret a private dinner he had with Trump, so this is on him. Oh and then there’s how he got caught telling employees about his opposition to Elizabeth Warren. And the whole 2016 thing he repeatedly lied about. Show us someone willing to stand up to this weasel, and we’ll show you someone who has our vote. In the meantime, fuck Facebook.

Note two: Someone must be chopping onions in TBS HQ this morning. More: Politico

Penta-gone to shit
As we continue to juggle fear and embarrassment in the Trump years, the Pentagon is not helping. Yesterday, we were mortified to learn that for an hour, neither U.S. military officials on the ground in Iraq or in Washington could answer if the U.S. was pulling out of Iraq. Why? Well, a draft memo from the Pentagon to Iraq announcing our withdraw was ACCIDENTALLY sent to the Iraqi government. Yeah, seriously. So not only are we kicking the hornets’ nest, but we’re doing so with toilet paper stuck to our shoe. Oh and also, we’re preventing Iran’s foreign minister from entering the country to address the UN Security Council because we’re apparently afraid of that kind of thing these days. And all this is happening while the world just sits and waits to see how Iran retaliates. It’s really quite a mess. More: CNN, Foreign Policy, Politico

Dear John

Moustachioed cowardly warmonger John Bolton announced Monday that he will testify in front of the Senate if he receives a subpoena. Bolton apparently lives in a world where it’s cool to look like Yosemite Sam and accept lawful congressional subpoenas only from the chamber you prefer. While we are enormously skeptical that Bolton will ever testify, it does reveal the Senate GOP’s cover-up for what it is. They have a chance to get to the truth, and they are not even the least bit interested. Child coward Marco Rubio was making up all kinds of excuses for why the American people don’t need more answers. Susan Collins joined McConnell (SHOCK!) in saying they should start the process and then worry about witnesses. Only Mittens Romney said he wants to hear Bolton testify. We’re sure the American people will be cool with a cover-up in broad daylight. Right? More: CNN, Washington Post, New York Times

GOPathetic

Aside from liddle Marco’s ass-kissing and Lindsey Graham’s war boner, there were two other reminders yesterday that there are no good Republicans. The first was Rep. Paul Gosar tweeting out a photo-shopped picture of President Obama with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, adding the caption “The world is a better place without these guys in power.” He then defended his garbage actions by claiming he was trying to make some kind of point. You might remember this asshole as the guy whose whole family ran ads against him. Not hard to see why. The second reminder came from Nikki Haley, who just a few weeks ago was one of the moderate Republicans we were told. Well now Haley is tweeting out Fox appearances of herself, and last night she tweeted out that the only people not celebrating the death of Soleimani are Democrats. Thank you, Nikki, for making clear that you are Trump-loving gutter trash. We’re glad we don’t have to watch the nation’s pundits spending the next couple of years pretending otherwise (We know they will anyay, but a newsletter can dream). More: Washington Post I, Washington Post II

Today’s clips

The Trump administration has for nearly two years ignored mounting evidence that Russian operatives and other foreign actors were deliberately targeting U.S. troops and veterans with online disinformation amplified on a massive scale, a leading veterans group said.
More: Washington Post

American businesses and consumers, not China, are bearing the financial brunt of President Trump’s trade war, new data shows, undermining the president’s assertion that the United States is “taxing the hell out of China.”
More: New York Times

The Department of Homeland Security is agreeing to share citizenship information with the U.S. Census Bureau as part of President Donald Trump’s order to collect data on who is a citizen following the Supreme Court’s rejection of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census form.

Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper sought to douse an international outcry on Monday by ruling out military attacks on cultural sites in Iran if the conflict with Tehran escalates further, despite President Trump’s threat to destroy some of the country’s treasured icons.
More: New York Times

President Donald Trump will be in New Jersey on Jan. 28 for a rally in newly-minted Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s district.
More: Politico

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January 6, 2020

Please respond to Randi Rhodes if you're on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/RandiRhodes/status/1213974062856318979?s=20

January 6, 2020

Trump really pissed at Iraq!!!

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/06/trump-threatens-to-slap-sanctions-on-iraq-like-theyve-never-seen-before.html

“If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.”

“We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there. It cost billions of dollars to build. Long before my time. We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it,” Trump said.

The president added that “If there’s any hostility, that they do anything we think is inappropriate, we are going to put sanctions on Iraq, very big sanctions on Iraq.”

More at link

January 6, 2020

Jeez my plain old ordinary mixer died tonight can I blame Trump?

Thought these things were like giant microwaves, never die.

January 5, 2020

Impeachment lite hoax

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1213585005986959361?s=20

January 5, 2020

Thanks Bernie for this CNN headline! "Biden brings weak record and

and no excitement to 2020 race."

Hard to walk that back. Thought we were on same team? "Disagree with policy specifics" team. Not "I want to win no matter what scorched earth " strategy.

January 5, 2020

Howie Carr says BLOTUS was "cool, calm and collected" the night of attack

https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/01/03/howie-carr-president-trump-ordered-the-strike-and-came-down-to-dinner-cool-collected/

Snip
It was about 9 o’clock, a warm idyllic evening in south Florida. I was leaving after dinner (seafood risotto) when the president noticed me and casually called me over and introduced me to McCarthy.

“Howie knows a lot about Elizabeth Warren,” he said, and then we started talking about her decline in the polls. I mentioned the rise of Bernie Sanders.

“Can he win New Hampshire?” the president asked. "I think he’s ahead now,” I said. The president looked thoughtful. He glanced from me to McCarthy.

“Who’d be better to run against?” he asked. “Bernie or Biden?” "Bernie!” we both answered.

January 3, 2020

Ex-Fox News Reporter Courtney Friel Says Donald Trump Asked Her Over 'To Kiss'

https://news.yahoo.com/courtney-friel-donald-trump-kiss-121257478.html

Former Fox News reporter Courtney Friel says that Donald Trump propositioned her before he was elected president while both were married, and that the come-on compromised her reporting on his presidential campaign.

Friel wrote in her new memoir “Tonight At 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News” that Trump called her “the hottest one at Fox News,” according to the New York Daily News, which reported it viewed an excerpt.

Trump, in a phone call, complimented Friel’s work and asked about career goals before getting more personal, she wrote. “Out of nowhere, he said: ‘You should come up to my office sometime, so we can kiss.’”

January 3, 2020

Emptywheel: On Trump's big lightly defended properties around the world

https://twitter.com/jsherman39/status/1213088038110334977?s=19

January 3, 2020

Flipped on TV and Fox came on. Up next, Tulsi. WTH? Nt