Category Archives: Politics

On Putin and Parenting

Well here we go again.  From all appearances it seems Donald Trump Jr just pulled off the bone-head move of the political decade and once again the resulting stink from a disjointed White House has all of us anti-Trumpers giddy with anticipation.  Surely this is finally going to motivate any  principled Republican in congress to admit enough is enough.  But I’ve learned not to get my hopes up.  In fact, hang onto your hats folks because on the horizon will be some of the most creatively entertaining political spin Conway, Spicer, and Huckabee Sanders have ever produced.  And remarkably our elected sycophants will continue to enable a man who has no business in the Oval Office.

Ooopsie!

Politics has become so polarized in this country this is where we have landed.  Wave after wave of alarming events pound the shoreline of our consciousness until rock solid principles of democracy and decency are pulverized into grains of indifference.  Instead of considering Junior’s behavior disturbing, defenders are treating it as if it was little more than a glass of spilled milk.  Just a simple mistake by a neophyte.  “Most people would take that meeting” says the President of the United States.

What in the hell have we become?  Put the idiocy and collusion surrounding this episode aside for a moment and just look at the computer hacking aspects.   What keeps getting lost every time one of these mind-bending stories surfaces is the fact there was Russian interference in our election process.  Geezuz H the country has been attacked and this administration is perfectly happy doing nothing about it.  The internet corruption that went on here is not much less frightening than the danger posed by the nut job in North Korea.  You could say what Russia managed to get away with so far is cyber sniper fire.  Besides fomenting fake stories on the internet, they hacked the election system computers in 21 states.  What’s to stop them from pushing the envelope.  It is not out of the realm of possibility that with the tapping of a few keystrokes they could accomplish the near equivalent of a nuclear missile strike- disabling a huge section of our electrical power grid.  They already have their foot in the door  Russia hacks U.S. Nuclear Power Plant  The results would be very similar to a nuclear missile attack. If you are interested in some shit-scary observation about this, read Ted Koppel’s book “Lights Out.”  

Ask the county what their number one fear is and half will say terrorism. Maybe you think it’s a stretch to say that election tampering by an adversarial foreign government is terrorism, but should all the lights go out and hospital ventilators stop functioning and gas pumps quit working, you might concede early intervention might have been helpful.   We know Russia meddled in our democratic process.  The point I am trying to make is we need to direct our  focus on the larger issue.  The reason all these investigations are going on is it is extremely important we find out if any American citizens were involved because they are either guilty of obstruction of Justice or possibly treason, or stunning and dangerous ignorance, all of which  might well serve to accelerate a more heinous foreign agenda. Robert Mueller is likely to expose Trump’s shifty business practices as well, especially if tax returns are subpoenaed, but the president has no one to blame but himself for that investigation.  A cyber war catastrophe in this country is just as likely to occur as a nuclear one.  Why so many people have chosen to regard this Russian intrusion with casual indifference is beyond me.

Most people would take that meeting?  Most people in the Trump family maybe.  Most normal people would contact the authorities.

I can not help thinking  how we have just circled back to the very beginning.  Of course before Trump got elected we had no inkling of how he would govern. Right after he became president I think the majority of us thought the guy should at least be given a chance.  That did not last long in my case.  If you are like me and have nothing better to do than sit on your ass all day, see my previous blog  https://www.asiteforsoreguys.com/gaslighting  .  As time has progressed, about the only consistent thing we are seeing from this administration is what a total clusterfuck it is.  Our democracy is certainly being put to the test.  Undoubtedly it will survive this shit-storm, but if congress is to get anything of substance accomplished its members had better pull their collective heads out of their asses and mitigate the damage.  Get a spine and tell the president he needs to quit deflecting, take responsibility, and start cooperating.  Hopefully Trump’s recent veiled threat against Robert Mueller if he investigates the president’s family business ties will raise your democratic hackles.

However, what we do know now that we knew from the very beginning of the campaign season is how bereft of moral character Donald Trump Sr. is.  Unfortunately it seems obvious what Senior considers good parenting is to make sure the polarity of Junior’s moral compass is as discharged as his is.  “It must be magic to raise children in a household where probity has no meaning.”  That’s a perfect quote from the editorial page of a Cincinnati newspaper.  What Donald Jr. did by biting on the bait offered by Rob Goldstone was reprehensibly wrong, plain and simple.  So comically ironic is the fact that Junior, in the process of defending himself on this very issue,  only made things worse by telling yet another blatant lie- on Sean Hannity’s show no less.   He can attempt to put any spin he wants on all of this, and god knows he’s been out there twirling his best, but it does not matter.  It is obvious the orange does not fall far from the tree.

I know Trump’s most entrenched supporters will believe this is acceptable behavior, that to them the end justifies any kind of means, and the staunchest congressional Republicans will keep deflecting.  But you can not defend the indefensible.  The “family values” plank of the Republican party platform was removed and shoved through a wood chipper the minute it accepted Donald Trump as its candidate.  The man always was and will continue to be a completely amoral narcissist, a whining liar, and as we are now witnessing,  an incompetent leader.  He believes his suspect values are the only proper ones and obviously those are the ones he has instilled in his children.   Every member of congress has  intrusive knowledge of this conduct on a day to day basis.  Maybe the general public has become numb to it. But congressional members have no excuse.  They are directly exposed, and by continuing to enable this president they are displaying a shameful example to their own children.

“Botched collusion is still collusion.”  Charles Krauthammer, syndicated columnist, Washington Post

“Russia is the one country that could physically destroy America,”  Steven Pifer, Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine

“Release your tax returns Mr. Twitterbitch,”  me and 224 million Americans.

 

 

The Isolation Shield

     

President Trump has established a Monday morning tradition of meeting with Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon to review news reports from the  weekend.  This is a transcript of a tape recording from the meeting of Monday 6/5/2017 that was made unwittingly by the president when he accidentally hit “record” on the office entertainment system while he was trying to figure out how to watch a DVD he made of himself dancing.  The recording was discovered by a maintenance technician and has been subpoenaed as evidence related to the Mueller investigation.

***Sound of door opening and closing and shuffling feet***

      

TRUMP:  Good morning.

CONWAY and BANNON:  Good morning sir.

TRUMP:  What have you got for me?  I watched Fox all evening.  I wish Hannity had been on. He should be on more, like twelve hours a day.  I think Fox should think about that.  He has a great, tremendous program.  Lots of people like him.  Like, many people.

CONWAY:  That’s so true sir.  I love that guy.  Well, I channel surfed all evening and didn’t come up with much that’s new, although there was that commentary on DC channel 12.  It was on pretty late so you might have seen it after watching Fox.

TRUMP:  No. I’m tired of watching fake news.  I stuck with Fox all night.

CONWAY:  Well sir, the story was sort of a documentary, and it basically named you the most obtuse president in the entire history of the country.

TRUMP:  WOW!  The most!  Well you know I’m a winner Kellyanne.  I never lose.  Always a winner.  And it was a documentary thing.  That’s good.  Not just some reporter blowing hot air?

CONWAY:  No sir.  It was an hour long documentary.  A  lot of prestigious people contributed.  But I’m not sure you understan…

TRUMP:  Who’s my competition?  I beat out Obama, right?  I must have.

CONWAY:  Yes sir, by a mile.  But…

TRUMP:  That’s perfect.  How ’bout Washington, or Lincoln?

CONWAY:  Not even close.

TRUMP:  All right.  Things are looking up.  I don’t need any more bad news.  I just don’t want to hear any more bad news!  Bad news- NO, NO uh-uh. No more. I think we should really run with this ah, obstruse thing.  How do you suppose this got started, I mean, what put me over the top?

CONWAY:  Oh I’m pretty sure it was an accumulation of things, but my guess is it was backing out of the climate change agreement that propelled you into first place.

TRUMP;  I knew that was a good idea.  Tillerson said we should stay in, but I just knew leaving was the right thing to do.  I have a knack for calling the right shots.  Intinct, Kellyanne, instinct.  That’s what it is.  I have a natural feel for things.  I knew I was going to win the election.  I won by a lot too.  Biggest electoral win since Reagan.  It was huge.  You know that.  I might have to think about firing Tillerson. Ok.  So how can we take advantage of this.  I mean, can we do anything else to really, like, slam the door on it.  I don’t want any of those other guys sneaking up on me and  snatching this away.  Who’s the closest to me?  I know you might think I’m pushy, but I’m a competitor.  And a winner.  Always have been.

CONWAY:  Yes sir I do know that.   Well there’s Buchanan.  He kind of sat around and let the Confederacy take hold.  And Harding played poker all day while his friends plundered the U.S. Treasury.  Those two are right behind you.

TRUMP:  Buchanan and Harding.  Hmmm.  Can’t say I know much about them.  Did either of them play any golf?  I think we should watch out for Harding.  Sounds like he might have been a good deal-maker. He must have had some real loyal people on his team.  You reward people like that.  Loyalty-  very important, very important.  Just like you guys.  Loyalty is big, I mean really huge.  Actually though  it’s all that poker playing that really bothers me. You know about my casino’s.  Everyone knows it was all those ridiculous state regulations that, you know, that’s why I got out.  And look how I made out.  All those investors got stuck and I came out like a bitch.  I know what I’m doing.  It’s how I make deals.   It’s what I do. Now, the dishonest media might start some rumor that Harding would have been better at running casinos.  That just might be a problem.  I think we should come up with something to really cement this.  What do you think Steve?  Is there anything else we can come up with to make sure I hang onto this.

BANNON:  Oh sir, we’ve just got started.  I’ve got you covered, believe me.

TRUMP:  I know Steve.  I have all the confidence in the world in you.  You were right about the climate change deal.  I knew I could count on you.  Of course I was going to go down that road anyway.  I have that instinct thing-  it’s always there.  But you always watch my back.  I appreciate it.  So what ideas have you got?

BANNON:  Well there is a lot we can do on the European front.  We should probably keep pounding away at Germany- you should maybe make an announcement that anyone owning a BMW or Volkswagen has to ship it back to Germany.  And Macron could stand to be taken down a notch.  I know you think he’s a showboat anyway.

TRUMP:  Ya.  Showboat.  You got that right.  That handshake story- it’s just all fakey.  Fake news. He didn’t lock down on my hand.  I locked his hand up.  He couldn’t get away.  i had such a grip on his hand-  you can see it.  The dishonest media keeps saying what a tough guy he is. I was the one that had the tight grip, like a grip that was so strong and tremendously ah, grippy.  My grip is big league- everybody knows that.  A lot of people say I have the tightest grip like, they’ve ever seen, or ah, felt.  And you know Macron has a really old wife.  Not a ten like Malania. Or Ivanka.  That daughter of mine.  Is she hot or what?  Have you seen her in a swimsuit?  Those froggies don’t have women like we do over here.  I don’t care what they say.

CONWAY:  Melania is beautiful sir.  And of course Ivanka. She…

TRUMP:  You know you could be a ten Kellyanne.  You could!  You just get some of those breast implants- automatic ten.  That’s what it’s all about Kellyanne.  You have to have the breasts.  No tens without those.  Trust me.  Implants- you’d be a ten.

CONWAY:  You’re way too kind sir.

BANNON:  I have an idea I’ve been toying with for quite some time and I am starting to think this would really lock things up for you Mr. President.

TRUMP:  What’s that Steve?

BANNON:  Your tax returns.  Release them.

TRUMP and CONWAY:  ARE YOUR CRAZY!!

BANNON:  I know it’s a radical idea. But listen to me.  Most of the country wants you to do it.  Even half your base.  So right there you make them happy.  Then, when America gets a gander at the returns, we give it the old Trump spin and they will realize what a clever businessman you are by using Russian money to save your business, and then screwing the commies by overcharging them on real estate purchases and hiding the profits in those Cypriot banks. All of that without paying any income tax!  It’s the kind of thing your base will love you for.  And your detractors can only dream of being so financially astute. Their balls will wither from envy.  They won’t know what to do. It’s a complete win-win.  Of course we’ll have to pull Kislyak in and assure him it’s all part of the plan, but Putin knows there’s no way were going to screw him.

TRUMP:  Hmm.  Maybe your onto something there.  But I don’t know.  What about Ryan.  Say what you want, he’s been right out there hitting the dishonest media. He did a fantastic job getting it across that this government stuff is something new to me.  Release my tax records and I might lose Ryan.  I’m a smart business man.  Business.  It’s what I do. I make the best deals, the most tremendous, greatest deals.  He doesn’t understand business like I do and might think, like, I did something bad or something.  Can you believe that?  It’s business!  I have to admit this job’s been a little tougher than I thought.  But you can see I’m getting the hang of it.  I’m. like, a real smart person.  I know a lot of things.

CONWAY:  Yes sir.

BANNON:  Watching you work has been a real eye-opener sir.

TRUMP:  Thank you Steve.  But no, I think you’re wrong on this one.  It’s like a secret recipe, like Kentucky Fried Chicken.  You think Kentucky Fried wants their secret recipe out there for everyone to see.  No way Steve.  You know, I’m getting kind of hungry.

CONWAY:  Shall we take a break sir?

TRUMP;  Yes, I think we should.  I’m going to run down the hall and catch Whatshisname- have him make a McDonalds run.  You want anything?

CONWAY and BANNON:  No sir.

***Sound of shuffling feet and door opening and closing as Trump exits.***

CONWAY:  Should we keep playing him like this?  I’m starting to get nervous.

BANNON:  Kellyanne, come on!   Did you ever think it would be this easy? .  You’ve got to hang in there.  We are getting so close. We can ride the 38 percent into the next term.

CONWAY:  35 percent.  No way I was going to tell him the new number.

BANNON: OK.  35.  Still, we were sent here by them to burn the house down.  That’s the only way we can save it.   Besides, you heard him. You just admitted it yourself.  No more bad news.

CONWAY:  God I hope you know what you are doing.  Are you sure we need a wall along the Canadian border?

BANNON:  Come on.  I’ve explained this.  You said you are with me all the way.  You saw how I got him to work the solar panel conversation into the Mexican wall.  The left eats that crap up.  We just have to keep stroking him.  He loves walls.  You know that.  Strike while the iron’s hot!. We have a congress that’s nothing but a bunch of spineless jellyfish.  They are absolutely terrified of the guy.  It’s just too easy. The Isolation Shield is not just a dream now.  We have the technology and manipulative genius to keep foreigners out of the country and environmentalists out of our business- for good!  We can’t let up.

CONWAY:  I know you’re right.  What about Alaska and Hawaii though?  How are you going to extend the Shield’s electro magnetic field?

BANNON:  Hawaii could be a problem.  But most of those people aren’t true Caucasians.  Bunch of hula dancers and flaming baton twirlers.  I’ll be dropping subtle hints we should cut the whole place loose.  Revert it to Commonwealth status.  They caused nothing but problems when we introduced the travel ban anyway. That really snapped his strap.  And Alaska, are you kidding?  How many camel jockey’s are going to want to cause trouble in Alaska.  And anyone  from either state will be free to move about once they prove their white Christian status like the rest of us and have their radio frequency chip implanted.  Now remember.  The first full cabinet meeting is coming up soon.  Start spreading the word the president does not want any bad news  We want nothing but supplicant praise coming out of their mouths. And  you should get on Facebook and Twitter and start some rumors about  the turbulence from wind turbines causing cancer.  And when you have time throw something salacious out there about Harding-maybe make it look like he was involved in bestiality or something   That will make the president happy.  I’d do that one myself but I have to get cracking on getting Ginsberg off the bench.  It shouldn’t be that hard.  She’s just a sneeze away from a life-threatening pneumonia infection.  The Supreme Court and Muslim ban are within our grasp. Let’s get to work.

 

***Sound of shuffling feet, door opening and closing as Kellyanne and Steve exit***

INDEPENDENTCOMMENT:  Readers of this article should take note it might still be considered classified information.  You could face charges of treason should you share its content.  However,  keep in mind it is Mr. Bannon’s intention to let President Trump decide the insertion location of the the RF chips so mentioned above.  Legal consultants are therefore confident that any exposure to litigation will be non-existent, since a just review would most certainly reveal these actions to be an assault on human dignity,  which, many would concur, is an accurate characterization of many Trump policies as well as the man himself.  For the good of the country and protection of your loved ones, you simply must share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bannon Doctrine

Geezuz this pisses me off.  I can’t claim to be any kind of expert on the Paris Climate Agreement,  but it seems to me a lot of people are missing the tragic point of United States withdraw.  With all the chaos and insane inhumane conflict going on in the world,  the one thing that every country on earth has come to an agreement on is the planet is starting to fall apart and we need to do something about it.  The Paris Climate Agreement was an affirmation of that fact, and miraculously, every county but two has gradually decided to indeed- do something about it.  Every country is all in except Nicaragua, which did not participate because the governing body of that county thought the agreement did not go far enough, and Syria.  Enough said there.  Ok.  Most of us know that.  But our president decided to pull out because it was a “bad deal” for the country, and he feels obligated to stay committed to a ridiculous campaign promise.

First of all, it’s hardly a deal.  Yes there are financial commitments, but there is nothing binding about them.  There are no non-compliance penalties attached to them and likewise there are not any for failure to meet emission goals.  Sure, if developed countries do not reach goals, they look bad and insincere.  There will probably be a few, maybe many, that fall short.  But one of the reasons the agreement was devised was so that we could help each other out.  That is the point.  This accord is such a good idea there are even sub-states, businesses and individuals who contribute to it.  Our climate is in some serious shit and this president can not seem to get that through his head.  I know he has some clue that there must be something out of whack, because he tried to get Scotland to build a sea-wall to protect his precious coastal golf course in that country.  Reasonable people in charge there told him he could stick that idea straight up his ass. What in the fuck is with this guy and his obsession with walls?

And he is supposed to be the big jobs creator.  I can not believe he does not understand by now that the jobs future rests conspicuously in the area of renewable energy.  That fact comes up time and time again during media discussion.  He watches TV day and night.  We are setting ourselves up for failure, to sit back and live in a century gone by.

I can argue, you can argue back.  Every side has its own set of projections and statistics.  The real point is, the leaders of basically every country in the world accept the fact that there is some very bad shit going on within our environment that we need to get a handle on, and this country has the one leader who is either too dense to realize that fact, or is so self-absorbed  his pathetic idea of the right thing to do is thumb his nose at the rest of the world in order to pacify his political base, and I am willing to bet there are even many within that loyal group that  believe it is borderline insanity to not participate in any world-wide movement that exists solely for the purpose of securing the survival of mankind.  Nothing about withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement puts “America First.”  it relegates America to a position far behind China or India, France or Germany, or any country that is more than happy to engage in responsible forward thinking and innovation.  Apparently there were several people in advisory positions with a capacity for common sense, like Secretary Tillerson, that tried to dissuade the president from committing this blunder.  But this kind of recklessness has Steve Bannon’s name stamped all over it.  Unfortunately we are being governed by  someone who is easily manipulated, often by his own hyper-inflated ego or the last person he talks to.

Trump with the Marionette Master Lurking in the Background

Scotland Residents Concerned About Trump Impeachment Rumors

Lightbart  News report by Doug Furr

In an unusual turn of events, many Scottish communities are suddenly worried about the  impeachment rumors swirling around President Trump.  Only a short time ago the current U.S. president was recognized as the most hated man in Scotland, usurping the position from Edward Longshanks, the most despised man in Scottish history,  The infamous achievement was brought about after Mr. Trump started a smear campaign of intimidation in order to bully local residents who objected to the golf course and gaudy clubhouse he built along the beach of the coastal town of Aberdeenshire.

After a recent national poll was taken however, the president fell all the way to third place, behind the aforementioned Longshanks and Phil Oxenbauls, historically rumored to be the person who disemboweled William Wallace.  Why the sudden down surge of unpopularity?  It all has to do with the economics of Scotland.   It seems the diminishment of Mr. Trump’s unfavorable standing  correlates to the increases in sales of scotch, the third largest industry in the country.  Ever since Donald Trump became president, U.S. sales of scotch have skyrocketed.

I recently paid a visit to Brokenwinde, a peaceful lowland  hamlet situated on Scotland’s eastern shore.  There I met up with Peter McDooglestein, president and CEO of H. McMac and Company, makers of McMac scotch whiskey. The company has a long history in the alcohol production business.  Peter’s great, great grandfather, Hyman McDooglestein, was the first Rabbi to settle in Scotland, and dabbled in Kosher wine making.  The business gradually expanded to include the production of scotch, and over time their scotch developed such a prestigious reputation it was decided the company would discontinue peripheral products and concentrate solely on its single malt.

H. McMac Company employs 94 people, almost a third of Brokenwinde’s population.  A mere three months ago there were only 37 employees.  Peter McDooglestein attributes the increase in hiring and fortune to Donald Trump.  Since his inauguration, Peter said that U.S sales of McMac scotch have increased ten-fold.  “I got no understandin’ of what that fella’s s up to, but ever since he took over I ken tell ya it’s been real good for me and most of us in Brokenwinde,” he emphatically explained.  “I sure hope ye good people keep him on fer awhile.  I hear he’s made some trouble, but ye know how it is.  Live next to a pig sty and ye git used to the smell of shit after a bit.”

Mention the word “Trump” and Brokenwinde natives often respond with a traditional Scottish salute.

After a tour of his distillery, Peter took me to a local tavern, where I sampled a dram or two of McMac over lunch.  It is a fine lowland scotch, with a solid nutty flavor and just a slight, peaty aroma..  I had just finished my last drink, when another, very offensive aroma, came whiffing about.  “Don’t ye worry thar me friend,” Peter said with a grin. “That aint yer president come visitin’.  I just had the need to have a blow under me kilt.”

Having been back in the states for a couple of weeks, I have to say Peter McDooglestein is at least partly right.  A lot of people really have adjusted well to the smell coming from Washington.  Does not seem to bother them at all.  As for me, I just can’t seem to get past all the stink.  I know it’s just me.  Just my constitution I suppose.  But as one layer of shit after another piles up in the Trump White House the stench is simply becoming personally intolerable.

If you are like me and you find yourself reflexively gagging from the odor emanating from the White House, you might find my solution to the problem useful- McMac scotch. I don’t want to make any promises, but I can tell you it gets me through the day.

 

 

 

TRUMP AID ACCUSES PRESIDENT OF TELLING THE TRUTH!

 

Reince Priebus sobs uncontrollably after committing uncharacteristic blunder

During his interview with CNN commentator Wolf Blitzer last night, President Trump’s Chief of Staff Reince Priebus let it slip that telling the truth is something the president does sometimes.  When pressed by Mr. Blitzer for a specific example of such incongruous behavior, Mr. Priebus seemed to be caught off guard and a a bit flustered, replying “You can’t expect the guy to just pull something out of his ass all the time.”

The stunning comments evoked an immediate defensive response from close White House staffers.  Speaking to a Fox News reporter the following morning, Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway tried her best to tamp things down, stating “I am not sure what conversation Reince was referring to.  He was probably just joking around with the president on one of those buses or something.  What I can tell you is I have never known the president to tell a non-lie.  Never.  It is amazing to me how he can just off the cuff not tell a non-lie.  He knows what America needs and his truths and facts are what the people want to hear.  He’s a man of his word and it’s what makes him such a great president.”

It remains to be seen what impact the fall out will have with the president’s supporters.  The commander in chief took things into his own hands however, tweeting from the third hole of his Virginia golf course, “I just heard around that someone somewhere said many members of congress might be making bad deals laundering money in Cypriot banks and funding ISIS.  Now I have to demand a full congressional investigation of itself.  SAD!”

When approached by the press and asked how long such an investigation would take, befuddled Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he had no idea how to even go about the process, but his best guess is it could easily take a decade to accomplish.  So for now it looks like the president has avoided catastrophe and has firmly reestablished his fundamental policy once again.

Fake News II or What are the Swedes Putting in Those Meatballs?

Well this really pisses me off.  Once again our president says something and the dishonest media gets a cob up its butt over it and makes the man look bad.  Totally unfair.  I’m not sure those Swedes know what’s going on in their own back yard.

Swedes of Every Sort Scatter in Confused Panic over President Trump’s Assertion that Their Country was Attacked by Terrorists.

Fox news was there!  When have you ever known them to get something wrong?  Fake News  God, if you listen to main stream news they make it sound like the president was just nonchalantly channel surfing or something when he saw all that trouble in Sweden that night.  He takes his channel surfing very seriously believe you me.  Between Fox News, Breitbart, and InfoWars who needs those bloated security briefings.  And for your information he quit speed surfing a long time ago- ever since Kellyanne stuck those 4×6 photos of the president in the corners of all the White House television sets.  She’s pretty sharp and realized that whenever he sees himself anywhere on those TV screens he takes extra time to pay attention.  That trick worked so well she had wall to wall mirrors installed in all the White House bathrooms so he could stare at himself while he was backing the brown bus out of the garage.  Not being in such a hurry there mitigated his constipation problem as well as improved his self esteem.  Gotta hand it to that Kellyanne.  Where in the heck has she been lately.  I sure hope she’s OK.

What chaps my ass even more is how the dishonest media keeps harping about the president’s amazing electoral  college victory.   So many times he has politely pointed out what a  record smashing achievement it was, and then you see the press crabbing about it.   It happened again during the president’s first press conference   So typical.  For Pete’s sake how many times does President Trump have to tell these guys how tremendous his landslide win was?  It was huge!  There has never been a public appearance of his that he has not mentioned it.  When will these morons start listening?  He got 306 electoral votes!  There was something fishy about two of those votes, but that just goes to show there’s voter fraud going on.  And then that dick reporter had the gall to nit-pick over some past election results.  Fake News  If the president of the United States says he won by the largest margin since Ronald Reagan, then he won by the largest margin since Ronald Reagan!  End of story!  He was given that information by somebody, so there you go.  Even more importantly, he has seen that information around. What more proof do you want?  You can’t deny somebody and around are impressively credible sources.  The dishonest media should take notes from our president and quit pulling unnamed sources out of their asses.  Further more, take a look at where his win total stands with respect to all presidential elections.  Out of 58 presidential elections, President Trump’s ranks 46th in win margin.  That is almost exactly where he falls numerically in presidential sequence.  That is fucking amazing!

So take heed news media.  Start paying attention to what our president says and report his facts, which are the true facts and best facts you can get.   We are sick and tired of all the fake news you are putting out.  He knows exactly what’s going on and he knows lots of big words that in the past have apparently confused you.  Sad!

 

220

A few days ago during his visit to MacDill Air Force Base, President Trump made the bazaar remark that the media was deliberately not reporting terrorists attacks (for reference, see crazy shit here).  The media is involved in a cover-up.  WTF!?  We are absolutely inundated with news about terroristic mayhem.  I have nightmares about some of the horrific video. What in the hell is this man talking about?  When pressured to produce a list of these mysteriously unreported attacks, the White House provided one that listed 78 attacks that for the most part were covered, many were covered extensively,  and those that were not were obscure or not even identified as having anything to do with an actual terrorist.  What is going on in this guy’s head?

The contradictory list is bad enough, but the president made that crazy statement that inferred there was some sort of media conspiracy going on “They (media) have their reasons and you understand that.” (part of italicized sentences in above article and in video below).  No, I don’t understand that or any of this bull shit you are throwing out here, and neither did anyone in the befuddled military audience you were addressing.   Suspiciously missing from this White House list were attacks on U.S. soil perpetrated by non-Muslims, and most glaringly, also omitted from this list were attacks on some countries most devastated by religious extremists.  And of course there are the misspellings included that have to make you wonder just how more disjointed can this administration get.  Where are they getting their information anyway?

It turns out, a good portion of it comes from right wing-nut Alex Jones and his fake news blog “InfoWars.”   Trump’s information source.  Jones is the guy that believes the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.  InforWars is probably where Trump latched onto his ridiculous idea that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally.  This is the President of the United States! He gets his information from a fake-news organization.   I’m telling you there is something wrong with his head.

Alex Jones

So contrary to Mr. Trump’s assertion, we have plenty of reporting about terrorist activity.  What we are sorely lacking, however, is in depth reporting about THIS.  There were at least TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY Pipeline spills in 2016. 220!  Pipeline Spills.  How many do you remember getting reported?  And now Trump has officially revived the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.  We don’t need anymore damn pipelines.  We are not taking care of the ones we already have.  There is practically zero oversight of these things.  There are at least eight crude or refined oil pipelines traversing the Missouri right now, and I don’t know how many other toxic chemical and gas pipelines,  What we need is some serious pipeline vetting and carbon source pull-back.   There are so many earthquakes going on in Oklahoma because of all the fracking who knows when one will crack open one of those hidden tunnels lurking underneath the Missouri River. Pipeline proponents will point out they are perfectly safe.  And that is true.  Until they aren’t.

 

GASLIGHTING

Ok now I’m worried.  The day after Donald Trump was elected president I thought I could give him a chance.  I even said that in a blog at that time.  One day later Mr. Trump did something that made me regret going out on a limb with that public statement.  He appointed alt-right provocateur Stephen Bannon as a presidential advisor.  It then became obvious to me that all of the soothing rhetoric of Mr. Trump’s acceptance speech about uniting the country was nothing more than another of his manipulative lies.  And by now it is obvious he is not about to release his tax returns.  For me those two things alone indicate what we observed during the campaign is pretty much what we are going to get from him as president.  That in itself is worrisome. Having Stephen Bannon as a PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR is a blatant proclamation by the president that he is a narrow-minded bigot himself.  And by concealing his tax returns he is shamelessly announcing he is a shifty, swindling  SOB and doesn’t care who knows it.  On top of that, the man has the audacity to suggest that because he was elected president it must mean he has the right to do anything he wants.

And the thing is in a way he’s right.  He is right because we tend to forget these and his other discretions and missteps for the simple reason there are so many of them.  Over time we have learned about his business misconduct, bankruptcies, despicable personal conduct, exaggerations and flat out lies, one after another, each episode glossed over by and because of the next.  It’s a shell game President Trump has played his entire adult life.  But he and his surrogates have transformed the game into a political weapon I think best described as GASLIGHTING, a state of mind that is achieved by deliberately creating  confusion so often that a person becomes vulnerable to believing an alternate reality.  It’s a common tactic of dictators.

Stopping Gaslighting in its Tracks

Up till now I have resigned myself to the fact that we are stuck with Trump’s mind games and fast talking and will probably live though it all. Yes, we will have to choose our battles, like issues involving civil rights and the environment.  As we have found out during the first days of this administration, public pressure works.  But many of the outlandish statements he makes are nothing more than pathetic displays of self aggrandizement, obsessions over matters that are ridiculously petty, and boasts about things that will never get accomplished. His flurry of executive orders contain many that are all show just to make it look like he is fulfilling campaign promises.  His “wall” is a perfect example.  Mexico is never, in any way, going to pay for the stupid wall.  If it does get built, you and I will be paying for it one way or another.  Also if it is built, we can kiss any of Trumps grandiose plans for infrastructure improvement goodby.  Geezuz didn’t daddy Fred ever have that discussion with Donald about money not growing on trees?

However, something he said during the campaign, and astonishingly repeated since he assumed the presidency really bothers me.  He insists during our invasion of Iraq that we should have “Kept the oil.”  It’s one thing to say that during a blustery campaign speech, but this man is now the president of our county.  That kind of remark is an alarming indication of how ill prepared he is for the job, and should not be buried in all the gaslighting minutiae, which sadly, it is.  I know the president is a foreign policy neophyte, but I cannot believe someone in advisory capacity did not inform him of how dangerous it is to say something that volatile.  This is something that should not be treated as one of the president’s petulant, fly-off-the-handle statements. If there is no one among the president’s advisory staff that has the courage to correct him, surely Paul Ryan or any member of congress with common sense should show some gumption and do it.  Whoever it is might also suggest he actually read something that is not about himself for a change, like a high school text about modern world history for instance.

Trump’s “keep the oil” statement is not just a contradiction of international law, the sovereignty of which Mr. Trump stunningly ridiculed during his first presidential interview (#5 at very bottom of this article). I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that someone who supports torture (#4 in same above article)  would in his mind consider pillage and rape to be normal extensions of war.  Critically important, this comment is also counterproductive to any kind of plan to destroy ISIS, one of Mr. Trump’s primary promises to us during his election campaign.  This is bulletin board material for ISIS.  There can be nothing more threatening and imperialistic sounding to the entire muslim world than saying we should keep the oil of any county in the Middle East that we imperiously invade.  The president seems totally unaware of the resentment in the region toward Western hegemony that has transpired since World War One.  It’s a remarkable lack of knowledge for someone so adamantly insistent he’s just the guy who knows how to deal with ISIS.  There is a strong argument that the catalytic spark for ISIS and the reason we invaded Iraq was Cheney’s and Rumsfeld’s unrestrained avidity for Iraqi oil.  Not that he ever would of course, but his incendiary statement can not be retracted.  Those words are forever locked in the twitter domain for ISIS to use at its discretion.  They will headline every ISIS recruiting website these terrorists utilize.

Then there is the matter of the safety of our military.   In the muslim world an ignorant statement like this certainly resurrects unpleasant memories of an empire carved up by Western outsiders, and could easily excite feelings that imperil our troops currently serving in Iraq.  Who in this administration has the president’s ear?  Is it Steve Bannon, the anarchist who says the “media should keep its mouth shut.”  Though the gag orders and intimidation of this administration make it burdensomely difficult to continue reporting one ridiculous comment after another, it is more important than ever that the media keep up that work.  Hopefully then someone in authority will finally have the balls to say enough is enough.  Politically President Trump is in way over his head, but I am not sure if all the gaslighting isn’t working if you listen to his defenders.  Every time the president makes one of his absurd comments, a spokesperson rationalizes it by saying its just the way the man is and it is a ‘new order’ we had better get used to.  That convoluted logic seems to be working for some people.  I know President Trump wants to drive us into isolation, but he has got to realize his words do matter to other nations and can incite hostility toward vulnerable and innocent people.  Our country might be stuck in Trumpworld,  but there are other parts of the globe not as willing to dwell there.   Someone with a spine has got to force this president to take a serious look at reality- actual reality, not his.

NOTE:  Well we are into the second day of the president’s immigration shit storm now. Geezuz I just can’t keep up with this guy.   I am not so sure my computer won’t run out of ink.  If you agree with this blog, please share.  If you don’t you can bite my shorts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRESIDENT CHASTISES MEDIA OVER ATTENDANCE REPORTING AT PANCAKE HOUSE

From all appearances President Trump’s ongoing feud with the media is not about to subside anytime soon.  Controversy erupted this afternoon after the president released a tweet questioning the crowd size at the Pancake House where he was eating.

President Trump Appreciates the Impressive Service Rendered by Pancake House Employee Bambi

A film crew from local station KCON happened to be in the area and shot video of the president having breakfast.  When he watched the clip during KCON’s noon news broadcast, he apparently took exception to what he perceived as a sparse crowd in the background, and immediately sent this tweet:  “Dishonest media at it again.  Pancake House was packed!  Obvious editing hack job!!  So Sad!!!”

When asked for specifics, presidential spokesperson Keilyanne Conway stated the president was simply concerned that the media had altered things to make it appear that the crowd this morning was  much smaller than the crowd televised last week at the Jimmy’s Egg where former president Obama ate his breakfast omelet.   “The president is just sick and tired of everyone always saying his crowds and other stuff are so small.  It’s time the media started reporting accurate alternative facts,” Ms. Conway stridently suggested.

In related news, after the CEO of Pancake House promised President Trump he would hire more waitresses like Bambi, company stock gained 5 points. In anticipation of presidential retaliatory measures, Jimmy’s Egg investors unloaded corporate shares in a huge afternoon sell-off.

   Separately, there is a really good article about fake news HERE

 

 

 

 

Fake News and How I Feel About Goldengate

If you’re like me when that Trump “Goldengate” story broke you immediately started searching the internet for pertinent information.  Also if you’re like me, when you found it you realized fairly quickly it was so bazaar it was in need of some serious fact checking.  In case you are fortunate enough to somehow be unaware of the sordid details, just google “Buzzfeed golden shower”.  You can find how the media handled the situation here.  Personally I don’t think CNN can claim to be totally blameless for the blowback.  True, what they reported was factual, but they opened the door that BuzzFeed saw as opportunity to release the entirety of the salacious document.  Maybe there is something to this story, maybe not.  But our media had better resist the temptation to be first on the block to disclose a story when it is unsubstantiated.

Of course this story is not without irony.  As explained here President Trump is a notorious liar and this can easily be considered a case of receiving a deserved dose of his own medicine.  But it has never been more important that the fourth estate kept us informed of that which is fact.    It’s bad enough when the president and his surrogates make their “alternative facts” seem believable, but passing  them a blatant lie on a silver platter is something they will absolutely feast on.  Zeke Miller! Get your head out of your ass.

It is apparent to most that President Trump has trouble dwelling in the realm of truth.  Take for instance his insistence that no one cares about his tax returns. Total bull shit.  I know because i did my very own survey just the other day.  I got pretty riled up after I heard him once again dodge and deflect about that during his pre-inageral news conference.  I laced up my shoes and went door to door on my block and asked my neighbors how they felt about the issue.  And I didn’t just collect information from the left. I wanted to be fair and hear from both sides, so I weaved my way right, then left, then right and so on till I reached the end of the block.   It’s a long block too.  More like two blocks.  There is sort of an alleyway halfway down that intersects our street at a right angle.  It doesn’t go through though,  It just ends at our street.  I don’t know what the fuck it’s doing there, but it comes in handy sometimes.

Now on my way back I noticed the left was now on my right.  So just to make sure opinions hadn’t changed I solicited each house again.  And sure enough nothing changed.  Each of my neighbors gave me the same answer they had previously.  Actually I didn’t get a second answer from everyone.  About half way back I decided since I was so consistently receiving the same answer from everybody the second time, continuing on with my questioning seemed pointless.  But just to make sure everything stayed on the up and up, I walked the rest of the way home backwards.  That way my left was still on my left and my right was on my right, just as it was when I departed. I wanted to be sure no one would think I was tampering with the results of my survey.  It’s important people know I wasn’t dicking around with facts.

Just as I suspected, overwhelmingly the public wants Mr. Trump to release his tax returns.  Of the 21 people I surveyed, none said absolutely not, 2 said it didn’t matter one way or the other, and 18 said yes, he should cough them up.  And all 18 were vehemently adamant about it.  Actually one of the 18 was a little more vehement about  Joey “No Socks”   than Mr. Trump and his tax returns.  That was a guy we call Bugsy.  He lives five houses down the block and kind of keeps to himself.  After I got a “yes” out of him he went on a rampaging dialog about Mr. “No Socks” owing him 30 G’s for some kind of painting he found somewhere and how he was going to take care of Mr. No Socks as soon as he completed his house arrest.  I couldn’t quite follow the whole thing but thought it would be more prudent to get the hell out of there than ask for clarification.

Trump and Mr. No Socks

You’re probably wondering about that one person that is unaccounted for.  Number 21 would be Marlborough Man.  He’s a stay at home dad and no one has ever seen him without a lit cigarette.  He lives clear at the end of the block and his yard is strewn with dog shit and dead animal parts.  The entire environment shouts stay away.  Another thing in his yard, even to this day, is a “Vote for Trump” sign, so to eliminate the risk of defiling my shoes with something untoward,  I just chalked  Marlborough Man up to a big NO that is duly logged, though that result is properly marked with an asterisk.

So as you can see Mr. Trump, people absolutely DO want to see your tax returns and by saying we are not interested you are promoting fake news.  And speaking of fake, those fake folders you displayed during that January 11th news conference were quite the nice touch.  If nothing else at least your well polished skills as a con-man remain factually consistent.   I look forward to seeing just how far you can push that envelope of public gullibility now that you are actually our president.