54th Weak of The Doddering Draft Dodging Dick Donald, Emperor of Orange!

[JackLuis]

Last Weak seemed like a Year!
This Weak is starting off well.

Angry Trump doesn’t understand why he can’t boss around ‘my guys’ in the Justice Dept as Mueller probe closes in: report

Pee-resident Donald Trump is reportedly frustrated that he doesn’t have more influence over the U.S. Department of Justice as special counsel Robert Mueller continues to probe his administration.

The president wants to release a classified memo written by congressional Republicans that allegedly documents FBI surveillance abuse, according to The Washington Post.

However, that wish conflicts with the desires of the Justice Department, which has said it would be “extraordinarily reckless” for the memo to be released before the department had a chance to review it.

White House chief of staff John Kelly has informed Attorney General Jeff Sessions of Trump’s hope to see the document made public. The Washington Post said the incident “marked another example of the president’s year-long attempts to shape and influence an investigation that is fundamentally outside his control.”

January 2018. We're trapped in an intellectual prison from which there is no escape. The modern American experience has been reduced to a few grim lines: President Donald Trump says something crazy; we freak out. A leak comes out; we obsess over it. Someone gets fired; the deck chairs on the sinking ship of state get rearranged a little. Trump says something crazy again. Rinse, outrage, repeat.


It's a fatal mind loop worthy of an early Twilight Zone episode, and if you think about it (although the next presidential tweet will likely pre-empt that possibility), we've been riding in this same moronic circle for more than two and a half years.

A year into this presidency, in other words, the Republicans have become a ghost ship of irreconcilable voter blocs, piloted by a madman executive who's now proved he's too unstable to really represent any of them, and moreover drives party divisions wider every time he opens his mouth. House Speaker and noted anti-deficit fetishist Paul Ryan literally yelled in delight when the GOP tax bill passed. But in a broader sense, his legislative triumph was self-defeating, and only made mainstream reconciliation with voters lost to Trump in 2016 more impossible. The bill was a classic Beltway-insider lobbyist-crafted hustle, the antithesis of the "drain the swamp" election-season cry that was the last thing – apart from straight-up race-baiting, of course – to genuinely galvanize Republican voters in any direction.

The nightmare scenario for the GOP being whispered about across Washington goes like this: Republicans will lose the House but not the Senate, and Democrats will use whatever emerges from the Mueller probe (which will be extended by any means necessary through November at least) to fuel impeachment proceedings not likely to succeed in Congress, but are perhaps better designed to cripple Trump at the polls in 2020. This sounds great to anti-Trumpers, but such a plan means we're facing two more years in the mindless purgatory of the Trump news cycle, after which we get to relive the joys of 2016 all over again.

So, Who will the Democrats put up in 2020, to counter the Trumpinski?

Handsome Joe?

Another Woman?

A Progressive Fire Band?

Tim Kane?

Cher?

 

[JackLuis]

What Fresh Hell?: The Ugly American Edition

It was a relatively quiet week at the circus, in part because Trump’s spent a few days in Davos, wooing those elite globalists he always railed about. His act reportedly went over better than it has in other international fora, mostly because the kind of people who attend Davos will tolerate a deranged chaos monkey if he can deliver some sweet tax cuts.

The shiniest object this week may have been news that Trump already tried to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. But that story merely confirmed earlier reports, and of course it’s all fake news anyway in Trump’s world.

Piers Morgan ruthlessly mocked after ‘breaking’ news that Trump is not a feminist

President Trump has declared he is NOT a feminist.
He tells me: ‘No, I wouldn't say I'm a feminist. I mean, I think that would be, maybe, going too far. I'm for women, I'm for men, I’m for everyone.'

Oh,No Shit! <shakes head>

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

I never had the image of President Obama, in the Doomsday Oval office in the sky. I suppose, that Air Force 1 is part of Continuity of Government Condition (COGCON) plans.


January 26, 2018

The Defense Department has awarded a $23,657,671 contract to Boeing in order to design, test, and install new “chillers” in the customized 747 jumbo jet.

That jumbo price tag is for more than a few Maytags. As Defense One explains, the refrigerators on Air Force One are required to hold enough food — around 3,000 meals in total — to feed passengers and crew for weeks without resupplying, just in case World War III breaks out. And in recent years, some of refrigerators have been failing.

“Although serviced on a regular basis, reliability has decreased with failures increasing, especially in hot/humid environments,” Air Force spokesman Ann Stefanek told Defense One. “The units are unable to effectively support mission requirements for food storage.”

The size of the refrigerators is only part of the reason they cost so much. The need to custom build a system unique to Air Force One adds to the price too, as do environmental tests and necessary FAA certification.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligence...-refrigerators-cost-nearly-usd24-million.html

 

[Hypoxia]

January 2018. We're trapped in an intellectual prison from which there is no escape. The modern American experience has been reduced to a few grim lines: President Donald Trump says something crazy; we freak out. A leak comes out; we obsess over it. Someone gets fired; the deck chairs on the sinking ship of state get rearranged a little. Trump says something crazy again. Rinse, outrage, repeat.

It's a fatal mind loop worthy of an early Twilight Zone episode, and if you think about it (although the next presidential tweet will likely pre-empt that possibility), we've been riding in this same moronic circle for more than two and a half years.

Is there a limit to bogglement?
How far can this POTUS boggle our minds?
How long will we mindless kittehs chase the laser dot?

So, Who will the Democrats put up in 2020, to counter the Trumpinski?

Handsome Joe?

Another Woman?

A Progressive Fire Band?

Tim Kane?

Cher?

Dums have lost zillions of state offices in the last decade. That took hard work; it's the cause, not the effect, of Gup gerrymandering.

Dums likely WILL anoint some luzer in 2020 and WON'T regain governors' mansions or legislatures by 2020. Gups will have opportunity to gerrymander even more after the next census results. How much will courts allow?

Dums nationally are a mess. That's the paradox: Gups are fractured and a dying demographic, but Dums can't handle victory that's handed to them on a plate; cf Hillary. If Dums nurture at the grassroots, they *might* win nationally in 2032.

 

[JackLuis]

Is there a limit to bogglement?
How far can this POTUS boggle our minds?
How long will we mindless kittehs chase the laser dot?

Dums have lost zillions of state offices in the last decade. That took hard work; it's the cause, not the effect, of Gup gerrymandering.

Dums likely WILL anoint some luzer in 2020 and WON'T regain governors' mansions or legislatures by 2020. Gups will have opportunity to gerrymander even more after the next census results. How much will courts allow?

Dums nationally are a mess. That's the paradox: Gups are fractured and a dying demographic, but Dums can't handle victory that's handed to them on a plate; cf Hillary. If Dums nurture at the grassroots, they *might* win nationally in 2032.

Or! Will Bernie Bros Unite and Push the Donkey and Elephant with "The Bluebird of Freedom!"
'Give'm tha' Bird!'

 

[Hypoxia]

Or! Will Bernie Bros Unite and Push the Donkey and Elephant with "The Bluebird of Freedom!"
'Give'm tha' Bird!'

Them hot Bernie Bros had better put their hot feet on the ground in every precinct in the land if they want to have any effect.

The Dums have no glaring prospects at the moment. Dums haven't run a media machine as insistent as the Gups' to grab eyeballs, minds, and votes. MSM are not owned by Dums. They're corporate. Their religion is money.

Nope, no obvious prospects now. But nuclear officer Jimmy Carter and Rhodes scholar Wee Willie Clinton came out of nowhere, while Dum hacks Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry didn't do well (even though Gore actually won in 2000).

[Sorry, shouldn't call Gore and Kerry 'hacks'. But they were just too familiar.]

Don't be surprised if the next Dum candidate blows in unexpectedly from the far hinterlands. A celeb? Oh fuck I hope not.

 

[JackLuis]

US farmers could lose it all if Donald Trump’s so-called ‘NAFTA deal’ collapses

A collapse of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to scrap, could create the most profound disruption for U.S. farmers who produce grains, meats and dairy products sold to Canada and Mexico.

Blake Erwin, a third-generation American who raises cattle, corn and soybeans in Dixon, Nebraska, said on Saturday that he is not closely monitoring the negotiations, but that he hopes the outcome will support U.S. farmers who are struggling to make a living due to low commodities prices, rising healthcare costs and high property taxes.

“A trade agreement has to be fair for the United States, but we also want to keep those exports going for the farmer,” said Erwin, 34. “We don’t want to mess up any good things we got going.”

Erwin spoke to Reuters over the weekend as U.S., Canadian and Mexican negotiators met in Montreal for the sixth of seven planned rounds of talks to revamp the 1994 pact.

U.S. farmers and exporters are fighting to preserve their exports at a time when Canada is finding customers in new markets. They also face strained relations between the United States and Mexico, a major buyer of U.S. corn, wheat, beef, pork and dairy products.

Could this be The Crisis for the Donald? The busting of American farm prices?

 

[phrodeau]

US farmers could lose it all if Donald Trump’s so-called ‘NAFTA deal’ collapses



Could this be The Crisis for the Donald? The busting of American farm prices?

That might be when the farmers up pitchforks, but Congress would just throw more subsidies at them.

 

[Hypoxia]

That might be when the farmers up pitchforks, but Congress would just throw more subsidies at them.

Watch for a Farm Bill and NAFTA rewrite as bad as the Tax Bill. Those getting continued subsidies will be big agribiz, not zillions of small farmers, whose numbers are reduced daily by bankruptcy.

And don't underestimate Tromp's ability to fuck-up the process. Any NAFTA rewrite will be disastrous for somebody. NAFTA was fucked from the start, devastating Mexican small farmers and sending many northward. Is it time now to screw marginal Americans just as much?

 

[JackLuis]

Watch for a Farm Bill and NAFTA rewrite as bad as the Tax Bill. Those getting continued subsidies will be big agribiz, not zillions of small farmers, whose numbers are reduced daily by bankruptcy.

And don't underestimate Tromp's ability to fuck-up the process. Any NAFTA rewrite will be disastrous for somebody. NAFTA was fucked from the start, devastating Mexican small farmers and sending many northward. Is it time now to screw marginal Americans just as much?

I full expect that Rethuglicans to fuck over the small farmer and screw us all if they have their way. I don't see Trump providing any contribution to the chaos that is about to unfold. Except comedic relief.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

(Emperor Carrot Head)"...accustomed to functioning as the executive of a private family business who does not seem to understand that his subordinates have sworn an oath to the Constitution rather than to him."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...72cf78dbeee_story.html?utm_term=.05d0b59b2a2c

 

[JackLuis]

Millions of Americans are going to see this video that destroys Trump’s tax lies — in just 30 seconds

Millions of Americans will see an ad “starring” President Donald Trump telling the truth about his new law that hands out tax cuts for the wealthy. The ad is expected to run during coverage of Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. The progressive group Not One Penny produced a 30-second spot made from clips of Donald Trump talking about, well, anything, to produce a script that supposedly sounds like what Trump would say if he were telling the truth about his tax cuts.

Democrats blast Trump as soft on Putin with no Russia sanctions

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Ben Cardin blasted President Donald Trump on Tuesday for being soft on Russian leader Vladimir Putin by not issuing new sanctions against Russia when U.S. believes Moscow continues to try to interfere in American elections.

“These are mandatory sanctions. They passed 97-2 in the Senate. He’s ignoring them. And he’s not implementing them,” Schumer said. “This is an extreme dereliction of duty by President Trump, who seems more intent on undermining the rule of law in this country than standing up to Putin.”

 

[Hypoxia]

“These are mandatory sanctions. They passed 97-2 in the Senate. He’s ignoring them. And he’s not implementing them,” Schumer said. “This is an extreme dereliction of duty by President Trump, who seems more intent on undermining the rule of law in this country than standing up to Putin.”

Hello, wake-up call? That's Tromp's schtick. He did not occupy the Oval Office in order to begin obeying laws. Who expected otherwise? Not the majority of citizens who voted against him.

USA is a rogue state, disregarding its Constitution since day one. Tromp is a rogue president, shitting on our Constitution and our nation. Does USA have the gov't it deserves?

 

[JackLuis]

‘That doesn’t look like my signature’: Stormy Daniels tells Jimmy Kimmel she didn’t write denial of Trump affair

The porn actress appeared Tuesday night on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” shortly after the State of the Union address, to talk about her relationship with Trump.

Kimmel said the statement of denial had scuttled his planned questions, but Daniels implied she had nothing to do with it.

“That’s not the craziest thing I’ve read about myself on the internet today,” Daniels said.

Kimmel showed her original statement, and the actress agreed the signatures didn’t seem to match that or autographed head shots — but Daniels played coy when he asked if she’d signed the denial.

“I don’t know, did I?” Daniels said. “That doesn’t look like my signature.”

 

[Hypoxia]

Kimmel showed her original statement, and the actress agreed the signatures didn’t seem to match that or autographed head shots — but Daniels played coy when he asked if she’d signed the denial.

“I don’t know, did I?” Daniels said. “That doesn’t look like my signature.”

Is Tromp's lawyer paying her a bonus to act coy?

 

[JackLuis]

Melania Trump stays seated after husband praises ‘faith and family’ as ‘center of American life’ — and declares ‘in God we trust’

“In America we know that faith and family, not government and bureaucracy are the the center of American life,” Trump said during his address. “The motto is: In god we trust.”

Anyone catch this? Melania Trump failed to stand with everyone else when Trump stated:

“In America we know that faith and Family, not government and bureaucracy are the the center of Democracy”#SOTU #StateofOurUnion pic.twitter.com/lrsuVdWD48

— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) January 31, 2018

Melania Trump was “furious” with her husband after the Wall Street Journal reported his lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid porn star Stephanie Clifford (whose stage name is Stormy Daniels) $130,000 in 2016 to hide an affair with the president. The First Lady abruptly cancelled a planned trip to Davos and rode separately from the president to the State of the Union.

Almost like she doesn't believe him.