Trump's Mini-Series of the Week

[bodysong]

Trump's Mini-Series of the Week

Drama! (Porn ?)

Last Week's Mini-Series:

Battle of the Scientists Against The Painted Yam Emperor

Spin-off series- The Corruption of NOAA

"Donald Trump’s scattershot fire-setting serves a political purpose."

"It sets those who would hold him accountable constantly
chasing after another potential crisis, unable to set their
own agenda. Time and talent are consumed figuring out
which of his many surprising pronouncements merit
attention."

"The carefully crafted atmosphere of uncertainty keeps
everyone on the back foot, playing defense, trying to
clean up messes, or prospective messes:
a new nuclear-arms race, capitulation to the Russians,
a dramatic and unprepared resetting of the conversation
with Taiwan, and so on. As Trump sparks firestorms of
wasteful emotional energy, the conflagration of talent
adds massively to history’s ash bin."

"In this environment, we would all benefit from some
Stoic equilibrium. Who cares if presidential access
helps Ivanka Trump sell jewelry? Who cares if Donald
Trump ditches his press pool to play golf? Our talents,
energies and commitment are needed for more important
work than fending off kleptocracy or even knowing where
Trump is at all times. It’s okay not to respond to every
single startling thing."

"To repeat, we need a clear eye on the goal of an indivisible
America with liberty and justice for all."

"I’ve got my eye on America Indivisible, the true goal,
and for that clarity of focus, I thank a most unlikely
benefactor, the Roman politician Cicero."

- Danielle Allen

January 4, 2017

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...043c1e-d2a3-11e6-9cb0-54ab630851e8_story.html

Here’s one more question parents should think about
during back-to-school season

September 5, 2019

- Danielle Allen

At the risk of piling on, here’s one more question parents should
think about: Will your child have civics this year?

Statewide skills tests that focus on math and English language
arts, important as those subjects are, give schools no incentive
to invest in civics instruction.

The shift has been most significant for low-income students
in low-resourced schools. As a 2017 report from the Education
Commission of the States puts it, “Urban schools with low-income,
diverse students provide fewer and lower-quality civic opportunities
and affluent white students are twice as likely as those of average
socioeconomic status to study the legislative process or participate
in service activities and 150 percent more likely to do in-class
debates.”

The results of our disinvestment in civics education appear
stark. Only about 30 percent of U.S. millennials consider it
“essential” to live in a democracy, while 72 percent of
Americans born before World War II do, according to
political scientists Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha
Mounk in “The Democratic Disconnect.”

Some states have recognized the need to rebuild civics education.

Hey, parents, can you take this question to your children’s
schools this year: Got civics?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...80dea4-cfe6-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard review –
a wonderfully lucid analysis

Issues of identity and belonging preoccupied the Romans,
and insistently resonate with the concerns of the early 21st
century

Catharine Edwards

Wed 28 Oct 2015


https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/28/spqr-history-ancient-rome-mary-beard

Mary Beard: why ancient Rome matters to the modern world

-Mary Beard

Fri 2 Oct 2015

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/02/mary-beard-why-ancient-rome-matters

 

[bodysong]

New mini-series pilot episode fizzles, while the most
recent mini-series scandal sloshes over into the new week-


Yes, folks, Donald Duncecap tried to make 9/11
about himself. He cannot turn back time, and
alter history. It was George W. Bush's face that
scowled at his handlers, and G.W's sour expression
that was featured in publications from coast to
coast, and all over the world. Trump was just another
bystander, and he was hustling for publicity at the time.


The people in the think tank devoted to Trump, came up
with another stupid idea- They may have been able
to attract attention away from (?*) if an American soldier's
death had not made the entire concept appear unbearably
distasteful, insensitive, and thoughtless.

Ah, well. At the least, Trump had something to shout about
during the helicopter noise, and avoided questions from the
press.

"A Taliban suicide car bombing in Kabul has killed a US service member,
a Romanian soldier and at least 10 Afghan civilians in a busy diplomatic
area that includes the US embassy."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/05/taliban-claims-bombing-us-embassy-peace-talks-kabul

September 11, 2001 Commemeration

This weekend the survivors and families discussed where and when
they will meet at the memorials to the dead, or visit the living survivors.

9/11 is usually a day that features a meditation on the people that died,
or were injured, during the attack on NYC's twin towers, the attack
on the Pentagon, and the attack on Flight 93 Pennsylvania.


Trump’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, reportedly
threatened firings at NOAA

According to the NY Times, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
on Friday threatened to fire top officials in the NOAA if they didn’t
retract a tweet from the Birmingham branch of the NWS, a subsidiary
of the NOAA agency, that had contradicted the president’s false
claim shortly after it was made.

Wilbur Ross laid out his demand to Neil Jacobs, a political appointee
who is the acting administrator of NOAA. Jacobs reportedly pushed
back, but evidently backed down in the end.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019...dorian-forecast-sparked-a-crisis-at-noaa.html

?*- Russiagate refuses to stay hidden

The news that our best American spies were removed from Russia,
for their own safety, after fear of Trump's big mouth and careless talk
of American secret matters might expose them, and get them killed.

 

[bodysong]

September 9, 2019
- Kevin Maurer

Eighteen years after sweeping across the country in the aftermath of 9/11,
the United States was — pending the outcome of peace talks with the
Taliban — preparing to finally leave

Finally, in 2014, combat operations concluded. It was mainly a
symbolic ending. American troops transitioned to anti-terrorism
operations and training Afghan forces. The burden of fighting the
war was shouldered by Afghans, but with a lot of American and
NATO help.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-longtime-correspondent-asks-was-it-worth-it/

(Taliban presence in Pakistan, Al Qaeda presence in Pakistan)

Al Qaeda, The Taliban, the Afghanistan army, The Afghanistan goverment

3 September 2019

U.S. officials are sure of at least one thing-
“Without financial support from international donors,
the government of Afghanistan cannot survive,”
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan John Sopko
told TIME after unveiling his office’s latest report detailing
failed U.S. attempts to produce a dependable Afghan security
force. “And the Afghan security forces will not be viable.”

https://time.com/5648002/us-taliban-peace-deal/

Earlier, last week, the people of Afghanistan pleaded to the American
government to not remove troops. Trump has plans to draw down
1,300-1,500 soldiers away from their posts. (Was this part of the
negotiations with the Taliban ? The Taliban has agreed not to host
or support Al Qaeda.)

Many in Afghanistan fear that a US-Taliban deal could see
hard-won rights and freedoms eroded. The militants enforced
strict religious laws and treated women brutally under their rule
from 1996 to 2001.

"I think if we look at the gains made since 2001, you know,
women's rights have been at the forefront of those gains,
and they've been hard fought," Patricia Gossman of Human
Rights Watch recently told NPR. "I think women ... rightly
fear that in any deal, or if in fact things don't lead to peace
but lead to renewed fighting, women's rights will suffer."

The Afghan government wants security guarantees to make
sure the Taliban can't resort to violence if they don't get their
way politically.

The government also wants to preserve the country's political
system, which includes a presidential election on Sept. 28.

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/19/7523...ar-a-deal-what-does-that-mean-for-afghanistan

OTOH-

A huge blast rocked Kabul as the interview aired.

The Taliban said it was behind the attack, which used a
bomb strapped to a tractor to kill at least 16 people and
injure at least another 119.

The target was a residential compound housing foreigners,
just outside the city's heavily-fortified Green Zone.

However, it was Afghan civilians who paid the highest price.
By morning, about 400 foreigners had been escorted out of the
area as anger bubbled over onto the streets. Locals set fire to tyres
and blocked a main road, demanding foreigners leave the area for good.

"This is not the first time we suffer because of them," resident Abdul
Jamil told news agency AFP. "We don't want them here any more."

The militants now control more territory than at any time since the
2001 US invasion and have so far refused to talk to the Afghan
government, whom they deride as American puppets.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49559493

President Ghani has been accused of using government funds and
powers to increase his chances of winning, which he denies, and
of risking voters’ lives by pressing ahead with the vote despite
threats of Taliban attacks that have forced 2,000 polling stations
to remain closed.

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/wor...e9-8924-1db7dac797fb_story.html?noredirect=on

6 Americans have been killed in the last two weeks.

The Taliban had thought that negotiations were over,

(This might explain the Taliban's puzzlement over Trump's
announcement that the talks would not take place at Camp David.)

On Monday, one day after news of Trump’s decision to break off the
Taliban talks had left Afghans wondering anxiously what would fill
the void, Ghani answered them in a speech to a group of security force
members. He invited Taliban leaders to talk to their fellow Afghans
but warned they must stop killing first or face the wrath of the Afghan
military.

But many other Afghans were looking ahead, anticipating a frenetically
revived electoral race, an Afghan peace process that will start from scratch,
and the possibility of more Taliban violence in the wake of the abandoned
U.S. talks.

Hafeez Mansour, a member of Parliament from the Jamiat-i-Islami party,
said Ghani had felt “humiliated” by the Taliban for excluding him from
the U.S. talks. “Now he is trying to portray himself as the man in charge,
but he wants to impose conditions that will infuriate the Taliban.

In the short term, we will only see a new wave of fighting.”

Ghani has said that if he wins, he would be willing to step down afterward
in favor of an interim government or other arrangement to further peace
negotiations. But he has also insisted that an electoral victory would give
him a strong mandate to face the Taliban as a legitimate ruler.

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/wor...e9-8924-1db7dac797fb_story.html?noredirect=on

A year of negotiations and the increase of violence in Afghanistan

 

[KeithD]

September 9, 2019
- Kevin Maurer

Eighteen years after sweeping across the country in the aftermath of 9/11,
the United States was — pending the outcome of peace talks with the
Taliban — preparing to finally leave

2029? Really?

 

[JackLuis]

2029? Really?

You do maths weird, Pilot?

Really getting pedantic when the world is about to be burned by the Barbarians at the gates?

What...? Did you drink that Trump Wine?

Now you're infected!

 

[phrodeau]

2029? Really?

It was September 11th, 2001, not September 2011, despite what the conspiracy theorists say.

 

[JackLuis]

Oops, I was wrong!

It's the Barbarians inside the gates we need to ...remove.

 

[magicalmoments]

My pick is that secretary Ross will be thrown under the bus.

 

[KeithD]

My pick is that secretary Ross will be thrown under the bus.

We're running out of "the best people" to throw under the bus.

 

[Adre]

Bolton fired for disagreeing with stupid Taliban peace deal celebrating 9/11.

 

[bodysong]

#Sharpiegate continues-

9/11/2019

President Trump told his staff that the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) needed to correct
a tweet that seemed to contradict Trump's statement that Hurricane
Dorian posed a significant threat to Alabama as of Sept. 1, in
contrast to what the agency’s forecasters were predicting at
the time, senior administration officials said. This led chief
of staff Mick Mulvaney to call Commerce Secretary Wilbur
Ross to tell him to fix the issue, the senior officials said.

Mick Mulvaney told Wilbur Ross that the agency needed
to "fix" the matter immediately, leading to a new statement
that was issued Friday, Sept. 6.

Trump lied. Yes, it was him that did it.

Oversight and Investigations Committee Chairwoman Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.)
Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.) send a sternly worded
letter-

“We are committed to supporting the activities of the NWS
and its dedicated staff."

"During your Senate confirmation hearing, you (Wilbur Ross)
committed to allowing federal scientists to ‘be free to
communicate data clearly and concisely’ and that you
would ‘not interfere with the release of factual scientific
data," Johnson and Sherrill wrote to Ross.

"The scientific integrity policy includes a provision that
states: “In no circumstance may any NOAA official ask
or direct Federal scientists or other NOAA employees
to suppress or alter scientific findings.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weat...sidents-trump-over-forecasters/?noredirect=on

pResident Trumpypants alarmed the residents of Alabama
with his #Sharpiegate map, and his confusing opinion.

Meanwhile, a new tropical weather system is brewing,
and this one may actually hit Alabama.

 

[bodysong]

#Sharpiegate has quieted down.

How is Trumpypants Dunce-Cap distracting the American public, this week ?

Did he start using Iran as a see-saw, to get Americans to look the other way ?

Corey Lewandowski refuses to answer direct questions-

No need to worry about Corey-

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, told Lewandowski:
"You are obviously here to block any reasonable inquiry into
the truth or not of this administration. . . . He called you to do
his dirty work for him!" She added, "This is the House Judiciary
Committee! Not a house party!"


Lewandowski fired back that he was unable to give her a response
because it wasn't a question but a "rant."

Lewandowski was expected to remain loyal to Trump at the hearing
as he mulls a senate bid.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., criticized Lewandowski's conduct
during the hearing, telling the former campaign manager,
"You are not on the campaign trail yet."

"Before I begin, let me remind you, Mr. Lewandowski, that this
is not a Republican primary campaign. You are not on the campaign
trail yet," Jeffries said. "This is the House Judiciary Committee.
Act like you know the difference."

https://www.salon.com/2019/09/17/co...s-questions-in-chaotic-congressional-hearing/

 

[bodysong]

September 17, 2019

Berke (Barry Berke, a lawyer for the House Judiciary Committee)
also pressed on tensions between Lewandowski’s testimony and the
Muelle report. Lewandoski claimed that, when Trump asked him to
get then-Attorney General Sessions to curtail the Russia investigation,
he asked the AG to meet outside the Justice Department because he
wanted to have a “casual dinner.” However, the Mueller report cited
Lewandowski saying he didn’t want to have a meeting in the Justice
Department because he didn’t want a public log of the event and he
wanted an “advantage” over Sessions. Faced with these apparent
contradictions, Lewandowski seemed spooked and twisted himself
in knots to explain himself. He stipulated that, though he hadn’t read
it, the Mueller report is largely accurate.

https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/co...r-his-lies-and-actions-in-the-mueller-report/

 

[bodysong]

How did Trump justify his trip to California, and which explanation
did his minions apply to this visit ?

https://www.latimes.com/california/...palmer-hosting-trump-beverly-hills-fundraiser

https://www.latimes.com/california/...-visit-after-slamming-california-homelessness

https://laist.com/2019/09/17/trumps_traffic_downtown_los_angeles_beverly_hills.php

 

[bodysong]

#SharpieGate has, as it seems, turned undead.

September 18, 2019 Trump's Plan Is As Real As Trump's Alabama Hurricane

(Has that not, always been the case ?)

 

[bodysong]

September 18, 2019

Trump’s interaction with the foreign leader included a “promise”

that was regarded as so troubling -
that it prompted an official in the U.S. intelligence community
to file a formal whistleblower complaint with the inspector general
for the intelligence community, said the former officials, speaking
on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized
to discuss the matter publicly.

Atkinson (Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson)
is scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee in a
classified session closed to the public. The hearing is the latest move
by committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) to compel U.S.
intelligence officials to disclose the full details of the whistleblower
complaint to Congress.

acting (temp) Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire has
agreed to testify before the panel next week, according to a statement
by Schiff. He declined to comment for this article.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...651aa2-da60-11e9-bfb1-849887369476_story.html

(bodysong comment- Hardly anyone is a permanent fixture in the
Trump White House. They do not remain in their new exalted,
appointed positions for very long. A limited amount of time,
in which they hear or read something, and say nothing. Until,
a committee is involved.

 

[bodysong]

September 19, 2019

Trump went to extraordinary lengths to keep top aides
from learning the details of multiple conversations with
Putin. And his aides moved to suspend the long-established
practice of publishing details of Trump’s calls with foreign
leaders. How are these things in the national interest?

Given the current context — a call with a foreign leader aroused
alarm in a whistleblower, and the DNI’s inspector general agreed
that his complaint is legitimate — all that looks even worse in
retrospect. We’re seeing the bulldozing of multiple guardrails
all at once. And looming behind it all is the overarching factor
that Trump just doesn’t seem to be operating in the country’s
interests.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...s-worse-trump-his-corruption-keeps-spreading/

September 16, 2019

Mr. Maguire, the law says, “shall” forward such a whistleblower
complaint to the congressional intelligence committees within
seven days.

So far, that hasn’t happened.

Mr. Schiff says the intelligence community’s explanation to him
is that the complaint “concerns conduct by someone outside of the
Intelligence Community” involving “confidential and potentially
privileged communications.” The congressman says he thinks the
intelligence community may be covering up misconduct involving
the White House or the president. We don’t know. But Mr. Schiff
says this is the first time he’s aware of that a director of national
intelligence has overruled the inspector general and concealed a
whistleblower complaint, for which the director has “neither the
legal authority nor the discretion.” And that is suspicious.

Mr. Schiff has issued a subpoena and demanded action by Tuesday,
or appearance at a public hearing Thursday.

Mr. Trump has made plain his distaste for congressional oversight.
Elsewhere, he’s resisting disclosure of his tax returns to the House
Ways and Means Committee, although the law in that case also is
straightforward. Oversight is a vital function of Congress, one that’s
not always performed as strenuously as it should be. At the same time,
the Supreme Court has ruled that it can’t lead to boundless inquisitions,
or what Mr. Trump would call witch hunts.

The court said the investigating must be limited to “a legitimate task
of the Congress.”

In the case of the intelligence-community whistleblower, this clearly
falls under the definition of a legitimate task of Congress. Someone
inside the intelligence community decided to follow the rules and
filed this complaint for a reason. Neither Mr. Maguire nor Mr. Trump
should be able to conceal such information. They should respect and
uphold the law, not contravene it.

 

[bodysong]

On a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian president, Trump “allegedly
told the Ukrainian president to reopen the Biden investigation if he
wanted to improve relations with the US.”

Telling a foreign leader to rough up your domestic opponent in
exchange for good diplomatic relations is incredibly improper.
Even Rudy Giuliani admitted it was improper. “There’s nothing
illegal about it,” he told the Times in May. “Somebody could
say it’s improper.” We know Trump would say something
improper to a foreign leader on the phone. Either he is dumb,
or he’s smart enough to understand his party will back him up
regardless.

-Jonathan Chait

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/trump-phone-call-whistleblower-intelligence-russia-putin.html

September 19, 2019

a second letter from intelligence community Inspector General Michael Atkinson
to House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff makes it clear that
acting (temp) Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire
has not only acted to prevent intelligence community
Inspector General Michael Atkinson from releasing the report,
as required by law, but has also prevented Atkinson from making
any arrangements for the whistleblower to come forward.


Trump-appointed (temp) inspector general of the intelligence
community informing Congress that the acting DNI is not just
breaking the law by refusing to release the report, but he’s also
failing in his obligations to help whistleblowers speak directly
to Congress.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...s-as-White-House-and-DNI-move-to-block-access

Attorney Andrew Bakaj, a former CIA officer, who is
“one of the top experts on these issues” and a national
security whistleblower himself will represent the official,
according to Mark Zaid who runs a Washington law firm
specializing in national security.

Our Of Counsel, colleague & client @AndrewBakaj has
been confirmed as attorney for #whistleblower. Andrew
one of the top experts on these issues &
#natsec whistleblower himself.

He authored @CIA's PPD-19/ICD 120 regs for CIA while at CIA OIG.

— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) September 19, 2019

 

[bodysong]

comments from Red Painter via Crooks and Liars

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/09/d...y-be-even-more

9/19/19

Thursday the House Intelligence Committee brought Michael Atkinson,
the inspector general for various IC agencies, in for a closed door briefing.
Unfortunately, he was not willing (or able) to provide much help due to
orders from above (DOJ and / or the White House).

But, we did get more details. The New York Times is now reporting
that this case may be even more explosive than originally thought.

If the reporting is true, the whistleblower's complaint is related to a
"series of actions" involving Donald Trump and related to numerous
discussions, not just one. Atkinson told the House Intelligence Committee
that "the complaint was related to multiple acts:, although he declined to
provide any additional specifics, such as confirmation that it involved
the (Presiderp).

(duh, of course it did).

Representative Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee,
talked to reporters after the briefing and said the following:

“I don’t think this is a problem of the law."
"I think the law is written very clearly."
" I think the law is just fine."
"The problem lies elsewhere."

"And we’re determined to do everything we can to determine
what this urgent concern is, to make sure that the national security
is protected and to make sure that this whistle-blower is protected.”

He went on to say that the House's General Counsel is currently
exploring legal remedies to force the release of the whistle-blower
complaint.

To be clear, Trump can speak to any foreign leader he wants.
It becomes an issue if he makes promises that put the interest
of other nations in front of America's or if he puts his own
personal interests first. And that may be exactly what he did -
multiple times.

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/09/d...y-be-even-more

bodysong comment- My concern is what Moscow Mitch McConnell
and Trump's minions are doing to the public, while everyone's back
is turned, and all eyes are on Schiff, Atkinson, and Director of Intelligence,
Joseph Maguire. American citizens lost clean air, clean water, clean meat,
and were gifted with a pesticide that was formerly banned. School children
lost food stamps and school lunches. University and college students lost
support for paying off their loans, and for-profit Not Real education facilities
are free to rip off students, again, because protections for students have been
removed. Endangered species lost protections, and the land they migrate through,
and use to survive has been sold to wealthy donors to Trump. Legitimate,
functioning Native American tribes that nurture the continuance of their
long held culture are losing their homelands, and opportunities that should
flow to them (by law) are given to "pretend tribes," that support Trump.
Trump's focus in California- cutting some state environmental rules that
restrict building, deregulate development- to the advantage of Trump's
campaign donors that just happen to be deeply involved in California
real estate.

Are there some promises that Trump made to major car and truck
manufacturing comapnies ? California is stricter on standards than
DC is. California sets the standards.

Trump is very focused on how everything "looks."
Trump is angry at the homeless for embarrassing him
in front of visiting dictators and investors that (illegally)
give him campaign money. Trump does not have the same control
as, let us say, the leader of North Korea, or Russia- and he cannot
simply order his own operatives to remove "unsightly" and "inconvenient"
people.

"Can't have them looking at that," Trump said.

Wiener (State Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco) spoke more bluntly of
the (Presiderp) as a “slumlord who has spent his presidency pushing people
into homelessness by taking away health care, food assistance and affordable
housing funds.”

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019...d&utm_medium=undefined&utm_campaign=feed-part

Trump wants to punish California over homelessness —
after denying funds to fight homelessness

(Trump's plan to remove protections and rights from the homeless
that live in California, remove restrictions placed on California
police, and build internment camps to contain the homeless-
after Trump has de-funded programs and removed grant funding
that helps the homeless address their problems, The former
concentration camps for immigrant children that closed after
the government watchdog agencies found children dying of
neglect- they are privately owned, for-profit agencies that run
the facilities that were fitted with cages and not much else-
Are now sitting empty, and Trump's good campaign donors
are not getting richer. Homeless people are being looked at,
as a source of profit. Much easier to blame deaths in the
internment camps, on the homeless, themselves. Much easier
for I.C.E. to sort the undocumented migrants from the homeless
population in an internment camp. What will happen to
homeless families ? Will Trump's separation policy be
applied to them ?



President Trump threatened to use the Environmental Protection
Agency to punish San Francisco over its homelessness crisis —
on the same day that his administration denied California Gov.
Gavin Newsom’s request for housing vouchers to help fight
homelessness.

Trump’s newfound concern for the environment came just
days after his administration stripped California of the power
to set auto emissions standards in a bid to reduce air pollution
and overturned clean water regulations nationwide.

During his California fundraising trip, Trump assured foreign real
estate investors that he would protect them from California’s
homeless population.

https://www.salon.com/2019/09/19/tru...-homelessness/

Tom Phillipson, the acting head of Trump’s Council of
Economic Advisers, told reporters on Monday that
"policing may be an important tool to help them get
off the street” as well.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that criminalizing
homelessness was the exact wrong approach to the issue.

"If he cares about solving this (homeless) crisis, he wouldn’t be talking
about criminalization (the homeless) over housing. He’d be making
dramatic increases in funding for this country’s housing safety net.”

Ben "They do not deserve to be too comfortable in public housing" Carson
(self-centered sellout that torments people that qualify for public housing)
also indicated that HUD might start reserving housing grants to local
governments that are willing to make changes to local zoning laws.

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...a-deregulation

 

[bodysong]

Trump's Environmental Protection Agency has made it official:
It is revoking the Clean Air Act waiver that has allowed California
to set its own tougher auto-emissions policies for nearly a half-century.

The move is part of a more general Trump-administration drive
to reverse the stronger emissions and fuel-economy standards
imposed by the Obama administration nationally and by California
and the 13 states (including New York) that track its clean-air rules.

CalMatters explains the Trump strategy:

Even before [Trump] took office, automakers pushed his transition team
to revisit the Obama-era clean car standards. Automakers weren’t the
only ones, either: The New York Times discovered a secretive oil-industry
campaign to gut the fuel economy regulations that threaten their bottom line.

Now the fight will move to the federal courts, where California will argue
that the administration didn’t follow the necessary procedures in revoking
the Clean Air Act waiver, as Rachel Becker and Julie Cart explain:

“Their work’s been bad. Their facts are bad,” said Craig Segall, assistant
chief counsel for the California Air Resources Board, referring to the
EPA’s analysis.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019...fornias-power-to-regulate-auto-emissions.html

 

[bodysong]

9/23/2019

Bradley Moss, who works for the firm representing the whistle-blower
urged everyone to stop and figure out where all the leaks have come from.

Hint: Not the whistle-blower.

There's been no leak from the whistle-blower and from the legal team
representing the whistle-blower confirming any of the details of what
actually was the full universe of claims outlined in that whistle-blower
complaint and that validated by the inspector general of the intelligence
community," Moss pointed out.

Or in simpler terms, all of the stories out there haven't been from the
people who actually know what's in the substance of the complaint.
They've come from current and former administration officials, who
are always quoted as anonymous sources.

While you watch the media hurry to and fro bringing breathless reports
about what may or may not have been said to the Ukrainian president,
take a moment to think about this:

Obstruction of the complaint is the crime.

There may be others, but the crime which should be emphasized is not
how many times the administration says it pressured the Ukrainian
president, but the act of obstruction which is keeping that urgent,
credible report from going to Congress.

National Security Lawyer Warns That Trump Is Spinning Ukraine As Cover

- Karoli Kuns

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/09/national-security-lawyer-trump-trying

 

[bodysong]

Slate magazine

Trump Is No Longer Even Pretending to Care About the Ideals of the U.N.

President Donald Trump delivered an utterly spiritless speech to the
U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday

A speech aimed entirely at a domestic audience,
touting nationalism and...

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/br...internet-recoils-at-trumps-insane-un-address/

I literally have braincells leaking out my ears.
For the love of God, make him stop! —

Woman In The Moon (@SassyKadiK) September 24, 2019.

Zerlina Maxwell ✓
Twitter › ZerlinaMaxwell

The face of every leader is on the verge of laughter. #UNGA

9 hours

(bodysong comment- oh, OK. Millions of streams and wetlands
lost protections under the Trump administration.)

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Days After Attacking California's Efforts to Reduce Emissions,
Trump EPA Threatens State's Federal Funding Over Poor Air Quality

Under the Trump administration, one critic said, the EPA
"is now just a political tool."

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom was stunned by the administration's
suggestion that the state has neglected to reduce its air pollution,
considering President Donald Trump has spent months attacking
the state for its strict emissions standards.

If Trump's rollback prevails, Nichols said last week, "millions
of people in California will breathe dirty air. There will be more
pollution, more asthma, more hospitalizations, more premature deaths."

"The White House has no interest in helping California comply with
the Clean Air Act to improve the health and well-being of Californians,
" Newsom said in a statement Tuesday. "This letter is a threat of pure
retaliation. While the White House tries to bully us and concoct new
ways to make our air dirtier, California is defending our state's clean
air laws from President Trump's attacks."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2...s-reduce-emissions-trump-epa-threatens-states

 

[bodysong]

7/23/2019

Turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit in Washington.

There are numerous viral video clips from Trump’s 80-minute speech
at the conference, but one of the most interesting bits came as he
discussed Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which describes the
powers of the president.

‘‘Then, I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever
I want as president,’’ he said. ‘‘But, I don’t even talk about that.’’

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/po...atever-want/WhnrjsrLUV5lQVxlkDJ29J/story.html




(Trumpypants) extortion of Ukraine’s government is perfectly in keeping
with his stated belief that the powers of government can and should be
put at the president’s personal disposal. He has used his powers to attack
critics in the bureaucracy, ginning up weak or spurious investigations of
Department of Justice figures who investigated him to punish independent
news-media owners and profit from office.

In her brief statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi quoted Trump’s
remark “I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I
want as president.”

"That conviction has inspired Trump’s entire presidency."
"It must be met with political action."

The election next year remains the main field in which Trump will
be contested. His Ukraine scandal has prompted impeachment in
part because it revealed Trump’s determination to use his power
to manipulate the next election by inducing other countries to
help him rough up his opponent, just as Russia had done —
on his behalf and with his assent — in the previous one.
To impeach Trump is a gamble. So too is it a gamble to
allow Trump another year to indulge his lifelong impulse
to cheat his way into power.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019...eached-because-he-will-not-stop-cheating.html

 

[bodysong]

Blockbuster! Pulling out all the stops,
and putting everyone on the Big Screen.

Special guests, featured-

October 1, 2019

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is flying around the world
with Sebastian Gorka, who has long-running ties to a
Hungarian neo-Nazi group that’s on a State Department
watch list.

And the purpose for the trip is to strong-arm foreign leaders
into helping Trump’s bogus investigation into something
Gorka calls “Obamagate.” No, I have no idea what that’s
supposed to be, and I don’t think these clowns do either.

Gorka tweeted the video above from a Rome café earlier
today, boasting like a B-grade Bond villain in his comically
phony British accent.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/art...d_Travel_the_World_in_Search_of_Dirt_on_Obama

Soaked in blood and bits of corpse-

“Davos in the Desert” Future Investment Initiative taking place
against this year, on October 29-31, Jared Kushner is expected
to lead a robust U.S. delegation. Big banks and investment firms,
including Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and Citigroup, are once
again lining up to attend. It seems the money to be made in the
anticipated initial public offering of the world’s wealthiest
company, the Saudi oil company Aramco—
valued at between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion—
is just too enticing.

https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/ja...ile-complicity-of-world-leaders-and-business/

 

[bodysong]

Trump show spin-offs

Some of the family are racing for the exits, because Trumpypants
is blowing a gasket.

Ivanka, you airhead! Halloween is not until the end of the month.
She misbehaved and defied her daddy. Her hair was chopped off,
as a punishment. Next time she pulls a prank like that, her head
will be shaved

https://www.boston.com/news/nationa...-backlash-over-response-to-ivanka-trump-tweet

Mal-ania hurries away from Dodge, and lands in Wyoming.