Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Papal Quote of the Day
"In times of crisis, we lack judgment, and that is a constant reference for me. The most obvious example of European populism is Germany in 1933. After the crisis of 1930, Germany is broken, it needs to get up, to find its identity, a leader, someone capable of restoring its character, and there is a young man named Adolf Hitler. Hitler didn't steal the power, his people voted for him, and then he destroyed his people." -- Pope Francis, commenting on the rise of "populist" demagogues on the far right in Europe and here in the U.S in the Spanish newspaper El Pais. The words that neo-fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump used in his inauguration speech -- "America First" -- have roots in the anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi America First movement of the 1930s here in the U.S. That was no dog whistle from Rump; it was a shout out to the white supremacist / xenophobic right that formed the core of his support.
Tax Day's Coming. Remind You Of Something?
In one of the several outrages over the weekend, piranha-human hybrid and Orwellian liar-for-hire Kellyanne "Alternative Facts" Conway declared that sociopath and Putin puppet Donald "Rump" Trump wouldn't be releasing his tax returns, as every President has for decades. Recall that during the primary campaign and general elections, Rump made a point of saying that he'd release his Federal income tax returns, but that they were being audited (a claim that's never been verified -- the only comment from the IRS was that they were not stopping Rump from releasing his tax returns).
Speculation that Rump was hiding something (a "bombshell" per "Mittens" Romney) ranged from dealings with Russian financiers/banks and organized crime connections, to that he pays no income tax, to the more mundane possibility that his income was far lower that he's boasted. It could be a combination of all three. Whatever it is, his inner circle considers it damaging enough to resist releasing it, despite overwhelming public opinion (74%) saying that he should (contrary to Alternative Facts Conway's patent lie that the people "don't care"). One would think our intrepid "journalists" would see this as an investigative challenge to them, given the highly suspicious resistance by Rump and Co. We'll see, but we're not optimistic when it comes to the majority of the access-addicted Fourth Estate. Perhaps more nationwide marches or other forms of protest will be in order around April 15. Or perhaps hackers will do the job.
With taxpayers struggling to balance their expenses and doing their best to pay taxes owed, it's almost certain that he's been paying no Federal income taxes for at least 20 years, taxes that pay for everything from our national security to food safety and disease control. Whatever he's hiding must be so perilous to him that he's willing to try to ride out public disapproval. We can't let him get away with it.
Monday, January 23, 2017
Following Up With Action On Equal Rights
We need to keep the momentum going following the massive outpouring around the country and globe on Saturday. We need to continue to overwhelm the Stormtrumpers with the voice of the majority of the American people who didn't buy into their neo- fascist agenda.
The organizers of the Women's March plan to do just that with its "10 actions in 100 days" agenda, including future collective actions to be announced. Please take a look and stay/ get involved.
Also, one of our Democratic Senators here in Maryland, Ben Cardin, is introducing legislation to re- introduce and extend the deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment, which fell three states short of its goal in 1979 and 1982 (thanks again, Republicans!):
The 28th amendment would guarantee that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
Congress approved the amendment in 1972 and set a seven-year deadline for ratification.The Stormtrumpers are back on their heels, and Congressional Republicans must have soiled their undergarments seeing the millions of people who are ready to take to the streets to defend rights that the Republicans have vowed to take away (and are already starting). Rather than momentum being with the new Russo- Republican assministration, it's with us. Let's keep that ball rolling.
BONUS: This is the outpouring we're talking about (click on image to enlarge) --
Tweets Of The Day - And You Thought The Media Would Stand Strong!
Looks like access to pathological liars is far more important than integrity to these three from the
In marathon first briefing, Spicer has taken tons of Qs, moved fast w/ informative answers on policies & been up front when he doesn't know.— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) January 23, 2017
Which engendered this response:
Reports of the death of access journalism are premature. https://t.co/X9gPzKEDlk— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) January 23, 2017
(That "access journalism" reference above is to an article today by Margaret Sullivan, the Bezos Bugle's media commentator saying this about Sean "Baghdad Sean" Spicer's performance yesterday: "Spicer’s statement should be seen for what it is: Remarks made over the casket at the funeral of access journalism." That's some wishful thinking there! But, let's continue.)
next four years will be a challenge to traditional political observers to start evaluating politics by content and not by its outward signs pic.twitter.com/qGvnL7dsDr— chris hooks (@cd_hooks) January 23, 2017
Surprise! Looks like Chris "Lizard" Cillizza isn't going to be up to that challenge any more than he ever was:
Totally agree. Sean handled a very difficult situation with aplomb today. https://t.co/BB1nps3wJm— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) January 23, 2017
The fix is in. https://t.co/jfPjhr9Cz5— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) January 23, 2017
"The Fix" has always been in, of course.
Just a reminder what Russian journalist Alexey Kovalev told us would be the norm for reporters under neo- fascist authoritarian Donald "Rump" Trump, given Kovalev's experience with Rump's mentor, Russian autocrat Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin:
These people are not your partners or brothers in arms. They are your rivals in a fiercely competitive, crashing market and right now the only currency in this market is whatever that man on the stage says. Whoever is lucky to ask a question and be the first to transmit the answer to the outside world wins. Don’t expect any solidarity or support from them... [snip]
...There will be people from publications that exist for no other reason than heaping fawning praise on him and attacking his enemies. But there will also be one token critic who will be allowed to ask a “sharp” question, only to be drowned in a copious amount of bullshit, and the man on the stage will always be the winner (“See? I respect the media and free speech”)...The "fourth estate" is, for the most part, a useless cast of careerists, stenographers and cowards. They'll respond to rewards (access) and punishment (lack thereof) just like the good lap dogs they are. Rump and his band of looters know this and will push to the limit, and then push some more. Access journalism is alive and well.
CREW Files Lawsuit Against Trump
A suit filed today in Federal court in New York City charges that con-man-in-chief and fraudster Donald "Rump" Trump is in violation of the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is made up of prominent ethics and Constitutional lawyers who believe that by Rump's properties accepting payments from foreign governments -- including his hotels and other properties -- he is in violation of the Constitution, which he swore to uphold just three days ago. More from Reuters:
"According to the complaint, that means payments by foreign governments for such things as leases at Trump Tower in New York, stays at Trump's hotels, rounds at Trump's golf courses, and the rights to rebroadcast or create their own versions of Trump's reality TV show 'The Apprentice' are illegal."...even the most virtuous leaders..." Bwahaha. We know from his lifetime of cheating his contractors and investors, his business bankruptcies, his shady business dealings overseas ("Я не буду выпускать свои налоги!"*) and so on, Rump's the opposite of "virtuous." And as far as a "creeping, insidious threat to the Republic," we're going to see just how far Rump will take us into his authoritarian kleptocracy. This court case will be the first big test of our how our democratic institutions respond to his threat to them.
The lawsuit said the Constitution's framers intended to ban such payments, believing that 'private financial interests can subtly sway even the most virtuous leaders, and entanglements between American officials and foreign powers could pose a creeping, insidious threat to the Republic.'"
_______
* "I will not release my taxes!"
Trump Pushing Agenda Via Executive Orders
Alternative fact: Now that *tyrant Barack Obama* and his history of *abusing executive powers* is gone, Republicans are in an uproar about Cheeto Benito's abuse of the same executive powers .
Well, the neo- fascist shitgibbon Donald "Rump" Trump is well on his way to proving to be a change chaos agent in the White House, and (to the surprise and eventual affliction of many of his benighted voters) doing what he said he would do.
First, there was his sticking it to homeowners with FHA mortgages. Then, in short succession,
First, there was his sticking it to homeowners with FHA mortgages. Then, in short succession,
Affordable Care Act
President Trump’s executive order instructing federal agencies to grant relief to constituencies affected by the Affordable Care Act has begun to reverberate throughout the nation’s health-care system, injecting further uncertainty into an already unsettled insurance landscape.
The political signal of the order, which Trump signed just hours after being sworn into office, was clear: Even before the Republican-led Congress acts to repeal the 2010 law, the new administration will move swiftly to unwind as many elements as it can on its own — elements that have changed how 20 million Americans get health coverage and what benefits insurers must offer some of their customers. [snip]
Robert Laszewski, president of the consulting firm Health Policy and Strategy Associates, called the executive order a “bomb” lobbed into the law’s “already shaky” insurance market. Given the time it will take Republicans to fashion a replacement, he expects that federal and state insurance exchanges will continue to operate at least through 2018.
“Instead of sending a signal that there’s going to be an orderly transition, they’ve sent a signal that it’s going to be a disorderly transition,” said Laszewski, a longtime critic of the law, which is also known as Obamacare. “How does the Trump administration think this is not going to make the situation worse?” (our emphasis)Answer to that last rhetorical question: "That's. Their. Plan."
Trade
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order as early as Monday stating his intention to renegotiate the free trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, a White House official told NBC News.
Eliminating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was crafted by former President Bill Clinton and enacted in 1994, was a frequent Trump campaign promise. [snip]
U.S. manufacturing exports to Canada and Mexico, the United States' two largest export markets, increased 258 percent under the agreement, according to the website of outgoing U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, and the deal helped create a trade surplus in agriculture and manufactured goods. [snip]
The Center for Automotive Research, a respected automotive research firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said in a statement this month that pulling out of NAFTA could cost auto jobs created since the end of the Great Recession. "Counter to the incoming Trump administration's goal of creating manufacturing jobs, the withdrawal from NAFTA or the implementation of punitive tariffs could result in the loss of 31,000 U.S. jobs," CAR said. [snip]
Trump is also expected to sign an executive order announcing his intention to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement among 11 Pacific Rim countries and never ratified by Congress, said the White House official. He will simultaneously move to begin individual trade negotiations with the countries in the TPP.Here's an assessment of the dangers of "renegotiating" NAFTA (shorter: aim, fire, shoot in foot). China is certain to welcome the US pulling out of the emerging Asian rim trading bloc that would have given us far more benefits and leverage than a go- it- alone policy:
There are signs that China will take full advantage of the American shift to press its own trade vision. The Beijing-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a rival pact that excludes Washington, is already getting new attention, including from leaders in Peru and Malaysia who signed TPP and now plan to focus on trade negotiations with China.The damage these nihilists could do in short order across the board makes it all the more important that the popular resistance movement we saw on Saturday all over the country stays engaged in order to mitigate that damage wherever we can. In any event, as our friend Infidel 753 says,
"If we keep fighting, we still might lose. If we don't, we will definitely lose."
Today's Cartoon Threefer
(click on images to enlarge)
(David Horsey, Los Angeles Times)
(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Across The Universe (Cont.) - "A Slice Of Sagittarius"
(click on image to enlarge)
From NASA/ ESA, January 16, 2017: This stunning image, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), shows part of the sky in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer). The region is rendered in exquisite detail — deep red and bright blue stars are scattered across the frame, set against a background of thousands of more distant stars and galaxies. Two features are particularly striking: the colours of the stars, and the dramatic crosses that burst from the centres of the brightest bodies.
While some of the colours in this frame have been enhanced and tweaked during the process of creating the image from the observational data, different stars do indeed glow in different colours. Stars differ in colour according to their surface temperature: very hot stars are blue or white, while cooler stars are redder. They may be cooler because they are smaller, or because they are very old and have entered the red giant phase, when an old star expands and cools dramatically as its core collapses.
The crosses are nothing to do with the stars themselves, and, because Hubble orbits above Earth’s atmosphere, nor are they due to any kind of atmospheric disturbance. They are actually known as diffraction spikes, and are caused by the structure of the telescope itself. Like all big modern telescopes, Hubble uses mirrors to capture light and form images. Its secondary mirror is supported by struts, called telescope spiders, arranged in a cross formation, and they diffract the incoming light. Diffraction is the slight bending of light as it passes near the edge of an object. Every cross in this image is due to a single set of struts within Hubble itself! Whilst the spikes are technically an inaccuracy, many astrophotographers choose to emphasise and celebrate them as a beautiful feature of their images.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Tweets Of The Day - "Alternative Facts" And The Kiss
Press Secretary Sean "Baghdad Sean" Spicer is being "defended" in her own soulless way by Rump advisor Kellyanne "Baghdad Kellyanne" Conway for his bald- face lies yesterday, prompting the hashtag #alternativefacts and a query:
Kellyanne Conway: Sean Spicer gave "alternative facts"@chucktodd: "Alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods." pic.twitter.com/QBkoDqoTdp— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) January 22, 2017
Alternative facts totally hold up in court, right? https://t.co/WHOjs8uQQX— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 22, 2017
And in case you had any doubt about the Rump/ James Comey bromance:
Trump just literally blew a kiss to James Comey at a WH reception for law enforcement pic.twitter.com/HwVq9DNdZd— Richard Hine (@richardhine) January 22, 2017
Sunday Reflection - Sign Of The Times
From the Women's March in New York City (via HuffPo).
(click on image to enlarge)
(bertbelgian/ Instagram)
Damn right!
Trump's Monkey Business
Anyone who thought con-man-in-chief Donald "Rump" Trump was sincere when he conducted his "press conference" on January 11 promising to deal with conflicts of interest with his business holdings...well, we'll sign you up for a course in ethics at Trump University. Pro Publica has researched the process required for Rump to meet even the barest minimum standards to avoid conflicts of interest, and surprise! he has yet to complete it. He promised to transfer his companies to his sons, Beavis and Butthead, before the inauguration rather than to divest his holdings entirely (foreign entities would still be dealing with the Trump family as far as loans, patronage, etc.). The three states where he needs to file the documents hadn't received the necessary documents as of the afternoon of January 20, hours into Rump's term, and in violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
"To transfer ownership of his biggest companies, Trump has to file a long list of documents in Florida, Delaware and New York. We asked officials in each of those states whether they have received the paperwork. As of 3:15 p.m. today, the officials said they have not.Trump and his associates 'are not doing what they said they would do,' said Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush. 'And even that was completely inadequate.”Expect more smoke and mirrors from a con artist who will prove to be the most unethical and corrupt in our nation's history. He's hoping, as with his still-unreleased tax returns, that the public won't care about his family business getting richer with foreign gratuities and barely-concealed bribes. He has to be held accountable.
The Banality Of Evil Strikes Again
On their first full day in office, neo- fascist pathological liar Donald "Rump" Trump and his mini- Goebbels, empty suit Press Secretary Sean "Baghdad Sean" Spicer, faced the public and media in their official capacities and... lied their asses off.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump’s first full day in office, he gave a speech at CIA headquarters in which he lied about the size of the crowd at his inauguration and falsely claimed that he had never feuded with the U.S. intelligence community. Hours later, his press secretary emerged from the West Wing, lied about the size of the inaugural crowd and took no questions.
The most important news here is not the crowd size, or whether Trump feuded with America’s spies (he did), or even that the president and his press secretary lied. Politicians lie. What’s remarkable is that the president and his administration chose to lie, repeatedly, on their first full day on the job, about a relatively trivial ― and easily checkable ― matter. (our emphasis)The article details the facts opposing Rump and his mini- Goebbels. The truth is plain to see (as they say). That Rump lies as a matter of course is not in the least surprising; he's a narcissist and sociopath. Clearly, he's selected a staff that is willing to lie just as vigorously and nonsensically just to keep their jobs. That this is the template right from the start, while not surprising, may be disturbing enough to have awakened some of the stenographers in the media, long oblivious to what was coming their way.
In the meantime, here's "Vladimir Putin's" (Beck Bennett's) message to the American people on Rump, crowds and the Women's March yesterday:
BONUS: SNL's host Aziz Ansari (first south Asian host ever) closed his monologue with this:
"If you're scared about Trump and you're very worried, you're going to be OK, too. Because if you look at our history, change doesn't come from presidents. Change comes from large groups of angry people. And if day one is any indication, you are part of the largest group of angry people I have ever seen.”
Saturday, January 21, 2017
The Resistance Begins (Cont.)
Marching today in the overwhelmingly huge crowd in Washington, D.C., today, I was able to take some ground- level pictures that didn't begin do justice to the enormity and sprawl of the event. Due to my primitive photographic skillz with my new smartphone camera, I've relied on the Silver Spring Bureau Chief, Brian, for the pictures below.
Peaceful, powerful, loud, chanting, energized, determined, focused, standing up and pushing back (click on images to enlarge):
And finally, some editorializing on a certain Republican media orifice:
BONUS: Dear friend and reader P.E.C. sent us these photos of the marchers in Boston:
And, no marchers, but the majestic State House with its golden dome gleaming in the winter sun:
The Resistance Begins
Today, in cities in the U.S. and around the world, a diverse collection of perhaps millions of women and men marched in opposition to demagogic bigot Donald "Rump" Trump and his policies on women's and LGBTQ rights, the environment, immigration, and a host of other issues. The march in Washington, D.C. alone drew an estimated 500,000 plus people -- far exceeding Rump's inaugural crowd -- and was attended by such A-list celebrities as Madonna (who dropped a couple of "F bombs"), Alicia Keys, Scarlet Johansson, and Gloria Steinem. Our own brother Hackwhacker and his family were among the crowd in D.C. Major cities -- Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles among them -- saw thousands turn out to protest Rump and his divisive rhetoric and administration, over 670 events in the U.S. and worldwide. In Boston, where our dear friend and supporter P.E.C. was, the crowd was estimated at over 125,000. City by city, expectations of crowd size were uniformly exceeded. Here's a photographic depiction of today's historic marches in some major metropolitan areas.
Washington, D.C.:
Boston:
New York City:
Los Angeles:
Chicago:
Atlanta:
Here's a sampling of additional marches in the U.S. and around the world, from London to Sydney to Mexico City. Here's more.
The goal will be to keep this movement together, through the coming weeks as a Rethug Congress seeks to dismantle progressive programs and legislation from the past 50 years, through the 2018 mid-term elections where progressives are notoriously absent from the voting booth, and in 2020 when we'll have a shot at defeating Rump and reversing the damage he's doing and will do to America. It has to be done.
Rump's Attack On The Middle Class Begins
As one of his first official duties, demagogue and Putin poodle Donald "Rump" Trump signed a slew of reactionary executive orders to cancel or alter previous policies aimed at aiding the middle class. Acting on the nihilistic Republican urge to strip 20 million Americans of their health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, Rump also signed an order directing Federal agencies to "minimize the unwarranted and regulatory burdens of the Act," which is intended to obstruct ongoing implementation of the Act while Congressional Rethugs work at repealing the signature legislation of the Obama Administration. Another one of the orders was to cancel the rate cut on FHA mortgage premiums, a move that punishes homeowners with FHA loans by an average of $500 this year. Rump also signed an order freezing the issuance of regulations (presumably from environmental protection, to immigration, to women's reproductive rights, to energy conservation and renewable energy, all of which are anathema to the new reactionary, hard-right regime).
Many of his unpopular actions will undoubtedly be taken in the middle of the night, and with little of the usual Trumpian fanfare, so as not to surprise his conned base. It's up to us in opposition to him to make it clear, what he's up to: filling the "swamp" he pledged to drain with alligators.
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