August 6, 2017

If 45 has lost The Weekly effing Standard, then he is toast.

It is a little more than six months into the Trump administration, and there have been things to praise. The president has begun rolling back the aggressive regulatory state that grew up under Barack Obama; enforced his predecessor’s red line in Syria; abandoned the failed North Korea strategy of the last three administrations; and appointed strong conservatives to the lower courts along with, of course, Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

These stand out because they are exceptions to the daily turmoil and dysfunction of the Trump White House. As president, Donald Trump has not risen to the occasion. There was no pivot to normalcy after his turbulent campaign. No hidden statesman has emerged from inside Trump, and he has not, as he recently suggested he might, become “more presidential” than anyone other than “the late, great Abraham Lincoln.”

So far, the president is the picture of a failed leader. His administration is a disaster.

In just the past two weeks, Trump only reluctantly signed a Russia sanctions bill that passed overwhelmingly in both houses of Congress (98-2 in the Senate, 419-3 in the House). He tweeted a policy reversal on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military that neither the Joint Chiefs of Staff nor the secretary of defense knew was coming. He allowed his communications director falsely to accuse his chief of staff of committing a felony by supposedly leaking a document that was already officially public—and then, after the fallout consumed his administration, dismissed them both. He repeatedly attacked his attorney general for his necessary decision to recuse himself from the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He gave a highly inappropriate speech to 40,000 boys participating in the Boy Scouts’ 20th National Jamboree—a speech for which the organization felt compelled to apologize. He followed that up with a speech to law enforcement officials in which he suggested it was okay to rough up accused criminals. Police departments across the country and the acting director of the Drug Enforcement Administration publicly rebuked the president.

Read it all here; http://www.weeklystandard.com/playing-defense/article/2009135

March 20, 2017

I never thought I'd see

A worse President in my lifetime than Richard Milhouse Nixon. But he actually did some good stuff. He signed the Environmental Protection Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act, for example.
Then we got stuck with George W. Bush. I thought he was the absolute limit. But he actually did some good things. He created the Hawaiian Islands Marine Wildlife Sanctuary, for example.
I truly hope and pray that 45 is the worst President this republic will ever have.
But I won't hold my breath.

March 14, 2017

Belgian astronomers name planetary system after beer

https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/flip.it%2FZkihow-belgian-astronomers-who-found-planetary/f-1e790dfbd1%2Fcnn.com/
I find it especially interesting that one of the planets in the system "Trappist 1" is named "Spencer", after the Trappist ales brewed in Spencer, Massachusetts. http://spencerbrewery.com/

March 11, 2017

Remember when the GOP hated the Russians?

My, how things have changed.

February 16, 2017

MSM is missing the point re: Flynn

He was fired not for colluding with the Russians, but for getting caught. Had he been an admiral rather than a general, he would have known that the only crime is getting caught. In the words of my division PO, "If you ain't slick enough to get away with it, you deserve to get your ass hung."

February 13, 2017

Rude Pundit does it again

That right there is the motherfucking president of the motherfucked United States of America, seated and grinning while grim pandemonium goes on around him. And he's at a dinner at his golf resort in Florida, where he spent the weekend golfing. The dinner is for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, who also golfed with the president, who happens to be a persimmon-topped wrecking ball named Donald Trump.

At dinner, the president and the PM were enjoying a salad. More precisely, they were enjoying "Mr. Trump's Wedge Salad," which is a chunk of iceberg lettuce coated in blue cheese dressing, bacon, and more blue cheese. Essentially, it's just edible plastic conveying cheese and bacon and cream to your bloodstream. Then, oh, the inconveniences of being president, North Korea tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile that landed in the Sea of Japan. It's kind of a big fucking deal because, see, North Korea has nukes and a mad leader with no checks on his madness, and Japan would be right in the crosshairs of any attack. Goddamnit, what about the main course?

So everyone leapt into action to find out more and figure out how to respond to a direct provocation. That's the flurry of activity you see up there. It's not, by the way, an effort to move the conversation to a more secure location. Oh, no, that'd interrupt dinner, and there was some goddamned meat on the way. Thus, in the middle of the dining area at a big golf club with tons of people watching, everyone with Trump and Abe started to read classified documents and talk about classified information. Even more fucked up was that the room was dimly lit so they used their goddamn cell phone flashlights to read the, let's say it again, classified information. Their phones. Pointed at the documents. Their easily-hackable phones. In the room where everything was being discussed. In front of dozens of civilians, many of whom were snapping photos of the events. As long as you paid your expensive dues, you could be there in that room. So, really, who the hell knows what agents of foreign governments could have been present?

This isn't about the level of transparency or whatever else you wanna make it about. Like so many things with Republicans, it's about the hypocrisy. Hillary Clinton's private email server was supposed to essentially allow ISIS to enter the country freely and kill all our dogs and enslave our wives. But here are seemingly multiple violations of any kind of safety protocols when it comes to dealing with classified material.

Read it all here: http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

February 9, 2017

I'm in

I'm in, are you?
On March 15th, each of us will mail Donald Trump a postcard that publicly expresses our opposition to him. And we, in vast numbers, from all corners of the world, will overwhelm the man with his unpopularity and failure. We will show the media and the politicians what standing with him — and against us — means. And most importantly, we will bury the White House post office in pink slips, all informing Donnie that he’s fired.
Each of us — every protester from every march, each congress calling citizen, every boycotter, volunteer, donor, and petition signer — if each of us writes even a single postcard and we put them all in the mail on the same day, March 15th, well: you do the math.
No alternative fact or Russian translation will explain away our record-breaking, officially-verifiable, warehouse-filling flood of fury. Hank Aaron currently holds the record for fan mail, having received 900,000 pieces in a year. We’re setting a new record: over a million pieces in a day, with not a single nice thing to say.
So sharpen your wit, unsheathe your writing implements, and see if your sincerest ill-wishes can pierce Donald’s thin skin.
Prepare for March 15th, 2017, a day hereafter to be known as #TheIdesOfTrump
Write one postcard. Write a dozen! Take a picture and post it on social media tagged with #TheIdesOfTrump ! Spread the word! Everyone on Earth should let him know how he’s doing. They can’t build a wall high enough to stop the mail.
Then, on March 15th, mail your messages to:
President (for now) Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Copy and re-post, if you'd like.

February 8, 2017

Warren to focus on Foreign affairs and national Security

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is adding staff with national security credentials.
On Monday, the Massachusetts Democrat announced she had hired Sasha Baker to serve as her national security adviser in her Washington office.

http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Sen-Elizabeth-Warren-Adding-Staff-With-National-Security-Credentials-412973573.html

February 8, 2017

In a way, I feel lucky

I am a 66 year old male of European descent with no children. I need not fear for myself. Defunding Planned Parenthood will not make a difference in my personal health care. Privatizing public schools will not affect me directly. Closing our borders will not harm me in any way. Wall street has already done its damage to me, and I probably will have to continue to work for the rest of my life.

I do not fear the future for myself.

I do, however, have loved ones. I do, however, care about my family and friends who will feel the impact of this misadministration's policies. It is for them, not for myself, that I will resist. I will resist with every fiber of my being. I will resist because it is the right thing to do. I will resist because justice is more vital than prosperity.

Please join me.

January 31, 2017

Onion totally nailed it, and Spicer doesn't get it.

http://usuncut.news/2017/01/30/sean-spicer-retweeted-the-onion-and-the-internet-will-never-let-him-live-it-down-screenshots/