June 1, 2019

Britain is in crisis. So why is President Trump coming to visit?

By Anne Applebaum


Clearly, he’s not coming to town to conduct any important business, to do any deals or negotiate any treaties: There isn’t anybody to negotiate with. He might issue some threats — he reportedly plans to say he will cut off intelligence cooperation with Britain if it continues to do business with the Chinese company Huawei — but the British cabinet isn’t in a position to coordinate a response, so it hardly matters. Nor will his presence enhance the fabled, albeit somewhat shopworn, Anglo-American relationship. His last visit to Britain was a PR catastrophe. He insulted the prime minister, he embarrassed Queen Elizabeth II, and he even managed to annoy the Sun newspaper, a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid that attacked him as “Fake Schmooze.” At the time of his last visit, 77 percent of Britons disapproved of the U.S. president, and there is no reason to think those numbers have improved.

From London’s point of view, the visit makes no sense, either. British attempts to humor Trump, to engage him, have all failed. The soon-to-be-ex-prime minister Theresa May’s efforts to forge a relationship with Trump backfired, adding to her widespread unpopularity. Aware of his toxicity, the leaders of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties have said they will not attend a state banquet in his honor. The duchess of Sussex — the British royal family member formerly known as the American actress Meghan Markle — has also indicated that she will not meet the president of the United States.


But other members of the royal family have, it seems, no choice. A state visit, as opposed to a working visit, implies extensive time spent with the queen, who is head of state, up to and including that Buckingham Palace banquet. And this, it seems, is the point. Trump will not accomplish anything, either for the United States or for Britain. But he will achieve something that is, for him, actually more important. He will be photographed with some uniquely recognizable, world-class celebrities: the queen, Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry. They will all be there, doing their duty, because they have to. And Trump’s compulsive, narcissistic need to be the center of attention will be serviced.

Everywhere he goes, Trump is bored by working meetings and rude to those who attend them. He can’t make deals or negotiate because he doesn’t know enough about the issues. But where there is empty pomp and circumstance — a French Bastille Day parade, or the Queens’ Guard standing at attention outside Windsor Castle — he is impressed and pleased. The logistics of this visit, like any presidential visit, are immense. The British state will spend 18 million pounds (about $22 million) on his security; the U.S. taxpayer will spend many multiples of that sum; hundreds of hours will have been wasted on planning. And all so that one man’s fragile ego can be boosted for another day.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/britain-is-in-crisis-so-why-is-president-trump-coming-to-visit/2019/05/31/e4eab7da-83ca-11e9-933d-7501070ee669_story.html?utm_term=.4d72b20122c5



Apparently ,he's bringing all five of his grifter children at taxpayer expense. Even Tiffany, who he barely acknowledges.

May 29, 2019

Israel will hold unprecedented second election after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to form

BREAKING: Israel’s parliament voted to dissolve itself early Thursday after Netanyahu failed to form a government ahead of a midnight deadline, despite his Likud party winning the largest number of seats in April 9 elections. The move prevents Israel’s president from being able to call on an alternative candidate to attempt to form a government.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/prospect-of-new-israeli-vote-looms-as-netanyahu-struggles-with-coalition/2019/05/29/9155b71a-8171-11e9-b585-e36b16a531aa_story.html?utm_term=.31f04ea24735

May 29, 2019

Bannon described Trump Organization as 'criminal enterprise', Michael Wolff book claims

The former White House adviser Steve Bannon has described the Trump Organization as a criminal entity and predicted that investigations into the president’s finances will lead to his political downfall, when he is revealed to be “not the billionaire he said he was, just another scumbag”.



The startling remarks are contained in Siege: Trump Under Fire, the author Michael Wolff’s forthcoming account of the second year of the Trump administration. The book, published on 4 June, is a sequel to Fire and Fury: Trump in the White House, which was a bestseller in 2018. The Guardian obtained a copy.

In a key passage, Bannon is reported as saying he believes investigations of Donald Trump’s financial history will provide proof of the underlying criminality of his eponymous company.Assessing the president’s exposure to various investigations, many seeded by the special counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation of Russian election interference, Wolff writes: “Trump was vulnerable because for 40 years he had run what increasingly seemed to resemble a semi-criminal enterprise.”He then quotes Bannon as saying: “I think we can drop the ‘semi’ part.”

In Siege, Wolff quotes Bannon saying investigations into Trump’s finances will cut adrift even his most ardent supporters: “This is where it isn’t a witch hunt – even for the hard core, this is where he turns into just a crooked business guy, and one worth $50m instead of $10bn.

“Not the billionaire he said he was, just another scumbag.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/28/bannon-trump-organization-criminal-enterprise-comments-michael-wolff-book


Trump's hardcore supporters will still be singing his praises . They're completely deluded.

May 28, 2019

This is not okay. Airmen onboard the USS Wasp wearing patches with a likeness of Trump

https://twitter.com/vmsalama/status/1133203283227529217


Airmen onboard the USS WASP wearing patches on their jumpsuits that read “Make Aircrew Great Again.” The patches include an image in the center in the likeness of President Trump.





https://twitter.com/plumaria1/status/1133218054970589184

This is a violation of Article 134 of the UCMJ. This can’t be tolerated! When I swore my oath in 1975 it was to my country, not to a potus, and nothing has changed. Wearing patches or insignia in fealty to President is no different than showing fealty to a dictator. @tedlieu




Trump's visiting the USS Wasp today and the troops stationed in Japan.

May 15, 2019

Well, this is inappropriate. Literally, no separation of powers at all.

https://twitter.com/costareports/status/1128702163495137281

An unusual group on Air Force Two today: Vice President, Senate Majority Leader, and Chief Justice all on the plane. Rare to have that trio together, particularly on a flight.

May 15, 2019

An example of how important representation is to anyone not male and white

https://twitter.com/JimMFelton/status/1128576434195369984


@JimMFelton Folks I’ve been staring at this picture of the people who voted to force women to give birth even in the case of rape and incest for about 10 minutes and I’m getting the weirdest feeling representation might be important.



@JimMFelton White man number 7 looks like he’s proud to be the most qualified in the vote on abortion because he once read about a vagina in a book


Two of the people who voted to ban abortion were called Greg. *Gregs* were better represented than women.


One of the men was named Randy. Fucking *Randies* were also better represented than women, because what I'm saying is there were zero women involved in the abortion vote.

April 22, 2019

Remember when Trump reduced sanctions against Deripaska's company, Rusal, w/ McConnell's support?

Is Braidy Industries of Kentucky getting in bed with Russian mobsters?


Kentucky might be going into business with the Russian mafia.


If all goes according to plan, by the middle of the year, we’ll be in business with Oleg Deripaska, a buddy of Vladimir Putin.

He could be sending $200 million — if you believe media reports — in what could very well be mobbed-up money to northeastern Kentucky to build a $1.7 billion aluminum plant on an old strip mine there.

The United States government, according to the New York Times, has long believed that Deripaska has deep ties to Russian organized crime — the Bratva — so much so it has limited his travel here and prohibited him from doing business in this country.


https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/joseph-gerth/2019/04/22/braidy-industries-kentucky-lands-russian-investor-connected-to-mob/3508198002/

April 17, 2019

Geraldo Rivera is shilling for Sanders

https://twitter.com/GeraldoRivera/status/1118488532870471680

Old @BernieSanders made positive impression on #FoxNewsTownHall. He's ruffled & ancient, but feisty & strong in a fit old man way. He has strength w a motivated base-Has raised a ton of cash second only to @realDonaldTrump-Scared the hell out of @HillaryClinton & Won 23 primaries


https://twitter.com/GeraldoRivera/status/1118489315800244224

As Millennial Elites fall for fresh new faces like @PeteButtigieg their crushes will cool w scrutiny & in the face of formidable fund-raising by @SenSanders Watch now as he accumulates more centrists Democrats & raises a ton of money.




He's doing this because Fox and Trump think Trump can beat Sanders.

April 10, 2019

John F. Kennedy Jr. and George Magazine: A Story of Politics, Love and Loss, 20 Years Later

by Lisa DePaulo

I don't believe John ever fathomed that he would die at 38. He didn't buy into things like The Kennedy Curse. Stuff like that made him hurl. But 20 years later, I do think he would want to be memorialized by the cast of characters who knew the real John — and helped him create the magazine he loved. Meet George.


ELINORE CARMODY, PUBLISHER John and Michael's early way of putting it was they wanted George to be to politics what Rolling Stone was to music and what Sports Illustrated was to sports.


MATT SAAL, SENIOR EDITOR The word he used a lot was "demystify." He would always push that in stories. The story ideas he got the most excited for were those that would raise the curtain a little on the process of politics. I had been out in New Mexico and I met this guy who was working in a coffee shop there and he loved George magazine; he was working part time and going to the university out there. When I told John he loved it, he just loved that someone who was really far from centers of power and influence and privilege and all that was learning about politics. And that, to him, was what the magazine was about.

MICHAEL OATES PALMER, INTERN My first week on the job, he had a party at his loft for the staff. He invited the interns! Suddenly I'm having dinner at John Kennedy's house. It was like a buffet, super casual. Some of the staff climbed up to the roof to play Frisbee.


https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/john-f-kennedy-jr-george-magazine-stars-share-stories-project-1200375

April 9, 2019

At the House hearings on white nationalism just now, Ted Lieu

https://twitter.com/jbendery/status/1115657952470425600

Oh man. Rep. Ted Lieu now playing a tape of Candace Owens, who is sitting right there, saying it would have been fine if Hitler just wanted to make Germany great.




And... Owens responds: "It's pretty apparent that Mr. Lieu believes black people are stupid and will not pursue the full clip." 😳

Nadler interrupts with the gavel. "It is not proper to refer disparagingly to a member of the committee. The witness will not do that again.

Owens: "Sure. Even though I was called despicable."